During his interview, Alfred Kolkin (1918- ) discusses his life growing up in New York and trying to find a job after graduating from high school during the Depression. At the Navy Yard, Kolkin worked as a machinist in Building 128, where he made ship parts and used a horizontal boring mill to finish the surfaces on castings for ship artillery. Later, he was promoted into a managerial position. During his time at the Navy Yard, Kolkin was also an editor of a local union newspaper. Kolkin joined the army in 1944, and relates his experience on a repair ship in the Pacific at the end of WWII, where he witnessed Japan surrendering aboard the USS Missouri. During the interview, he also speaks about his various jobs after the end of WWII, working in machine shops, a tool and dye factory and a printing factory. Kolkin discusses his union involvement, and the difficulties of getting by with a family during union strikes (something that his wife also discusses during her interview). Also present during the interview was Alfred and Lucille Kolkin's daughter, Judy Kaplan. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan and Jennifer Egan.