The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Hyde. Hyde first attempted to join the Navy when he was 17, but was rejected due to his dental health and low weight. In January 1944 he enlisted. As a seaman, Hyde was appointed as storekeeper aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). He made friends with many onboard, including some of the black officers’ stewards, with whom he was not supposed to mingle. Initially sailing off China, moving between Hong Kong and Singapore, he recalls the ship participating in airfield raids. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Hyde had his first encounter with a kamikaze, which exploded below the bow. In addition to knocking out the ship’s steering, communications, and lights, the explosion caused a gasoline leak that soaked Hyde. Even worse, he was temporarily trapped below deck, in the dark, until he alerted crew above by pounding the hatch with a wrench. He helped his African American peers out first and was the last of the group to ascend to safety. A more harrowing experience was enduring a major typhoon, which sank four destroyers in their group. While offshore at Okinawa, he survived a second kamikaze attack, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harry Lyons. Lyons joined the Navy in October of 1940. He served briefly aboard the USS Nevada (BB-36) as a machinist mate working in the boiler room. He was then assigned to the Engineering Department aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) from December of 1940 to August of 1944, where he served as Fireman First Class in the boiler room. Lyons describes the intensely hot work in the boiler room, while stationed in the Pacific. The Enterprise was 150 miles south of Oahu, Pearl Harbor the morning of December 7, 1941. Lyons describes their participation in combating the Japanese. In February of 1942 the Enterprise group swept the central Pacific, attacking enemy installations on Wake and Marcus Islands. In April of that same year the Enterprise participated in the Battle of Midway. Beginning in August of 1942 they participated in the Battle of Guadalcanal, and a few months later Lyons was injured during the Battle of Santa Cruz. In July of 1943 Lyons was promoted to Second Class Watertender. In June of 1944 they participated in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. In August of that same year, Lyons was …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Albert. Albert joined the Navy in 1941. Growing up in poverty with 12 siblings, enlisting was a way to ensure three square meals a day and to finally have his own bed. Albert was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6) as a shipfitter, involved in routine maintenance and damage control. As such, he was appreciated by many people and often repaid with alcohol, which he would share with others before stowing the remainder inside the ship’s walls, welding the makeshift cubby shut each time. At Pearl Harbor, he conducted shore patrol and once broke up an altercation involving his own brother. The two of them, along with about 15 other pairs of brothers, worked together on the Enterprise, in the early days. Albert encountered many dangerous events, particularly surviving a weeklong typhoon, and watching from the crow’s nest as a kamikaze approached and blew out the number two elevator. In the aftermath, part of his duties in damage control included administering morphine to the wounded. Albert was discharged shortly before the war ended, having spent four years in the service. For a time thereafter, he suffered from …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Barnhill. Barnhill joined the Navy after graduating from high school in 1940. Upon completion of bugle school, he was a regimental bugler until receiving orders to board the USS Enterprise (CV-6). He was assigned a second station as assistant photographer. Barnhill’s first voyage was to Hawaii in March 1941 for training. When news of the attack on Pearl Harbor arrived, Barnhill recalls sounding general quarters from the bridge with his bugle. His first mission was at the Marshall Islands, where the ship came under attack. As the war developed, Barnhill volunteered to fuse bombs, a task he performed with his younger brother, who had requested to be assigned with him. There were no less than a dozen sets of brothers on the ship at that time. At the Battle of Rennell Island, Barnhill remembers the ship was under strict orders to leave behind any men in the water, leaving them to be rescued by other ships. He left the Enterprise in July 1944 and enjoyed easy duty in Oregon, where his unit worked part-time civilian jobs at local factories, which was appreciated by the community as the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Brecount. Brecount joined the Navy in 1942 and received basic training at Farragut. He attended radio technician school at Texas A&M and Corpus Christi. Upon completion, he was sent to the Special Projects School for Air, where he learned to jam enemy radars. He joined the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in December 1944. His duty was so secretive that only one person aboard ship knew to expect his arrival. At Okinawa he survived several kamikaze attacks and lost one chief petty officer to friendly fire. Brecount was transferred to VT(N)-90 and then was reassigned to a radar repair shop in Norfolk. He was