The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Sam Laser. Laser was born in Clarksville, Arkansas on 22 December 1919. He enlisted in the Navy in September 1941, and was assigned to the USS Yorktown (CV-5) at Norfolk, Virginia, as a yeoman in the gunnery division. The ship departed Pearl Harbor as part of Task Force 17 and Laser recalls participating in the Battle of the Coral Sea during which the ship was damaged by a Japanese bomb. After being repaired in Pearl Harbor the Yorktown participated in the Battle of Midway and Laser describes the action and damage that resulted in the order to abandon ship. He vividly describes the actions he took while abandoning the ship. He was picked up by a destroyer and transferred to the USS Portland (CA-33) by breeches buoy. After being transferred to the USS Fulton (AS-11) he was taken to Pearl Harbor. After he recuperated, he went to San Francisco where he was assigned to United States. Navy. Carrier Air Service Unit 6 (CASU-6). In early 1943 Laser became a direct commission officer with the rank of ensign. He was sent to Naval Air Station Bunker Hill, Indiana and …

Recital performed at UNT College of Music Recital Hall on September 14, 2005 at 8:00 pm.

The Pear Story is a video stimulus commonly utilized in language documentation where speakers are shown the silent six minute video and then asked to describe it. In the video, a young boy steals a basket of pears from a farmer, then shares the stolen pears with three boys. This is a recording of H. Surmangol Sharma’s retelling of the Pear Story.

Guest artist recital performed at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.