The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Sayles. Sayles joined the Navy in March 1944 and received basic training at Camp Farragut. Upon completion, he was shipped to Midway and assigned to the USS Pompon (SS-267), nicknamed “The Peaceful P” because it never found any targets. Sayles enjoyed rest camp on Guam. As punishment for using the officers’ pool, he patrolled Truk for four of the hottest weeks of summer, with no air conditioning and while short on rations. When the war ended, he was immediately shipped home. On the way, he stopped for liberty in Panama City. Once stateside, he joined the Air Force and was commissioned at Loyola University as a junior in the ROTC. Sayles took a compassionate discharge in 1951 to care for his wife after the birth of their third child.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Maddux. Maddux joined the Navy in December 1942. He was sent to the USS Argonne (AS-10). Maddux describes his role as a deck seaman, coxswain, and boatswain’s mate. He also details the capabilities of the ship as well as the repair and supply work that it performed. Maddox describes the fatal explosion that occurred aboard the USS Mount Hood (AE-11) and how he was blown over the side of his own ship which was anchored 100 yards away. He mentions that 1,300 pounds of metal from the Mount Hood was recovered on the Argonne and finding a shell-shocked survivor clinging to a buoy two days later. Maddux describes how his ship converted PT boats from torpedo boats to gun boats and describes test driving one. He left the service in January 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Murven J. Witherel. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduated from Allegheny High School in 1939. He went to work for a untility company before being drafted into the Army in February 1942. He qualified for Officer Candidate School (OCS) after Basic Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. He was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant at Fort Benning, Georgia in December 1942. He was then assigned as the leader of 3rd Platoon, Company E, 20th Infantry,6th Infantry Division and sent to the Mojave Desert to train anticipating a trip to North Africa. Instead, his unit went to New Guinea in January 1944. In June, his unit landed at Baffin Bay and assaulted Lone Tree Hill. Witherel was evetually wounded twice and received the new drug, penicillin at the Lae General Hospital. He was eventually shipped back to the USA. the conversatio then veers to cover such subjects as USO shows, friendly fire, the Red Cross, Tokyo Rose on the radio, morale in his outfit and a visit in the Lae General Hospital by Jack Benny.

Transcript of an oral interview with J. Whitfield Moody. He discusses joining the Navy to become a pilot, going through flight school and training at various bases in the States before joining the USS Chenango (CVE-28) in February of 1945 as part of squadron VT-260 flying TBM's and TBF's. The Chenango went to Guadalcanal to join the invasion force for Okinawa, where Moody flew submarine patrols, dropped bombs on the island, other surrounding islands and on Formosa to prevent the Japanese from using airstrips there to resupply Okinawa troops or make counterattacks from there. Moody also discusses having to land on Okinawa after getting hit by shrapnel from a bomb he dropped when he was flying too close to the ground, using fuel tanks taken from the Japanese to fuel up to get back to the carrier, and getting hit by ground fire after a bombing run over one of the surrounding islands, but managing to limp the plane back to the carrier. After Okinawa, Moody returned to the states for leave before reporting for duty at the Landing Signal Officer's school in Jacksonville, Florida, and being home on leave when the Japanese surrendered.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Talmage Gilbreath. Gilbreath joined the Army in February of 1942. He was trained as a radio operator in the Signal Corps. Gilbreath was assigned to work in communications aboard merchant marine vessels. He travelled in convoys to Murmansk, England, delivered troops to North Africa and brought back German POWs. Gilbreath was then assigned to a refrigerated ship and tells of delivering food throughout the South Pacific. He stayed in the reserves after the war and eventually became a Master Sargent.

