Resource Type

Oral History Interview with Bill J. Ripkowski, March 28, 2002 transcript

Oral History Interview with Bill J. Ripkowski, March 28, 2002

Interview with Bill J. Ripkowski, a sergeant in the US Army during WWII. He answers questions about his life in the military and his time abroad during the war.
Date: March 28, 2002
Creator: Smith, Tonya & Ripkowski, Bill J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Alfonso Nava, March 26, 2004 transcript

Oral History Interview with Alfonso Nava, March 26, 2004

Interview with Alfonso Nava, a technical sergeant in the US Army during WWII. He answers questions about his decision to enlist and his experiences in the military.
Date: March 26, 2004
Creator: Coy, Marisa E. & Nava, Alfonso
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Jess Williams, March 16, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Jess Williams, March 16, 2001

Interview with Jess Williams, a pilot at the inception of the US Air Force. He answers questions about his life prior to joining the service and describes his missions while he was in the Air Force.
Date: March 16, 2001
Creator: Williams, Debra & Williams, Jess
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Fritz Kornegay, March 2003 transcript

Oral History Interview with Fritz Kornegay, March 2003

Interview with Fritz Kornegay, a signal engineer in the US Army during WWII. He describes his time in the military and coming home post-war.
Date: March 2003
Creator: Childress, D. & Kornegay, Fritz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Arwin Bowden, March 9, 2000 transcript

Oral History Interview with Arwin Bowden, March 9, 2000

Interview with Arwin Bowden, a marine during World War II. He begins by discussing his training in San Diego and New Zealand before the Battle of Tarawa. He describes being wounded in the battle, the casualties he saw, and being shipped back to Pearl Harbor for treatment before joining the battle of Saipan. He describes ancedotes about Japanese killing themselves rather than surrendering, eating food from a garden watered from rainwater running down from outhouses, the wages he made, and the time he had leave.
Date: March 9, 2000
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Bowden, Arwin J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Maurice Stamps, March 18, 2009 transcript

Oral History Interview with Maurice Stamps, March 18, 2009

Interview with Maurice Stamps, a serviceman in the U. S. Army during World War II. Stamps discusses growing up on a farm in Iowa, joining the army, going to Hawaii and staying at Schofield Barracks. He was assigned to the Classification/Assignment section at Fort Shafter without ever having basic training. He was later assigned to the Message Center at Ft. Shafter. He remembers his correspondence with his girlfriend Enid, whom he married upon his discharge in 1946.
Date: March 18, 2009
Creator: Misenhimer, Richard & Stamps, Maurice
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Carl Peltier, March 4, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Carl Peltier, March 4, 2001

Interview with Carl Peltier, a U. S Marine during World War II. He begins by discussing his reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then joined the Marines when he was old enough. He trained in San Diego before shipping out to Hawaii where he joined the 2nd Marine Division. Further training included heavy weapons and mortars. Later, he landed on Saipan and describes his small arms and rations. He witnessed General Simon Buckner getting killed on Okinawa. He was later wounded on Okinawa. After the war ended, Peltier served in the Pentagon during the Korean War.
Date: March 4, 2001
Creator: Nichols, Chuck & Peltier, Carl
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with William F. Graham, March 24, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with William F. Graham, March 24, 2001

Interview with Bill Graham, a Marine during World War II. He begins by discussing joining the Navy and becoming a corpsman, then being transferred to the 2nd Marine Division after the Pearl Harbor attack. He also talks being in the first wave on Guadalcanal and various things that happened during the six months there, as well as contracting a severe strain of malaria, getting shipped back to the States and stationed near his home in Fort Worth, then returning to training in Virginia to prepare for an invasion of Japan.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Smith, Ned A. & Graham, William F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Joseph B. Brown, March 24, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Joseph B. Brown, March 24, 2001

Interview with Joseph Brown, who was in the Marine Corps during World War II. He discusses going to Guadalcanal, various guns and artillery he used, the battle of Tarawa and getting malaria just before it, then going to Hawaii for more training before returning to the South Pacific and fighting on Saipan and Tinian. He also discusses being wounded on Saipan, having a bayonet run through his forearm and keeping the bayonet as a souvenir after the war, and he talks about some of his experiences and travels after the war.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Cox, William G. & Brown, Joseph B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Hazael R. Olivares, March 29, 2003 transcript

Oral History Interview with Hazael R. Olivares, March 29, 2003

Interview with Hazael R. Olivares, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. Olivares dropped out of high school and decided to join the U. S. Navy after hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor. He took his 16-week basic training course at Great Lakes in Illinois where he learned how to fire various guns and recognize aircraft. After basic training, he was assigned to Algiers, Louisiana where he learned how to weld. Aboard the USS Bordelon (DD-881), he served as a Ship Fitter in the damage control department. After WWII, he remained in the reserves and was called up for duty in Korea. He served aboard the USS Sitkoh Bay (CVE-86). After Korea, he worked as a civilian for the Army Corps of Engineers as an oiler on a dredge. He then served in the Merchant Marines, hauling refined petroleum products from South America to North America. He also discusses going to French Indochina (Vietnam) and traveling up the Saigon River in a merchant vessel.
Date: March 29, 2003
Creator: Misenhimer, Richard & Olivares, Hazael R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman, March 24, 2001

Interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman regarding her experiences during World War II. She begins by discussing her family background: her parents were Jews born in Poland and emigrated to the United States. Ethel's European aunts, uncles and grandparents all likely died in the Holocaust. As a first grade student, she taught her mother, a Polish immigrant, how to read and write English. She recalls, wartime rationing, Victory Gardens, scrap drives, and antisemitism among her school-aged classmates in Dallas, Texas, and the end of the war.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Schectman, Ethel Reisberg
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Annie May Web, March 24, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Annie May Web, March 24, 2001

Interview with Annie (Amy) May Webb discussing her husband's service and her experiences on the homefront during World War II. She describes delivering word of the birth of their daughter to her husband while he was aboard the USS Bennington serving with VMF-112.
Date: March 24, 2001
Creator: Bloomfield, Vivian & Webb, Annie May
System: The Portal to Texas History