The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Haggerty. Haggerty was employed as a civilian contractor with the US Army when WWII started. When his contract expired, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in December 1942. By June, 1943, Haggerty had been through basic training at Parris Island and was commissioned a second lieutenant after officer candidate school at Quantico. When Haggerty went overseas, he boarded the SS Extavia (1941) for a trip through the Panama Canal to New Caledonia. He was in charge of training a navy construction battalion at Noumea before he was assigned to the First Marine Division and left to join them at Pavuvu. When he arrived on Pavuvu, Chesty Puller assigned him to the 1st Regiment. There they trained for the Peleliu invasion. At Peleliu, Haggerty served as a platoon leader. He recalls the fighting on the day he landed and the Japanese counterattack with tanks and infantry near the airfield. Haggerty was wounded by a shell fragment and evacuated to a transport ship serving as a hospital. He recovered and returned to Peleliu the next day. After reducing a Japanese position, Haggerty was again wounded and evacuated. This time, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Bennie Whitley. Whitley joined the Army and served as sergeant in the motor pool in Battery A, 57th Field Artillery, 7th Infantry Division. He participated in the Battle of Okinawa. Whitley continued his service after the war ended, receiving his discharge in 1947.

Transcript of an oral monologue by John A. Hugghins. Hugghins finished high school in Bryan, Texas in May, 1041, and went to Baylor University that fall on a football scholarship. He joined the Navy and was called to active duty in July, 1943. In the meantime, he stayed in school. Once he received the call, he reported to stations in Mississippi and New York for training. When he finished midshipman school in Plattsburgh, New York, he was commissioned an ensign in June, 1944. He immediately reported to Charleston, South Carolina, where LSM-152 was under construciton. Before long, he was made gunnery and supply officer assigned to USS LSM-201, which became his home for the duration of the war. Aboard USS LSM-201, Hugghins passed through the Panama Canal on the way to Pearl Harbor, where tanks were loaded aboard the vessel for transport to Iwo Jima. Hugghins speaks about his first impression of Iwo Jima, the naval bombardment prior to the invasion and making a landing there. He also discusses the flag-raising and what it felt like to witness that. Hugghins visited the island one day and got a tour from a Marine in a jeep. He also visited the Marine …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Franklin Paulsen. Paulsen joined the Navy in March of 1943. He served as Quartermaster 2nd Class aboard USS North Carolina (BB-55). In December of 1943 they joined forces and bombarded the island of Nauru in the Philippines. Going into early February of 1944 they participated in the Gilbert Islands operation. They later bombarded Kwajalein, Saipan and Tinian. Additionally, they operated in the North China Sea. Paulsen recalls steering the North Carolina into Tokyo Bay in September of 1945. He was discharged in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Phillip Kruzick. Kruzick joined the Army Air Forces in May of 1942. He trained as a mechanic in the Signal Corps, working in the truck division until he joined the 73rd Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force. In August of 1944, they deployed to newly constructed airfields on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. Kruzick served as a rifleman on the runway during raids on the island. He shares details of some of the bombing missions the pilots flew. He returned to the U.S. and was discharged in Augusto f 1945.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Forrest Goble. In December, 1942, Goble was drafted into the Army. After training, Goble was assigned to the 924th Field Artillery Battalion in the 99th Infantry Division. He shipped overseas in September 1944 to Europe. His unit arrived in France in November. Goble was serving as a supply sergeant for his unit. On 18 December, he was captured in a small Belgian town by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He marched and was railroaded to Stalag 13C. Goble was being marched toward Bavaria when his group was liberated by elements of the 99th ID.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a monologue by Albert Montague. Montague enlisted in the Navy in 1941. He shares his story while at the Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor, where he was stationed during the attack on 7 December 1941. After the initial attack he worked with a base diving buoy to rescue the servicemen aboard the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37). They assisted many of the survivors of the damaged battleships. He shares his observations of the damage to the ships and the island overall. He completed signal school at the base and served as Signalman 3rd Class. He was later transferred to the USS Stingray (SS-186), and served throughout the Pacific and at the Aleutians. They traveled to Huizhou, China to lay mines in the harbor. They continued on to the Solomon Islands where he describes an attack on their sub by a US Marine bomber. Montague provides details of their numerous war patrols, the attacks they made on various Japanese fleets and consequent attacks made upon their sub. He was discharged in December of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond F. Higgins. Higgins joined the Navy in February 1941 as a commissioned officer. He trained with the Marines at Quantico and then with the Medical Corps at Paris Island. He also trained in tropical and aviation medicine and learned to fly N3N's at Pensacola. Higgins was transferred to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Pearl