The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Anita Borchers. Borchers speaks on behalf of her late husband, Eddie Borchers, in regards to his military involvement in World War II. Beginning in 1941, Eddie worked in Civil Service at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, as a Logistic Command Officer. He completed schooling in automatic pilot work, which he worked in during the war. Anita shares pictures of Eddie at Kelly Field in November of 1945, and describes the airplanes pictured with him, including the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator. After the war ended, Eddie’s job was to disassemble the planes and remove secret items. He would also photograph the nose art on each plane, before disassembling them, which Anita has in her photo collection. Anita describes the German prisoners still held at the base after the war.

Then National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with LaVergne Thomas. Thomas was born in Louisville, Kentucky 31 March 1921. After graduating from high school in 1939 she entered nurse training, which she completed at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Houston, Texas in 1942. Joining the US Army Nurse Corps 7 December 1942 she entered the service as a second lieutenant at Randolph Field, Texas and was sent to Bowman Field, Kentucky for training as a flight nurse. She trained in C-47 aircraft that could hold eighteen patients. She boarded HMS Queen Elizabeth 1 February 1944 with other members of the 814th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron and landed at Firth, Scotland. Her unit flew to various points in Europe with gasoline and supplies and returned with wounded soldiers. She treated German prisoners of war as they were being taken to England. She also treated American casualties, injured during the Battle of the Bulge. After a year of traveling between England and the Continent, Thomas began flying to the United States in C-54 aircraft, which would carry twenty-four patients. These flights took twenty-six hours with an overnight stop in Newfoundland. She continued making these flights until Germany surrendered. …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Claude Olds. Olds joined the Navy in February of 1943. He served as Motor Machinist 2nd Class aboard the LCI-498 during the landings on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. Olds worked as a mechanic tending to landing craft. In late 1944 through mid-1945 he served aboard USS LSM-134, traveling to Cebu, Leyte, Subic and transporting troops to Lingayen Gulf and Ie Jima. They delivered supplies from the Philippines to Okinawa. He was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bernie Broussard. Broussard initially served in the Merchant Marine and describes his only mission where he had a close call with a submarine and how it led to his decision to leave. He joined the Navy in December 1942 and was trained as a bombardier. Broussard served on PBYs for the remainder of the war. He describes an emergency landing on the way to Hawaii and the delivery missions they performed while operating out of Kaneohe Bay. Broussard was then transferred to VPB-71 and performed night missions on Black Cat PBYs. He describes a typical mission, the crew complement, armament, and how they hunted Japanese ships using radar and looking for phosphorescent wakes. Broussard earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air Medals and left the service in September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald Austin. Austin joined the Navy and was commissioned as an ensign before being assigned to the USS Pope (DD-225 in the Philippines. He was there when the war started. Austin was aboard the Pope when she was attacked and sunk. He was rescued by a Japanese destroyer and made a prisoner of war. He was held on Java and then Makassar. He was around when Richard Antrim intervened during a beating of a POW (Antrim was awarded the Medal of Honor). He shares several other POW anecdotes about their treatment, their daily lives, etc. in the camps. He also shares the experience of being liberated.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Melvin Best. Best was born 10 February 1921 in Paducah, Texas. He received his private pilot’s license while enrolled at Texas Tech University. He joined the Army Air Corps on 13 January 1942 and reported to Kelly Field in San Antonio for training. He received his primary flight training at several locations, and then he transferred to Columbia, South Carolina for B-25 training. Upon graduating in October 1942, he was assigned to the 345th Bombardment Group and sent to Australia. His group initially flew missions to New Guinea dropping supplies to Australian troops in the mountains. Best was next sent to Townsville, Australia in August 1943 where he met Colonel Paul Irvin Gunn, a retired Navy pilot commissioned into the Army Air Forces at the start of the war and was instrumental in modifying the B-25 for strafing missions. His first strafing missions were conducted over Rabaul. The modified B-25s made three more strafing runs on Rabaul, resulting in the destruction of 140 Japanese aircraft. Best