Part 3 of 4 segments of raw audio of Willis Conover's 1970 interview with Johnny Mercer, which was used in the series of seven memorial broadcasts between program numbers #7879-A and #7893-A.

Audio recording of a podcast episode from Amateur Traveler. This episode contains a discussion of travel ito the northern India state of Rajasthan.

Fall Convocation presented at University of North Texas College of Music Concert Hall.

Interview with H. L. Obermiller, a Pharmacist's Mate during World War II. He discusses his involvement in the Battles of Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian, where he served as a Pharmacist's Mate. He remembers having Spam for Thanksgiving, meeting Navajo code talkers, and writing letters home.

Interview with David Braden, a member of the U.S. Air Force during World War II. He discusses his training in the U.S. to become a navigator; his deployment to Saipan with the 870th Squadron, 497th Bomb Group, 73rd Wing; initial attacks on Tokyo in a B-29 bomber at high altitude (during which the jet stream interfered with the bombing raids); a low-altitude fire-bombing mission over Tokyo in March, 1945; living conditions on base at Saipan; a mission in which the B-29 he was on ditched in the ocean and his subsequent rescue; Victory in Europe (V-E) Day on Saipan; completing 35 missions; and going home.

Interview with Guinn Rasbury, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses joining the Marines, being part of the invasion force at Florida and Tulagi Islands, having multiple malaria attacks, being transferred to Maine to cure his malaria, being transferred around the United States, and finally returning to the Pacific theater. He explains how being sick with malaria and getting bumped from a plane ride home saved his life. He shares anecdotes about sounding "Taps" at a memorial service for President Roosevelt and being chairman of the Second Marine Division Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Gallant. Gallant was commissioned as an Army Infantry Officer in 1940 and was transferred to the Army Air Forces to serve as an Administration Officer. He discusses his duties at Randolph and Foster fields as a part of flight training. Gallant once was flown by a WASP and from one field to another. He was sent to China in 1945 to join the 327th Troop Carrier Squadron. Gallant tells how his flight over the Himalaya Mountains was delayed for two weeks due to bad weather. He describes how the Chinese people treated the American servicemen. Gallant discusses how his unit adopted an orphaned Chinese boy and raised a bear. He details the reception that his unit received when returning to the States. Gallant left active duty soon after, but remained in the reserves.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harry Colson. Colson joined the Navy in December of 1943. He served as Watertender Third-Class aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63). They participated in bombardment support for the invasion landings on Iwo Jima and throughout the Okinawa Campaign. Colson was aboard the Missouri on 2 September 1945 in Tokyo Bay, when the Instrument of Surrender was signed. Colson returned to the US aboard the ship, and was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Stanley Robertson. Robertson entered the Army Air Forces as a cadet in May 1943 and graduated as a pilot and earned his commission in August, 1944. He started training on B-17 bombers before being assigned to B-29s. He arrived at Tinian in late April 1945 and started combat missions over Japan with the 398th Bomb Squadron, 504th Bomb Group. He names and discusses several missions over various Japanese cities. Robertson returned to the US and was discharged in November 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ned Simes. Simes joined the Marine Corps in March of 1942. He completed Radio Operators School, and served with 2nd Tank Battalion in light tanks. In October, they deployed to New Zealand and New Caledonia. In 1943 they landed on Saipan. While stationed there, Simes transferred to the artillery battalion, assisting with road construction, and continued to serve as a radio operator at headquarters. He returned to the US in July of 1945, and was in a victory parade tour in Houston, Texas. Simes was discharged in early 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Clinton Edward Stork. Stork joined the Navy in early 1943 and took basic training at San Diego. Upon completion of training, Stork was assigned to the USS Tennessee (BB-43), and joined her at Bremerton, Washington. Stork sailed with the Tennessee to the Aleutian Islands and patrolled there and in the Bering Sea. His job aboard the Tennessee was working on the shell deck. All the 16-inch shells were stored there and Stork's team hoisted them up to turret #1 to be fired. Stork mentions some of the action the Tennessee particpated in during its tour of the Pacific: the Palaus, the marshalls, the Philippines, etc. He also describes being a sideboy when Admiral Nimitz boarded the Tennessee at Pearl Harbor one day. Stork also describes the kamikaze attack on the Tennessee off Okinawa. He spotted the formation of planes coming in low first. Six of the seven were shot down, but the seventh struck the Tennessee. He also mentions going ashore briefly in Tokyo and Yokohama before cruising back to the US via Cape Town, South Africa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Koch. Koch was born 31 October 1920 in Rochester, Indiana. He graduated from high school in 1939 and began working at various farms for one dollar per day. Upon being drafted into the US Army Air Forces in 1942, he was sent to Buckley Field, Colorado for six weeks of