The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Allen Hugh. Hugh reads a series of letters dated 1907, when he was 21 years old, written to his mother while serving in the Navy. He speaks about schooling in the Navy and interactions with Chester Nimitz, whom he served with. He served as a deck and ordnance officer. He comments on traveling to Manila, Philippines, and his experiences hunting, swimming and touring the island. He served aboard the USS Wisconsin (BB-64), where he traveled to Nagasaki, Japan and Kuling, China. He speaks on visiting a Mr. McNally there and riding in sedan chairs with three other midshipmen. Hugh describes serving aboard the USS Decatur (DD-5) that Nimitz commanded in 1907.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Huddleston Wright. Wright, an Army veteran (2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, Texas National Guard) and a member of the Lost Battalion, concerning his experiences as a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War II. Wright discusses the fall of Java and his capture, Bicycle Camp in Batavia (1942), Changi Prison Camp in Singapore (1942), building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway (1942-1944), Kanchanaburi, Thailand (1944-1945), Phet Buri, Thailand (1945), and his liberation. Wright served in the Army through 1956. See Appendix starting on page 138.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents a monologue with Douglas Hubbard. Hubbard recalls several events surrounding the recovery of the artifacts from various Pacific battlefield areas during the 1971-72 time period. His father, Doug, Sr., served as museum director in 1971, and during that time Hubbard, Jr. was serving in Vietnam with the US Naval Intelligence Command. Through his numerous travels through New Guinea and other Pacific Islands, Hubbard identified remaining artifacts that would help the museum interpret certain events in the Pacific War. He also identified veterans who could assist with firsthand accounts in World War II. He recounts how he acquired and transported the artifacts and veteran interviews back to the museum in Fredericksburg.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frederick Binder. Binder joined the Navy and went to Notre Dame for Midshipman School. Upon completion, he then went to PT boat school in Rhode Island. After training, he was assigned to Motor Torpedo Squadron 27. Before reaching the Pacific in late 1943, he had some duty in Panama. Binder served as the executive officer in his squadron and recalls operating against Japanese barges around Bougainville and Choiseul. He was also stationed at the Palau Islands for a while before going to the Philippines. He was then the commander of PT-375 and recalls fighting a Japanese PT boat off Luzon. He also helped paratroopers at Corregidor. When the war ended, Binder elected to be discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Traute (Gertrude) Manning. Born in 1907 in the East German town of Koenigshuette, she moved, along with her engineer husband, to the Dutch East Indies to build roads. She shares anecdotes of her time in Java and Borneo, the living conditions and living among the Dutch community. When the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, her husband was taken and held in an internment camp and she and her son, Robert, were imprisoned for the remainder of the war. Her infant son, Max, was placed in a Dutch orphanage and was located only hours prior to being shipped to Australia. She describes her time in the prison camps of Werfstraat, Tangerang and Aadek under the Japanese. She was liberated in September, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harold Minnish. Minnish joined the Navy in September of 1924, at the age of 15. He provides some details of boot camp at Great Lakes. He was sent to San Pedro, California and assigned to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37). They traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Samoa. Minnish describes life aboard the Oklahoma. His job was to clean the deck, serve as a messenger and maintain watch. He was discharged in September of 1928, then completed submarine school beginning January of 1930. Minnish was a radioman aboard the USS Bushnell (AS-15), the USS R-14 (SS-91), the USS Perch (SS-176) and the USS S-43 (SS-154). From 1938-1940 he served as an instructor aboard the USS Saury (SS-189). He continued working in radio aboard the USS Albemarle (AV-5), transporting German prisoners of war. Minnish made Chief Warrant Officer and worked at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. He was discharged in May of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Warren Elder. Elder joined the Army Air Forces in February of 1941. In March, he deployed to the Philippines, and was stationed at Clark Field. After the attack on the Philippines, Elder served as a gunner in defending Bataan and Corregidor, surrendering to the Japanese in May of 1942. He was captured and held a prisoner of war at Bilibid Prison and Cabanatuan Camp, until liberated in early 1945. He returned to the US, and continued his service until retirement in 1961.