Interview with R. B. Smithwick concerning his experiences before, during, and after his employment in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. Smithwick worked at camps in Farmersville, Texas (Company 869) and Kaufman, Texas (Company 869).

Interview with Erma Peace, a former student at the Frederick Douglass Colored School in Denton, Texas. In the interview, Peace describes what it was like attending the school, and includes details concerning the facilities, extra-curricular activities, the layout of the school, teachers and the principal, and activities. Peace comments on segregation in Denton.

Transcript of an interview with John Cowden, a Navy veteran from Missouri, concerning his experiences aboard the battleship USS West Virginia during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Transcript of an interview with Anna Harriet Heyer, the first full-time music librarian of North Texas, concerning her experiences during the development of the Music Library at North Texas State College from 1940 to 1965.

Interview with Paul Dillon concerning his experiences before and during his employment in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. Dillon worked at a camp in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania (Company 1381). Includes an appendix with Dillon's CCC discharge papers and a photograph of his camp.

Interview with Forrest B. Earnest, a former member of the Civilian Conservation Corps from Cotton County, Oklahoma. Earnest discusses his family origins, education and jobs as a young man, joining the CCC, working on the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, organization and geography of the camp, working as a clerk, routine, leisure, pay, educational programs, religion and literature in camp, fights, and benefits of being in CCC.

Interview with Thomas McKee concerning his experiences during his employment in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. McKee worked at a camp in Waxahachie, Texas (Company 878). Includes an appendix.

Interview with Hazel and Annie Mae Kennedy about their recollections of Texarkana, Texas from 1927 to 1941. They discuss their careers, church activities, social organizations, their education, entertainment, local business enterprises, women in business, and ethnic groups.

Interview with Charles H. Roberts, a Marines WWII veteran from Denton, Texas, who was present at Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station, Oahu, on December 7th, 1941. Roberts discusses the different waves of attacking Japanese aircraft, returning fire, the immediate aftermath, reactions on Oahu and defensive measures, and casualties.

Transcript of an interview with William D. Whitson, a businessman and an Army Air Corps veteran (442nd Bomb Squadron, 8th Air Force), from Denton, Texas, concerning his experiences as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II. Whitson discusses flight training, his flight from the U.S. to Grafton-Underwood, England, his personal relationship with Curtis Le May, his missions and German defenses, his nineteenth mission and crash landing, and his twenty-fifth mission.

Warren Whitson, Jr., a businessman and an Army Air Corps veteran (493rd Bomb Group, 860th Bomb Squadron, 8th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II. Whitson discusses his pre-flight and flight training in 1943, his assignment to the 493rd Bomb Group, 860th Bomb Squadron at Stone, England, the characteristics of the B-17G, his first mission in Berlin, problems with flak, tactics to counter German radar, his engine trouble and crash landing in eastern Germany, his rescue by Russian troops, his trip by C-47 back to England via Poltava, Tehran, Cairo, Tripoli, and Dijon, his assignment to a new crew, being shot down by German fighter planes on his seventeenth mission, his brief experiences as a POW, and his liberation by British troops.

Interview with Miles E. Anderson, former professor and administrator at the North Texas State College in Denton, Texas. In the interview, Anderson describes his experiences concerning the desegregation of the college and race relations in Denton, Texas. He also comments on President J. C. Matthews and chair of the Board of Regents, Ben Wooten.

Interview with Jay Titus, an Army Air Forces veteran (457th Squadron, 330th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-29 bombardier in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Bombing missions from Guam to Japan in 1945; Japanese fighter and flak opposition; fire bombing raids. Appendix includes a photocopy of the "350th Bomb Group Digest: a summary of combat activities from April 12 to Sept. 2 1945" [21 leaves]

Interview with Joe Frank Ferguson, musician and vocalist, concerning his experiences as a musician/vocalist with Bob Will's "Texas playboys" and the "Light Crust Doughboys" western swing bands, 1936-42; comments about Bob Willis and band members Marvin Montgomery, Kenneth Pitts, Al Stricklin, "Smokey" Dacus, "Knocky" Parker, Leon McAuliffe, Eldon Shamblin; forming his own groups and playing the Fort Worth, Texas, night club circuit, 1950-70; comments about western swing, big band, and pop music.

Interview with James N. Hall, a Army Air Force WWII veteran from Burkburnett, Texas. Hall discusses joining the Air Force from college, basic training, classification, flight training, the P-47, fighter tactics, deplyoment to Le Culot Airfield in Belgium, his first mission, briefings and intelligence, Air Support Parties, close air support, flak, bomber escort, air-to-air encounters, casualties, logistics, German civilians, crash landings, V-E Day, and return to civilian life.

Interview with Warren D. Crumbling, Army veteran, special agent, and member of the White House Security Detail for President Lyndon B. Johnson. The interview includes Crumbling's personal experiences about education and employment before entering the military, basic training, various assignments, and being appointed to the White House Security Detail at President Lyndon B. Johnson's LBJ Ranch. Additionally, Crumbling talks about relations between the military and civilian law enforcement authorities in San Antonio during World War II, his marriage, his fourth enlistment and assignment to Kobe, Japan, various stateside assignments, his retirement from the Army, President and Mrs. Johnson, and his retirement from the Secret Service.

