Hell of A Sight to See: A Tennessee Sailor's Journey Through World War II

It was a tumultuous time for the United States and the world. Both had endured the Great Depression and now the Second World War. Millions of young men grew up knowing poverty and working their way into manhood only to be confronted with a greater threat -- the fascist Axis powers. Still, they threw themselves into the greatest conflict in world history. One of those brave young men was Luther Edward "Junior" Talbott, from the small town of Finger, Tennessee. Since early in life, Junior had yearned for travel and a sense of adventure and experience. Prior to the outbreak of the war, he had traveled to find work in Missouri and the Texas Panhandle. Then in 1942, he volunteered to fight. Armed with a high aptitude for mathematics, he was given the opportunity to use his skills for his country. By the time he came home in 1945, he had participated in the campaigns of Normandy (D-Day), the fall of Cherbourg, France, the invasion of Southern France, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. As he would often say, it was all "a hell of a sight to see!"