The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Willard Frank. Frank joined the Navy in July of 1943. He deployed to Waimanalo in Hawaii to an Amphibious Training base. Frank served as an engineer on an LCVP, ferrying supplies from shore to ships. In 1944, he served aboard USS Lindenwald (LSD-6), participating in the invasions of the Marshall Islands, Saipan, the Philippines and Okinawa. He returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jim Scanlon. Scanlon joined the Navy in November of 1942. He served as an aviation radio technician with the VF-41 Night Fighter Squadron. Scanlon provides vivid details of his training, and how he was involved with his missions. Scanlon was one of eleven radio technicians. They oversaw 25 airplanes in their squadron. He then served aboard the USS Hancock (CV-19) beginning November of 1944. Upon returning to the United States in October of 1945, he was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Klamath Falls, Oregon. His discharge date is not noted.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rubin Peterson. Peterson joined the Navy in June 1942 and received training at Iowa State College and the University of Georgia. He received training in instrument flying at Whiting Field and formation flying at Barron Field. Upon completion of dive bomber training in DeLand, he was assigned to a night fighter squadron aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22). On his first mission, he shot down a Betty bomber at Palau. He then bombed freighters near Leyte amidst antiaircraft fire. On his night missions, he used the 40-mile range of his radar to close in on planes until he had a visual on them. At the end of his tour, he witnessed a destroyer sunk by a typhoon. Peterson returned to the States in February 1945 and instructed pilots on using radar until he was discharged at the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George W Denby. Denby joined the Navy and earned his wings in December 1943 at Corpus Christi. He was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), flying a Grumman F4F Wildcat. At the Battle of the Philippine Sea he was knocked unconscious after being struck by an 18-inch shell. When he regained consciousness, he fired on his target and returned to the Enterprise. The next day, he was wounded in a dogfight with seven Zeroes. He jumped from his plane at 30,000 feet and broke his back when deploying his parachute. Zeroes continued firing on him as he hit the water, and his life jacket was full of holes. He swam for eight hours, bleeding severely and unable to move one of his legs. He was attacked by a shark but was eventually rescued and returned to the Enterprise. He finished his tour of duty with a total of 57 combat missions. While at Ulithi on R&R, he rubbed elbows with well-known fighter aces. For some time after the war, Denby was skittish while flying. But he flew combat missions in the Korean War and retired as a commander …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Leroy Joppie. Joppie was the youngest of four boys. His three brothers were in the military, one of whom died in Italy. This lead Joppie to join the Navy in 1944 at the age of seventeen. Upon completing training in electronics at Oceanside, California, Joppie was assigned to a Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO) as a radioman 3rd class. In early 1945, he was assigned to USS Argonne (AG-31). He recalls the ship being in Typhoon Connie and listening to messages from other ships in distress. Joppie returned to the US and was discharged in 1946. He concludes the interview telling of his various jobs, including moving to Midway Island with his family.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edward Fournier. Fournier joined the Navy in March of 1944. He completed Diesel School and other mechanical engineering schools the Navy offered. He completed boot camp at Great Lakes. He served aboard the USS Surfbird (AM-383) as a Fireman and First-Class Diesel Specialist, beginning November of 1944. He provides details of the minesweeper, various mine-types and life aboard the ship. They traveled with their sister ship, the USS Toucan (AM-387). Throughout 1945 they completed 85 mine sweeps of the East China Sea and around Japan. They returned to the U.S. in April of 1946 and in June the ship was decommissioned and Fournier was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bob Campaign. Campaign joined the Navy in March 1943 and attended the University of Iowa for pre-flight training. He describes a training device consisting of a mock cockpit that would be flipped over and lowered into a swimming pool, giving pilots a chance to practice releasing their harnesses while hanging upside down, submerged in water. He finished his training at Corpus Christi and Fort Lauderdale, transitioning into combat airplanes. He was then assigned to VT-15 aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12). After the shakedown cruise, Campaign was transferred to VF-79 as a night fighter pilot aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22).

