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[Timeline of Cornelia Yerkes Kafka's World War II service] (open access)

[Timeline of Cornelia Yerkes Kafka's World War II service]

A handwritten timeline with details of Cornelia Yerkes' service as a WASP and Red Cross worker in World War II, with details on her training, duty stations, aircraft and routes flown, and some personal details.
Date: 2000~/2009~
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Harold Buell, September 30, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Harold Buell, September 30, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harold Buell. While attending college in Iowa, Buell took advantage of the Civilian Pilot Training program and earned a pilot's license in 1940. He volunteered for the Navy and went to flight school at Pensacola, Florida, where he earned his wings and a commission in November, 1941. He was assigned to go aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5) as a member of Scouting Squadron 5 (VS-5) and arrived in time for the Battle of the Coral Sea. His squadron suffered enough damage to be removed from the Yorktown prior to the Battle of Midway. Buell was assigned to the USS Saratoga (CV-3) and flew search and rescue missions from her during the Battle of Midway. After that battle, Buell was transferred to yet another carrier, the USS Enterprise (CV-6), prior to the invasion of Guadalcanal. While flying off the Enterprise, Buell and ten other pilots had to land on Guadalcanal at Henderson Field. They and their dive bombers then became members of the Cactus Air Force. Buell describes the living conditions on Guadalcanal as opposed to those aboard an aircraft carrier. His group finally got off Guadalcanal and returned …
Date: September 30, 2000
Creator: Buell, Harold
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with John Reas, November 17, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with John Reas, November 17, 2000

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 …
Date: November 17, 2000
Creator: Reas, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Bill Brown, June 26, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Bill Brown, June 26, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Brown. Brown was studying at the University of Texas at El Paso whe nhe joined the Army Air Force in 1942. Brown discusses his flight training, which occurred throughout Texas. With training cmplete, Brown was sent to Hawaii where he continued training with the 45th Fighter Squadron, 7th Air Force. Soon his unit was shipped to Iwo Jima where they flew bomber escort for bombing missions over the home islands of Japan. Brown was shot down over Yokahama and bailed out over the Tokyo Bay, where he was resuced by the USS Pipefish (SS-388). Brown was taken to Hawaii to recover and was eventually shipped back to the US, where he was discharged in September, 1945.
Date: June 26, 2000
Creator: Brown, Bill
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James T. Murphy, October 1, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with James T. Murphy, October 1, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James T. Murphy. Murphy grew up in Montana and joined the Army Air Corps in May 1941. Once he finished training, he was assigned to the 43rd Bomb Group, 63rd Bomb Squadron. He then went to reconnaissance for the Battle of Midway. He then rejoined the Pacific Theater and pacticipated in skip bombing and flying B17s. He tells the story of receiving his Silver Star from General Douglas MacArthur. He mentions returning to the Air Force in 1949 and remaining in service for 20 years, until he left to join NASA as a civilian. He also mentions writing a book on Skip Bombing in the 1990s.
Date: October 1, 2000
Creator: Murphy, James T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with W. G. (Bill) Campbell, April 21, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with W. G. (Bill) Campbell, April 21, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with W. G. (Bill) Campbell. Campbell grew up in Texas, attended Texas A&M, and married in 1939 before joining the Army in 1943. After training, he went to Australia, Dutch New Guinea, Palu, Leyte, and Mindanao. He describes riding in amphibious vehicles and interacting with the natives. He discusses various illnesses he had during the war and his interactions with his brother, an engineer. He also describes surveying work in some detail. After the war, Campbell eventually became a public school teacher.
Date: April 21, 2000
Creator: Campbell, W. G. (Bill)
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ethel Blaine, April 24, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Ethel Blaine, April 24, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ethel ""Sally"" Blaine Millett. Millett grew up in Missouri and went to nurses training in San Diego, California. She volunteered for the Philippines in 1941. She witnessed the bombing at Clark Field. She took care of the soldiers wounded by Japanese strafing. When the bombing got too bad, the nurses left Statsenberg for Manila. Because of continued Japanese bombing all over the Philippines, the nurses had to keep moving as the hospitals moved. She describes having malaria and then having to evacuate from Bataan to Corregidor. Then they went to Mindanao where they were formally captured by the Japanese. They were moved to Davao and then to Santo Tomas. She describes losing her possessions. She describes life in the internment camp: the food, the work required, the sanitary conditions, the self-government, the birthrate, and the entertainment. Millett has to have an operation while at Santo Tomas. She also describes executions. Finally, the American soldiers arrived, and she took a plane home in February 1945. Her brother met her in San Francisco.
Date: April 24, 2000
Creator: Millett, Ethel Blaine
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Cornelius D. Wiens, November 26, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Cornelius D. Wiens, November 26, 2000

