The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Kenji Yanagiya. Yanagiya served as a warrant officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy and flew over 100 missions. He describes serving as a fighter escort for Admiral Yamamoto when the admiral’s plane was attacked. He observed the bomber carrying the admiral’s staff go down in the ocean and saw the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto go down into the jungle. Yanagiya also mentions seeing a P-38 trailing smoke. The interviewer states the P-38 was flown by Lieutenant Raymond Hine. Yanagiya tells of the Japanese flight commander reporting the incident to the commanding officer after the attack.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Howard Jackel. Jackel served aboard the USS Portland (CA-33) beginning in 1937. During World War II, he was aboard the USS South Dakota (BB-57). He noticed a stark difference between the two crews: while the Portland’s crew were polished sailors, the South Dakota’s were fighting men; uniforms did not mean much to them. During the Night Battle of Guadalcanal, Jackel was in the main battery plotting room, taking ranges from five range finders. As readings were coming in as quickly as five per second, Howard was concentrating on his plotting so much that he did not feel it when the ship was hit. By the end of the battle, only one range finder was left.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Rear Admiral Ray Hunter and Howard Jackel. The interview begins with Admiral Hunter’s experiences aboard USS Washington (BB-56) during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 14-15 November 1942. Hunter served as officer of the deck, and speaks of events that occurred in company with USS South Dakota (BB-57). In the second interview, Howard Jackel shares his experiences aboard the South Dakota from January of 1942 through January of 1944. He participated in the Battles of Santa Cruz, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and part of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaigns. Jackel speaks of their interaction with the Washington during the Guadalcanal battle.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ray Hunter. In this interview, Hunter recounts the Night Battle of Guadalcanal, for which he served as officer of the deck on the USS Washington (BB-56), on the lookout, keeping the ship out of collision with friendly forces, and making sure that the commanding officer’s orders were carried out. The crew had been at general quarters for 12 hours before the first shots were fired. Still, everyone remained calm. At the climax of the battle, Hunter ordered a port turn to bypass destroyers that were sinking and burning in front of the Washington. This put the Washington behind the flames so that it would not be silhouetted. For reasons unknown, the USS South Dakota (BB-57), which until this time had been following closely behind the Washington, made a starboard turn, creating a silhouette effect, and was subsequently hit by a salvo of shells. The Washington then shepherded the South Dakota to Noumea.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ray Amstutz. Amstutz joined the Army Reserve (Student Training Corps) while in college at the University of Tulsa. On May 8, 1943 he was inducted and went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for processing and then to Camp Maxie, Paris, Texas for three months basic training. The Army sent him back to school at the University of Oklahoma where he finished one semester. From there, he went to Camp Claiborne in Louisiana where they were trained to lay pipelines, maintain and repair engines, construct tanks, maintain pumps, etc. Amstutz's unit was put aboard a train, shipped to Oakland, California and put aboard a Liberty ship which sailed for Milne Bay, New Guinea; this was August/September 1944. He provides a nice description of the environment aboard ship for the 18 days it took to get to New Guinea. From there, they moved to Ora Bay and started unloading their equipment at Buna where major battles had already taken place. In Buna, they went inland, built a little dam on a river, laid suction pipe down into it, set up some pumps, and laid pipeline back to the docks; filling up …

Interview with Mary Steele Leon, a secretary for the U. S. Navy during and after World War II. She joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and was trained as a secretary. Her first assignment was in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. The CNO at the time was Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. After the war, she served as personal secretary for Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz while he was CNO. She was discharged in 1946.

