The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ledford Coggeshell. Coggeshell joined the Navy in 1938 as a means of earning money for college. Following boot camp, he boarded the USS California (BB-44) in Long Beach and sailed to the Atlantic. The California sailed back to the Pacific through the Panama Canal, where Coggeshell witnessed President Roosevelt board with South American heads of state. Coggeshell soon transferred into mine warfare and and boarded the USS Preble (DD-345). During the Pearl Harbor attack, the ship was in overhaul and unarmed. Coggeshell assisted the USS Cummings (DM-20) which needed help manning guns, and he also helped survivors of the USS West Virginia (BB-48) escape the fiery waters. But at the battle of Leyte Gulf, Coggeshell felt helpless when the ship could not stop for survivors of burning and sinking ships. Coggeshell was discharged as a chief watertender in August 1945, just days after the second atomic bomb was dropped. He later became an electrical engineer and worked on cruise missiles, the B2 bomber, and outer space weaponry.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph F. Williams. Williams was born 7 December 1921 in New Orleans. After being drafted into the US Army on 23 February 1943 he took basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama for three months. Williams was then sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey where he was assigned to a headquarters company in the Quartermaster Corps. There he received driver training for various vehicles. On 18 January 1944 he sailed to Belfast, Ireland. In July 1944 he landed at Cherbourg, France with the 4029th Quartermaster Truck Company, a segregated unit. There his unit joined the 3rd Army and transported infantry to participate in the battle for Saint Lo, France. He saw General Patton on a weekly basis and recalls witnessing an incident where he demoted a colonel to sergeant because he had stopped a column of trucks hauling gasoline to his tankers. He was subjected to strafing and shelling by German aircraft and artillery on a regular basis. Williams remembers as Allied Forces advanced, German soldiers, some as young as twelve years of age, surrendered. He transported loads of prisoners back to secured areas. He describes being in a …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John McAuliffe. McAuliffe was drafted into the Army after finishing college in June 1944. He trained in Georgia and then was shipped to France in early 1945. He joined the 347th Infantry Regiment, 87th Infantry Division as a replacement in a heavy weapons platoon in the middle of January near the Saar River. He relates a few anecdotes about his combat experiences and the cold weather. When the war ended in Germany, McAuliffe stayed on occupation duty for a while before returning to the US and getting discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Clarence Petersen. Petersen joined the Marines in June of 1942. He completed radio school and served as a radio operator in D Battery, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He provides details of training. Beginning February of 1943, he traveled to New Zealand, completing maneuvers. They traveled to Guadalcanal in May of that same year and Bougainville in November. Petersen provides some detail of the Japanese and living in the jungle of Bougainville. He landed on Guam in July of 1944, by way of amphibious tractor. He was in the 13th wave and describes carrying his radio and an 85-pound roll of combat wire onto the island. He was discharged in August of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Gerald Shepherd. Shepherd joined the Australian Navy in July of 1944. He completed training at Flinders Naval Depot. Beginning in May of 1945, he served aboard the HMAS Bataan (I91). He was present in Tokyo Bay for the surrender. He did not participate in any combat missions. After the war ended, they completed tours of duty in Japanese waters during the occupation. Shepherd continued his service after the war.

