The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas H. Boruff where he discusses his childhood and what led him to join the Air Force and what he had to go through for training. He describes his experiences flying airplanes in the Pacific Theatre of World War Two.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank H. Bigelow where he discusses his childhood, family, education and life during the great depression. He describes his recruitment into the Navy and his experiences in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with V.P. Johansen. Johansen joined the Navy soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He became a Seabee and spent 18 months working on new construction at the submarine base at Pearl Harbor. His unit was then shifted to heavy equipment for airstrip work. Johansen landed on Iwo Jima on the fourth day of the battle. His battalion began repairing Airfield #1. Johansen details the damaged planes landing on the field and the ongoing maintenance the airfield required. He was sent back to the States that summer where he served until his discharge in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Malcolm Young. Young joined the Army in March 1941 and received basic training at Fort Sill. He received rifle training at Fort Ord. Upon completion, he was assigned to field artillery in the 7th Infantry Division, where he served as an artillery gunnery corporal. He deployed to the Aleutians. Despite being on combat duty, the highest number of casualties there came from frostbite. At Kwajalein, Young suggested to his sergeant that the best way to fight the Japanese snipers was to clear the trees, an idea which was adopted by higher officials. His unit landed in the Marshalls on an island a few miles away and fired day and night until the trees were cleared. In the Philippines, he landed on the east side of Leyte and finished in the west, at Ormoc. He began to show signs of jaundice at that time. Okinawa was the first time that Young recalls being matched in strength by the Japanese artillery, which were much weaker than his unit in previous campaigns. He had specific orders to leave caves untouched, as Japanese civilians were known to hide there. As he was …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joe Matlock. Matlock joined the Army Air Forces on 8 December 1941. He received his wings in 1943, and served as a pilot with the 434th Troop Carrier Group, 71st Squadron. From 1944 through 1945, they flew combat paratroopers on airborne assaults on Normandy, southern France, the Netherlands and Germany. They additionally flew resupply missions in the relief of Bastogne and evacuated the wounded. Matlock returned to the US and was discharged in October of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hobert Dempsey. Dempsey joined the Army in June 1943 and received antiaircraft training in the Mojave Desert. He came down with appendicitis just before his unit went overseas. After recovering, he was reassigned to the 232nd Infantry Regiment, Rainbow Division, as a combat infantryman. He arrived at Le Havre in December 1944, finding a port full of civilian casualties. He fought through France and into Belgium. He was shot in the leg and played dead until the Germans passed by. He was sent to a hospital three days later and returned to the front lines after four days of recuperation. After crossing the Rhine as a front-runner, he accidentally went behind German lines and was captured with five other Americans. He was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp that was unknown to the Americans, who strafed the camp at least once. Conditions were harsh, food was scarce, and the prisoners performed hard labor in cold weather. The camp was overtaken by Russians, who wouldn’t let American troops evacuate prisoners. Dempsey escaped on foot and was eventually rescued and smuggled past a Russian checkpoint by Americans. He weighed over 150 …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Zapalac. After completing jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia, Zapalac went into the 101st Airborne, 506th Infantry Regiment. He jumped into Normandy on 6 June 1944. The objective for the 506th Infantry Regiment was to secure two bridges over the Carentan canal. He recalls being seriously wounded soon after landing and tells of the effort made by members of the 4th Infantry to bring trucks up so he and many other wounded could be taken to the aid station on Utah Beach. After receiving emergency treatment he was put on board an LST and taken to a hospital in England. After he recovered, Zapalac returned to his unit in November. It was found that he was unable to properly handle his weapon because of the injury and he was sent back to the hospital. Soon thereafter, he returned to the United States.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Kuykendahl. Kuykendahl enlisted in the navy in 1944. After basic training, he went to radio school at Farragut, Idaho before going aboard USS Fergus (APA-82). Kuykendahl does not recall a lot of details about his service.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John C. James. He joined the Army in 1943 and went to training at Camp Crowder, Missouri, where the Signal Corps trained. He then went to the east coast and intercepted German Army radio traffic for a while before heading to California to listen for coded Japanese radio messages. He eventually was transferred to New Delhi, India. After the war ended, he was shipped to Eritrea, Africa for a few months before going back to the US.