The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Callanan. Callanan joined the Army in March of 1942. He trained in California, building airstrips, hangars, temporary bridges, Quonset huts and worked on other construction projects. Callanan served as a master sergeant with the 1876th Engineer Aviation Battalion in New Guinea and in the Philippines. He returned to the US in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Keeffe. Keeffe joined the Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet in July 1942. He describes his flight training and the planes he flew. Keeffe was then sent to England to become a co-pilot on a B-24. He discusses in detail how he was forced to bail out on his fourth mission over Germany. Keeffe managed to elude capture with the help of the Dutch underground for over four months. He was eventually captured by German counter-intelligence and sent to Stalag Luft III. Keeffe describes how he and his fellow POWs were forced to evacuate due to the Soviet advance and his eventual release and repatriation. He left the service after the war, but soon returned and retired from the Air Force in 1966.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank D. Barger. Barger joined the Army Air Corps in 1940. He started his career as an airplane mechanic. In 1941, he became an Air Cadet. After completing training he spent some time near Austin, Texas training cadets on C-46s and evaluating returning pilots. Barger was eventually sent overseas where he completed 170 missions while stationed in India and Burma flying supplies. He left service in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Mooney. Mooney received his Navy wings at Pensacola, Florida in October of 1943. He went aboard the USS Ranger (CV-4) and was sent to the South Pacific as a replacement pilot. He was then sent to Guadalcanal where he performed escort missions for C-47 Air Force planes up through the Solomon Islands and Admiralties. He was sent back to Pearl Harbor to become indoctrinated in the Hellcat at the Naval Air Station at Berbers Point. In September of 1944 he was assigned to the USS Essex (CV-9). His first combat was in the Philippines, in the Rescue Combat Air Patrol. He provides details of his flying missions to attack Japanese aircraft on airfields and Japanese destroyers in Manila Harbor. He participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October of 1944. He provides details of the planes that he flew during his missions. He was discharged around the summer of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Maddux. Maddux joined the Navy in December 1942. He was sent to the USS Argonne (AS-10). Maddux describes his role as a deck seaman, coxswain, and boatswain’s mate. He also details the capabilities of the ship as well as the repair and supply work that it performed. Maddox describes the fatal explosion that occurred aboard the USS Mount Hood (AE-11) and how he was blown over the side of his own ship which was anchored 100 yards away. He mentions that 1,300 pounds of metal from the Mount Hood was recovered on the Argonne and finding a shell-shocked survivor clinging to a buoy two days later. Maddux describes how his ship converted PT boats from torpedo boats to gun boats and describes test driving one. He left the service in January 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with J. Whitfield Moody. He discusses joining the Navy to become a pilot, going through flight school and training at various bases in the States before joining the USS Chenango (CVE-28) in February of 1945 as part of squadron VT-260 flying TBM's and TBF's. The Chenango went to Guadalcanal to join the invasion force for Okinawa, where Moody flew submarine patrols, dropped bombs on the island, other surrounding islands and on Formosa to prevent the Japanese from using airstrips there to resupply Okinawa troops or make counterattacks from there. Moody also discusses having to land on Okinawa after getting hit by shrapnel from a bomb he dropped when he was flying too close to the ground, using fuel tanks taken from the Japanese to fuel up to get back to the carrier, and getting hit by ground fire after a bombing run over one of the surrounding islands, but managing to limp the plane back to the carrier. After Okinawa, Moody returned to the states for leave before reporting for duty at the Landing Signal Officer's school in Jacksonville, Florida, and being home on leave when the Japanese surrendered.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jerry Mason. Mason joined the Army Air Forces in December 1942 and received basic training in Lincoln, Nebraska. He played reveille during training, which helped distinguish him from the other recruits and secure him a spot in fighter pilot training. After learning to fly the P-38 and P-39, he was sent to New Guinea and the Philippines, where he flew as Cy Homer’s wingman in the 80th Fighter Squadron, the Headhunters. He was shot down over Formosa and narrowly escaped drowning by deploying his inflatable raft, which was tied to his belt and pulled him to the surface. The next morning, he was rescued by a PBM Mariner. When the war ended, Mason served as an engineering officer in Manila, where he was ordered to set fire to L-1s once they were replaced with L-5s. Mason returned home and attended veterinarian school on the GI Bill; he went on to become base veterinarian at Elmendorf.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Glenn Hope. Hope joined the Army Air Forces in 1941 and received flight training in Texas and Oklahoma in PT-19s and AT-6s. Upon completion, he was assigned to a P-40 squadron on Oahu. He was transferred to Port Moresby with the 80th Fighter Squadron, flying P-39s. The only advantage they had over Zeros was horsepower, so when Hope later became a flight instructor he taught pilots evasive maneuvers consisting of shallow dives and shallow climbs. His squadron received new P-38s, which Hope once pushed to 550 miles per hour while being pursued by a Zero. He shot down three Japanese planes in aerial combat, and is credited with one victory, which was confirmed by troops on the ground. He was sent back to the States to train pilots, producing triple-ace Robin Olds.