Podcast from the University of North Texas Music Library highlighting materials from their collections. This episode chronicles the formation of the Moonmaids vocal ensemble as the Swingtet at what was then North Texas State Teachers College, and their rise to national fame in the late 1940s with big band leader Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra. The podcast includes selections featuring the singers on WFAA radio in Dallas, at the former Camp Howze in Gainesville, TX, and live from Denton with Vaughn Monroe in 1949.

This recording is a part of the radio series “Toscanini: Centennial Series,” which was a tribute to conductor Arturo Toscanini on the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and was a subset of the radio series "Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend". The broadcasts consist of music performed by the NBC Orchestra as well as interviews with composers, conductors, orchestra members, and other people associated with Toscanini. This segment includes performances of Overture to The Barber of Seville by Giaochino Rossini, Symphony No. 5 "Reformation" by Felix Mendelssohn, and includes an interview with Dr. Dorman Winfrey.

This recording is a part of the radio series “Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend,” which was a tribute to conductor Arturo Toscanini. The broadcasts consist of music performed by the NBC Orchestra as well as interviews with composers, conductors, orchestra members, and other people associated with Toscanini. This segment includes performances and rehearsal outtakes of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6.

This recording is a part of the radio series “Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend,” which was a tribute to conductor Arturo Toscanini. The broadcasts consist of music performed by the NBC Orchestra as well as interviews with composers, conductors, orchestra members, and other people associated with Toscanini. This segment includes performances of Humperdinck's Prelude to Hansel and Gretel and Mozart's Symphony No. 35 ("Haffner").

This audio recording features an interview with Dr. Ussama Makdisi, professor of history at Rice University and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies.

Transcript of an oral interview with Dr. Glenn Ivy. Ivy was attending Texas Tech University when he was inducted into the Army in 1943. When he entered the service, Ivy trained in the Signal Corps to send and receive encoded messages. In Jaunary, 1944, Ivy was sent to India where he was flown over the Himalaya Mountains to Kunming, China. He eventually served as a message courier delivering messages between Chiang Kai-shek and the US 14th Air Force in Kunming. Ivy discusses a situation he was involved in that featured lost plans calling for an invasion of the Chinese coast. When the war ended, Ivy was sent with much Signal Corps equipment to Shanghai to set up a facility to send and receive messages from there. He then shares a few anecdotes about occupation duty in China before being called home due to an inllness suffered by his mother.

This recording is a part of the radio series “Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend,” which was a tribute to conductor Arturo Toscanini. The broadcasts consist of music performed by the NBC Orchestra as well as interviews with composers, conductors, orchestra members, and other people associated with Toscanini. This segment Features Toscanini: The Eloquent Baton.

This recording is a part of the radio series “Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend,” which was a tribute to conductor Arturo Toscanini. The broadcasts consist of music performed by the NBC Orchestra as well as interviews with composers, conductors, orchestra members, and other people associated with Toscanini. This segment includes performances of Kabalevsky's Overture to Colas Breugnon and Respighi's Pines of Rome.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with R.V. Burgin. Burgin was born in Marquez, Texas 13 August 1922 and joined the Marine Corps in March 1941. Completing boot camp, he went to Camp Elliott, California for training with 60mm mortars. He boarded the USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) and went to Melbourne, Australia. Upon arrival, he was assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Eugene B. Sledge, author of With the Old Breed, served in K/3/5 with Burgin). On 1 January 1944 he landed on Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Burgin describes repelling a number of Japanese banzai charges. Burgin also describes the invasion of Peleliu and comments on the high casualty rate. Once the island was secured his unit went to Pavuvu for rest. On 1 April 1945 he landed on Okinawa. During the battle, Burgin was wounded. After being treated at a field hospital he returned to the front lines and remained there until the island was secured.

Recording of Shah Rahim Khan discussing different festivals celebrated in Yasin. He gives his narrative in the Yasin dialect of Burushaski.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Osborn. Osborn joined the Navy in April of 1943. He completed Fireman and Steam Engine training. He served in the engine room aboard USS Hammondsport (AKV-2), transporting aircraft to the Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo and New Caledonia. Osborn later transferred to USS Harris (APA-2). He served as an Engineman aboard the landing craft, transporting troops to and from Kwajalein in February of 1944. Around May, Osborn was transferred to USS Ashland (LSD-1), participating in the Invasion of the Philippines, and the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the war, Osborn served with occupational forces in Shanghai, China. He helped organize the transportation of the Japanese back to Japan. He returned to the US and was discharged in the spring of 1946.

