Interview with Dale R. Walker of Kingsville, Texas, a United States Marine Corps veteran from World War Two. The interview includes Hill's memories about growing up as well as his personal experiences while in the Marines, including details from his involvement in the Iwo Jima attacks, 3rd Battalion, and the occupation of Nagasaki.

Interview with Carl Peltier, a U. S Marine during World War II. He begins by discussing his reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then joined the Marines when he was old enough. He trained in San Diego before shipping out to Hawaii where he joined the 2nd Marine Division. Further training included heavy weapons and mortars. Later, he landed on Saipan and describes his small arms and rations. He witnessed General Simon Buckner getting killed on Okinawa. He was later wounded on Okinawa. After the war ended, Peltier served in the Pentagon during the Korean War.

Interview with Dale R. Walker, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He joined the Marine Corps in 1944 and was trained in mortars at Camp Pendleton, California. He then went to Camp Tarawa at Hawaii for further training with the Fifth Marine Division. Walker landed with the sixth wave on D-day at Iwo Jima. While working with mortars supporting the infantry, he was called on to be a stretcher-bearer on occasion. Walker spent 36 days on Iwo Jima. After the Japanese surrendered, Walker served in the occupation of Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Carl Peltier. He begins by discussing his reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor and then joining the Marines when he was old enough. He trained in San Diego before shipping out to Hawaii where he joined the 2nd Marine Division. Further training included heavy weapons - mortars. Later, he landed on Saipan and describes his small arms and rations. He witnessed General Simon Buckner getting killed on Okinawa. He was later wounded on Okinawa. After the war ended, Peltier served in the Petagon during the Korean War.

Transcript of an oral interview with Kay Clementson. Mr Clementson was born in 1926 and volunteered for the Navy just before he turned eighteen. He was sent to boot camp in San Diego, California in September 1944. After boot camp, he was assigned to USS LSM (Landing Ship, Medium) 96 which was in San Diego. Seven LSMs sailed for Pearl Harbor. At Pearl Harbor, they unloaded their cargo (telephone poles) and loaded a company of Marines who were in a radar group. After stops at Eniwetok, Ulithi, Lingayen and Leyte they landed the radar group on a little island off the coast of Okinawa two days before the main invasion. Their LSM got stranded on the beach due to miscalculating the tides so they had to spend the night on the beach; they were strafed by a couple Zero's and two marines were killed. During the battle for Okinawa, USS LSM-96 was used as a fire-fighting ship. They went to the aid of two ships, an AKA that had been converted to a hospital ship and a LST. Clementson provides a nice description of the kamikazes attacking the fleet off Okinawa. He also describes being in two typhoons during this …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a monologue by David Richardson. Richardson served as a journalist and Sergeant in the Army from 1941-1945. In 1941 he worked as editor of the Camp Pendleton newspaper. He then worked for the Army weekly, Yank, in New York in 1942. They sent him, with orders, to General MacArthur in Australia to put together a group of journalists to document the war in the China, Burma, India Theatre of Operations. He participated in battles in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Leyte Gulf, India, Burma, the Philippines and shares his grim experiences in journaling through combat. In Burma, Richardson walked 700 miles with Merrill’s Marauders. He shares details of casualties, illnesses, attacks, weapons and military vehicles he handled and writing GI stories from the front lines.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a transcription of an oral recording of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. In this statement, Nimitz exhorts the nation to remain alert by keeping a strong navy.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Katherine Ream Sobeck. Sobeck was born in Manila. She was a twelve-year old student at Baguio when the Japanese attacked Luzon. When Baguio was captured, the Japanese Army moved the civilians to Camp John Hay. From there, a large group of civilian internees was moved to Camp Holmes. Sobeck gives details of daily life as experienced by the internees including organizing their camp, education, entertainment and medical care. In December, 1944, Sobeck and her entire camp were moved to Manila. When the Americans arrived in Maila, Sobeck and her people were liberated from Bilibid. From the Philippines, Sobeck went to San Francisco with her family. They settled in the Bay Area and Sobeck went to school in the fall.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Leonard Frame and William Houseworth. Both Frame and Houseworth were P-39 pilots in the Pacific during the war. Houseworth completed the Flying Cadet program in November of 1940, and received his wings and commission in the Army Air Corps in July of 1941. He remained in the US during the war as a tactical instructor for the training program. He was discharged in late 1945, and later participated in the Korean War, retiring in January of 1955. He continued in the Reserves. Leonard Frame joined the Army Air Corps in March of 1941, and graduated from flight school in October. He was assigned to the 35th Fighter Group, and served in Fiji and Guadalcanal for 22 months. After several assignments within the US and the Caribbean, Frame was discharged in 1945. He served in the Air Force Reserve and retired in 1976.