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bunichi Ohtsuka. Ohtsuka describes growing up in wartime Japan. He discusses seeing bombing raids and the resulting damage. Ohtsuka also describes the military training he received in school. He joined the Imperial Japanese Navy in March 1945. Ohtsuka details his training in the Navy and how a nearby unit training for suicide boat operations was completely wiped out in a bombing raid. He briefly mentions his thoughts on the atomic bomb and his post-war life.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bunichi Ohtsuka. Ohtsuka begins by describing growing up in Japan in the 1930s. Then he describes military training in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He volunteered for service in the Navy in March, 1945. Ohtsuka recalls his military training school being bombed by the Americans. He also speaks about his impressions of the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan. Ohtsuka emigrated to the UNited States in 1967 to study English at the University of Texas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Larry Pierce. Pierce graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1938 and began his career as a gunnery officer aboard USS Chester (CA-27). In 1940 he boarded USS Buck (DD-420) as assistant engineer, commissary officer, assistant gunnery officer, electrical officer, and a member of the examination board. In 1941 he enrolled in flight school, specializing in low-altitude scouting missions. In the Pacific War, Pierce flew SOCs, OC2Us, and SOC3s, which he criticized for its numerous design flaws. Serving aboard USS Honolulu (CL-48), he describes the perils of flying in the Aleutian Islands with poor visibility, finite fuel, radio silence, and limited navigation instruments. Later, from his primitive base in Tulagi, he reported to Brigadier General Woods and flew daily missions from Guadalcanal to the Russell Islands and Malaita. One of his pilots, George Polk, crash-landed amongst natives and later became a journalist for CBS. Upon returning to the States, Pierce was promoted to squadron commander. While based in Seattle he discovered and destroyed a Japanese hot air balloon. Pierce went on to teach aviation and retired as a captain in 1961.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Bill Meyers. Meyers entered the Naval ROTC program at the University of California in 1930. Beginning in 1932, he served two years as Quartermaster aboard the SS Monterey. He returned to college in 1934, received his commission through the NROTC in 1936, and graduated in 1937. In 1940 he served as the Gunnery Officer and Assistant Navigator aboard the USS Aldebaran (AF-10). They transported cargo between the West Coast and the Hawaiian Islands. In 1943 and 1944, Meyers served as Commanding Officer aboard the USS Newman (DE-205), operating in the Atlantic, escorting troop transports to England. He then served aboard USS Ringness (APD-100), transporting landing craft and troops to Guadalcanal and Okinawa. They returned to the US in early 1946 to decommission the ship. Meyers continued his service after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Melvin Dusek. Dusek left college to join the Army in May 1943 and received basic training at Camp Maxey. He then received nine months of engineering training, specializing in rebuilding war-torn infrastructure. In September 1944 he was sent to the battlefield in Belgium with the 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division. He was hit by shrapnel from a German tank and was discovered 30 minutes later by German soldiers. He was taken to a German field hospital, but he was not given any pain medication for his wounds. That evening, after the German had tended to their own wounded, Dusek was given surgical treatment. He was transferred to Stalag IVB and was treated very well. Upon recovery, he was sent to Halle, where conditions were fair. An American air raid struck the camp on 1 April 1945, killing all but 10 of the 80 American prisoners. Dusek was liberated by the 8th Armored Division on 25 April and sent to McCloskey Veterans Hospital. He received a medical discharge in September 1945 and returned to college on the GI Bill.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Reas. Reas grew up in Indiana and Ohio and enlisted in the Navy in 1938. After training, he boarded the USS Houston (CA-30) at Charleston, South Carolina. He was assigned to the aviation unit. On February 28, 1942, he survived the bombing and sinking of the ship. He and other survivors in life rafts were picked up by the Japanese the next day and taken to Java as a prisoner of war. He was taken to a ship and then back to an island, where he met survivors of the Australian ship HMAS Perth (D29). They were moved from Serang to Batavia. He was told to record the POW's occupations and those idenitified as skilled were sent to Japan. Inspired by this, he kept a detailed and complete list of the survivors that he kept hidden. From Java, the