The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Henry Mooi. Mooi joined the Navy in January of 1945. He served aboard USS Cabot (CVL-28). He served on fire watch duty. Mooi remained aboard the Cabot through the end of the war, and they provided air cover during the Japanese surrender on USS Missouri (BB-63).

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Rudolph Schultz. Schultz was drafted into the Army Air Forces in March, 1943. He received radar training in Florida and then served with the 13th Air Force. He installed a radar station at Noumea and trained men on its use. He also trained more men at Guadalcanal and the Admiralty Islands. Schultz was at Leyte when the war ended and soon went to Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Arnold Shidler. Shidler joined the Army in 1944. He served with the 80th Infantry Division, 318th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion. In July of 1944, they deployed to England. They were in active duty through France, and into Germany, participating in the Battle of the Bulge. After receiving frostbite on his feet, he was sent back to England in early 1945. Shidler was later stationed in La Havre, France until the end of the war. Shidler returned to the US and was discharged in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Williams. Williams was born in Chicago on 21 April 1925. After quitting school in the sixth grade, he worked with the Works Progress Administration. In 1942, he joined the Navy and went to Camp Perry, Virginia for six weeks of basic training. He was then sent to Eastport, Maine for six months before taking a troop train to California where he was assigned to the 136th Construction Battalion. There he had advanced infantry training as well as training on various tractors, bull dozers and other construction equipment. The unit then sailed for Guam where they were assigned to the 3rd Marine Division. Williams describes burying the dead, both Japanese and American, by covering them with dirt pushed by the bull dozers. He also tells of being on patrol and engaging Japanese infiltrators. While on Guam the unit built a hospital as well as runways for B-29 bombers. The unit remained on Guam until the invasion of Iwo Jima at which time they were assigned to the 5th Marine Division. Williams recalls clearing the beaches of wreckage and burying the dead with bull dozers. Following the surrender of …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Gilbreath. Born in 1925, he was drafted into the Marine Corps in 1943. As a member of a mortar team in the 4th Division, he first saw military action on Roi-Namur. He describes a mortar and his role on a mortar team. He relates an incident in which LSTs, including his own USS LST-39, caught fire and exploded in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He describes action on Saipan, including landing; combat; friendly fire; Japanese Banzai attacks; and civilian suicides. He also recounts an incident on Saipan in which the Japanese soldiers used civilians to draw fire in order to locate U. S. military positions at night. He talks about living conditions on Saipan after the invasion and mentions radio broadcasts of Tokyo Rose. After the invasions of Saipan and Tinian, he went to Hawaii to prepare for the invasion of Iwo Jima. He talks about seasickness and refueling an LST while at sea en route to Iwo Jima. He describes landing and combat on Iwo Jima. He sustained a shrapnel wound, but was treated and sent back to his unit. He speaks about the living conditions in various …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Thomas Alt. Alt joined the Aviation Cadet Corps in June of 1942 at the age of 17. By January of 1943, once he turned 18, he was called up for training. In mid-1943 he traveled to Pearl Harbor, and completed Fire Fighting School with the Navy while on the island. In mid-1944 Alt was assigned to the USS Sea Cat (SS-399). He worked as Military Police on night shifts and guard duty in the brig. They traveled to Saipan and the South China Sea where the Sea Cat operated in a wolf pack. He landed on Saipan 7 July 7, as the battle was coming to an end. He served with a firefighting crew on the beach for pilots making emergency or crash landings. Alt remained on Saipan through early 1945. He was stationed on Tinian in July, and recalls when the Enola Gay landed. He returned to the US and was discharged in March of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Gibbons. Gibbons completed infantry training in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M his freshman and sophomore years of college. In January of 1943 he gave up his exemption for college and volunteered for the Army. He completed the Army Special Training Program, and volunteered for the paratroopers. Gibbons completed jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He also completed Demolition School. He traveled with replacement paratroopers to England in April of 1944, and joined the 82nd Airborne Division. He participated in the Normandy landings in June, Operation Market Garden in August and the Battle of the Bulge in December. He shares details of his combat experiences. After the war ended, he remained in Germany on guard duty, and completed college courses in England and France. He returned home and was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Fred Chupp. Chupp joined the Army in November of 1942. He served with the 197th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, A Battery. He provides details of his military training, including amphibious training in Virginia. In January of 1944, Chupp traveled to Camp Upton Lovell in Codford, England, where they prepared for the invasion of Normandy. They landed on Omaha Beach the afternoon of 6 June 1944. They also participated in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. His outfit guarded ammunition and fuel dumps, as well as ammunition and fuel convoys. Chupp was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ralph Miller. Miller was born on 11 June 1916 in Pulaski, Indiana. After