The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Searcy Griffin. Griffin joined the Navy in 1942. In October he was assigned to the USS Bull (DE-693). They traveled to Bermuda, Aruba and Northern Ireland. In May of 1943 Griffin was assigned to the minesweeper USS Scuffle (AM-298). In mid-1944 they transported supplies for a convoy to Pearl Harbor, swept mines in French Frigate Shoals, escorted a convoy to Eniwetok and arrived at Leyte in December of 1944. In January of 1945 they participated in the pre-invasion sweeps at Lingayen Gulf. Additionally, they provided antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection for the transports. In February they began pre-invasion sweeps in Manila Bay in preparation for landings at Mariveles and Corregidor, encountering Japanese attacks. In July of 1945 they traveled to Balikpapan and provided support to YMSs performing the pre-invasion sweep. They returned to the United States in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Alvin Lerman. Lerman joined the Navy in September 1942. He entered into flight training and earned his wings in March 1944 prior to being assigned to VC-94. His unit boarded the USS Shamrock, Bay (CVE-84). Lerman offers several anecdotes of flying combat missions during the liberation of the Philippines, and the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Loren W. ""Bud"" Gregg. Gregg grew up in Indiana and was attending college in Michigan when he volunteered for service in the Navy late in December, 1941. He was trained at Great lakes and then reported aboard the USS Talbot (DD-114). He recalls being at Dutch Harbor, Alaska when the Japanese attacked. Buetell also speaks of the conversion operation the Talbot underwent in order to transform her into the USS Talbot (APD-7), a high speed transport. From there, the Talbot proceeded to the Solomon islands where Buetell discusses landing troops on beaches. Buetell also discusses working with UDTs and landings in the Philippines. Buetell served asa gun captain and recalls shooting down some Japanese aircraft around Luzon. He also recalls serving aboard the Talbot as she made landings at Okinawa and then was on picket duty in the area just to the north. In October, 1945 Buetell mustered out of the Navy.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Cannon. Cannon served as coxswain of an LCM at Buckner Bay during the initial assault on Okinawa, delivering food and supplies to the beach. LCMs were able to navigate the coral, no matter the tide, so Cannon worked around the clock, laying smoke screens at night and dodging flak and kamikazes during the day. After the war ended, Cannon stayed another six months, delivering cargo from one ship to another. He returned home in February 1946 and became a truck driver.

Solo recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arlos L. ""Curly"" Awalt. Curly was drafted into the Army shortly after he finished high school in August, 1944. After basic training, Curly describes getting overseas to Europe. He was shipped to England then sent to France before being assigned to a unit. Once he was in France, he was attached to a heavy mortar section in H Company, 2nd Battalion, 424th Regiment, 106th Infantry Division. Curly arrived as a replacement in the 10th ID during the Battle of the Bulge. Curly mentions the conditions and describes his activities. He also speaks about the death and burial of General George Patton. When the war ended, Curly worked in a displaced persons / prisoner of war camp sorting through the people and returning them to their homes. Curly finishes by speaking about awards he finally received from the Belgian government 60 years after the war ended and some of his experiences speaking as a veteran with local school children in Fredericksburg, Texas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Oliver. Oliver was born in Weleetka, Oklahoma on 29 June 1920. After graduating from high school in 1939, he joined the US Army Air Corps and was assigned to the 11th Squadron, 7th Bomb Group as a bombardier. On a January 1943 flight to Canton Island the B-24 in which he was flying crash landed in the sea. Oliver tells of his recovery from the injuries he sustained and his subsequent assignment to a B-17 crew. In February 1943, on a mission over Rabaul the plane was damaged due to fighter intercept and anti-aircraft fire leading to a forced crash landing in a New Guinea swamp. He tells a riveting tale of the harrowing journey through the leech infested swamp and eventual arrival at a native village. The crew was then rescued and hospitalized. The plane was discovered in the New Guinea swamp in 1972. Given the name “Swamp Ghost” it was reclaimed and taken to Honolulu, Hawaii in 2013.

Chamber recital performed at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Dimminger. Dimminger worked for Hammond Aircraft and Consolidated in 1939, building aircraft. He joined the Navy in March of 1942. Beginning in mid-June Dimminger served as Aviation Metalsmith Third Class aboard the USS Hornet (CV-8). From August through October they operated around the Solomon Islands. On 26 October, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the ship was struck and sank by a dive bomber and torpedo plane attack. He was transferred to the USS Bougainville (CVE-100), and they transported aircraft to the Marshall, Admiralty and Mariana islands. In February of 1944 he was stationed in Honolulu for shore duty and worked as First Class Petty Officer in charge of the supply depot for plane parts. He was discharged in 1945.

