Interview with Elliott Ross who joined the U.S. Navy during World War II. He discusses being a landing craft coxswain carrying troops and supplies from ships to the shore in seven invasions: Guam, Leyte, Luzon, Santacristo, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and as an occupation force in Japan after the surrender. He talks mostly about Guam, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan, but also mentions burials at sea and on the beachs, seeing his brother's ship get hit by torpedoes, and the emotional toll of the war.

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.

Interview with Peter Chu regarding his experiences in China during World War II. Peter's son Alan Chu also participates in this interview. Peter Chu discusses the Japanese occupation in Nanking (Nanjing), China in 1937 when he was 10 years old.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Hensel. Hensel was drafted into the Navy in June 1943. He trained as an aerial gunner and was eventually assigned to a crew aboard an Avenger. In early 1945, he went aboard USS Franklin (CV-13). In March, when the Franklin was attacked, Hensel was blown overboard and eventually made it onto a raft before being rescued by USS Hickox (DD-673). He went to a hospital at Ulithi to recover from burns before heading back to the US. He was undergoing more training when the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James T. Murphy. Murphy grew up in Montana and joined the Army Air Corps in May 1941. Once he finished training, he was assigned to the 43rd Bomb Group, 63rd Bomb Squadron. He then went to reconnaissance for the Battle of Midway. He then rejoined the Pacific Theater and pacticipated in skip bombing and flying B17s. He tells the story of receiving his Silver Star from General Douglas MacArthur. He mentions returning to the Air Force in 1949 and remaining in service for 20 years, until he left to join NASA as a civilian. He also mentions writing a book on Skip Bombing in the 1990s.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas Moorer. Moorer grew up in Alabama and received a principal appointment to the Naval Academy in 1929. He shipped out on the USS Enterprise (CV-6) after going into aviation training in 1935. He flew the PBY. After World War II starts, in the Pacific Ocean near Australia, during a reconnaissance mission, he was shot down by the Japanese and managed to get himself and his seven crewmates all out alive. Then the ship he was rescued onto was shot again, and he again rescued six of his original crew and 40 more from the ship. They were beached on a small island and rescued by an Australian plane. From Darwin they went to Perth. After the Battle of Midway, Moorer was transferred to Africa. He discusses the attack on Pearl Harbor. While in the Pacific, he was sent by General Douglas MacArthur to pick up stranded Australian Green Berets on Timor. Macarthur met and spoke with Moorer about traveling to pick the men up. He also encountered MacArthur when MacArthur went to Japan as controller of the occupation, after Moorer was selected to command the Seventh Fleet.

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.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul F. Stevens. Stevens grew up in Missouri and participated in the college pilot training program. He joined the Navy in 1941. After training, he was assigned to the PBY-3. He was on a maneuver when a Morse code message came in that Oahu was being attacked. The next day he was part of a counter attack on the Japanese Fleet. Eventually he went to Perth, Australia and flew ""negative patrols."" In June 1943 he went up to Port Moresby. In November 1943, he returned to the U.S. and joined the Patrol Bomb Squadron 104 (VPB-104). He trained on the B-24 Liberator. He deployed to Morotai in November 1944. In December he moved to Tacloban, Leyte. He describes an attack on a Japanese force in Mindoro during December. In March 1945, Stevens is at Paul Field. He discusses two court martial proceedings related to his actions and shooting down Vice Admiral Yamagata. Later the admiral's granddaughter Myhoko Yamagata contacts Stevens.

Transcript of an oral interview with Stanley Vejtasa. Mr Vejtasa was born in 1914 on a farm in Montana. While at the University of Montana, he signed up for the Navy and went to Pensacola in 1938. He graduated from flight school and joined his first squadron, Scouting Squadron 5, in early 1939 on board the USS Yorktown which was based in San Diego; he was flying bi-planes (SBC-3). Vejtasa describes an exercise the Yorktown did with the USS Ranger in the Atlantic prior to the war, cruising down toward Africa and up to the north in the Atlantic. Shortly after December 7, 1941, the Yorktown was ordered to join the Pacific Fleet. When they went through the Panama Canal, they hung a sign on the back that said USS Wasp. Their first sortie was with the USS Enterprise on the Makin Islands strikes. After that, the Yorktown went into the South Pacific and participated in the strikes in the Guadalcanal area. He was flying a SBD now and describes the fogging problem with the gun sight and the glass. He was hit on one of these attacks but got back to the Yorktown safely. Next was the Battle of …

