The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George William Ogden. Ogden joined the Navy in February of 1942. He completed Officer Candidate School, and trained with amphibious landing vehicles. Beginning in early 1943, he served as a Communications Officer aboard the USS LST-172. They traveled to Guantanamo Bay, Bora Bora, Samoa, New Hebrides, New Caledonia and Guadalcanal. They assisted the Marines in preparation for the Battle of Okinawa. He continued his service after the war ended, and was discharged in May of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Glen Looney. Looney was born 24 September 1924 at Lake Texhoma, Oklahoma. He enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943 and trained at San Diego, California. He was assigned as a 20mm gunner aboard the USS Sangamon (CVE-26). Looney tells of the ship participating in the invasions of the Gilbert and Palau islands and Okinawa. He describes the kamikaze attacks on the ship and of being blown overboard by an explosion. The USS Dennis (DE-405) rescued him. Looney returned to the United States in 1945 and was stationed at Corpus Christi (Texas) Naval Air Station until his discharge in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Tommy Shaffer. Shaffer was born in Florence, Texas 31 August 1926. He received his draft notice in 1944 and joined the United States Navy. After attending boot camp at San Diego, California he went aboard the USS Sangamon (CVE-26) in February 1945 as second loader on a 40mm gun. He describes the attack at Okinawa by Japanese aircraft and tells of one plane dropping a bomb on the ship just before crashing into the flight deck and the actions of the damage control unit. The ship passed through the Panama Canal on its way to Newport News, Virginia for repairs. She arrived in June 1945. He tells of his transfer to the moth ball fleet and he describes his duties in this job prior to his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Oliver Schaetter. Schaetter joined the Navy in December 1943 and was immediately selected as a pharmacist’s mate due to his civilian experience as an embalmer. He received training at Balboa Park sick bay and recalls comforting a shell-shocked soldier who had hidden under his bunk during a fireworks display. In December 1944 Schaetter was assigned to the USS Goshen (APA-108), which functioned as a third-class hospital ship as well as a troop carrier. He saw burials at sea at every stop in the South Pacific and felt they were extremely dignified events. When one of his own patients died at sea, the pharmacist improvised an embalming fluid so that the soldier could later be given a land burial on Saipan. After the war, Schaetter treated civilians and military personnel alike at a hospital in the Philippines. While there, he hypnotized and administered a truth serum to a guard who committed crimes against natives. Schaetter returned home in March 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gerard Carriera. After graduating high school, Carriera studied drafting and designing at JM Wright Technical School and worked for Electrolux. He received a deferment after joining the Navy in October 1941 and reported back to Electrolux, where he worked on many projects, including the incendiary bomb, Sperry gyroscope, and water purification systems. Carriera was a natural fit for the Seabees and was assigned to the 103rd Naval Construction Battalion. On Guam, he helped design the Pacific Fleet Headquarters and met Admiral Nimitz, who had one of Carriera’s drawings of a C-43 framed and hung in the conference room. While constructing the airport, Carriera instructed the electrical crew on how to assemble the lighting system. He was later assigned to the 8th Naval Construction Battalion and made a map of Okinawa for General Buckner. When the time came for Carriera to return home, his commander delayed him and requested an architectural design for a ranch house, which was later erected in California. Carriera returned to the States in January 1946, resuming work at Electrolux, eventually retiring as a senior manufacturing engineer.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Israel Berger. While attending medical school, Berger took an officer’s correspondence course with the Navy in May 1942. After interning at the Norfolk Naval Hospital and completing the V-12 program, he boarded the USS Drew (APA-162) as a general medical officer, traveling between Oahu and Saipan. Berger was relieved to be treated kindly despite being one of only two Jewish men on his ship. Despite having grown up in a kosher home, he set his cultural differences aside and ate what everyone else ate. While supporting action at Samar and Okinawa, Berger dealt with very few serious injuries, although he encountered many fatalities. One of his most sobering experiences involved helping a 12-year-old Japanese girl who stepped on a mine. By the end of the war, Berger had made lieutenant. He was inclined to join the Naval Reserve but decided instead to return home and care for his ailing mother.