The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Tremaine. Tremaine was born in Detroit, Michigan 30 May 1914. Following his graduation from Stanford University in 1936 he went to work for United Press. Following assignments in various cities he was transferred to Honolulu as the local bureau manager in 1940. He interviewed General Walter Short in November 1941 about the defense of Oahu in the event of attack by Japanese forces. Tremaine recalls witnessing the attack on Pearl Harbor and dictating messages for transmission to the United Press office in San Francisco telling of the Japanese attack. He remarks on the chaotic conditions in downtown Honolulu and of dud American anti-aircraft shells falling throughout the island. He also mentions police and military authorities rounding up Japanese Americans to be sent to internment camps. He eventually relocated to Admiral William H. Halsey’s headquarters at Noumea, New Caledonia, where he covered the war. He also covered the war from Admiral Nimitz’s headquarters on Guam. He was unable to report on the conflict on Saipan between Marine General Holland Smith and Army General Ralph C. Smith due to censorship restrictions. H report on the experiences of Ensign George …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Bumgarner. He discusses his childhood and education and what led him to join the US Army. He describes his experiences as a doctor during World War Two and how he was captured and lived in a Japanese POW camp.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Norman Riggsby. Riggsby was drafted into the Army in October of 1943. He served as a bugler at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. In January of 1944, he was deployed to Scotland, then England, and assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, 175th Infantry Regiment. Riggsby trained on the anti-aircraft guns. He participated in the invasion of Normandy, landing at Omaha Beach. He describes the events and combat of this day, and how he got wounded. In July, Riggsby and his division participated in the Battle of St. Lô, where he was struck by a German Tiger tank shell, spending several weeks in a coma. He woke up back in England. He earned two Purple Hearts. In late 1945, Riggsby was assigned to the 759th Military Police Battalion in France. He served during the Nuremberg Trials and left Berlin in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George McColm. McColm was born on a farm in Kansas in 1911. In 1928, he was selected to go to Washington, DC where he met President Herbert Hoover and his wife. Graduating from Kansas State College in Manhattan in 1935 he began studying terrain, weather and demand in crop growing. He tells of recognition and honors he received in the agricultural field. Soon after the war with Japan began, he was offered a commission in the US Navy to participate in a special classified project. At the time, he was in charge of crops at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. McColm shares many of his experiences with the Japanese internees and expresses his opinion of the people he worked with. Upon being inducted, he went to Tucson, Arizona for boot training and then to Princeton University Naval School of Military Government. Upon completion of the training he was sent to the Civil Affairs staging area at the Presidio of Monterey, California. Upon his arrival he was assigned to a Top Secret staff working on the plans for the invasion and occupation of Japan. He concludes the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lewis Walker. Walker was commissioned in January of 1942 from the Midshipman School at Northwestern University in Chicago. He served a total of 4 years with the Small Ship Navy. He describes how these small ships, including submarine chasers and patrol craft served the war effort. In the Pacific, Walker commanded the USS SC-1272, and he describes its function, equipment and participation in the war. They traveled to Iwo Jima, Leyte, Okinawa, the Philippines, Saipan and Pearl Harbor. He describes a number of their missions, including dodging attacks from torpedoes and airplanes, and escorting a group of damaged ships from Okinawa to Saipan. They were the first American ship to enter Nakagusuku Bay searching for midget submarines. He describes their maneuvers during a typhoon. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Philip and Mary Elizabeth Wales. Wales graduated from medical school in 1943. He was stationed at Ulithi and had some interaction with the island natives. When the war ended, Wales accepted his discharge and began practicing medicine in San Antonio. Mrs. Wales joined the Army Nurse Corps, graduated as a nurse and went to work in Galveston. They met after the war and married.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Norman Riggsby. Riggsby was drafted into the Army in October of 1943. He served as a bugler at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. In January of 1944, he was deployed to Scotland, then England, and assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, 175th Infantry Regiment. Riggsby trained on the anti-aircraft guns. He participated in the invasion of Normandy, landing at Omaha Beach. He describes the events and combat of this day, and how he got wounded. In July, Riggsby and his division participated in the Battle of St. Lô, where he was struck by a German Tiger tank shell, spending several weeks in a coma. He woke up back in England. He earned two Purple Hearts. In late 1945, Riggsby was assigned to the 759th Military Police Battalion in France. He served during the Nuremberg Trials and left Berlin in 1946.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Philip and Mary Elizabeth Wales. Wales graduated from medical school in 1943. He was stationed at Ulithi and had some interaction with the island natives. When the war ended, Wales accepted his discharge and began practicing medicine in San Antonio. Mrs. Wales joined the Army Nurse Corps, graduated as a nurse and went to work in Galveston. They met after the war and married.

Transcript of an oral interview with Jack M. DeLong. Born in 1924, he joined the Army Air Corps in June, 1943. He describes basic training and living conditions at Amarillo Army Airfield, Texas. He learned Morse code in radio school at Camp Kohler, California. He describes being transported to Europe aboard the L. D. France in 1944. He was a radio operator with the 879th Signal Battalion in England. He describes his living accommodations in Salisbury and night bombing in Ipswich. He left England bound for Japan aboard the Queen Elizabeth as the war ended. The ship was rerouted to the New York. He was discharged in February, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Clinton Jennings. Jennings joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. He joined the Army in the spring of 1941. He completed training on the Island of Corregidor and served as Battery Clerk with the 59th Coast Artillery, K Battery. He describes how his unit responded to the attack on the Philippines in December of 1941, enduring bombings and raids by Japanese fighter planes. Jennings and his unit surrendered on 6 May 1942, and were taken to the 92nd Garage for sea planes, and then on to the Bilibid Prison. They traveled by French cattle cars on the railway to a prison camp called Bongabon, northeast of Cabanatuan. He remained there for several months, then moved to Cabanatuan prison camp for two and a half years, helping bury the dead, setting up a small hospital and planting a farm. Jennings shares vivid details of life in the camps, his work, their living and food accommodations, illnesses amongst the prisoners and interactions with the guards. In 1944 he was transported to Japan where he worked in a coal mine. He was rescued in September of 1945 and returned to the US.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Walter Varnum. Varnum joined the Navy in May, 1943 and was trained at Farragut, Idaho. After that, he went to the University of Illinois for diesel engine training. From there, Varnum headed for Little Creek, Virginia to amphibious training as a diesel engineer. He was assigned to an LCVP that had rocket attachments on the side and describes his trip across the Atlantic aboard an LST to Scotland, arriving in March 1944. Then they went to Portsmouth to train for the Normandy invasion. In England, Varnum was transferred to a different boat that relayed messages between ships. He travelled across the English Channel to Normandy aboard her. His boat was tied up to the USS Ancon (AGC-4) and he stayed aboard the Ancon until time to perform his message traffic duties. During the invasion of Southern France Varnum was back aboard a rocket boat. His sank. He returned to the US and was assigned to UST LST-1049 at Pittsburgh. He rode it down river to the Gulf of Mexico and took it to San Diego. Once in the Pacific, Varnum went to the Mariana Islands, the Philippines and …