The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank G. Reynolds. Reynolds was drafted into the Army in July, 1943. After training and after being shipped overseas, Reynolds was assigned as a medic to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. Reynolds was in the second wave to land at Omaha Beach at Normandy on D-day, 6 June 1944. He relates his experiences at Normandy and St. Mere Eglise. He finally was evacuated after a while on the line. When he was fit for duty again, he was assigned to 1341st labor Supervision Company. Part of his duties included watching over displaced people and guarding German prisoners of war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Zeller. Zeller was born in Fulton County, Indiana on 14 July 1924. Soon after graduating from high school he joined the Army Air Forces. After indoctrination training, he was sent to the Carey Jones School of Aeronautics in Newark, New Jersey. There he had four weeks of training on aircraft engines. He was then sent to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri where he was subjected to six weeks of basic training. On 6 October 1943 he departed Newport News, Virginia on board the SS Marine Robin for a twenty-one day trip to Bombay, India. He recalls the ship being under attack by German bombers using guided missiles. His ship received some damage while another ship in the convoy was sunk. Upon arriving in India he was assigned as crew chief with the 48th Air Depot Group. Zeller’s unit performed maintenance on various aircraft including P-51 fighters, P-38 fighters and B-25 bombers. He recalls that following the surrender of Japan, over one hundred fifty aircraft at the field were purposely destroyed. Zeller returned to the United States in February 1946 and was discharged shortly thereafter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edward Cadwallader. Cadwallader was born in Manila, Philippines in 1938. His parents were of American and Australian descent, and managed an apartment complex inherited by their family in 1930. Cadwallader was 3 years old when he and his family were taken as prisoners to Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila. From such a young age, he recalls the deprivation they had living in the camp, Japanese and American planes fighting overhead, shells exploding, picking up shrapnel, interactions with the guards, taking first communion in the animal husbandry museum of the main building, his schooling, American fatalities and vivid details of their liberation from the camp. After liberation they moved back to their apartment complex for 6 months, then on Cadwallader’s seventh birthday, they relocated to the United States.

Transcript of an oral interview with Dutch Kooper. Kooper enlisted at the Great Lakes Training Center on November 15, 1938. After training camp, he was sent to Seattle for assignment on the USS Williamson (a four-piper converted into a Seaplane Tender), which operated between Seattle and Alaska. Kooper heard that the USS Houston was going on an Asiatic cruise and wanted volunteers so he volunteered; he was eventually transferred and became a gunners mate. After the start of the war, the Houston was sent to help the Dutch defend Java from the Japanese. He states that they were well trained but had defective ammo. The Houston was sunk on March 1, 1942 in the Sunda Straits after taking multiple torpedo hits. The HMAS Perth was also sunk. Kooper gives a very descriptive account of the Houston's sinking, his swimming and finally reaching shore, his capture by the Japanese and his life as a POW. After being a POW on Java, they transported them up to Singapore and then into Burma to build the railroad there. After 42 months as a Japanese POW, Kooper was liberated on August 29, 1945 by OSS troops. His last POW camp was in Nakhon Pathom, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Zapalac. After completing jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia, Zapalac went into the 101st Airborne, 506th Infantry Regiment. He jumped into Normandy on 6 June 1944. The objective for the 506th Infantry Regiment was to secure two bridges over the Carentan canal. He recalls being seriously wounded soon after landing and tells of the effort made by members of the 4th Infantry to bring trucks up so he and many other wounded could be taken to the aid station on Utah Beach. After receiving emergency treatment he was put on board an LST and taken to a hospital in England. After he recovered, Zapalac returned to his unit in November. It was found that he was unable to properly handle his weapon because of the injury and he was sent back to the hospital. Soon thereafter, he returned to the United States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Reynolds. Reynolds joined the Royal Air Force on 4 September 1939 and entered active duty in July of 1940. He completed flight training and received his wings in March of 1941. Reynolds served as a flight instructor in Ontario and returned to England in early 1943 as a pilot officer. He continued serving as an instructor to the 8th Air Force, training Americans in map reading and how to navigate through cloudy, European skies. He later joined the 101st Squadron, piloting Wellington and Lancaster aircraft. They completed five bombing missions over Germany several missions to retrieve British former prisoners of war for repatriation. He recalls his memories of VE-Day.