Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin Russell. Russell, who graduated with a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Houston, describes his role in the testing of fuel used in the Pacific and in North Africa during the war. He discusses the homefront, including the politics of war, rationing, the Japanese American internment, the use of the atomic bomb, and the reaction to the end of the war. There is also a brief comparison of World War II and the Iraq War. After the war, Russell was employed in the automotive industry. Additionally, Russell identifies his parents and siblings and mentions his brothers’ role as civilians involved in troop transport.

Transcript of an oral interview with Robert Lewis Kelly. Kelly joined the Naval Reserve in 1938 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on an ATA (auxiliary ocean tug.) He initially served on a troop transport ship. He later served on minelayers and minesweepers in the Atlantic Theater. He describes being transported in Africa in a 40-and-8 box car. He also provides information about his parents and siblings. He served until the end of the war. Kelly served on a troop transport ship in both the Pacific and Atlantic Theaters. He went to Mine Warfare School and then served on minesweepers and minelayers. He provided minesweeping support for the Normandy Invasion. In addition to sharing information about minelaying and minesweeping, he describes being on liberty in Greece; serving as a brig warden; experiencing a tsunami and a typhoon while at sea; witnessing a German submarine attack near Bermuda; experiencing a London air raid; witnessing the USS Osprey and the USS Tide hitting mines and the USS Texas being hit by German shells; and living on the beach in Casablanca. He recounts a story about missing alcohol in the marine compass. He also describes the food situation …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joy (Cheatham) Taylor. Taylor begins with a summary of her siblings and provides details about an older brother who served in the Navy during World War II aboard the USS Saratoga (CV-3). Taylor reflects on rationing items like gasoline. She also mentions corresponding with her two older brothers in the Navy. Taylor's father died in 1943 and she and her mother went to live on the farm with Taylor's grandparents in Coryell County, Texas. She recalls several aspects of farm living during World War II. Taylor also mentions housing for soldiers near Fort Hood, Texas as well as gardening and canning vegetables. She talks about her having to wear homemade clothes made from feed sacks, which she disliked. Taylor recalls the end of the war and ringing the church bell all night in town. After the war, she helped her brother run a cafe in Abilene before she met her husband, Paul Taylor, and got married.

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 oral interview with Robert P. McCoy. McCoy was working in the aircraft industry in Los Angeles when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He was still a civilian on his way to Fairbanks, Alaska when the Japanese attacked Dutch Harbor. It took him a week to fly to Alaska as a result. After he returned, he went to work for the Lockheed Corporation and was employed building Norden bombsights. He spent some time installing the bombsights in aircraft in Ireland and England before joining the Marine Corps in July, 1944. In the Marines, he worked as an air traffic controller. McCoy was sent to China for six months after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Herman Johns. Johns was working for International Harvester when he decided to join the Air Force. He did essentially the same job for the Air Force he did as a civilian: accounting and finance. Johns met and married his wife while he was in the service. When his stint in the Air Force was complete, Johns returned to work for International Harvester in Dallas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lucy Overmeyer. Overmyer was born in Culver, Indiana on 21 June 1920 and after graduating from high school in 1938 she went to work for a defense contractor, Bendix Aircraft. She enlisted into the Marine Corps on 12 May 1943, completed basic training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and enrolled in Quartermaster School at Quantico, Virginia. She describes some of her experiences while at Quantico, where she spent the remainder of her time in the service. She was discharged from the Marine Corps on 26 September 1945.

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 L.D. Cox. He discusses joining the Navy and serving aboard the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). He was on board when the cruiser was attacked by a Japanese submarine and survived five days in the water before being rescued.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph H. Fulcher. Fulcher enlisted in the Army in 1941, trained in Tucson, Arizona and was attending a technical school in Tulsa, Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. When Fulcher was assigned to a unit he shipped out to England in October, 1942 to RAF Bassingbourn, north of London. Fulcher served as an aircraft mechanic and worked on B-17s and other aircraft repairing propellors. He shares several anecdotes related to his service and the type of work he did in the squadron. Between V-E and V-J days, Fulcher arrived back in the US. Before he could be shipped to the Pacific, the war ended and he was discharged. Six months later, he re-enlisted and was sent to Alaska as part of the 46th Recon Squadron in Fairbanks. He continued in the service and was assigned to temporary duty on Okinawa during the Korean War. Fulcher stayed in the service for his career and retired in 1963.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with R.C. Hyde. Hyde joined the Marine Corps in Lubbock, Texas in June, 1944 and was trained in San Diego. He participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. He landed with the fifth wave and was wounded in action on the 33rd day. He was transported by air to Guam to recover. Afterwards, he landed at Sasebo, Japan for occupation duty. He had enough points to return home in March, 1946. During the conversation, Hyde relates several experiences he had while fighting on Iwo Jima.

