Interview with landscape architect and Army veteran William Garbo Sr. The interview includes Garbo's personal experiences about the G Troop, 112th Cavalry, in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World-War II, growing up in an Italian-American family in Mississippi during the Great Depression, volunteering for the draft and processing at Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, basic training at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, being assigned to the 26th War Dog Platoon and to New Guinea in 1944, the Battle of the Driniumor River and his attachment to elements of the 32nd Infantry Division, jungle patrols on New Guinea with his dog, his transfer to Troop, 112th Cavalry and the invasion of Layte, Philippines, and the living condition in the Philippine jungles. Additionally, Garbo speaks about the fighting prowess of his comrades in the 112th Cavalry, jungle patrols on Leyte and Luzon, the 112th's activities around Marungko and Antipolo, Luzon, descriptions of cannibalism by Japanese soldiers, his wounds from artillery shrapnel and evacuation by helicopter, his return to the 112th Cavalry and preparations for the invasion of Japan, witnessing the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, occupation duty at Tateyama, Honshu, relations between Japanese civilians and American occupation troops, the destruction of Japanese defensive fortifications …

Interview with Navy veteran Melvin R. "Pancho" Baird. It includes a combination of interviewing and reading from Baird's personal correspondence about his pre-World War II experiences with the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and his later experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Baird talks about his stationing aboard the destroyer USS Alden as a radioman, the grounding of the SS President Hoover off of Hoishito Island, the Sino-Japanese War, liberty ashore various Asian port cities, events on the South China Patrol, civilian activities after his discharge, activities as a radio technician on Blue Beach during the Okinawan Campaign, kamikaze actions on Okinawa, and typical shipboard routine.

Interview with banker and Navy veteran Bennie G. Snider. The interview includes Snider's personal experiences about the Pacific Theater during World War II, youth and education in Denton, Texas, joining the Navy, and boot training and electrical engineering school. Snider talks about duties aboard the USS Hancock, his assignment to Task Group 58 and the invasion of the Philippines, as well as the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, kamikaze attacks and the Hancock being hit by a kamikaze, burials at sea, and his postwar duties aboard the Hancock as part of Operation MAGIC CARPET.

Interview with John J. Clemens. The interview includes Clemens' personal experiences about childhood and early adulthood in Houston, Texas, World War II-era service in the U.S. Navy, serving aboard USS Wren in the Pacific Theater, and piloting a ship into Tokyo Bay immediately following the Japanese surrender. Clemens speaks about convoy missions across the Atlantic Ocean, the January 4, 1944 sinking of the USS Turner while moored in New York Harbor and the court of inquiry regarding the sinking, actions in the Aleutian Islands, Attu, Okinawa, and Philippine campaigns and anti-kamikaze warfare while aboard the USS Wren, and the effects that Allied bombing had on Tokyo.

Interview with Army veteran Harlan W. Crouse, including personal experiences about combat in the Philippines during World War II, the Japanese surrender in Yokohama Harbor, and being present during the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan.

Interview with Navy veteran Jean Balch, including Balch's personal experiences about the Pacific theater, being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II, boot camp, radio, radar, and gunnery school, operations during the Leyte invasion, missions over Luzon, and raids on Japanese installations on Formosa and Saigon, French Indo-China. Additionally, Balch talks about his plane being shot down on a raid to Hong Kong and his capture on January 16, 1945, interrogations and beatings by the Kempei-tai, imprisonment at Ofuna, Honshu, solitary confinement for six months and continued interrogation, beatings by Japanese prison guards, starvation diet, the end of the war and liberation, and his participation in the war crimes trials held by the International Military Tribunal.

U.S. Marine George Burlage was part of the largest surrender in American history at Bataan and Corregidor in the spring of 1942, where the Japanese captured more than 85,000 troops. More than forty percent would not survive World War II. His prisoner-of-war ordeal began at Cabanatuan near Manila, where the death rate in the early months of World War II was fifty men a day. Sensing that Cabanatuan was a death trap, he managed to get transferred to the isolated island of Palawan to help build an airfield for his captors. Malaria and other tropical diseases caused him to be sent to Manila for treatment in 1943 (a year later, 139 of his fellow POWs were massacred on Palawan). After another year of building airfields, Burlage survived a 38-day voyage in the hull of a Japanese hell ship and ended the war as a miner for Mitsubishi in northern Japan. By sheer luck, strength, and a bit of sabotage, he survived and was freed in September 1945 after the Japanese surrendered. He had endured starvation and torture and lost half of his prewar weight, but no one had killed him. After the war Burlage became a journalist and wrote about …

Interview with Navy veteran Frank H. Bigelow, survivor of the siege of Corregidor. The interview includes Bigelow's personal experiences about being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II, boyhood in North Dakota, various jobs during the Great Depression, and enlisting in the Navy. Additionally, Bigelow speaks about volunteering for duty in the Philippines and his assignment to the submarine tender USS Canopus, pre-war military life in the Philippines, the Japanese bombing of Cavite Navy Yard and the destruction of the Canopus, retreating to Bataan and to Corregidor, the fall of Corregidor, his confinement in the 92nd Garage area, the forced march down Dewey Boulevard in Manila and confinement at Cabanatuan, hell ship to Japan, coal mining for Mitsui Heavy Industries, the amputation of his leg by fellow prisoners after a mining accident, liberation, and the destruction in Nagasaki due to the atomic bomb. The interview includes an appendix with an article titled "A Soldier's Story."

Interview with Colonel John E. Olson, a Army WWII veteran and POW from Leavenworth, Kansas. Olson discusses his family background, commissioning in the Army from West Point, assignment to the Philippines in 1939 as an infantry officer, the start of the war, withdrawal to Bataan and the ensuing battle and surrender, the Bataan Death March, internment at Cabanatuan, transfer to Osaka, experiences there in internment at a factory labor camp, liberation, organizing the evacuation of POWs, returning to the US, and his postwar career.

