Interview with Atzhiri Acosta, a Mexican-American immigrant from Wichita Falls, Texas. Acosta discusses moving to Wichita Falls, Texas, his upbringing there and adjusting to American life, his first jobs, being an "illegal immigrant" and immigration rhetoric, his family, the DREAM Act, Donald Trump, his work, deportation, and Christmas traditions.

Organized as a series of monthly journal entries, Morning Comes to Elk Mountain is Lantz’s response to ten years of exploring the rough and unexpected beauty of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. A combination of memoir, natural history, Native American history, and geology, this book is enriched by 20 color photos and a map to appeal to the seasoned visitor as well as the newcomer to the refuge. The national wildlife refuge that’s the focus of the book was among the first established by President Theodore Roosevelt. He helped save the Wichitas from miners and land speculators, and instead the harsh yet scenic area became the nation’s first bison refuge, established to keep this American icon from slipping into extinction. Today the refuge hosts more than a million visitors a year, most of them coming to hike the trails, climb the rocks, photograph bison and prairie dogs, or simply commune with a beautiful, wild area that remains a spiritual landscape for the Kiowa and Comanche Indians who call it home.

Interview with Rula Walid Bibi, Palestinian-born immigrant to Plano, Texas, for the DFW Metroplex Immigrants Oral History Project. The interview includes Bibi's personal experience with discrimination of Palestinians in the Middle East, childhood in Kuwait City, education at the University of Kuwait and Midwestern State University, family experiences during the First Gulf War and circumstances surrounding her immigration to Texas in 1990, thoughts on religion, experiences as a single mother as well as experiences of living in Wichita Falls, Dallas, Richardson, Garland, and Plano. Bibi talks about her first impressions of the U.S., her career in medical technologies, her marriage to an American man and his conversion to Islam, her involvement with political organizations, and thoughts on American education and foreign policy.

Interview with James F. Brede, dentist and U.S. Army Air Forces veteran. The interview includes his personal experiences in World War II as a B-17 co-pilot with the 8th Air Force in the European Theater, his childhood in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943, preliminary training in Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, his active service with the 379th Bomb Group in Kimbolton, England, combat experience in 35 missions, return to the U.S. and continued military service as a flight instructor in Lakeland, Florida and Wichita Falls, Texas, as well as the return to civilian life, marriage, dental school under the G.I. Bill, reenlistment in the Air Force as a dentist, his deployment to Korea, his discharge from the Air Force, and the establishment of his dental practice and experiences since retirement. The interview includes an appendix with a copy of his book.

Interview with Tyrel James Billingsley, an Airman in the US Air Force Reserves from Dallas, Texas. Billingsley discusses his childhood and education, enlisting in the Air Force, basic training and technical school, his duties as a Aircraft Armament Systems specialist, memorable experiences, and plans for the future.

Interview with Michael Crone, veteran of Operation of Iraqi Freedom, as part of the Tarrant County Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Crone's personal experiences of childhood in Texas, enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, boot camp at Camp Pendleton, California, training as a diesel mechanic, and being deployed to Kuwait and Al Asad, Iraq. Crone also talks about his family's tradition of military service, realizing that he would be activated and shift in reservist training following September 11 attacks, the birth of his first child while in Iraq, aspects of daily life for American soldiers stationed in Iraq, his work as a repair mechanic, and returning to the U.S. and his family.

Transcript of an interview with Keith Shelton, journalist, concerning his childhood in Oklahoma; family history; journalism training and career; Cold War military service in Germany; work for Dallas Times Herald; coverage of John F. Kennedy's 1963 Texas visit and assassination; coverage of Jack Ruby's trial; UNT journalism department; teaching journalism. Appendix includes various photos of Shelton, a letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson, a copy of a press release from The White House, and copies of Shelton's press passes.

Interview with James N. Hall, a Army Air Force WWII veteran from Burkburnett, Texas. Hall discusses joining the Air Force from college, basic training, classification, flight training, the P-47, fighter tactics, deplyoment to Le Culot Airfield in Belgium, his first mission, briefings and intelligence, Air Support Parties, close air support, flak, bomber escort, air-to-air encounters, casualties, logistics, German civilians, crash landings, V-E Day, and return to civilian life.

