Transcript of an oral interview with Captain Robert K. Kaufman. Kaufman discusses getting nominated to the US Naval Academy in 1936 and describes some experiences he had there. During his years there he went on summer cruises aboard the USS Arkansas (BB-33) and the USS New York (BB-34), visiting Germany in 1937 and again in 1939. Upon graduation, Kaufman reported aboard the USS Wichita (CA-45) as the communcations officer before it steamed for South America. After a few months, he became a gunnery officer. When th ewar got started, the Wichita cruised to Iceland and patrolled in the Atlantic. Kaufman was aboard the Wichita when the North African invasion occurred and then left the ship to report to submarine school, from which he graduated in June, 1943. From there, he reported aboard the USS Gato (SS-212). Kaufman served aboard the Gato for five war patrols, the last two as the Executive Officer. In March, 1945, he became the Aide and Flag Lieutenant to the Submarine Force Commander (Admiral Charles Lockwood) and moved to Guam. He was invited to attend the sirrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) i nTokyo Bay and rode in an airplane from Guam to Saipan with …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Evan Riley. Riley was born in Nashville, Tennessee 5 September 1921. At a very young age, he and his four siblings were placed into an orphanage and he tells of growing up during the Depression. Joining the US Army in 1942, he was selected to attend Officer Candidate School and graduated as a second lieutenant in 1943. He then received training in the tank corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After spending several months at Camp Cooke, California, he requested a transfer to an Airborne unit. He was accepted and sent to Fort Benning, Georgia where he transferred from being a tank officer to being an infantry officer. Upon completing his paratroop training he joined the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division on Luzon in June 1945. The unit was on Okinawa preparing for the invasion of Japan when Japan surrendered. On 28 August 1945 the unit landed at Atsugi, Japan as a part of the Occupation forces. He was then sent to Sendai where he served for nine months before returning to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Following the end of World War II, Riley remained …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James C. ""Bill"" Trowell. Trowell begins by telling about his father-in-law, Claude W. Lester. Lester was a torpedo man in the Navy during World War I and was recalled to active duty during World War II. He reads from Lester's diary about destroyer picket duty off Okinawa. Trowell then begins with his own experiences of growing up during the Great Depression on a farm in New Mexico. Trowell finished high school at 16 in 1942 and go a deferment due to his work in agriculture. In April, 1944, he joined the Marine Corps. He speaks a bit about training in San Diego. After training, Trowell qualified for Marine Aviation school and trained as a ground crew member examinig fuselages, wings, elevators, rudders and ailerons for damage, etc. The war ended before Trowell got overseas. When he did go overseas, he went to China for occupation duty with the First Marine Air Wing. He describes some trouble the Marines had with the Chinese communists. Trowell feels certain he would have gone to Iwo Jima had he not been able to get into a Marine aviation unit.

Transcript of an oral interview with Glenn O. Thorsen. Born in 1926, he was drafted into the Army in February, 1945. He arrived on Luzon just prior to the end of the war. He was then assigned to the personnel section of Headquarters Company Kobe Bay of the 8th Army in Kobe, Japan. He later served in the engineering section as a dispatcher of plumbers, electricians, and carpenters. He was discharged in November, 1946. He used the GI Bill to continue his education.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Wesley Plummer. Plummer joined the Marine Corps in February 1943 and trained at San Diego. After boot training, he volunteered for the Marine paratroopers and trained at Camp Gillespie. Then he was assigned to the 3rd Marine Parachute Battalion and went to Guadalcanal and Vella Lavella before landing on Bougainville in December, 1943. Plummer details some of his experiences in the jungle at Bougainville. He returned to the US for some leave before being assigned to H Company, 28th marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division. From there, he went to Iwo Jima, landing on D-day, and recalls a lot of details about operating there. Plummer was eventually wounded on 24 March and evacuated. Plummer had enough points to opt for discharge and spent only a few weeks in Japan before returning to the US. He was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joe Mason. Mason entered the Navy in September of 1944. He completed storekeeper school at Samson, New York. He trained and served on a PT boat throughout the war. They traveled to Samar, Philippines on 1 September 1945, which he describes his experiences. He was stationed at PT Base 17. The war was over by the time he traveled overseas. He discusses his time in Samar and witnessed the burning of the PT boats. He traveled to other Philippine Islands and was discharged in June of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Roger Anderson. Anderson joined the Army Air Forces in mid-1943. He served as a B-24 gunner. Anderson deployed in June of 1944 to Australia. He completed 42 missions, including over the Palau Islands, the Philippines and throughout the Pacific. He describes his work aboard a B-24. Anderson was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Brosius. Brosius joined the Army Air Forces after graduating from college and working as an agricultural supply manager. He washed out of cadet training when it was determined he was at risk for asthma. He was then sent to Harvard Business School and trained in statistical control, a new military discipline. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group in Australia and designed his own method of surveying operations. He also received permission to travel to Sydney to arrange for the publication of a yearbook depicting his unit’s wartime experiences. In 1943 Brosius was sent to Monterey to study military government in anticipation of the occupation of Japan. At the end of 1945 however, he seized an opportunity to return home and retired as a major. Despite being invited to join an elite group of military veteran statisticians known as the Whiz Kids, who would go on to run Ford Motor Company, Brosius chose instead a career in land development and construction.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Jacobs. Jacobs joined the Army Air Forces in March of 1943. He was classified as pilot and gunner. He received his wings in January of 1944. He served as a flight officer aboard B-24s. He flew to Townsville, Australia and Nadzab, New Guinea. He was assigned to the 22nd Bomb Group, 408th Squadron, serving as both pilot and co-pilot. They flew to Noemfoor, New Guinea. He flew 37 missions overall. Jacobs discusses overall life in the military including comradery with fellow crew members, food, housing and more. His crew was on the first mission to bomb the Philippines and he provides information on this mission.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lyle White. White joined the Navy in July of 1943. In Pearl Harbor he served as a carpenter, building new officers’ quarters. He talks about military life and provides some stories. He left for the South Pacific in March of 1944 aboard the USS General G. O. Squier (AP-130). He was part of the 123rd Construction Battalion. They went to Midway to empty bunkers of shells and build docks for submarines. He describes these experiences and the island. They also travelled to Samar, Philippines and built runways and Quonset huts. They built a causeway from Samar to Calaguan. White was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Furrer. Furrer joined the Navy in November of 1940. He completed Aviation Structural Mechanics School, and was assigned to Utility Squadron 1 at the Naval Station on Ford Island in mid-1941. He conducted aircraft maintenance. Furrer witnessed the first Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor. He later served as a Barrier Operator aboard the USS Altamaha (CVE-18) in late 1942, traveling to Funafuti, and continued his service in the South Pacific through mid-1944. He was then assigned to Jacksonville, Florida, continuing aircraft maintenance work, where he remained through the end of the war. Furrer continued his service in the Navy, retiring in 1961.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ross Lowell Kastor. Kastor joined the Navy in the spring of 1944. In September, he was assigned to pre-flight School at Hensley Field in Dallas. He completed flight training in a Boeing-Stearman NS2. He was then transferred to Cuddihy Field in Corpus Christi, and trained aboard a Consolidated PB2Y. He graduated in June of 1945, and served as a flight instructor until December. Kastor was made second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and transferred to a Curtiss R5C Commando transport squadron at the Marine Corps Air Station at Ewa in Oahu. He worked as a command pilot, and delivered cargo from the Ewa base, to smaller Pacific islands, from which he transported military personnel back to Hawaii. Kastor served 14 months in the Pacific.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Taylor. In 1941, after Taylor graduated from high school at 17, he entered a trade school to learn airplane mechanics because his mother would not allow him to go into the military. Taylor tried to get into the Navy, but was not accepted for service due to his having Bright's disease. Instead. when he finished trade school, he went to work for Pan American Airways. Pan Am sent him to Pearl Harbor to work on the Clipper ships Pan Am used for contract work with the Navy. Pan Am hauled mail and freight for the Navy to various islands in the Pacific during the war. Taylor eventually got into the Navy Reserve while working for Pan Am at Pearl Harbor in 1943. When the war ended, Taylor got out of the Navy and went to work for private airlines before joining the US Air Force in 1949. After flight training, Taylor became an instructor at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Taylor served in an Air Defense Command unit.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Wells. Wells joined the Army Air Corps in December of 1940. He provides much detail on his training and received his wings in December of 1941. He was assigned to the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron, attached to the 22nd Bomb Group. He was stationed in Muroc Lake, California and served as co-pilot in the B-26 planes. In January of 1942 he traveled to Hawaii on the USS U. S. Grant (AP-29). He describes Pearl Harbor at that time, after the December attack. He then traveled to Australia in March with a detached service, serving as a co-pilot. He was later transferred out to be a commanding officer of the Army Air Forces detachment at Dugway, Utah, where they tested chemical warfare.