The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joe Matlock. Matlock joined the Army Air Forces on 8 December 1941. He received his wings in 1943, and served as a pilot with the 434th Troop Carrier Group, 71st Squadron. From 1944 through 1945, they flew combat paratroopers on airborne assaults on Normandy, southern France, the Netherlands and Germany. They additionally flew resupply missions in the relief of Bastogne and evacuated the wounded. Matlock returned to the US and was discharged in October of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arnold Spielberg. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 6 February 1917. His mother and father migrated from the Ukraine. He joined the United States Army and based on his experience as a “Ham” radio operator and knowledge of Morse code, he was assigned to the 442nd Signal Corps. Soon afterwards, he was assigned to the United States Army Air Forces and went aboard the SS Santa Paul in May 1942 bound for Karachi, India. After a short stint in supply, Spielberg was transferred to the 490th Bombardment Group where he set up a communications center at Ondal, India. The unit then moved to Bishnapur, India where he became the communications chief. During this time he was instrumental in setting up a rhombic directional antenna to improve communication with New Delhi. He describes instances where he went directly to the manufacturer for parts that were badly needed. Following his tour in India, Spielberg was assigned to research and development at Wright Field where he stayed until he was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Mose Davie. Davie was born in Clarksville, Tennessee on 12 July 1918. He graduated from high school in 1938 and attended Tennessee State University majoring in engineering. In 1941 he was drafted into the United States Army under the Selective Training and Service Act. Following basic training he was assigned to the 382nd Engineer Construction Battalion. He tells of the segregated unit boarding the USS Hermitage (AP-54) bound for Bombay, India. Once in India, the battalion was assigned the job of building the Ledo Road. Working in jungles, swamps and over mountains and rivers, malaria was prevalent and many of the men died. He relates how food and supplies were brought in by C-46 and C-47 transport planes that flew over The Hump and of being subjected to periodic Japanese air raids over the construction camps. Upon completion of the Ledo Road, the battalion returned to India. Davie also attended USO shows that featured Joe E. Brown and Hank Greenberg. Following the surrender of Japan, Davie returned to the United States and received his discharge in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jim Teague. Teague was drafted into the Navy during his freshman year of college. Upon completion of aviation radio school, he was assigned to a torpedo bomber crew with Carrier Air Group Five (CVG-5). In late 1944, he boarded the USS Franklin (CV-13) and headed toward southern Japan to eliminate kamikaze bases. Teague’s particular task was to jam radar-controlled guns, which were rumored to have been acquired from Nazi Germany. After finding the right frequency, he watched the gun’s aim drift away. During one mission, while in the middle of a dive, his plane was hit in the wing. His aircraft moved to the front of the landing order, allowing them to return safely. After some overnight repairs, the plane was back in action. When the Franklin was hit by two 500-pound bombs, Teague was blown overboard. He was one of a dozen survivors of the hundreds of men in his air group, many of whom were close friends. Teague was sent to Lake Tahoe for R&R and was interviewed extensively by mental health specialists. As the war wound to a close, he passed up the opportunity to …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Lee. Lee joined the Navy in 1944 and received basic training in New York. He joined the Seabees and received further training at Camp Endicott. At Port Hueneme he completed combat training. His first assignment was on Guam, where he enjoyed snorkeling in his free time. His main duty was at the warehouse as a forklift driver, or finger lift driver, as he calls it. His unit endured two typhoons, securing their Quonset huts to bulldozers. On V-J Day, Lee was awakened by sirens in the middle of the night, signaling the start of a great celebration. His trip back to the States was colder than he was dressed for, and food supplies were scarce. Lee developed pneumonia and was hospitalized in New York. Upon recovery he was discharged and attended college on the GI Bill.

Transcript of an oral interview with Marcus R. Neuhaus. Born in 1917, he was drafted into the Army in March 1942. He describes being processed into the military in Arkansas and then transported by train to Victorville, California. He was assigned to bombardier training school where he issued bombsights along with a stabilizer and a 45-caliber gun to trainees. He describes the secret nature of the equipment. After two and a half years, he was sent to Deming, New Mexico and, later, to San Antonio Texas where he was involved with airplane part supplies. He describes being transported to Washington aboard a steam train as well as conditions aboard a World War I vintage ship en route to Okinawa. He mentions the method of disposal of Japanese corpses on Okinawa. He also talks about his visit to the suicide cliffs. He describes the outdoor movie theater and the use of tracer bullets on Okinawa to celebrate the end of the war. He was discharged in January 1946. The interview also includes information about his parents and his wife.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ithiel Worden. Worden joined the Navy in the summer of 1942 at the age of seventeen. He was assigned to the USS Underhill (DE-682). He was assigned to engineering and ran thee evaporators. The Underhill was assigned to convoy duty and traveled to North Africa and the North Atlantic. The Underhill was then assigned to convoy duty in the Pacific. The ship rammed a Japanese Kaiten submarine while escorting a convoy near the Philippines. Worden describes the massive explosion and evacuation efforts that followed. He details how the ship lost almost half of its crew in the incident. Worden was rescued and sent back to the U.S. for 30-day survivor leave. He left the Navy soon after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Steven Dittrich. Dittrich was born 15 October 1952 in Oceanside, New York. He is first generation American and grew up in an extended family that spoke German in the household. In his narrative, he relates the experiences his father and grandmother had during World War II. His father, Erwin K. Dittrich, was born in Westheim, Germany 25 March 1923. His grandmother was Jewish while his grandfather was a Christian. In March 1943 his grandmother received a deportation order sending her and her son, Erwin, to a transit camp in Bielefeld, Germany. After two months the mother and son were put aboard a train and sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp where the mother died of starvation in 1944. Erwin was sent to a camp at Trebnitz, Germany. The commandant of the camp was Franz Stuschka who was tried and found guilty of war crimes committed during the war. Erwin’s job was to clean the SS barracks. As the Russian Army advanced the camp was evacuated in February 1945 and he was sent to Theresienstadt. In May 1945 the Nazis turned over control of the camp to the Red Cross …

Transcript of an oral interview with Sun-Ha Lim. Lim discusses growing up in Korea and living under Japanese Colonial Government, being conscripted into the Japanese army and being part of the mainland defense of Japan in 1945. He also discusses a friend deciding to "go crazy" during training to get out of service and having to fight the Americans, then Lim later pulling him out of a "mental deficiency patient curing place" which was actually a cave in a mountain to get him home to Korea after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with R.J. Schneider. Schneider was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 7 March 1922. After completing high school, he enrolled in Xavier University and was in his senior year when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He volunteered for the Marine Corps and was permitted to return college. Immediately after graduating he went to Parris Island for boot camp. He then went to Camp Lejeune where he received training in artillery, mortars and machineguns. This was followed by Officer Candidate School from which he graduated in late 1942 as a second lieutenant. Soon after being commissioned he boarded a ship bound for Guadalcanal. He recalls malaria being a problem that hindered the process of ridding the jungle of isolated Japanese. After nine months, he was sent to Peleliu for a short period of time before he was sent to Guam. While on Guam, the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. He tells of his admiration of President Truman for making such a momentous decision and reminisces of having dinner with Truman later in civilian life. After spending four months on Guam, he returned to the United States and resigned his …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ernest Howe. Howe joined the Navy in 1943 when he finished high school. He trained as a pharmacist's mate and worked in the Oak Knoll Hospital in Oakland. He then was assigned to a large hospital in Noumea, New Caledonia. Later in the war, he moved up to the Philippines and worked in a clinic in Manila. When the war ended, Howe opted for a discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur deLarios. DeLarios was born in Oklahoma City on 24 October 1919. He joined the Navy 7 September 1940 and upon finishing boot camp, was accepted in the Hospital Corps training school. When he completed the course he was assigned to the San Diego Naval Hospital for