Transcript of an oral interview with Mary Steele Leon. She joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and was trained as a secretary. Her first assignment was in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. The CNO at the time was Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. After the war, she served as personal secretary for Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz while he was CNO. She was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John H. (Jack) Camp. Camp grew up in New Orleans and joined the Navy in August, 1943. Upon completion of training, Camp was selected for Hospital Corpsman school. In ealry 1945, Camp was ordered to go to Guam and work the in Fleet Hospital 103. He recalls receiving patients from the battle at Okinawa. In May, Camp was transferred to the USS South Dakota (BB-57). He was aboard when the task force the South Dakota was attached to attacked the Japanese home islands. Camp shares excerpts from a diary he kept while aboard the ship. At teh surrender ceremony, Camp was among a group of medical personnel that went ashore to a prisoner of war camp to bring former POWs back to the USS Benevolence (AH-13) treatment. Camp visited several POW camps before leaving Tokyo Bay. He returned aboard ship to the US in October, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Hyak. Hyak joined the Army Air Corps in August 1940 and received clerical training at Fort Logan. He received glider pilot training in Roswell. Upon completion, he was assigned to the 477th Bomb Group, where he served as a technical clerk assisting the first sergeant. In November 1942 he went to England, where he kept maintenance records and ran troubleshooting for the bomb group as an engineer clerk specialist. He recalls one plane, nicknamed Fuddy Duddy, which flew 90 missions before finally being decommissioned. On D-Day he witnessed thousands of American planes overhead, which came as a total surprise to him. While in England he met his brother and cousin at the Imperial Hotel. Hyak returned home in July 1945 and was discharged. He joined the inactive reserves and was called to Nevada to participate in nuclear bomb experiments in 1950. He recalls being knocked down by the blast from his post in a trench. He attributes numerous lifelong ailments and disabilities to his exposure to radioactivity, including blindness. Hyak was discharged a second time in September 1952.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with W. G. (Bill) Campbell. Campbell grew up in Texas, attended Texas A&M, and married in 1939 before joining the Army in 1943. After training, he went to Australia, Dutch New Guinea, Palu, Leyte, and Mindanao. He describes riding in amphibious vehicles and interacting with the natives. He discusses various illnesses he had during the war and his interactions with his brother, an engineer. He also describes surveying work in some detail. After the war, Campbell eventually became a public school teacher.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Eleanor Brown. From early 1942 through 1944, Brown served as a general mechanics helper at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, and had completed flight training. In April, she joined the Women’s Air Service Pilots (WASPs) in Sweetwater, Texas. Brown graduated, though WASP was disbanded in December of that same year. She returned to Kelly Field and continued to work as the first woman mechanic at the Air Force Base.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ethel ""Sally"" Blaine Millett. Millett grew up in Missouri and went to nurses training in San Diego, California. She volunteered for the Philippines in 1941. She witnessed the bombing at Clark Field. She took care of the soldiers wounded by Japanese strafing. When the bombing got too bad, the nurses left Statsenberg for Manila. Because of continued Japanese bombing all over the Philippines, the nurses had to keep moving as the hospitals moved. She describes having malaria and then having to evacuate from Bataan to Corregidor. Then they went to Mindanao where they were formally captured by the Japanese. They were moved to Davao and then to Santo Tomas. She describes losing her possessions. She describes life in the internment camp: the food, the work required, the sanitary conditions, the self-government, the birthrate, and the entertainment. Millett has to have an operation while at Santo Tomas. She also describes executions. Finally, the American soldiers arrived, and she took a plane home in February 1945. Her brother met her in San Francisco.

Transcript of an oral interview with James Avery. Mr Avery was a junior at the University of Illinois when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He signed up with the Army Air Corps since they would let him finish his degree before they would take him. However, the Army Air Corps was not able to honor its commitment since they needed pilots badly. In March 1943, they called him up and sent him to Lackland Air Base for the preflight program. From there, Avery went to Fort Stockton where he learned to fly in a Fairchild PT-19 and then to Goodfellow Field in San Angelo to learn to fly a BT-13. After two months of basic training, he went to Reese Air Base in Lubbock to train in the AT-17 and got his wings there in January 1944. Avery wanted to fly the B-26 and he got his wish; reporting first to Del Rio and then to Barksdale Field where he got his crew assigned. There were six of them in the crew. After about three months at Barksdale, they went to Savannah, Georgia to pick up a brand new airplane. However, they had to wait six weeks for their ship; Martin …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Eberle. Born in 1921, he enlisted in the Navy in 1939. He was assigned to Torpedo Squadron VT-6 of the Enterprise Air Group. He describes events on the USS Enterprise (CV-6) while at sea during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He shares an anecdote about the remains of Admiral Kidd. He relates stories about the Battle of Midway; escorting to the USS Hornet (CV-8) in conjunction with the Doolittle Raid; the sinking of the USS Wasp (CV-7); the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands and the loss of the USS Hornet; and experiencing a typhoon while on an aircraft carrier. He also shares stories about being an aircraft maintenance officer in San Diego, California. He retired from the Navy Reserve in 1976.

