Transcript of an oral interview with Elliott Ross. He discusses joining the Navy, being a landing craft coxswain carrying troops and supplies from ships to the shore in seven invasions: Guam, Leyte, Luzon, Santacristo, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and as an occupation force in Japan after the surrender. He talks mostly about Guam, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan, but also mentions burials at sea and on the beachs, seeing his brother's ship get hit by torpedoes and the emotional toll of the war.

Transcript of an oral interview with Jim Yawn. Mr Yawn was born in 1918 and had two years of college by the time he was 20 which was the minimum age to get into the Navy flight program. He was sent to Miami, Florida for primary flight training; they had to fly thirty three hours before they were appointed as a cadet. They were transferred to Jacksonville for basic training and then to California after they got their wings. He asked for and received a transfer to the Marine Corps. After getting some time in PBYs, F-4Fs, SB-2Cs and a few other aircraft he had some crew training at El Centro and finished it up in Mojave, in the B-24. They were assigned an aircraft and left San Francisco at night so they could reach Hawaii in the daytime. Yawn talks about walking aboard the Arizona and it was still smoking; he said it was an eerie feeling. Yawn flew across the Pacific and ended up landing on Guadalcanal but most of the squadron was at Espiritu Santo; he was part of VMB-254. They did reconnaissance work over the New Georgia group, Rabaul and Bougainville. Then, they went to Bougainville …

Transcript of an oral interview with Marvin Muse. Mr Muse signed up for the Navy at 17 years old (he was born May 20, 1927), took boot camp in San Diego, California followed by machinist mate school at Camp Farragut. After home leave, he was assigned to the USS Columbia (CL-56) which was in San Pedro, California, being repaired from damage it received in the Philippines; this was 1945. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, the Columbia sailed to Borneo in the Dutch East Indies. They bombarded Balikpapan, softening up the beaches, for the invasion. The Columbia was part of a Cruiser Division. They left Borneo and were headed for Okinawa when the Columbia ran into a tethered mine field. The mines didn't go off but the mine cables got tangled up in the starboard screws. After repairs at Guam, the Columbia continued on to Okinawa but the island had been declared secure by then. The Cruiser Division made sorties up into the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan where they engaged the Japanese who were trying to get troops and munitions out of China, Korea and Manchuria. Muse states it was just a turkey …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with B L Pettit. Pettit joined the Navy in 1942, at the young age of thirteen. From April of 1943 through March of 1944, he served as First-Class Electrician’s Mate aboard USS Tallulah (AO-50), providing support through the Guadalcanal Campaign and invasion of the Gilbert Islands. From June of 1944 through October of 1945, Pettit served aboard the USS LCI(L)-750 participating in the Leyte operation. He was discharged in November of 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with James Norman Price. He was born November 6, 1918 on a farm south of Bishop, Texas. He joined the Army Air Corps on November 1, 1941. He recalls spending 25 weeks training in BT-13s and AT-9s at Ontario, California as an Aviation Cadet, receiving his wings and commission followed by training in the B-17 at Seabring, Florida. He and his crew flew to Guadalcanal and to Espirato Santo, where they were assigned to the 11th Air Group. He was then assigned to the 431st Bomber Squadron as co-pilot on a new B-17E to fly reconnaisance and bomber missions for the Navy. He recalls that a journalist, Richard Tregaskis, accompanied them on a flight over Guadalcanal, even firing one of the machine guns. He recalls several of his 36 total missions flying out of Guadalcanal, including one in which his bomber sunk a Japanese cruiser. He recounts several humorous incidents during R&R in Auckland, New Zealand. He recalls that at the end of his duty he embarked on the SS Marmahawk for 18 days transit back to the US. He recounts his next assignment in Alexandria, Virginia training B-17 crews. He recalls next being assigned …

