Interview with Ornell Balzer, beginning with the evolution of her career at M.D. Anderson. She recounts how she moved to Houston after graduating from nursing school and her return to M.D. Anderson. Ms. Balzer then details her memories of time spent working at Baker Estate and her interactions with colleagues and patients.

Faculty and guest artist recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Betty Kaiser. Kaiser was born in Glasgow, Scotland prior to World War II. She tells of hearing air raid warnings that signaled the approach of German bombers in the area and describes the air raid shelters in the local neighborhood and those at school. Recalling a normal day’s activities during those times, she reflects upon the shortages and of rationing many necessities.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dick Williams. Williams joined the Army Air Forces in May of 1943. He completed mechanic school, and served as an airplane and engine mechanic. He also completed infantry basic training and was assigned as a mechanic to the 13th Air Force. Williams did not participate in any ground fighting. He traveled to New Caledonia, Borneo, Palawan and Leyte. He was discharged in late 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William G. Mehling. Mehling was born in Alexandria, Indiana on 1 October 1924. In April 1943, he was drafted into the Army. Following basic training at Camp Roberts, California, he was sent to the Army Specialized Training Program at Stanford University, then to Indiana University for a nine month course in engineering. In May 1944 he was sent to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky for refresher basic training, then to Fort Campbell for combat engineer training. In November 1944 Mehling sailed for Marseilles, France as a member of the 1271st Combat Engineers, attached to the 7th Army, 75th Infantry Division. After a brief stay in Marseilles, the unit went to a small town in Alsace-Lorraine. By April 1945 they were near the front laying mine fields, clearing German mine fields, and building Bailey bridges. The 1271st followed the 75th south to Austria and almost to the Italian border. After the German surrender in May, they went to Antwerp, Belgium in preparation for transfer to the Pacific. Before that could happen, the war ended. Mehling returned to the US in December 1945 and was discharged on 3 January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard L. Nielsen. Nielsen joined the Navy in 1960 after two years of college at San Francisco State. Nielsen discusses his father's service aboard liberty ships as a radio operator in the Merchant Marine during WWII in the Pacific. He also shares anecdotes about time in boot camp at San Diego. After boot camp, Nielsen went to hospital corps school. Upon completion of that, he was stationed in the intensive care unit at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He relays an encounter he had with Admiral Nimitz as a patient at the hospital. He also relates an incident in which he traveled with a doctor to Yerba Buena Island to treat Admiral Nimitz at his home the day before he passed away.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Larkin Dilbeck. Dilbeck was born on 29 September 1918. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in several areas of Arkansas, helping farmers prepare their fields, building roads and log benches for Arkansas State Parks. He attended Eastern New Mexico State University in Portales, studying Forestry before being drafted into the Army in December 1942. He served with the 740th Tank Battalion, codenamed Daredevil, in the 9th Armored Division. Dilbeck worked as a loader on a Sherman tank. They participated in the Battle of the Bulge, the Central Europe Campaign, and the Rhineland Offensive.

Then National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with LaVergne Thomas. Thomas was born in Louisville, Kentucky 31 March 1921. After graduating from high school in 1939 she entered nurse training, which she completed at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Houston, Texas in 1942. Joining the US Army Nurse Corps 7 December 1942 she entered the service as a second lieutenant at Randolph Field, Texas and was sent to Bowman Field, Kentucky for training as a flight nurse. She trained in C-47 aircraft that could hold eighteen patients. She boarded HMS Queen Elizabeth 1 February 1944 with other members of the 814th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron and landed at Firth, Scotland. Her unit flew to various points in Europe with gasoline and supplies and returned with wounded soldiers. She treated German prisoners of war as they were being taken to England. She also treated American casualties, injured during the Battle of the Bulge. After a year of traveling between England and the Continent, Thomas began flying to the United States in C-54 aircraft, which would carry twenty-four patients. These flights took twenty-six hours with an overnight stop in Newfoundland. She continued making these flights until Germany surrendered. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Melvin Best. Best was born 10 February 1921 in Paducah, Texas. He received his private pilot’s license while enrolled at Texas Tech University. He joined the Army Air Corps on 13 January 1942 and reported to Kelly Field in San Antonio for training. He received his primary flight training at several locations, and then he transferred to Columbia, South Carolina for B-25 training. Upon graduating in October 1942, he was assigned to the 345th Bombardment Group and sent to Australia. His group initially flew missions to New Guinea dropping supplies to Australian troops in the mountains. Best was next sent to Townsville, Australia in August 1943 where he met Colonel Paul Irvin Gunn, a retired Navy pilot commissioned into the Army Air Forces at the start of the war and was instrumental in modifying the B-25 for strafing missions. His first strafing missions were conducted over Rabaul. The modified B-25s made three more strafing runs on Rabaul, resulting in the destruction of 140 Japanese aircraft. Best was escorted during more than half of his strafing raids by Richard Bong. Following the Rabaul raids he returned to Townsville, Australia …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Hamilton. Hamilton joined the Marine Corps in July of 1945. In January of 1946 he was sent overseas as a replacement. He traveled to Tangku in North China, where he remained for the duration of his service. He worked on bridge guard duty, ensuring the bridges remained open. He shares his experiences living and working in China after the war. Hamilton was sent home and discharged in September of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Elbert Dixon. Dixon joined the Marine Corps in November of 1944. He completed radio school. In April of 1945 he went overseas as a replacement. He traveled to Pearl Harbor, and worked as a guard in the brig. They traveled on to Eniwetok, Truk, Kwajalein, Saipan and Guam. Dixon and his unit participated in the Battle of Okinawa, where he served as a radioman with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. Dixon was discharged in August of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Louis Weller. Weller was born in Fowler, Michigan on 3 January 1925. In 1943 he joined the US Marine Corps and reported to San Diego for boot camp. Upon completing boot training, he was assigned to the motor pool in Marine Photographic Squadron 154 (VMD-154) at Kearney Naval Air Station, California. In September 1945 he boarded a transport for Zamboanga, Philippines. Upon his arrival he was assigned to VMB-443. After a short period of time he returned to Zamboanga where he joined VMF-115 of Marine Air Group 12. On 13 October 1945, the squadron went aboard the USS Hydrus (AKA-28) and set sail for Taku, China. Arriving there, the equipment was off loaded and moved to Beijing. In the spring of 1946 the squadron was transferred into Marine Air Group 24 and moved to Nanfang Airfield, China. In July 1946, Weller went aboard the USS General J.C. Breckinridge (AP-176) and returned to the United States. He was discharged soon thereafter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eugene Zanck. Zanck was born in Chicago, Illinois on 2 May 1927. Upon joining the Marine Corps in early 1945, he took a troop train to Paris Island, South Carolina. He witnessed his first case of racial prejudice during the trip. Upon competing boot training, he was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for two months of infantry training. He then went to Marine Corps engineering school where he was trained in demolition, bridge building, and heavy equipment operation. In January 1946, he boarded the SS Young America (1943) and arrived in China as a member of the 7th Marine Regiment occupation forces. He tells of guarding the roads and railways to prevent destruction by the Chinese communist forces. In November 1946, he flew from Tsingtao, China to Hawaii aboard a Military Air Transport Service plane. He then went by boat to San Diego, where he received his discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joseph Blum. Blum quit school, lied about his age and joined the Marines in December, 1943. He trained as an artilleryman and was deployed overseas to Okinawa. His artillery unit was deactivated and Blum then volunteered for service in the 5th Marine Regiment. After the war, Blum went to China on occupation duty in Beijing. He recalls several incidents involving repatriating Japanese soldiers and skirmishes with Chinese communists.