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Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006 transcript

Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006

Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. LeBow joined the navy in 1943 and went from Lubbock, Texas to San Diego for recruit training. He shipped out to Pearl Harbor aboard an LST from San Francisco. At Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to a work detail aboard the USS Oklahoma, which had just been righted. Shortly thereafter, he boarded the USS Indianapolis to serve as a range finder operator on one of the gun turrets. Upon leaving Hawaii, the Indianapolis went to Tarawa and then the Marshall Islands. LeBow witnessed Japanese civilian suicides on Saipan. He also witnessed the flag-raising on Iwo Jima from his range finder position aboard the ship. LeBow describes being hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa. He also discusses delivering atomic bomb components to Tinian and being torpedoed on the way to the Philippines. He describes abandoning the ship and spending five days in the water, including his faith in God, hallucinations, rescue, and his recovery.
Date: May 2, 2006
Creator: Misenhimer, Richard & Lebow, Cleatus A.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History

[Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Watches Enlisted Sailor Pitch Horseshoes]

Photograph of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz watching an enlisted sailor, possibly Anthony Trifiletti, pitch horseshoes during picnic on the beach. Nimitz stands withs several other men in light-colored Naval uniforms under the cover of trees as Anthony Trifiletti stands in the center holding up a horseshoe. A black arrow is drawn underneath C. W. Nimitz on the border of the photograph.
Date: May 21, 1944
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Army Navy Banner, Vol. 1, No. 20, Ed. 1, Friday, May 28, 1943 (open access)

Army Navy Banner, Vol. 1, No. 20, Ed. 1, Friday, May 28, 1943

Weekly newspaper published at the Pearl Harbor Navy Hard in Hawaii that includes news articles and information of interest to civilian workers of Civilian Housing, Area 3, along with advertising
Date: May 28, 1943
Creator: Storm, Brian
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History