Oral History Interview with Ethel Blaine, April 24, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ethel Blaine, April 24, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ethel ""Sally"" Blaine Millett. Millett grew up in Missouri and went to nurses training in San Diego, California. She volunteered for the Philippines in 1941. She witnessed the bombing at Clark Field. She took care of the soldiers wounded by Japanese strafing. When the bombing got too bad, the nurses left Statsenberg for Manila. Because of continued Japanese bombing all over the Philippines, the nurses had to keep moving as the hospitals moved. She describes having malaria and then having to evacuate from Bataan to Corregidor. Then they went to Mindanao where they were formally captured by the Japanese. They were moved to Davao and then to Santo Tomas. She describes losing her possessions. She describes life in the internment camp: the food, the work required, the sanitary conditions, the self-government, the birthrate, and the entertainment. Millett has to have an operation while at Santo Tomas. She also describes executions. Finally, the American soldiers arrived, and she took a plane home in February 1945. Her brother met her in San Francisco.
Date: April 24, 2000
Creator: Millett, Ethel Blaine
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with William R. Sanchez, June 24, 2011 transcript

Oral History Interview with William R. Sanchez, June 24, 2011

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with with William R. Sanchez. Born in Texas in 1918, Sanchez joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1938. He was drafted into the Army in 1940 and elected to serve in the Philippines. He was assigned to the 59th Regiment, Coast Artillery, Battery D and later Battery H at Fort Mills (Corregidor). He was then assigned to Army Intelligence in the Harbor Defense Headquarters. He recounts how the Army Intelligence at Corregidor provided advance notification of the Japanese force on its way to attack Pearl Harbor. He describes participating in the battle for Corregidor, being taken prisoner in the Malinta Tunnel, and his role in disposing of an American flag after the surrender to the Japanese. He discusses the treatment and living conditions he experienced as a prisoner of war. He was held captive at Bilibid Prison and Cabanatuan in the Philippines. He was transported aboard the Totorri Maru, a hell ship, to Formosa. He was then relocated to Camp Omori near Tokyo, Japan where he befriended Gregory “Pappy” Boyington and Louis Zamperini; was beaten by “the Wiley Bird” (Mutsuhiro Watanabe); and encountered Premier Tojo. He discusses his …
Date: June 24, 2011
Creator: Sanchez, William R.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History

Oral History Interview with William Garbo, Sr., 2003-2004

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with landscape architect and Army veteran William Garbo Sr. The interview includes Garbo's personal experiences about the G Troop, 112th Cavalry, in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World-War II, growing up in an Italian-American family in Mississippi during the Great Depression, volunteering for the draft and processing at Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, basic training at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, being assigned to the 26th War Dog Platoon and to New Guinea in 1944, the Battle of the Driniumor River and his attachment to elements of the 32nd Infantry Division, jungle patrols on New Guinea with his dog, his transfer to Troop, 112th Cavalry and the invasion of Layte, Philippines, and the living condition in the Philippine jungles. Additionally, Garbo speaks about the fighting prowess of his comrades in the 112th Cavalry, jungle patrols on Leyte and Luzon, the 112th's activities around Marungko and Antipolo, Luzon, descriptions of cannibalism by Japanese soldiers, his wounds from artillery shrapnel and evacuation by helicopter, his return to the 112th Cavalry and preparations for the invasion of Japan, witnessing the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, occupation duty at Tateyama, Honshu, relations between Japanese civilians and American occupation troops, the destruction of Japanese defensive fortifications …
Date: November 24, 2003
Creator: Johnston, Glenn T. & Garbo, William, Sr.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library