Transcript of an oral interview with Dr. L. E. Ramey. Dr Ramey graduated from Baylor Medical School in Dallas June 1, 1942 and entered the Navy as an Intern on June 24, 1942. After going through an Internship at San Diego Naval Hospital, he was sent to submarine medical school in New London, Connecticut and deep sea diving school in Washington, D.C. He was then assigned to the Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet and transferred to the Submarine Base 1504 (Midway Island); this was 1944. At this time, Midway was the outpost of the Submarine Force. His primary duty was taking care of the base personnel but whenever a submarine would come in from a patrol he would exam all its personnel as well as the submarine itself. Dr Ramey provides numerous anecdotes about his time at the Naval Hospital in San Diego as well as on Midway during this interview. He was in the States on leave when the atomic bombs were dropped and was released from the Navy on June 24, 1947.

Transcript of an oral interview with David Van Fleet. Mr Van Fleet graduated from high school in 1941, went to A&M on a football scholarship, staying there until midterm when the war broke out and he joined the Marine Corps. After boot camp in San Diego, he joined the 4th Marine Raiders Battalion, D Company. After additional training with the Raiders, his outfit went overseas in February 1943, ending up in Espiritu Santo. They went to Guadalcanal in June, stayed there for a month, and then landed on Vangunu Island, New Georgia. Van Fleet provides a very good description of landing on the island and the fighting there under deplorable conditions. Then they crossed over to Gatukai island because the natives said there were Japanese there too. The outfit then went back to Guadalcanal for a few days before heading back to New Georgia (Bairoko Harbor). Van Fleet states this was the only battle he knows of that we lost. Included as an appendix to this oral history are a few pages from a history of that battle by Major General Peatross. He understood that this was about the end for the Raiders so he asked to be transferred to …

Transcript of an oral interview with Kay Clementson. Mr Clementson was born in 1926 and volunteered for the Navy just before he turned eighteen. He was sent to boot camp in San Diego, California in September 1944. After boot camp, he was assigned to USS LSM (Landing Ship, Medium) 96 which was in San Diego. Seven LSMs sailed for Pearl Harbor. At Pearl Harbor, they unloaded their cargo (telephone poles) and loaded a company of Marines who were in a radar group. After stops at Eniwetok, Ulithi, Lingayen and Leyte they landed the radar group on a little island off the coast of Okinawa two days before the main invasion. Their LSM got stranded on the beach due to miscalculating the tides so they had to spend the night on the beach; they were strafed by a couple Zero's and two marines were killed. During the battle for Okinawa, USS LSM-96 was used as a fire-fighting ship. They went to the aid of two ships, an AKA that had been converted to a hospital ship and a LST. Clementson provides a nice description of the kamikazes attacking the fleet off Okinawa. He also describes being in two typhoons during this …

Interview with Marion Wall Lowrey talking about her career, especially her role at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She talks about her relationship with Dr. R. Lee Clark and his wife Dr. Bert Davis Clark. She also talks about the time when the institution was housed at the Baker Estate and segregation in the early years of the institution.

Transcript of an oral inerview with Doctor Dayton L. Alverson. He was born in 1924 in the San Diego Naval Hospital. He joined the Navy and received training in radio interception. Went to Washington, DC where he volunteered for assignment to the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) as a Radioman First Class. Left Newport News in July 1944 and sailed to Bombay, India and took the train to Calcutta. He was flown on a DC-3 over "The Hump" and into Kunming, China. He volunteered for duty near Amoy Island, which was occupied by the Japanese and was flown to Zhangping and traveled to a small encampment 25 miles north of Amoy. He recounts his time intercepting Japanese code and sending it to Chungking and provides details about breaking the code. He next describes taking 38 days to travel 18,000 miles on foot, in sampans and on trucks to reach the camp. He describes the methods by which the Chinese moved the sampans up and down the rivers. He was then assigned to a group making a raid on a small island adjacent to Amoy. He traveled by sampan down the river to Shima, China in order to deliver two 50-caliber machine …

