The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Allen Hugh. Hugh reads a series of letters dated 1907, when he was 21 years old, written to his mother while serving in the Navy. He speaks about schooling in the Navy and interactions with Chester Nimitz, whom he served with. He served as a deck and ordnance officer. He comments on traveling to Manila, Philippines, and his experiences hunting, swimming and touring the island. He served aboard the USS Wisconsin (BB-64), where he traveled to Nagasaki, Japan and Kuling, China. He speaks on visiting a Mr. McNally there and riding in sedan chairs with three other midshipmen. Hugh describes serving aboard the USS Decatur (DD-5) that Nimitz commanded in 1907.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Benjamin Hazard. Hazard joined the Army in December of 1943. He served with the 27th Infantry Division. He participated in combat, and also worked as a language officer. Hazard became proficient in Japanese. After the war, he continued his service as a reserve officer.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Felipe Rauk. Rauk’s father was born on Truk and brought to Saipan as a laborer for the Japanese. At school, Rauk faced harsh punishment and was forced to pray at a Japanese shrine. Due to the war, the school closed before he finished the second grade. After the military seized their house, his family stayed with friends on a farm and his father was sent to a labor camp. Rauk sought refuge in a cave during bombardments, living off of whatever they could forage or hunt, drinking rainwater, and chewing on sugarcane to alleviate hunger. Rauk’s father was beaten for staying out too long after an air raid, succumbing to his injuries just one day before Americans landed. When Marines engaged Japanese forces above Rauk's cave, his sister was fatally wounded. Taken to Camp Susupe, they were given immunizations and survived ongoing Japanese attacks. After the war, Rauk worked for the military government as part of the Naval Technical Training Unit and transitioned into a radio broadcast career. He later dedicated himself to preserving the traditional art of Carolinian dance.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold Minnish. Minnish joined the Navy in September of 1924, at the age of 15. He provides some details of boot camp at Great Lakes. He was sent to San Pedro, California and assigned to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37). They traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Samoa. Minnish describes life aboard the Oklahoma. His job was to clean the deck, serve as a messenger and maintain watch. He was discharged in September of 1928, then completed submarine school beginning January of 1930. Minnish was a radioman aboard the USS Bushnell (AS-15), the USS R-14 (SS-91), the USS Perch (SS-176) and the USS S-43 (SS-154). From 1938-1940 he served as an instructor aboard the USS Saury (SS-189). He continued working in radio aboard the USS Albemarle (AV-5), transporting German prisoners of war. Minnish made Chief Warrant Officer and worked at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. He was discharged in May of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Brown. Brown was studying at the University of Texas at El Paso whe nhe joined the Army Air Force in 1942. Brown discusses his flight training, which occurred throughout Texas. With training cmplete, Brown was sent to Hawaii where he continued training with the 45th Fighter Squadron, 7th Air Force. Soon his unit was shipped to Iwo Jima where they flew bomber escort for bombing missions over the home islands of Japan. Brown was shot down over Yokahama and bailed out over the Tokyo Bay, where he was resuced by the USS Pipefish (SS-388). Brown was taken to Hawaii to recover and was eventually shipped back to the US, where he was discharged in September, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ross Taggart. Taggart was born 21 May 1921 in Twin Falls, Idaho. He joined the Navy in 1938. He was assigned to the USS Langley (CV-1) and was wounded when she was attacked by Japanese aircraft and sank in February, 1942. He was rescued by the USS Whipple (DD-217) and transferred to the USS Pecos (AO-6). Two days later, the Pecos was attacked and sank. He was wounded again in the attack and transferred back to the Whipple, which went to Australia. After a stay in the hospital in Australia, Taggart returned to duty and was assigned to the USS Bullwheel (YO-46). Taggart was transferred to shore duty on Iwo Jima where he was severely wounded and placed aboard the hospital ship USS Bountiful (AH-9) for return to the United States. He traveled by hospital train to the Great Lakes Naval Hospital and spent 18 months recovering. He received a medical discharge and went to school using the GI Bill where he received a degree in chemical engineering.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lyle Tennis. Tennis joined the Naval Reserve while attending college. He graduated in March of 1944, and then completed Officer Training School at Plattsburg, New York in June of 1944. Tennis served in the Navy aboard the USS LSM(R)-190. He provides detail of his travels through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific. He and his crew participated in the invasion of Okinawa, and Tennis describes his experiences, including launching 480 5-inch rockets against Japanese shore defenses. He was aboard the ship when it was hit and sunk by a Japanese kamikaze. He provides details of this event, for which he received the Navy Cross. He continued to serve in the Reserves until 1970 when he retired as a commander.