"It sounded like they were celebrating Hirohito's birthday. I had two machine guns firing at me [and] rifle fire. This is the one time I thought I was dead." (Video Interview, 13:49)

Kenneth W. Stein

Kenneth Stein [2004] War: World War II, 1939-1946; Korean War, 1950-1955 Branch: Army Unit: Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Battalions Service Location: China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater Highest Rank: Captain Place of Birth: Milwaukee, WI

For a man who was initially reluctant to serve in World War II-he had a wife and young child when the U.S. entered the conflict-Kenneth Stein wound up with as perilous an assignment as possible. Work for the newly formed OSS attracted him, and he was assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater, where he allied with native guerrillas and commandos to harass the Japanese. By war's end, he had, in his words, contracted "every type of dysentery known to man" as well as malaria, but he had also gained the satisfaction of taking the fight directly to the enemy