The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Russell Pitzer. Pitzer was drafted into the Marine Corps in August 1944. In 1945 he traveled aboard USS Iowa (BB-61), fighting in the Battle of Okinawa and participating in the bombardment of Tokyo Bay and Japanese islands. Upon the Japanese surrender, Pitzer was assigned as a bodyguard to Admiral Chester Nimitz, and accompanied the admiral on a post-surrender tour of Japan that included Hiroshima. After the war, he returned home to West Virginia.