The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dale R. Walker. He joined the Marine Corps in 1944 and was trained in mortars at Camp Pendleton, California and then went on to Camp Tarawa at Hawaii for further training with the Fifth Marine Divison. Walker landed with the sixth wave on D-day at Iwo Jima. While working with mortars supporting the infantry, he was called on to be a stretcher bearer on occasion. Walker spent 36 days on Iwo Jima. After the Japanese surrendered, Walker served in the occupation of Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Wellman. Wellman quit high school in January 1943 (but had enough credits to graduate in June), joined the Marine Corps and went to boot camp in San Diego. After boot camp, he went to Camp Lejune, North Carolina for communications school (to teach him how to run a portable radar unit). After this school, they sent him to San Francisco where he boarded the USS Saratoga and went overseas in January 1944. After stopping in Kauai, Hawaii they were shipped to Midway and assigned to the 16th Anti-Aircraft Battalion. After Midway, they went back to Kauai. His unit was supposed to go to Iwo Jima, but their equipment was on ships (three) that blew up in Pearl Harbor so they missed that one. The next thing they did was go to Tinian. From Tinian, they boarded LSTs bound for Okinawa. They had a rough trip to Okinawa, encountering a typhoon along the way. At Okinawa, his unit was in the 3rd Amphibious Corps, 1st Marine Division. They went in with the first wave (as usual) on Easter morning, going inland four miles the first day and setting …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Carl Amundson. Amundson joined the Navy in September 1942 and received basic training at Great Lakes. Upon completion, he was assigned to an APD at Pearl Harbor that transported Marines throughout the South Pacific. He returned to the States and became a plank holder aboard the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73). After abandoning ship at the Battle of Samar, he survived 40 hours in the water despite not knowing how to swim. Amundson returned home safely, to the shock of his parents, who believed everyone aboard the Gambier Bay had been lost at sea.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Murray Brown. Brown dropped out of high school and joined the Navy in November 1941. He was assigned to the ammunition ship USS Pyro (AE-1), on which he served for two years as a boatswain’s mate. Brown sailed throughout the Pacific, from the Aleutian Islands to Espiritu Santo. After two years on the Pyro, he was transferred to the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) as an officer in charge of the second division. In the fall of 1944, when the Gambier Bay was attacked in the Battle off Samar, Brown ordered his men to abandon ship. He was afraid that he would go down with the ship, but he carefully climbed down the monkey lines while the ship was at a forty-five degree angle. It would be two days and nights before he was rescued, and men all around him were going mad from dehydration. For their safety as well as his own, Brown confiscated their knives and tossed them away. Following his rescue, Brown was reassigned to the USS Knox (APA-46), but he developed a leg malady that put him in sick bay until the end of the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Feliz. Feliz was drafted into the Navy in 1943. Upon completion of signal and radio school, Feliz spent a month on an aviation crash boat before becoming a plank owner of the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), as a signalman striker. He initially sailed to Pearl Harbor and recalls anchoring directly above the sunken USS Arizona (BB-39). The Gambier Bay earned its first battle star at Saipan, where Feliz observed the action from the starboard catwalk, prepared to provide emergency steering as needed. Later, while sailing to Hollandia, Feliz spotted a ship on which his cousin was a quartermaster and managed to communicate with him by light and semaphore. In the fall of 1944 when the Gambier Bay was struck, Feliz abandoned ship on an empty stomach, feeling extremely queasy when he hit the water. As time went on, he was surrounded by delirious sailors who had consumed too much salt water. After two days and two nights, he was eventually spotted floating in an airplane tire innertube. Feliz was reassigned to the USS Siboney (CVE-112), where he remained until the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bob Floyd. Floyd was on track to become as a ship builder, but was drafted into the Navy before graduating from high school. He was assigned to the USS Midway (CVE-63), which was renamed the USS St. Lo (CVE-63) one year later, without the sailors even knowing it. Floyd’s early voyages were to Australia and Pearl Harbor, and he recounts becoming a shellback. Upon joining a large task force at Pearl Harbor, he sailed to Saipan, Tinian and Guam. Floyd observed the Marianas Turkey Shoot, which felt to him like watching a movie. In general quarters, he was a gun captain on two 20mm guns, passing orders from the bridge to his gunners. Otherwise, he was a 40mm gunner. In the Philippines, Floyd was hit by shell fragments, earning him a Purple Heart. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Floyd and crew abandoned ship after a kamikaze strike. Upon being rescued, he felt fine apart from having no appetite, and he consequently lost thirty pounds. During recovery, Floyd was reassigned to an ammunition depot, where he remained until the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Fred Graziano. Graziano was drafted by the Navy in October of 1943. He was immediately assigned to the USS Dennis (DE-405), beginning in December. They traveled to Hawaii for gunnery practice and prepared for engagements. Their first engagements were off of New Guinea and Australia. They escorted a carrier to the Marshall Islands. In 1944 they participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Graziano provides vivid details of this battle, including his job of laying out smoke screens to hide the carriers. In February of 1945 he was transferred off the Dennis to complete advanced torpedo training. He was then shipped out to Mandi Candi island in the Pacific for 9 months serving shore patrol with the Seabees. He was discharged around December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Roy Goedeke. Goedeke joined the Navy in 1940. Beginning September of 1941, he was assigned to the deck force aboard the USS Fulton (AS-11), a submarine tender. They were in Panama on 7 December 1941. Their ship transported aviation gasoline to Nicaragua and Ecuador, where they built seaplane bases. In early 1942 they worked in Pearl Harbor assisting with asbestos clean-up. Goedeke describes the damage on the island. In July of 1942 they picked up survivors from the sunken USS Yorktown (CV-5) after the Battle of Midway. They supported ten subs traveling to Brisbane, Australia, and Goedeke describes their initiation of the pollywogs. In December of 1943 Goedeke was assigned to the USS Dennis (DE-405). In September of 1944 they provided support for the landings on Morotai Island, and continued during the invasion of Leyte in October. He describes his experiences through the battles, including casualties of fellow servicemen, attacks made upon the ship and rescuing survivors from the USS St. Lo (CVE–63). In February and March of 1945, the Dennis participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima and then the invasion of Okinawa. Goedeke was discharged in 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Jaeger. Jaeger joined the Navy when he was 18 and received basic training at Farragut. He developed pneumonia and upon recovering was too weak to complete physical training. He was assigned to the USS St. Lo (CVE-63) as an orderly to the captain, whom he greatly admired. At Saipan his battle station was at a 20-millimeter gun, and he was noted as the faster loader aboard ship. He found friendly fire to be inevitable, as inexperienced pilots flew too close to enemy aircraft above their ship. At the Battle off Samar, his captain expertly dodged enemy shells for two hours. Jaeger was sure they would be sunk, but the Japanese fleet suddenly departed. However, when the St. Lo was struck by a kamikaze soon after, Jaeger was indeed ordered to abandon ship and found his life jacket had been rendered useless by shrapnel. When he was rescued by the USS Butler (DD-636) several hours later, he was too exhausted to climb the cargo net, so two sailors swam to his aid and pulled him aboard. His nerves were shot by the time he arrived back at Pearl …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Kana. Kana joined the Navy in April of 1944. He served aboard the USS Dennis (DE-405). He visited the Marshall Islands and the Philippines. He provides vivid details of a battle off Samar. He was discharged in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Kennann. Kennann joined the Navy in 1942 at age 21. The first time he saw the ocean was at boot camp in San Diego. He was selected for aviation machinist’s school in Chicago and went on to study hydraulics. After graduating in June 1943, he was assigned to Alameda Naval Air Station as part of Composite Squadron 65 (VC-65), which then boarded the USS St. Lo (CVE-63). There Kennann performed maintenance work in the hangar deck and checked planes on the flight deck for leaks. When the St. Lo was struck by a kamikaze at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Kennann climbed down a cargo net to abandon ship. After waiting in the water for an hour, he was rescued by the USS Dennis (DE-405). By that time, he was already so weakened that he could not pull himself out of the water without assistance. Kennann rejoined his squadron and headed toward Japan, ceasing operations after the first bomb was dropped. Following his discharge, Kennann surprised his family by returning home early.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Bobby Meyers. Meyers was drafted into the Navy in June of 1943. He completed boot camp in Farragut, Idaho. He was assigned to a service school in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Beginning in 1944 he worked in the engine room as a machinist mate aboard the USS Dennis (DE-405). They traveled to Pearl Harbor, and escorted carriers throughout the Pacific. They traveled to Iwo Jima, Eniwetok and participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Dennis rescued 434 survivors from the escort carrier USS St. Lo (CVE–63), which had been sunk by a kamikaze. He shares his experience going through a typhoon. Meyers was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Alfonso Perez. Perez was born in Maxwell, Texas 11 September 1923. After finishing the fourth grade he went to work in the agricultural fields as a laborer. In January 1942 he joined the Navy and entered boot camp at San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Midway/USS St. Lo (CVE-63) as a plane captain with VC-65. He recalls the ship taking part in the invasion of Saipan and Tinian and going to Eniwetok for replacements and provisions. On 