The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard Blackman. Blackman was born in Pulaski County, Indiana 8 December 1922. Born into a family of seven boys and two girls he tells of the living conditions during the depression. He quit school in the ninth grade to get a job. In 1943 he was drafted into the Army and went to Camp Lee, Virginia for six weeks of basic training, including some mechanical training. Upon completing basic he was sent to Chenango, Pennsylvania for additional training. Two weeks later be boarded the Queen Mary bound for England. Upon arrival, he was assigned to the 4th Port Battalion. He describes the duties and tells of further training in the use of rifles, mines and grenades. He landed on Omaha Beach 8 June 1944 and describes activities in which he was involved. At the time of the Battle of the Bulge the 4th Port Battalion had been disbanded and he was sent to Antwerp caring for wounded and assisting in getting them aboard hospital ships. He was then sent to Ghent, Belgium where he was assigned to the 301st Engineers operating various pieces of heavy equipment. He assisted …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles E. Loeschorn. In 1942, Loeschorn volunteered for the Marine Corps before he finished high school. He discusses training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Upon completion of training, Loeschorn was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, First Marine Division and shipped to New Zealand. In August, he was part of the initial landing force at Guadalcanal and recalls completing the construction of what became Henderson Field. He also recalls going on patrols and skirmishing with the Japanese. He mentions he became ill with malaria. He recalls the mud and wetness at Cape Gloucester and resting and recuperating at Pavuvu prior to going to Peleliu. Toward the end of his time fighting on Guadalcanal, Loeschorn had been moved to the Headquarters company. In HQ company, he served as a telephone linesman. he continued as that during the battle at Peleliu. he describes coming ashore on Peleliu. He recalls meeting Chesty Puller on Peleliu. At the end of September, 1944, Loeschorn was sent back to the US and was at Camp Lejeune when the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Irvin Long. Long joined the Navy in August of 1943. In early 1944 he served aboard the USS Tabberer (DE-418) as a signalman, using flashing lights, semaphore flags, and Morse Code. In September of 1944 they traveled to Pearl Harbor to practice shooting and work with sonar. They left Pearl Harbor and joined Admiral Halsey’s Third Fleet in October of 1944, conducting anti-submarine sweeps of the Philippine Sea. He describes his experience through a typhoon in December of 1944. They later traveled to Iwo Jima, shooting down enemy aircraft during the bombing of Iwo. From there they traveled around Okinawa and Japan, doing submarine patrols. After August 1945 they were assigned to escort big supply ships into the Korea Bay in the Yellow Sea. He was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Herman R. Shirley. Shirley joined the Marine Corps in Alabama shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and trained at Parris Island, South Carolina. Upon completion oftraining, Shirley headed for New Zealand aboard the USS Barnett (APA-5) and was assigned to Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. From there, the Barnett took Shirley to Guadalcanal in August, 1942. Shirley describes the scene after the battle at the Tenaru River and encountering Washing Machine Charlie. He also talks about other action he was involved in while fighting the Japanese on Guadalcanal. During the campaign, he served as a runner relaying messages. Shirley also describes being in combat and the mud on Cape Gloucester. Shirley had been assigned to telephone communications by this time and served as a linesman. Shirley also served as a telephone operator on Peleliu. Shirley returned to the US for more training after Peleliu and was at Camp Pendleton when the war ended. He was discharged in September, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Erick Nygaard. Nygaard joined the Navy in December of 1941. He joined the Civilian Pilot Training program and describes this experience and flying a Piper Cub. He provides some description of his pilot training. He was commissioned in February of 1944 and was sent to Hawaii and served as a replacement pilot for the carriers in the Pacific. He served as a fighter pilot in Halsey’s Third Fleet aboard 3 carriers including the USS Intrepid (CV-11), the USS Hancock (CV-19), and the USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). He provides some detail of his experiences in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. While aboard the Hancock, Nygaard describes the carrier being hit by a kamikaze. He became a shellback and describes his initiation. He remained in the Active Reserve until 1955.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Perry Camp. Camp spent a year in Honolulu working as a high scaler, scaling cliffs and building ammunition dumps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Camp was then drafted into the Navy in 1943. He was trained as a gunner’s mate and completed schooling for electrical and hydraulics. He served as an instructor on the 5-inch guns. His position was fuse center and sight center. He discusses his position on his ship and provides detail of the weapons. He describes witnessing the commissioning of the USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774) in November of 1944. He worked aboard the destroyer preparing it for the sea. They shipped out of San Diego in February of 1945. They participated in the Battle of Okinawa. Camp describes this experience, including the ship being hit by a Kamikaze plane. Camp was discharged sometime after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Morris. Morris joined the Army in 1939. He served with the 369th Infantry Division, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters, consisting mainly of African Americans. He served in the motor pool, during the European and Pacific Theaters. In May of 1942, Morris and his united worked in labor and security operations in the Southwest Pacific Area. He returned to the U.S. and was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gene Scribner. Scribner joined the Navy in 1942 and received basic training in San Diego. He then received electrical and gyrocompass training in California. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Alabama (BB-60). He was on call 24 hours a day to maintain the gyrocompass as well as other instruments across the entire ship. From his battle station on the third deck, he was able to wander freely, watching pilots bail out and be rescued by neighboring ships. He also witnessed a kamikaze strike on a carrier beside the Alabama. He tended to stay below during particularly rough combat, such as at Iwo Jima, because he did not want to see the carnage. Scribner was in Tokyo Bay for the signing of the surrender and enjoyed liberty in Japan. He returned home in January 1946 and was discharged soon after.

