342 WWII Soldier Questions to Ask People (Storytelling)

Ask people these 342 WWII soldier questions for storytelling.

Researching and writing about military service and war experiences can be particularly challenging. Stories run the gamut of being very funny to very emotionally gripping. Military service stories can be about the individual who served in the military and the individuals who stayed home, such as spouses, children, extended family, and friends.

I have put together a list of writing prompts and questions to ask based on the answers I have received in interviews and information I have discovered during my research. Use these prompts and questions to help you

• Identify events and memories you can write about
• Identify individuals to include in your stories
• Organize your research strategy
• Identify who to interview and ask about information
• Know what type of information to include in the narratives and stories
• Identify memorabilia, artifacts, photos, documents to include in stories

As a companion article, how to conduct additional research to help learn more about the WWII soldier and WWII era, so you see the period through the eyes of those who lived and experienced WWII. The article is entitled

• How to Find WWII Soldier Records for Writing Narratives

WWII 1939-1945 Overview

Fought between the years 1939-1945, World War II began in September 1939 when Germany, under Adolf Hitler’s leadership, invaded Poland. Britain and France responded by declaring War on Germany. German expanded its aggression in 1940 by attacking Denmark, Norway, followed by Belgium, Netherlands, and France on the ground and Britain through an air war. The United States joined the War on December 7, 1941, with Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By the end of 1941, the Soviet Union joined the War on Britain’s side, and the United States with Germany invaded Russia.

The primary players in World War II were the Axis nations (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and smaller allies and the Allied nations led by Britain (and its Commonwealth nations), the Soviet Socialists Republics the United States.

The United States and allied forces were engaged in combat against Japan in the Pacific and Germany/Italy in Northern Africa and Europe. In June of 1944 United States was part of the Normandy Invasion (D-day) in German-occupied France. The German Army was forced to retreat from the West and the East by Russia. Germany surrounded in May 1945. Japan was surrounded in August 1945.

During the War, over 50 million service personnel and civilians were killed. The nations suffering the most loss were as follows:

1. USSR 42,000,000
2. Germany 9,000,000
3. China 4,000,000
4. Japan 3,000,000

The profile of U.S. service members during World War II are as follows:

• 38.8% (6,332,000) of U.S. service members and all servicewomen were volunteers
• 61.2% (11,535,000) were draftees
• The average duration of service: 33 months
• Overseas service: 73% served overseas, with an average of 16 months abroad
• Combat survivability (out of 1,000): 8.6 were killed in action, three died from other causes, and 17.7 received non-fatal combat wounds
• Non-combat jobs: 38.8% of enlisted personnel had rear echelon assignments—administrative, support, or manual labor
• 407,316 servicemen were killed, with 671,278 wounded

WWII Soldier Questions and Prompts

The writing prompts and questions to ask about WWII Military Service are part of a 28 article, 108 category series entitled “7,500-plus Questions About Life to Ask People When Writing Narratives.”  The prompts and questions are provided to help you look at WWI military service from as many angles as possible. Two categories have been prepared.

• WWII Soldier Narrative (1939-1945). Find 222 writing prompts and questions to ask about a person who joined the military during WWII. They include questions about the branch of service, training, activities, memories, injuries, associations with people who stayed home (e.g., spouse, children, friends, family) coming home, life after War, perceptions, memorabilia, events.

• Non-Soldier Narrative (1939-1945). Find 120 writing prompts and questions to ask about a person who stayed home and did not join the military service during WWI. They include questions about life at home, associations with people in the military, activities, memories, associations at home (e.g., spouse, children, friends, family), work, end of War, community, perceptions, memorabilia, events.

Approach each topic from the point of view of the person/lives you are writing about. You don’t have to ask every question. Review the questions and determine which ones are most appropriate to ask. I would encourage you to modify and add questions as you desire.

I have prepared a couple of other resources that will provide value in interviewing for and writing individual, personal, and family narratives: “Complete Guide for Conducting Oral History Interviews” and “Complete Guide to Writing A Personal Narrative.”