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jim Davenport. Davenport was born 3 March 1925 in San Antonio, Texas. Graduating from high school in 1942, he joined the US Army Air Forces in September 1943 and received his basic training at Amarillo, Texas. After basic training he was sent to Iowa State Teacher College for three months to improve his skills in mathematics and sciences in preparation for entry into the Cadet program. Upon completion of pre-flight training at Santa Anna, California he elected to enter navigator school at Ellington Field in Baytown, Texas. Upon graduation he was sent to Lincoln, Nebraska and assigned to a B-24 crew as navigator. Davenport went to Mountain Home, Idaho for crew training and described observing a devastating crash of a B-24. Soon thereafter, he volunteered for an experimental pilot’s class and was selected to be sent to Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas for fighter plane training and advanced P-51 training at Williams Field, Arizona. Upon completion of P-51 training he was assigned to the 307th Fighter Squadron stationed at Turner Field, Albany, Georgia. He describes in detail a near fatal incident which occurred while practicing aerobatics. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with J N O’Keefe. O’Keefe joined the Army Air Forcess in early 1942 and received basic training at Keesler Field. He graduated as a pilot in November 1942 and was stationed at a replacement training detachment when the war ended. He was sent to Japan in 1948, flying P-51s out of Itazuke. While there, he flew over Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see the remnants of the atomic blast. In April 1950 he flew ground support missions in Korea. He returned to the States in December 1950 and received atomic bombardment training at Shaw Field and Langley Field. O’Keefe returned home and was discharged in 1954.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hugh Shoults. Shoults joined the Army Air Forces in March 1944 and received basic training in Amarillo. Upon completion of radar maintenance school, he trained radar navigators and bombardiers for the invasion of Japan. After the war ended, he worked on the flight line, maintaining radios, until his discharge in June 1946. He was called to active duty during the Korean War as a maintenance officer at Fairchild. In 1951 he began pilot training, and from 1954 to 1957 he flew F-84s in Japan. He was then assigned to a parachute test facility in El Centro. Shoults served in Vietnam as an Air Force liaison officer to the 9th Infantry Division. He returned home in December 1967 and became a missile project supervisor at Vandenberg. He went on to earn a master’s degree in aerospace operations management and retired from the Air Force in June 1972.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Swartz. Swartz joined the Army Air Forces in April 1945 and received basic training at Sheppard Field. He was discharged as an aviation cadet after the war ended and embarked on a civilian career in various technologies, including television, radio, and broadcast equipment. After working as a ground radio operator for American Airlines, he enlisted in the Air Force and graduated as a pilot in September 1949. He was on patrol in Korea on 25 June 1950, when he noticed the mass evacuation of Gimpo. The next day, he began flying close air support missions, with no prior combat training, ultimately flying a total of 141 missions. In 1953 he was stationed in Greenland as part of the first operational fighter squadron north of the Arctic Circle. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was in Germany on high alert, his F-100 equipped with a nuclear weapon and assigned a target. In Vietnam, he led the first successful missions locating and destroying surface-to-air missile (SAM) bases. Swartz returned to the States as an F-100 instructor and retired in 1968.

Transcript of an oral interview with Lloyd Dane Handschy. Handschy went to high school and college with John Glenn in New Concord, Ohio. They learned to fly together. Handschy joined the Marine Corps and went to pilot training at Pensacola. When he finished there, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and continued training in single engine aircraft. When he went overseas in 1943, he was assigned to VMF-213 and they went to the Solomon Islands. He describes aerial combat versus Japanese pilots. After the war, Handschy stayed i nthe Reserves and was called back for the Korean War, where he flew observation planes spotting for artillery units. On several occasions, Mrs. Handschy provides a lot of details. Handschy recalls flying Jack Benny, the entertainer, around so Benny could see the front lines.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Covill Schneider. " " In February 1943, he began his ground education. By the time he earned his wings, he had witnessed several fatal crashes, prompting him to become a churchgoer. In August 1944 he narrowly qualified for carrier landings in an SBD. He then volunteered for night training in Corsairs. Flying at night over tremendous ocean swells during his training was terrifying. He made his first high-altitude flights in Hawaii off of the USS Saratoga (CV-3), making an emergency landing when a section of cowl broke off and punctured his canopy. When he deployed to Saipan in July 1945, he was met with the sobering sight of human remains in caves that had been burned out by flamethrowers. Schneider returned home and was discharged soon after.