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Arthur Nowakowski. Nowakowski joined the Army in March of 1942. He was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division. In March of 1944 he traveled to England. On 6 June Nowakowski participated in the Normandy landings. He traveled through France into Belgium where he was in active combat through the Battle of the Bulge. They continued on into Czechoslovakia when the war ended. Nowakowski remained in the Army of Occupation, and returned home for discharge in November of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Coleman Harrington. Harrington joined the Navy in 1944. He completed Communications School, and stevedore training. He traveled to Okinawa, offloading supplies from ship to shore, where he remained through the end of the war. He traveled to Hong Kong. Harrington returned to the US and was discharged in January of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Alfred Schmitz. He was born on August 28, 1925 in Austin, Texas. He enlisted in the Navy in June 1944 and upon graduation from basic training and Fireman "A" School, he was assigned to the USS La Prade (DE-409) and sailed to Pearl Harbor. He next sailed in September 1944 with a hunter-killer task group during the Palau Islands invasion. He recalls the ship being involved in a joint attack on a Japanese midget submarine in the entrance to Kossol Roads Harbor, where the sub was destroyed with depth charges. In addition, he describes the ship's participation in the invasion of Okinawa servings as part of a submarine screen between the battleships and the beach and on rotating picket ship duty with other smaller vessels. After Okinawa he recalls that the ship joined the Japan occupation forces at Sasebo on September 23, 1945. During this period he recalls being sent to Nagasaki immediately after the atomic bomb was dropped to pick up Navy Seabees. He recalls that the ship returned to San Diego where he was part of the decommissioning crew until May 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Steve Weiner. Weiner graduated from high school in 1935 and attended UCLA for a period of time before graduated from the University of Pittsburg. He entered the cadet training program in 1940 and was sent to Randolph Field in San Antonio. Upon washing out of the program, he was assigned to the 86th Observation Squadron as communications officer at Bellows Field, Hawaii. He recalls 7 December 1941 when a B-17 bomber crash landed on Bellow Field and being told by the crewmembers that they had been attacked. Later his group was strafed by Japanese planes. They were told to draw weapons and prepare for invasion by land forces. He tells of Corporal David Akui bringing the commander of a Japanese midget submarine (HA-19) to him as a captive. He describes in detail the appearance of the commander, Kazuo Sakamaki, and his interaction with him before turning him over to higher authorities. He relates how he communicated with Sakamaki after the war and of meeting him in 1991. [HA-19 is on display at The National Museum of the Pacific War.] In late 1941, Weiner was assigned as officer in …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry Kopkey. Kopkey joined the Army Air Forces in January 1942. Later in September, he was shipped overseas to England where he served as an ordnanceman in the 366th Bomb Squadron.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Zeller. Zeller was born in Fulton County, Indiana on 14 July 1924. Soon after graduating from high school he joined the Army Air Forces. After indoctrination training, he was sent to the Carey Jones School of Aeronautics in Newark, New Jersey. There he had four weeks of training on aircraft engines. He was then sent to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri where he was subjected to six weeks of basic training. On 6 October 1943 he departed Newport News, Virginia on board the SS Marine Robin for a twenty-one day trip to Bombay, India. He recalls the ship being under attack by German bombers using guided missiles. His ship received some damage while another ship in the convoy was sunk. Upon arriving in India he was assigned as crew chief with the 48th Air Depot Group. Zeller’s unit performed maintenance on various aircraft including P-51 fighters, P-38 fighters and B-25 bombers. He recalls that following the surrender of Japan, over one hundred fifty aircraft at the field were purposely destroyed. Zeller returned to the United States in February 1946 and was discharged shortly thereafter.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Vic Niemeyer. Niemeyer was born in Houston, Texas on 28 September 1919. Graduating from the University of Texas in June 1941, he entered the Naval Reserve Officers Training School at Northwestern University in Chicago in September. Receiving a commission upon graduation in January 1942 he went to New London, Connecticut and reported aboard the USS R-18 (SS-95), a World War I submarine. Niemeyer recalls going to sea two days after arriving, trying to learn the functions of a submarine and getting seasick while doing so. In May they departed for Bermuda and he remembers the boat being attacked by an American plane that dropped a bomb near them. The near miss damaged the boat requiring numerous repairs. In February 1944, Niemeyer reported aboard the USS Seacat (SS-399) and was assigned as officer of the deck. He tells of the first war patrol during which they sunk a tanker and recalls being on three more patrols and describes the types of ships that were sunk.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ted T. Yenari. He was born in Tacoma, Washington on 29 September 1919 to parents who had immigrated from Japan. His family was sent to Rohwer War Relocation Center in March 1942. In May 1943 he left the camp to volunteer for the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage, Minnesota. In November 1944, following completion of his Japanese language studies, he was sent to Military Intelligence School in Alabama for basic training. He completed basic training in April 1945 and shipped out to Manila. He recounts several of his experiences while in Manila. Yenari then volunteered as a linguist for the US Army 11th Airborne and flew to Okinawa. From there he flew to Atsugi Airport, near Yokohama, Japan, following the surrender. He gives several anecdotes of his experiences in Yokohama and Tokyo interpreting for the Americans. He recalls that he returned to the States in May 1946 and was discharged from the Army.