Transcript of an oral interview with Clyde Griffin. Griffin graduated from high school in 1937, enlisted in the Army Aviation Air Corps and was commissioned in Jun 1942. He went to Visalia, California for flying school, then to Merced, California for basic training and then to Stockton. When he graduated from Stockton Field Aviation School he was assigned first to a single engine squadron in South Carolina (a P-39 training school) and that's where he washed out with a busted eardrum. In one of the first flights he took, he had a head cold and his eardrum burst. After that, he was transferred to Florida where they lost him (the Army lost his papers). After about six months, they sent him to Amarillo Air Base where he was the Assistant Operations Officer. Amarillo was a Ferry Command stop over for planes that were being ferried back and forth across the country. They also had a general depot. Griffin got to fly a lot of different aircraft while he was there. He received orders to go overseas to New Caledonia where he was stationed for twenty-two months, doing mostly administrative flying. After New Caledonia, he was stationed in Hawaii for six …

Transcript of an oral interview with Allan D. Morrison. In 1942, Morrison finished high school in Bozeman, Montana before enrolling in the Civilian Pilot Training program. His eyesight disqualified him as a pilot, so the Army Air Corps sent him to McDill Field in Florida for advanced communications training in early 1943. He had never even had basic training and finally got shuffled to Chicago for radio school. Morrison developed an illness that prevented him from graduating and moving on, so he stayed in Chicago for a while before moving on to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where he finally graduated as a radio mechanic. His first assignment took him to Annette Island in southeastern Alaska. While there, he operated an SCS system, which allowed aircraft with the right equipment to make instrument landings on the field at Annette Island (in case of fog, etc.).

Transcript of an oral interview with Robert A. Heym. When Heym finished high school in 1943 he went into the Army Air Force. He was in pilot training in Arkansas, but was caught doing dangerous aerial stunts and was washed out and sent to radio school in South Dakota. Upon completing that, he was assigned to a B-24 crew as a radio operator in Topeka, Kansas before heading overseas in April, 1944. Heym describes a few missions, being attacked by German fighters, fellow crewmembers getting killed and crash landing. Heym was attached to the 450th Bomb Group in the 15th Air Force and was stationed in Manduria, Italy. In June, 1945 Heym came home aboard the USS Wakefield (AP-21). He was discharged and attended the University of Detroit after the war using his G.I. Bill.

