The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond F. "Hap" Halloran. Halloran grew up in Ohio and admits an early fascination with airplanes that led him into the Army Air Corps after he finished high school in 1940. By the end of 1942, Halloran had been called up for service in the Air Corps and trained asa navigator. He also volunteered for bombadier school. Halloran also speaks of training in B-29 bombers. In December, 1944, Halloran and his crew received orders to go overseas to Saipan. Halloran also speaks of his post-war friendship with Japanese fighter ace Saburo Sakai. Halloran also describes being shot down over Japan in early 1945 and bailing out of his crippled B-29. Halloran came down in a parachute, landed in Tokyo and was captured. He suffered a sever ebeating by the civilians before military personnel got to him. Halloran then describes his long captivity as a POW. He also describes witnessing the fire bombing of Tokyo on the night of 9-10 March 1945. Halloran also recalls being stripped naked and put in an animal cage. Then, Japanese citizens were allowed to view him in his cage for a day or …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Moore. Moore joined the Army Air Corps in June 1937 and received flight training at Randolph and Kelly fields. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 77th Pursuit Squadron and arrived at Nichols Field in October 1940 as squadron commander. His squadron relocated to Clark Field, and on 8 December 1941 Moore was among the first pilots to fight Zeros, quickly learning that the P-40’s only advantage was speed. His squadron relocated to Bataan and lost all its planes in battle. His mechanics refurbished an abandoned J2F-2 so that Moore could fly to Cebu and Mindanao for desperately needed supplies. He was away when Bataan fell. Moore was transferred as an instructor to a combat training school in Brisbane and then to a day-fighter school at Drew Field with the 90th Fighter Squadron. He was then sent to the Philadelphia Fighter Wing. With the 84th Fighter Wing he arrived at Normandy and ran a mobile combat operations and intelligence center, moving across France, through Belgium, and into Germany. In December 1944 he was transferred to the 98th Combat Bombardment Wing (Medium) at MacDill and then reassigned to …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert E. Galer. Galer was born in Seattle 23 October 1913. In 1935, he graduated from the University of Washington, having earned a commission through ROTC. During flight training at Pensacola, he accepted a regular commission in the Marine Corps. His classmate at Washington was Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, who also trained with him at Quantico. During the ensuing years, Galer became carrier qualified and flew sea planes in the Virgin Islands, had a tour of duty with a fighter squadron in San Diego, and had fighter training in Honolulu. He watched the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor from a friend’s house. Galer went to Guadalcanal in late August 1942, where he flew interdiction missions in the Grumman F4F Wildcat. In fighting for Henderson Field, Galer was shot down three times, was credited with shooting down 11 ½ Japanese planes, and received the Medal of Honor. After receiving the award, he went on speaking tours to sell war bonds. Afterwards, he attended the Army Command and Staff School at Fort Leavenworth. In early 1945, he was assigned as the co-leader of a 25-man team responsible for evaluating a new radar …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Victor Delano. Delano was appointed to the Naval Academy in June of 1937 and graduated with distinction in February of 1941 and was commissioned ensign. He was assigned to the gunnery department of the Fire Control Division aboard the USS West Virginia (BB-48), where he was stationed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship was moored in the Harbor, and Delano provides vivid details of the attack and sinking of the West Virginia. Next, he served aboard the USS San Juan (CL-54) from 1942 to 1943. They participated in the Battle of Savo Island, the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, around Guadalcanal and provided gunfire support for the landings at Tulagi. From 1944 to 1945 he was assigned to the USS Wedderburn (DD-684). They participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines, at Iwo Jima and at Okinawa. He came back to the States in the fall of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a monologue by Jim Woods. Woods joined the Marine Corps in January of 1943. He served with the 3rd Marine Raider Battalion, participating in the Bougainville Campaign in November of 1943, the Battle of Guam in 1944, landing on Emirau Island, the Okinawa Campaign in April of 1945 and landing on Japan on 30 August 1945. After Bougainville, the Raiders were disbanded and Woods joined the 4th Marine Regiment for the remainder of his service. He provides vivid details of his combat missions with fellow servicemen, anecdotal stories from his squad and witnessed heavy casualties at Okinawa. Woods was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George McColm. McColm was born on a farm in Kansas in 1911. In 1928, he was selected to go to Washington, DC where he met President Herbert Hoover and his wife. Graduating from Kansas State College in Manhattan in 1935 he began studying terrain, weather and demand in crop growing. He tells of recognition and honors he received in the agricultural field. Soon after the war with Japan began, he was offered a commission in the US Navy to participate in a special classified project. At the time, he was in charge of crops at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. McColm shares many of his experiences with the Japanese internees and expresses his opinion of the people