The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lin Williams. Williams joined the Army in November 1942 after spending a year in the Civilian Conservation Corps. He received basic training at Fort Meade and joined the 4th Cavalry. He was sent to California for desert training but sailed to England in February 1943. He landed on an island off the coast of Utah Beach before dawn on D-Day. There was no German opposition, but 19 men were killed and 55 injured by land mines. Williams was at Oppenheim on V-E Day and began preparing for deployment to the Pacific. When the war ended, Williams instead returned home and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Sam Harris. Harris joined the Army in February of 1942. He was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. He traveled to Australia in July of 1943, participating in the line defense at Brisbane. In early 1944, as part of the reconnaissance force, Harris was shipped to Ora Bay in New Guinea and made landings on the Admiralty Islands. In October he invaded the Philippine Islands, and ultimately helped in liberating Santo Tomas Internment Camp prisoners. He was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Gerald Graham. Graham joined the Georgia National Guard in the 1930s, and enlisted in Troop C, 108th Cavalry. In 1940, his unit was re-designated to Battery C, 101st Anti-aircraft Battalion. He was stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Beginning May of 1942, his unit was transferred to the 40th Coastal Artillery Brigade, and they served as the first ground troops in New Guinea. Graham worked as the liaison officer between his anti-aircraft unit and the 5th Air Force, identifying needed anti-aircraft to protect landing fields for planes to drop replacement men and supplies. In early 1943, he met General Douglas MacArthur at Port Moresby, and transferred to MacArthur’s headquarters serving as his aide-de-camp. He shares intimate details of his work for MacArthur. They traveled to Hollandia, the Philippines and Japan during the occupation. In December of 1945 he left Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Keith Wells. Wells was in the cavalry at Texas A&M when the war broke out. He joined the Marine Corps and attended officer’s school. There he learned parachuting, completing his final jumps with a broken leg, which he never sought medical care for. He received further training at Camp Pendleton and became the executive officer of his company. Landing on Iwo Jima in the third wave, he remained there for the duration of the campaign. While crossing the island, he received multiple shell fragment wounds to his leg and head. As a member of the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 28th Marine Regiment, he witnessed both the first and second flags atop Mount Suribachi. By the end of the war, he was on a first-name basis with a general, who was impressed by his grace under fire. Wells retired from the service as a major, earned a degree in geology and entered the oil industry.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Cashin. Cashin passed his Foreign Service Officer examinations and was awaiting assignment when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. In July of 1942 he joined the Army, 17th Infantry Division. He began Officer Candidate School in December. Upon completion of school he was assigned Platoon Leader in the Cavalry Replacement Training Center. He later served as a lieutenant in the Military Intelligence Center at Fort Ritchie, Maryland. In the fall of 1943 Cashin was stationed in Knutsford, England with the headquarters of the 3rd Army, relaying some anecdotal stories of General Patton. In July of 1944 Cashin went to Utah Beach and Sainte-Mère-Église in France and through Belgium to Bastogne in December. They moved into Renne, Brittany and Paris, France, where he took a job as a military liaison officer after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Larry Pangan. Pangan was born in Arayat, Pampanga in September of 1919. He moved to Manila in 1938 to attend business college. He joined the US Army Philippine Scouts in March 1941 and was assigned to the 57th Infantry Regiment. He survived the Bataan Death March and incarceration at Camp O'Donnell. Although seriously ill with malaria, dysentery, beriberi and malnutrition, Pangan was able to escape. Upon regaining his health, he joined an American-led guerrilla group in central Luzon. He continued his service after the war ended, retiring from the Army in 1961.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Oscar Mitchell. Mitchell joined the Army in November of 1941. He completed Officer Candidate School and served as commander of an all-black engineer combat battalion. Beginning in 1943, they traveled to North Africa and Calcutta, India, and worked as drivers along the Ledo Road. He returned from India to the US, and was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Paul Monroe. Monroe joined the Army Air Forces in April of 1942, as an Aviation Cadet. He received his wings and commission in the summer of 1943. He was then stationed in Carlsbad, New Mexico flying bombardiers in a T-11 trainer. Monroe completed 1,000 hours of flying cadets over a period of nine months. He was then assigned as the Assistant Director of Flying, which is where he served for the remainder of the war. In late 1945 Monroe was sent to Warner Robins, Georgia working as a Personnel Control Officer. In early 1946 he was then sent to Europe, serving with a full reconnaissance squadron, and continued his service into the late 1950s.