was escorted during more than half of his strafing raids by Richard Bong. Following the Rabaul raids he returned to Townsville, Australia …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard Brooks. Brooks joined the Navy in September 1939. He was assigned to the USS Houston (CA-30) and became an electrician’s mate. Brooks describes several Japanese air attacks including one that killed most of his damage-control party. He describes the battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait. Brooks discusses abandoning ship and seeing her sink. He describes his capture, seeing the Lost Battalion arrive at the prison camp, and the conditions on board a hell ship. Brooks details the conditions he endured while building a railroad including the poor diet, diseases, and cruel treatment. He also describes the techniques and equipment used to build the railroad. Brooks details his liberation and return to the US. He remained in the Navy until August 1948.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Cashin. Cashin passed his Foreign Service Officer examinations and was awaiting assignment when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. In July of 1942 he joined the Army, 17th Infantry Division. He began Officer Candidate School in December. Upon completion of school he was assigned Platoon Leader in the Cavalry Replacement Training Center. He later served as a lieutenant in the Military Intelligence Center at Fort Ritchie, Maryland. In the fall of 1943 Cashin was stationed in Knutsford, England with the headquarters of the 3rd Army, relaying some anecdotal stories of General Patton. In July of 1944 Cashin went to Utah Beach and Sainte-Mère-Église in France and through Belgium to Bastogne in December. They moved into Renne, Brittany and Paris, France, where he took a job as a military liaison officer after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald B. Davis. While attending the University of Iowa, Davis joined the Marines Corps and was sent to Parris Island for boot camp. After boot camp, Davis went to Camp Lejeune for Officer Candidate School and was commissioned. Afterwards, Davis was transported to Hawaii and assigned as a replacement officer to lead a mortar platoon in the 4th Marine Division. Davis then describes landing on the beach at Iwo Jima. When an infantry officer was killed, Davis assumed his command and left the mortar platoon. He then describes combat activity and his experiences fighting on Iwo Jima up to the point where he was wounded in action. Davis then describes his experiences in the hospital at Guam and Honolulu. From there, he was sent to San Diego. Davis concludes by expounding on the meaning of war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Allen Ensor. Ensor joined the Navy in 1940 and was assigned to USS Nashville (CL-43). He was aboard for the Doolittle Raid, some action in the Aleutian Islands and the Solomon Islands and New Guinea as part of Seventh Fleet. He was eventually transferred from the Nashville to shore duty in California training amphibious boat crews. Ensor shares anecdotes about piping General MacArthur aboard the Nashville, shore leave in Australia and training boat crews in California.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Donald Greffe. Greffe was born 20 June 1919 in Taylorville, Illinois. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1940 and was assigned to the 132nd Infantry Division. After training, he was shipped to Fiji before going to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides for jungle fighting training. He got jungle rot and malaria and was placed in the 25th Evacuation Hospital for treatment. He recovered in time to go to Bougainville in 1943 and fight the Japanese Imperial Marine. He also participated in the landings on Luzon and fought to recapture Clark Field. He also describes the personal effects of losing men of his platoon and the combat conditions during the liberation of Manila. Greffe liberated prisoners of war from Bilibid Prison and recalls the condition of these people. He was awarded 3 Bronze Stars during WWII. He returned to the US aboard the USS Hope (AH-7) and was discharged from the service in June 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Gross. Gross joined the Navy around 1943 and served with the 107th Naval Construction Battalion. They traveled to Ebeye in the Marshall Islands to redevelop and repair an existing seaplane base by assembling a pontoon wharf and pontoon barges for transporting damaged carrier aircraft to repair units ashore. Additionally, they built Quonset huts and installed playing fields and a recreation area for ship crewmen. They traveled to Tinian to construct the biggest airdrome in the world, where B-29s took off for Nagasaki and Hiroshima with the atomic bombs.