Interview with Colonel John E. Olson, a Army WWII veteran and POW from Leavenworth, Kansas. Olson discusses his family background, commissioning in the Army from West Point, assignment to the Philippines in 1939 as an infantry officer, the start of the war, withdrawal to Bataan and the ensuing battle and surrender, the Bataan Death March, internment at Cabanatuan, transfer to Osaka, experiences there in internment at a factory labor camp, liberation, organizing the evacuation of POWs, returning to the US, and his postwar career.

Transcript of an interview with Admiral J. Lloyd Abbot, Jr., a Navy veteran, comments about his service in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Abbot discusses the U. S. Naval Academy, 1935-39; assignment to USS Enterprise, 1939; assignment to USS Gilmer, 1939-41; flight training at Pensacola, 1941; assignment to Advanced Carrier Training Group (Pacific), 1941-42; assignment to VF-6 (Fighting 6) aboard the USS Enterprise, 1942; assignment to VS-1D-14 in the South Pacific, 1942-43; commanding officer of VS-66, Wallis Island, 1943; antisubmarine patrols out of Wallis Island; assignment to Nanumea, 1943; assignment to Tarawa, 1943-44, with an SBD squadron; assignment to the Chief of Naval Air Training, Pensacola, 1944-46, as engineering officer; and his postwar naval and civilian career.

Transcript of an interview with General Alpha Lyons Bowser, a Marine Corps veteran (3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division), concerning his experiences as an artillery officer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Bowser also discusses his role in planning the Inchon landing, 1950, during the Korean War.

Interview with John Brush, a businessman and WWII POW from White Plains, New York. Brush discusses his family history, school, work for Procter & Gamble Company, marriage, moving to Manila in 1941, the lead up to war, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, internment by the Japanese army at Santo Tomas Prison Camp, survival with his family, censorship and propaganda, shanties and villages, fake identities to help US servicemen survive, move to Los Baños camp, liberation, and return to the US.

Transcript of an interview with George E. Charland, a Native American Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences during World War II. Charland discusses his experiences with the 3rd Marine Defense Battalion during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; his experiences with the 2nd Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, at Guadalcanal, 1942; his experiences with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, at Tarawa, 1943; his experiences with the 4th Marine Division at Saipan and Tinian, 1944, and Iwo Jima, 1945; medical discharge in April, 1945.

Transcript of an interview with Captain Victor Delano, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Delano discusses his first assignment to the battleship USS West Virginia and his experiences during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to the antiaircraft cruiser USS San Juan, 1942; naval battles around Guadalcanal; Battle of Savo Island; assignment to the destroyer USS Wedderburn, 1944; Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944; Pacific typhoons; Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations, 1945.

Transcript of an interview with General Robert E. Galer, a Marine Corps veteran (VMF-224) and recipient of the Medal of Honor, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Galer discusses his pre-war training at Pensacola and Quantico; assignment to Saint Thomas and reminiscences about the "destroyers-for bases" deal, 1940; experiences at Ewa during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to Guadalcanal as commander of VMF-224, August 30, 1942-December 31, 1942; air combat around Guadalcanal; his receiving the Medal of Honor; reassignment to the States for war bond drives; experiences on Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945, as commander of a 584 Radar Team; and assignment to the Philippines and Okinawa, 1945.

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.

Transcript of an interview with Frederick H. Kline, an Army Air Forces veteran, concerning his experiences as a photographic laboratory technician in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. Appendix includes photos of Frederick J. Kline at twenty-five years of age and of him and his wife after fifty-two years of marriage.

Transcript of an interview with Admiral Donald M. Showers, Navy veteran, concerning his experiences as a naval officer assigned to the Combat Intelligence Unit, Pearl Harbor, during World War II.

Autobiography of Eleanor McLernon Brown written for the 44-9 class history book published in 1998.

Transcript of an interview with John W. Evans, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences while aboard the battleship USS Arizona during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Interview with John Hargrove, a Army Air Corps WWII veteran from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Hargrove discusses growing up and his family background, being drafted into the Air Corps, training, assignment to the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron, 22nd Bomb Group at Langley Field as a radio operator, life and work at Langley, transition to the B-26, the start of the war, submarine patrol, deployment to Townsville, Australia via Hawaii, flying his first mission, liberty and recreation, bombing and close air support missions, the crew being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, losses, returning to the US, work as a radio instructor, meeting his wife, postwar service, and reflections on the atomic bomb. In appendix is a manuscript for an autobiography written by Hargrove, an addendum to the interview, and a letter to Ron Marcello making corrections to the interview.

Interview with Elmer Wulf, businessman and U.S. Army Air Forces WWII veteran (535th Squadron, 381st Bomb Group, 1st Air Division, 8th Air Force), about his experiences as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II. Appendix includes two photocopies from an unknown book and two photocopies giving information on the B-17.