Captain Bill McDonald (1852-1918) is the most prominent of the “Four Great Captains” of Texas Ranger history. His career straddled the changing scene from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. In 1891 McDonald became captain of Company B of the Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers. “Captain Bill” and the Rangers under his command took part in a number of incidents from the Panhandle region to South Texas: the Fitzsimmons-Maher prizefight in El Paso, the Wichita Falls bank robbery, the murders by the San Saba Mob, the Reese-Townsend feud at Columbus, the lynching of the Humphries clan, the Conditt family murders near Edna, the Brownsville Raid of 1906, and the shootout with Mexican Americans near Rio Grande City. In all these endeavors, only one Ranger lost his life under McDonald’s command. McDonald’s reputation as a gunman rested upon his easily demonstrated markmanship, a flair for using his weapons to intimidate opponents, and the publicity given his numerous exploits. His ability to handle mobs resulted in a classic tale told around campfires: one riot, one Ranger. His admirers rank him as one of the great captains of Texas Ranger history. His detractors see him as an irresponsible lawman who accepted questionable …

Interview with Estel G. Burns, World War II veteran and B-17 pilot, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Project. The interview includes Burns' personal experiences of childhood and education in Missouri, farm life in the Great Depression, basic training, and training for aviation mechanics at Sheppard Field, Texas. Additionally, Burns talks about his family history, his 1942 enlistment in Army Air Corps, being accepted into pilot training, marriage to Dorothy Perrin, life at Deenethorpe Air Base, England, crew members and their respective duties on his plane, various missions bombing German targets, his feelings about missions against civilian targets, opinions of Luftwaffe pilots and of Germans, and his postwar Air Force career, including service in the Korean War. The interview includes an appendix of photographs.

Transcript of an interview with Merle Timblin, Civilian Conservation Corps worker and U.S. Army WWII Veteran. Timblin discusses his childhood in western Pennsylvania; father’s work as a farmer, coal miner, and WPA blacksmith; life on farms and in mining towns during the Great Depression; decision to enroll in CCC before eighteenth birthday; experiences at CCC camps in Arizona and Pennsylvania; lessons learned from the CCC experience; experiences in the European Theater of World War II as radio operator in the U.S. Army Fourth Armored Division, including fighting in the Battle of the Bulge; lessons learned from experience in the Army; decision to relocate to Niagara Falls, N.Y., and thence to North Texas; career as a machinist and mechanic.

They Called Them Soldier Boys offers an in-depth study of soldiers of the Texas National Guard’s Seventh Texas Infantry Regiment in World War I, through their recruitment, training, journey to France, combat, and their return home. Gregory W. Ball focuses on the fourteen counties in North, Northwest, and West Texas where officers recruited the regiment’s soldiers in the summer of 1917, and how those counties compared with the rest of the state in terms of political, social, and economic attitudes. In September 1917 the “Soldier Boys” trained at Camp Bowie, near Fort Worth, Texas, until the War Department combined the Seventh Texas with the First Oklahoma Infantry to form the 142d Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division. In early October 1918, the 142d Infantry, including more than 600 original members of the Seventh Texas, was assigned to the French Fourth Army in the Champagne region and went into combat for the first time on October 6. Ball explores the combat experiences of those Texas soldiers in detail up through the armistice of November 11, 1918. “Ball has done a fine job to describe and analyze the types of men who served—regarding their backgrounds and economic and social status—which fits well …

Interview with schoolteacher A. Tennyson Miller from Denton, Texas. In the interview, Miller reflects on his experiences as a teacher and coach at the Fredrick Douglass School during the late 1930's and early 1940's, which was before the school was integrated. He comments on Principal Fred Moore and segregated education in Denton. Tennyson also discusses his admission to the doctoral program at North Texas State College, which broke racial barriers in 1954.

Interview with Luciel Leonard, concerning her employment at the Nocona Boot Company in Nocona, Texas from 1939 to 1983, and her recollections of its founder, Ms. Enid Justin, the attempts to unionize during the 1950s, and the changes in the product line.

