William Alexion

00:00 Okay, so can you just like, state your name and then like, place in date of birth? Just.

00:07 Sorry, your full name and your. And your.

00:09 Where you were born? Yeah. William

00:13 William

00:14 Chris.

00:14 Chris.

00:14 H, I, C, H, R, I, S, T. Chris Alexion A L, X, I, O, N. Born in Roanoke, Virginia.

00:23 Virginia.

00:24 Not too far from Virginia.

00:25 From the worst state. Maryland's much better, so Roanoke, Virginia.

00:30 I was the first of four children. I'm the oldest. We traveled prior to the Depression. We traveled down south. The family did. So my brothers and sisters were born in the South.

00:46 Florida.

00:47 Now, down in 1931. We moved to Annapolis, Maryland, and that's where I got my education. High school and grammar school. That was Maryland. My last year of high school, I went to Baltimore and went to City College for my senior year. There's a reason why. Anyway, when I graduated in 1943, we moved the family to Baltimore. So now we're in Baltimore. Okay. Two or three weeks later, I was drafted.

01:25 So could I ask you about the draft? I was actually curious. When you're drafted, like, your draft number gets called, are you just assigned to one of the branches or do you get to choose?

01:36 Okay, no, you're drafted and you reported to her in that area, and they checked you over, and then they asked what serves you want, and I charged, Navy.

01:48 This is the worst branch.

01:49 I lived in Annapolis.

01:50 You're all about the Navy.

01:52 Yeah.

01:52 So I chose Navy.

01:53 Yeah.

01:54 Okay. They sent me to Great Lakes for training. They call it boot training. And there was a battery of tests. I qualified for anything they had available. Yeah, I said, which was a difficult, most difficult one. Stupid, mean. They said, electronics.

02:13 I said, oh, I'll take it.

02:15 Okay. So when I chose electronics, they sent me to a school in Chicago and then nrl, which is a research center here in Washington. And I learned about radars, sonars, transmitters, receivers, anything to do with electronics. They were teaching me to become a technician. Not an operator, a technician.

02:43 Just fixing the services.

02:45 Okay, so that was about the school.

02:49 From Chicago to nrl, about nine months, more or less. So when I graduated from the school in Washington, Radar school, they asked me, what service do I want.

03:05 I said, like, what do you want.

03:07 To be on an aircraft carrier, a battleship, a cruiser, or a destroyer? I had a choice. I thought about it and I said, I want to destroy you. Because I want to destroy you. I can service all of the equipment. If I went to a battleship, they might give me just a radar, that radar or that unit there. So I chose the destroyer. Okay, when I chose destroyer, the last week of Scooting. They said, I want you to report to Kearney shipyard in New Jersey. Your ship will be there. So I go there, I'm looking for the ship. There's no ship. They're building it.

03:53 They put it into the air.

03:55 It was nice to show you. I have a picture I can show you shortly. There it is. They were putting it together, okay. So I watched them put everything together. That was good because I watched the cables, where they were, how they were, things were moved around, routed and all that. That was an excellent idea. So after about three, four weeks of the built the ship, we went to New York City Navy Yard and got the rest of the crew. Now we have a full complement of about 300 on the destroyer. All kinds of sailors, gunners and this and that, okay? From there we went up and down the east coast firing the guns, make sure the ship called a checkout procedure, make sure the ship was good. So we checked it all out. And that December we went to a rest country, went through the Panama Canal all the way over to Japan, all the way over to the Philippines. The battle of the Philippines was still going on. So we fought a little bit there. Now a destroyer, a squadron, four destroyers, like a squadron. So you always travel in force. So if you were assigned to do something, they would send the whole squadron. Okay? So we were in a squadron of disorders. We were out of the sorta with.

