The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lucy Overmeyer. Overmyer was born in Culver, Indiana on 21 June 1920 and after graduating from high school in 1938 she went to work for a defense contractor, Bendix Aircraft. She enlisted into the Marine Corps on 12 May 1943, completed basic training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and enrolled in Quartermaster School at Quantico, Virginia. She describes some of her experiences while at Quantico, where she spent the remainder of her time in the service. She was discharged from the Marine Corps on 26 September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard Charles. Charles was born in Picher, Oklahoma in 1919. Placed in a foster home at sixteen years of age he was encouraged to complete high school and attended college. On 6 June 1940 he joined the US Marine Corps and went to San Diego for boot camp. After boot training he was selected for Marine Corps Field Intelligence Training. When he completed this training he was ordered to proceed to Shanghai. Prior to arrival, his orders changed and he was assigned aboard the USS Houston (CA-30). He describes being in the battles of Makassar Straits, the Java Sea and Sunda Straits. When the Houston sank, Charles became a prisoner of war. He tells a vivid tale of torture, abuse and malnutrition during a trip on a hell ship to Changi Prison Camp. There, he experienced dreadful conditions, diseases, starvation and death. Prisoners worked as slave laborers on the Burma—Siam Railroad. He was with a group of prisoners moved to Camp Kanchanaburi, near Bangkok, Thailand. He recalls continued mistreatment and starvation and describes atrocities he observed including the beheading of Australian prisoners of war. After the surrender of …

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, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Otis M. Cox. Cox was born in Harlan, Kentucky on 10 May 1923. Soon after graduating from high school in 1941, he joined the US Army Air Corps. Upon completion of basic training at Shreveport, Louisiana he was sent to Ft. Logan, Colorado to attend a technical training school. He recalls various air bases to which he was assigned and of the various jobs he performed. During the course of his time in the service, he learned radio operator procedures through on the job training. After undergoing crew training, he was sent to India where he joined the 1st Troop Carrier Squadron. He flew 44 round trip flights over the Himalaya Mountains. He returned to the United States during November 1945 and was discharged the following month.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Carl DeLeeuw. DeLeeuw joined the Army Air Forces in late 1941 and was shipped to Australia right as the war was beginning to assemble P-40s. From there, he went to India and was an airplane mechanic involved in maintaining the planes flying supplies over the Himalaya Mountains to China and bombing Burma. He was released from the service in September, 1945 and went to work for United Airlines.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Bob Fagleson. Fagleson went to school at Virginia Tech and took the Civilian Pilot Training course. To continue flying he joined the Army Air Forces. He was sent to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri for classification due to an eye astigmatism. From there he went to Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin learning basic radio mechanics, and then on to radar school in Florida, then Control Net System training in Homer, Wisconsin. Once he graduated from CNS training he went to Camp Patrick Henry in Newport News, Virginia to board a ship heading to Bombay. He ended up in Chabour assisting with equipment arrival and transport. He was also located in Narin, bringing back planes from bombing missions and giving signal directions. He spent some time in Maran and the remainder in Michenau. After he finished his tour of duty he flew back to Karachi and took a ship back. He said that he got sick aboard the ship and was hospitalized for 6 months and partially paralyzed and got a medical discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Virgil Heidbrink. Heidbrink was a Master Sergeant in the Army. He was drafted in March 1944. He began basic training in Camp Barkeley, Texas then transferred to Brigham City, Utah for joint training at Bushnell Army Hospital where he was assigned to clerk duty in the hospital headquarters. In November 1944 he boarded the USS General John Pope (AP-110), destination Bombay, India. From there they went to Ledo, Assam and he was assigned to a Basha, an Indian hut. With his Army issued typewriter he served as a clerk, typing and drafting letters for the colonel until about April 1945. He headed to Kunming, China with Convoy Number Fifty. He and two others made up the medical section of that convoy. Arriving in Kunming he was on detached service at an already established hospital there called the 95th Station Hospital, finally taking over the 96th Station Hospital. He served in the admitting section of the hospital. He moved on to Shanghai and served there until May 1946. He was discharged in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Lawler. Lawler was born in Mount Pleasant, Texas 4 October 1918. Graduating from high school in 1936, he attended business college for two years before being employed in the accounting office of the Fort Worth Poultry and Egg Company. He was employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1941 for several months prior to entering the US Army Air Corps cadet training program. Having received flight training at several bases, he completed his advanced training at Brooks Field, Texas and received his wings. His first assignment was as a pilot flying Curtis 0-52 observation planes for the Aerial Observation School at Brooks Field. His next assignment was communications officer and flight officer at Esler Field, Louisiana. He joined the 12th Bomb Group, 82nd