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Pierce. Pierce registered for the Army in 1942, working as a machinist in a defense plant until he was called to active duty. He deployed to Leyte with the 284th Ordinance Company and set up a mobile machine shop for the repair of amphibious tanks. His unit was unarmed, as they were told they would be far from the action. But he was warned by nearby soldiers to dig a foxhole as quickly as he could, to take cover from snipers. The next day, he found bullet holes in his truck. He also restored equipment after the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Transferring to Okinawa, his company sought refuge in their trucks to survive a typhoon. At the end of the war, Pierce boarded the same ship as Admiral Nimitz for his return trip to the States and had the pleasure of shaking his hand. Pierce was discharged into the Reserves, but the Army misplaced his papers, so he was not recalled to the Korean War. He attended night school on the GI Bill and contined working as a machinist.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Albert Wakeman. Wakeman joined the Navy in 1944. The son of a machinist who fashioned guns for the Navy during WWI, Wakeman advanced to diesel school upon completion of basic training. He was assigned to PT-175 with Squadron 11 at Emirau, New Guinea, as a machinist's mate. At Morotai, as Wakeman manned his battle station against a Japanese barge, an officer rushed over to help him load the 40mm and was immediately shot in the forehead and killed. Wakeman later sustained third degree burns during an accidental explosion while lighting a fire on the beach in an effort to launder his clothes. The end of his service was uneventful and pleasant; in the Philippines, he attended church and enjoyed Sunday dinner with the locals. Wakeman returned home and was discharged, earning two master's degrees on the GI Bill to become a professor of English and Greek.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Perry Camp. Camp spent a year in Honolulu working as a high scaler, scaling cliffs and building ammunition dumps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Camp was then drafted into the Navy in 1943. He was trained as a gunner’s mate and completed schooling for electrical and hydraulics. He served as an instructor on the 5-inch guns. His position was fuse center and sight center. He discusses his position on his ship and provides detail of the weapons. He describes witnessing the commissioning of the USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774) in November of 1944. He worked aboard the destroyer preparing it for the sea. They shipped out of San Diego in February of 1945. They participated in the Battle of Okinawa. Camp describes this experience, including the ship being hit by a Kamikaze plane. Camp was discharged sometime after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Thomas ""Tom"" Maloney. Maloney joined the Naval Air Reserve in Ocotber, 1941. Upon earning his wings, Maloney was assigned to Air Group 98 aboard the USS Princeton (CVL-23). He flew combat missions against targets all over New Guinea before being transferred to Air Group 6 aboard the USS Hancock (CV-19) in July, 1944. Aboard the Hancock, Maloney struck targets on Okinawa. He also sank a few Japanese ships near the home islands and earned two Navy Crosses.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Merkel. Merkel was born in San Antonio in 1926 and was drafted into the Navy in 1944 and sent to San Diego for boot camp. Soon after completing his training he was aboard a ship bound for Guam. At that time, he was assigned to a Naval Construction Battalion. Soon after his arrival he was assigned to a dredge ship. He tells of some of his experiences while aboard the vessel. He vividly recalls witnessing a kamikaze crashing into a hospital ship. He also remembers being aboard his ship during a typhoon in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Kenneth Matthews. Matthews joined the Marine Corps in 1943 and trained at Parris Island. Then he went to Quantico and earned a commission. He was assigned to the regimental intelligence section of the 1st Marines, 1st marine Division and went to Okinawa. After the war, Matthews went to China briefly before returning to the US and being discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bernice Pratt. Pratt learned sheet metal working at a National Youth Association school and was given a job repairing PBY seaplanes at Corpus Christi. She later joined the Army and received basic training in Georgia. Upon completion, she was assigned to Kelly Field, chauffeuring officers, running errands, and filing paperwork. She was transferred to Maxwell Air Force Base and became a pitcher on their competitive softball team. Pratt married a soldier; they were discharged together and started a family in 1949.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Huffman. Huffman joined the Navy in March of 1944. He completed Midshipman’s School in mid-1945, and was completing Advanced-Line Officers School in Florida, when the atomic bomb was dropped. He continued his service after the war ended, traveling to Naval Supply Depots in the Pacific, processing supply requests. Huffman returned to the US in August of 1946, though remained in the reserves through May of 1958.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with J L Wood. Wood completed two years of military school at the New Mexico Military Institute, then enrolled in the University of Texas Navy V-12 program, graduating in 1943. He then completed Midshipman’s School at Notre Dame and Cornell University, graduating in July of 1945. Wood served as a lieutenant aboard the USS Kaskaskia (AO-27). They conducted fueling operations at Okinawa and Japan and supplied the minesweepers. He shares his experiences living and working aboard the ship. Wood returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alfred Lehmann. Lehmann was drafted in the US Army in 1943. He completed 6 weeks of boot camp in Little Rock, Arkansas, then was deployed overseas as an infantryman. He served with the 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division. Lehmann served in the Philippine Islands, and shares his experiences in the Bougainville Campaign, the Battle of Luzon and freeing prisoners in Manila. Lehmann returned to the US in December of 1945 and received his discharge.