Bill Pastore, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Jason Hardy, September 20th, 2006: part of the Saving the legacy project

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BILL: I know it was in the spring, it was colder than hell. an Di go i h rribl in th mornings. I mean, boy, it's cold! And I can remember ... I know it had to beth fir t f the year because the campaign of Guam started in July of 44. And I belie e, I beli was overseas in May or June. Dates don't mean anything to me. Dates and, like I told you, names, don't mean anything. You never- you know, before we started this recording I told you that you don't want to know anyone's first name. Just call them nick names or their last name. You don't want to get too familiar with them. You want to know what they can do and what they can't do, but you don't want to know about their family. You don't want to know what they like or dislike. It hurts when they're gone ... so names and dates don't mean anything to me. And when you're in combat it doesn't make a damn what the day is, you know? JAS: Yeah. BILL: Just if you make it through the day, that's another day you've made it. JAS: Did you go into the enlistment office with anybody, any friends? BILL: One kid named Keith Hoff that went to school with me. He was a year older than me and we were talking one day because he graduated from school. He was a lot smarter than I was and we were talking about the military because we knew that the draft was com1ng up. They were drafting eighteen year olds but they weren't about to draft me and he felt the same way. He didn't want to get drafted. So when I became eligible for the marine corps, he said, "I' 11 go in with you." 4