he worked with. Upon being inducted, he went to Tucson, Arizona for boot training and then to Princeton University Naval School of Military Government. Upon completion of the training he was sent to the Civil Affairs staging area at the Presidio of Monterey, California. Upon his arrival he was assigned to a Top Secret staff working on the plans for the invasion and occupation of Japan. He concludes the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rudy Kiehne. Kiehne was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, 25 October 1919 and enlisted in the Navy in 1938 upon graduating from high school. He was assigned to the USS Maryland (BB-46) in Pearl Harbor as a gunner’s mate responsible for a battery of 5-inch/.51-caliber broadside guns. He was aboard the Maryland the morning of 7 December 1941 and watched a Japanese plane drop a torpedo on the USS Oklahoma (BB-37), which was tied up next to the Maryland. He describes his role in manning an anti-aircraft battery, but does not recall any success against the Japanese aircraft during the attack. He recalls that a bomb penetrated the forward hull of the Maryland but there were a minimum of casualties. Kiehne was transferred to a fleet oiler in October 1942 and describes his new ship’s role as a member of a tanker group located in Ulithi, Caroline Islands, conducting underway replenishments for the fleet preparing for battle in the Philippines. He next recalls before transferred to USS USS LCS-392 and participating in the landing on Okinawa in April 1945. He was discharged at Camp Wallace, Texas after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Prudence Burns Burrell. Burrell was an African American woman who enlisted in the Army Reserve and served as a medical nurse in World War II. She was stationed in Australia, Java, New Guinea and the Philippines. She provides some details of her work in these areas and with the natives. She also shares experiences of racial discrimination. She completed her degree in public health at the University of Minnesota. She then served as a nurse aboard SS America. Upon returning home she became the first black instructor at Mission High School in San Francisco, teaching health and participating with the Future Nurses of America organization.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Tremaine. Tremaine was born in Detroit, Michigan 30 May 1914. Following his graduation from Stanford University in 1936 he went to work for United Press. Following assignments in various cities he was transferred to Honolulu as the local bureau manager in 1940. He interviewed General Walter Short in November 1941 about the defense of Oahu in the event of attack by Japanese forces. Tremaine recalls witnessing the attack on Pearl Harbor and dictating messages for transmission to the United Press office in San Francisco telling of the Japanese attack. He remarks on the chaotic conditions in downtown Honolulu and of dud American anti-aircraft shells falling throughout the island. He also mentions police and military authorities rounding up Japanese Americans to be sent to internment camps. He eventually relocated to Admiral William H. Halsey’s headquarters at Noumea, New Caledonia, where he covered the war. He also covered the war from Admiral Nimitz’s headquarters on Guam. He was unable to report on the conflict on Saipan between Marine General Holland Smith and Army General Ralph C. Smith due to censorship restrictions. H report on the experiences of Ensign George …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Chaplain Vernon Hanks. Hanks was born in Sterling, Kansas on 21 November 1908. He joined the National Guard doing drills with horse-drawn caissons and French 75s while attending Sterling College in Kansas. He graduated in 1931 and then attended the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, graduating in 1940 with a Master of Theology. Hanks joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor and received orders for Naval Chaplains School (NCS), Norfolk, Virginia, in August 1942. He was stationed at MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina where he remembers counseling a distraught young Marine pilot who had been shot down during the Battle of Midway. Shortly afterward he was assigned to Bunker Hill Naval Air Station where he counseled Marines and Navy personnel. He facilitated a free circus performance at Christmastime. On 5 June 1943 he was assigned to the USS Wright (AV-1), a seaplane tender, for duty in the South Pacific. Hanks was on the Wright at Bougainville, the Admiralties and during the Battle for Leyte Gulf. In February 1945, USS Wright was renamed USS San Clemente (AG-79) and served as communications center for the 7th Fleet. Hanks returned …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Mac Showers. He joined the Navy after finishing school at the University of Iowa in August 1940. He signed up for the V-7 program and was commissioned an ensign in September 1941 after Midshipman School at Northwestern University. His first assignment took him to the intelligence center at the 13th Naval District in Seattle. He stayed in Seattle for six weeks hoping to get in with the public relations section. Instead, he was sent to fill a billet in the combat intelligence unit in the 14th Naval District in Hawaii, reporting to Commander J.J. Rochefort. Showers discusses breaking the Japanese Naval code (JN-25) at Station HYPO, at Pearl Harbor. He recalls the origins of the ruse involving fresh water at Midway to determine what AF stood for in the JN-25 code. Showers also comments on the dysfunctional torpedoes used early in the war. He also discusses the role of intelligence gathering in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway and Operation VENGEANCE. Showers describes the emergence and flexibility of JICPOA (Joint Intelligence Center Pacific Ocean