The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Scheffel. Scheffel grew up in Oklahoma and enlisted in the Army ROTC in 1940. He was called up in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. He was allowed to finish out his senior year of college and was married in March 1942. He embarked on the Queen Elizabeth from New Jersey in September 1942. As leader of 200 men, he landed in Scotland and drove with them to Whittington Barracks where they joined with the British 51st Highlanders. He lists the three main survival lessons he learned from the seasoned English soldiers: having a batman to back you up, digging a two-man foxhole, and waiting for the ""crack and thump."" Scheffel how the ""crack and thump"" lesson would later save his life when he was seriously wounded when attacking the Siegfried Line. From England he went to Algeria with the British troops on the Scythia. The ship is torpedoed off the coast limps into Algiers. Scheffel made the decision to leave the British Highlanders and join up with American 9th Division in February 1943. The division went into Tunisia. Then he was sent to spend another month with the …

A collection of letters by army Dr. L. D. Collins from his tour of duty in World War II with the 56th Evacuation Hospital, chronicling his experiences and general history of WWII. He includes letters from his time stationed in Morocco, Tunisia, Italy, and Anzio Beach.

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.

Interview with Dr. Floyd Taylor, a surgeon and World War II Army veteran. In the interview, Dr. Taylor discusses his experiences as a member of the 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group, with which he traveled to North Africa, Italy, and France during the war. He recalls several memorable happenings concerning his career, including his induction into the U.S. Army Medical Department, his assignment to the Surgical Hospital, the formation of the Auxiliary Surgical Group, his encounter with Time correspondent Jack Belden, and the Winter Line Campaign. Dr. Taylor also discusses several of his assignments while serving in the war, including the Mayo Clinic, the Massachusetts General Hospital, the invasion of Italy and Salerno, the Anzio-Nettuno invasion, and his travels across the Atlantic to Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. He explains his role in the compilation and publication of the War Department publication entitled, Surgery in World War II (Volume II): General Surgery. Dr. Taylor goes into more detail about the many procedures he practiced as a surgeon on the battlefield, and discusses penicillin use, the value of penicillin on the black market, the use of colostomies, field X-ray facilities, blood replacement treatment, and the treatment of specific injuries such as abdominal and …