The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Fred Faiz. Faiz was raised on a ranch and had good relations with neighboring Japanese-American farmers before the war. In 1939, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, with whom he worked until being drafted into the Army in March 1941. He was assigned to the First Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss. When his unit phased out horse-drawn Howitzers and transitioned to driving jeeps, Faiz was sent to Louisiana, where he trained as a machine-gunner. Faiz saw his first combat in New Guinea and encountered banzai charges in the Admiralty Islands, with Los Negros defended by 10,000 elite Japanese Marines. In the jungle, Faiz and his unit set traps by staging their hammocks with makeshift dummies and watching from afar as Japanese soldiers approached. On Luzon, he participated in the liberation of Santo Tomas and fought inside Manila. Faiz returned home and was discharged in late 1945. Having contracted malaria, he experienced symptoms for another 10 years. Although he felt the war unfairly biased people against Japanese-Americans, he saw hostility towards them eventually subside.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Bailey. Bailey joined the Texas National Guard when he was 14 years old, lying about his age. In November 1939, his unit was mobilized and he left for the Philippines with the 36th Division. Bailey shipped overseas and his group was diverted to Australia after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They boarded a Dutch troop ship and headed for Java. On Java, outnumbered and out of ammunition, his unit surrendered to the Japanese and became known as the Lost Battalion. Spending two and a half years imprisoned in Burma, he was beaten repeatedly and forced to build a railway bridge made of steel and bamboo. Natives snuck intelligence to American officers, and in this fashion Bailey learned the war had finally ended. He and fellow POWs repaired the airfield so that they could be evacuated. Bailey returned home in December 1945 and was awarded the Purple Heart for the injuries inflicted on him as a prisoner. After his discharge in 1946, he found that he was having trouble with his heart and so was granted 100-percent disability.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rudolph Fanska. Fanska was drafted into the Marine Corps in 1943. He mentions his first landing at Cape Gloucester. Fanska then took part in the landing at Peleliu and describes how he was wounded and the treatment he received on a hospital ship. He also served at Okinawa and earned a Silver Star. Fanska was wounded in the leg and describes lengthy recovery. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with C T Cummings. Cummings joined the Navy in October of 1941. Prior to his enlistment, he had received extensive mechanical training in the Civilian Conservation Corps, working with blueprint layouts, structural steel and mechanical drawings. In January of 1942, Cummings served aboard the USS Lafayette (AP-53). The ship caught fire shortly after his arrival, and had to be scrapped. Around August, he served aboard the USS Jamestown (AGP-3), delivering the 1st Marine Division to Guadalcanal and Tulagi, and providing vital supplies to the troops through the Guadalcanal Campaign. Cummings assisted with servicing PT boats patrolling the Iron Bottom Sound. In February of 1945, they supported the invasion of the Philippines. He returned to the US and was discharged in November of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ben Smith. Smith was born on a farm in Illinois 9 June 1918. After college he became an embalmer for the state of Colorado. Volunteering for the Army Air Corps, he trained at the Spartan School of Aeronautics before being sent to Brady, Texas for basic flight training, then Kelly Field for advanced. He was then sent to Muroc Air Field, California for P-38 gunnery training. After he was commissioned, he was assigned as an instructor. In March 1943 he flew with several other pilots to New Guinea. There he was assigned to the 13th Air Force, 18th Fighter Group, 12th Fighter Squadron. He made daily sweeps over various islands occupied by the Japanese, during which Smith strafed and dropped napalm. He recalls one mission during which the plane flown by close friend was hit by flak. When the pilot bailed out, a Zero pilot killed him in his parachute. Smith was based at several locations in the Philippines where he contacted dengue fever and dysentery. He recalls an incident in which he shot down a Japanese Zero. In early 1945 he went to Luzon and flew numerous …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Morton Harrington. Harrington joined the Navy in January of 1944. He completed Gunnery School and Aviation Ordnance School, learning about aircraft bombs, fuses, various caliber guns, rockets, flags, radio communication and Morse Code. Beginning February of 1945 Harrington was assigned to the USS Nehenta Bay (CVE–74), serving as a turret gunner aboard both TBF’s and TBM’s. Their ship qualified with F4-U Corsair squadrons for carrier work. They traveled to Eniwetok, bombing several islands that the Japanese still held. In April of 1945 they participated in the Battle of Okinawa, where they shot down three kamikazes. Harrington provides details of his experiences aboard the Nehenta Bay and throughout their battles. He was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Thomas