A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music

Concert presented at Winspear Performance Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Thomas McCrea. McCrea joined the Army in September of 1943. He completed an Army Specialized Training Program in Fort Benning, Georgia. He provides vivid details of his training. He served with the 3rd Army, C Company, 1st, Battalion, 376th Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Division. McCrea and his group qualified as an Expert Infantry Division. In August of 1944 they traveled to Scotland, then on to England. In September they landed on Utah Beach. They traveled to Brittany to relieve another unit. They endured much 88mm shelling from the Germans. From there they traveled toward Belgium and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, and traveled to the Siegfried Line. McCrea shares many details of his experiences in battle. In February 1945 he was sent to a hospital in England, suffering from frozen feet. He returned to the U.S. due to the condition of his feet and discharged in mid-1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Michael Kuryla. Kuryla was born in Chicago, Illinois on 10 September 1925 into a family of eight children. He describes his family’s living conditions during the Depression. Joining the US Navy in 1942, he underwent boot training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois. Following boot camp, he was assigned to the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as the fire director of a five-inch gun. He explains the job of the gun director. He describes the bombardment of Tarawa and tells of participating in battles at Kwajalein, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He shares a personal experience he had with Admiral Spruance. The Indianapolis was struck by a kamikaze and Kuryla describes the damage done and the lives lost as a result. Once the ship was repaired components for an atomic bomb were put on board for delivery to Tinian. After delivery the ship was bound for Guam when it was struck by Japanese torpedoes. Kuryla graphically describes his personal experience of abandoning the ship and what he witnessed during five nights and four days in the water. He recalls being taken aboard the USS Register (APD-92) and delivered to …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clint Libby. Libby was born in New Zealand in September 1946. During the war, his father was stationed there as a United States Marine. His grandmother remembers the Marines as well-mannered and generous. Their presence was a welcome relief to the local population, who feared a Japanese invasion. In fact, in the early years of the war, his mother had an emergency plan in place which involved riding a bicycle to a truck which she would then use to transport neighbors to an escape boat. His father saw combat in Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian. At the landing on Tarawa, he narrowly avoided drowning by pushing off from the coral when he was submerged under water, bobbing along in this fashion until he reached the shore. Although two men from his mortar platoon were missing at that point, he managed to assemble his weapon and was the first on the beach to begin firing. In September 1944 he was sent to Camp Pendleton as an instructor, and in 1945 he returned to New Zealand and joined his wife.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Gray. Gray enlisted in the Marine Corps and went to boot camp in San Diego. After boot camp, he went to a little boat basin just out of Camp Pendleton by Oceanside, California where they formed the first amphib battalion, the Fourth Amphibian Tractor Battalion. His company was involved in the filming of 'Guadalcanal Diary' while they were in Oceanside. They broke the Fourth Battalion up and formed several more battalions; Gray ended up in the Tenth Amphibian Tractor Battalion. They left the States right after Christmas 1943 and went straight to Roi-Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. During this operation, Gray's platoon took a platoon of Marines on down about 35-40 miles, checking all the islands there for Japanese. He noted that the natives were real friendly. After Roi-Namur, they went to Maui, Hawaii where they were trained, reorganized and received new supplies. From there, they went to Saipan and he made four landings on June 15th. After Saipan, he was involved in the landings on Tinian. After Tinian, they went back to Maui where they received new tractors, supplies, reinforcements and additional training as well as …

