The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bobby Dee Williams. Williams joined the Navy and upon completion of basic training was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), in May 1945. As a yeoman striker, he was responsible for maintaining personnel records and issuing liberty cards. He also recorded the proceedings of captain's masts. Williams printed out the plan of the day and delivered it all over the expansive ship, and through that he befriended and was able to curry favor from cooks and storekeepers. When the ship was struck by a torpedo at Okinawa, the yeomen barely felt the impact and went on with their normal duties. When his father fell ill in April 1946, Williams received a hardship discharge. He was recalled to active duty from the reserves for the Korean War, serving aboard PCE-846 in the Caribbean.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Tomlin. Tomlin joined the Navy in September 1944 and received basic training in Illinois. He received aviation ordnance training in Oklahoma. While there, he contracted scarlet fever and was quarantined for six weeks. After the war, he was assigned to the USS Core (CVE-13), entrusted with keeping the ship’s log. Tomlin returned home and was discharged in July 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Silber. Silber was born in 1925 and recalls life during the depression years. In June 1943, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Hood, Texas for basic training. While there, he was accepted into air cadet training. The program was cancelled before he got started and he was sent to the 13th Armored Division at Camp Bowie, Texas. While there, he applied for Officer Candidate School and was accepted. After being commissioned, he was sent to Tacloban, where he was assigned as a platoon leader in G Company, 2nd Battalion, 34th Infantry. He recalls landing on Mindoro and describes some of the action that followed where he was severely wounded. Following a hospital stay in the Philippines he was put aboard USS Hope (AH-7) and then spent time in several Army hospitals, including Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James R. Williams. Williams was born in Des Moines, Iowa on 20 October 1923. In January 1943 he entered the Navy and reported to Naval Station Great Lakes. Following boot camp, Williams reported to the Naval Aviation Ordnance School at Millington, Tennessee. A physical problem prevented him from then going to learn aerial gunnery at Pensacola. Instead he was sent to the Navy Bomb Disposal School on the American University campus, Washington DC. After three months learning on Allied and Axis ordnance, his unit, Mine Explosive Investigation Unit 4, was sent to Hawaii. There they dismantled Japanese munitions and Williams, who had drafting skills, made drawings of them for dissemination to the fleet. They then were sent to Guam to find and dispose of unexploded ordnance and disarm a cache of Japanese ordnance captured on Eniwetok. While MEIW 4 was on Guam, the Japanese surrendered. The unit returned to Hawaii. Williams did drawings of a captured Japanese suicide torpedo, a Kaiten. Then he and five others flew to Okinawa to clear four ships that had sunk in a typhoon, blocking a harbor. While there, Williams’ discharge date approached. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Reynolds. Reynolds has some assistance from his daughter during the interview. Reynolds joined the Navy in September 1943 and was in a construction battalion working at Manus in the Admiralty Islands. Reynolds was discharged in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Carlos Anserra Sanchez. Sanchez was born 10 September 1927, graduated high school in 1943 and joined the Navy in late 1944. He completed training at Camp Pendleton and served aboard USS Sumner (AGS-5), with the black gang tending to the boilers. From September through February 1945, they conducted survey operations around Ulithi. In June, they continued surveys in Leyte Gulf, Philippines. After the war, they participated in the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll. They returned to the US in mid-1946, and Sanchez received his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ollie Thomas Music. Music was born 10 January 1927. He joined the Army in April of 1945. By the time he finished boot training and traveled to Fort Ord, California for assignment, the war had ended. He was then stationed at Yokohama, Japan. Music shares details of his travels and his participation during the occupation of Japan. He was assigned to Hakodate and Sapporo. He took an Army incentive to discharge in Japan and reenlist for 18 more months, with his remaining service in the US From December of 1945 through June of 1947, Music was assigned to a clerical job with Headquarters Company of the 32nd Medical Battalion at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Nicholas Fedesma. Fedesma joined the Navy when he was 17 in 1942. After training, he was assigned to Composite Squadron 21 (VC-21) and went aboard USS Marcus Island (CVE-77) in March 1944. He specialized in aviation hydraulics. Fedesma recounts several anecdotes about his experiences aboard the Marcus Island. After he left the Navy in 1848, Fedesma studied mechanical engineering in Chicago on the GI Bill.