Oral History Interview with William Havel, April 22, 1994

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Interview with William Havel, an army veteran from Staten Island, New York. This interview recounts his experiences as an adopted child in a farm family and then as a corpsman at Tripler General Hospital during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Date: April 22, 1994
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Havel, William
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Arthur B. Clark, September 29, 2000

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Interview with Arhtur B. Clark, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran and POW from Abilene, Texas, who was captured with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery. Clark discusses joining the National Guard, training and maneuvers, deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and surrender to the Japanese, experiences in internment at Tanjong Priok in Batavia, internment at Changi Camp in Singapore, labor on the Burma "Death" Railway, and liberation. The interview includes an appendix with a reference page and a written flight log by Col. Tom Sledge.
Date: September 29, 2000
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Clark, Arthur B.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with E. Benjamin Dunn, November 16, 1999

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Interview with E. Benjamin Dunn, a Army WWII veteran and POW from Gorham, Illinois, who was captured by the Japanese on Java with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (the "Lost Battalion.") Dunn discusses training in the Army, transfer to 2-131 and deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and being captured, experiences in internment in Batavia and later Changi Prison Camp in Singapore, building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, and liberation.
Date: November 16, 1999
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Dunn, E. Benjamin
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with William J. Bates, February 7, 2001

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Interview with Navy veteran William J. Bates including personal experiences about the Pacific Theater during World War II, youth and education, the Navy Aviation Cadet Program, flight training, leaving naval aviation and attending Midshipman's School, being assigned to APc-21, operations off the coast of New Guinea with the VII Amphibious Force, providing escort duty for LCTs during assaults along the coast of New Guinea, the sinking of APc-21 by Japanese planes off New Britain Island, recuperating in New Guinea, returning to the States and being assigned to ATR-22, transferring to fleet tug ARA-182 as commanding officer, having convoy duty in the South Pacific, riding out a typhoon, disposing of Navy equipment after the war, and returning to the States.
Date: February 7, 2001
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Bates, William J.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, October 11, 1996

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Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, clothier and Navy veteran regarding personal experiences about the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean Theaters during World War II. Ditto talks about his education, enlistment in the Navy V-7 Program, midshipman training, assignment to the USS Langley, pre-war duty in the Philippines, coming of war and combat around the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies, the sinking of the Langley and his transfer to the USS Pecos, the sinking of the Pecos and his rescue by the USS Whipple, various naval battles and assignments, antisubmarine patrols off the Solomons, various escort duties, and his promotion to captain of the O'Toole.
Date: October 11, 1996
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Ditto, Lanson B.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with John J. Clemens, May 13, 2003

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Interview with John J. Clemens. The interview includes Clemens' personal experiences about childhood and early adulthood in Houston, Texas, World War II-era service in the U.S. Navy, serving aboard USS Wren in the Pacific Theater, and piloting a ship into Tokyo Bay immediately following the Japanese surrender. Clemens speaks about convoy missions across the Atlantic Ocean, the January 4, 1944 sinking of the USS Turner while moored in New York Harbor and the court of inquiry regarding the sinking, actions in the Aleutian Islands, Attu, Okinawa, and Philippine campaigns and anti-kamikaze warfare while aboard the USS Wren, and the effects that Allied bombing had on Tokyo.
Date: May 13, 2003
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Clemens, John J., 1921-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Richard Donley, February 22, 1997

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Interview with Navy veteran Richard Donley. The interview includes Donley's personal experiences about the Mediterranean Theater during World War II, boot camp, Fleet Torpedo School, encounters with German "F-lighter" armed barges and E-boats, various assignments, and combat against enemy destroyers. Donley also talks about screening operations for the invasions of Sicily and Salerno, operations along the coasts of northern Italy and southern France and the interdiction of German barge traffic, torpedo problems, commando and intelligence operations, returning to the States, his reassignment to the Motor Torpedo Boats Training Center, and transferring to Samar, Philippines.
Date: February 22, 1997
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Donley, Richard
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Frank Breyer, September 20, 2003

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Interview with Army veteran Frank Breyer, including personal experiences about the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II, volunteering for the draft, various assignments, his attachment to Merrill's Marauders, medical evacuation to Ledo, combat around Bhamo, Burma, the opening of the Burma Road, transfer to the 612th Artillery and to Kunming, China, for artillery training, teaching artillery tactics to Chinese troops with the Chinese Combat and Training Command, and the resumption of fighting between Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces.
Date: September 20, 2003
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Breyer, Frank
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with John L. Bates, Jr., September 21, 2003

