The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ray Harrison. Born in 1922, he joined the Marine Corps in December 1941. He describes his battle experiences on Guadalcanal as well as the supply shortages and Japanese naval shelling. He contracted malaria there. He also talks about the Japanese night attacks on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. He describes landing on Tarawa. Assigned to man a machine gun on top of an amphibious tractor in the first wave of the invasion, he was injured and stranded in his disabled tractor. After making his way to a Higgins boat, he and others were picked up by a destroyer and returned to their original ship. He describes his experiences in battle on Saipan as well as witnessing the suicides of civilians. He also mentions the invasion of Tinian. After thirty months in the Pacific Theater, he was transferred to the recreation department at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. He shares anecdotes about enlisting in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; eating coconuts on Tulagi; his summary court martial after a furlough in New Zealand; and teaching himself to be a sailing instructor at Camp Lejeune. He was discharged in December …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Hotova. Hotova was born in November 1918. He describes conditions during the Great Depression. He left high school at 15 years of age and joined the National Guard in 1939. He was assigned to the 242nd Coast Artillery. Hotova applied for flight training in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He did not qualify for advanced flight training and was assigned to aircraft mechanics school at Keesler Field, Mississippi. After four months of training, he was sent to Laredo, Texas for gunnery training. He was assigned as a waist gunner on a B-24. While four members flew their plane to England, he and five other crewmen boarded RMS Queen Mary. Landing in Scotland they were assigned to the 8th Air Force, 389th Bomb Group, 567th Bomb Squadron based at Hethel, England. On his first bombing mission, in May 1944, he flew to Brussels and recounts the discomfort of being at a waist gun position at high altitudes. Having flown 29 combat missions during his tour, he describes several of the missions, during which German fighters and heavy flak were encountered. He also witnessed other aircraft being shot …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lorraine Mannering, nee Ungaretti. She discusses life prior to World War II and life on the homefront during the war. Her husband, drafted into the Army in 1941, served with the 18th Engineers constructing the Alcan Highway in Alaska. He also served on the Aleutian Islands of Attu, Adak, and Shemya. During the war, Lorraine continued her work in the insurance industry in San Francisco, California. She discusses rationing, shortages, blackouts, and victory gardens. She talks about war damage insurance policies and communicating with her husband via mail. She reflects on the treatment of Japanese Americans, the changing role of women, the use of atomic bombs, and race relations in San Francisco. When her husband was transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, she worked for the Red Cross. Her husband was discharged in 1945. The interview includes information about her parents as well as her life after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert E. Mills. Mills joined the Marine Corps in 1939 and trained at Parris Island, South Carolina. After training, Mills was assigned to 4th Defense Battalion and sent to Cuba in 1940. Late in 1941, Mills was transferred out to Pealr Harbor and describes the Japanese attack. He manned a machine gun until he ran out of ammunition, then went aboard a small vessel and rescued folks from out of the harbor. Shortly thereafter, Mills was sent to the Solomon Islands where he discusses building an airstrip at Vella Lavella. Mills then speaks about getting communications established at Nagasaki after the war ended. He also shares an anecdote about assisting a chaplain with the baptism of several men on Iwo Jima. He also describes the time he was wounded by a Japanese shell.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles E. Jones. With his father's consent, Jones joined the Marine Corps in Tennessee when he was 15 years old in 1940. When he finished training at Parris Island, South Carolina, he was assigned to the Fourth Defense Battalion at Guantanimo Bay, Cuba. In November, 1941, his unit was assigned to Wake Island. He was at Pearl Harbor en route to Wake Island when the Japanese struck Hawaii on 7 December 1941. Jones describes his activities during the battle. Shortly thereafter, Jones was sent to Efate, New Hebrides where his unit defended an airstrip from which the US was able to attack Guadalcanal. Jones retunred to the US and trained on 155mm artillery guns at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. While at Camp Lejeune, Jones was able to shake President Roosevelt's hand. Jones recalls a story about meeting his brother randomly on Guam. Jones was on Guam when the war ended. He mustered out of the Marines in November, 1945 and eventually reenlisted in the US Air Force. He served in the print shop at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Johnson. Johnson