Texas Oral History Collection - 26 Matching Results
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- Oral History Interview with Rena Pederson, April 5, 2012
- Interview with Rena Pederson, a former journalist in Dallas, Texas. The interview includes biographical information about her life growing up, her educational background, her career with The Dallas Morning News and other newspapers, the books she has written, and her work in communications and public affairs.
- Oral History Interview with Robert D. Haines, May 15, 2002
- Interview with Robert D. Haines, an American prisoner of war during World War II. He discusses the attack on Clark Field in the Philippines on December 8, 1941, as well as his experiences on the Bataan Death March. He also tells of his time spent as a prisoner of war under the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell, Cabanatuan and Bilibid prison in Manila. He encountered his brother, who was a civilian internee, at Bilibid. From there, he rode on a hell ship for 39 days to a POW camp in Formosa (Taiwan). When the Americans began bombing Formosa, Haines was moved via another hell ship to Tokyo, Japan. Not long after, he was liberated and returned to San Francisco, then Denver.
- Oral History Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, January 15, 2004
- Interview with Lewis R. Hopkins, a pilot during World War II. He describes growing up on a farm in Georgia, going to college at Berry, and working for Sears, Roebuck, and the Royal Typewriter Company before joining the U. S. Navy. He tells an anecdote about joining the navy so he could go to New York to see the World's Fair, since he had heard the Atlanta Reserve would be making a trip to the Fair. He began flight training in Florida in December 1940, finished the next September, then drove cross-country to San Francisco after the Pearl Harbor attack. He eventually joined the USS Enterprise in April 1942 and saw the B-25 bombers in the Doolittle Raid take off. He was part of Bombing Squadron Six and trained under Commander Best to learn how to do scouting flights, navigation, and dive bombing. He then describes his participation in the Battle of Midway, the hours before take-off, his first view of the Japanese fleet, and his bombing mission. He was later assigned to the USS Hornet and had to fly off to a little island so that planes from the USS Wasp could land on the Hornet after their ship had been torpedoed. He contracted malaria while he was on the island. He transferred to the USS Northhampton, then back to the United States to train pilots in dive-bombing at Jacksonville, Florida. He then received post-graduate training in aeronautical engineering at Annapolis and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in order to research and develop aircraft logistics.
- Oral History Interview with Albert Bouley, June 27, 2001
- Interview with Albert Bouley, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses his enlistment in the Marines just after Pearl Harbor; his assignment to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division; the battle of Guadalcanal; malaria and dysentery; the battle of Cape Gloucester; the use of Pavuvu as a base; the battle of Peleliu; his return to the United States; guard duty at the Brooklyn Naval Yard and his service as an instructor in a heavy weapons school before the end of the war. He joined the Air Force 2 1/2 years later to be able to fly and work on planes, then retire to become a teacher in California, and finally settled in Texas.
- Oral History Interview with Carl Peltier, March 4, 2001
- Interview with Carl Peltier, a U. S Marine during World War II. He begins by discussing his reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then joined the Marines when he was old enough. He trained in San Diego before shipping out to Hawaii where he joined the 2nd Marine Division. Further training included heavy weapons and mortars. Later, he landed on Saipan and describes his small arms and rations. He witnessed General Simon Buckner getting killed on Okinawa. He was later wounded on Okinawa. After the war ended, Peltier served in the Pentagon during the Korean War.
- Oral History Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, May 2, 2006
- Interview with Cleatus A. LeBow, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. LeBow joined the navy in 1943 and went from Lubbock, Texas to San Diego for recruit training. He shipped out to Pearl Harbor aboard an LST from San Francisco. At Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to a work detail aboard the USS Oklahoma, which had just been righted. Shortly thereafter, he boarded the USS Indianapolis to serve as a range finder operator on one of the gun turrets. Upon leaving Hawaii, the Indianapolis went to Tarawa and then the Marshall Islands. LeBow witnessed Japanese civilian suicides on Saipan. He also witnessed the flag-raising on Iwo Jima from his range finder position aboard the ship. LeBow describes being hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa. He also discusses delivering atomic bomb components to Tinian and being torpedoed on the way to the Philippines. He describes abandoning the ship and spending five days in the water, including his faith in God, hallucinations, rescue, and his recovery.
