The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert C. Shedd. Shedd joined the Marine Corps in February of 1942 with his brothers Donald and Paul. He provides details of boot camp. He served with the 5th Marines. In June of 1942 he traveled to New Zealand. In August they went to Guadalcanal to capture the island. He provides details of his travels and life aboard the troop ships. They traveled to New Britain in New Guinea in December of 1943, where a shell fragment hit his shoulder. In September of 1944 they invaded Peleliu. He vividly describes his experiences at each of these battles. He was discharged in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Kenneth Wavell. Wavell was born in Flandreau, South Dakota 30 October 1919. After graduating from high school in Pipestone, Minnesota in 1936 he attended the University of Minnesota. In 1941, he joined the Navy. After boot camp at Jacksonville, Florida he was selected for flight training. After graduating from flight school at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, Texas, he became a flight instructor for two years. He describes a number of experiences including witnessing a mid-air collision. He 1943 he was ordered to join squadron VC-81 aboard the USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) as a TBM pilot. He participated in bombing missions over Luzon, Mindoro and Iwo Jima. He also tells of participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf at which time he had a direct bomb hit on the Japanese battleship Yamato. His plane was not damaged, although heavy anti-aircraft fire was encountered. After the squadron participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima they returned to San Diego. Japan surrendered soon after their return to the United States and Wavell was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edgar Granger. Granger was born in Beaumont, Texas 2 July 1916 and graduated from high school in 1934. In 1935 he joined the Merchant Marines as a deck hand with the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company. In 1941 he entered the Merchant Marine officers training class at Alameda, California. After receiving his third-class mate’s license he went aboard the SS San Antonio. He tells of picking up survivors of the merchant ship SS Cities Service that had been torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Louisiana. He then joined the Atlantic-Gulf-West Indies Lines and went aboard the newly constructed Liberty ship, SS Mary Austin (1943) and took a load of Higgins boats to Scotland. Granger experienced a storm so sever on the Atlantic that it sank three ships in the convoy and damaged the Mary Austin. During the Battle of the Bulge, while aboard the SS John Cropper, the ship took a load of gasoline in 5 gallon Jerry cans to Antwerp, Belgium. From there Granger and crew went to Cherbourg, France and picked up 350 German prisoners and took them to New York City. Following the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Shogren. Shogren joined the Navy in April 1943 and received basic training at Camp Waldron. He received gunnery training at Camp Peterson. He finished his training in advanced gunnery and electric hydraulics in San Diego and became a gunner’s mate on the USS Capricornus (AKA-57). An accomplished gunner, he was assigned to a battle station on the port side near the bridge to protect the navigator, captain, and gunnery officer. He brought supplies and troops to campaigns in the Philippines and engaged in antiaircraft fire in the Battle of Lingayen Gulf. At Espiritu Santos, he bumped into Admiral Nimitz, who didn’t seem to mind that Shogren had been using his private swimming beach. At Okinawa, the Capricornus was uniquely positioned within the convoy so as to not be a target of kamikaze planes. When the war ended, Shogren recalls that cheering broke out across his unit. Shogren was sent to Guam to guard Japanese war criminals awaiting trial. He returned home, and after discharge he enlisted in the Army. A year later he transferred to the Air Force and retired as a fighter pilot and major 14 …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eddie Good. Good participated in the Army Specialized Training Program. In 1945, he joined the United States Army Air Forces, where he served as a clerk helping to discharge returning combat veterans. He also spent time working in a hospital while being monitored for a lung condition before he was discharged soon after the war ended.

