[Annual Meeting of Officers Order of Fifinella] (open access)

[Annual Meeting of Officers Order of Fifinella]

Order of Fifinella Officer meeting meeting minutes that discusses, among other things, the WASP newsletter, the group historian's activities, militarization of WASP, the next reunion, and the Order of Fifinella Award.
Date: April 14, 1973
Creator: Jones, Mary
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History

Oral History Interview with Robert Hoe, September 20, 2003

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with Robert Hoe, a Navy WWII veteran of the China-Burma-India theater from Le Roy, New York. Hoe discusses growing up, the reaction to Pearl Harbor, attending college, enlisting in the Navy, training and becoming an officer, joining the Navy Scouts and Raiders, deployment to China and assignment to the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, supplying their forces, operations with guerilla fighters against the Japanese occupation, intelligence gathering, his reaction to the atomic bomb, the end of the war, service in China and discharge, and life as a civilian.
Date: September 20, 2003
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Hoe, Robert
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Robert Seidel, September 7, 1999

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Interview with Robert Seidel, a Army Air Force WWII veteran from Elkhart, Indiana, who served in the 763rd Bomb Squadron in the European Theater. Accompanied by his wife Helen, Seidel discusses his family, the start of the war and joining the Air Corps, training as a flight engineer, assignment to the B-24 and deployment to Spinazzola, Italy, flying combat missions, life at the base, ditching his aircraft near Salzburg and getting captured, being interrogated, internment at Stalag Luft IV, liberation, and returning to the US. In appendix are three photos of Seidel, his B-24 crew, and their aircraft, Seidel's papers from when he was a German prisoner, his POW log book, the official narrative report of the mission he was lost on, and a letter from his family while he was in Italy.
Date: September 7, 1999
Creator: Lane, Peter B. & Seidel, Robert
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Dolphus Edward Rowan, July 17, 2007

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Interview with Ed Rowan, a Army Air Corps WWII veteran from Gadsden, Alabama. Rowan discusses his family background, education, work, purchasing an airplane, flying over the the wreck of the Hindenburg, joining the National Guard and flying coastal patrols, becoming a bomber pilot, his B-17 crew, the various missions they flew in the European Theater, fighters, flak, equipment, tactics, leaving the service, and working as an airline pilot. In appendix is a photo of Rowan's civilian plane, his Distinguished Flying Cross citation, his appointment to the Reserves, a list of missions, flight logs, and a fact sheet about the 381st Bomb Group,
Date: July 17, 2007
Creator: Hegi, Benjamin & Rowan Jr., Dolphus Edward
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral History Interview with Jerell E. Crow, August 24, 2002 transcript

Oral History Interview with Jerell E. Crow, August 24, 2002

Interview with Jerell E. Crow. He entered the Coast Guard in 1940 and trained in Florida and New York City. He served aboard a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) when those ships were first introduced. He traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the Neville Island Shipyard operated by the Dravo Corporation as part of a crew that brought an LST down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. From there, the crew practiced operations at Biloxi, Mississippi. Eventually, Crow travelled to San Diego aboard the LST through the Panama Canal. From there, he went to Guadalcanal and unloaded tanks. Eventually, his ship was hit at Saipan and he was wounded. He also served aboard an LST during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Afterwards, Crow's LST was present in Tokyo Bay for the surrender. He visited Hiroshima while on occupation duty after the atomic bomb was dropped. Eventually, his LST made its way back to San Francisco where he was discharged.
Date: August 24, 2002
Creator: Rabalais, Larry & Crow, Jerell E.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James F. Sansom, October 8, 2004 transcript

Oral History Interview with James F. Sansom, October 8, 2004

Interview with James F. Sansom, an officer in the U. S. Army during World War II. Sansom joined the Army in 1940 and began training on anti-aircraft guns in Florida. He was selected for Officer Candidate School (OCS) and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1942. He was assigned to the 843rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Air Warning Battalion, which made its way to India via the Panama Canal and Australia. Shortly after reaching Calcutta, the unit moved to Myitkyina, Burma. After the war, Sansom was assigned to Sagumo Prison outside Tokyo where Japanese war criminals were being held while on trial for war crimes. He describes some of the routines and residents in the prison. Sansom taught Hideki Tojo how to play card games like gin rummy. Sansom also describes the process of executing convicted prisoners as he carried out some sentences. In all, he executed nine convicted war criminals.
Date: October 8, 2004
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Sansom, James F.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Richard Bennett, November 15, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Richard Bennett, November 15, 2001

Interview with Richard (Dick) Bennett, a pilot during World War II. He discusses his enlistment in the Army Air Corps, basic training and flight school. He then went to a base in South Carolina to learn to fly B-25s. At Fort Myers, Florida he flew B-26 bombers and trained to fly them off of aircraft carriers so they could drop torpedos on the Japanese fleet during naval battles. He traveled across the Pacific to Brisbane only to be told that they didn't have B-26s for the crews; the colonel there knew nothing about the plan to launch B-26s from aircraft carriers, so they were sent to New Guinea to fly B-17s and supplement the crews for those bombers. From there they made bombing runs or "Washing Machine Charlie"-type runs to keep people awake at night on various Japanese targets in the islands, particularly the base at Rabaul. In fall of 1943, the Army grounded the B-17s due to the damage they had incurred and replaced them with B-24s. The men received manuals and were given only a few days to familiarize themselves with the new planes. They were then sent on bombing runs. He finished his tour of duty at …
Date: November 15, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Bennett, Richard
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History