This is an informal conversation between friends and family members. They are talking about a letter which has arrived, and what to send in response. They also discuss traveling and riding the bus, a recent death of someone in the area, and the phases of the moon. There is some code switching to Burmese. Recorded at Tamwe, Christian Center

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Barrington Buetell. Buetell grew up in Georgia and was drafted when he turned 18 in 1944. He trained in Georgia before being shipped to Europe in early 1945. He was attached to a headquarters company and recalls liberating a concentration camp at Mulhausen, Austria. When th ewar ended, Buetell rotated back to tUS where he enrolled in college. While there, he completed the Air Force ROTC course and was commissioned just prior to the outbreak of the war in Korea. He eventually was reassigned to occupation duty in Germany, where he served in a constabulary force in Wiesbaden.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gladys Winkleman. Winkleman was born on 10 March 1919 in Lytle, Texas. She met her husband, Meryl, while working at her parent’s restaurant after she graduated from high school. They were married on 16 October 1939. Her husband worked for Exxon before the war and enlisted in the Marines in October 1942. After her husband enlisted she moved back in with her parents. Before her husband was shipped overseas (February/March 1943) she went to see him in San Diego. She started working at Kelly Field after her husband left the States. At Kelly Field, Winkleman worked on the flight line as a checker on a wide variety of airplanes including the B-24, B-25, B-17 and flew as a civilian on several. She was in flight test and worked on planes that had come back from overseas and were being repaired before being sent back out. Throughout the interview, Mrs. Winkleman provides insights into what she did at Kelly Field and what the working conditions were like. When her husband came back from overseas, he was sent to Parris Island and Mrs. Winkleman went there to be with him, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Paul Taylor. In 1941, after Taylor graduated from high school at 17, he entered a trade school to learn airplane mechanics because his mother would not allow him to go into the military. Taylor tried to get into the Navy, but was not accepted for service due to his having Bright's disease. Instead. when he finished trade school, he went to work for Pan American Airways. Pan Am sent him to Pearl Harbor to work on the Clipper ships Pan Am used for contract work with the Navy. Pan Am hauled mail and freight for the Navy to various islands in the Pacific during the war. Taylor eventually got into the Navy Reserve while working for Pan Am at Pearl Harbor in 1943. When the war ended, Taylor got out of the Navy and went to work for private airlines before joining the US Air Force in 1949. After flight training, Taylor became an instructor at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Taylor served in an Air Defense Command unit.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Knarr. Knarr was teaching school in Indiana when he was drafted into the Army. He was assigned to the field artillery in the 87th Infantry Division where he served in the headquarters battery. Knarr describes his training prior to shipping overseas to England. He landed in France in late November 1944 and shares experiences during the Battle of the Bulge. He also recalls liberating a few concentration camps. When the war in Europe ended, Knarr was slated to go to the Pacific, but the war ended while he was on leave. He was discharged in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lester D. Read. Read was born 14 September 1928 in Plymouth, Indiana and graduated from Plymouth High School in 1943. Drafted into the Marine Corps in 1943, he describes training in boot camp at San Diego. He then went to tank training school where he was assigned to reconnaissance and liaison in the 5th Marine Division, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Tank Battalion. His primary job was to communicate by radio between the infantry and the tanks. Upon completing tank training he went aboard an LSM, loaded with three tanks, and sailed to Hilo, Hawaii. After a period of advanced training the division went aboard a troop ship destined for Iwo Jima. He describes his landing with the seventh wave on 19 February 1945 and tells of his partner getting wounded soon after getting on shore. He remembers 23 February 1945 when he volunteered for a mission to the top of Mount Suribachi and tells of being there when the first American flag was raised. After a period of time the division returned to Hawaii for replacements and training. Read was aboard a troop transport ready to participate in …

Doctoral recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Interview with Donald Davis Kaiser, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, originally from Yoakum, Texas. Kaiser answers many questions regarding his training in the United States, to which he recalls that basic training was very difficult and miserable. The interview goes on to discuss his time while overseas in Vietnam including combat during the Tet Offensive in early 1968.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents and oral interview with Uno Johnson. Johnson was born in Veinge, Sweden 26 May 1923. He emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of six months. He entered the U.S. Army 4 February 1943 and took basic training at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. He was stationed in Florida and had a part-time job in a foundry cleaning the furnaces. He recalls being stationed in Berkeley, California as a truck driver and tells of taking troops to San Francisco to board ships bound for overseas. He experienced an earthquake while stationed there. In February 1945 he boarded the USS Matsonia (D1589) for Oahu, and upon his arrival he began living in a tent in the Ala Moana Crater. There he worked on the maintenance of military vehicles. In February 1946 Johnson returned to the United States aboard the USS Matsonia. He received his discharge 12 February 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Margaret Ringenberg. Ringenberg possessed a private pilot’s license and became a ferry pilot with the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) in March, 1943. Once she joined, she went to training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. With training completed, Ringenberg was stationed in Delaware. From there, she would travel to factories and fly planes to various fields. She flew single and multi-engine planes during the war. When the WASPs were disbanded in late 1944, Ringenberg went back home. She continued to fly for the remainder of her life logging over 40,000 hours.

Doctoral recital presented at UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Billy Tune. Tune joined the Navy right after he finished high school in May 1943. He was assigned to USS President Polk (AP-103) and was aboard it when it was torpedoed. He somehow managed to get ashore at Tarawa and stayed with the Marines there for five days. Then he wound up at New Caledonia as a stevedore until he entered the hospital with asthma.

Ensemble concert presented at UNT College of Music Stan Kenton Hall.

Concert presented at the Lyric Theater at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Concert presented at the Lyric Theater at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.