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Don Swaim Interviews

James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, and WWII, talks with Don Swaim about his experiences in the second world war and the books he wrote about the war. He writes about the evolution of a soldier from listening to a drill sergeant to the first experience of combat. He says the best soldiers saw themselves as dead men.

At first, James Jones felt military life was like a school vacation, but that feeling didn't last long. Jones saw the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and later fought in the long battle of Guadalcanal. James Jones talks about being wounded in war and how the respect of other soldiers meant so much to him and other soldiers.

Jones discusses the effects of social class in warfare, and shares his thoughts about the similarities and differences in the American and Japanese soldiers in this 1975 interview.

Listen to the James Jones interview with Don Swaim, September 17, 1975
(30 min. 18 sec.)

MP3 File

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