The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Alan Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt enlisted in the Army Air Forces in July of 1942. He describes the planes he flew during training, including the PT-19, the BT-13 and the UC-78. Hildebrandt was commissioned and received his pilot rating in November of 1943. Upon graduation he trained on the B-26 at Laughlin Field. Hildebrandt served as a pilot in the 95th Bomb Squadron, 17th Bomb Group, 12th Air Force. They first traveled to Morocco, North Africa, then to northern Italy and Southern France. Their job was to bomb Marshaling yards, bridges and troop replacements. Hildebrandt describes some of his missions. He flew a total of 64 missions and was discharged in July of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Albert Barton. Barton joined the Navy and was trained as a radioman. He became a crewman on an Avenger torpedo bomber in October 1943. Barton flew off of the USS Mission Bay (CVE-59) and the USS Tripoli (CVE-64) and performed anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic. He describes how depth charges were dropped, the armament of the plane, and how they were trained to skip-bomb. Barton was then sent to the Pacific where he flew off of the USS Anzio (CVE-57) for the remainder of the war. He describes an incident where his plane had a failed landing and ended upside-down in the water. Barton had to break some glass in the cockpit to escape. He flew ground support missions over Okinawa. Barton discusses how the radio and radar functioned on his plane. He was discharged several months after the surrender.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas L. Stafford. Stafford joined the Army in March 1943. He was trained as a quartermaster and sent to England as a replacement. Stafford volunteered to join the 6th Combat Engineer Amphibious Special Assault Brigade which was attached to the 29th Infantry Division. He describes landing on the wrong part of Omaha Beach on D-Day being sent to find a sergeant who had combat fatigue. Stafford was then sent to the 87th Infantry Division where he participated in front line combat from the Battle of the Bulge through the end of the war in Germany. He became a platoon leader and eventually received a battlefield commission. Stafford discusses crossing the Rhine under heavy fire and seeing Buchenwald soon after it was liberated. One of his proudest achievements occurred when he accepted the surrender of two German division near the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Leonard Kliff. Kliff enlisted in the Army Air Forces in August of 1943. He trained as a bombardier in the AT-7. After graduation he went to Biggs Field near El Paso for additional training in B-17s. He served as a flight officer. He was sent to an air base in Lincoln, Nebraska, and while at the base the war ended. In October of 1945 he went to Traux Field in Madison, Wisconsin and was discharged.

Transcript of an oral interview with Peter N. Karegeannes. Born in 1923, he joined the Navy in 1943. He subsequently volunteered to be a Corpsman in the Marine Corps. He was assigned to the 5th Marine Division, 26th Regiment, 2nd Battalion serving with Headquarters Company and later with Fox Company. After receiving medical training in handling casualties on the front lines, he was sent to Iwo Jima. He landed on Red Beach in the thirteenth wave on the first day of the battle. He describes the difficult landing and fighting as well as being targeted by Japanese artillery when rendering medical aid to soldiers. He also mentions Mount Suribachi and tactics for attacking Japanese soldiers in caves. He was hit by shrapnel and evacuated to a hospital ship. After the Japanese surrender, he was sent to Sasebo, Japan. He describes the behavior & living conditions of the Japanese people. He also describes experiencing a typhoon in Japan. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Feller. Former Major League baseball player Feller heard of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as he was traveling to Chicago to sign his 1942 contract with the Cleveland Indians. Upon arriving in Chicago he made a personal call to his friend Gene Tunney. Tunney flew to Chicago and was present when Feller was sworn into the Navy on 9 December 1941. He underwent boot training at Norfolk, Virginia. He was then assigned to the USS Alabama (BB-60) as a gun captain and participated in convoy duty in the Atlantic. In August 1943, the Alabama returned to Norfolk for supplies, and then sailed to the New Hebrides. Feller stayed in good physical shape by throwing the baseball while on board and participating in inter-service games on various islands. He participated in the Marianas Turkey Shoot as well as the invasions of Guam and other islands. Returning to the United States in 1944 he was named the baseball coach of the Great Lakes Naval Station baseball team. He was discharged in 1945and signed as a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Haw. Haw joined the Navy in April of 1943. He completed Hospital Corps and Operating Room technician training. He completed Amphibious Training with the 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton in California. In 1945 he traveled with the 5th Marine Division aboard the USS Hansford (APA-106) to participate in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Haw was wounded during the battle by an explosion. From Iwo he participated in the Battle of Okinawa. Haw provides details of his training and aiding the wounded during battles. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harry Gill. Gill joined the Army Air Forces in January of 1942. After basic training, he traveled to New Guinea for additional training in jungle fighting and helped build a sawmill, officers housing and the mess hall. He describes his 3 years living and working in the jungle. He was transferred to the other side of the mountains in New Guinea, to a town called Finschhafen, where he served as an airplane mechanic. He worked on B-25s, B-24s, P-38s and P-51s. They also traveled to Numfoor Island, Australia and the Philippines. He was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Garland John Robinson. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Robinson joined the Army Air Corps. Having already earned a Bachelor of Arts, he was interested in becoming a mechanic and was assigned to the so-called 3rd Attack Group, 89th Squadron as an assistant engineering officer. Stationed on a racetrack in Australia, Robinson maintained B-17s and socialized with locals. He transferred to a group in New Guinea, where he worked closely with famed mechanic-pilot Pappy Gunn. When his unit began to run out of airplanes, Robinson and his crew salvaged a wrecked plane that they then flew to Australia for rations, nicknamed the Steak and Eggs Special. Toward the end of the war, Robinson returned home and married his sweetheart.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jackie Redstone and Chris Jenkins. Redstone and Jenkins are sisters who were born in Belgium. They moved to China when their father took a job as an engineer at a coal mine north of Peking. When the Japanese invaded, the Belgian engineers were kept on, in order to keep production running. Food was scarce, and the flour they were given for rations had worms, but the family was able to maintain a robust garden and tend to their livestock. Their father kept a radio well hidden in the home, and the girls were petrified every time Japanese soldiers came looking for it. Their town was eventually liberated by Marines, whom the family then visited in the United States after the war. They later returned to China as it was coming under communist rule, and their father began working for the Marshall Plan. The girls eventually immigrated to the United States, and they each married a military man.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Maxine Lauderdale Cullison. Cullison speaks of being raised in Harlingen, Texas and meeting her husband, who was training in the Army Air Corps there in 1942. She mentions two brother that served during the war: one aboard the USS Swordfish (SS-193) and one was an engineer building the Alcan Hiaghway. Then she speaks about her husband's service and all the places he was stationed.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Hardin. He was born in Brock, Texas 25 December 1921. His three other brothers served in the military during World War II. Two were killed in action. After graduating from Howard Payne College at Brownwood, Texas, Hardin entered the Naval Officer’s Candidate School program and was sent to Columbia University for sixteen weeks of training. Upon being commissioned, he was sent to San Diego for small boat training. While there he saw several USO shows danced with Marilyn Monroe. Upon completion of small boat training, he was sent to Pearl Harbor and was assigned to the USS White Marsh (LSD-8). After the invasion of Iwo Jima, he was transferred into Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) 17. He describes the intensity of the UDT training. Based on Guam, Hardin’s team participated in the invasion of Okinawa. During the operation, a close friend and team member was killed. While on Saipan, he witnessed the loading of the first atomic bomb that was dropped over Japan. While based on Guam, he was designated as a mail censor. Following the surrender of Japan, he returned to San Francisco and assisted sailors to …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Mildred Bauman. Bauman’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1923. She was born in Brooklyn, New York in November of 1926. Her family sent her back to Germany to live with her grandparents in Berlin in 1928. Bauman grew up in Germany during the Nazi reign and was 13 years old when World War II began. Being an American citizen, Bauman endured relentless harassment from neighbors and classmates. She vividly describes her experiences growing up and as a young woman in the early 1940s, including forced evacuations, Russians taking over, bombings, concentration camps and casualties. She was sent back to the U.S. in 1946 due to her American citizenship. From the early 1950s to the 1980s Bauman worked for Guaranty Federal in Dallas. She retired to Burnet, Texas. She speaks of desiring to compile her story into a book, though it wasn’t until 2014 that a book came to fruition, titled “Abandoned! The WWII Ordeal of an American Child Living and Surviving from 1928 to 1946 in Hitler’s Nazi Germany”, available at the Burnet County Library.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Myrven Cron. Cron joined the Navy in 1942 and enrolled in Rice University’s V-12 program. After graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, he attended midshipmen’s school at Northwestern University. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Chicago (CA-136) as a junior gunnery officer. When he arrived at Tokyo Bay, he was reunited with his brother, who was there as part of Underwater Demolition Team 6. Cron later requested and was granted use of a Jeep so that he could visit Hiroshima. He finished his tour of duty near Shanghai and returned home safely.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Vern Muncy. Muncy joined the Marine Corps in early 1944 and received basic training in South Carolina and North Carolina. Muncy was assigned to the 7th Field Depot, III Amphibious Corps. After the war, he was sent to Tientsin for guard duty. During R&R on Okinawa, he was spared the worst of the typhoon. He returned home and was discharged in July 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Witmer. Witmer joined the Navy in early 1943. Beginning in late 1943, he served as Second-Class Torpedoman aboard the USS Twiggs (DD-591). They completed training exercises in Bermuda and Pearl Harbor. They escorted convoys operating between Oahu and Eniwetok. Witmer also participated in the Philippines Campaign, and the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He recalls the kamikaze attack at Okinawa that sunk the Twiggs, and he received significant wounds. Witmer returned to the US and received his discharge in May of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Seserino Calderon. Calderon was drafted into the Army in September, 1942 and trained in California. He was trained and assigned to the 161st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division