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Glen Parker. Parker was born on 28 March 1919 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. He was drafted into the Army in March 1941. His basic training was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. From there he was sent to Camp Livingston, Louisiana and assigned to the 32nd Division, 120th Artillery, Company C. From Louisiana, his unit was sent to Macon, Georgia, then to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and finally sailed from San Francisco to Australia in April 1942. There Parker was reassigned to the 126th Infantry Battalion. After three months in Adelaide and Brisbane, the 126th sailed to Port Moresby in New Guinea. After about a week, the unit marched north 130 miles across the island, over the mountains, to Sanananda, between Buna and Gona on the north coast. The march took over 4 weeks. They were poorly supplied with food and other equipment. They participated in the battles for Buna-Gona and the Battle for Sanananda. Parker was then sent back to Australia for a lengthy treatment for malaria he had contracted in New Guinea. Once that was under control, he returned to his unit. They made landings in Katika in spring, 1944 …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Tom Gillespie. Gillespie joined the Navy and went right to radio school because he was already a radio technician ion civilian life. He was assigned to Special Task Air Group 1 and trained with them to conduct drone strikes on Japanese targets. When he went overseas, he was based at Banika Island, near Pavuvu in the Russell Islands. They attempted a few strikes, but nothing ever came of the project, so the unit went back to the US before the war ended. Gillespie was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Roy Jacobs. Jacobs joined the Navy in March of 1942. In 1943 he was transferred to Hawaii, serving on the staff of Commander Gilbert Wren. He served there until the end of the war. Jacobs’ job was working with operations on all new missions and selecting all officer personnel that fit the demands of those operations. He provides some details of his work with Port Director, Captain Hyman Rickover with the atomic submarine force. His discharge date is not noted, though he left the service after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James D McLaughan, following another interview from 2001. McLaughan joined the Army Air Forces after completing three years of college at Cal Poly. He was stationed at Hamilton Field as a pilot with the 70th Fighter Squadron when the war broke out. He participated in the Yamamoto mission and notes that Rex Barber, who got the kill, always charged into a fight, and that Admiral Halsey sent two cases of fine whiskey to the squadron as a token of appreciation for their completing the mission. His squadron also discovered the airfield at Munda Point, which was hidden by palm trees, and attacked it daily until ground forces took over. McLaughan and his squadron developed the first firebombs by dropping thermite bombs housed within in gasoline-filled water bombs, which they dropped over Tokyo. He believes their technique was the inspiration for napalm.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert G. Bass. Bass was born in Walnut, Illinois on 18 November 1922. He was drafted into the Army in February 1943. After three months of basic and combat military police training at Fort Riley, Kansas, Bass was accepted in the Army Specialized Training Program at the University of Indiana. The program was disbanded in early 1944 and Bass was sent first to an armored infantry unit and then to the 243rd Combat Engineers, training at Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky. On 22 October 1944 the unit sailed to Europe. After a brief stay in England, they crossed the English Channel to La Havre. In December, they were in Belgium in the area where the Battle of the Bulge was being fought. In early 1945 they were on the move to Germany attached to the 1107th Engineering Group, doing road work, clearing mines and building bridges in support of the 87th Infantry. They built a pontoon bridge across the Rhine, crossed, and continued east to Schmolln. They were there when Germany surrendered. Bass and the unit were sent to Erfurt to process German prisoners of war. Erfurt being in the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Regis Butler. Butler joined the Army Air Forces in March of 1942. He completed flight training and classes in aircraft structures and mechanics. He worked at Bell Aircraft Plant in Niagara Falls to become familiar with P-39s and completed additional classes at Kelly Field in San Antonio on various phases of engines, controls and instruments. He served as a project engineer with the 5th Air Force, 4th Air Service Command, 13th Air Depot, and the Black Cat Squadron. Around February of 1943 they traveled across the Pacific by troop ship to New Caledonia and Guadalcanal. The squadron’s job was to do night patrols, seek out targets and rescue downed pilots. Butler engineered parts and made plane modifications as needed with the PBY, B-25, C-47, P-38 and P-51 aircraft. He traveled to Biak, to survey the airfields in preparation to relocate their squadron. He shares his experiences moving across these Pacific islands, his encounters with the natives and establishing a repair depot in Biak. Butler was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Daniels. Daniels was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts 9 February 1921. Upon graduating from high school in 1939, he joined the Navy. Completing boot training at Newport, Rhode Island, he was temporarily assigned to the USS Arkansas (BB-33). He was transferred, as a seaman, to the USS Badger (DD-126). Six months later, he was assigned to the USS Dallas (DD-199) as