The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edmund Thomassen. Thomassen entered the Merchant Marine Academy in October, 1941 and completed his education in April, 1943. When Thomassen was assigned to the USS Sheridan (APA-51), Eddie Albert was one of his shipmates. He went to New Zealand and embarked Marines ahead of the Tarawa invasion and discusses the practice landings. At Tarawa, he delivered Marines to the shore in a small landing craft. He also delivered Marines to Roi. He spent days hauling supplies in and mounded out at Saipan. In early 1945, Thomassen put the USS Dutchess (APA-98) into commission. He went to the Philippines and Okinawa aboard the Dutchess, serving as an engineering officer. When the Korean War started, he was assigned to the USS Thuban (AKA-19) and made the landing at Inchon. He was aboard the USS Randall (APA-224) while the movie Away All Boats was being filmed. He also did anti-submarine patrolling in the Atlantic in the late 1950s, early 1960s. He retired in 1965.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with A K Sheffield. Sheffield joined the Navy in late 1943. He completed Armed Guard School in San Diego. He served with the Navy Armed Guard aboard a transport ship, and traveled to the Philippine Islands. In May of 1944, Sheffield was aboard the SS Henry Bergh when it ran aground on the Farallon Islands, and shares details of those events. He traveled through the Pacific Islands, to Japan and throughout the Atlantic. Sheffield does not speak of participating in any battles or combat. He returned home aboard USS Iowa (BB-61) after the war ended in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Scott West. West joined the Navy in 1935. He was assigned to the USS Lexington (CV-2) for four years. In September of 1942 he served aboard the USS Copahee (CVE-12). He describes the planes aboard and the process of getting all the aviation equipment aboard the carrier. They traveled to New Caledonia to deliver planes, as well as to Munda, in the Solomon Islands. He completed catapult and arresting gear school at the Naval Air Station in Philadelphia, and then served as an instructor. Later, he took crews out to supervise new installations and repair battle damage.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Gowen. Gowen joined the Merchant Marine in 1934. He trained aboard the USS Annapolis (PG-10) for two years. He graduated from the training program in 1937 as an engineer, then worked aboard a ship delivering oil as third assistant engineer. From 1940 to 1942 he continued working in his same role on the USS Santee (CVE-29). From there he went to Bath, Maine to work as an assistant engineering officer aboard USS Chevalier (DD-451). He went into the Battle of Vella Lavella in 1943 on the Chevalier and provides details of their travels from Maine to the Solomon Islands. He describes the events of the Chevalier being sunk during this battle. In 1944 Gowen went on to be an engineering officer of another destroyer and participated in the Marianas Campaign. In 1951 Gowen was selected to command the USS Ingersoll (DD-652) in the Mediterranean. In 1958 he attended the Naval War College and was made commanding officer of the USS Aludra (AF-55). He then took command, as a captain, of the Navy’s portion of testing atomic weapons in the Pacific area and provides details of this experience. He …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Wallace Short. Short entered the Naval Academy in 1920 and upon graduating, went aboard the USS Texas (BB-35). Later, Short joined the Civil Engineer Corps and worked with the Naval Construction Battalions during WWII. He recalls several anecdotes about their work on Manus Island and Okinawa. He describes the destruction caused by typhoons at Okinawa. Short covers several aspects of his career in naval construction after World War II: the US, Spain, Thailand, Western Pacific, etc.

Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin Russell. Russell, who graduated with a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Houston, describes his role in the testing of fuel used in the Pacific and in North Africa during the war. He discusses the homefront, including the politics of war, rationing, the Japanese American internment, the use of the atomic bomb, and the reaction to the end of the war. There is also a brief comparison of World War II and the Iraq War. After the war, Russell was employed in the automotive industry. Additionally, Russell identifies his parents and siblings and mentions his brothers’ role as civilians involved in troop transport.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edmond Drake. Drake joined the Navy in April of 1943. Beginning early 1944, he served as Electrician’s Mate aboard USS President Adams (APA-19). They transported troops and supplies during the Battle of Guam, the invasion Luzon and the Battle of Iwo Jima. He returned to the US in April of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Albert Skiles. Skiles joined the Army in March 1943. He was sent to the Pacific as a replacement. Skiles eventually joined the 96th Infantry Division and landed at Leyte. He served as a switchboard operator and company clerk with a headquarters company. He was later sent to Okinawa and landed in one of the first waves of the invasion. He was wounded by a mortar shell and evacuated to Hawaii. During his time on Okinawa he witnesses a kamikaze attack on the USS Morrison (DD-560). He also was near Yontan Airfield when it was attacked by Japanese commandos and witnessed the aftermath.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Marshall Barrett. Barrett went to Duke University in 1941 and joined the Naval ROTC just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He participated in the V-12 program, receiving an accelerated four-year degree and his commission by February of 1944. Around August, Barrett began serving as a training officer aboard the USS YMS-339. They traveled to Panama, New Hebrides, and the Admiralty Islands and joined the Seventh Fleet. They participated in the Borneo Campaign in the spring of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eleanor Hughes. Hughes was working for Pacific Co-op in Roseburg, Oregon when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She volunteered and worked nights on the local plotting board watching for planes and ships coming near the Oregon coast. When a blip appeared in their sector, they phoned in and someone checked to see if it was enemy or friendly. Hughes enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) on 27 September 1943 at Little Rock, Arkansas and was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia for training. She was stationed there for almost a year before her group was sent to Port Moresby, New Guinea. They were trucked from their quarters to a headquarters building, known as the Pentagon of the jungle; they worked there all day and were taken back to their barracks by truck at night. Hughes was a secretary to a young lieutenant. A lot of the soldiers who were there when she arrived were replaced by WACs. The weather was hot and muggy but she does not remember it bothering her too much. There were no men in her camp; however, men worked at the headquarters and drove …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harper Gruber. Gruber was an electrician's apprentice at the Charleston Navy Yard in South Carolina. He joined the Navy soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was sent to the Panama Canal Zone to join the 13th Headquarters. He was later transferred to YMS-339 where he served as an electrician's mate for the remainder of the war. He describes in detail minesweeping operations for the various types of mines. His minesweeper participated in 7 invasion operations in the Philippine Islands. Gruber was sent back to Charleston Navy Yard after the war ended, and remained there until eligible for discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Croft. Croft joined the Navy in February of 1941. He completed Aviation Radio School before working at Pearl Harbor. He later was assigned to the USS McFarland (AVD-14). They transported aviation gas to the neighboring islands. Croft witnessed the Japanese attack on 7 December from the veranda of the US Naval Hospital on Pearl Harbor. He was later assigned to the USS Vega (AK-17), where he served in the engine room and Radio Shack as radioman. They participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. In early 1944 they transported cargo from San Francisco to support Pacific operations in the Gilbert Islands, Marianas and Okinawa. In June of 1944 Croft was transferred to the USS Hermitage (AP-54), transporting troops from the US to New Guinea. He was discharged in 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gladys Kizziar. Kizziar was training as a nurse at the beginning of the war. She became a US Army nurse after she graduated from nursing school. Kizziar was sent to the Philippines to help prepare for the invasion of Japan. She was on board a hospital ship in Tokyo Bay during the surrender ceremony. Kizziar served with the 42nd General Hospital in Yokohama helping to process POWs as they were being liberated. She tells of General MacArthur visiting the former POWs. Kizziar stayed in the Army and was eventually sent to Germany where she met her husband.

Transcript of an oral interview with Colonel Gordon Spencer. Colonel Spencer discusses his family lineage briefly before shifting to his education up through his years at Harvard. Before finishing at Harvard, Spencer joined the US Army Air Corps flight training program, but was eventually rejected. He went to communcations school instead and was commissioned in Wichita Falls, Texas in October 1941. Eventually, he was sent to England and joined the 306th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. Spencer relates several anecdotes about making bombing raids over targets in Germany and Holland; losing friends and planes in combat. He served as the radar bombadier on missions over Frankfort, Cologne, etc. He was in England when the war in Europe ended and was shipped back to the US to be transferred to the Pacific to serve as a radar bombadier aboard B-29s. The war in the Pacific ended and Spencer got out of the military. He rejoined later in 1946 and ran a small medical clinic at Hensley Field, Texas; went to weather forecasting school; was a nuclear physics instructor at Air University.