William R. Mitchell

Birth date	Born 8-11-1912 Died -8-02-2003 just before he was going to turn 90!
Age they entered the service	31
Hometown	Mcllean, Illinois
Branch of the service	Navy
Rank	Seam 1^st class
Name of their unit	1^st- Destroyer, US Quest- Sunk, Battle Iwo Jima 2^nd -Destroyer, USS Hutchins, Disables- Returned to Portland, Organ when war was over
When they served	1945-1948
Where did you serve?	South Pacific, Around Japan
Did you enlist or were you drafted?	Enlisted. He enlisted because he was 31 years old and he and his friends were the only men in town and decided to enroll in the Navy.
How did you feel about going to war?	He wasn’t happy, but he followed his country all the way.
Did you have any family members that went to war? If so, did they survive?	His Brother George Mitchell and His Nephew. Both Survived the War.
Were you ever wounded? How and where?	He was wounded in the War. The cause of his injuries was from the Kamikaze attacks in Japan.
Did you receive any medals? Which ones?	He received a Purple Heart and one medal for every battle that he fought in.

Do you have a war story you would like to tell?	His favorite war story to tell was about the battle Iwo Jima. The story is about his being called in to Japan where they fought the Japanese. Then as they were attacking, Kamikaze jets were coming at them by the dozens. Then this is where he was injured in the war. Then he always used to talk about his purple heart.
What was your reaction when you found out the war was over?	He was sent home before the war was over because of his injury. He was very pleased to see that it was finally over. He was going to be seeing lots of his friends that he hadn’t seen in years.
What was the most frightening event of the war for you?	He had never talked to people about the war. It was very frightening to talk about it. The only people who he would talk to the war about were his family. Even then, he would never talk to anybody
What was the most cherished memory of the war for you?	The Battle of Iwo Jima. It held most in his heart. It was the one he had the most I impact on and it was the one were he was injured.
Do you have regrets about your service in World War II?	He never stated any regrets towards the war. Just the fact that he lost many friends and was injured. But he never backed down and was always behind all of his men, so he never felt any regret towards helping his family
How do you feel about America today?	Before he died he felt very happy towards his country. He was very proud of what he has done for the war and how he helped America turn out to be what it is today.
How do you feel about the war with Iraq?	He never got to see much of the war on Iraq. Of what he saw he was mad about but he knew that the we could “Take Em!”
Is there anything else you would like to add?