The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edmund Thomassen. Thomassen entered the Merchant Marine Academy in October, 1941 and completed his education in April, 1943. When Thomassen was assigned to the USS Sheridan (APA-51), Eddie Albert was one of his shipmates. He went to New Zealand and embarked Marines ahead of the Tarawa invasion and discusses the practice landings. At Tarawa, he delivered Marines to the shore in a small landing craft. He also delivered Marines to Roi. He spent days hauling supplies in and mounded out at Saipan. In early 1945, Thomassen put the USS Dutchess (APA-98) into commission. He went to the Philippines and Okinawa aboard the Dutchess, serving as an engineering officer. When the Korean War started, he was assigned to the USS Thuban (AKA-19) and made the landing at Inchon. He was aboard the USS Randall (APA-224) while the movie Away All Boats was being filmed. He also did anti-submarine patrolling in the Atlantic in the late 1950s, early 1960s. He retired in 1965.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Herrick. Herrick entered the Naval Academy in 1944 and was graduated in 1944. He first reported aboard the USS Mississippi (BB-41) in time to participate in the Battle of Surigao Strait and support the invasion of Luzon. He was still aboard for the invasion of Okinawa and witnessed the kamikaze attacks on the Mississippi. Herrick remained in the Navy after the war, retiring in 1964.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Wallace Short. Short entered the Naval Academy in 1920 and upon graduating, went aboard the USS Texas (BB-35). Later, Short joined the Civil Engineer Corps and worked with the Naval Construction Battalions during WWII. He recalls several anecdotes about their work on Manus Island and Okinawa. He describes the destruction caused by typhoons at Okinawa. Short covers several aspects of his career in naval construction after World War II: the US, Spain, Thailand, Western Pacific, etc.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard L. Nielsen. Nielsen joined the Navy in 1960 after two years of college at San Francisco State. Nielsen discusses his father's service aboard liberty ships as a radio operator in the Merchant Marine during WWII in the Pacific. He also shares anecdotes about time in boot camp at San Diego. After boot camp, Nielsen went to hospital corps school. Upon completion of that, he was stationed in the intensive care unit at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He relays an encounter he had with Admiral Nimitz as a patient at the hospital. He also relates an incident in which he traveled with a doctor to Yerba Buena Island to treat Admiral Nimitz at his home the day before he passed away.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Perry Kerr. Kerr enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves in 1943. He completed gunnery school in Denver, Colorado, graduating as corporal. In 1945 he was assigned to the 466th Bomb Group, crew number 792 in Attlebridge, England. Aboard a B-24 Kerr served as a gunner in the forward turret directly behind the pilot and copilot. He also toggled bombs, as they did not have a bombardier. They completed 12 missions. Kerr provides some details of his missions. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jackie Redstone and Chris Jenkins. Redstone and Jenkins are sisters who were born in Belgium. They moved to China when their father took a job as an engineer at a coal mine north of Peking. When the Japanese invaded, the Belgian engineers were kept on, in order to keep production running. Food was scarce, and the flour they were given for rations had worms, but the family was able to maintain a robust garden and tend to their livestock. Their father kept a radio well hidden in the home, and the girls were petrified every time Japanese soldiers came looking for it. Their town was eventually liberated by Marines, whom the family then visited in the United States after the war. They later returned to China as it was coming under communist rule, and their father began working for the Marshall Plan. The girls eventually immigrated to the United States, and they each married a military man.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Marshall Barrett. Barrett went to Duke University in 1941 and joined the Naval ROTC just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He participated in the V-12 program, receiving an accelerated four-year degree and his commission by February of 1944. Around August, Barrett began serving as a training officer aboard the USS YMS-339. They traveled to Panama, New Hebrides, and the Admiralty Islands and joined the Seventh Fleet. They participated in the Borneo Campaign in the spring of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Morrison. Morrison was inducted into the Army in 1944 after he graduated high school. He was sent to the 2nd Infantry Division as a replacement in the winter of 1945. He suffered frostbite, scarlet fever, and mumps. He was knocked out by an artillery barrage and left behind by his advancing unit who believed he was dead. Morrison awoke and found his unit. He discovered a large shell