Transcript of an oral interview with Colonel (Ret.) Frank Gleason. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on September 20, 1920. After graduation from Penn State, he was commissioned into the Army in 1942. His first assignment was to Fort Belvoir, Virginia as the leader of a platoon of African-American soldiers. In 1943 he was recruited into the Office of Stregic Services (OSS) and sent to a camp outside of Frederick, Maryland (later Camp David). His duties there included training agents in heavy duty demolitions, explosives and booby traps. His next assignment was temporary duty to London for six weeks and training in sabotage and underwater demolition. He recalls that, upon arriving in London, he delivered a crate of fresh fruit to Major General Dwight Eisenhower. He was subsequently assigned to the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) headquarters in Chungking, China where he spent several months training Thai troops. Captain Merry Miles assigned him as Executive Officer to the SACO unit at Camp 3 in Linju, China. The mission was to train guerillas in demolition, small arms, scouting, patrolling and other duties as assigned. He recounts one of those duties in January, 1944 resulting in the destruction of a bridge over the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Herman Weskamp. Born in Mansfield, Colorado on 30 December 1923, Weskamp enrolled at Loyola University under the V-12 Program. After one year he was sent to Midshipman School at Notre Dame in 1943. He volunteered for a program called Amphibious Roger. He was sent to Fort Pierce, Florida for guerilla training in preparation for assignment in China. Upon completion of the training, he was transferred to Long Beach, California where he embarked on the USS General LeRoy Eltinge (AP-154) for transit to Calcutta, India. Weskamp was assigned to the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) as a Transportation Officer. He met Chiang Kai-shek and his security chief, General Li Dai who headed SACO while he was in Calcutta. His unit was sent across the Hump in a road convoy with equipment to support the invasion of China. Before the convoy arrived in Kunming, China, the atomic bombs were dropped and the war ended. En route to Kunming on the Burma Road, he relates several harrowing incidents and an attack by Chinese insurgents. Weskamp was next assigned to a motor pool near SACO headquarters in Chungking. After the camp was decommissioned, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James McDavid. McDavid joined the Navy in 1940. He worked as a draftsman and plane spotter aboard USS Pennsylvania (BB-38). McDavid was aboard the ship, located in Dry Dock No. 1 in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. After extensive repairs, the Pennsylvania conducted training operations along the California coast from April to August of 1942. McDavid continued his service as an Electronics Electrician First-Class, repairing some of the Navy’s most complex and secret technologies. They participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign in 1943, the Marianas Campaign in 1944 and the invasion of Okinawa in 1945. Upon his discharge in late 1945, McDavid worked in the Naval Shipyard for 32 years.

Transcript of an oral interview with John H. Smith. Born in Summerville, Pennsylvania in 1915. He describes conditions during the Great Depression. After graduating from high school in 1934, he spent two years in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) where he describes building roads, fire roads, parks, and dams for water conservation and swimming areas. In 1936 he took a job at Bell Aircraft in Buffalo, New York at a steel foundry making parts for landing craft. He describes conditions during the war including rationing. In July 1945 he was drafted into the Navy and sent to boot camp at Sampson Training Base on Lake Geneva, in New York. When the war ended he was sent to the foundry at San Diego Naval Base. He provides detail about foundry work. After a month in the foundry he was sent to Electronics School. Soon he was discharged in San Diego and made his way back to Buffalo where he joined the Naval Reserves and was recalled in 1950 for the Korean War and assigned to the USS New Jersey (BB-62) for nine months. His wife got sick and he was given a hardship discharge.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Micki and Jim George. Micki George completed Cadet Nurse Corps training in 1948. She traveled with a USO Unit out of Dallas and worked with the Nurse Corps in California and with Special Services as a chauffeur, chaperone and pianist for performances. She was stationed in the US and did not travel overseas. Micki was discharged from military service in 1950. She and Jim met at the University of Texas at Austin, while completing their medical degrees. Jim joined the Army in December of 1945. He served in the Korean War as a combat medic in a field MASH Unit, and was discharged in 1950.