a quartermaster. Recalling convoy duty in the Atlantic, he describes the extreme weather conditions encountered. After a brief period of time aboard the USS PC-562, he was assigned to APc-21. He endured the experience of the ship being sunk by Japanese bombs off New Britain. Daniels was put aboard the USS Brownson (DD-518) only to have it attacked and sunk a week later. Returning to the United States he was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Hospital before being assigned duty as quartermaster on various LSTs being ferried from St. Louis to New Orleans. He was then sent to Boston where he instructed ensigns on the use of a compass. Daniels was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Horrell. Horrell completed ROTC infantry classes at Western Kentucky University, then joined the Army in May of 1943. He completed Armored Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in September of 1943. He was assigned to the 92nd Reconnaissance Squad, B Company, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division. He had additional training at Camp Campbell in Kentucky, driving half tracks, completing maneuvers and reconnoitering the area. Horrell served as an Armored Infantry Platoon Leader in half tracks. Around June of 1944 they traveled to England, then on to Le Havre, France in November of that same year. He was then assigned to the 7th Army and they completed armored vehicle attacks and maneuvers. They participated in a battle in Stuttgart, Germany. He was discharged in 1946. He retired from the Reserves as a lieutenant colonel.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Buster Simmons. Simmons joined the Army National Guard in September of 1940. He served as a combat medic with the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division throughout the European theater. He provides some details of his basic and medical training. By 1942 Simmons had worked up to Staff Sergeant and was assigned to Camp Blanding, Florida. After 7 December 1941 their camp began receiving casualties, sending out replacement troops and retraining new recruits for combat. In the fall of 1943 they transferred to Camp Atterbury, Indiana. In February of 1944 they traveled to Scotland aboard the USS Argentina. His detachment was designated to man the ship’s hospital. As First Sergeant at this point, Simmons work was mainly administrative and teaching other medics. His division landed on Omaha Beach in June of 1944 and traveled into Germany, participating in the Battle of the Bulge along the way. He shares vivid details of his experiences traveling through France and Germany, including German counterattacks made upon their group and casualties of fellow servicemen. He was discharged in June of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with C Everette Smith. Smith joined the Navy in September of 1943. He completed Hospital Corpsman School. He was assigned as a corpsman aboard LST 291. In March of 1944 they traveled to England. They participated in the Normandy landings off Omaha Beach in June of 1944. They made 26 trips to France, treating many casualties with basic First Aid in their small hospital aboard ship. Smith provides vivid details of his experiences aboard as a corpsman. Beginning in March of 1945, through the end of the war, he was assigned to the Subic Bay Naval Hospital. He was discharged in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Carl Woods. Woods was born on a homestead in Phillips County, Montana into a family of nine children. He comments on family life during the Great Depression. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and went to boot training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois. He was then selected to attend hospital corpsman school and describes the training and medical experience he gained before volunteering for submarine duty. After attending Submarine School and receiving additional medical training he was sent to Pearl Harbor where he went aboard the USS Euryale (AS-22) and went to Guam in August 1945. In September 1945 the ship arrived at Kuri, Japan where the crew assisted in destroying one hundred seventy-five Japanese midget submarines. They proceeded to Sasebo, where they destroyed several aircraft carrier submarines. Woods recalls that five Japanese submarines of various sizes where taken to Pearl Harbor for research purposes. He was aboard the ship at dock and experienced a typhoon in December 1945. Returning to the United States, he was assigned to the USS Ronquil (SS-396). In 1953 he was sent to Korea. There he was assigned as the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Cates. Cates was born in San Antonio, Texas on 19 January 1927 and joined the Navy in 1944. Upon enlisting he was sent to San Diego for boot camp. Upon completion of the training he was sent to Astoria, Washington where he reported aboard the USS Clinton (APA-144). His experiences aboard the Clinton included evacuating the wounded from Guam, picking up a large group of Japanese prisoners on Okinawa for delivery to Pearl Harbor and traveling to Haiphong, French Indochina to pick up Chinese National Revolutionary Army troops to be delivered to the Manchurian border. Cates received his discharge after serving twenty-two months in the Navy.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard L Hamil. Hamil joined the Navy in 1942 and received basic training in Newport. He studied diesel engines in Virginia, although it was strictly book-learning as there were no engines available to practice on. Upon completion, he was assigned to the engine room of USS LST-447, his battle station at a 40-millimeter gun, as a loader. His ship carried supplies and Marines throughout the Pacific, often coming under attack. They were struck by a kamikaze at Okinawa, which caused an explosion and killed half a dozen of their crew. When Hamil abandoned ship, kamikazes nearly hit the ship that rescued him. Hamil was sent home on 6 April 1945 and discharged in October.

