World War II Records: Pacific Theater

World War II Records: Pacific Theater

James L. Aaron (Army) Documents

James L. Aaron was born in Kentucky in 1923. His family moved to Knox County, Tennessee, in 1930. On February 13th, 1941, he enlisted in the Army at Fort McPherson, Georgia, becoming a Private attached to the 31st Infantry Regiment in the Philippines. He was assigned to the Philippine Division located in Manila after the assault on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The 31st Infantry held off the Japanese onslaught for four months before finally surrendering in April 1942. Some of the 31st’s survivors escaped, but most underwent brutal torture and humiliation on the Bataan Death March, and then nearly four years of captivity. Private Aaron survived the march but died from malaria shortly after he arrived at the internment camp, and he was buried in a mass grave. His remains were never recovered. His memory and name are engraved in the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines.

Robert Sarl Abeel Jr. (Army) Documents

Robert Sarl Abeel Jr., born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Robert Sarl Abeel Sr. and Ruby Abeel, enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 22, 1943, at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He served as a Staff Sergeant and Crew Chief with the 27th Squadron, 443rd Troop Carrier Group, 10th Air Force during World War II. On September 28, 1945, his C-47B aircraft, Able Baker, went missing in China during an administrative mission. He is honored at the Nanjing Aviation Martyrs Memorial and on a marker at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Artie Akers (Navy) Video | Transcript

Artie Akers was born in Jenkins, Kentucky on March 15, 1920. He enlisted in the Navy and worked as a radio man. He served in Pearl Harbor in 1939 and eventually served at Manilla, Philippines. It was there that Akers learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Akers worked with submarines during the war.

Lorenzo Augustus Alexander Sr. (Army) Documents

Reverend Captain Lorenzo Augustus Alexander Sr., born February 12, 1907 in Norfolk, Virginia, was a resident of Knoxville and chaplain in the US army during World War II. He enlisted in 1940, after which he trained at Harvard University to become a chaplain. Upon completion of his training, Reverend Captain Alexander was awarded the rank of Captain, and served in the Pacific theater. After his service, he returned home and became pastor of Rogers Memorial Baptist Church. He ran for Knoxville School Board after the war, and though unsuccessful, he is remembered as the first African American in Knoxville to run. Reverend Captain Lorenzo Augustus Alexander Sr. died at the age of 53 in 1960, and was buried with his fellow soldiers in Knoxville National Cemetery.

John Allen joined the army on May 15, 1941. After finishing officer candidate school, Akins was assigned to a truck regiment that performed tactical transportation for the infantry school. During his service, Allen traveled throughout British-controlled India where Allen trekked through the jungle with Indigenous porters and mules. He traveled through Calcutta and participated in the Burma Campaign, a joint-allied force between the British and the Chinese with support from the United States.

William B. Allen (Marines) Audio | Transcript

Willam B. Allen was part of the 23rd Regiment of the 4th Marine Division, Regimental Weapons Company which was an anti-tank outfit that served in the Central Pacific. Allen fought at the Battle of Tinian in the Mariana Islands from 24 July until 1 August 1944.

Dario Antonucci (Army) Audio | Transcript

Born in 1924, St. Marco Argentano, in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy; Family of farmers; Father Angelo was a WWI veteran; Father and mother’s marriage arranged by family; Father came to America in 1923, worked and became citizen; returned to Italy, 1929; Mother passed away 1935; Father returns to work in U.S.; Life under Mussolini; Father returns to Italy and moves children to U.S. in 1937; Attended School #3 (later became Steele School) and Baldwin High School in NY; Enlisted in the Army Air Corps, November, 1942 after graduation; Processed at Camp Upton; Basic training, Miami Beach, FL; Radio Operator training, Sioux Falls, SD; Radio mechanic training, Traux Field, Madison, WI; P-39 and P-38 training in CA; Special training in air control/direction finder, and homing; Assigned to 51st Fighter Control Squadron, 10th Air Force; Departed for China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations, April, 1944; Spent 16 months in jungles of Burma; No fresh food, snakes, evidence of Japanese atrocities; Worked closely with Army Corps of Engineers; Flew “The Hump” as a radio operator; Many aircraft lost in January, 1945 due to bad weather; Last unit to leave Burma in December, 1945; S.S. Callan return to Seattle, WA; Discharged Feb. 9, 1946 at Fort Dix, NY; Enrolled at night school at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, graduated in 1959 with Masters in Electrical Engineering; Married in 1951; Worked in the electrical and microwave research and development field, Sylvania Research Labs, 1952-1960;

