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I interviewed my Papou, or Grandpa, Mike Bollis on February 2, 2008 at his house. I wanted to interview him because was in the Army during WW2. Papou was born on September 6, 1921 in a little village named Sopiki in Albania. When he was a teenager he moved to New York City and became a High School drop-out. He married my Yiayia, or Grandma, on April 28, 1946 and they moved to St. Louis soon after. At that time it was just him, his mom and dad, and Yiayia. Later he had three kids, one boy and two girls. Now, he also has four grandchildren. Some of the jobs Papou has had are being a policeman, a busboy for room service in a hotel, an usher in a movie theatre, an insurance salesman, and a flourist. He has also worked in the meat-packing industry, been a manger at restaurants, and putting together banquets at hotels. As his hobbies Papou likes to garden, go walking, watch sports, and spend time with his family. My Papou was 22 when he started fighting in WW2. It was 1943. He trained in four different camps and stayed six months in each camp before landing in France. From there he went to Germany. He was there for three years and two months. He had a friend that was drafted with him that survived and came back with him. Papou’s most vivid memory of the War was seeing all the men getting killed right in front of him. After the war was over his division ended up in the Philippine Islands. They were there for 11 months before coming home to the US. He came home with his friend and they went to Papou’s dad’s restaurant and spent the night there. The next morning they went to the Army base to get their release from the Army. I then began to ask him question about how he felt about the war. I asked him how the war changed him as a person and he said, “The war made me realize that we have to care for family and people.” We went on and talked about how the US became more prosperous because of the war and that he thought the world as a whole didn’t change because of the war. I asked him my final question, what should 7th graders in 2008 take away from the war? Papou answered, “They should learn about something their parents and grandparents went thorough. It wasn’t a Vietnam War. It wasn’t a Korean War. It was the Germans, the US, the Japanese, the French, the British, the Italians, and the Australians. It was a world war. It’s a good thing to know what this country stood for. Something like this shouldn’t happen again.” I learned many things from this interview. One of them is that when you’re fighting in a war, living conditions are harsh. You have to undergo hard training to be qualified to go fight in a war. Another lesson I learned, and the most important, is that my Papou is a very brave and deserves a lot of respect for what he did. All of the men that fought in WW2 deserve respect. They were willing to risk their life for peace throuout the world and for their country. The big thing that I think other people should take away from this interview is that there are many wonderful people who are willing to stand up for what they think is right. One of those people is my Papou.
 * WW2 Interview Project **