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Franke. Franke joined the Navy in December of 1942. He completed radio, radar and gunnery school. He first trained in an ABX with hand-crank antennas. He later traveled to Florida to train in the Grumman TBF Avengers. In February of 1944 he volunteered for night flying in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. His unit practiced night flying to and from the USS Independence (CVL-22). They also completed anti-submarine patrol missions. In 1944 they participated in the Palau and Philippine operations, supporting landings at Angaur Island, Mindanao and Luzon. Franke shares his experiences over Formosa of a battle between the night fighters and some Japanese bombers. They also covered landings at Lingayen and Leyte gulfs. After their outfit was broken up, he started a training group in Vero Beach, Florida.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Myers. Myers joined the Navy in 1941. He served aboard the USS Maryland (BB-46) as a gunner on five-inch 51s and five-inch 25s. He provides details of the guns aboard the ship and how they function. They traveled to Pearl Harbor in May of 1941. They were docked next to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37). Up until the attack, they mostly completed training missions from the base. He describes the December 7th attack, and his duties aboard the Maryland. He describes their efforts to get their ship to dry dock in Portland, Oregon for repairs. He discusses their crew traveling to Espiritu Santo to guard against the Japanese. They participated in the Battle of Tarawa in 1943. He was discharged in 1946, though remained in the reserves another five years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Tolliver. Tolliver was born in East St. Louis, Illinois on 8 June 1921. Upon entering the Navy in April 1943 he was trained as a machinist mate. After undergoing submariner training at New London, Connecticut, he was sent to sonar school at San Diego. Upon completion of the training he was assigned to the USS Trutta (SS-421), which sailed to Guam. He describes the living conditions aboard a submarine. Recalling specific instances, he tells of the boat intercepting small supply ships, which they sank with their deck gun. Tolliver also remembers the Trutta being on submarine lifeguard duty off the coast of Japan and picking up a downed P-51 pilot who survived a typhoon in a small life raft. Soon after the surrender of Japan, the Trutta returned to the United States and Tolliver was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Phelps. Phelps joined the Army Air Forces in 1942. He completed flight officer training and navigation school. Phelps served as a B-25 bombardier and navigator with the 12th Air Force, 340th Bomb Group, 489th Bomb Squadron. He completed 39 missions in the European Theater. He flew over Italy, including Brenner Pass and Sicily, targeting enemy airfields, railroads and bridges. Phelps was stationed around Mount Vesuvius when it began erupting in March of 1944. He continued his service in the reserves after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jim Scanlon. Scanlon joined the Navy in November of 1942. He served as an aviation radio technician with the VF-41 Night Fighter Squadron. Scanlon provides vivid details of his training, and how he was involved with his missions. Scanlon was one of eleven radio technicians. They oversaw 25 airplanes in their squadron. He then served aboard the USS Hancock (CV-19) beginning November of 1944. Upon returning to the United States in October of 1945, he was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Klamath Falls, Oregon. His discharge date is not noted.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Smith. Smith participated in the Civilian Pilot Training Program before entering the Army Air Corps in late 1942. He graduated from flight school in August 1943. Smith was assigned to a B-24 crew and headed for North Africa in December 1943. From there, Smith went on bombing missions over Italy, Romania, etc. flying with the Fifteenth Air Force. After finishing combat missions, Smith ferried a B-24 back to San Antonio, his home in 1944. He then served as a flight instructor in Arizona until he got out of the service in October, 1945. He stayed in the Reserves and served briefly in Korea.