The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Al Stremel. Stremel joined the Navy in October of 1940. Beginning in December, he served in the fire room aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6). In April of 1942, they escorted USS Hornet (CV-8) on the Doolittle Raid. From June through November, they participated in the battles at Midway, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal. In January of 1944, Stremel was sent to Oil Burning School in Philadelphia. He was transferred to USS Swanson (DD-443). Stremel was honorably discharged in December of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Morton Averack. Averack joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) at the age of 16, having been recruited from his high school, the School of Aviation in New York, where he had already acquired drafting skills. He and a Japanese-American teenager worked together to map the city of Mukden. The last map of the city had been made in 1933, and the OSS was tasked with updating it as part of its efforts to know the whereabouts of General Wainwright. Averack and his partner worked 17-hour days, sleeping in cots beside their shared drafting board. They were granted a 24-hour leave only once every few weeks. Averack requested aerial photographs of certain areas, and after examining photographs under a stereoscope he would make additions to the map. The work was painstaking and exacting, and mistakes had to be bleached out after being drawn in India ink. After a year-and-a-half, the prisoner-of-war camp was finally located, and Wainwright was rescued. Averack’s work complete, he was discharged in late 1945. Despite never being granted the benefits of the GI Bill, he earned a degree in engineering and enjoyed a varied …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with F. Duane Flink. Flink joined the Navy as an aviation cadet in 1943. The program had enough candidates at that time, so he was sent to boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. Flink describes life in boot camp. He was then sent to submarine school in New London, Connecticut and describes the training he received and training that was conducted on O-boats. Flink was then sent to California where he joined the crew of the USS Pelias (AS-14) for the remainder of the war. He served as a cook and seaman. Flink was discharged in May of 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Arthur Brown. Brown enlisted in the Navy in 1942, and after a brief training period at San Diego, he went to Pearl Harbor where he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6). The Enterprise then headed for the Solomon Islands. Brown worked aboard the Enterprise as a shipfitter in the damage control section. He describes the Enterprise in a typhoon. Brown shares several anecdotes about his 28 months spent aboard the Enterprise. When the war ended, Brown got discharged and headed back to Iowa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James C. Nolan. Nolan joined the Navy on October 19, 1943. He completed Landing Craft School, and served as Landing Craft Coxswain, Seaman First-Class aboard the USS Pierce (APA-50). They traveled to Kwajalein, Palaus, Guadalcanal, Leyte, New Guinea, Lingayen Gulf, Subic Bay and Okinawa. Nolan made eight total landings aboard landing craft boat number 13. He recalls his combat experiences landing on Leyte on October 20, 1944 in the third wave. After the war ended, the Pierce traveled to Seoul, Korea and Japan to pick up and transfer troops back to the U.S. He received his discharge on January 26, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Smart. Upon graduating from junior college Smart joined the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. Having civilian pilot experience, he quickly advanced from platoon leader to company and battalion commander. Smart first joined the experienced VMSB-141 before joining VMSB-236 at Bougainville. His first combat experience involved bombing Rabaul. Smart then supported the Army in the Philippines by bombing assigned buildings and strafing enemy troops. Although Smart was fortunate enough never to encounter enemy aircraft, antiaircraft fire struck his plane in the oil cooler system, forcing a crash-landing on a guerrilla airstrip. There he was warmly received and gifted a homemade knife and scabbard by a headhunter. Later, during the Luzon campaign, Smart bombed Santo Tomas following the liberation of American prisoners and felt it was a privilege to do so. After war ended, Smart joined the Marines as a reserve pilot and had duty in Japan. He lived there with his wife and children and was amazed by how much the Japanese accepted them as allies, so soon after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert M. Scott. Scott was born in Chicago 30 September 1926 and spent part of his youth in foster homes. He quit school and joined the Navy in July 1943 and took boot training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. Upon completing boot camp he went to Pleasanton, California where he received orders sending him to New Guinea. Upon arriving after a two week trip he did stevedore work for a period of time and then worked as a switchboard operator. He was then assigned as a yeoman in naval intelligence. Scott contracted malaria while on Guadalcanal. After eighteen months he was sent back to the United States and went on leave. After returning from leave he was assigned to the newly constructed USS Glynn (APA-239) as a yeoman. After shuttling around various islands in the Pacific the ship returned to the United States. Scott was discharged June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Midgley. Midgley joined the Navy in April 1944 and was fascinated by the diversity of people he met at boot camp. He was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), where he observed people of all races and nationalities working together in harmony, unlike what he had experienced in civilian life. Aboard ship as an aviation ordnance man, Midgley was responsible for maintaining aerial guns and loading bombs. In the summer of 1945, he was trained on how to load rockets onto planes, but the war ended soon after. Midgley returned home in October 1945 and was impressed with services provided by the Salvation Army, especially in comparison to the Red Cross. After helping decommission the Enterprise, he was discharged. Midgley became a leader in several community organizations and made regular appearances on The Martha Stewart Show, promoting his fire department’s annual fundraiser.