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Oral History Interview with Jack Hensel, July 21, 2022
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Hensel. Hensel was drafted into the Navy in June 1943. He trained as an aerial gunner and was eventually assigned to a crew aboard an Avenger. In early 1945, he went aboard USS Franklin (CV-13). In March, when the Franklin was attacked, Hensel was blown overboard and eventually made it onto a raft before being rescued by USS Hickox (DD-673). He went to a hospital at Ulithi to recover from burns before heading back to the US. He was undergoing more training when the war ended.
Date:
July 21, 2022
Creator:
Metzler, Ed
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Aaron Mendoza, September 7, 2012
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Aaron Mendoza. Mendoza joined the Navy in 1943 and received basic training in San Diego. He attended torpedo school and was assigned to an aircraft torpedo lab at Kaneohe Naval Air Station. There he filled warheads with air so the torpedo could be retrieved after test fires. Torpedoes that passed quality control would then be filled with explosive warheads and loaded into underground silos. After 14 months, his unit was dispersed. Mendoza was in Great Lakes awaiting further orders when the war ended. He was discharged in December 1945 and worked as a civilian employee at Kelly Air Force Base, retiring with a GS-12 ranking. He then worked as a salesman for Control Data, selling supercomputers to the likes of NASA and Texaco. He emphasizes the importance of staying active in retirement, and at the age of 88 he ranked number one nationally in Wii bowling.
Date:
September 7, 2012
Creator:
Mendoza, Aaron
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Al D'Agostino, April 19, 2012
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Al D’Agostino. D’Agostino joined the Merchant Marine in 1945 and received training in Brooklyn. Upon completion, he was assigned to the SS Monterey where he worked as a butcher. His first trip to the Pacific was transporting European troops, who were unhappy about the looming invasion of Japan. The war ended while the Monterey was in transit, and the soldiers returning home were a much happier bunch. Even more joyful was the reunion of families when the Monterey picked up war brides and their babies from all over the Pacific and brought them back to the States. He transferred to a Liberty ship that brought German war criminals back to the States from South America, although he believes that the majority of the passengers were actually concentration camp survivors. D’Agostino was discharged but was drafted again during the Korean War and served as a radio relay operator atop a mountain in dangerous and harsh winter conditions. When he was discharged a second time, he applied his kitchen experience and attended Cornell’s hotel school. D’Agostino became the director of food service for Trans World Airlines. Before retiring, he moved …
Date:
April 19, 2012
Creator:
D'Agostino, Al
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Jeffers, December 28, 2011
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Albert Jeffers. Jeffers joined the Navy in 1943 and received basic training in Illinois. He received diesel engine maintenance and repair training at submarine school in Connecticut. Upon completion, he was assigned to the engine room aboard the USS Threadfin (SS-410) as a fireman, first class. He participated in the tracking operation that led to the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato. He was transferred to the USS Menhaden (SS-377) and was the first to welcome Admiral Nimitz during a change of command ceremony. Jeffers was discharged in 1946 and went on to earn a degree in mechanical engineering as well as a law degree.
Date:
December 28, 2011
Creator:
Jeffers, Albert
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Al Stremel, July 30, 2011
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Al Stremel. Stremel joined the Navy in October of 1940. Beginning in December, he served in the fire room aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6). In April of 1942, they escorted USS Hornet (CV-8) on the Doolittle Raid. From June through November, they participated in the battles at Midway, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal. In January of 1944, Stremel was sent to Oil Burning School in Philadelphia. He was transferred to USS Swanson (DD-443). Stremel was honorably discharged in December of 1946.
Date:
July 30, 2011
Creator:
Stremel, Al
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Barton, November 6, 2010
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Albert Barton. Barton joined the Navy and was trained as a radioman. He became a crewman on an Avenger torpedo bomber in October 1943. Barton flew off of the USS Mission Bay (CVE-59) and the USS Tripoli (CVE-64) and performed anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic. He describes how depth charges were dropped, the armament of the plane, and how they were trained to skip-bomb. Barton was then sent to the Pacific where he flew off of the USS Anzio (CVE-57) for the remainder of the war. He describes an incident where his plane had a failed landing and ended upside-down in the water. Barton had to break some glass in the cockpit to escape. He flew ground support missions over Okinawa. Barton discusses how the radio and radar functioned on his plane. He was discharged several months after the surrender.
