Transcript of an interview with Admiral J. Lloyd Abbot, Jr., a Navy veteran, comments about his service in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Abbot discusses the U. S. Naval Academy, 1935-39; assignment to USS Enterprise, 1939; assignment to USS Gilmer, 1939-41; flight training at Pensacola, 1941; assignment to Advanced Carrier Training Group (Pacific), 1941-42; assignment to VF-6 (Fighting 6) aboard the USS Enterprise, 1942; assignment to VS-1D-14 in the South Pacific, 1942-43; commanding officer of VS-66, Wallis Island, 1943; antisubmarine patrols out of Wallis Island; assignment to Nanumea, 1943; assignment to Tarawa, 1943-44, with an SBD squadron; assignment to the Chief of Naval Air Training, Pensacola, 1944-46, as engineering officer; and his postwar naval and civilian career.

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.

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.

Transcript of an interview with General Alpha Lyons Bowser, a Marine Corps veteran (3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division), concerning his experiences as an artillery officer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Bowser also discusses his role in planning the Inchon landing, 1950, during the Korean War.

Transcript of an interview with George E. Charland, a Native American Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences during World War II. Charland discusses his experiences with the 3rd Marine Defense Battalion during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; his experiences with the 2nd Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, at Guadalcanal, 1942; his experiences with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, at Tarawa, 1943; his experiences with the 4th Marine Division at Saipan and Tinian, 1944, and Iwo Jima, 1945; medical discharge in April, 1945.

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.

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.

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.

Transcript of an interview with Captain Victor Delano, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Delano discusses his first assignment to the battleship USS West Virginia and his experiences during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to the antiaircraft cruiser USS San Juan, 1942; naval battles around Guadalcanal; Battle of Savo Island; assignment to the destroyer USS Wedderburn, 1944; Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944; Pacific typhoons; Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations, 1945.

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.

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.

Transcript of an interview with General Robert E. Galer, a Marine Corps veteran (VMF-224) and recipient of the Medal of Honor, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Galer discusses his pre-war training at Pensacola and Quantico; assignment to Saint Thomas and reminiscences about the "destroyers-for bases" deal, 1940; experiences at Ewa during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; assignment to Guadalcanal as commander of VMF-224, August 30, 1942-December 31, 1942; air combat around Guadalcanal; his receiving the Medal of Honor; reassignment to the States for war bond drives; experiences on Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945, as commander of a 584 Radar Team; and assignment to the Philippines and Okinawa, 1945.

Transcript of an interview with Hugh M. Robinson, a Navy veteran (Patrol-Torpedo Boat Squadron 3), concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Robinson discusses the U. S. Naval Academy, 1934-38; assignment to the carrier USS Yorktown, 1938-39; assignment to the destroyer USS Bainbridge, 1939-41; assignment to Motor Boat Submarine Chaser Squadron 1, 1941; assignment to Patrol Torpedo Squadron 2, 1941; operations around the Panama Canal, 1942; reorganization of PT Squadron 2 and his transfer to Patrol Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 for duty in the Pacific; operations around the Solomon Islands, 1942-43; his promotion to commander of PT Squadron 3, 1942; engagements against the "Tokyo Express," 1942-43; his transfer to the staff of Patrol Torpedo Boat Flotilla 1, 1943; transfer to the States, 1943, to the Motor Torpedo Boats Squadron Training Center, Newport, Rhode Island; assignment as air defense officer aboard the battleship USS Wisconsin, 1944; his description of being caught with the 3rd Fleet in a massive typhoon in the Philippine Sea, December 18, 1944; offshore bombardment for the Iwo Jima and Okinawa Campaigns, 1945; offshore bombardment of Honshu and Hokkaido; and his postwar naval career.

Transcript of an interview with Admiral Donald M. Showers, Navy veteran, concerning his experiences as a naval officer assigned to the Combat Intelligence Unit, Pearl Harbor, during World War II.

Transcript of an interview with Robert E. Yerger, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences as a flying boat pilot in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Yerger discusses his decision to enlist in the Navy, May, 1942; basic flight training, Naval Air Station, Grand Prairie, Texas, 1942; advanced flight training, Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1942; PBY flying boat training at Corpus Christi, 1942-43; his tenure as a flight instructor, Chase Field, Beeville, Texas, 1943; assignment as a base personnel officer at Chase Field, 1943-45; flying PB2Y flying boats with cargo and personnel in the Pacific, 1945; activities on Majuro Island; his experience flying the Martin Mars flying boat; mustering out of the service, August, 1946.

