The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ernest Andrus. Andrus joined the Navy in June of 1942. Beginning in November, he served as a medical corpsman in the sick bay aboard USS Rochambeau (AP-63), transporting troops throughout the Pacific islands. Around January of 1944, he transferred to the sick bay aboard USS LST-124 in New Caledonia. Andrus shares his experiences through the Battle of Tinian in July. They traveled to Guadalcanal for ferry duty, and provided transportation for supplies and men throughout the islands. Andrus left USS LST-124 in mid-1945 and went ashore in New Caledonia. He transferred back to the US around August, and recalls the celebration in the streets of downtown Los Angeles when the war ended. He received his discharge in December.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Irma L. Ashenbrenner. Ashenbrenner was born 26 September 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She joined the WAVES in 1943. She attended boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training Center (WR) at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York. While at boot camp she attended radio classes. Following that she was sent for six months for more advanced instruction at the Navy Radio Training School at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. There she learned to copy Morse code. Now a Radioman 3rd Class, she was assigned to the Navy's wireless radio receiving station at Chatham, Massachusetts. There she copied intercepted coded messages from German submarines in the Atlantic. These were then transmitted to Washington, DC to be analyzed. When the war ended, Ashenbrenner was sent first to Seattle and then to San Diego to handle the paperwork involved in discharging Navy personnel. On Christmas Eve 1945 she boarded a train from San Diego to New York. She was discharged from the Navy 27 December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Roger A. Ashenbrenner. Ashenbrenner was born 7 June 1922 in Washington D.C. He enlisted in the Navy 15 August 1942. He went to boot camp in Newport, Rhode Island. After brief periods as an armed guard at the Naval War College, amphibious training at Little Creek, Virginia, and a trip to Brooklyn, New York to man a new destroyer, he was finally sent to the merchant ship Mormac Swan as a member of the Navy Armed Guard. Their duty was to man the 3" gun mounted on the bow of the ship. After one trip across the Atlantic, Ashenbrenner was assigned to the Henry A. Wiley (DM-29). In November 1944, the Wiley escorted the battleships Missouri (BB-63), Texas (BB-35), and Arkansas (BB-33), and two escort carriers from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Arriving at Pearl Harbor, she then escorted the New York (BB-34) to join the covering force for the invasion of Iwo Jima. While there, Ashenbrenner witnessed both the original flag raising on Mt. Suribachi and the second raising immortalized by Joe Rosenthal. Once Iwo Jima was secured, the Wiley went to Okinawa to sweep mines. Subsequently …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lewis Asher. Asher was born 24 December 1919, in Maywood, Illinois. He graduated from high school in 1937 and was drafted into the Army on 10 December 1941. After basic, he was assigned to the 125th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division as company clerk in the Headquarters company. The regiment was stationed in California and responsible for the defense of the coastline. Asher took the tests for warrant officer and was promoted and assigned to the 67th Signal Repair Company. The company was responsible for repairing all the wire and radio equipment carried by the infantry into battle. In March 1945 his company was transferred to Aix, France where after several weeks they received word of the German surrender. He recalls that the company was then embarked on a ship which transited the Panama Canal en route to Japan as part of the first wave of the planned invasion in November, when word was received in August 1945 that the Japanese had surrendered. He says that his company landed in Japan on September 7, 1945 and travelled to Kobe where they were quartered under the stadium built for …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arlos L. Awalt. He was born in Brady, Texas, drafted into the Army, and inducted at Ft. Sam Houston, in San Antonio. After basic training at Camp Wolters in Mineral Wells, Texas, he took a troop train to New York Harbor and boarded the Louis S. Pasteur to Southhampton, England where he was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division, 424 Regiment, in the 81mm mortars in H Company, a heavy weapons company. They went right into the Battle of the Bulge where he suffered frost bite and pneumonia. Later assignments included the following: the occupation army in charge of prisoner of war camps interviewing POWs and displaced persons, serving at General Eisenhower's headquarters building in a little red schoolhouse in Rheims, France (where peace was later signed), in the Grand Hotel in Bad Nauheim, Germany where General Patton was officed, and in Renea Lanay, France. He served 22 months in the Army, 19 overseas - returning as a corporal. He received the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and two medals from the Belgian government.