This recording is a part of the radio series “Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend,” which was a tribute to conductor Arturo Toscanini. The broadcasts consist of music performed by the NBC Orchestra as well as interviews with composers, conductors, orchestra members, and other people associated with Toscanini. This segment includes performances of Beethoven's Prometheus Overture and Symphony No. 7 and features an interview with music producer and conductor Arthur Austin.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Rudd. Rudd joined the Army Air Forces in October of 1942. He completed Radio School and served as a Radio Operator with the 83rd Troop Carrier Squadron, 437th Troop Carrier Group. In January of 1944, the group deployed to England. In June, during the Normandy campaign, they released gliders over Cherbourg, France and carried troops, weapons, ammunition and other supplies for the 82nd Airborne Division. In August through December, they participated in the invasion of southern France and Operation Market Garden, releasing paratroopers and gliders, and resupplied the 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium. Rudd returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard Wander. Wander joined the Army and received basic training at Camp Wheeler. He went on to Officer Candidate School and was commissioned in 1942. He then worked as a platoon leader all over the United States. He went as a replacement to the Americal Division, working beside Filipinos to capture Japanese holdouts. After the war ended, he was reassigned to the Eighth Army in Yokohama as head of military police. Wander returned home and was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Harold Garty. Garty joined the Marine Corps in July 1941, receiving basic training in San Diego. He was assigned to the antiaircraft division of the 4th Defense Battalion, stationed at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He was peeling potatoes at the mess hall when the first air raid started. Throughout the war, Garty’s battle station was loading fuse pots, and he describes in detail the teamwork involved in firing a three-inch shell. His left ear was always beside the gun when it fired, causing him tinnitus later in life. He spent time on Efate and Espiritu Santo in June 1942, building airstrips on coconut plantations by hauling felled trees with a tractor. He learned to make spirits by adding raisins to coconuts and allowing them to ferment. In New Zealand he was on MP duty, and in Guadalcanal he became a telephone lineman. There he witnessed a successful diversion of Washing Machine Charlie, with lights strung in the ocean to imitate a landing strip. Garty contracted malaria. He was sent to Camp Pendleton, where he had his wisdom teeth removed. There he reunited with a friend …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond S. Pugh. Pugh enlisted in the Navy when he was 17 in August, 1941. Pugh begins describing his career in the Navy with his activities on Tulagi. Pugh then shifts to discussing his role aboard the USS Hornet (CV-8) during the Doolittle Raid. He describes watching the pilots practicing taking off the carrier's deck in Chesapeake Bay before sailing through the Panama Canal, loading sixteen B-25s on the Hornet's deck at Alameda and rendezvousing with the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in the Pacific. Pugh recounts a story of encountering his brother at Pearl Harbor close to the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Battifarano. Battifarano enlisted in the Navy during his senior year of high school in 1943. He served for 2 years as Signalman 3rd Class aboard the USS Guitarro (SS-363). They traveled to the Panama Canal operating with a destroyer and to the South Pacific. They made 4 successful war patrols, have 15 Japanese flags on their battle flag, laid 25 mines and recorded a 95-day war patrol. He discusses life aboard a submarine and their war patrol experiences. They traveled to Taiwan, Australia, the South China Sea, Philippines, Japan and Saipan. They participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James O. Painter. Painter was born in Johnson County, Texas 21 August 1923. He quit school in 1940 and joined the Texas National Guard, being assigned to Battery B, 132nd Field Artillery, 36th Infantry Division. When the National Guard was federalized I n1940, Painter’s unit went to Camp Bowie, Texas for basic training. He then went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where he received advanced training with the 105mm howitzer. In January 1942 the division conducted maneuvers in North and South Carolina for several months. The unit left from Fort Dix aboard the SS Argentina bound for Algeria in November 1942. Upon landing, Painter trained in the use of mines and demolition. On 9 September 1943 he landed at Salerno in the third wave aboard a DUKW, which carried a 105mm Howitzer and crew. He witnessed the death of a childhood friend. He also landed at Anzio, working as a forward observer with the 142nd Infantry. On 15 August 1944 he participated in Operation Dragoon. Painter was captured by Germans in September and taken to Stalag XIIA, then to Stalag IIIC. While there a German officer offered him the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Stroppel. Stroppel joined the Navy in September of 1943. He was sent to gunnery school. He served at an ammunition depot in Hawthorne, Nevada. He describes working munitions including how he was part of a crew tasked with disarming 30 to 40 thousand primers so that the shell casings could be recycled. He was then sent to the Pacific and joined the USS New Jersey (BB-62) and worked as an ammunition handler. Stroppel describes his duties and the munitions that he worked with. He also discusses going through a typhoon and briefly mentions shelling Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Stroppel remained on the New Jersey until the 1946 when a back injury sent him to the hospital. He was discharged soon after his release.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Mooney. Mooney received his Navy wings at Pensacola, Florida in October of 1943. He went aboard the USS Ranger (CV-4) and was sent to the South Pacific as a replacement pilot. He was then sent to Guadalcanal where he performed escort missions for C-47 Air Force planes up through the Solomon Islands and Admiralties. He was sent back to Pearl Harbor to become indoctrinated in the Hellcat at the Naval Air Station at Berbers Point. In September of 1944 he was assigned to the USS Essex (CV-9). His first combat was in the Philippines, in the Rescue Combat Air Patrol. He provides details of his flying missions to attack Japanese aircraft on airfields and Japanese destroyers in Manila Harbor. He participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October of 1944. He provides details of the planes that he flew during his missions. He was discharged around the summer of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Prevninger. Prevninger was drafted into the Army in June of 1944. He was trained as a tanker and eventually became a gunner on a Stuart tank and was later transferred to a Sherman tank. Prevninger describes crossing the Rhine and advancing across Germany. He discusses how they handled German prisoners at the end of the war. Prevninger served in the occupation and was eventually discharged.