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Green. Green joined the Army in the spring of 1943. He served with the 763rd Tank Battalion, 96th Infantry Division, and transferred to Scofield Barracks in Hawaii in January of 1944. They participated in the battles of Leyte and Okinawa. He was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ken Wiley. Wiley was born in Hillsboro, Texas 18 July 1925 and joined the US Coast Guard in 1942. He underwent basic training at St. Augustine, Florida for six weeks before being sent to landing craft school at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for training in LCVPs. Upon completion of the training he was assigned as a coxswain of a four man boat crew. After arriving in Hawaii he began making practice landing with the 22nd Marine Regiment in preparation for the invasion of Kwajalein. He tells of participating in the invasions of Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, Leyte and Okinawa. He describes the various landings and tells of seeing men killed. In recalling landing in the Philippines, he tells of the landing craft being met by Filipinos in their outrigger canoes and of the joy they had in meeting the Americans. In recalling the invasion of Okinawa he mentions attacks by kamikazes. He also describes an incident involving Jack Dempsey that took place on the beach of Okinawa after the initial invasion. Soon after the Okinawa invasion, Wiley returned to the United States and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Elmer Anderson. Anderson joined the Army in January 1943 and received basic training in Mississippi and training as a medic in South Carolina. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 87th Infantry Division, supporting the headquarters company. At the Battle of the Bulge, he was stationed one mile behind the front lines. He passed the Buchenwald concentration camp but didn’t know how severe conditions were inside. Although Anderson witnessed the aftermath of horrific casualties, both civilian and military, he was not himself exposed to heavy combat. Rather, he often socialized with German soldiers. Anderson returned home at the end of the war and was discharged in May 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Hilliard. Hilliard was 17 years old when he joined the Marine Corps in February 1943. Upon completion of aviation radio and gunnery training, he joined Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 341 (VMSB-341), as an SBD rear-seat replacement. There he had an opportunity to chat with pilot and Yankee infielder Jerry Coleman. En route to Luzon, he was terrified by a typhoon as nearby ammunition barges were being tossed around by the waves. Once in the Philippines, Hilliard flew over 50 missions as support for the Army. At night he slept in a tent or took cover in a foxhole. When the war ended, Hilliard was reassigned to a C-47 squadron as a radio operator, flying with actor and pilot Tyrone Power, transporting entertainment acts to military bases. After being discharged in June 1946, he attended law school and bought a house on the G.I. Bill.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Peter Tringham. Tringham was born in London, England in 1920. He graduated from high school in 1936, and completed an engineering degree in college by 1939. He joined England’s Territorial Army, similar to the US National Guard, in February of 1939. He volunteered as a driver in the Royal Engineers, and later traveled to France to join the British Expeditionary Force. Tringham served as a British Army captain through the China Burma India Theater campaign. He was discharged in April of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Wes Rhine. He was born in Amarillo, Texas, 27 February 1928 and was enlisted in the Marine Corps on 13 February 1945. After completing recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina and Camp LeJeune, North Carolina he was transferred to Camp Pendleton, California in June 1945. He describes shipping out to Guam in August 1945 and learning, while enroute, that the war was over. He recalls being transferred to Saipan and joining C Company, 1st Battalion, Second Marines. He next describes embarking on a troopship and sailing to Japan. In late August his Battalion landed at Nagasaki. His battalion was directed to a prisoner of war camp outside ground zero and he recalls seeing the former prisoners being removed as his battalion was approaching the camp to be bivouacked. He describes his duties while at Nagasaki and Kyushu, Japan. He recalls being transferred to the 2nd Motor Transport Battalion in Sasebo and his duties while there. In July 1946 he volunteered for duty in China where he was transferred to a mortar platoon in the 1st Division Marines located in a city outside of Peking. He recalls that …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Smrt. Smrt joined the Army in late 1942 and was trained as a combat engineer and assigned to the 319th Combat Engineers, 94th Infantry Division. He arrived in France after the Normandy invasion and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. He was still in Europe when the war ended and participated in the occupation.

