The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Cooper. Cooper joined the Navy in May 1945 and received basic training in Illinois. There he joined the Blue Jacket Choir. He survived Typhoon Louise as a water tender aboard the USS Admiral W. S. Benson (AP-120), picking up survivors from sunken ships in Buckner Bay. He was transferred to the USS Dorchester (APB-46) as a diesel mechanic and traveled to Wakanura, a small fishing village untouched by war, and Wakayama, where the only buildings left standing were cement bank vaults. Cooper returned home in the summer of 1946 and joined the Reserves. He entered medical school and became an intern at the National Naval Medical Center. He was subsequently assigned as a medical officer aboard destroyers. He recalls encounters with Russian submarines in the Caribbean were routine and cordial. While he was aboard the USS Yosemite (AD-19), an explosion on the USS Bennington (CVA-20) killed over 100 people and left more than 200 severely burned. Cooper was sent to the Newport Naval Hospital and worked for six days beside civilian and military doctors in an ad hoc burn center. He returned to the Yosemite and was …

Transcript of an oral interview with Sun-Ha Lim. Lim discusses growing up in Korea and living under Japanese Colonial Government, being conscripted into the Japanese army and being part of the mainland defense of Japan in 1945. He also discusses a friend deciding to "go crazy" during training to get out of service and having to fight the Americans, then Lim later pulling him out of a "mental deficiency patient curing place" which was actually a cave in a mountain to get him home to Korea after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Haynes Harkey. Harkey left law school to volunteer for the Navy in the spring of 1941. He received orders to attend Notre Dame in the fall of 1942 and boarded the USS Indiana (BB-58) at Nouméa, New Caledonia, as an ensign in the spring of 1943. The most frightening event during his service was a collision with the USS Washington (BB-56) in which the bow of the ship tore into his stateroom. He was transferred to the USS Lake Champlain (CV-39). Harkey was responsible for ensuring that the other military branches being transported performed their own KP duties. He recalls one group’s Thanksgiving dinner being thrown overboard because no one assumed responsibility for their meal. Harkey returned home and was discharged in the spring of 1946. He returned to law school, this time on the GI Bill.

Transcript of an oral interview with John D. Marshall. Born in 1924, he was drafted into the Army in 1943. He received his basic training at Camp Grant, Illinois. He was assigned to the 94th Medical Gas Treatment Battalion and received his medical training at Camp Ellis, Illinois and Camp Sibert, Alabama. He was talks about training with mustard gas in Bushnell, Florida and mentions being burned by the gas. He was sent to France in July, 1944. He served as a medic at a first aid station as well as a truck driver. He describes conditions during the Battle of the Bulge. He also describes arriving at the Buchenwald concentration camp after the Germans fled. He mentions celebrating V-E Day. After the German surrender, he guarded prisoners in Nuremburg, Germany. He was discharged in December, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Stebelton. Stebelton joined the Navy in 1943 as an aviation cadet. He then volunteered to transfer to the Armed Guard. Stebelton became a 20mm gunner on the SS Isaac Delgado and traveled to Mindoro with a load of 500-pound bombs. He discusses life on board ship and working with the Merchant Marine. Stebelton left the Navy in 1946, but joined the Air Force in 1947 to become a pilot. He discusses career as a jet pilot in detail. Stebelton retired from the Air Force as a captain after 21 years of service.