The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lois Burns. Burns joined the Women’s Army Corps in January of 1945. She completed training in Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and provides details of her uniform and living and working conditions. She was later transferred to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where she remained through the spring of 1946. Burns worked at the National Laboratory and at a Western Union office, as a switchboard and teletype operator. She was discharged in July of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Oliver Schaetter. Schaetter joined the Navy in December 1943 and was immediately selected as a pharmacist’s mate due to his civilian experience as an embalmer. He received training at Balboa Park sick bay and recalls comforting a shell-shocked soldier who had hidden under his bunk during a fireworks display. In December 1944 Schaetter was assigned to the USS Goshen (APA-108), which functioned as a third-class hospital ship as well as a troop carrier. He saw burials at sea at every stop in the South Pacific and felt they were extremely dignified events. When one of his own patients died at sea, the pharmacist improvised an embalming fluid so that the soldier could later be given a land burial on Saipan. After the war, Schaetter treated civilians and military personnel alike at a hospital in the Philippines. While there, he hypnotized and administered a truth serum to a guard who committed crimes against natives. Schaetter returned home in March 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eleanor Hughes. Hughes was working for Pacific Co-op in Roseburg, Oregon when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She volunteered and worked nights on the local plotting board watching for planes and ships coming near the Oregon coast. When a blip appeared in their sector, they phoned in and someone checked to see if it was enemy or friendly. Hughes enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) on 27 September 1943 at Little Rock, Arkansas and was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia for training. She was stationed there for almost a year before her group was sent to Port Moresby, New Guinea. They were trucked from their quarters to a headquarters building, known as the Pentagon of the jungle; they worked there all day and were taken back to their barracks by truck at night. Hughes was a secretary to a young lieutenant. A lot of the soldiers who were there when she arrived were replaced by WACs. The weather was hot and muggy but she does not remember it bothering her too much. There were no men in her camp; however, men worked at the headquarters and drove …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harper Gruber. Gruber was an electrician's apprentice at the Charleston Navy Yard in South Carolina. He joined the Navy soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was sent to the Panama Canal Zone to join the 13th Headquarters. He was later transferred to YMS-339 where he served as an electrician's mate for the remainder of the war. He describes in detail minesweeping operations for the various types of mines. His minesweeper participated in 7 invasion operations in the Philippine Islands. Gruber was sent back to Charleston Navy Yard after the war ended, and remained there until eligible for discharge.

Transcript of an oral interview with Robert W. Wood. Wood begins by discussing growing up during the Great Depression and the effect it had on him and his family. When he finished high school in 1941 in Greenville, Texas, he moved to Dallas, worked for Woolworth's and attended night school at Southern Methodist University. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Wood had already volunteered for the Navy and was called up shortly after Christmas. Wood discusses riding the train to San Diego to attend boot camp in January, 1942. Then he describes a few experiences while in training. While in San Diego, he trained to become a radio operator before reporting to Bremerton, Washington where he boarded the USS Altamaha (CVE-18). Wood describes some of the sea trials and early voyages of the Altamaha as it delivered planes and cargo to various points in the Pacific: Brisbane, Australia, Noumea, Espiritu Santo, Pearl Harbor, Karachi, India and the Solomon Islands. He also describes some carrier-landing qualifying assignments for pilots the Altamaha had. He recalls a time when Bob Hope came aboard and performed a show for the sailors at Ulithi. He goes on to describe being caught in a typhoon in which …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lester McClanahan. McClanahan joined the Navy in 1944. He was assigned to the USS Algol (AKA-54) in June of 1944 and served as a deck hand and gunner. He provides some detail of the ship and the equipment it carried. They traveled to Eniwetok, Ulithi and Saipan, carrying supplies for troops after the invasions. They were at the invasion of Lingayen Gulf in early 1945, and later at Okinawa. He recalls the kamikaze plane attacks while at Okinawa. They also provided towing services for ships to the Philippines. They traveled to Qingdao, China and he discusses his experiences there. He was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Fred Marron. Marron joined the Army in June 1943, volunteered for the Airborne, and went to Georgia for basic and airborne training. He went overseas to France and was assigned to the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division. He remained with the unit until the war in Europe ended, then volunteered to go to the Pacific. On the way to the US for more training, the war ended and Marron was among the first soldiers home from overseas after the war. He was discharged in December, 1945 and became a police officer in Utica, New York.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harold Buell and Warren Taylor. Buell discusses being aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6) during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. Buell served as a Dauntless dive bomber pilot. Ingram’s (interviewer) primary interest in the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57). Ingram also interviews Warren Taylor. Taylor served as a gunnery officer aboard the South Dakota. Taylor discusses much about gunnery at sea: targeting, target spotting, plotting, etc. He also recalls an explosion aboard ship while replenishing ammunition. Taylor also recalls going ashore in Japan after the surrender.