- Oral History Interview with Jerell E. Crow, August 24, 2002
- Interview with Jerell E. Crow. He entered the Coast Guard in 1940 and trained in Florida and New York City. He served aboard a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) when those ships were first introduced. He traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the Neville Island Shipyard operated by the Dravo Corporation as part of a crew that brought an LST down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. From there, the crew practiced operations at Biloxi, Mississippi. Eventually, Crow travelled to San Diego aboard the LST through the Panama Canal. From there, he went to Guadalcanal and unloaded tanks. Eventually, his ship was hit at Saipan and he was wounded. He also served aboard an LST during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Afterwards, Crow's LST was present in Tokyo Bay for the surrender. He visited Hiroshima while on occupation duty after the atomic bomb was dropped. Eventually, his LST made its way back to San Francisco where he was discharged.
- Oral History Interview with Arwin Bowden, March 9, 2000
- Interview with Arwin Bowden, a marine during World War II. He begins by discussing his training in San Diego and New Zealand before the Battle of Tarawa. He describes being wounded in the battle, the casualties he saw, and being shipped back to Pearl Harbor for treatment before joining the battle of Saipan. He describes ancedotes about Japanese killing themselves rather than surrendering, eating food from a garden watered from rainwater running down from outhouses, the wages he made, and the time he had leave.
- Oral History Interview with James William Harrison, January 27, 2005
- Interview with James William "Bill" Harrison, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He explains how he joined the navy in San Diego without going to boot camp. He worked on an oil tanker that shipped out to Pearl Harbor a month after the attack there and transported fuel out of San Diego to various ships at sea. He was then transfered to Admiral Nimitz's public relations department. There he and two others wrote stories about the action in the Pacific theater, particularly about the Battle of Midway. They also contributed to a radio show and worked with the national press corps. He then worked at the Naval Air Station in Seattle before traveling to Hilo, Hawaii to meet with soldiers who had returned from Tarawa. In Texas, he attended officer training school and college at Southwestern University. After the war ended, he studied at the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma for law school. He recalls an incident in which his office released a story about a cat that had kittens on board a cruiser; they reported this good news from the Pacific prior to the Battle of Midway. He also met Admirals Nimitz and Byrd, typed up a letter for Elliott Roosevelt to his father (without knowing at the time that he was President Roosevelt's son), and received a ride from shipbuilder and Kaiser Permanente founder Henry J. Kaiser while hitchhiking during leave.
- Oral History Interview with James Phinney, July 15, 2010
- Interview with James (Jim) Phinney, an aircraft electrician for the U. S. Navy during Wold War II. He discusses joining the Navy, going through boot camp and becoming an aircraft electrician. He was assigned to the USS Lexington but abandoned ship after it was hit by a torpedo. He was rescued and was then sent to San Diego to be reassigned to the USS Enterprise. He mentions being at Guadalcanal and later aboard a sub-chaser. The crew crossed the Equator and consequently participated in an initiation ceremony, during which time Admiral Halsey was nearly shot by one of the ship's pilots who forgot to lock his gun. He also recalls some of the food he ate while at sea.
- Oral History Interview with L. B. Blackmon, April 10, 2007
- Interview with L. B. Blackmon, a serviceman in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He discusses boot camp in San Diego, his assignment to Pearl Harbor, and his experiences during the attack. He later trained cadets in Corpus Christi.
- Oral History Interview with Dale R. Walker, October 4, 2007
- Interview with Dale R. Walker, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He joined the Marine Corps in 1944 and was trained in mortars at Camp Pendleton, California. He then went to Camp Tarawa at Hawaii for further training with the Fifth Marine Division. Walker landed with the sixth wave on D-day at Iwo Jima. While working with mortars supporting the infantry, he was called on to be a stretcher-bearer on occasion. Walker spent 36 days on Iwo Jima. After the Japanese surrendered, Walker served in the occupation of Japan.
- Oral History Interview with Paul Jackson, April 10, 2008
- Interview with Paul Jackson, a U. S. Marine during World War II. He discusses his time in boot camp at Camp Pendleton and his combat experiences in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
- Oral History Interview with George Burlage, November 18, 1970
- Interview with George Burlage, a Marine WWII veteran and POW from Visalia, California. Burlage was stationed in the Philippines before the war and fought at Corregidor in 1942 before his capture by the Japanese, after which he was interned at Camp Cabanatuan #3 in Central Luzon, Las Pinas airfield near Manila, and Moji, Japan.