WWII Soldier Narrative 

Use the following prompts and questions to gather and organize information to help you write a WWII soldier narrative about yourself, your family, and others. If you are writing about a deceased person, think of the questions as if you were the person answering the questions.

Introduction for WWII Soldier Narrative

1. Before we get started, I would like to ask you a few personal questions.
2. Please state your full name. Please spell.
3. Who are your parents?
4. What was the year and place of your birth?
5. Who are your siblings (e.g., brothers/sisters)?
6. Where did you grow up?
7. What was your family background?
8. What is your educational background?
9. What is your current occupation?
10. What is your current address?
11. What did you do in the time between the end of high school and entering the service?

Enlistment and Training for WWII Soldier Narrative

In this section, you will be discussing the beginning of the military experience, which lays the foundation for the most important section-Active Duty Experiences. If this section begins to drag, move to the next section. Come back to these questions at the end of the interview or another interview session.

12. Which branch of the armed forces did you serve in?
13. Were you drafted, or did you enlist?
    • What did you think about the draft?
    • Do you remember the date? (Month/Day/Year)
    • How old were you?
    • Did your friends also join the service?
    • If drafted, what did you think of the service they assigned you?
    • What do you remember about the day you went into the recruitment office? Were there many other people? What did they have you all do?
14. How did you feel about the War? Were you in favor or against the War?
15. How did you feel about being in the military?
16. What was your final rank in the military?
17. What was it like to know that you were a part of the armed forces?
18. What was it like saying goodbye to your family before you shipped off?
19. Where were you sent for induction?
    • What did you do while you were there?
    • What do you remember seeing at the time time of induction?
20. Where were you sent for training, and what you did at each place?
21. Describe basic training.
    • Describe what a typical day like during your basic training?
22. Who was your commanding officer?
23. Who were your peers?
24. Where and for how long were you trained?
    • What did you do?
25. Do you remember any of the other soldiers that you trained with at any of the bases?
    • Did you make friends while in basic training? Describe who they were.
    • Did you have trouble getting along with anyone in your unit? Why? What became of it? How did you deal with it?
26. Did you have a nickname for the service?
27. What were the memorable nicknames of others?
28. How did you feel about sharing your space with others?
    • Did it feel cramped at first?
    • Was it easy to get used to?
29. Can you describe your military life, including the physical regimen, barracks, food and social life?
30. Do you have any memories that you would like to share?
    • Describe specific people or places.
    • A certain event?
31. Did you feel as if you were well-prepared for your military duties?
    • Were you exceptionally skilled at one particular task?
    • Did it become a “specialty”?
    • Did it turn out that you were prepared?
    • Did you receive any specialized training? If so, what and where? Did you already have any specialized skills or training that helped you get your job?
32. Can you remember and describe which weapons you were trained to use?
    • Can you describe how you felt about using weapons?
    • Were you comfortable with one in particular?
    • What weapon(s) did you qualify on during basic training? (For example, M1903 rifle, M1 rifle, Carbine rifle.
    • What qualification level did you achieve?
33. What did basic training do for your self-confidence?
34. Do you remember any of your drill sergeants?
    • If so, what were they like?
35. Do you recall any of your instructors?
    • If so, what were they like?
36. What type of propaganda were you shown as a soldier?
37. While at training camps, what would you all do for recreation and free time?
38. Did you encounter segregation?
    • What do you recall about it?
39. Did you ever encounter Anti-Semitism?
40. Where were you stationed after basic training?
    • What were the people and the surrounding areas like?
    • How long were you there?
41. How did you keep in touch with friends and family during your training?

Active Duty Experiences for WWII Soldier Narrative

The focus of this section captures the experiences of the veterans’ active duty. This is the central part of the military experience. You have access to veterans’ experience in the service and combat, someone who was there. You will be talking about missions, battles and retracing steps. You will define what was seen and what happened. Essentially, you will be retracing the same scenes, noises and smells, even horrors endured. Some of the parts you review may be very difficult to share. Reassure the person that these are essential parts for others to hear and understand just how life in the military and war are. These experiences recant the sacrifices that have been for those that follow in later generations.