Transcript of an oral interview with Clinton Edward Stork. Stork joined the Navy in early 1943 and took basic training at San Diego. Upon completion of training, Stork was assigned to the USS Tennessee (BB-43), and joined her at Bremerton, Washington. Stork sailed with the Tennessee to the Aleutian Islands and patrolled there and in the Bering Sea. His job aboard the Tennessee was working on the shell deck. All the 16-inch shells were stored there and Stork's team hoisted them up to turret #1 to be fired. Stork mentions some of the action the Tennessee particpated in during its tour of the Pacific: the Palaus, the marshalls, the Philippines, etc. He also describes being a sideboy when Admiral Nimitz boarded the Tennessee at Pearl Harbor one day. Stork also describes the kamikaze attack on the Tennessee off Okinawa. He spotted the formation of planes coming in low first. Six of the seven were shot down, but the seventh struck the Tennessee. He also mentions going ashore briefly in Tokyo and Yokohama before cruising back to the US via Cape Town, South Africa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lawrence Sykora. Sykora joined the Army Air Forces in May of 1943. He completed schooling in Radio, Mechanics and Aerial Gunnery by February of 1944. He was assigned to the 14th Air Force, 308th Bomb Group, 374th Bomb Squadron. He deployed to China, serving as a radio operator and top turret gunner aboard B-24s. They made numerous trips over the Himalaya Mountains. They supported Chinese ground forces by attacking airfields, coal yards, docks, oil refineries and fuel dumps in French Indochina and Burma. Sykora completed 39 missions, returned to the US and was discharged in late September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clinton Edward Stork. Stork joined the Navy in early 1943 and took basic training at San Diego. Upon completion of training, Stork was assigned to the USS Tennessee (BB-43), and joined her at Bremerton, Washington. Stork sailed with the Tennessee to the Aleutian Islands and patrolled there and in the Bering Sea. His job aboard the Tennessee was working on the shell deck. All the 16-inch shells were stored there and Stork's team hoisted them up to turret #1 to be fired. Stork mentions some of the action the Tennessee particpated in during its tour of the Pacific: the Palaus, the marshalls, the Philippines, etc. He also describes being a sideboy when Admiral Nimitz boarded the Tennessee at Pearl Harbor one day. Stork also describes the kamikaze attack on the Tennessee off Okinawa. He spotted the formation of planes coming in low first. Six of the seven were shot down, but the seventh struck the Tennessee. He also mentions going ashore briefly in Tokyo and Yokohama before cruising back to the US via Cape Town, South Africa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ernest Major. Major volunteered for the Navy just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Upon completion of diesel school, he became a PT boat motor mechanic. After getting injured in a boating accident, he spent nine months recovering and was then assigned to PT-309 in Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 22. Following stops in North Africa and France in early 1943, he experienced a close encounter with Italian ships at Sardinia before arriving at his base on Corsica. Using radar, the PT boat conducted night patrols along the coast of Italy, torpedoing and sinking five supply barges. His unit captured an Italian MAS boat attempting to smuggle out German officers from Elba, and they also transported French commandos to Southern France. After being stationed in Golfe-Juan, Major returned to the States and was later sent to the Philippines. He finished the war at Okinawa, surviving a typhoon and heartily celebrating V-J Day. Major was discharged in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clinton Edward Stork. Stork joined the Navy in early 1943 and took basic training at San Diego. Upon completion of training, Stork was assigned to the USS Tennessee (BB-43), and joined her at Bremerton, Washington. Stork sailed with the Tennessee to the Aleutian Islands and patrolled there and in the Bering Sea. His job aboard the Tennessee was working on the shell deck. All the 16-inch shells were stored there and Stork's team hoisted them up to turret #1 to be fired. Stork mentions some of the action the Tennessee particpated in during its tour of the Pacific: the Palaus, the marshalls, the Philippines, etc. He also describes being a sideboy when Admiral Nimitz boarded the Tennessee at Pearl Harbor one day. Stork also describes the kamikaze attack on the Tennessee off Okinawa. He spotted the formation of planes coming in low first. Six of the seven were shot down, but the seventh struck the Tennessee. He also mentions going ashore briefly in Tokyo and Yokohama before cruising back to the US via Cape Town, South Africa.