Transcript of an oral interview with Eugene George. He was born in 1922 in Wichita Falls, Texas. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Texas and worked for a contractor, doing plumbing work at Sheppard Field, Texas. He enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in 1942. After receiving training at various U.S. bases, he graduated from aviation school in 1944. He was sent to an Air Force Base in Goose Bay, Labrador. He describes landing at Bluie West 1 (BW-1), an airfield in Greenland. Stationed at Royal Air Force Station Tibenham, England, his first mission was a bombing raid in a B-24 bomber over the Orly Airfield, south of Paris, France. He recounts his experiences when his plane was shot down in the Kassel Mission. He parachuted from the burning airplane. After trying to make his way to Switzerland, he gave himself up to German soldiers in order to receive treatment for his injuries. He was sent to a Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe, or Dulag Luft, for interrogation before being sent to Stalag Luft I, a German POW camp near Barth, Western Pomerania, Germany. He describes his activities in the camp. After liberation from the camp, he returned …

Transcript of an oral interview with Melvin A. Bice. When Bice finished high school in Lincoln, Nebraska he joined the Navy. The Navy called him up in February, 1943 and he took basic training in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. During training, Bice contracted the mumps. After basic training, Bice was assigned at San Diego to the USS Mataco (AT-86), an ocean-going tugboat. Their first assignement was to tow a floating drydock to New Guinea. Along the way, Bice shot down a Japanese aircraft. Upon arrival and delivery of the drydock, Bice was returned tothe US to attend aircraft gunnery school. Soon after, he was assigned to the USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79). The Ommaney Bay was present for action in Leyte Gulf, where Bice describes kamikaze attacks and shooting down more Japanese aircraft from his twin 40mm anti-aircraft gun, for which he received a decoration. He also describes being bombed by a Japanese airplane in Lingayen Gulf and the Ommaney Bay sinking. Bice then provides details about abandoning ship, leaping into the water, finding an ammo can to use as a flotation device, and watching as the Ommaney bay was scuttled by an American destroyer using torpedoes. Aftr being in the water …

Transcript of an oral interview with Harold F. Neuberger. Neuberger grew up on a farm in Illinois and joined the Navy after he finished high school in 1943. He trained at Camp Farragut, Idaho. From there, he went to a machinist school at the University of Kansas. Then he attended a naval optics school in Washington, DC. Upon graduating, Neuberger was assigned to the USS Bennington (CV-20), and was a crewmember upon the ship's commissioning (thus making him a plankowner). He describes going through the Panama Canal on their way to the Pacific in early 1945. The Bennington's first assignement took her to just off the coast of Japan. Then she headed for Iwo Jima. After that, she resupplied and cruised for Okinawa, where the carrier provided air support for ground forces. Neuberger describes going through a typhoon. Neuberger was discharged in February, 1946 and returned to Illinois.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Haw. As a member of the ROTC, Haw joined the Navy at the age of 17. Upon completion of hospital corps school in San Diego, he was assigned to an operating room at Shoemaker Naval Hospital where he performed minor surgery and worked as an obstetrician. He was granted leave to attend his mother's funeral, and a clerical error resulted in his being reported AWOL. Haw's father was shunned by his community and ridiculed in the local papers for this. Haw deployed to Iwo Jima, where he gave lifesaving assistance to the wounded even after sustaining a permanent spinal cord injury during a shell blast. In the Philippines, he tended to newly liberated American POWs, some of whom were suicidal. After returning home and being discharged in 1946, Haw himself suffered from PTSD.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Goessling. Goessling’s father was in the Army 13th Field Artillery and was transferred to Hawaii in January 1941. Fourteen-year-old Charles and the rest of the family went along. Goessling was sleeping at their home in Schofield Barracks when the Japanese attacked on 7 December. He fled to Koli Koli Pass with part of his family, where they were able to witness the destruction at Pearl Harbor. Goessling describes the family being evacuated to a school off-base and eventually back to the Mainland. He joined the Army Air Forces in 1944. The war ended while he was still in training. He was discharged soon afterwards.