Harbor. He then transferred to islands in the southwest Pacific. He was in Fleet Air Wing 101, a flight patrol squadron based out of Australia. He returned to the United States for leave in 1944. He then is assigned to the USS Ranger (CV-4) and leaves from San Diego to the sea for training. After V-J Day, the Ranger went to New Orleans and then Norfolk. He remained in service until 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Zapalac. Zapalac was born in Pasadena, California 27 April 1923. He joined the US Army in 1940 and received his basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas. Upon volunteering for parachute training he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia where he qualified as a paratrooper. He then went to Fort Bragg, Kentucky and was assigned to the 506th Parachute infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. In 1943 the unit went to England and continued training. On 6 June 1944 his division participated in Operation Neptune. He describes the procedure of boarding the plane with full combat gear and weapons. He also tells of preparing for bailout. After jumping from 700 hundred feet and landing, he recalls using a cricket device to indentify one’s self with other members of the unit. On 11 June while advancing on bridges at Carentan, France, Zapalac was severely wounded. He was treated by a medic and returned to a hospital in England. After three months in the hospital he was sent to a replacement depot. He was unable to return to combat due to the lack of mobility of his right arm. Requiring frequent …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Victor Liptrap. Liptrap was drafted into the Army and after basic training, volunteered for paratrooper training. Once overseas in New Guinea, Liptrap was assigned to the 711th Ordnance Company in the 11th Airborne Division. He travelled with this unit to Leyte in October, 1944. There, he joined the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment as a replacement. He remained with the unit during the Luzon invasion. From there, he went to Yokohama for occupation duty.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Wallace Dowd. Dowd begins with anecdotes about his father, a Navy officer in the Construction Corps. Dowd was in the ROTC unit at the University of Washington when the war started. He received his commission in the Supply Corps and was assigned aboard the USS Alden (DD-211) for a year. His next duty station was in Savannah and he comments about the segregated South. Afterwards, he went to Philadelphia where the USS Antietam (CV-36) was being built. He went aboard as the Stores Officer. When the war ended, Dowd went to the Bureau of Supply and Accounts. He discusses his involvement in the Korean War. During his career, he went to the Naval War College, served at sea again, served ashore in Italy, etc. and retired as a rear admiral.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Eshelman. Eshelman was inducted into the Army in February of 1942. He served in the 553rd Air Force Base Unit. In December of 1943 he went to Liverpool, England. His job there was refueling the planes, using two 4,000-gallon trailers and a tanker engine. He also traveled to Metfield while in England, assisting with the closing of a base. He describes this experience, including a near miss from an enemy shell. He was sent to Madrid, Spain to serve as an instructor before returning to the states in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Roy Powers. Powers was born on 1 August 1925 and graduated from high school in 1943. Upon entering the Army on 13 December 1943 he was sent to Camp Gordon Johnston, Florida for five weeks of basic training. In May 1944, he boarded the SS Extavia (1941) bound for Buna Bay, New Guinea. Upon his arrival he was assigned to LCM-513 with the primary function being off-loading Liberty ships. Four months later he was sent to the Philippines where he remained until Japan surrendered. He was then sent to Wakayama, Japan. He returned to the United States aboard the USS General M C Meigs (AP-116) during January 1946 and was discharged soon thereafter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Wheless. Wheless joined the Army Air Forces in the summer of 1942. He served as a C-47 pilot in the Air Transport Command in the China-Burma-India Theater. Wheless was assigned to a base in Assam Valley, northeastern India. He and his squadron flew over the Himalaya Mountains supplying General Stilwell and Merrill’s Marauders in Burma, and Allied forces stationed in Yunnan Province in China. He survived many dangerous missions and was awarded the Air Medal on one occasion for a low-level supply drop to surrounded US troops in enemy territory. He returned to the US and was discharged in the spring of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Weston Bonney. Bonney joined the Navy in August of 1943. He served as Chief Storekeeper aboard USS Kendrick (DD-612) beginning in March of 1944. They provided gunfire in support of ground troops advancing northward through Italy. He participated in the invasion of southern France in August, and escorted a convoy to the Mediterranean Sea in November, returning to the US in December. In August of 1945 they traveled to Pearl Harbor, where Bonney transferred to the USS Fred T. Berry (DD-858). They trained with aircraft carriers in the Pacific and completed a tour of occupation duty, traveling to Yokosuka Harbor in Japan, Qingdao in China and Korea. He was discharged in May of 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with William T. Carroll, Jr. Born in 1922, he volunteered for service in the Army in March, 1941. He was assigned to a Signal Corps company on the northern tip of Luzon in late 1941. He tells the story of the Japanese invasion, eluding the enemy, and surviving in the mountainous jungle for three years. He talks about contracting malaria and harrying Japanese forces. In May 1945 he was flown to Lingayen Gulf where he was processed following his ordeal. He returned to the U.S. and received additional training in instrument repair as well as teletype repair. After volunteering to serve in the paratroopers, he was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division in Sapporo, Japan. He was discharged in June, 1950. He used the GI Bill to attend college and became an educator.