Transcript of an oral interview with Al Heigel. When Heigel finished high school in June, 1944, he joined the Navy at Little Rock, Arkansas and went for boot training at San Diego. He was assigned as a radar operator and reported aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22) at Pearl Harbor. Heigel describes the light carrier and its construction and features. He also speaks of the time the Independence was hit by a torpedo off Tarawa in 1943. Heigel then describes events off Okinawa: watching the USS Franklin (CV-13) being bombed off Okinawa; locating and shooting down kamikazes; describing battle stations; aircraft water landings; being in a typhoon, etc. After the war ended, the Independence served as a troop transport taking GIs back home to the US. He describes bunks in the hangar deck and arriving in Portland, Oregon. As the Independence was being prepared for the Bikini Atoll atomic tests, Heigel got off becuase he had the requisite amount of points allowing him to be discharged. He then entered the lumber business, married and raised family.

Transcript of an oral interview with John De Haven. Upon finishing college at Bowling Green University in 1940, deHaven was drafted into the Army. He applied for and was accepted into the Army Air Corps, whereupon he earned his commission in 1942. De Haven served as a flight instructor for a while and then volunteered for service in the Chinese American Composite Wing and went to India. He flew P-40 airplanes against various targets against the Japanese in China. De Haven was back in the US when the war ended and he elected to get out of the service.