Interview with Charles Pase, a marine during World War II. He discusses joining the Marines and training on New Zealand and other Pacific islands. He describes landing on Tarawa, the battle of Tarawa itself, and locating and burying the dead bodies after the battle. He also talks about going to Hawaii for more training before going to Saipan, various guns and artillery he used, encountering natives on Saipan and being in Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped. He relates ancedotes about having tonsillitis during the Tarawa attack, fights that some Marines got into with local Hawaiians while training there and prejudices against Japanese-Americans, mistaking a land crab that pinched the back of his neck for a bayonet, getting Dengue Fever, and faking a landing on April Fools' Day.

Transcript of an oral interview with Charles Pase. He discusses joining the Marines, training on New Zealand and other Pacific islands before landing on Tarawa, the battle of Tarawa itself, locating and burying the dead bodies after the battle. He also talks about going to Hawaii for more training before going to Saipan, various guns and artillery he used, encountering natives on Saipan and being in Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped. He ancedotes about having tonsilitis during the Tarawa attack, fights some Marines got into with local Hawaiians while training there and prejudices against Japanese-Americans, mistaking a land crab that pinched the back of his neck for a bayonet, getting Dengue Fever and faking a landing on April Fools' Day.

Transcript of an oral interview with Bob Burrell. Eleven days after finishing high school in 1941, Burrell was sworn into the Navy and reported to Newport, Rhode Island for boot camp. After boot camp, he was sent down to the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida and was here on December 7, 1941. He volunteered for submarine duty and was sent to submarine school in New London, Connecticut; finishing in May 1942. Burrell describes his experiences at the school including using the Momsen lung. After graduation, he was shipped to Pearl Harbor and assigned to Submarine Division 42. In September 1942, he went aboard the USS Nautilus as a Third Class Yeoman. He was a sonar and radar operator during combat. The Nautilus rescued 29 men, women and children on New Years Eve 1942 when they snuck into Teop Harbor which was off of Bougainville. In April 1943, the Nautilus went to Dutch Harbor to take on 104 7th Army scouts, training them like they had done with the Marine Raider Battalion earlier. They were training for the invasion of Attu Island and took them there. The Nautilus then headed to Mare Island Naval Yard for overhaul. After overhaul, the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Lewis. Lewis joined the Navy in July 1939 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Breese (DM-18) where he worked in the engine room. He participated in neutrality patrols and survey trips along the Pacific coast. Ten days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, his ship reported sighting a Japanese submarine outside Pearl Harbor. During the attack, he saw the USS Utah (BB-31) roll over and watched as a destroyed midget submarine came to the surface. The Breese got underway and patrolled for seven days, short of crew, until returning to the harbor. At Midway he took on survivors from the USS Yorktown (CV-5). He describes the process of laying contact mines throughout the South Pacific. Lewis was surprised that the USS Tucker (DD-374) tragically entered one of their minefields. Lewis was transferred to the USS Latimer (APA-152) for the landings at Lingayen Gulf and Okinawa. After the war, he remained in the Navy, making the first landing at Inchon, aboard the USS Thuban (AKA-19). He retired from the Navy in 1962 and joined the Merchant Marines, bringing cargo …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with the Reverend Dr. R. Thomas Bousman. Bousman was born in the Manila, Philippines in 1928. His parents were Christian missionaries. He fled to Los Banos with his family, but returned to Manila in late December, 1941. He was interned at Santo Tomas with his family for only a short period of time before being released and placed under house arrest because his parents were missionaries. In 1944, they were transferred to Los Banos and were eventually liberated from there in February, 1945. In May, they returned to California. Bousman also relates how the internee experience affected him throughout his life.