Transcript of an oral interview with John Karl Rankin. Rankin begins by talking about living on a farm in the Oklahoma panhandle during the Dust Bowl days. He describes a massive dust storm striking the farm on his fourteenth birthday. He also shares anecdotes about cowboying on his uncle's ranch in Colorado as a teenager. In August, 1942, Rankin joined the Marine Corps, where he went to radio school and then radar school. he was attached to the First Marine Air Warning Squadron. Once he shipped overseas, Rankin's unit set up their radar station in the Marshall Islands. Rankin describes the radar station being attacked one night by a Japanese bomber. Rankin also discusses going ashore on D-day at Okinawa to set up another radar station. Later in April, 1945, Rankin's unit was sent to Ie Shima where he witnessed a massive air raid of Japanese kamikazes on the American fleet at Okinawa. After the Japanese surrender, Rankin describes being caught in a typhoon that went through Okinawa, and again in another one on the way back to the US. When Rankin was discharged, he enrolled in the UNiversity of Oklahoma at Norman and became a Methodist minister.

Transcript of an oral interview with Melvin A. Bice. When Bice finished high school in Lincoln, Nebraska he joined the Navy. The Navy called him up in February, 1943 and he took basic training in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. During training, Bice contracted the mumps. After basic training, Bice was assigned at San Diego to the USS Mataco (AT-86), an ocean-going tugboat. Their first assignement was to tow a floating drydock to New Guinea. Along the way, Bice shot down a Japanese aircraft. Upon arrival and delivery of the drydock, Bice was returned tothe US to attend aircraft gunnery school. Soon after, he was assigned to the USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79). The Ommaney Bay was present for action in Leyte Gulf, where Bice describes kamikaze attacks and shooting down more Japanese aircraft from his twin 40mm anti-aircraft gun, for which he received a decoration. He also describes being bombed by a Japanese airplane in Lingayen Gulf and the Ommaney Bay sinking. Bice then provides details about abandoning ship, leaping into the water, finding an ammo can to use as a flotation device, and watching as the Ommaney bay was scuttled by an American destroyer using torpedoes. Aftr being in the water …

Transcript of an oral interview with Joseph M. "Joe" Base. Base begins by discussing growing up during the Depression. In 1942, after he finished high school, Base enlisted in the Navy. When he finished basic training, Base attended signalman school before being assigned to submarine school at New London, Connecticut. Upon completing school, Base was assigned to the USS Redfin (SS-272) at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Eventually, the Redfin made its way to the Panama Canal where it practiced firing torpedoes for a few days. Soon, they headed for Milne Bay, New Guinea and then to Darwin, Australia. From there, Base describes events that occurred during trhe Redfin's war patrols in the South China Seas and Celebes Sea: making contact with other US submarines; following Japanese tanker convoys; sinking Japanese destroyers; making torpedo attacks on convoys, being attacked with depth charges; enjoying some rest between patrols at Fremantle, Australia; rescuing survivors from the USS Flier (SS-250). Base served as a quartermaster aboard the Redfin, where he assisted the navigator in charting the ship's location, stood watches and steered the ship. After four or five war patrols, the Redfin returned to California for an overhaul where it received updated mine locating equipment. When …

Transcript of an oral interview with Brigadier General Harry Bayne. Bayne joined the Army Air Corps as a private in September, 1941. By August, 1942, he had attained the rank of flying sergeant, but soon was commissioned a second lieutenant. His first assignement was ferrying airplanes to fields where pilots were training. Eventually, he was sent to India and flew missions carrying fuel over the Himalaya Mountains to bombers and other airplanes operating out of China. He flew sixty-three missions over the HUmp before the end of the war. After the war, he remained in a pilot training command. What follows is a conversation about the remainder of Bayne's career in the military. He flew more planes, closed air bases in Europe, took a young Prince Charles of England for a joy ride in a plane, etc. Bayne also discusses his role in the recovery of the hydrogen bomb that was aboard a B-52 that crashed off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea in 1966.

