Oral History Interview with Margaret Zarzanello, May 17, 2002 transcript

Oral History Interview with Margaret Zarzanello, May 17, 2002

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Margaret Zarzanello. Zarzanello graduated from St. Mayfield Nursing School in 1944, and joined the Navy. She was stationed in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island where she worked in hospitals discharging patients. She was recalled again during the Korean War. Zarzanello shares her experiences during training, enlisting, her family and working as a nurse.
Date: May 17, 2002
Creator: Zarzanello, Margaret
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Marvin Russell, May 17, 2005 transcript

Oral History Interview with Marvin Russell, May 17, 2005

Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin Russell. Russell, who graduated with a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Houston, describes his role in the testing of fuel used in the Pacific and in North Africa during the war. He discusses the homefront, including the politics of war, rationing, the Japanese American internment, the use of the atomic bomb, and the reaction to the end of the war. There is also a brief comparison of World War II and the Iraq War. After the war, Russell was employed in the automotive industry. Additionally, Russell identifies his parents and siblings and mentions his brothers’ role as civilians involved in troop transport.
Date: May 17, 2005
Creator: Russell, Marvin
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Robert Scofield, May 17, 2013 transcript

Oral History Interview with Robert Scofield, May 17, 2013

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Scofield. Scofield joined the Marine Corps in 1943 and received training in South Carolina and North Carolina. Upon completion, he was assigned to the Fifth Marines and sent to Guadalcanal for further training. He was wounded on Okinawa just two or three days after joining a combat outfit. Scofield was shot in the abdomen and the wrist. He was evacuated by medics, who declared that he was dying. He was air-evacuated to a hospital after he assured the flight crew that his wounds were not mortal. Scofield returned home and spent a year recovering.
Date: May 17, 2013
Creator: Scofield, Robert
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Alex Grosse, May 17, 2003 transcript

Oral History Interview with Alex Grosse, May 17, 2003

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alex Grosse. Grosse finished high school and joined the Navy in 1942 and served as an ordnanceman loading munitions on planes in New Jersey and Virginia. Grosse shares several anecdotes about his experiences. He worked in a Carrier Air Service Unit (CASU) but never mentioned any number designation.
Date: May 17, 2003
Creator: Grosse, Alex
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Elizabeth P. Vieau, May 17, 2016 transcript

Oral History Interview with Elizabeth P. Vieau, May 17, 2016

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Elizabeth Penn Hammond Vieau. Vieau was born on 11 May 1919 in Atlanta, Georgia. After high school graduation in 1936, she attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur as a math major. Vieau joined the Navy WAVES around December of 1942, completed Supply Corps officer training at Harvard in Cambridge. She served as a paymaster for Naval ROTC students at Georgia Tech, and describes her financial responsibilities in that role. She was later transferred to Naval Air Station Pensacola, and then to Boston. Vieau met and married her husband, Vee, who was a Navy flight instructor. She was discharged after the war ended.
Date: May 17, 2016
Creator: Vieau, Elizabeth P
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with David L. Houston, May 17, 2016 transcript

Oral History Interview with David L. Houston, May 17, 2016

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Lipscomb Houston. Houston graduated from high school around 1938. He enrolled in Pre-Med at Hardin Junior College, Wichita Falls, Texas in September of 1941. He enlisted in the US Army on 30 June 1942 and served with the 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. His unit landed at Fedala, Morocco on 8 November 1942 for the Invasion of North Africa. In September of 1943, they invaded Italy. Houston returned to the US in mid-1944, and was assigned as a surgical assistant in the New York Point of Embarkation Station Hospital. In July of 1945, Houston graduated from Officer Candidate School in Louisiana. He was discharged in late 1945, and remained in the Army Reserve for 28 years.
Date: May 17, 2016
Creator: Houston, David L
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Arthur Downard, May 17, 2017 transcript

Oral History Interview with Arthur Downard, May 17, 2017

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur Downard. Downard was drafted in November 1942. He was sent to Camp Dodge in Des Moines, Iowa for basic training and then on to Fresno, California. From there he was sent to Denver, Colorado for Air Corps administrative school, where he became an instructor of officers until November 1944. In January 1945 he received orders to go to the Pacific and serve as administrator to the lab technicians and photo interpreters of aerial photography. He served with the 4th Photographic Procurement Detachment. He had thirty enlisted men and six officers he worked with. His group was sent to Fort McKinley in Manila, Philippines to make an aerial map of the southeastern third of China. Their job was to develop the film and make the map. He describes life in Manila. He was there until April 1946 to complete the map, and was discharged in Denver.
Date: May 17, 2017
Creator: Downard, Arthur
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John Winter, May 17, 2006 transcript

Oral History Interview with John Winter, May 17, 2006

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Winter. Winter joined the Navy around 1943, serving as a quartermaster aboard the USS Cronin (DE-704). Winter worked with the deck force, ordering all relevant supplies including paint, thinners, brushes, scrapers and more. They escorted convoys across the Atlantic to North Africa and Sicily. In December of 1944 they traveled through the Pacific, escorting freighters and aircraft carriers. Winter was discharged in early 1946.
Date: May 17, 2006
Creator: Winter, John
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Baselio Zorzanello, May 17, 2002 transcript