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Nash. Nash joined the Army Air Forces in the fall of 1942. He received his wings in April of 1944, and was assigned to the 433rd Troop Carrier Group, 67th Troop Carrier Squadron. Operating primarily in the Southwest Pacific, they transported in supplies and evacuated wounded personnel during numerous campaigns. Nash recalls traveling to Luzon, Okinawa and assisting with the liberation of POWs from Manila and the Bataan survivors. After the war, he served with the occupation forces in Japan. He was discharged in the spring of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Stroppel. Stroppel joined the Navy in September of 1943. He was sent to gunnery school. He served at an ammunition depot in Hawthorne, Nevada. He describes working munitions including how he was part of a crew tasked with disarming 30 to 40 thousand primers so that the shell casings could be recycled. He was then sent to the Pacific and joined the USS New Jersey (BB-62) and worked as an ammunition handler. Stroppel describes his duties and the munitions that he worked with. He also discusses going through a typhoon and briefly mentions shelling Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Stroppel remained on the New Jersey until the 1946 when a back injury sent him to the hospital. He was discharged soon after his release.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Alls. Alls joined the Navy in June 1942. He was only 15 years old at the time. Alls went to submarine school and describes having to go through a depth chamber test. He was sent to diesel school and became a crewman on the USS Flier (SS-250) in early 1943. Alls describes an incident where the sub ran aground at Midway. His sub sank two ships in the Marianas and later endured 118 depth charges dropped by two Japanese destroyers after sinking a freighter. Alls was injured while on shore patrol and was recovering while the Flier was lost on another patrol. He was transferred to another sub. Alls left the Navy in 1948 after his six-year enlistment ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Prevninger. Prevninger was drafted into the Army in June of 1944. He was trained as a tanker and eventually became a gunner on a Stuart tank and was later transferred to a Sherman tank. Prevninger describes crossing the Rhine and advancing across Germany. He discusses how they handled German prisoners at the end of the war. Prevninger served in the occupation and was eventually discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Urban J. Bellinghausen. Bellinghausen was born on 3 March 1926 in Munday, Texas. He joined the Marine Corps on 15 June 1944. He attended boot camp at San Diego. Following that he had 3 more months training at Camp Pendleton. Then he deployed to the Pacific, a 33 day crossing from San Diego to Saipan, arriving 10 November 1944. He was attached to the 2nd Marine Division, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines. While Saipan was in Allied hands, there were still some Japanese troops left to deal with. His unit then sailed to Iwo Jima but returned to Saipan. There they trained for the Okinawa invasion. In Okinawa, they participated in a decoy landing on D-Day minus 1, pulling Japanese forces away from the beaches where the actual landings took place. Never actually hitting the beach, Bellinghausen stayed on board the landing ship, eventually returning to Saipan. After the atomic bombs were dropped and the armistice signed, he was sent to Nagasaki for 10 months. Then he caught a ship at Sasebo for the States, arriving in San Diego 17 July 1946. He was discharged 10 days later.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Battifarano. Battifarano enlisted in the Navy during his senior year of high school in 1943. He served for 2 years as Signalman 3rd Class aboard the USS Guitarro (SS-363). They traveled to the Panama Canal operating with a destroyer and to the South Pacific. They made 4 successful war patrols, have 15 Japanese flags on their battle flag, laid 25 mines and recorded a 95-day war patrol. He discusses life aboard a submarine and their war patrol experiences. They traveled to Taiwan, Australia, the South China Sea, Philippines, Japan and Saipan. They participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents and oral interview with Pat Hemphill. Hemphill’s father was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii on 7 December 1941. Although she was only three years of age, she recalls being taken with other children out of the area on a school bus, while covered by mattresses as a means of protection. She also tells of the actions taken by her family during air-raid alerts.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Carson. Carson joined the Army Air Corps in November of 1940. In December, he was assigned to Hickam Field in Hawaii, working with weapons in a supply squadron. Carson shares his experiences living and working in Hawaii prior to, during and after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In mid-1942, he was sent to Fiji with a small support group, providing fuel and supplies to the war effort in the Pacific. In early 1944, Carson completed Loadmaster School in California and served in North Africa. He traveled to Casablanca, Morocco, supplying the armed forces in Italy. He was discharged in August of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Floyd Trogdon. Trogdon joined the Army Air Forces in October 1942 and went through the aviation cadet training program to train as a navigator. He earned his commission in December 1943 and reported t oB-24 flight crew duty the following January. He arrived in Italy in April, 1944 and began flying combat missions. Trogdon describes various missions he flew, including one over Ploesti. He flew 50 missions by October and returned to the US to attend an advanced navigation course. Trogdon also underwent pilot training. He graduated as a pilot in October, 1945. He stayed in the Air Force and worked on nuclear weapons systems.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald Hanlon. Hanlon was born and raised in Bronx, New York, and joined the Navy at age seventeen. Following boot camp, he served aboard USS Texas (BB-35) from December 1941 through May 1947. The Texas served as a support ship during the invasion of Normandy and Hanlon describes the death and destruction he observed at Omaha Beach. He also recalls the ship being damaged by shore artillery during the landing at Cherbourg. The ship then traveled to the Pacific where it participated in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He recollects the attacks on the fleet by kamikazes and the recovery of an injured kamikaze pilot. Hanlon was discharged in 1947.