Transcript of an oral interview with Jim Yawn. Mr Yawn was born in 1918 and had two years of college by the time he was 20 which was the minimum age to get into the Navy flight program. He was sent to Miami, Florida for primary flight training; they had to fly thirty three hours before they were appointed as a cadet. They were transferred to Jacksonville for basic training and then to California after they got their wings. He asked for and received a transfer to the Marine Corps. After getting some time in PBYs, F-4Fs, SB-2Cs and a few other aircraft he had some crew training at El Centro and finished it up in Mojave, in the B-24. They were assigned an aircraft and left San Francisco at night so they could reach Hawaii in the daytime. Yawn talks about walking aboard the Arizona and it was still smoking; he said it was an eerie feeling. Yawn flew across the Pacific and ended up landing on Guadalcanal but most of the squadron was at Espiritu Santo; he was part of VMB-254. They did reconnaissance work over the New Georgia group, Rabaul and Bougainville. Then, they went to Bougainville …

Transcript of an oral interview with Samuel Smith. When he turned 18, Smith joined the Air Corps and was sworn in on December 7, 1942. He received his orders to report to active duty on April 6, 1942 in Fort Worth, Texas as an aviation cadet. He graduated from flight school June 27, 1944. Smith provides good detail of what he did in each phase of his training from pre-flight and classification to primary, basic and advanced. He then went to B-17 transition training in Roswell, New Mexico. From Roswell, he was sent to Lincoln, Nebraska where he picked up his combat crew and then to Sioux City, Iowa for combat crew training. When they finished their training, they were issued European type flying gear and put on a train for New York, their port of embarkation. They went to Europe on the converted liner USS Manhattan (renamed the USS Wakefield), docking in Liverpool. They were a replacement crew and assigned to the 303rd Bomb Group which was in Molesworth, England. His first mission was a synthetic fuel plant in Hamburg. After completing seven mission, his crew was made a lead crew. His next mission was to Friedrichshafen. Half of …

Transcript of an oral interview with Mr. Iwashita. From his Japanese Naval Academy class of 360, he was among 120 selected for flight training. Upon completion, he was chosen to be an instructor. After eight months serving as an instructor, Iwashita was assigned to combat duty with the 301st Air WIng at Yokosuka. Iwashita describes using aerial bombs to destroy attacking American bombers.

Transcript of an oral interview with Elliott Ross. He discusses joining the Navy, being a landing craft coxswain carrying troops and supplies from ships to the shore in seven invasions: Guam, Leyte, Luzon, Santacristo, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and as an occupation force in Japan after the surrender. He talks mostly about Guam, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan, but also mentions burials at sea and on the beachs, seeing his brother's ship get hit by torpedoes and the emotional toll of the war.

Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin Muse. Mr Muse signed up for the Navy at 17 years old (he was born May 20, 1927), took boot camp in San Diego, California followed by machinist mate school at Camp Farragut. After home leave, he was assigned to the USS Columbia (CL-56) which was in San Pedro, California, being repaired from damage it received in the Philippines; this was 1945. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, the Columbia sailed to Borneo in the Dutch East Indies. They bombarded Balikpapan, softening up the beaches, for the invasion. The Columbia was part of a Cruiser Division. They left Borneo and were headed for Okinawa when the Columbia ran into a tethered mine field. The mines didn't go off but the mine cables got tangled up in the starboard screws. After repairs at Guam, the Columbia continued on to Okinawa but the island had been declared secure by then. The Cruiser Division made sorties up into the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan where they engaged the Japanese who were trying to get troops and munitions out of China, Korea and Manchuria. Muse states it was just a turkey …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Lent. He was born in Denison, Texas on September 14, 1920 and enlisted in the Marine Corps on August 15, 1941. Upon completing boot camp in San Diego in November, 1941, he was transferred to the Second Marine Division for duties as an Intelligence Specialist. He recalls that in July 1942 he was sent to a small island off Espiritu Santo in the Vanuatu Islands for a secret mission that involved mapping the island for the contingency of installing an air strip. He recalls his next experience during the landing of the Second Marine Division at Tarawa, when he spent ten hours under a pier evading Japanese machine gunners before finally reaching the beach and locating his Commanding Officer, Colonel David M. Shoup. He recalls the intensitiy of the firefight and being temporarily knocked uncnscious by a round that hit his helmet. He remembers that he transferred to an Air Observer Squadron, and after training in Honolulu, embarked aboard USS St. Lo (CVE-63) enroute to Saipan. He recalls several kamikaze raids during the transit. He recalls being launched off the carrier, flying over Saipan and landing at …