Interview with E. Benjamin Dunn, a Army WWII veteran and POW from Gorham, Illinois, who was captured by the Japanese on Java with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (the "Lost Battalion.") Dunn discusses training in the Army, transfer to 2-131 and deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and being captured, experiences in internment in Batavia and later Changi Prison Camp in Singapore, building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, and liberation.

Interview with Army Air Forces veteran Wilbur H. Ford. The interview includes Ford's personal experiences about being a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II, training, transferring to the Army Air Force from the Army, flight training, B-17 transition training, and crew training. Ford also talks about his assignment to the 401st Bomb Group, enemy flak, the highlights of his nine missions over Germany, battle damage to his plane, the Dresden raid, returning to the States, and transition training in B-29s for transfer to the Pacific Theater.

Interview with advertising executive and Navy veteran William J. Alexander. The interview includes Alexander's personal experiences about being a teenager during World War II, being a sailor during the last months of World War II, early youth in Casper, Wyoming, moving back to Denver to be reunited with his parent and employment at the Brown Palace Hotel, wartime rationing, joining the Navy, and boot camp. Additionally, Alexander talks about his close relationship with his older brother, life in Casper during the Great Depression while living with his aunt and uncle, local reactions to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, vignettes about John Barrymore, Sammy Kaye, Harry James, and Betty Grable, his brother's enlistment in the Navy, his employment at Station KOA in Denver, making broadcast announcements about D-Day, the sinking of his brother's destroyer, the USS Spence, during a typhoon, the effects of his brother's death on him and his parents, V-J Day celebrations in Chicago, his role as director of the base chapel choir at Opa Locka Naval Air Station, and his postwar career.

Interview with W. W. Hughes, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran from Grand Prarie, Texas. Hughes discusses growing up in the Great Depression, joining the National Guard and equestrian service in the 112th Cavalry at Fort Clark, the start of war and deployment to New Caledonia and Australia, preparations for combat, amphibious landings at Arawe Island off New Britain, scout patrols and combat, operations in New Guinea at the Driniumor River, Japanese POWs, actions in the Philippines at Leyte and Luzon, returning to the US as an instructor, and reflections on his service.

Interview with businessman Harold Corey. The interview includes Corey's personal experiences about the Texas International Pop Festival. Corey talks about his parents' reaction to the social, political, and cultural changes of the Sixties, his early interest in popular music, protests against the Vietnam War, conflicts with the redneck culture, the influence of the Beatles on the music of the Sixties, the influence of the "British Invasion," meeting the Grand Funk Railroad at the festival, Hog Farm, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, the sale and use of drugs, the trip tent, festival security, activities at the campgrounds, comments about Ten Years After, and the lasting effects of the festival on his life. The interview includes an appendix with a campground map and festival advertisement.

Interview with Charles Kingsley, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran from Dallas, Texas, who served in the 112th Cavalry. Kingsley discusses his upbringing, joining the Guard, the Louisiana Maneuvers, deployment to New Caledonia, his troop's machine gun section/platoon, Woodlark Island, the Battle of Arawe, New Guinea and the Battle of Drinumor River, the Battles of Leyte and Luzon, his thoughts on the generals he served, and thoughts on the 112th.

Interview with landscape architect and Army veteran William Garbo Sr. The interview includes Garbo's personal experiences about the G Troop, 112th Cavalry, in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World-War II, growing up in an Italian-American family in Mississippi during the Great Depression, volunteering for the draft and processing at Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, basic training at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, being assigned to the 26th War Dog Platoon and to New Guinea in 1944, the Battle of the Driniumor River and his attachment to elements of the 32nd Infantry Division, jungle patrols on New Guinea with his dog, his transfer to Troop, 112th Cavalry and the invasion of Layte, Philippines, and the living condition in the Philippine jungles. Additionally, Garbo speaks about the fighting prowess of his comrades in the 112th Cavalry, jungle patrols on Leyte and Luzon, the 112th's activities around Marungko and Antipolo, Luzon, descriptions of cannibalism by Japanese soldiers, his wounds from artillery shrapnel and evacuation by helicopter, his return to the 112th Cavalry and preparations for the invasion of Japan, witnessing the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, occupation duty at Tateyama, Honshu, relations between Japanese civilians and American occupation troops, the destruction of Japanese defensive fortifications …

Interview with Allen H. Benton, World War II-era veteran of the 112th Cavalry, Texas National Guard. The interview includes Benton's personal experiences about childhood in upstate New York and the Depression-era economy, education at Cornell University, drafting into the U.S. Army Infantry and service at several stateside bases, transferring to Cavalry and combat in the Pacific Theater, and having a career as an author of biological field guides. The interview also includes Benton's memories of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay as well as his opinions on war in general.