Interview with with Norman Apelt, an airplane mechanic during World War II. He discusses his service in the US Army Air Corps as an airplane mechanic in Pampa, Texas. After the war ended, Apelt was assigned duty in occupied Japan.

Interview with Willie Higgs, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He joined the Marines in 1944 and trained at Camp Pendleton before being assigned to the 4th Marine Division. Higgs discusses arriving at Iwo Jima, making a grenade attack on a cave there, and subsequently breaking his leg. He then spent time aboard the hospital ship, USS Solace (AH-5). Upon returning home, Higgs finished his degree at Southwest Texas State in San Marcos, where he majored in music.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with David Ellis. Ellis was born on 8 March 1918 in Big Spring, Texas and enlisted in the Army in 1936. He went to Officer Candidate School, where he was trained in intelligence. His first duty station was in Hawaii, where he was assigned to the Navy’s Central Pacific Command by mistake. Next he was sent to Okinawa as a platoon leader in the 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On Okinawa, Ellis was wounded and evacuated to a hospital ship and ultimately a field hospital in Saipan. His wounds left him unfit to return to combat and to be returned to the US due to the shell fragments embedded in his chest. Ellis walked away from the hospital and managed to get on a flight back to Okinawa and returned to his unit. The war ended shortly after he was given command of the regiment’s Intelligence and Reconnaissance (IR) platoon. The regiment then embarked on ships to Korea. During the transit, he was summoned to the flag bridge on the ship and assigned an intelligence gathering mission by Major General Archibald Arnold, 7th Infantry Division’s Commanding Officer. Ellis …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with David Ellis. Ellis was born on 8 March 1918 in Big Spring, Texas and enlisted in the Army in 1936. He went to Officer Candidate School, where he was trained in intelligence. His first duty station was in Hawaii, where he was assigned to the Navy’s Central Pacific Command by mistake. Next he was sent to Okinawa as a platoon leader in the 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On Okinawa, Ellis was wounded and evacuated to a hospital ship and ultimately a field hospital in Saipan. His wounds left him unfit to return to combat and to be returned to the US due to the shell fragments embedded in his chest. Ellis walked away from the hospital and managed to get on a flight back to Okinawa and returned to his unit. The war ended shortly after he was given command of the regiment’s Intelligence and Reconnaissance (IR) platoon. The regiment then embarked on ships to Korea. During the transit, he was summoned to the flag bridge on the ship and assigned an intelligence gathering mission by Major General Archibald Arnold, 7th Infantry Division’s Commanding Officer. Ellis …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Larry Pangan. Pangan was born in Arayat, Pampanga in September of 1919. He moved to Manila in 1938 to attend business college. He joined the US Army Philippine Scouts in March 1941 and was assigned to the 57th Infantry Regiment. He survived the Bataan Death March and incarceration at Camp O'Donnell. Although seriously ill with malaria, dysentery, beriberi and malnutrition, Pangan was able to escape. Upon regaining his health, he joined an American-led guerrilla group in central Luzon. He continued his service after the war ended, retiring from the Army in 1961.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Will Scott. Scott joined the Navy in May of 1941. He served as a Gunner’s Mate aboard the USS Utah (BB-31). He shares his experiences living at sea, his work and general life aboard the Utah. Scott also provides details of the attack while berthed in Pearl Harbor. After the Utah was sunk, Scott was assigned to the USS Honolulu (CL-48) for ten months, and then transferred to the USS Denver (CL-58) for two and half years. From there he served aboard the USS Harold J. Ellison (DD-864) until the war ended. During his service he traveled to the Aleutian Islands, Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Theron MacKay. MacKay was born in Providence, Rhode Island 13 July 1924 and joined the Navy in June 1943. After completing boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Illinois, he was sent to Solomons, Maryland for amphibious training. He received four weeks of training in the duties of each member of a boat crew in various types of large landing craft and graduated as a qualified Coxswain. He then went aboard the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) for more training. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Dorothea L. Dix (AP-67) and participated in the landing in North Africa on 8 November 1942. Upon returning to the US, MacKay reported aboard USS LST-342. After being outfitted with various guns, they departed in March 1943, along with twelve other LSTs, for the Solomon Islands. USS LST-342 was torpedoed by Japanese submarine Ro-106. The explosion blew the ship in half and only five of the 86-man crew survived. Over fifty of the soldiers on board were killed. MacKay was wounded and taken to a field hospital on Guadalcanal for emergency treatment and then to the Noumea, New Caledonia …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Walter Autry. Autry left the Merchant Marine and joined the Navy just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Given his experience, he qualified for steam engineering and was sent to the University of Houston for training in diesel engineering. He briefly entertained the idea of being a Navy diver and received training at Pier 88 in New York City. Ultimately he was assigned to the crew of an LCI that laid smoke screens and made almost 100 landings in the Philippines. As part of his duty, Autry fought fires on ships and rescued the wounded. He bartered with natives on Mindanao and returned home with an intricately carved knife made of volcanic ash. He also met the natives of Luzon and describes their poisonous arrows. He recalls a treacherous typhoon at Okinawa. From there he went to China and recounts the tremendous poverty. He saw atrocious conditions for Filipino women and children at Santo Tomas. When Autry finally returned home, his daughter, who was born while Autry was at sea, was already 18 months old. He joined the Naval Reserve and was sent to the Philippines as a …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dorothy Rufi. Mrs. Rufi’s maiden name is Roehning. She arrived in Washington D.C. to work at the Coast Guard headquarters in 1942. She was assigned to a secretarial pool of four women who worked for Rear Admiral Harvey F. Johnson. She mentions blackouts and an air raid drill. She returned to her home to Minnesota in 1944.

Transcript of an oral interview with Norman Apelt. He discusses his service in the US Army Air Corps as an airplane mechanic in Pampa, Texas. After the war ended, Apelt was assigned duty in occupied Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Marshall. Marshall was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania July 20, 1918. He joined the Naval Reserve in 1936. In 1940 his unit was called to active duty. He entered Midshipman’s school. He tells of being hospitalized for encephalitis and hearing of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Marshall received a discharge from the service against his wishes. He was reinstated in March 1943 and assigned as an instructor to a construction battalion where he met Draper Kauffman. Marshall was then assigned to a newly formed underwater demolition team (UDT) and describes the strenuous training conditions. Upon completion of training, Marshall was assigned to UDT team #5. He tells of UDT actions on Saipan the day prior to the Allied invasion and UDT team casualties.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Fred Haynes. Haynes was born in Dallas 5 January 1921 and upon graduation from Southern Methodist University, he joined the Marine Corps, training at Quantico in February 1942. Upon completion, he spent two years training incoming junior officers at Quantico. His next duty assignment was as an infantry member of the 28th Regiment, 5th Marines, conducting training at Camp Pendleton and on Hawaii. Haynes’ regiment was sent to Iwo Jima in February 1945. He observed the original flag-raising on Mount Suribachi and describes the machinations that resulted in the second flag-raising. He describes the battle in great detail until it ended in late March and his regiment was sent back to Hawaii to train for the invasion of Japan. When the war ended, his division was sent to Nagasaki and Sasebo as part of the occupation force. When the 5th Marine Division went back to the States in October 1945, Haynes was transferred to the 2nd Marine Division, where he served as a member of the occupation force on Kyushu. After a few months, he returned to Washington and decided to remain in the Corps. He was assigned …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Bale. Bale was born in Dallas, Texas on 19 March 1920. He attended Texas A & M University and upon graduation received a commission in the United States Marine Corps. In 1943 he was assigned to 1st Medium Tank Battalion as commanding officer of Company C. Bale expresses criticism of the training received in tank maneuvers for it lacked liaison with infantry and artillery units, which led to difficulties during actual combat. In November 1943 the battalion was loaded onto the USS Ashland (LSD-1) and embarked on the invasion of Tarawa. He discusses the difficulties in landing the tanks, combat conditions and heavy casualties encountered at Tarawa. Following refit and training on the island of Hawaii, the unit was assigned to the 8th Marine Regiment and landed on Saipan June 1944. He describes the civilians committing suicide by jumping off the cliffs of the island. Following action in the Mariana Islands, Bale’s unit was assigned to the 1st Marine Division during the Okinawa campaign. Bale tells of the death of General Simon B. Buckner. After the surrender of Japan he was transferred to division headquarters as Provost …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Sybil Bale. Bale was born in Clovis, New Mexico in 1920. In 1940 she went to Washington, D.C. to work for the Lend Lease Program as a secretary. She tells of seeing the program grow from a staff of four with four secretaries to over 750 employees when she left in 1941. Returning to New Mexico, Sybil was employed by the Selective Service Draft Board as an auditor and tells of the work it entailed. She describes the classification process of civilians including those who worked on the Manhattan Project. She tells of getting married in 1952 to a career Marine and of her life married to a World War II veteran who also served in Korea and Vietnam.