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James McClanahan. McClanahan completed the Civilian Pilot Training program in the summer of 1940. He had received his wings and commission when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He served with the Army Air Forces 35th Fighter Group. McClanahan primarily served in Fiji, Guadalcanal and New Caledonia, as a P-39 fighter pilot. He returned to the US and was discharged in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Douglas Canning. Canning was born in Wayne, Nebraska 4 July 1919. He attended Nebraska State Teachers College where he participated in the Civilian Pilot Training program. Graduating in 1940, he entered the Army Air Corps, training in various aircraft prior to being assigned to the 70th Fighter Squadron flying P-40 fighters. After gunnery training, the squadron boarded the USS President Monroe (AP-104) bound for Fiji. Upon arriving, the group was given instructions for flying P-39s. Canning was one of 14 pilots selected by Major John Mitchell to go to the 67th Squadron to Henderson Field from which he flew strafing and bombing missions. He tells of the primitive living conditions and the daily harassment by long-range Japanese Artillery and frequent bombardment by Japanese ships. On one occasion he flew divisionary tactics over a group of nine Japanese destroyers allowing accompanying TBF and SBD’s to attack and sink six of them. He witnessed the actions of a P-70 night fighter shooting down a Japanese bomber. Being selected as a member of Operation Vengeance, he tells of the detailed planning of the flight by Captain John Mitchell and the special …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Rose Steinman. Steinman was living in Fort Worth, Texas when World War II began. She worked as an inspector at the Texas Steel Manufacturing Company, making 81mm and 60mm shells. She also worked with the Knights of Columbus organizing U.S.O. dances for the servicemen. She recalls rationing books, gasoline, coffee and sugar. Her husband was stationed at the Fort Worth Army Airfield, and she had a number of family members who served in the war. Steinman shares details of her individual family members and their unique service in the war, including brothers, uncles and her husband. She also speaks overall how her large family worked together and supported one another throughout war time.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with David Sablan. Sablan lived in Garapan, Saipan during the Japanese occupation and attended a strict Japanese school where he was forced to pledge allegiance to the emperor. Sablan’s father was conscripted as an interpreter for the Japanese military during the invasion of Guam. When their family home was seized, they fled to their ranch, where they were raided by the Kempeitai after Sablan’s father was suspected of being a spy. They fled to a cave, with only sugarcane to eat, until they were forced out by a fire. As they left in the darkness, they could hear a banzai charge. Terrified of the American Marines, they considered suicide. But upon discovering that troops were friendly, his father began serving as their interpreter. They were taken to Camp Susupe and given medical treatment, but Sablan's sister was so malnourished that she could not properly digest food and soon died. Sablan’s father became the chief of police in Garapan in 1944, and Sablan interned at a Navy supply department so that he could learn English. He later worked for the military government, attending school in Guam, and went on to …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral monologue by Bob Willig. Willig joined the Navy in 1942 and received basic training in Newport, Rhode Island. He went on to receive flight training in Brunswick, Maine; Charleston, South Carolina; and Yellow Water, Florida. From 1944 to 1945 he served as a flight engineer with Patrol Bombing Squadron 26 in Palau, Ulithi, and Yap. He kept a daily journal and gives detailed accounts of a typhoon, a crash landing, an engine failure, a fuel explosion, a surprise enemy attack, and having a depth-charge stuck in a bomb bay. Yet he also fondly recollects cooking steaks on hot plates during the 10- to 12-hour patrols and how peaceful his time at Ulithi was. He was rarely ashore and spent his time mostly on the USS Casco (AVP-12), USS Cumberland Sound (AV-17), and USS Kenneth Whiting (AV-14). At the end of the war he returned home and was discharged in New York.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Wendell Brinson. Brinson joined the Army Air Forces in September of 1943. He completed schooling to work on radial engines. He traveled to New Guinea and was assigned to the 65th Troop Carrier Squadron. He worked on weapons, and replaced cables on C-47s throughout the island. Brinson traveled to the Philippines, where his squadron was involved in the Raid on Los Baños. He returned to the US and was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Rodenhouse. Rodenhouse joined the Army Air Forces on 8 December 1941. He served as a B-29 Pilot with the 313th Bombardment Wing, 6th Bombardment Group, 39th Bomb Squadron. From his base on Tinian, Rodenhouse completed 35 Pacific Theater missions. Rodenhouse served in the Air Force Reserves until he earned the rank of major, then was honorably discharged in September of 1956.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Thompson. Thompson was born in Chicago on 3 December 1919. He worked various jobs after graduating from high school in Indiana in 1937. In 1943, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Joseph Robinson, Arkansas for six weeks of infantry basic training. He then went to Westchester State Teacher College in Pennsylvania for six weeks of training in Army Postal Services. After spending some time at Camp Shanks, Pennsylvania he went to Newport News, Virginia where he boarded the RMS Empress of Scotland for a three day trip to Casablanca in North Africa. There he was assigned to the 5th Army, Adjutant Generals Office, 9th Base Post Office, in June 1943. He was assigned to the bulk mail section in Algeria and worked there thirteen months before being sent to Leghorn, Italy. He describes in detail receiving and processing military mail. He returned to the United States in September 1945 and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gaylord Whitlock. Whitlock was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois on 1 July 1917. Upon graduating from high school in 1935, he entered university in Carbondale, Illinois and graduated in 1939. In 1943, he received a commission in the US Navy Naval Reserve and reported to the Naval Training School of Aerological Engineers at UCLA where he received a professional degree in meteorology. He was then ordered to attend the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. While there, he worked on a method of determining shoreline depths an island for military purposes. In October 1944 he was sent to Kodiak, Alaska as a reanalysis officer, where he drew weather maps every six hours. He recounts and episode where he and fifteen others were shipwrecked. Only six survivors were rescued by the Coast Guard. In July 1945, he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Training Center at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. While at this base, he developed a medical condition which led to five months in the naval hospital at Sampson, New York. He was discharged following his release from the hospital.