05:35 About 16 others, formed what they call a task force. A task force is a series of circles. In the center is the aircraft carriers, two or three next to battleships, next to cruisers. And way out here, 20 miles apart in a big circle are the destroyers. So we travel as a rose up and down the Pacific to hold the whole group. That's called a task force. So the task force is looking for the enemy to fight. We fought a little bit in the Philippines, but what was coming up next was Iwo Jima. Okay? So we started to bombard Iwo Jima at night. Four destroyers go there and bomb, bong all of that. Another four go there, bomb, bomb. This went on for a while. Finally the Marines came, landed on and took Iwo Jima at a dear price. I think it cost them 3,000 Marines. So they recaptured Iwo Jima. The next one was where are we going from there. They decided the next day was Okinawa, which was halfway between Japan and Ibizima. Okinawa was in the center. Now they wanted Okinawa because it had a nice Runway, that they landed big bombers. So what are you doing? So we eventually decided to go in and recapture Iwo Jima, Okinawa. Now we captured Okinawa. This is about April or May of 1945. So he captured Okinawa. Then they were just trying to decide what to do next. Shall we invade Japan? Oh, we have the atomic bomb. So Truman I think was president and I think Roosevelt died and they decided, I think it's best for us to use a bomb because we will kill a lot of Americans if we go into Japan, they're going to kill a lot of us, so let's kill them. So they dropped two bombs in Japan. Two bombs. And Japan capitulated and gave up and they surrendered. Now on August 15, a couple of days before, maybe that's the day they decided war was going to be over. We were told one night the squadron to go into the outer harbor of Tokyo and bombard the installations that are on the entrance to the harbor, which we did that morning. That night we left, came out as fast as we could to get away east. But four or five Japanese planes caught up on us and the first one hit our ship killed 48. First one kamikaze. We are that destroyer. It was the last capital ship to be kamikaze. The last. August 15th, I think the war was declared over either the day before or the day after. I'm not sure what day they used, but we were the last destroyer to be kamikaze. He killed 48 boys on the ship. Of course, all of them, A lot of them, all my friends. Okay, now we were damaged badly.

09:40 We were damaged.

09:41 So it patched us up a little bit. And you go back to San Francisco and get repaired from Frisco. We got repaired. Then we went back through the canal, Panama Canal to Norfolk and I got discharged in Norfolk. My naval career was over. I got discharged in Norfolk. Okay, on the way, is anything that happened on the way? Well, coming back was just very slow. We were damaged, nothing happened. And the big bell, the big bell was Okinawa. Airplanes, Japanese airplanes would fly over top of this big circle like this and yeah, and they missed. Sometimes it missed, sometimes it hit. It was frightening to see him coming down from way up there because you don't know whether he's going to come hit you or what. But you didn't know the plane hit us. I didn't see it. I was inside, I was in the radar room. Now what happened is the plane that hit us did this. He came down and he must have turned because if you look at the structural damage, he went across the ship from this side to this side and the big bomb that carried a 500 pound bomb exploded and it killed everybody up here in front of the ship. Almost everybody. I was inside the ship. Okay, here's the ship. So the airplane must have come down.

11:24 Like this.

11:27 And hit right here and went through the bridge. You could have driven a Volkswagen through the hole it made through here and exploded on the other side. The bomb exploded and threw shrapnel back and killed the poor guys. Killed. Killed 48.

11:47 That's upsetting.

11:50 My duty station was inside that bridge. But I could be interfaced on a bridge wherever. Red armor or wherever I needed help. So I was a repairman. Okay, so the battle is over. We never fought one ship against another ship. That took place earlier in a game back in the Philippines. A lot of battles between two destroyers and all that. But when we got into the war, which was in 1945, we had more or less disseminated. We had torn down the Japanese navy. They dare not come out because we were too strong for them.

12:39 We were just better.

12:41 So we were fighting most of the airplanes. They were dropping this, diving around the plane. There's nothing you can do. But you see the plane up there and he starts circling and he comes down and you don't know where he's going to land on you or on the other. You can't tell because he can turn. He can turn any time. So all the ships are firing at him. And you think are all that. All our guns were safari. You said they'd hit them. Sometimes they would, sometimes they would not. Okay. The last time, when we had five bogeys coming after us and the first one hit us, the other ones tried.

13:24 To hit the hitter and immediately they missed.

13:28 I happened to come out on A deck when the last one was coming at us. And the last one, he was smart. He got back here, he was going.

13:37 To come this way. He got back here, he'd come this way.

13:41 He was flying this way toward the back of the ship. And I could see him coming. I said, oh, God, he's going to hit the ship. Well, all of a sudden. All of a sudden when he was there, he was maybe a mile away. I don't know how far away. All I saw was a big flash. One of our bullets yada got him and the plane just disintegrated. It was just a big ball on the farm. So he never touched us. Unfortunately, he never touched us.

14:13 That was the last of five.

14:17 Yeah. Okay. So he came back. He got repaired a little bit and went. Just came home and I got discharged.

14:28 Yeah. So what did you do after? What did you do? After the Navy, after I discharged, okay.

14:34 I decided I wanted to go to get my degree because I was pretty. I had a lot of background. So I chose Maryland for electrical engineering. And I graduated in 1950. Maryland. Now, fortunately, this is. Fortunately, I applied for jobs around. At the time, this is 1950, jobs was scarce. But then things started opening up, and I was fortunate enough to get a job at the Navy department in the radar section for the Marine Corps. For the Marine Corps, you say? What's the Marine Corps doing with radar? Well, you'd be surprised. We had all kinds of. We had one radar. It would fill this whole room here. It's a long range, looking for airplanes 200 miles away.

15:31 Like just the dish, big one. That's big.

15:33 We had small radars that the guy could carry on his back. And at night, they carry the small ones and put it something. And they watched and it was scanned like this. And you actually hear people walking. And if you're smart, they shoot the guns. The next morning they go out there and there's a Japs all dead. That was a small radar. They had the big radars. They had the small radars. They had a bunch of radars. I was a radar radar designer. I produced radars for the Marine Corps. The army bought them, the Navy bought them. I even went overseas. Some of our radars were so good that Egypt bought one, Turkey bought one, England bought one. So I traveled for the Navy. I traveled a lot in Europe selling them the radars that the Marines had to the NATO nations. That's what I did. And I retired. And I retired in 1980. I figured I had enough. I was traveling to Egypt. I've been in the pyramids. I traveled to Turkey, I traveled to Italy, I traveled to Netherlands. I traveled to England, all of Europe, selling the radars that the Marine had that those countries wanted. And I don't know that they still use them or not. Anyway, I retired 1980.

17:19 I'm sure if they still don't use them, they probably at least use ideas from them. So I'm sure they probably don't use them, but they probably use, like, concepts that came from it.

17:30 I have no idea. I never follow through with it. I know. I know that one of my radars that a company up in Boston manufactured here in the States. Eventually, somehow the company picked it up and they started making them identical ones. And maybe they sold them around Europe too. One of the radars. So my career was in radar.

18:02 Design, engineer, manufacturing.

18:07 Manufacturing. I went to almost all the big companies. Ger, rca, all those companies, because not one company made all the radars.

18:18 They scattered around.

18:21 So I had a full career. It was fortunate that I was able.

18:26 To tie the knaving with my career.

18:29 Yeah, I was very fortunate.

18:31 So did you, like, design the radars? Did you design the radars?

18:36 I was involved in designing, yes.

18:38 Yeah, that's really cool.

18:40 The procedure is we, the engineer, get what they call a requirement from the Marines. They say, we want a radar that does this. So I think about it. I said, I'll try to get evaluated. So I started figuring out how can I write down in words what I want? That's called a specification. Design specification. I send this out to the companies. Whoever wants to bid on it can bid on it. They all bid. But you have to read all these. You have to read them all and see which one you think is the best one. So you select one. You give him a development contract. He might build one or two to start. So he builds one or two. The company, they call it experimental diversion. And we take them and test them. If we find it's pretty good, but we want to change this and change it and change this, then I change the specification. I said, okay, I've changed the specification, because this is what the Marines want. And you now build those. Build 100 or whatever quantity the Marines wanted. That's how you go. That's the life of a cycle. The life of the cycle from the time you get a specification which tells you what the Marine you want until you actually deliver one. Could be 10 years. Could be 10 years. Some are longer, some are shorter. Depends on how complicated it is, but it takes time. You write a specification, you solicit mids, you evaluate the mids. You have them build one or two copies. You evaluate them, decide good or bad, then you put your finest production specifications together, and then you build them. So the whole cycle. We were fortunate in my group that I went through the whole cycle. In some services like the af, Air Force and the army, they had one guy who does this. He only builds a prototype. This guy only builds a production model. This guy does it in different areas. But in the Marine Corps, one office, one individual saw the whole thing from birth to death. It was unfortunate.

21:09 It was very, very, very.

21:12 I loved it. A lot of traveling. I'm sorry. A lot of traveling. Dance. A lot of traveling, but that's the way it was.

21:22 So your early life, like, what was that like? You were traveling a decent bit with the Great Depression. How was it? What was that your early life like?