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ray Harrison. Born in 1922, he joined the Marine Corps in December 1941. He describes his battle experiences on Guadalcanal as well as the supply shortages and Japanese naval shelling. He contracted malaria there. He also talks about the Japanese night attacks on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. He describes landing on Tarawa. Assigned to man a machine gun on top of an amphibious tractor in the first wave of the invasion, he was injured and stranded in his disabled tractor. After making his way to a Higgins boat, he and others were picked up by a destroyer and returned to their original ship. He describes his experiences in battle on Saipan as well as witnessing the suicides of civilians. He also mentions the invasion of Tinian. After thirty months in the Pacific Theater, he was transferred to the recreation department at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. He shares anecdotes about enlisting in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; eating coconuts on Tulagi; his summary court martial after a furlough in New Zealand; and teaching himself to be a sailing instructor at Camp Lejeune. He was discharged in December …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Johnson. Johnson was born on 23 December 1921 in Mitchell, Missouri. Rather than risk getting drafted, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on 16 December 1939. His first duty was with the 15th Marine Artillery Regiment in San Diego. The 15th Marines was disbanded and the personnel sent to Pearl Harbor. Johnson was assigned to the 1st Marine Division Defense Battalion, eventually sent to fortify Wake Island, arriving there in August 1941. After the Japanese attacked, Johnson surrendered with the rest of the garrison and the civilians on 23 December 1941. Johnson and the other American personnel were taken prisoner. They were initially sent to Shanghai, China to do manual labor. In May 1945 they were moved to Manchuria, then to Pusan, Korea, and finally to Hokkaido in Japan, working in coal mines. Following the Japanese surrender, Johnson and others were moved to Yokohama, sent to Guam by ship, and flown to Hawaii on NATS aircraft. In Hawaii they were given time to recuperate from their ordeal, issued uniforms and given back pay. Johnson was then sent to Olathe, Kansas. After four years in Japanese prison camps, …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Lajzer. Lajzer volunteered for service in the Army. Lajzer was assigned to a tank unit and trained at Fort Knox and in Louisiana before shipping out to the Philippines in late 1941. He was present at Clark Field when the Japanese attacked. He describes his retreat to Bataan and his activities there until he was surrendered. He also speaks of the six days he marched on the Bataan Death March out of Bataan. Once he was in a prisoner of war camp, he was assigned to a logging detail. He also contracted malaria and relates stories about smuggling items past the Japanese guards and into prison camps. Lajzer describes being aboard a hellship and being trransported to Formosa (Taiwan), where he spent the remainder of the war until he was liberated. Upon returning to the US, he was sent ot a hospital for a while before re-enlisting. He retired in 1966.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with W.F. Needham. Needham entered the Navy through the V-5 training program in March 1944. The program was shutdown in March 1945 and he was sent to boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Needham was trained as a corpsman and stationed at a Navy hospital in Seattle for the remainder of the war. He describes some of the work that he performed and the types of patients he treated. Needham describes escorting a wounded serviceman in a full-body cast from Seattle to Corpus Christi. He also mentions an incident where a fellow corpsman overdosed on pills and was sent to Fort Worth for treatment. Needham was discharged a few weeks after V-J day.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Earl Newman. Newman joined the Navy in July of 1941. He graduated from Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1942. He joined Squadron 21 (United States. Navy. Bombing Squadron 2 (VB-2)1) of Air Group 11 on Guadalcanal, conducting patrol, search, spotting and strike operations. Newman also served with Bombing Squadron 19 (VB-19) aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16), participating in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In October of 1944, his plane was shot down. Newman was discharged in mid-1945, prior to the end of the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Jay Summers. Summers joined the Texas National Guard in 1937. His unit was mobilized and he became a supply sergeant. Summers was sent Java at the beginning of the war and became a prisoner of war soon after. He describes the locations that they were sent and the work performed. Summers was a part of the POW workforce that was sent to Burma to build a railroad which included a bridge over the River Kwai. He describes the hardships the prisoners endured due to malnourishment, harsh treatment, and disease. Summers mentions some friends he made with Dutch and Australian prisoners, including one who helped save his life. He describes an incident where a Japanese guard was injured during repair work on the railroad. Summers discusses how they learned the war had ended and his journey back to the US. He was discharged in June of 1946 after he had recovered in a hospital.