fragment had been stopped by a pocket Bible, saving his life. Morrison discusses being shot at by a group of German boys aged 11 to 15. He eventually was sent to Czechoslovakia after the war had ended to guard German prisoners. Morrison was discharged in 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with W. Bruce George. Born in 1920, he was drafted in 1942. After training as a weather observer, he was sent to the Middle East. He describes the route taken by the ship, the Robin Tuxford, from Philadelphia to the Persian Gulf. He served as a weather observer with the 19th Weather Squadron in Benghazi and Tripoli, Libya as well as Abadan, Iran and Ankara, Turkey. He shares an anecdote about mail censorship. He was discharged in September, 1945. The interview also contains information about his parents.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Finigan. Finigan joined the Navy in January 1941. He worked at a Navy radio station and then was sent to the USS Bootes (AK-99) to serve as a yeoman. Finigan describes his ship picking up wounded Marines at New Caledonia. The Bootes was then designated as an ammunition ship and operated out of New Guinea. He discusses what it was like to serve on an ammunition ship. Finigan traveled to the Philippines where the Bootes continued to distribute ammunition to the fleet. He tells of the Bootes shooting down 6 Japanese planes in one day including a close call with a kamikaze. Finigan returned to the US and was discharged for medical reasons in June 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin T. Alexander. Alexander grew up in Louisiana and entered the Navy in early 1941. Upon completion of basic training at San Diego, Alexander was assigned as an engine mechanic to Patrol Squadron 12 (VP-12), which flew PBY airplanes at Coronado Naval Air Station. His unit was sent to Pearl Harbor in October, 1941. Alexander describes what he witnessed at Ford Island on 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Alexander was also present on Midway during the Battle of Midway. Eventually, VP-12 headed for the Solomon Islands where they conducted search and rescue operations. Alexander and VP-12 stayed aboard the USS Wright (AV-1), a seaplane tender. Sometime in 1943, Alexander received some home leave and returned to the US. He was still stationed in the US when the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Brayton Harris. Harris was a child during WWII and discusses recycling and victory gardens. He was commissioned as an officer in 1953 and served on a destroyer based in Japan. Brayton eventually was stationed at Treasure Island in California and met Admiral Nimitz. He tells of dice games that he used to play with Nimitz at the officer’s club. Brayton served as an active member of the Naval Reserve for some time and later went on to write a biography on Nimitz and discusses some of his research.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Arthur Holtz. Holtz joined the Navy around 1942. Beginning July of 1944, he served as a First-Class Shipfitter aboard USS Canotia (AN-47), a net laying ship. They traveled to Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok. From February to April of 1945, they completed mooring and salvage duty at Iwo Jima. They traveled to Guam for repairs and Ulithi to install and maintain nets. Holtz was discharged in early 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dale Ball. Ball joined the Navy around 1942. In 1943, he began serving as a Storekeeper aboard USS LST-1005 in the Pacific Theater. They traveled to Hawaii, the Caroline Islands, Eniwetok and Leyte Gulf, Philippines. He recalls a typhoon he experienced in 1945. He served with occupation troops in Japan after the war ended. Ball returned to the US, and continued his service in the Navy.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Vollmer. Vollmer was drafted into the Army in March, 1943. As his unit, the 66th Infantry Division, was arriving in France, his ship was torpedoed and hundreds of men from his division drowned. Vollmer stayed with the 66th throughout the France campaign and was still on hand for occupation duty around Koblenz before he went to Austria for occupation duty. He returned home and was discharged in April, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents on oral interview with Robert McBride. McBride volunteered in the Army Air Forces in October, 1942 after having taken a course on aircraft mechanics. He served as a flight engineer aboard bombers before applying for the same position aboard B-29s. He was accepted and went to an officer training course, graduating in September, 1945 before being assigned as a flight engineer. He eventually went to pilot training. He served in Korea flying fighters. When he returned from Korea, he was assigned to Strategic Air Command. McBride retired in 1973.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Alma. Alma went into the Army Air Forces in March 1943 and trained in Florida before training as an engine mechanic. He went overseas in March, 1946 to Germany. There he repaired aircraft engines.