Transcript of an interview with Lloyd Gossell, a Marine Corps veteran (A Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division), concerning his experiences during the assault on Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945. Gossell discusses his enlistment and boot camp, San Diego, California, 1942; assignment to the 3rd Marine Parachute Battalion, 1942; jungle training on New Caledonia, 1942-43; transfer to Guadalcanal, 1943; combat on Bougainville, 1943-44; return to the States to help form the 5th Marine Division; final training, Camp Tarawa, Hawaii, 1944-45; briefings and meetings en route to Iwo Jima; the pre-invasion bombardment of Iwo Jima; the initial assault on February 17, 1945; conditions on Green Beach; the assault across terraces to the base of Mount Suribachi; isolating Mount Suribachi from the rest of the island; transfer to the north end of Iwo Jima and combat on Hill 362-A; combat in "Death Valley"; occupation of Japan. Appendix includes a map of the landings for the invasion of Iwo Jima.

Interview with James William "Bill" Harrison, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He explains how he joined the navy in San Diego without going to boot camp. He worked on an oil tanker that shipped out to Pearl Harbor a month after the attack there and transported fuel out of San Diego to various ships at sea. He was then transfered to Admiral Nimitz's public relations department. There he and two others wrote stories about the action in the Pacific theater, particularly about the Battle of Midway. They also contributed to a radio show and worked with the national press corps. He then worked at the Naval Air Station in Seattle before traveling to Hilo, Hawaii to meet with soldiers who had returned from Tarawa. In Texas, he attended officer training school and college at Southwestern University. After the war ended, he studied at the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma for law school. He recalls an incident in which his office released a story about a cat that had kittens on board a cruiser; they reported this good news from the Pacific prior to the Battle of Midway. He also met Admirals Nimitz …