Resource Type

Oral History Interview with Paul Bunch, December 7, 1971 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Paul Bunch, December 7, 1971

Interview with Paul Bunch, a New Mexico National Guard WWII veteran and POW from Atlanta, Missouri. Bunch served in I Troop, 111th Horse Cavalry, which became F Battery, 200th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft); he recounts going to the Philippines before the war in 1941, his action during the bombing of Clark Field on December 8th, the fight for Bataan, and his capture and internment at Camp O'Donnell, after which he was held at Cabanatuan #2, Bilibid Prison, and then Yodagawa Steel Mill, Osaka, Japan.
Date: December 7, 1971
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Bunch, William Paul
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with LeRoy Ellis Cox, February 5, 2004

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with LeRoy Ellis Cox. The interview includes Cox's personal experiences about childhood and early adulthood in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, World War-II-era Army Air Corps training in armaments and electronics, stateside service in the 303rd Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, aviation cadet training, serving as a B-25 instructor pilot, and as a DC-3 tow pilot for the glider program.
Date: February 5, 2004
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Cox, LeRoy E., 1919-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
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