The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James C Chandler. Chandler joined the Marine Corps in the spring of 1943. He was assigned to the 1st Armored Amphibian Battalion. Chandler participated in the battles of Guam and Okinawa. He returned to the US and was discharged in December of 1945

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Gino Cianflone. Cianflone was drafted into the Navy in 1942. He served as a machinist mate aboard an LST. His battle station was first loader at a 20mm cannon. They traveled to the Hawaiian and Marshall Islands. At the Marshall Islands they prepared for invasion, supporting LVTs and the 4th Marine Division. They also participated in the invasion of Saipan. He was involved in the West Loch disaster at Pearl Harbor in May of 1944 and provides some details of this event. He was discharged around 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with P T Allison. Allison joined the Army in June 1942 and received basic training in Virginia, having spent three years in the Civilian Conservation Corps prior to enlisting. He was assigned to the 1470th Engineer Maintenance Company, where he procured parts for a group of mobile machine shops and welding shops. He arrived in France during the Battle of the Bulge, where his unit repaired tractors, chain saws, and anything else that was brought in. After V-E Day, he returned to the States and was preparing for deployment to the South Pacific when the atomic bombs were dropped. Allison was discharged and returned home; he and his wife spent the next 17 years as campground hosts for the National Park Service at Yellowstone.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Horace Johnson. Johnson joined the Army in October of 1942. He provides details of his training. He was in the 14th Air Force, 308th Bomb Group, 374th Bomb Squadron. Johnson served as a B-24 right waist gunner during WWII. They traveled to Cairo, Egypt, India, China and Burma. He provides details of each of these missions. He was discharged in October of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Amstutz. Amstutz joined the Marine Corps in November of 1943. He provides some details of his training, including shooting machine guns and the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Amstutz served with C Company, 9th Marines, 3rd Division. In March of 1944 he traveled to Pearl Harbor, then on to the Marshall Islands, participating in the Battle of Eniwetok in February of 1944. In July of that same year they participated in the Battle of Guam, invading the Mariana Islands. After the battle they trained on Guam, about 20 months altogether, before the Battle of Iwo Jima. He provides some details of his time living and training on Guam. They arrived in Iwo Jima on the 3rd day of the battle in February of 1945. He provides details of some of his combat experiences at Iwo, using the BAR. In March he was wounded by shell fragments and sent back to Guam on a hospital ship. He received a Purple Heart and Three Battle Stars. He was discharged in March of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Eggebeen. Eggebeen was born 29 November 1917 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. One of nine children and tells of family life during the Depression. Graduating from high school in 1935, he held various jobs until drafted into the US Coast Guard in 1942. After undergoing basic training at Curtis Bay, Maryland he attended diesel electrician’s school in New York City. He was assigned to the crew aboard a yacht commandeered by the Coast Guard owned by a Milwaukee businessman. The boat, stationed at Greenport, Long Island, did anti-submarine patrol at the entrance to New York Harbor. He mentions the boat’s crew compliment and armament. After serving aboard the yacht for thirteen months, he was sent to the Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut. After graduating as an ensign in 1944, he was sent to the 9th Naval District in Chicago. While there, he was ordered to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to pick up USS LST-886. The crew took the new LST through the Panama Canal to San Diego. The ship, loaded with supplies, set sail to participate in the invasion of Leyte. They were recalled and went to Guam. The …

Transcript of an oral interview with Robert B. Bradley. Bradley begins by speaking of his childhood days growing up in Washington, DC. While attending the University of Maryland, Bradley enlisted in the Army in October, 1942. After Bradley finished training as a medic, he was assigned to Company E, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division. He went to England in February, 1944. He arrived at Omaha Beach one day after the invasion. Bradley moved forward with the infantry until he was captured by a unit of German Armored Infantry in August, 1944. He was placed in Stalag 3-C. In April, 1945, Bradley and others were liberated by the Russians, who put them on a train for odessa where they boarded a ship back to England.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edward Cumbie. Cumbie joined the Army in January of 1943. He completed Officer???s Candidate School in May of 1943, earning a commission as a second lieutenant. He began training in the Army Air Forces in November of 1943. He provides details of his pilot training, including glider training in Lubbock, Texas. He graduated in the fall of 1944. Their glider pilot training was in preparation for an airborne crossing of the Rhine River in Germany. He was assigned to the 313th Troop Carrier Group. They traveled to England in November of 1944. On Christmas of 1944 they hauled the 17th Airborne Division up near the front lines in northern France, during the Battle of the Bulge. Cumbie provides details of this experience. He also transported supplies and wounded soldiers. He was discharged in July of 1946, though stayed in the Air Force Reserves until 1952.