The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Combs. Combs was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1940 and was in flight school in California when Pearl Harbor was attacked. After graduating and receiving his commission, he was assigned as a flight instructor at West Point in March, 1942. After transitioning from B-17s to B-29s, Combs joined a B-29 crew as a crew commander and headed overseas to Tinian in spring, 1945 and joined the 313th Bomb Wing. When the war ended, Combs returned home and was placed in the reserves. He was recalled for the Korean War and flew supplies from Japan and then VIPs around the theater.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bob McMahon. He enrolled in the Flying Cadet program while in college. After completing initial training in San Antonio, he was transferred to the 21st Pursuit Squadron at Hamilton Field in California where he trained in P-36s and P-40s. In November 1941 he embarked on the troop ship, USS Republic (AP-33) which was underway in the South Pacific on December 7. He arrived in Australia on December 21. In February, 1942 his squadron took off from Darwin to Indonesia when they encountered heavy weather and returned to the airfield, where he was attacked by Japanese fighter planes. He shot down three Japanese fighters before being wounded and forced to bail out of his damaged plane. He landed in a mangrove swamp and was rescued. McMahon watched hundreds of Japanese bombers destroy the Darwin airport and the adjacent RAAF field. The Australians evacuated Darwin and he was flown to Brisbane to recover from his wounds. After recovering, he joined the 39th Fighter Squadron operating out of New Guinea. He recalls escorting a B-26 during a flight out of Port Moresby, New Guinea on which Congressman Lyndon Johnson was embarked. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jim Slaughter. He was born in San Antonio 3 November 1923. He joined the Civilians’ Military Training Camp program in 1938 and remained in it until it was disbanded in 1940. After volunteering for the Army Air Corps, he was sent to Santa Ana, California for primary training. Upon graduating as a flight officer, he went to Kingman, Arizona for gunnery training. He was then sent to Roswell, New Mexico, in 1943, to attend bombardier’s school. He then went to Avon Park, Florida where he joined a B-17 crew and spent four months training with his crew. The crew then flew a B-17 to Foggia, Italy where they were assigned to the 464th Bomb Group. He flew missions daily until his aircraft was shot down by German fighter planes over Yugoslavia 7 July 1944. Slaughter and his crew were rescued by a partisan group who delivered them to a C-45 transport plane, which delivered them back to a US base. In august 1944, on his last of 39 missions, Slaughter was shot down again. He was injured during the bail out and his co-pilot administered first aid on …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald Guthrie. Guthrie joined the Navy in late December of 1941. In 1942, he flew PBY Catalinas with Patrol Squadron 23, a Black Cat Squadron. They were assigned to Midway, participating in patrols searching for the Japanese invasion force. They also supported the invasion of and operations at Guadalcanal. In 1943, Guthrie was assigned to Funafuti and completed air, sea and rescue missions. In 1944, he flew missions over Kwajalein, Guam, Saipan, Iwo Jima and numerous other islands. He returned to the US and was discharged in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harold Bond. Bond was drafted and entered the Navy in 1942. Upon completion of boot camp at Samson Naval Training Base in New York, he was assigned to the USS Cebu (ARG-6), which was in the Baltimore ship yard. He went to Pearl Harbor and describes the destruction he observed. Aboard the Cebu, Bond proceeded to Manus Island. While at anchorage there, the USS Mount Hood (AE-11) exploded and severely damaged the USS Mindanao (ARG-3), which was moored alongside. Five of the crewmen aboard the Cebu where killed by the blast. The ship then went to Leyte Gulf remaining there for seven months before proceeding to Okinawa where the crew weathered a typhoon. Bond recalls going to Japan before returning to the United States.