The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Medcalf. Medcalf grew up in Georgia and was drafted into the Army. Once he finished training, he departed on a ship to the North Atlantic. He was in the Second Infantry Division, 38th Regiment, Company C. He landed in Ireland, went to Wales, and then left for the invasion at Normandy. He landed on June 7, 1944. He describes advancing at Omaha Beach and confrontations with Germans. He continues advancing and assumes command when his superiors until he is injured by shrapnel. After four months in England, he returned to Belgium after the Battle of the Bulge. From Belgium, he went into Germany and then Czechoslovakia. Then the war ended, and he returned to the United States where he married his wife.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Geroge Medcalf from Greensville, South Carolina. He discusses his experience in training in Camp Mcoy in Wisconsin and meeting his wife there. He also discusses his time in the Second Infantry Division with the 38th Regiment, Company C, preparing for the Normandy Invasion. Mr. Medcalf also relays how he had to take over command of his Company during the invasion when he was injured by flying shrapnel and sent back to England for recuperation. He shares a story of how while advancing on Leipzig, Germany he was saved from German artillery fire when his sergeant offered him a piece of candy moving him away from the line of fire. The war ended while Mr. Medcalf was in Czechoslovakia, and after the war he received a purple heart and a cluster.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Mary Medcalf. Medcalf grew up in Georgia and became a registered nurse in Virginia. Then, she went to Michigan to finish her degree. After graduating, she signed up to be an Army Nurse. She was a 2nd Lieutenant. She went to a hospital transformed from the Chicago Beach Hotel into the Gardiner General Army Hospital. Many of the soldiers needed orthopedics. Later, she transferred to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. She met her husband at an Officer's Dance.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joe Langdell. Langdell joined the Navy in late 1940. He completed Midshipman School. He served aboard USS Arizona (BB-39). They were moored along Ford Island when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He participated in recovery and clean up after the attack. In early 1942, Langdell was reassigned to the USS Frazier (DD-607). They guarded transports during the Guadalcanal Campaign and Aleutian Islands Campaign. After an operation in early 1944, he remained in the US, was promoted to lieutenant commander, and provided administrative assistance to an admiral.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James S. Bargsley. Bargsley grew up in Texas and joined the Navy in 1942. Once he finished training, he was assigned to duty on the USS Fallard (DE-222) and then the USS Bassett (APD-73). From San Diego, they departed for Pearl Harbor, knowing they were preparing for the invasion of Japan. In June 1945 they departed for Eniwetok Atoll, then to Guam, then to the Ulithi Atoll. On July 2, 1945, the ship reported to Commander Philippine Sea Frontier for duty. On August 3, 1945, the ship went to rescue the survivors of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). The survivors were transferred to the fleet hospital the next day. Then they went to New Guinea, where they heard of the atomic bomb being dropped, and in September to Manila. From the Philippines the ship went to Okinawa and then to Wakayama, Japan with the LCT convoy. The Bassett detached from her duties in November and Bargsley was discharged in December 1945.

Audio cassette from The Black Academy of Arts and Letters recorded during former Vice President Al Gore's concession speech that took place on December 13th, 2000 to George W. Bush. The tape includes one track of well recorded audio of the speech which covers the topics of uniting as as country to step into the new millennium and thanking his supporters.

Audio cassette from The Black Academy of Arts and Letters recorded during former Vice President Al Gore's concession speech that took place on December 13th, 2000 to George W. Bush. The tape includes two track of well recorded audio of segments of the speech which covers the topics of uniting as as country to step into the new millennium and thanking his supporters.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Rodolf. Rodolf grew up in Oklahoma and joined the Army Air Force in 1942. He was in photo reconnaissance, called F-5, and was a pilot of P-38 camera vision. After training, he arrived in Guadalcanal in March 1944. He flew missions out of Bougainville covering Rabaul and Kavieng. In October 1944, he moved up to Noemfor, then to Sansapor. He continued flying until November 1945. He was in the 13th Army Air Force, 17th Photo Squadron. He took photographs for invasion purposes or finding targets for the fighters and bombers. He describes accidents in the airplane. He was stranded at sea with seven others, and they landed on an island occupied by the Japanese after the second atomic bomb had been dropped. Two of the men he was with did not survive. The remaining five were given food and water and treated for their wounds by the Japanese. They were rescued by the Australians. He married his wife in Sydney in March 1945. He went back to the United States and his wife followed. He was discharged in 1947. He returned to Oklahoma to begin his career. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lawrence Dibb. Dibb joined the Navy in September of 1941. Beginning January of 1942, he served aboard USS Maryland (BB-46) as a Fireman in damage control, fire and rescue, and diving repair. They traveled to Midway and Fiji Island. They participated in the battles of Tarawa, Saipan, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. Dibb was discharged in October of 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Ann Liedtke. Ms Liedtke was a young, single woman in Britain during the war and relates her experiences there including meeting her husband and becoming a war bride. She was in Oxford, England working for a bank as an Addressograph operator and joined the American Red Cross there when they first asked for volunteers. The Clarendon Hotel was taken over and used by the Red Cross, opening on July 7, 1943. The Red Cross had dances on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday with excellent bands but were very strict. Ms Liedtke's future husband was a cook in the Officers' Mess, 8th Air Force Reconnaissance. They got married in February 1945 and lived in Oxford. Her husband went back to the States and she followed in February 1946, arriving on the Hospital ship Bridgeport, which was full of GI brides. Ms Liedtke gives nice descriptions of war time London and Oxford and talks very glowingly about the Red Cross.

Concert presented at the UNT College of Music.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Sedgie Hinson. Hinson graduated from Mississippi State University in 1940, with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He joined the Army in July of 1940. He was assigned to an anti-aircraft unit. In early 1941, he deployed to the Philippines, and was assigned to a 16-inch mortar unit on Corregidor. After the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Hinson participated in defending Corregidor, surrendering to the Japanese in May of 1942. He was captured and held a prisoner of war at Bilibid Prison and Niigata Prison, until liberated in early 1945. He returned to the US, and discharged in 1946.

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 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 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 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.

Concert presented at the UNT College of Music.

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 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 …

Concert presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

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 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 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.