discharged at the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ora Bull Durham. After initially volunteering for the Army Air Forces after high school and being rejected for high blood pressure, Durham was drafted in 1942 by the Navy. His basic training in Farragut was held indoors because of snow. He came down with rheumatic fever and the mumps, and upon recovery went aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in July 1943. He became a barrier operator for VF(N)-90, using a wheel to control one of the four barriers that stopped inbound planes that failed to latch to the arresting gear. At Okinawa he recalled seeing 70 kamikazes in the air around the time the Enterprise was hit. In Bremerton for repairs, the crew began celebrating the end of the war one week before it was officially declared, sensing its inevitability. Afterward, they traveled to San Francisco to pick up sailors bound for Hawaii. Durham stayed on for further troop transports and was soon discharged, retiring with the rank of aviation boatswain’s mate.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Glass. Glass was born in Forsyth, Georgia on 27 March 1924. Upon graduation from high school in 1941, he joined the Navy. After completing boot camp in Norfolk, Virginia he attended a radio operator school in Alameda, California. In June 1942, he was assigned to VF-6 aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). He was later assigned as to Bombing Squadron 10 (United States. Navy. Bombing Squadron 10 (VB-10)) as a radio operator aboard SBD dive bombers. Glass participated in various battles including Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In 1944 he was transferred off the ship and flew as the radio operator on PBYs. He was discharged in 1947 and enlisted in the Air Force. He briefly tells of the time spent in the Air Force.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Geoffrey Fiskin. When Fiskin first tried to enlist in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, he was ordered to return to his farm, an essential duty at the time. He was accepted to the RNZAF on his second attempt and was assigned to the No. 205 Squadron, a flying boat squadron stationed in Singapore. He and other RNZAF personnel were then transferred to the RAF No. 243 Squadron, seeing their first action just one day after Pearl Harbor. Fiskin struck a Japanese Ki-27 which then exploded beneath his plane, causing Fiskin to fall into a tailspin for 5,000 feet. He survived that event only to later be shelled and wounded. He was erroneously reported missing and believed killed, which he learned while speaking to his mother by phone. Fiskin, though on crutches and with steel lodged in his hip, continued to fly. In March 1942 he joined the No. 14 Squadron as a P-40 pilot. In bad weather off New Caledonia, the whole unit made a sea landing and abandoned their planes. He later discovered on Guadalcanal that American troops had found his aircraft and salvaged it; he …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Ryan. Ryan joined the Navy in June 1944 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the SS Santa Monica, a Merchant Marine ship, as part of the gunnery crew. His ship brought troops and supplies to the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, Saipan, and Okinawa. Until a close encounter with kamikazes at Okinawa, Ryan’s service was uneventful. He recalls seeing beautiful tropical fish in the clear waters near Saipan. His ship often transported recovering soldiers and their medical attendants back to the Santa Monica’s home base on Treasure Island. At the end of the war, Ryan was sent to Guam, where he stood watch on an abandoned Marine base, on the lookout for any surviving Japanese soldiers. While there he saw large pieces of equipment such as bulldozers retired and dumped into the ocean. Ryan returned home and was discharged in February 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Hobbs. Hobbs joined the Army in the spring of 1943. He served with the 35th Infantry Division, and deployed to England in May of 1944. His job was to drive a machine gun Jeep. Hobbs participated in the invasion of Normandy, the Battle of Saint-Lô and the Battle of the Bulge. He returned to the US and was discharged in August of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Hood. Hood was born on a farm near Crawfordville, Indiana on 3 October 1916. He completed high school in 1934 and graduated from Washburn University in 1938. He joined the Navy in September 1943 and received a direct commission as ensign. He received orders to Fort Pierce, Florida and several months later was assigned to Harvard University for a four month course in the supply corps school. Upon completion of the course he received orders to report aboard the USS Damon M. Cummings (DE-643) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in September, 1944. His job assignment was to supervise payroll activities as well direct food acquisition and preparation. His battle station on the ship was as the officer in charge of an anti-aircraft gun and he describes the actions of the gun in shooting down a kamikaze while on station off of Okinawa. Hood left the Damon M. Cummings in February 1946 and was discharged shortly thereafter. Hood was recalled into the Navy during the Korean War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Turner. Turner was commissioned as an officer in the Navy in April 1943. He trained as an aeronautical engineer and was assigned to Utility Squadron 2 (VJ-2). Turner discusses the missions his unit performed from target towing to personnel transport. He describes his duties repairing SN-1s and a time when he made emergency repairs on a Grumman Duck. Turner was stationed on several islands before being rotated back to the US. He left active duty in May 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ernest J. Zellmer. Zellmer was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1940. When Zellmer received his commission in 1943, he opted for submarines and was sent to submarine school. Upon completion of the school in December 1943, Zellmer was assigned as the communications officer aboard the USS Cavalla (SS-244). Zellmer provides a thorough description of the interior of a Gato-calss submarine. He describes the action of the first war patrol in June 1944 arund the Mariana Islands and a torpedo attack on HIJMS Shōkaku. Zellmer describes several of the other war patrols and, in April 1945, was able to visit the San Miguel Brewery in Manila. Also, on one patrol, Zellmer describes how Cavalla assisted a damaged HMS Terrapin (P323) back to Fremantle, Australia. He married an Australian woman and was reassigned to the USS Cusk (SS-348) later in May. When the war ended, Zellmer resigned his commission and took one in the reserves. He began teaching engineering drawing at Washington University near St. Louis before joining the the CIA as a Soviet submarine analyst in 1950. He made a career of the CIA and retired in the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Kenneth Harrell. Harrell joined the Marine Corps in August 1942 and received basic training in San Diego. He was assigned to the 1st Marine Division as a radio operator with the 1st Amphibious Tractor Battalion and first encountered enemy fire during a practice landing on Goodenough Island. With Chesty Puller, he walked across Cape Gloucester amidst sniper fire. Harrell transferred to the 6th Amphibious Tractor Battalion, landing on Peleliu in the second wave. When his LV-2 Water Buffalo was hit twice in shallow water, Harrell’s shoes were blown off and he crawled ashore, shredding his hands and knees on the reef. After the air strip was secured, Harrell was put on shore patrol, deterring enemy barges. Holdouts remained in caves, and Harrell was bayoneted during a banzai charge. He killed his assailant and boarded a hospital ship. His battalion having been decimated, Harrell rejoined the 1st Amphibious Tractor Battalion at Okinawa, taking fragments when a nearby Japanese soldier committed suicide by grenade and hiding amidst urns in native burial grounds. In September 1945, Harrell transferred to the 1st Motor Transport Battalion in north China, facilitating the disarmament of …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ralph Fette. Fette was born on 28 January 1921 in Germany and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1927. He attended high school in Brooklyn, New York until 1937 at which time he quit to work with his father. He was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1941. After taking basic training in Georgia, he attended an airframe and engine school in Detroit, Michigan. Upon completion of the school, Fette left for overseas duty near Calcutta, India. After spending some time in India he joined the 9th Bomb Group at Myitkyina, Burma where his group repaired B-24s and P-40s. As a line chief he was responsible for fifteen planes. One of the B-24s assigned to his group was called Home Stretch. He returned to the United States and was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry Gerards. Born in Kennewick, Washington, 3 March 1917, Gerards joined the US Army Air Forces in November 1942. After competing basic training in Santa Maria, California, he entered pilot training. Upon receiving his wings and being commissioned he was sent to Ardmore, Oklahoma for transition to multi-engine aircraft flying the B-17. Upon completion of crew training, the crew flew a new B-17 to Scotland where they were assigned to the 390th Bomb Group, 570th Bomb Squadron. They flew twenty-two missions before being shot down over Magdeburg, Germany on 28 May 1944. Gerards recalls the flight encountering over thirty German fighter planes, which shot down four other bombers as well as their own. He was captured soon after he landed and was interrogated during the ten days he spent in Dulag Luft before being sent to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany. One of the highlights of being a prisoner was receiving Red Cross packages of food. Recalling an attempt to escape by a group of POWs from his barracks, he tells of the deaths of many of the men. The prison camp was liberated by members of …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arden E. ""Scotty"" Kersey. Kersey was attending the University of Nebraska when he entered the V-12 program. Upon learning to fly, Kersey elected to go into the Marine Corps. Prior to entering the service, Kersey learned to fly through the Civilian Pilot Training Program. He also discusses flight training and the various aircraft he flew. He trained at Cherry Point, North Carolina until January, 1944, when he shipped to California in anticipation of going overseas. Kersey was attached to VMF-313 as part of Marine Air Group 