Oral History Interview with William Havel, April 22, 1994

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Interview with William Havel, an army veteran from Staten Island, New York. This interview recounts his experiences as an adopted child in a farm family and then as a corpsman at Tripler General Hospital during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Date: April 22, 1994
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Havel, William
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William E. Moore, Jr., March 4, 1998

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Interview with William E. Moore Jr., a Army WWII veteran from Temple, Texas, who was present at the attack on Pearl Harbor. Moore discusses his time in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M, assignment to 24th Division Artillery at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, training and alerts, the attack at Wheeler Field and taking defensive positions around Oahu, and service afterwards.
Date: March 4, 1998
Creator: Meisch, Lisa & Moore Jr., William E.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with John A. Roberts, April 27, 1999

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Interview with General John Roberts, a Air Force WWII veteran from Arkansas, who served for over twenty years with General Roger Ramey of Denton, Texas. Roberts discusses Ramey's background and his own, Army Air Corps pilot training, the start of the war and assignment under Ramey, changing commands and transition to the B-29, Curtis LeMay, the atomic bomb, postwar work, Ramey's health and death, his relationships with various figures, Douglas MacArthur and Harry Truman, the racial integration of the Air Force, and the Roswell UFO incident. Some additional biographical information about Ramey is provided by Colonel Terry Garland.
Date: April 27, 1999
Creator: Lane, Peter B.; Garland, Terry & Roberts, John A.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Cleon Stewart, March 18, 1993

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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
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Allen Stafford, March 12, 1999

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Interview with Allen Stafford, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran from Kiowa County, Oklahoma, who served with the 124th Cavalry Regiment. Stafford discusses his early life, working in Texas oil fields, enlisting and training, deployment to the China-Burma-India Theater and reorganization as an infantry unit, combat operations with the Japanese around the Burma Road, and returning to the United States.
Date: March 12, 1999
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Stafford, Allen E.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William P. Schiff, January 12, 1990

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Interview with William Schiff, a Holocaust survivor from Kraków, Poland. Schiff discusses his family, antisemitism before the war, the invasion of Poland, being put into forced labor by the Germans and Poles, the ghetto and survival there, getting married, experiences in internment at Kraków-Płaszów, Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, and Buchenwald concentration camps, liberation, returning to Kraków and finding his wife, and life afterwards.
Date: January 12, 1990
Creator: Rosen, Keith & Schiff, William P.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Lyndle Lynch, January 10, 1995

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Interview with Lyndle Lynch, a Navy WWII veteran from El Paso, Texas, who was aboard the USS Utah during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lynch discusses going into the Navy, work aboard the Utah, liberty in Honolulu, the morning of the attack, the sinking of the Utah and abandoning ship, assisting the wounded, duties after the attack, morale and reactions, and service aboard the USS Detroit.
Date: January 10, 1995
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Lynch, Lyndle
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Inga Pennock, January 27, 1990

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Interview with Inga Pennock, a Holocaust survivor from Berlin. Pennock discusses her family background, experiencing antisemitism and the start of Nazi rule, trying to leave Germany and hiding, increasing violence, Kristallnacht, losing family, fleeing to Shanghai, Japanese occupation and the ghetto, working as a nurse for the Japanese, living conditions, liberation, and life afterwards.
Date: January 27, 1990
Creator: Rosen, Keith G. & Pennock, Inga
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, October 11, 1996

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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.
Date: October 11, 1996
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Ditto, Lanson B.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Richard Donley, February 22, 1997

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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
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with David Braden, October 8, 1994

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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.
Date: October 8, 1994
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Braden, David, 1924-
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Jean Balch, October 12, 1996

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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
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interviews with Ocie R. Turner, 1991

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Interview with the Rev. Ocie Turner, a minister at New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dallas, Marine WWII veteran, and a longtime resident of the Hamilton Park neighborhood, from Mexia, Texas. Turner discusses his family background, education, serving in the Marine Corps at the Battle of Iwo Jima, working as a butcher in Dallas, working in the oil and gas industry, buying his house in Hamilton Park, the growth and development of the neighborhood, community organizations, local businesses, the schools and his children's education, and changes in the neighborhood over time.
Date: 1991-09-14/1991-12-05
Creator: Wilson, William H. & Turner, Ocie R.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Robert H. Jackson, July 24, 1997

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Interview with Robert H. "Hal" Jackson regarding his experiences as a Navy fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War. It details his experiences with different aircraft and on carriers and in land-based squadrons in the Pacific.
Date: July 24, 1997
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Jackson, Robert H.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Anne Pearsall Karr, June 22, 1997

