The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Henry Bucher. Bucher was born on Hainan Island, in the South China Sea, in March 1936. When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, Bucher was 5 years old living with his family in Manila, Philippines. He describes the events that followed in Manila. Bucher and his family were allowed to stay in their home, though not leave their compound, until the summer of 1944. They were all then transferred to Los Baños Internment Camp. His father was under forced labor in the camp, while his mother would teach school to Bucher, his siblings and other children. He describes their living conditions, food accommodations, what he was allowed and not allowed to do as a child in the camp, his interactions with the Japanese guards and their rescue in February of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edith Chamberlin. Chamberlin’s mother was from Poland, her father was from England, and she was born in Shanghai, China. Her father was a cinematographer and was offered a job in the movie industry in the Philippines. She speaks of their life in the Philippines prior to the war. After the Japanese invaded the Philippines, she and her family were taken to Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila. They remained there from January of 1942 through their liberation in February of 1945. After the war, their family re-established their life in the Philippines.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dwight Clark. Clark was born into a family of ten children in New Carlisle, Indiana. Upon being drafted into the Army in February 1943 he underwent basic training, which was followed by attending weapons school at Camp Hood, Texas. In school he learned to be a gunsmith and artillery mechanic. After eighteen months of training, his unit, the 672nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, was sent to Fort Ord, California where they had amphibious training in Monterey Bay. They were sent to Bougainville from which they participated in the invasion of Luzon. On 23 February 1945, the unit was attached to the 11th Airborne, participating in the raid on the Los Banos Internment Camp. Clark tells of the raid and the aftermath. He expresses his admiration for General MacArthur. Clark returned to the United States in December 1945, and received his discharge a month later. Clark concludes with details about his life as a minister and teacher until his retirement.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ann Drake. Drake was born in the Philippines on 31 August 1937. Her mother was from North Borneo and her father was an American. In 1941 the family lived to Manila and she recalls 8 December 1941 when the Japanese began bombing the city. She fondly remembers her father saying goodbye to the family for it was the last time they ever spoke to him. She recalls the Japanese taking her mother and siblings to Santo Tomas internment camp. Drake and her two sisters were placed in the Holy Ghost Convent for children while her brothers remained at Santo Tomas. In January 1944 the girls and their mother were again sent to Santo Tomas where they were united with the boys. Drake describes the living conditions and the scarcity of food. Internees were supposed to receive Red Cross packages monthly, but received only three packages during their confinement. Drake comments on the day they were freed and how she presently feels about the Japanese. After the surrender of Japan, Drake learned her father had been interned at Cabanatuan concentration camp for several years before being put on a …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with H.G. Eastwood. Eastwood was attending Eastern New Mexico University in 1941. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the Navy and trained at Farragut, Idaho where he graduated from the navigator school. He was sent to New Caledonia and assigned to PT boats (USS PT-247). He describes the armament and propulsion of the 70 foot Higgins boat and the actions and procedures of the navigator during a torpedo attack run. He tells of working with code talkers concerning downed flyers, probable targets, etc. Eastwood also describes PT-247 being hit by Japanese shore batteries on 5 May 1943 resulting in fatalities, the sinking of the boat and his recovery by a sister boat. He was sent to the Samson Naval Hospital in Geneva, New York for recovery. Upon recovering, he was send to Colgate University to attend classes in PT boat operations. Upon completion of the course he was commissioned an ensign. Soon thereafter he received a medical discharge as a result of wounds.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Don Ennis. Ennis was born in 1931 in Manila, Philippines. Ennis and his family were living in Manila in December 1941. He recalls daily air raids until the occupation of Manila by the Japanese at the end of December. In January of 1942 his father was interned in Santo Tomas Internment Camp. The remainder of their family was placed under house arrest and by May of 1943 they were all issued orders to report for internment at Santo Tomas. Ennis vividly describes the camp, their living conditions, their work assignments, their communication with the Japanese guards and their transfer to Los Baños Internment Camp in April of 1944. They were liberated in February 1945 by nine C-47 aircraft, dropping B Company of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Susan Magnuson DeVoe. DeVoe completes this interview with her sister Karen Magnuson. She shares her family’s story of residing in an internment camp in Manila for 2 years. Her parents were citizens of the United States, and traveled to Manila, where her father was manager for Know Brothers Uber Alles, an import/export company in 1938. Susan and Karen were both born in the Philippines. Her mother was 7 months pregnant with Susan when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, and shortly thereafter they were all taken to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. She provides some details of their time in and liberation from the camp. Additionally, she shares what life was like getting settled back in the US and how her mother came to write a book on their experiences in the camp.