Transcript of recorded letters sent by Captain Edward P. Jaeger (Ed) to his parents while stationed in South Vietnam as part of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He discusses both personal and military topics including a chronicle of his departure for Vietnam; description of Vietnamese village life and culture; assignment to the 17th Field Hospital at An Khe; physical description of facilities at 17th Field Hospital; his responsibilities as medical supply officer; descriptions of and comments about unit personnel; problems in procuring medical supplies; problems with drunkenness among personnel; enemy mortar attacks; discipline problems; his institution of reforms in the medical supply operations; effects of constant changeovers in unit command; remodeling of the Officer's Club; leisure time and recreational activities; racial tensions; comments about U S domestic politics; personal financial matters; planning for a leave in Hawaii with his wife, Elizabeth, and parents; drug problems among personnel; comments about the anti-war movement in the States; description of Cam Ranh Bay and the military facilities there; medical supplies and black marketeering; description of the medical depot supply system; future civilian employment plans; transfer to Qui Nhon to the 67th Evacuation Hospital; comments about the Paris peace negotiations for ending the war; …

Transcript of recorded letters sent by Captain Edward P. Jaeger (Ed) to his wife, Elizabeth Jaeger (Libby) while stationed in South Vietnam as part of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He discusses both personal and military topics including plans for having children; future personal financial planning; racial tensions and Black Power activities; shopping for civilian consumer goods; renovation of the Officer's Club; physicians’ negative attitudes about serving in Vietnam; procurement of medical supplies; holiday celebrations; planning for a post-Vietnam cross- country vacation in the U.S. and Canada; personnel problems; comments about various senior officers; procurement of captured enemy equipment for use as trading items and gifts; comments about the Paris peace negotiations for ending the war; planning for a leave in Hawaii with his wife and parents; personnel morale problems; discipline problems among enlisted personnel; preparation for leaving Vietnam and the Army; comments about student unrest and anti-war demonstrations in the U.S.

Transcript of an interview with Admiral Donald M. Showers, Navy veteran, concerning his experiences as a naval officer assigned to the Combat Intelligence Unit, Pearl Harbor, during World War II.

Transcript of an interview with Admiral J. Lloyd Abbot, Jr., a Navy veteran, comments about his service in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Abbot discusses the U. S. Naval Academy, 1935-39; assignment to USS Enterprise, 1939; assignment to USS Gilmer, 1939-41; flight training at Pensacola, 1941; assignment to Advanced Carrier Training Group (Pacific), 1941-42; assignment to VF-6 (Fighting 6) aboard the USS Enterprise, 1942; assignment to VS-1D-14 in the South Pacific, 1942-43; commanding officer of VS-66, Wallis Island, 1943; antisubmarine patrols out of Wallis Island; assignment to Nanumea, 1943; assignment to Tarawa, 1943-44, with an SBD squadron; assignment to the Chief of Naval Air Training, Pensacola, 1944-46, as engineering officer; and his postwar naval and civilian career.

Transcript of an interview with Captain Victor Delano, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Delano discusses his first assignment to the battleship USS West Virginia and his experiences during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to the antiaircraft cruiser USS San Juan, 1942; naval battles around Guadalcanal; Battle of Savo Island; assignment to the destroyer USS Wedderburn, 1944; Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944; Pacific typhoons; Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations, 1945.

Transcript of an interview with Charles W. Lindberg, a Marine Corps veteran (3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division), concerning experiences during the battle for Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945, in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Appendix includes a photocopy of a map of Iowa Jima and copies of multiple photographs of Mr. Lindberg with other Marines on and around Mt. Suribachi.

Interview with Colonel John E. Olson, a Army WWII veteran and POW from Leavenworth, Kansas. Olson discusses his family background, commissioning in the Army from West Point, assignment to the Philippines in 1939 as an infantry officer, the start of the war, withdrawal to Bataan and the ensuing battle and surrender, the Bataan Death March, internment at Cabanatuan, transfer to Osaka, experiences there in internment at a factory labor camp, liberation, organizing the evacuation of POWs, returning to the US, and his postwar career.