Interview with Marguerite Holcomb, a former employee of the Nocona Boot Company from 1952 to 1976, concerning her employment at the Nocona Boot Company in Nocona, Texas, and her recollections of its founder, Ms. Enid Justin. Holcomb discusses employer-employee relations, boot-making, fashion changes, union activities, expansion and factory outlets, and Ms. Enid's civic activities.

Interview with James Gipson concerning his experiences before, during, and after his employment in Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. Gipson worked at camps in Grand Junction, Colorado and Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Interview with James Gipson about his experiences while employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. He discusses his childhood in West Texas; joining the CCC; assignment to Company 3892 camp at the Colorado National Monument (NP-8-C) near Grand Junction, Colorado; transfer to a side camp in Glenwood Springs, Colorado; description of camps; life in camps.

Interview with LeRoy Ellis Cox. The interview includes Cox's personal experiences about childhood and early adulthood in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, World War-II-era Army Air Corps training in armaments and electronics, stateside service in the 303rd Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, aviation cadet training, serving as a B-25 instructor pilot, and as a DC-3 tow pilot for the glider program.

Transcript of an interview with Xergio Chacin, Director of Immigration Services for Catholic Charities of Fort Wort. Chacin discusses his work as the Director and the the services provided for the community, particularly for Dreamers, and his thoughts on immigration issues.

Audio log for a recording of an interview with flight attendant, Claudia Bevill. In the interview she discusses her career as a flight attendant of Braniff International Airways and the bankruptcy of Braniff on May 12, 1982. Appendix includes photos and a document titled "Braniff - My Coming of Age" written by Bevill.

Audio log for a recording of an interview with Nelda Ireland, former customer service agent for Braniff International Airways, conducted for the Flying Voices oral history project. Content includes personal reflections of Braniff’s impact and experiences with customers, being a part of the Braniff family, reflections on the airline industry as a whole.

Interview with business executive and Army Air Forces veteran William E. Cooper. The interview includes Cooper's personal experiences about being a B-29 pilot in the Pacific Theater, pre-flight and flight training, various assignments, and dropping supplies by parachute to prisoners-of-war. Cooper also talks about living on Guam, mechanical weaknesses of the B-29, his descriptions of Nagasaki and Hiroshima from the air after the dropping of the atomic bombs, his disappointment with not being able to fly combat missions, postwar duty as a test pilot on Guam, and his postwar civilian activities.

Interview with Dulcie Barnier Dreyspring, Australian-born immigrant to Fort Worth, Texas, for the DFW Metroplex Immigrants Oral History Project. The interview includes Dreyspring's personal experiences of childhood in Australia, interactions with American soldiers during World War II, the Japanese invasion of Australia, her first visit to the U.S., first impressions of America, her first marriage to an American, and her return to Australia for the immigration process. It also includes her impressions of various American cities, views on American identity, her siblings in Australia, reasons for moving to Fort Worth, her second marriage to an American airman, adopting Texas culture, and advice for future immigrants.

Established in Waco in 1968, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum honors the iconic Texas Rangers, a service that has existed, in one form or another, since 1823. Thirty-one individuals—whose lives span more than two centuries—have been enshrined in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame. They have become legendary symbols of Texas and the American West. In The Ranger Ideal Volume 3, Darren L. Ivey presents capsule biographies of the twelve inductees who served Texas in the twentieth century. In the first portion of the book, Ivey describes the careers of the “Big Four” Ranger captains—Will L. Wright, Frank Hamer, Tom R. Hickman, and Manuel “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas—as well as those of Charles E. Miller and Marvin “Red” Burton. Ivey then moves into the mid-century and discusses Robert A. Crowder, John J. Klevenhagen, Clinton T. Peoples, and James E. Riddles. Ivey concludes with Bobby Paul Doherty and Stanley K. Guffey, both of whom gave their lives in the line of duty. Using primary records and reliable secondary sources, and rejecting apocryphal tales, The Ranger Ideal presents the true stories of these intrepid men who enforced the law with gallantry, grit, and guns. This Volume 3 is the finale …