25 October 1944 the St. Lo was involved in the Battle off Samar when the Japanese attacked as planes from the St. Lo were being launched for submarine patrol. Perez remembers the Japanese ships being so close he could see enemy sailors on deck as they passed. He recalls seeing a kamikaze diving toward his ship and crashing approximately thirty feet from where he was. Upon receiving orders to abandon ship he went overboard and remembers being taken aboard a raft. The survivors were picked up by the USS Dennis (DE-405) and he recalls the compassion shown by the crew. After being treated for superficial wounds he …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas Petrillo. Petrillo was born 21 January 1917 in Methuen, Massachusetts. He received a draft notice in January 1942, but joined the Navy. He reported to boot camp at Newport, Rhode Island in April 1942. After five months of training, he reported aboard the USS Massachusetts (BB-59) as a five inch gun loader. The ship was damaged during Operation Torch in November 1942, and returned to Boston for repair. Soon after arriving, Petrillo reported aboard the newly constructed USS St. Lo (CVE-63) as a gunners mate. He recalls the battle off Samar. Petrillo was wounded after the fifth explosion aboard his ship and recalls the efforts of others to pull him from the water. Taken aboard the USS Reynolds (DE-42) he went to Leyte where he was transferred to another ship. He was operated on and put into a full body cast. Petrillo returned to the United States aboard a hospital ship, stopping at Iwo Jima and Brisbane. Upon arrival at San Francisco he was put aboard a train bound for the Chelsea Naval Hospital in Massachusetts. He describes the difficulty and special procedures needed to get him …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Grover C. Phillips. Phillips was born 7 December 1925 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Upon enlisting in the Navy in February 1943 he went to San Diego for boot training. He attended radio school, gunnery school and flight training prior to being assigned to United States. Navy. Composite Squadron 10 (VC-10) aboard the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73). He flew on fifteen missions off the ship in a TBM. During one bombing mission, the plane was damaged by flak and he comments on the masterful job the pilot did in landing the plane. While returning from another mission his plane ran out of fuel just before landing resulting in ditching into the sea. The crew was picked up by the USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) and was transferred by back to their ship. He tells of the Gambier Bay being hit by shellfire from attacking Japanese forces. Phillips was wounded twice and observed the ship’s doctor being wounded. In the water, he observed his ship sink and heard the surviving crewmen give it a cheer. After forty-five hours in the water his group of survivors was picked up by an LCI. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lester Shodo. Shodo joined the Navy in July of 1942. He completed boot camp at Great Lakes. He completed schooling for aviation machinist mate at Navy Pier in Chicago. He went on to complete Navy gunner training in Florida. Beginning in April of 1944 Shodo served aboard the USS Midway (CV-41) with Composite Squadron VC-65. They traveled to Hawaii, then to Saipan, Tinian and the Marietta Islands. Shodo worked as a turret gunner aboard a TBM, supporting ground troops during landings, bombing and rocket missions. He was then transferred to the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), where he served on missions with Composite Squadron VC-54 to Peleliu and Midway. He was later transferred back to the Midway, and VC-65, and traveled to the Philippines. Shodo was discharged in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Michael Tostik. Tostik tried to join the Navy in 1939 but was turned away. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps instead and worked for civilian contractors building materials for the military. After training with an aviation unit, he was assigned to the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73). Tostik served as a mechanic aboard ship. He was aboard when the Gambier Bay sank off Samar and describes the day. He describes abandoning ship and being in the water for just over two days. He was rescued and transferred to an LST that got caught in a typhoon. He returned to the US via the Panama Canal and was discharged in New York.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Louis Vilmer. Vilmer joined the Navy in April of 1943. He completed aerial gunnery school and trained as an aviation radioman. He traveled to Pearl Harbor around May of 1944 and transferred to the Naval Air Station at Barbers Point in Hawaii. From there he traveled to Majuro and Eniwetok awaiting assignment in a replacement pool. He served aboard the USS Braine (DD-630) before being assigned to the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73). They traveled to the Palau Islands and to Leyte Gulf, supporting troop landings. He provides some details of life aboard the Gambier Bay and his work as a dive bomber. In the summer of 1945 he completed photography and radar bombing school. He traveled to Guam and finally Alaska when the war ended. Back in the United States he was assigned to a military office processing travel reimbursements. He was discharged in March of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with G C Petit. Petit joined the Navy in 1943. He served aboard the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in the deck force and gunnery gang, beginning in 1944. Petit describes life aboard the ship. They were apart of task unit Taffy 3. They traveled through the Pacific, participating in battles at Saipan, the Philippines and Leyte Gulf. He provides some details of these battles, including the sinking of Gambier Bay during the Battle off Samar in October of 1944. He provides some detail of his time adrift in the water before being rescued. In 1945 he served aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). They transported troops from England to the U.S. He was discharged in early 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Charles Voigt. Mr Voigt graduated from high school in May 1942 and entered the service in December 1942. He went to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana where he spent ninety days in basic engineering training. After some time in California and Arizona with the 369th Engineer Special Service Regiment, he was selected to go to school in Los Angeles City College for a program called Army Specialized Training School (ASTP), which was college work. Voigt didn't finish that because he failed chemistry. As a result, he was sent to a replacement depot in Bend, Oregon. The sergeant there looked at his records and sent him to another engineering school at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He completed that and applied to go into the air corps, was accepted, and went to Carolina for preliminary training. The military decided they had enough pilots so they washed them all out. He decided to stay in the air corps and was subsequently assigned to go to Italy, arriving at Tarantino in May/June 1944. Voigt was assigned to the Forward Intelligence Group which was in Natuna, plotting aerial photographs. The photos were taken by P-38s which flew with two 24-inch focal length …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Elnora Geer. Geer finished high school in 1933 and went to work as a telephone operator in McKinney, Texas. When the war started, Geer was married and had one child with another on the way when her husband was drafted in early 1944. Before her husband shipped overseas, she moved out to California with her babies. He was en route to the Philippines when the war ended and she was on hand to greet him upon his return to New Orleans.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Black. Admiral James Richardson inspired Black to join the Navy. Black enlisted on his 18th birthday. He then trained as a radio operator and in January 1945 boarded the USS Franklin (CV-13). Black was in the mess hall after finishing a long watch when the bombs struck. Hungry and tired, he was suddenly tossed against the wall, landing conveniently on a pile of mattresses. But he was also trapped, the hatch inoperable due to a fire above. He managed somehow to escape in the dark and abandon ship. After being rescued by the USS Hunt (DD-674), Black was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down by hypothermia from the cold water. Upon recovery, he was reassigned to a secret outfit, as a radio direction finder locating enemy transmissions. After the war, Black finished his service aboard a seagoing tug, serving as the communications officer due to a shortage of men. He suffered from PTSD after discharge, which required continued use of medication to manage.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Smart. Upon graduating from junior college Smart joined the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. Having civilian pilot experience, he quickly advanced from platoon leader to company and battalion commander. Smart first joined the experienced VMSB-141 before joining VMSB-236 at Bougainville. His first combat experience involved bombing Rabaul. Smart then supported the Army in the Philippines by bombing assigned buildings and strafing enemy troops. Although Smart was fortunate enough never to encounter enemy aircraft, antiaircraft fire struck his plane in the oil cooler system, forcing a crash-landing on a guerrilla airstrip. There he was warmly received and gifted a homemade knife and scabbard by a headhunter. Later, during the Luzon campaign, Smart bombed Santo Tomas following the liberation of American prisoners and felt it was a privilege to do so. After war ended, Smart joined the Marines as a reserve pilot and had duty in Japan. He lived there with his wife and children and was amazed by how much the Japanese accepted them as allies, so soon after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clay Reeves. Reeves joined the Marine Corps in September 1942. As he enlisted, he signed his full name for the first time in his life, and he remembers how he accidentally signed a document on the wrong line. After joining his platoon, his first duty included answering the phones while guarding cookies in an office. After reassignment to Camp Pendleton, Reeves joined an anti-tank battalion. He first traveled overseas in February 1943 to protect New Zealand from potential Japanese invasion. As a corporal, he was a half-track gunner until returning to Camp Pendleton to join the 5th Marine Division. There he made buck sergeant with a 37mm anti-tank gun crew. Reeves injured his arm but was so eager to help his country that he feigned good health to engage in combat on Iwo Jima. As acting platoon leader, he shot two enemy soldiers and took a bullet to a leg, walking five miles to return to base. When his medical records revealed his prior arm injury, he was sent home before the war ended and was discharged shortly thereafter.