Transcript of an oral interview with Karl E. Momsen. Momsen joined the Marine Corps and trained at Parris Island, South Carolina before reporting to Camp Pendleton. He sailed to Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Arenac (APA-128), then Guam in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa. Momsen carried the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) in his squad. He landed on Okinawa in the second wave on 1 April 1945. Momsen briefly describes being wounded in action.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lawrence Barrett. Barrett joined the Marine Corps in December of 1943. He served as an aerial gunner, combat cameraman and ground and motion picture photographer. Barrett worked as a combat aircrewman with Marine Air Group 32 in the Pacific and the Philippines, completing 25 combat missions by 1945. After the war ended, he served with the occupation forces in Tsingtao, North China. He returned to the US and was discharged in May of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hichael Nedeff. Nedeff was born in 1925 in West Virginia. In 1943 he entered the Navy. After basic training, Nedeff shipped overseas and was assigned to USS LST-610 at Hawaii. Nedeff recalls transporting Army personnel to Angaur, going ashore and seeing an Army field hospital. He also was present unloading materiel at Leyte during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. At Lingayen Gulf, USS LST-610 was damaged by a Japanese suicide boat and returned to Hawaii. After the war, Nedeff spent some time in Japan. He recalls some of his interactions with Japanese civilians on a commuter train. Nedeff was discharged in April, 1946. He also relates his experience in getting the USS LST-325 back to the United States from Greece in 2000-2001 and delivering it to Evansville, Indiana where it is now a museum ship. Nedeff ends with a chronology of the ship’s activities and destinations while he was aboard USS LST-610 during the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Homer Faseler. Faseler joined the Army Air Forces in 1944 after he finished high school. Once out of basic training, Faseler went to aerial gunnery school. Then, he was assigned as a tailgunner aboard a B-17 and headed for Europe assigned to the 390th Bomb Group. He flew 10 combat missions and was discharged in February, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eve Tice. Tice was born 7 August 1923 in Calumet, Michigan. Graduating from high school in 1942, she went to work as a timekeeper at a Chevrolet Motor Company plant in Detroit, Michigan. She describes her duties. She met her future husband, who joined the Navy, and they were married when he came home on leave following boot camp. Her husband was assigned to the USS Franklin (CV13) at Newport, Rhode Island. She tells of seeing her husband when he came home on leave after the Franklin went to Bremerton, Washington for repairs November 1944. She and her husband took the train to Bremerton where they rented one room in a private home. She stayed there until the Franklin departed. She comments on censoring and V-mail letters. On 19 March 1945 she was notified that the USS Franklin had been damaged, her husband was a survivor and that the ship would be returning to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for repairs. The ship arrived April 1945 and Mr. and Mrs. Tice remained in the area until he was discharged November 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Tice. Tice was born in Detroit 3 January 1924. After joining the Navy in 1943 he went to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center for boot training. Upon completion of training he entered gunnery school in preparation for Armed Guard duty. After training, Tice served as instructor at the Armed Guard school for four months. He then volunteered for aircraft carrier duty and was assigned to a gunnery crew aboard the USS Franklin (CV-13). He went aboard late in December 1943. Tice recalls meeting a childhood friend, Bob Harrison, an armament specialist who was also on board. Soon after arriving at Pearl Harbor the Franklin sailed to the Marianas. He recalls the ship being involved in many operations including the Bonin Islands, Peleliu, Guam, Luzon and Iwo Jima. It was also involved in the Battle of Leyte Gulf where a Japanese aircraft crashed on the deck. He went into an ammunition magazine to wet down the area with water. He received a citation from Admiral Halsey for this action. He also describes burials at sea. The ship returned to Bremerton for repairs. On 19 March 1945 a …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Gilbert Clark. Clark joined the Navy in February 1941 and trained at Great Lakes. After optical training, he joined the USS Helena (CL-50) at San Diego and served aboard as a rangefinder. Clark was aboard when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He also describes some action he was involved in later around the Solomon Islands and describes when the Helena was sunk at Kula Gulf. Clark made it to an island and was rescued off it. He then was assigned to the USS Franklin (CV-13) when it was commissioned. He was aboard the Franklin when she was hit by a kamikaze. Clark was evacuated and assigned to shore duty in San Diego. He was discharged after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dr. Dorr W. Brown, MD. Brown begins with recalling anecdotes about growing up in various parts of Texas, attending Southwestern University in Gerogetown, and going to medical school in Galveston before joining the Navy after the beginning of World War II. Once he was in the Navy, Brown did his medical internship in Norman, Oklahoma. Brown eventually ended up at Pearl Harbor and then went to Japan as part of the Occupation. After the war, Brown stayed in the Navy for a while and became a flight surgeon. he resigned soon after and went tinto private medical practice in Fredericksburg, Texas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Knarr. Knarr was teaching school in Indiana when he was drafted into the Army. He was assigned to the field artillery in the 87th Infantry Division where he served in the headquarters battery. Knarr describes his training prior to shipping overseas to England. He landed in France in late November 1944 and shares experiences during the Battle of the Bulge. He also recalls liberating a few concentration camps. When the war in Europe ended, Knarr was slated to go to the Pacific, but the war ended while he was on leave. He was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Cox. Cox was born in Bismarck, Illinois on 3 November 1917. He joined the Army Air Corps in December 1939. Upon completing basic training he was sent to Nichols Field, Manila, Philippines, arriving there in May 1940. Soon after his arrival he was assigned to the 27th Materials Squadron and trained in an aircraft mechanics school. He was selected for a special mission to Port Moresby, New Guinea and was there when the Japanese attacked the Philippines. He was then ordered to report to Townsville, Australia. Cox recalls various experiences while working with the Australian forces. Returning to the United States in 1943 he was promoted to Warrant Officer and assigned as Aircraft Maintenance Officer at Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri in December 1943. In March 1944, he was sent to Fulbeck, England where he joined the 303rd Troop Carrier Squadron. He describes the loading of the squadron’s planes with troops prior to the launching of Operation Overlord, 6 June 1944. He concludes the interview describing the unit’s involvement in Operation Dragoon August 1944.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Milton Gebhard. Gebhard joined the Army Air Forces in January 1944. He was trained as an infantryman and served in Okinawa after the battle had ended. Gebhard worked as a guard for Japanese prisoners for seven months. He was discharged when he returned to the US.