and sent to Guadalcanal in late 1942. He served as a 60mm mortar man. After a brief invasion of Munda to take an airfield, Calderon enjoyed some rest at New Zealand before the invasion of the Philippines. His unit landed at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon. Calderon returned to the US and was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Jonah Peterson. Peterson was drafted into the Navy in 1943. He finished signal school in October and was assigned to the USS Cascade (AD-16), a destroyer tender. He was there at Ulithi for a while before transferring to the USS Argonne (AG-31) in time for the invasion of the Philippines. Peterson returned to the US in December and was discharged in early 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Head. Head volunteered to join the Navy in February, 1942. Since he already had his pilot’s license, he qualified for flight training. He earned his wings and a commission in October, 1942. He went to Kaneohe and was assigned to VP-13. He relates anecdotes about flying wounded Marines from Tarawa to hospital as well as General Holland Smith and his staff. He also bombed places like Wake Island and targets in the Marshalls. Later in 1944, they were stationed at Saipan and flew patrols. In April, 1945, VP-13 moved to Kerama Retto and flew patrols over the Sea of Japan. He returned to the US in August, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Dirks. Dirks was drafted into the Navy in February 1944 and trained at San Diego. From there he went to a weather school. Once he got to the Aleutian Islands, he was assigned to a weather station. Because he could type, he was made a yeoman in Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's Northern Pacific Command headquarters on Adak. He spent the war there but for a brief interlude in Japan during the surrender and was discharged in May 1946. Dirks resumed his education and graduated in 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Wilbur H. Hendrix. Hendrix was born on 4 October 1921 in Ray County, Missouri. He entered the Army Air Corps in June, 1942. After basic training at Jefferson Barracks, he went to a civilian aircraft mechanic school in Chicago. From there he went to Blythe Army Airfield in California. After three months, he went to Spokane Army Airfield. There he was assigned as a crew chief for B-17s in the 569th Squadron, 390th Bomb Group. The squadron went overseas to Parham Airfield in Suffolk, England in July, 1943. Hendrix's only direct experience with an aircraft accident occurred when a B-17 was cleared to fly despite heavy icing on the wings. It crashed on takeoff, killing all 9 aboard. Hendrix was involved in the post-crash recovery. In his time off, he visited friends in and around London. He never slept in a shelter until a German V-1 buzz bomb exploded near the house where he was sleeping. Eventually Hendrix was responsible for two aircraft, a Pathfinder, and a trainer for new crews. After Germany surrendered, Hendrix flew on a mission to return 20 French POWs from Austria. The squadron …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas M. Lawson. Lawson was born in Pierre, South Dakota in 1924. After two years of ROTC in college, he joined the Army Air Forces in August 1943. After basic training in Wichita Falls, Texas, he went to pilot training at Randolph Field in San Antonio. He was ready to solo in a PT-19 trainer, but his instructor pilot was not happy with his forced landing exercise and he was washed out. Being a pilot now out of the question, Lawson was sent to South Dakota for radio school, learning code, repair, radio navigation, and how to jump out of an airplane. Since the radioman on a B-17 relieved the waist gunner if he was incapacitated, he was then sent to Yuma, Arizona for 5 months of gunnery school. He then went to Panama City, Florida for additional flying familiarization. There he went on flights in B-17s over the gulf looking for submarines. His next duty station was Lincoln Army Air Base, Nebraska. He was to be given all his shots and assigned to a bomb group. Before this happened, however, the war ended, so he was assigned …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with R.L. Hawkins. Hawkins was born in Springfield, Illinois on 31 May 1924. Upon joining the Navy in February 1943, he attended boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, in Illinois. After twelve weeks he entered fire control school, also at Great Lakes. From there, he attended advanced fire control school in Washington, DC. Hawkins was then sent to Providence, Rhode Island for gunnery training. In early 1944, he went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and was assigned to the USS Diphda (AKA-59) as a senior fire control man. Hawkins describes the mechanisms used in controlling the guns including gyros, fitting systems, motors of the control system and vacuum tubes. In January 1945 the ship participated in the Lingayen Gulf invasion and he describes landing LCVPs and relates the experience of bringing them back on board. Following the ship’s participation in the invasion of Okinawa, during which they came under kamikaze attack, the ship returned to the United States. While they were in the US Japan surrendered.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ivan Toller. Toller joined the Army Air Corps in 1940. He provides some details of his experiences in basic training at Brooks Field, San Antonio. He was assigned to the 64th Airbase Squadron. He took a job at Kelly Field in the transit hangar as an assistant crew chief and trained new Army recruits. His outfit was sent to assist in the building of Goodfellow Field in San Angelo. He describes the changes that occurred in the Army after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Toller was transferred to the Army Specialized Training Corps and attended the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia for engineering. He was assigned to the 2nd Air Commando Group in the China-Burma-India Theater. His job was to keep the supply lines open and keep the troops well supplied on the front lines. He provides great detail of his experiences in this operation. He was discharged around 1946.