The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Hall. Hall joined the Navy in June, 1943, having passed tests to be eligible for the V-12 program. Once in, he elected to try for flight training and passed those tests. He began flight training in January, 1944, earning his commission and wings in April, 1946. He discusses aspects of his flight training, including qualifying for carriers. One of his first assignments was ferrying aircraft from various places to Norfolk where they were overhauled. He went on a cruise aboard the USS Leyte (CV-32) where he made a dead-stick carrier landing one day. When the Korean War started, he was assigned to VA-155 and went to Korea in early 1953. Hall shares several anecdotes from his military career before he retired in 1963.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Connolly. Connolly joined the Navy in mid-1943. He served as a Hospital Corpsman. In mid-1944, he was assigned to St. Albans Naval Hospital in New York. In early 1945, Connolly served aboard the USS Repose (AH-16). They served as a base hospital ship in Shanghai and later Tsingtao, China, supporting the occupation forces in northern China. He received his discharge in May of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Irene Johnson. Johnson was born in 1917 in Iowa. She speaks of life during the Great Depression. Johnson graduated from high school around 1935, and attended one year of college in Kansas. Around 1939, she moved to Dallas, and worked in the office of a construction company, building housing for training pilots. After the war began, she joined the Women’s Army Corps. Johnson provides details of her service, including uniforms, housing and her office work completed at an airfield, tracking locations of pilots.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Herlin. Herlin joined the Navy in the fall of 1942. Beginning in late 1943, he served as a Radioman First Class with Composite Squadron Twelve (VC-12) aboard the USS Kadashan Bay (CVE-76). He later transferred to the USS Card (CVE-11). Herlin served with the hunter-killer groups completing offensive operations against German submarines in the Atlantic and North Africa. He continued his service after the war ended through early 1954.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Joseph Nix. Nix joined the Army Air Forces around early 1942. He served as a CG-4A glider pilot with the 29th Troop Carrier Squadron. They worked from base 464 in England. They dropped paratroopers in the invasion of Italy and during Operation Market Garden. He received his discharge around late 1945, though remained in the reserve until 1978.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Sheldon Graham. Graham joined the Army in mid-1944. He completed Officer Candidate School just as the war ended. Graham continued his service, joining the 6th Infantry Division, 20th Infantry Regiment, and served with occupation forces in Korea. He returned to the US and received his discharge in October of 1946. Graham remained in the reserves, retiring as a colonel in 1979.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Judson Martin. Martin joined the Army in February of 1943. He completed language school as part of the Army Specialized Training Program. He trained as a German interpreter, and served with the 104th Infantry Division, 413th Infantry Regiment. Around September of 1944, they deployed to France and participated in combat through Belgium, Germany and the Siegfried Line. Martin returned to the US and received his discharge in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Otis Williams. Williams joined the Navy V-6 Program around October of 1944. He was transferred to the Naval Air Technical Training Center, Millington, Tennessee, and completed Radio and Radar schools. Williams then transferred to Opa-locka, Florida for Gunnery School and operations training with carrier aircraft. He completed training around February of 1946. Williams was assigned to the 75th Bombing Squadron. He continued his service after the war ended, with his final ranking status of Aviation Radioman Third-Class. Williams was discharged on 29 June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Bains. Bains joined the Army around early 1942. He completed Signal Corps training. Bains deployed to England and served with the 66th Infantry Division, 566th Signal Corps Company. The 66th was primarily involved with destroying the Germany troops left behind by the retreat from Northern France. Bains traveled through central Europe, Germany and France. He returned to the US and received his discharge in late 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Goodman. Goodman graduated from Virginia Military Institute in May of 1942 in Electrical Engineering. He served as a Communications Officer with the Signal Corps Company. Goodman traveled to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, India and Iran. In Iran, his job was to establish a link between the US and Russia in preparation for a supply route. Working with Morse Code, he encoded and decoded messages in a radio room. His was a technical group, not a fighting group. Goodman returned to the US and received his discharge in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Huffman. Huffman joined the Navy in March of 1944. He completed Midshipman’s School in mid-1945, and was completing Advanced-Line Officers School in Florida, when the atomic bomb was dropped. He continued his service after the war ended, traveling to Naval Supply Depots in the Pacific, processing supply requests. Huffman returned to the US in August of 1946, though remained in the reserves through May of 1958.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Willis Lott. Lott joined the Navy in May 1944 and went to basic training in Samson. After training, Lott went overseas and was assigned to the USS Wasp (CV-18) at the Admiralty Islands in October. He worked as an Airedale on the hangar deck. Lott was aboard when a Japanese plane bombed the ship in March, 1945. He stayed aboard the ship through the repairs and through a typhoon until the end of the war. When the war ended, he went with the Wasp to Europe delivering German POWs back home. Lott was discharged in June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Barbara Burton. Upon graduation from high school, Burton completed nursing school in 1947 at the University of California. Burton gives detail of civilian life during World War II. She talks about being in Los Angeles on August 15th and the celebration in the streets. After college she became a civilian Navy employee and took a position in the Aleutian Islands in 1947, working for the dispersing officer in the supply department. She provides details of her experiences there. Burton completed her work in 1950. Towards the end of her interview she gives much information about her husband’s experiences in World War II and 32 years in the Navy, James Fred Imlay.