Transcript of an oral interview with Brigadier General Harry Bayne. Bayne joined the Army Air Corps as a private in September, 1941. By August, 1942, he had attained the rank of flying sergeant, but soon was commissioned a second lieutenant. His first assignement was ferrying airplanes to fields where pilots were training. Eventually, he was sent to India and flew missions carrying fuel over the Himalaya Mountains to bombers and other airplanes operating out of China. He flew sixty-three missions over the HUmp before the end of the war. After the war, he remained in a pilot training command. What follows is a conversation about the remainder of Bayne's career in the military. He flew more planes, closed air bases in Europe, took a young Prince Charles of England for a joy ride in a plane, etc. Bayne also discusses his role in the recovery of the hydrogen bomb that was aboard a B-52 that crashed off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea in 1966.

Transcript of an oral interview with Gilberto Mendez. Mendez's parents left Mexico in 1910 to escape the violence Mexican Revolution and relocated to San Antonio, Texas, where Gilberto was raised until the family moved back to Mexico during the Depression. When Mexico declared war on Germany in 1942, Mendez was drafted into the Mexican Army (Spanish: Erjecito Mexicano) for one year. Upon being discharged from the Mexican Army, Mendez was called up in the US where he volunteered for duty in the US Marine Corps. He trained in Sna Diego and then went to Hawaii. From there, he was attached as a replacement prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima. Mendez landed on Iwo Jima six days after the beginning of the invasion. Mendez then describes action on Iwo Jima in which he faced a banzai charge from Japanese infantry and shot twenty enemy soldiers. After about a week of combat on Iwo Jima, Mendez was wounded by an exploding mortar round and evacuated from the island to a hospital ship. He eventually made his way back to the US where he was discharged from the Marine Corps in November, 1945. Mendez then mentions that he did a little boxing …

Transcript of an oral interview with Brigadier General Harry Bayne. Bayne joined the Army Air Corps as a private in September, 1941. By August, 1942, he had attained the rank of flying sergeant, but soon was commissioned a second lieutenant. His first assignement was ferrying airplanes to fields where pilots were training. Eventually, he was sent to India and flew missions carrying fuel over the Himalaya Mountains to bombers and other airplanes operating out of China. He flew sixty-three missions over the HUmp before the end of the war. After the war, he remained in a pilot training command. What follows is a conversation about the remainder of Bayne's career in the military. He flew more planes, closed air bases in Europe, took a young Prince Charles of England for a joy ride in a plane, etc. Bayne also discusses his role in the recovery of the hydrogen bomb that was aboard a B-52 that crashed off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea in 1966.

Transcript of an oral interview with Gilberto Mendez. Mendez's parents left Mexico in 1910 to escape the violence Mexican Revolution and relocated to San Antonio, Texas, where Gilberto was raised until the family moved back to Mexico during the Depression. When Mexico declared war on Germany in 1942, Mendez was drafted into the Mexican Army (Spanish: Erjecito Mexicano) for one year. Upon being discharged from the Mexican Army, Mendez was called up in the US where he volunteered for duty in the US Marine Corps. He trained in Sna Diego and then went to Hawaii. From there, he was attached as a replacement prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima. Mendez landed on Iwo Jima six days after the beginning of the invasion. Mendez then describes action on Iwo Jima in which he faced a banzai charge from Japanese infantry and shot twenty enemy soldiers. After about a week of combat on Iwo Jima, Mendez was wounded by an exploding mortar round and evacuated from the island to a hospital ship. He eventually made his way back to the US where he was discharged from the Marine Corps in November, 1945. Mendez then mentions that he did a little boxing …