Bill Gosch was born December 8, 1923 in North Tonawanda, New York.  He grew up in that community outside Buffalo during the Great Depression, attending school and doing all the normal childhood activities of the time.  The attack on Pearl Harbor took place when Bill was in high school, and it would of course impact the fates of Bill’s generation.  Bill elected to join the Marines, and in short order he was off to Parris Island and San Diego for training, and then off to the south Pacific.  He began in Guadalcanal, and then moved on to Bouganville, where he dealt with the miserable jungle conditions though not yet combat.  As a replacement Marine, Bill was selected to be in Carlson’s Raiders, and he would go on to Guam and Okinawa with them, and that is where Bill’s baptism under fire would take place.  Bill carried a Browning Automatic Rifle during that time, and as such he was a key part of the fire team, engaging the Japanese on a number of occasions and overcoming fanatical resistance in what proved to be the final days of the war’s last battle.  When it was over, Bill returned to Guadalcanal, and then San Francisco and Klamath Falls, and his military career was at an end.  He returned to North Tonawanda – where he used his GI Bill benefits and a football scholarship to go to college, where he completed a degree in philosophy.  He married soon after that, going on to raise a family and build a career – all while he found his way in postwar America.  Bill Gosch was interviewed by Scott Masters at his home in North Tonawanda, New York in April 2025.