The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Eckert. Eckert joined the Army Air Forces in February of 1943. He completed aircraft welding school at Kelly Field, and served with the 40th Air Depot Repair Squadron. They traveled aboard the USS Hermitage (AP-54) to Freemantle, Australia and landed at Bombay, India in December of 1943. His squadron was assigned to Calcutta, and they repaired airplanes at Dum Dum Air Field. They also worked on Guam and Okinawa, where they arrived 3 days before the war ended. Eckert returned to the US and was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Hilton Lockhart. Lockhart joined the Army in February of 1941. He was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division. They traveled to England in early 1944 and participated in the Normandy landings. They moved into Bastogne, Belgium, participating in the Battle of the Bulge in December. Lockhart shares some stories of General Patton. He was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ludwig Matzat. Matzat joined the Army in 1944. In January of 1945 he joined the 128th Regiment, Company B, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Division, at New Guinea as a replacement. Matzat served as a rifleman. His outfit also participated in the Battle of Luzon, moving the Japanese back into the Caraballo Mountains. He shares details of his combat experiences, being the sole survivor on one mission, and receiving a shell fragment wound to his back. Matzat was discharged in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Reynolds. Reynolds joined the Royal Air Force on 4 September 1939 and entered active duty in July of 1940. He completed flight training and received his wings in March of 1941. Reynolds served as a flight instructor in Ontario and returned to England in early 1943 as a pilot officer. He continued serving as an instructor to the 8th Air Force, training Americans in map reading and how to navigate through cloudy, European skies. He later joined the 101st Squadron, piloting Wellington and Lancaster aircraft. They completed five bombing missions over Germany several missions to retrieve British former prisoners of war for repatriation. He recalls his memories of VE-Day.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Christine Adler. Adler was born in New York City in 1931 to Filipino and American parents. She tells of living in an orphanage until 1938 at which time she went to the Philippines to live with her father. Upon arriving in the Philippines she attended private schools. She recalls December 1941 when she was awakened by the sound of tanks and Japanese soldiers entering homes and taking anything of value. As her father worked with a guerilla group they left their home. Adler tells of fleeing with no shoes, few clothes and very little personal belongings and moving place to place to avoid detection. She recounts an incident where Japanese soldiers picked her up and took her to Fort Santiago. She and her father were later released. She describes seeing piles of bodies and witnessing torture being done by the Japanese during the occupation and of seeing the fires as Manila was set ablaze. She tells of the joy felt by the population upon seeing the American tanks and soldiers roll into the city and of the return of her and her father to the United States aboard …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jay Bollman. Bollman was born in Manila, Philippines on 15 December 1935. He and his family were taken to Santo Tomas Internment Camp, and later Los Baños Internment Camp as prisoners of war. At a tender age of 6, Bollman recalls civilians getting strafed by the Japanese, air raids, bombings, their living and food accommodations, interactions with the Japanese guards, illnesses and diseases suffered throughout the camp and their liberation in February of 1945. They returned to the US in May of that same year. Bollman shares his family’s experiences through the prison camps and getting acclimated into life in the States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Elaine Graydon. Graydon was born in Manila, Philippines in 1937. Her mother was a native and her father was born in Spokane, Washington. He worked as a mining engineer. When the war began, Graydon was only 4 and ½ years old. She recalls when the Japanese invaded, and she and her family seeking refuge. In early 1942, she and her family were sent to Santo Tomas Internment Camp, where they lived in a shanty. Graydon provides vivid details of her experiences in the camp as a child, including schooling, food and living accommodations, interactions with the Japanese guards, their daily work and tasks and liberation from the camp in February of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Georgia Payne. Payne was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1929. Her father, who as an American citizen, was born in Manila, Philippines. In 1934 their family moved back to Manila to work and be close to her father’s mother. They were living there in 1941 when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. She and her family were taken to Santo Tomas Internment Camp, where they resided for 37 months. Around early 1945 Payne and her family were shipped back to the US. She provides vivid recollections of her time in the camp, their liberation and their acclimatization back in the States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Walter Riley. Riley was born in 1932 in Cavite, Philippines. His father was a Navy man who traveled to the Philippines and married his mother who was a Japanese American. They raised eight children, Riley was the youngest. They moved to Manila and were living there when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. Their