The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Al D’Agostino. D’Agostino joined the Merchant Marine in 1945 and received training in Brooklyn. Upon completion, he was assigned to the SS Monterey where he worked as a butcher. His first trip to the Pacific was transporting European troops, who were unhappy about the looming invasion of Japan. The war ended while the Monterey was in transit, and the soldiers returning home were a much happier bunch. Even more joyful was the reunion of families when the Monterey picked up war brides and their babies from all over the Pacific and brought them back to the States. He transferred to a Liberty ship that brought German war criminals back to the States from South America, although he believes that the majority of the passengers were actually concentration camp survivors. D’Agostino was discharged but was drafted again during the Korean War and served as a radio relay operator atop a mountain in dangerous and harsh winter conditions. When he was discharged a second time, he applied his kitchen experience and attended Cornell’s hotel school. D’Agostino became the director of food service for Trans World Airlines. Before retiring, he moved …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Albert Wakeman. Wakeman joined the Navy in 1944. The son of a machinist who fashioned guns for the Navy during WWI, Wakeman advanced to diesel school upon completion of basic training. He was assigned to PT-175 with Squadron 11 at Emirau, New Guinea, as a machinist's mate. At Morotai, as Wakeman manned his battle station against a Japanese barge, an officer rushed over to help him load the 40mm and was immediately shot in the forehead and killed. Wakeman later sustained third degree burns during an accidental explosion while lighting a fire on the beach in an effort to launder his clothes. The end of his service was uneventful and pleasant; in the Philippines, he attended church and enjoyed Sunday dinner with the locals. Wakeman returned home and was discharged, earning two master's degrees on the GI Bill to become a professor of English and Greek.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alton Frost. Frost joined the Navy in September 1942 after finishing high school. He went to flight school and switched to the Marine Corps so he could fly single engine planes. He then was assigned to fly dive bombers in Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241 (VMSB-241). Frost joined the squadron in the Solomon Islands in time to go to the Philippines. He shares a few anecdotes of his combat flight experiences. When the war ended, Frost elected to serve in the Reserves but was not recalled for the Jorean War. He left the Reserves and resigned his commission.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alvino Mendoza. Mendoza was born in Round Rock, Texas on 1 March 1926, and briefly tells of his life before entering the US Navy. After completing boot training at Camp Wallace, Texas he was assigned as a seaman aboard USS St. George (AV-16). His battle station was loader on an anti-aircraft gun. Mendoza describes his experiences during the Battle of Okinawa in which the St. George, as well as USS Curtiss (AV-4), were hit by kamikazes. He tells of being in several typhoons and describes an incident in which he fell into the sea. He served in the occupation of Japan. Mendoza returned to the US and received his discharge in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Amos McGinnis. McGinnis was working in a factory when he was drafted into the Army in December, 1942. He trained as a combat engineer and went to England before heading out for Normandy five days after D-Day. McGinnis shares several anecdotes about his experiences building bridges across Europe. He was in Germany when the war ended and was discharged in December, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Audrey Sigrist. Sigrist joined the Coast Guard in June 1944. She attended boot camp in Palm Beach, Florida and radio school in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sigrist describes her training and daily life as a SPAR. She was stationed in Port Angeles, Washington and discusses he duties as a radioman receiving calls for ship pilots. Sigrist describes celebrating the end of the war and her departure from the service in November 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ben Schurmeier. Schurmeier joined the Navy in early 1942. He served as a B-24 pilot with Photographic Squadron 1 (VD-1). Beginning in the spring of 1944 they traveled to their base at the Naval Air Station on Guam. They completed patrol and photo reconnaissance missions around the Pacific Islands, including Truk, Okinawa, Iwo Jima and Japan. Finley was discharged around October of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ben Wagner. Wagner joined the Navy in 1944. He worked in the engine room on the USS Howard F. Clark (DE-533), and was onboard when the Clark accidentally rammed the USS Saratoga during a training mission. Wagner had several members of his boot camp company assigned to the USS Mount Hood (AE-11). He discusses how they were assigned and what he was able to learn about the loss of the ship. Wagner witnessed the Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) burning before it was sunk. He also saw the battle on Iwo Jima from a distance. Wagner was in the States when the first bomb was dropped.