The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Manix. Manix went into the Marine Corps in September 1943. After boot camp at Camp Pendleton, he wanted to be a radioman but became a telephone man which he trained for in Pine Valley, California. After this training, Manix was sent to Camp Pendleton where the 5th Marine Division was forming; he was assigned to the 28th Marines, 2nd Battalion, Headquarters Company. In late 1944, the Division was moved to Camp Tarawa on the big island of Hawaii. They sailed for Iwo Jima and Manix went ashore in the fifth wave, landing on Green Beach. He states that the sand on Iwo Jima was very similar to the sands they had been on in Hawaii. Manix followed Fox Company as they assaulted Mount Suribachi. He was behind them and had the first telephone up there. Fox Company raised the first flag. Manix provides a good description of combat on the island including Hill 362 and was on the island until March 28th when they walked back to the south end of the island. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service on the island. Manix tells …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Hilton Lockhart. Lockhart joined the Army in February of 1941. He was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division. They traveled to England in early 1944 and participated in the Normandy landings. They moved into Bastogne, Belgium, participating in the Battle of the Bulge in December. Lockhart shares some stories of General Patton. He was discharged in late 1945.

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The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Ladd. Mr Ladd was sworn into the Navy July 12, 1938. After boot camp, he was assigned to the USS Maryland (BB-46) which was stationed in Long Beach and San Pedro, California at the time. The Maryland moved to Pearl Harbor in the late summer of 1941. Ladd was a gunner's mate on one of the 5-inch broadside guns. On December 7, 1941, the guns were secured and the ammunition was locked up. It took them about ten minutes to get to where they could start shooting back at the Japanese planes. Ladd tells the story of shooting down two or three American planes early in the morning of December 8th that were trying to land. He also talks about getting men out of the ships that had been sunk in the harbor including the Oklahoma that had capsized next to them. Just before Christmas 1941, the Maryland was patched up enough to sail for Bremerton, Washington for repairs. Afterwards, she went back to Pearl Harbor. Ladd was transferred off in late October 1943 and went to gunnery school in Washington, DC for three months. After school, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Johnnie Singleton. Singleton entered the Navy at 16 in June 1941 and trained at Corpus Christi. Singleton is African American and served as a mess attendant in a segregated Navy. He went aboard the USS Maryland (BB-46) at Pearl Harbor in September 1941. On December 7, 1941, Singleton was in the officers' galley when the Japanese struck. He went to his battle station in an ammunition handling room below deck. Next, Singleton describes the invasion of Tarawa and seeing bodies floating in the water. After Tarawa, the Maryland went to the Marshall Islands, Eniwetok and Kwajalein. Then, they went to Truk and Saipan. The Maryland got hit in the bow one night by a torpedo while they were in the harbor at Saipan. The battle of Leyte Gulf was next for the Maryland and she was one of the battleships at Surigao Strait. A kamikaze crashed into her later during the battle and she had to go to Bremerton for repairs. After repairs, the Maryland rejoined the fleet and sailed for Okinawa. The Maryland took another kamikaze hit off Okinawa with Singleton was trapped below deck at his …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Cleatis Roach. Roach joined the Army Air Forces in April, 1943 and had basic training at Sheppard Field, near Wichita Falls, Texas. After basic, he went to Texas Tech in Lubbock for preflight training. When he learned it would take a lot of time to learn to fly and then be assigned to a combat unit, Roach quit flight school and went to aerial gunnery school. After training, he was assigned to a B-17 crew and went overseas in December 1944. Once he reached England, his crew was assigned to the 452nd Bomb Group, 729th Bomb Squadron at Deopham Green, near Attleborough. He flew 17 or 18 combat missions over Germany before the war ended. He returned from Europe to train in B-29s when the Japanese surrendered. Roach was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hearol Veteto. Veteto joined the Enlisted Reserve Corps until he was called to active duty in early 1943. He then joined the Army Air Forces and trained as an aerial gunner in Kingman, Arizona. He also trained as a bombardier and was commissioned. Veteto went overseas in December 1944 to England. On a mission over Berlin in February, Veteto’s plane was shot down and he bailed out. On the ground, he met another crewman and they walked out, eventually reaching Poland and contacting the Russians. The Russians took them to Odessa where they boarded a ship and were repatriated in Italy. Upon returning to the US, the war ended and Veteto took his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Melvin Perez. Perez joined the Navy in August, 1943. From basic training, he went to radio school in Colorado. After radio school, Perez was assigned to a Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO) unit. Navy personnel were pulled from JASCO units while Perez was in Hawaii. Instead, he was assigned to USS Montrose (APA-212) and rode it to Leyte in time for the invasion. There, Perez helped establish shore to ship voice communications. Later, he boarded USS Goodhue (APA-107) and travelled to Ie Shima, where he again set up voice communication from shore to ship. When the war ended, Perez was on Luzon practicing landings for the invasion of Japan. The Goodhue delivered the Americal Division to Japan and returned with a load of former POWs. Perez received his discharge in April, 1946.