Transcript of an oral interview with Albert Marley. When Marley finished high school in 1943, he volunteered for service in the Navy. After training and gunnery school, Marley was assigned to a gun crew on a vessel that transported men and material to England from the East Coast. After the invasion at Normandy, Marley's ship delivered men and supplies to France. He even steamed through the Mediterranean Sea delivering supplies to Egypt and India. In all, he served aboard five ships and made runs as far as China, where his ship encountered Japanese submarines and planes. When the war ended, Marley was discharged and used the G.I. Bill to attend Purdue University.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dale Nelsen. Nelsen joined the Navy in 1940. He was trained as a corpsman and was assigned to LST-347. He took part in the invasion of Sicily and was awarded the Bronze Star for treating wounded soldiers. He was transferred to USS LST-72 and participated in landings at Italy and discusses transporting 90 wounded soldiers to Bizerte. He was part of a landing by British troops behind enemy lines in Burma. Nelsen was also a part of the landings at Normandy and describes some of his experiences. He describes an incident where he witnessed a V-1 bomb land in London and helped treat the wounded. Nelsen remained in the reserves after the war and organized many reunions for his shipmates. He also describes visiting the WWII Memorial.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Cowden. Cowden joined the Navy in November 1944. He joined the crew of USS LST-1001 as a deck seaman. Cowden describes taking part in the second wave of the invasion of Okinawa and mentions seeing several attacks by kamikaze planes on nearby ships. He describes his battle station on a 40mm anti-aircraft gun and how it operated. Cowden also details his ship being severely damaged during two typhoons. He remained aboard until the ship was decommissioned in 1946 and he left the service a few months later.

Transcript of an oral interview with Bobbie W. Noble. He joined the Navy at 17 shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was aboard the USS North Carolina in early 1942. Noble did not finish high school and he received all his training aboard ship. He was in New York City when the French liner Normandie caught fire and capsized. He served as a powder hoist operator in the center gun of the number 3 turret. The North Carolina, after her shakedown cruise, spent the winter anchored in Portland, Maine before heading through the Panama Canal on the way to Guadalcanal, where she was torpedoed. Noble goes on the describe heading for Pearl Harbor for repairs and the ship receiving updated anti-aircraft armaments. Noble goes on to discuss friendly fire, burials at sea, the rigors of battle at Iwo Jima, kamikazes at Okinawa and life aboard a battleship during World War II.

Transcript of an oral interview with Robert J. Tweed. Born in 1921, he joined the Army in 1943. He was assigned to the 42nd Infantry Rainbow Division and sent to Marseilles, France as part of Task Force Linden. In December, 1944 he was an infantry squad leader in the 1st Battalion when he was deployed near Strasbourg, France. He provides an account of the combat action in which he participated, including a German tank assault, in the town of Hatten. He shares an anecdote about reporting on a reconnaissance mission to General Smith. After being sent back from the front lines, he became a machine gun platoon leader in a heavy weapons company. After training replacement troops, he was sent to the Siegfried Line and advanced to Nuremburg and Munich. When the war ended, he served at a displaced persons camp in Austria and was involved in Yugoslavian resettlement. He describes an instance in which he, though charged with the repatriation of Yugoslavians, allowed refugees in transit to leave a boxcar before reaching areas under Russian control. Later he was part of the Army occupation in Salzburg, Austria where he served as an MP at war crime trials. He was …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Granville Coggs. Coggs joined the Army Air Forces in the fall of 1943. He trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and at Tyndall Field in Florida, serving as a pilot and one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. Coggs was commissioned on 16 October 1945 as a second lieutenant bombardier pilot. He served as an aerial gunner, aerial bombardier, multi-engine pilot and B-25 pilot trainee who was scheduled for the 477th Bombardment Group, though never made it to combat, as the war ended in 1945 before he finished training. Coggs was discharged in the fall of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Placido Lozano. Lozano joined the Navy in October of 1943. He completed Radio School. He was assigned to a Landing Craft Infantry participating in the Battle of Saipan in June of 1944. He was later stationed aboard a carrier in the Pacific. Lozano was assigned as a radioman to a Douglas SBD Dauntless divebomber. The pilot taught Lozano how to fly and they flew cover for the carrier in the Philippine Sea. He also participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ruth Scarce. Scarce volunteered for service in 1943 and served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WACS) as a teletype. After training and working all over the United States, Scarce was sent overseas to High Wycombe, England, where she continued to work as a teletype and switch board operator. During her time in England she often went to London where she stayed at the Red Cross Club for women, visited historical sites, pubs and met her future husband. Scarce was discharged in 1945 at the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jesse Scott. He joined the Marine Corps and served as a crew chief with Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 235 (VMSB-235). When he reached Ewa on Oahu, he was working on C-47 planes giving them their 1,000 hour overhauls with Marine Air GRoup 15 (MAG-15). He shares several anecdotes about test flying aircraft all over the Pacific.