The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Porter. Porter was born in Woburn, Massachusetts 1 May 1916. After graduating from high school he worked on his father’s farm until 1940, when he enlisted in the Army. After basic training at Camp Edwards, Mississippi for thirteen weeks he took part in maneuvers in South Carolina. On 16 January 1941 he boarded a troop ship in New York City bound for Australia. Upon arrival in Melbourne, he was assigned to 81mm mortars in the Americal Division. He then went to New Caledonia. In November 1942, the division went to Guadalcanal to reinforce the 1st Marine Division. There, Porter was subjected to Japanese naval gunfire and nightly raids by Japanese bombers. After the island was secured he went to Fiji and while there he contracted malaria as well as hepatitis. He was put aboard a hospital ship and sent to the United States where he was taken to Winter General Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. After being discharged from the hospital, he was sent to Indian Gap, Pennsylvania where he guarded German prisoners of war. He was discharged in 1944.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Raymond and Florence Bower. Raymond joined the Army in 1940. He completed aircraft mechanics school and joined the 86th Observation Squadron, 7th Air Force, at Bellows Field in Hawaii. He provides vivid details of his first-hand experiences through the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. He recalls the capture of a Japanese soldier from a midget sub, who later attended their 50th squadron reunion in Hawaii. Raymond stayed in Hawaii until July of 1945. Raymond flew all over the South Pacific in B-24s, and notes that his unit was converted into a combat mapping squadron. They traveled from Honolulu to Saipan, Kwajalein, Japan, Tinian. Florence completed nurse training and served in World War II with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, from 1943 to 1945. She completed recruiting school and was assigned to the Northern New Jersey, Delaware recruiting area. She encouraged women, through TV, radio and speaking engagements to join the military. Florence provides details of her public relations work, her uniform, selling war bonds and overall enthusiasm in serving her country. She was then assigned to the Staten Island Area Station Hospital in New York from …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with G. K. Guennel. Guennel moved to the United States from Germany in 1934. From January of 1933 to September of 1934, prior to moving to the States, he lived under the Hitler regime and provides some details of this experience. While attending Butler University in Indiana Guennel enlisted in the Army Reserve in the summer of 1942. He was called to active duty in June of 1943 after his graduation. He was invited to take Army Intelligence training at Camp Ritchie in Maryland and graduated in July of 1944. He learned all communication systems, Morse Code, semaphore, map reading, learned Italian and more. He was assigned to the Interrogation, Prisoners of War (I.P.W.) Team 124 as a POW Interrogator. In late 1944 he traveled to Scotland and France where he was attached to the 44th Infantry Division. He provides details of his experiences overseas, including surviving the cold winter and interrogating prisoners of war. At the Rhine River crossing they joined the 3rd Infantry Division and arrived in Berchtesgaden, Germany by April of 1945. They posted Eisenhower???s proclamations in every town and village. Upon his discharge in January of …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Hayes. Hayes joined the Navy in 1943. He was trained as a corpsman. Hayes spent time working at a Navy hospital in Oakland before he was sent to the Fleet Marine Force as a replacement. He joined the 1st Marine Division on Pavuvu after they returned from Cape Gloucester. Hayes mentions a USO show featuring Bob Hope that occurred during his time there. He landed on Peleliu with the fourth wave. Hayes was awarded the Bronze Star for removing wounded Marines from Bloody Nose Ridge. He was wounded and evacuated on the third day of battle. Hayes rejoined the division after he recovered and participated in the invasion of Okinawa. He describes taking Wana Ridge and the loss of two demolition men. Hayes traveled to China for occupation duty. One of his duties included manning a prophylactic station in a Chinese whorehouse frequented by servicemen. Hayes was also tasked with distributing penicillin on the voyage back to the States. He left the Navy soon after his return.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Bennett Lee. Lee joined the Army Air Forces soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He discusses the training he received to become a fighter pilot. Lee was sent to England in October 1944 to fly P-51s. He completed 52 missions over Europe with the 79th Fighter Squadron. Lee describes what it was like to fly a P-51 and details some of the highlights his of missions. He details one mission in which he encountered German ME-262 jet fighters and discusses how one of his fellow airmen destroyed eight planes. Lee mentions seeing the last performance of Glenn Miller. He left the service in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Otto Schwarz. Schwarz was born in Newark, New Jersey, on 6 September 1923, and enlisted in the Navy in October 1940. After basic training in San Diego, he was assigned to the USS Lark (AM-21), a magnetic mine sweeper. The ship sailed to the Philippines where it performed duties as a pilot rescue vessel. Schwarz was soon transferred to the USS Houston (CA-30), the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. He recounts that the Houston left the Philippines prior to the Japanese attack and sailed to Surabaya, Indonesia where she operated between there and Darwin, Australia. Schwarz recalls participating in the Battle of Makassar Strait on 4 February 1942, during which a Japanese bomb destroyed the after turret killing 48 men. Schwarz also participated in the battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait, where HMAS Perth and the Houston were both sunk. He was in the water for thirteen hours, until he was picked up by a Japanese landing barge. He then hauled supplies for Japanese troops in Java between March and early October, 1942. Then he was transported to Burma to work on the Burma-Siam Railway. He …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Kollman. Kollman joined the Marine Corps in January 1944 and had basic training at San Diego. After training, he went to Hawaii and was at Maui when the war ended. He returned to the US and was discharged in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lew Weber. Weber graduated from high school in Galveston, Texas, in May and joined the Marine Corps in July, 1943. He joined the Second Marine Division at Camp Tarawa on Hawaii late in 1943. Weber describes his experiences going ashore during the invasion of Saipan. he also describes a Japanese tank attack and being wounded on Saipan. Weber's unit was headed for Okinawa, but was diverted back to Saipan, where he finished the war. Weber then describes some experiences while on occupation duty in Japan after the war. Weber was awarded the Silver Star on Saipan. He finished by speaking about visiting the National WWII Memorial in Washington, DC.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Tom Dowding. Dowding joined the Army in 1942 and received four weeks of basic training at Camp Lee. He was sent to Camp Stoneman for bakery training. Having been a baker in civilian life, he was already qualified to do the work and so was not required to attend classes. He was sent to Guadalcanal on a mail ship that couldn’t dock upon arrival, due to low tide. While waiting in the water, the ship was strafed by Japanese planes. Men standing on either side of Dowding were killed. He spent over a year stationed at the end of Henderson Field, trading baked goods as a commodity with troops. There was nothing he couldn’t have, and the Seabees even made a boat for him. He traveled to a small island and came across a native who spoke perfect English, as Australians had brought him to the Midwest to be a prizefighter. Dowding was transferred to Mindanao, staying behind with his baking company for three months as the troops were fighting. When the war ended, Dowding volunteered as a baker on the way home, which gave him access to …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Walter Karnes. Karnes was drafted into the Army in January 1945. He was aboard a troop ship in the Pacific headed for the Philippines when the war with Japan ended. He spent some time guarding Japanese prinsoners of war on Leyte before deciding to extend his enlistment. He was back in the US in December and was assigned to Germany in Janaury 1946. He shares a few anecdotes about his time in Occupied Germany. His enlistment expired in October 1946 and Karnes opted for discharge in January 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Carl Duncan. Duncan joined the Navy around 1944. In February of 1945, he completed Midshipman’s School, and received his commission in July. He recalls his experiences and the celebrations in New York’s Times Square on both V-E Day and V-J Day. Duncan joined the USS Cotten (DD-669) in Tokyo Bay, beginning late September of 1945. He served as an Assistant Communications Officer. They participated in the allied occupation of Japan through December. In March of 1946, he was transferred to the USS Hollis (APD-68), where he remained until his discharge in August of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard M. Heisler. Born in 1926, he ran away from home and joined the Army in 1942. He was underage and used an assumed name. He was assigned to a reconnaissance group in the 1st Cavalry Division and sent to Australia in the spring of 1943. He participated in the invasion of the Admiralty Islands, Leyte, and Luzon. He was injured by a mortar shell when his platoon was guarding a bridge outside of Manila. He was evacuated to a hospital ship and received further treatment at a general hospital in New Guinea. He rejoined his unit in Luzon where they were training for the invasion of Japan. They were sent to Tokyo after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, but before the Japanese surrendered. He describes the city of Tokyo. He shares an anecdote about his parents learning of his whereabouts as the result of his being wounded. He was discharged under his