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

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
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.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral History Interview with Eugene Riester, November 20, 2004 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Eugene Riester, November 20, 2004

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Eugene Riester where he discusses his childhood and education and what led him to joining the Navy. He describes his experiences in the attack on Peral harbor and his service in the Pacific Theatre that followed.
Date: November 20, 2004
Creator: Riester, Eugene; Tombaugh, John & Meter, Peg Van
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History