Interview with Albert Bouley, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses his enlistment in the Marines just after Pearl Harbor; his assignment to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division; the battle of Guadalcanal; malaria and dysentery; the battle of Cape Gloucester; the use of Pavuvu as a base; the battle of Peleliu; his return to the United States; guard duty at the Brooklyn Naval Yard and his service as an instructor in a heavy weapons school before the end of the war. He joined the Air Force 2 1/2 years later to be able to fly and work on planes, then retire to become a teacher in California, and finally settled in Texas.

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 George Medcalf. Medcalf grew up in Georgia and was drafted into the Army. Once he finished training, he departed on a ship to the North Atlantic. He was in the Second Infantry Division, 38th Regiment, Company C. He landed in Ireland, went to Wales, and then left for the invasion at Normandy. He landed on June 7, 1944. He describes advancing at Omaha Beach and confrontations with Germans. He continues advancing and assumes command when his superiors until he is injured by shrapnel. After four months in England, he returned to Belgium after the Battle of the Bulge. From Belgium, he went into Germany and then Czechoslovakia. Then the war ended, and he returned to the United States where he married his wife.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Mary Medcalf. Medcalf grew up in Georgia and became a registered nurse in Virginia. Then, she went to Michigan to finish her degree. After graduating, she signed up to be an Army Nurse. She was a 2nd Lieutenant. She went to a hospital transformed from the Chicago Beach Hotel into the Gardiner General Army Hospital. Many of the soldiers needed orthopedics. Later, she transferred to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. She met her husband at an Officer's Dance.

Transcript of an oral interview with Albert Bouley. He discusses joining the Marines just after Pearl Harbor, being in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, the battle of Guadalcanal, getting malaria and dysentery, the battle of Cape Gloucester, using Pavuvu as a base, the battle of Peleliu, shipping back to the States, doing guard duty at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, becoming an instructor in a heavy weapons school before then end of the war. He joined the Air Force 2 1/2 years later to be able to fly and work on planes, then retiring and becoming a teacher in California before settling in Texas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Keresey. Keresey was born in Delaware on 8 May 1916. Graduating from Dartmouth in 1938 he attended Columbia Law School. Upon joining the Navy, he reported for duty at Northwestern University Midshipman School in September, 1941. Upon completion of the four month course, he was assigned to torpedo school at Newport, Rhode Island. In January 1942 he volunteered for torpedo boat training at Melville, Rhode Island. Following eight weeks there, he was assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 5. Two months later the squadron was sent to Panama, staying there until February 1943 at which time the PT boats were loaded on a tanker and taken to New Caledonia. Squadron 5 was based at Tulagi until June 1943 and they moved to Rendova in the New Georgia Islands. He describes actions against Japanese shipping involving his boat, USS PT-105. He recounts the experience of landing under fire on Choiseul with a marine force. He tells of being on board PT-59, which was captained by John F. Kennedy at the time and comments on his relationship with the future president. Leaving the combat zone in December 1943 he …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Prudence Burns Burrell. Burrell was an African American woman who enlisted in the Army Reserve and served as a medical nurse in World War II. She was stationed in Australia, Java, New Guinea and the Philippines. She provides some details of her work in these areas and with the natives. She also shares experiences of racial discrimination. She completed her degree in public health at the University of Minnesota. She then served as a nurse aboard SS America. Upon returning home she became the first black instructor at Mission High School in San Francisco, teaching health and participating with the Future Nurses of America organization.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Don Fox. He was born July 3, 1926 in Pulaski, Indiana. He was drafted into the Army on January 9, 1945. Upon completion of basic training he shipped out to Leyte Island in the Philippines where he joined the 24th Division, 34th Regiment. During the transit the war with Japan ended. He recalls in September 1945 taking part in an unopposed amphibious landing on Matsuyama, Japan, where there was a Japanese Army base. He recalls marching through the town where there were starving Japanese children lined up waving American flags, and giving them chocolate. He describes how his unit paid the local Japanese to enter tunnels stocked with munitions, remove them and detonate them safely. He describes his battalion being trucked to Hiroshima five or six weeks after the atomic bomb was dropped. He recalls the desolation of the area. Upon returning to the city of Hiro, he recalls being sent out on patrols into cities where they would interview officials and check on schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. He recalls frequent encounters with starving Japanese seeking employment. He recounts an instance when he volunteered for honor guard …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Crichton. Crichton enlisted in the Army in June 1942 and was assigned to the 31st Infantry Division. In New Guinea, as captain of his unit he took no prisoners when intercepting elite Japanese forces even though the natives brought in prisoners bound in vines. While Crichton was evacuating all women from combat zones, he read in a Japanese diary that Americans planned to annihilate the Japanese, sparing only the most beautiful women to exhibit in a zoo. In the Philippines, Crichton was reassigned to 6th Army Intelligence, screening and forwarding guerilla and coast watcher messages. When he received word that battleships were headed for Surigao Strait, he relayed the information to Halsey. At Lingayen Gulf, a kamikaze struck the destroyer escort beside Crichton’s ship, and a bomb hit where Crichton had slept the night before. He went ashore on D+3. Sleeping in a slit trench with a log rolled of it, he awoke to find a large shell embedded in the log. He went on to serve as aide to General Krueger, who ordered Crichton to shoot and kill him if enemy capture was imminent. After the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frederick W. Rosen. Rosen was born in Kings County, New York 9 September 1917. Graduating from the University of Georgia in 1939 he entered the US Navy in 1941. In October 1942 he reported for duty at the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Center, Melville, Rhode Island, where he met John F. Kennedy. Upon completion of the limited training he was assigned captain of PT-207 in Squadron 15. He tells of the boats being loaded onto the USS Housatonic (AO-35) and taken to Gibraltar. Rosen relates his experiences while based in Bizerte, Tunisia, Palermo, Sicily and Maddalena, Sardinia. He describes in detail participating in a multi-boat attack on a German convoy which resulted in damage to his boat. In May 1944, Rosen returned to the United States. He was then assigned as gunnery officer on the USS Randolph (CV-15) and he tells of the ship being hit by a kamikaze. His next assignment was to the USS Noble (APA-218), which participated in the invasion of Okinawa. Following the Japanese surrender, the ship was sent to Korea and China to pick up Allied prisoners of war and he relates several …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Glenn Oliver. Oliver was born in Brainerd, Minnesota 25 April 1919 and graduated from high school in 1937. He joined the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Tank Company in October 1940. The unit (194th Tank Battalion) was called to active duty 10 February 1941 and was sent to Ft. Lewis, Washington for further training. Oliver was ordered to Fort Knox, Kentucky to attend the radio and repair school, from which he graduated in June. On 8 September 1941 he went aboard the SS President Coolidge (1931) and sailed for the Philippines. The tank battalion was stationed at Fort Stotsenberg, Philippines. Oliver witnessed the Japanese attack on Clark Field on 8 December 1941 and describes in detail combat in which he was involved and subsequently wounded. After surrendering, he witnessed the atrocities committed by the Japanese during a forced march. He describes being put aboard boxcars and sent to Camp O’Donnell and of the conditions which caused the death of many of the prisoners. He was assigned to a grave detail. On 24 October 1944 while at Bilibid Prison, he was in a group of 1869 men put aboard the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ray Thomas. Thomas joined the Army in 1943. He completed Gas School, learning how to recognize mustard gas, tear gas and chlorine gas. He served with the 96th Reconnaissance Troop, 96th Division. They worked with half-tracks, armored cars and jeeps. They participated in the Battles of Leyte and Okinawa. Thomas returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Louis Imfeld. Imfeld joined the Marines in January of 1942. He served as a machine gunner on the 30-caliber light machine gun with G Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. In June he traveled to New Zealand for additional training, and participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of Cape Gloucester and the Battle of Peleliu. In late 1944 he returned to the US and served as a math instructor at the Marine Corps Institute.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hulen Hammock. Born in Bentonville, Texas on 5 November 1917, Hammock graduated from William Adams High School in Alice, Texas in 1932. Upon joining the Army Air Corps in December 1941, he was sent to Shepherd Field, Wichita Falls, Texas for basic training. After basic, Hammock went to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he studied aircraft maintenance for six weeks. He was then sent to Barksdale Field, Shreveport, Louisiana where he was assigned to the 319th Bomb Group, 440th Bomb Squadron and began working on B-26A bombers. Later, he was sent to Harding Field, Baton Rouge, Louisiana for advanced training. From there he boarded RMS Queen Mary at New Jersey and recalls an incident in which the ship collided with HMS Curacoa (D41), which was cut in half. Hammock noted that the ship did not slow down or attempt to save survivors. Landing at Gurrock, Scotland he proceeded to Norwich, England. He recalls boarding RMS Mooltan on 27 October 1942 and landing at Algeria. He shares an anecdote involving himself and General Jimmy Doolittle in a B-26. He also tells of servicing a DH98 de Havilland Mosquito aircraft flown by …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Clay. Clay joined the Army in 1940. Beginning August of 1941, he served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, serving in the Pacific Theater. In September of 1943, they participated in the New Guinea Campaign. Clay served until late 1943, early 1944. His discharge date is not noted.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Horton. Horton was born in Oklahoma 14 October 1920. Graduating from high school in 1939 he enlisted in the Army and was given a choice of joining a horse drawn artillery unit or the 4th Artillery Battalion, which was a pack mule outfit. Soon after joining the 4th Artillery, at Fort Bragg, he was selected to be a pitcher with the base baseball team. Having been selected, he never had basic training. He was transferred into the 79th Field Artillery and continued to play baseball. He was selected to be in the Instrument Survey Section and after two years he was promoted to Staff Sergeant. Soon after war was declared, he was selected to attend Officers Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was commissioned 21 January 1942 and assigned as Athletic Officer for the 97th Division being organized at Camp Swift, Texas. Within six months he joined class number 51 at Fort Benning, Georgia and began parachute training. Horton graduated from jump school and was assigned to the 462nd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion. He describes the train trip to Camp Stoneman, and the ocean voyage …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Philip M. Grass. Grass was born in Mark, Louisiana 5 April 1924. He dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Army in 1942. After basic training at Camp Roberts, California he went to Ft. Benning, Georgia for airborne training, from which he graduated in 1942. Injuring his knee, he was incapacitated for a period of time. Upon recovering, he attended ordnance school at Camp Connelly, Georgia. His knee problem resulted in surgery requiring lengthy recovery time. Upon being returned to active duty in 1943 he went aboard the USS Sea Snipe (APA) and went to Brisbane, Australia. He arrived at Port Moresby and was assigned to F Company, 503rd Army Parachute Infantry Regiment and recalls his experiences while in Australia and Hollandia. The Regiment traveled by LCIs to Noemfoor, New Guinea at which time he was assigned to Headquarters Company and became a wireman and a runner. He recalls parachuting onto Corregidor and describes combat casualties that occurred. He returned to the United States in 1945 and was discharged. He tells of reenlisting in the army, receiving a commission and describes some of his experiences during …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Guy Lary. Lary enlisted in the Army in 1943. He discusses his training as a paratrooper at Fort Benning. Lary joined the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment as a replacement. He details the jump on Corregidor and the fighting that followed. Lary was then sent to Negros Island where he remained until the surrender of Japan. He went to Japan for the occupation duty and left the service soon after his return to the US.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Roscoe Corder. Corder joined the Army in March of 1940. He completed Officer Candidate School and Parachute School. He served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. In late 1943, Corder participated in the New Guinea Campaign. In February of 1945, he served in the Battle of Corregidor. He was discharged in June of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Victor Erdahl. Erdahl joined the Army in 1942. He completed Parachute School. He served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. In late 1943, Erdahl participated in the New Guinea Campaign. In February of 1945, he served in the Battle of Corregidor. He was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Walker. Walker was born in Waco, Texas and attended Texas A & M after high school. In 1943 he was called to active duty and reported to Camp Roberts, California. While there, he applied for airborne training and was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia. Upon completing jump training, he was sent back to California and was assigned to the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment as a replacement. The replacements were sent to Oro Bay, New Guinea where they joined their unit to begin advanced training. He recalls in detail the unit’s participation in combat on Hollandia, Noemfoor and a parachute drop on Corregidor. Following a successful operation on Corregidor, the unit made an amphibious landing on Negros Island. Walker describes the combat in which he was involved and of being wounded. He was taken to a field hospital and then moved to a general hospital on Leyte. Following his recovery, he rejoined his unit at Bacolod, Negros Island where he once again was involved in combat. Soon after Japan surrendered, he and an officer met with a Japanese general to accept the surrender of his troops on Negros …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ed Llewellyn. Llewellyn joined the paratroopers after joining the Army. He trained at Fort Benning. He was scheduled to jump on Corregidor, but his transport ship could not keep up with the convoy. He joined his unit elsewhere in the Philippines. He contracted hepatitis and was evacuated from combat to a hospital. When the war ended, Llewellyn went to Japan for occupation duty.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Nelson Gatewood. Gatewood joined the Army in January of 1943. He served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. In late 1943, Gatewood participated in the New Guinea Campaign. In February of 1945, he served in the Battle of Corregidor. He was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert E. Batterson. Batterson was born on 5 May 1921 in Mason City, West Virginia. Following graduation from high school in 1938, he joined the Navy. After competing boot camp at Norfolk, Virginia, he was assigned to the USS Philadelphia (CL-41). During battle stations, he was a powder man on a six inch gun. The ship was anchored at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and he describes what he saw on that day. In 1942, he was selected to enter the V-5 Naval Aviation Program. In January 1943 he began at the University of Southern California. Upon completing the first phase of the training he went to the University of New Mexico for initial flight training followed by pre-flight at Del Monte, California. From there he began flight training at Hutchinson Naval Air Station, Kansas. He was then sent to Corpus Christi, Texas for instrument and advanced training before joining a squadron at Daytona Beach, Florida. After several months, he went to Glennville Naval Air Base, Illinois to learn carrier landing. Upon being qualified as a carrier pilot, he was assigned to the USS Bennington (CV-20). He …