Oral History Interview with John Bumgarner, March 18, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with John Bumgarner, March 18, 1995

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Bumgarner. He discusses his childhood and education and what led him to join the US Army. He describes his experiences as a doctor during World War Two and how he was captured and lived in a Japanese POW camp.
Date: March 18, 1955
Creator: Bumgarner, John & Marcello, Ronald E.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Iris Zwanenberg, March 23, 1974 transcript

Oral History Interview with Iris Zwanenberg, March 23, 1974

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Iris Zwanenberg. Zwanenberg was born to German parents in the Netherlands East-Indies. She was a young girl when the Japanese invaded. Her family was separated and sent to live in camps while their home was occupied by Japanese troops. While they once lived comfortably, they were suddenly faced with extreme food scarcity, living on rice alone. After the war, she immigrated to Europe, where living conditions were better but still harsh. Ultimately, she settled in Quebec and lived a full life, but the experience scarred her family permanently.
Date: March 23, 1974
Creator: Zwanenberg, Iris
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Iris Zwanenberg, March 23, 1974 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Iris Zwanenberg, March 23, 1974

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Iris Zwanenberg. Zwanenberg was born to German parents in the Netherlands East-Indies. She was a young girl when the Japanese invaded. Her family was separated and sent to live in camps while their home was occupied by Japanese troops. While they once lived comfortably, they were suddenly faced with extreme food scarcity, living on rice alone. After the war, she immigrated to Europe, where living conditions were better but still harsh. Ultimately, she settled in Quebec and lived a full life, but the experience scarred her family permanently.
Date: March 23, 1974
Creator: Zwanenberg, Iris
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with L. E. Robinson, March 8, 1985 transcript

Oral History Interview with L. E. Robinson, March 8, 1985

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a monologue by L E Robinson. Robinson joined the Marine Corps in May 1939 and received basic training in San Diego. After sea school training, he was assigned to Admiral Kimmel’s flag allowance and boarded the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38). Robinson was at Pearl Harbor as the admiral’s senior orderly during the attack of December 7. After surviving strafing from enemy planes, he headed toward the submarine base dock to help carry the wounded. When he found himself holding a severed leg, he experienced a profound emotional detachment that forever changed him. That day, Robinson began serving as the admiral’s bodyguard. Some hours later, a communications officer entered the admiral’s office and froze, dropping a delayed message to the floor. As Robinson bent to pick it up, his eyes passed over a phrase advising Kimmel to take action for proper precautions. From that point on, Robinson was consumed with paranoia, and he overzealously guarded the admiral. When Nimitz arrived and assumed command, he brought with him an air of businesslike normalcy, and Robinson became his orderly. He notes that both admirals were always courteous and concise under pressure.
Date: March 8, 1985
Creator: Robinson, L. E.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with L. E. Robinson, March 8, 1985 (open access)

Oral History Interview with L. E. Robinson, March 8, 1985

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a monologue by L E Robinson. Robinson joined the Marine Corps in May 1939 and received basic training in San Diego. After sea school training, he was assigned to Admiral Kimmel’s flag allowance and boarded the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38). Robinson was at Pearl Harbor as the admiral’s senior orderly during the attack of December 7. After surviving strafing from enemy planes, he headed toward the submarine base dock to help carry the wounded. When he found himself holding a severed leg, he experienced a profound emotional detachment that forever changed him. That day, Robinson began serving as the admiral’s bodyguard. Some hours later, a communications officer entered the admiral’s office and froze, dropping a delayed message to the floor. As Robinson bent to pick it up, his eyes passed over a phrase advising Kimmel to take action for proper precautions. From that point on, Robinson was consumed with paranoia, and he overzealously guarded the admiral. When Nimitz arrived and assumed command, he brought with him an air of businesslike normalcy, and Robinson became his orderly. He notes that both admirals were always courteous and concise under pressure.
Date: March 8, 1985
Creator: Robinson, L. E.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Harold Snider, March 28, 1987 transcript

Oral History Interview with Harold Snider, March 28, 1987

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold Snider. Snider joined the Army Air Corps around 1939. He completed flight training, and was assigned to a B-17 with the 7th Bomb Group. They deployed to Honolulu on 6 December 1941, and landed at Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on 7 December. He describes the events of this day, landing amidst explosions and smoke. Once they landed, they jumped into a ditch while being strafed by the Japanese. In January of 1942, they were ordered to continue on to Australia and the Philippines, and he describes flying through the South Pacific. In Del Monte, Mindanao, Snider and his crew picked up General MacArthur, his family and staff and flew them to Alice Springs, Australia. They later flew missions out of Del Monte, bombing a Japanese Navy task force. They flew reconnaissance missions over Guadalcanal, Rabaul, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign in late 1942. They continued missions through mid-1945, and returned to the US after the war ended.
Date: March 28, 1987
Creator: Snider, Harold
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Harold Snider, March 28, 1987 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Harold Snider, March 28, 1987