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Willard Frank. Frank joined the Navy in July of 1943. He deployed to Waimanalo in Hawaii to an Amphibious Training base. Frank served as an engineer on an LCVP, ferrying supplies from shore to ships. In 1944, he served aboard USS Lindenwald (LSD-6), participating in the invasions of the Marshall Islands, Saipan, the Philippines and Okinawa. He returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rubin Peterson. Peterson joined the Navy in June 1942 and received training at Iowa State College and the University of Georgia. He received training in instrument flying at Whiting Field and formation flying at Barron Field. Upon completion of dive bomber training in DeLand, he was assigned to a night fighter squadron aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22). On his first mission, he shot down a Betty bomber at Palau. He then bombed freighters near Leyte amidst antiaircraft fire. On his night missions, he used the 40-mile range of his radar to close in on planes until he had a visual on them. At the end of his tour, he witnessed a destroyer sunk by a typhoon. Peterson returned to the States in February 1945 and instructed pilots on using radar until he was discharged at the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George W Denby. Denby joined the Navy and earned his wings in December 1943 at Corpus Christi. He was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), flying a Grumman F4F Wildcat. At the Battle of the Philippine Sea he was knocked unconscious after being struck by an 18-inch shell. When he regained consciousness, he fired on his target and returned to the Enterprise. The next day, he was wounded in a dogfight with seven Zeroes. He jumped from his plane at 30,000 feet and broke his back when deploying his parachute. Zeroes continued firing on him as he hit the water, and his life jacket was full of holes. He swam for eight hours, bleeding severely and unable to move one of his legs. He was attacked by a shark but was eventually rescued and returned to the Enterprise. He finished his tour of duty with a total of 57 combat missions. While at Ulithi on R&R, he rubbed elbows with well-known fighter aces. For some time after the war, Denby was skittish while flying. But he flew combat missions in the Korean War and retired as a commander …

Transcript of an oral interview with Bill Armentrout. He begins by describing making a living in south Texas during the Great Depression. He was married and had three children by 1941 and was finally drafted into the Navy in 1944 at 33 years old. When he finished boot camp in San Diego, he wa sassigend to the Amphibious Force and trained at Camp Bradford, Virginia. When Armentrout reached Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to LCT 1221 (Landing Craft, Tank). Armentrout describes always being seasick on his little LCI. He then speaks about landing at Okinawa in late April, 1945. Armentrout describes the role of his LCI - ferrying trucks full of supplies from merchant ships to the beaches. When the war ended, Armentrout was eligible for discharge and opted to go home. His LCI was ruined during a typhoon on Okinawa, so he rode home on a Navy freighter, arriving in Seattle in late October.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Fred Faiz. Faiz was raised on a ranch and had good relations with neighboring Japanese-American farmers before the war. In 1939, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, with whom he worked until being drafted into the Army in March 1941. He was assigned to the First Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss. When his unit phased out horse-drawn Howitzers and transitioned to driving jeeps, Faiz was sent to Louisiana, where he trained as a machine-gunner. Faiz saw his first combat in New Guinea and encountered banzai charges in the Admiralty Islands, with Los Negros defended by 10,000 elite Japanese Marines. In the jungle, Faiz and his unit set traps by staging their hammocks with makeshift dummies and watching from afar as Japanese soldiers approached. On Luzon, he participated in the liberation of Santo Tomas and fought inside Manila. Faiz returned home and was discharged in late 1945. Having contracted malaria, he experienced symptoms for another 10 years. Although he felt the war unfairly biased people against Japanese-Americans, he saw hostility towards them eventually subside.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with EJ Robertson. Robertson joined the Navy at the age of 17 and received basic training at Great Lakes. In the summer of 1942 he was assigned to the USS Brooklyn (CL-40) as an apprentice seaman. At Casablanca, a victory over the French fleet was aided by the Free French. After providing long-range artillery support to the 45th Army Division throughout North Africa, his ship hit a mine in Sicily, temporarily paralyzing Robertson. In Anzio, he contracted malaria and was treated only with aspirin, which gave him stomach ulcers. At Monte Cassino, bombardment was prohibited in order to preserve a monastery, so the ship armed Poles with guns and grenades so that they could attack German forces. He was transferred to the USS Everett F. Larson (DDR-830) and led the first shore party to Yokosuka Naval Base, where he was surprised to find a pile of surrendered arms in a cave. After transporting Korean POWs off a Japanese island, Robertson returned home and was discharged in December 1945. He suffered recurring bouts of malaria throughout his life.