training in the operations and maintenance of machine guns. This was followed by gunnery training at Las Vegas Army Airfield in Nevada. Upon completion of the training he reported to Davis Monthan Air Base in Tucson, Arizona where he was assigned as a tail gunner on a B-24. After spending some time at several air fields, he was sent to Wendover Field, Utah. Here he was assigned to the crew of a new B-24 of the 489th Bomb Group, 847th Bomb Squadron. They flew to Holton, England. Soon after his arrival, he was assigned to the crew of another B-24 bearing the name Pregnant Peggy. He describes various mission flown, commenting on one where they returned to England on two engines with wounded crewmen on board. On 9 November 1944, he was transferred to the 9th Air …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Smart. Upon graduating from junior college Smart joined the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. Having civilian pilot experience, he quickly advanced from platoon leader to company and battalion commander. Smart first joined the experienced VMSB-141 before joining VMSB-236 at Bougainville. His first combat experience involved bombing Rabaul. Smart then supported the Army in the Philippines by bombing assigned buildings and strafing enemy troops. Although Smart was fortunate enough never to encounter enemy aircraft, antiaircraft fire struck his plane in the oil cooler system, forcing a crash-landing on a guerrilla airstrip. There he was warmly received and gifted a homemade knife and scabbard by a headhunter. Later, during the Luzon campaign, Smart bombed Santo Tomas following the liberation of American prisoners and felt it was a privilege to do so. After war ended, Smart joined the Marines as a reserve pilot and had duty in Japan. He lived there with his wife and children and was amazed by how much the Japanese accepted them as allies, so soon after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Virgil Cassel. Cassel joined the Navy in July of 1942. From September of 1942 through March of 1946 he served aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as an Apprentice Seaman and Chief Yeoman. Cassel signed up for extended duty and served in Berlin, Germany for two years beginning in March of 1946. He was assigned as the admiral’s secretary in the Office of Military Government for the U.S. Navy. They were disbanding the Germany Navy. Cassel assisted Admiral William Glassford in the analysis of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. He provides some details of the trials he attended. He was discharged in November of 1947. He remained active in the Navy Reserves until joining the Air Force ROTC at the University of North Texas. Upon graduating in 1951 he received a commission in the Air Force as a second lieutenant and was called to active duty in the Korean War. Due to his number of hours in duty overseas, he remained at a base in Texas and completed the remainder of his Air Force career as an instructor in leadership in the Strategic Air Command Security School in Camp Carson, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hugo Werner. Werner joined the Army Air Forces in 1942. He received training as a radio operator and gunner. Werner was then sent to Attu, Alaska to become a crewman on a B-25 with the 77th Bomb Squadron. He took part in missions over the Kuril Islands in Northern Japan. He shot down an attacking Japanese fighter during one mission. Werner served with the 77th for the rest of the war and left the service soon after the surrender only to rejoin in October of the same year.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert M. Scott. Scott was born in Chicago 30 September 1926 and spent part of his youth in foster homes. He quit school and joined the Navy in July 1943 and took boot training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. Upon completing boot camp he went to Pleasanton, California where he received orders sending him to New Guinea. Upon arriving after a two week trip he did stevedore work for a period of time and then worked as a switchboard operator. He was then assigned as a yeoman in naval intelligence. Scott contracted malaria while on Guadalcanal. After eighteen months he was sent back to the United States and went on leave. After returning from leave he was assigned to the newly constructed USS Glynn (APA-239) as a yeoman. After shuttling around various islands in the Pacific the ship returned to the United States. Scott was discharged June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with F. Duane Flink. Flink joined the Navy as an aviation cadet in 1943. The program had enough candidates at that time, so he was sent to boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. Flink describes life in boot camp. He was then sent to submarine school in New London, Connecticut and describes the training he received and training that was conducted on O-boats. Flink was then sent to California where he joined the crew of the USS Pelias (AS-14) for the remainder of the war. He served as a cook and seaman. Flink was discharged in May of 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Bobbie W. Noble. He joined the Navy at 17 shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was aboard the USS North Carolina in early 1942. Noble did not finish high school and he received all his training aboard ship. He was in New York City when the French liner Normandie caught fire and capsized. He served as a powder hoist operator in the center gun of the number 3 turret. The North Carolina, after her shakedown cruise, spent the winter anchored in Portland, Maine before heading through the Panama Canal on the way to Guadalcanal, where she was torpedoed. Noble goes on the describe heading for Pearl Harbor for repairs and the ship receiving updated anti-aircraft armaments. Noble goes on to discuss friendly fire, burials at sea, the rigors of battle at Iwo Jima, kamikazes at Okinawa and life aboard a battleship during World War II.