The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Finley. Finley joined the Marine Corps around December of 1943. He provides vivid details of his boot camp experiences. He served with Headquarters Company, 4th Marines, as a radar mechanic on Corsairs, repairing radio and radar gear. Beginning in September of 1944 they traveled to Guam, Kwajalein, Pearl Harbor and Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Finley shares a number of anecdotal stories, including working with POWs. He was discharged in the fall of 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Joel Alderson and his wife Nila. He discusses going to boot camp in Texas, shipping off to France in early 1945 and working as an engineer, constructing bridges and demolishing German fortifications for the Army as it made it's way through Germany, blowing up Hilter's bunker in Salzburg, Austria and using bulldozers to cover piles of dead Jews the Germans left in the open (likely at Dachau). He ancedotes about meeting Eisenhower, carrying fuel up to Patton's limo when it ran out of gas, seeing Bob Hope, soldiers getting poisoned from confiscated alcohol, and getting met by his family and the town sheriff when he came home after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Muoio. Muoio joined the Navy in early 1942 and went aboard the USS Thomas Jefferson (APA-30) after training in Rhode Island. His first trip was to Brisbane delivering materiel. From there, he went to the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Muoio shares several anecdotes about his experiences aboard the Thomas Jefferson. He went ashore during the invasion of Salerno. He was also involved in the Normandy invasion as well as Okinawa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Marian Kelly. Kelly joined the Army Medical Corps in October 1944 and was assigned to the hospital in Manila. There were two dozen women and 3,000 men aboard the transport ship, so Marines were stationed as guards to protect the women. At the hospital, she treated wounded soldiers from all over the Pacific. As a physical therapist, she found spinal cord injuries particularly frustrating because there weren’t known techniques for rehabilitation at the time. She spent her spare time exploring nearby islands and found Corregidor to be full of artifacts. While in the Pacific she also served on Morotai. Kelly married a captain in the Army and was discharged in 1945, as married women were prohibited from serving. She and her family returned to the States in 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Karel Dahmen. Dahmen was born in the Netherlands and witnessed the bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940. He recalls the chaos of fires burning and people being shot. With two friends he quickly manned a vacant boat and carried 45 Jews across the North Sea to England, using only a compass and school atlas for navigation. He joined the Dutch Navy in February 1941 and was assigned to HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck as a radar operator. He went in convoy to Iceland to dismantle a German weather station. Dahmen recalls picking up Germans who were eager to turn themselves in and become prisoners-of-war. At the end of the year he attended officer school and became an engineer officer. He was then assigned to the Dutch Naval Liaison office in England, where he received messages and delivered news of the attack on Pearl Harbor to the Dutch prime minister. After the war he was sent for training at Camp Lejeune and Camp Endicott to work with Marines and Seabees in preparation for deployment to Indonesia. With the Dutch Marine Corps, he facilitated Indonesia’s transition to independence. Dahmen was reunited …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Wilbur Moerbe. Moerbe joined the Navy in February of 1943. He provides some details of his boot camp experiences. He completed fireman school, learning about the engine rooms, water pumps, running the boiler and how to fight fires. He served in the boiler room aboard the USS Highlands (APA-119) beginning November of 1944. They first traveled to Hilo, Hawaii to pick up Marines. They traveled to Eniwetok and Saipan. On 19 February 1945 they landed elements of the Fifth Marine Division at Iwo Jima, where Moerbe also served as a loader on a 20mm aboard the Highlands. He describes their nine days there, including witnessing the American flag raising. They delivered wounded men to Saipan, then headed to the Philippines to pick up Army troops whom they landed at Okinawa in April of 1945. He describes their twelve days at Okinawa and witnessing the kamikaze attacks. They went to Japan and pulled in next to the USS Missouri (BB-63) to witness the signing of the Peace Treaty. He was discharged in March of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Glenn Lane. Lane joined the Navy in February of 1940 and was assigned to the USS Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor. He worked in the Aviation Division as a Radioman Third Class, flying as an air crewman on the battleship’s Kingfisher scout planes. He was aboard the Arizona on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked. An explosion blew him overboard and he swam to the USS Nevada (BB-36). Lane was then assigned to various squadrons and ships, flying as a crewman in scouts and dive bombers during battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands and Tulagi. He was on an aircraft attempting to land aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5) when it was attacked by the Japanese. His plane was diverted to Midway Island but ran out of fuel and ditched. The crew was eventually picked up by a PBY Amphibian. Lane went on to finish a 30-year naval career, retiring as a Command Master Chief at NAS Whidbey Island in 1969.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Keith Lea. Lea took part in the V-12 program and then was activated as a lieutenant (j.g.) in 1943. He was eventually sent to join the crew of LCI-762, a ship being converted into an LCI(R). They traveled across the Pacific and took part in the invasion of Okinawa providing rocket and gunfire support for troops on shore. Lea witnessed several kamikaze attacks on ships operating off of Okinawa. He describes in detail an attack on several of them including the USS Birmingham, USS New Mexico, and two unnamed destroyers. He later visited a hospital ship and describes visiting the burn unit. Lea was eventually given command of USS LCI(R)-542 which was at sea during a devastating typhoon.