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Cornelius D. Wiens. Wiens grew up in Montana and Kansas and was drafted into the Army in 1944. After completing training, he departed about the Sea Snipe for the Philippines. His first landing was at Leyte, where he remained fighting for three months. He describes coming to land on the small landing craft. From Leyte he went to Negros, then Masbate, and finally Mindanao. He describes the Japanese soldiers who were unwilling to surrender. After Japan's surrender he also spent time in Korea as a radio operator.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Davis. Davis was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in June 1923. In December 1942, he joined the Navy and was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois for boot camp. He was then sent to Norfolk, Virginia and assigned to the USS Daniel T. Griffin (DE-54) to run the ship’s laundry. He recalls an encounter with a German submarine. After serving in the Atlantic for a period of time, the ship returned to the United States and Davis was assigned to the USS Westmorland (APA-104) as a Motor Machinist. After the ship arrived in Hawaii, he was offered the opportunity to be discharged. He returned to the US and was discharged September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Larry Pangan. Pangan was born in Arayat, Pampanga in September of 1919. He moved to Manila in 1938 to attend business college. He joined the US Army Philippine Scouts in March 1941 and was assigned to the 57th Infantry Regiment. He survived the Bataan Death March and incarceration at Camp O'Donnell. Although seriously ill with malaria, dysentery, beriberi and malnutrition, Pangan was able to escape. Upon regaining his health, he joined an American-led guerrilla group in central Luzon. He continued his service after the war ended, retiring from the Army in 1961.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Horace H. Cook. Cook was born in San Antonio, Texas 12 February 1918 and graduated from Texas A & I University in Kingsville in 1939. Drafted into the US Army in July 1942 he was sent to Camp Barkley, Texas where he trained as a medic for five weeks before being assigned to the Medical Training Replacement Center located there. He recalls that, while there, he worked with Lew Ayers a noted radio and movie personality. In 1943 he was sent to Ohio State University for nine months of Spanish language training. In 1944 he was assigned to the Signal Corps and trained as a telephone lineman for seven months. Upon completion of the training he went to Camp Crowder, Missouri where he became a company clerk. He then became an administrative assistant in Philadelphia until his discharge 6 January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Link. Link joined the Navy in March of 1939. He served as an electrician aboard a ship, though does not note the name. It is deduced that he was aboard USS California (BB-44), and stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. In March of 1942, Link boarded USS Lexington (CV-2), and participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea when the ship was sunk. He later served aboard USS YP-518 and Whipstock (YO-49). He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Murphy Williams. Williams recalls details about his ancestors in North Carolina prior to discussing his education. Williams went to seminary in the fall of 1941. He finished seminary in May 1944 and then entered the Navy as a chaplain. One of his first duty assignments was visitations to parents who had lost sons in the war. Another assignment took him to a Navy air facility in Groton, Connecticut. In July, 1945, Williams was assigned to Tinian and remarks on the activity there leading up to the atomic attacks; he also recalls using CBs to build a chapel. After the war, Williams’ wife moved to Tinian and then Saipan when dependents were allowed. When they returned to the US, Williams elected for a discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Foley. Foley joined the Marine Corps in September of 1942. He completed Scout Sniper School, and provides details of his training. Foley served with the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He was deployed to Auckland, New Zealand, where he continued combat training, in preparation for operations. Foley’s first battle action was at Guadalcanal. He subsequently participated in three major beach landings, during the battles of Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima. He was discharged in September of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Gallimore. Gallimore went into the Army Air Corps glider program in 1942. After a variety of training in light planes, sail planes and gliders as well as ground school, he took advanced glider training in Lubbock, graduated, got his wings and was a flight officer. This was an appointment, not a commission; he became a warrant officer, junior grade. Gallimore flew overseas in a C-54, took a train to his base in England, and in a few days he was piloting a glider over the English channel into Normandy (D-Day +1 or 2). After landing, they became regular paratroopers until they could get back to their glider base. All together, he made four glider landings including Holland, southern France and the Rhine River. He flew the CG-4A glider. Gallimore provides good descriptions of his glider flying environment and action on the ground. He came back to the states on a Norwegian freighter in 1945 before Japan surrendered.