was born on 23 December 1921 in Mitchell, Missouri. Rather than risk getting drafted, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on 16 December 1939. His first duty was with the 15th Marine Artillery Regiment in San Diego. The 15th Marines was disbanded and the personnel sent to Pearl Harbor. Johnson was assigned to the 1st Marine Division Defense Battalion, eventually sent to fortify Wake Island, arriving there in August 1941. After the Japanese attacked, Johnson surrendered with the rest of the garrison and the civilians on 23 December 1941. Johnson and the other American personnel were taken prisoner. They were initially sent to Shanghai, China to do manual labor. In May 1945 they were moved to Manchuria, then to Pusan, Korea, and finally to Hokkaido in Japan, working in coal mines. Following the Japanese surrender, Johnson and others were moved to Yokohama, sent to Guam by ship, and flown to Hawaii on NATS aircraft. In Hawaii they were given time to recuperate from their ordeal, issued uniforms and given back pay. Johnson was then sent to Olathe, Kansas. After four years in Japanese prison camps, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Lajzer. Lajzer volunteered for service in the Army. Lajzer was assigned to a tank unit and trained at Fort Knox and in Louisiana before shipping out to the Philippines in late 1941. He was present at Clark Field when the Japanese attacked. He describes his retreat to Bataan and his activities there until he was surrendered. He also speaks of the six days he marched on the Bataan Death March out of Bataan. Once he was in a prisoner of war camp, he was assigned to a logging detail. He also contracted malaria and relates stories about smuggling items past the Japanese guards and into prison camps. Lajzer describes being aboard a hellship and being trransported to Formosa (Taiwan), where he spent the remainder of the war until he was liberated. Upon returning to the US, he was sent ot a hospital for a while before re-enlisting. He retired in 1966.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with W.F. Needham. Needham entered the Navy through the V-5 training program in March 1944. The program was shutdown in March 1945 and he was sent to boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Needham was trained as a corpsman and stationed at a Navy hospital in Seattle for the remainder of the war. He describes some of the work that he performed and the types of patients he treated. Needham describes escorting a wounded serviceman in a full-body cast from Seattle to Corpus Christi. He also mentions an incident where a fellow corpsman overdosed on pills and was sent to Fort Worth for treatment. Needham was discharged a few weeks after V-J day.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Earl Newman. Newman joined the Navy in July of 1941. He graduated from Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1942. He joined Squadron 21 (United States. Navy. Bombing Squadron 2 (VB-2)1) of Air Group 11 on Guadalcanal, conducting patrol, search, spotting and strike operations. Newman also served with Bombing Squadron 19 (VB-19) aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16), participating in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In October of 1944, his plane was shot down. Newman was discharged in mid-1945, prior to the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jay Summers. Summers joined the Texas National Guard in 1937. His unit was mobilized and he became a supply sergeant. Summers was sent Java at the beginning of the war and became a prisoner of war soon after. He describes the locations that they were sent and the work performed. Summers was a part of the POW workforce that was sent to Burma to build a railroad which included a bridge over the River Kwai. He describes the hardships the prisoners endured due to malnourishment, harsh treatment, and disease. Summers mentions some friends he made with Dutch and Australian prisoners, including one who helped save his life. He describes an incident where a Japanese guard was injured during repair work on the railroad. Summers discusses how they learned the war had ended and his journey back to the US. He was discharged in June of 1946 after he had recovered in a hospital.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with William Williams. Williams joined the Navy in December 1941. After electrician’s training, he operated a film projector for recruits at San Diego before being assigned to the USS Cheleb (AKA-138). While aboard the Cheleb, Williams participated in a few invasions: Tarawa, the Marshall Islands. He was transferred to the USS Benevolence (AH-13). After the war, Williams stayed in the reserve and was recalled to active duty for the Korean War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dr. Janus Poppe. Poppe was born in the Netherlands in 1916. As a teenager, he worked as a mechanic for a ship building company. After high school, he attended a Dutch Marine academy for two years. In the mid-1930s, he served as a Deck Officer aboard a ship that traveled around the world twice. He later worked for a shipping company in the Dutch East Indies. In May of 1940, he was traveling in the middle of the Pacific when word arrived from his parents in Holland that the Germans had invaded. Poppe was then trained as