The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Wilbur Vantine. In June, 1943, Vantine joined the Merchant Marine. He delivered aviation fuel to Milne Bay in New Guinea on his first voyage and bombs to New Caledonia before returning to the Merchant Marine Academy in New York and earning a commission in the Navy Reserve in April, 1945. Once he graduated, Vantine was assigned to a liberty ship and went to Liverpool. He was in New York on VJ Day. In 1957, he became a Panama Canal pilot and retired in 1997.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Weiblen. Weiblen signed up to be a flying cadet in the Army Air Forces when he was almost finished with high school. In May 1945, he was inducted into the Army and trained as an artilleryman. He was still in training when the war ended and was sent to Germany with occupation forces in November, 1945 and worked in a medical dispensary around Nuremburg. Weiblen managed to visit the war crimes trial at Nuremburg one afternoon and heard Russians reading evidence into the record. He was discharged in 1947 and went to school. Before the Korean War ended, Weiblen served as a case officer in Korea for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Andrew Bardagjy. Bardagjy joined the Army in 1943. He served as a mortarman with the 103rd Infantry Division, 411th Infantry Regiment. He deployed to France in September of 1944. They battled through France, capturing St. Dié, and into Germany by December. Bardagjy was captured by the Germans and placed into a prisoner of war camp near Fallingbostel, where he remained through April of 1945. He shares details of his experiences in the camp. He returned to the US and received his discharge in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Jean Adams. Adams recalls visiting her brother in the Philippines before the war started. On the way, she visited Japan. She was evacuated back to the US before hostilities started in the Philippines. After the war started, Adams joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and was in the Inspector General’s office in Des Moines. She recalls meeting Eleanor Roosevelt and had some interaction with Oveta Culp Hobby.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Goodman. Goodman graduated from Virginia Military Institute in May of 1942 in Electrical Engineering. He served as a Communications Officer with the Signal Corps Company. Goodman traveled to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, India and Iran. In Iran, his job was to establish a link between the US and Russia in preparation for a supply route. Working with Morse Code, he encoded and decoded messages in a radio room. His was a technical group, not a fighting group. Goodman returned to the US and received his discharge in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Dyches. Dyches joined the Marine Corps in April of 1944. He served with the 4th Marine Division, 24th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company G. Dyches traveled to Maui for additional training. He participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima. On his fifth morning on the island he was seriously wounded from an exploding grenade thrown into his fox hole. Dyches spent over a year and a half in various hospitals recovering from his wounds and was awarded the Purple Heart. He was honorably discharged in August of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Murry Storey. Storey joined the Navy in 1939. He served with the deck crew aboard USS Salt Lake City (CA-25). They were with USS Enterprise (CV-6) task group west of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. They docked in Pearl Harbor on 8 December, and Storey describes the overturned ships and casualties that he witnessed in the harbor. He discusses their involvement in the Doolittle Raid. Storey does not go into great detail about specific places he traveled or battles he fought in aboard Salt Lake City. He provides general details of his experiences serving. He returned to the US after the war ended and received his discharge in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jay Rutherford. Rutherford joined the Navy in early 1943. He served as a Boatswain's mate aboard USS Harris (APA-2). In April, they traveled to the Aleutians, participating in the Battle of Attu. In December, after the Battle of Tarawa, they went to Pearl Harbor. While there, Rutherford had unexpected blindness, was treated and remained in service aboard the Harris. They participated in the Battle of Kwajalein in January 1944. Then, Rutherford was transferred to Pearl Harbor, and served with a flotilla under Rear Admiral Eugene Coffin. Later, he was assigned to the USS USS LCI(R)-644, where he participated in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the war, Rutherford continued his service with the occupation forces in Yokohama, Japan. He returned to the US in February of 1946 and received his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold E Clay. Clay joined the Marine Corps April of 1943. He served with the 1st Marine Division, 5th Marine Regiment, participating in the Battle of Peleliu. In October of 1944, Clay transferred to the 6th Marine Division, 29th Marine Regiment, serving in the Battle of Okinawa. He served occupation duty in China after the war ended. Clay returned to the US and received his discharge in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Ott. Ott joined the Navy in 1944 upon graduating high school and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion of gunnery school and air/sea rescue training, he was assigned to a rescue boat stationed at Elba. There he was part of an eight-man crew that recovered B-29 and seaplane crews attempting to land at Kwajalein and Elba, respectively. When the tower notified them of a crash, Ott’s boat rushed to the scene and deployed a swimmer who loaded people, dead or alive, onto a floating stretcher. It was Ott’s responsibility to shoot at sharks if necessary. Once aboard, survivors would be treated by the crew’s hospital corpsmen. Typically, less than half of an aircrew survived a crash, but Ott felt it was important also to recover bodies for proper burial whenever possible. After two years abroad, Ott returned home and was discharged in early 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alvino Mendoza. Mendoza was born in Round Rock, Texas on 1 March 1926, and briefly tells of his life before entering the US Navy. After completing boot training at Camp Wallace, Texas he was assigned as a seaman aboard USS St. George (AV-16). His battle station was loader on an anti-aircraft gun. Mendoza describes his experiences during the Battle of Okinawa in which the St. George, as well as USS Curtiss (AV-4), were hit by kamikazes. He tells of being in several typhoons and describes an incident in which he fell into the sea. He served in the occupation of Japan. Mendoza returned to the US and received his discharge in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Redding. Redding joined the Navy in June of 1944. He was assigned to the 81st, 91st and 8th Construction Battalions, and served with a pontoon outfit, ferrying supplies from ship to shore. In January of 1945 he traveled aboard a troop ship to Hawaii for additional training, then on to Ulithi, Eniwetok and Okinawa. They remained on the coast of Okinawa through August, transporting Red Cross supplies, Sherman tanks, and howitzers aboard the pontoon boats to the shore. Redding returned to the US and was discharged in May of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald Bishop. Bishop joined the Marines late December 1942. He served with K Company, Third Battalion, First Marines. He shares his experiences through the Guadalcanal, New Britain and Peleliu campaigns. He was injured at Peleliu and returned to the US in late 1944. He assisted at West Point and Annapolis, teaching beach landings. He continued his service after the war ended, receiving his discharge on 22 January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Michael Natt. Natt joined the Army Air Corps in April of 1941. He served with the 95th Bomb Group as a waist gunner in a B-17. In August of 1944 on a bombing mission over Romania his plane was shot down and Natt was wounded. He was taken prisoner by German soldiers and survived an 8-month imprisonment in Stalag Luft III and a 90-day forced road march during the bitter cold winter. After being liberated, he was honorably discharged in October of 1945. Natt re-enlisted in the military in August of 1948 and completed a 30-year career with the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 1974.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Tom Schicher. Schicher joined the Marine Corps in March of 1944. He served as a rifleman and mortarman, and deployed to Hawaii as a replacement. They traveled to the Russell Islands and Guadalcanal practicing maneuvers. He participated in the Battle of Okinawa. After the war ended, he was assigned to occupation duty in China. Schicher returned to the US and was discharged around 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Franklin Dentz. Dentz joined the Army Air Forces in January of 1944. He completed training for radioman in an infantry company. He additionally learned Morse Code and the 32 bugle calls. In 1944 he traveled to England and was assigned to the 17th Airborne Division in the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment. Dentz provided radio communication for platoon radiomen. He provides some details of his training in England. He flew in a Horsa glider. Dentz comments on the German V2 rockets dropping in England. In 1945 his division participated in Operation VARSITY flying into Germany along the Rhine River, capturing Rhine bridges and securing towns. Dentz provides many details of their experiences through this operation, and life in general in England and Germany. He was discharged in March of 1946.