Date:
November 6, 2010
Creator:
Barton, Albert
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Brown, March 2, 2010
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Brown. Brown joined the Navy and served as a Radarman with amphibious forces at Guadalcanal for one year. In 1942, Brown worked aboard submarines as a specialist in surface attacks using radar. Admiral Chester Nimitz appointed him the officer in charge to create the Pacific Fleet Radar School for Senior Officers, and to instruct them in radar techniques. Brown completed this work through late 1945. He continued his service after the war ended.
Date:
March 2, 2010
Creator:
Brown, Albert
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Donaldson, April 14, 2009
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Donaldson. Donaldson talks about how the Great Depression affected his family. He joined the Navy in 1944 and provides details of his training. He traveled aboard the USS Buckingham (APA-141). They traveled to Pearl Harbor, which he describes along with his responsibilities with work parties unloading and reloading ships. He assisted with trading out old ammunition for new ammunition. He was transferred to the John Rodgers Naval Air Station in Hawaii. He worked on the Martin Mars seaplanes, repairing and test flying them. He also flew C-54s and the J-3 Piper Cub and shares his experiences. He spent the remainder of his Navy career in Hawaii and was discharged in August of 1946 and joined the reserves. While in the service he made storekeeper 3rd class. In the 1950s he was commissioned into the Air Force.
Date:
April 14, 2009
Creator:
Donaldson, Albert
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John G. Solis, March 31, 2009
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John G. Solis of Irving, Texas. He discusses enlisting in the U.S. Navy on September 17, 1942, and was sent to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas for bootcamp. In bootcamp Mr. Solis talks about learning to shoot rifles by shooting clay pigeons and presentations held to teach how to identify enemy aircraft. While learning to fly, Mr. Solis was assigned to Bombing Squadron 1. In 1944 Mr. Solis ended up with the Torpedo Squadron 100 flying torpedo planes in Oahu, Hawaii. His squadron never saw combat, but he did witness U.S. ships getting destroyed by Kamikaze planes during the Okinawa invasion. He helped in some Naval strikes in Japan from March to June of 1945 before returning to the states for leave. Mr. Solis was still at home on leave when the war officially ended, and he was discharged on September 14th of 1948 due to signing up for a 6-year contract instead of the normal 4-year one.
Date:
March 31, 2009
Creator:
Solis, John G.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Maurice Stamps, March 18, 2009
Interview with Maurice Stamps, a serviceman in the U. S. Army during World War II. Stamps discusses growing up on a farm in Iowa, joining the army, going to Hawaii and staying at Schofield Barracks. He was assigned to the Classification/Assignment section at Fort Shafter without ever having basic training. He was later assigned to the Message Center at Ft. Shafter. He remembers his correspondence with his girlfriend Enid, whom he married upon his discharge in 1946.
Date:
March 18, 2009
Creator:
Misenhimer, Richard & Stamps, Maurice
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Floyd R. Thomas, February 18, 2009
Interview with Floyd R. Thomas, a serviceman in the U. S. Army during World War II. He discusses his childhood and education at Peacock Military Academy. He then joined the army and spent time in Okinawa during and after the war. He recalls being a surgical technician and working with Japanese civilians after the surrender, meeting his wife, and working for saw mills as a salesman and a pilot. He remembers stealing pineapples on Hawaii and getting diarrhea, being treated for jungle rot, selling old Japanese army blankets to civilians, and shipping silk bolts and sabers back home.
Date:
February 18, 2009
Creator:
Misenhimer, Richard & Thomas, Floyd R.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Dale R. Walker, October 4, 2007
Interview with Dale R. Walker, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He joined the Marine Corps in 1944 and was trained in mortars at Camp Pendleton, California. He then went to Camp Tarawa at Hawaii for further training with the Fifth Marine Division. Walker landed with the sixth wave on D-day at Iwo Jima. While working with mortars supporting the infantry, he was called on to be a stretcher-bearer on occasion. Walker spent 36 days on Iwo Jima. After the Japanese surrendered, Walker served in the occupation of Japan.