entire family was interned at Santo Tomas Internment Camp. They were there from early 1942 until February of 1945. Riley shares vivid details of the occupation of Manila by the Japanese, the living quarters at the camp, their room and board arrangements, their work assignments, battling illnesses, their communication with the Japanese guards and their liberation in 1945. Riley served in the Navy during the Korean War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Terry Santos. Santos was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on 10 October 1921. Upon joining the Army, he underwent basic training at Fort Ord, California. Upon completing basic he volunteered for paratrooper training. After graduating from jump school he volunteered for special warfare training which comprised training in special weapons, Morse code, semaphore and sailing. Completing the course, he reported to Ft. Benning, Georgia where he was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division. He then volunteered to serve with the Alamo Scouts and received jungle training, hand-to-hand combat training and all infantry weapons training. He then rejoined the 11th Airborne Division. Santos relates in detail an intriguing tale of the operation to liberate Allied internees from the Los Banos internment camp.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Shafer. Shafer moved from the States to Baguio in 1937 after his father was offered a job with the Benguet Consolidated Mining Company. They lived extravagantly there, and Shafer attended a private school. As Japanese aggression heightened in China, American civilians asked the State Department whether they ought to return to home. Despite having evacuated military families in 1941, the civilians were asked to stay in the Philippines so as not to alarm locals. On 6 December 1941, Shafer survived an air raid and was evacuated to Manila. On 3 January 1942, Japanese invaded the city and Shafer was taken to Santo Tomas University. Apart from food shortages, his time at the internment camp was relatively normal, complete with a classroom education and recreational sports. Shafer remembers cozy homemade shanties and warm evening strolls. By 1944, however, internees began to die of starvation. Shafer and his family survived until liberation and returned to the States in February 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Frank Stagner. Stagner was a nine-year-old child living in Manila with his family when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. His father was a radio broadcaster and was asked to keep his station working during the invasion. When the station was destroyed, Stagner's father took the family into the hills where they were eventually captured by the Japanese. He relates the experiences he had just after being captured: getting back to Manila, being paraded through the streets by the Japanese, being interned at Fort Santiago where his father was interrogated, and being interned at Santo Tomas. He provides very few details of day to day life in the camp, but describes being liberated.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral presentation given by George DeLong in 1993. DeLong tells of joining the Navy in January 1941 and of being on the battleship Oklahoma (BB-37) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He describes the ship turning over and his being trapped, along with 32 other shipmates for one and a half days. DeLong describes the struggle to stay alive before being rescued and spending time in the hospital. He discusses causes of the war with Japan, actions which various admirals and generals took and various battles that were fought. He closes the presentation by answering questions presented by members of the audience.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Ingram. Ingram was born in Springfield, Illinois on 13 June 1924. He joined the US Navy in 1941 and after completion of boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station he traveled to California where he was assigned to the USS Houston (CA-30), boarding the ship in Darwin, Australia. He describes his battle station as loader of an 8 inch forward gun and the procedures involved in loading of the gun. He tells of the 28 February 1942 attack on the ship by Japanese forces and the sinking of the Houston. After spending two days in the water he was picked up by the enemy and following questioning he was thrown back into the water. Later, he was picked out of the water and taken to Java. He describes the questioning procedure of the Japanese and the physical abuse he endured. Ingram was then moved from Batavia, Java to Burma to work on the Thai-Burma Railroad and describes the extensive manual labor required, the starving conditions, lack of adequate medical attention and inhumane treatment by the captors. He relates the painful experience of developing dysentery, malaria …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harry Kelly. Kelly joined the Navy in 1939. He served aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5) through March of 1941. He was then transferred to USS Houston (CA-30) at Manila Bay, Philippines. Kelly served on the 5-inch antiaircraft gun aboard Houston, until it sank in March of 1942 during the Battle of Sunda Strait. He was captured and interned as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. They traveled to Surabaya, Singapore and Burma, where he worked on the Thai-Burma Railroad. He recalls the Red Cross Package drop in June of 1945, and liberation in September. He returned to the US and was discharged in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Papish. Papish was born in Pueblo, Colorado on 4 April 1919. After joining the Navy in 1939 he reported