12. They continued traineing on Hawaii before going to Midway Island in April, 1944 for more training. In August, VMF-313 boarded the USS Altamaha (CVE-18) and headed for the Solomon Islands. Their first combat missions were flying as escorts for bombers attacking Rabaul and other targets. He mentions a brief R&R in Australia. He also recalls combat flights in the Philippines and destroying an enemy convoy. Kersey flew 79 combat missions in the Pacific before returning to the US for some ferrying duty prior to being discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with C E Simmons. Simmons joined the Navy in October of 1944. Beginning in January of 1945 he served aboard the USS Goshen (APA-108) as coxswain driving Landing Craft, Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) to the beach. They traveled to Hawaii and New Hebrides, and landed the first wave at the Battle of Okinawa. In September of 1945 he was assigned to the US Naval Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island, training new crewmembers for sea duty. He was discharged in October of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Knarr. Knarr was teaching school in Indiana when he was drafted into the Army. He was assigned to the field artillery in the 87th Infantry Division where he served in the headquarters battery. Knarr describes his training prior to shipping overseas to England. He landed in France in late November 1944 and shares experiences during the Battle of the Bulge. He also recalls liberating a few concentration camps. When the war in Europe ended, Knarr was slated to go to the Pacific, but the war ended while he was on leave. He was discharged in November, 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Thomas Koltoniak. He joined the Navy despite being underage. He was assigned to the USS Texas (BB-35), first in the radio division, then in the aerial division. He shares an anecdote about visiting a munitions dump in Iceland on one of the ship's Atlantic crossings. He mentions the radio broadcast of General Dwight Eisenhower?s ?Voice of Freedom? message from the Texas while off the coast of North Africa. He participated in aerial photography missions along the French coast in preparation for the invasion of Normandy, France. He relates that the Texas was hit by two German shells, one of which failed to explode, during the Battle of Cherbourg. He describes the invasion of Iwo Jima. He also describes the processes of taking-off and landing on an aircraft carrier. He discusses attacks by kamikazes at Okinawa as well as the capture of a kamikaze pilot.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Lepinski. Lepinski joined the Army Air Forces in February of 1943. He completed pilot training and graduated in April of 1944. He continued training in a B-26, and traveled to Birmingham, Britain to serve with a replacement crew. They completed several bombing missions. In the summer of 1945 Lepinski was assigned to a B-26 stationed under the Eiffel Tower in Paris during an exposition, demonstrating how they won the war for France. He was discharged in January of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Gunner Johnson. Johnson joined the Marines in January, 1944. He trained at San Diego and was assigned as a machine gunner to the Fifth Marine Division. He travelled with the division to Hawaii, then Iwo Jima, where he landed with the second wave with the 27th Marines. He spent several weeks in combat and relates several stories. On 12 March, Johnson was wounded and then evacuated to Guam via C-47. He rejoined his unit and was loading out for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. He went for occupation duty at Sasebo. He returned to the US and was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack H. Lucas. Lucas was born in Plymouth, North Carolina on 14 February 1928. On 8 August 1942 he quit attending Edwards Military Institute, Salemburg, NC and joined the Marine Corps when he was 14 years old. He forged his mother’s signature on the enlistment documents thus allowing him to join the military even though he was underage. Lucas went to Parris Island, South Carolina for boot camp and received additional training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. Contrary to orders he received, he joined the cadre with which he had trained and went by troop train to California. He then went to Camp Catlin, Hawaii. There, Lucas stowed away on the USS Deuel (APA-160) bound for Iwo Jima. He graphically describes the action in which he was severely wounded. Returning to the United States by hospital ship, he was taken to the Naval Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina where he remained until 2 September 1945. On 5 October 1945, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman. Following this, Lucas joined Admiral Chester Nimitz in touring the country during which he met various dignitaries including …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Bohning. Bohning enlisted for Navy flight training shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He continued his service as a Marine Corps pilot, flying dive-bombers from 1943-1945. He completed several missions at Tarawa, Hollandia, Makin and the Marshall Islands. He remained in active service as a colonel with the Marines until 1973, training servicemen during the Korean War and as an advisor during the Vietnam War.