Foster D. Arnett (Army) Audio | Transcript

Born in Knoxville, TN on November 28, 1920; father a traveling salesman; discusses impact of the Great Depression; TVA; member of the Methodist Church; Studied History and Political Science at the University of Tennessee in 1939-42; ROTC at University of Tennessee; Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, 1942; trained at Camp Wheeler, Fort Hamilton; Camp Upton; Paratrooper in World War II; 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment; Wounded in the Philippines; Served in New Guinea; “Pathfinder” at the Leyte Gulf Campaign; post-war lawyer; University of Virginia School of Law, 1948; Silver Star.

William F. Baggerman (Army Air Corp) Audio | Transcript

William F. Baggerman was with the 20th Air Force stationed in Guam in 1944. Baggerman’s interview details the US bombardment of Japan near the end of the war.

Howard H. Baker Jr. (Navy) Documents

Howard H. Baker Jr. was born to a politically active family from Huntsville, Tennessee in Scott County. After high school, he joined the Navy’s V-12 program at the height of World War Two. He pursued a degree in electrical engineering at the University of the South before the Navy transferred him to Tulane University. On breaks and holidays, he spent his time training with the Navy, and when he graduated, he was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade. At the end of the war, he was in charge of a PT boat in the South Pacific as well as the decommissioning of other PT boats until his discharge in 1946. Later in life, Baker enjoyed an illustrious political career and is well remembered for his role in the Senate investigations of the Watergate scandal.

Lawrence W. Barker (Marines) Audio | Transcript

Lawrence W. Barker joined the Marines in January 1942. Baker’s job included mapping, relief mapping, and reproduction of maps in the Pacific. Baker supported the Marines at Tinian, Saipan, and Okinawa.

Adolph Barnaby (Army) Audio | Transcript

Adolph Barnaby joined the United States Army in 1932 and retired in 1962. Barnaby was part of the Panama Pacific General Depot, a quartermaster outfit. Barnaby served in many places during his service: North Africa, China, Burma, India, Theta, and Japan. Barnaby’s account details his time abroad, his work, and the desegregation of the US military.

Edward F. Barniskis (Army) Audio | Transcript

Edward F. Barniskis joined the army on May 8, 1940. He was sent to the Philippines and joined the 59th Coast Artillery, an anti-aircraft unit. His account details his time in the service and how they repelled the Japanese fighters throughout the Pacific.

Gordon R. Beem (Navy) Transcript

Born February 1, 1927 in Niles, Ohio; Father a veteran of the 130th Ohio Engineers in World War I; Describes WPA in Maine; Description of naval scene in Portland, Maine in World War II; enlisted in the Navy on Dec. 6, 1944; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign; Served on the U.S.S. Athene; GI Bill; Bowdoin College; Participant in the Korean War as Air Force Sergeant; 4th Interceptor Wing; Retired major of the U.S. Air Force; Stationed in Wieshaden, Germany in 1950s-60s; Returned to Loring Air Force Base, Maine.

Sloan Bomar (Navy Aviation) Audio | Transcripts

Sloan Bomar joined the Navy in 1942. Bomar worked as a radio man in the Navy’s PB4Y1 throughout the Pacific. Bomar’s account details the US involvement in the Solomon Islands campaign, Guadalcanal, and dog fights with Japanese aircraft.

G. Gordon Bonnyman (Army) Audio | Transcript

Born Fall 1919 in Knoxville, Tennessee; father worked for Campbell Coal Mining Company; Member of the Catholic Church; Early life in Knoxville; Attended school at French Boarding School in 1930s; attended Princeton in 1941; studied engineering; Battery Officer School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; 97th Field Artillery Battalion; 4th Field Artillery Division; trained at Fort Bragg, NC; battery commander with Merrill’s Marauders; contracted malaria; later 112th Infantry Division; Wounded at Michenau; contracted dysentery; wounded again in 1944; traveled through Calcutta to U.S.; taught mule packing at Fort Riley, KS.