The National Museum of The Pacific War presents an oral interview with Cecil Groves. Groves was born in a small hamlet in Arkansas in 1920. He quit school in seventh grade to help his father make a living for a family of ten. Drafted in 1941, he underwent basic training at Miami Beach. He was sent to Fresno, California where he was assigned to the Signal Corps and attended telephone linesman school. Completing school, he was sent to New Guinea where he was assigned to the communication section in the 54th Troop Carrier Wing. He tells of being assigned to various bases including the Port Moresby Airfield Complex, Clark Field in the Philippines, and Tachikawa, Japan. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Glenn Grote. Born 11 November 1922 in St. Louis, Missouri, Grote was drafted 4 January 1943 and sent to Miami Beach, Florida for basic training. Upon completing basic he went to radio school at Scott Field, Illinois and aerial gunnery training at Wendover, Utah. From there, Grote went to a base in Colorado where he joined a new B-24 crew. He recalls going to Langley Field, Virginia for advanced crew training. Upon completion of the training they flew the B-24 to Hethel, England where they joined the 389th Bomb Group, 567th Bomb Squadron. He flew thirty missions and describes his activities as a radio operator and gunner. Recalling 6 June 1944 he tells of bombing missions over the beaches of Normandy and of the sight of the invasion forces from the air. Grote returned to the United States in October 1944 aboard RMS Queen Mary. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire put on an impromptu show using tables in the mess hall area of the ship as a stage. After arriving in the U.S. he was sent to Romulus, Michigan to become part of a plane crew that ferried …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Eugene Morgan. Morgan joined the Navy in December of 1941. Beginning in January of 1942 he served as Boatswain’s Mate Second Class and Master of Arms, aboard the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). They participated in the New Guinea and Aleutian Islands Campaigns. From late 1942 into early 1945 they bombarded for invasions of Kwajalein, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In July of 1945 they successfully delivered atomic bomb components to Tinian. Morgan describes their fateful event of 30 July, when the Indianapolis was sunk, and his survival and rescue on 2 August. He was discharged in November of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Chelly Mendoza. Mendoza was drafted into the Army in August, 1942. He was attached as a medic to the 1st Cavalry Division. He went overseas in May, 1943 and landed at Oro Bay, New Guinea. Mendoza served as a litter bearer hauling wounded from the battlefield. He drove an ambulance in the Admiralty Islands during the campaign in 1944. In October, Mendoza went to Leyte during the invasion of the Philippines. Mendoza helped liberate the civilian internees from Santo Tomas in Manila, where he was wounded. He returned to the US and was discharged from the Army in December, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clarence LeMieux. LeMieux was born on 16 December 1916 in Virginia, Minnesota. Graduating from high school in 1934, he joined the US Army Air Corps. He was sent to Chanute Field and enrolled in an engine and airframe training course. Upon graduation he was assigned to a B-10 crew and participated in gunnery and bombing practice. He was later, transferred to a B-17 crew and sent to Townsville, Australia. LeMieux tells of a bombing mission over Rabaul, of attacks by enemy fighters and of a forced landing in a swamp in New Guinea. He relates the harrowing trek out of the swamps and arrival at a native village and of being taken to Buna for travel to Australia. He tells of getting malaria and his return to the US. He received a direct commission from enlisted rank in 1943 and he tells of his various assignments and training he received prior to his retirement in 1965. The B-17 that crashed into the swamp was discovered intact in 1972. Given the name Swamp Ghost, it was reclaimed and taken to Honolulu in 2013.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John W. Griffing. Griffing was born on 31 December 1915 on a farm near Hubbard, Texas. After graduating from high school in 1932, he was drafted in April 1941. He entered the 200th Coast Artillery and underwent basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas. In August of 1941 he went to Fort Stotsenberg, in the Philippines. In December 1941 the Japanese invaded the Philippines and Griffing recalls surrendering. His group was put into trucks and taken to Camp O’Donnell. After four months he was sent to Cabanatuan. After three months, he volunteered for a work detail on an airfield at Lipa, Batangas until March 1944. He tells of being at Camp Murphy and Bilibid prison until October 1944 when he went aboard the Hell ship Haro Maru bound for Japan. After spending thirty-nine days on the ship they landed on Formosa on 9 November 1944. After two months he was sent to Moji, Japan and assigned to work in the zinc mines. On 20 August 1945 the prisoners were notified that the war was over and B-29s soon began dropping food and clothing to the prisoners. On 12 September …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Lansford. Lansford joined the navy in January 1941. His first duty station was at Kaneohe Naval Air Station on Oahu. He was an electrician and kept crash boat batteries operating. Lansford recalls the Japanese attack on Kaneohe. He remained at Kaneohe for the rest of the war at the air station serving as an electrician.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur Liberty. Born in Vermont, Liberty quit high school in 1942 to join the Marine Corps. He took boot training at Parris Island for nine weeks before going to Camp Lejeune where he was assigned to Company M, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines. After three more weeks of training, the company boarded a troop train to Camp Pendleton. Liberty boarded a ship bound for Rio-Namur during January 1944. He was in the third wave of the invasion and was wounded one hour after landing. He was taken to Aiea Naval Hospital in Pearl Harbor for treatment and recovery. Upon recovering, he returned to his division in time for the invasion of Saipan in June 1944. He landed with the first wave, endured heavy Japanese artillery and machine gun fire, which killed or wounded several members of his squad. Later, the battalion invaded Tinian where Liberty recalls being in a foxhole with three others when an artillery shell exploded close by wounding one and killing two others leaving him unharmed. Next, Liberty landed on Iwo Jima on 19 February. Of the 350 men in his company who landed on Iwo …