Recording of Badshahi Khan, a farmer, reciting "King Zulqarneen," in the Yasin dialect. This is a popular story that followed Islam to the area, and the King represents a barrier from the apocalypse.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Croft. Croft joined the Navy in February of 1941. He completed Aviation Radio School before working at Pearl Harbor. He later was assigned to the USS McFarland (AVD-14). They transported aviation gas to the neighboring islands. Croft witnessed the Japanese attack on 7 December from the veranda of the US Naval Hospital on Pearl Harbor. He was later assigned to the USS Vega (AK-17), where he served in the engine room and Radio Shack as radioman. They participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. In early 1944 they transported cargo from San Francisco to support Pacific operations in the Gilbert Islands, Marianas and Okinawa. In June of 1944 Croft was transferred to the USS Hermitage (AP-54), transporting troops from the US to New Guinea. He was discharged in 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jean Dunn and Terry Dunn. Dunn grew up in China during the Japanese occupation during WWII and discusses some of her childhood experiences. Terry Dunn mentions the family business - making soy sauce. They als soeak of Jean's grandparents: a doctor and a nurse in China. Jean and Terry eventually settle into speaking about the exploits of her husband (Terry's father) during World War II in China. This man worked as an interpreter for SACO.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Groux. Groux was attending St. Edward's University in Austin Texas when he joined the Marine Corps in 1943 and was assigned to the Midshipman School at Northwestern University in Chicago. He was commissioned as an ensign there in September 1944. He volunteered for Scout and Raider duty within the Navy and trained at Fort Pierce, Florida. After training, Groux was shipped to Calcutta, India. After the war, Groux was assigned as a welfare and recreation officer on Kwajalein. From there, he was assigned to clear the coral reef around the Bikini Atoll so the atomic bomb could be tested in 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Richard Petri. Born in 1922 in Kansas City, Missouri, he joined the Navy in 1943. He began his training in the Naval Air Corps, but soon discovered he had no aptitude for flying and was assigned to the Navy's V-12 college student program. After completing his Bachelor's Degree, he completed Basic Training in Norfolk and Midshipman Training at Notre Dame and Navy Supply Corps school at Harvard. Upon completion of Supply Corps School he was assigned to the Navy Yard in Washington, DC. He was told to await further orders which arrived after two weeks when he was sent to Patuxent River, Maryland where he boarded a plane, beginning a long journey east, eventually flying over "The Hump" and into Kunming, China, where he assumed duties at the Naval Supply Depot, one of two such depots in China (the other at Chungking). He recounts the excellent treatment he and the other young officers received from the Chinese National Army. He recalls that after the release of American officers taken at the fall of the Philippines, including General Wainwright, all of whom had been imprisoned in China, a group of them came through Kunming. He …

Transcript of an oral interview with Arthur Bohus. Born in Philadelphia in 1917, he enlisted in the Navy (Communications Reserves) in 1939. He went through Recruit Training at Newport, Rhode Island followed by Radioman School and then was assigned to the Fourth Naval District, Philadelphia. His next assignment was at Cape May, New Jersey, where his duties involved recovering blimps which had been launched from Lakehurst, New Jersey. During this assignment he became proficient in Morse Code. His next assignment was at the Naval Gun Factory in Washington, DC, where the 16-inch guns were manufactured. He recounts several ancecdotes during his time in Washington, DC prior to receiving orders to Karachi, India under the Office of Naval Intelligence. He describes how repeated attempts at catching a flight from Anacostia Naval Station to San Francisco, where the troop ship was located, were aborted due to higher priority passengers. Eventually, he was provided with a train ticket to San Francisco. He describes some of the events during that rail ride to Chicago, enroute San Francisco. He describes the transit from San Francisco to Karachi where he received orders to Chungking, China. He recounts the landing in Chungking in late Spring 1942, where …

Transcript of an oral interview with Francis D. Reynnett. Reynnet was in Oklahoma in 1925 and moved to East Lansing, Michigan during the depression, where he attended Michigan State University. Drafted into the Navy in 1944, he attended Boot Camp in Simpson, New York and Radio School in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Radioman Third Class. First assignment was to Fort Story, Virginia, an Army base, with Navy personnel controlling the harbor entrance. Sent to the Navy Department in Washington and began studies in basic weaponry as well as indoctrination on China. Then on to San Diego, where he shipped out to Calcutta, India in mid-1945. Received field training in weaponry at Camp Knox in Calcutta. He recounts that two sailors who shipped over to Calcutta with him were killed there, one in a training accident with live ammunition and the other drove a truck off the Burma Road. He was flown on a DC-3 over The Hump into China, and prior to reaching their destination the plane lost one of two engines and had to make emergency landing. He and a companion were then flown onto Kunming, China in another plane. He was in Kunming for only …

