Oral History Interview with W. G. (Bill) Campbell, April 21, 2000 Page: 1

                                
INTERVIEW
of
Mr. W.G. (Bill) Campbell
Today, is April 21, 2000. My name is Floyd Cox and I am a
volunteer at the Admiral Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War
in Fredericksburg, Texas. Today we are in San Antonio
talking with Mr. W. G (Bill) Campbell.
Mr. Campbell, thank you for giving us the opportunity to
record for posterity the experiences that you underwent
during World War II in the Pacific. As a matter of a little
background, Mr. Campbell, could you tell you tell me a little
about your biographical back ground; where you were born
and so on?

Mr. Campbell:

I was born here in San Antonio. In fact I grew up on the old
family place. My great-grandfather bought this piece of
property where my house is now in 1858 and so it has been in
the family a good while. I grew up here in San Antonio went
to high school in San Antonio. Our grade school was the old
Campbell school that was built in 1874. My grandmother was
the first teacher. It was at one time, I remember, there were
23 of us in the whole 7 grades. So we didn't have enough for
a ball team. But we had a wonderful time there and after the
7th grade we had to go to the city schools. So I went to old
Main Avenue and I finished Jefferson the second year it was
built. My first military was four years of ROTC in high
school. I went to Texas A & M then in 1934 and finished A &
M with a degree in Agriculture in 1938. I only did two years
of ROTC so I didn't do the full officers training program. I
had a job there at 30cents an hour and didn't feel I had too
much military time left. I went to the lower country. Got a job
immediately at Hebronville (Texas) because I could read,
write and speak Spanish fairly fluently. There all of my office
work in the department of agriculture there was done that way
(in Spanish).

Mr. Cox: