Degree Department

Oral History Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, January 15, 2004 transcript

Oral History Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, January 15, 2004

Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, a pilot during World War II. He describes growing up on a farm in Georgia, going to college at Berry, and working for Sears, Roebuck, and the Royal Typewriter Company before joining the U. S. Navy. He tells an anecdote about joining the navy so he could go to New York to see the World's Fair, since he had heard the Atlanta Reserve would be making a trip to the Fair. He began flight training in Florida in December 1940, finished the next September, then drove cross-country to San Francisco after the Pearl Harbor attack. He eventually joined the USS Enterprise in April 1942 and saw the B-25 bombers in the Doolittle Raid take off. He was part of Bombing Squadron Six and trained under Commander Best to learn how to do scouting flights, navigation, and dive bombing. He then describes his participation in the Battle of Midway, the hours before take-off, his first view of the Japanese fleet, and his bombing mission. He was later assigned to the USS Hornet and had to fly off to a little island so that planes from the USS Wasp could land on the Hornet after their ship …
Date: January 15, 2004
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Hopkins, Lewis R.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Bouley, June 27, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Albert Bouley, June 27, 2001

Interview with Albert Bouley, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses his enlistment in the Marines just after Pearl Harbor; his assignment to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division; the battle of Guadalcanal; malaria and dysentery; the battle of Cape Gloucester; the use of Pavuvu as a base; the battle of Peleliu; his return to the United States; guard duty at the Brooklyn Naval Yard and his service as an instructor in a heavy weapons school before the end of the war. He joined the Air Force 2 1/2 years later to be able to fly and work on planes, then retire to become a teacher in California, and finally settled in Texas.
Date: June 27, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Bouley, Albert
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Carl Peltier, March 4, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Carl Peltier, March 4, 2001

Interview with Carl Peltier, a U. S Marine during World War II. He begins by discussing his reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then joined the Marines when he was old enough. He trained in San Diego before shipping out to Hawaii where he joined the 2nd Marine Division. Further training included heavy weapons and mortars. Later, he landed on Saipan and describes his small arms and rations. He witnessed General Simon Buckner getting killed on Okinawa. He was later wounded on Okinawa. After the war ended, Peltier served in the Pentagon during the Korean War.
Date: March 4, 2001
Creator: Nichols, Chuck & Peltier, Carl
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006 transcript

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.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James William Harrison, January 27, 2005 transcript

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
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James Phinney, July 15, 2010 transcript

Oral History Interview with James Phinney, July 15, 2010

Interview with James (Jim) Phinney, an aircraft electrician for the U. S. Navy during Wold War II. He discusses joining the Navy, going through boot camp and becoming an aircraft electrician. He was assigned to the USS Lexington but abandoned ship after it was hit by a torpedo. He was rescued and was then sent to San Diego to be reassigned to the USS Enterprise. He mentions being at Guadalcanal and later aboard a sub-chaser. The crew crossed the Equator and consequently participated in an initiation ceremony, during which time Admiral Halsey was nearly shot by one of the ship's pilots who forgot to lock his gun. He also recalls some of the food he ate while at sea.
Date: July 15, 2010
Creator: Cox, Floyd; Phinney, James & O'Konski, Susan
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with L. B. Blackmon, April 10, 2007 transcript

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.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Dale R. Walker, October 4, 2007 transcript

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.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Paul Jackson, April 10, 2008 transcript

Oral History Interview with Paul Jackson, April 10, 2008

Interview with Paul Jackson, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses his time in boot camp at Camp Pendleton and his combat experiences in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Date: April 10, 2008
Creator: Roberts, Virginia & Jackson, Paul
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Arwin Bowden, March 9, 2000 transcript

Oral History Interview with Arwin Bowden, March 9, 2000

Interview with Arwin Bowden, a marine during World War II. He begins by discussing his training in San Diego and New Zealand before the Battle of Tarawa. He describes being wounded in the battle, the casualties he saw, and being shipped back to Pearl Harbor for treatment before joining the battle of Saipan. He describes ancedotes about Japanese killing themselves rather than surrendering, eating food from a garden watered from rainwater running down from outhouses, the wages he made, and the time he had leave.
Date: March 9, 2000
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Bowden, Arwin J.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Rena Pederson, April 5, 2012 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Rena Pederson, April 5, 2012

Interview with Rena Pederson, a former journalist in Dallas, Texas. The interview includes biographical information about her life growing up, her educational background, her career with The Dallas Morning News and other newspapers, the books she has written, and her work in communications and public affairs.
Date: April 5, 2012
Creator: Harding, Anne; Dann, Lori & Pederson, Rena
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Billy Drawe, June 13, 2000

