Oral History Interview with Tyrel James Billingsley, October 18, 2007

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Interview with Tyrel James Billingsley, an Airman in the US Air Force Reserves from Dallas, Texas. Billingsley discusses his childhood and education, enlisting in the Air Force, basic training and technical school, his duties as a Aircraft Armament Systems specialist, memorable experiences, and plans for the future.
Date: October 17, 2007
Creator: Bonine, Rebecca & Billingsley, Tyrel James
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Michael Crone, December 9, 2007

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Interview with Michael Crone, veteran of Operation of Iraqi Freedom, as part of the Tarrant County Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Crone's personal experiences of childhood in Texas, enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, boot camp at Camp Pendleton, California, training as a diesel mechanic, and being deployed to Kuwait and Al Asad, Iraq. Crone also talks about his family's tradition of military service, realizing that he would be activated and shift in reservist training following September 11 attacks, the birth of his first child while in Iraq, aspects of daily life for American soldiers stationed in Iraq, his work as a repair mechanic, and returning to the U.S. and his family.
Date: December 9, 2007
Creator: Elizondo, Kristina & Crone, Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Estel G. Burns, October 14, 2009

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Interview with Estel G. Burns, World War II veteran and B-17 pilot, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Project. The interview includes Burns' personal experiences of childhood and education in Missouri, farm life in the Great Depression, basic training, and training for aviation mechanics at Sheppard Field, Texas. Additionally, Burns talks about his family history, his 1942 enlistment in Army Air Corps, being accepted into pilot training, marriage to Dorothy Perrin, life at Deenethorpe Air Base, England, crew members and their respective duties on his plane, various missions bombing German targets, his feelings about missions against civilian targets, opinions of Luftwaffe pilots and of Germans, and his postwar Air Force career, including service in the Korean War. The interview includes an appendix of photographs.
Date: October 14, 2009
Creator: Hegi, Benjamin P. & Burns, Estel G.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with LeRoy Ellis Cox, February 5, 2004

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Interview with LeRoy Ellis Cox. The interview includes Cox's personal experiences about childhood and early adulthood in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, World War-II-era Army Air Corps training in armaments and electronics, stateside service in the 303rd Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, aviation cadet training, serving as a B-25 instructor pilot, and as a DC-3 tow pilot for the glider program.
Date: February 5, 2004
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Cox, LeRoy E., 1919-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral History Interview with Robert O. Andrews, September 20, 2003 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Robert O. Andrews, September 20, 2003

Interview with Robert O. Andrews, a businessman and United States Army Air Force veteran from Jean, Texas, regarding his experience in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. Andrews discusses enlistment, training, assignments including his overseas assignments in India and Burma, reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and his postwar career.
Date: September 20, 2003
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Andrews, Robert O.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Robert O. Andrews, September 20, 2003

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Interview with Robert O. Andrews, businessman and an Army Air Forces veteran, concerning his experiences in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. Andrews discusses his pre-war education and farming activities in Olney, Texas; enlistment in the Army Air Forces, c. 1941; assignment to Chanute Field, Illinois, c. 1941-42; Officer Candidate School, Miami Beach, Florida, c. 1942; assignment to Perrin Field, Sherman, Texas, c. 1942-44; overseas transport to India; assignment to Warazup, Burma, 1944-45; his reaction to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and postwar career in business.
Date: September 20, 2003
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Andrews, Robert O., 1919-
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Hubert Chandler, March 2, 2003

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Interview with janitor Hubert Chandler. The interview includes Chandler's personal experiences about his employment by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression.
Date: March 2, 2003
Creator: Dixon, Tricia Taylor & Chandler, Hubert
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Gladys Barnes Lawhon, May 22, 2008

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Interview with long-time Denton resident Gladys Barns Lawhon for the Denton Historical Commission Museum. The interview includes Lawhon's family history, personal experiences about her childhood, life in Denton, impressions of neighbors, teaching music, and her travels for the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
Date: May 22, 2008
Creator: Nelson, Martha Len & Lawhon, Gladys Barnes
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interviews with Hazel Harvey Peace, 2003-2004

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Interview with Hazel Harvey Peace, a teacher and civil rights activist from Fort Worth, Texas, who was instrumental in expanding education for black citizens of the area. Peace discusses her parents, her education, becoming a teacher, working at various institutions over her life, books and entertainment growing up, her roll as a mentor, Fort Worth neighborhoods and the black communities, contemporary problems with integration and racism, admired leaders, her plays, her faith, and more.
Date: 2003-02-20/2004-03-28
Creator: Sprecht-Kelly, Melody & Harvey-Peace, Hazel
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Lloyd F. Hudson, August 12, 2003

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Interview with Lloyd F. Hudson, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran from Fort Worth, Texas. Hudson discusses his family background, joining the 124th Cavalry and transfer to the 112th, work as a cavalryman before activation, activation and the Louisiana Maneuvers, deployment to Townsville, Australia, amphibious assault on Arawe, New Britain, falling ill and returning to the States, the character of troops, equipment, rivalry with the Marine Corps, and acts of bravery. In appendix is a list of Hudson's fellow soldiers, the places he served, descriptions of the equipment mentioned in the interview, and the 112th's service chronicle.
Date: August 12, 2003
Creator: Johnston, Glenn T. & Hudson, Lloyd F.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Edward J. Drake, 2002

