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This oral history with Robert and Lloydine Graham of Olympia is part of a series spotlighting World War II veterans; 2015 will mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

Robert V. Graham, Washington’s former seven-term state auditor, was a flight engineer on cargo planes during World War II. The C-54s in his squadron shuttled everything from C-rations to atomic bomb parts ever deeper into the South Pacific. Every island and atoll extracted an awful price. On flights back to California, the planes were jammed with sick, maimed and otherwise wounded men. “Our motto was ‘We always deliver the goods.’ To me, that particularly precious cargo came with a real feeling of accomplishment and an appreciation for the overall struggle we were in. I felt lucky to be alive.”

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