The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Vernon E. Tucker. Born in 1919, he joined the Coast Guard in July 1942. He served on Galveston Island, Texas where he was a motor machinist. He was transferred to New York where he was assigned to the USS Might, an escort ship operating between New York to Cuba. As a Machinist Mate, he was in charge of the engine room. He describes the living conditions on the ship. He and his wife, Ethel Tucker, discuss life and entertainment in New York City. He shares anecdotes about ?the black gang? and food in the engine room; a general quarters drill; a near-collision with an ammunition building; assisting with an impromptu appendectomy at sea; and experiencing a storm en route from Cuba to New York. After twenty escort trips, he was transferred back to Galveston Island. He relates stories about a German submarine near New Jersey; a Japanese submarine on Bolivar Peninsula, Texas; and four German soldiers coming ashore in Galveston, Texas. He also describes rescuing stranded civilians during a hurricane. He was discharged in 1945. The interview also contains information about his parents and siblings.

Transcript of an oral interview with Maurice Stamps. Stamps is anecdotal as he discusses growing up on a farm in Iowa; joining the US Army; going to Hawaii and staying at Schofield Barracks; his assignment to the Classification/Assignment section Fort Shafter without ever having basic training; his assignment later to the Message Center at Ft. Shafter; his correspondence with Enid, whom he married upon discharge in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Leo Itz. Itz was given a one-year exemption in order to help his father on the farm before he was drafted into the Army in March 1945. He was trained in demolitions at Fort Lewis and sent to Luzon to join the 395th Infantry Regiment. Before shipping out to the Philippines, he was assigned to work at Del Monte Foods in California, due to the labor shortage. During his voyage overseas, the war ended. Itz was tasked with guarding an ammunition dump outside of Clark Field. Armed only with an unloaded rifle, he came under fire when Japanese holdouts were raiding the dump. He returned safely to his bunk, only to discover a putrid smell. In the ground beneath him was a shallow grave. In August 1945, Itz was granted a dependency discharge upon learning that his father had suffered a heart attack. He returned to the States in December.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clifford Ashby. Ashby was born in Effingham, Illinois on 11 June 1925. He became interested in amateur radio while in high school and joined the Merchant Marines in 1943. After passing tests related to radio operations he was assigned to the liberty ship, SS James B. Francis (1942) as a radio operator. He tells of the ship loaded with ammunition sitting in the harbor at Guadalcanal with hoses pumping water on the deck to keep it cool. He also observed Japanese air raids over the island of Morotai. Ashby’s ship also participated in the invasion of Luzon. Later, he was assigned to the SS Benjamin Grierson commenting on the excellent food served aboard Liberty ships. He comments on the excellent wages paid to Merchant seaman and the fact that the pay was doubled when the ship was within a war zone. He tells of the SS Grierson setting at Ulithi with 40 other merchant ships for three months following the Japanese surrender. After leaving the Merchant Marine he attended various colleges and he comments on his career prior to retirement.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Al Kiracofe. Kiracofe joined the Navy in 1942 and received yeoman training at Great Lakes. Upon completion, he was assigned to CASU-22 at Quonset Point, helping to prepare squadrons for overseas deployment. He was then assigned to Carrier Air Group 41, which was just beginning to use radar for night flying. One of his duties as yeoman was to send letters of regret to the parents of soldiers who were killed in action. The experience upset him to the point that he remembered the date of each letter for the rest of his life. He was transferred to Carrier Air Group 10 aboard the USS Intrepid (CV-11) and helped to set up squadrons in Alameda from January 1943 to September 1944. At Okinawa, a kamikaze hit caused the deaths of eight men on the Intrepid. When the ship returned to Alameda for repairs, Kiracofe was so shaken up that he was ordered to a US Naval hospital for treatment and received a medical discharge in July 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Al Kiracofe. Kiracofe joined the Navy in 1942 and received yeoman training at Great Lakes. Upon completion, he was assigned to CASU-22 at Quonset Point, helping to prepare squadrons for overseas deployment. He was then assigned to Carrier Air Group 41, which was just beginning to use radar for night flying. One of his duties as yeoman was to send letters of regret to the parents of soldiers who were killed in action. The experience upset him to the point that he remembered the date of each letter for the rest of his life. He was transferred to Carrier Air Group 10 aboard the USS Intrepid (CV-11) and helped to set up squadrons in Alameda from January 1943 to September 1944. At Okinawa, a kamikaze hit caused the deaths of eight men on the Intrepid. When the ship returned to Alameda for repairs, Kiracofe was so shaken up that he was ordered to a US Naval hospital