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.
Date: November 26, 2000
Creator: Wiens, Cornelius D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Arwin Bowden, September 9, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Arwin Bowden, September 9, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arwin Bowden. He begins by discussing his training in San Diego and New Zealand before the Battle of Tarawa. He describes being wounded in the battle, the casualties he saw and being shipped back to Pearl Harbor for treatment, then joining the battle of Saipan. He ancedotes about Japanese killing themselves rather than surrendering, eating food from a garden watered from rainwater running down from outhouses, the wages he made and the time he had leave.
Date: September 9, 2000
Creator: Bowden, Arwin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Francis R. Ferry, September 30, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Francis R. Ferry, September 30, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Francis R. Ferry. Ferry grew up in Nebraska and taught for a year before joining the Navy in 1942. He had enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program prior to enlisting. He trained on the N3N, the SNJ, the OS2U, the BT, the SBC3 and other types of aircraft. He was assigned to be a dive-bomber, flying the SB2C Helldiver. Ferry was initially assigned to VB-14 and left aboard the USS Wasp to the coast of Venezuela where he continued training. He was reassigned to VB-82 and left on the USS Bennington (CV-20) for Pearl Harbor. The ship joined Task Force 58.1 for Japan. He flew his first combat mission over Tokyo. He was involved with burning the beaches on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He then was involved in the attack on the Japanese ship Yamato. His air group was the lead group in on the first strike, and Ferry himself dropped rockets and bombs that may have been hits. His wife Genevieve Ferry briefly discusses what her experiences were on the homefront.
Date: September 30, 2000
Creator: Ferry, Francis R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Orland J. ""Bud"" Harris, August 22, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Orland J. ""Bud"" Harris, August 22, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Orland Harris. Harris went to Santa Anna, California for Aviation Cadet training in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He went to primary flying school in Visalia, California and then went to LaeMoore, California for more training. From there he went to replacement training units, flying the P-38, P-322 and P-39. Harris had take civilian pilot training for one year at college before he went into the service. He received his wings at Williams Field in Arizona 3 Nov 1943 and became an officer that day. He went to the South Pacific in a C-54, along wih about 30 other pilots, ending up in Nadzab, New Guinea with the 8th Fighter Group (part of the 5th Air Force). His P-38 missions included targets of opportunity around New Guinea, a cave on Corregidor and straffed ships on the way to Borneo, and the Philippines. Normally they flew cover missions for B-17s and B-24s but on occasion covered B-25s and A-20s. Harris was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) when he was flying out of Mindoro in the Philippines on a night mission (26 Dec 1944) attacking a Japanese task …
Date: August 22, 2000
Creator: Harris, Orland J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James H. ""Herb"" Macia, July 21, 2000 (open access)

Oral History Interview with James H. ""Herb"" Macia, July 21, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James H. ""Herb"" Macia. He discusses being a navigator/bombardier on the 14th plane in the Doolittle Raid, including the training leading up to the raid, the trip on the USS Hornet, the raid itself, bailing out over China, the weeks spent there before making it out through India and Egypt and stories about other men in the Raiders. He also discusses meeting with Generalissimo and Madam Chiang Kai-Shek, seeing the Egyptian pyramids, crossing Africa then to Brazil before getting back to the US, landing in Miami, his later deployments in North Africa and Europe, his work after the war and reunions the Raiders have had since the war.
Date: July 21, 2000
Creator: Macia, James H. ""Herb""
System: The Portal to Texas History