Date:
October 4, 2007
Creator:
Misenhimer, Richard & Walker, Dale R.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James R. Hood, June 21, 2007
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Hood of Indianapolis, Indiana. He discusses entering the U.S. Navy in September of 1942 without basic training as he was a college graduate. After being sworn in at Wabash College he was sent to Harvard Business School for Supply Corps for 4 months before being assigned to a ship in Pearl Harbor despite having no sailing training. Mr. hood was assigned to the Cummings DE643, he was supposed to be on the Samuel B. Roberts but the naval officer over him changed his mind last minute and 37 days later the Roberts sunk. While in Tulagi, Mr. Hood was involved in shooting down a Kamikaze plane, even receiving a ribbon for it after the war. He was also involved in the Battle of Okinawa and even saved two shells and years later had them signed by U.S. pilot Paul Tibbets. Mr. Hood was discharged from the Navy on February 28th, 1946, at Santa Ana, California as a Full Lieutenant. He was recalled to the Navy for the Korean War on March 2nd, 1951, and discharged for the final time on March 30th, 1953, as a Lieutenant Commander.
Date:
June 21, 2007
Creator:
Hood, James R.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with L. B. Blackmon, April 10, 2007
Interview with L. B. Blackmon, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He discusses boot camp in San Diego, his assignment to Pearl Harbor, and his experiences during the attack. He later trained cadets in Corpus Christi.
Date:
April 10, 2007
Creator:
Misenhimer, Richard & Blackmon, L. B.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Dimminger, July 5, 2006
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Dimminger. Dimminger worked for Hammond Aircraft and Consolidated in 1939, building aircraft. He joined the Navy in March of 1942. Beginning in mid-June Dimminger served as Aviation Metalsmith Third Class aboard the USS Hornet (CV-8). From August through October they operated around the Solomon Islands. On 26 October, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the ship was struck and sank by a dive bomber and torpedo plane attack. He was transferred to the USS Bougainville (CVE-100), and they transported aircraft to the Marshall, Admiralty and Mariana islands. In February of 1944 he was stationed in Honolulu for shore duty and worked as First Class Petty Officer in charge of the supply depot for plane parts. He was discharged in 1945.
Date:
July 5, 2006
Creator:
Dimminger, Albert
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006
Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. LeBow joined the navy in 1943 and went from Lubbock, Texas to San Diego for recruit training. He shipped out to Pearl Harbor aboard an LST from San Francisco. At Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to a work detail aboard the USS Oklahoma, which had just been righted. Shortly thereafter, he boarded the USS Indianapolis to serve as a range finder operator on one of the gun turrets. Upon leaving Hawaii, the Indianapolis went to Tarawa and then the Marshall Islands. LeBow witnessed Japanese civilian suicides on Saipan. He also witnessed the flag-raising on Iwo Jima from his range finder position aboard the ship. LeBow describes being hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa. He also discusses delivering atomic bomb components to Tinian and being torpedoed on the way to the Philippines. He describes abandoning the ship and spending five days in the water, including his faith in God, hallucinations, rescue, and his recovery.
Date:
May 2, 2006
Creator:
Misenhimer, Richard & Lebow, Cleatus A.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Finley, April 11, 2006
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Finley. Finley joined the Marine Corps around December of 1943. He provides vivid details of his boot camp experiences. He served with Headquarters Company, 4th Marines, as a radar mechanic on Corsairs, repairing radio and radar gear. Beginning in September of 1944 they traveled to Guam, Kwajalein, Pearl Harbor and Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Finley shares a number of anecdotal stories, including working with POWs. He was discharged in the fall of 1946.
Date:
April 11, 2006
Creator:
Finley, Albert
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Al Stevens, March 27, 2006
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Al Stevens. He graduated from Michigan State University in 1943 as a metallurgical engineer. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944 in Detroit, Michigan. He attended the Navy Electronics School at Harvard University as well as a specialized radar training program organized by MIT at the Harbor Building in Boston, Massachusetts. He received further training in radar countermeasures at Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. He served on the USS Wasatch (ACG-9). When the ship was anchored, he was assigned to deliver orders and mail. He describes the Operation Olympic portion of the plan to invade Japan. He was part of the force that occupied Wakanoura and Nagoya, Japan. He shares an anecdote about obtaining a Japanese sword as a souvenir in Nagoya. In North China he participated in the repatriation of the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. He wrote a book, ?Up Close and Personal,? about his World War II experiences.