for treatment and received a medical discharge in July 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Dutch Kooper. Kooper enlisted at the Great Lakes Training Center on November 15, 1938. After training camp, he was sent to Seattle for assignment on the USS Williamson (a four-piper converted into a Seaplane Tender), which operated between Seattle and Alaska. Kooper heard that the USS Houston was going on an Asiatic cruise and wanted volunteers so he volunteered; he was eventually transferred and became a gunners mate. After the start of the war, the Houston was sent to help the Dutch defend Java from the Japanese. He states that they were well trained but had defective ammo. The Houston was sunk on March 1, 1942 in the Sunda Straits after taking multiple torpedo hits. The HMAS Perth was also sunk. Kooper gives a very descriptive account of the Houston's sinking, his swimming and finally reaching shore, his capture by the Japanese and his life as a POW. After being a POW on Java, they transported them up to Singapore and then into Burma to build the railroad there. After 42 months as a Japanese POW, Kooper was liberated on August 29, 1945 by OSS troops. His last POW camp was in Nakhon Pathom, …

Transcript of an oral interview with Cesar Fourzan, Jr. He enlisted in the Army in 1940 and was assigned to C Troop of the First Cavalry Division. He trained as a cavalry soldier at Fort Bliss, Texas. He was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas where he attended Officer Candidate School. He shares an anecdote about losing his accent in order to receive his commission. He was assigned to the 9th Cavalry and served as the squadron paymaster. He shares anecdotes about taking African American soldiers into Mexico for recreation and about taking aerial photos of Fort Clark, Texas. He participated in a horse march from Fort Ringgold, Texas to Alpine, Texas, when he was in the 112th Cavalry, Second Cavalry Division. He shares anecdotes about his trip to Australia aboard the USS Hermitage (AP-54); witnessing the landing of General McArthur on Leyte; adopting a puppy and interacting with children on Luzon; and his return trip to the United States. He also shares his recollection of eating ground grasshoppers. He spent twenty-nine years and seven months in the Army and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Franklin Dentz. Dentz joined the Army Air Forces in January of 1944. He completed training for radioman in an infantry company. He additionally learned Morse Code and the 32 bugle calls. In 1944 he traveled to England and was assigned to the 17th Airborne Division in the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment. Dentz provided radio communication for platoon radiomen. He provides some details of his training in England. He flew in a Horsa glider. Dentz comments on the German V2 rockets dropping in England. In 1945 his division participated in Operation VARSITY flying into Germany along the Rhine River, capturing Rhine bridges and securing towns. Dentz provides many details of their experiences through this operation, and life in general in England and Germany. He was discharged in March of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arthur Schrieber. Schrieber joined the Navy after 7 December 1941. He joined the crew of USS Indianapolis (CA-35). Schrieber worked in the engine room and describes how he studied each piece of equipment and eventually became a machinist mate first class. He broadly covers the actions that his ship participated in from the Aleutians through Saipan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arnold Cole. Cole was born in Beulah, North Dakota 9 October 1924. Joining the Navy in January 1942 he attended boot camp at Farragut, Idaho then was assigned to the Hospital Corps School. Upon completing training, he went to Camp Elliott, California to join the Fleet Marine Force as a combat medic with the 5th Marine Division, 26th Marine Regiment. On 19 February 1945 he was in the third wave of the invasion of Iwo Jima. He mentions the high casualty rate suffered during the invasion and he recalls that the corpsmen removed any type of markings indicating they were medical personnel in an effort to thwart the efforts of Japanese snipers to single them out. Cole was on Iwo Jima for thirty-three days before being severely wounded. After receiving initial treatment at the battalion aid station he was put aboard the USS Queens (APA-103) and taken to Guam. He was taken off the ship on a gurney, identified with a green toe tag (dead) and placed in the morgue. A morgue attendant heard him moaning and contacted medical personnel. He was taken to the hospital and given …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with R.V. Burgin. Burgin was born in Marquez, Texas 13 August 1922 and joined the Marine Corps in March 1941. Completing boot camp, he went to Camp Elliott, California for training with 60mm mortars. He boarded the USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) and went to Melbourne, Australia. Upon arrival, he was assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Eugene B. Sledge, author of With the Old Breed, served in K/3/5 with Burgin). On 1 January 1944 he landed on Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Burgin describes repelling a number of Japanese banzai charges. Burgin also describes the invasion of Peleliu and comments on the high casualty rate. Once the island was secured his unit went to Pavuvu for rest. On 1 April 1945 he landed on Okinawa. During the battle, Burgin was wounded. After being treated at a field hospital he returned to the front lines and remained there until the island was secured.