The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Bookbinder. Bookbinder was in ROTC at the University of Kentucky when the war started and was called to active duty in the Army in April, 1943 and trained at Camp Wolters, Texas before getting his commission at Fort Benning on October, 1944. He was assigned to the 86th Infantry Division and went to Europe with them. After fighting in Europe, his division went to the Philippines for occupation duty.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Dunnam. Dunnam was drafted into the Army in July, 1944 and had basic training at Camp Wolters. Upon being sent overseas, Dunnam joined the 126th Infantry Regiment on Leyte. He traveled with them to Luzon in January just after the invasion got started. In May, he was wounded by rifle fire. He returned to his unit and recalls several hundred Japanese soldiers surrendering just after the war ended. He spent some time in Japan before returning to the US and being discharged in August, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arlie Ray Horn. Horn was drafted into the Army in July 1943 and trained at Camp Wolters before being shipped overseas to England where he trained with the Special Forces and was attached to the 29th Infantry Division. He landed at Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944 (D-Day). Horn was wounded three different times. After the war ended, Horn returned to the US in October, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gilberto Hernandez. Hernandez was born in Corpus Christi, Texas 13 September 1925. He worked on farms at a very young age with his formal schooling ending after the third grade. After his induction into the US Army in 1943 he was sent to Camp Wolters, Texas for basic training. He was temporarily assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division and then shipped to Camp Brackenridge, Kentucky where he joined the 75th Infantry Division. After receiving advanced training the division boarded a ship for Liverpool, England. The unit was then stationed in La Havre, France until called upon to participate in the Battle of the Bulge. On 17 January 1945, Hernandez was severely wounded. Hernandez was taken to a field hospital and then to a general hospital in Paris. There his leg was partially amputated. He was then sent to Bushnell General Military Hospital in Brigham City, Utah. He comments on the crude construction of the prosthesis of which he was originally fitted. He was discharged July 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lloyd Bailey. Bailey was born in Kansas City, Missouri on 16 February 1922 and graduated from high school in Waco, Texas in 1940. After attending Texas A&M for one year, he enlisted in the Army. He went to Camp Wolters in Mineral Wells, Texas for basic training. While there, he was recruited by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to participate in an internal security program. Following basic entered the Corps of Engineers Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. On 2 February 1943 he was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 386th Engineer Battalion, an African American unit stationed at Camp Sutton, North Carolina. In 1943, the battalion boarded the SS Louis Pasteur and sailed to Casablanca where they cleaned up the dock area to facilitate unloading cargo. He tells of the unit traveling by rail to Iran. Soon after arriving in Iran the battalion sailed to Naples, Italy. His platoon was sent to Anzio and assigned the task of removing land mines. Three of his men were lost while doing this job. He was assigned to oversee the construction of the largest Butler Building ever …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Allen Cates. Cates joined the Army in 1944. He completed basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas, and paratrooper training off Dog Island, Florida. In December he deployed to New Guinea and served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division. In mid-February 1945, they landed on Corregidor to liberate the island from occupying Japanese forces. From there he was assigned as a combat engineer with the 11th, working with demolition, traveling through Manila, Luzon and Okinawa. In late August, they landed at Atsugi Airfield in Japan, then traveled to Hokkaido in December where he served with the occupation through late 1946. He returned to the US and received his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ken Barhite. Barhite was born in Alden, Iowa on 9 January 1921. Graduating from junior college, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Wolters, Texas for thirteen weeks of basic training. He was then sent to Chenango, Pennsylvania for four weeks of advanced training prior to being sent to San Francisco where he boarded a liberty ship for a twenty-two day voyage to a replacement center in New Caledonia. After four weeks he was sent to Fiji where he joined the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) in July 1943. The unit was sent to Bougainville where they performed patrols and were involved in some combat. He witnessed friends killed and wounded during these actions. While there, he was selected to attend 18 weeks of Officer’s Candidate School (OCS) in Australia. Upon his graduation in June 1945 he received his commission as a second lieutenant. He reported to the 158th Regimental Combat Team in Manila to prepare for the invasion of Japan. After the war, the unit boarded a ship for Japan as part of the occupation forces. Barhite returned to the United States in November 1945 …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Emmett Prothero. Prothero joined the Citizen Military Training Camp in 1937 for basic flight training, and received his commission into the Army Air Corps in April of 1941. He graduated from Brooks Field with his pilot’s license as second lieutenant. Prothero joined the 2nd Bomb Group, and served as a test pilot, flying B-18s, B-23s, B-26s B-29s and LB-30s. He flew missions throughout the US, over the Atlantic, Australia, India, Panama, the Philippines and Kobe, Japan. He was discharged in June of 1946. He then served with the Naval Reserves until 1962.