The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with A K Sheffield. Sheffield joined the Navy in late 1943. He completed Armed Guard School in San Diego. He served with the Navy Armed Guard aboard a transport ship, and traveled to the Philippine Islands. In May of 1944, Sheffield was aboard the SS Henry Bergh when it ran aground on the Farallon Islands, and shares details of those events. He traveled through the Pacific Islands, to Japan and throughout the Atlantic. Sheffield does not speak of participating in any battles or combat. He returned home aboard USS Iowa (BB-61) after the war ended in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Thorney. Thorney was in the NROTC at Northwestern University when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He was commissioned in September 1944, a year early, and sent to Florida for training in antisubmarine warfare. He was eventually assigned as the executive officer aboard USS PGM-2, a motorized patrol gunboat, in the Solomon Islands. Thorney recalls operating mostly at night around the Rabaul area interdicting Japanese supply efforts when he initally joined PGM-2. When the war ended, Thorney was at Okinawa still with PGM-2. They then wento to China to sweep mines from the Yangtze River.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Lazarich. Lazarich joined the Coast Guard in August 1942 and trained at New York. His first assignment was aboard a patrol boat in New York Harbor. He then went to gunnery school in Florida before shipping out to New Guinea to serve aboard an Amry tug boat. He also participated in the campaign to liberate the Philippines and recalls being in a minefield off Borneo. He also went to Okinawa and eventually Japan before returing to the US in December. Lazarich elected to be discharged in March, 1946 and then joined the New York City Fire Department.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Kenny. Kenny joined the Army Air Forces in August 1942. He completed airplane mechanic training at Dallas Aviation School in Texas, and gunnery school in Las Vegas, Nevada. Beginning I 1944, Kenny served as a B-17 Flight Engineer with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. They tracked weather in the North Atlantic between North America and Europe, benefitting the European Theater of Operations. Their squadron was coined the Hurricane Hunters. Kenny continued his service after the war ended, receiving his discharge in early 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Lowe. Lowe joined the Army Air Forces in October 1944. He completed basic training in Wichita Falls, Texas, gunnery school in Fort Myers, Florida and Clovis, New Mexico. His training consisted of simulation bombing flights over Syracuse, New York and Havana, Cuba. Lowe completed reconnaissance training in Salina, Kansas. He was later transferred to Lincoln, Nebraska where he was assigned to a bomb crew to serve as a B-29 tail gunner. For Lowe, the war ended before he could be deployed overseas or complete any combat missions. He was assigned to Fort Sheridan, Illinois, where he received his discharge in August of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ralph Crocker. Crocker joined the Naval Reserve in 1942 at Texas A&M, and was called to active duty in the spring of 1943. He studied civil engineering at Rice University for eight semesters. He then completed Officer Candidate School at Camp Endicott, Davisville, Rhode Island. He served with the Civil Engineer Corps as a Seabee, and worked as an operations officer on Espiritu Santos, New Hebrides. He and the enlisted men he was supervising worked as stevedores, loading and unloading ships. They were assigned to the 4th Marine Division. In 1945, Crocker and his Seabees were located at Luzon when the atomic bomb was dropped. Crocker then served in Sasebo, Japan during the occupation. He returned to the US and received his discharge in mid-1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Warren Bateman. Bateman joined the Navy in October of 1942. He went to Great Lakes, Illinois for boot camp. From there he went to Miami, Florida as Third Class Storekeeper. He was then assigned to the USS PC-1126 that was being built in Bay City, Michigan. In 1943 his crew escorted a convoy from Miami to Panama, then to San Diego where he was transferred to the USS Roberts (DE-749). In January 1944 he went to midshipman’s school at Northwestern in Chicago and received his commission as ensign in May 1944. From January through December 1945 Bateman served on Fleet Admiral Nimitz’s CINCPAC staff detachment on Guam. He was one of three ensigns serving as Nimitz’s censors. He served as Chief Censor and Education Officer. He had personal contact with Admiral Nimitz and provides detail of his interactions with him. He later became a Intelligence Officer serving 20 years in the Navy.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles White. White joined the Navy in June, 1945 and went to Great Lakes for basic training. He caught his ship, the USS Pawnee (ATF-74) at Okinawa in August, 1945 and began pulling ships off the beach after a typhoon. They also tugged barges around Japan for a few weeks after the surrender, the Philippines, too. White returned to the US and was discharged in August, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Imlay. Imlay’s sister, Barbara Burton, relays information about the World War II service of her brother, James Imlay. Imlay was in the Navy aboard the USS Pope (DD-225), which was sunk off Borneo in March 1942, and was a prisoner of war of the Japanese for the duration of the war in the Pacific. A commendation letter for Pope crew members is read into the record.