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 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 Donald Shedd. Shedd joined the Marine Corps with his two brothers in February 1942. He joined the 1st Division, 5th Marines after basic training. Shedd was sent to Guadalcanal where he witnessed shore bombardment by Japanese ships. He was then sent to Cape Glouster, New Britain where he saw combat on several patrols. Next Shedd’s unit was sent to Peleliu where he landed with the second wave. He was wounded on the tenth day of the battle and was evacuated to a hospital ship and eventually sent back to the United States. He spent the remainder of the war as a guard at a naval ammunition depot in Massachusetts. He was discharged on 15 September 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Ralph H. Ketcham. Born in 1923, he joined the Marine Corps in September, 1942. He describes boot camp in San Diego, California. He was assigned to the 3rd Division, 19th Marine Regiment, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion. He describes conditions aboard the MS Bloemfontein en route to New Zealand. He was transported on the USS President Polk (AP-103) to Guadalcanal where he constructed roads and unloaded ammunition. He talks about the fire at the Hell’s Point Ammunition Dump. He describes landing as part of the first wave in the battle for Guam. He shares stories about the time he spent on both Guadalcanal and Guam. He also describes landing and fighting on Iwo Jima. He discusses the use of spider holes and antiaircraft guns by the Japanese. He also describes the weather, terrain, and living conditions on Guam and Iwo Jima. He was hospitalized due to the shock of explosions from 155mm shells. After his hospitalization, he was discharged in July, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lou Spellman. Spellman was in college when he enrolled in the Navy’s V-12 program. The Navy sent him to Southwestern University before being assigned to Notre Dame Midshipman School. Then he went to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for fire control/gunnery school. From there he went to Newport, Rhode Island where he helped commission the USS Amsterdam (CL-101). After a shakedown cruise, they went through the Panama Canal to Hawaii and then on to the Philippines where they joined the Third Fleet. They were in Task Force 38.4 and started work off Okinawa. The Amsterdam went with four or five other cruisers and bombarded a factory on Hokkaido. Spellman was in the gunnery department of the ship, number two secondary battery. The Amsterdam went into Sagami-wan in late August and stayed there while the USS Missouri (BB-63) and several other ships went into Tokyo Bay. The Amsterdam entered Tokyo Bay on 5 September. Spellman recalls a typhoon that happened while they were inside Tokyo Bay. He stressed throughout the interview how good his training was in the Navy. Spellman also tells the story of going into Yokosuka Naval Base with …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard Parr. Parr was inducted into the Army in July 1942 where he served as a radio operator in the Signal Corps. In 1944 he was sent to OCS to become an officer in the Signal Corps. In November 1944, he was sent to Finschhafen, New Guinea to serve with the 3169th Signal Service Battalion. He later volunteered to serve in a signal unit attached to the 273rd Heavy Construction Company, an engineering unit consisting of primarily African-American troops. The unit was eventually shipped to the Philippines. Parr left active duty in February 1946, but remained in the Army Reserve.

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 Hugo Werner. Werner joined the Army Air Forces in 1942. He received training as a radio operator and gunner. Werner was then sent to Attu, Alaska to become a crewman on a B-25 with the 77th Bomb Squadron. He took part in missions over the Kuril Islands in Northern Japan. He shot down an attacking Japanese fighter during one mission. Werner served with the 77th for the rest of the war and left the service soon after the surrender only to rejoin in October of the same year.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Frost. Frost joined the Army Air Forces around late 1942 and served as a pilot in the 13th Army Air Force, 5th Bombardment Group, 394th Bomb Squadron. In mid-1944 he was assigned to pilot and serve as Squadron Navigator aboard B-24s in the Pacific. They provided air support during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He describes one event where he and his crew were shot down over Mindanao in the Philippines. They were taken to Morotai Island for recovery. Around January of 1945 they traveled to Australia and participated in bombings over Biak and surrounding Schouten Islands. He returned to the US in July, and was discharged in December.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Wesley Clum. Clum joined the Army Air Forces in February of 1943. He served as a Bombardier aboard a B-24 Liberator with the 484th Bomb Group, 827th Bomb Squadron. In October of 1944 they traveled to Bari, Italy to the headquarters of the 15th Air Force. They completed 25 combat missions, traveling over Germany, Czechoslovakia, northern Italy and Libya. Clum was honorably discharged from active duty as lieutenant in 1945, and honorably discharged as Captain in 1959 from the Air Force Reserves.