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Transcript of an interview with Anne Pearsall Karr from Elgin, Illinois, concerning her experiences on the home front during World War II. Karr discusses her youth in Elgin, Illinois; effects of Depression on Pearsall family; college at Iowa State; courtship with Kenneth Karr, her future husband; reaction to Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor; changes on Iowa State campus after American entry into World War II; wartime rationing and Victory Gardens; effects on Pearsall family having a son and daughter in military service; her marriage to Kenneth Karr, early 1944; housing shortage in Corpus Christi, Texas, during World War II; birth of their daughter; wartime entertainment; experiences as a military wife; attitudes toward the Japanese; husband's training as a naval air cadet at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. Appendix includes various photographs [5] pages.
Date: June 22, 1997
Creator: Jackson, Sarah C. & Karr, Anne Pearsall, 1923-
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Roy D. Much, February 3, 1999

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Transcript of an interview with Roy D. Much, Army veteran (987th Field Artillery Battalion), concerning his experiences in the European Theater during World War II. Much discusses his pre-war education and employment; basic training in the artillery, Camp Bowie, Brownwood, Texas, 1942; and general comments about his experiences at Normandy, Saint-Lô, liberation of Paris, Huertgen Forest, Remagen Bridge, Battle of the Bulge, and the liberation of Czechoslovakia.
Date: February 3, 1999
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Much, Roy D.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Roy Cudd, March 19, 1997

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Interview with Roy Cudd, a Navy WWII veteran of the USS Bougainville (CVE-100, an escort carrier) from Denton, Texas. Cudd discusses his family life, their reaction to the start of war, enlisting in the Navy and boot camp, assignment to the Bougainville, duties aboard ship and daily life, missions in the Pacific, the Okinawa Typhoon, combat, initiation as a "shellback," kamikazes, liberty, ranking up, and the end of the war.
Date: March 19, 1997
Creator: Byrd, Richard W. & Cudd, Roy
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with John L. Dillingham, December 15, 1995

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Interview with John D. Dellingham, a Navy WWII veteran from Dallas, Texas. Dellingham discusses his experiences aboard the USS Hull at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, as well as his decision to join the Navy, training, assignment to the Hull, work and life on the ship, operations prior to December 7th, the crew's reaction to the attack and performance in the battle, operations afterwards, and his service later in the war.
Date: December 15, 1995
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Dillingham, John L.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with James N. Hall, November 10, 1999

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Interview with James N. Hall, a Army Air Force WWII veteran from Burkburnett, Texas. Hall discusses joining the Air Force from college, basic training, classification, flight training, the P-47, fighter tactics, deplyoment to Le Culot Airfield in Belgium, his first mission, briefings and intelligence, Air Support Parties, close air support, flak, bomber escort, air-to-air encounters, casualties, logistics, German civilians, crash landings, V-E Day, and return to civilian life.
Date: November 10, 1999
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Hall, James N.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interviews with Max Pila, 1993-1994

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Interview with Max Pila, a Holocaust survivor from Zlav, Poland. Pila discusses his family and Jewish background, antisemitism, the German invasion, life in the ghetto, executions, labor, transfer to Auschwitz-Birkenau, daily experience in internment, mining at Janina, the forced march to Bergen-Belsen, liberation, and life afterwards.
Date: {1993-10-15,1994-04-01}
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Pila, Max
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Commander Alex Vraciu, October 9, 1994

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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.
Date: October 9, 1994
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Vraciu, Alexander
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William E. Painter, December 21, 1998

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Interview with William Painter, a UNT professor and Army WWII veteran from New Bloomfield, Missouri. Painter discusses growing up in the Depression, being a conscientious objector and feeling pressure to join the war, getting drafted into the infantry and training at Camp Hood and Fort Ord, deployment to the Pacific with the 32nd Infantry Division, operations on Luzon and the Villa Verde Trail, the end of the war, occupation duty in Japan, and returning home. In appendix is a letter to Marcello with a correction for the interview.
Date: December 21, 1998
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Painter, William E.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William Smeltzer, August 3, 1996

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Interview with William Smeltzer, a Army WWII veteran and Navy contractor from Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. Smeltzer discusses quitting high school and moving to California in 1940, experiences working at Mare and Pearl Harbor Navy Yards as a civilian contractor before and after the start of the war, the raising of the sunken USS Oklahoma (BB-37), being drafted into the Army and infantry training, assignment to the 45th Infantry Division and participating in the drive into Germany, the end of the war and demobilization, and his career afterwards. In appendix are a photo of the insignia for the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard and two photos of the capsized Oklahoma.
Date: August 3, 1996
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Smeltzer, William
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Raymond F. "Hap" Halloran, March 15, 1998

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Interview with Raymond F. "Hap" Halloran, businessman and U.S. Army Air Force WWII Veteran (878th Bomb Squadron, 499th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force) concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II.
Date: March 15, 1998
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Halloran, Raymond F.
System: The UNT Digital Library