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Brecount. Brecount joined the Navy in June 1943 just after beginning his studies at the University of Washington. After attending boot camp at Farragut, he was sent for basic radio training. He advanced to aviation radio technician training and was selected for a top-secret mission to introduce radar-jamming equipment to aircraft aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). In addition to installing and maintaining the equipment, Brecount flew on a half-dozen combat missions with Night Torpedo Squadron 90, during which time he located the frequency of enemy radar-detection devices and scrambled their readings by emitting noise along those bands. After the war, Brecount returned home and enjoyed a lengthy career as a radio and computer technician.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George W. Meyers. Meyers worked as a welder and on an oil rig prior to joining the Navy just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Meyers was eventually assigned to a naval construction battalion and recalls assembling massive oil tanks, a hospital and a radar installation in the Solomon Islands. He also shares anecdotes about welding pontoons together at the Admiralty Islands. Meyers was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Afton Keeton. Keeton joined the Navy in July of 1942. He completed Hospital Corps School and became a Pharmacist Mate. He first served aboard the USS Sea Dragon (SS-194). They patrolled the Aleutian Islands. He was then stationed at the Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor, working in a sick bay. He then served aboard the USS Apollo (AS-25) with a relief crew. He provides some detail of working aboard a submarine, serving as the Doc, living conditions and undergoing his own appendectomy aboard the Apollo. In early 1945 he was assigned for 1 year to serve at a submarine base in St. Thomas. He then served as hospital corpsman on the USS Clamagore (SS-343). Keeton also worked on sonar watch, radar watch and as a cook during his time in the Navy. He spent a total of 30 years in the Navy, retiring in February of 1972.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hugo Werner. Werner joined the Army Air Forces in 1942. He received training as a radio operator and gunner. Werner was then sent to Attu, Alaska to become a crewman on a B-25 with the 77th Bomb Squadron. He took part in missions over the Kuril Islands in Northern Japan. He shot down an attacking Japanese fighter during one mission. Werner served with the 77th for the rest of the war and left the service soon after the surrender only to rejoin in October of the same year.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with DW Fortenberry. Fortenberry joined the Navy in August 1940 at the age of 24 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6) where he manned supply rooms, beginning with food stores. His battle station was on a repair crew, and he describes in detail the extraordinary effort required to regain enough pressure to operate water pumps after the ship was struck by a kamikaze near Okinawa. It took six hours to clear the top deck of water, during which time all hatches were kept shut to prevent drownings in the compartments below. Fortenberry returned home after the war and was discharged in 1948.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Benjamin James. James joined the Navy in 1943 and received basic training at Great Lakes. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), where he painted and cleaned the ship as part of its Second Division. He also worked in the mess hall and could pour 100 cups of coffee per minute. His battle station was at a 40-millimeter gun, where he kept a sharp eye out during watches. Sometimes general quarters would sound several hours before any action arose, and James attributes the crew’s steadfast alertness to the Enterprise’s unparalleled perseverance in battle. He describes in detail the kamikaze strike that blew out their number-one elevator, which killed some members of his gun crew. James returned home with PTSD and was given a thorough psychological evaluation, after which it was recommended he do his best to resume a normal life and try to forget about the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clinton Peck. Peck joined the Navy in 1942 after earning a degree in forestry at Oregon State University. He then attended midshipmen’s school at Columbia University. Upon completion, he went aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a gunnery officer. He was at his battle station, air defense forward, when the ship was struck by a kamikaze off Okinawa. One of the men lost that day was a close friend of Peck’s who had been resting during the attack. Peck requested to be transferred to photographic interpretation school and was on leave awaiting transfer when the war ended. A decade later, he attended an Enterprise reunion along with Admiral Halsey, whom Peck saw enjoying a friendly and mutually admiring rapport with the crew.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Rancloes. Rancloes was drafted into the Marine Corps in April 1943. Upon completion of pontoon bridging school, he was sent to Camp Pendleton to train officers. His unit, the 7th Service Engineers, was typically split up to provide support where needed. Rancloes landed in the second wave on Saipan, operating heavy machinery. After the island was secured, he managed a lumberyard with an African-American crew, many of whom outranked him. Recognizing the unfairness of that arrangement, he appointed one of the crewmen as a liaison so that they would not have a white corporal giving orders. After bringing supplies to Okinawa, Rancloes stayed there in a sugarcane hut. When his unit became ill from mold toxicity, the village was condemned and burned to the ground. Rancloes suffered from respiratory problems for the rest of his life. Before returning home in 1946, Rancloes's final duty was supervising Japanese laborers in China.