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold Snider. Snider joined the Army Air Corps around 1939. He completed flight training, and was assigned to a B-17 with the 7th Bomb Group. They deployed to Honolulu on 6 December 1941, and landed at Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on 7 December. He describes the events of this day, landing amidst explosions and smoke. Once they landed, they jumped into a ditch while being strafed by the Japanese. In January of 1942, they were ordered to continue on to Australia and the Philippines, and he describes flying through the South Pacific. In Del Monte, Mindanao, Snider and his crew picked up General MacArthur, his family and staff and flew them to Alice Springs, Australia. They later flew missions out of Del Monte, bombing a Japanese Navy task force. They flew reconnaissance missions over Guadalcanal, Rabaul, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign in late 1942. They continued missions through mid-1945, and returned to the US after the war ended.
Date: March 28, 1987
Creator: Snider, Harold
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John P. Condon, March 8, 1989 (open access)

Oral History Interview with John P. Condon, March 8, 1989

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John P. Cordon discussing where he grew up and went to school and what led him to join the Navy. He describes flying airplanes for the Navy in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two.
Date: March 8, 1989
Creator: Condon, John P. & Hall, Cargill
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ream Family, March 9, 1989 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ream Family, March 9, 1989

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a series of interviews with members of the Ream family: John Ream, Sarah Ream Connelly, Katherine Ream Sobeck, and Nora Ream Kuttner. The Ream family members were children when the Japanese occupied the Philippines and they were interned as civilians at Camp John hay in Baguio. They each in turn discuss the arrival of the Japanese and their subsequent experiences as prisoners of the Japanese. At one point, they were moved to Camp Holmes, also in Baguio, prior to going to Bilibid in Manila. They mention visiting other family members at Santo Tomas and each recalls being liberated and their impressions of arriving in the United States.
Date: March 9, 1989
Creator: Family, Ream
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Prudence Burns Burrell, March 27, 1993 transcript

Oral History Interview with Prudence Burns Burrell, March 27, 1993

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.
Date: March 27, 1993
Creator: Burrell, Prudence Burns
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Prudence Burns Burrell, March 27, 1993 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Prudence Burns Burrell, March 27, 1993

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.
Date: March 27, 1993
Creator: Burrell, Prudence Burns
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Donald Den Daas, March 3, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Donald Den Daas, March 3, 1995

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 …
Date: March 3, 1995
Creator: Den Daas, Donald
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Jim Woods, March 7, 1995 transcript

Oral History Interview with Jim Woods, March 7, 1995

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.
Date: March 7, 1995
Creator: Woods, Jim
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Jim Woods, March 7, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Jim Woods, March 7, 1995

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.
Date: March 7, 1995
Creator: Woods, Jim
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Alan Tanaguchi, March 18, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Alan Tanaguchi, March 18, 1995

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alan Tanaguchi. Tanaguchi was a Japanese-American internee at the Gila River Camp in Arizona during World War II. At 19 years old, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tanaguchi became a part of the internment program of the War Relocation Authority. He provides detail of life growing up in Stockton, California before December 7, 1941 and after, and experiences of bigotry and racism among his peers. He provides detail of his father being in the Justice Department internment group. He served as the dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, and at Rice University in Houston. He designed an addition to the Nimitz Museum.
Date: March 18, 1995
Creator: Tanaguchi, Alan
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Frank Tremaine, March 18, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Frank Tremaine, March 18, 1995

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 …
Date: March 18, 1995
Creator: Tremaine, Frank
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with George McColm, March 18, 1995 transcript

Oral History Interview with George McColm, March 18, 1995

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 …
Date: March 18, 1995
Creator: McColm, George L.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with George McColm, March 18, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with George McColm, March 18, 1995

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 …
Date: March 18, 1995
Creator: McColm, George L.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Lewis Walker, March 18, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Lewis Walker, March 18, 1995

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.
Date: March 18, 1995
Creator: Walker, Lewis
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Margaret Gillooly, March 18, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Margaret Gillooly, March 18, 1995

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.
Date: March 18, 1995
Creator: Gillooly, Margaret
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Mei Nakano, March 18, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Mei Nakano, March 18, 1995

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Mei Nakano. Nakano is a Japanese-American and was an internee at the Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. She was born in 1924 in Olathe, Colorado. She provides detail of her life growing up in Colorado and various prejudices she received from teachers and classmates. They moved to Los Angeles, California in 1935 where she graduated from high school. She provides detail of the discrimination she and her family received in California, particularly after 7 December 1941. As notices were going out to other Japanese-American families regarding evacuation, Nakano describes her family’s preparations for the inevitable. They were evacuated by the War Relocation Authority to the Santa Anita Racetrack and in 1942 transferred to the Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. She provides much detail of life in these camps. Nakano returned to California after the war.
Date: March 18, 1995
Creator: Nakano, Mei
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Dorothy Danner, March 19, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Dorothy Danner, March 19, 1995

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.
Date: March 19, 1995
Creator: Danner, Dorothy
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ernest Gordon, March 19, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ernest Gordon, March 19, 1995

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.
Date: March 19, 1995
Creator: Gordon, Ernest
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John Fitch, March 19, 1995 (open access)

Oral History Interview with John Fitch, March 19, 1995

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 …
Date: March 19, 1995
Creator: Fitch, John
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History