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Allen Barker. Barker was born 29 July 1922 in Sairlie, Texas. He joined the Army Air Corps in August 1942. Following completion of basic training in Greenville, Texas he was assigned to the signal corps. He was shuttled around to various bases in the United States and finally boarded a troop ship, USS General A.E. Anderson for a 30 day sea trip to Bombay, India. His unit built a base about 60 miles northwest of Imphal, India. After the Japanese surrender he was involved in closing various bases in India until being shipped back to the United States and receiving his discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Zayda Baron. Baron was born in 1933 in the Philippines. Her father, Leon Oreonez, was the captain of a guerrilla unit. When the Japanese came to her home looking for her father, she fled and was separated from her parents for some time. Eventually, her older brothers worked at resisting the Japanese. When the war ended, Baron returned to school. She comments on the conditions of the Filipino populace during the Japanese occupation.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Baugh. Baugh joined the Merchant Marine in 1944. He shares details of his training. He served as Messman in the Steward Department aboard a T2 tanker, the SS Mobile Bay. In early 1945, they deployed to England to deliver fuel. Baugh shares details of the ship and general life aboard. He later joined the union and worked aboard a merchant ship, delivering cargo to Panama, Venezuela and Columbia. After the war ended, Baugh continued his service in the union for an additional 23 years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Fred Bergeron. Bergeron joined the Navy in 1940 and was trained as a radioman. He joined VB-3 and served on SBDs. Bergeron was attached to the USS Saratoga (CV-3). Bergeron describes his observations flying over the recently attacked Pearl Harbor. He was then attached to the Enterprise (CV-6) and helped screen the task force that launched the Doolittle Raid. Bergeron then joined the USS Yorktown (CV-5) for the Battle of Midway where he would earn the Distinguished Flying Cross. He describes in detail the bombing runs that he was a part of and his brother getting wounded. Bergeron rejoined the Saratoga until it was torpedoed off Guadalcanal, after that he flew missions from Henderson Field. He rotated back to the US for advance radio school and then received an honorable discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Neil Berghout. Berghout was born in Holland in 1926. He joined the Dutch resistance as a teenager, hiding downed American pilots and helping them return to England. When his identity was discovered by German officials, Berghout went into hiding in France. Members of the French resistance transported him to England, where he joined an armored division of the British Royal Army and participated in the Normandy invasion. After the war, his unit liberated a concentration camp. He then transferred to the Dutch Royal Army and served four years in Indonesia. In 1957 he became an intelligence instructor for the Dutch Royal Air Force.

Transcript of an oral interview with Walter E. Bolssen. Born in 1918, he enlisted in the Navy in December, 1939. After training as an airplane engine mechanic, he was sent to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii in late 1940. He served as a PBY crew plane captain in VP-12. He describes his experiences during and after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1943 he was stationed at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal where he flew on night patrols in a “Black Cat” PBY-5. After approximately one year on Guadalcanal, he was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he trained mechanics for the “Yellow Peril” N3N airplane. After the war ended, he was discharged from the Navy, but re-enlisted three months later. He retired in 1960.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Luther Azel Bookout. Bookout joined the Marine Corps in July of 1941 to attend Officer Training School, and was called to active duty in 1942. He was assigned to Field Artillery School and joined C Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, and was promoted to first lieutenant. He landed in Auckland, New Zealand on early 1943, then redeployed in July to Guadalcanal. Luther participated in the battles of Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. Bookout resigned his commission on 7 June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond Bunfill. Bunfill went into the Army in September, 1944 and trained at Camp Fannin, Texas. He landed on Leyte in late March where he was assigned to the 108th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division. While in the Philippines, Bunfill served on Leyte, Mindanao and Panay during operations to clear Japanese resistance. When the war ended, he travelled with his unit to Korea for occupation duty. When the division was sent home in January, 1946, Bunfill did not have enough points so he stayed in Korea. Bunfill returned to the US in September, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Burns. Burns joined the Navy in June of 1943. He completed the Navy V-12 Program. He was commissioned as ensign in May of 1945, and assigned to a destroyer escort. They conducted submarine patrol. He worked in numerous departments aboard the ship, and they remained along the coast of Florida. He was transferred to California for amphibious training. Burns continued his service in the Navy, receiving his discharge in 1958.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Cadle. Cadle joined the Army Air Forces in October, 1942 after working in a naval gun factory. He passed the exam and was accepted for pilot training. He earned his wings and commission in May, 1944. He then learned to fly B-24 bombers and was shipped to England and was assigned to the 328th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group. He describes a few missions over Europe in detail, including one in which he bailed out of a crippled bomber and was rescued by the Russians. Cadle describes his ordeal with the Russians and getting back to England. He also served in Korea as a forward air controller, spending over 2 months with the infantry.