a navigator and bombardier. He was serving as a navigator and bombardier aboard PBYs when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Poppe shares several recollections of his encounters with the Japanese during the war, and patrolling around Indonesia. He additionally oversaw 200 Dutch Marines, assigned to patrol and defend Parafield, South Australia. Around 1943, he completed military flight school at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Don Riel. Riel joined the Navy in 1943 after working in the tool room at a Chevrolet plant. He received basic training at Camp Perry and joined the Seabees as a second class petty officer. On Kwajalein, while operating a truck, he was struck in the shoulder blade by a piece of coral during a controlled explosion. There were no medical facilities there at the time, so Riel was sewn up on the beach. He was then assigned to operate a cement mixer, which is all he could do with his arm in a sling. On Ebeye, he was tasked with maintaining water stills. When he arrived on Tinian, he was a bulldozer operator for the construction of airstrips. Although Tinian had already been secured, Riel survived attacks by snipers and bombers, hiding under his armored dozer. He then served as a fresh water well mechanic until the end of the war. Riel returned home and was discharged in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry J Williams. Williams joined the Naval ROTC at the University of Texas in 1941 and was called to active duty in February 1943. He received amphibious training in Maryland and was sent to England in April 1944 as an assistant officer on LCT-474. He landed on Utah Beach under fire and pulled out after unloading tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery. The next day, he carried troops and cargo to the beach. By the third day he was evacuating the wounded and transporting German POWs. As the fighting subsided along the shore, he combed the beach, salvaging machine gun parts and providing them to the Army as needed. He then ferried supplies from England to France until V-E Day. Williams returned to the States and became an executive officer aboard an LCI(G) in preparation for the invasion of Japan. When the war ended, he attended minesweeping school and participated in minesweeping efforts in the Philippines and the South Pacific. He retired from the Navy in 1965.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Kullman. Kullman joined the Navy in June 1942 and received basic training at Camp Perry. He traveled there by steam locomotive, poking his head out the window to enjoy the scenery. When the DI saw his soot-covered face, he told Kullman to step aside with the African-Americans. But Kullman stayed and performed at the top of his class in gunnery training. His disinterest in the military however, kept him from advancing, and he joined the 107th Naval Construction Battalion, despite having no prior construction experience. He noticed that regulars in the Navy were resentful toward those Seabees who became officers based on civilian work experience. Arriving at Tinian in early September 1944, Americans were still being killed by snipers. Food was compromised, causing a dysentery outbreak. Canine search units found more than 150 Japanese holdouts. On an excursion to an abandoned ammunition dump, Kullman found and detonated a grenade out of curiosity. Upon his return to camp, he was charged with going AWOL, court martialed, and assigned to KP. After the war, the giddiness was tangible. On New Year’s Eve, men fired their rifles through their roofs; …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Campbell. Campbell joined the Navy in the fall of 1942. He completed Naval Supply Corps School. Beginning July of 1943, he served as Supply Officer aboard the USS Coral Sea (CVE-57). They launched strikes on Makin Island in November, and bombed airfields at Kwajalein. Throughout 1944 and early 1945 they traveled to the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, the Marianas and Iwo Jima providing aircraft in support of forces. He shares experiences of kamikaze airplanes and enduring a typhoon. Campbell was discharged in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Loyd Oakes. Oakes was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and enlisted in the Army Air Forces on 9 February 1943 and was sent to Kelly Field for training. He qualified as bombardier and went to Laredo, Texas for ten weeks of gunnery training followed by three weeks of bombardier training in Midland, Texas. He graduated as a second lieutenant on 4 December 1943. Following his B-24 training, he flew with his crew to Darwin, Australia. In Darwin he was assigned to the 528th Bomb Squadron of the 380th Bomb Group, operating as a unit of 5th Air Force and was flying under Australian control. He also trained of Royal Australian Air Force pilots in the B-24. He describes several missions bombing Japanese airfields in the East Indies and Philippines. He provides several anecdotes of his time in Australia, including the time that Tokyo Rose broadcast that the Japanese were sending planes to bomb Darwin, which did not occur. His group moved to Mindoro Island, Philippines in February 1945 from where he describes flying missions over China, New Guinea and the Philippines. He recalls embarking on a troopship