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Maurice Penick. Penick joined the Navy in 1943. He completed Radio Operator and Submarine Schools by mid-1945. He was stationed at a submarine base on Mare Island in California, and had not yet been assigned to a submarine when the first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6. Penick assisted in decommissioning the USS Hammerhead (SS-364). He worked in the ship’s company on the base through his discharge in June of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald Andrew Alfred. Alfred was born on 28 July 1925, graduated high school in 1942, and joined the Army Air Forces in 1943 at the age of seventeen. He served as a navigator with the 40th Bomb Squadron, 6th Bomb Group, 313th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force, aboard the B-29, called Dearly Beloved. In late 1944, they were stationed on Tinian and flew 27 missions over Japan, including Iwo Jima and Tokyo. After the war ended, they dropped supplies to American troops in Japan. Alfred returned to the US and received his discharge on 4 January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ned Simes. Simes joined the Marine Corps in March of 1942. He completed Radio Operators School, and served with 2nd Tank Battalion in light tanks. In October, they deployed to New Zealand and New Caledonia. In 1943 they landed on Saipan. While stationed there, Simes transferred to the artillery battalion, assisting with road construction, and continued to serve as a radio operator at headquarters. He returned to the US in July of 1945, and was in a victory parade tour in Houston, Texas. Simes was discharged in early 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert McKinley. McKinley enlisted in the Navy in May 1941 and trained as an aircraft engine mechanic at Sand Point Naval Air Station. Assigned to the USS Saratoga (CV-3) as a third-class aviation machinist mate, he sailed to Pearl Harbor. He then boarded the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a seaman, later assigned to an anti-aircraft gun. McKinley made a pact with a shipmate that if one of them died they'd visit the other's mother, and his shipmate was killed by a bomb that afternoon. McKinley followed through on his promise, which was the most difficult experience of his life. In October 1944, he joined a PBY squadron in Corpus Christi, where he stayed until 1947, making flight engineer and training cadets. McKinley stayed in the service for 21 years before retiring and later wrote a book about his experience.

Transcript of an oral interview with John D. Marshall. Born in 1924, he was drafted into the Army in 1943. He received his basic training at Camp Grant, Illinois. He was assigned to the 94th Medical Gas Treatment Battalion and received his medical training at Camp Ellis, Illinois and Camp Sibert, Alabama. He was talks about training with mustard gas in Bushnell, Florida and mentions being burned by the gas. He was sent to France in July, 1944. He served as a medic at a first aid station as well as a truck driver. He describes conditions during the Battle of the Bulge. He also describes arriving at the Buchenwald concentration camp after the Germans fled. He mentions celebrating V-E Day. After the German surrender, he guarded prisoners in Nuremburg, Germany. He was discharged in December, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Dykstra. Dykstra joined the Navy in January of 1943, at the age of seventeen. He served as a Radarman aboard USS Lunga Point (CVE-94), and saw combat in the Pacific at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Philippines. In August of 1945, their ship conducted minesweeping operations west of Okinawa. Dykstra returned to the US in November of 1945 and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents and oral interview with Jim Hardin. Hardin was born in Claremore, Oklahoma in 1926. Upon leaving the 11th grade, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and became part of survey team. In 1944, he entered the US Navy. Upon completion of boot camp, he was sent to San Diego for more training. He then was assigned to the 40th Naval Construction Battalion and sailed to Saipan. The unit was then sent to Okinawa and Hardin recalls his interaction with native Okinawans. Following his discharge in 1946, he attended Oklahoma Baptist University, utilizing the GI Bill. Upon graduation, he entered the ministry where he served for fifty-seven years.

Transcript of an oral interview with Ralph W. Johnson. Born in 1920, he was drafted into the Army Air Corps in October 1941. He was accepted into the Aviation Cadet program in 1942. He was sent to flight instructor school upon completion of his flight training in 1943. In Carlsbad, New Mexico, he instructed bombardier cadets in bombing and navigation techniques until 1944. He shares an anecdote about landing a plane when the engines were accidentally turned off by a bombardier cadet. He was transferred to Hobbs Air Force Base, New Mexico where he learned to fly B-29 and B-17 bombers. He discusses difficulties with the B-29 aircraft. In April 1945, he was transferred to Guam where he became a B-29 aircraft commander and flew combat missions. He describes missions along the coast of Japan. He talks about a mission in which the fuel tanks were accidentally dropped along with the bombs. He also describes his plane being hit by anti-aircraft fire and the flight from northern Japan to Iwo Jima. He shares an anecdote about a mission that earned him the nickname “Fireball.” After a brief period on inactive duty after the war, he returned to active duty and …