Charles Bray (I) (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Born in Hitchita, Oklahoma, 1921; father a farmer; life on the farm in Hitchita; activities with Civilian Conservation Corps; discussion of Works Progress Administration and other New Deal programs; visit to Chattanooga, Tennessee; February 1942 takes civil service position in Washington, D.C.; work in Veterans’ Administration; joins Navy, June 1942; assigned as a clerk to the Naval Department; discussion of Naval war room and impressions of General Staff; volunteers for active service; boot camp, Bainbridge, Maryland Navigation School, Samson, NY; assignment to destroyer USS Shannon, September 1944; travel to Pacific Theater; life on board ship; participation in the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa; kamikaze attacks; fire support during invasions; mine sweeping; early post war Japan, visits to Sasebo and Nagasaki; return voyage to the United States; transfer to the Office of Naval Intelligence; discussion of the origins of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Charles Bray (II) (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Central Intelligence Agency, 1948; cover identities of agents; CIA culture and off duty activities; composition of early CIA personnel; influence of former FBI personnel on CIA; J. Edgar Hoover and FBI professional culture; communications intelligence from Eastern Bloc and code breaking; Germany, 1954; interception and translation of East German radio signals; tunnel into East Berlin; assignment to Taiwan and interception of Chinese radio signals; financing of operatives; reassignment to Miami, Florida, 1965; discussion of CIA operations against Cuba prior to his arrival in Miami; returns to CIA headquarters 1968; Vietnam, 1970-1972; support of South Vietnamese expatriates after 1975; changes within CIA post-Vietnam.

Carl V. Bretz (Army) Transcript

Growing up near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania during the Depression; Turned 18 and inducted into the Army in 1944; Fort Belvoir, Virginia for Basic Training; Typist Training at Camp Reynolds, Pennsylvania; stationed as a typist at Camp Rucker, Alabama and Camp Shelby in Mississippi until start of 1945; Sent to Hawaii in 1945 and was there when Atomic Bombs were dropped on Japan; Deployed to Nagasaki, Japan during post-war occupation and survey of Atomic Bomb aftermath; G.I. Bill for undergraduate and seminary school at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania; Graduate School for Psychology Religion at Boston University, Massachusetts; career working in mental health institutions in New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Alabama; living in Alabama under Governor George Wallace and during the Civil Rights movement; retirement to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

W. E. Brewer (Army) Audio | Transcript

W. E. Brewer was drafted into the Army as a rifleman in July 1943. After training in Australia, Brewer was sent to New Guinea as part of the 41st Infantry. Brewer participated in the Battle of Biak Island between May 27 to August 17, 1944. His eyewitness account details the catastrophic events of the battle through the jungle against the Japanese.

Fred V. Brown (Army) Audio | Transcript

Fred V. Brown was part of the University of Tennessee’s ROTC program in the 1930s. When war broke out in December 1941, Brown was sent to Columbia, South Carolina, where he helped organize various United States Army exercises held around southern North Carolina and northern South Carolina in 1941, known as the Carolina Maneuvers. Brown organized visiting trips of US generals and Winston Churchill, to whom he opened the door. The rest of the account details Brown’s service in the Pacific, including his experiences in the Battle of Buna–Gona between November 6, 1942, and January 22, 1943.

Lewis E. Brown (Army) Audio | Transcript

Lewis E. Brown enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940 when he was sixteen. Through a turn of events, Brown became a paratrooper for the 501st Parachute Battalion, which dropped in New Guinea in 1944. Brown details his experiences in the Battle of Hollandia against the Japanese.

Robert T. Brown (Army) Documents

Robert T. Brown was born in Jackson County, Tennessee on June 19, 1918. During World War Two, he was part of Company L, 106th Infantry, 27th Division, and was a staff sergeant in the Army. He fought around Hawaii and the Pacific as well as in battles in Saipan and Okinawa. He died on December 29, 2000, in Gainesboro, Tennessee.