real name in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with J L Pacheco. Pacheco joined the Marine Corps in May 1943 and received basic training at Camp Elliot. He received further training at Guadalcanal as a Raider with the 1st Marine Division. Upon completion, he was assigned to New Caledonia for special training in demolition as part of the 4th Raider Battalion. In New Caledonia he contracted malaria despite taking antimalarial pills daily. Pacheco next arrived at Guadalcanal, where remaining Japanese would sometimes sneak into camp and steal food from their hiding places in the jungle. The Raider battalions were later disbanded and instead formed the new 4th Marine Regiment. After an amphibious landing at Guam, Pacheco describes the perilous banzai-type combat in which he was engaged. In addition to his demolition duties, sealing caves, he occasionally served as an untrained mortarman and also retrieved wounded men from live combat areas. The interview ends just before Pacheco describes his experiences at Okinawa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Inami. Inami was born in April of 1921 in Madera, California. After graduating from Madera High School, Frank attended the University of California, Berkeley. While working on his degree in electrical engineering, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Inami and his family, all Japanese-Americans, were removed from the west coast and incarcerated in Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas. In 1944, while still in Jerome, Inami volunteered for the Army. He was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service because of his proficiency in Japanese. He was stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, where he eventually became an instructor. After the war, he served in the Signal Corps and then in the 8th Army during the Korean War. He retired from the Army in 1974, at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Whitcomb Jones. Jones volunteered for the Army Air Forces in June 1943, and went to flight training in Texas. He finished flight school and went to B-17 crew training in Nebraska. Just prior to deploying overseas, Jones was ordered to B-29 training. Upon completion of training in a B-29, Jones was sent to Saipan and assigned to the 499th Bob Group. He flew a few sorties before the war ended. He extended his service time in order to keep flying. Jones opted to join the Reserves and went to college. He was flying P-51s when the Korean War started.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Montgomery. Montgomery joined the Marine Corps in November 1943 and received basic training in San Diego. He received further training at ordnance school in San Francisco and then attended tank school at Camp Pendleton. Upon completion, Montgomery was assigned to the 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, where he served on a half-track. He was part of the 10th wave at the Battle of Saipan. Montgomery was wounded by a Japanese soldier he presumed dead when picking up a 300-year-old sword as a souvenir. He was part of the occupation force at Nagasaki and guarded ballot boxes at the first election at Haiki. He served in the Korean War as an executive officer. In Vietnam, he was executive officer of the 26th Marine Regiment, attached to the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions. Montgomery retired in 1971.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Ho. Ho was a boy living in Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked in December 1941. Ho’s father served as a major general in the Chinese Nationalist Army and the Japanese were after him and his family. They changed their identities and escaped to Luchow and joined his father. When the Japanese overran Luchow, Ho escaped to Kunming. He remained there for the rest of the war. When the war ended, Ho went to Macao before returning to Hong Kong.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Russell Barager. Barager joined the Navy in October of 1944 after spending a year in the Merchant Marine. He was assigned to USS LSM-326 and served in the deck department. Barager mentions delivering supplies to Saipan and the Philippines. He discusses landing Marines in the eleventh wave on Okinawa. Barager describes feeling the impact of a kamikaze landing in the water nearby and firing on another that hit a cruiser. His ship was caught in a major typhoon when it was headed to Japan after the war. He was discharged in June of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Raymond and Florence Bower. Raymond joined the Army in 1940. He completed aircraft mechanics school and joined the 86th Observation Squadron, 7th Air Force, at Bellows Field in Hawaii. He provides vivid details of his first-hand experiences through the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. He recalls the capture of a Japanese soldier from a midget sub, who later attended their 50th squadron reunion in Hawaii. Raymond stayed in Hawaii until July of 1945. Raymond flew all over the South Pacific in B-24s, and notes that his unit was converted into a combat mapping squadron. They traveled from Honolulu to Saipan, Kwajalein, Japan, Tinian. Florence completed nurse training and served in World War II