Date:
March 27, 2006
Creator:
Stevens, Al
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Al Hiegel, September 18, 2005
Transcript of an oral interview with Al Heigel. When Heigel finished high school in June, 1944, he joined the Navy at Little Rock, Arkansas and went for boot training at San Diego. He was assigned as a radar operator and reported aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22) at Pearl Harbor. Heigel describes the light carrier and its construction and features. He also speaks of the time the Independence was hit by a torpedo off Tarawa in 1943. Heigel then describes events off Okinawa: watching the USS Franklin (CV-13) being bombed off Okinawa; locating and shooting down kamikazes; describing battle stations; aircraft water landings; being in a typhoon, etc. After the war ended, the Independence served as a troop transport taking GIs back home to the US. He describes bunks in the hangar deck and arriving in Portland, Oregon. As the Independence was being prepared for the Bikini Atoll atomic tests, Heigel got off becuase he had the requisite amount of points allowing him to be discharged. He then entered the lumber business, married and raised family.
Date:
September 18, 2005
Creator:
Heigel, Al
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Acencion Fernandez, February 19, 2005
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Acencion Fernandez. Fernandez, a Texas farm boy born in 1924, was drafted when he was 18 years old. He was based in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was assigned to the USS LCI-80 where he served as a loader on a 40-inch gun. At the Mariana Islands of Saipan and Tinian and at Iwo Jima, he was involved in strafing the beaches to enable Marines to land. Later his LCI landed Marines on Okinawa. He briefly mentions the presence of Navajo code talkers on the ship.
Date:
February 19, 2005
Creator:
Fernandez, Acencion
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James William Harrison, January 27, 2005
Interview with James William "Bill" Harrison, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He explains how he joined the navy in San Diego without going to boot camp. He worked on an oil tanker that shipped out to Pearl Harbor a month after the attack there and transported fuel out of San Diego to various ships at sea. He was then transfered to Admiral Nimitz's public relations department. There he and two others wrote stories about the action in the Pacific theater, particularly about the Battle of Midway. They also contributed to a radio show and worked with the national press corps. He then worked at the Naval Air Station in Seattle before traveling to Hilo, Hawaii to meet with soldiers who had returned from Tarawa. In Texas, he attended officer training school and college at Southwestern University. After the war ended, he studied at the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma for law school. He recalls an incident in which his office released a story about a cat that had kittens on board a cruiser; they reported this good news from the Pacific prior to the Battle of Midway. He also met Admirals Nimitz …
Date:
January 27, 2005
Creator:
Parish, Brainerd & Harrison, James William
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Sam H. Snoddy, April 29, 2004
Interview with Sam H. Snoddy, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He served in the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. After training, he participated in the initial landing at Saipan where he was wounded in the knees and shoulder on the beach by shell fragments. He was loaded onto a hospital ship with several other casualties before going to Hawaii to recuperate. He participated in the Okinawa campaign and spent time at Nagasaki on occupation duty. After being discharged, he went to college on the G. I. Bill, and eventually settled in Texas, where he worked in the oil industry.
Date:
April 29, 2004
Creator:
Smith, Ned & Snoddy, Sam H.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Franklin B. Murphy, November 20, 2003
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Franklin B. Murphy of Milford, Maine. He discusses enlisting in the U.S. Marines and going through basic training in South Carolina before completing his communications training in North Carolina. He also talks about his journey from Hawaii to Tarawa and the horrors he saw when they arrived and started to set up communication lines. Mr. Murphy was assigned to the twenty-fourth marines as their communication before being sent to Iwo Jima. He was in Guam for some recreational time when the bombs were dropped on Japan and the war ended, he was then discharged December of 1945.
Date:
November 20, 2003
Creator:
Murphy, Franklin B.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Earl Smyth, Jr., October 20, 2003
Interview with Earl Smyth, Jr., a serviceman during World War II. He discusses his time aboard the USS Saratoga at the Battle of Midway and at Guadalcanal, where the ship sustained two torpedo attacks. He saw Pearl Harbor three days after the attack.
Date:
October 20, 2003
Creator:
Bryk, Clarence & Smyth, Earl, Jr.
System:
The Portal to Texas History