Transcript of an oral interview with Gilberto Mendez. Mendez's parents left Mexico in 1910 to escape the violence Mexican Revolution and relocated to San Antonio, Texas, where Gilberto was raised until the family moved back to Mexico during the Depression. When Mexico declared war on Germany in 1942, Mendez was drafted into the Mexican Army (Spanish: Erjecito Mexicano) for one year. Upon being discharged from the Mexican Army, Mendez was called up in the US where he volunteered for duty in the US Marine Corps. He trained in Sna Diego and then went to Hawaii. From there, he was attached as a replacement prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima. Mendez landed on Iwo Jima six days after the beginning of the invasion. Mendez then describes action on Iwo Jima in which he faced a banzai charge from Japanese infantry and shot twenty enemy soldiers. After about a week of combat on Iwo Jima, Mendez was wounded by an exploding mortar round and evacuated from the island to a hospital ship. He eventually made his way back to the US where he was discharged from the Marine Corps in November, 1945. Mendez then mentions that he did a little boxing …

Transcript of an oral interview with Charles Thibeault. Thibeault was drafted and went into the Army in 1943. He took basic training in Alabama, was shipped overseas and joined the 35th Division, 134th Infantry, 1st Battalion, Company C in 1944 when they were in France. He was a squad leader then when he made Staff Sergeant he had his own platoon. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded. He also fought in the Battle of Bastogne and at Metz. His outfit liberated one of the concentration camps (somewhere in Germany but Thibeault couldn't remember the name). Thibeault gives a fairly graphic description of the scene at the concentration camp. After liberating the camp he got his men together and said, "As of now, right now, we do not take any more prisoners. If that is the way they are going to treat people, I will do the same. I don't care. This is not war, what they did to the people. They were prisoners of war and all that is all they done, and look how skinny they are; you could see the bones." His unit also liberated a concentration camp that just contained women. Thibeault …