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dale Ball. Ball joined the Navy around 1942. In 1943, he began serving as a Storekeeper aboard USS LST-1005 in the Pacific Theater. They traveled to Hawaii, the Caroline Islands, Eniwetok and Leyte Gulf, Philippines. He recalls a typhoon he experienced in 1945. He served with occupation troops in Japan after the war ended. Ball returned to the US, and continued his service in the Navy.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald K Cradit. Cradit joined the Navy in November of 1939. He served as Boatswain’s Mate aboard the USS McCook (DD-496), participating in the Normandy invasions. Cradit later served aboard the USS Rogers (DD-876), where he witnessed the signing of the Peace Treaty in Tokyo Harbor. He returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Hall. Hall joined the marine Corps in mid-1943 and trained at San Diego. After basic training, Hall attended aviation radio school and gunnery school before being assigned to VMB-621 when they were still flying PBJ bombers. Hall eventually went to Emirau and then the Philippines. He also shares a few anecdotes about being in Australia on R and R. Hall elected to leave the service after the war and use the GI Bill to go to college.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold Sussman. Sussman was at the University of Illinois when he was sent to Columbia for Midshipman's School. He finished in early 1943 and was shipped out to the Pacific where he eventually joined USS LCI(G)-461. Sussman was aboard for the invasion o fthe Mariana Islands and the invasion of Okinawa. He describes the mission of USS LCI(G)-461 and shares anecdotes of his experiences aboard. When he first came aboard, he was in charge of the galley. He eventually got off the 461 and became in charge of welfare and recreation in Honolulu.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with B J Wilson. Wilson was at basic training at Parris Island when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Wilson was soon assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment as an assistant BAR man. He describes landing on Guadalcanal and fighting at teh Tenaru River. He eventually became the BAR man after some combat. He also recalls some anecdotes about being in Melbourne after leaving Guadalcanal. Hew also went with the FIrst Marines to New Britain, then Pavuvu. He also describes landing and fighting at Peleliu. He was wounded on Peleliu and returned to the US.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Battifarano. Battifarano enlisted in the Navy during his senior year of high school in 1943. He served for 2 years as Signalman 3rd Class aboard the USS Guitarro (SS-363). They traveled to the Panama Canal operating with a destroyer and to the South Pacific. They made 4 successful war patrols, have 15 Japanese flags on their battle flag, laid 25 mines and recorded a 95-day war patrol. He discusses life aboard a submarine and their war patrol experiences. They traveled to Taiwan, Australia, the South China Sea, Philippines, Japan and Saipan. They participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jack Nuckols. Nuckols was drafted into the Army in September, 1944 and trained at Camp Hood. After training and transit, Nuckols landed on Okinawa on 10 April, 1945 with the 7th Infantry Division, 184th Infantry Regiment. He recalls several anecdotes from his combat experiences. After occupation duty in Korea, Nuckols returned to the US and was discharged in November 1946.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with John Stayer. Stayer joined the Army in August 1944 and had basic training at Camp Hood. After training, he shipped out to France and joined the 4th Armored Division in Luxembourg in December. After two week, Stayer was severely wounded by mortar fire and evacuated. He eventually lost his right leg below the knee. Stayer relates several anecdotes of his time in hospitals recovering from his wound. He was discharged in April, 1946 after recovering.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents and oral interview with Pat Hemphill. Hemphill’s father was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii on 7 December 1941. Although she was only three years of age, she recalls being taken with other children out of the area on a school bus, while covered by mattresses as a means of protection. She also tells of the actions taken by her family during air-raid alerts.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents oral interviews with Tex Hill, Joe Robert and Dick Rossi. Hill and Burken go into great detail regarding an issue of LIFE Magazine with a picture of General Claire Lee Chennault on the cover and a drawing of a panda bear dressed like a cowboy, as Hill was a member of the Panda Bear squadron of the Flying Tigers. Burken then visits with Joe Robert about a print that Joe is looking to sell and a LIFE Magazine that Joe is featured in, sitting on the wing of the P-40. They also discuss some events with the Japanese and the Pappy Boyington book titled Tonya. Robert was in the same squadron as Boyington. They also visit some on the history of the Flying Tigers and the Burma campaign. Beginning on page 44 through the end of the interview Burken speaks with Dick Rossi. They visit about Flying Tiger pilot Robert T. Smith and a letter from filmmaker Ron Howard in regards to a movie about the Flying Tigers. They also discuss some events with Flying Tiger pilot Freeman Ricketts.