Transcript of an oral interview with Otha Grisham. He was born in Moran, Texas and enlisted in Marine Corps Officer Candidate Program on November 3rd, 1942 while still attending Southwest Texas Teacher?s College. Upon graduation in August, 1943 he went to boot camp followed by Officer Training School. Upon graduation from OTS in June 1944, he sailed to Guadalcanal. He was assigned to the First Marine Division, 6th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, preparing for the invasion of Peleliu. Following two months of training, he was part of the fifth wave of the invasion forces on September 15, 1944, where he was leader of a platoon with nine amphibian tractors. He describes the Marine Corps experimenting with using flame throwers in an amphibious tractor. Following Peleliu, he was transferred to Saipan where he was assigned to the Second Amphibian Tractor Battalion, Second Marine Division, in training for the invasion of Okinawa. After participating in two landings at Okinawa, he returned to Saipan to train for the invasion of Japan. Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, he returned to the States in November 1945, where he was transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve and retired in 1976.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ken Cook. Born in Dallas, Texas on January 19, 1927, he joined the Navy in October 1943 and attended boot camp in San Diego. Upon completing boot camp, he was ordered to engineering school in Gulfport, Mississippi and was assigned to the USS Sigourney (DD-643) for the duration of the war. He reported aboard Sigourney in May 1944 as a Fireman Striker, but after serving a stint as Mess Cook, changed his rating to Cook Striker. He recounts being aboard the vessel during July 1945 in San Pedro, California, when the crew was ordered to stand by for inspection due to a reported "theft of articles from a sailor's locker." Liberty was cancelled, the inspection was never conducted, and the ship got underway after embarking a mysterious individual dressed in a Chief's uniform. He recalls that the "Chief" soon changed into civilian clothes and, to his knowledge, spoke to almost no one during the ensuing days as the vessel sailed north to the Alaskan coast and a rendezvous with the USS Washington (BB-56). The Sigourney pulled alongside the Washington, which had the ship's band turned out and playing, …

Transcript of an oral interview with Willie Higgs. He joind the Marines in 1944 and was trained at Camp Pendleton before being assigned to the 4th Marine Division. Higgs discusses landing on Iwo Jima and a grenade attack he made on a cave before breaking his leg. He then spent time aboard the hospital ship, USS Solace (AH-5). Upon returning home, Higgs finished his degree at Southwest Texas State in San Marcos majoring in music.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald O. Dencker. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 25, 1924. Upon graduation from high school in February, 1943 he joined the Army. In March 1944 after attending Army Corps of Engineers school, he was assigned to the 96th Infantry Division. He witnessed the explosion of a munition ship in Port Chicago, California. Eventually he departed Pearl Harbor embarked upon USS LST-745 sailing to Leyte Island in the Philippines. He recalls several anecdotes during the transit and landing on Leyte Island in October, 1944. He recalls gunfire support from a destroyer that was off target, resulting in six casualties from white phosphorus as well as a Japanese suicide attack on his company that resulted in 75 enemy killed. His unit was then sent to Okinawa on April 1, 1945. He remembers that his 3rd Battalion had so many casualties that it was relieved and sent to guard Kadena Airfield. He recounts the many nights of shelling at the airfield followed by assaults on Japanese positions in which he lost four company commanders and many of his fellow soldiers, including several close friends. His company had sustained over …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dr. Patrick H. McKay. Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1924, he discusses the hard times experienced by his family during the Depression. He joined Army ROTC in high school. After graduating, he was inducted into the Army in September 1943. He was sent on the USS West Point (AP-23) to Papua, New Guinea. He describes his experiences and training during the transit. He describes his time at Milne Bay, as a Private assigned to the 158th Regimental Combat Team, known as the" Bushmasters." He describes his unit's attack on a small island off the coast of New Guinea. His regiment's next action was at Noemfoor Island, New Guinea in July and August 1944. He recalls Tokyo Rose saying before the landing that "the blood-thirsty Bushmasters are going to meet a wall of steel.” He recalls several banzai attacks during the battle. His unit next made an assault on Lingayen Gulf in Luzon, Philippines. Their objective was the headquarters for the 17th Japanese Army unit under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita in Baguio. Next, his unit was sent to fight its way through the outskirts of Manila. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Mike Rubin. Rubin discussed his father, M. J. Rubin. M. J. Rubin was born in Amarillo, Texas in the 1920s. He joined the Navy as a Corpsman shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Upon finishing boot camp in San Diego, California he was transferred to the Second Marine Division and sent to New Zealand. His first action was at Tarawa. He was then sent to Pearl Harbor where the Second Marine Division was reconstituted. Following the reconstitution he was sent to Saipan where he was wounded by mortar fire and suffered battle fatigue and returned to the States. He received three Silver Stars during his four years overseas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lester Thompson. In later 1942, Thompson joined the Army Air Forces and was assigned to the 2256th Quartermaster Truck Company, 45th Air Depot Group. He was sent to England in 1943 and recalls a few encounters with German prisoners of war. He also shares several anecdotes about his life in the service in Europe. He landed at Normandy two days after the invasion. Initially, Thompson hauled in truck the makings of a field mess hall. Once it was destroyed, Thompson then began hauling gasoline, ammunition, aviation parts, POWs, etc. When the war ended, Thompson returned to the US before the end of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Bartuck. Bartuck joined the Navy in 1937. He served as a coxswain aboard the USS Langley (CV-1) until it was scuttled in February of 1942, running whaleboats, motor launces and 60-foot officers’ boats. He later served aboard the YMS-9 minesweeper. He then served aboard an attack cargo ship and made the invasion in North Africa in late 1942. Beginning August of 1943, he served aboard the USS Cowpens (CVL-25). After the war Bartuck continued his work in the Navy until 1957, completing 20 years of service.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Henry Restorff. Restorff joined the Navy in August of 1940. He served as Seaman First Class, and later moved to the Engineering Division aboard the USS Balch (DD-363). They worked guard duty on the coast of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Restorff volunteered for the Asiatic Fleet and was sent to Manila, Philippines. His job was refueling PBY aircraft and transporting ammunition to cruisers, destroyers and submarines in combat. In late 1941 he was assigned to the USS Langley (CV-1) and traveled to Australia, where they picked up Army personnel and pilots. He provides some details of the carrier. In February of 1942 the Langley was scuttled after an attack by the Japanese, and Restorff recalls surviving that fateful day. He later completed Diesel School and served aboard PC-618, a submarine chaser, as an engineman. He remained in the Navy until 1960.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Moise. Moise was born in New Orleans in 1923. After graduating from high school he joined the Marine Corps on 10 December 1941. He trained at San Diego and received specialty training for assignment as a crewman on amphibious vehicles known as LVTs (Landing Vehicle, Tracked). As a member of the 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion he observed the action from the USS President Jackson (AP-37, later APA-18) during the Battle of Savo Island on the night of 8 August 1942. The President Jackson withdrew from the area but returned to Guadalcanal three weeks later where the LVTs were unloaded, parked and the crews were sent to the front lines with machine guns. After six months in the Solomons, he was sent to New Zealand where the LVTs were converted to attack vehicles. Moise landed Marines at Tarawa and was wounded when his Amtrac was damaged. He was taken aboard the USS Harry Lee (APA-10), and then transferred to the USS Solace (AH-5), which returned to Hawaii. By December, 1943, Moise was returned to the US and spent nine months in a hospital in Oakland, but never fully …