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Philip Nelson. Nelson enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and attended midshipmen's school at Northwestern University. There he learned Morse code and semaphore signaling. Upon completion, he received landing craft training at Camp Pendleton. In the Pacific, most of his duty was on LSTs and LSDs. Equipped with rockets at Kwajalein, a mechanical mishap resulted in his ship's friendly rocket fire on a nearby vessel. At the invasion of Guam, Nelson was assigned the first of many temporary duties on other ships. At Leyte, he evacuated wounded aboard USS Doyen (APA-1). At Okinawa, he ferried ammunition under blackout conditions aboard USS Casa Grande (LSD-13). At the end of the war, Nelson returned home earned a Master's degree on the GI Bill.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas Knighten Starnes. Starnes graduated from business school in 1941 and joined the Navy that fall. He was a civilian pilot and assisted in gunnery training in Las Vegas. When preparing for deployment to the Pacific, Starnes was instructed that in the event of impending enemy capture he should kill as many Japanese as he could but also warned that the Japanese would not take prisoners, so he was to save one bullet for himself. In 1944 he was assigned to the 58th Fighter Group, 69th Fighter Squadron, as a P-47 pilot. He supported invasions by strafing and dropping napalm. Following an attack by Japanese holdouts, Starnes recruited native Filipinos to help him hunt them out of the underbrush. He captured 27, among them simple cooks and butchers, and had them burned and killed. Toward the end of the war, flying missions over Japan, Starnes witnessed the mushroom cloud form over Nagaski. Upon returning home, he was given the opportunity to fly jets, but he elected to be discharged instead.

Transcript of an oral interview with James Norman Price. He was born November 6, 1918 on a farm south of Bishop, Texas. He joined the Army Air Corps on November 1, 1941. He recalls spending 25 weeks training in BT-13s and AT-9s at Ontario, California as an Aviation Cadet, receiving his wings and commission followed by training in the B-17 at Seabring, Florida. He and his crew flew to Guadalcanal and to Espirato Santo, where they were assigned to the 11th Air Group. He was then assigned to the 431st Bomber Squadron as co-pilot on a new B-17E to fly reconnaisance and bomber missions for the Navy. He recalls that a journalist, Richard Tregaskis, accompanied them on a flight over Guadalcanal, even firing one of the machine guns. He recalls several of his 36 total missions flying out of Guadalcanal, including one in which his bomber sunk a Japanese cruiser. He recounts several humorous incidents during R&R in Auckland, New Zealand. He recalls that at the end of his duty he embarked on the SS Marmahawk for 18 days transit back to the US. He recounts his next assignment in Alexandria, Virginia training B-17 crews. He recalls next being assigned …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Franke. Franke joined the Navy in December of 1942. He completed radio, radar and gunnery school. He first trained in an ABX with hand-crank antennas. He later traveled to Florida to train in the Grumman TBF Avengers. In February of 1944 he volunteered for night flying in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. His unit practiced night flying to and from the USS Independence (CVL-22). They also completed anti-submarine patrol missions. In 1944 they participated in the Palau and Philippine operations, supporting landings at Angaur Island, Mindanao and Luzon. Franke shares his experiences over Formosa of a battle between the night fighters and some Japanese bombers. They also covered landings at Lingayen and Leyte gulfs. After their outfit was broken up, he started a training group in Vero Beach, Florida.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Simpson. Simpson grew up in Georgia and when he finished high school, he enrolled in the Navy's V-7 Program at Northwestern University in June 1941. Ninety days later, he was commissioned an ensign and went to communication school. His first assignment was aboard USS Plunkett (DD-431) on convoy escort duty across the North Atlantic to Iceland, Scotland and Russia. After the invasion of North Africa, Simpson reported to damage control school in Philadelphia prior to assignment aboard USS Morrison (DD-560) at Seattle. He shares several anecdotes from aboard the Morrison including putting out fires aboard USS Princeton (CVL-23). He was also aboard when the Morrison sank of Okinawa from a kamikaze attack and shares stories of time in the water. When he returned to the US, he took an assignment as a damage control instructor. He was there when the war ended and elected to leave the Navy.