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Margaret Heard. Heard was born in New Jersey and graduated from Nursing School in November 1939, passing the state board exam for Surgical Nurse. She traveled to Hawaii on in February 1941 and took a nursing job at the Dole Pineapple Plantation on the island of Lanai. She was attending a wedding in Honolulu on 7 December 1941 and was awakened by the sound of bombing at Pearl Harbor. She and another nurse drove to Schofield Barracks, and along the way observed the second wave of Japanese planes attacking the base. She remembers volunteering for duty with the Bureau of Nursing and being assigned to a group of surgeons on Punchbowl Street in Honolulu. She was given charge of the X-ray department due to a shortage of technicians. She provides anecdotes of her time on Lanai and Oahu, including driving without lights, and on one occasion rolling the car. She describes her uneventful interaction with Japanese-Americans. She took a leave of absence in the fall of 1944 and returned to the States for several months. When she was ready to return, she was tasked to pick up a …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Redfearn. Redfearn joined the Navy in September 1939 and received basic training and gunner’s mate training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to Scouting Squadron 3 (VS-3). Redfearn describes creative offensive and defensive techniques employed by SBD crewmen in combat with Zeroes, such as luring a Japanese plane closer by pretending to have run out of ammunition. After completing missions at Guadalcanal with the USS Saratoga (CV-3), Redfearn returned to the States to attend the University of Texas under the V-12 program. He did not get along well with other students and felt that failing out of school was his only path to reassignment. When professors passed him anyway, thinking they were doing him a favor by keeping him in school, he had to convince them to lower his grades so that he could return to duty. He was then reassigned along with former Saratoga crewmen to the base at Patuxent and was soon promoted to chief. At the end of the war, he returned to Honolulu and oversaw the construction of military housing.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Judson Brodie. Brodie was born on 28 February 1922 in Aiken County, South Carolina. He grew up during the Depression and enlisted in the Navy in June 1940, attending boot camp in Norfolk, Virginia. After training he attended Aviation Machinist School. He graduated in March 1941, and was assigned to VS-41, a scouting squadron attached to the USS Ranger (CV-4). He changed his rating to Aviation Ordnanceman in June 1941 and was assigned to VF-42, a squadron of F4F-3 Wildcats on USS Yorktown (CV-5). After Pearl Harbor, the ship left Norfolk and sailed through the Panama Canal. The Yorktown then took part in the first carrier raid of the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. Brodie was aboard Yorktown for raids on the Solomon Islands and during the Battle of the Coral Sea. He saw the Lexington sink after the crew abandoned ship. Brodie describes the action during the Battle of Midway, including the fatal attack on Yorktown by Japanese planes. He returned to Pearl Harbor in late June 1942. He returned to the Mainland and enrolled in the V-12 Program at a small college in Missouri hoping to become …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Stephen Perrone. Perrone joined the Army Air Forces in October of 1941. He completed training for airplane instrumentation, mechanic and flying cadet. He served as a Radar Bombardier with the 63rd Bombardment Squadron, 43rd Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force. Perrone was in the B-24 snooper squadron. They bombed targets in Indonesia, Malaysia and New Guinea, including shipping areas, airfields and railways. They operated out of a captured base in Morotai. They experimented with low level skip bombing, using this tactic at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March of 1943. In November of 1944 they helped the ground campaign in the Philippines. In July of 1945 they moved to Ie Shima, Okinawa, flying missions over Japan. He was discharged in May of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with John Turner. Turner joined the Navy in early 1942. He completed his flight training and received his commission in December of 1943. In March of 1944 he traveled to Pearl Harbor, where he joined the Grim Reapers of Fighting Squadron 10 (VF-10) aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). Turner served as a F6F pilot. They completed escort and strafing missions, and participated in the Marianas Turkey Shoot in June. He later joined Composite Squadron 10 (United States. Navy. Composite Squadron 10 (VC-10)) aboard the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), where they participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Turner was discharged in August of 1945.