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clyde Simpson. Simpson joined the Navy in June of 1940. He went to boot camp in San Diego, California. From there he went to Aviation Radio School to learn Morse Code. He also completed gunnery school. He was then transferred in early 1941 to the air group on the USS Saratoga (CV-3) and placed in Scouting Squadron 3 (VS-3). They traveled back and forth from San Diego to Hawaii for training cruises. Ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor they traveled back to Hawaii. They were then sent out to look for the Japanese fleet, and ended up getting hit by a Japanese submarine. He talks about this experience. In July of 1942 he was back out to sea headed to the Solomon Islands, providing air support for the Marines at Guadalcanal. He provides details of the fighting at Guadalcanal. He was medically retired by the Navy in June of 1951.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Arthur Scharlau. Scharlau joined the Navy in January of 1945. He completed basic training in Bainbridge, Maryland. In January of 1946, he was transferred to the Naval operating base on Guam and served as Seaman Second-Class in the Disbursing Office. Scharlau shares a number of stories of living and working on Guam. He returned to the US and received his discharge in July of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ray Whitfield. Whitfield joined the Army Air Forces and served as a B-29 pilot flying off of Guam in the last few months of the war. He describes some of his missions and what it was like to fly a bomber. Whitfield stayed in the service after the war and flew B-36 bombers. He describes an incident where he had to make an emergency drop of three atomic bomb casings. Whitfield left the Air Force after serving for ten years.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with J L Wood. Wood completed two years of military school at the New Mexico Military Institute, then enrolled in the University of Texas Navy V-12 program, graduating in 1943. He then completed Midshipman’s School at Notre Dame and Cornell University, graduating in July of 1945. Wood served as a lieutenant aboard the USS Kaskaskia (AO-27). They conducted fueling operations at Okinawa and Japan and supplied the minesweepers. He shares his experiences living and working aboard the ship. Wood returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Maxwell. Maxwell joined the Navy in September of 1941. He completed Officer Candidate School, and served as Yeoman Second Class aboard a landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP), and later served as Captain aboard an amphibious command ship (LCC). In 1942, Maxwell deployed to Hawaii. In the Solomon Islands, he worked as an administrator of a PBY outfit. After the war, he served with occupation forces in Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Archie Roberts. Roberts joined the Army in 1943. He was trained on the 240mm howitzer, and worked in the command center of the artillery operation in the 270th Field Artillery Battalion. They deployed to England, and participated in the pre-invasion of Normandy in June of 1944. They advanced into Belgium, participating in the Battle of the Bulge. Roberts returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Caramello Stramer. Stramer joined the Navy in February of 1942. He completed boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois, and he completed training in New London, Connecticut to serve aboard submarines. Stramer provides details on his experiences at both training locations. He served aboard the USS Puffer (SS-268) beginning April of 1943, as the motor machinist mate. He was stationed in the aft engine room, overseeing diesel engines. They went to Brisbane, Australia for additional training and repairs. In September 1943 they made their first patrol in the Makassar Straits. He goes into great detail of torpedoing a ship, coming under attack by the Japanese and other experiences through the Strait. Stramer discusses their other patrols through the South China Sea and around Singapore. Stramer also served aboard the USS Ray (SS-271) beginning July of 1944. He was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Sheldon Gerson. Gerson was drafted into the Army in August 1944. He completed basic training at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Little Rock, Arkansas. He took infantry training, preparing him for combat. He was an expert rifleman and was the acting Sergeant of the First Platoon. He was taken out of his company and transferred into the Army Specialized Training Program at Penn State University. There he studied electrical engineering. He was then transferred to work on the atomic bomb. He was placed in the 9812th Technical Service Unit. He explains his experiences with a top-secret mission to Oak Ridge, Tennessee in April 1945. He was working as a chemical engineer to help develop and produce an atomic bomb under the auspices of the Manhattan Engineer District. He details what he did in the laboratory. From there he went to another ultra-secretive facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico where the atomic bomb was being developed by Robert Oppenheimer. Gerson was discharged in June 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Reed. Reed joined the Navy in late December, 1941 and trained at San Diego before reporting to motor torpedo boat school in Rhode Island. Reed relates many anecdotes about patrols and his experiences attacking Japanese barges around New Guinea in 1942. He recalls capturing only three Japanese POWs. Reed also tells stories about John Bulkeley. He returned to the US in February 1944 for treatment in a hospital before becoming an instructor at the PT boat school.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Cletus Ernster. Ernster went to Conrad Flying School in Winona, Minnesota in 1939. He joined the Army Air Forces in 1942 and was commissioned as a service pilot. He was assigned to Wilmington, Delaware to deliver planes throughout the United States and overseas. He discusses the various planes that he flew and the locations he delivered planes to. He was assigned to Chanyi, China in September of 1944, where he spent the remainder of his service. He was in the 1342nd Army Air Forces Base Unit in China. He gives detail of flying missions and transporting Chinese soldiers from one battle area to the next. He was discharged in November of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Henry Jennings. Jennings joined the Army Air Forces in September, 1942 and trained at Wichita Falls. He eventually became a flight engineer on B-26 bombers. Jennings recalls several anecdotes about his time in the service.