Transcript of an oral interview of Elmer Batschelet. Born in October 1918, near Spencer, Iowa he joined the Navy in October, 1942. Upon completion of Boot Camp at Great Lakes, Illinois he was transferred to Bremerton, Washington in February, 1943. He was assigned to the USS Mission Bay (CVE-59) as a Fireman in the Engineering Department. He recounts his duties on the Mission Bay and transiting the Panama Canal to Norfolk, Virginia and then across the Atlantic in convoy with other vessels to deliver supplies to North Africa. On his next deployment, the Mission Bay transported Army P-40 aircraft to Karachi. In June 1944 he was transferred to the newly commissioned USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) which then deployed to the South Pacific and joined the US Third Fleet engaged in retaking the Phillipines. During those battles he recounts two kamikaze hits on the Ticonderoga in January 1945. He recalls a typhoon in the South China Sea. He recalls being aboard the Ticonderoga in Tokyo Bar during the signing of the Japanese surrender. Soon after the surrender, the Ticonderoga was converted into a troopship and in December 1945 6,000 men were embarked for the return to the United States. He recounts the …

Transcript of an oral interview with Carl Hecht. He was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1920 and joined the Navy Reserves in October, 1940. In early 1941 he was assigned as a Signalman aboard USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37). He recalls sailing to Argentia, New Foundland in August 1941 in company with USS Augusta (CA-31) (President Roosevelt embarked) and Henry Hopkins and the remainder of the President's staff embarked on Tuscaloosa. He recalls that the two American war ships met up in Argentia harbor with HMS Prince of Wales (Winston Churchill embarked) and that, on 11 and 12 August, Churchill and staff met with Roosevelt and aides on the Augusta for conferences and their first of several meetings in order to form the Atlantic Charter. Later he recalls three instances when Tuscaloosa was assigned convoy duty between the United Kingdom and Murmansk, Russia. Upon return to the US he was assigned as part of the commissioning crew aboard USS Monrovia (APA-31), which became the flagship of Admiral Hewitt, Eighth Fleet Commander, in charge of training for the invasion of Sicily. He recalls General Patton and his staff were aboard, in addition to army troops being prepared for the invasion and how …

Transcript of an oral interview with Joseph F. Fitzgerald. He was born in Ambler, Pennsylvania on May 3, 1926. He enlisted in the Navy in in May of 1944. He attended Naval Radio School at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and in Sheltonham, Maryland. Upon graduation he volunteered for duty with the Sino-American Cooperative Association (SACO) and was flown to Calcutta, India. He recalls his experiences in Calcutta, where he was assigned to the Motor Pool. He was flown to Kunming, China enroute to Chungking, China. In Chungking his duties consisted of communications with Pacific Headquarters in Honolulu, including Japanese intercepts and weather reports. He describes his interactions with cryptographers who were decoding his Japanese intercepts. In December 1944 he was transferred to Shanghai, China where he spent several weeks communicating with Pacific Fleet assets. In May 1944 he was shipped back to the United States and discharged from the Navy in June 1946.

Recording of Badshai Khan (Tataku), a speaker of Yasin Burushaski, reciting the story of Tiliti Tham.

A discussion with Beshot Khullar about singular and plural nouns. Shobhana Chelliah and Harimohon Thounaojam are discussants.

Akha songs and narratives. Continued from Side A. Àbɔ́qɔ: questions on funeral; Àbɔ́qɔ: recitations on funeral, 2nd night. Maeby 12/5-78

Akha songs and narratives. Àbɔ́qɔ: questions on funeral; Àbɔ́qɔ: recitations on funeral, 2nd night. Maeby 12/5-78

Interview with Lynn A. Seamans, a naval reservist in the US Navy during WWII and the Korean War. He answers questions about his time in the military and his experience abroad.

This recording is a part of the radio series “Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend,” which was a tribute to conductor Arturo Toscanini. The broadcasts consist of music performed by the NBC Orchestra as well as interviews with composers, conductors, orchestra members, and other people associated with Toscanini. This segment includes performances of Verdi's Overture to I vespri siciliani, Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5, and an interview with Edwin Bachman.