Paul Ray Burnette (Navy) Documents

Paul Ray Burnette was born in 1926 to Joseph Henry Burnette and Mayme I. Monday in Knoxville, TN. He enlisted in the Navy on September 25th, 1943, and he served in the Pacific Theater of World War 2 on board the U.S.S. Perry (DMS17) before transferring to the U.S.S. Minneapolis (CA36). A Purple Heart recipient, Burnette lost his life on September 13th, 1944, to wounds and burns he had received from combat on board the U.S.S. Perry. Burnette was buried at sea and is memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery at Fort Bonifacio in Manila, Philippines.

William I. Butler (Air Force) Transcript

Pre-war life in Martin, TN; Weakley County; farming; University of Tennessee Agricultural College, 1938 to mid-1941; drafted and sent to Ft. Oglethorpe; Savannah Air Base, ordnance of the 27th Bomb Group; Departed Savannah for the Philippines, October, 1941; Arrived Philippines 18 days prior to Japanese attack; Surrender of Bataan; taken prisoner and begins Bataan Death March; Held at Cabanatuan Prison Camp; also imprisoned for several months in Bililibid prison; Liberation on September 4th, 1945; Return home to Martin, TN; Graduated University of Tennessee, 1947; Worked for Agricultural Extension Service in Benton County, TN; 20 years with Pet Milk Company; Agricultural Extension Service, 1968, Hardin County, TN; Retired 1985.

Bill Bryan (Navy Aviation) Audio | Transcripts

Bill Bryan joined the Navy in May 1941 at the age of twenty-seven. He went to flight school in Atlanta, Georgia then transferred to Pensacola in December 1941. Bryan’s role was to fly routes throughout the South Pacific, from Hawaii to Midway or Guam. Part of his duty was transporting Japanese prisoners of war, those who were injured, and casualties.

Charlie Burchett joined the Marines in 1942. He served in a battalion of combat engineers throughout the southern Pacific. Burchett’s account details his service, the conditions he lived in, and the fight against the Japanese.

Arthur D. Byrne (Army Aviation) Video | Transcript

Arthur D. Byrne was an Air Combat Intelligence Office ordered overseas in July 1944. Byrne served various places across the Pacific, including the Philippines and New Guinea. Throughout his interview, Byrne states that he did not see combat and only flew on two combat missions before the war’s end. Byrne was part of the occupying force in Japan after the war.

James A. Caire (Army) Video | Transcript

James A. Caire was a prisoner of war of the Japanese in World War II. Caire joined the service in May 1939 and was part of the 27th and 3rd Bomb Group in the Pacific. In April 1942, Caire was part of the forced military march of 76,000 prisoners of war from Mariveles to San Fernando, Philippines. From this brutal march, only 54,000 soldiers survived.

William Vane Campbell (Navy) HVHS Fallen Warriors Military Memoriam

Seaman Second Class William Vane Campbell was born in Elizabethton, Tennessee, on June 16, 1921. Campbell enlisted during his sophomore year at Happy Valley High School. He was assigned to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, killing around 2,000 people- Campbell unfortunately included. He was awarded a Purple Heart and is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing Punch Bowl in Honolulu. Campbell’s remains were identified and returned home in 2018. He is laid to rest at the Happy Valley Memorial Park.

Melvin Carr was born in 1925 in Virginia. His father was a soldier in World War l. His family moved to the Sugarlands of Tennessee when he was an infant. He lived in the Smokey Mountains before it became a national park. He worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps building the trails in the park. He volunteered for the Naval Air Force at age 17 in 1943. He served aboard the USS Pennsylvania, which was the command ship for the seventh fleet of the Pacific campaign during much of World War II. His brother, Jess, also served in the war. Carr oversaw the operation of an aircraft battery on the battleship. He witnessed every battle in the Pacific except Iwo Jima. After the war, he returned to Sevier County and got married and had children. He was ordained a Baptist minister on Oct. 17, 1953, at Laurel Branch Baptist Church. He hiked the entire 71 miles of the Appalachian Trial that that runs through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He passed away at age 89 in 2014.

