Oral History Interview with Gordon Whymark, June 26, 2006 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Gordon Whymark, June 26, 2006

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gordon Whymark. Whymark begins with discussing witnessing the Battle for Britain as he was a teenager living in a rural community outside London. When he was seventeen, he joined the Royal Marines and trained at Chatham in 1943. After training, he boarded a ship bound for Sri Lanka and more training. Upon completion of jungle training in Sri Lanka, Whymark was assigned to HMS Illustrious, an aircraft carrier assigned to raiding the Japanese installations on Java and Sumatra. In 1944, Illustrious joined the US Navy Task Force 57 and attacked targets on Formosa and Okinawa. Whymark describes the kamikaze attack on Illustrious that he witnessed. Whymark was reassigned from Illustrious to HMS Swiftsure (08), a cruiser. When the war ended, Whymark went to Hong Kong and Shanghai aboard Swiftsure. He also shares stories about the time he spent on occupation duty at the British Embassy in Tokyo after the war ended.
Date: June 26, 2006
Creator: Whymark, Gordon
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with William Raymond, June 26, 2006 (open access)

Oral History Interview with William Raymond, June 26, 2006

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Raymond. Raymond joined the Navy in 1940. He was sent to the USS New York (BB-34) where he started as a deck seaman and became a quartermaster. Raymond describes the duties of a quartermaster in the Navy. He was then sent to the USS Biloxi (CL-80) and took part in the commissioning. Raymond went to the Pacific and describes the types of missions the Biloxi performed and the armament of the ship. He discusses his ship being hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa and how the repairs were made. Raymond also describes the refueling process and how the lack of fuel contributed to the loss of a destroyer during a typhoon. Raymond mentions seeing the damage at Nagasaki and evacuating POWs. He retired from the Navy in 1960.
Date: June 26, 2006
Creator: Raymond, William
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Gordon Whymark, June 26, 2006 transcript

Oral History Interview with Gordon Whymark, June 26, 2006

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gordon Whymark. Whymark begins with discussing witnessing the Battle for Britain as he was a teenager living in a rural community outside London. When he was seventeen, he joined the Royal Marines and trained at Chatham in 1943. After training, he boarded a ship bound for Sri Lanka and more training. Upon completion of jungle training in Sri Lanka, Whymark was assigned to HMS Illustrious, an aircraft carrier assigned to raiding the Japanese installations on Java and Sumatra. In 1944, Illustrious joined the US Navy Task Force 57 and attacked targets on Formosa and Okinawa. Whymark describes the kamikaze attack on Illustrious that he witnessed. Whymark was reassigned from Illustrious to HMS Swiftsure (08), a cruiser. When the war ended, Whymark went to Hong Kong and Shanghai aboard Swiftsure. He also shares stories about the time he spent on occupation duty at the British Embassy in Tokyo after the war ended.
Date: June 26, 2006
Creator: Whymark, Gordon
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with William Raymond, June 26, 2006 transcript

Oral History Interview with William Raymond, June 26, 2006

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Raymond. Raymond joined the Navy in 1940. He was sent to the USS New York (BB-34) where he started as a deck seaman and became a quartermaster. Raymond describes the duties of a quartermaster in the Navy. He was then sent to the USS Biloxi (CL-80) and took part in the commissioning. Raymond went to the Pacific and describes the types of missions the Biloxi performed and the armament of the ship. He discusses his ship being hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa and how the repairs were made. Raymond also describes the refueling process and how the lack of fuel contributed to the loss of a destroyer during a typhoon. Raymond mentions seeing the damage at Nagasaki and evacuating POWs. He retired from the Navy in 1960.
Date: June 26, 2006
Creator: Raymond, William
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History