I will never forget the intense torrent of blood quickly leaving the veins of my body; my heart pumping inside my chest, while chaos won’t come to a halt around my head. I can’t hear anything from the nonstop gunfire, and visibility is lost due to white and red airplanes blotting the light out from the bright blue sky. All the confusion and commotion makes my head throb more and more every time I blink. While trying to observe this warfare, my eyes begin to get heavier, and my body starts to feel as cold as ice. Next thing I know, my eyes have a difficult time adjusting to the lights rapidly flashing past me. Bright white fluorescent lights of a hospital blinds me as doctors race me through the halls. Briefly all I see is white, then quickly my vision is consumed by pure darkness as I pass out. 

Footsteps approach as I lay restless in bed with my girlfriend. Momentarily, the white bedroom door creaks open; it’s just our dog searching the house for food and attention. I then carefully stretch myself out from under my girlfriend’s head, then quickly grab the clock so she isn’t woken up. It’s currently six o’clock in the morning, on a saturday. Today is the 21st of November, and the year is 1941. I currently live in Cleveland, Ohio, and my name is James Brown. I just turned 24 years old back in September, and my girlfriend, Margaret, is 23. Today is the last day I will see her face for a while, because three weeks ago I was drafted into the Navy. 

I pack my bags and head out the door, and a giant wave of sadness shadows over me when I glance back at Margaret, while tears quickly stroll down her face. I lift up my right hand and wave for my final goodbye, then I get inside my silver truck, and drive away. The shadow of sadness grows larger and darker as I drive farther away from my home, but I continue to just drive. At this point, I honestly feel scared. The thought of fighting and possibly becoming part of a brutal war just terrified me to the point of no return. Even though I felt this way, I was kind of proud of myself for actually building up the confidence to do this for my country. Sometimes I felt obligated to serve in the U.S military, I would believe that I could actually make a difference, and I am proud of that attitude. I then take my last glimpse of my hometown before I reach the recruiting station located in southern Ohio. The dark clouds towering over me feel like an overwhelming shadow of fear and uncertainty.

I have never experienced a more confusing area for people to move around, giant herds of people were in lines and crowds just grouped in this large area, which seemed like a warehouse. Looking at the building from the outside, you would never guess how massive it actually is on the inside. As I stepped inside, there were people holding up signs with people’s names on them, I scanned the group of people and surprisingly found my name relatively quick. The person holding up the sign with my name on it was a very tall and tan man. I walked up to him, and as I got closer I started to notice he had darker hair poking out of his hat, and I saw a tattoo on his right wrist emerge as he reached out to shake my hand. He said that his name was Richard Gates, and that he was my recruiting agent, and also the recruit drill sergeant. Richard explained that we will be stationed on the USS Pennsylvania, where all of our knowledge of the Navy and basic training will take place. Richard seemed to be in his mid-to-late thirties, and I had the feeling that he’s seen some rough times during the war because his words were very quiet, which is very surprising, especially for a drill sergeant. 

All the newest recruits for the Navy were then gathered up in a large room with a very high ceiling, everyone on entry was told to sit down and be quiet, so the room remained in a very awkward silence for about fifteen minutes; until Sergeant Gates walked through the door. As I said, the room was very large, and packed with people, and I didn’t expect the entire crowd of recruits to hear what Gates had to announce. I was very wrong for underestimating the raw strength of the sergeant’s voice, almost everyone was caught off guard from what came out of this man's lungs. He loudly shouted, “Everyone will get assigned a station, this is where all of your clothing and dorm situations will be held. To locate these areas, this is a map of the ship under all of your seats.” The recruits including myself looked underneath the chairs and picked up the hardcover maps, which appeared to be more like asmaller book. Gates again shouted, “Locate the corresponding station that matches up with your initials, and then find that station on the map.” I found my station, and then we were all dismissed into lines which then piled onto the boat. 

The giant carrier was about seven stories tall which stretched about two hundred and fifty yards long. It was a massive towering ship, the height of the boat blotted out the sunshine and it became completely dark as I stepped onto the ship. Considering the shadow has dissipated away from my mind the darker it becomes, butterflies arise inside of my chest. They almost create a sick feeling in my stomach, which lowers my positivity levels. As I keep walking, a slight amount of light is poking out underneath the bottom of the door. I shove the door, then everything within my vision turns blindingly white.