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Allen Havron. Havron joined the Army in January 1943. He was trained at Ft. Bliss as an anti-aircraft crewman in a unit that became the 487th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. His unit was sent to New Guinea. He describes meeting the native people and the flora and fauna that he encountered. He was then detached to the 158th Regimental Combat Team for a landing on Noemfoor Island. Havron earned a Bronze Star for his actions on Noemfoor. The 487th was sent the Philippines, where Havron spent the remainder of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James G. Graff. Born in 1925, he was inducted into the Army in 1944. Following basic training in Camp Hood, Texas, he was transferred to Co. C, 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division. The Division was part of the Ardennes Campaign where he shares an anecdote about fighting alongside the 784th Tank Battalion. He describes battles on the banks of the Ruhr River or Maas, the cold weather and problems due to frostbite. He explains how his most frightening times were during the Battle of the Bulge and hardships from the weather. He was discharged from the Army following the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William E. Cooper. Cooper was born in Alameda, California 8 May 1925. Upon completing high school in 1943, he joined the Army and went to Oregon for training with the 13th Combat Engineers. He recalls being sent overseas aboard the USS Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) and arriving at New Caledonia. He took part in the invasion of Leyte and witnessed a kamikaze plane crash into one of the troop ships. Upon landing he was assigned to the 32nd Infantry Division and put in charge of a group of men assigned as stevedores. He then went to Ormoc and was assigned to Company A, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division as an infantryman. After participating on several combat patrols he was hospitalized with dengue fever. Upon being released from the hospital he was assigned to Company L, 32nd Infantry Regiment, and was in the first wave to land on Okinawa. As a combat engineer, his job was to blow up Japanese caves and fortifications. He comments that a childhood friend, Harold Gonsalves, was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor as a result of his actions on Okinawa. Cooper …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Russell Pitzer. Pitzer was drafted into the Marine Corps in August 1944. In 1945 he traveled aboard USS Iowa (BB-61), fighting in the Battle of Okinawa and participating in the bombardment of Tokyo Bay and Japanese islands. Upon the Japanese surrender, Pitzer was assigned as a bodyguard to Admiral Chester Nimitz, and accompanied the admiral on a post-surrender tour of Japan that included Hiroshima. After the war, he returned home to West Virginia.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert B. Mero. Born in 1924, he was drafted into the Army in New York in June 1943 at the age of eighteen. He went to basic training in Mineral Wells, Texas and from there to Army Specialized Training at the University of Missouri where he studied basic engineering. He shares an anecdote of meeting General Kramer while studying French at Camp Rucker, Alabama. He would meet the General again in the European Theatre at a later time. In 1944 he was transferred to Lyme Regis in the south of England. He shares a story of his brothers who were also stationed in England at the time. His division, the 66th, was then assigned to France where it would go on to assist in the Battle of the Bulge. He describes how his regiment was in a static position along the right side of the line and of his role in capturing a German soldier during night maneuvers. This would be his only combat. He was assigned to an occupation force in Germany then Austria following the war. He was a draftsman for Genreal Clark. He was discharged …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Engh. Engh entered the Navy’s V-1 program before beginning V-12 in July 1943. He graduated from midshipmen’s school in 1945 and was sent to Subic Bay in June on lighterage duty as a yeoman. In July he was sent to Okinawa with a flotilla of LCTs that drifted out of formation each night and would spend the following day reorganizing. He was beached by a typhoon at Okinawa for 10 days until a channel was dredged and a tug and bulldozer helped with maneuvering. In October he was sent to China, where he delivered bombs to the Nationalists. After turning his LCT over to the Chinese, Engh returned home in June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard Blackman. Blackman was born in Pulaski County, Indiana 8 December 1922. Born into a family of seven boys and two girls he tells of the living conditions during the depression. He quit school in the ninth grade to get a job. In 1943 he was drafted into the Army and went to Camp Lee, Virginia for six weeks of basic training, including some mechanical training. Upon completing basic he was sent to Chenango, Pennsylvania for additional training. Two weeks later be boarded the Queen Mary bound for England. Upon arrival, he was assigned to the 4th Port Battalion. He describes the duties and tells of further training in the use of rifles, mines and grenades. He landed on Omaha Beach 8 June 1944 and describes activities in which he was involved. At the time of the Battle of the Bulge the 4th Port Battalion had been disbanded and he was sent to Antwerp caring for wounded and assisting in getting them aboard hospital ships. He was then sent to Ghent, Belgium where he was assigned to the 301st Engineers operating various