Interview with Dr. Tao-Chiuh Hsu, continuing his reflections regarding his career at M.D. Anderson. The interview begins with a discussion of Dr. Felix Haas and the evolution of the department of biology. William R. Brinkley’s contributions and interactions with the department are recounted as well. Several of Dr. Hsu’s major accomplishments to science are highlighted including the development of chromosomal banding techniques, biological specimen banks, and cell preservation. The interview continues with a discussion of his sentiments regarding the re-organization of cell biology and his laboratory location within the Hermann Professional Building. A discussion regarding the collection of tissue samples from cats ends the interview. Several humorous stories regarding his personal life and work are also shared.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Sager. Sager was born in 1919 and raised in Virginia. He attended the University of Virginia and was commissioned in the Marine Corps Reserve upon graduation in June, 1941. He did not participate in a ROTC program at UVA. Instead, he attended a Platoon Leader course offered by the Marine Corps. He was immediately called to duty after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sager was then assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, First Marine regiment, First Marine Division and landed on Guadalcanal in August, 1942. Sager discusses combat at the Tenaru River and at Edson's Ridge. Sager left Guadalcanal in December and his unit headed for Australia to recover. e spent part of his time there in a hospital down with malaria. His malaria was so bad, he was returned to the US. When he recovered from malaria, Sager was promoted to captain and assigned as an instructor at the Infantry Basic School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was also tasked with establishing guidelines for internal base security while serving at Camp Allen in Virginia. In December 1944, Sager volunteered for an assignment that took him …

Transcript of an oral interview with Dean Warner. Born in Geneva, Illinois, June 30, 1922. He went to boot camp in San Diego in 1941. After boot camp he attended Radio School at the University of Colorado followed by training at Signalman School. Upon completion he was assigned to an Armed Guard crew on a Merchant Marine ship as a radioman. He spent a year and a half on merchant vessels and recalls an incident when two nearby ships in his convoy were sunk by submarines. He was next assigned to the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) and sent to Calcutta, India, from where he was flown over "The Hump" to Kunming, China. From Kunming he flew to Zhenzghou, China and SACO's Camp Six where Chinese weathermen and guards were being trained for the SACO mission. From there he was sent in company with the trained Chinese soldiers and weathermen to Pinghou on the Eastern Coast of China. He described his duties as "Coast Watcher. " The Chinese were gathering weather data, which Warner transmitted to Chungking for dissemination to the US Fleet. When the war ended, he traveled to Shanghai and sailed on a troopship back to San Pedro, California …

Transcript of an oral interview with F. J. Whitlock. Whitlock was in 1923, in Columbia, South Dakota. He enlisted in the Navy in Los Angeles, California, in June 1942. He attended Basic Training in San Diego and then went to Diesel School. Upon graduation he was promoted from Seaman Second Class to Fireman First Class. He was then ordered to the LST program and proceeded to Treasure Island in San Francisco. His group of Dieselmen were assigned to the Southern Pacific Railroad "Round House" in Oakland in order to gain expertise on diesel engines. They worked on the train "City of San Francisco" which made the run from Chicago to Oakland. He was next assigned to the commissioning crew for USS LST-478. Over the following months the vessel practiced amphibious landings at Point Magu, Coronado and Monterey, California. Next they landed personnel at Attu and Kiska, where the Japanese had pulled out. In September 1943 the vessel embarked a company of Sea Bees. The vessel departed California and steamed to Tarawa via Pearl Harbor. The vessel joined the invasion of Tarawa. He recalls that the LST would open the bow doors, lower the ramp, and the Sea Bees would disembark …

