National Museum of the Pacific War - 5 Matching Results

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[Members of the Women's Auxiliary Corps Fishing]
Photograph of WAC members fishing with poles on a small boat and from a dock in Fort Myers, Florida. On the left stand two women on the curved wooden dock with fishing poles, the first one in a white bathing suit and the other in full uniform. On the right in a small boat sits a woman in a black bathing suit and no fishing pole and to her right sit two women in uniform with fishing poles.
[Members of the Women's Auxiliary Corps Peeling Potatoes]
Photograph of three unidentified members of the Women's Auxiliary Corps for Army Air Forces sitting on the wooden porch of a building peeling potatoes over two metal buckets at their feet.
Oral History Interview with Richard Bennett, November 15, 2001
Interview with Richard (Dick) Bennett, a pilot during World War II. He discusses his enlistment in the Army Air Corps, basic training and flight school. He then went to a base in South Carolina to learn to fly B-25s. At Fort Myers, Florida he flew B-26 bombers and trained to fly them off of aircraft carriers so they could drop torpedos on the Japanese fleet during naval battles. He traveled across the Pacific to Brisbane only to be told that they didn't have B-26s for the crews; the colonel there knew nothing about the plan to launch B-26s from aircraft carriers, so they were sent to New Guinea to fly B-17s and supplement the crews for those bombers. From there they made bombing runs or "Washing Machine Charlie"-type runs to keep people awake at night on various Japanese targets in the islands, particularly the base at Rabaul. In fall of 1943, the Army grounded the B-17s due to the damage they had incurred and replaced them with B-24s. The men received manuals and were given only a few days to familiarize themselves with the new planes. They were then sent on bombing runs. He finished his tour of duty at the end of 1943, came back to the United States, and went on a War Bond drive throughout New York. He then went to Ohio to become a B-17 instructor, and traveled to various bases and training schools, including Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he visited only a day after the first atomic bomb test.
Oral History Interview with Charles H. Tucker, April 18, 2017
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles H. Tucker from Orange, California. He discusses volunteering for the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and going to basic training in Miami Beach, Florida, then going to Aircraft Armament School in Buckley Field, Colorado, and finally air gunnery school in Fort Myers, Florida. In air gunnery school, Mr. Tucker learned to shoot in B-17 by shooting into the Gulf of Mexico. After gunnery school he was sent to the B-25 crew training at Columbia, South Carolina for 5 months. After Mr. Tucker completed his training, he was transferred to Dacca to a B-25 base and joined the 10th Air Force, the 12th Bomb Group. When he arrived his crew pilots were reassigned, and Mr. Tucker was not able to fly much until he was assigned to a regular crew again. Mr. Tucker was put in the 729th bomb squadron tasked with supporting the British 14th Army against the Japanese forces in Burma. The campaign he was involved in ended in May 1945 with the capture of Rangoon, the main city of Burma and Mr. tucker was in one of the squadron planes that flew over the celebration parade after the victory. When the war ended, Mr. Tucker was training at Madeaiganji airfield in India and celebrated by drinking, only to get frightened when his fellow servicemen started drunkenly shooting into the air. Mr. Tucker left on a ship headed for New York on October 1, 1945, and reached there on October 31 and was granted 45 days of leave. After his leave, Mr. Tucker reported to San Antonio, Texas, and was discharged December 22, 1945. When the Korean War started, he volunteered to be a pilot but was denied because of his vison, so instead Mr. …
Oral History Interview with Charles H. Tucker, April 18, 2017
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles H. Tucker from Orange, California. He discusses volunteering for the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and going to basic training in Miami Beach, Florida, then going to Aircraft Armament School in Buckley Field, Colorado, and finally air gunnery school in Fort Myers, Florida. In air gunnery school, Mr. Tucker learned to shoot in B-17 by shooting into the Gulf of Mexico. After gunnery school he was sent to the B-25 crew training at Columbia, South Carolina for 5 months. After Mr. Tucker completed his training, he was transferred to Dacca to a B-25 base and joined the 10th Air Force, the 12th Bomb Group. When he arrived his crew pilots were reassigned, and Mr. Tucker was not able to fly much until he was assigned to a regular crew again. Mr. Tucker was put in the 729th bomb squadron tasked with supporting the British 14th Army against the Japanese forces in Burma. The campaign he was involved in ended in May 1945 with the capture of Rangoon, the main city of Burma and Mr. tucker was in one of the squadron planes that flew over the celebration parade after the victory. When the war ended, Mr. Tucker was training at Madeaiganji airfield in India and celebrated by drinking, only to get frightened when his fellow servicemen started drunkenly shooting into the air. Mr. Tucker left on a ship headed for New York on October 1, 1945, and reached there on October 31 and was granted 45 days of leave. After his leave, Mr. Tucker reported to San Antonio, Texas, and was discharged December 22, 1945. When the Korean War started, he volunteered to be a pilot but was denied because of his vison, so instead Mr. …
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