The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dale Mann. Mann joined the Navy in August 1943. He describes becoming a member of a Navy choir company in boot camp and discusses the unique experiences that were associated with his assignment. Mann was then sent to school to become an Electrician’s Mate. He was then selected to join the V-12 program and describes his training and campus life at several schools. Mann was still in school when the war ended and was eventually discharged in June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Shackelford. Shackelford joined the Army Air Forces in March 1943. He completed basic training in Miami Beach, Florida. From there he went to Fort Collins, Colorado, and had weapons training and learned to be a clerk typist. He then went to Gunter Field, Alabama, and worked with budgets and accounting, before he volunteered to go overseas. He was with the 13th Air Force Headquarters on Palawan. In June 1944 he boarded a ship to New Caledonia where he worked in casual labor then relocated to Guadalcanal where he trained to be a radio operator. From there he went to Bougainville and worked in the DF station where they helped lost Marine aviators find their base. He then transferred to the Philippines to work in a radio station as a clerk typist and he ran the Airmen’s club. In December 1945 he came back to San Francisco and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Orville Schwanger. Schwanger joined the Army Signal Corps around 1942. He completed radio repair training. From 1943 through the end of the war, Schwanger traveled to Brisbane, Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, and Leyte Gulf. On the islands, he set up and worked in radio repair shops. He received his discharge in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Miller. Miller joined the Junior Naval Reserves around 1936, at the age of 13. He joined the Navy in 1940, and served aboard USS Wyoming (BB-32) as an Aviation Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class. Shortly after the war started, he was transferred to USS Raven (AM-55) as a gunner. He recalls spotting and shooting at German U-boats along Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. In early 1942, they escorted tankers along the east coast, up to Nova Scotia. Miller was transferred to VF-28, an F4F fighter squadron. Around October, they were assigned to USS Suwannee (ACV-27) and participated in the invasion of North Africa and the Battle of Casablanca in November. In December, they were transferred to USS Chenango (CVE-28). In early 1943, they supported the Guadalcanal campaign. Beginning in December, and through 1944, Miller served aboard USS Tulagi (CVE-72), participating in the invasion of Normandy. Miller discusses their activity during the Battle of Okinawa. He continued his service after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Henley Bennett. Bennett joined the Navy in December 1943 and trained in San Diego. Upon completion he was assigned to USS Long Island (CVE-1) and went to the Marshall Islands. He was also stationed on Guam for a while. He served with utility Squadrons 7 and 17 while overseas. When the war ended, Bennett was discharged in June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Featherstone. Featherstone quit high school in Indiana and joined the Navy after the war started. After boot camp in 1943, Featherstone volunteered for PT boat duty and was shipped overseas immediately. When he got to New Guinea, he was assigned to PT-137 in Squadron 7. Featherstone provides a glimpse of what life and service aboard a PT boat was like in the Southwest Pacific. During the Philippines invasion, Featherstone was rotated back to the US. He was at the PT training center in Rhode Island when the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Milton Haby. Haby joined the Army in 1942. He served with the 13th Armored Division, overseeing six parts trucks. He deployed to France in January of 1945. They traveled through Germany, participating in the Ruhr Pocket operation in April. Haby returned to the US an received his discharge in July of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Meriwether. Meriwether was studying to become a doctor when he entered the Army Medical Corps in December, 1942. He continued training as a doctor and was discharged in 1946. He was recalled and commissioned in 1952 and spent one year in Korea as a pathologist with the 48th MASH unit and studied the cause of serious infectious diseases along the DMZ. Meriwether relates details of his career in Army medicine.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Rudolph Kraut. Kraut joined the Navy in 1943. He volunteered for submarine duty and attended torpedo school in San Diego and submarine school in New London. He was assigned aboard USS Lizardfish (SS-373) and shares several anecdotes about his service aboard that boat. Kraut was transferred to USS Blueback (SS-326) before electing to be discharged on points.