Transcript of an oral interview with Ralph W. Johnson. Born in 1920, he was drafted into the Army Air Corps in October 1941. He was accepted into the Aviation Cadet program in 1942. He was sent to flight instructor school upon completion of his flight training in 1943. In Carlsbad, New Mexico, he instructed bombardier cadets in bombing and navigation techniques until 1944. He shares an anecdote about landing a plane when the engines were accidentally turned off by a bombardier cadet. He was transferred to Hobbs Air Force Base, New Mexico where he learned to fly B-29 and B-17 bombers. He discusses difficulties with the B-29 aircraft. In April 1945, he was transferred to Guam where he became a B-29 aircraft commander and flew combat missions. He describes missions along the coast of Japan. He talks about a mission in which the fuel tanks were accidentally dropped along with the bombs. He also describes his plane being hit by anti-aircraft fire and the flight from northern Japan to Iwo Jima. He shares an anecdote about a mission that earned him the nickname “Fireball.” After a brief period on inactive duty after the war, he returned to active duty and …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dale Everill. Everill joined the Army in November 1942 and enlisted in the aviation cadets program. He washed out of flight school due to slight vision impairment but was accepted to a liaison flying school soon after. With prior civilian flight experience, he was soon approved as a pilot and assigned briefly to the 47th Liaison Squadron before transferring to the 115th. He was sent to India and Burma as an L-5 pilot, offering assistance to the Mars Task Force, evacuating casualties, delivering supplies, and carrying out reconnaissance. He was next stationed in China, where he transported OSS personnel. After the war, Everill was in charge of 600 men aboard a troop train. When they arrived at their destination on New Year’s Eve, he went against a lieutenant’s orders and dismissed them all. Everill returned home and was discharged in January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lindsey Wilcox. Wilcox joined the Navy in November of 1942 and completed machinist school. He was sent to Alaska and then assigned to the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) beginning in January of 1943. His job aboard was in the number two fire room, operating the boilers. Throughout 1943, he participated in the Aleutian, Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaigns. In 1944 Wilcox participated in the Mariana campaign and the Battle of Tinian, and in March of 1945, the pre-invasion bombardment of Okinawa. When the Indianapolis sank, Wilcox was one of the remaining crew set adrift before being rescued. He describes events leading up to, during and after this fateful event. He was discharged in February of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Hoyt Richardson. Richardson left pharmacy school to join the Navy in 1942. Upon completion of corpsman training, he treated soldiers with PTSD. One of his unofficial duties was helping Eleanor Roosevelt with her parrots. Upon transferring to Bethesda as a pharmacist's mate, Richardson had the occasion to chat with FDR, who was receiving physical therapy. He deployed to New Guinea, specializing in the prevention of tropical diseases. Richardson himself suffered various ailments while there but was able to protect others from malaria, dengue fever, and dysentery. In the Philippines, he worked beside native doctors before returning to the States. He worked aboard USS Colorado (BB-45) during demobilization before returning to school on the G.I. Bill and earning his pharmacy degree.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents and oral interview with Thomas Earp. Earp was born in Baltimore 15 November 1923. He joined the Marines and went to Camp Pendleton where he had boot training. He then went to Camp Goettge on New Caledonia and was assigned to the 1st Raider Regiment. In January 1944 he went to Guadalcanal where he had additional combat training before transferring into the 4th Marine Regiment. He was then assigned to the 1st Marine Provisional Brigade. Earp’s unit served as a reserve force during the invasion of Saipan. On 21 July 1944 he participated in the invasion of Guam. He recalls waiting on deck for a Higgins boat and seeing piles of body parts taken on board. His landing craft hung up on a coral reef and the troops had to wade ashore in high water under fire. On his first night on the island, they endured a banzai charge. As the battle moved inland he was assigned to the 53rd Construction Battalion and they began building bridges and roads. They also constructed landing strips for B-29s as well as a headquarters building for Admiral Chester Nimitz. Earp departed Guam November 1945 and …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert P. McCoy. McCoy was working in the aircraft industry in Los Angeles when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He was still a civilian on his way to Fairbanks, Alaska when the Japanese attacked Dutch Harbor. It took him a week to fly to Alaska as a result. After he returned, he went to work for the Lockheed Corporation and was employed building Norden bombsights. He spent some time installing the bombsights in aircraft in Ireland and England before joining the Marine Corps in July, 1944. In the Marines, he worked as an air traffic controller. McCoy was sent to China for six months after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Herman Johns. Johns was working for International Harvester when he decided to join the Air Force. He did essentially the same job for the Air Force he did as a civilian: accounting and finance. Johns met and married his wife while he was in the service. When his stint in the Air Force was complete, Johns returned to work for International Harvester in Dallas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Hickey. Hickey joined the Army around mid-1944. He served with the 19th Infantry Regiment. In April of 1945, he participated in the Philippines Campaign in Davao on Mindanao, where he was wounded. Hickey served with occupation forces in Japan through mid-1946. He returned to the US and was discharged in late 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ernest Wingen discussing his childhood and education and what led him to join the Navy. He talks about boot camp and his experiences in the pacific Theatre of World War Two.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Leo Charles Kimble. He discusses his childhood growing up during the great depression and what led him to join the US Navy. He describes his experiences int he Pacific Theatre during World War Two.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ernest Wingen discussing his childhood and education and what led him to join the Navy. He talks about boot camp and his experiences in the pacific Theatre of World War Two.