- Oral History Interview with Clay H. Musick, May 14, 1976
- Interview with Clay Musick, a Navy WWII veteran from Weslaco, Texas. Musick discusses his experiences aboard the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, including joining the Navy in 1940, training, life and work aboard the Arizona, the bombing and sinking of the ship, his wounding and recovery, and work after discharge.
- Oral History Interview with Eddie L. Hornsby, November 8, 1979
- Interview with Eddie Hornsby, a Navy WWII veteran from Coleman County, Texas. Hornsby discusses his experiences aboard the USS San Francisco during the attack on Pearl Harbor, including jobs worked in the 1930s, joining the Navy, boot camp, assignment to the San Francisco, operations aboard the ship and exercises, the morning of the attack, and events of the following night.
- Oral History Interview with James L. Kent, May 11, 1972
- Interview with James L. Kent, a Marine WWII veteran and POW from Duncanville, Texas. Kent discusses joining the Marine Corps, being AWOL, his judicial punishment, his deployment to the Philippines at Cavite Navy Yard, the Japanese attack, his experiences in the Battles of Bataan and Corregidor, his capture, and his internment at Bilibid Prison, Cabanatuan #1 & 2, and Mitsushima.
- Oral History Interview with Tom Blaylock, March 22, 1971
- Interview with Tom Blaylock, an Army Air Corps WWII veteran and POW from Dallas, Texas. Blaylock was stationed in the Philippines during the Japanese invasion of December 1941, was captured, forced to partake in the Bataan Death March, and was interned at several major POW camps in the Philippines before transferring to a coal mine camp at Omine-machi, Yamaguchi, Japan.
- Oral History Interview with Lawrence Brown, March 20, 1974
- Interview with Lawrence Brown, a civil servant, concerning his experiences while employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. Brown worked at a camp in Boyd, Texas (Company 850).
- Oral History Interview with Yuri Fukui, October 19, 1980
- Interview with Yuri Fukui, a second generation Japanese-American from Oakland, California, about her experience pursuing higher education during the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent internment. Fukui discusses the discrimination she experienced in her daily life, struggles faced by her parents, who owned a local business, and life in the internment camps.
- Oral History Interview with Frank Apalatea, Jr., August 5, 1981
- Interview with Frank Apalatea, Jr., a United States Army veteran from Bakersfield, California, regarding his experiences as a member of the 25th Infantry Division stationed at Schofield Barracks during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941.
- Oral History Interview with Mary Louise Mujica, February 15, 1984
- Interview with Mary Louise Mujica regarding her experiences growing up in Basque Country, speaking the Basque language and learning English, working at Bastanchury Ranch and the conditions there, Basque traditions such as dances, and her life and family in America.
- Oral History Interview with Lorenzo Echanis, February 16, 1984
- Interview with Lorenzo Echanis discussing his experiences growing up in Basque Country with Basque parents, attending church and learning catechism, immigration to the United States, working as a shepherd, marriage, and returning to visit his hometown years later.
- Oral History Interview with Johnny Yturri, February 16, 1984
- Interview with Johnny Yturri discussing his experiences growing up with Basque parents, Basque customs, learning English, early jobs, and sheep ranching in Orange County, California.
- Oral History Interview with George Hargens, December 14, 1985
- Interview with George Hargens, a former Caltex executive from San Francisco, California, to discuss his experiences working for Standard Oil during the Great Depression, his transfer to Caltex and establishment of the German market, work as a director of several oil companies, and leaving Caltex.
- Oral History Interview with John Lowe, Jr., August 7, 1978
- Interview with John Lowe Jr., a Navy WWII veteran from Dallas, Texas. Lowe discusses his experiences aboard the USS Neosho during the attack on Pearl Harbor, including training through the V-6 Naval Reserve Program, assignment to the Neosho, life and work aboard the ship, encountering possible Japanese submarines before the attack, being wounded during the attack and evacuated, recovery, and service afterwards.