Squadron in Sicily during which he flew eight combat missions. He describes the armament of a B-25G bomber and tells of the stress created on the aircraft when using the 77mm nose cannon. In early 1944 the unit was sent to India and attached to the British Tactical Air Command. He discusses various missions flown and tells of pioneering the use of napalm …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Moore. Moore graduated from Hardin Simmons University in Abilene in January 1940. He was hired by the FBI after graduation and worked in Washington. In the fall of 1944 he joined the OSS and was commissioned an Ensign in the Navy although he didn't go to OCS. OSS training occurred on Catalina Island, CA. In Kunming, China he worked with Chang Kai Shek (Nationalist troops) developing informants and demolition experts. He was supposed to go in with General Li Wen Li to the Wei Shin interment camp but didn't until after the war was over. He was in Kunming when the war ended. Discharged in June 1946 at Shanghai. Worked for the CIA after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Moore. Moore joined the Army and trained at Fort Riley, Kansas before being shipped to Burma and attached to the 475th Infantry Regiment. After some time as a rifleman, he was made a combat medic. He describes several battles with the Japanese in the jungles of Burma. Moore was wounded but stayed with the other surgeons and medics. After securing Burma, Moore was transferred to Kunming, China to teach Chinese Nationalists how to use small arms. After the war, Moore was on duty as a clerk in Shanghai. He received his discharge in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Linamen. Linamen joined the Army Air Corps. He completed Primary Flying School at Hicks Field in Fort Worth, Texas, and Basic Flying School at Perrin Field in Sherman, Texas learning to fly a single engine aircraft. He went to Ellington Field in Houston, Texas and learned to fly a twin engine, and received his wings and commission. Back in Fort Worth to Tarrant Army Air Force Base he went to Transition School and learned to fly a B-24, and became an aircraft commander. Linamen flew to Karachi, India in a B-24, then down to Pandaveswar. He was assigned to the 436th Bomb Squadron. He flew 52 bombing missions in Burma and Thailand. He hauled aviation gas to over the Himalaya Mountains. In December 1944 he went to Lijiang, Chia and flew out of there to Szechwan and Canchow. On one mission, Linamen bombed the steel bridge over the River Kwai and gives great detail of this event. He talks about the living conditions in detail. He went through three airplanes during his missions.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lent Logar. Logar was born in Spring Valley, Illinois on 23 July 1920. After graduating from high school, he joined the Army Air Corps and had basic training at Fort Niagara, New York. He was then sent to Decatur, Alabama where he took primary flight training with Southern Aviation. He then went to Lamesa, Texas to a flight school dedicated to liaison flying where they trained in the L-5 Stinson. Upon graduating, he was assigned to the 115th Liaison Squadron and sent to Kunming, China. Upon his arrival in Kunming, he was transferred to the 19th Liaison Squadron. He tells of various experiences working with the Chinese Army and his involvement in the Salween Campaign to open the Burma Road. He relates his experience of transporting a Japanese commander to Taiwan for the signing of a surrender agreement of certain Japanese forces based in China. He also tells of delivering men of the OSS to sites within the jungles of Vietnam.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ken Marks. Marks joined the Army Air Forces in December 1941 and was sent to Aircraft Mechanics School at Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas. From there he trained at a Flight Engineer and Gunnery School in Harlingen, Texas, graduating in June 1942. From there he went to Boise, Idaho where he was Assistant Flight Engineer on a B-17. He trained on B-24s in Fort Worth, Texas. He left Christmas morning 1942 on his first flight overseas in a B-24, heading to the 7th Bomb Group in Pandaveswar, India. They were assigned to the 9th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group. He flew missions bombing Japanese targets in Burma. After the sixth mission they were transferred over to the 492nd, a newly formed squadron. He was there for less than two years and completed 59 combat missions, 479 combat hours. He flew missions over Burma, China, Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Bangkok. He discusses one of his toughest missions over Rangoon encountering Japanese Zeroes. Upon completing 59 missions he was sent to Tezpur, completing 16 round trips flying gasoline over the Hump to Kunming to the 14th …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Thomas Phillips. Phillips joined the Army and after training was sent to Burma where he joined Merrill's Marauders. He was also assigned to the 613th Field Artillery Battalion. Phillips relates several experiences dealing with the mules in the jungles while attached to this artillery unit. When the war ended, Phillips was in Kunming, China. He stayed on in China and helped with the negotiations between the communists and nationalist Chinese with General Marshall.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edgar Wolf. World joined the Army Air Forces in January, 1942 and trained at Biloxi, Mississippi before heading for Lockheed in California to learn about P-38s. He went to Officer Candidate School and earned a commission before being assigned to the Air Transport Command in New York. With the ATC, Wolf learned loadmaster techniques and air traffic control procedures before heading for Chabua, India. At his base he was responsible for transient aircraft. He also served at Agra and at Karachi. Wolf was in India for 27 months and returned home in September, 1945 and received his discharge.

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 oral interview with Joseph Hafter. Hafter went into the Air Force right after Pearl Harbor, attended radio school in Illinois and then was sent to Colorado Springs, CO Air Base. His unit (17th Photo Recon, flying P-38s) was shipped overseas via a Dutch freighter ending up on Guadalcanal on 6 Jan 1943. While on Guadalcanal, Hafter transferred to the 70th Fighter Squadron which was flying P-39s. Had malaria five times. His unit moved to Ondonga Island in the New Georgia Group about Aug 1943, then to Munda, and then Sanspore, New Guinea. At Munda, they switched over to P-38s. After Sanspore, his unit went to Morotai, Dutch East Indies, then to Lingayan Gulf and finally Mindoro in the Philippines when that island was taken. From there, his unit moved to Mindanao and Palawan, which is where he came home from. His first relief was after 21 months in the islands. Got back to the States right before Thanksgiving 1945 and mustered out shortly afterwards.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Byram. Byram joined the Navy in 1936 and was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. He later went aboard USS Lexington (CV-2) in time for the Battle of the Coral Sea. Aboard the Lexington, Byram served as an aircraft engine mechanic the day she sank. After duty with a seaplane outfit, Byram transferred to USS Midway (CV-41) where he worked on corsairs. After the war, Bynum stayed in the Navy Reserves.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ralph S. Long. Long joined the Navy in June, 1944. After basic training, he was assigned to ACORN 29 and went overseas from Port Hueneme and arrived in time for the invasion of Okinawa. He landed with a Navy construction battalion and assisted in establishing a small airfield for close air support. Long was discharged from the Navy in 1946. He entered the Air Force in 1951 with a commission and served as a psychologist. He retired in 1971.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ross Murphy. Murphy lied about his age and joined the Navy in July, 1944. From basic training, Murphy went to Florida for amphibious training learning how to be a coxswain on an LCVP. He was then assigned to USS Daniel T. Griffin (APD-38) in December 1944. At Okinawa, Murphy used his LCVP to sweep for mines in close to the shore. He was discharged in June, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Marie Speer. Speer was born 9 May 1921 in Tappan, New York. After graduating from high school in 1938 she worked at various jobs and attended classes at New York University. She tells of meeting her first husband Edward Hawley Jordan at the college and getting married in May 1942. Her husband was drafted in January 1944 and took his basic training at Fort McGraw, Alabama. In September 1944 he joined the 175th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division as a replacement and was sent to France. She sadly remembers receiving a letter written by him on November 25 1944 and receiving a telegram the same day notifying her he was killed in action on the day he wrote the letter. Within days of receiving the news she was informed that her husband’s cousin had been killed in action and that her brother had been captured by the Germans. She soon was involved in the establishment of The Gold Star Wives organization and explains the goals, the growth and the accomplishments of the organization. She proudly points out that Eleanor Roosevelt was a signee on the original charter and a …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Manuel and Amalia Montecillo. Manuel and Amalia were in Manila engaged to be married when the Japanese attacked the Philippines on 8 December 1941. Manuel was already in the Filipino Army and was folded into the US Army Far East and headed for Bataan. Amalia stayed in Manila. Manuel commanded a platoon of Igorot soldiers. They share a few anecdotes about Japanese atrocities during the occupation of the Philippines. Manuel was released after the fall of Bataan and eventually joined a guerrilla outfit and operated radios. Amalia was busy with children.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Taylor Wilson. Wilson joined the Army Air Forces in October of 1942. He served as a bombardier in B-29s and worked with radar. Wilson was in the 45th Bombardment Squadron, 40th Bombardment Group, 20th Air Force. He and his crew went to India and Tinian. They bombed Singapore, Rangoon, Osaka amongst others. He lists his crew members and their jobs. He discusses how bombardiers are trained. He provides some of his experiences flying in the B-29. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Mary Burkett. Burkett completed psychiatry and nurse training at Indianapolis City Hospital in February of 1940. She volunteered and entered the Army in October of 1943. She was assigned to Ashford General Hospital in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She was assigned to five different wards in the hospital and was assigned to care for the patients. She provides some detail of her experiences working on the neuro-psychiatric floor, and shares stories of some of her patients. She completed additional training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. She traveled on the USS Matsonia (ID-1589) to the South Pacific, and she provides some detail of her travels.