In this episode I’m honored to be speaking with Private First Class Kenneth W. Pasch Sr. Born Dec 4, 1924, Ken grew up in LaSalle, NY during the depression and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944. He was assigned as a gunner aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hancock and served in the Pacific campaign, where he was involved in several large battles and countless smaller engagements. He served aboard the Hancock until V-J Day. After Japan’s surrender, he was briefly assigned as part of the US-led occupation force in mainland Japan. He and his shipmates then sailed back to the States where he was discharged from service and went back home to New York. Thereafter he met his wife and raised a wonderful family. We talked about his childhood, and what it was like growing up around LaSalle in the depression years. Ken relates a few stories that sharply illustrate the work ethic and mindset of younger kids in that time. He really paints a Norman Rockwell image of yesteryear. Of course, we talk at length about his time leading up to and during the war. His position as a gunner manning a 20mm as part of one of the port-side gun mounts, was uniquely perilous. The position was exposed and a gunner’s job was to bring down enemy aircraft before they could reach the ship and drop their bombs or torpedoes, or in the case of Kamikaze pilots, crash their plane into the ship. One of the stories that Ken tells is just incredible, and it seems almost providential that he’s still with us. Ken’s voice seems to speak to us from the pages of black and white images in history books, and to put a first-account human perspective on events that often feel abstract when looking back.