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rural Boyd. Boyd joined the Navy in February 1942 and received basic training in San Diego. He attended aviation machinist school in Chicago. Upon completion, he was assigned to Corpus Christi and then United States. Navy. Carrier Air Service Unit 1 (CASU-1), where he took care of PB4Ys as they came in for landings. He went aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in January 1944 and worked in the pump room on the seventh deck down. He recalls feeling the walls vibrate when the Enterprise’s guns were firing on Kwajalein. Whenever a group of islands was secured, one would be set aside for R&R, and at Ulithi Boyd enjoyed a week on Mog Mog. He witnessed a gruesome kamikaze attack at Okinawa, and he recalls that the water used to put out the fire drowned the crew in the elevator pump room. He explains how the Marianas Turkey Shoot got its name: after pinpointing where and when the waves of Japanese planes were refueling, it was easy to shoot them on the ground or just as they were taking off. Boyd left the Enterprise the day Nagasaki was bombed. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with DW Fortenberry. Fortenberry joined the Navy in August 1940 at the age of 24 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6) where he manned supply rooms, beginning with food stores. His battle station was on a repair crew, and he describes in detail the extraordinary effort required to regain enough pressure to operate water pumps after the ship was struck by a kamikaze near Okinawa. It took six hours to clear the top deck of water, during which time all hatches were kept shut to prevent drownings in the compartments below. Fortenberry returned home after the war and was discharged in 1948.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Midgley. Midgley joined the Navy in April 1944 and was fascinated by the diversity of people he met at boot camp. He was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), where he observed people of all races and nationalities working together in harmony, unlike what he had experienced in civilian life. Aboard ship as an aviation ordnance man, Midgley was responsible for maintaining aerial guns and loading bombs. In the summer of 1945, he was trained on how to load rockets onto planes, but the war ended soon after. Midgley returned home in October 1945 and was impressed with services provided by the Salvation Army, especially in comparison to the Red Cross. After helping decommission the Enterprise, he was discharged. Midgley became a leader in several community organizations and made regular appearances on The Martha Stewart Show, promoting his fire department’s annual fundraiser.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert McKinley. McKinley enlisted in the Navy in May 1941 and trained as an aircraft engine mechanic at Sand Point Naval Air Station. Assigned to the USS Saratoga (CV-3) as a third-class aviation machinist mate, he sailed to Pearl Harbor. He then boarded the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a seaman, later assigned to an anti-aircraft gun. McKinley made a pact with a shipmate that if one of them died they'd visit the other's mother, and his shipmate was killed by a bomb that afternoon. McKinley followed through on his promise, which was the most difficult experience of his life. In October 1944, he joined a PBY squadron in Corpus Christi, where he stayed until 1947, making flight engineer and training cadets. McKinley stayed in the service for 21 years before retiring and later wrote a book about his experience.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with W W Norberg. Norberg joined the Navy in February of 1941. He completed Communications School, and served as a Yeoman Third-Class aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6) beginning mid-1941. Norberg remained on the ship through the end of the war. In April of 1942, they escorted USS Hornet (CV-8) on the Doolittle Raid. From June through November, they participated in the battles at Midway, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal. In June of 1944, they served in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Norberg continued his service after the war ended, receiving his discharge as Chief Yeoman in February of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Francis Shiner. Shiner joined the Navy in December 1942 and received basic training in Green Bay. Based on an aptitude test, he was sent to a university for electrician’s mate training. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), tasked with climbing 60-foot ladders to retrieve and recharge batteries from backup generators. It was heavy lifting for a man of his size, so he was reassigned to the power room, where he maintained fuses. He enjoyed his time walking along the deck and seeing porpoises swim alongside the ship. But it was tense during attacks, and he was dismayed to see the bodies of eight men who were killed by friendly fire after a kamikaze got between two ships. Shiner was aboard the Enterprise for every campaign from November 1943 until it took its last kamikaze hit off Okinawa. His friend was among the crew who drowned in the elevator pump room that day. Shiner returned to Bremerton with the Enterprise and made the acquaintance of a young woman. Five weeks later, on 9 August 1945, they were in a long line of soldiers and their …