Clifton B Cates (Marines) Documents

Clifton B Cates was born August 31st 1893 in Tiptonville, TN to Mr. Willis Cates and Mrs. Martha Darnell Bledose. Clifton attended University of Tennessee, Knoxville and graduated with a Bachelor of Law in 1916. When a United States Marine Corps recruiter came to campus to promote commission to college graduates Clifton Cates decided to join. Without knowing what the Marine Corps was he was sent to Port Royal, South Carolina and went active duty on June 13th of 1917. Clifton Cates played a pivotal role in the Battle of Belleau Wood and Battle of Soissons. When he returned to the States he went to Washington DC where he served as an aide to the Marine Corps Commandment and as a military aide to president Woodrow Wilson. In 1929 Cates was deployed to Shanghai where he rejoined the 4th Marines for three years. During World War II, he led his command through Marianas Operation (1944), Tinian campaign (1944), and the seizure of Iwo Jima (1945). When he returned to the states in 1945 he became President of the Marine Corps Equipment Board at Quantico. In 1948 Clifton was sworn in as the 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps and promoted to rank of General. Clifton earned more than 20 medals and awards throughout his career including the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with Combat “V” and many more. Clifton retired on June 30th, 1954 with his wife in Washington DC, he was eventually promoted on the retired list to the rank of full General.

Ralph Chambers (Navy) Transcript

Ralph Chambers (1926-2012) served in the Navy in WWII (Pacific) on the LST 743 and later saw action in Korea. He also served in the Coast Guard. He was born and raised in the Rock House community, Scott County TN, and descended from Thomas Chambers, one of the first to cross the Cumberland Gap into Tennessee.

Jerrell P. Childress (Navy) Documents

Jerrell P. Childress was born on November 15, 1921, in Halls, Tennessee, in Lauderdale County. During World War Two, he served on the destroyer USS Ingersoll in the Pacific Theatre. After the war, he was part of an association of people who served on destroyers called Tin Can Soldiers. He also worked for Sterchi’s Furniture Company and eventually became the senior vice president and chief financial officer. He died on June 21, 2011, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Charles Wayne Clamon (Marines) HVHS Fallen Warriors Military Memoriam

Private Charles Wayne Clamon was born on August 15, 1925, in Watauga, Tennessee. Clamon graduated from Happy Valley High School and worked as a newspaper carrier salesman when he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He served in the 2nd Marine Division of the 8th Marines in the Pacific Theater. It was on August 1, 1944, while taking Hell’s Half Acre on Tinian Island, that he was killed in action. He was only 18 years old. Clamon was awarded a Purple Heart posthumously and is currently laid to rest at the Happy Valley Memorial Park in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

William Compton (Army) Documents

William Compton entered service at age 18. In 1937, he was assigned to military intelligence, and during World War II, he participated in a rescue mission to retrieve POWs from a Japanese prison camp. He lived in Knoxville, TN, after the war.

Bernard L. Cohn, Jr. (Army) Documents

Bernard L. Cohn, Jr. was born on February 24, 1922, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He enlisted in the army during WWII and became a sergeant in the US Air Force. He was in a small group of soldiers who were stationed in the Pacific Ocean near the Solomon Islands. He worked alongside the Manhattan Project, installing radar devices on radar planes, including the Enola Gay. Cohn died on January 13, 2008, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Ralph B. Conlee (Navy) Documents

Ralph B. Conlee was born on March 7, 1917, in Rosslyn, Kentucky. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1940 after graduating from Powell County High School. He served on multiple ships, but primarily on the USS Yorktown during the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Coral Reef, earning him multiple service medals. After his service, Conlee moved to Knoxville in 1963, where he would end up working and retiring before his death on June 22, 2016.

Harley Cooper (Army Airforce) Video 1 | Video 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

Harley Cooper was part of the 92nd Army Air Force after being drafted in 1943. He also served in the 375th Air Force Group, 5th Squadron. Cooper fought in the New Guinea campaign and throughout the South Pacific.

William D. Cope (Navy) Documents

William D. Cope would sign up for the Navy and train to be a fighter pilot, receiving his wings in March of 1943. Assigned to VC-66, a U.S. Navy Squadron, he would be shipped out in December of 1943 to the Marshall Islands, where he and his crew would make bombing runs to destroy Japanese airfields. Cope would be part of a rescue of one of his fellow pilots here at these islands, before being sent off to hunt submarines in a different sector. He would eventually take part in the Allied landing at Morotai, an area needed to stage an invasion of the Philippines. Here he would take part in another rescue of a fellow pilot who was shot down over the bay. His unit would fly strafing runs and destroy Japanese gun emplacements so the allied PT Boats could rescue the pilot. He said they, “Made it out without a scratch.” William Cope would receive an Air Medal and a Presidential Unit Citation for his service.

