The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Rear Admiral Ray Hunter and Howard Jackel. The interview begins with Admiral Hunter’s experiences aboard USS Washington (BB-56) during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 14-15 November 1942. Hunter served as officer of the deck, and speaks of events that occurred in company with USS South Dakota (BB-57). In the second interview, Howard Jackel shares his experiences aboard the South Dakota from January of 1942 through January of 1944. He participated in the Battles of Santa Cruz, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and part of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaigns. Jackel speaks of their interaction with the Washington during the Guadalcanal battle.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Harold Buell and Warren Taylor. Buell discusses being aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6) during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. Buell served as a Dauntless dive bomber pilot. Ingram’s (interviewer) primary interest in the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57). Ingram also interviews Warren Taylor. Taylor served as a gunnery officer aboard the South Dakota. Taylor discusses much about gunnery at sea: targeting, target spotting, plotting, etc. He also recalls an explosion aboard ship while replenishing ammunition. Taylor also recalls going ashore in Japan after the surrender.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gordon D. Gayle. Gayle was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma 13 September 1917. After graduating from high school in 1934 he entered West Point 18 July 1935. Upon graduating in 1939 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He then went to a basic school for newly commissioned officers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Upon completing the course he was assigned to the 5th Marine Regiment at Quantico, Virginia. Their training involved making amphibious landings at Guantanamo, Cuba. On 7 December 1941 he was promoted to company commander (M Company). On 7 August 1942 he landed on Guadalcanal as the 3rd Battalion operations officer. He describes the action and errors made by the Japanese commanders. Gayle remained with his unit in Melbourne, Australia where they regrouped, received replacements and retrained for nine months. In December 1943, Gayle made a landing at Cape Gloucester, New Britain with his unit. Six days after landing, Gayle was made commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines. He describes combat situations and comments on the effect torrential rains had on the men and equipment. Gayle went to Pavuvu and began …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Michael Ryan. Ryan joined the Marine Corps in 1940. He went to Iceland and served as a platoon commander. Afterwards, he describes going ashore at Tarawa as a company commander. Once ashore, due to the disarray, Ryan assumed command, until he could confirm that an officer from battalion or regimental headquarters had arrived. Ryan also went to Saipan and Tinian. He later served in Korea as an assistant division commander and as the First Marine Division commander in Vietnam.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Salter. Salter was born 27 February 1917. After graduating from high school, he attended Texas A&M University. He participated in the Civilian Pilot Training Program while at A&M and received his pilot’s license. Upon enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1940, he was sent to Santa Maria, California to primary flying school, then to basic flight school at Moffett Field. He completed advanced training at Stockton, California, receiving his commission 15 March 1941. He mentions the various planes flown in each phase of training. After graduation he reported to the 73rd Bomb Squadron at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Alaska and began flying B-18 bombers. In early 1942 the B-18s were replaced with B-26 bombers. Salter discusses characteristics of the B-26 that contributed to early crashes leading to the nickname Widowmaker for the B-26. He moved three of the squadrons planes to Adak and discusses bombing missions against Japanese shipping. Salter recalls being wounded by flak and losing his navigator to wounds. After two months in the hospital, Salter returned to Adak in February 1943 and assumed command of the 77th Bomb Group, which had B-25s. During July …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Leslie Bray. After several attempts to get into the Army Air Corps flying cadet program, Bray finally succeeded in late 1941 and started flight school in Coleman, Texas. He earned hi swings and commission in October, 1942. He ended up learning to fly C-47 cargo planes and serving as an operations officer for the 10th Troop Carrier Group. In June, 1944, Bray was selected to command the newly-formed 16th Combat Cargo Squadron in New York. They went overseas in November, 1944 to India to assist the British 14th Army in Burma. Bray shares several anecdotes about his time in India. He also flew missions carrying fuel drums over the Himalaya Mountains (the Hump) toward the end of the war. Bray returned to the US in late December, 1945 and elected to stay on active duty. He shares anecdotes about the rest of his career in the Air Force.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frederick Holland. Holland was drafted in April 1942 into the Army. From there, he applied for a transfer to the Army Air Forces and was accepted. He attended officer candidate school and earned a commission in early 1943. Then, he was flown to India and worked in Calcutta seeing that equipment and supplies were loaded and flown to other bases in India. Holland developed a conveyor mechanism that assisted in loading cargo onto planes while overseas. He returned to the US and was discharged in February 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Sinks. Sink was in the Naval Reserve when called up and then trained at Corpus Christi as a meteorologist. He volunteered for duty in China, arriving Chungking in 1944. Sinks eventually headed into the country to establish a weather station in Fujian Province and train Chinese guerrillas. Sinks shares several anecdotes about his time in China. When the war ended, he went to Shanghai before heading back to the US in November.

The National museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Allen Stafford. Stafford enlisted in the Army in January 1941. Once the war got started, Stafford found himself as an infantry instructor in Brownsville, Texas. He went overseas with the 124th Cavalry Regiment in 1943 to India for training before being deployed to Burma. He relates an anecdote about driving 500 mules from the docks at Bombay to the 124th encampment 18 miles inland. Stafford also reads excerpts from his personal journal and discusses the raid on the airport at Myitkyina. Later in the campaign, Stafford was wounded. After evacuation and stays in hospitals in India, he returned to New York in August, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Olson. Olson was born in Leavenworth, Kansas on 27 November 1917. His father was a Norwegian who immigrated to the United Sates and began a career as an Army officer. Olson entered West Point Military Academy in July 1935 and upon graduation he was sent to the Philippines as an officer with the 57th Infantry. He recalls that during October 1941 orders were received that all military dependents were to be evacuated. Olson does a masterful job in describing the 1941 Japanese attack on the Philippines, his capture, imprisonment and living conditions he endured until his release in 1945. He concludes the narrative by telling of his various military assignments, including a tour in Vietnam, until his retirement in 1967.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with William Gill. Gill went to Fort Benning for Officer Candidate School in early 1942, and then was assigned to the 98th Infantry Division. He traveled to Hawaii with them and continued training for the invasion of Japan. Instead of active combat, Gill went with the 98th to occupy Japan after the war ended. He ended up gathering evidence against war criminals for prosecutors. He provides some insight in the treason case against John David Provo. He also investigated air crashes while on occupation duty. Gill returned to the US in 1948 and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Kenneth Johnsen. Johnsen joined the Army Air Corps in August of 1940. He worked as a clerk and postal inspector for the Army at Scott Field, Illinois. He graduated in August of 1942 from the Flying Sergeant Program. He opted not to be a pilot and immediately transferred to the 426th Army Air Forces Band in Waco, Texas as a trombonist. They were sent to San Marcos and provided music for the marching soldiers, the black soldiers in their compound and the white soldiers in theirs, as they were not integrated at that time. In 1945 they went to Calcutta and New Delhi, India where they played music and concerts for the enlisted men and officers. They also played at the rest and recuperation camps in the Himalaya Mountains. On the troop ship he served guard duty, and he provides details of those experiences. He was discharged in October of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Lesko. Lesko was drafted into the Army Air Forces in August of 1943. He was trained in long-range navigation [LORAN] radar. In February 1945 he went to Calcutta, India aboard the USS General W. A. Mann (AP-112). He worked on C-46s as a radar and radio technician in the 13th Squadron, 4th Combat Cargo Group. He describes his work on the planes. His unit also went to Myitkyina, Burma, where he assisted in setting up the camp and building bridges. The pilots in his unit flew out of these bases to provide supplies to troops in combat zones. Lesko describes primitive life at the camps. He was discharged in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with Lee Weber. Weber joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1939. He was in San Diego when the war started and soon sailed for Samoa where he served as an armorer. He attended OCs at Samoa and was commissioned in August before going to Guadalcanal in October, 1942. Weber shares several details about ground fighting at Guadalcanal. When he left Guadalcanal, he went to New Zealand for rest and preparation for the invasion of Tarawa. Weber worked closely with Major Henry (Jim) Crowe. He also describes landing at Tarawa and fighting during the battle. Weber was wounded by a grenade and evacuated to a ship offshore. Upon recovering, he went to Quantico and served as an ordnance officer. When the war ended, Weber stayed in the reserves, retiring in 1979.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Traute (Gertrude) Manning. Born in 1907 in the East German town of Koenigshuette, she moved, along with her engineer husband, to the Dutch East Indies to build roads. She shares anecdotes of her time in Java and Borneo, the living conditions and living among the Dutch community. When the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, her husband was taken and held in an internment camp and she and her son, Robert, were imprisoned for the remainder of the war. Her infant son, Max, was placed in a Dutch orphanage and was located only hours prior to being shipped to Australia. She describes her time in the prison camps of Werfstraat, Tangerang and Aadek under the Japanese. She was liberated in September, 1945.