42. Can you remember which military units you were a part of? For example
    • Army: Corps, Division, Regiment/Brigade, Battalion, Company, Platoon, Squad, Fireteam
    • Navy: Fleet, Battle Fleet, Task Group, Task Unit, Flotilla, Task Element
    • Air Corps: Air Division, Wing, Bomb Group, Squadron, Flight
    • Marine Corp: Divisions, Regiments, Battalions, Companies, Platoons, Squads, Fireteams
43. What was your role in that unit?
    • For example, Rifleman, Machine Gunner, Pilot, Bombardier, Quartermaster, Tank Commander.
    • Explain what the duties of the role were.
44. What happened in the time between finishing your training and being shipped overseas?
45. Did you serve overseas? If yes, where For example
    • European Theater of Operations (ETO)
    • Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO)
    • Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO)
    • China Burma India Theater (CBI)
46. When did you get shipped overseas?
    • What was your port of embarkation for deployment?
    • How did you get to the war zone?
    • Tell me about that experience you had during travel.
    • When and where did you arrive?
    • How long did it take?
    • What do you remember seeing?
47. What type of equipment and uniform were you issued before you were deployed into the combat zone?
48. What were your orders?
49. Where you an enlisted soldier or an officer? If you were an officer,
    • Describe your responsibilities?
    • Did anyone serve under you? How many? What do you remember about them?
    • Were you involved in planning for any battles?
50. Did you serve in combat?
    • How did you feel?
    • Was there something special you did for “good luck”?
51. Do you serve in a support role?
    • Describe the role.
    • Did you feel pressure or stress
52. Describe your military experiences in terms of most…
    • Interesting experiences?
    • Exhausting experiences?
    • Harrowing experiences?
    • Frightening experiences?
    • Feeling alone or detached from others?
    • Pressure or stress?
    • Exciting experiences?
    • Unusual experiences?
    • Humorous experiences? What were some of the pranks that you or others would pull?
    • Memorable experiences?
53. Do you remember the key battles you were a part of? For example, the Battle of the Bulge
    • Describe the time, place, number of participants, and what happened.
    • How did these battles affect the War as a whole?
    • Are you willing to share the role you played in each battle?
54. Did you ever meet any POWs?
    • Describe the experience?
55. Were you ever a POW?
    • When and where were you taken, prisoner?
    • Where were you taken?
    • How were you treated?
    • What the food and living conditions like as a POW?
    • Do you remember any of the other prisoners? Explain.
    • Describe the best and worst experiences?
    • When were you free, and what was it like?
    • What else do you remember about the experience?
56. During the War, what do you remember seeing? Describe the impressive
    • Weapons used by the Allied forces?
    • Weapons used by the Enemy?
    • Places you experienced?
57. How would you describe your morale?
    • What was the overall morale of your comrades?
58. Did you witness any racial discrimination within your platoon?
59. How did the members of your platoon regard the Enemy (e.g., Germans, Japanese, Italians)?
60.  As a soldier, what was it like for living conditions, food, sleep, and more?
61. What were living conditions like for civilians?
62. Did you become close friends with any of those you fought with?
    • Did they keep in touch?
    • Did you save any of their lives?
    • Did they save yours?
63. Did you ever need to take someone’s life?
    • Briefly describe the experience.
    • How did it affect you both immediately and in the long term?
64. Were you injured or wounded in any way?
    • Describe what happened.
    • What went through your mind when you realized you were hurt?
    • If you were injured, did you heal quickly or not?
    • How did it change you in ways that you still noticed years later?
65.  How did soldiers entertain themselves?
66. Were there entertainers such as the USO show?
67. What did you do when on leave?
68. Would you write often home?
    • To whom?
    • What kind of things would you write about?
    • Did you receive letters? From whom?
69. What did you think of your commanding officers or fellow soldiers?
70. If you were injured, did you heal quickly or not?
    • Did you return home because of the injury?
    • Did you go back to fight?
71. Where were you when the War ended?
    • Describe the experience.
72. Where you married during the War?
    • To whom?
    • Explain the experience surrounding your dating and marriage?
    • Did you have children?
73. How did it change you in ways that you noticed years later?