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Interview with attorney and Army Air Forces veteran Edward J. Drake. The interview includes Drake's personal experiences about being a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II, youth and education in Dallas, Texas, enlistment in the Aviation Cadet Program, various training programs, bombing transportation facilities during and after the Ardennes Offensive, crash-landing in Belgium after his plane was hit, and linking up with American troops. Additionally, Drake talks about his assignment to the 91st Bomb Group, the routine for a typical mission, formation flying, flying through enemy flak, rest and relaxation on-base and in London, recuperating from a collapsed lung, his return to combat for three more missions, and his return to the crash site of his plane 57 years later. The interview includes an appendix with "The Last Flight of 'Jezebel,'" written by Drake.
Date: October 16, 2002
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Drake, Edward J.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Arthur B. Clark, September 29, 2000

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Interview with Arhtur B. Clark, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran and POW from Abilene, Texas, who was captured with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery. Clark discusses joining the National Guard, training and maneuvers, deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and surrender to the Japanese, experiences in internment at Tanjong Priok in Batavia, internment at Changi Camp in Singapore, labor on the Burma "Death" Railway, and liberation. The interview includes an appendix with a reference page and a written flight log by Col. Tom Sledge.
Date: September 29, 2000
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Clark, Arthur B.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Melvin Fenoglio, July 19, 2000

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Interview with Navy veteran Melvin Fenoglio, educator and farmer-rancher. The interview includes Fenoglio's personal experiences about the Pacific Theater during World War II, and the Iwo Jima and Okinawa Campaigns. Fenoglio also talks about early family history, his pre-war education, his acceptance in the V-7 Program, failing out of the Midshipman School and transferring to the U.S. Naval Training Center, yeoman training, gunnery practice off the Hawaiian Islands, his personal observations of the flag-raisings on Mount Suribachi, the USS Little's assignment to radar picket duty at Station Ten, his ship being hit by four kamikazes and sinking on May 3, 1945, rescue in the water by his shipmates, survival in the water for three hours before being picked up by LCS(L)-25, and the lasting effects of his World War II experiences. The interview also includes an appendix with a map.
Date: July 19, 2000
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Fenoglio, Melvin
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with J. D. Bradley, June 27, 2003

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Interview with postmaster and Army veteran J.D. Bradley. The interview includes Bradley's personal experiences about being a guard during the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo after World War II, enlisting in the army, basic training, various assignments, guard duty in the court docks during the tribunal, and guarding Hideki Tojo. Bradley talks about rules and regulations for Military Police guards, steps taken to prevent suicides among the prisoners, the physical description of the interior of the courtroom of the War Ministry Building, checks for hidden weapons in the courtroom, courtroom procedures, various security procedures, steps taken to impress the Japanese people, living quarters and conditions at the War Ministry Building, relations with Japanese civilians, black market activities, his relationship with a Japanese correspondent and trading cigarettes for photographs of the proceedings, Sugamo Prison, and his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Aubrey S. Kenworthy. The interview includes an appendix with photographs.
Date: June 27, 2003
Creator: Koontz, Christopher N. & Bradley, J. D.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Frank and Betty Ann Barrow, August 4, 2005

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Interview with longtime Denton residents Frank and Betty Ann Barrow for the Denton County Historical Commission. The interview includes Frank's personal experiences about his childhood and moving to Denton, having a career as a radio announcer, serving in the Special Services division of the Army Air Forces, having a career as an automobile dealer, insurance agent, and haberdasher in Denton, working with a Methodist church, being involved in the Denton Community Theatre, serving on the Denton City Council, and his political career as mayor of Denton. It also includes Betty Ann's family history and how they coped with the Great Depression, information on her education at North Texas State College, and her personal experiences about marriage, the death of her husband in a flying accident, widowhood, her marriage to Frank Barrow, her clothing business, and working to liberalize Denton race relations. The interview includes an appendix with photographs, a photograph legend, a letter sent out to family members, a pamphlet for The Barrow Society, and an editorial piece about Frank Barrow.
Date: August 4, 2005
Creator: Nelson, Martha Len; Barrow, Frank & Barrow, Betty Ann
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with John Ed Balentine, July 7, 2006

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Interview with former North Texas State Teachers College student John Ed Balentine, longtime resident of Denton County, Texas. The interview includes Balentine's personal experiences about life on Denton farms, including descriptions of ranch work, wheat harvest, and entertainment options in Denton, education in Denton schools, dropping out of school to work for magnolia Oil Co. in Kermit, Texas, and being inducted into the U.S. Army. Additionally, Balentine speaks about his family's economic difficulties during the Great Depression, undergraduate studies at North Texas as an Industrial Arts major, descriptions of student social life, his World War II service in an anti-battalion, returning to Kermit, courting and marrying Jeanette Smith, and descriptions of historic Denton County photographs. The interview includes an appendix with photographs and Balentine's autobiography.
Date: July 7, 2006
Creator: Moye, Todd & Balentine, John Ed
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Travis Womack, Jr., May 10, 2002

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Interview with Travis Womack Jr., a Army WWII veteran from Marshall, Texas, who served with the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. Womack discusses his family, education, basic and airborne training, deployment to Morocco and movement through North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, the Battle of San Pietro, the Anzio campaign, going to England, marrying, fighting in Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, disguised German troops, and the end of the war. In appendix is a detailed account of the Italian campaign written by Womack.
Date: May 10, 2002
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Womack Jr., Travis
System: The UNT Digital Library