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Maurice Thoresen. Thoresen joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938. He joined the Coast Guard around late 1939, working shore duty. In the summer of 1941 Thoresen went aboard the USCGC Taney (WHEC-37), serving in the ship’s radio shack. In July they traveled to Honolulu, where they were stationed when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred in December. After 7 December and into 1942, the Taney conducted many depth charge attacks on suspected submarines. Thoresen was later transferred to the island of Samoa, setting up LORAN stations, long range navigation equipment. He returned to the US and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Campbell. Campbell joined the Merchant Marine in March of 1942. He began as a wiper working in the engine room. Campbell soon found work on the North Atlantic convoy. His ship was torpedoed and sunk on the way to Murmansk. His next ship hit a mine and was forced to run aground. Campbell was a crewman on a ship that arrived at Cherbourg after the storm that destroyed the Mulberry Harbor. He also manned a diesel engine on a barque that made runs to France. Campbell was forced to spend time in a Naval hospital upon his return to the States for convoy fatigue. Next, he traveled to the Mediterranean where his ship transported a chemical warfare unit. Campbell eventually ended up in the Pacific near the end of the war to transport munitions for the invasion of Japan. He made one final voyage to Brazil after the surrender.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William E. Bullard. Bullard joined the Marine Corps in 1938 and received a discharge before the U.S. entered WWII. He then joined the Army Air Forces and trained to become a fighter pilot. He joined the 354th Fighter Group and began flying missions over Europe. Bullard was part of an escort for C-47s that dropped airborne troops on D-Day. His plane was damaged on a mission over Germany and he was captured and became a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I. He managed to escape after nine months. Bullard stayed in the service after WWII ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold Evans. Evans joined the Navy in August of 1942. He served aboard the USS Savo Island (CVE-78) as 3rd Class Petty Officer Ordnanceman, beginning in February of 1944. Evans also worked with a PBY squadron as a Blister Gunner, loading bombs and ammunition. Aboard the Savo Island, they provided air support for the landings on Peleliu Island, Leyte Gulf and the Battle of Okinawa. Evans was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Wallace Morger. Morger enlisted into the Marine Corps Reserves on 13 October 1942. After boot camp in San Diego, Morger went to the naval station in Newport, Rhode Island to study electronics for three months. Morger then went to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina where he joined the 16th Pioneer Battalion. They joined the 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton. Morger was transferred out of the pioneer battalion and became the police sergeant in charge of clean-up duties and the battalion bugler. After a special pre-embarkation furlough, the entire division was shipped to Camp Tarawa, Hawaii arriving in the middle of September 1944. When the division shipped out, no one knew where they were going to Iwo Jima. Morger landed with the 7th or 8th wave as part of the 28th Regiment, First Battalion, Company C. He talks of the devastating fire they took once ashore and all the caves and spider holes that the Japanese hid in. For the first 10 days of fighting, Morger was in charge of security for the stretcher bearers. He was at the base of Mount Suribachi when he saw the flag go …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Roger Moore. Moore joined the Navy in 1943. Shortly after basic training, he was given the opportunity to train as a US Navy photographer taking classes in Pensacola, Florida and Washington DC. While in Washington DC, he volunteered for the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO). He was shipped to Chongqing, China and trained Chinese guerilla troops in the use of photography. In 1945, Moore was sent to Shanghai to take photos of the Japanese and other subjects that would interest the Navy. While there, he also took photos of the Chinese for his own pleasure. He later displayed the photos at the National Museum of the Pacific War in 2010.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Carroll Layton. Layton joined the Navy in May of 1944. He completed Electrician School and PT boat training. In April of 1945 he traveled to PT Base 17 in Samar, Philippines and later to Mindoro. He worked out of an electrician shack, serving as a motor mechanic on boat engines, and gunner when needed. He was later switched over from PT boats to a Landing Craft Tank vessel. He was discharged around late 1945 and served in the Naval Reserve for seven years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Edwards. Edwards joined the Army Air Forces in 1944. He was trained as an aircraft engine mechanic and was sent to the Philippines where he became a crewman on an A-26 bomber. Edwards describes how his plane flew missions with P-61s as escorts and gives some detail on the types of targets that were selected. He talks about how his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and forced down during an attack on a Japanese airfield. Edwards was captured and interrogated by the Japanese. He describes the treatment that he received and how he lost half of his total body weight in his six months as a POW. Edwards was liberated at the end of the war, hospitalized in Tokyo, and returned to the US where he reenlisted and remained in the service until 1949.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bianca Cunningham. Cunningham was born in Brazil to an Italian mother and a German Jew who was a sculptor and architect that had won a competition to build the Presidential Palace. Eventually Cunningham traveled with her mother to her hometown in Capri where she remained throughout the war. She witnessed life under Mussolini, the German occupation, bombing of Naples, and the American occupation. Cunningham became a hostess for the American Red Cross and met and married an American soldier after the war had ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Galbraith. Galbraith joined the Marine Corps in February of 1942. He describes the training he received to become a pilot. Galbraith became a flight instructor and then trained on twin engine planes. He was sent to the Pacific and flew C-46 transport planes into Guam, Tinian, and Saipan. Galbraith discusses flying into Iwo Jima during the battle. He flew into Japan on several missions after the war had ended. Galbraith describes the damage he witnessed at Nagasaki and Yokohama. He also tells of how he weathered two typhoons on an airfield. Galbraith left the service after he returned to the US.