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 oral interview with John R. Ahlgren. In 1942, Ahlgren, a Navy communications officer, was assigned to Admiral Chester Nimitz's staff at Pearl Harbor. From 1946 to 1947 he was stationed in Russia and worked as a translator and attaché to the US Embassy in Moscow. Ahlgren left the service soon after his time in Moscow.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eddie Albert. Albert was born in Rock Island, Illinois on 22 April 1908 and joined the Navy in 1942. Following officer training at Cornell University, he was shipped to the South Pacific. Albert recalls spending a night in November 1943 with Lieutenant Colonel Evans Fordyce Carlson (of Carlson’s Raiders fame) in a hole during the Battle of Tarawa. After the battle he relates that he was called to Washington, DC for duties relating to public relations and was sent around the United States selling war bonds. He recalls that by the end of the war he also had produced at least six war-related training films.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Don Alfred. Alfred joined the Army Air Forces in 1942. He was stationed on Tinian Island, and served as a B-29 navigator with the 6th Bombardment Group. He flew 27 missions over Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rocky Agrusti. Argusti was born on 7 July 1924 in Waterville, New York into a family of nine children. Four of the boys and one of the girls served during World War II. Two of the boys were killed in action during the war. Prior to being drafted, he worked as a steam engine fireman with the New York Central Railroad. Upon entering the US Army in 1943, he was sent to Fort Sam Houston, Texas for basic training. After receiving advanced training at several other bases, he was assigned to the 701st Railway Grand Division, 721st Railway Operations Battalion. In December 1943 the battalion was sent to the West Coast where they boarded the SS Mariposa bound for Bombay, India. Upon their arrival in India, Argusti went by train to Parbatpur, India. He recalls that the barracks, called bashas, were constructed of straw. A fire occurred that burned down the majority of the dwellings. He tells of operating railroad engines transporting supplies to Ledo, India for shipment into the interior of China by air transport or overland by the Ledo Burma Road. Following the surrender of Japan, …

Transcript of an oral interview with Jack O. Arnold. Arnold was born in El Paso, Texas on 27 June, 1923. He enlisted in the Army in May 1942 while in his second year at the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy. After basic training at Camp Maxey, Texas, he joined the 14th Armored Division. Circa 1944-1945, he joined the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. He participated in the battle for the recapture of Corregidor. He discusses the Japanese defensive network of tunnels on the island. He was awarded the Purple Heart for a shrapnel injury while on Negros Island. Arnold describes the living conditions of the soldiers. He also describes the Japanese practice of binding themselves up with cloth for battle. He was discharged from the Army on 31 December, 1945. After he finished college, he enlisted in the Air Force in 1949 at the age of 26 and served during the Korean War. He recounts stories of flying in an airplane during a typhoon, a bird strike, engine trouble and landing gear failure. He was discharged from the Air Force in 1952. Arnold provides information about his parents and siblings as well as his children.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Austin. Austin joined the Army Air Forces in January of 1943 as an Aviation Cadet. He graduated as a pilot in March of 1944 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He went on to train as a B-17 co-pilot. He provides details of his flight training. Austin was assigned to the 335th Bomb Squadron, 95th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force stationed in England. He completed 35 missions from November of 1944 through April of 1945. Austin describes some of their missions over Cologne, Hanover, Hamburg, Berlin, Dusseldorf and Brunswick. He was discharged around November of 1945. Upon returning home he joined the Air Force Reserve and National Guard.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ken Barhite. Barhite was born in Alden, Iowa on 9 January 1921. Graduating from junior college, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Wolters, Texas for thirteen weeks of basic training. He was then sent to Chenango, Pennsylvania for four weeks of advanced training prior to being sent to San Francisco where he boarded a liberty ship for a twenty-two day voyage to a replacement center in New Caledonia. After four weeks he was sent to Fiji where he joined the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) in July 1943. The unit was sent to Bougainville where they performed patrols and were involved in some combat. He witnessed friends killed and wounded during these actions. While there, he was selected to attend 18 weeks of Officer’s Candidate School (OCS) in Australia. Upon his graduation in June 1945 he received his commission as a second lieutenant. He reported to the 158th Regimental Combat Team in Manila to prepare for the invasion of Japan. After the war, the unit boarded a ship for Japan as part of the occupation forces. Barhite returned to the United States in November 1945 …

Recording of a discussion at the 2016 Orthography Workshop at Don Bosco, Assam.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Michael J. Bauman. Bauman was born 14 September 1919 in Star City, Indiana. Joining the Army Air Corps in 1940, he went to Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio. He was then sent to Langley Field, Virginia where he volunteered for the bombardier program. Bauman and seven others began the training with no written instructions and very little equipment. In January 1941 he began practice bombing missions in a Douglas B-18 bomber. By May, Bauman was training in B-26s. He discusses the various attributes of each type of plane. Remembering 7 December 1941 he tells of being ordered back to the air field where they immediately began mounting machine guns and bomb racks on all the bombers. On 8 December they flew the planes to Muroc, California where he was assigned to the 22nd Bomb Group (Medium), 33rd Squadron. He relates several flying escapades that occurred prior to boarding the USS U.S. Grant (AP-29) for Hawaii. In March 1942 they flew to Townsville, Australia. On 10 April he flew his first bombing mission over Rabaul. He comments on the lack of success of the mission. Bauman flew sixteen combat …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ruth Bennett. Bennett grew up in Texas. She worked in Big Spring as a personnel secretary and married an officer in the Air Force.