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Dean. Dean was born in Sapulpa, Oklahoma on 7 September 1924 and graduated from high school in 1942. Upon being drafted in 1943, he was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for thirteen weeks of basic training. While there he was selected to attend the Army Specialized Training Program at Colorado State College at Fort Collins. Soon after he entered the program, it was discontinued and he joined the 80th Infantry Division and went to Fort Dix, New Jersey. There, the division boarded HMS Queen Mary bound for Scotland. Dean recalls landing at Normandy three weeks after the invasion and describes seeing wreckage and bodies that remained. The division joined the 8th Army and advanced across France. During December 1944 he was hospitalized for three weeks with a severe case of trench foot. Upon being released from the hospital, he was assigned to the 60th US Army Band. The band played during the funeral for General George Patton and he describes the formalities of the funeral. Dean returned to the United States in 1946 and was discharged soon thereafter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents and interview Bill Smith. Smith went into the Army in February 1942. After basic training, Smith was shipped to Australia with the 440th Signal Construction Battalion and they built telephone lines. From there, he went to Port Moresby, still building communications infrastructure. When the invasion of the Philippines occurred, Smith went to Luzon and continued with the 440th. He also went to Okinawa with them. When the war ended, Smith went home and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Billy Sherrill. Sherrill was born in Houston, Texas in 1926 and joined the US Marine Corps on 26 December 1941. After undergoing boot training at San Diego, he was assigned to the 1st Marine Defense Battalion stationed on Palmyra Atoll for sixteen months. In 1943 he returned to the United States where he underwent six months of advanced training. Sherrill was then sent to Bougainville where he joined the 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He describes landing on the beach on Guam in an LVT and recalls combat situations in which he was involved that resulted in large numbers of dead and wounded. After the campaign, the division remained on Guam training for the invasion of Iwo Jima. He tells of landing on Iwo Jima on the third day of the invasion and gives a vivid description of actions in which he was involved. Sherrill was wounded on Iwo Jima and was sent to Oakland Naval Hospital where he spent a year in recovery. In 1946 he received a medical discharge.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an oral interview with Bob Osborne. Osborne joined the Navy in 1943. He was assigned aboard USS Chester (CA-27). Osborne shares several anecdotes of his time aboard the ship. He also describes the collision between the Chester and another ship off Iwo Jima. When the war ended, Osborne elected to take his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Cecil Dykes. Dykes volunteered for the Navy in July of 1944. He was trained to become a LCVP crewman on the USS Bosque (APA-135). Dykes traveled to Okinawa and took part in landing troops and ferrying wounded back to the ship. He witnessed several kamikaze attacks. Dykes was aboard the Bosque at Tokyo Bay the day of the surrender and helped land troops from the 1st Cavalry Division for the occupation of Japan. He was discharged 8 June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles W. Carson. Carson was born in Ecorse, Michigan on 12 August 1925 and enlisted in the Navy in September 1943. Following basic training he attended aircraft mechanic school, graduating in June 1944. He shipped overseas on the USS Hugh L. Scott (AP-43). He provides several interesting anecdotes of the trip to the New Hebrides archipelago, including the ceremony for crossing the equator and international dateline. He arrived on the island of Espiritu Santo in October 1944 and was placed in an aviation engine overhaul unit. Carson describes several of his experiences while on the island. Five months later he went to Guadalcanal where his duties consisted of repairing damaged aircraft near Henderson Field. He stayed on Guadalcanal for a few months and then transferred to Guam. He recalls attending USO shows at each of his duty stations. Carson returned to the United States in December 1945 and was discharged on 6 January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Cunningham. Cunningham joined the Army in the spring of 1943 while enrolled at Texas A&M and received basic training at Fort Riley. In the summer of 1944 he was pulled out of engineering training and selected as an infantryman, despite his educational background. He remembers that as a private he was reading and writing letters for his platoon sergeant, who was illiterate. He landed on Omaha Beach six weeks after the invasion and recalls a mess of mass graves. He was sent to Italy, where he joined the 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division, in Bologna. He spent the winter of 1944-1945 in the harsh conditions of the North Apennines. He sprained his ankle on the way to the front lines at Po Valley and was sent to an evacuation hospital. After recovering, he traveled through Torino in search of his unit. There he saw young and frightened German prisoners-of-war. He found his unit in Milan after the war had ended. Cunningham was transferred to a service company of the 5th Army and oversaw hotels and bars at GI rest areas in the Italian Riviera. He met …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles H. Tucker from Orange, California. He discusses volunteering for the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and going to basic training in Miami Beach, Florida, then going to Aircraft Armament School in Buckley Field, Colorado, and finally air gunnery school in Fort Myers, Florida. In air gunnery school, Mr. Tucker learned to shoot in B-17 by shooting into the Gulf of Mexico. After gunnery school he was sent to the B-25 crew training at Columbia, South Carolina for 5 months. After Mr. Tucker completed his training, he was transferred to Dacca to a B-25 base and joined the 10th Air Force, the 12th Bomb Group. When he arrived his crew pilots were reassigned, and Mr. Tucker was not able to fly much until he was assigned to a regular crew again. Mr. Tucker was put in the 729th bomb squadron tasked with supporting the British 14th Army against the Japanese forces in Burma. The campaign he was involved in ended in May 1945 with the capture of Rangoon, the main city of Burma and Mr. tucker was in one of the squadron planes that flew over the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Tucker. Tucker was drafted into the Army Air Forces in 1943. He went to aircraft armament school at Buckley Field, Colorado and aerial gunnery school in Fort Myers, Florida. He was then assigned to a B-25 crew training in Columbia, South Carolina. He served as a tail gunner. He provides detail of his activities and lessons in training. In December of 1944 his crew received orders to go overseas to India. His crew joined the 12th Bombardment Group, 729th Bomb Squadron, part of the 10th Air Force. They were assigned missions of supporting the British 14th Army in its campaign to recapture Burma from the Japanese. Tucker was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clifton E. Woolridge. Woolridge was worlking for his father in a printing press in Boston before he volunteered for service in the Army. He relates several anecdotes from his training days. He wound up in an engineering outfit attached to the 83rd Infantry Division. He discusses shoring up the levee in Wabash, Indiana in the spring of 1943 and saving the town. Woolridge digresses and speaks about his activities with the reunion group before delving back into stories from his training days. His unit went to England in April, 1944. He went to France inJune one week after D-day and his primary job was to drive the captain of his comapnay around in the jeep. Woolridge also relates some experiences he had during the Battle of the Bulge. Woolridge was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clyde Dahlin. Dahlin was drafted into the Army in 1943. He was sent to the Pacific and joined the 25th Infantry Division as a replacement rifleman. Dahlin discusses the combat conditions that he faced in Northern Luzon. He tells of an incident where he helped evacuate a wounded soldier and hiding in fox holes from enemy fire. Dahlin was removed from the frontlines toward the end of the war because he was only 18. He became an MP and tells of interactions that he witnessed between Filipinos and Japanese POWs. Dahlin then tells of his experiences during the year that he served in occupied Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Daniel Andrews. Andrews joined the United States Navy in 1941 where he became a SeaBee. Andrews was sent to Saipan to help build airfields and seaplane bases. He left Saipan in July of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Daniel Crowley. Crowley left school at 16, electing to go to work. In October, 1940, he joined the Army Air Corps. He describes his journey to the Philippines, where he landed in March, 1941. He was stationed at Nichols Field. Crowley recalls being shipped across Manila Bay to Bataan in Christmas Day and fighting the Japanese there until the US forces surrendered. Instead of surrendering, Crowley made it to Corregidor. Whe nCOrregidor was surrendered, Crowley was sent back to Manila and paraded through the streets with other Americans before being sent to Cabanatuan. From there, Crowley was sent to Palawan and, with others, was forced to build an airfield in the jungle. Before the massacre at Palawan, Crowley was sent back to Cabanatuan, then placed aboard a hell ship and sent to Japan, where he was forced to work in a copper mine.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Daniel Henshaw. Henshaw joined the Army Air Forces in March of 1942. He served as a C-47 pilot with the 434th Troop Carrier Group, 19th Bomb Wing. Henshaw was stationed in England, and completed missions over France, including flying combat paratroopers on airborne assaults during the invasion of Normandy. He continued his service after the war ended, serving in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, retiring as a colonel in 1974.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with David Belvin. Belvin joined the Navy in June, 1941 and trained at San Diego. After training and before the war started, he went to machinist school and then was assigned to the USS Dobbin (AD-3). He spent some time in Australia and recalls a submarine attack in Sydney Harbor. After his brother was lost at sea during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Belvin was sent back to the US for reassignment after some home leave. Belvin was discharged in July 1946 and enrolled in the University of Texas where he earned an engineering degree.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with David Kinsey. Kinsey has assistance from his son during the interview. Kinsey joined the Marine Corps and was assigned to the 13th marines, 5th Marine Division. He landed on Iwo Jima on the first day of the battle. He remained at Iwo Jima for the duration of the battle. He was in a communication outfit and his job was to establish and maintain lines of communication. Kinsey was exposed to radiation at Nagasaki after the war and continued to suffer from radiation poisoning well after the exposure.