Transcript of an oral interview with J. Whitfield Moody. He discusses joining the Navy to become a pilot, going through flight school and training at various bases in the States before joining the USS Chenango (CVE-28) in February of 1945 as part of squadron VT-260 flying TBM's and TBF's. The Chenango went to Guadalcanal to join the invasion force for Okinawa, where Moody flew submarine patrols, dropped bombs on the island, other surrounding islands and on Formosa to prevent the Japanese from using airstrips there to resupply Okinawa troops or make counterattacks from there. Moody also discusses having to land on Okinawa after getting hit by shrapnel from a bomb he dropped when he was flying too close to the ground, using fuel tanks taken from the Japanese to fuel up to get back to the carrier, and getting hit by ground fire after a bombing run over one of the surrounding islands, but managing to limp the plane back to the carrier. After Okinawa, Moody returned to the states for leave before reporting for duty at the Landing Signal Officer's school in Jacksonville, Florida, and being home on leave when the Japanese surrendered.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Swartz. Swartz joined the Army Air Forces in April 1945 and received basic training at Sheppard Field. He was discharged as an aviation cadet after the war ended and embarked on a civilian career in various technologies, including television, radio, and broadcast equipment. After working as a ground radio operator for American Airlines, he enlisted in the Air Force and graduated as a pilot in September 1949. He was on patrol in Korea on 25 June 1950, when he noticed the mass evacuation of Gimpo. The next day, he began flying close air support missions, with no prior combat training, ultimately flying a total of 141 missions. In 1953 he was stationed in Greenland as part of the first operational fighter squadron north of the Arctic Circle. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was in Germany on high alert, his F-100 equipped with a nuclear weapon and assigned a target. In Vietnam, he led the first successful missions locating and destroying surface-to-air missile (SAM) bases. Swartz returned to the States as an F-100 instructor and retired in 1968.

Transcript of an oral interview with Lloyd Dane Handschy. Handschy went to high school and college with John Glenn in New Concord, Ohio. They learned to fly together. Handschy joined the Marine Corps and went to pilot training at Pensacola. When he finished there, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and continued training in single engine aircraft. When he went overseas in 1943, he was assigned to VMF-213 and they went to the Solomon Islands. He describes aerial combat versus Japanese pilots. After the war, Handschy stayed i nthe Reserves and was called back for the Korean War, where he flew observation planes spotting for artillery units. On several occasions, Mrs. Handschy provides a lot of details. Handschy recalls flying Jack Benny, the entertainer, around so Benny could see the front lines.