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William W. Wright. He was born in Arlington, Virginia on 15 July 1918 and joined the Marine Corps Reserve in May 1938, receiving his commission in October 1941. In February 1942 he was sent to Camp Lejeune as the Executive Officer of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Wright recalls boarding the MS John Ericsson in San Francisco and sailing to Wellington, New Zealand where they transferred cargo to the USS McCawley (APA-4) and practiced amphibious landings. He landed in the second wave at Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942 and his battalion guarded against a Japanese landing. Wright recounts his involvement in action over the ensuing months during which he was awarded the Silver Star. On 15 December 1942 he sailed to Brisbane, Australia where his unit was bivouacked for two weeks before an infestation of mosquitoes forced them to move to Melbourne. On 30 December 1943 his company participated in the landing at Cape Gloucester. He describes his experiences on New Britain and then recalls that he was transferred back to Camp Lejeune on 30 January 1944 where he spent the next year training recruits. When …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gilbert Vera. Vera was born in Benavides, Texas 5 March 1918. After graduating from high school in 1937, he worked various jobs until being drafted into the Army. After his induction, he was sent to Camp Wallace, Texas for three months of basic training. Vera was then sent to Hunter Field in Savannah, Georgia for six months training on communication equipment including the switchboard and telephone lines. Upon completion of the training he went to Fort Dix, New Jersey for debarkation. After a twelve day journey traveling in convoy, he landed at Casablanca, North Africa as part of the 15th Air Force. Soon after arrival, Vera was subjected to attack by German aircraft. He tells of the work he did in the communications center. After a year the unit moved to Manduria, Italy where they remained until Germany surrendered. Vera returned to the United States and was discharged September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Otto Keith Williams. He was born on 10 December 1918 in Tacoma, Washington and after completing two years of college, during which he earned a private pilot's license, he was drafted into the Navy in February 1941 and completed flight training in Corpus Christi, Texas in July 1942. He then transferred into the Marine Corps and was sent to Glenview, Illinois where he completed carrier qualifications in October 1942. He joined Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-214 in Hawaii where he flew Grumman F4F Wildcats. Following training in Hawaii, his squadron embarked on the USS Nassau (CVE-16) in February 1943 and sailed to Espiritu Santo. His squadron then flew to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, where they provided fighter support for several months flying Wildcats and then F4U Corsairs. Following the Russell Island campaign Williams was transferred to VMF-215 where he participated in the invasion of Bougainville in November 1943. He spent three tours in Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands and flew 100 missions, but had no encounters with airborne Japanese aircraft. In January 1945 he was transferred to the USS Cape Gloucester (CVE-109), which sailed for Okinawa. Following several weeks …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jose Soliz. Soliz was drafted into the Army in April, 1941. In early 1945, Soliz went to the Philippines for the liberation. He served as a machine gunner.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Terrell. Terrell joined the Marine Corps in April of 1946. Beginning in June, he was assigned to occupation duty in Northern China. He comments on how some of the Japanese still occupying mountain regions in China were unaware that the war had ended. Terrell served with the 1st Marine Division, and their job was to guard the Kunming railroad. He was discharged in December of 1947. Terrell reenlisted in September of 1950, participating in the Korean War through September of 1953.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank G. Reynolds. Reynolds was drafted into the Army in July, 1943. After training and after being shipped overseas, Reynolds was assigned as a medic to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. Reynolds was in the second wave to land at Omaha Beach at Normandy on D-day, 6 June 1944. He relates his experiences at Normandy and St. Mere Eglise. He finally was evacuated after a while on the line. When he was fit for duty again, he was assigned to 1341st labor Supervision Company. Part of his duties included watching over displaced people and guarding German prisoners of war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Merrill Pierce. Pierce entered the Navy in September, 1941 and was in training when the war started. His assignment was with the Armed Guard and he rode a tanker to Hawaii. He switched ships and hauled molasses up from Chile. On another ship, he carried bombs to Australia and India. Next they hauled a load of jute to New York. He landed at Peleliu and worked as a stevedore. When the war ended, Pierce was tasked with dumping aircraft overboard off Los Negros.