Interview with William Coffey, a Navy WWII veteran from Hopkins County, Texas. Coffey discusses joining the Navy in 1937, boot camp in San Diego, service aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37), transfer to submarines in the Philippines, the bombing of Cavite Navy Yard at the start of the war, assignment to the S-41 as a cook, combat around the Solomon Islands, attaining submarine qualifications, patrolling the northern Pacific, the character of the crew, transfer to the USS Sterlet (SS-392), patrols, medical leave, and service postwar.

Interview with Glenn C. Blouse, a Army WWII veteran from Long Level, Pennsylvania. Blouse discusses his family life, being drafted, basic training, deployment to the European Theater via North Africa, assignment to the 135th Infantry, 34th Infantry Division in Italy, duties as a machine gunner, first combat experiences, fighting on the Monte Cassino front, foxhole life, shelling, tactics, taking prisoners, Italian civilians, the Anzio landing, assaulting a hill, liberating Rome, the Apennines Campaign, nightwatch and a firefight which earned him the Bronze Star, breaking into the Po Valley, Mussolini's corpse, the end of the war. In appendix is Blouse's Bronze Star citation.

Interview with Jack Browder, a Army WWII veteran from Duncan, Oklahoma. Browder was a staff officer with the 741st Tank Battalion in Europe; he recounts his education and entry to active duty in 1941, transfer to the new 741st, armor training and exercises, duties as a supply officer, preparations for the Normandy invasion, DD tanks, D-Day, attachment to the 2nd Infantry Division and advances through northern France, the M4 Sherman, his thoughts on General George S. Patton, the Battle of Saint Lô, souvenirs and trading, the Battle of the Bulge, crossing Germany into Czechoslovakia, returning to the States, and postwar service.

Interview with Dan Buzzo, an Army veteran (2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, Texas National Guard) and a member of the "Lost Battalion," concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. He discusses the fall of Java and capture; Bicycle Camp, Batavia, 1942; Changi Prison Camp, Singapore, 1942; building the Burma- Thailand Death Railway, 1942-44; Kanchanaburi, Thailand, 1944; Tamuan and Tamuang, Thailand, 1944; Nakhon Nayok, Thailand, 1944-45; and his liberation.

Interview with Howard Charles, a Marine WWII veteran and POW from Partridge, Kansas. Charles discusses growing up in the Great Depression; joining the Marine Corps and training; assignment to the USS Houston (CA-30) at Manila as a heavy machine gunner and events before the war; the Battle of Sunda Strait and sinking of the Houston; capture by the Japanese and being held at Serang, Java; experiences in internment and forced labor at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, Changi Camp in Singapore, various camps along the Burma Railway, and Saigon; liberation; psychological treatment, trauma, and adjusting to civilian life. In appendix is a letter written by Charles to Marcello including additional information for the interview.

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.

Transcript of an interview with Donald W. Peters, Army veteran (C Company, 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion), concerning his experiences in the Italian Campaign and experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Germans in the European Theater during World War II. Peters discusses his entry into the Army and basic training, 1943; transit across the Atlantic to North Africa and then to Naples; assignment as a replacement to the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion; Monte Cassino; Anzio landing and being wounded by shrapnel when his ship sank; recuperation in Naples and return to his unit; murder of German POWs; Rome-Arno Campaign, 1944; invasion of southern France, 1944; transfer of the unit to the French Alps and his capture, 1944; initial incarceration in Torino (Turin); permanent POW camp at Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany; POW life at Stalag VII-A; liberation; and postwar adjustments to civilian life.

Interview with John Reas, a Navy WWII veteran and POW from New Albany, Indiana, who survived the sinking of the USS Houston (CA-30). Reas discusses his assignment to the Houston and prewar operations in the Pacific, the start of the war and convoy duty, being bombed by 54 Japanese planes, the Battle of Sunda Strait, the sinking, capture by the Japanese, experiences in internment at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, transfer to Thanbyuzayat, work on the Burma Railway, the USS Houston Survivors List, liberation, and life after the war. In appendix is the USS Houston Survivors list, letters of his regarding the list, brief accounts written by Reas of different experiences in the war, a letter by Lanson H. Harris confirming how the list was given to OSS officers, and a photo of Reas' wallet that he carried through the war.

Interview with Paul Stein, an Army veteran (2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, Texas National Guard), member of the "Lost Battalion." His experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Fall of Java and capture; imprisonment in Surabaya, 1942; Changi Prison Camp, Singapore, 1942; hell ship to Japan, 1943; Nagasaki shipyards, 1943-45; Orio, Kyushu, 1945, and American air raids; liberation; description of damage at Nagasaki after the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Transcript of an interview with Charles W. Lindberg, a Marine Corps veteran (3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division), concerning experiences during the battle for Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945, in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Appendix includes a photocopy of a map of Iowa Jima and copies of multiple photographs of Mr. Lindberg with other Marines on and around Mt. Suribachi.