There’s more to war than just fighting. There’s the experience the soldiers gain by being in a new country, the knowledge soldiers gain by seeing life in a new light, and also the gratefulness the soldiers have for living after they return from it.

The thought of regret is often present in many war survivors. Would I still be alive if I had had different assignments?

Their memories may not be told everyday, but they are in the mind of those who possess them, waiting for a time to be let out.

While talking about his stay in Japan, Bill Biddick remembers exciting times. He was free to wander around without worrying about getting captured by the Japanese.

“They permitted us to go on liberty and a fast train up into Tokyo...we didn’t have to have escorts,” Biddick said.

Although the natives were civilized toward the American soldiers, he wonders whether “the Americans would have been that way if the tales had been reversed.”

He added, “It was pretty amazing that things evened out and Japan didn’t give us any problems.”

Despite the hospitality experienced during the war, several family members of his were killed in the service. “So it wasn’t all peaches and cream.”

Having so many members of his family involved in the service prompted him to go into the service as well. “You would have felt like you were skipping something.”

Upon first going into the service, he thought he was going to be a part of the landings at Normandy, but instead he got sent to Northern Africa. While there he worked in the Navy Supply Corp. doing jobs like handling the ship store, the food service, and general supplies.

Later he was transferred to an amphibious cargo ship that carried a ship called Betelgeuse in Okinawa. He had the opportunity to experience the landings in Okinawa from inside a protective ring of destroyers while there. The ships that were stationed there had the important job of supplying soldiers with any materials they needed. “During that time we were fortunate,” he said.

Japan was the last landing his battalion made during the war, so in 1945 all the soldiers were able to go home.

Starting in April of 1945, he went back to school to finish the law degree he had started before the war. His class of 30 in law school was all students who had participated in the war and like him were trying to become lawyers.

Having completed his term of duty and becoming a lawyer, Biddick looks back on his service time as a pleasant memory that will stay with him and be an enjoyable time in his life that he can continue to look back on.

While recapping his term of duty with a younger generation, he expresses his opinion about the war and the bombs that were dropped. “What’s unfortunate is that there are so many so-called innocent people who are not involved in the war…that were affected. That’s the terrible thing about it. Nuclear devices, (they don’t) select anybody but obliterate everybody.”