In 1944 and 1945, Tom Faulkner was a B-24 pilot flying out of San Giovanni airfield in Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Only 19 years old when he completed his 28th and last mission, Tom was one of the youngest bomber pilots to serve in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Between September 1944 and the end of February 1945, he flew against targets in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia. On Tom’s last mission against the marshalling yards at Augsburg, Germany, his plane was severely damaged, and he had to fly to Switzerland where he and his crew were interned. The 15th Air Force generally has been overshadowed by works on the 8th Air Force based in England. Faulkner’s memoir helps fill an important void by providing a first-hand account of a pilot and his crew during the waning months of the war, as well as a description of his experiences before his military service. David L. Snead has edited the memoir and provided annotations and corroboration for the various missions.

Interview with E. B. "Ned" Potter, Navy WWII veteran from Norfolk, Virginia, who served in the intelligence section of the 14th Naval District. Potter discusses his education, teaching, commissioning into the Navy and training in communications, assignment to Oahu, codes and ciphers, interception, President Roosevelt's visit, WAVES, and leaving active duty at the end of the war and becoming a history professor. In appendix is a letter from Potter to Marcello with revisions to the interview.

Interview with Charles M. Lagow, a Army WWII veteran from Dallas, Texas. Lagow discusses his family history, attending Texas A&M, joining the CCC, the lead up to war, activation and training with the 352nd Engineer Battalion, deployment to Khorramshahr, Iran, building roads, delivering supplies to the Soviets, crash landing in a B-17 in Palestine, returning to the States and transfer to the 1346th Eng. Bat., deployment to Okinawa, occupation duty and Japanese holdouts, thoughts on Hideki Tojo, attitudes towards the Japanese, shell shock and mental breakdowns, the atomic bomb, and life after the war.

Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, clothier and Navy veteran regarding personal experiences about the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean Theaters during World War II. Ditto talks about his education, enlistment in the Navy V-7 Program, midshipman training, assignment to the USS Langley, pre-war duty in the Philippines, coming of war and combat around the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies, the sinking of the Langley and his transfer to the USS Pecos, the sinking of the Pecos and his rescue by the USS Whipple, various naval battles and assignments, antisubmarine patrols off the Solomons, various escort duties, and his promotion to captain of the O'Toole.

Interview with David Braden, an Army Air Force WWII veteran from Dallas, Texas. Braden served as a navigator/radar-bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress in the Pacific; he recounts being in ROTC at North Texas Agricultural College and signing up for the Air Corps Reserves, flight training, the B-29, his crewmates, assignment to Saipan, organization of a bombing mission, the jetstream, flak and fighters, being shot down, switching crews, targets, briefings, recreation, Japanese holdouts on Saipan, fighter escorts, returning stateside, and leaving the service. In appendix is a letter sent to Dr. Marcello by Braden containing some corrections for the interview.

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.

Transcript of an interview with John Rich, journalist and Marine Corps veteran (4th Marine Division), concerning his experiences as a Japanese language interpreter/interrogator in the Pacific Theater during World War II and his observations as a journalist while covering the proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Rich discusses his pre-war career in journalism; U.S. Navy Japanese Language School, University of Colorado, 1942-43; assignment to the 4th Marine Division, 1943; Roi-Namur and Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, 1944; interrogation of Japanese prisoners-of-war; Saipan and Tinian, Mariana Islands, 1944; Iwo Jima, 1945; coverage of the Tokyo war crimes trials for International News Service, 1946; reminiscences about covering Franklin D. Roosevelt's meeting with the press after the Atlantic Conference with Winston Churchill off Argentia, Newfoundland, August 10-15, 1941.

Interview with Arthur Hofstein, a Army WWII veteran from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hofstein discusses the lead up to war, being drafted, training to be a radio operator, departure for the European Theater, landing in France and first action at Mars-la-Tour, the Battle of the Bulge, German prisoners and civilians, advancing into Germany, the liberation of Dachau, letters, and life after the war. In appendix are various materials and photographs related to Hofstein and his service.

