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.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Cowden. Cowden joined the Navy in November 1944. He joined the crew of USS LST-1001 as a deck seaman. Cowden describes taking part in the second wave of the invasion of Okinawa and mentions seeing several attacks by kamikaze planes on nearby ships. He describes his battle station on a 40mm anti-aircraft gun and how it operated. Cowden also details his ship being severely damaged during two typhoons. He remained aboard until the ship was decommissioned in 1946 and he left the service a few months later.

Transcript of an oral interview with Ralph E. Donnelly. Donnelly joined th eArmy Air Corps in December, 1942. In the process of learning to fly, Donnelly was eliminated. He instead earned his wings as a navigator. Whe ntraining as a navigator, he flew with several WASPs. Donnelly was eventually sent to Tonopah, Nevada and was assigned to a B-24. When Donnelly was assigned overseas, his crew flew their B-24 to North Africa and then to Italy, where they were based. Donnelly was assigned to the 778th Squadron, 464th Bomb Group, 15th Army Air Force in Italy. Donnelly describes missions over Bulgaria, Germany and Austria. He describes being shot down in October, 1944, jumping from the plane, and using his parachute. He was captured, sent to Budapest and describes being interrogated. Eventually, he was shipped to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. He rode in a boxcar to the POW camp with a Tuskegee Airman. As a prisoner, he was marched to various camps. During one forced march, Donnelly and another prisoners escaped into the forest. They were recaptured in a village a few days later and handed back to the Wehrmacht (Luftwaffe). After another escape attempt, Donnelly and few …

Transcript of an oral interview with Douglas Bradford Morrison. When Morrison's cousin was killed, he took and passed a test to become an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps. Morrison then describes some of his training in California. During the process, he washed out of flight school and was reclassified as a navigator. He graduated from navigation school in December, 1943 as a 2nd lieutenant. He was assigned to a crew in a B-17 in the 388th Bomb Group, 561st Bomb Squadron in the 8th Air Force and sent to England. He flew five combat missions over France and Germany before being shot down and taken prisoner. Morrison describes the ordeal of being shot down and parachuting to earth, being captured by German civilians and being escorted to prison camp and interrogated there. Ultimately, he wound up in Stalag Luft III in May, 1944. Once in camp, he was assigned as the recreation officer for his building. Morrison proceeds to describe in detail life in the POW camp. In early 1945, they had to evacuate the camp because the Russians were getting too close. They moved to Stalag VII-A. In May, Morrison and the others were liberated by elements …

Transcript of an oral interview with Bobbie W. Noble. He joined the Navy at 17 shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was aboard the USS North Carolina in early 1942. Noble did not finish high school and he received all his training aboard ship. He was in New York City when the French liner Normandie caught fire and capsized. He served as a powder hoist operator in the center gun of the number 3 turret. The North Carolina, after her shakedown cruise, spent the winter anchored in Portland, Maine before heading through the Panama Canal on the way to Guadalcanal, where she was torpedoed. Noble goes on the describe heading for Pearl Harbor for repairs and the ship receiving updated anti-aircraft armaments. Noble goes on to discuss friendly fire, burials at sea, the rigors of battle at Iwo Jima, kamikazes at Okinawa and life aboard a battleship during World War II.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with A J Dunn. Dunn joined the Navy in 1940 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Oglala (CM-4) at Pearl Harbor. On the morning of 7 December 1941, he was returning from liberty when the attack began. Unable to find his ship, he jumped aboard the USS Mugford (DD-389) just as it was getting underway. After seven days of patrols, he returned to the harbor and was transferred to the USS New Orleans (CA-32). While on convoy duty to Brisbane, the ship received a warm welcome from Australian citizens. But one evening, the ship was nearly subject to friendly fire when a cruiser from New Zealand mistook the New Orleans for a Japanese ship. Dunn was transferred to the USS Indiana (BB-58) with Task Force 58, bombarding islands in the Gilberts and Marshalls. As a gunner’s mate, his duties included testing small arms ammunition in a surveillance oven to see whether it had expired. He was transferred to the USS Botetourt (APA-136), operating out of the Philippines until the end of the war. He sailed past the USS Missouri (BB-63) …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Leonard Cornelius. Cornelius joined the Navy in July 1941 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a seaman. He arrived at Pearl Harbor the day after the attack and saw oil was still burning on the water in the devastated Battleship Row. As the war began, Cornelius became a cook aboard ship. His battle station was in the kitchen, preparing sandwiches for the nearly 3,000 crewmen at their stations. He enjoyed working the midnight shift, and one evening Admiral Halsey stopped by and invited Cornelius to join him for a cup of coffee. Halsey chatted with Cornelius for about 15 minutes, asking him about his work, and wished him well. After the war, Cornelius returned home and remained in the Navy another 15 years. He was discharged in October 1960.