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Warren Deciores. Deciores was born in1909 and joined the Navy in 1928. He completed Hospital Corpsman School, graduating in June of 1929. He worked in the operating room of a hospital on Mare Island for his basic training duty. He later moved into administration. From 1935 through 1937, Deciores completed two years of medical work on Guam, including providing care to the island natives. He would pick up supplies in China for his work on the island. In 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Deciores was stationed at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, in Virginia. He additionally served aboard the hospital ships, USS Refuge (AH-11) and USS Relief (AH-1). He traveled through both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. He continued his service after the war ended and retired in February of 1959.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ed Kirshenmann. Kirshenmann joined the Navy in 1939 and upon completion of basic training was assigned to USS Saratoga (CV-3), which his brother was already aboard. Kirshenmann worked in fire room, the evaporator room, the engine room, and the pump room (M Division). He lost three firemen when the Saratoga was torpedoed off Wake Island. When the Saratoga was torpedoed again, off Guadalcanal, Kirshenmann saved his brother’s life by ordering him out of the fire room just seconds before impact. In February 1943 Kirshenmann was transferred to USS Bushnell (AS-15) as a machinist’s mate, first class. He was promoted to chief in 1943 but lost his rank after getting into a fight. He was transferred to USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16) and stayed in Subic Bay until the end of the war. His time there was peaceful, and he umpired officers’ baseball games, but he heard rumors that sometimes a Japanese soldier would come out of their sequestered posts and kill an American. Upon returning to the States, Kirshenmann was assigned to the Gilmore until he was discharged in 1948. He retired in 1979 as a stationary engineer, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Michael Tarnawski. Tarnawski joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939. He joined the Navy in the spring of 1940 and completed Aviation Radio School in July of 1941. He arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 December 1941 and was working with Patrol Squadron 12 in Kaneohe when the Japanese attacked. Tarnawski served as a Radio Operator aboard PBYs during patrol and photoreconnaissance missions over Midway Island, Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal and the Aleutian Islands. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Preston Allen. Allen was born in Columbus, Indiana on 6 January 1926. Upon enlisting in the Navy, he went to Great Lakes Naval Training Station for boot training. After graduation, he was assigned to the USS New York (BB-34). He made several trips across the Atlantic aboard the New York before requesting submarine duty. He then went to submarine school in New London, Connecticut. From there he attended diesel school at Groton, Connecticut. Upon graduating as a motor machinist, he was assigned to the USS Perch (SS-313). After conducting sea trials the boat departed to Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal. On their first patrol they sunk a Japanese tanker and were subjected to depth charge attack by destroyers. The next day they sank a Japanese patrol boat with gun fire. On their second patrol one of their main engines required major repairs. The engine room crew worked seventy-two hours straight to get it repaired. As the boat returned to Midway, a PBY dropped a bomb inflicting no to the boat. Allen suffered a ruptured eardrum from the explosion. After the Perch returned to Pearl Harbor, Allen was …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Schaub. He was born on 10 October 1928 in Washington, Pennsylvania and enlisted into the Navy in October 1945. Immediately after enlisting, he was sent to Camp Perry, a Seabee training base in Virginia. He describes the conditions in the camp and his experiences while undergoing eight weeks of basic training. Due to his aptitude with the Morse Code, he was sent to radio school in Bainbridge, Maryland for five months. Schaub graduated in May 1946, and volunteered for Submarine School for advanced training in radio, sonar and radar in Groton, Connecticut. In December 1946 he was sent to the USS Greenfish (SS-351), and following a short cruise to the Caribbean, he was transferred to the Brooklyn Naval Receiving Station in April 1947 to decommission USS LST-506. In September 1947 he was transferred to the USS Steinaker (DD-863) for two years. During his second cruise he was transferred to the USS Cone (DD-866), where he served as a radio operator. In August 1949 he reenlisted and was transferred to the USS Cobbler (SS-344). In June 1950 he was transferred to the USS Sea Leopard (SS-483) where he …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Arthur Schott. Schott joined the Army in January of 1942. He completed Quartermaster training. In mid to late 1942 he traveled to Brisbane, Australia and New Guinea, serving with the Sixth Army Headquarters. In 1944 Schott was stationed in the Philippines, during the Battle of Leyte. His job was graves registration. He remained in the Philippines through early 1945. He returned to the US and was discharged in August.