World War II Veteran needed for interview

I am a high school student and was given an assignment to interview a WWII veteran. If anyone would be interested in answering the following questions it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

1. Name, address, and phone number
2. What branch of service did you serve in?
3. Where did you do your basic training?
4. Did you join or were you drafted?
5. Did you serve overseas? If so, where?
6. Who was the highest ranking officer you met?
7. What was your rank when you left the military?
8. What was your pay in the military?
9. What was your most dangerous assignment or adventure in the military?
10. What was the most interesting event during your WWII experience or most unusual?
11. Did you see any USO shows? If so whom?
12. Where were you when you heard the Japanese had surrendered?
13. How did you feel about the dropping of the bomb on HIroshima?
14. How do you feel about the condition of the military today?
15. Do you think patriotism is as good now as if was in the 1940's? If not, what made the difference?
These questions were all created by my teacher. I agree they are personal and if someone wouldnt be willing to answer some of them I am sure she would understand.

 

No offense, but i dont think you should ask a vet their dog tag number, thats their personal id for the military.

 

Same with the phone number and address.

Carl might also be of some help, he knows a few World War 2 veterans from all over the world.

http://www.ww2f.com/members/c-evans.html

Good luck!

 

And why ask what their pay was?
Are these your assignment qustions or have you made them up yourself?
If assignment questions, what is the point of the questions?
Do you want to know about their service, or about their attitude towards the present military actions?
Your questions seem too much of a blunderbuss to obtain any useful data.
Were I a WW2 vet I'd want to know what use the answers would be as they appear totally irrelevant...
Many served in the European theater, what do they care about Japan?
What was the highest ranking officer you met?
What USO shows did you see? ..... Cheees!!!
Please rethink, but HNY anyway

 

The pay- Might be a good comparison to the pay of today's military
I'd say any combat soldier serving in Europe would have ended up fighting Japan had the war not ended. That was the plan. Europe first. Do you think there is no valid opinion of someone who had served through Europe only to be sent to Japan (with much higher casualties anticipated) only to not have to go...wouldn't have thoughts on it?

Highest ranking officer you met....worthwhile...only ever met your company CO? Or higher? I like all these questions.

What USO shows? You know, what did you do to take your mind off the WAR.
Could use some concise wording, but all in all, worthwhile.

 

War changes opinions, I forget which one but one of the last British World War I veterans was vocal about this. In reference to WW2 paraphrased he said something like "we were fighting for survival as the enemy was at our doorstep, things are different now". It is always interesting hearing a war veterans take on such matters but I agree that it can be a bit personel.

Pay could have also been a motivating factor, "Band of Brothers" is probably one of the most infamous examples, "who wants to jump out of planes and have a $50 raise?" or something like that.

The other questions might seem trivial or even ridiculous but 10, 50, or even 100 years down the line if someone wants to recreate the war time experience for a book, movie, game, etc such information would be vital to maintain accuracy. It's kinda like some of those old Titanic movies where everyone is all relaxed and stopping in the ball room for a smoke and a card game while waiting for some lifeboats to free up. What if decades from now all WW2 films were black and white in the sense that their was good and bad, a walk in the part, "Lili Marleen who? How about some death metal!", etc?

When Germany surrendered you were either staying put, going home, or moving to Japan. Having just finished a war in a sense, the mentality of starting another one would have been interesting to hear about.

 

I have read many of the posts by Old Hickory. I would love if you could ask him a few extra questions or you yourself may know the anwer.
1. The highest ranking officer he met.
2. His rank when he left the military.
3. His most dangerous or unusual experience during WW2/
4. His feelings on the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. Also his location when he heard of Japanese surrender.
5. His feelings on patriotism today and the condition of the military today.
I would love to get a few of these questions answered. I am aware that this is probably asking for a lot but it is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for all you help

 

You could also try your local Nursing Home. Many of our veterans are in these and they would probably love to have someone visit them. Just an idea.....