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Interview with dairyman and Marine Corps veteran Billy Drawe. The interview includes Drawe's personal experiences about the Pacific Theater during World War II, enlistment and boot camp, tank training, invading Guam, coming under Japanese mortar fire on Guam, invading Iwo Jima, hauling supplies ashore to the infantry on Iwo Jima, and returning to the states for training in the V-12 Program.
Date: June 13, 2000
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Drawe, Billy
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William E. Cooper, September 7, 1999

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Interview with business executive and Army Air Forces veteran William E. Cooper. The interview includes Cooper's personal experiences about being a B-29 pilot in the Pacific Theater, pre-flight and flight training, various assignments, and dropping supplies by parachute to prisoners-of-war. Cooper also talks about living on Guam, mechanical weaknesses of the B-29, his descriptions of Nagasaki and Hiroshima from the air after the dropping of the atomic bombs, his disappointment with not being able to fly combat missions, postwar duty as a test pilot on Guam, and his postwar civilian activities.
Date: September 7, 1999
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Cooper, William E.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with James F. Brede, 2011

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Interview with James F. Brede, dentist and U.S. Army Air Forces veteran. The interview includes his personal experiences in World War II as a B-17 co-pilot with the 8th Air Force in the European Theater, his childhood in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943, preliminary training in Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, his active service with the 379th Bomb Group in Kimbolton, England, combat experience in 35 missions, return to the U.S. and continued military service as a flight instructor in Lakeland, Florida and Wichita Falls, Texas, as well as the return to civilian life, marriage, dental school under the G.I. Bill, reenlistment in the Air Force as a dentist, his deployment to Korea, his discharge from the Air Force, and the establishment of his dental practice and experiences since retirement. The interview includes an appendix with a copy of his book.
Date: March 30, 2011
Creator: Fox, Lisa A. & Brede, James F.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Louise Young and Vivienne Armstrong, February 24, 2010

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Interview with Louise Young and Vivienne Armstrong, longtime activists in the Dallas lesbian community. The interview includes Armstrong's personal experiences of childhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, New Jersey, and California, as well as her decision to study nursing and settle in Denver, Colorado, and her coming out narrative. The interview also includes Young's personal experiences of childhood in Ada, Oklahoma, her education at East Central State University and the University of Colorado, and her coming out narrative. They talk about their meeting and early relationship, give descriptions of Denver's gay and lesbian communities, their involvement with various groups such as the Daughters of Bilitis and Gay Liberation Front, their decision to move to Dallas, their involvement with groups such as the National Organization for Women and Dallas Gay Political Caucus/Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance in various political campaigns, and Young's career at Texas Instruments and Raytheon and efforts to create more equitable human resources policies from within the corporations. Additionally, Armstrong and Young talk about the effects of the HIV-AIDS crisis on Dallas's gay and lesbian communities, their 2008 marriage, relationships with family members, and secrets to a long relationship.
Date: February 24, 2010
Creator: Wisely, Karen; Young, Louise & Armstrong, Vivienne
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Bennie G. Snider, June 10, 2002

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Interview with banker and Navy veteran Bennie G. Snider. The interview includes Snider's personal experiences about the Pacific Theater during World War II, youth and education in Denton, Texas, joining the Navy, and boot training and electrical engineering school. Snider talks about duties aboard the USS Hancock, his assignment to Task Group 58 and the invasion of the Philippines, as well as the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, kamikaze attacks and the Hancock being hit by a kamikaze, burials at sea, and his postwar duties aboard the Hancock as part of Operation MAGIC CARPET.
Date: June 10, 2002
Creator: Lane, Peter B. & Snider, Bennie, G.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with K. O. Dahlgren, May 28, 2002

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Interview with K.O. Dahlgren, civil engineer and Marine Corps veteran. The interview includes Dahlgren's personal experiences about being a PBJ co-pilot in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World War II, enlisting in the Navy, primary and secondary flight training through the Civilian Pilot Training Program, pre-flight training, basic and advanced flight training, and navigation school. Additionally, Dahlgren talks about his early interest in aviation, designation as an Aviation Cadet, the transition to multi-engine planes at Corpus Christi and his transfer to the Marine Corps, transferring to Cherry Point, North Carolina, crew formation and PBJ training at Cherry Point, advanced training, his personal views on combat and the Japanese, stationing to Green Island, "night heckling" missions to Rabaul, his assignment to and living conditions in Emirau, skip-bombing, strafing, and night bombing missions, rest and relaxation in Australia, his rotation back to the states, and his postwar career.
Date: May 28, 2002
Creator: Koontz, Christopher N. & Dahlgren, K. O.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Rick Dale, November 26, 2007

