[Historic Marker Application: Pioneer Memorial Log House] (open access)

[Historic Marker Application: Pioneer Memorial Log House]

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Pioneer Memorial Log House, in Houston, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, narrative, and photographs.
Date: March 19, 1998
Creator: Texas Historical Commission
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Joseph M. McDonough, March 27, 1998 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Joseph M. McDonough, March 27, 1998

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph M. McDonough. He discusses his childhood growing up during the Great Depression, and what led him to join the Us Navy in 1943. He describes his experiences in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two.
Date: March 27, 1998
Creator: McDonough, Joseph M. & Mar, Caroline
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Donald Witmer, March 7, 1998 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Donald Witmer, March 7, 1998

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald R. Witmer where he discusses his early life, enlisting in the Navy and going through bootcamp. Witmer describes his experiences as a torpedo man in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two.
Date: March 7, 1998
Creator: Witmer, Donald R. & Naczi, Robert F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Raymond F. "Hap" Halloran, March 15, 1998 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Raymond F. "Hap" Halloran, March 15, 1998

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond F. "Hap" Halloran. Halloran grew up in Ohio and admits an early fascination with airplanes that led him into the Army Air Corps after he finished high school in 1940. By the end of 1942, Halloran had been called up for service in the Air Corps and trained asa navigator. He also volunteered for bombadier school. Halloran also speaks of training in B-29 bombers. In December, 1944, Halloran and his crew received orders to go overseas to Saipan. Halloran also speaks of his post-war friendship with Japanese fighter ace Saburo Sakai. Halloran also describes being shot down over Japan in early 1945 and bailing out of his crippled B-29. Halloran came down in a parachute, landed in Tokyo and was captured. He suffered a sever ebeating by the civilians before military personnel got to him. Halloran then describes his long captivity as a POW. He also describes witnessing the fire bombing of Tokyo on the night of 9-10 March 1945. Halloran also recalls being stripped naked and put in an animal cage. Then, Japanese citizens were allowed to view him in his cage for a day or …
Date: March 15, 1998
Creator: Halloran, Raymond F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Historic Marker Application: Water District Building] (open access)

[Historic Marker Application: Water District Building]

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Water District Building, in San Benito, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, maps, and photographs.
Date: March 11, 1998
Creator: Texas Historical Commission
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Vernon Hanks, March 7, 1998 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Vernon Hanks, March 7, 1998

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Chaplain Vernon Hanks. Hanks was born in Sterling, Kansas on 21 November 1908. He joined the National Guard doing drills with horse-drawn caissons and French 75s while attending Sterling College in Kansas. He graduated in 1931 and then attended the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, graduating in 1940 with a Master of Theology. Hanks joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor and received orders for Naval Chaplains School (NCS), Norfolk, Virginia, in August 1942. He was stationed at MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina where he remembers counseling a distraught young Marine pilot who had been shot down during the Battle of Midway. Shortly afterward he was assigned to Bunker Hill Naval Air Station where he counseled Marines and Navy personnel. He facilitated a free circus performance at Christmastime. On 5 June 1943 he was assigned to the USS Wright (AV-1), a seaplane tender, for duty in the South Pacific. Hanks was on the Wright at Bougainville, the Admiralties and during the Battle for Leyte Gulf. In February 1945, USS Wright was renamed USS San Clemente (AG-79) and served as communications center for the 7th Fleet. Hanks returned …
Date: March 7, 1998
Creator: Hanks, Vernon
System: The Portal to Texas History