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Interview with attorney and Army veteran John L. Bates Jr. The Interview includes Bates' personal experiences in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II, Officer Candidate School, being selected for the Counter Intelligence Corps, British Intelligence School, assignment to Kweiyang, China, the end of the war and his transfer to the War Crimes Section as an Assistant Theater Judge Advocate, his assignment to Hankow to investigate the executions of three of Jimmy Doolittle's pilots and to Formosa to investigate war crimes, dealing with Japanese military personnel accused of committing atrocities against Allied POWs on Formosa, and his postwar career in the Army Reserve.
Date: September 21, 2003
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Bates, John L., Jr.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Herb Elfering, December 6, 2001

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Interview with electrical engineer and Army veteran Herb Elfering, The interview includes Elfering's personal experiences with a searchlight/radar battery, 251st Coast Artillery Regiment, at camp Malekole during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Elfering also gives brief descriptions of his later experiences at Bougainville and Luzon.
Date: December 6, 2001
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Elfering, Herb
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Harlan W. Crouse, July 2, 2004

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Interview with Army veteran Harlan W. Crouse, including personal experiences about combat in the Philippines during World War II, the Japanese surrender in Yokohama Harbor, and being present during the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan.
Date: July 2, 2004
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Crouse, Harlan W., 1926-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Richard E. Cole, August 8, 2000

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Interview with Army Air Forces veteran Richard E. Cole describing personal experiences about being Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot during the Tokyo Raid on April 8, 1942, pre-war education, flight training, volunteering for a secret mission and meeting Colonel Doolittle, being assigned as Doolittle's co-pilot, mission training, various B-25 missions against Japanese targets in China and Burma, flying supplies over "The Hump." transferring to the states and volunteering for service in Burma with the 1st Air Commandos to support Wingate's Chindits and Merrill's Marauders, and reunions of Doolittle's Raiders the following war.
Date: August 8, 2001
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Cole, Richard E.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with LeRoy Ellis Cox, February 5, 2004

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Interview with LeRoy Ellis Cox. The interview includes Cox's personal experiences about childhood and early adulthood in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, World War-II-era Army Air Corps training in armaments and electronics, stateside service in the 303rd Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, aviation cadet training, serving as a B-25 instructor pilot, and as a DC-3 tow pilot for the glider program.
Date: February 5, 2004
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Cox, LeRoy E., 1919-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Jean Balch, October 12, 1996

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Interview with Navy veteran Jean Balch, including Balch's personal experiences about the Pacific theater, being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II, boot camp, radio, radar, and gunnery school, operations during the Leyte invasion, missions over Luzon, and raids on Japanese installations on Formosa and Saigon, French Indo-China. Additionally, Balch talks about his plane being shot down on a raid to Hong Kong and his capture on January 16, 1945, interrogations and beatings by the Kempei-tai, imprisonment at Ofuna, Honshu, solitary confinement for six months and continued interrogation, beatings by Japanese prison guards, starvation diet, the end of the war and liberation, and his participation in the war crimes trials held by the International Military Tribunal.
Date: October 12, 1996
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Balch, Jean
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Douglas R. Crawford, February 25, 2004

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Interview with Air Force veteran Douglas R. "Roy" Crawford. The interview includes Crawford's personal experiences about early family life, joining the U.S. Army Air Forces, training as a bulldozer operator, removing radioactive debris from Hiroshima, training as a radar operator at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and working as the radar tracker when Major Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 on October 19, 1947. Additionally, Crawford talks about his assignments to Clark Air Force Base, Philippines, and Korea, as a forward air observer, his role as an airborne radar operator during the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, his various activities with the NASA Space Program, and clandestine missions with the CIA and Air America over Cambodia during the Vietnam War.
Date: February 25, 2004
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Crawford, Douglas R., 1929-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Elijah Collins, Jr., December 6, 2001

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Interview with Navy veteran Elijah Collins Jr. The interview includes Collins' personal experiences while aboard the destroyer USS Blue during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Collins also talks about the Battle of Savo Island and the sinking of the Blue.
Date: December 6, 2001
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Collins, Elijah, Jr.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Frank H. Bigelow, June 13, 2002

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Interview with Navy veteran Frank H. Bigelow, survivor of the siege of Corregidor. The interview includes Bigelow's personal experiences about being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II, boyhood in North Dakota, various jobs during the Great Depression, and enlisting in the Navy. Additionally, Bigelow speaks about volunteering for duty in the Philippines and his assignment to the submarine tender USS Canopus, pre-war military life in the Philippines, the Japanese bombing of Cavite Navy Yard and the destruction of the Canopus, retreating to Bataan and to Corregidor, the fall of Corregidor, his confinement in the 92nd Garage area, the forced march down Dewey Boulevard in Manila and confinement at Cabanatuan, hell ship to Japan, coal mining for Mitsui Heavy Industries, the amputation of his leg by fellow prisoners after a mining accident, liberation, and the destruction in Nagasaki due to the atomic bomb. The interview includes an appendix with an article titled "A Soldier's Story."
Date: June 13, 2002
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Bigelow, Frank H., 1921-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Alan A. Fouts, December 6, 2001