Transcript of an oral interview with Paul T. "Tom" Beeghly. Beeghly was attending Ohio Wesleyen University when war was declared. He enlisted in the Army Reserve and stayed in school until he was called in early 1943. He trained as a medical aid man in the infantry at Camp Joseph P. Robinson in Arkansas. After basic training, he joined the 96th Infantry Division in Oregon for more training. By the time the division left for Hawaii in the spring of 1944, Beeghly was serving as an administrative clerk in the division's adjutant general section. En route to invade Yap, the division was diverted to Manus in the Admiralty Islands to participate in the campaign to liberate the Philippines. Beeghly then describes un;loading artillery equipment onto the shores and being on Leyte while it was being liberated. Eventually, the division left the Philippines and headed for Okinawa. When Beeghly got to Okinawa, he manned a 50-caliber machine gun while others unloaded cargo from an amphibious landing craft. When the Okinawa campaign concluded, Beeghly and the 96th went back to Mindoro to replenish train for the invasion of Japan. They were there when the war ended and eventually shipped out back to …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Hayes. Hayes joined the Navy in 1943. He was trained as a corpsman. Hayes spent time working at a Navy hospital in Oakland before he was sent to the Fleet Marine Force as a replacement. He joined the 1st Marine Division on Pavuvu after they returned from Cape Gloucester. Hayes mentions a USO show featuring Bob Hope that occurred during his time there. He landed on Peleliu with the fourth wave. Hayes was awarded the Bronze Star for removing wounded Marines from Bloody Nose Ridge. He was wounded and evacuated on the third day of battle. Hayes rejoined the division after he recovered and participated in the invasion of Okinawa. He describes taking Wana Ridge and the loss of two demolition men. Hayes traveled to China for occupation duty. One of his duties included manning a prophylactic station in a Chinese whorehouse frequented by servicemen. Hayes was also tasked with distributing penicillin on the voyage back to the States. He left the Navy soon after his return.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Alan Pilot. Pilot joined the Army in January 1943 and received basic training at Camp Howze. He received further training in Louisiana for the European Theater and then in California for the Pacific Theater. In January he left for Camp Old Gold at La Havre, where he served as a combat medic, supporting Companies E, G, and H of the 343rd Infantry, 86th Division. His unit relieved the 8th Division and fought in Cologne, where he was stationed at the top of the cathedral while it was being shelled. In the Ruhr Pocket a defective shell landed 10 feet away from him. He recalls seeing 100,000 Germans surrender there. He describes the Bavarian people as friendly as he passed through Austria on VE Day. He was then sent to the Pacific as part of Operation Coronet. VJ Day came while he was still crossing the Pacific. He spent the last five months of his service in the Philippines at a quiet outpost while the rest of his unit prepared the Philippines for independence. Pilot returned home and was discharged in January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with J L Pacheco. Pacheco joined the Marine Corps in May 1943 and received basic training at Camp Elliot. He received further training at Guadalcanal as a Raider with the 1st Marine Division. Upon completion, he was assigned to New Caledonia for special training in demolition as part of the 4th Raider Battalion. In New Caledonia he contracted malaria despite taking antimalarial pills daily. Pacheco next arrived at Guadalcanal, where remaining Japanese would sometimes sneak into camp and steal food from their hiding places in the jungle. The Raider battalions were later disbanded and instead formed the new 4th Marine Regiment. After an amphibious landing at Guam, Pacheco describes the perilous banzai-type combat in which he was engaged. In addition to his demolition duties, sealing caves, he occasionally served as an untrained mortarman and also retrieved wounded men from live combat areas. The interview ends just before Pacheco describes his experiences at Okinawa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Montgomery. Montgomery joined the Marine Corps in November 1943 and received basic training in San Diego. He received further training at ordnance school in San Francisco and then attended tank school at Camp Pendleton. Upon completion, Montgomery was assigned to the 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, where he served on a half-track. He was part of the 10th wave at the Battle of Saipan. Montgomery was wounded by a Japanese soldier he presumed dead when picking up a 300-year-old sword as a souvenir. He was part of the occupation force at Nagasaki and guarded ballot boxes at the first election at Haiki. He served in the Korean War as an executive officer. In Vietnam, he was executive officer of the 26th Marine Regiment, attached to the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions. Montgomery retired in 1971.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Burnett Napier. Napier joined the U.S. Navy during his senior year in high school. He was sent to Hospital Corps School to train as a corpsman. Napier then spent six weeks at the Oakland Naval Hospital. He was then sent to the Fleet Marine Force and joined a replacement battalion that was shipped to the Pacific. Napier arrived in Pavuvu and joined the 1st Marine Division. He then landed on Peleliu where his unit experienced heavy casualties. Napier was wounded later in the battle during a mortar barrage. He was evacuated to a ship and then to an Army hospital for treatment. Napier rejoined the 1st Division on Pavuvu which was sent to invade Okinawa soon after. He worked at the battalion aid station until he was sent back to the front due to a shortage of corpsman at the Shuri Line. Napier became ill with dysentery and was evacuated to an Army hospital and wasn’t released until the battle had ended. He traveled with his unit to China after the war had ended and left the service soon after he returned to the States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Louis Schott. Schott joined the Marine Corps Reserve while he was a college student in the summer of 1942. He trained as an infantry officer and was sent to a replacement battalion. Schott joined the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific during the invasion of Cape Gloucester. His unit was then sent to Pavuvu where they were tasked with building their rest camp. Schott landed on Peleliu and was wounded by a mortar shell on the eleventh day of battle. He discusses the difficult terrain and the challenges it created. Schott was evacuated to a hospital where he recovered from his wounds and had a bout with malaria. He rejoined the division and took part in the invasion of Okinawa. Schott discusses taking Shuri Castle. He also mentions meeting Ernie Pyle and that his last story was about Schott’s company clerk. Schott traveled with his until to China after the war ended. He stayed in the active reserves when he returned from overseas.