additional training. This was followed by assignment to VMF-111 in the 1st Marine Air Wing, which was sent to Pago Pago, Samoa Islands. Soon after his arrival, deLarios was ordered to the Naval Hospital at St. Albans, New York. Shortly after reporting to the hospital in 1942, he applied for the Submarine Service. Upon his acceptance, he was sent to submarine school in New London, Connecticut for six months training. After graduating from the school he was assigned to the USS Hammerhead (SS-364) as a pharmacist mate. In early 1944 the Hammerhead proceeded to Midway where they began the first of seventeen war patrols. Delarios recalls various activities he performed aboard the submarine including treating a fellow seaman who suffered acute appendicitis. He also describes Japanese depth charge attacks. Following his six years of naval service, deLarios attended medical school and …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Louie Sullivan. Sullivan was married with a son on the way when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was placed on the draft, with a 3-A exemption. He completed mechanics school at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. He was sent to Love Field in Dallas to work as a machinist. He joined the Navy in 1942 and completed basic engineer school and provides some details of basic training and learning how to swim for the Navy. In 1944 Sullivan traveled to Hawaii and provides details of his trip over. Aboard the same ship, they traveled to Ulithi and Eniwetok, where he was assigned to the USS Franks (DD-554) and served as Fireman First Class. In 1945 they traveled to Wake Island and Japan. He describes some of his liberty travels in Tokyo. He was discharged in early 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Thomas Schoolcraft. Schoolcraft joined the Army Air Forces in 1942. He completed technical aircraft maintenance school and became an aircraft mechanic, working on B-29s. Schoolcraft became a hangar chief and an inspector. When he received the rank of staff sergeant in early 1944 he was promoted to flight engineer aboard a B-29. He completed training at the Boeing factory in Seattle and attended flight engineer school at Lowry Field in Denver, learning also about fuel control. He details the job function of a flight engineer. Schoolcraft provides great detail of the bomber and of a number of his missions. He flew 27 missions over Japan as a B-29 flight engineer in the 504th Bomb Group. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Petty. Petty joined the Navy in January of 1944. He was sent to Kansas University for electrician???s school. Beginning December of 1944, he served aboard the USS LST-913. They traveled to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, the Philippines and Okinawa. They transported a replacement LCT, and other military supplies. During the Battle of Okinawa they landed Marine troops and their equipment on the island. He describes this event, including some of their casualties during landing and the protective fire of the battleships in their flotilla. Petty served as the head electrician aboard the LST, working in the engine room with generators to operate the gun sights and all electrical equipment. In August of 1945, during V-J Day, they were in Japan and Petty provides some of his experiences there, and what the area looked like after the atomic bomb. He was transferred over to USS LST-990 and they traveled to Terminal Island, California. Morris provides some detail of an LST and their armament, as well as the flotilla his crew was a part of. He was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Bob Balch. Balch joined the Navy in August of 1943. He completed Radio School in February of 1944. In June he traveled to Melanie Bay, New Guinea. He speaks on shellback initiation crossing the equator. He was assigned to the USS Blue Ridge (AGC-2), where he served as a radioman. In August of 1945, after the war ended, Balch worked at a communication center on Manus, in the Admiralty Islands. He worked in the China occupation group beginning October of 1945. Balch returned to the US and was discharged in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Roy Crawford. Crawford joined the Navy in January of 1944. He completed Radar Operator School, and served aboard the USS Richard P. Leary (DD-664) beginning late February. He worked as a radarman and engineers’ yeoman. They traveled to Pearl Harbor and in July provided escort duty to Eniwetok and Saipan. In September they supported landings at Peleliu, and at Leyte in October. They launched torpedoes at the Japanese battleship Yamashiro during the 25 October Battle of Surigao Strait, and rescued survivors from the USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649). Crawford recalls a kamikaze attack to the ship. They supplied gunfire support for the landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Upon arriving at Adak, Alaska in August they learned that Japan had surrendered. They returned to the US in September of 1945. Crawford was discharged in March of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William McDowell. McDowell joined the Navy in October of 1942. He completed radar and sonar school, and worked in radar maintenance and later as Chief Radio Technician aboard the USS Bennion (DD-662) beginning December of 1943. They arrived at Pearl Harbor in March of 1944 escorting the USS Bataan (CVL-29) to the Pacific. They served as a fighter director and radar picket ship during numerous campaigns, including the Tinian, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations. They also participated in the Battle of Surigao Strait in October of 1944. Once they arrived to the Aleutian Islands, they received word that the Japanese surrendered. They returned to the US and McDowell was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Morgan. Morgan joined the Navy in January of 1944. Beginning June, he served aboard the USS Holt (DE-706) as a Seaman 2nd Class, and worked as a quartermaster. They provided anti-submarine patrol, protection for operations in Leyte Gulf and escort services to Hollandia, New Guinea. They steamed with a convoy toward Mindoro for the establishment of a motor torpedo boat base on the island, and the Holt provided gunfire support during the invasion. In March of 1945 they transported troops to Port Legazpi and provided gunfire support during the landings. From May through December, they were assigned to weather patrol in the eastern South China Sea, sending reports to help guide movements of the fleets operating in the Pacific. Morgan returned to the US and was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Saunders. Born in 1924, he joined the Navy in 1943. After attending gunnery and electric hydraulic schools, he was assigned to the USS Miami (CL-89). After the shakedown cruise to the Caribbean Sea and Greenland, the ship was sent to join Cruiser Division Fourteen in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii via the Panama Canal. He served as a gunners mate and mount captain. He describes firing star shells during the Mariana Islands Campaign. He also describes experiencing a typhoon near Ulithi which damaged the bow of the ship. He talks about pursuing the Japanese battleship Yamato and sinking a Japanese ship in the San Bernardino Strait. He recounts the story of a kamikaze attack. He describes bombarding Saipan as well as the shore of Iwo Jima. He also participated in the bombardment of the Ryuku Islands and Okinawa. He talks about experiencing the tsunami that resulted from the atomic blast at Hiroshima. He describes conditions in Tokyo after the surrender of Japan. He shares anecdotes about Admiral Halsey; contracting jungle rot; and meeting a Japanese Lieutenant in Truk who was born and educated in the United States. He also …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Milton West. West joined the Navy in January of 1942. He served in communications with several Carrier Divisions, the last of which was Carrier Division 23. West served aboard the USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71). He served as a lieutenant and was involved in a number of battles, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He received a Bronze Star for consistent and gallant conduct in the Leyte and Lingayen operations, the Battle off Samar and for action off Luzon.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ernest Howe. Howe joined the Navy in 1943 when he finished high school. He trained as a pharmacist's mate and worked in the Oak Knoll Hospital in Oakland. He then was assigned to a large hospital in Noumea, New Caledonia. Later in the war, he moved up to the Philippines and worked in a clinic in Manila. When the war ended, Howe opted for a discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ithiel Worden. Worden joined the Navy in the summer of 1942 at the age of seventeen. He was assigned to the USS Underhill (DE-682). He was assigned to engineering and ran thee evaporators. The Underhill was assigned to convoy duty and traveled to North Africa and the North Atlantic. The Underhill was then assigned to convoy duty in the Pacific. The ship rammed a Japanese Kaiten submarine while escorting a convoy near the Philippines. Worden describes the massive explosion and evacuation efforts that followed. He details how the ship lost almost half of its crew in the incident. Worden was rescued and sent back to the U.S. for 30-day survivor leave. He left the Navy soon after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Steven Dittrich. Dittrich was born 15 October 1952 in Oceanside, New York. He is first generation American and grew up in an extended family that spoke German in the household. In his narrative, he relates the experiences his father and grandmother had during World War II. His father, Erwin K. Dittrich, was born in Westheim, Germany 25 March 1923. His grandmother was Jewish while his grandfather was a Christian. In March 1943 his grandmother received a deportation order sending her and her son, Erwin, to a transit camp in Bielefeld, Germany. After two months the mother and son were put aboard a train and sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp where the mother died of starvation in 1944. Erwin was sent to a camp at Trebnitz, Germany. The commandant of the camp was Franz Stuschka who was tried and found guilty of war crimes committed during the war. Erwin’s job was to clean the SS barracks. As the Russian Army advanced the camp was evacuated in February 1945 and he was sent to Theresienstadt. In May 1945 the Nazis turned over control of the camp to the Red Cross …