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Fred Heyer. Heyer joined the Navy in March 1945. He went to Great Lakes in Chicago for boot camp. He provides detail of his boot camp experience. From there he went to the U.S. Navy Receiving Station in Seattle where he received and dispatched Army personnel. He then served aboard the USS Clamour (AM-160) beginning October 1945. They were working to put the ship out of commission. His work aboard the ship was clerical, office work, and bringing the crews’ personnel records up-to-date and other duties to de-commission the ship. He was discharged in July 1946. He later re-enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve program December 1946, and was recalled to active duty in January 1947. He was assigned as a station keeper at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Millington, Tennessee. He worked in a school for veterans assisting with automotive repair, clerical work and helping veterans organize their service activities. He was released from active duty in August 1948, and released from the Naval Reserve in July 1950.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard E. Werner. Werner joined the Army in September of 1942. He served in the Medical Detachment with the 1106th Engineer Combat Battalion, 7th Army. They were transferred to England, and participated in infantry combat and built pontoon bridges during the Normandy invasion and traveled as far as the Rhine River when Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945. Werner served with the occupation in Germany and returned to the US in November, receiving his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Meriwether. Meriwether was studying to become a doctor when he entered the Army Medical Corps in December, 1942. He continued training as a doctor and was discharged in 1946. He was recalled and commissioned in 1952 and spent one year in Korea as a pathologist with the 48th MASH unit and studied the cause of serious infectious diseases along the DMZ. Meriwether relates details of his career in Army medicine.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Allen Cates. Cates joined the Army in 1944. He completed basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas, and paratrooper training off Dog Island, Florida. In December he deployed to New Guinea and served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division. In mid-February 1945, they landed on Corregidor to liberate the island from occupying Japanese forces. From there he was assigned as a combat engineer with the 11th, working with demolition, traveling through Manila, Luzon and Okinawa. In late August, they landed at Atsugi Airfield in Japan, then traveled to Hokkaido in December where he served with the occupation through late 1946. He returned to the US and received his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dorothy Martens. Martens graduated from Valparaiso University in Indiana with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing in 1944. She entered the Army Nurse Corps in December. She completed basic training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. From there she moved to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for orientation, where she taught the other nurses about the workings of a B-29. She was in the 309th General Hospital Unit. In May of 1945 their unit traveled to Washington State and boarded the USAT Matsonia heading to Tinian and the Marianas. They were assigned to set up a general hospital to receive patients from battlefields in the Pacific. She provides some detail of the types of wounds she helped with and her living conditions on Tinian. She left Tinian in October of 1945 and went to Fukuoka, Japan. Her unit set up a hospital there to help U.S. enlisted men, and she provides details of the city and her surroundings. She left Japan and was separated from the service in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jackie Haworth. Haworth entered the Navy March 1944. He went to Faragut, Idaho for boot camp. From there he went on to California, Hawaii and then to the South Pacific and boarded the USS Boston (CA-69). He was in the black gang on the Boston working in the aft engine room serving as a fireman, first class. Later, he became a machinist mate, first class. He was part of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944. He provides details of that event. He was discharged May 1946. His ship was bombarding Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima. He toured the area afterwards and gives details of what he saw. He used his G.I. Bill to attend Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma for aircraft engine training. He later worked on the railroad, then got into the oil industry.