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Virgil Sansing. Sansing joined the Army Air Forces in November of 1941. He completed Aircraft Maintenance School, and served as a repairman for over a year, then received approval for flight school. In late 1943 Sansing served as a fighter pilot with the 359th Fighter Group, 369th Fighter Squadron in England. He flew missions over Europe in P-47s and P-51s. On 20 June 1944, while participating in the invasion of Normandy, Sansing was shot down when strafing rail yards in France. Upon parachuting, Sansing immediately went into hiding in the French countryside. For the next few months he was assisted by French families and members of the French Resistance, which helped him reach his base in England. He completed 50 combat missions. He went back to the US and served as a Gunnery Instructor in P-47s, and later completed Aircraft Maintenance Officer School. Sansing served 31 years in the Army, retiring in 1973. He then flew with the Confederate Air Force for 32 years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert M. Scott. Scott was born in Chicago 30 September 1926 and spent part of his youth in foster homes. He quit school and joined the Navy in July 1943 and took boot training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. Upon completing boot camp he went to Pleasanton, California where he received orders sending him to New Guinea. Upon arriving after a two week trip he did stevedore work for a period of time and then worked as a switchboard operator. He was then assigned as a yeoman in naval intelligence. Scott contracted malaria while on Guadalcanal. After eighteen months he was sent back to the United States and went on leave. After returning from leave he was assigned to the newly constructed USS Glynn (APA-239) as a yeoman. After shuttling around various islands in the Pacific the ship returned to the United States. Scott was discharged June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raul Treto. Treto was born in Harlingen, Texas 4 November 1921. In September 1942 he was drafted into the Army and sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas for eighteen weeks of basic training. Upon completion of basic he was assigned to the 98th Signal Battalion and sent to Camp Blanding, Florida for advanced training. In June 1944 the battalion traveled by troop train to Camp Stoneman, California. Boarding a liberty ship, they proceeded on a thirty day voyage to Aitape, Papua New Guinea. Upon arrival in New Guinea, Treto was assigned to a radio platoon. While on New Guinea he saw a USO Show put on by Bob Hope. He tells of going to Morotai as well as taking part in the invasion of Luzon. During August 1945 he was selected to go aboard the USS Mount Olympus (AGC-8) as part of the crew manning the radios and was on board in Tokyo Bay when the surrender of Japan was officially accepted. He returned to his unit which was stationed outside Yokohama. He returned to the United States and was discharged December 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin T. Alexander. Alexander grew up in Louisiana and entered the Navy in early 1941. Upon completion of basic training at San Diego, Alexander was assigned as an engine mechanic to Patrol Squadron 12 (VP-12), which flew PBY airplanes at Coronado Naval Air Station. His unit was sent to Pearl Harbor in October, 1941. Alexander describes what he witnessed at Ford Island on 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Alexander was also present on Midway during the Battle of Midway. Eventually, VP-12 headed for the Solomon Islands where they conducted search and rescue operations. Alexander and VP-12 stayed aboard the USS Wright (AV-1), a seaplane tender. Sometime in 1943, Alexander received some home leave and returned to the US. He was still stationed in the US when the war ended.

Transcript of an oral interview with Orrin W. Johnson. In March, 1942 Johnson joined the Marine Corps while in law school at the University of Texas. He took his officer's basic course at Quantico, Virginia. Whe nhe completed it, he was a newly-minted 2nd lieutenant and assigend to an artillery battalion as a forward observer. When he went overseas in 1943, his first stop was New Zealand for more training. Then, Johnson's unit went to Bougainville i nNovember, 1943 to capture the island from the Japanese. Johnson relates several experiences he had while on Bougainville. Johnson also relates several anecdotes about his experiences fighting on Guam, including a banzai attack by the Japanese. After the battle at Guam, Johnson was made a captain and promoted to S-3 (the operations officer for the 4th Battalion, 12th Marines) before the Iwo Jima campaign. After the battle, JOhnson shiiped back to the US to go to Advanced Artillery School. When the war ended, Johnson stayed in the Marine Corps Reserve and returned to law school using the G.I. Bill.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Davis. Davis joined the Navy in August 1941 after having already received basic training in the Navy ROTC. He was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Arlington, where his duty was to review personnel files and select which officers would be assigned to submarines. He claims that for a period during the war, every man aboard a submarine was chosen by him. He was later transferred to the USS Amick (DE-168), where he volunteered for wheel duty in addition to serving in the ship’s office. His battle station was on the flying bridge as the captain’s talker, wearing a large telephone helmet. In the summer of 1943 he traveled to North Africa, which he found to be extensively damaged by the war. After attending steno school in Lake Geneva, he was transferred to the USS Bremerton (CA-130). One day, he was assigned to write the discharge papers for nine men; he added his name to the list, submitting discharge papers for 10 men, and arrived home in August 1945.