graduating from high school in 1933, he worked at the family store until he was inducted into the Army in May 1941. Assigned to the 35th Tank Battalion, Headquarters Company, 4th Armored Division, he participated in training and maneuvers in Tennessee, California and Texas. In 1944, the unit boarded the USS General J.C. Breckenridge (AP-176) and landed in England. He describes landing on Omaha Beach seven days after the initial invasion and being subjected to German mortar fire. He was at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and recalls meeting the Russians in Czechoslovakia. He returned to the United States in September 1945 and was discharged soon thereafter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with B.J. Pumphrey. Pumphrey joined the Navy in June of 1942. He served for a short time as crewman on a PBY flying anti-submarine missions. Pumphrey was then sent to the USS Midway (CVE-63) where he served as a phone talker on the bridge. He describes the superstitions of the crew when the name of the ship was changed to the St. Lo. Pumphrey describes Taffy 3 coming under attack and seeing the Japanese shells land near the ship. He details being hit by a kamikaze and the damage that resulted. He discusses his time in the water and eventual rescue. Pumphrey describes being inspected by Admiral Nimitz and the impression he received. He was then sent to commission the USS Little Rock (CL-92). Pumphrey left the service in September 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Trinidad J. Martinez. During the Great Depression, Martinez quit school in the 4th grade and went to work selling newspapers, shining shoes and driving a vegetable truck to raise money for the family. Martinez was at Clark Field when the Japanese attacked the Philippines. He and a few others surrendered to a Japanese squad on Bataan and were sent on the Bataan Death March. At Camp O'Donnell, Martinez worked on a burial detail before being moved to Cabanatuan, where he worked on the farm. Eventually, Martinez was shipped to Japan where he worked in an iron foundry. He also describes being liberated and travelling back home to the US.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Michael J. Bauman. Bauman was born 14 September 1919 in Star City, Indiana. Joining the Army Air Corps in 1940, he went to Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio. He was then sent to Langley Field, Virginia where he volunteered for the bombardier program. Bauman and seven others began the training with no written instructions and very little equipment. In January 1941 he began practice bombing missions in a Douglas B-18 bomber. By May, Bauman was training in B-26s. He discusses the various attributes of each type of plane. Remembering 7 December 1941 he tells of being ordered back to the air field where they immediately began mounting machine guns and bomb racks on all the bombers. On 8 December they flew the planes to Muroc, California where he was assigned to the 22nd Bomb Group (Medium), 33rd Squadron. He relates several flying escapades that occurred prior to boarding the USS U.S. Grant (AP-29) for Hawaii. In March 1942 they flew to Townsville, Australia. On 10 April he flew his first bombing mission over Rabaul. He comments on the lack of success of the mission. Bauman flew sixteen combat …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Bremyer. Bremyer applied for a commission in the Navy in early 1942 and went on active duty in May. His first duty assignment was in Florida conducting anti-submarine warfare. From there, he reported for duty at the Fleet Post Office in New Orleans. He eventually ended up working in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington composing regulations for secret message delivery. Then, Bremyer worked for the Secretary of the Navy. One unusual assignment Bremyer carried out was to deliver the US flag flown from Commodore Matthew Perry’s flagship he was aboard when he went to Japan in 1854 to the surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay. After the war, Bremyer returned to law school.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Doty. Doty was working as the head of safety in various munitions factories before he beat his deferment and volunteered for duty in the Marine Corps in 1944. Doty shares several anecdotes from training because the war ended before he went overseas. Doty was much older than everyone else around him and he was called Pop. He was discharged in August, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Thomas C. Griffin. Griffin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Coast Artillery through the Army ROTC program at the University of Alabama in 1939. Griffin served with the 61st Coast Artillery from July 1939 to July 1940, when he became an Aviation Cadet with the Army Air Corps. He was re-commissioned and awarded his Navigator Wings in June 1941. Griffin volunteered for the Doolittle Raid and was the navigator on the ninth B-25 to take off. After bombing their assigned targets in Tokyo, the crew bailed out over China when their aircraft ran out of fuel. Griffin remained in China and served with the 34th Bomb Squadron from April to August 1942, where he flew 1 additional combat mission. He next joined the 438th Bomb Squadron of the 319th Bomb Group, flying the B-26 Marauder, and left for England in September 1942. Griffin flew 19 combat missions in North Africa before being shot down and taken as a prisoner of war of Germany in July 1943. He was placed in Stalag Luft III. He was released in late April 1945, and left active duty the following February. Griffin remained …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Phillip Grau. Grau entered the Army Air Forces in October, 1941 after having studied radio and telegraph operation. He did well enough to be an instructor before going overseas. In 1944, Grau went to Dacca, India. Once there, Grau served as a radio operator aboard cargo planes flying aviation gasoline over the Himalaya Mountains to airfields in China. He had over 1500 hours flight