McCrea. McCrea joined the Army in September of 1943. He completed an Army Specialized Training Program in Fort Benning, Georgia. He provides vivid details of his training. He served with the 3rd Army, C Company, 1st, Battalion, 376th Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Division. McCrea and his group qualified as an Expert Infantry Division. In August of 1944 they traveled to Scotland, then on to England. In September they landed on Utah Beach. They traveled to Brittany to relieve another unit. They endured much 88mm shelling from the Germans. From there they traveled toward Belgium and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, and traveled to the Siegfried Line. McCrea shares many details of his experiences in battle. In February 1945 he was sent to a hospital in England, suffering from frozen feet. He returned to the U.S. due to the condition of his feet and discharged in mid-1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Walsh. Walsh was born in Wheeler, Indiana on 19 October 1926. He quit high school in 1944 and joined the Navy. He went to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois for six weeks of boot training followed by six months of amphibious training and gunnery training at Norfolk, Virginia. Upon completion of the training he went by troop train to Portland, Oregon. In September 1944 he went aboard Landing Craft Support vessel USS LCS(L)(3)-51. He describes the ship’s heavy armaments. In November 1944, Group 7, consisting of Walsh’s LCS and five other sister ships, sailed to Saipan before going to Leyte. They remained at Leyte until 19 February 1945 before participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. Walsh led the first wave of Marine onto the beach and describes clearing the beach of disabled landing craft. The ship then participated in the invasion of Okinawa. Walsh tells of the ship being on picket duty and being attacked by kamikaze aircraft. Walsh saw the USS Laffey (DD-724) hit by several suicide aircraft while LCS-51 sustained damage caused by debris from a plane they shot down. The …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Meyer. Meyer participated in ROTC in high school. While studying at St. Louis University, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces Reserves. In February 1943, after one semester of college, he was called to active duty and began flight training, earning his wings in March 1944. He was then sent to Karachi, India, to join the 33rd Fighter Group, 59th Squadron. After an unexciting period of time, due to a lack of planes to fly, he finally went on his first mission in the mountains between India and Burma, deterring Japanese planes from attacking transports to China. Later missions involved strafing and dropping bombs or napalm on photographed targets from a P-47. During one flight, he narrowly avoided getting hit as he flew underneath a friendly plane while it released its payload. Although Meyer never engaged in air-to-air combat, he was exposed to antiaircraft fire from the ground. In December 1944, he transitioned to the P-38, as he was preparing for involvement in an invasion of China, which never materialized. Afterward, he transferred to the 58th Squadron in Burma. After the war ended, Meyer had a chance …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Russell Banwart. Banwart was born 16 March 1923 in Angona, Iowa into a family of nine children. He describes life during the Great Depression. Upon completing Marine Corps boot camp in San Diego, he entered radio school, after which he was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Regiment. He describes boarding the USS Crescent City (APA-21) and participating in the invasion of Tarawa. Banwart describes the action around him including being wounded. He was taken to the Naval Hospital in San Diego. After he recovered, he was sent to Radio Repair School in Omaha, Nebraska then to Red Bank, New Jersey where he trained on the newly developed ANTRC rapid relay equipment. On 1 April 1945 he participated in the invasion of Okinawa. Once the island was secured, he was sent to Guam where he remained until he returned to the United States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eddie W Cook. Cook was drafted into the Army in June 1943. Despite being an experienced ship welder and foreman, he was assigned as a rifleman. When Cook deployed to India in December 1943, the troop ship was fitted with iron bars made to separate white from black soldiers. Upon arrival in Bombay, it was obvious the place had been recently bombed. The men then headed to a replacement depot in Assam. Meanwhile, one of Cook’s immunizations had backfired, and he came down with the measles. Upon recovery, he was assigned to the 475th Infantry Regiment, which had just finished 60 days of combat duty. After a short stint in Burma, Cook flew over The Hump to an Army depot in Kunming, China. There he was to search for Japanese holdouts; however, after six months of searching, his unit never found a single enemy. Cook returned home in February 1946 and was discharged early, returning to his wife and child.