Transcript of an oral interview with Commander Douglas C. Davis. Davis joined the Navy in 1939 after having learned to fly as a civilian. He went through naval flight training at Pensacola, Florida and earned his wings in September, 1940. Upon completion of training, he reported to Pearl Harbor, his first duty station, in December 1940, where he was assigned to BP-22. Davis describes alot of his activities at Pearl Harbor prior to the outbreak of war. These included advance base operations, search and rescue, mapping operations and standard patrols. Davis shares anecdotes about his activities during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Davis's unit was assigned to dutyin the Southwest Pacific. He describes being attacked by Japanese planes while arriving in New Guinea. On 3 June 1942, Davis landed on Midway Island prior to the Japanese attack there. He was assigned to attack the Japanese flotilla headed for Midway from PBY armed with a torpedo. Davis describes his attack on the Japanese ships. Davis finished his time in the service at a post in one of the Navy bureaus in Washington, DC. He retired from the Navy in 1967.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Jacquet. He was born in Racine, Wisconsin August 29, 1918. He joined the Army Air Corps as a flying cadet in February 1940 and was assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group. He recalls arriving at Clark Field in early November 1941. After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, Jacquet flew B-17s conducting various missions between Luzon and Mindanao until his plane was too damaged to fly. He describes how he was then placed in command of a Filipino Reservist machine gun platoon in the village of Cagayan. Jacquet lived several weeks with the natives until he contracted malaria and was evacuated to Java in January 1942. He describes his escape from Java to Melbourne, Australia, where he was hospitalized with dengue fever. Upon discharge from the hospital, he was assigned to demonstrate the B-17 to several high-ranking Australian officers. He also recounts several bombing missions to New Guinea in the spring of 1942, including sorties to the Japanese Naval Base at Rabaul. He returned to the United States in December 1942. During the following year and a half he trained B-29 crews and was sent to Wendover, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral monologue with Preston Holcomb. Holcomb joined the Navy in Houston, Texas in 1938 when he was 17 years old. He volunteered for service in China and was assigned to the USS Tulsa (PG-22) when he arrived in Hong Kong in November 1939. Holcomb recalls fighting fires at the fuel docks at Cavite shortly after the Japanese attacked the Philippines. He describes some of his adventures eluding the Japanese Fleet as the Tulsa made her way to Australia. Late in 1943, Holcomb was detached from the Tulsa and ordered aboard the USS Tinsman (DE-589). He returned to the Philippines on the Tinsman in time for the liberation.

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 oral interview with Jack Jacobson. Jacobson was born in 1916. In 1940 he was accepted in the aviation cadet program and graduated in December 1941. He was sent to Fiji where he received additional flight training and was then sent to Guadalcanal. He describes being bombarded for over four hours one night by Japanese ships off the coast. He tells of the experiences of dropping bombs, strafing and escorting bombers during his more than 100 missions and three tours on Guadalcanal. He was selected to be Captain John Mitchell’s wingman during Operation Vengeance. He describes the precise flight plotted by Mitchell for intercept of Admiral Yamamoto’s plane over Bougainville. A vivid description is given of the actions taken by the planes involved in the attack.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Sanford Hunt. Hunt was born in Newark, New Jersey on 18 October 1915 and after graduating from high school in 1934, joined the Naval Reserve as a radioman. In October 1940 he resigned from the Navy Reserves and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve. He was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as a radio operator, where he worked with Holland M. Smith. He was next transferred to the newly established Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was trained as a cryptographer and cipher machine repairman. He describes his role in setting up and operating a radio transmitter station on Guadalcanal. While there, he worked closely with Major General Alexander Vandegrift and Brigadier General Gerald C. Thomas, Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the First Marine Division, respectively. The three of them were the only Marines on Guadalcanal authorized access to ULTRA message traffic (intelligence obtained by breaking encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter messages). Upon returning to Pearl Harbor he was given a field commission to second lieutenant. Hunt accompanied General Vandegrift to Noumea, New Caledonia as Special Assistant and Chief of Staff for Special Traffic and Messages, until …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Martin Clemens. Clemens was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1915 and, after attending Cambridge University, joined the British Colonial Service and was posted to Guadalcanal in 1938. After Pearl Harbor, Clemens became the only British colonial authority on Guadalcanal and, in February 1942, was assigned coast watching duties prior to the Japanese invasion in May. After the Japanese invasion, he was forced to relocate from his village to a location in the jungle, where he describes his activities in conjunction with island volunteers in gathering intelligence and transmitting radio signals to British and Australian listening posts. When the Allied Forces landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942, Clemens provided volunteer scouts and laborers to Colonel Carlson of the Second Raider Battalion. He also recalls his encounters with General Vandegrift, who awarded him a Military Cross following the battle.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lyndon Baines Johnson. Johns tells an anecdote of waking up sick in the hospital on Fiji and being transported to Hawaii where Admiral Nimitz invited him to return to the US with him in his plane. Johnson declined as he was not feeling well enough to travel. He then mentions that Nimitz'z plane crashed upon landing in the San Francisco Bay.

Transcript of an oral monologue with Hal Lamar. He reflects on Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz during his time serving as the Admiral's personal aide and secretary. He describes Nimitz's character and abilities as a leader. Lamar shares anecdotes about visiting wounded men and awarding Purple Heart medals, other officers coming to call, recreating, visiting Tarawa ,and activities at the new headquarters on Guam.