aboard the USS Houston (CA-30) and was assigned to the disbursements office. He describes the job responsibilities of his position and the USS Houston being a part of the naval forces within ABDACOM (American-British-Dutch-Australian Command) during March 1942 and participating in the battle of the Java Sea. He also tells of the ship taking part in the battle of Sunda Strait during which the Houston, as well as HMAS Perth (D29), were sunk. Papish abandoned the ship and was strafed by Japanese fighters while in the water. After struggling ashore, the survivors were turned over to Japanese forces by the local natives. As prisoners of war, they were taken to Serang, Java where they were housed in a former theater. Later, Papish was among a group of the prisoners who were taken to the Bicycle Camp prison compound in Batavia and held there until October 1942. He recalls the kindness of a Japanese guard who had worked as a cab driver in New York City. In October he …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Flynn. Flynn joined the Navy in 1939. He served as a Radioman aboard USS Houston (CA-30) until it sank in March of 1942 during the Battle of Sunda Strait. He was captured by the Japanese and placed aboard their ship. Several hours later the ship was torpedoed, landing Flynn back into the water. He met up with Australian and British survivors and again was captured by another Japanese group. They were taken to a POW Camp in Serang, Java, and later to a camp in Jakarta. After 3 years of imprisonment, Flynn was liberated from the camp. He returned to the US and was discharged in October of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Audie Lynch. Lynch was born in Scotland, Arkansas 15 May 1925 and graduated from high school in 1942. He then attended Southeast Missouri State Teachers College where he participated in the Navy’s V-12 college training program. After one year he was sent to the Naval Reserve Midshipman School at Notre Dame University and received his commission four months later. Lynch was then ordered to report aboard the USS Charles Carroll (APA-28) at Norfolk, Virginia. The ship, which carried LCVP and LCM landing craft, sailed to Espiritu Santo where the troops trained and practiced landings prior to the invasion of Okinawa. He recalls participating in the invasion as the boat officer of a LCVP and had Ernie Pyle as a passenger. After the surrender of Japan, he made five trips to the Philippines, China and Japan ferrying troops back to the United States.

Transcript of an oral interview with the family of John Ranger; his wife, Joyce, and their son, Jerry. Ranger joined the Navy on January 17, 1938, took boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois and was assigned to the USS Houston. He was an aviation's mate and worked on the airplanes onboard the Houston. She was in the Far East when he joined the cruiser. Ranger's son tells the story of how his dad received the Silver Star while putting out a fire near turret number 3, the result of a Japanese bomb. Ranger was a phone talker for Captain Rook the night the Houston was sunk. After the abandon ship order was given, Ranger went into the water, was rescued by the Japanese, taken to shore, told to unload some freighters and then put on a ship to Burma to work on the railroad there. As a POW, he was in eleven different POW camps. Joyce said John came back from the war fairly healthy. Ranger stayed in the Navy after the war and retired after 30 years. The family had been to several reunions and related stories (told to them by crewmen of the USS Houston) in this interview. …

Transcript of an oral interview with Frank Ficklin. Ficklin joined the National Guard (Regimental Headquarters Battery of the 131st Field Artillery) in 1938 when he was sixteen. They were mobilized in November 1940 in Wichita Falls, Texas and sent to Camp Bowie Brownwood, Texas for training with the 36th Division. They trained there for about a year and were then shipped overseas, picking up American 75s in San Francisco on the way. After landing in Brisbane, Australia, they were sent to Singasari, Java. They originally supported remnants of the 19th Heavy Bombardment Group that had pulled out from the Philippines but when the planes left, they reverted back to artillery and went into combat against the Japanese at Butansory, supporting an Australian infantry unit. On March 8, 1942 his unit was called together and told that the Dutch had capitulated and that they were now POWs. Sometime in May 1942 the Japanese took them into the Bicycle Camp where they met up with the 368 survivors of the USS Houston which was sunk on March 1, 1942. They spent about six or seven months at this camp. In October they were put aboard the Dinichi Maru which sailed for Singapore. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul F. Stevens. Stevens grew up in Missouri and participated in the college pilot training program. He joined the Navy in 1941. After training, he was assigned to the PBY-3. He was on a maneuver when a Morse code message came in that Oahu was being attacked. The next day he was part of a counter attack on the Japanese Fleet. Eventually he went to Perth, Australia and flew ""negative patrols."" In June 1943 he went up to Port Moresby. In November 1943, he returned to the U.S. and joined the Patrol Bomb Squadron 104 (VPB-104). He trained on the B-24 Liberator. He deployed to Morotai in November 1944. In December he moved to Tacloban, Leyte. He describes an attack on a Japanese force in Mindoro during December. In March 1945, Stevens is at Paul Field. He discusses two court martial proceedings related to his actions and shooting down Vice Admiral Yamagata. Later the admiral's granddaughter Myhoko Yamagata contacts Stevens.