Interview with Cmdr. Alex Vraciu, a Navy WWII veteran and Navy Cross recipient from East Chicago, Indiana. Vraciu discusses his family and educational background, naval flight training, Edward "Butch" O'Hare, the F6F Hellcat, various combat operations throughout the Pacific, his actions at the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," being awarded the Navy Cross and time stateside, and returning to combat. In appendix is an autobiographical sketch by Vraciu, including a picture of him and his Hellcat with visible victory markings on the fuselage.

Interview with William Painter, a UNT professor and Army WWII veteran from New Bloomfield, Missouri. Painter discusses growing up in the Depression, being a conscientious objector and feeling pressure to join the war, getting drafted into the infantry and training at Camp Hood and Fort Ord, deployment to the Pacific with the 32nd Infantry Division, operations on Luzon and the Villa Verde Trail, the end of the war, occupation duty in Japan, and returning home. In appendix is a letter to Marcello with a correction for the interview.

Transcript of an interview with John R. Bumgarner, physician, U.S. Army WWII veteran, and prisoner-of-war of the Japanese following the fall of the Philippines in World War II. He discusses the fall of Bataan and capture; Bilibid Prison, Manila, 1942; Cabanatuan, 1942-44; hell ship to Japan, 1944; Hakodate, Hokkaido, 1944-45; and his liberation.

Transcript of an interview with John Ruddick, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences while aboard the destroyer USS Melvin during World War II in the Pacific Theater. Ruddick discusses the Marianas invasion, the Carolines invasion, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Battle of Surigao Strait, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Kurile operations, and the occupation of Japan.

Interview with Fred Vogel, a Army WWII veteran from Austin, Minnesota. Vogel discusses his family and upbringing, football and college, working as a lawyer, joining the Army and basic training, attending Officer Candidate School, infantry training, deployment to New Guinea with the 33rd Infantry Division, the invasion of Morotai, combat around Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines, and occupation duty in Japan.

Interview with Colonel Columbus Savage, an Army Air Corps veteran (16th Bomb Squadron) and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Savage discusses Bataan Airfield (1941-1942), the fall of Bataan and his capture, the Bataan Death March, Camp O'Donnell (1942), Cabanatuan (1942), Davao Penal Colony (1942-1944), Bilibid Prison in Manila (1944), the hell ship to Japan (1945), Mojo and Fukuoka, Kyushu (1945), Mukden, Manchuria (1945), and his liberation by Russian troops. Appendix includes a photocopy of an article from the May 24, 1991 edition of the Carswell Sentinel, titled, "Warrior received belated honors" by MSgt. Dick Hodgson [p. 1]

Transcript of an interview with General Robert E. Galer, a Marine Corps veteran (VMF-224) and recipient of the Medal of Honor, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Galer discusses his pre-war training at Pensacola and Quantico; assignment to Saint Thomas and reminiscences about the "destroyers-for bases" deal, 1940; experiences at Ewa during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to Guadalcanal as commander of VMF-224, August 30, 1942-December 31, 1942; air combat around Guadalcanal; his receiving the Medal of Honor; reassignment to the States for war bond drives; experiences on Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945, as commander of a 584 Radar Team; and assignment to the Philippines and Okinawa, 1945.

Interview with General Robert E. Galer, a Marine Corps veteran (VMF-224) and recipient of the Medal of Honor, concerning his experiences concerning the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; the Guadalcanal Campaign as commander of VMF-224; and as head of the 584 Radar units during the campaigns for the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Navy ROTC at the University of Washington, 1931-35; pilot training at Sand Point, Pensacola, and Quantico, 1935-38; assignment to amphibian squadron on Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, 1938-40, and his minor role in the "destroyers-for-bases" deal with Great Britain, 1940; assignment as commander of VMF-224, 1942; description of the Grumman Wildcat fighter plane; assignment to Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, 1942; episodes involving aerial combat against the Japanese; aerial combat tactics; living conditions at Henderson Field; shot down for the first time on September 12, 1942; shot down for a second time on October 2, 1942; personnel problems with dysentery and malaria; reassignment to COMAIRPAC, November, 1943; Command and Staff College, 1943; awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for twenty-nine consecutive days of combat and eleven-and-one-half kills; meeting President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Oval Office; development of the 584 Radar for close-air support; Iwo Jima, …

Transcript of an interview with Burton S. Pearsall, a Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences as a dive-bomber pilot in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Appendix includes photos, newspaper articles, samples of flight log, and US Marine Corps certificate.

Transcript of an interview with Captain Victor Delano, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Delano discusses his first assignment to the battleship USS West Virginia and his experiences during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to the antiaircraft cruiser USS San Juan, 1942; naval battles around Guadalcanal; Battle of Savo Island; assignment to the destroyer USS Wedderburn, 1944; Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944; Pacific typhoons; Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations, 1945.

Interview with Colonel Columbus Savage, an Army Air Corps veteran (16th Bomb Squadron) and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Savage discusses Bataan Airfield (1941-1942), the fall of Bataan and his capture, the Bataan Death March, Camp O'Donnell (1942), Cabanatuan (1942), Davao Penal Colony (1942-1944), Bilibid Prison in Manila (1944), the hell ship to Japan (1945), Mojo and Fukuoka, Kyushu (1945), Mukden, Manchuria (1945), and his liberation by Russian troops. Appendix includes a photocopy of an article from the May 24, 1991 edition of the Carswell Sentinel, titled, "Warrior received belated honors" by MSgt. Dick Hodgson.