Oral History Interview with Estel G. Burns, October 14, 2009

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Interview with Estel G. Burns, World War II veteran and B-17 pilot, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Project. The interview includes Burns' personal experiences of childhood and education in Missouri, farm life in the Great Depression, basic training, and training for aviation mechanics at Sheppard Field, Texas. Additionally, Burns talks about his family history, his 1942 enlistment in Army Air Corps, being accepted into pilot training, marriage to Dorothy Perrin, life at Deenethorpe Air Base, England, crew members and their respective duties on his plane, various missions bombing German targets, his feelings about missions against civilian targets, opinions of Luftwaffe pilots and of Germans, and his postwar Air Force career, including service in the Korean War. The interview includes an appendix of photographs.
Date: October 14, 2009
Creator: Hegi, Benjamin P. & Burns, Estel G.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Alvin O. Berg, Jr., May 14, 2005

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Interview with Alvin O. Berg, Jr., World War II-era Army Air Forces veteran, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans History Project. The interview includes Berg's personal experiences of childhood and education, enlisting in the Army Air Forces, training as an aviation cadet and service at various stateside bases, fighting in the Pacific theater, having a postwar career in minor league baseball, returning to service during the Korean conflict, and having a career as a pilot for American Airlines.
Date: May 14, 2005
Creator: Johnston, Glenn T. & Berg, Alvin O., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William J. Alexander, November 11, 2002

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Interview with advertising executive and Navy veteran William J. Alexander. The interview includes Alexander's personal experiences about being a teenager during World War II, being a sailor during the last months of World War II, early youth in Casper, Wyoming, moving back to Denver to be reunited with his parent and employment at the Brown Palace Hotel, wartime rationing, joining the Navy, and boot camp. Additionally, Alexander talks about his close relationship with his older brother, life in Casper during the Great Depression while living with his aunt and uncle, local reactions to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, vignettes about John Barrymore, Sammy Kaye, Harry James, and Betty Grable, his brother's enlistment in the Navy, his employment at Station KOA in Denver, making broadcast announcements about D-Day, the sinking of his brother's destroyer, the USS Spence, during a typhoon, the effects of his brother's death on him and his parents, V-J Day celebrations in Chicago, his role as director of the base chapel choir at Opa Locka Naval Air Station, and his postwar career.
Date: November 11, 2002
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Alexander, William J.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William J. Bates, February 7, 2001

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Interview with Navy veteran William J. Bates including personal experiences about the Pacific Theater during World War II, youth and education, the Navy Aviation Cadet Program, flight training, leaving naval aviation and attending Midshipman's School, being assigned to APc-21, operations off the coast of New Guinea with the VII Amphibious Force, providing escort duty for LCTs during assaults along the coast of New Guinea, the sinking of APc-21 by Japanese planes off New Britain Island, recuperating in New Guinea, returning to the States and being assigned to ATR-22, transferring to fleet tug ARA-182 as commanding officer, having convoy duty in the South Pacific, riding out a typhoon, disposing of Navy equipment after the war, and returning to the States.
Date: February 7, 2001
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Bates, William J.
System: The UNT Digital Library