pieces of heavy equipment. He assisted …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bernard McKeone. McKeone was born in Omaha, Nebraska on 29 September 1927. In 1944 he joined the Marine Corps and went to San Diego for two months of boot camp followed by a period of training as a mortar man. Assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 8th Marine Regiment, he boarded the USS Collins (AP-147) bound for Tinian. He landed on the island by means of an LCVP. McKeone recalls a personal encounter where he captured a Japanese soldier. Telling of his landing on Okinawa, he remembers the enemy launching banzai charges at night. After Okinawa was secured, the division returned to Saipan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George O'Brien. O'Brien volunteered for service in the Army Air Forces in April, 1944 and trained to be a gunner at Harlingen, Texas. He went overseas to New Guinea in February 1945 and joined the 5th Bomb Group, 72nd Bomb Squadron. He was a nose gunner on a B-24. Soon, he went to Samar with his unit. He started flying combat missions in May over the Philippines. O'Brien flew on about 20 missions bombing refineries, airfields, warehouses and even ships over the Philippines, Taiwan and Borneo. Japanese aerial opposition at the time was very light. O'Brien remarks on the Filipino people he encountered. He returned to the US in December, 1945 and was discharged the following January, right before his 20th birthday.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Ley. Ley was born in Joliet, Illinois in 1925. When he completed boot training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, he then trained as a radio operator. In April 1943 he completed his training and was assigned to the USS Murphy (DD-603). In March 1944 they took on provisions and sailed to Londonderry, England. On 5 June 1944 the ship put to sea to lay a smoke screen during the Normandy landings. On D-Day, the ship was stationed off Omaha Beach and Ley saw masses of dead and wounded. He also saw the Army Rangers assaulting the cliffs of Point du Hoc, France. Ten days after the Normandy invasion, the Murphy returned to England for resupply. On 26 June they accompanied the USS Texas (BB-35) and participated in the bombardment of Cherbourg. Returning to England the ship took on a cargo of artillery shells affixed with a proximity fuse for delivery to Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria where Allied forces were gathering in preparation for Operation Dragoon. Ley describes picking up three German Luftwaffe personnel at sea. In 1945, King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia came aboard to meet …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Mark Clement. Clement was born 20 February 1925, graduated from high school in 1941, and joined the Marine Corps at age seventeen. He completed the Special Operations Capability Specialist (SOCS) training, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in mid-1944. Clement served with the 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, and participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima. He shares vivid details of his combat experiences. Clement returned to the US and received his discharge around 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Mack Roberson. Roberson was born in Three Rivers, Texas in 1926. After attending Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, Texas for several semesters, he joined the US Marine Corps and received boot training as San Diego. Upon completion, he accepted an assignment to train for honor guard duties. In 1944, he was aboard a troop ship bound for Okinawa and he tells of some of his experience aboard ship. He recalls observing kamikazes hitting US ships in Buckner Bay. He also comments on the Baka bomb. Recalling the destruction he observed at Hiroshima, he questions the decision to drop the atomic bomb. He also describes his interaction with the Japanese people. He fondly remembers his personal experience with Admiral Nimitz and expresses his admiration.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Willard LaCounte. LaCounte was drafted into the Army in September, 1943 and trained as an antiaircraft artilleryman at Camp Haan, California. In late 1943 he was assigned to the 118th Antiaircraft Automatic Weapons Battalion as a jeep driver in an industrial section of England and recalls defending it against German air raids. He landed at Normandy one day after the invasion. His unit eventually set up in Holland and shot down buzz bombs heading across the Channel. After the war LaCounte helped arrange R&R trips for soldiers.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Vincent Wayne. Wayne joined the Army around late 1942. He served with the 98th Infantry Division. He was deployed to Hawaii. In 1944, they shipped out to Saipan and helped take over an airport with little resistance from the Japanese. After the war ended, they traveled to Honshu, Japan and were stationed at Osaka College. Wayne speaks about his time in Japan after the war and what he witnessed. Wayne and his squad were assigned to install telephone poles and phone lines for the Japanese people. He returned to the US and received his discharge in February 1946.