Transcript of an oral interview with George Allen Barrett. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in January 1922, he enlisted in the Navy in January 1940. He completed Recruit Training in San Diego and was transferred to the Hospital Corps School at the Naval Hospital San Diego in April 1940. Upon graduation in July 1940, he was assigned to the Naval Hospital, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In July 1941 he was transferred to the USS McDonough (DD 351) where he recalls that on the morning of December 7, 1941, the McDonough was in Pearl Harbor undergoing repairs. He remembers the crew reassembling the propulsion machinery and the ship getting underway to out of the harbor. He recalls that McDonough remained homeported out of Pearl Harbor and conducted various patrols into the South Pacific theater. He recounts that in February 1942 McDonough collided with the USS Colorado (BB-45) in heavy seas. Later in 1942 he was assigned to the Oakland Naval Hospital, where he recalls his duties and his subsequent marriage. He states that he requested reassignment and was transferred to a Combat Utility Battalion in San Bruno, California for training in anticipation of the upcoming invasion of a Pacific island (unnamed). He states …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Dodson. Dodson grew up in Pennsylvania and joined the Navy before being drafted. He managed to avoid boot camp and go straight into a Navy communictions school. He volunteered to go overseas for two years and ended up with SACO in China. In China, Dodson repaired radios and radio equipment. Dodson returned to the US and was assigned duty aboard the USS William R. Rush (DD-714) in mid-1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with James F. Kelly. Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1921. He recounts his experiences working in his father's grocery store during the Depression. He recounts his experience in 1941 working in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as a civilian, until he received his induction notice from Selective Service in May 1942 and joined the Navy. He attended Boot Camp in Newport, Rhode Island and then was sent to Anacostia Naval Air Station in District of Columbia, where he attended Aerography School as well as in Lakehurst, New Jersey and graduated as a meteorological aide. He recounts several of the instruments and techniques used in that specialty and his experiences in planes observing cloud formations, and other phenomena. Eventually he volunteered for secret duty in China and was shipped on a troop train with 200 other sailors to San Pedro, California. He eventually boarded the USS Admiral E.W. Eberle (AP 123), an Army transport. He recounts an interesting story about the group's leader, Commander Marcus Goodrich, who had been a novelist and screen writer in Hollywood. He recounts his experiences on the ship as it transited to Bombay, India via Australia. He recalls that the …

Transcript of an oral interview with James H. Bash. He was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, June 28, 1924. He enlisted in the Navy on January 19, 1943. Enrolled in the V-12 Program at the University of Virginia but did not complete the curriculum. Subsequently sent to Storekeeper Class A School in Sampson, New York and graduated as Storekeeper 3rd Class. In October 1944 volunteered and assigned to Naval Group China. He recalls the transit from Norfolk on the USS General W. A. Mann (AP-112) in a convoy through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and on to Bombay, India. He recalls the living conditions on the transport, passing through two fierce storms and an incident in the Suez Canal. Next he took a troop train from Bombay to Calcutta. He describes the conditions on the train. After six weeks awaiting transportation, he flew from Calcutta to Kunming, China. He describes the flight in a DC-3 over the Himalaya Mountains (The Hump). In Kunming he was assigned to the Naval Air Freight Office. He describes the squalid conditions of the local populace. He was responsible for transporting cargo from the air terminal to the Freight Office. One day he was notified …

Transcript of an oral interview of Joseph D. Keenan. Raised in Chicago, he spent two years at Notre Dame University and when the war started, volunteered for Naval Aviation duty. Following Pre-flight School at Iowa University, he attended flight training at Naval Air Station, Chicago, where he was later diagnosed with chronic air sickness. He was disenrolled and entered the V-12 program at the University of Wisconsin. Upon graduation in September 1944, he was commissioned and ordered to Fort Pierce, Florida for Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) training. He describes the nature of the training and conditions at Fort Pierce. Upon completing UDT training in December 1944 he was sent on a troopship to Calcutta, India. After traveling by train to a camp in Eastern India, he flew over "The Hump" in a C-47 to Kunming, China and then on to Chungking and headquarters of Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO). He relates that after four weeks in Chungking he was flown with a team to a location near Amoy. Leading the team was Lieutenant Phil H. Bucklew, a professional football player who later became known as the father of Navy Special Warfare. The team made its way to Chenchow with orders to …