Resource Type

Oral History Interview with William C. Beyer, March 14, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with William C. Beyer, March 14, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William C. Beyer. Beyer grew up in Texas and joined the Marines in January 1942. After training, he was assigned to the third division in artillery. He departed on the USS Mount Vernon for New Zealand. He anecdotes about meeting with some Maori people. Then he departed on the Cresent City for Guadalcanal in May 1943. From Guadalcanal he left for Bougainville in November 1943. He describes being caught in a foxhole for two days without communication. He also listened to Tokyo Rose on the radio. The Army relieved the Marines January 15, 1944, and his unit returned to Guadalcanal. On July 21, 1944, they landed on Guam and went into battle. Next Beyer left for Iwo Jima. The Third Marine Division was assigned to the central area of the island. He witnessed the raising of the flag. On the 50th anniversary of the war, Beyer and his wife returned to New Zealand and Guam.
Date: March 14, 2001
Creator: Beyer, William C.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Annie May Web, March 24, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Annie May Web, March 24, 2001

Interview with Annie (Amy) May Webb discussing her husband's service and her experiences on the homefront during World War II. She describes delivering word of the birth of their daughter to her husband while he was aboard the USS Bennington serving with VMF-112.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Bloomfield, Vivian & Webb, Annie May
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Norman Apelt, September 23, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Norman Apelt, September 23, 2001

Interview with with Norman Apelt, an airplane mechanic during World War II. He discusses his service in the US Army Air Corps as an airplane mechanic in Pampa, Texas. After the war ended, Apelt was assigned duty in occupied Japan.
Date: September 23, 2001
Creator: Bryk, Clarence & Apelt, Norman
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Bill Cantrell, September 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Bill Cantrell, September 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Cantrell, where he discusses his childhood and education and what led to his decision to join the Marines. He describes his experiences flying airplanes and living on ships in the Pacific Theatre of World War Two.
Date: September 2001
Creator: Cantrell, Bill & Nichols, Chuck
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Richard Bennett, November 15, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Richard Bennett, November 15, 2001

Interview with Richard (Dick) Bennett, a pilot during World War II. He discusses his enlistment in the Army Air Corps, basic training and flight school. He then went to a base in South Carolina to learn to fly B-25s. At Fort Myers, Florida he flew B-26 bombers and trained to fly them off of aircraft carriers so they could drop torpedos on the Japanese fleet during naval battles. He traveled across the Pacific to Brisbane only to be told that they didn't have B-26s for the crews; the colonel there knew nothing about the plan to launch B-26s from aircraft carriers, so they were sent to New Guinea to fly B-17s and supplement the crews for those bombers. From there they made bombing runs or "Washing Machine Charlie"-type runs to keep people awake at night on various Japanese targets in the islands, particularly the base at Rabaul. In fall of 1943, the Army grounded the B-17s due to the damage they had incurred and replaced them with B-24s. The men received manuals and were given only a few days to familiarize themselves with the new planes. They were then sent on bombing runs. He finished his tour of duty at …
Date: November 15, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Bennett, Richard
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 Garvin Kowalke, January 23, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Garvin Kowalke, January 23, 2001

Interview with Garvin Kowalke, a pilot during World War II. He discusses joining the Army Air Corps, going to Air Cadet training to become a pilot, and training on various aircraft (AT-17, UC-78, P-36, P-33, T-6, BT-13, B-17, B-29) before becoming a B-29 pilot; he shipped out to Guam and flew standard and fire bombing runs over Japan. He discusses having to ditch the plane on the way back to Guam once when the engines failed, seeing another B-29 crew have to bail out over Toyko Bay and get picked up by a U.S. submarine that was in the Bay, getting pulled down to the fires when they were trying to hide in the smoke to avoid Japanese fighter planes, and getting caught in a storm by Mount Fujiyama, as well as collecting data such wind direction, speed, and temperature over Hiroshima for future bombing runs, which turned out to be for the bombers who dropped the atomic bomb. He also talks about flying over Hiroshima two days after the bombing and gauging how high the radiation levels were at different altitudes. He also talks about being in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, becoming a B-57 pilot, and adopting a …
Date: January 23, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Kowalke, Garvin
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Charles Pase, April 12, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Charles Pase, April 12, 2001