Transcript of an interview with Iliff D. Richardson, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences as a guerrilla fighter in the Philippine Islands during World War II. Richardson discusses his assignment to patrol-torpedo boats in the Philippines, 1941; orders from General Douglas A. MacArthur to establish a clandestine radio network to maintain communications with Commander Southwest Pacific after his evacuation from Corregidor; his role in plotting Japanese minefields in Leyte Gulf prior to MacArthur's return in 1944; pre-invasion weather reporting from Leyte to MacArthur's headquarters; dealings with Filipino guerrillas; transfer to stateside duty and his work with the Industrial Incentives Division of the Navy Department; and the sale of rights to the book about his adventures, "American Guerrilla in the Philippines."

Transcript of an interview with Admiral Jerry (Gerald) Miller, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Miller discusses his assignment to the USS Richmond, Komandorski Island action, the Aleutians Campaign, and his post-World War II naval career.

Transcript of an interview with Commander Edmund Thomassen, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences as a naval officer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Thomassen discusses the New York State Merchant Marine Academy in 1941, his assignment to the USS Sheridan (APA 51), Tarawa landing, Marshall Island landings, Saipan landing, his assignment to Newport, Rhode Island, his assignment to the USS Dutchess for amphibious landings, and his Korean War experiences.

Transcript of an interview with Frank Tremaine, a journalist and World War II news correspondent, concerning his experiences as a bureau manager in the Pacific Theater for the United Press during World War II. Tremaine discusses the Pearl Harbor attack, military censorship, CINCPAC and Admiral Chester Nimitz, Admiral William ("Bull") Halsey, General Douglas MacArthur, an account of the Japanese surrender and ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

Interview with Captain George Duncan, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Duncan discusses his pilot training at Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1941, his assignment to Air Group 9 on the carrier Essex, the Hellcat fighter, the sinking of Fubuki-class destroyer in June of 1944 off of Pagan Island, the Marianas Campaign in 1944, the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot," the Philippines Campaign and the attack on the Japanese battleship Musashi, and his postwar naval career.

Interview with First Sergeant Lewis J. Michelony, Jr., a Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II and the Korean War. Michelony discusses his assignment to the 6th Marines in 1943, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian, as well as Korea and the Chosin Reservoir.

Transcript of an interview with William Hatcher, a World War II Army veteran (29th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force). Hatcher discusses concerning his his childhood and education; family's experiences in the Great Depression; decision to attend University of Tennessee-Knoxville and major in mechanical engineering; memories of Pearl Harbor attack; decision to join U.S. Army Enlisted Reserve Corps in 1942; 1943 call-up; basic training at Ft. Belvoir, Va.; instruction in engineering, communications, and radar repair at City College of New York and Chanute Field, Ill.; assignments to Truax Field, Wis., and Boca Raton, Fla.; meeting future wife, Jean E. Sheppard, at USO Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.; transfer to B-29 unit and bases in Neb. And Kan.; deployment to Guam with 29th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force, March 1945; details of high-altitude radar repair work; aspects of daily life for American soldiers stationed in Guam; descriptions of devastation of Japan, including Hiroshima; transfer to base on Tinian; return to U.S. in February 1946; wedding; return to UT-Knoxville using GI Bill benefits; work at Oak Ridge; decision to transfer to University of New Mexico for Mrs. Hatcher's health; career with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Convair Corp. of Fort Worth; …

Transcript of an interview with Caleb H. Canby, III, a Marine Corps veteran (Scout-Bomber 243, 1st Marine Air Wing), concerning experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Canby discusses his family background and education; decision to join the Marine Corps, 1942; boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina; advanced training at Quantico, Virginia, 1943-44; assignment to Scout-Bomber Squadron 243 at Emirau, Solomon Islands, 1944-45; his work in the flight department processing pilots' flight logs; transfer to Mangaldan, Luzon, 1945; assignment to Mindanao in March, 1945; contraction of hepatitis and return to the U. S.

Transcript of an interview with Burton S. Pearsall, a Marine Corps veteran, concerning his experiences as a dive-bomber pilot in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Appendix includes photos, newspaper articles, samples of flight log, and US Marine Corps certificate.