Oral History Interview with Jean Balch, October 12, 1996

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with Navy veteran Jean Balch, including Balch's personal experiences about the Pacific theater, being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II, boot camp, radio, radar, and gunnery school, operations during the Leyte invasion, missions over Luzon, and raids on Japanese installations on Formosa and Saigon, French Indo-China. Additionally, Balch talks about his plane being shot down on a raid to Hong Kong and his capture on January 16, 1945, interrogations and beatings by the Kempei-tai, imprisonment at Ofuna, Honshu, solitary confinement for six months and continued interrogation, beatings by Japanese prison guards, starvation diet, the end of the war and liberation, and his participation in the war crimes trials held by the International Military Tribunal.
Date: October 12, 1996
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Balch, Jean
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral History Interview with George Burns, March 12, 1974 (open access)

Oral History Interview with George Burns, March 12, 1974

Interview with George Burns, a postal worker, farmer, U.S. Army WWII veteran (2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, Texas National Guard), and a member of the "Lost Battalion," about his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Burns talks about the fall of Java and his capture, Bicycle Camp in Batavia (1942), Changi Prison Camp in Singapore (1942), building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway (1942-1944), Kanchanaburi, Thailand (1944), Bangkok, Thailand (1945), and his liberation.
Date: March 12, 1974
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Burns, George, 1917-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral History Interview with Douglas F. Knight, March 12, 1978 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Douglas F. Knight, March 12, 1978

Interview with Douglas Knight, U.S. Army veteran (2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, Texas National Guard) and a member of the "Lost Battalion," concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Knight talks about the fall of Java and his capture, Bicycle Camp in Batavia (1942), Changi Prison Camp in Singapore (1942), the hell ship to Japan (1942), Hakodate, Hokkaido (1942-1944), and his liberation.
Date: March 12, 1978
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Knight, Douglas F.
System: The UNT Digital Library