Interview with Cmdr. Alex Vraciu, a Navy WWII veteran and Navy Cross recipient from East Chicago, Indiana. Vraciu discusses his family and educational background, naval flight training, Edward "Butch" O'Hare, the F6F Hellcat, various combat operations throughout the Pacific, his actions at the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," being awarded the Navy Cross and time stateside, and returning to combat. In appendix is an autobiographical sketch by Vraciu, including a picture of him and his Hellcat with visible victory markings on the fuselage.

Interview with Ben Moody, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran from Kilgore, Texas, who served with the 112th Cavalry in the Pacific. Moody discusses his family, surviving the Great Depression, his jobs and education, joining the 112th and mobilization, deployment to New Caledonia, Woodlark Island, staging at Goodenough Island, the Battle of Arawe, the Battle of Driniumor River, spending the remainder of the war in the hospital, and reflections on the 112th.

Interview with Major Anna K. Schelper, a Army WWII veteran from San Antonio, Texas. Schelper discusses her parents, growing up, her education and becoming a nurse, joining the Army Nurse Corps, experiences serving throughout the Pacific Theater, service in hospitals after the war, continued education and promoting, and reflections on her career and being a servicewoman. In appendix are Schelper's Army service record, a letter from two former patients to the 23rd Field Hospital, a scan of some of her letters which were printed in a book, and a scan of some sections from The Army Nurse Corps: Yesterday and Today by Mary M. Roberts.

Interview with Acting Sergeant David W. Peake, Sr., a Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II as a member of the 5th Marine Division. Peake discusses Iwo Jima and his occupation duty in postwar Japan. Appendix includes a photocopy of a "Veteran's Questionnaire" from the Admiral Nimitz Museum and Historical Center, filled-out by David W. Peake, Sr. [3 pages]

Transcript of an interview with Ernest A. Brown, an Army Air Corps veteran, concerning his experiences at Bellows Field with the 72th Bomb Squadron at Bellows Field during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Includes appendix of various military documents.

Transcript of an interview with William R. Gill, agronomist and Army veteran (A Company, 389th Infantry Regiment, 98th Division), concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II and his experiences and role in the Pacific War Crimes Tribunal in postwar Japan. Appendix includes five leaves from "The hunt for Tokyo Rose,' By Russell Warren Howe and four leaves from "Tokyo Rose: Orphan of the Pacific," by Masayo Duus.

Interview with Captain George Duncan, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Duncan discusses his pilot training at Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1941, his assignment to Air Group 9 on the carrier Essex, the Hellcat fighter, the sinking of Fubuki-class destroyer in June of 1944 off of Pagan Island, the Marianas Campaign in 1944, the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot," the Philippines Campaign and the attack on the Japanese battleship Musashi, and his postwar naval career.

Transcript of an interview with John McVean, a Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences aboard the battleship USS West Virginia during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Transcript of an interview with Harry Bradford Urey, Jr., a mechanical engineer and Army Air Forces veteran (454th Bomb Squadron, 323rd Bomb Group, 9th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-26 pilot in the European Theater during World War II.

Interview with Glen McDole, a Marine Corps WWII veteran and POW from Des Moines, Iowa. McDole discusses joining the Marines in 1940, assignment to the 1st Separate Marine Battalion and deployment to Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines, the Japanese attack on December 8th, 1941, withdrawal to Corregidor, Douglas MacArthur, the surrender, experiences in internment at Cabanatuan, transfer to Palawan, American bombing raids, surviving the Palawan massacre, rescue by Philippines civilians, the American liberation, and testifying about his former captors after the war.

Interview with Luther Strange, an Army Air Corps veteran, concerning his experiences at Hickam Field with the Headquarters Squadron during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Interview with Davis Porter Newton, Army WWII veteran of the Pacific Theater from Birmingham, Alabama. Newton discusses his family background, working during the Depression and his education, commissioning into the Army, assignment to the 346th Harbor Craft Company and deployment to Finschhafen, New Guinea, acting as defense counsel in a court martial, sea-transport operations around New Guinea and the Philippines, working with POWs, and investigating war crimes.

Transcript of an interview with Fiske Hanley, an aeronautical engineer and Army Air Forces veteran (398th Bomb Squadron, 504th Bomb Group, 313th Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force), concerning his experiences during World War II, including as a flight engineer aboard B-29s in the Pacific Theater and as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese.