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 Aaron C. Kulow transcript

Oral History Interview with Aaron C. Kulow

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Aaron C. Kulow. Kulow grew up in Michigan and enlisted in the Navy in 1942. After training, he joined the ship USS Pollux AKS-4 at Norfolk, Virginia. Initially the ship runs trips down to the Carribbean and Brazil but in 1943 is fitted with radar and sent to the Pacific Theater. In the Pacific, the general stores issue ship visited Australia, New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, and the New Hebrides Islands. He then returned to San Francisco in 1944 where his wife met him to get married. He left for the Pacific again and in 1945 traveled to the Philippines. In 1945 Kulow met survivors of the Bataan Death March that had been liberated. He remembers going to a friend's burial in the Philippines. On V-J Day Kulow was at Manila Harbor. He left for America in October 1945 and was discharged in New York December 12, 1945.
Date: unknown
Creator: Kulow, Aaron C.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Aaron C. Kulow (open access)

Oral History Interview with Aaron C. Kulow

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Aaron C. Kulow. Kulow grew up in Michigan and enlisted in the Navy in 1942. After training, he joined the ship USS Pollux AKS-4 at Norfolk, Virginia. Initially the ship runs trips down to the Carribbean and Brazil but in 1943 is fitted with radar and sent to the Pacific Theater. In the Pacific, the general stores issue ship visited Australia, New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, and the New Hebrides Islands. He then returned to San Francisco in 1944 where his wife met him to get married. He left for the Pacific again and in 1945 traveled to the Philippines. In 1945 Kulow met survivors of the Bataan Death March that had been liberated. He remembers going to a friend's burial in the Philippines. On V-J Day Kulow was at Manila Harbor. He left for America in October 1945 and was discharged in New York December 12, 1945.
Date: unknown
Creator: Kulow, Aaron C.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History