Oral History Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, January 15, 2004 transcript

Oral History Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, January 15, 2004

Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, a pilot during World War II. He describes growing up on a farm in Georgia, going to college at Berry, and working for Sears, Roebuck, and the Royal Typewriter Company before joining the U. S. Navy. He tells an anecdote about joining the navy so he could go to New York to see the World's Fair, since he had heard the Atlanta Reserve would be making a trip to the Fair. He began flight training in Florida in December 1940, finished the next September, then drove cross-country to San Francisco after the Pearl Harbor attack. He eventually joined the USS Enterprise in April 1942 and saw the B-25 bombers in the Doolittle Raid take off. He was part of Bombing Squadron Six and trained under Commander Best to learn how to do scouting flights, navigation, and dive bombing. He then describes his participation in the Battle of Midway, the hours before take-off, his first view of the Japanese fleet, and his bombing mission. He was later assigned to the USS Hornet and had to fly off to a little island so that planes from the USS Wasp could land on the Hornet after their ship …
Date: January 15, 2004
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Hopkins, Lewis R.
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
Oral History Interview with Thomas Roth, October 15, 1977 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Thomas Roth, October 15, 1977

Interview with Thomas Roth regarding his experiences while stationed at Kaneohe Naval Air Station during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other installations on the island on December 7th, 1941.
Date: October 15, 1977
Creator: Bowman, Larry & Roth, Thomas
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

[Postcard from Cornelia Yerkes to Frances Yerkes, November 15, 1946]

Postcard from Cornelia Yerkes to her mother discussing recent news about friends and family. The postcard features "Festival of St. Roche" by E. Debat-Ponsan as it appears at the Tudor Hotel in New York.
Date: November 15, 1946
Creator: Kafka, Cornelia V. Yerkes
Object Type: Postcard
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Clipping: Return of a WASP] (open access)

[Clipping: Return of a WASP]

Newspaper clippings of the article, "The Return of a WASP" which discusses the homecoming of Twila Edwards after her time as a Women Airforce Service Pilot. She shares the difficulties she has looking for civilian pilot positions and the challenges she's faced due to WASPs not being a military service. The article includes several photos of Twila Edwards.
Date: April 15, 1945
Creator: Boulkind, Mae & Ruohomaa, Kosti
Object Type: Clipping
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Letter from Cornelia Yerkes, November 15, 1944] (open access)

[Letter from Cornelia Yerkes, November 15, 1944]

Letter from WASP Cornelia Yerkes, probably to her parents, discussing the recent Army-Navy game, her divorce, her grandfather's health, an offer from Jacqueline Cochran to serve in another country's air force when the WASP is disbanded, and difficulties collecting a P-63 from its factory.
Date: November 15, 1944
Creator: Kafka, Cornelia V. Yerkes
Object Type: Letter
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Letter from Cornelia Yerkes, June 15, 1944] (open access)

[Letter from Cornelia Yerkes, June 15, 1944]

Letter from Cornelia Yerkes discussing ferrying a P-40 from Buffalo to Columbia, SC, delays, returning to Dallas, and recent correspondence. Written on Eastern Air Lines stationary.
Date: June 15, 1944
Creator: Kafka, Cornelia V. Yerkes
Object Type: Letter
System: The Portal to Texas History

Oral History Interview with Colonel John. E. Olson, March 15, 1998

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with Colonel John E. Olson, a Army WWII veteran and POW from Leavenworth, Kansas. Olson discusses his family background, commissioning in the Army from West Point, assignment to the Philippines in 1939 as an infantry officer, the start of the war, withdrawal to Bataan and the ensuing battle and surrender, the Bataan Death March, internment at Cabanatuan, transfer to Osaka, experiences there in internment at a factory labor camp, liberation, organizing the evacuation of POWs, returning to the US, and his postwar career.
Date: March 15, 1998
Creator: Alexander, Bill & Olson, John E.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library