After the Service for WWII Soldier Narrative

At this point, you are winding down the military experience. You are focusing on what it was like after active duty, postwar life and readjusting to civilian life and society.

74. How did you feel when your tour of duty was over?
75. What was your highest rank went you left the military?
76. Why did you leave the military?
    • Honorable discharge?
    • Injury?
    • End of active duty?
77. Describe the circumstances and how you felt about them.
78. How and when did you return home?
    • What was the first thing you remember doing?
    • What was the experience like coming home?
    • What was it like seeing your family for the first time?
79. When you returned home, how did family, friends and the community receive you?
80. Did you use the GI Bill?
81. Were you able to return to “normal functioning”?
    • Were you able to leave the War behind? Explain.
    • When you returned home, was it hard to adjust? Explain.
    • Was there someone or something helpful in getting you through the adjustment of returning home? What was their role?
    • What did they do?
82. Have you ever joined a veterans group?
83. After all, was said and done, what did you learn from your experiences in the military?
    • What lessons do you take away from experience?
    • How did they change your and your ideas or values?
    • How would you have been different if you had never had these experiences?
84. What are your thoughts about those who died during the War?
85. What message and life advice would you like to leave for future generations?
    • What wisdom would you like to impart to me, children, and grandchildren?
86. Is there anything we should have discussed but did not?

The Sentiment of the Times for WWII Soldier Narrative

87. What do you recall about….
    • Europe concerning the Nazi regime.
    • Battle of Britain.
    • Japan and its invasion of China.
88. Where were you when you found out about Pearl Harbor?
    • What did you feel?
    • What do you recall about the U.S. in the days following Pearl Harbor?
    • Do you remember hearing FDR’s declaration of war address on December 8, 1941?
89. What kind of feelings do you recall about the sentiments people held towards the Germans and Japanese after Pearl Harbor?
    • How did you feel about the atomic bomb?

Artifacts and Memorabilia for WWII Soldier Narrative

90. Did you keep a personal diary?
91. Did you record your memoirs on tape or in print?
92. Did you save any letters you might have written or received?
93. What sort of memorabilia did you save from this time? What did it symbolize to you? What memories and feelings did it bring back? What kind of memorabilia did you keep from this time? What did it represent to you? For example, are there
    • Military records and artifacts
    • Photographs
    • Writings
    • Scrapbooks and momentous
    • Journals, written and oral family histories
    • Newspapers
    • Death event records

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WWII Non-Soldier Narrative 

Use the prompts and questions to gather and organize information to help you write WWII non-soldier narratives about yourself, your family, and others. If you are writing about a deceased person, think of the questions as if you were the person answering the questions.

Introduction for WWII Non- Soldier Narrative

1. Would I like to ask you a few personal questions to get started?
2. What is your full name? Please spell.
3. What was your maiden name? Please spell.
4. Who were your parents?
5. When and where were you born?
6. Who are your siblings (e.g., brothers/sisters)?
7. Where did you grow up?
8. At the time of the War, were you in a relationship, married, or single?
9. What were your spouse’s or partner’s name and wartime occupation?