Interview with Gary Raymond, a gunship pilot in the US Army. He answers questions about his life in the military during the Vietnam War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman DeReese. DeReese joined the Army in January 1942. He was assigned to the 18th Field Artillery and served in the headquarters battalion in communications. He went with his unit to England in early 1943 for further training prior to the Normandy invasion. He landed at Normandy in early July. DeReese's unit was unattached to any larger unit. Instead, his artillery brigade was attached temporarily to several different units throughout the campaign in Western Europe. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge. When the war ended, DeReese was shipped home and was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dr Buckner Fanning. After graduating from high school, Fanning enlisted in the Marine Corps and went to boot camp at Paris Island. He states that the Marine Corps changed his life. Fanning went to Camp Lejune for basic training and was slated to go to Quantico to be commissioned. However, he didn't want to go there (neither did his buddies) so the Marine Corps sent them to Camp Pendleton where they were assigned to the 6th Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. They went to Guam which had been partially secured. They had training (for the invasion of Japan) on Saipan and were held in reserve for Okinawa. They heard about the atomic bomb while training on Saipan. As soon as the peace treaty was signed, they were waiting outside the harbor at Nagasaki. Fanning describes landing in Nagasaki, the conditions there, what they did, and finding a little Methodist church that he started attending even though he couldn't understand a thing they said. While he was in Nagasaki, he was selected to represent the 2nd Marine Division at the firing competition in Hawaii. Later, they were moved them to …

The National Museum of the Pacific war presents an oral interview with Howard Towry. Towry was born in Graham, Texas 17 December 1926. He quit school in 1943 and began driving a truck. Joining the US Marine Corps in January 1944, he went to San Diego for eight weeks of boot camp. After completing boot training, he was sent to Camp Pendleton where he joined the 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division for a short time. Towry was then sent to a tank destroyer unit at Camp Elliott. He learned to use various weapons and explosives. During November 1944 he boarded the USS Marathon (APA-200) bound for Pavuvu where he joined the 1st Marine Division, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Regiment as a tank driver. During March 1945 the regiment went to Okinawa where he was assigned to Headquarters Company of the 1st Regiment as tank liaison. Towry recalls being subjected to artillery fire that wounded him and killed two men with him. He describes the typhoon that hit Okinawa in October 1945. After the surrender of Japan the 1st Marines were sent to Tientsin, China to disarm Japanese troops and maintain order. Towry returned to the United States and was discharged …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph H. Fulcher. Fulcher enlisted in the Army in 1941, trained in Tucson, Arizona and was attending a technical school in Tulsa, Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. When Fulcher was assigned to a unit he shipped out to England in October, 1942 to RAF Bassingbourn, north of London. Fulcher served as an aircraft mechanic and worked on B-17s and other aircraft repairing propellors. He shares several anecdotes related to his service and the type of work he did in the squadron. Between V-E and V-J days, Fulcher arrived back in the US. Before he could be shipped to the Pacific, the war ended and he was discharged. Six months later, he re-enlisted and was sent to Alaska as part of the 46th Recon Squadron in Fairbanks. He continued in the service and was assigned to temporary duty on Okinawa during the Korean War. Fulcher stayed in the service for his career and retired in 1963.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Stackpole. Stackpole joined the Navy Reserves before the start of World War II and was in the Hospital Corps. He went on active duty to Great Lakes and they put him to work in the recruit receiving line. After some additional work at the hospital there, he was sent to Alameda and put aboard the SS Matsonia which sailed for Espiritu Santo. From there they went on a coastal tramp steamer to Noumea, New Caledonia where they set up a fleet hospital, MOB 7, Mobile Hospital. It later became Fleet Hospital 107. Stackpole describes in good detail what they went through in setting-up the hospital, the excellent doctors they had, and the great leadership of their commanding officer, Captain Espaugh. They were receiving causalities from the Guadalcanal campaign. The hospital ships would stand-off Noumea, the patients unloaded onto barges, and then taken to either the Navy or Army hospitals on Noumea. Stackpole also describes in good detail the kind of work they did with the patients. Next, they started bringing in the casualties from Bougainville. He also talks about patients from the USS Gambier Bay which was …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rickie Feuille. Feuille left the University of Texas Law School the day after Pearl Harbor and enlisted in the Army soon thereafter. After serving for about five months with the Signal Corps in Arizona, he was sent to Air Corps OCS in Miami, Florida and commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduation. His first assignment was with an Air Corps service outfit in Pendleton, Oregon. Within a few months, he was sent to Thermal, California to the 13th Air Service Group. The Group went to Hawaii for jungle training and was split into two groups; Feuille was assigned to the 386th Air Service Group. The 386th went aboard a ship in early January 1945, headed for Iwo Jima but stopped in Saipan first; which was were the invasion fleet was staged. His ship was hit by a kamikaze while in the harbor at Saipan. His unit was put on another ship and they stayed off the beach until February 23rd when Feuille led an advance party of his group to the beach. He saw the famous flag raising and describes seeing bodies everywhere as well as wrecked vehicles; …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Floyd H. Fulkerson. In January, 1942, Fulkerson joined the Army Air Corps and went into flight training, graduating and being commissioned in September, 1942. From there, he went to train in B-25s in South Carolina. From there, he went overseas to Australia in September, 1943. He received transfer from B-25s to P-38s in Australia and was assigned to the 475th Fighter Group, 431st Fighter Squadron in January 1944. Fulkerson flew some with Colonel Charles Lindbergh and Major Richard Bong. On one mission in the Philippines, Fulkerson was shot down and was rescued by Filipino guerrillas and returned to his base after five weeks.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James William ""Bill"" Harrison. He begins by explaining how he joined the navy and started in San Diego without going to boot camp, then working on an oil tanker that shipped out to Pearl Harbor a month after the attack, then transported fuel out of San Diego to various ships at sea, then he was transfered to Admiral Nimitz public relations department. There he and two others wrote stories about the action in the Pacific, particularly about the Battle of Midway, they contributed to a radio show, working with the national press corps, then working at the Naval Air Station in Seattle, then to Hilo and meeting with soldiers back from Tarawa, then to Texas to go to officer training school and college at Southwestern University, then to University of Texas and University of Oklahoma for law school after the war. He ancedotes about the office releasing a story about a cat that had kittens on board a cruiser so they could report good news in the Pacific prior to the battle of Midway and meeting Admirals Nimitz and Byrd, typing up a letter for Elliott Roosevelt to …

