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Julian Plaster served from 1943-45 in the Marshall Islands as a cook and on the “burial disposal unit.”
In December of 1942, Plaster joined the Navy. When he landed overseas, he was given a pair of gloves and a shovel and was told to bury the dead.
“It was tough. The first Japanese that I picked up, he had a picture of an old woman in his hand. So I’m thinking, ‘He’s thinking of home just like the rest of us.’ “
Plaster was only nineteen at the time.
John Mercure asked Plaster where he sees the country headed in the future.
“I am very thankful I am at the age I’m at because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next ten years. I don’t think that we’re going in the right direction. I think we missed a few things. Personally, I’ve got my faith in God. And I think a lot of our young people have missed that, they don’t have that faith,” Plaster stated.
In 2010, Plaster had the opportunity to take an Honor Flight.
“I first donated to the World War II memorial thinking I’ll never get a chance to see that, and then my daughter she sent in the application and I went on the flight. It was just amazing.”