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Walter Wier. Wier joined the Navy in June, 1942 and trained at San Diego. With training complete, Wier was assigned to the Armed Guard and board the SS Day Star (1939) in San Francisco. Wier’s son provides a chronology of Wier’s first cruise in the Pacific starting in early 1943. After one voyage aboard the Day Star, he was transferred to the Young America. His third voyage was aboard the William H Moody. Wier sailed in the Pacific and the Atlantic facing Japanese and Germans. He also served aboard the Alexander Hamilton, the Joshua Tree and the Thaddeus S C Lowe. He returned to the US and was discharged in October, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles William Wiley. Wiley joined the Navy in 1944. He completed basic training in Samson, New York, and worked in Naval Intelligence at an airfield in Anacostia, near Washington DC. He helped make propaganda and training films, and worked security on the base. In early 1945, he was assigned to USS LST-950 in the Pacific and participated in the assault and occupation of Okinawa. From September through early November, they performed occupation duty in Japan. In mid-1946, they assisted in relocating natives off of Bikini Island to other islands, for the United States nuclear testing. Wiley returned to the US in late 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Pratt. Pratt joined the Navy while in college and was finally called to active duty in July 1943. Then he went to midshipman school at Northwestern University, finishing in May 1944 with a commission. His first assignment was to USS LST-781, being assembled in Pittsburgh. Pratt tells several stories about being aboard USS LST-781 and going down the Mississippi River, through the Panama Canal and through several islands in the Pacific. Pratt was discharged in August, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert J Gettelfinger. Gettelfinger joined the Army Air Forces in June of 1942. He completed Cadet School in San Antonio. He served as a C-46 pilot and was deployed to Chabua, India in 1943. He recalls flying the Hump, transporting fuel, munitions and supervisory staff to Kunming, China. Gettelfinger also completed missions to Burma. He returned to the US in November of 1944 and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He continued his service in the Air Force as a career officer for 27 years, retiring as a colonel in the Strategic Air Command.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George S. Halfin. Halfin joined the Army in early 1942. He studied geodetic computing at the University of Kentucky, then joined the 910th Engineers Air Force Headquarters Company. They were sent to Colorado Springs, and worked on drafting plans to extend runways in the U.S. to handle military planes. Through 1943, Halfin traveled to around 45 states in the U.S., analyzing runways. They would clock the amount and distance it took a plane to land. In late 1943 or early 1944, they were deployed to Guam, where Halfin assisted in designing runways for the different islands with the goal of getting closer to Japan. He provides details of island life, where he remained through the end of the war. Additionally, Halfin and another draftsman from their company were assigned to create architectural drawings for an office on Guam for Admiral Chester Nimitz and the Pacific Command, which the Seabees built. He returned to the U.S. in late 1945 and received his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Floyd John Schexnayder. Schexnayder was born in 1928. At the age of 16, he changed his birth certificate in order to join the Navy in mid-1944. He completed boot camp in San Diego, California. Beginning around February of 1945, he served as Seaman Second-Class in the gunnery department aboard the USS Terror (CM-5), loading 40mm quadruple antiaircraft guns. They transferred battle casualties to an Army hospital at Saipan, then traveled to Ulithi, where they serviced and supplied minecraft staging for the assault on Okinawa. In March, they arrived at Kerama Retto, serving as a flagship and tender for minecraft. Schexnayder worked hard protecting Terror and other U.S. ships from Japanese kamikaze planes. He describes their ship getting hit by one of these planes, and his participation in the events that unfolded. After the war ended, he was transferred to the USS Steady (AM-118), where they swept mines in the East China Sea. They returned to the U.S. in early 1946, and he received his discharge in August.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Lozano. Lozano joined the Navy in January 1944 and trained at San Diego. From there he also attended radar school at Point Loma before reporting aboard the USS Washington (BB-56). He shares several anecdotes and provides much detail of his life aboard ship during WWII. He was discharged in May 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Riggs. Riggs joined the Navy in March 1943 and trained at San Diego. He was then assigned as a parachute rigger in Torpedo Squadron 40 (VT-40) aboard the USS Suwannee (ACV-27) in February, 1945. He was aboard when the Suwannee participated in the Okinawa invasion. After the war, Riggs stayed in the Active Reserves until 1985, retiring as a master chief.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Kirk. Kirk joined the Army Air Forces in March 1943 and trained in radio operation and aerial gunnery. When he got overseas, he was assigned to the 96th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group in Italy as a gunner. In January, 1945, on his 27th combat mission, Kirk’s B-17 was shot down and he managed to bail out over Hungary. Kirk was captured and made a prisoner of war. After a month in solitary confinement in Hungary, he was moved to Stalag Luft IV. After a long march from camp starting February, Kirk was finally liberated by Russians in April. He was discharged in August, 1945.