Transcript of an oral interview with Al Heigel. When Heigel finished high school in June, 1944, he joined the Navy at Little Rock, Arkansas and went for boot training at San Diego. He was assigned as a radar operator and reported aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22) at Pearl Harbor. Heigel describes the light carrier and its construction and features. He also speaks of the time the Independence was hit by a torpedo off Tarawa in 1943. Heigel then describes events off Okinawa: watching the USS Franklin (CV-13) being bombed off Okinawa; locating and shooting down kamikazes; describing battle stations; aircraft water landings; being in a typhoon, etc. After the war ended, the Independence served as a troop transport taking GIs back home to the US. He describes bunks in the hangar deck and arriving in Portland, Oregon. As the Independence was being prepared for the Bikini Atoll atomic tests, Heigel got off becuase he had the requisite amount of points allowing him to be discharged. He then entered the lumber business, married and raised family.

Transcript of an oral interview with Al Heigel. When Heigel finished high school in June, 1944, he joined the Navy at Little Rock, Arkansas and went for boot training at San Diego. He was assigned as a radar operator and reported aboard the USS Independence (CVL-22) at Pearl Harbor. Heigel describes the light carrier and its construction and features. He also speaks of the time the Independence was hit by a torpedo off Tarawa in 1943. Heigel then describes events off Okinawa: watching the USS Franklin (CV-13) being bombed off Okinawa; locating and shooting down kamikazes; describing battle stations; aircraft water landings; being in a typhoon, etc. After the war ended, the Independence served as a troop transport taking GIs back home to the US. He describes bunks in the hangar deck and arriving in Portland, Oregon. As the Independence was being prepared for the Bikini Atoll atomic tests, Heigel got off becuase he had the requisite amount of points allowing him to be discharged. He then entered the lumber business, married and raised family.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Scheffel. Scheffel grew up in Oklahoma and enlisted in the Army ROTC in 1940. He was called up in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. He was allowed to finish out his senior year of college and was married in March 1942. He embarked on the Queen Elizabeth from New Jersey in September 1942. As leader of 200 men, he landed in Scotland and drove with them to Whittington Barracks where they joined with the British 51st Highlanders. He lists the three main survival lessons he learned from the seasoned English soldiers: having a batman to back you up, digging a two-man foxhole, and waiting for the ""crack and thump."" Scheffel how the ""crack and thump"" lesson would later save his life when he was seriously wounded when attacking the Siegfried Line. From England he went to Algeria with the British troops on the Scythia. The ship is torpedoed off the coast limps into Algiers. Scheffel made the decision to leave the British Highlanders and join up with American 9th Division in February 1943. The division went into Tunisia. Then he was sent to spend another month with the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Orland Harris. Harris went to Santa Anna, California for Aviation Cadet training in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He went to primary flying school in Visalia, California and then went to LaeMoore, California for more training. From there he went to replacement training units, flying the P-38, P-322 and P-39. Harris had take civilian pilot training for one year at college before he went into the service. He received his wings at Williams Field in Arizona 3 Nov 1943 and became an officer that day. He went to the South Pacific in a C-54, along wih about 30 other pilots, ending up in Nadzab, New Guinea with the 8th Fighter Group (part of the 5th Air Force). His P-38 missions included targets of opportunity around New Guinea, a cave on Corregidor and straffed ships on the way to Borneo, and the Philippines. Normally they flew cover missions for B-17s and B-24s but on occasion covered B-25s and A-20s. Harris was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) when he was flying out of Mindoro in the Philippines on a night mission (26 Dec 1944) attacking a Japanese task …

Report of the Red River Compact Commission describing the approved budgets, audits, and rules and regulations during fiscal year 2001

Report of the Red River Compact Commission describing goals, activities, and accomplishments during fiscal year 2000.

Report of the Red River Compact Commission describing the approved budgets, audits, and rules and regulations during fiscal year 2002.

Article provides a comprehensive account of steamboating on the Upper Red River and the role of riverine navigation in the development of the state of Oklahoma.

This article explores the pivotal roles that Auguste and Pierre Chouteau played in the European influence on the Osage tribe in the late eighteenth century which radically altered Osage social structure.

Photograph of Ray Winder Baseball Field taken from the in front of the pitcher's mound. Rows of stadium seats are visible in the background. Overgrown grass and weeds cover the field. [2007, Little Rock, AR]

Close-up photograph of Rich and Peg Owen's faces. Rich stands closest to the camera, Peg out-of-focus behind him. They both look towards the camera. [2007, Little Rock, AR]

Photograph of Ray Winder baseball field covered with tall weeds. Bleachers appear on the right side of the stadium, and advertisements line a wall at it's far end. [2007, Little Rock, AR]

Photograph of a door which stands at the end of a short flight of stairs in a concrete tunnel at Ray Winder Baseball Field. [2007, Little Rock, AR]

Photograph of the abandoned Ray Winder baseball field viewed from the stadium's bleachers. Weeds cover the grass around the field's bases. A tall wall covered with advertisements circles the field. [2007, Dallas, TX]

Photograph of an open umbrella which has fallen on a bench inside Ray Winder Baseball Stadium. A chain link fence stands between the photographer and the umbrella. [2007, Little Rock, AR]

Photograph of a large tree with long branches that hang over the right side of a river. A dense forest borders the river on it's left side. [2006, Newport, AR]

Photograph of Kate leaning against a white wall to the left of an open door. She crosses her arms over her chest and wears glasses, a leaf-patterned skirt, and a black tank top. There is a checkered rug on the carpeted floor. [2006, Dallas, TX]

Photograph of Jack and Kate standing next to each other in a dining room. Kate, who stands on the left, wears glasses, jeans, and a "Ramones" t-shirt. Jack stands on the right with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He wears a "Best is Best" t-shirt and looks towards the camera. [2006, Fayetteville, AR]

Photograph of Kate standing on a lounge chair in a backyard. She wears a patterned tank top, black pants, and crocs. There is a large cluster of ivy on the wooden fence behind her. A terracotta pot sits in the grass to her left. [2006, Fayetteville, AR]

Article presents a biography of William Cunnigham and reveals the ways in which his novels, poetry, and other writings championed the industrial-agricultural working class of his native state of Oklahoma.

Article outlines the travails of the first Creek emigrants to the trans-Mississippi region that is now Oklahoma, whose journey preceded the removal of the Creek Nation.

Newspaper clipping of an article about John Faulkner and Jay Rigby, two veterans who flew in WWII. The article includes a photograph of both men. On the back of the clipping are anniversary and birth announcements.

Interview with Larry Aldrich, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in England during the Iraqi war. Aldrich describes his experiences when he enlisted including his training and work as a guard at a nuclear weapons storage facility and later, overseas at RAF Lakenheath.

Interview with John Andrews, a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps from Kentwood, Louisiana. The transcript includes a list of questions regarding Andrews's training and service in World War II as a B-29 command pilot and flight instructor throughout the United States.