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Fred Fullerton. Fullerton joined the Army in September of 1941. He served with the 75th Ordnance Company at the Ordnance Depot in Fort Santiago, Manila, Philippines. From there he was assigned to the island of Bohol with the 81st Division of the newly organized Philippine Army as an instructor. In January of 1942 his division was sent to Iligan, where they ran out of ordnance supplies. His job was to search for and purchase materials and food for the 81st Filipino Division. In April of 1942 he worked with the 73rd Infantry Regiment in Malabang to fight against the Japanese. They were captured at Dansalan, Lanao. Fullerton provides vivid details of his extensive work in the Philippines and experiences as a prisoner of war at Camp Keithley. He shares personal accounts of the Japanese executing fellow servicemen, exhaustive marching, malnourishment and work in the rice paddies and steel mill. Upon returning safely back to the US he was discharged in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Hencke. Hencke joined the Army in 1942 and served with the Armored Force at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He joined the 12th Armored Division, 44th Tank Battalion. They traveled to New Guinea, where he shares details of his living and food accommodations. He participated in a rescue operation of prisoners in Leyte. In February of 1945 they were the first tank battalion to enter the city of Manila and liberated American and Allied civilian prisoners interred in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Also included in the transcript is a copy of a response letter Hencke wrote in 1999 to a Japanese student at Abilene Christian College, answering several of his questions regarding his experience in the military.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Mendez. Mendez joined the Army in 1940. He joined the First Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss, Texas. In the spring of 1943 Mendez traveled to Brisbane, Australia, clearing eucalyptus forest and setting up camp for the division, where he remained for six months. In October they went to New Guinea for a few months training in jungle warfare, then on to the Admiralty Islands through October of 1944. He provides details of his living and food accommodations on the islands, and occasional intermittent fighting with the Japanese. They then participated in the Philippines Campaign, capturing Tacloban and Samar. He also served in rescuing civilian prisoners in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Mendez served in the Philippines from October of 1944 through August of 1945, then returned to the US for discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Neville Stopford. Stopford was born in Manila, Philippine Islands in 1932. He attended a boarding school in Baguio. Soon after the 1941 invasion, the Japanese ordered all those captured to pack a few personal belongings and they were marched and interned at camp John Hay. The captives were separated into two groups, women and children in one group and men in the other. No members of his family were with him as they were interned in Santo Tomas. He recalls being at the camp until June 1942 at which time he was taken to Santo Tomas and reunited with his family. Stopford discusses the shortages of food and tells of the captors pilfering Red Cross packages. He remembers that the camp was set up as a democratic government by the inmates, having a police department, a school and three elected officials for the restricted self-government. He recalls that these internee officials were executed by the Japanese prior to the surrender of the camp.

Transcript of an oral interview with John Wilson. Wilson was born in the Philippines and graduated high school there in 1939. Upon graduating, he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin and participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. He graduated and took his commission in the Army in 1943. After Officer Candidate School (OCS), he was assigned to an engineering unit slated to participate in the invasion of the Philippines. He eventually landed on Luzon. On Luzon he was assigned temporary duty with a small Philippine Civil Affairs unit that was made up of officers and men who had relatives interned by the Japanese in the Philippines. His small unit made their way to Santo Tomas where he liberated many friends and old school mates. A few weeks later, Wilson liberated his father, a civilian internee at Los Banos. Wilson remained with his unit constructing hospitals in the Philippines in anticipation of the casualties expected from the invasion of the Japanese home islands.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Bischoff. Bischoff joined the Army in December of 1942. He served with the 607th Tank Destroyer Battalion. They arrived in England in April of 1944. They invaded Normandy on D-Day plus 2. Bischoff and his unit fought across France and into Germany during the summer and early winter of 1944. In December they participated in the Ardennes Campaign, ending the war near the Czechoslovakian border. Bischoff returned to the US and was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Herzog. Herzog joined the Army in April of 1943. He trained in the Signal Corps to work as a lineman. In October of 1943 he traveled to England. He provides details of his travels and accommodations overseas, aboard the troop ship Alexandria. In October Herzog was assigned to an Army Air Forces B-26 unit and prepared for the Normandy landings scheduled for June of 1944. They traveled to a chateau in Northern France, where he worked with the Red Cross as a baker. He shares his experiences at the base in France, watching the B-26s, hearing the machine guns and witnessing bombings by the Germans. He completed infantry training in England, though Germany surrendered before he went to the front lines. Herzog served as a POW guard after the war ended. He remained a Private throughout his service and was discharged 1 January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gladys Winkleman. Winkleman was born on 10 March 1919 in Lytle, Texas. She met her husband, Meryl, while working at her parent’s restaurant after she graduated from high school. They were married on 16 October 1939. Her husband worked for Exxon before the war and enlisted in the Marines in October 1942. After her husband enlisted she moved back in with her parents. Before her husband was shipped overseas (February/March 1943) she went to see him in San Diego. She started working at Kelly Field after her husband left the States. At Kelly Field, Winkleman worked on the flight line as a checker on a wide variety of airplanes including the B-24, B-25, B-17 and flew as a civilian on several. She was in flight test and worked on planes that had come back from overseas and were being repaired before being sent back out. Throughout the interview, Mrs. Winkleman provides insights into what she did at Kelly Field and what the working conditions were like. When her husband came back from overseas, he was sent to Parris Island and Mrs. Winkleman went there to be with him, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Stanley Bysiewicz. Bysiewicz joined the Army Air Forces and attended gunnery school and bombardier school in Texas. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 15th Air Force as a replacement bombardier. He flew 50 missions out of San Pancrazio, Italy, disabling oil transportation between Romania and Munich, and damaging oil facilities in Romania. He also occasionally targeted military hardware facilities in Germany and ports in France. Bysiewicz received the Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound, but his B-24 never suffered any serious damage, thanks to excellent support from P-51 fighter escorts.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Buck. Buck joined the Army Air Forces in 1942 and was assigned to a B-24 crew as a nose turret gunner. He flew his first mission with the 376th Bomb Group, 514th Bomb Squadron, in the fall of 1944 while stationed in San Pancrazio. On 7 February 1945 his plane was hit hard over Vienna after bombing an oil refinery. The pilot made a crash landing in a corn field in Yugoslavia, where Tito’s Partisans looked after them for 23 days. When a South African pilot came to evacuate the crew, it took everyone including villagers and oxen to help the plane out of the mud. After returning to his squadron, Buck flew seven more missions and was then sent to train with a B-29 crew in anticipation of going to the Pacific. He returned home and was discharged in November 1945. He attended Iowa State University on the GI Bill, majoring in agriculture. Buck inherited his grandfather’s farm; when he retired, he passed it on to his son.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Martin Goldfarb. Goldfarb joined the Army Air Forces in December 1942 and learned to fly at Xavier University. Although he had experienced anti-Semitism during basic training at Fort Pickett, he was impressed with the respectful tone amongst the airmen, including their fair treatment of the Tuskegee Airmen, who saved Goldfarb’s life during a mission over Vienna. Flying with the 376th Bombardment Group (H) as a navigator, Goldfarb’s plane was forced to leave formation after losing two engines to flak. As they descended, they saw four German fighters waiting for them. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Tuskegee Airmen came to their rescue and brought them back safely to their base in Italy. Goldfarb returned home and served as a financial officer at Harvard Army Airfield until his discharge in October 1945, at which time he enrolled in college on the GI Bill.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Kuehn. Kuehn joined the Army Air Forces in 1942 and joined the 376th Bomb Group (H), 515th Bomber Squadron, based in San Pancrazio, Italy. Although he was an aviation mechanic, on 24 February 1944 he flew a mission as a substitute flight engineer. He was shot down over Austria, bailed out, and landed atop a snowy mountain near the border of Yugoslavia. He was picked up by Tito’s Partisans and spent four months hiking to their headquarters. There Kuehn hitched a ride back to Italy on a Russian plane. He returned to the States and was discharged in 1945. Kuehn bought a home in Austria, halfway up a mountain, for vacationing during winter months.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Dzwigalski. Dzwigalski was born in River Rouge, Michigan on 25 February 1925. He was drafted into the US Army Air Forces in 1943. He graduated from Armament School at Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado, Gunnery School in Harlingen, Texas, and was assigned to a B-24 crew. The crew was assigned to the 512th Bomb Squadron, 376th Heavy Bombardment Group in Bari, Italy during late summer 1944. He served as a ball turret gunner until the end of the war in Europe and was given an honorable discharge in late 1945. After being discharged, Dzwigalski moved to Sacramento, California and obtained work at an airfield rebuilding engines for military and commercial aircraft.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert McClean. McClean joined the Army Air Forces around 1941. He completed gunnery school and training in airplane mechanics. Beginning May of 1944, he served as a flight engineer with the 376th Bombardment Group. McClean completed 36 support and interdiction missions in Austria, Germany, Italy and Croatia.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Miller. Miller joined the Army Air Forces in December of 1941, after the war began. He worked in airplane maintenance, and served in Trinidad from early 1942 through mid-1943. He served as a flight engineer on B-24s. In December of 1943, Miller deployed to Naples, Italy and was assigned to the 376th Bombardment Group. He completed support and interdiction missions in Austria, Germany, Italy and Croatia.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Holley Midgley. Midgley was born in June 1918. He was drafted into the US Army Air Corps in 1940, and completed the Aviation Cadet Program. Midgley served as a second lieutenant bombardier with the 376th Heavy Bombardment Group. His B-24 Liberator bomber was shot down over Bari, Italy on 16 July 1943. He was confined in a German prisoner-of-war camp in Chieti, Italy for twenty-two months, until liberated by General George Patton’s Third Army. Midgley returned to the US in June of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Vartanian. Vartanian was born 21 August 1924. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in December 1942. He served as a B-24 bombardier/navigator, and shares details of his training. He traveled to Marseilles, France in early 1945. He speaks of witnessing animosity between American black troops and American white officers in Marseilles. He traveled to a replacement depot in Naples, Italy, then onto Bari. Vartanian flew all his missions over Austria with the 456th Bomb Group. He was then reassigned briefly to the 376th Bomb Group in Italy, supporting Allied troops in Northern Italy. He then was sent aboard USS West Point (AP-23) and returned to the US around April of 1945. Vartanian served an additional 20 years in the Air Force Reserves.