Oral History Interview with James Gayle, July 15, 2006

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Interview with African American North Texas State University alumnus James Gayle. The interview included Gayle's personal experiences of childhood, playing basketball at Fort Worth's all-black Terrell High School, attending North Texas and enrolling in the ROTC program, and his experience as a boarder in "Shack Town" neighborhood of Denton. Gayle talks about the comparison of race relations in Artesia, New Mexico, and Waco and Forth Worth, Texas, the "neutral" stance of NT administration toward black students and the "self-support" system among students, as well as his relationships with professors and white students, and his perception of what he gained from his NT experience.
Date: July 15, 2006
Creator: Cervantez, Brian & Gayle, James
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006 transcript

Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006

Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. LeBow joined the navy in 1943 and went from Lubbock, Texas to San Diego for recruit training. He shipped out to Pearl Harbor aboard an LST from San Francisco. At Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to a work detail aboard the USS Oklahoma, which had just been righted. Shortly thereafter, he boarded the USS Indianapolis to serve as a range finder operator on one of the gun turrets. Upon leaving Hawaii, the Indianapolis went to Tarawa and then the Marshall Islands. LeBow witnessed Japanese civilian suicides on Saipan. He also witnessed the flag-raising on Iwo Jima from his range finder position aboard the ship. LeBow describes being hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa. He also discusses delivering atomic bomb components to Tinian and being torpedoed on the way to the Philippines. He describes abandoning the ship and spending five days in the water, including his faith in God, hallucinations, rescue, and his recovery.
Date: May 2, 2006
Creator: Misenhimer, Richard & Lebow, Cleatus A.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History