[Group Petition #1] (open access)

[Group Petition #1]

Petition addressed to the Board of Directors, Order of Fifinella, Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII, from ten members living in Texas. The petition includes a list of nine concerns, including the reinstatement of the nonprofit organization in California and the removal of the Fifinella logo from the newsletter. The signatures found at the bottom of the page include the member's WASP class and street address.
Date: 1979-09~
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Group Petition #2] (open access)

[Group Petition #2]

Petition addressed to the Board of Directors, Order of Fifinella, Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII and circulated to the WASP class secretaries. The petition includes a list of nine concerns, including the reinstatement of the nonprofit organization in California and the removal of the Fifinella logo from the newsletter. This version of the petition does not include the Texas Ten's signatures.
Date: 1979-09~
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Clipping: The WASPS] (open access)

[Clipping: The WASPS]

Photocopied magazine clipping about the squadron that led to the use of women in military aviation and life as a WASP.
Date: January 1944
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Clipping
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Letter from Margaret L. Chamberlain to Mr. Rigdon Edwards, October 8, 1945] (open access)

[Letter from Margaret L. Chamberlain to Mr. Rigdon Edwards, October 8, 1945]

Letter from Margaret L. Chamberlain to Mr. Rigdon Edwards discussing her recent travels for aviation training.
Date: October 8, 1945
Creator: Chamberlain, Margaret L.
Object Type: Letter
System: The Portal to Texas History

Oral History Interview with Cleon Stewart, March 18, 1993

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with Cleon Stewart, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran and POW from Tulia, Texas, who served and was captured with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (known as the "Lost Battalion"). Stewart discusses joining the National Guard, training and the Louisiana Maneuvers, deployment to the Pacific in November, 1941, diversion to Java after December 7th, Japanese air strikes and the invasion, the American surrender and initial internement by the Japanese, experiences in internment at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, transfer to Changi Camp, Singapore, and life in captivity there, and liberation.
Date: March 18, 1993
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Stewart, Cleon
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Richard Donley, February 22, 1997

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with Navy veteran Richard Donley. The interview includes Donley's personal experiences about the Mediterranean Theater during World War II, boot camp, Fleet Torpedo School, encounters with German "F-lighter" armed barges and E-boats, various assignments, and combat against enemy destroyers. Donley also talks about screening operations for the invasions of Sicily and Salerno, operations along the coasts of northern Italy and southern France and the interdiction of German barge traffic, torpedo problems, commando and intelligence operations, returning to the States, his reassignment to the Motor Torpedo Boats Training Center, and transferring to Samar, Philippines.
Date: February 22, 1997
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Donley, Richard
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Jean Balch, October 12, 1996

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Interview with Navy veteran Jean Balch, including Balch's personal experiences about the Pacific theater, being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II, boot camp, radio, radar, and gunnery school, operations during the Leyte invasion, missions over Luzon, and raids on Japanese installations on Formosa and Saigon, French Indo-China. Additionally, Balch talks about his plane being shot down on a raid to Hong Kong and his capture on January 16, 1945, interrogations and beatings by the Kempei-tai, imprisonment at Ofuna, Honshu, solitary confinement for six months and continued interrogation, beatings by Japanese prison guards, starvation diet, the end of the war and liberation, and his participation in the war crimes trials held by the International Military Tribunal.
Date: October 12, 1996
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Balch, Jean
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
[Letter from I. H. to Cecile Kempner, May 6, 1945] (open access)

[Letter from I. H. to Cecile Kempner, May 6, 1945]

Letter to Cecile from her father about his dental health and the war.
Date: May 6, 1945
Creator: Kempner, Isaac H. (Isaac Herbert), 1873-1967
Object Type: Letter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Request and Authorization for Temporary Duty Travel of Military Personnel (open access)

Request and Authorization for Temporary Duty Travel of Military Personnel

Request and authorization for Marjorie Wakeham to report to Amarillo Technical Training Center in Amarillo, Texas.
Date: 1961-02-24/1961-02-27
Creator: Ferris, Douglas A. & Delay, Maurice M.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Clipping: Bethel Gibbons, Marjorie Wakeham Are WASP Graduates in Sweetwater, Tex.] (open access)

[Clipping: Bethel Gibbons, Marjorie Wakeham Are WASP Graduates in Sweetwater, Tex.]

Newspaper clipping announcing that Marjorie Wakeham and Bethel Gibbons are graduating in Sweetwater, Texas after completing their required WASP training.
Date: 1943~
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Clipping
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Notice About 1986 WASP Class Dinner] (open access)

[Notice About 1986 WASP Class Dinner]

Notice in which the author states she volunteered at the Women Airforce Service Pilots National Convention to take over as the secretary for WASP class 43-6, going on to describe the convention and asking more of class 43-6 members to plan to attend the next gathering. A black and white photo of the thirteen members of class 43-6 that attended holding a large WASP wings plaque is printed on the page. Some of the women are labeled in pen around the edge of the photo as Evelyn Stewart Johnson, Moya Mitchell Anonson, Blanche Osborn Bross, Rance, Irene Maglio, Cappy Johnson Johnson, "Babe" Story, and McGeorge.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, January 15, 2004 transcript

Oral History Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, January 15, 2004

Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, a pilot during World War II. He describes growing up on a farm in Georgia, going to college at Berry, and working for Sears, Roebuck, and the Royal Typewriter Company before joining the U. S. Navy. He tells an anecdote about joining the navy so he could go to New York to see the World's Fair, since he had heard the Atlanta Reserve would be making a trip to the Fair. He began flight training in Florida in December 1940, finished the next September, then drove cross-country to San Francisco after the Pearl Harbor attack. He eventually joined the USS Enterprise in April 1942 and saw the B-25 bombers in the Doolittle Raid take off. He was part of Bombing Squadron Six and trained under Commander Best to learn how to do scouting flights, navigation, and dive bombing. He then describes his participation in the Battle of Midway, the hours before take-off, his first view of the Japanese fleet, and his bombing mission. He was later assigned to the USS Hornet and had to fly off to a little island so that planes from the USS Wasp could land on the Hornet after their ship …
Date: January 15, 2004
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Hopkins, Lewis R.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Albert Bouley, June 27, 2001 transcript

Oral History Interview with Albert Bouley, June 27, 2001

Interview with Albert Bouley, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses his enlistment in the Marines just after Pearl Harbor; his assignment to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division; the battle of Guadalcanal; malaria and dysentery; the battle of Cape Gloucester; the use of Pavuvu as a base; the battle of Peleliu; his return to the United States; guard duty at the Brooklyn Naval Yard and his service as an instructor in a heavy weapons school before the end of the war. He joined the Air Force 2 1/2 years later to be able to fly and work on planes, then retire to become a teacher in California, and finally settled in Texas.
Date: June 27, 2001
Creator: Cox, Floyd & Bouley, Albert
Object Type: Sound
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
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006 transcript

Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006

Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. LeBow joined the navy in 1943 and went from Lubbock, Texas to San Diego for recruit training. He shipped out to Pearl Harbor aboard an LST from San Francisco. At Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to a work detail aboard the USS Oklahoma, which had just been righted. Shortly thereafter, he boarded the USS Indianapolis to serve as a range finder operator on one of the gun turrets. Upon leaving Hawaii, the Indianapolis went to Tarawa and then the Marshall Islands. LeBow witnessed Japanese civilian suicides on Saipan. He also witnessed the flag-raising on Iwo Jima from his range finder position aboard the ship. LeBow describes being hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa. He also discusses delivering atomic bomb components to Tinian and being torpedoed on the way to the Philippines. He describes abandoning the ship and spending five days in the water, including his faith in God, hallucinations, rescue, and his recovery.
Date: May 2, 2006
Creator: Misenhimer, Richard & Lebow, Cleatus A.
Object Type: Sound
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.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James William Harrison, January 27, 2005 transcript

Oral History Interview with James William Harrison, January 27, 2005

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 …
Date: January 27, 2005
Creator: Parish, Brainerd & Harrison, James William
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with James Phinney, July 15, 2010 transcript

Oral History Interview with James Phinney, July 15, 2010

Interview with James (Jim) Phinney, an aircraft electrician for the U. S. Navy during Wold War II. He discusses joining the Navy, going through boot camp and becoming an aircraft electrician. He was assigned to the USS Lexington but abandoned ship after it was hit by a torpedo. He was rescued and was then sent to San Diego to be reassigned to the USS Enterprise. He mentions being at Guadalcanal and later aboard a sub-chaser. The crew crossed the Equator and consequently participated in an initiation ceremony, during which time Admiral Halsey was nearly shot by one of the ship's pilots who forgot to lock his gun. He also recalls some of the food he ate while at sea.
Date: July 15, 2010
Creator: Cox, Floyd; Phinney, James & O'Konski, Susan
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with L. B. Blackmon, April 10, 2007 transcript

Oral History Interview with L. B. Blackmon, April 10, 2007

Interview with L. B. Blackmon, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He discusses boot camp in San Diego, his assignment to Pearl Harbor, and his experiences during the attack. He later trained cadets in Corpus Christi.
Date: April 10, 2007
Creator: Misenhimer, Richard & Blackmon, L. B.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Dale R. Walker, October 4, 2007 transcript

Oral History Interview with Dale R. Walker, October 4, 2007

Interview with Dale R. Walker, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He joined the Marine Corps in 1944 and was trained in mortars at Camp Pendleton, California. He then went to Camp Tarawa at Hawaii for further training with the Fifth Marine Division. Walker landed with the sixth wave on D-day at Iwo Jima. While working with mortars supporting the infantry, he was called on to be a stretcher-bearer on occasion. Walker spent 36 days on Iwo Jima. After the Japanese surrendered, Walker served in the occupation of Japan.
Date: October 4, 2007
Creator: Misenhimer, Richard & Walker, Dale R.
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Paul Jackson, April 10, 2008 transcript

Oral History Interview with Paul Jackson, April 10, 2008

Interview with Paul Jackson, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses his time in boot camp at Camp Pendleton and his combat experiences in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Date: April 10, 2008
Creator: Roberts, Virginia & Jackson, Paul
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Jack P. Hornaday Business Card] (open access)

[Jack P. Hornaday Business Card]

Business card for Jack P. Hornaday, including a picture of Hornaday standing under a plane. His name is printed near the bottom of the card and two numbers are given under his name: one for Arlington, Texas and one for Cambria, California.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
[WASP Memorial Dedication 1997 Form] (open access)

[WASP Memorial Dedication 1997 Form]

Form to order room and dinner reservations at the 1997 WASP Memorial Dedication Ceremony, partially filled out by Rigdon Edwards. A note written at the top of the page reads, "glad you are coming! Dawn Seymour".
Date: 1997
Creator: Edwards, Rigdon, Jr.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
[WASP Conferences] (open access)

[WASP Conferences]

Brief list of Women Airforce Service Pilots conferences between 1990 and 1994.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History