Oral History Interview with Baselio Zorzanello, May 17, 2002

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Baselio Zorzanello. Zorzanello joined the Navy in 1935. He served as an Electrician’s Mate aboard USS Marblehead (CL-12). They were stationed in China, in a town under Japanese domination, and he describes his interactions with the natives. They traveled to Manila Bay in the Philippines for additional training. During the Battle of Corregidor, Zorzanello was captured by the Japanese. He was taken to Bilibid Prison in Manila, and later to the Cabanatuan prison camp. He remained imprisoned until their liberation in September of 1945. He returned to the US and continued his service, retiring from the Navy in 1957.
Date: May 17, 2002
Creator: Zorzanello, Baselio
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Scott West, May 17, 2005 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Scott West, May 17, 2005

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Scott West. West joined the Navy in 1935. He was assigned to the USS Lexington (CV-2) for four years. In September of 1942 he served aboard the USS Copahee (CVE-12). He describes the planes aboard and the process of getting all the aviation equipment aboard the carrier. They traveled to New Caledonia to deliver planes, as well as to Munda, in the Solomon Islands. He completed catapult and arresting gear school at the Naval Air Station in Philadelphia, and then served as an instructor. Later, he took crews out to supervise new installations and repair battle damage.
Date: May 17, 2005
Creator: West, Scott
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Marvin Russell, May 17, 2005 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Marvin Russell, May 17, 2005

Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin Russell. Russell, who graduated with a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Houston, describes his role in the testing of fuel used in the Pacific and in North Africa during the war. He discusses the homefront, including the politics of war, rationing, the Japanese American internment, the use of the atomic bomb, and the reaction to the end of the war. There is also a brief comparison of World War II and the Iraq War. After the war, Russell was employed in the automotive industry. Additionally, Russell identifies his parents and siblings and mentions his brothers’ role as civilians involved in troop transport.
Date: May 17, 2005
Creator: Russell, Marvin
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Robert Scofield, May 17, 2013 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Robert Scofield, May 17, 2013

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Scofield. Scofield joined the Marine Corps in 1943 and received training in South Carolina and North Carolina. Upon completion, he was assigned to the Fifth Marines and sent to Guadalcanal for further training. He was wounded on Okinawa just two or three days after joining a combat outfit. Scofield was shot in the abdomen and the wrist. He was evacuated by medics, who declared that he was dying. He was air-evacuated to a hospital after he assured the flight crew that his wounds were not mortal. Scofield returned home and spent a year recovering.
Date: May 17, 2013
Creator: Scofield, Robert
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Alex Grosse, May 17, 2003 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Alex Grosse, May 17, 2003

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alex Grosse. Grosse finished high school and joined the Navy in 1942 and served as an ordnanceman loading munitions on planes in New Jersey and Virginia. Grosse shares several anecdotes about his experiences. He worked in a Carrier Air Service Unit (CASU) but never mentioned any number designation.
Date: May 17, 2003
Creator: Grosse, Alex
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John East, May 17, 2021 (open access)

Oral History Interview with John East, May 17, 2021

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John L. East. East was born in central Texas in 1920. After graduation from high school in 1937 he worked in the rice fields. He entered the Army Air Forces in 1942, and, following training at various airfields, served as a B-17 co-pilot. In 1944, he was assigned to the 379th Bomb Group at Kimbolton, England. He tells of some of the tactics he used to thwart German fighter attacks as the pilot of a B-17 bomber. He completed missions over Germany and France. East flew thirty missions before returning to the United States. He retired from the Air Force in 1964.
Date: May 17, 2021
Creator: East, John
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Donald Boots, May 17, 2001 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Donald Boots, May 17, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Boots. In December, 1942, Boots joined the Marine Corps. After basic training, Boots attended a small camouflaging school at Camp Lejeune before going to Camp Pendleton. At Pendleton, the 4th Marine Division formed and Boots was assigned to the 4th Pioneer Battalion. His unit's job was to organize a beachhead once Marines had landed. During the Marshall Islands invasion, Boots' unit landed on a small island near Roi-Namur to set up artillery for the larger invasion. After that, the unit went back to Maui. Next, Boots' unit invaded Saipan. He went in on the second or third wave on D-Day. Boots also went to Iwo Jima and landed with the third wave. Once on the beach, he had a hard time finding his outfit because so many of them had been killed already. He helped a friend onto an LCVP that was leaving the beach with wounded and was taken off the beach. He returned for his second landing on Iwo Jima a short time later. He stayed for 31 days. When the war ended, Boots was discharged in November, 1945.
Date: May 17, 2001
Creator: Boots, Donald
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Arthur Downard, May 17, 2017 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Arthur Downard, May 17, 2017

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur Downard. Downard was drafted in November 1942. He was sent to Camp Dodge in Des Moines, Iowa for basic training and then on to Fresno, California. From there he was sent to Denver, Colorado for Air Corps administrative school, where he became an instructor of officers until November 1944. In January 1945 he received orders to go to the Pacific and serve as administrator to the lab technicians and photo interpreters of aerial photography. He served with the 4th Photographic Procurement Detachment. He had thirty enlisted men and six officers he worked with. His group was sent to Fort McKinley in Manila, Philippines to make an aerial map of the southeastern third of China. Their job was to develop the film and make the map. He describes life in Manila. He was there until April 1946 to complete the map, and was discharged in Denver.
Date: May 17, 2017
Creator: Downard, Arthur
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Elizabeth P. Vieau, May 17, 2016 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Elizabeth P. Vieau, May 17, 2016

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Elizabeth Penn Hammond Vieau. Vieau was born on 11 May 1919 in Atlanta, Georgia. After high school graduation in 1936, she attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur as a math major. Vieau joined the Navy WAVES around December of 1942, completed Supply Corps officer training at Harvard in Cambridge. She served as a paymaster for Naval ROTC students at Georgia Tech, and describes her financial responsibilities in that role. She was later transferred to Naval Air Station Pensacola, and then to Boston. Vieau met and married her husband, Vee, who was a Navy flight instructor. She was discharged after the war ended.
Date: May 17, 2016
Creator: Vieau, Elizabeth P
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with David L. Houston, May 17, 2016 (open access)

Oral History Interview with David L. Houston, May 17, 2016

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Lipscomb Houston. Houston graduated from high school around 1938. He enrolled in Pre-Med at Hardin Junior College, Wichita Falls, Texas in September of 1941. He enlisted in the US Army on 30 June 1942 and served with the 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. His unit landed at Fedala, Morocco on 8 November 1942 for the Invasion of North Africa. In September of 1943, they invaded Italy. Houston returned to the US in mid-1944, and was assigned as a surgical assistant in the New York Point of Embarkation Station Hospital. In July of 1945, Houston graduated from Officer Candidate School in Louisiana. He was discharged in late 1945, and remained in the Army Reserve for 28 years.
Date: May 17, 2016
Creator: Houston, David L
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Margaret Zarzanello, May 17, 2002 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Margaret Zarzanello, May 17, 2002

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Margaret Zarzanello. Zarzanello graduated from St. Mayfield Nursing School in 1944, and joined the Navy. She was stationed in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island where she worked in hospitals discharging patients. She was recalled again during the Korean War. Zarzanello shares her experiences during training, enlisting, her family and working as a nurse.
Date: May 17, 2002
Creator: Zarzanello, Margaret
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Baselio Zorzanello, May 17, 2002 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Baselio Zorzanello, May 17, 2002

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Baselio Zorzanello. Zorzanello joined the Navy in 1935. He served as an Electrician’s Mate aboard USS Marblehead (CL-12). They were stationed in China, in a town under Japanese domination, and he describes his interactions with the natives. They traveled to Manila Bay in the Philippines for additional training. During the Battle of Corregidor, Zorzanello was captured by the Japanese. He was taken to Bilibid Prison in Manila, and later to the Cabanatuan prison camp. He remained imprisoned until their liberation in September of 1945. He returned to the US and continued his service, retiring from the Navy in 1957.
Date: May 17, 2002
Creator: Zorzanello, Baselio
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John Winter, May 17, 2006 (open access)

Oral History Interview with John Winter, May 17, 2006

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Winter. Winter joined the Navy around 1943, serving as a quartermaster aboard the USS Cronin (DE-704). Winter worked with the deck force, ordering all relevant supplies including paint, thinners, brushes, scrapers and more. They escorted convoys across the Atlantic to North Africa and Sicily. In December of 1944 they traveled through the Pacific, escorting freighters and aircraft carriers. Winter was discharged in early 1946.
Date: May 17, 2006
Creator: Winter, John
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Bruce Elliott, May 17, 2002 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Bruce Elliott, May 17, 2002

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Bruce Elliot. Elliot joined the Navy in January of 1941. He served as Apprentice Seaman aboard USS New Mexico (BB-40). He was transferred to USS Tippecanoe (AO-21), and traveled to Pearl Harbor. Elliot was then transferred to USS Henderson (AP-1) and was shipped to Tsingtao, China, where he picked up USS Bittern (AM-36), laying and sweeping mines in Manila Bay. On 10 December 1941, the Japanese air raid on Cavite Navy Yard, where the Bittern was docked for repairs, caused damage to the minesweeper. The interview ends just after the air raid in Manila Bay.
Date: May 17, 2002
Creator: Elliot, Bruce
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John East, May 17, 2021 transcript

Oral History Interview with John East, May 17, 2021

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John L. East. East was born in central Texas in 1920. After graduation from high school in 1937 he worked in the rice fields. He entered the Army Air Forces in 1942, and, following training at various airfields, served as a B-17 co-pilot. In 1944, he was assigned to the 379th Bomb Group at Kimbolton, England. He tells of some of the tactics he used to thwart German fighter attacks as the pilot of a B-17 bomber. He completed missions over Germany and France. East flew thirty missions before returning to the United States. He retired from the Air Force in 1964.
Date: May 17, 2021
Creator: East, John
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History