The National Museum of the pacific War presents an interview with William Williams. Williams joined the Navy in December 1941. After electrician’s training, he operated a film projector for recruits at San Diego before being assigned to the USS Cheleb (AKA-138). While aboard the Cheleb, Williams participated in a few invasions: Tarawa, the Marshall Islands. He was transferred to the USS Benevolence (AH-13). After the war, Williams stayed in the reserve and was recalled to active duty for the Korean War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dr. Janus Poppe. Poppe was born in the Netherlands in 1916. As a teenager, he worked as a mechanic for a ship building company. After high school, he attended a Dutch Marine academy for two years. In the mid-1930s, he served as a Deck Officer aboard a ship that traveled around the world twice. He later worked for a shipping company in the Dutch East Indies. In May of 1940, he was traveling in the middle of the Pacific when word arrived from his parents in Holland that the Germans had invaded. Poppe was then trained as a navigator and bombardier. He was serving as a navigator and bombardier aboard PBYs when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Poppe shares several recollections of his encounters with the Japanese during the war, and patrolling around Indonesia. He additionally oversaw 200 Dutch Marines, assigned to patrol and defend Parafield, South Australia. Around 1943, he completed military flight school at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Don Riel. Riel joined the Navy in 1943 after working in the tool room at a Chevrolet plant. He received basic training at Camp Perry and joined the Seabees as a second class petty officer. On Kwajalein, while operating a truck, he was struck in the shoulder blade by a piece of coral during a controlled explosion. There were no medical facilities there at the time, so Riel was sewn up on the beach. He was then assigned to operate a cement mixer, which is all he could do with his arm in a sling. On Ebeye, he was tasked with maintaining water stills. When he arrived on Tinian, he was a bulldozer operator for the construction of airstrips. Although Tinian had already been secured, Riel survived attacks by snipers and bombers, hiding under his armored dozer. He then served as a fresh water well mechanic until the end of the war. Riel returned home and was discharged in December 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry J Williams. Williams joined the Naval ROTC at the University of Texas in 1941 and was called to active duty in February 1943. He received amphibious training in Maryland and was sent to England in April 1944 as an assistant officer on LCT-474. He landed on Utah Beach under fire and pulled out after unloading tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery. The next day, he carried troops and cargo to the beach. By the third day he was evacuating the wounded and transporting German POWs. As the fighting subsided along the shore, he combed the beach, salvaging machine gun parts and providing them to the Army as needed. He then ferried supplies from England to France until V-E Day. Williams returned to the States and became an executive officer aboard an LCI(G) in preparation for the invasion of Japan. When the war ended, he attended minesweeping school and participated in minesweeping efforts in the Philippines and the South Pacific. He retired from the Navy in 1965.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Kullman. Kullman joined the Navy in June 1942 and received basic training at Camp Perry. He traveled there by steam locomotive, poking his head out the window to enjoy the scenery. When the DI saw his soot-covered face, he told Kullman to step aside with the African-Americans. But Kullman stayed and performed at the top of his class in gunnery training. His disinterest in the military however, kept him from advancing, and he joined the 107th Naval Construction Battalion, despite having no prior construction experience. He noticed that regulars in the Navy were resentful toward those Seabees who became officers based on civilian work experience. Arriving at Tinian in early September 1944, Americans were still being killed by snipers. Food was compromised, causing a dysentery outbreak. Canine search units found more than 150 Japanese holdouts. On an excursion to an abandoned ammunition dump, Kullman found and detonated a grenade out of curiosity. Upon his return to camp, he was charged with going AWOL, court martialed, and assigned to KP. After the war, the giddiness was tangible. On New Year’s Eve, men fired their rifles through their roofs; …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Benjamin Severns. Severns enlisted in the Navy in February of 1943. Prior to entering the service, Severns worked for Allis-Chalmers in LaPorte, Indiana, a former agricultural equipment manufacturer now producing 90mm guns for the war effort. Severns provides some details of his work experience. In November of 1943 Severns became machinist mate in the engine room aboard the USS Enright (DE-216). They traveled to Ireland and he vividly describes the destroyer, including sleeping and eating quarters and day to day life aboard. They convoyed to Londonderry, North Africa and a host of British ports, providing escort support. He describes some of his experiences in Ireland. Severns details a merchant ship that hit the destroyer in April of 1944, and their travels back to New York for repairs. They traveled back to North Africa, where Severns describes some adventures he had in Oran. He was assigned to the USS Fred T. Berry (DD-858) in January of 1945. They traveled to Hawaii. Severns was involved in the occupation of Japan, patrolling the harbors and setting up control towers. He was then transferred to the USS Belet (APD-109). They traveled to the …