Areas) in Hawaii and the need for various intelligence …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Olson. Olson joined the Army as an Infantry officer in June 1940 after graduating from West Point. He was assigned to the Philippines, at Fort McKinley, with the 57th Infantry Regiment. Olson was among those who surrendered to the Japanese and endured the Bataan Death March. At the prisoner-of-war camp, the Japanese assigned administrative duties to Olson. When prisoners were moved to another camp, Olson stayed behind and tended to those too weak to travel. Olson was then sent to work at a factory in Japan. After the armistice, Olson persuaded the guards to let him travel to Osaka with a Nisei. During his travels, he stayed in the Emperor’s suite at the Miyako hotel in Kyoto, which was occupied entirely by the American military. While there, he arranged for the liberation of his camp and was assigned to coordinate the evacuation of other camps. Olson returned home and enjoyed a long and prestigious career with the military. He retired in 1982 as the vice president of international development for Black and Veatch.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with J. Lloyd Abbot. Abbot received a commission in the Navy in 1939 and served two months aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) before being tasked to bring an old destroyer, the USS Gilmer (DD-233), out of mothballs. He stayed on it for a while before going to flight school in Pensacola. He earned his wings in November, 1941. Due to some accidents and illnesses, Abbot was disallowed to fly from carriers. He was assigned to shore-based anti-submarine patrol squadron, VS-1D-14, in December 1942. In April 1943, the squadron was divided into two and Abbot was placed in command of VS-66 on Wallis Island. At the end of 1943, his squadron inherited some SBD dive bombers and they moved to a new base on Tarawa. In March 1944. Abbot was assigned to the staff of the Chief of Naval Air Training at Pensacola. He was there when the war ended. After the war, Abbot commanded VF-41 aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42). Throughout his career, he served as the operation officer aboard carriers, worked at the Pentagon, was commander of the Antarctic mission and commander of a carrier division …

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with John Fitch. Fitch begins with a summary of the naval career of his father, Admiral Aubrey Fitch. Fitch joined the Navy in early 1942. He was assigned to the USS Wasp (CV-7) just before it sank, then to the USS Hornet (CV-8) just before it sank. He was finally assigned to CASU-3 and sent to Guadalcanal. He reflects on what it was like for him in the service while having a high-ranking father. In April, 1943, Fitch transferred aboard the USS Nicholas (DD-449). Fitch shares several anecdotes of his experiences aboard the Nicholas while engaged in the fight around the Solomon Islands and in the Slot. During the Battle of Kula Gulf, Fitch went aboard a whaleboat and rescued survivors from the USS Helena (CL-50). Fitch attended a gunnery school at Noumea before reporting aboard the USS La Vallette (DD-448) in October 1943. He describes being at the Marshall Islands invasion. In July 1944 Fitch returned to the US and put the USS Benner (DD-807) into commission. He recalls battling kamikazes while aboard the Benner on station off the coast of Japan toward the end of the war. Fitch …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lewis Walker. Walker was commissioned in January of 1942 from the Midshipman School at Northwestern University in Chicago. He served a total of 4 years with the Small Ship Navy. He describes how these small ships, including submarine chasers and patrol craft served the war effort. In the Pacific, Walker commanded the USS SC-1272, and he describes its function, equipment and participation in the war. They traveled to Iwo Jima, Leyte, Okinawa, the Philippines, Saipan and Pearl Harbor. He describes a number of their missions, including dodging attacks from torpedoes and airplanes, and escorting a group of damaged ships from Okinawa to Saipan. They were the first American ship to enter Nakagusuku Bay searching for midget submarines. He describes their maneuvers during a typhoon. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Roy Powers. Powers was born on 1 August 1925 and graduated from high school in 1943. Upon entering the Army on 13 December 1943 he was sent to Camp Gordon Johnston, Florida for five weeks of basic training. In May 1944, he boarded the SS Extavia (1941) bound for Buna Bay, New Guinea. Upon his arrival he was assigned to LCM-513 with the primary function being off-loading Liberty ships. Four months later he was sent to the Philippines where he remained until Japan surrendered. He was then sent to Wakayama, Japan. He returned to the United States aboard the USS General M C Meigs (AP-116) during January 1946 and was discharged soon thereafter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Leslie Bray. After several attempts to get into the Army Air Corps flying cadet program, Bray finally succeeded in late 1941 and started flight school in Coleman, Texas. He earned hi swings and commission in October, 1942. He ended up learning to fly C-47 cargo planes and serving as an operations officer for the 10th Troop Carrier Group. In June, 1944, Bray was selected to command the newly-formed 16th Combat Cargo Squadron in New York. They went overseas in November, 1944 to India to assist the British 14th Army in Burma. Bray shares several anecdotes about his time in India. He also flew missions carrying fuel drums over the Himalaya Mountains (the Hump) toward the end of the war. Bray returned to the US in late December, 1945 and elected to stay on active duty. He shares anecdotes about the rest of his career in the Air Force.