Transcript of an oral interview with James Bennie. He and his family immigrated from Scotland in 1930, landing in Boston. Bennie went to aircraft maintenance school before the war and was drafted in the fall of 1942 while working for Civil Service, preparing aircraft for ferrying overseas. He went to basic training in Atlantic City and was put to work after that, first at Williams Field in Arizona and then Hobbs, New Mexico (on B-17s). He ultimately wound up going to India and getting fighters. He took a Pan American C-54 from Miami to Karahci, India. Then his group took a train across India to get an airplane (C-46) to fly the Hump into China. Started work in Chinkiang in April 1943 on P-40s. Chinkiang had the 27th, 26th, 17th and one other squadron; Bennie was in the 17th. Two American pilots and two Chinese pilots would fly together to make a four-man element. The airplanes had Chinese markings on them. Maintenace crews worked off of dirt and didn't have much equipment (like engine hoists). Chinese labor built the runways. After the war, Bennie got assigned to an American photo reconnaissance unit and eventually wound up in Shanghai. He left …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clyde Combs. Combs was attending a vocational school when Pearl Harbor was attacked. During his senior year, he worked for a company that manufactured parts for military planes. He was then drafted into the Navy in March 1943 and sent to quartermaster school. Combs then had motor torpedo boat training to study their engines, radio, radar, and gunnery. Upon completion, he was assigned to PT-515 as a quartermaster stationed in Southern England. During the invasion of Normandy, his boat’s job was to protect the western flank of landing crafts from Schnell boats and also to assist ships with the rescue and recovery of wounded and deceased. In August 1944, while patrolling the French coast, the boat was by a Schnell boat. Combs waited in London for repairs, enduring buzz bombs and blackouts. He returned to the States in March 1945 and served as an instructor until his discharge in November. Combs finished college on the GI Bill and went on to a career in engineering.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward McCreary. McCreary was born in Spain in 1928 and attended school in the Philippines beginning in 1935. He was a high school sophomore in Baguio when the Japanese invaded, and he managed to escape to the mountains, where he hid for three months. After he was caught, he was imprisoned for one year in a small camp. As guerillas began to recapture parts of the island, prisoners were transferred to Santo Tomas University. There American prisoners organized committees to serve as a form of self-government. Thanks to them, McCreary completed his high school education while there. By the spring of 1944, starvation was setting in, causing death and illness. In September 1944 a Navy air raid brought hope to the prisoners, but it was several weeks before American troops landed. Soldiers broke into the prison and spent three days barricaded there beside the prisoners; together they shared military rations and food that had been smuggled to them by Dominican priests. Upon being liberated, McCreary was evacuated to the States and enrolled in Harvard University.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James E. Holden. Holden joined the Army and trained at Camp Swift, Texas in 1943. He was assigned to a replacement battalion and eventually shipped to Burma where he joined Merrill's Marauders. He joined them before the Myitkyina campaign. He got injured by a fall and was eventually evacuated back to Lido. He returned to his unit in time for them to relocate to Kunming. He was detached to temporary duty at Kweiyang helping build a Red Cross station. He was there when the war ended and witnessed some fighting between the Chinese Nationalists and communists. Holden was discharged in December, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frances W. Lipe. Lipe recalls anecdotes and events from the life of her father, Colonel Worthington. Her father joined the Army in 1917 and trained as a veterinarian. Her father was on Bataan when the US forces surrendered there in 1942. Her father escaped and was captured by the Japanese and taken to Manila. From there, he went to Formosa and then on to Mukden, Manchuria.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Earle M. Craig, Jr. Born in 1924, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. He earned his wings in 1944 at the age of 19. He shares an anecdote about being summoned to see the Base Commander during his basic training in Sherman, Texas. After training and serving as a flight instructor, he was assigned to the 507th Fighter Group. He went overseas on a CVE in early 1945. He flew from Saipan with about 72 other planes in a single mass formation over 1,400 miles of water to Ie Shima. He describes the flying conditions and equipment. He flew combat air patrols and escorted B-24’s, Navy photographic planes, and PBYs. He talks about their instructions in the eventuality that they went down over land. He describes witnessing the atomic bomb at Nagasaki while flying over the east coast of Kyushu. He also witnessed the Japanese Delegation as they were transferred to US C-54 transports on Ie Shima en route to Manila. He provides a general discussion of various planes. He talks in more detail about outbound and return flights as well as navigation techniques, incuding the circular …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joseph Blum. Blum quit school, lied about his age and joined the Marines in December, 1943. He trained as an artilleryman and was deployed overseas to Okinawa. His artillery unit was deactivated and Blum then volunteered for service in the 5th Marine Regiment. After the war, Blum went to China on occupation duty in Beijing. He recalls several incidents involving repatriating Japanese soldiers and skirmishes with Chinese communists.

Lecture given Friday, September 22, 2006, 8:30 AM at Abilene Christian University: "This class deals with the relocation and transformation of the Midtown Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas, now the Heritage Church of Christ in Keller, Texas. How a church changed from a declining and dying entity into a thriving and growing church in a vibrant neighborhood."

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Swan. Swan was born in Corvallis, Oregon in 1927. Upon joining the Coast Guard in 1944, he was sent to boot camp at Alameda, California. Completing training, he was assigned to radio school in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His training lasted over five months and after graduation he applied for LORAN (Long range navigation) training. Being accepted, he was sent to Groton, Massachusetts for four weeks of training. Upon completion of the training, he was sent to Pearl Harbor where he began working with the public information office. He tells of some of his experiences while working with the office.