The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dick Keresey. Keresey was born in Delawana, New Jersey in 1913 and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1941. He joined the V7 Midshipman Program while at Columbia and completed training in January 1942, followed by motor torpedo boat training in Melville, Rhode Island, from which he graduated in March 1942. He served as captain of PT-105 in the Solomon Islands and recalls meeting John F. Kennedy, when Kennedy, as captain of PT-109, pulled Keresey’s boat off a reef. Keresey describes his participation in a major battle involving 15 PT boats in the Western Solomons on 6 March 1943, which became known as the Battle of Blackett Strait. Following that battle, he recalls learning that Kennedy’s boat, PT-109, had been cut in half by a Japanese destroyer. Finally, he describes another action in the Russell Islands on 22 August 1943 where he was assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Five along with nine other boats. He recalls PT-108 was destroyed by Japanese shore batteries during the battle.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Hatch. Hatch was born in Boston in 1921. Following graduation from high school in 1939, he joined the Marine Corps. He volunteered for an English instructor billet at the Marine Corps Institute in Washington, DC. After six months he left for an editorial position at Leatherneck Magazine. Soon thereafter, he took a position at the Office of Information in the Office of Naval Operations, where he assisted in putting out press releases. In September 1941 he was accepted to the March of Time School of Pictorial Journalism operated by a major newsreel company in New York City. He recalls photographing President Roosevelt from the Capitol Gallery on 8 September 1941 as he asked Congress for a declaration of war. In 1942 Hatch was sent to Quantico, Virginia to join the newly-formed Marine Corps Photographic Section. From there, he joined the Second Marine Division in New Zealand. He was one of only two movie photographers assigned to the Second Division, and he describes being at Tarawa. Hatch describes the events that took place over the next three days, many of which were featured in his film With the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Martin Clemens. Clemens was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1915 and, after attending Cambridge University, joined the British Colonial Service and was posted to Guadalcanal in 1938. After Pearl Harbor, Clemens became the only British colonial authority on Guadalcanal and, in February 1942, was assigned coast watching duties prior to the Japanese invasion in May. After the Japanese invasion, he was forced to relocate from his village to a location in the jungle, where he describes his activities in conjunction with island volunteers in gathering intelligence and transmitting radio signals to British and Australian listening posts. When the Allied Forces landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942, Clemens provided volunteer scouts and laborers to Colonel Carlson of the Second Raider Battalion. He also recalls his encounters with General Vandegrift, who awarded him a Military Cross following the battle.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Sanford Hunt. Hunt was born in Newark, New Jersey on 18 October 1915 and after graduating from high school in 1934, joined the Naval Reserve as a radioman. In October 1940 he resigned from the Navy Reserves and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve. He was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as a radio operator, where he worked with Holland M. Smith. He was next transferred to the newly established Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was trained as a cryptographer and cipher machine repairman. He describes his role in setting up and operating a radio transmitter station on Guadalcanal. While there, he worked closely with Major General Alexander Vandegrift and Brigadier General Gerald C. Thomas, Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the First Marine Division, respectively. The three of them were the only Marines on Guadalcanal authorized access to ULTRA message traffic (intelligence obtained by breaking encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter messages). Upon returning to Pearl Harbor he was given a field commission to second lieutenant. Hunt accompanied General Vandegrift to Noumea, New Caledonia as Special Assistant and Chief of Staff for Special Traffic and Messages, until …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jack Jacobson. Jacobson was born in 1916. In 1940 he was accepted in the aviation cadet program and graduated in December 1941. He was sent to Fiji where he received additional flight training and was then sent to Guadalcanal. He describes being bombarded for over four hours one night by Japanese ships off the coast. He tells of the experiences of dropping bombs, strafing and escorting bombers during his more than 100 missions and three tours on Guadalcanal. He was selected to be Captain John Mitchell’s wingman during Operation Vengeance. He describes the precise flight plotted by Mitchell for intercept of Admiral Yamamoto’s plane over Bougainville. A vivid description is given of the actions taken by the planes involved in the attack.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eddie Albert. Albert was born in Rock Island, Illinois on 22 April 1908 and joined the Navy in 1942. Following officer training at Cornell University, he was shipped to the South Pacific. Albert recalls spending a night in November 1943 with Lieutenant Colonel Evans Fordyce Carlson (of Carlson’s Raiders fame) in a hole during the Battle of Tarawa. After the battle he relates that he was called to Washington, DC for duties relating to public relations and was sent around the United States selling war bonds. He recalls that by the end of the war he also had produced at least six war-related training films.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond F. "Hap" Halloran. Halloran grew up in Ohio and admits an early fascination with airplanes that led him into the Army Air Corps after he finished high school in 1940. By the end of 1942, Halloran had been called up for service in the Air Corps and trained asa navigator. He also volunteered for bombadier school. Halloran also speaks of training in B-29 bombers. In December, 1944, Halloran and his crew received orders to go overseas to Saipan. Halloran also speaks of his post-war friendship with Japanese fighter ace Saburo Sakai. Halloran also describes being shot down over Japan in early 1945 and bailing out of his crippled B-29. Halloran came down in a parachute, landed in Tokyo and was captured. He suffered a sever ebeating by the civilians before military personnel got to him. Halloran then describes his long captivity as a POW. He also describes witnessing the fire bombing of Tokyo on the night of 9-10 March 1945. Halloran also recalls being stripped naked and put in an animal cage. Then, Japanese citizens were allowed to view him in his cage for a day or …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lanson B. Ditto. Ditto grew up in Kentucky. He went to college at Washington and Lee University and then joined the Navy in 1940. After training, Ditto chose to join the Asiatic Fleet. He went to Shanghai, China where he was assigned to the USS Langley (CV-1). The ship went to the Philippines. They were at Manila when the Japanese destroyed all B-17's at the airfield on December 8, 1941. The Langley left Manila Bay that night and headed south. On that trip, Ditto mentions that his ship fired at the planet Venus. They went to Balikpapan, refueled, and spent Christmas at Surabaya. Next, they went to Darwin, Australia, then Perth, Australia. Then, they went to Java. Before they arrived at the port, they were hit by Japanese airplanes dropping bombs. Ditto abandons ship and swims to the USS Edsall. They steam to the Christmas Island. He transferred to the Pecos. The Pecos was then bombed by the Japanese. Next the 220 survivors out of 666 men were picked up by the Whipple. He was injured and went back to the United States on the Mount Vernon. They …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Raymond F. Higgins. Higgins joined the Navy in February 1941 as a commissioned officer. He trained with the Marines at Quantico and then with the Medical Corps at Paris Island. He also trained in tropical and aviation medicine and learned to fly N3N's at Pensacola. Higgins was transferred to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Pearl Harbor. He then transferred to islands in the southwest Pacific. He was in Fleet Air Wing 101, a flight patrol squadron based out of Australia. He returned to the United States for leave in 1944. He then is assigned to the USS Ranger (CV-4) and leaves from San Diego to the sea for training. After V-J Day, the Ranger went to New Orleans and then Norfolk. He remained in service until 1947.

Interview with Mary Steele Leon, a secretary for the U. S. Navy during and after World War II. She joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and was trained as a secretary. Her first assignment was in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. The CNO at the time was Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. After the war, she served as personal secretary for Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz while he was CNO. She was discharged in 1946.