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Interview with Navy veteran Alan A. Fouts. The interview includes Fouts' personal experiences while assigned to the Submarine Base during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and his subsequent service aboard the submarine USS Pogy in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
Date: December 6, 2001
Creator: Alexander, William J. & Fouts, Alan A., 1920-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

We Were Going to Win, or Die There: with the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan

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Personal accounts of U.S. marine Roy Elrod based on transcripts of oral histories about his experiences in the service, with particular emphasis on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan. It includes editorial and historical notes and to provide context and clarification. Index starts on page 273.
Date: September 2017
Creator: Elrod, Roy H. & Allison, Fred H.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Flying with the Fifteenth Air Force: A B-24 Pilot’s Missions from Italy during World War II

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In 1944 and 1945, Tom Faulkner was a B-24 pilot flying out of San Giovanni airfield in Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Only 19 years old when he completed his 28th and last mission, Tom was one of the youngest bomber pilots to serve in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Between September 1944 and the end of February 1945, he flew against targets in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia. On Tom’s last mission against the marshalling yards at Augsburg, Germany, his plane was severely damaged, and he had to fly to Switzerland where he and his crew were interned. The 15th Air Force generally has been overshadowed by works on the 8th Air Force based in England. Faulkner’s memoir helps fill an important void by providing a first-hand account of a pilot and his crew during the waning months of the war, as well as a description of his experiences before his military service. David L. Snead has edited the memoir and provided annotations and corroboration for the various missions.
Date: October 2018
Creator: Faulkner, Tom & Snead, David L.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interviews with Ocie R. Turner, 1991

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Interview with the Rev. Ocie Turner, a minister at New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dallas, Marine WWII veteran, and a longtime resident of the Hamilton Park neighborhood, from Mexia, Texas. Turner discusses his family background, education, serving in the Marine Corps at the Battle of Iwo Jima, working as a butcher in Dallas, working in the oil and gas industry, buying his house in Hamilton Park, the growth and development of the neighborhood, community organizations, local businesses, the schools and his children's education, and changes in the neighborhood over time.
Date: 1991-09-14/1991-12-05
Creator: Wilson, William H. & Turner, Ocie R.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with Robert H. Jackson, July 24, 1997

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Interview with Robert H. "Hal" Jackson regarding his experiences as a Navy fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War. It details his experiences with different aircraft and on carriers and in land-based squadrons in the Pacific.
Date: July 24, 1997
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Jackson, Robert H.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Wartime Diary of Sigismund Koperniak

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The personal diary of Sigismund Koperniak, a Navy veteran, detailing his experiences aboard the destroyer USS Spence during World War II. Launching of the Spence and sea trials off Portland, Maine, January, 1943; shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, February, 1943; escort duty in the Atlantic and Caribbean, March, 1943; convoy duty in the Casablanca, French Morocco, area, April-May, 1943; passage through the Panama Canal, June, 1943; escort duty for the carriers Princeton and Belleau Wood en route to Baker Island, September, 1943; attachment to Destroyer Division 23 in the Solomon Islands, September, 1943; patrols off Kolombangara and Vella Lavella Islands; interdiction of Japanese shipping and the Spence's role in sinking of twenty barges off of Vella Lavella; bombardment of Buka-Bonis airfields, November 1, 1943; Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, November 2, 1943; support for landings on Bougainville, November 3, 1943; capture of a Japanese sailor; continued attacks by Japanese aircraft; gun battles with Japanese cruisers and destroyers in the Buka-Rabaul route, November 24, 1943; shore bombardments of Tiaraka, Bougainville, Kavieng, and New Ireland, January-February, 1944; shore bombardment of Emirau, Aitape, Humboldt Bay, and Caroline Islands, March 1-24, 1944; shore bombardment during the invasions of the Marianas Islands, June 19-27, …
Date: 2002
Creator: Koperniak, Sigismund
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Oral History Interview with David Braden, October 8, 1994

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Interview with David Braden, an Army Air Force WWII veteran from Dallas, Texas. Braden served as a navigator/radar-bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress in the Pacific; he recounts being in ROTC at North Texas Agricultural College and signing up for the Air Corps Reserves, flight training, the B-29, his crewmates, assignment to Saipan, organization of a bombing mission, the jetstream, flak and fighters, being shot down, switching crews, targets, briefings, recreation, Japanese holdouts on Saipan, fighter escorts, returning stateside, and leaving the service. In appendix is a letter sent to Dr. Marcello by Braden containing some corrections for the interview.
Date: October 8, 1994
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Braden, David, 1924-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library