21:33 How was early Life, Depression. Okay. I was born in Virginia, right. We went south. One sister was born in Florida. The other two brothers and sisters were born in Alabama. I recall the Depression as a young kid. I'm either 3 or 4 or 5. We left the south when I was 7. The depression was kind of hard. I'll give you an idea to help out with the family. I used to go in Alabama. I used to go out in a farm nearby. Farm. And wrap tomatoes. Tomatoes. Takes a tomato off a brand, put it in a newspaper, wrap it up and put it in a box. I was probably five or six years old. It was hard. It was hard. It was hard. It was hard. My father, he traveled because he was a special kind of cook and he wanted to do a special kind of cook. He called it. It's called a short order cook. He would take a. If you ordered a pork shop, he would take a plate and cook the pork shop and decorate it.

22:43 And decorate it.

22:44 It would look like a painting.

22:47 Yeah.

22:48 You look at it, you wonder whether you should eat it or just look at it. Because he could put things on there plate you wouldn't believe. He loved that kind of work. They called it short order cook. And he traveled around because some restaurants needed them and some restaurants did not need short cook. Depression was pretty in the South, I recall. I recall wrapping tomatoes. I recall that. I recall going out in the fields and picking up cantaloupes and bringing them to the truck. I'm less than 7 years old because we moved from Alabama to Annapolis when I was seven years old. So when I was seven years old, I started grammar school. My first grade. I seven years old. The train officer came to my house and said, your son has to go to school. And my mother said, no, he's too young. My mother said, no, he's too young. And she picked me up and put me in a car. This happened in Alabama. And drove to the school. I didn't know when the hell was you driving. So she took me to the now school is out. Where would I live? I don't know. I don't know where the hell I am. But fortunately, I saw a girl who lived across the street from me and I watched her and I followed her home. She lived across the street. That's how I got home. Montgomery, Alabama. Depression. Depression was pretty hard on the family. It was another question.

24:36 So how do you think, like, how do you think when you were like a kid or even when you were in the Navy or working on Raiders, how different do you think life is now than it was then.

24:55 I don't know what. I don't know. I don't know what teenagers do now.

25:03 Nor do I.

25:06 In Annapolis, I used to go through the Academy, Naval Academy and watch all the sports every Saturday. Saturday morning I was at the naval company from early in the morning to 5:00 because I went from one sport to the other. In the cavalry, we as kids used to play street games. Kick the can. You put a can in the middle of the street and somebody has to guard it. And he said, kick the can. He got to go get the can. We played King of the Hill, a little round, and one guy would go, can I. You pull him off, you pull. You pull his shirt off, you pull his sleeve on. We played humble games, real humble games. We made them up. We didn't have basketball, we didn't have basketball. We didn't have organized baseball. We didn't have Indianapolis, we didn't have organized football. Annapolis High School, where I went for four years, did not have a football team. It didn't have a. It had a basketball team, no football team, no track team. Very skippy back in the back in those days. Very skippy. So a lot of games we played. The kids made up, made up hide and seek things. Simple, simple things up and down the street. The streets would be full of kids. I don't see the streets full of kids around anymore. Not around here, maybe. Maybe downtown, maybe some parts of Washington. Our kids, we were raised in Seabrook, Maryland. You know where Seabrook is? You know where the University of Maryland is?

27:06 Yeah.

27:06 Not too far from there is a little community called Seabrook. And we were raised on Seabrook. We lived there for about, I think, 30 or 60 years. We built the house in 1980. We sold the house. We sold the house, remember? I mean, how many years it lives in Seabrook?

27:38 We moved there in 59. November 59, and we moved away December 2014. How many years did you live in Seabrook?

27:51 59 years.

27:52 You lived in one house? 55. 55.

27:57 It was convenient to work. I can make it in the beginning, first building, built a house. I can make it from a house to native power in about 15 minutes. Now, it could cost you an hour because there's traffic. The subway doesn't help you at all because you get the subway, you gotta get hit and the subway driven.

28:21 But you work here.

28:23 Yeah.

28:24 So subway doesn't help at all. So it was a nice little community. Seabrook, it's converted. It was all white. I say white. It was all white when we Moved there because everybody built the houses. But now it's changing. I don't know what it is now, but it was a very convenient place. Seabrook, Maryland. Right near NASA. Right near NASA. Next question.

28:58 This is gonna be a very difficult question. All right. Maryland crabs, yay or nay?

29:03 Yeah, I love them. Love them.

