The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Boone Kemp. Kemp joined the Navy in August 1942 and received training for electricians in ships’ engineering departments. He served aboard the USS Doherty (DE-14) at the Aleutian Islands, running the movies aboard ship. He wrote to Admiral Nimitz and asked to be transferred, and so began correspondence that would lead to Kemp naming his firstborn son Chester. Kemp was transferred to the USS Dyson (DD-572) and went to the Philippines, where he survived a typhoon. He recalls seeing a long canoe filled with native warriors near Mindanao. At Okinawa, he saw a kamikaze plane disintegrated by antiaircraft fire just before it would have crashed into the Dyson. During the occupation of Japan, his ship was stationed at sea to rescue troop planes that might crash. Kemp returned home and was discharged in March 1946. He joined the Reserves and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. He claims to have witnessed Russian missiles being brought into Cuba while aboard the USS Saratoga (CVA-60). His service ended with his participation in the Vietnam War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Wilson Allmand. Allmand joined the Marine Corps in May 1942 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division as a BAR rifleman. He served in Guadalcanal, which was swarming with mosquitos. Despite being administered antimalarial pills, Allmand and many others came down with malaria. He was also stricken with dengue fever and jaundice during his tour of duty. On Tarawa, he waded to the beach in chest-high water in one of the first waves of attack. Casualty rates were so high that he recalls having to move bodies out of his way during the landing. On Saipan he witnessed the destruction of Garapan as a response to Japanese soldiers firing from within the previously off-limits city. On Tinian, Allmand was deeply disturbed by suicide jumpers, who were not convinced of the interpreter’s promise that American troops would not harm them. After Tinian, Allmand was sent to naval hospitals in Hawaii and Tennessee to be treated for malaria. He finished his service as a recruiter in Jackson, Tennessee, and was discharged in May 1946.