William "Bill" Arthur Pummill was born in Crocker, Missouri in July 1921. He was the eighth of 12 children in the family. Growing up was tough during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. His father worked part time for the highway states department. After the family went through two deaths of his brothers, Pummill's grandmother gave his father some money to build a house because Pummill's mother had a nervous breakdown and needed some stability. Pummill knew his grandmother worked as a housemother at a university, but he did not know how she was able to save enough money to give to his father. After graduating from high school, he moved to Detroit, Michigan where two of his brothers and sisters were living. Pummill's uncle had joined the Marine Corps in the 1930s and was impressed by his uniform and travels in Asia and the Pacific. Pummill had just bought a new 1938 Chevrolet car. He brought it to his brother's house to wash it and heard over the radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. In August 1942 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps because he wanted to wear the nice uniform his uncle had. He never did wear the dress uniform, only the green basic uniform. He completed his basic training in San Diego [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego County, California]. Since he played basketball in high school, it helped him with the physical part of the training. After he completed his basic training, he was transferred to communication school. He was then sent to Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California], California [Annotator's Note: A Cuckoo clock sound can be heard in the background at 0:06:00:000] and assigned to the Regimental Weapons Company of the 9th Regiment, 3rd Marine Division [Annotator's Note: Weapons Company, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division]. He received some training at the scouts and sniper school, along with anti-tank gun training. Pummill's duty was in radio and telephone communications. He remembered that while he was at Camp Pendleton, buildings were being constructed, so he basically lived in a mud hole during his stay there. In January 1943, the 9th Marine Regiment left San Diego and landed in Auckland, New Zealand. They stayed in New Zealand for six months and continued to train the entire time. Because there were very little places to train, his unit went on a lot of hikes and did a lot of marching. His unit was sent there to test different weapons at the ranges. He stayed in a four man hut that fit only four cots. During the off time, they played football and basketball.

William "Bill" Arthur Pummill and his unit [Annotator's Note: Weapons Company, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division] was sent to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] from New Zealand. By the time he arrived, the island had already been secured. He did some "mopping up" operations. His first night, he experienced an air raid by two Japanese planes. Luckily, a P-31 shot the planes down. The Marines were cheering as they saw what happen, then all a sudden bomb began dropping over them. Pummill ran to cover and dropped into his foxhole. The mosquitoes were rampant and many of the men contracted malaria. After their campaign in Guadalcanal, his unit was sent to Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, New Guinea]. This island was already secured as well by the time he arrived. The terrain was worse than Guadalcanal. The jungle was very thick and rained a lot. He had muddy water up to his knees in some areas. Luckily, his unit did not find very much resistance after they made their initial landing. They had to avoid some bombing and machine gun firing on the first day. The mission was to secure the island so they could build an airstrip. They were able to bathe in the streams, but they mostly stayed dirty. He lived off K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] and C rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food]. After his unit completed their mission, Pummill was sent back to Guadalcanal. They were scheduled to go to New Britain, but the campaign was cancelled because the Japanese knew they were coming. The conditions on Guadalcanal were better than the first time he stayed there. His next mission was to go to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. They were also back up for the Battle of Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Marina Islands], but were then transferred to Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. While he was there, he contracted Malaria and had to stay in the hospital for almost two weeks. Pummill was well enough to join his unit for the invasion of Guam. As they stormed the beach, he used the bombed crater holes as foxholes. As he headed for one to join up with seven other guys, he quickly switched to a smaller one. Immediately after, a mortar hit the big hole with the seven men in it. He is positive all of them were killed. Pummill advanced forward to get off the beach. He recalls being fired at the entire time. This was the most resistance he experienced thus far in the war. After his unit secured Guam, they made a camp and prepared for the invasion of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] by hiking and marching a lot. He thought the Japanese were great fighters. The Japanese snipers would climb trees and try to hit the Marines.

William "Bill" Arthur Pummill and his unit [Annotator's Note: Weapons Company, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division] were never told where they were going until they received their maps the day of their invasion. On the way to the invasion, they received maps of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. [Annotator's Note: Someone is moving around in the background at 0:26:30:000.] As he ran up the beach, it was difficult to get the transportation equipment because the sand was so fine. He saw men climbing out of tanks that were burnt up. They moved through the beach and up to an airfield. The first night, Pummill dug a foxhole [Annotator's Note: the interviewer adjusts the microphone on the interviewee at 0:28:30:000] but could not dig too deep because of the terrain. They were attacked by mortar fire all night long. Pummill did not think he would survive. On 1 April 1945, he attended Easter church services on Mount Suribachi [Annotator's Note: an extinct volcano on Iwo Jima, Japan] where the American flag was raised. It took 30 days to secure the island. Since many of the Japanese soldiers were hidden in caves and tunnels, the Marines had to blast them out. He could hear them digging in the tunnels. By the end of April, he was transferred back to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. He had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to qualify for rotation back to the United States. He was in Pensacola, Florida waiting to go to radar school when he heard that the United States had dropped the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] on Japan. He had to guard German prisoners while he was waiting. When the war ended, he decided to separate from service rather than continue on to radar school. He used the G.I. Bill to attend school after the war. Pummill did not have a hard time adjusting to civilian life after the war. [Annotator's Note: A Cuckoo clock is heard in the background at 0:36:14:000.] Pummill often asks why he survived World War 2 and not so many others. He thinks that the American society during World War 2 was ready to jump in and do their part, and he wonders if America would do that again.