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Coleman Harrington. Harrington joined the Navy in 1944. He completed Communications School, and stevedore training. He traveled to Okinawa, offloading supplies from ship to shore, where he remained through the end of the war. He traveled to Hong Kong. Harrington returned to the US and was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Alva B. Sampson. Sampson was born in May 1926 in Columbus, Ohio. He entered the Army in September 1944 and took basic training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Upon completion, he went aboard RMS Queen Mary, disembarking at Glasgow, Scotland. Sampson tells of being assigned to the 4th Armored Division, 37th Tank Battalion even though he had no experience in tanks. He was assigned as a replacement in a light tank. He describes what he saw as his unit liberated several concentration camps. He recalls being in Czechoslovakia when an estimated 20,000 Germans surrendered to his unit rather than the Russians. Three tanks were assigned to guard the prisoners. Sampson remembers the captives were turned over to the Russian Army as they were ordered to do. After the surrender of Germany, he was assigned to a military police unit in Lorch, Germany, until he returned to the United States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Ellis. Ellis was born 17 December 1917 in Chillicothe, Ohio. After graduating from high school in 1935, he attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. While there he joined the Marine Corps Reserve and entered into platoon leader classes. Upon graduating from college in 1939, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and went to Philadelphia for advanced courses. Upon completion, he reported to San Diego where he was assigned as battalion communications officer for the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. During October 1941, he attended the battalion regimental communications officer course at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1942 he went to American Samoa aboard the USS Zeilin (APA-3). In January 1944 he was ordered to return to Camp Pendleton to establish and command the 3rd Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO). On 10 April 1944 the unit boarded the USS Algorab (AKA-8) and sailed for Guadalcanal, where they began training for the invasion of Guam. The day after going ashore during the invasion of Guam, Ellis was wounded by shell fragments. He returned after being treated aboard an LST offshore. After Guam was secured the unit began preparing for the invasion …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ernest Dege. Dege joined the Navy in 1940. He was stationed on Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Shortly after the attack, Dege was transferred to Philadelphia to complete schooling on super-heated boilers. Beginning April of 1944, he served as a Fireman aboard USS Wisconsin (BB-64). They traveled to Australia, Guadalcanal and Tulagi.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Kaney. Kaney joined the Navy in 1942. He completed Fleet Sonar School. He served as operator of sonar equipment for anti-submarine warfare activities aboard USS Finch (DE-328). They traveled to Algiers, North Africa, and escorted ships to Naples, Italy for Operation Dragoon. Kaney was later reassigned to USS Charles S. Sperry (DD-697), where he remained through the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Thurmond. Thurmond joined the Navy around 1942. Beginning in December of 1943, he served as an Electrician’s Mate aboard the USS Finch (DE-328). He served in both the European and Pacific theaters. They escorted convoys to Africa, Britain, Pearl Harbor, Guam, Saipan and the Philippines. After the war ended, they transported former POWs from Formosa to Manila. He returned to the US and was discharged in the fall of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Merle Ainley. Ainley joined the Navy in September of 1944. He completed Radar School in Hawaii, and served as a Radar Specialist and navigator aboard USS Finch (DE-328). They traveled to Guam, Leyte and maneuvered along the China Coast, with a carrier task force. They transported prisoners-of-war from Taiwan and Formosa to Manila. They traveled to Saipan and completed occupation duty in Hong Kong, completing air sea rescue and charting harbors. He returned to the US and was discharged in June of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with R. Paul Kelly. Kelley was born in Irving, Texas on 21 June 1934. In 1951 he volunteered to join the Navy. After 12 weeks of boot camp in San Diego, he was assigned to the USS LST-887 in Yokosuka, Japan. He spent several months in the Korean theater before being reassigned to LCU-588 in Coronado, California. Sea duty in Korea resumed on the LCU-1273, USS Comstock (LSD-19), and USS Begor (APD-127). He then spent 3 years at the Supply Center in Yokosuka, rated as a yeoman. His next duty was at the 6th Naval District Charleston, the Naval Air Station Guam, went back to sea, then to the 12th Naval District in San Francisco. By now a chief petty officer, one of his duties there was Admiral Nimitz's writer or personal secretary. Most of this work took place in the admiral's home. Kelley relates what a quiet, humble, pleasant man Nimitz was. Kelley then was assigned to the USS Norton Sound (AVM-1), was Master Chief of the Command at Mare Island Shipyard, spent 2 years with US Naval Forces Europe in London, and finished his career at the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ben Guthrie. Guthrie joined the Army in September of 1940. He graduated from Parachute School in the spring of 1941. He served with the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. In late 1943, Guthrie participated in the New Guinea Campaign. In February of 1945, he served in the Battle of Corregidor. He was discharged in late 1945.