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Heyman. Heyman joined the Army in June, 1942. Once he was in, he qualified for flight training. Once he finished flight schools and was commissioned, he was assigned to the 364th Fighter Squadron and shipped to England in January, 1944. Once there, he began flying bomber escort missions over France and Germany. He flew 300 combat hours in a P-38 or a P-51 before going back to the US to serve as an instructor. Toward the end of the war, Heyman was flying jet airplanes in the US. He was recalled to the service for the Korean War and stayed in through Vietnam. He flew another 300 combat hours in Korea and dozens of missions in two tours over North Vietnam and Laos.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Merrick. Merrick joined the Air Force Reserves. By 1942 he had earned his pilot license and completed two civilian pilot training courses. He graduated as a flight officer from the glider pilot program in Lubbock, Texas in May of 1943. Merrick was assigned to the 437th Troop Carrier Group and the 84th Squadron. In January of 1944 he was shipped to England and provides details of his experiences there and additional training. In June of 1944 his outfit participated in D-Day. He also participated in Operation Market Garden in September of 1944. He served as a glider pilot during the war and provides detail of his experiences through these events. He returned to the U.S. in July of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Hahnemann. Hahnemann joined the Navy in December of 1942. He was trained as an aviation machinist and was assigned to USS San Jacinto (CVL-30). Hahnemann describes his duties related to the maintenance of the flight deck arresting gear. He mentions how he was acquainted with George H. W. Bush. Hahnemann gives an overview of some of the actions he was involved in, particularly going through several typhoons and seeing kamikaze attacks. He was discharged in January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry Zapalac. Zapalac joined the Navy in February 1941 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the Alameda Naval Air Station for ordnance training. While there, he serviced PBYs that were used in flight training. His first assignment in the Pacific was loading ammunition onto an island near Tarawa. He suffered a bout of malaria while there. At Saipan he flew patrols, dropping rafts and supplies to stranded troops. He stayed on Saipan several years, doing odd jobs until he was transferred to Corpus Christi, where he ran the movie projector. Zapalac was discharged in 1947 and became an appliance repairman.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eugene N. Fithian. Born in 1925, he joined the Navy in 1943. He describes basic training and living conditions in Great Lakes, Illinois. Following basic training, he was assigned to the Navy Overflow Annex from Treasure Island where he worked in the fleet post office becoming a Mailman, Third Class. He was then assigned to the destroyer, USS Farenholt (DD-491). On the Farenholt, he became a cook and was assigned as a leader on a 20mm and later a 40mm anti-aircraft gun. He shares an anecdote about becoming seasick within two hours after sailing out from San Francisco. He describes screening operations for the landings on Kwajalein and Guam and carrier fleet operations in the Philippine Island area and Peleliu. He comments on the kamikazes, rescuing downed pilots and survivors of damaged or sunken ships, bombarding shore targets and carrier operations in the Sakishima Gunto. He shares a story of taking pictures of the Japanese generals on Okinawa on their way to the peace talks in Manila. After arriving in South Carolina, he was transferred to the USS Caperton (DD-650) prior to its decommissioning. He was discharged from …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Hamilton. Hamilton was born in 1921 in New York. He joined the Navy in April 1942, but finished college before getting a commission later in 1943. He was then sent aboard USS Quincy (CA-71) in December. He was aboard for the invasion of Normandy. Hamilton was still aboard when Quincy transported President Roosevelt to Yalta. He was able to get close enough to FDR to observe the state of his health at the time. He was still aboard during the Okinawa campaign. Hamilton shares several great anecdotes about his experiences aboard the Quincy during and after the war including kamikazes and typhoons.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John O’Leary. O’Leary joined the Marine Corps in February of 1943. He completed Aircraft Mechanic School, and served with the 1st Marine Division. In February of 1944 he traveled aboard the USS Barnes (CVE-20) to Espiritu Santo, where he was stationed at a Marine fighter airstrip base. O’Leary installed water injection on Corsair planes, enhancing the performance of the plane. He later traveled to Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Bougainville. They transported Seabees. From September of 1944 through the spring of 1945, they participated in the Battle of Peleliu and worked on the island, where O’Leary served as stretcher-bearer and aircraft mechanic on P-40s and B-24s. He returned to the US and was discharged in mid to late 1945.