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jim Calvert. Calvert joined the Army Air Forces in May of 1943. He is one of two pilots in the US who carried the wings on his uniform of 3 Air Forces, including the US, the Royal Air Force of Great Britain and the Chinese Air Force. Calvert served as a C-47 pilot with the Air Transport Command and flew missions over China, India, and Burma, including flying over the Himalaya Mountains, the Hump. He returned to the US and was discharged in August of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Carpenter. Carpenter served aboard USS South Dakota (BB-57), going aboard in early 1942. He was assigned to a 20mm gun. He shares several anecdotes about his experiences aboard the ship. He discusses the Battle of Santa Crus Islands and night action of Guadalcanal.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles R. Clark. Clark was born in 1918 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1939. His first assignment was as a gunnery officer aboard the USS San Francisco (CA-38). Next, he served aboard the USS Fairfax (DD-93) as an engineer. He also served aboard the USS Texas (BB-35) as a radio officer. Clark attended submarine school after the war started. After graduation he served on the USS O-2 as torpedo, gunnery and engineering officer. He later became the executive officer. His next assignment was to the USS Dace (SS-247) as an engineer. He spent a year on this boat and made seven war patrols. After promotion, he commanded the USS Sennet (SS-408). In May 1945 on war patrol in the Sea of Japan, the Sennet sank four enemy vessels. After the war, Clark administered the submarine sonar school in Florida before being assigned to the USS Quillback (SS-424). Clark also served as captain aboard the USS Hawkins (DD-873). Next he was assigned as embassy naval attaché in Havana, Cuba. He also commanded the USS Tidewater (AD-31). Clark concluded his career in 1967 as naval attaché in Madrid, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Pedro De La Garza. De La Garza was drafted into the Army in December of 1942. He was assigned to the 329th Medical Battalion, 104th Infantry Division, nicknamed the Timberwolf Division. His military occupation specialty was ambulance orderly. From September of 1944 through July of 1945 he participated on the front lines in the European Theater. He traveled to France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, crossed the Rhine River and was located at the Elbe River when Germany surrendered. He provides details of his work, his travels and his experiences during nighttime combat. He was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harry Depoy. He was born in Pulaski County, Indiana on April 1, 1920. He recalls joining the Army in the spring 1944 and being assigned to the 670th Field Artillery Battalion. He describes how he had two brothers and both were assigned to different batteries in the 670th. He recalls shipping out from Boston to Le Havre, France. His unit trained in the mountains of France and then joined up with the 1st Army under General Bradley. Next he describes his unit fighting with the 3rd Army under General Patton. He describes some near encounters with V-1 Bombs. He describes getting caught behind enemy lines near Dusseldorf for ten days. Near Berlin, he describes how the Russians fired upon both the surrendering German troops and the Americans. He recalls hearing Patton ordering the Americans to return the fire and the Russians finally ceasing fire. He got to know General Patton very well and describes several instances of direct contact. He describes taking German prisoners, many of whom were SS, and very difficult to deal with. He recalls that he was in Yugoslavia when Germany surrendered. He says he …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas Despain. Despain joined the Navy and was training to be a gunner when the war ended. He was discharged a month later. When the war ended, Despain entered into a career in law enforcement.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joseph Drachnik. Drachnik graduated from the Naval Academy in June of 1942. He served aboard USS Betelgeuse (AKA-11), transporting cargo and troops for the invasion of Guadalcanal. They made several resupply and reinforcement voyages to Guadalcanal and Tulagi in support of the campaign, and returned to the US in January of 1943. Beginning October of 1943 through October of 1945, Drachnik served as Executive Officer aboard USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692), completing patrol duty during the battles of Leyte and Luzon. He completed 30 years of service, retiring in 1972.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ken Earman. Earman joined the Army Air Forces in 1943. He completed bombardier training, and provides some details of his experiences. As a first lieutenant, he served as an instructor teaching cadets at Big Spring Army Air Field in Texas. He was assigned to the 7th Air Force, 11th Bomb Group, 431st Squadron. In 1944 he flew over 40 combat missions in the Pacific Theater. He shares details of his missions and his experiences on Tawara, Kwajalein, Eniwetok and other Pacific islands. He later taught Chinese cadets at Big Spring in late 1944 into 1945.

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 …