Interview with Dan Buzzo, 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. He discusses the fall of Java and capture; Bicycle Camp, Batavia, 1942; Changi Prison Camp, Singapore, 1942; building the Burma- Thailand Death Railway, 1942-44; Kanchanaburi, Thailand, 1944; Tamuan and Tamuang, Thailand, 1944; Nakhon Nayok, Thailand, 1944-45; and his liberation.

Transcript of an interview with Donald W. Peters, Army veteran (C Company, 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion), concerning his experiences in the Italian Campaign and experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Germans in the European Theater during World War II. Peters discusses his entry into the Army and basic training, 1943; transit across the Atlantic to North Africa and then to Naples; assignment as a replacement to the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion; Monte Cassino; Anzio landing and being wounded by shrapnel when his ship sank; recuperation in Naples and return to his unit; murder of German POWs; Rome-Arno Campaign, 1944; invasion of southern France, 1944; transfer of the unit to the French Alps and his capture, 1944; initial incarceration in Torino (Turin); permanent POW camp at Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany; POW life at Stalag VII-A; liberation; and postwar adjustments to civilian life.

Transcript of an interview with Ed Bearden from Ellis County, Texas, concerning his experiences while employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression.

Interview with Elmer Wulf, businessman and U.S. Army Air Forces WWII veteran (535th Squadron, 381st Bomb Group, 1st Air Division, 8th Air Force), about his experiences as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II. Appendix includes two photocopies from an unknown book and two photocopies giving information on the B-17.

Interview with Ernest Hubbard, a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps from Perdido, Alabama. Hubbard discusses his family background, the Depression and its effects on life, joining the CCC, assignment to a camp at Dothan, AL, the organizational structure of the CCC, the different projects worked, training and skills learned, description of the Dothan camp, routine, recreation and leave, the effects and benefits of being in the CCC, and uniforms and equipment. In appendix is an autobiographical sketch of Hubbard, and several documents from his CCC service.

Interview with Dr. Floyd Taylor, a surgeon and World War II Army veteran. In the interview, Dr. Taylor discusses his experiences as a member of the 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group, with which he traveled to North Africa, Italy, and France during the war. He recalls several memorable happenings concerning his career, including his induction into the U.S. Army Medical Department, his assignment to the Surgical Hospital, the formation of the Auxiliary Surgical Group, his encounter with Time correspondent Jack Belden, and the Winter Line Campaign. Dr. Taylor also discusses several of his assignments while serving in the war, including the Mayo Clinic, the Massachusetts General Hospital, the invasion of Italy and Salerno, the Anzio-Nettuno invasion, and his travels across the Atlantic to Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. He explains his role in the compilation and publication of the War Department publication entitled, Surgery in World War II (Volume II): General Surgery. Dr. Taylor goes into more detail about the many procedures he practiced as a surgeon on the battlefield, and discusses penicillin use, the value of penicillin on the black market, the use of colostomies, field X-ray facilities, blood replacement treatment, and the treatment of specific injuries such as abdominal and …

Transcript of an interview with Frederick H. Kline, an Army Air Forces veteran, concerning his experiences as a photographic laboratory technician in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. Appendix includes photos of Frederick J. Kline at twenty-five years of age and of him and his wife after fifty-two years of marriage.

Interview with General Alexander R. Bolling, Jr., concerning his experiences as an infantry platoon leader (3rd Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 302nd Regiment, 94th Infantry Division) in the European Theater during World War II.

Transcript of an interview with General Alpha Lyons Bowser, a Marine Corps veteran (3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division), concerning his experiences as an artillery officer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Bowser also discusses his role in planning the Inchon landing, 1950, during the Korean War.