The National museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dorothy Danner. Danner graduated from nursing school in Los Angeles in 1935. In 1939, she applied and was accepted as a nurse in the Navy. After a while, she received orders for the Philippines and arrived in early 1940 on a two-year assignment. Danner recalls the idyllic setting prior to the war before describing activities just after the Japanese invasion. She was stationed at a hospital at Sangley Point near Cavite in Luzon, Philippines. She was captured by the Japanese and interned at Santo Tomas starting in March 1942. Sometime in 1943, she was sent to Los Banos.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ken Towery. Towery joined the Army in early 1941 and was sent to Corregidor to join a coast artillery unit. He recalls several details about life under siege at Corregidor before he was captured by the Japanese and taken to Cabanatuan. He left the Philippines later that year and was taken to China. Towery shares his opinions about being a POW as well as several anecdotes. He also comments on being liberated by Russians and how the Russians and Chinese communists cooperated right after the war. When he was liberated, Towery was put aboard a hospital ship at Port Arthur.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ralph Robinson. Robinson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas 1 September 1919. After graduating from high school in 1937, he began taking evening classes at the University of Houston and continued to do so through 1941. In 1940 he was hired by General Geophysical Company in Houston to work in the laboratory. In 1942 he began working with the Carnegie Institute of Washington, DC in the Terrestrial Magnetism Department. He recalls that the Defense Research Council was established to encourage various universities and scientists to coordinate research and develop devices of war. A special department and section was established for development of the proximity fuze. He tells of the intricacies of proximity sensitive objects and discusses in detail the development and testing of the proximity fuze and delivery mechanism. After the successful tests aboard the USS Cleveland utilizing the fuze against drone aircraft, it was introduced to the Pacific Fleet in 1943. The proximity fuze was first used in the European Theater during the invasion of Sicily. Robinson relates how the fuze was effectively used during the Battle of the Bulge and how the British used the fuze …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Ernest Gordon. Gordon was born in Scotland and joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1939 at Stirling Castle. He was sent to Singapore in January 1940 before the Japanese invaded. Gordon recalls defending the Malay Peninsula starting in January 1942. Gordon was the last to go over the causeway into Singapore before it was destroyed. As Singapore fell, Gordon escaped to Sumatra. When Sumatra fell, Gordon escaped on a sailboat but was captured asea and sent back to Singapore where he entered Changi. He was sent north to build the Death Railway. He describes the conditions along the railway and the work environment.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Den Daas. Den Daas was born in Jakarta, Indonesia 4 November 1920. Upon graduating from the University of Jakarta in July 1940, he was called into the Royal Netherlands Army. Selected to attend the Royal Netherland Academy in Bandung, Indonesia, he graduated in March 1942 as a warrant officer concerned with logistics. Soon after the Japanese invaded, he was placed into a prisoner of war camp at Bandung. He escaped from the POW camp in April 1942, and describes the measures he took to avoid capture. After escaping he traveled to Surabaya where he joined forces with four others and made plans to sail to Australia by a small fishing boat. Before the plans could be carried out they were betrayed and the boat owner was arrested. Remaining in Surabaya, he joined a group of former Academy cadets, who began making sandals and doing miscellaneous jobs to sustain themselves. He was arrested by the Kempeitai in September 1944 and he graphically describes the torture he endured. Soon after the atomic bomb was dropped, Den Daas and