Interview with Elaine Crider Hunt from Kerr County, Texas. The interview includes her stories of the origins of Crider's Rodeo and Dancehall in Hunt, Texas, and an annual summertime rodeo and dance that continues weekly.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Blair. Blair joined the Merchant Marine in 1943. After training, he was assigned to the MV Pigeon Point, a sea going tug stationed on the West Coast. Blair worked in the engine room and made a few trips across the Pacific while aboard: one to Hawaii and another to New Guinea. After returning, he switched ships to the MV Saint Simon and made it to the Philippines during the invasion in 1944-45. Blair shares several anecdotes about being aboard ship and going ashore. He returned to the US in spring, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Barrington Buetell. Buetell grew up in Georgia and was drafted when he turned 18 in 1944. He trained in Georgia before being shipped to Europe in early 1945. He was attached to a headquarters company and recalls liberating a concentration camp at Mulhausen, Austria. When th ewar ended, Buetell rotated back to tUS where he enrolled in college. While there, he completed the Air Force ROTC course and was commissioned just prior to the outbreak of the war in Korea. He eventually was reassigned to occupation duty in Germany, where he served in a constabulary force in Wiesbaden.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Boesch. After high school Boesch went to summer school at the University of Texas at Austin, joined the enlisted reserve corps and was eventually 'called up'. He had basic training in Cheyenne, Wyoming and learned to drive a truck. In what he calls 'casual status', he was shipped (like cargo) on a Liberty ship which landed in Canistel, North Africa. Conditions on board the ship were atrocious - little food, water, etc. They were drilled, exercised and run in North Africa; conditions were pretty deplorable there too. They were then put on a convoy ship which landed in Bombay, India. From there they took a train (last class) to Calbutta, then Passam and finally Ledo where he was assigned to the 195th Engineering Company. Interview contains good descriptions of his living conditions during this time - they lived off the land, had some air drops and some supp,ies trucked in. Boesch contracted malaria and jungle rot during this time. He was working on the Burma Road when the war ended.

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 Harry W. Borst. Borst joined the Navy on 31 December 1942. Beginning May of 1943, he served as a signalman aboard USS Caperton (DD-650). Beginning in January of 1944, they participated in the Battle of Kwajalein, the invasions of Emirau Island and Hollandia, the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. They assisted with picket duty off Okinawa through June of 1945. He shares experiences of kamikaze planes attacking ships. After the war ended, he continued service on occupation duty in Tokyo. Borst returned to the US and received his discharge in February 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Vernal Bracken. Bracken joined the Army Air Forces in mid-1943. He served as a B-26 bombardier with the 320th Bomb Group, 444th Bomb Squadron, completing 25 combat missions over France and Germany. He continued his service after the war, retiring in 1970.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dietrich Braun. Braun was born in Germany in 1932 and resided there during the war. He tells of housing and shortages during the war years. At age six, Braun was recruited into the Hitler Youth. At the conclusion of the war, his father, a German Rocket scientist, was selected to be a part of Operation Paperclip, a secret United States intelligence program that brought him to the United States. In November of 1946, Braun and his remaining family were smuggled into the US, aboard USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183), to join his father at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base through 1951.

Interview with Bert Caha and son-in-law Nevin Black, where Bert Caha discussed his life experiences.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Brunson. Brunson left engineering school to join the Army Air Forces in December 1941, having already completed the CPTP. After basic training at Fairfax Field, he transferred to the Navy. His night fighter training at Quonset Point with VF(N)-75 emphasized navigating without landmarks. He transferred to VF(N)-101 and joined the USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Majuro, making the first strike on Truk. After the USS Intrepid (CV-11) was torpedoed, Brunson was one of just a few Corsair pilots remaining in the fleet, a group known as the Grasshoppers. He supported the Hollandia landing and participated in the Marianas Turkey Shoot. He also escorted seaplanes on search and rescue missions. Although the F4U was fast, due to faulty radar gear he only once got on the enemy’s tail. Brunson was badly injured when his wing caught the edge of the Enterprise. In July 1944 he returned to the States as a night fighter instructor, stationed at Vero Beach. He was discharged into the Reserves in June 1946 and resumed his studies at Kansas State, with a focus on aeronautical engineering. Brunson began a career in flight testing, but when …

Audio recording of an interview with Diane Bruxvoort as she shares the fascinating story of her initiation into the library career. From the beginnings of her journey to the motivations that led her down the library career path, Diane provides valuable insights into her professional growth.

Interview with Lowell Dean Cox, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He discusses joining the Navy and serving aboard the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). He was on board when the cruiser was attacked by a Japanese submarine and survived for five days in the water before being rescued.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Tina Burnham. Burnham was born in Sulpher Springs, Texas and graduated from high school in 1940. She attended a trade school in Texarkana, Texas to become a riveter. She was then employed at Spartan Aircraft Industries in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a riveter. On this job she manufactured wings on Grumman Wildcat aircraft. In January 1944 she joined the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS) and went to Palm Beach, Florida for six weeks of intensive training. She describes the clothing she was issued and the training she received. Upon completion of boot camp she went to Philadelphia working as a pharmacist’s mate in the St. Agnes Hospital. She was then selected to attend the College of Pharmacy at Columbia University. She graduated 31 December 1944. After spending a short time in the SPARS barracks sick bay in Norfolk, Virginia she was transferred to the Marine Hospital in Norfolk. While at the hospital she rotated through the various departments. She states that surgery was her favorite. She was then sent to the Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Coast Guard Air Station where she served until being discharged 20 May 1946.