Resource Type

Oral History Interviews with Pete Evans, 1984 (open access)

Oral History Interviews with Pete Evans, 1984

Interview with Pete Evans, a Texas National Guard veteran and POW from Hamby, Texas. Evans discusses his time as a member of 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (the "Lost Battalion") which was captured by the Japanese in March, 1942, including: his upbringing; entering the Guard and training; mobilization, the Louisiana Maneuvers, and deployment to East Asia; diversion from the Philippines to Brisbane and then Java, after December 7th, 1941; assignment to Sangosari near Malang; the Japanese invasion and the American surrender; and experiences in internment at Surabaya, Tanjong Priok in Batavia, Changi Camp in Singapore, Nagasaki, and the Orio district of Kitakyūshū.
Date: {1984-02-15,1984-02-29,1984-03-07}
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Evans, Pete
System: The UNT Digital Library
Personal Diary of Frank Fujita, Jr. (open access)

Personal Diary of Frank Fujita, Jr.

A copy of Frank Fujita Jr.'s war diary, obtained by Dr. Ron Marcello to accompany Fujita's oral history interview. Fujita was an Texas National Guard WWII veteran and POW from the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment captured on Java in March 1942. Included is Fujita's original bound diary, and a rewritten version he made in a Japanese logbook in internment and continued. They contain daily activities, doodles, lists of dozens of servicemen and captives encountered, and the key to an encoded script Fujita developed for sensitive information. Also included is a postwar newspaper clipping about Fujita's unit.
Date: December 19, 1970
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Fujita Jr., Frank
System: The UNT Digital Library
Summary History of Abilene Army Air Field 1942-1946 (open access)

Summary History of Abilene Army Air Field 1942-1946

Narrative about the activities at the Abilene Army Air Field while it was during World War II. It includes descriptions about personnel and troop organization, training, accidents, official communications, morale and activity on the base, airplanes and maintenance, and other information about operations.
Date: October 1986
Creator: Edward, Lonnie
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Cecil Minshew, February 18, 1983 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Cecil Minshew, February 18, 1983

Interview with Cecil T. Minshew regarding his experiences in the military and as a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War II. He was part of the Texas National Guard, 36th Division, 131st Field Artillery, 2nd Battalion, also known as the "Lost Battalion." He was captured on the island of Java in March of 1942 and spent the duration of the war thereafter as a prison of war in camps in South East Asia and in Japan.
Date: February 18, 1983
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Minshew, Cecil T.
System: The UNT Digital Library
[Camp Barkeley Scrapbook: 1941] (open access)

[Camp Barkeley Scrapbook: 1941]

Scrapbook assembled during the first year of Camp Barkeley (1941) containing clippings from the Abilene Reporter News, and from the Wichita Falls Daily Times regarding the air school and Sheppard field.
Date: 1941
Creator: Keith, Ben E.
System: The Portal to Texas History

Oral History Interview with Arthur B. Clark, September 29, 2000

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with Arhtur B. Clark, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran and POW from Abilene, Texas, who was captured with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery. Clark discusses joining the National Guard, training and maneuvers, deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and surrender to the Japanese, experiences in internment at Tanjong Priok in Batavia, internment at Changi Camp in Singapore, labor on the Burma "Death" Railway, and liberation. The interview includes an appendix with a reference page and a written flight log by Col. Tom Sledge.
Date: September 29, 2000
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Clark, Arthur B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
[World War II Photo Album] (open access)

[World War II Photo Album]

Album containing a collecton of photographs taken during World War II, most of them at or near Camp Barkeley in Taylor County, Texas. The images include living quarters, soldiers, and training exercises. Many of the pages are blank.
Date: 1943~/1945~
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History