29:05 I hear so many people, like, man, they're not that good. Like, snow crabs are better. I'm like, what I love.

29:15 But it's hard to get them nowadays. Yeah, it's hard to get them.

29:23 So you being drafted during the Vietnam War, when that was being drafted, what were your opinions then?

29:31 About what?

29:32 The Vietnam War, like, when people were getting drafted? Well, yeah, you were, because you were living at that era. I know my grandma, who was living at that era, she was, like, doing a lot of protesting because of that.

29:43 As far as I'm concerned, it should not have been a war. President Kennedy was responsible for that. I think he was trying to salvage the Catholic Church of Vietnam. He was trying to help them because eventually the communists took over. I think he was trying to help the Catholics. It's hard to go into a native country and try to change people's mind. You just don't do that. He made a mistake. That was a big mistake.

30:23 I think so, being in the Navy. My brother is currently at the academy. My brother is currently at the academy. Do you have any, like, experiences that you think would benefit him?

30:35 Where is he now?

30:36 He's at the Naval Academy.

30:38 Where are you?

30:40 He just started this year.

30:42 Oh, did he? Okay. Oh, my God.

30:45 Yes.

30:47 I would say enjoy it.

30:51 Enjoy it.

30:52 Sample everything you can sample. Pick a sport. Pick one sport. You don't have to pick one sport. Stick with it.

31:00 Do this.

31:00 Stick with it. Enjoy it. That's the only thing I can say. Enjoy. Enjoy it. I don't know any personal that actually went through the carpet. I never talked to any individuals. I was there all the time. I was there all the time. Nice place. Nice place. I'm glad you're there.

31:28 So kind of going off that question for my generation. I'm the next generation. What do you think? Like, you've had a pretty eventful life. What do you think would be something for us to learn from your life?

31:48 One thing. There's a difference between comfortable and what looks good. A lot of people wear clothes because it looks good. They're not thinking about themselves. They're thinking about you. How you see me. Oh, I got to change this because it's not good. Wear what is comfortable for your body. That's My number one, wear what is comfortable for your body. Don't look and say it doesn't look good or it's not a smile, a bunch of shit. It's what you wear makes you feel good. So wear what is comfortable if you have a choice. And most of the time you have a choice. That's number one. Number one, wear what is comfortable for your body. Think about your body, not what you see. Okay? There's no one, no one. I see too many mistakes made.

33:00 Too many mistakes.

33:02 People wear shoes and pinch their feet. People wear.

33:06 People wear Gordon hats.

33:08 They keep your place. Raise your time, raise your money. Wear what is comfortable. Think about your body first.

33:23 He's all muscle there, isn't he?

33:25 So what do you remember? Do you remember when you heard about Pearl harbor, like, that day, like, do you remember what you were thinking? Like, were your.

33:36 Yeah, yeah. December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor. I didn't expect it, but I wasn't surprised. I put it that way. I knew that somehow we had to be dragons. The war, I mean, Germany, I'm in Germany. The Allies needed help. Germany was murdering people. The Allies needed help. And we hadn't used our troops yet, really.

34:07 So.

34:10 Pearl harbor announced that. I said, oh, now a lot of.

34:13 My friends got so forced out, they were not joined.

34:17 They quit high school and joined right away, right away. But I didn't.

34:23 I was still in High School.

34:25 1941, I was a sophomore. I guess I was a sophomore.

34:30 That's you.

34:32 And I wasn't old enough. But anyway, I suspected something happened. And it was a surprise to me too.

34:45 They did a lot of damage to.

34:48 Our ships in Pearl Harbor.

34:50 I've seen the ship turned over.

34:52 Arkansas and a couple other ones turned over. They're still buried there. That was unfortunate.

35:01 So kind of going off of that, the modern day equivalent, I guess you could say Pearl harbor was like 9, 11. Do you. How do you compare that to Pearl Harbor? Like 9 11.

35:14 9 11.

35:36 Sure. What do you think besides like the wars, the various wars, like Vietnam and World War II, what do you think were some of the most major, like, world events in your life? Like, what were some other major world events that influenced your life?

36:07 This is about a race.

36:15 Just thinking back over the years, dad, what things come to mind in terms of major historical events that stand out to you going back now almost 100 years, things that really, that stood out when they occurred. You were around with the Apollo missions and the moon landing, the Cuba crisis, Cuba missile crisis, you know, things of that nature.