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Everett Earhart. Earhart was born in Dover, Tennessee 19 April 1927. He quit school in the eighth grade to help his widowed mother. He joined the Naval Reserves in 1943 and learned gunnery and communications. In early 1945 he went aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6), which was on station in the South China Sea. He was assigned to Air Group 90 as the rear gunner on a SB2C (dive bomber). He describes the feeling one gets diving to bomb and pulling out of the dive. He recalls being involved in attacks on Iwo Jima, Chi Chi Jima and Okinawa. In May 1945, Enterprise was severely damaged by a kamikaze off Okinawa. Earhart was in the air when the ship was struck, which forced his pilot to land on another carrier. The Enterprise went to the Bremerton Navy Yard for repairs and was there when Japan surrendered. During October 1945 the ship participated in Operation Magic Carpet during which they brought former prisoners of war and other returning servicemen back to the United States. After being on the Enterprise for fifteen months he was transferred to a Patrol Craft, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Carlyle Herring. Herring joined the Navy in November 1937 and received basic training in Norfolk. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6) where he tended to aircraft as they landed on the flight deck. He recalls losing a half dozen scouting planes to friendly fire after the attack on Pearl Harbor. During general quarters, Herring manned the gun director of a five-inch mount. He describes different techniques used for targeting enemy aircraft, such as shooting into the ocean just ahead of a torpedo plane, creating a wall of water for the plane to crash into. Herring was engaged in numerous battles throughout the war but felt that each one simply amounted to another day’s work. He retired from the Navy after 20 years of service.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lloyd Howser. Howser joined the Navy in late December 1941. Beginning March of 1942, he served with the deck force aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6). In April, they escorted USS Hornet (CV-8) on the Doolittle Raid. From June through November, they participated in the battles at Midway, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal. In June of 1944, they served in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Howser returned to the US and was discharged in early 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Manuel Machado. Machado joined the Navy in August 1942 at the age of 16, forging a birth certificate to appear older. He received basic training near Stanford University, and after spending a year guarding the San Francisco water supply, his forgery was discovered. He was nearly discharged, but after appearing in court, he was sent to another boot camp. Upon completion, he was assigned to the gunnery crew of the USS Enterprise (CV-6). As part of an elite lookout team, he helped prevent several kamikaze attacks. In the Philippines, an inexperienced officer forced Machado to be on the lookout when he should have been resting his eyes, resulting in an enemy aircraft coming close enough to bomb the ship; fortunately, the bomb did not detonate. When the ship’s number one elevator was hit near Okinawa, Machado rescued a gunner who was unconscious and surrounded by flames. After the Enterprise was repaired, Machado participated in its Magic Carpet voyages and eventually returned home. He was discharged in 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Armand Maffuccio. Maffuccio begins with some anecdotes about growing up during the Depression. He joined the Navy in 1942. In 1943, Maffuccio boarded the USS Enterprise (CV-6) and served as a baker and in damage control. He describes his duties as a baker. He received a furlough to go home in early 1945 because his mother was dying. He finished the war in Banana River, Florida as a baker at a naval base.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edwin Smith. Smith joined the Navy in 1943 at the age of 15 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6) where he joined a work division, primarily cleaning and painting the ship. His battle station was at the gun director of a 40-millimeter mount, where his duties included maneuvering the barrel and pulling the weapon’s trigger. When a kamikaze hit the ship’s number one elevator off of Okinawa, Smith felt helpless as he watched the plane dive down. However, once the plane struck, Smith recalls the crew springing into action in an organized fashion, despite the chaotic nature of the event. Smith returned home and was discharged in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Zafft. Zafft joined the Navy in 1943 and was assigned to USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a ship fitter. He corresponded with his brother in code, to avoid censorship. He survived several close calls in combat. When the ship was hit by a kamikaze at Okinawa, Zafft only survived because he had been relieved of his post early that morning by a sailor who subsequently perished in the explosion. Zafft helped fight the resulting fires and kept a piece of the fuselage as a souvenir. After returning to the States with the Enterprise, Zafft was discharged in March 1946. He joined the Enterprise Association and served as its president. Through a Japanese historian who was researching the kamikaze attack on the Enterprise, Zafft donated his piece of the fuselage to an exhibit at the Kanoya Naval Air Base Museum which names and honors the men killed that day. Zafft was especially grateful for the opportunity to pay homage to George Barker, the man who died in his place.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rural Boyd. Boyd joined the Navy in February 1942 and received basic training in San Diego. He attended aviation machinist school in Chicago. Upon completion, he was assigned to Corpus Christi and then United States. Navy. Carrier Air Service Unit 1 (CASU-1), where he took care of PB4Ys as they came in for landings. He went aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in January 1944 and worked in the pump room on the seventh deck down. He recalls feeling the walls vibrate when the Enterprise’s guns were firing on Kwajalein. Whenever a group of islands was secured, one would be set aside for R&R, and at Ulithi Boyd enjoyed a week on Mog Mog. He witnessed a gruesome kamikaze attack at Okinawa, and he recalls that the water used to put out the fire drowned the crew in the elevator pump room. He explains how the Marianas Turkey Shoot got its name: after pinpointing where and when the waves of Japanese planes were refueling, it was easy to shoot them on the ground or just as they were taking off. Boyd left the Enterprise the day Nagasaki was bombed. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with DW Fortenberry. Fortenberry joined the Navy in August 1940 at the age of 24 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6) where he manned supply rooms, beginning with food stores. His battle station was on a repair crew, and he describes in detail the extraordinary effort required to regain enough pressure to operate water pumps after the ship was struck by a kamikaze near Okinawa. It took six hours to clear the top deck of water, during which time all hatches were kept shut to prevent drownings in the compartments below. Fortenberry returned home after the war and was discharged in 1948.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Midgley. Midgley joined the Navy in April 1944 and was fascinated by the diversity of people he met at boot camp. He was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), where he observed people of all races and nationalities working together in harmony, unlike what he had experienced in civilian life. Aboard ship as an aviation ordnance man, Midgley was responsible for maintaining aerial guns and loading bombs. In the summer of 1945, he was trained on how to load rockets onto planes, but the war ended soon after. Midgley returned home in October 1945 and was impressed with services provided by the Salvation Army, especially in comparison to the Red Cross. After helping decommission the Enterprise, he was discharged. Midgley became a leader in several community organizations and made regular appearances on The Martha Stewart Show, promoting his fire department’s annual fundraiser.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert McKinley. McKinley enlisted in the Navy in May 1941 and trained as an aircraft engine mechanic at Sand Point Naval Air Station. Assigned to the USS Saratoga (CV-3) as a third-class aviation machinist mate, he sailed to Pearl Harbor. He then boarded the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a seaman, later assigned to an anti-aircraft gun. McKinley made a pact with a shipmate that if one of them died they'd visit the other's mother, and his shipmate was killed by a bomb that afternoon. McKinley followed through on his promise, which was the most difficult experience of his life. In October 1944, he joined a PBY squadron in Corpus Christi, where he stayed until 1947, making flight engineer and training cadets. McKinley stayed in the service for 21 years before retiring and later wrote a book about his experience.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with W W Norberg. Norberg joined the Navy in February of 1941. He completed Communications School, and served as a Yeoman Third-Class aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6) beginning mid-1941. Norberg remained on the ship through the end of the war. In April of 1942, they escorted USS Hornet (CV-8) on the Doolittle Raid. From June through November, they participated in the battles at Midway, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal. In June of 1944, they served in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Norberg continued his service after the war ended, receiving his discharge as Chief Yeoman in February of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Pondich. Pondich joined the Navy in April 1944 and received basic training at Samson. Upon completion, he was assigned to a supply depot at Tacloban where he operated a forklift and oversaw Japanese and Filipino laborers. The depot received food from the ships coming into the harbor, some of it frozen as far back as 1936. The food would then be stored in Quonset huts until it was transferred to ships that supplied the occupation forces. Pondich was injured while trying to secure an eight-mile stretch of supplies laid out along the beach, when a tsunami threatened to wash them all away. Upon his recovery, he was assigned as a storekeeper aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6), where he marveled at the ship’s organized supply system. His injury, however, proved to not be fully healed, so Pondich returned home and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Francis Shiner. Shiner joined the Navy in December 1942 and received basic training in Green Bay. Based on an aptitude test, he was sent to a university for electrician’s mate training. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6), tasked with climbing 60-foot ladders to retrieve and recharge batteries from backup generators. It was heavy lifting for a man of his size, so he was reassigned to the power room, where he maintained fuses. He enjoyed his time walking along the deck and seeing porpoises swim alongside the ship. But it was tense during attacks, and he was dismayed to see the bodies of eight men who were killed by friendly fire after a kamikaze got between two ships. Shiner was aboard the Enterprise for every campaign from November 1943 until it took its last kamikaze hit off Okinawa. His friend was among the crew who drowned in the elevator pump room that day. Shiner returned to Bremerton with the Enterprise and made the acquaintance of a young woman. Five weeks later, on 9 August 1945, they were in a long line of soldiers and their …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lloyd Winkler. Winkler joined the Navy in 1943 and received basic training at Farragut, Idaho. He was treated for meningitis during boot camp and upon recovery was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6). Winkler’s battle station was a 40-millimeter antiaircraft gun. As a pointer, he turned two cranks to aim the gun and fired the gun with a foot pedal trigger. It quickly became evident in battle that dive bombers were proving too difficult to target, so the position of gun director was added and given to Winkler. Planes would strafe the deck, sending fragments everywhere, while Winkler had to stay focused on targeting dive bombers and torpedo bombers. His most unsettling experience in the war was when a bomb was dropped so low over the deck that rather than detonating, it rolled down the deck and landed beside him. He also recalls that friendly fire was a concern for everyone, and that his crew shot into the wing of one of their own planes. Kamikazes proved unpredictable, and at Okinawa, Winkler was sure his crew was about to hit one that looked like it would fly over …