The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Garlic. Garlic joined the Navy to become an aviator in 1941. He trained to become a pilot of a F6F Hellcat night fighter. He tells stories of his experiences through training on the USS Ranger (CV-4) in the Atlantic to his service in VF(N)-78 aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16) in the Pacific. Garlic downed three Japanese torpedo planes in one mission while protecting the Lexington .

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Morrison. Morrison was inducted into the Army in 1944 after he graduated high school. He was sent to the 2nd Infantry Division as a replacement in the winter of 1945. He suffered frostbite, scarlet fever, and mumps. He was knocked out by an artillery barrage and left behind by his advancing unit who believed he was dead. Morrison awoke and found his unit. He discovered a large shell fragment had been stopped by a pocket Bible, saving his life. Morrison discusses being shot at by a group of German boys aged 11 to 15. He eventually was sent to Czechoslovakia after the war had ended to guard German prisoners. Morrison was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack First. First joined the Marine Corps in May of 1942. He completed Ordnance School. He served with the 2nd Anti-Tank Battalion. They were stationed on New Zealand for 8 months. In 1943 he was sent back to the US and assigned to the 5th Marine Division, 28th Regiment, Company E. He was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the guns for the company. They traveled to Hawaii and completed additional training at Parker Ranch. They participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima beginning February of 1945. He was discharged in May of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Larry Parker. Parker was drafted into the Army Air Forces in 1943. He was trained and joined the crew of a B-17 as a co-pilot. He was a member of a specialized unit trained to carry wooden life boats slung under the bomb bay and to drop them by parachute when downed aircrews were discovered. Parker operated out of the Philippines and eventually was sent to Ie Shima. He details several lifeboat drops. His plane carried General Stillwell to Okinawa after the death of General Buckner. He describes Stillwell almost melting one of the plane’s guns due to continuous fire during this trip. Parker also witnessed the Japanese delegation that landed on Ie Shima at the end of the war. He left the service in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Fred C. Hinds. Hinds joined the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was trained as a corpsman and was sent to the 23rd Naval Construction Battalion in Hawaii. Hinds was transferred to the USS Cache (AO-67) where he eventually became the ship’s mail clerk and also stood bridge watches. He describes the refueling process and mentions when a carrier had to make an emergency separation. Hinds also discusses witnessing the flag raisings on Iwo Jima and an attack on a nearby tanker at Ulithi by a Japanese mini-sub. His ship was also a part of the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay. He also witnessed a destroyer sink during a typhoon. Hinds was discharged soon after the surrender of Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold DeYoung. DeYoung joined the Navy around mid-1942. He trained in radio and submarine cable telegraphy. In March of 1945 DeYoung was assigned to replace the cable station in Manila, which had been destroyed by the Japanese. He was discharged in late 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with W. Bruce George. Born in 1920, he was drafted in 1942. After training as a weather observer, he was sent to the Middle East. He describes the route taken by the ship, the Robin Tuxford, from Philadelphia to the Persian Gulf. He served as a weather observer with the 19th Weather Squadron in Benghazi and Tripoli, Libya as well as Abadan, Iran and Ankara, Turkey. He shares an anecdote about mail censorship. He was discharged in September, 1945. The interview also contains information about his parents.

Transcript of an oral interview with Arelius Hall and his daughter Margaret. He discusses joining the Navy and becoming a Quartermaster on PT-246, being stationed in the Pacific and doing patrols around Bougainville and seeing other damaged PT boats coming into harbour.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur Keller, Jr. Keller joined the Army in 1942. He was sent to North Africa where he served in the 601st Ordnance Battalion. Keller was then a part of the invasion of Southern France as a part of the 3251st Quartermaster Service Company with the 7th Army. He describes how his unit would organize and ship supplies to the front. Keller describes serving in occupied Germany and his return to the US on the Queen Mary. He left the service soon after his return.