with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, from 1943 to 1945. She completed recruiting school and was assigned to the Northern New Jersey, Delaware recruiting area. She encouraged women, through TV, radio and speaking engagements to join the military. Florence provides details of her public relations work, her uniform, selling war bonds and overall enthusiasm in serving her country. She was then assigned to the Staten Island Area Station Hospital in New York from …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Bobst. Bobst joined the Navy in March 1943 and received basic training and hospital corpsman training in Illinois. Upon completion, he was assigned to the U.S. Naval Hospital at San Diego and then field medical school at Camp Elliot. He was sent to New Britain, where he treated Marines at a regimental aid station as they returned from a battalion aid station near the front lines. He would then send patients requiring further medical care to a hospital ship. Conditions were miserable and swampy there at Camp Gloucester. Bobst was next sent to Pavuvu for R&R but spent much of his time there building roads and digging trenches in the rain. He recalls being plagued by rats, mosquitoes, land crabs, and falling coconuts. He then went to Peleliu, moving through combat alongside Marines. He arrived at Okinawa on 1 April 1945 and left a few there days before the end of the war. Bobst returned home and was discharged in March 1946, having treated some 30 to 40 wounded soldiers, including Navajo Code Talker Dennis Cattlechaser.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hawk Hawkins. Hawkins joined the Marine Corps in spring 1942. He was sent to radio school after boot camp. Hawkins then joined a replacement battalion and was assigned to the 1st Signal Company for a landing on Cape Glouster. Next Hawkins’ unit landed on Peleliu. He describes the battle and tells some stories from his experience. Hawkins was then sent to back to the States where he spent the remainder of the war working at a Marine Corps Supply Depot. He became a civilian employee for the Air Force after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Marty Romano. Romano was born 11 June 1924 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He joined the Navy and went to boot camp at Newport, Rhode Island. Upon completing boot training he was sent to Quonset Point, Rhode Island for patrol boat training. After more training he was assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 22 on Corsica. He went aboard PT-306 as a motor machinist. He describes his duties and of the need for rotating motor men every two hours due to the noise in the engine room. Squadron 22 participated in Operation Brassard on 4 June 1944 dropping off French commandos during the invasion of Elba. Ramano also participated in Operation Dragoon when they delivered commandos of the 1st Special Service Force to beaches in Southern France. He describes the method used in landing the troops and recalls one boat hitting a mine. On 24 December 1944 he was relieved of duty and returned to the United States for a thirty-three day leave. In February 1945 he boarded a troopship for New Guinea. Upon arrival he was sent to Borneo and assigned to the USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6), …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dwight A. Dahmes. Dahmes was born 18 July 1918 in Clements, Minnesota. In 1936 he attended Westmar College in Lemars, Iowa where he joined the 133rd Infantry Regiment of the Iowa National Guard (part of the 34th Infantry Division). On 1 February 1941 the unit went to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Soon after, Dahmes was made sergeant of a weapons platoon and trained with various weapons. Upon completion of training the unit moved to New Orleans to perform guard duty at water purification plants and energy centers. On 1 February, the unit went to Fort Dix, New Jersey to await shipment overseas. The regiment went aboard the Duchess of Atholl and Dahmes describes the conditions aboard the overcrowded ship. They landed in Belfast and trained until June 1942, when they went to England and continued training. In December 1942 the unit boarded the Empress of Australia and landed in Oran, North Africa. He was involved in a number of battles and comments on the many casualties. In September 1943 the unit invaded Salerno and Dahmes recalls his admiration for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was assigned to his …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Eugene Walker. Walker served in the Navy aboard the USS New Mexico (BB-40) beginning Christmas Day 1937. He was aboard serving as a radioman. He describes the radios aboard the ship, working in the powder rooms in the turrets and Navy life in general. He gives details of a typical day as a radioman, including training, practicing Morse code and standing watch. Walker describes changes that took place in 1940, when they traveled from the Navy yard in Bremerton, Washington to Honolulu. Walker was transferred to the 14th Naval District from 1940 to 1942. He was present when Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December and provides recollections of the attack. He also describes a shellback initiation.