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Al Adkins. Adkins joined the Marine Corps in the fall of 1942. He served with the 6th Marine Division, 22nd Marine Regiment. They participated in the Battle of Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. On Guadalcanal, they formed the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, participating in the Battle of Guam until they disbanded in September of 1944. Continuing on with the 22nd Marines, Adkins served in the Battle of Okinawa. He returned to the US and received his discharge in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joe Triolo. Triolo joined the US Navy 9 December 1937 and served in China from 1938 to 1940. Upon returning to the United States he was assigned to the USS Tangier (AV-8), still under construction. While waiting for the ship to launch, he was temporarily assigned to Tiburon, California where mine nets were made. Once the Tangier was put to sea they proceeded to Pearl Harbor. Triolo tells of the attack by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941 and recalls seeing the faces of some Japanese pilots as he fired at them with a machine gun. He describes seeing the USS Monahan (DD-354) depth charging a Japanese two man submarine that was sighted while guns on the Tangier were also firing at the submarine. Seven days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Tangier set sail for Wake Island with US Marines and supplies on board. Before reaching Wake Island, the ship was diverted to Midway Island to assist in the evacuation of personnel. He tells of Admiral John S. McCain, Sr. using the Tangier (AV-8) as the command ship a task force on one occasion.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Wilbur Vantine. In June, 1943, Vantine joined the Merchant Marine. He delivered aviation fuel to Milne Bay in New Guinea on his first voyage and bombs to New Caledonia before returning to the Merchant Marine Academy in New York and earning a commission in the Navy Reserve in April, 1945. Once he graduated, Vantine was assigned to a liberty ship and went to Liverpool. He was in New York on VJ Day. In 1957, he became a Panama Canal pilot and retired in 1997.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Weiblen. Weiblen signed up to be a flying cadet in the Army Air Forces when he was almost finished with high school. In May 1945, he was inducted into the Army and trained as an artilleryman. He was still in training when the war ended and was sent to Germany with occupation forces in November, 1945 and worked in a medical dispensary around Nuremburg. Weiblen managed to visit the war crimes trial at Nuremburg one afternoon and heard Russians reading evidence into the record. He was discharged in 1947 and went to school. Before the Korean War ended, Weiblen served as a case officer in Korea for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Gilbert Esensee. Esensee was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, on 6 August 1925, into a family of eight children. In 1944, he joined the Army and took basic training at Camp Roberts, California. He was then sent to La Havre, France, where he joined the 29th Infantry Division, 175th Infantry Regiment. Esensee was involved in combat action along the Roer River, where he was wounded. He also tells of German soldiers swimming the Elbe River, to avoid capture by Russian troops.

The National Museum of The Pacific War presents an oral interview with Cecil Groves. Groves was born in a small hamlet in Arkansas in 1920. He quit school in seventh grade to help his father make a living for a family of ten. Drafted in 1941, he underwent basic training at Miami Beach. He was sent to Fresno, California where he was assigned to the Signal Corps and attended telephone linesman school. Completing school, he was sent to New Guinea where he was assigned to the communication section in the 54th Troop Carrier Wing. He tells of being assigned to various bases including the Port Moresby Airfield Complex, Clark Field in the Philippines, and Tachikawa, Japan. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Galvin. Galvin joined the Navy in October of 1942. During boot camp at Great Lakes he was selected to complete Field Medical School at Camp Pendleton. He traveled aboard a Dutch freighter with Merchant Marines picking up and delivering troops. He traveled to Pago Pago in Samoa, New Caledonia, picking up wounded soldiers and delivering them back to the U.S. He continued this work on the SS Lurline. After getting into trouble on leave, he was given an opportunity to join the Marines to have all charges against him dropped. In early 1944 he was assigned to the 5th Marine Division. He provides details of training with the Marines at Camp Tarawa. Galvin was in the second wave going ashore at Iwo Jima. He describes his experiences as a medic through the battle. After getting wounded he was sent on leave, and later returned for duty as a Corpsman at Farragut Hospital. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold E Clay. Clay joined the Marine Corps April of 1943. He served with the 1st Marine Division, 5th Marine Regiment, participating in the Battle of Peleliu. In October of 1944, Clay transferred to the 6th Marine Division, 29th Marine Regiment, serving in the Battle of Okinawa. He served occupation duty in China after the war ended. Clay returned to the US and received his discharge in February of 1946.