My first idea for my research report was to go to the Henry Madden Library at Fresno State. They had many books, which I got my information from. I first looked for books relating to World War II but I had found about a hundred books that had about every detailed aspect of the war. I narrowed my search to radar and took notes from the books and left the library. I wasn’t satisfied with my research so I rented a movie about the war. It took me 2 days to watch the movie because it was 7 hours long. I searched the Internet for information on radar from the World War II period. I searched some of the United States documents and found information on the bomb fuzzes that were very much like mines except only being triggered by radar instead of movement. Another site offered information about some of the German, British, and Russian radar, although my research is focused on United States radar, that was where I discovered IFF or Identification friend or foe. I recently discovered that my grandfather, Vincent Gomes, was in the war. I interviewed him and was surprised that he actually used radar to help his battles. My grandfather fought in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Guam in the Marianas. He was later injured and sent to a Hawaiian hospital and transferred to a hospital in Oakland. My grandfather was awarded a Purple Heart, after sustaining an injury from a hand grenade exploding in his face which has caused him to be blind in his left eye and deaf in his left ear, and was discharged in 1944.  My grandfather was very important to my research. After my information was acquired I began on my web site. I made my website by using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 and have several pages consisting of an index, introduction, interview, IFF (identification friend or foe), bibliography, and my process paper.

This is my grandfather's Purple Heart Certificate. He was wounded in battle on July 28, 1944, this certificate was reissued to him on September 17, 1991. *click image to enlarge*

This is my grandfather in his marine uniform. Like many people during war times, my grandfather was young when he became a marine because many armed forces recruited potential soldiers of any age. *click image to enlarge*