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richmond Garrett. Garrett was inducted into the Army in November of 1943. He completed Officer Candidate School. He was selected to join Company A, 1252nd Combat Engineer Battalion. In November of 1944 they were sent to England. He describes his travels overseas and accommodations on the ship Tamaroa. While there they built bridges, removed mines and built a roadway. In December 1944 they traveled to La Havre, France, to serve in Patton???s Third Army. In February of 1945 they took part in breaching operations against Siegfried Line. They advanced into Germany. He provides vivid details of these experiences, including dropping TNT-filled tomato cans down chimneys. They traveled to Bastogne, Belgium, completing road work and removing mines. Garrett received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He was discharged in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Medley. Medley joined the Army in February of 1943. He volunteered as a paratrooper, serving with the Headquarters Company, 541st Battalion, 101st Airborne Division. In September of 1943 he received the world record for the highest free fall jump at 30,000 feet. He jumped a number of times overseas at 600 feet. Medley describes his training and these experiences. In the fall of 1943 he traveled to Northern Ireland. From there his division was flown into combat, beginning with North Africa. In June of 1944 he jumped behind Utah Beach in Normandy. They traveled to England. He jumped in Southern France and Bad Hall, Austria. Medley assisted in liberating part of Dachau concentration camp. In December of 1944 he participated in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was captured ang taken to Mons, Belgium for 92 days. He escaped in April of 1945. He was discharged in May of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Van Lieshout. Van Lieshout joined the Coast Guard in December of 1941. He served as Seaman Third Class for one year aboard Hollyhock, a buoy tender and icebreaker on the Great Lakes. He was part of the deck crew, overseeing lighthouses and breaking up ice for ships in the winter time. In the summer of 1943 Van Lieshout played baseball for the Coast Guard team. He then completed LST training. In 1944 and 1945 he served as water tender aboard the LST-886 in the Pacific, delivering ammunition and supplies to numerous islands, including Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, the Philippines, Okinawa and Japan. He provides some details of the LST and his experiences across the Pacific. After the war they took occupation troops to Japan. He was honorably discharged in January of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Morton Wood. Wood was studying Mechanical Engineering and serving in the ROTC unit at Virginia Tech when World War II began. He completed college, then Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps beginning June of 1944. He was assigned to the 66th Infantry Division (the Black Panther Division), 264th Infantry Regiment and was given command of the 3rd Platoon. He traveled to England aboard a passenger liner converted to a troopship, the SS L???opoldville, on 24 December 1944. While sailing between Southampton and Cherbourg, the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the U-486. Wood describes this event, including the loss of 7 men from his platoon and their rescue by the HMS Brilliant (H84). With his division, Wood contained Germans in both Saint-Nazaire and Lorient in France. He was discharged in late 1945 and was recalled in 1951 for the Korean War. He describes this experience, including serving with the 1st Cavalry Division and getting wounded.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James L. Bell, Jr. He joined the Marine Corps in August, 1944. After basic training in California, he was sent to the Parker Ranch in Hawaii where he practiced maneuvers. He describes landing on Red Beach and fighting on Iwo Jima when he was in the 5th Marine Division. He discusses the placement of the American flag on the island, the Japanese tunnels, and the suicides of Japanese soldiers. After Iwo Jima, he joined the 2nd Division in Hawaii. When the war ended, he served ten months as part of the occupational force in Japan before being discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lyle Sanders. Sanders joined the Navy in September 1942 and received basic training in San Diego. He was trained as an engine mechanic in Iowa and upon completion was assigned to Motor Boat Torpedo Squadron 31, aboard PT-464, as a motor machinist. He patrolled the Solomon Islands, Palau, Leyte, and Okinawa. The small crew often traveled across the open ocean under their own power, burning 500 gallons of gasoline an hour at top speed. They never saw action or fired a torpedo, but at Okinawa Sanders was kept busy in the engine room as their boat constantly transported military personnel between ships. He recalls dragging two passengers aboard in a typically rough manner, only to realize once they were on deck that they were Admiral Turner and General Buckner. Sanders returned home and was discharged in December 1945.