survivors are put on a cargo ship to Singapore. Then they went to Pynang by train. He then boarded another ship to Burma. Allied forces bombed a ship next to Reas. He describes living in bamboo huts while building the railroad. During one of the routine abuses in …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Karl Everitt. Everitt joined the Navy in June of 1942. He served aboard the USS Electra (AKA-4), and worked on a salvage boat. They participated in the invasion landings on North Africa. He was transferred to shore in England, and assigned to the USS LST-48. Everitt participated in the Normandy landings. He was then assigned to join the 3rd Army, and participated with them through the Battle of the Bulge. He returned to the US in the spring of 1945, and was discharged in November.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Ryan. Ryan joined the Navy in June 1944 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the SS Santa Monica, a Merchant Marine ship, as part of the gunnery crew. His ship brought troops and supplies to the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, Saipan, and Okinawa. Until a close encounter with kamikazes at Okinawa, Ryan’s service was uneventful. He recalls seeing beautiful tropical fish in the clear waters near Saipan. His ship often transported recovering soldiers and their medical attendants back to the Santa Monica’s home base on Treasure Island. At the end of the war, Ryan was sent to Guam, where he stood watch on an abandoned Marine base, on the lookout for any surviving Japanese soldiers. While there he saw large pieces of equipment such as bulldozers retired and dumped into the ocean. Ryan returned home and was discharged in February 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Don Lamanna. Lamanna joined the Navy in November 1942 and was transferred to hospital corps school in Alabama, where he tended to casualties of flight training. He then attended field medical school at Camp Elliot. Upon completion, he was assigned to a medical battalion in the V Amphibious Corps where he worked as an orderly in hospitals. He landed on Saipan on the eighth day of the invasion and worked at an abandoned Japanese hospital there. He recalls the staff worked 96 hours straight, triaging the wounded before they were sent aboard hospital ships. Natives were also enlisted to help at the hospital. Lamanna returned to Maui and tended to the 4th Marine Division casualties at a hospital there. Next, he went to Iwo Jima and landed four days after the invasion. There the wounded were treated in tents on the beach. After working at a hospital in Sasebo, Japan, supporting the occupation forces, Lamanna boarded the ATA 197, picking up troops from the Philippines and China. He returned to the States and worked at the naval hospital in Oakland until his discharge in 1948.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Cornelius D. Wiens. Wiens grew up in Montana and Kansas and was drafted into the Army in 1944. After completing training, he departed about the Sea Snipe for the Philippines. His first landing was at Leyte, where he remained fighting for three months. He describes coming to land on the small landing craft. From Leyte he went to Negros, then Masbate, and finally Mindanao. He describes the Japanese soldiers who were unwilling to surrender. After Japan's surrender he also spent time in Korea as a radio operator.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hadwick Thompson. Thompson joined the Navy in 1939 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to steward school because he was African American. He boarded the USS Ramsay (DM-16), which broke down twice en route to Pearl Harbor. Thompson became the number-one loader in charge of a four-inch mid-ship gun. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, he shot at planes while a lieutenant loaded ammunition for him. When the Ramsay laid mines around New Hebrides and Samoa, and Thompson was assigned to sink faulty mines by shooting them, an arduous task. He was transferred to the USS Pollack (SS-180) and made five perilous patrols before being hospitalized and treated for ulcers. On one occasion his sub was surrounded by Japanese destroyers and submerged for 15 hours, running out of oxygen. During another, the sub’s conning tower tore a hole in the bottom of a Japanese destroyer when resurfacing. In the Bungo Channel, the Pollack almost collided with a large Japanese sub when their radarman fell asleep at the screen. For his last duty, Thompson was a steward, second-class, in charge of African American …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Chester W. Nimitz, Jr. Nimitz was born in Brooklyn, New York 17 February 1915. He attended Severn Preparatory School prior to entering the US Naval Academy in 1932. Upon graduating in 1936, he was assigned to the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as assistant navigator. He applied for submarine duty in 1938 and trained at New London, Connecticut. After training he was assigned to the USS Sturgeon (SS-187) based in San Diego. In