in …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ken Kewley. Kewley joined the Navy in September of 1941. He completed Electric Hydraulic and Advanced Gunnery School. He served aboard the USS Richmond (CL-9). After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Richmond escorted transport ships carrying troops to the South Pacific. In 1942, they were instrumental in driving the Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands. Kewley recounts his experiences through the Battle of the Komandorski Islands in March of 1943. In mid-1943, he was assigned to the Officer Messenger Mail Center in the Marshall Islands. He was discharged in the fall of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with L.T. Tracy. Tracy completed Machinist School prior to entering the service. Tracy joined the Navy in December of 1940 and immediately went aboard the USS Lexington (CV-2). He participated as a gunner in the Battle of the Coral Sea. His spine was injured during this battle. In late 1942 Tracy was assigned to the USS Nevada (BB-36). They participated in the invasions of Attu and Kiska, as well as supporting the Normandy and Marseilles landings. Tracy was then transferred to the USS Texas (BB-35). They provided gunfire support during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He was discharged for medical reasons in January of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bob Campaign. Campaign joined the Navy in March 1943 and attended the University of Iowa for pre-flight training. He describes a training device consisting of a mock cockpit that would be flipped over and lowered into a swimming pool, giving pilots a chance to practice releasing their harnesses while hanging upside down, submerged in water. He finished his training at Corpus Christi and Fort Lauderdale, transitioning into combat airplanes. He was then assigned to VT-15 aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12). After the shakedown cruise, Campaign was transferred to VF-79 as a night fighter pilot aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22).

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Margaret Gardner. Gardner married Russell Emmett Edwards on 2 November 1943. Edwards joined the Navy in 1941. Gardner provides some details of Edwards’ flight training in Florida, where he was selected for a night fighter squadron. He completed additional training in Charleston, Rhode Island aboard the Grumman F6F Hellcats. Gardner notes the various places she and Edwards lived while he was training in Florida and Rhode Island. She also provides some details of their pending wedding date, which policy implored must take place after Edwards received his wings. Edwards completed his flying missions from aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22) and was killed in action 6 January 1945. Gardner provides details of how she learned of Edwards death. She attended 28 of the CVLG 41 VF-41 reunions over the last 58 years to maintain contact with Edwards’ crew members she had met during his flight training days.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Cy Heinrich. Heinrich entered the Navy and served with the VF-41 Night Fighter Squadron, aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22) as a Landing Signal Officer. Around January 1944 he was assigned to Las Alamedas to work with Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 33, CASU-33. He helped implement reflective material down the legs of their flight suits in order to see one another more easily during night landings. Heinrich was assigned back to the Independence around July of 1944, where his squadron was assigned to take new aircraft aboard. He provides some details of this work, including the tedious work of serving as a Landing Signal Officer. They struck Okinawa, Formosa, and the Philippines. He provides details of how the Independence became a night operating carrier.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ben Howden. Howden joined the Navy in 1942. He received preliminary flight training Wisconsin and Iowa and further training in Corpus Christi, Melbourne, and Vero Beach. Upon completion, he was assigned to VF(N)-106 and then transferred to a squadron aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22). He performed combat air patrols and anti-submarine patrols for three months in the Philippines. Howden traveled through a typhoon during his return to the States and was discharged when the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rubin Peterson. Peterson joined the Navy in June 1942 and received training at Iowa State College and the University of Georgia. He received training in instrument flying at Whiting Field and formation flying at Barron Field. Upon completion of dive bomber training in DeLand, he was assigned to a night fighter squadron aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22). On his first mission, he shot down a Betty bomber at Palau. He then bombed freighters near Leyte amidst antiaircraft fire. On his night missions, he used the 40-mile range of his radar to close in on planes until he had a visual on them. At the end of his tour, he witnessed a destroyer sunk by a typhoon. Peterson returned to the States in February 1945 and instructed pilots on using radar until he was discharged at the end of the war.