36:53 Korean conflict, engagement, something Significant that occurred that I recall.

37:05 Or just like a major shift in how you viewed the world? Like a major shift in how you viewed the world.

37:17 That's you good picture.

37:24 Okay. As I said earlier, we lived in Annapolis and I wanted to bring father and the families together. So I decided in my senior year of high school that I would go to Baltimore. And I went to Baltimore and I enrolled in City College, which is a high school in Baltimore. The main purpose. The main purpose of my going alone to Baltimore was to find something that we could bring the family together in Baltimore. We lived in Annapolis, Father was in Baltimore working. So I chose my senior year to do that. So I moved. I got out of Navalny High School, went to Baltimore for my senior year. And I spent my weekends traveling different parts of Baltimore to find a house I think was suitable for us. Finally, about May, I found one. It's in Northeast Baltimore. It's what they call a Parkville area. Baltimore. I found a house. I brought the family there, I showed them the house. We bought the house. And that's how we moved to Baltimore. That to me was a crisis. And that was on. And that was the only reason I went to Baltimore. That was the only reason I went to Baltimore.

39:09 I gave up enough lunchroom, I gave.

39:12 Up enough leisure to go to Baltimore.

39:15 And find a house that you would bring the faculty together. And I did that. I did that just before the drafting because I graduated in June and two weeks later they drafted me. And so I had the family all together in Baltimore. That was to me, a major accomplishment. And she. I had to do that. I had to sacrifice. I had to sacrifice.

39:53 The sacrifice puts me here and didn't happen.

39:56 He said just to bring the family together.

40:03 These are some that use some pictures and then recognize. You recognize these people. These.

40:17 Put this here.

40:20 Just in pictures from 1945 with him and looks like the ship. That's him with the ship. And him standing in front of that ship which you see here. And I think on the back is him and his colleagues there. I think this was with his. Before or after? I'm going to show him. This is before. Some of these may not have, but these gentlemen here, these sailors know when there's pictures taken. Dan, I'm just curious. Before or after what?

40:58 All before.

40:59 All before the hit.

41:00 All before, yeah.

41:05 These are all loose pictures. I put them together.

41:08 Good job.

41:11 The story. He remembers everything.

41:18 Yeah. Perry, what high school was that?

41:22 City high school.

41:23 City high school. Torpedo tubes. An airplane would come to land occasionally on an aircraft carrier. If the Airplane was really badly damaged when he hit the carrier. He fought to the ocean. The guys in boats would go out and try to pile it up before they sank.

41:55 Did that happen often? How often do you say that would happen?

42:02 Maybe once a week. Maybe once a week. I don't recall.

42:08 So I think some destroyers have, like, scout planes. Did yours have, like, a plane?

42:17 Yeah.

42:18 Did your. Did your destroyer have, like, a plane?

42:21 No, he didn't. A cruiser might, but not a destroyer. A cruiser, a battleship would be scout planes, not fighting planes.

42:33 Scout.

42:34 Yeah, they would have one, maybe one time.

42:41 So you said Okinawa was one of the most, like, important battles. Do you remember? Like you said, it was the night that you guys were really active, bombarding the beaches. Do you remember? Just like, run me through it. What happened?

42:59 Okinaw Bell. Our duty was the squadron. Remember I told you, Big circle aircraft carrier. We roamed around Okinawa because we thought the Japanese would be sending planes to defend Okinawa. So we were always around the island, watching it, looking for planes that might come in to fight them. We knew that they would not come out with ships because we had annihilated the Navy. But it was airplanes that were coming down and hurling fighting. So all we did was, like, so to speak, guard the island. Guard the island. This is the island.

43:43 We go around the island and guard.

43:45 It and keep the distance between Japan and the island in between. So we want to intercept the planes. So it was interesting duty. Interesting duty. You caught flak, they tried to sink you. The kamikaze tried to sink you. But that's the way he was. That's the way he was. That's what he was. Yeah. In the end, towards the end, it was mostly fighting the kamikazes. Those guys were brainwashed.

44:23 It had to be.

44:24 To tell you, you drive your plane right into that ship, you got to be brainwashed. Well, they were. And they were good at it. They tried hard. I know they tried hard, but a lot of them were just. Most of them were. Had never even driven a plane before. Maybe two hours of instruction, just how do go? And they would go, follow the leader, follow the leader. And the leader would be the first guy to go down. And they all followed him.