Transcript of an oral interview with Eugene George. He was born in 1922 in Wichita Falls, Texas. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Texas and worked for a contractor, doing plumbing work at Sheppard Field, Texas. He enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in 1942. After receiving training at various U.S. bases, he graduated from aviation school in 1944. He was sent to an Air Force Base in Goose Bay, Labrador. He describes landing at Bluie West 1 (BW-1), an airfield in Greenland. Stationed at Royal Air Force Station Tibenham, England, his first mission was a bombing raid in a B-24 bomber over the Orly Airfield, south of Paris, France. He recounts his experiences when his plane was shot down in the Kassel Mission. He parachuted from the burning airplane. After trying to make his way to Switzerland, he gave himself up to German soldiers in order to receive treatment for his injuries. He was sent to a Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe, or Dulag Luft, for interrogation before being sent to Stalag Luft I, a German POW camp near Barth, Western Pomerania, Germany. He describes his activities in the camp. After liberation from the camp, he returned …

Transcript of an oral interview with Bill Kennedy. He discusses joining the Army Air Corps in 1944, training stateside before shipping to Germany in fall of 1945 with the 8th Air Force, 891 Air Engineering Squadron, as part of the occupation force in Berlin where he worked typing up enlisted men's records, returning home in May of 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with James B. Hinshaw. When Hinshaw finished high school, he was draftd into the Army in 1943. He went ot basic training at Camp Roberts in California. At Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, Hinshaw was attached to an anti-tank company in the 222nd Regiment of the 42nd Infantry Division, which shipped over to Marseille, France in December, 1944. Shortly thereafter, his unit moved into combat near Strasbourg. the 42nd eventually assaulted into Wurzburg, Germany where Hinshaw fired his 57mm anti-tank weapon at a German machine gun nest, neutralizing it. He remembers being strafed by a German jet fighter. When the war in Europe ended, Hinshaw's unit was headed for Austria, where the 42nd ID served occupation duty. He finally shipped home in Marchm 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Walter Sy. Sy joined the Navy in January of 1941. He was trained as an electrician and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 6 December 1941 to join the crew of the USS West Virginia (BB-48). Sy briefly discusses being handed a rifle on the day of the attack and seeing the damage. He was assigned to the USS Gridley (DD-380) and traveled from the Aleutians to the South Pacific. Sy discusses how he became a baker after the CO had some bread that he made with his mother’s recipe. He also discusses having to be transferred to the USS Baltimore (CA-68) due to an appendicitis. Sy was later transferred to the USS Maryland (BB-46) and then shore duty in California where he appeared as an extra in a movie and helped fight a fire at Delmar Racetrack. He left the Navy in 1947 after a six-year enlistment.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Brayton Harris. Harris was a child during WWII and discusses recycling and victory gardens. He was commissioned as an officer in 1953 and served on a destroyer based in Japan. Brayton eventually was stationed at Treasure Island in California and met Admiral Nimitz. He tells of dice games that he used to play with Nimitz at the officer’s club. Brayton served as an active member of the Naval Reserve for some time and later went on to write a biography on Nimitz and discusses some of his research.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Calloway Scott. Scott joined the Army in October 1943 and received medical training at Camp Grant. Upon completion, he was sent to Omaha Beach with the 9th Infantry Division, arriving eight days after D-Day. Although there should have been three medics assigned to each company, they were often short-staffed, with only one medic per several hundred men. Scott participated in house-to-house fighting in Cherbourg and pushed onward into Belgium and Germany. He recalls an evening when Germans parachuted behind American lines, creating a great deal of confusion in the morning, but the Germans were taken prisoner without incident. Scott celebrated the end of the war alongside dancing Russians and returned home in October 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John R. Ahlgren. In 1942, Ahlgren, a Navy communications officer, was assigned to Admiral Chester Nimitz's staff at Pearl Harbor. From 1946 to 1947 he was stationed in Russia and worked as a translator and attaché to the US Embassy in Moscow. Ahlgren left the service soon after his time in Moscow.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Homrighausen. Homrighausen joined the Army in November 1943 and received basic training at Camp Gordon. Upon completion, he was assigned to Cherbourg where he was a half-track driver in the 10th Armored Infantry Division. He arrived in September 1944 and went through France, liberating Trier along the way. By mid-December he was in the Ardennes with snow up to his hips. His unit functioned as a mobile reserve for foot troops, watching for flares and deploying wherever help was needed. On 10 March 1944, in Ettal, he was sniped by a Russian prisoner of war who was following the orders of an SS officer. His neck injury was treated at three different hospitals before Homrighausen arrived at the general hospital in Cherbourg. He returned to his outfit on V-E Day, his truck driver shooting a pistol into the air in celebration as he drove. Homrighausen saw the devastation of German cities, and his unit liberated Dachau and Birkenau. He was assigned to a mountain post in Austria, to be on the lookout for fugitives. His unit enjoyed hunting and relaxing by the cool streams during their duty …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Sayles. Sayles joined the Navy in March 1944 and received basic training at Camp Farragut. Upon completion, he was shipped to Midway and assigned to the USS Pompon (SS-267), nicknamed “The Peaceful P” because it never found any targets. Sayles enjoyed rest camp on Guam. As punishment for using the officers’ pool, he patrolled Truk for four of the hottest weeks of summer, with no air conditioning and while short on rations. When the war ended, he was immediately shipped home. On the way, he stopped for liberty in Panama City. Once stateside, he joined the Air Force and was commissioned at Loyola University as a junior in the ROTC. Sayles took a compassionate discharge in 1951 to care for his wife after the birth of their third child.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Maddux. Maddux joined the Navy in December 1942. He was sent to the USS Argonne (AS-10). Maddux describes his role as a deck seaman, coxswain, and boatswain’s mate. He also details the capabilities of the ship as well as the repair and supply work that it performed. Maddox describes the fatal explosion that occurred aboard the USS Mount Hood (AE-11) and how he was blown over the side of his own ship which was anchored 100 yards away. He mentions that 1,300 pounds of metal from the Mount Hood was recovered on the Argonne and finding a shell-shocked survivor clinging to a buoy two days later. Maddux describes how his ship converted PT boats from torpedo boats to gun boats and describes test driving one. He left the service in January 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Murven J. Witherel. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduated from Allegheny High School in 1939. He went to work for a untility company before being drafted into the Army in February 1942. He qualified for Officer Candidate School (OCS) after Basic Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. He was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant at Fort Benning, Georgia in December 1942. He was then assigned as the leader of 3rd Platoon, Company E, 20th Infantry,6th Infantry Division and sent to the Mojave Desert to train anticipating a trip to North Africa. Instead, his unit went to New Guinea in January 1944. In June, his unit landed at Baffin Bay and assaulted Lone Tree Hill. Witherel was evetually wounded twice and received the new drug, penicillin at the Lae General Hospital. He was eventually shipped back to the USA. the conversatio then veers to cover such subjects as USO shows, friendly fire, the Red Cross, Tokyo Rose on the radio, morale in his outfit and a visit in the Lae General Hospital by Jack Benny.