Interview with Charles Pase, a marine during World War II. He discusses joining the Marines and training on New Zealand and other Pacific islands. He describes landing on Tarawa, the battle of Tarawa itself, and locating and burying the dead bodies after the battle. He also talks about going to Hawaii for more training before going to Saipan, various guns and artillery he used, encountering natives on Saipan and being in Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped. He relates ancedotes about having tonsillitis during the Tarawa attack, fights that some Marines got into with local Hawaiians while training there and prejudices against Japanese-Americans, mistaking a land crab that pinched the back of his neck for a bayonet, getting Dengue Fever, and faking a landing on April Fools' Day.
Date: April 12, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Pase, Charles
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001

Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman regarding her experiences during World War II. She begins by discussing her family background: her parents were Jews born in Poland and emigrated to the United States. Ethel's European aunts, uncles and grandparents all likely died in the Holocaust. As a first grade student, she taught her mother, a Polish immigrant, how to read and write English. She recalls, wartime rationing, Victory Gardens, scrap drives, and antisemitism among her school-aged classmates in Dallas, Texas, and the end of the war.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Schectman, Ethel Reisberg
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001

Interview with Ethel Reisburg Schectman of Fort Worth, Texas, who was born in New York City during the Great Depression to Jewish Polish immigrant parents. The interview includes Hill's personal experiences of World War II on the home front, including memories of D-Day, iron metal scrap drives, victory gardens, rationing, V-E and V-J Days, and what it was like being Jewish in Dallas during that time.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Schectman, Ethel Reisberg
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with David Straus, September 17, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with David Straus, September 17, 2001

Interview with David Straus of San Antonio, Texas, a veteran from the United States Marine Corps during World War Two in the Pacific Theater as well as the Korean War. The interview includes some of Straus' background before the war and his personal experiences while in the Marines, including memories of Okinawa, various weapons, what happened at the end of World War Two, and his assignment in Korea.
Date: September 17, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Straus, David
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with David Straus, September 17, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with David Straus, September 17, 2001

Interview with David Straus of San Antonio, Texas, a veteran from the United States Marine Corps during World War Two in the Pacific Theater as well as the Korean War. The interview includes some of Straus' background before the war and his personal experiences while in the Marines, including memories of Okinawa, various weapons, what happened at the end of World War Two, and his assignment in Korea.
Date: September 17, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Straus, David
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Joseph B. Brown, March 23, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Joseph B. Brown, March 23, 2001

Interview with Joseph B. Brown of Abilene, Texas, who is a World War Two veteran of the United States Marine Corps. In the interview, Mr. Brown recalls memories of growing up and his time in the Marines, particularly from training, being wounded, and working campaigns in the South Pacific.
Date: March 23, 2001
Creator: Cox, William G. & Brown, Joseph B.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Joseph B. Brown, March 24, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Joseph B. Brown, March 24, 2001