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with Ira Zautner. Zautner joined the Navy Reserves in late 1939 and went to radio school. He reported aboard USS Wichita (CA-45) in October, 1940. He rode to Iceland a few times on convoy duty before war was declared and recalls operating with the British Home Fleet. He shares stories from the invasions of North Africa, operating around the Solomon Islands and the Aleutian Islands. By this time, Zautner was serving in the aviation section aboard the Wichita, operating the radio on the reconnaissance plane. He shares several anecdotes about his encounters with other people during the war that he met again later in life. In January 1945, Zautner transferred to Kansas to teach at a radio school. He was discharged at the end of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ernest J. Zellmer. Zellmer was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1940. When Zellmer received his commission in 1943, he opted for submarines and was sent to submarine school. Upon completion of the school in December 1943, Zellmer was assigned as the communications officer aboard the USS Cavalla (SS-244). Zellmer provides a thorough description of the interior of a Gato-calss submarine. He describes the action of the first war patrol in June 1944 arund the Mariana Islands and a torpedo attack on HIJMS Shōkaku. Zellmer describes several of the other war patrols and, in April 1945, was able to visit the San Miguel Brewery in Manila. Also, on one patrol, Zellmer describes how Cavalla assisted a damaged HMS Terrapin (P323) back to Fremantle, Australia. He married an Australian woman and was reassigned to the USS Cusk (SS-348) later in May. When the war ended, Zellmer resigned his commission and took one in the reserves. He began teaching engineering drawing at Washington University near St. Louis before joining the the CIA as a Soviet submarine analyst in 1950. He made a career of the CIA and retired in the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Louis Jendrusch. Jendrusch joined the Navy in mid-1941 and trained in San Diego as a radioman. He was then assigned to Patrol Bombing Squadron 206 (VPB-206) and travelled with that outfit to Panama to patrol for U-boats around the Panama Canal. Jendrusch recalls several anecdotes, including leave in Jamaica, patrolling in the Pacific and the Caribbean, and aspects about the PBM Mariner aircraft. Jendrusch was transferred out of the squadron and assigned to a radio station in North Carolina. Before long, a squadron was assigned to his base and it turned out to be his old VPB-206, which had a new designation (VPB-216). He also trained on radar and sonar. His group went to the Pacific in time for the invasion of Saipan. He also describes a typhoon. Jendrusch returned to the US in December, 1944 and was discharged the following December.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Louis Giroil. Giroil recalls much about the Great Depression in the New Orleans area and the defense work available once the war started. He joined the Navy in January 1943 and trained as an aviation radioman. After training, he was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 80 (VT-80) and went aboard USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) in time for the invasion of the Philippines. He returned to the US and joined Torpedo Squadron 44 (VT-44), went aboard USS Langley (CVL-27) and hit targets at Okinawa, Iwo Jima and Formosa. Giroil was back in the US when the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Warren McLellan. McLellan learned to fly as a civilian before joining the Navy in July 1941. Once in the Navy, he qualified for pilot training and went to Pensacola. After training, he was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 16 (VT-16) in January 1943. They reported aboard USS Lexington (CV-16) later in June in time for her shakedown cruise. He describes attacking targets at Tarawa. He crash landed in the water at the Palau Islands and was rescued and returned to the Lexington. He also ended up in the water during the Marianas Turkey Shoot. He describes being in the water prior to rescue and has great admiration for Admiral Marc Mitscher. He returned to the US later in 1944 and had shore duty in Rhode Island.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Merle Hatch. Hatch grew up in El Paso, Texas, and was drafted into the Army in January, 1941. Hatch was eventually attached to the 77th Infantry Division after he had gone to Officer Candidate School and received his commission as an infantry officer. Hatch speaks briefly about invading Guam and comments on Japanese soldiers in general. Hatch was a platoon leader on Guam. He relates a story about using a flamethrower on Guam. Hatch also served on Ie Shima and Okinawa. After securing Okinawa, Hatch's unit went to Cebu, in the Philippines, where Hatch was wounded by a renegade Japanese soldier. He met his future wife, who was a nurse, in the hospital on Leyte. He also shares a story about arriving on Hokkaido for occupation duty.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Kathryn Ast Hatch. Hatch grew up in Wisconsin and went to nursing school in Madison. She joined the Army in 1943. Once she was inducted and trained, she was assigned to the 44th General Hospital. Then, she shipped out for Australia, where she worked in a 2,000 bed hospital in Townsville. Hatch was in charge of a ward and cared for wounded soldiers and pilots from the New Guinea campaign. Eventually, she moved with her unit to New Guinea and then the Philippines. Hatch describes some of the infections she witnessed, such as malaria.