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Christine Adler. Adler was born in New York City in 1931 to Filipino and American parents. She tells of living in an orphanage until 1938 at which time she went to the Philippines to live with her father. Upon arriving in the Philippines she attended private schools. She recalls December 1941 when she was awakened by the sound of tanks and Japanese soldiers entering homes and taking anything of value. As her father worked with a guerilla group they left their home. Adler tells of fleeing with no shoes, few clothes and very little personal belongings and moving place to place to avoid detection. She recounts an incident where Japanese soldiers picked her up and took her to Fort Santiago. She and her father were later released. She describes seeing piles of bodies and witnessing torture being done by the Japanese during the occupation and of seeing the fires as Manila was set ablaze. She tells of the joy felt by the population upon seeing the American tanks and soldiers roll into the city and of the return of her and her father to the United States aboard …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jay Bollman. Bollman was born in Manila, Philippines on 15 December 1935. He and his family were taken to Santo Tomas Internment Camp, and later Los Baños Internment Camp as prisoners of war. At a tender age of 6, Bollman recalls civilians getting strafed by the Japanese, air raids, bombings, their living and food accommodations, interactions with the Japanese guards, illnesses and diseases suffered throughout the camp and their liberation in February of 1945. They returned to the US in May of that same year. Bollman shares his family’s experiences through the prison camps and getting acclimated into life in the States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Elaine Graydon. Graydon was born in Manila, Philippines in 1937. Her mother was a native and her father was born in Spokane, Washington. He worked as a mining engineer. When the war began, Graydon was only 4 and ½ years old. She recalls when the Japanese invaded, and she and her family seeking refuge. In early 1942, she and her family were sent to Santo Tomas Internment Camp, where they lived in a shanty. Graydon provides vivid details of her experiences in the camp as a child, including schooling, food and living accommodations, interactions with the Japanese guards, their daily work and tasks and liberation from the camp in February of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Georgia Payne. Payne was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1929. Her father, who as an American citizen, was born in Manila, Philippines. In 1934 their family moved back to Manila to work and be close to her father’s mother. They were living there in 1941 when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. She and her family were taken to Santo Tomas Internment Camp, where they resided for 37 months. Around early 1945 Payne and her family were shipped back to the US. She provides vivid recollections of her time in the camp, their liberation and their acclimatization back in the States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Walter Riley. Riley was born in 1932 in Cavite, Philippines. His father was a Navy man who traveled to the Philippines and married his mother who was a Japanese American. They raised eight children, Riley was the youngest. They moved to Manila and were living there when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. Their entire family was interned at Santo Tomas Internment Camp. They were there from early 1942 until February of 1945. Riley shares vivid details of the occupation of Manila by the Japanese, the living quarters at the camp, their room and board arrangements, their work assignments, battling illnesses, their communication with the Japanese guards and their liberation in 1945. Riley served in the Navy during the Korean War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Terry Santos. Santos was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on 10 October 1921. Upon joining the Army, he underwent basic training at Fort Ord, California. Upon completing basic he volunteered for paratrooper training. After graduating from jump school he volunteered for special warfare training which comprised training in special weapons, Morse code, semaphore and sailing. Completing the course, he reported to Ft. Benning, Georgia where he was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division. He then volunteered to serve with the Alamo Scouts and received jungle training, hand-to-hand combat training and all infantry weapons training. He then rejoined the 11th Airborne Division. Santos relates in detail an intriguing tale of the operation to liberate Allied internees from the Los Banos internment camp.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Shafer. Shafer moved from the States to Baguio in 1937 after his father was offered a job with the Benguet Consolidated Mining Company. They lived extravagantly there, and Shafer attended a private school. As Japanese aggression heightened in China, American civilians asked the State Department whether they ought to return to home. Despite having evacuated military families in 1941, the civilians were asked to stay in the Philippines so as not to alarm locals. On 6 December 1941, Shafer survived an air raid and was evacuated to Manila. On 3 January 1942, Japanese invaded the city and Shafer was taken to Santo Tomas University. Apart from food shortages, his time at the internment camp was relatively normal, complete with a classroom education and recreational sports. Shafer remembers cozy homemade shanties and warm evening strolls. By 1944, however, internees began to die of starvation. Shafer and his family survived until liberation and returned to the States in February 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Frank Stagner. Stagner was a nine-year-old child living in Manila with his family when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. His father was a radio broadcaster and was asked to keep his station working during the invasion. When the station was destroyed, Stagner's father took the family into the hills where they were eventually captured by the Japanese. He relates the experiences he had just after being captured: getting back to Manila, being paraded through the streets by the Japanese, being interned at Fort Santiago where his father was interrogated, and being interned at Santo Tomas. He provides very few details of day to day life in the camp, but describes being liberated.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Ingram. Ingram was born in Springfield, Illinois on 13 June 1924. He joined the US Navy in 1941 and after completion of boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station he traveled to California where he was assigned to the USS Houston (CA-30), boarding the ship in Darwin, Australia. He describes his battle station as loader of an 8 inch forward gun and the procedures involved in loading of the gun. He tells of the 28 February 1942 attack on the ship by Japanese forces and the sinking of the Houston. After spending two days in the water he was picked up by the enemy and following questioning he was thrown back into the water. Later, he was picked out of the water and taken to Java. He describes the questioning procedure of the Japanese and the physical abuse he endured. Ingram was then moved from Batavia, Java to Burma to work on the Thai-Burma Railroad and describes the extensive manual labor required, the starving conditions, lack of adequate medical attention and inhumane treatment by the captors. He relates the painful experience of developing dysentery, malaria …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harry Kelly. Kelly joined the Navy in 1939. He served aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5) through March of 1941. He was then transferred to USS Houston (CA-30) at Manila Bay, Philippines. Kelly served on the 5-inch antiaircraft gun aboard Houston, until it sank in March of 1942 during the Battle of Sunda Strait. He was captured and interned as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. They traveled to Surabaya, Singapore and Burma, where he worked on the Thai-Burma Railroad. He recalls the Red Cross Package drop in June of 1945, and liberation in September. He returned to the US and was discharged in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Papish. Papish was born in Pueblo, Colorado on 4 April 1919. After joining the Navy in 1939 he reported aboard the USS Houston (CA-30) and was assigned to the disbursements office. He describes the job responsibilities of his position and the USS Houston being a part of the naval forces within ABDACOM (American-British-Dutch-Australian Command) during March 1942 and participating in the battle of the Java Sea. He also tells of the ship taking part in the battle of Sunda Strait during which the Houston, as well as HMAS Perth (D29), were sunk. Papish abandoned the ship and was strafed by Japanese fighters while in the water. After struggling ashore, the survivors were turned over to Japanese forces by the local natives. As prisoners of war, they were taken to Serang, Java where they were housed in a former theater. Later, Papish was among a group of the prisoners who were taken to the Bicycle Camp prison compound in Batavia and held there until October 1942. He recalls the kindness of a Japanese guard who had worked as a cab driver in New York City. In October he …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Flynn. Flynn joined the Navy in 1939. He served as a Radioman aboard USS Houston (CA-30) until it sank in March of 1942 during the Battle of Sunda Strait. He was captured by the Japanese and placed aboard their ship. Several hours later the ship was torpedoed, landing Flynn back into the water. He met up with Australian and British survivors and again was captured by another Japanese group. They were taken to a POW Camp in Serang, Java, and later to a camp in Jakarta. After 3 years of imprisonment, Flynn was liberated from the camp. He returned to the US and was discharged in October of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Audie Lynch. Lynch was born in Scotland, Arkansas 15 May 1925 and graduated from high school in 1942. He then attended Southeast Missouri State Teachers College where he participated in the Navy’s V-12 college training program. After one year he was sent to the Naval Reserve Midshipman School at Notre Dame University and received his commission four months later. Lynch was then ordered to report aboard the USS Charles Carroll (APA-28) at Norfolk, Virginia. The ship, which carried LCVP and LCM landing craft, sailed to Espiritu Santo where the troops trained and practiced landings prior to the invasion of Okinawa. He recalls participating in the invasion as the boat officer of a LCVP and had Ernie Pyle as a passenger. After the surrender of Japan, he made five trips to the Philippines, China and Japan ferrying troops back to the United States.

Transcript of an oral interview with the family of John Ranger; his wife, Joyce, and their son, Jerry. Ranger joined the Navy on January 17, 1938, took boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois and was assigned to the USS Houston. He was an aviation's mate and worked on the airplanes onboard the Houston. She was in the Far East when he joined the cruiser. Ranger's son tells the story of how his dad received the Silver Star while putting out a fire near turret number 3, the result of a Japanese bomb. Ranger was a phone talker for Captain Rook the night the Houston was sunk. After the abandon ship order was given, Ranger went into the water, was rescued by the Japanese, taken to shore, told to unload some freighters and then put on a ship to Burma to work on the railroad there. As a POW, he was in eleven different POW camps. Joyce said John came back from the war fairly healthy. Ranger stayed in the Navy after the war and retired after 30 years. The family had been to several reunions and related stories (told to them by crewmen of the USS Houston) in this interview. …

Transcript of an oral interview with Frank Ficklin. Ficklin joined the National Guard (Regimental Headquarters Battery of the 131st Field Artillery) in 1938 when he was sixteen. They were mobilized in November 1940 in Wichita Falls, Texas and sent to Camp Bowie Brownwood, Texas for training with the 36th Division. They trained there for about a year and were then shipped overseas, picking up American 75s in San Francisco on the way. After landing in Brisbane, Australia, they were sent to Singasari, Java. They originally supported remnants of the 19th Heavy Bombardment Group that had pulled out from the Philippines but when the planes left, they reverted back to artillery and went into combat against the Japanese at Butansory, supporting an Australian infantry unit. On March 8, 1942 his unit was called together and told that the Dutch had capitulated and that they were now POWs. Sometime in May 1942 the Japanese took them into the Bicycle Camp where they met up with the 368 survivors of the USS Houston which was sunk on March 1, 1942. They spent about six or seven months at this camp. In October they were put aboard the Dinichi Maru which sailed for Singapore. …