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Webb. Webb was born in Houston, Texas on 11 March 1923. He participated in the Civilian Pilot Training Program while attending Sam Houston State University. Upon earning his pilot’s license in 1942, he entered into the Navy Flying Cadet program. After three months of primary flight training at Lambert Field, Missouri he went to Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas for the final phase of training. Upon graduating, he elected to go into the US Marines and was sent to Opa Loca, Florida to begin training in fighters. He was then sent to Santa Barbara, California where he joined VMF-112. After a year of carrier training, VMF-112 was assigned to the USS Bennington (CV-20) where Webb flew F4U fighter planes. He recalls flying missions over Japan as well as participating in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He also recalls shooting down a Japanese plane. He also cites the experience of crashing into the sea soon after takeoff and being rescued and transferred back to his carrier by a Breeches Buoy. The Bennington went to the Philippines for repair after being damaged during a typhoon …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John C. James. He joined the Army in 1943 and went to training at Camp Crowder, Missouri, where the Signal Corps trained. He then went to the east coast and intercepted German Army radio traffic for a while before heading to California to listen for coded Japanese radio messages. He eventually was transferred to New Delhi, India. After the war ended, he was shipped to Eritrea, Africa for a few months before going back to the US.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Findley. Findley served with the Navy ROTC V-12 program at the University of Texas at Austin. From there he was commissioned an ensign and called to active duty. He was sent to the University of California at Berkeley for engineering, science and management war training in marine power plants. Upon graduation in August 1944, he was assigned to the USS Wyandot (AKA-92) as the Engineering Officer in the Pacific Theater. They traveled to Pearl Harbor, Guam, Eniwetok, the Philippines and Okinawa. He shares details of his work as Engineering Officer, and his experiences through the Battle of Okinawa beginning March of 1945. Findley was discharged around the spring of 1946 as a lieutenant (j.g) and returned to the University of Texas at Austin.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Carroll Prescott. Prescott joined the Marine Corps in July 1941 and was at Salt Lake Camp (about a mile from Pearl Harbor) on December 7, 1941. He was assigned to the 4th Defense Battalion as a gunner on a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun. His whole battalion was on the aircraft tender USS Tangier on December 25 when the entire task force turned around; they were 2-3 hours from landing on Wake. He left Pearl Harbor on March 18, went to the New Hebrides and landed on Vela Lavella on August 14, 1943. They went to New Zealand and were retrained on the 3-inch guns. Prescott went over the hill in New Zealand. He was on Hilo, Hawaii (training for the invasion of Japan) when he heard the war was over. They went to Sasebo, Japan and he stood guard duty. There's a photocopy picture of Prescott in the folder.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with J.C. Kerr. Kerr was born in Dillard, Oklahoma in 1921. Joining the Navy in 1939, Kerr was assigned to the USS Tennessee (BB-43) after attending boot camp in San Diego, California. He began on the job motor machinist training in the engine room while aboard. In 1941 he was transferred to the USS Washington (BB-56) as she began convoy duty in the Atlantic. In September 1942 the ship went to New Caledonia. Kerr tells of the ship being involved in a naval battle near Guadalcanal in November. In 1943, Kerr was transferred into the submarine service. Returning to San Francisco he traveled by troop train to New London, Connecticut to begin training. He describes the various aspects of the training including the use of the Momsen escape lung. After receiving additional training in submarine engineering school, he was sent to Milne Bay, New Guinea and went aboard the USS Dace (SS-247). He describes being on five war patrols which included transporting Australian commandos prior to an island invasion, laying mines, and attacks on Japanese ships. Kerr also recounts the rescue of the crew of the USS Dater (SS-227). …