The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gaylord Whitlock. Whitlock was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois on 1 July 1917. Upon graduating from high school in 1935, he entered university in Carbondale, Illinois and graduated in 1939. In 1943, he received a commission in the US Navy Naval Reserve and reported to the Naval Training School of Aerological Engineers at UCLA where he received a professional degree in meteorology. He was then ordered to attend the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. While there, he worked on a method of determining shoreline depths an island for military purposes. In October 1944 he was sent to Kodiak, Alaska as a reanalysis officer, where he drew weather maps every six hours. He recounts and episode where he and fifteen others were shipwrecked. Only six survivors were rescued by the Coast Guard. In July 1945, he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Training Center at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. While at this base, he developed a medical condition which led to five months in the naval hospital at Sampson, New York. He was discharged following his release from the hospital.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gaylord Whitlock. Whitlock was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois on 1 July 1917. Upon graduating from high school in 1935, he entered university in Carbondale, Illinois and graduated in 1939. In 1943, he received a commission in the US Navy Naval Reserve and reported to the Naval Training School of Aerological Engineers at UCLA where he received a professional degree in meteorology. He was then ordered to attend the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. While there, he worked on a method of determining shoreline depths an island for military purposes. In October 1944 he was sent to Kodiak, Alaska as a reanalysis officer, where he drew weather maps every six hours. He recounts and episode where he and fifteen others were shipwrecked. Only six survivors were rescued by the Coast Guard. In July 1945, he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Training Center at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. While at this base, he developed a medical condition which led to five months in the naval hospital at Sampson, New York. He was discharged following his release from the hospital.