The National museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Allen Stafford. Stafford enlisted in the Army in January 1941. Once the war got started, Stafford found himself as an infantry instructor in Brownsville, Texas. He went overseas with the 124th Cavalry Regiment in 1943 to India for training before being deployed to Burma. He relates an anecdote about driving 500 mules from the docks at Bombay to the 124th encampment 18 miles inland. Stafford also reads excerpts from his personal journal and discusses the raid on the airport at Myitkyina. Later in the campaign, Stafford was wounded. After evacuation and stays in hospitals in India, he returned to New York in August, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Olson. Olson was born in Leavenworth, Kansas on 27 November 1917. His father was a Norwegian who immigrated to the United Sates and began a career as an Army officer. Olson entered West Point Military Academy in July 1935 and upon graduation he was sent to the Philippines as an officer with the 57th Infantry. He recalls that during October 1941 orders were received that all military dependents were to be evacuated. Olson does a masterful job in describing the 1941 Japanese attack on the Philippines, his capture, imprisonment and living conditions he endured until his release in 1945. He concludes the narrative by telling of his various military assignments, including a tour in Vietnam, until his retirement in 1967.

The National museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dorothy Danner. Danner graduated from nursing school in Los Angeles in 1935. In 1939, she applied and was accepted as a nurse in the Navy. After a while, she received orders for the Philippines and arrived in early 1940 on a two-year assignment. Danner recalls the idyllic setting prior to the war before describing activities just after the Japanese invasion. She was stationed at a hospital at Sangley Point near Cavite in Luzon, Philippines. She was captured by the Japanese and interned at Santo Tomas starting in March 1942. Sometime in 1943, she was sent to Los Banos.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ken Towery. Towery joined the Army in early 1941 and was sent to Corregidor to join a coast artillery unit. He recalls several details about life under siege at Corregidor before he was captured by the Japanese and taken to Cabanatuan. He left the Philippines later that year and was taken to China. Towery shares his opinions about being a POW as well as several anecdotes. He also comments on being liberated by Russians and how the Russians and Chinese communists cooperated right after the war. When he was liberated, Towery was put aboard a hospital ship at Port Arthur.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ernest Gordon. Gordon was born in Scotland and joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1939 at Stirling Castle. He was sent to Singapore in January 1940 before the Japanese invaded. Gordon recalls defending the Malay Peninsula starting in January 1942. Gordon was the last to go over the causeway into Singapore before it was destroyed. As Singapore fell, Gordon escaped to Sumatra. When Sumatra fell, Gordon escaped on a sailboat but was captured asea and sent back to Singapore where he entered Changi. He was sent north to build the Death Railway. He describes the conditions along the railway and the work environment.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Den Daas. Den Daas was born in Jakarta, Indonesia 4 November 1920. Upon graduating from the University of Jakarta in July 1940, he was called into the Royal Netherlands Army. Selected to attend the Royal Netherland Academy in Bandung, Indonesia, he graduated in March 1942 as a warrant officer concerned with logistics. Soon after the Japanese invaded, he was placed into a prisoner of war camp at Bandung. He escaped from the POW camp in April 1942, and describes the measures he took to avoid capture. After escaping he traveled to Surabaya where he joined forces with four others and made plans to sail to Australia by a small fishing boat. Before the plans could be carried out they were betrayed and the boat owner was arrested. Remaining in Surabaya, he joined a group of former Academy cadets, who began making sandals and doing miscellaneous jobs to sustain themselves. He was arrested by the Kempeitai in September 1944 and he graphically describes the torture he endured. Soon after the atomic bomb was dropped, Den Daas and some others who had endured torture were shipped to a camp …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Margaret Gillooly. Gillooly moved to the Philippines with her parents in 1938 and was a teenager when the Japanese invaded. She discusses her struggles as a student during internment and conditions within the internment camps she encountered. She was living in Cebu City when the war started. Her parents were visiting Manila. They were reunited a year later at Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Gillooly remarks on how the camp was organized and governed, how food became scarcer toward the end of the war, and the daily routine of camp life. She also discusses the liberation in February, 1945.