The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Hayes. Hayes joined the Navy in March 1943 and received basic training in Illinois and received further training with Navy commandos in San Francisco. Upon completion, he was assigned to CUB 7 as a rifleman and sent to Bougainville but instead diverted to Australia due to a storm. He was assigned to Gamadodo, a supply depot in New Guinea, where he refueled ships. During his year-long stay there, he was bombed daily until a P-38 base was installed nearby. His next assignment was in the Philippines. Hayes was then transferred to USS Waller (DD-466) where he was assigned to the engine room until the end of the war. He was onboard when the Waller destroyed a surfaced Japanese submarine, and provides graphic details of the fate of the crew. While patrolling the Yangtze River, the Waller hit a mine and was repaired in Shanghai. He recounts the poverty and destitution he witnessed in China. After the ship was repaired, Hayes returned home and was discharged in March 1946.