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John Shepley By Mimi 1/29/08  I chose to interview my grandfather, John Shepley, because of his first hand observations of the war in a pilot training camp. He was training for a very risky job, that many people would not have been able to do. I interviewed John over the phone, on January 29, 2008, which means he was 83 years old at the time. My grandfather, John Shepley, was born September 27, 1924 to Elizabeth and John Shepley. He grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri attending Country Day School. He left when he was a Sophomore, and moved to a boarding school in Massachusetts called Andover, or Phillips Academy. There he heard about the Pearl Harbor bombings all over the radio and newspapers. Soon after graduating Andover, in June of 1942, he went to college at Yale. My grandfather enlisted in the US Army Air-core after Pearl Harbor, in the winter of 1942. Almost immediately after entering Yale went off to training for a B-17 pilot around January of 1943. He was training for a B-17 plane until 1945, before the end of the war he was scheduled to learn to fly a large plane called the B-29. After the war he went back to Yale, and then later became a stock broker. My grandfather is now retired and enjoys playing golf, playing bridge, and traveling. My grandfather went to war in 1942, around 6 monthes after Pearl Harbor. He started college he started around July, instead of September, because of the war Yale wanted the students to get as much education as they could, incase they were drafted. He went to Yale in July, and stayed there for 3 months, along with a lot of other people. His training for being a pilot started at first with learning how to shine you shoes and stand straight, these basic necessities continued for a few months. Once he learned the basics he began learned how to fly. John found flying to be a highly interesting, and an exhilarating experience. Soon after he was a certified B-17 pilot he learned that B-17 planes were not used in the war with Japan, they were used in Europe. John was scheduled to changed to learn to be a B-29 pilot, which is much larger that a B-17. Than the Atomic bomb was dropped and the War was over, allowing John to go back to his regular life! "The only way to win a war is to kill a lot of people until they give up, the Japanese would have fought forever. That's how the war ended in Germany, after a while that what takes the will out of a country to believe in what they are doing. So unfortunately it is apart of the brutality of war."When the war was over my grandfather was happy, but was forced to behave himself and continue training, he could not have fun like the people all over the country. My grandfather recalls that not many people had friends," They pretty much scattered us all all over the country." If my grandfather was to a make friend, there was a high chance that one of them would catch a minor sickness and be held back, and probably never see that man again. They gave the pilots few amounts of free time. What he did have John would spend it on walking over little Texas towns, doing whatever he could. Once he got his commission, turned into second lieutenant, and he earned his wings, he was given some more time, and he could boss some people around to a certain degree, because he was not a the bottom of the "totem pole". Near the end of the war he had a lot of fun because everyone knew that the war was coming to an end. World War II showed us that we need to be prepared, and that the most important job for a President is to see to it that the country is maintained safe, and in a position to defend itself for what ever may come along. The best thing for my grandfather in the war was that they won it, or that three countries essentially were defeated. Those countries (Japan Germany, and Italy) were stopped dead in there tracks and could not proceed to do what they wanted. The facet that the US has something to with overruling 3 very strong countries is amazing after we had just come out of the Great Depression. One of the worst things for my grandfather was that the war was very disruptive in his life, he could not go to school, get a job and then start life. He had to stop all of his plans, and then much later get back to his life, which is much harder than it seems. He hated to see the war being filled up with such deadly activity. John thought that war changed the United States thought’s that they were safe, and not vulnerable to attack. If the US were ever to get into that position again he knew that we had learned from our mistakes and we would be protect the most we could. In other words John has confidence the the United States. War is very brutal, and war does not take no for an answer. It pushes you past your limits, and goes beyond your boundaries. To prevent this from happening you must be prepared. The US was conceded of it's location in WWII, and we forgot that it is possible to get here, even without being noticed. In 2001 we were hit unexpectedly by Iraq, these problems were not resolved immediately, because of our idea, like in Pearl Harbor, that no one would get on a plane and try to bomb us, but things happen. Preparation is the key to everything, their is no flawless improvisation in war.