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with U.S. Marine Corps Pilot Richard Dale as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Dale's personal experiences of childhood, education at Baylor University and Texas A&M, attending training at Camp Pendleton, California, Quantico, Virginia, and officer candidate school. Additionally, Dale talks about his decision to enter the Marines aviation program, his assignments to various naval air stations, the particulars of "tailhook" aviation, and his civilian career with Northwest Airlines. The interview also includes an appendix with a photograph and an active duty summary.
Date: November 26, 2007
Creator: Bristow, Lauren & Dale, Richard C.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Robert H. Flatley, October 27, 1999

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Interview with business executive and Army Air Forces veteran Robert H. Flatley. The interview includes Flatley's personal experiences about being a P-38 pilot in the Pacific Theater during the World War II, basic training, flight training, P-38 training, various assignments and missions, and the destruction of forty-seven locomotives. Flatley also talks about various missions to targets in the Philippines, activities between combat missions, postwar military activities in the Philippines, and postwar adjustments to civilian life.
Date: October 27, 1999
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Flatley, Robert H.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Jerome D. Fox, August 21, 2003

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Interview with Jerome D. Fox, an OS2U Kingfisher gunner aboard the cruiser USS Detroit in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The interview includes Fox's personal experiences about childhood on a ranch in West Texas, enlisting in the Navy, boot camp at San Diego, California, aerial gunner school at Naval Air Station, Modesto, California, his assignment to the OS2U crew aboard the USS Detroit, patrol duty in the Aleutian Islands, bombardment of the Kurile Islands, South American patrol, his assignment to the Central Pacific Theater as an escort for the Tanker Division in refueling carrier battle groups, kamikaze attacks, operations off Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, and his postwar activities.
Date: August 21, 2003
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Fox, Jerome D.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Richard Donley, February 22, 1997

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Interview with Navy veteran Richard Donley. The interview includes Donley's personal experiences about the Mediterranean Theater during World War II, boot camp, Fleet Torpedo School, encounters with German "F-lighter" armed barges and E-boats, various assignments, and combat against enemy destroyers. Donley also talks about screening operations for the invasions of Sicily and Salerno, operations along the coasts of northern Italy and southern France and the interdiction of German barge traffic, torpedo problems, commando and intelligence operations, returning to the States, his reassignment to the Motor Torpedo Boats Training Center, and transferring to Samar, Philippines.
Date: February 22, 1997
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Donley, Richard
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Jean Balch, October 12, 1996

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Interview with Navy veteran Jean Balch, including Balch's personal experiences about the Pacific theater, being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II, boot camp, radio, radar, and gunnery school, operations during the Leyte invasion, missions over Luzon, and raids on Japanese installations on Formosa and Saigon, French Indo-China. Additionally, Balch talks about his plane being shot down on a raid to Hong Kong and his capture on January 16, 1945, interrogations and beatings by the Kempei-tai, imprisonment at Ofuna, Honshu, solitary confinement for six months and continued interrogation, beatings by Japanese prison guards, starvation diet, the end of the war and liberation, and his participation in the war crimes trials held by the International Military Tribunal.
Date: October 12, 1996
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Balch, Jean
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Ana R. Alonso-Minutti, October 21, 2009

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with assistant professor of music history at UNT Ana R. Alonso-Minutti, Mexican-born immigrant to Dallas, as part of the DFW Metroplex Immigrants Oral History Project. The interview includes Alonso-Minutti's personal experiences of childhood and education in Mexico, attending college at Universidad de las Americas, discovering music history as a discipline of study, a one-year course of study in theology in Dallas, choir direction at a church in England, attending graduate school, and accepting a job offer from UNT. Additionally, Alonso-Minutti discusses family history, her grandparents' migration from Spain and Italy, her first impressions of the U.S., the decision to study musicology in the U.S. or Great Britain, the citizenship process, and the contrast of life in Mexico, England, California, and Texas.
Date: October 21, 2009
Creator: Onspaugh, Patrick & Alonso-Minutti, Ana R.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral History Interview with Clay H. Musick, May 14, 1976 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Clay H. Musick, May 14, 1976

Interview with Clay Musick, a Navy WWII veteran from Weslaco, Texas. Musick discusses his experiences aboard the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, including joining the Navy in 1940, training, life and work aboard the Arizona, the bombing and sinking of the ship, his wounding and recovery, and work after discharge.
Date: May 14, 1976
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Musick, Clay H.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library