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Starke. Starke joined the Army Air Forces in March of 1942. He completed flight training and graduated at Williams Field, Arizona, in July of 1943 as a P-38 pilot. He provides details of his flight training and the various planes he flew. In November he traveled to Guadalcanal and joined the 44th Fighter Squadron, 13th Air Force. Starke served as a P-38 Lightning pilot and completed 121 missions throughout the Pacific, including Sansapor, Bougainville and Rabaul in Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Luzon and the Philippines. His squadron flew combat missions and escorted B-24 bombers. Starke provides vivid details of several missions and describes how they acquired the name “Vampire Squadron.” He was discharged in July of 1945. He remained in the Reserves for 20 years and retired as a lieutenant colonel.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Mace. Mace was born in Carseland, Alberta, Canada on 27 May 1917 and graduated from high school in Washington 1937. In 1940, he joined Morrison-Knudsen, Inc. as a construction worker and group chaplain on Wake Island arriving on 9 January 1941. He began constructing runways and buildings. Mace tells of the Japanese invasion of the island, of the combat and of the casualties taken prior to surrender. He tells of the starvation and inhumane treatment while a captive. He describes the manufacturing process and the method of sabotage that the slave laborers employed while working in an Osaka, Japan shipyard and also of disrupting production while working in an iron smelting plant. He relates how a plane dropped a message that the war was over and how food and supplies were dropped by air. Upon liberation, he was put on board the USS Rescue (AH-18) and taken to Letterman General Hospital for recovery.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Gray. Gray was drafted into the Army Air Forces in December of 1943. He was selected as an Aviation Cadet. By December of 1944 Gray completed Bombardier Training at Tuskegee and Gunnery School at Tyndall Field in Florida. He went on to complete Advanced Bombardier Training in San Angelo, Texas. He graduated as one of the only six “colored” cadets in a class of 114 and was appointed as a Flight Officer. He was assigned to primary pilot training in Class 46-A at Tuskegee, though the end of the war ended his aeronautical training and in February of 1946 he separated briefly from the military. In September of 1947 Gray’s artistic abilities and Cadet and Flight Officer experiences brought him back to the military to serve as a Sergeant performing duties in teletype, cryptography and special services. In 1952 Lieutenant Gray was commissioned in the Air Force Reserve, from where he retired in June of 1973.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harry Minarik. Minarik joined the Navy in December of 1941. He was appointed as an Aviation Cadet and provides details of his training. He completed Carrier School, learning how to land on carriers. He was assigned to Torpedo Squadron Sixteen (VT-16). They completed a number of training sessions in and around Hawaii. In the spring of 1943 he flew planes aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16). Minarik provides details of their participation during the Battle of Tarawa. They traveled to Wake Island in October of 1943, when the Lexington raided. In December of 1943 Minarik was aboard the Lexington during the Kwajalein Raid, and explains how the ship got hit by a Japanese torpedo. In March of 1944 the Lexington crew traveled to Majuro in the Marshall Islands and began a series of operations against the Japanese positions in the Central Pacific. In June of 1944 they participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He was officially discharged in 1949.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ari Phoutrides. Phoutrides joined the Navy in 1942. He completed Quartermaster School, and was assigned to the USS Laffey (DD-724) in February of 1944. His job aboard was overseeing supplies and ammunition. His battle station was on the bridge. They participated in the invasion of France, taking Landing Craft, Infantry to Utah Beach in June of 1944. Beginning April of 1945, they participated in the Battle of Okinawa, where the Laffey overcame unrelenting kamikaze air attacks. Phoutrides provides vivid details of these experiences. He served aboard the ship until his discharge in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Glenn Radder. Radder joined the Navy in 1943. He completed Gunner’s Mate School, learning how to care for the various guns aboard ship. He served aboard the USS Laffey (DD-724) where his job was to care for and fire the 20mm mounts on the fantail. Radder provides some detail of life aboard the Laffey. They traveled to England in preparation for the invasion of France. On 3 June 1944 the Laffey went to the Normandy beaches escorting tugs, landing craft, and two Dutch gunboats. On 6 June the group arrived in the assault area off Utah beach at dawn on D-Day. Radder describes their participation in the Normandy landings. On 25 June he provides detail of their shelling the defenses at Cherbourg. In November they conducted airstrikes against enemy shipping, aircraft, and airfields in the Philippines. In April of 1945, while assigned to radar picket station 1, the Laffey came under heavy attack by the Japanese. He describes this event, including picking up two downed Japanese pilots. He was discharged around the end of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ralph Weymouth. Weymouth joined the Navy in June of 1934. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1938. He completed flight training in August of 1940. Beginning September of 1943, he served as Commanding Officer of Bombing Squadron 16 (VB-16) aboard USS Lexington (CV-16). Weymouth participated in the Gilbert Islands operation and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He continued his service after the war, retiring in January of 1973 as a vice admiral and anti-nuclear campaigner.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edward Kozak. Kozak provides some details of his family’s history as professional musicians, including his experience on the piano, marimba, harp and drums. Kozak served as the head of the department in the Shreveport Symphony, and served as a music teacher at a number of schools, including Juilliard School of Music in New York. He joined the Navy in 1943. He graduated from the Washington D.C. School of Music and was assigned as a Coxswain on a Higgins boat. He served as a marimba soloist in a band that played for Admiral Chester Nimitz throughout the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Sterrie. Sterrie was born 14 November 1917 in St. James, Minnesota and graduated from high school in 1934. Upon graduating from college in 1939 he joined the Navy. He graduated from flight school at Pensacola in 1940 and was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 2 on the USS Lexington (CV-2). His first combat mission occurred in March 1942 when his squadron attacked Japanese shipping at Salamaua, New Guinea. During his next mission, he and eleven others in his flight dropped torpedoes on HIJNS Shokaku. During the Battle of the Coral Sea, as Sterrie prepared to depart the Lexington, the ship was hit by torpedoes. He abandoned ship and was picked up by the USS New Orleans (CA-32). His squadron was taken to New Caledonia where they instructed Army pilots in torpedo warfare. Upon returning to the US, Sterrie was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 16 (VT-16), on the new USS Lexington (CV-16). He describes various missions he flew off until the Lexington was hit by torpedoes on 4 December 1943. After being repaired, the ship returned to the Pacific. He describes other missions he flew including those during the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lloyd Fulbright. Fulbright joined the Army in September 1943 and trained in the artillery branch. He went overseas in Fenruary 1944 first to New Caledonia, then to New Zeraland where he was assigned to the 169th Field Artillery Battalion, 43rd Infantry Division. He then went to Aitape, New Guinea with the division and the Philippines. Fulbright shares several anecdotes about his combat experiences and stories from his time in occupied Japan. While in Japan, he was part of a detail that guarded the Kirin Brewery in Yokohama. He returned tot he US in January, 1946 and opted for discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Fred Faiz. Faiz was raised on a ranch and had good relations with neighboring Japanese-American farmers before the war. In 1939, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, with whom he worked until being drafted into the Army in March 1941. He was assigned to the First Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss. When his unit phased out horse-drawn Howitzers and transitioned to driving jeeps, Faiz was sent to Louisiana, where he trained as a machine-gunner. Faiz saw his first combat in New Guinea and encountered banzai charges in the Admiralty Islands, with Los Negros defended by 10,000 elite Japanese Marines. In the jungle, Faiz and his unit set traps by staging their hammocks with makeshift dummies and watching from afar as Japanese soldiers approached. On Luzon, he participated in the liberation of Santo Tomas and fought inside Manila. Faiz returned home and was discharged in late 1945. Having contracted malaria, he experienced symptoms for another 10 years. Although he felt the war unfairly biased people against Japanese-Americans, he saw hostility towards them eventually subside.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Bailey. Bailey joined the Texas National Guard when he was 14 years old, lying about his age. In November 1939, his unit was mobilized and he left for the Philippines with the 36th Division. Bailey shipped overseas and his group was diverted to Australia after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They boarded a Dutch troop ship and headed for Java. On Java, outnumbered and out of ammunition, his unit surrendered to the Japanese and became known as the Lost Battalion. Spending two and a half years imprisoned in Burma, he was beaten repeatedly and forced to build a railway bridge made of steel and bamboo. Natives snuck intelligence to American officers, and in this fashion Bailey learned the war had finally ended. He and fellow POWs repaired the airfield so that they could be evacuated. Bailey returned home in December 1945 and was awarded the Purple Heart for the injuries inflicted on him as a prisoner. After his discharge in 1946, he found that he was having trouble with his heart and so was granted 100-percent disability.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rudolph Fanska. Fanska was drafted into the Marine Corps in 1943. He mentions his first landing at Cape Gloucester. Fanska then took part in the landing at Peleliu and describes how he was wounded and the treatment he received on a hospital ship. He also served at Okinawa and earned a Silver Star. Fanska was wounded in the leg and describes lengthy recovery. He was discharged in 1946.