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 interview with William Jones. Jones joined the Army Air Forces in July of 1944. He shares a few anecdotes about basic training and went to aerial photography school as well as aerial gunnery school. Before he was assigned to a B-29 crew, the war ended. Jones was sent to Japan on occupation duty. While there, Jones visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki and was able to take aerial photographs in January, 1946. He returned to the US in August and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Hobart Martin. Martin was drafted into the Army in February of 1943. In early 1944 he completed a college training detachment at Centenary College in Louisiana. From there he was assigned to Company E in the 342nd Infantry Regiment, 86th Infantry Division. They were assigned to La Havre, France in February of 1945 due to the Battle of the Bulge. His regiment was involved in much combat in France until they departed in June of 1945. In September they arrived in the Philippines, where he assisted with clerical work. He was promoted to Staff Sergeant and worked in the headquarters company. Martin was discharged in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Hunter. Hunter completed Civilian Pilot Training in college, acquired his pilot???s license and enlisted in the Army Air Forces in September of 1942. Hunter graduated from pilot training in July of 1943 and was commissioned. He joined the 94th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group flying a P-38. He provides some details of his trainings and the various planes he flew, including the P-38. In October of 1943 they traveled to North Africa, Italy and France, escorting bombers and going on strafing missions. They completed 35 combat missions. He later joined up with a service squadron, hauling freight, testing aircraft after repairs and transporting passengers. He was discharged in June of 1945. He received the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John E. Miller. Miller was born in Pulaski, Indiana 18 January 1918. He worked in his father’s general store until he was drafted into the Army. He was sent to Camp Forest, Tennessee for basic training after which he was assigned to the 80th Signal Company in the 80th Infantry Division. After completing a radio course in November 1942 he was sent to Ft. Riley, Kansas where he worked in the message center as a messenger. The division then went to Camp Laguna, Arizona and did advanced training until June 1944 when they moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey and boarded HMS Queen Mary on 6 July. Soon after arriving in England, Miller went to France, landing at Utah Beach. As a designated messenger he had a personal jeep and an armed guard. Miller drove over 40,000 miles while in Europe. He tells of being present at a conference attended by generals Eisenhower, Patton and Montgomery and comments on the unforgettable experience of seeing stacks of hundreds of corpses in one of the concentration camps. He was discharged on 7 November 1945 after returning to the United States …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jim Briscoe. Briscoe joined the Navy and received basic training at Great Lakes. Upon completion, he was assigned as a motor machinist to an auxiliary minesweeper sent to the shores of France. A diver would first walk the bottom of the harbor, cutting loose all the mines, which were then towed out to sea and detonated with machine gun fire. The ship once had the dangerous task of drawing enemy fire to help locate a nearby German howitzer; they spent 45 minutes dodging mortars while pretending to sweep mines. The ship was later sent to Okinawa to bring soldiers to China; they encountered a great typhoon along the way. They also carried a small box to the northern part of Japan, its contents precious but unknown. Briscoe then returned home and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Heimsoth. Heimsoth joined the Navy in January of 1943. He participated in a choir group at the Great Lakes Naval Station. He completed amphibious training, and served as a Quartermaster aboard an USS LST-218. Heimsoth participated in the Gilbert Islands Campaign, the Marshall Islands operation, and the capture and occupation of Saipan. After the war, he served with the occupation forces in Japan. He returned to the US in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with H.L. Tyree. Tyree was born in Cullman County, Alabama on 4 August 1924. Drafted into the Army in 1943 he was sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana for basic training. He then went to Fort Ord, California where he trained as an amphibious tractor driver. After six months training, he was assigned to the 536th Amphibious Tractor Battalion and assigned as a tractor driver. After two months of advanced training, the unit boarded USS LST-608, along with their tractors, bound for the South Pacific. Tyree was in the first tractor to hit the beach during the invasion of Leyte, landing members of the 1st Calvary Division. Soon thereafter, Tyree became extremely sick requiring hospitalization. He was then put aboard a hospital ship and taken to San Francisco. He stayed in several hospitals before receiving a medical discharge on 4 September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Willford Burks. Burks joined the Army around 1942. He was assigned to the 99th Infantry Division. They deployed to England in September of 1944. He participated in the Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe Campaigns. Burks returned to the US and was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Florence Keliher. Keliher joined the Army as a registered nurse in December 1944 and received basic training at Fort Devens. Her training included a 20-mile hike in sub-zero temperatures. She was assigned to the 27th Station Hospital on Tinian, where she treated casualties from Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She often worked 12-hour days, seven days a week, tending to patients and training corpsmen. In her spare time, she would often take note of the B-29s leaving the base, keeping track of how many returned. When the Enola Gay departed, she said it looked like any other plane taking off. After the war, Keliher returned home and spent 30 years working at a VA Hospital in Maine.