time and shares several anecdotes about flying the Hump. Shortly after the war ended, Grau headed home and was discharged in November 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Holt. Holt was drafted into the Army in May 1944 and had basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After basic training, Holt was assigned as an infantryman in the 16th Armored infantry Battalion, 13th Armored Division. He describes his experiences in France and Germany being under sniper fire and moving forward to the Ruhr Valley. Holt returned to the US with his unit in June, 1945, as they were slated to invade Japan. He was discharged in February, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur Liberty. Born in Vermont, Liberty quit high school in 1942 to join the Marine Corps. He took boot training at Parris Island for nine weeks before going to Camp Lejeune where he was assigned to Company M, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines. After three more weeks of training, the company boarded a troop train to Camp Pendleton. Liberty boarded a ship bound for Rio-Namur during January 1944. He was in the third wave of the invasion and was wounded one hour after landing. He was taken to Aiea Naval Hospital in Pearl Harbor for treatment and recovery. Upon recovering, he returned to his division in time for the invasion of Saipan in June 1944. He landed with the first wave, endured heavy Japanese artillery and machine gun fire, which killed or wounded several members of his squad. Later, the battalion invaded Tinian where Liberty recalls being in a foxhole with three others when an artillery shell exploded close by wounding one and killing two others leaving him unharmed. Next, Liberty landed on Iwo Jima on 19 February. Of the 350 men in his company who landed on Iwo …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harry Miller. Miller was born in Beaver Township, Indiana on 28 April 1922. Upon joining the Navy in November 1942, he went to Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois for boot training. Upon his arrival he was selected for six months of training as a pharmacist’s mate. Upon completion of the course he was assigned to the Midshipman’s School at Notre Dame University. Among those from whom he drew blood, for medical purposes, was the movie actor Jackie Cooper. In 1943 he went to Treasure Island, California where he boarded the SS America bound for Brisbane, Australia. Upon his arrival he was assigned to the medical emergency room aboard the USS Blue Ridge (AGC-2). He describes his experiences while aboard the ship. Miller was then assigned to the patrol craft USS PC-1119. He recalls picking up USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) survivors and describes their condition and the treatment he administered. He was later awarded the Bronze Star for his work in treating those sailors. Soon after returning to the United States, Miller was operated on for a medical condition. He was discharged soon after leaving the hospital in …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Claiborn Wamsley. Wamsley joined the Navy in November, 1943 and attended signal school after boot training. He was then assigned to USS LST-1040, picked it up in Pittsburgh and rode down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. From there, they traveled to Pearl Harbor. From there, the 1040 went to Okinawa to unload supplies. He also recalls being caught in typhoons. After the war, Wamsley spent time in Japan and China delivering materials and people to various ports. He returned to the US and was discharged in June, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Wallingford. Wallingford enlisted in the Navy in August, 1942. He received very little training before being assigned to USS LST-452 in Washington. They first went to Hawaii, then Australia before getting involved in the campaign for New Guinea. In the Philippines, at Leyte, Wallingford was aboard when the ship received 8 enemy shells while beached and unloading. Toward the end of the war, Wallingford was assigned to USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) and rode it to China after the war ended. Upon returning from China, Wallingford was discharged in January, 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dr. Dorr W. Brown, MD. Brown begins with recalling anecdotes about growing up in various parts of Texas, attending Southwestern University in Gerogetown, and going to medical school in Galveston before joining the Navy after the beginning of World War II. Once he was in the Navy, Brown did his medical internship in Norman, Oklahoma. Brown eventually ended up at Pearl Harbor and then went to Japan as part of the Occupation. After the war, Brown stayed in the Navy for a while and became a flight surgeon. he resigned soon after and went tinto private medical practice in Fredericksburg, Texas.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with Neil Stiles. Stiles joined the Marine Corps in September 1941. After his first assignment at Norfolk, Stiles volunteered for training with the Fourth Raider Battalion. He shipped overseas with them in late 1943 to Espiritu Santo. He participated in the invasion of New Georgia. When the Raiders were reorganized, Stiles was assigned to the 4th Marines. He also recalls combat anecdotes from Guam and Okinawa. At Okinawa, Stiles was wounded. Stiles was discharged in November 1945. A few years later, he rejoined and went to Korea and Vietnam.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joseph Ramos. Ramos joined the Army Air Forces in June of 1942. He served with a troop carrier squadron aboard a C-47, as a radio operator. He attended a number of USO shows. They traveled to northern Morocco, where he was in charge of an identification, friend or foe (IFF) system box. He traveled on to Algeria, Sicily, North Africa, Iran delivering drop tanks. Ramos flew with a photo reconnaissance unit aboard a B-17. His troop carrier squadron supported the invasion of Southern France in August of 1944. Ramos was discharged in September of 1945.