some others who had endured torture were shipped to a camp …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with David Peake. Peake joined the Marine Corps in 1943. After boot camp he went to Camp Tarawa in Hawaii, where he joined the 5th Marine Division, 27th Regiment. In early 1945 they left Hawaii on an LST and traveled to the Marshall Islands, forming up their convoy to invade Iwo Jima. They were involved at Iwo Jima when the preliminary bombardment took place. Peake provides vivid detail of what ensued when they landed. They were a part of the shore party, unloading supplies and equipment and moving them along the beach. Supplies included ammunition and food. He describes the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi. He traveled back to Hawaii in April of 1945. Additionally, after the war, Peake was one of the first group of occupation forces to enter Japan, and he provides details of his experiences there. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lewis Michelony. Michelony joined the Marine Corps right after finishing high school in 1938. After training and being joined to the 5th Marines, he went aboard the USS Arkansas (BB-33). Once the war started, Michelony went to first sergeant school. Once he got overseas, he was assigned to the 6th Marine Regiment and joined them in New Zealand. When the division arrived at Tarawa, Michelony's unit was in reserve and went ashore on the evening of D+1. After leaving Tarawa, the unit went to Hawaii for more training and a refit. Then, they assaulted Saipan. Michelony relates more combat experiences. He also fought on Tinian. Michelony participated in the mock landing at Okinawa on D-Day, but never went ashore. Instead, he returned to Saipan and then attended Officer Candidate School at Quantico. When the war ended, his OCS class was cancelled and Michelony reverted back to master sergeant and became a recruiter in Wisconsin. When the war in Korea started, Michelony volunteered to go. He landed with the 1st Marines at Inchon, liberated Seoul and was at the Chosin Reservoir. Michelony retired from the Marine Corps in 1958 …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lyle Specht. Specht signed up for the Marine Corps in the Spring of 1941, while attending Oregon State College. He graduated from the candidate’s class. He was sent to a recruit depot in San Diego on an 81mm mortar platoon in a weapons company. In the Fall of 1942 he joined the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. They traveled to New Zealand and he provide some detail of their travels there and of the New Zealanders. From there they traveled to Guadalcanal, relieving the 8th Marines. Specht vividly describes his experiences securing this island. They traveled to Hawaii, where they reorganized the battalion and did away with the weapons company and assigned the machine gun platoons to the various infantry companies. He traveled to Okinawa with four Army divisions and 3 Marine divisions and describes his experiences through the Battle of Okinawa and being on Sugarloaf Hill.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Baine Kerr. Kerr was born in Rusk, Texas on 24 August 1919 and entered law school upon graduation from the University of Texas in March 1939. While in law school, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve. In April 1942 he was called to active duty and attended officer training at Quantico, Virginia. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines located at Camp Elliott. He recalls several anecdotes concerning his time in New Zealand. In December 1942 his regiment arrived on Guadalcanal. His regiment moved across the island to clear out the remaining Japanese. Kerr was shot in the leg in an ambush and was evacuated to a field hospital in Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. Next he was transferred to a hospital in Auckland, New Zealand and contracted malaria, which extended his stay for three months. Upon release, Kerr remained in New Zealand serving as the executive officer of a company conducting amphibious training with rubber boats. In late November 1943, his unit went to Tarawa and landed on Betio Island on D+1. Kerr recalls his battalion’s advance across the southern portion of the island and an …