November 1941, the Sturgeon proceeded to Manila. Recalling his first war patrol aboard the Sturgeon, Nimitz recalls being subjected to depth charge attacks and the frustration caused by defective torpedoes. Returning to the United States he was assigned to the USS Bluefish (SS-222) as the executive officer. Later, he was withdrawn from sea duty and assigned to work on the torpedo problem. Nimitz was then put in command of the USS Haddo (SS-255) and describes an attack on a Japanese ship during which all six torpedoes launched exploded prematurely. He discusses the problem of defective torpedoes. On their last patrol in the Haddo, his crew sank five enemy ships and received a Navy Unit Commendation. Nimitz received …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Shown. Shown was born 23 November 1920 on a ranch in Oregon. He joined the Navy in 1939 and went to boot camp in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as a deck hand and during battle stations he was a gun pointer. After delivering troops to Melbourne, Australia, the Indianapolis was ordered to the Bering Sea to patrol the Aleutian Islands. Heavy seas damaged the ship making repairs Mare Island Naval Shipyard necessary. Shown also tells of the Indianapolis participating in the invasions of Tarawa, Saipan and Okinawa. He relates an incident where the ship was damaged by a kamikaze requiring a return to Mare Island for repair. Upon completion of the repairs the ship was ordered to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard where atomic bomb components were put on board, under tight security, and delivered to Tinian. On 30 July 1945 the ship was hit by a Japanese torpedo and sunk. Shown shares anecdotes of being in the water five days: men hallucinating, men dying of thirst and exposure, witnessing fatal shark attacks and being rescued by the USS Bassett …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Sturgill. Sturgill joined the Navy in July of 1940. He served as a machinist’s mate, operating steam driven equipment in the engine room aboard the USS Dale (DD-353). They were stationed in Hawaii and moored in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Sturgill provides vivid details of his experiences through the fateful attack, his work with the repair party and the immense damage done to a number of battleships in the harbor. In March of 1943 they participated in the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. In August they joined the pre-invasion bombardment of Kiska, Alaska. They returned to the States in the fall of 1945, and Sturgill was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Deer. Deer joined the Marine Corps in February of 1944, and provides details of his training. He was assigned to communications, working with phones, radios and stringing lines. He was attached to the 11th Gun Battalion at Camp Tarawa, Hawaii and shares his experiences training, living and working on the island, providing a number of anecdotal stories as well. He participated in the Battle of Leyte in October of 1944, where he served in both communications and as infantry. In January of 1945 they completed mopping up exercises on Guam, taking on 19 Japanese prisoners. Deer remained on Guam until the war ended. He was issued a medical discharge in December of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Forest Rees. Rees was born in Beeville, Texas, 23 May 1926 and was accepted into the Navy’s V-12 Program on 1 July 1943 and enrolled at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. Following two semesters, he was sent to basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois and upon graduation, was enrolled in aviation machinist’s school. He was next transferred to the engine overhaul and testing section at Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas. Over the course of the following two years, he describes working on every radial engine used by the Navy. He was separated from the Navy at Camp Wallace, Texas on 20 May 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard (Dick) Bennett. He begins by discussing joining the Army Air Corps, basic training and flight school. Then he went to a base in South Carolina to learn to fly B-25s, then to Fort Myers, Florida to fly B-26 bombers, and train to fly B-26s off aircraft carriers so they could drop torpedos on the Japanese fleet during naval battles, traveling across the Pacific to Brisbane to be told they didn't have B-26s for the crews and the Colonel there knew nothing about the plan to launch B-26s from aircraft carriers so they were sent up to New Guinea to fly B-17s and supplement the crews for those bombers. From there they made bombing runs or ""Washing Machine Charlie""-type runs to keep people awake at night on various Japanese targets in the islands, particularly the base at Rabaul. In Fall of 1943, the Army grounded the B-17s since they were getting very shot up and gave them B-24s to fly, handed them the manuals and gave them a couple days to familiarize themselves with the planes, then sent them back up on bombing runs. He finished his tour …