Served February 13, 1945 - November 21, 1946

Interview with Thelma and Kelly Mellor, wife and son of Donald Max Mellor.

On February 13th, 1945, Donald Max Mellor left for Fort Douglas, Utah.  Then he left for his basic training at Camp Wolters near Ft. Worth Texas. While he was there he got pneumonia and was put in the hospital for three weeks. He went to four months of training. He stayed in basic training until the end of June. Then he got a leave for a two weeks. After his leave he got on a train and left for Oakland. When they got to Oakland, California, they were put on an LST. Then they started toward Pearl Harbor. Once they got to Pearl Harbor they stopped long enough to refuel. Then they were on their way to the Philippines. They got to the Philippines on August 27, 1945, after Japan had surrendered.  Then they headed to Japan. 

When he was in Japan he was deployed at the Military Government Regional headquarters in Shikoku. He was deployed as an Office Clerk. While he was in World War II he got four medals. They were the Army Occupation Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.  Donald Max spent two years in the Army.  One of the things he remembered the most was the poverty and starvation of the people. One of the things the occupying force did while they were in Japan was to gather all of the weapons and the narcotics and throw them out into the ocean.

While they were in Japan they would go to movies and go site seeing for fun.

On September 25, 1946 they left Japan and went back to Oakland, California. They arrived there on October 8, 1946. They were checked for any diseases. They would be discharged if they had no diseases. Donald Max was discharged on November 21, 1946 at Camp Beale in California.