Transcript of an oral interview with Stanley Vejtasa. Mr Vejtasa was born in 1914 on a farm in Montana. While at the University of Montana, he signed up for the Navy and went to Pensacola in 1938. He graduated from flight school and joined his first squadron, Scouting Squadron 5, in early 1939 on board the USS Yorktown which was based in San Diego; he was flying bi-planes (SBC-3). Vejtasa describes an exercise the Yorktown did with the USS Ranger in the Atlantic prior to the war, cruising down toward Africa and up to the north in the Atlantic. Shortly after December 7, 1941, the Yorktown was ordered to join the Pacific Fleet. When they went through the Panama Canal, they hung a sign on the back that said USS Wasp. Their first sortie was with the USS Enterprise on the Makin Islands strikes. After that, the Yorktown went into the South Pacific and participated in the strikes in the Guadalcanal area. He was flying a SBD now and describes the fogging problem with the gun sight and the glass. He was hit on one of these attacks but got back to the Yorktown safely. Next was the Battle of …

Transcript of an oral interview with Jim Yawn. Mr Yawn was born in 1918 and had two years of college by the time he was 20 which was the minimum age to get into the Navy flight program. He was sent to Miami, Florida for primary flight training; they had to fly thirty three hours before they were appointed as a cadet. They were transferred to Jacksonville for basic training and then to California after they got their wings. He asked for and received a transfer to the Marine Corps. After getting some time in PBYs, F-4Fs, SB-2Cs and a few other aircraft he had some crew training at El Centro and finished it up in Mojave, in the B-24. They were assigned an aircraft and left San Francisco at night so they could reach Hawaii in the daytime. Yawn talks about walking aboard the Arizona and it was still smoking; he said it was an eerie feeling. Yawn flew across the Pacific and ended up landing on Guadalcanal but most of the squadron was at Espiritu Santo; he was part of VMB-254. They did reconnaissance work over the New Georgia group, Rabaul and Bougainville. Then, they went to Bougainville …

Transcript of an oral interview with Samuel Smith. When he turned 18, Smith joined the Air Corps and was sworn in on December 7, 1942. He received his orders to report to active duty on April 6, 1942 in Fort Worth, Texas as an aviation cadet. He graduated from flight school June 27, 1944. Smith provides good detail of what he did in each phase of his training from pre-flight and classification to primary, basic and advanced. He then went to B-17 transition training in Roswell, New Mexico. From Roswell, he was sent to Lincoln, Nebraska where he picked up his combat crew and then to Sioux City, Iowa for combat crew training. When they finished their training, they were issued European type flying gear and put on a train for New York, their port of embarkation. They went to Europe on the converted liner USS Manhattan (renamed the USS Wakefield), docking in Liverpool. They were a replacement crew and assigned to the 303rd Bomb Group which was in Molesworth, England. His first mission was a synthetic fuel plant in Hamburg. After completing seven mission, his crew was made a lead crew. His next mission was to Friedrichshafen. Half of …