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Walter Hartman. Hartman joined the Navy in February of 1943. He trained to be a pilot in Pensacola, Florida and received his wings in February of 1944. He was commissioned and sent to Banana River Naval Air Station, Florida to fly PBMs. He joined Patrol Bombing Squadron 26 (VPB-26). Hartman served as both pilot and navigator. He provides some details of the PBM. His crew was sent to Okinawa to deliver a new PBM-5. They went to Saipan and were assigned to the USS Norton Sound (AVM-1), and later assigned to the USS Cumberland Sound (AV-17). He gives his experiences of flying combat missions around Japan and the Yellow Sea. He served in the Navy for 27 years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Reed. Reed was drafted into the Army in June 1945, while he was in ninth grade. He later received his diploma in 1949. He went to Sheppard Field, Texas, Ft. McClellan, Alabama and Ft. MacArthur, California for training. In California he was a medical technician, though received no formal training. He worked in a separation center, taking blood pressure. He was in the 9th Service Command and the 6th Army. He also worked as a longshoreman in San Pedro. From there he was shipped up to Camp Beall, California where he worked the remainder of his Army career as a medic, driving an ambulance and giving shots to inductees coming into the Army. He was discharged in December 1946 and he worked for the Pure Oil Station, and then later at the Veterans Hospital in Montgomery. He used his G.I. Bill to go to business school in Montgomery, Alabama while working at the Veterans Hospital.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Oellerich. Oellerich joined the Navy in 1943 after he finished high school. After basic training, he attended quartermaster school to learn to navigate. Upon completion, he headed for Houston to join USS LSM-2. After training, they shaped course for Hawaii. After loading supplies, they headed for the Philippines to support the various invasions. He also made the invasion of Okinawa where his LSM ferried supplies from ship to shore for one month. He got ashore briefly and witnessed kamikaze attacks. Oellerich was discharged in April, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Ulery. Ulery joined the Army in December of 1945. In March 1946 he was sent to Le Havre, France. He served with the 3rd Infantry Division, Artillery Band in Bad Wildungen, Germany. Ulery played the sousaphone in the band, and they traveled all over the American Zone of Germany. He was in Nuremberg when the war criminals were sentenced to death. Ulery shares details of his 13 months living and working in Germany after the war. He returned to the US and was discharged in June of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert D. Molleston. Molleston joined the Navy in 1943 and trained at Farragut, Idaho. From there he went to radio school and aerial gunnery school before he was assigned to Air Group 6 and shipped to Hawaii aboard the USS General E.T. Collins (AP-147). In March, 1945, Molleston and his unit boarded the USS Hancock (CV-19) at Ulithi. Molleston reads from his diary he kept in his flight log book (May through June, 1945). It describes actions and raids against Okinawa and the Japanese home islands as well as kamikaze attacks on the US fleet. In August, the plane Molleston was in was shot down. He was rescued by the USS Harrison (DD-573). Molleston reads a story he wrote about the experience. He was wounded in the leg and spent a lot of time in hospitals right after the war. Molleston also reads from his diary regarding his experience in 2009 going on an Honor Flight to Washington, DC to dsee the National World War II Memorial.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert E. Neff. Neff begins with a description of his life growing up during the Great Depression. When Neff finished high school in Illinois in 1940, he worked as an apprentice carpenter. On a lark, he took the test to get into Army Air Forces as a cadet. He passed the test and entered the USAAF in October, 1942. He trained as a navigator and was commissioned in Hondo, Texas in late 1943. From there ,Neff was assigned as a crewmember to a B-24 and headed for Hawaii. From there, Neff and crew flew to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal and started their tour of combat missions. Neff flew 44 combat missions and attacked Japanese targets at Rabaul, Manila, Balikpapan, and other locations around New Guinea, the Philippines and Indonesia. Neff was in the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force. When Neff left the Army, he went back to work as a carpenter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Evans. Evans joined the Marchant Marine in the summer of 1944. He was assigned as a radio operator on the SS Charles M. Russel. Evans describes life aboard ship and details the ceremony when they crossed the equator. He discusses his role as a loader for a 20mm anti-aircraft gun and coming under attack during the landings on Leyte. Evans also describes receiving an SOS while on watch and how the senders were too far away to help. His next voyage was on the SS Fort Stevenson, which was a tanker. Evans describes a stopover on Tinian and an opportunity to explore the airfield and parked B-29 bombers. He returned to the US in September of 1945 and enlisted in the US Army for three years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond L. Morrison. Morrison joined the Army in 1944. He trained at