Transcript of an interview with General Robert E. Galer, a Marine Corps veteran (VMF-224) and recipient of the Medal of Honor, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Galer discusses his pre-war training at Pensacola and Quantico; assignment to Saint Thomas and reminiscences about the "destroyers-for bases" deal, 1940; experiences at Ewa during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to Guadalcanal as commander of VMF-224, August 30, 1942-December 31, 1942; air combat around Guadalcanal; his receiving the Medal of Honor; reassignment to the States for war bond drives; experiences on Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945, as commander of a 584 Radar Team; and assignment to the Philippines and Okinawa, 1945.

Transcript of an interview with George E. Charland, a Native American Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences during World War II. Charland discusses his experiences with the 3rd Marine Defense Battalion during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; his experiences with the 2nd Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, at Guadalcanal, 1942; his experiences with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, at Tarawa, 1943; his experiences with the 4th Marine Division at Saipan and Tinian, 1944, and Iwo Jima, 1945; medical discharge in April, 1945.

Interview with Glenn C. Blouse, a Army WWII veteran from Long Level, Pennsylvania. Blouse discusses his family life, being drafted, basic training, deployment to the European Theater via North Africa, assignment to the 135th Infantry, 34th Infantry Division in Italy, duties as a machine gunner, first combat experiences, fighting on the Monte Cassino front, foxhole life, shelling, tactics, taking prisoners, Italian civilians, the Anzio landing, assaulting a hill, liberating Rome, the Apennines Campaign, nightwatch and a firefight which earned him the Bronze Star, breaking into the Po Valley, Mussolini's corpse, the end of the war. In appendix is Blouse's Bronze Star citation.

Interview with Howard Charles, a Marine WWII veteran and POW from Partridge, Kansas. Charles discusses growing up in the Great Depression; joining the Marine Corps and training; assignment to the USS Houston (CA-30) at Manila as a heavy machine gunner and events before the war; the Battle of Sunda Strait and sinking of the Houston; capture by the Japanese and being held at Serang, Java; experiences in internment and forced labor at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, Changi Camp in Singapore, various camps along the Burma Railway, and Saigon; liberation; psychological treatment, trauma, and adjusting to civilian life. In appendix is a letter written by Charles to Marcello including additional information for the interview.

Interview with Jack Browder, a Army WWII veteran from Duncan, Oklahoma. Browder was a staff officer with the 741st Tank Battalion in Europe; he recounts his education and entry to active duty in 1941, transfer to the new 741st, armor training and exercises, duties as a supply officer, preparations for the Normandy invasion, DD tanks, D-Day, attachment to the 2nd Infantry Division and advances through northern France, the M4 Sherman, his thoughts on General George S. Patton, the Battle of Saint Lô, souvenirs and trading, the Battle of the Bulge, crossing Germany into Czechoslovakia, returning to the States, and postwar service.

Interview with James C. Hardwick, engineer and U.S. Navy WWII veteran, concerning his experiences while aboard the light cruiser USS Honolulu during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Appendix includes a letter from the interviewee to Dr. Robert Marcello.

Interview with John Brush, a businessman and WWII POW from White Plains, New York. Brush discusses his family history, school, work for Procter & Gamble Company, marriage, moving to Manila in 1941, the lead up to war, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, internment by the Japanese army at Santo Tomas Prison Camp, survival with his family, censorship and propaganda, shanties and villages, fake identities to help US servicemen survive, move to Los Baños camp, liberation, and return to the US.

Interview with John Reas, a Navy WWII veteran and POW from New Albany, Indiana, who survived the sinking of the USS Houston (CA-30). Reas discusses his assignment to the Houston and prewar operations in the Pacific, the start of the war and convoy duty, being bombed by 54 Japanese planes, the Battle of Sunda Strait, the sinking, capture by the Japanese, experiences in internment at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, transfer to Thanbyuzayat, work on the Burma Railway, the USS Houston Survivors List, liberation, and life after the war. In appendix is the USS Houston Survivors list, letters of his regarding the list, brief accounts written by Reas of different experiences in the war, a letter by Lanson H. Harris confirming how the list was given to OSS officers, and a photo of Reas' wallet that he carried through the war.