Oral History Interview with Abe Santos, February 24, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Abe Santos, February 24, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Abe Santos. Santos joined the Navy in November of 1939. He served as a Fireman aboard the USS Astoria (CA-34). They participated in the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway and Savo Island, where the ship was sunk. He traveled back to Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Wharton (AP-7). Santos was placed on tugboat duty for six months, then transferred to Johnston Island as a Second-Class Machinist’s Mate. He assisted with airstrip construction. He later transferred back to headquarters at Pearl Harbor, and worked on staff for Admiral Robert L. Ghormley. He continued his service after the war ended.
Date: February 24, 2001
Creator: Santos, Abe
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Annie (Amy) May Webb, March 24, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Annie (Amy) May Webb, March 24, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Annie May Webb. She discusses her husband's service and her experiences on the homefront. She describes delivering word of the birth of their daughter to her husband while he was aboard the USS Bennington serving with VMF-112
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Webb, Annie (Amy) May
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ethel Blaine, April 24, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ethel Blaine, April 24, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ethel ""Sally"" Blaine Millett. Millett grew up in Missouri and went to nurses training in San Diego, California. She volunteered for the Philippines in 1941. She witnessed the bombing at Clark Field. She took care of the soldiers wounded by Japanese strafing. When the bombing got too bad, the nurses left Statsenberg for Manila. Because of continued Japanese bombing all over the Philippines, the nurses had to keep moving as the hospitals moved. She describes having malaria and then having to evacuate from Bataan to Corregidor. Then they went to Mindanao where they were formally captured by the Japanese. They were moved to Davao and then to Santo Tomas. She describes losing her possessions. She describes life in the internment camp: the food, the work required, the sanitary conditions, the self-government, the birthrate, and the entertainment. Millett has to have an operation while at Santo Tomas. She also describes executions. Finally, the American soldiers arrived, and she took a plane home in February 1945. Her brother met her in San Francisco.
Date: April 24, 2000
Creator: Millett, Ethel Blaine
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001

Interview with Ethel Reisburg Schectman of Fort Worth, Texas, who was born in New York City during the Great Depression to Jewish Polish immigrant parents. The interview includes Hill's personal experiences of World War II on the home front, including memories of D-Day, iron metal scrap drives, victory gardens, rationing, V-E and V-J Days, and what it was like being Jewish in Dallas during that time.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Schectman, Ethel Reisberg
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Charles Walter Bernhardt, July 24, 2004 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Charles Walter Bernhardt, July 24, 2004

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Walter Bernhardt discussing where he grew up and stories from his childhood. He shares some of his experiences being stationed in Hawaii and fighting in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two, as well as some of the experiences of his friends and people he's met.
Date: July 24, 2004
Creator: Bernhardt, Charles Walter; Tombaug, John & Meter, Peg Van
System: The Portal to Texas History