Life During War for WWII Non- Soldier Narrative

10. Why did you stay home during this period?
11. Were you not called up, or was your tour of duty shorter than the War’s duration?
    • Were you too young or too old?
    • Did you wish that you could have gone?
    • What was it like at home?
12. What were some of the first changes in your life after the War started?
13. What different responsibilities did you have to take on?
14. What type of social activities did you participate in at work and after work with coworkers?
15. How did you have fun yourself outside of work?
16. Did you or others get married during wartime?
    • What were weddings like?
    • What was it like to date, get married, and be married during the War?
17. What type of sacrifices did you make during the War? Explain
18. What do you remember about the sacrifices the country made for the war effort? For example,
    • Rationing
    • Buying bonds
    • Recycling of rubber, grease, or other commodities
    • Other experiences you remember
19. What was your main wartime activity?
20. Did any friends or family fight in the War?
    • How did you feel when they left?
    • Were you scared?
21. During the War, what were your most…
    • Interesting experiences?
    • Exhausting experiences?
    • Harrowing experiences?
    • Frightening experiences?
    • Feeling alone or detached from others?
    • Pressure or stress?
    • Exiting experiences?
    • Unusual experiences?
    • Humorous experiences? What were some of the pranks that you or others would pull?
    • Memorable experiences?
22. Were you treated differently because of your gender/ethnicity/race or other factors?
    • If so, how did you or others react?
23. Describe your physical and mental health during the War?
24. How did you keep in touch with family and friends who were away during this time?
25. How did your community respond to the War and civil defense?
26. Did child care activities change for mothers?
27. What was victory garden? Did you have one?
28. How did you cope with wartime shortages?
29. What do you remember about war news from newsreels?
30. Was there a lack of social opportunities and friends because of the War?
31. Did you save any letters you wrote or received?
32. Did any friends or family die because of the War?
    • Who?
    • How did they die?
    • When and how did they find out about their death?
33. During the war years, many women and minorities took jobs that they couldn’t get previously.
    • Did you notice these changes?
    • What did you think of them?
34. When did the war end for you? Where were you on V-J Day? V-E Day?
    • Was it when the end was declared for Europe?
    • Was it when the end was declared for Japan?
    • Or perhaps it was when a loved one came home. Describe that day.
35. What was it like when your friends and family finally came home?
    • Had they changed in ways you didn’t expect?
    • Had did you change in ways they didn’t expect?
    • Was it hard to adjust to them when they came home?
    • What was easiest?
    • Did it take a long time for life to return to normal?
    • Did it ever?

Work during War for WWII Non- Soldier Narrative

36. What did you do at home to help the war effort?
37. Where did you live/work during the War?
38. Were you employed outside the home?
39. In what industry?
40. Why did you choose that activity?
41. What kind of training were you given for work?
42. What was your title?
43. What kind of activities did you perform?
44. Who was your supervisor?
45. What kind of work did you do?
46. What did you like and dislike about it?
47. What special rules or conventions did you have to follow?
49. If you had children, did you have child care at work?
    • If not, what arrangements did you make?
50. Was your work unionized? Explain.
51. Were you an organizer?
52. How did you feel about the unions?
53. Did you develop friendships during training or the activity itself?
54. Did you have family and friends in the service or doing War work?
55. Did you keep your job or continue other wartime activities after the War?

The Sentiment of the Times for WWII Non- Soldier Narrative

56. What do you recall about….
    • Europe concerning the Nazi regime.
    • Battle of Britain.
    • Japan and its invasion of China.
57. Where were you when you found out about Pearl Harbor?
    • What did you feel?
    • What do you recall about the U.S. in the days following Pearl Harbor?
    • Do you remember hearing FDR’s declaration of war address on December 8, 1941?
58. What do you recall about the sentiments people held towards the Germans and Japanese after Pearl Harbor?
    • How did you feel about the atomic bomb?

Artifacts and Memorabilia for WWII Non- Soldier Narrative

59. Did you keep a personal diary?
60. Did you record your memoirs on tape or in print?
61. Did you save any letters you might have written or received?
62. What sort of memorabilia did you save from this time? What did it symbolize to you? What memories and feelings did it bring back? What kind of memorabilia did you keep from this time? What did it represent to you? For example, are there
    • Military records and artifacts
    • Photographs
    • Writings
    • Scrapbooks and momentous
    • Journals, written and oral family histories
    • Newspapers
    • Death event records

Closing Thoughts for WWII Non- Soldier Narrative

63. Is there one thought about your wartime experience that you want to share with future generations?
64. What was important for you about these lessons? How did they change you and your ideas or values?
65. What sort of memorabilia did you save from this time? What did it symbolize to you?
66. Is there anything else I should ask you?
67. Is there anything that you would like to add to this subject?

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