the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He also attended forward observer school at Camp Maxie, Texas. From there, Morrison was sent to Europe and attached to the Headquarters Battery of the 322nd Field Artillery, 83rd Infantry Division. He tells stories of working as a forward observer in Belgium. Morrison also speaks about his unit's role in the Battle ofthe Bulge, and how cold he was. The 83rd had crossed the Elbe River and were outside Berlin when the war ended. After the war, Morrison did not have enough points to return home, so he stayed in Germany and worked as a courier out of Bavaria, seeing much of Eastern Europe. He rotated home in May, 1946 and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ky Putnam. Putnam enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 in El Paso, Texas. After training, he was assigned to the 414th Night Fighter Squadron. His squadron was based in Italy and Putnam describes his living conditions, his squadron mates, and several of his combat experiences. Putnam tells the story of the time he got shot down in February, 1945. He and his radar man both parachuted out of the damaged P-61 and landed separately in the mountains. Putnam fell in with some Italian partisans and was eventually reunited with his radar man, John Marunovich, at the crash site. Putnam goes into considerable detail about his 22-day ordeal after his plane crashed. As Putnam and Marunovich made their way south, they encountered several friendly Italians, even one dressed in a German infantryman's uniform who traveled with the Americans for a while. After a while, Putnam and his radar man encountered an Allied unit from South Africa. They finally found a guide to get them through the lines and back to the Allied side. After a hike over a ridge at night, the group made it into Allied …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Neal L. Siebenbruner. Siebenbruner quit school in 1943 to join the Army Air Forces. After basic training, he attended gunnery school at Laredo, Texas and shares anecdotes from his training days. He also trained at Tonopah, Nevada and in Hawaii. Siebenbruner also shares anecdotes about some of his combat missions in the Pacific. He flew 40 combat missions and served in the 11th Bombardment Group (heavy), 431st Bombbardment Squadron, 7th Air Force. When the war ended, Siebenbruner returned home to finish high school.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clyde “Bert” Moore. Moore was born in Norman, Indiana 2 October 1923. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1942 and attended boot camp in San Diego, California. After boot camp, he was assigned guard duty at the Bremerton Navy Yard. Following this assignment he underwent training for special weapons at Camp Pendleton. He tells of spending 57 days aboard ship awaiting the invasion of Guam and vividly describes combat including surviving a banzai charge. Following Guam the division trained for the invasion of Iwo Jima. Moore landed on the second day of the invasion. He describes the heat and volcanic ash conditions and the heavy artillery and machine gun fire he encountered. He was awarded the Bronze Star while for service at Iwo Jima. He tells of being hospitalized on Guam and returning to the United States aboard a hospital ship. Soon after his return he received his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Stanley Blumenthal. Blumenthal received his commercial Morse Code license and joined the Merchant Marines in 1944. He served aboard the liberty ship SS Lawrence D. Tyson (1943). He discusses life on the ship and experiences traveling to the Mediterranean Sea to deliver cargo. They landed in Palermo, Italy. He describes life and sightseeing in Palermo.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with John Stayer. Stayer joined the Army in August 1944 and had basic training at Camp Hood. After training, he shipped out to France and joined the 4th Armored Division in Luxembourg in December. After two week, Stayer was severely wounded by mortar fire and evacuated. He eventually lost his right leg below the knee. Stayer relates several anecdotes of his time in hospitals recovering from his wound. He was discharged in April, 1946 after recovering.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Martin Tschirhart. Tschirhart joined the Navy in March of 1942. He served aboard the USS Shasta (AE-6) as a Seaman on the deck crew, swabbing decks and painting. They traveled to New Caledonia, and moving from island to island they replenished the ammunition supplies of the Fleet. In the spring of 1943, they provided support in the Attu and Kiska operations, as well as campaigns in the western Pacific. He helped bring the HA-19 Japanese midget submarine to the US from Pearl Harbor. In late 1943 Tschirhart was transferred to the USS Pakana (ATF-108). They traveled to Pearl Harbor and completed numerous salvage operations in the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Guam and Okinawa. He recalls his experiences during a typhoon. He returned to the US and was discharged in early 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Sharkey. Sharkey joined the Navy and served in a mobile antiaircraft unit at Pearl Harbor. He served at CINCPAC headquarters at Pearl Harbor.