Interview with James William "Bill" Harrison, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He explains how he joined the navy in San Diego without going to boot camp. He worked on an oil tanker that shipped out to Pearl Harbor a month after the attack there and transported fuel out of San Diego to various ships at sea. He was then transfered to Admiral Nimitz's public relations department. There he and two others wrote stories about the action in the Pacific theater, particularly about the Battle of Midway. They also contributed to a radio show and worked with the national press corps. He then worked at the Naval Air Station in Seattle before traveling to Hilo, Hawaii to meet with soldiers who had returned from Tarawa. In Texas, he attended officer training school and college at Southwestern University. After the war ended, he studied at the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma for law school. He recalls an incident in which his office released a story about a cat that had kittens on board a cruiser; they reported this good news from the Pacific prior to the Battle of Midway. He also met Admirals Nimitz …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James H. Couch. Couch was born in Murrayville, Georgia 4 January 1923. He quit school in December 1941 and joined the Marine Corps. Upon completing boot camp at Parris Island, he went to Camp Lejeune for combat training with the Browning automatic rifle. Assigned to Company G, Second Battalion, 1st Marine Division, he boarded the USS George F. Elliott (AP-105) and sailed to Wellington, New Zealand. Leaving there, the division went to Fiji where they made practice landings. On 7 August 1942, he was in the third wave during the invasion of Guadalcanal. He recalls advancing to the Tenaru River and describes the Japanese night attack on 21 August 1942, led by Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki, which resulted in hand to hand combat. His company had twenty-three men killed during the attack while the Japanese lost heavily. Couch also recalls the Japanese naval forces attacking the Marine positions and airfield on 14 September. During December he was sent to the 4th General Hospital in Melbourne due to a severe attack of malaria. He returned to the United States and entered the hospital at Balboa Park, California. Once he recovered, …

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.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with L.D. Cox. 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 five days in the water before being rescued.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Marvin Fields. Fields joined the Navy in July 1942 and trained at Great Lakes. He went to diesel engine school and was then assigned to the engine room aboard USS LST-306. He shares several anecdotes about being in North Africa after the invasion. He shares two encounters with Sam Donahue, the bandleader. His LST was at Sicily when several air transports were shot down. He also shares anecdotes from landing at Salerno. Fields also was aboard USS LST-306 during the Normandy invasion and made over 50 trips across the English Channel delivering supplies to Omaha Beach. He stayed with the 306 for the duration of his time in the Navy and was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Earnest Cochran. Cochran joined the Navy in May, 1940. When he finished boot training, he was sent to North Island Naval Air Station outside San Diego and trained further as an aviation machinist. He moved to Pearl Harbor with Utility Squadron 2 (VJ-2) in August, 1941. Cochran was on Ford Island when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Cochran left Hawaii for a school in Chicago in 1943. Then he moved to New Caledonia to serve in Utility Squadron 9 (VJ-9).

Interview with Oral interview with Hermi Salas, a U. S. Marine during World War II. Salas was assigned to the Third Marine Division and was present for the invasion of Guam in the Mariana Islands. He was wounded on Guam and evacuated to a hospital ship, the USS Solace. He also participated in the Iwo Jima landings. After a few weeks at Iwo Jima, Salas was wounded again and placed aboard the USS Solace. He discusses his experiences in the hospital recovering from the wounds he received in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Eventually, he made his way back to San Antonio. He also discusses a brief leave at home before he reported to prison guard duty in Corpus Christi. Upon being discharged after the war, Salas went to radio school and worked at Kelly Air Force Base in the Civil Service.