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Barry Crites. Crites was born in Osage City, Kansas on 7 July 1928. After completing high school, he joined the Marine Corps in February 1946. Following boot camp in San Diego, he was sent to Camp Pendleton as part of the 104th replacement draft. He embarked on the troopship USS General J. C. Breckenridge (AP-176) in June 1946 and sailed to Tsingtao, China. He provides a description of his experiences during the transit. He says that Tsingtao was the headquarters of the Sixth Marine Division which was soon disbanded, and he was assigned to the First Division as a sales clerk at the local Post Exchange in Chinwangtao, China. Crites provides several anecdotes from his experiences in Tsingtao and Chinwangtao. He returned to the United States in January 1947 and was discharged at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in California.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur Patcke. Patcke was born in born in Chicago, Illinois on 13 July 1927 and was drafted into the Marine Corps in September, 1945. He describes some of his experiences at boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. He was sent overseas to Tsingtao, China in the middle of 1946, and describes a typhoon that his ship experienced during the transit. He was assigned to a communications company in the 15th Marine Regiment, which was part of the Sixth Marines at the time. He provides details of his experiences in Tsingtao and recalls that he was discharged in the fall of 1946 after 50 weeks active duty.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ed De la Torres. De la Torres joined the Marines around 1945. He traveled to Pearl Harbor, and upon completing basic training, the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in August of 1945. They traveled to Guam and De la Torres served as a rifleman. He worked to get remaining Japanese off the island. From there he went to Chinwangtao in China and joined an Allied tank unit. Working with the Merchant Marines, De la Torres helped bring in food for the civilian population. He returned home and was discharged in the spring of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Farneth. Farneth joined the Marine Corps in 1943. He trained as an ordnanceman, and joined fighter squadrons VMF-523 and VMF-524, training pilots to go overseas. In 1945 he joined the 22nd Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division. They traveled to Guam and trained for the invasion of the mainland of Japan. After the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki their mission ceased. Farneth was then sent to China to complete his final year of service. He helped repatriate the Japanese from the Chinese mainland. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Kovar. Kovar joined the Marine Corps in the spring of 1945. In February of 1946 he traveled to China aboard the USS President Adams (APA-19). Kovar served as a combat engineer with the 1st Marine Division, 1st Engineer Battalion, Charlie Company 1st Engineers. He worked as an engineer throughout 1946, including building and blowing up structures, making roads and building bridges. They were also responsible for transporting coal to keep the trains running, and assisting with the disarming of the Japanese Army and shipping them back to Japan. Kovar returned to the US in June of 1947, and continued his service with the Marines for 28 years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edward Jacot. Jacot joined the Marine Corps in January of 1945. He served with the 6th Marine Division as a field artillery crewman in the Occupation of North China from 1945 to 1946. He was discharged in 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Tierney. Tierney joined the Marine Corps and trained in communications. He was sent to China for occupation duty as a replacement in the 1st Marine Division. Tierney served as a guard on trains to prevent delays caused by Chinese communists and describes the tactics that were employed. Tierney describes conflict between Nationalist and communist forces. He returned to the US in October of 1946 and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Smrt. Smrt joined the Army in late 1942 and was trained as a combat engineer and assigned to the 319th Combat Engineers, 94th Infantry Division. He arrived in France after the Normandy invasion and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. He was still in Europe when the war ended and participated in the occupation.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Rodenhouse. Rodenhouse joined the Army Air Forces on 8 December 1941. He served as a B-29 Pilot with the 313th Bombardment Wing, 6th Bombardment Group, 39th Bomb Squadron. From his base on Tinian, Rodenhouse completed 35 Pacific Theater missions. Rodenhouse served in the Air Force Reserves until he earned the rank of major, then was honorably discharged in September of 1956.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Thompson. Thompson was born in Chicago on 3 December 1919. He worked various jobs after graduating from high school in Indiana in 1937. In 1943, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Joseph Robinson, Arkansas for six weeks of infantry basic training. He then went to Westchester State Teacher College in Pennsylvania for six weeks of training in Army Postal Services. After spending some time at Camp Shanks, Pennsylvania he went to Newport News, Virginia where he boarded the RMS Empress of Scotland for a three day trip to Casablanca in North Africa. There he was assigned to the 5th Army, Adjutant Generals Office, 9th Base Post Office, in June 1943. He was assigned to the bulk mail section in Algeria and worked there thirteen months before being sent to Leghorn, Italy. He describes in detail receiving and processing military mail. He returned to the United States in September 1945 and was discharged.