Interview with Joseph Brown, who was in the Marine Corps during World War II. He discusses going to Guadalcanal, various guns and artillery he used, the battle of Tarawa and getting malaria just before it, then going to Hawaii for more training before returning to the South Pacific and fighting on Saipan and Tinian. He also discusses being wounded on Saipan, having a bayonet run through his forearm and keeping the bayonet as a souvenir after the war, and he talks about some of his experiences and travels after the war.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Cox, William G. & Brown, Joseph B.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Alan Fouts, December 6, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Alan Fouts, December 6, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alan Fouts. Fouts joined the Navy in 1939 and trained in San Diego. Upon completion of basic training, Fouts joined the USS Argonne (AG-31). Later, he was stationed at the submarine base at Pearl Harbor when the war started. He recalls witnessing the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. He managed to get guns operational on the USS Widgeon (AM-22) before it got underway during the attack. Between the attacks, Fouts went alongside the USS Arizona (BB-39) and measured the holes in the hull. He continued serving as a diver at Noumea and Samoa in 1942-1943. He volunteered for submarine duty and was made five war patrols aboard the USS Pogy (SS- 266). Fouts tells several submarine stories. After the war, Fouts remained in the Navy for thirty years.
Date: December 6, 2001
Creator: Fouts, Alan
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Trenton Fowler, January 17, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Trenton Fowler, January 17, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Trenton Fowler. Fowler grew up in Corpus Christi and enlisted into the Marine Corps in 1943. Once he finished training, he was assigned to the 4th Marine Raider Battalion and shipped out on the French transport ship Rochambeau to New Caledonia. From there he went to Guadalcanal for training and then to the Emirau, Guam, and Okinawa campaigns, with stops at Guadalcanal in between each campaign. Fowler discusses the pros and cons of the Browning Automatic Rifle versus the M-1 Garand. He tells of the change of his unit's name from the 4th Battalion Raiders to the 6th Marine Division, before he went to Okinawa. He relates the experience of finding out his brother, a fellow Marine, had died at Iwo Jima.
Date: January 17, 2001
Creator: Fowler, Trenton
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ray Hechler, December 6, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ray Hechler, December 6, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ray Hechler. He discusses his childhood and education and what led him to join the Marine Corps. He describes his experiences during the attack on Pearl Harbor and what he did for the rest of World War Two.
Date: December 6, 2001
Creator: Hechler, Ray & Alexander, William J.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Sanford B. Hunt, September 22, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Sanford B. Hunt, September 22, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Sanford B. Hunt discussing his childhood and education and what led to his decision to join the Marine Corp. He describes his experiences fighting in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two.
Date: September 22, 2001
Creator: Hunt, Sanford B. & Pickard, Kevin
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Henry Kalinofsky, February 17, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Henry Kalinofsky, February 17, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry Kalinofsky of Annapolis, Maryland. He discusses when he was first inducted into the Navy and being a plank owner aboard DE 581. USS MCNULTY. He also discusses his time aboard the USS LSM(R) 198 manning the 40mm Twin Mount and loading rockets in Okinawa, Japan, after the invasion of Normandy. Mr. Kalinofsky describes an attack he was involved in off the coast of Okinawa.
Date: February 17, 2001
Creator: Kalinofsky, Henry
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Henry Kalinofsky, February 17, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Henry Kalinofsky, February 17, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry Kalinofsky of Annapolis, Maryland. He discusses when he was first inducted into the Navy and being a plank owner aboard DE 581. USS MCNULTY. He also discusses his time aboard the USS LSM(R) 198 manning the 40mm Twin Mount and loading rockets in Okinawa, Japan, after the invasion of Normandy. Mr. Kalinofsky describes an attack he was involved in off the coast of Okinawa.
Date: February 17, 2001
Creator: Kalinofsky, Henry
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Orlyn Master, June 4, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Orlyn Master, June 4, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Orlyn Master discussing his childhood and education and what led him jo joining the US Military. He describes his experiences flying planes over Europe and of being a Prisoner of War after getting captured by the Germans.
Date: June 4, 2001
Creator: Master, Orlyn & Misenhimer, Richard
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Adrian Miller, August 3, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Adrian Miller, August 3, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Adrian Miller. Miller was born in Winamac, Indiana 16 November 1924 and graduated from high school in 1942. He entered the Army in March, 1944 and took his basic training at Ft. Blanding, Florida. He volunteered for the paratroopers at Fort Benning, Georgia and describes the six weeks of rigorous training, which included jumps. In November, he joined the 101st Army Airborne and was assigned to the 505th Parachute Infantry, Company H. Miller was sent to Bastogne and describes the conditions and the high casualty rate. After being relieved in January he went to Lorraine, France, then to Berchtesgaden, Germany where he met his brother. Miller was in Paris when Germany surrendered. On 15 December 1945, he returned to the United States on the Queen Mary. He was discharged January 1946.
Date: August 3, 2001
Creator: Miller, Adrian
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Adrian Miller, August 3, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Adrian Miller, August 3, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Adrian Miller. Miller was born in Winamac, Indiana 16 November 1924 and graduated from high school in 1942. He entered the Army in March, 1944 and took his basic training at Ft. Blanding, Florida. He volunteered for the paratroopers at Fort Benning, Georgia and describes the six weeks of rigorous training, which included jumps. In November, he joined the 101st Army Airborne and was assigned to the 505th Parachute Infantry, Company H. Miller was sent to Bastogne and describes the conditions and the high casualty rate. After being relieved in January he went to Lorraine, France, then to Berchtesgaden, Germany where he met his brother. Miller was in Paris when Germany surrendered. On 15 December 1945, he returned to the United States on the Queen Mary. He was discharged January 1946.
Date: August 3, 2001
Creator: Miller, Adrian
Object Type: Text
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