Transcript of an oral interview with J. Whitfield Moody. He discusses joining the Navy to become a pilot, going through flight school and training at various bases in the States before joining the USS Chenango (CVE-28) in February of 1945 as part of squadron VT-260 flying TBM's and TBF's. The Chenango went to Guadalcanal to join the invasion force for Okinawa, where Moody flew submarine patrols, dropped bombs on the island, other surrounding islands and on Formosa to prevent the Japanese from using airstrips there to resupply Okinawa troops or make counterattacks from there. Moody also discusses having to land on Okinawa after getting hit by shrapnel from a bomb he dropped when he was flying too close to the ground, using fuel tanks taken from the Japanese to fuel up to get back to the carrier, and getting hit by ground fire after a bombing run over one of the surrounding islands, but managing to limp the plane back to the carrier. After Okinawa, Moody returned to the states for leave before reporting for duty at the Landing Signal Officer's school in Jacksonville, Florida, and being home on leave when the Japanese surrendered.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Talmage Gilbreath. Gilbreath joined the Army in February of 1942. He was trained as a radio operator in the Signal Corps. Gilbreath was assigned to work in communications aboard merchant marine vessels. He travelled in convoys to Murmansk, England, delivered troops to North Africa and brought back German POWs. Gilbreath was then assigned to a refrigerated ship and tells of delivering food throughout the South Pacific. He stayed in the reserves after the war and eventually became a Master Sargent.

Transcript of an oral interview with Albert Marley. When Marley finished high school in 1943, he volunteered for service in the Navy. After training and gunnery school, Marley was assigned to a gun crew on a vessel that transported men and material to England from the East Coast. After the invasion at Normandy, Marley's ship delivered men and supplies to France. He even steamed through the Mediterranean Sea delivering supplies to Egypt and India. In all, he served aboard five ships and made runs as far as China, where his ship encountered Japanese submarines and planes. When the war ended, Marley was discharged and used the G.I. Bill to attend Purdue University.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dale Nelsen. Nelsen joined the Navy in 1940. He was trained as a corpsman and was assigned to LST-347. He took part in the invasion of Sicily and was awarded the Bronze Star for treating wounded soldiers. He was transferred to USS LST-72 and participated in landings at Italy and discusses transporting 90 wounded soldiers to Bizerte. He was part of a landing by British troops behind enemy lines in Burma. Nelsen was also a part of the landings at Normandy and describes some of his experiences. He describes an incident where he witnessed a V-1 bomb land in London and helped treat the wounded. Nelsen remained in the reserves after the war and organized many reunions for his shipmates. He also describes visiting the WWII Memorial.