Transcript of an oral interview with Joel Alderson and his wife Nila. He discusses going to boot camp in Texas, shipping off to France in early 1945 and working as an engineer, constructing bridges and demolishing German fortifications for the Army as it made it's way through Germany, blowing up Hilter's bunker in Salzburg, Austria and using bulldozers to cover piles of dead Jews the Germans left in the open (likely at Dachau). He ancedotes about meeting Eisenhower, carrying fuel up to Patton's limo when it ran out of gas, seeing Bob Hope, soldiers getting poisoned from confiscated alcohol, and getting met by his family and the town sheriff when he came home after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with L D Cox. Cox joined the Navy in 1944 and served aboard the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). He was assigned to a deck division, and later the Navigation Division. He describes some of his job functions and life in general aboard the ship. In the spring of 1945 they launched an attack on Tokyo to cover the landings on Iwo Jima and participated in the Battle of Okinawa. He provides details of these events. They traveled back to the States for repairs. Cox then describes their secret mission of picking up the wooden box in San Francisco which carried parts for the Little Boy atomic bomb and delivering it to Tinian. En route from Guam to Leyte Gulf, in July of 1945, a Japanese submarine struck the Indianapolis with 2 torpedoes, and the ship sank within 12 minutes. Of the 1,197 crew members, Cox was one of the 317 who survived the sinking and five nights and four days in the Philippine Sea. He provides vivid details of this horrific event, his injuries and the court-martialing of Captain McVay. Cox was discharged in March of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Deverl Goode. Goode was born in 1922 and joined the Army after one semester of college. He received basic training at Camp Wolters and landed on Leyte in 1944 with the Americal Division. He was sent to Cebu as a scout. Cut off behind enemy lines for several days, he subsisted on bananas, wild potatoes, and rainwater. He spent several months on Negros Island using a flamethrower to clear caves of enemy holdouts; one cave turned out to be a makeshift Japanese hospital. After the war ended, he was a guard at Sugamo Prison, where he escorted Tokyo Rose and Saipan Sue to their interrogations. He encountered several imprisoned American sergeants there, presumed to be spies. He visited Hiroshima, where only a small bit of steel infrastructure and bricks were left standing. Goode returned home and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ralph Piatek. Piatek joined the Navy in 1939. He served as an Electrician’s Mate aboard the USS Augusta (CA-31) from April of 1941 through mid-1943, participating in the Naval Battle of Casablanca. While serving aboard, he had the opportunity to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General George S. Patton. Beginning mid-1943, Piatek volunteered for submarine duty, serving with the Pacific Fleet aboard the USS Saury (SS-189). He participated in war patrols between Iwo Jima and Okinawa, damaging an enemy destroyer. Additionally, they patrolled through Midway, the East China Sea, San Bernardino Straits in the Philippines and Saipan. Piatek continued his service after the war ended, retiring from the Navy in 1969 after 30 years of service.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ken Babcock. Babcock served as a civilian flight instructor for two years employed by the Army Air Forces. He describes the training he provided and how he worked with his students. Babcock volunteer to join the Army Air Forces when the training program was discontinued. He became a flight officer and served as a ferry pilot and then was transferred to China where he flew with the 2nd Air Transport Squadron. Babcock describes transporting supplies and Chinese soldiers in his C-46. He also details a typical flight over the Hump. Babcock discusses the types of food that made up his diet and how they were instructed not to eat locally grown crops. He left the service in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with L. B. Blackmon. He discusses his time in boot camp in San Diego, getting shipped to Pearl Harbor, his experiences during the attack and later training cadets in Corpus Christi.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with C T Cummings. Cummings joined the Navy in October of 1941. Prior to his enlistment, he had received extensive mechanical training in the Civilian Conservation Corps, working with blueprint layouts, structural steel and mechanical drawings. In January of 1942, Cummings served aboard the USS Lafayette (AP-53). The ship caught fire shortly after his arrival, and had to be scrapped. Around August, he served aboard the USS Jamestown (AGP-3), delivering the 1st Marine Division to Guadalcanal and Tulagi, and providing vital supplies to the troops through the Guadalcanal Campaign. Cummings assisted with servicing PT boats patrolling the Iron Bottom Sound. In February of 1945, they supported the invasion of the Philippines. He returned to the US and was discharged in November of 1945.

Interview with L. B. Blackmon, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He discusses boot camp in San Diego, his assignment to Pearl Harbor, and his experiences during the attack. He later trained cadets in Corpus Christi.

Recital performed at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

Recital performed at the UNT College of Music Stan Kenton Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree

Women's and Men's Chorus concert performed at UNT Winspear Hall.