James S. Corbitt (Army) Documents

James S. Corbitt was born July 2, 1908, in Humphreys County, Tennessee, where he would attend a “small country school” before attending Waverly Central High School and graduating in 1926. Following graduation, Corbitt would enroll in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he would participate in the ROTC program. On September 16, 1940, Corbitt would enter the service as a 2nd Lieutenant and would be stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Corbitt then served in many different divisions, including the 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion, the Mountain Training Group, and the 77th Infantry in the Philippines. In April 1946, Corbitt would be released from duty with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and would return to Tennessee, where he would work with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service until his retirement.

William Deloche Cope (Navy) Transcripts
William Deloche Cope was a U.S. Navy fighter pilot assigned to an escort carrier in the Pacific in World War II. Cope, a native of Hollandale, Mississippi, participated in the rescue of a pilot shot down by the Japanese. At the time of this interview in April 1997, Cope was a retired Delta Plantation owner and banker.

Clyde Cupp (Marines) Documents

Clyde Cupp was born on May 23, 1924, in Maryville, Tennessee, to Millard and Austria Cupp. Cupp enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on January 29, 1942. According to a 1942 Muster Roll, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, in New River, North Carolina, where he continued his training before being deployed to the Pacific Theater. Cupp’s most notable action during World War II occurred at the Battle of Guadalcanal, when he was part of the second wave of Marines that landed on August 7, 1942. The Battle of Guadalcanal was significant as it was the first major land offensive against Japan during the war. On September 27, 1945, Cupp received an honorary discharge from the Marines and returned home to Knoxville, where he eventually started a family and worked various jobs in the Knoxville community.

Clarence J. Daniels (Army) Video | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

Clarence J. Daniels enlisted in the Army in January 1941. Daniels worked in a radar unit in the Philippines. Daniels’ account details the army’s war efforts in the Pacific and the distinct challenges that particular front faced.

Jacob DeShazer (Army Aviation) Video | Transcript

Jacob DeShazer took part in the Doolittle Raid, an air raid on April 18, 1942, by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo during World War II. DeShazer was the bombardier of the last plane to be launched on 18 April.

David Dale Dickey (Army) Audio | Transcript

Born in Williamston, NC, 1927; father a minister and WW I veteran; also grew up in Morristown, TN; life on the home front, warÂ’s impact on returning veterans; changes in American society after 1945, segregation; Merchant Marine Cadet School, Pass Christian, MS, 1945; student, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 1946; enlisted Army 1946 Fort Oglethorpe, GA; Infantry training, Fort McClellan, AL; Paratrooper training, Fort Benning, GA; training injuries and reassignment; 1946-1947 occupation duty in the Philippines; encounters with Filipinos; propaganda images of the Japanese and interactions with POWs; return to University of Tennessee-Knoxville, graduation 1950; newspaper reporter in Knoxville 1950s-1970s; life in city; Chamber of Commerce; Executive Director Industrial Development Board; freelance writer 1970s-1990s.

Rev. Buck Donaldson (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Born August 23, 1925 in New Verda, Louisiana; father was a country doctor; enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942 in Shreveport; trained in San Diego; attends radio school in Los Angeles; active in the Zoot Suit War; served in the Tahiti Islands (Tasmania); Karachi India; Marshall Islands; Admiralty Islands; Palau Islands; Saipan; engaged in the Invasion of Peleliu; served aboard the U.S.S. Cape Canso and U.S.S. Cyrus Adler; joined the Fleet Post Office in the navy; traveled all over the world with Fleet Post Office; served on the U.S.S. Suison; postwar; missionary, pastor; Vanderbilt Student Director; served in Africa with family.

H. Haley Ector (Army Air Corps Video 1 | Video 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

H. Haley Ector was born on August 25, 1920, in Alabama. He attended Georgia Tech before the World War II and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Ector flew several craft throughout the South Pacific. Ector’s account details his wartime travels through Hawaii, Guam, Australia, Fiji, and New Caledonia.

George Eddlemon (Army) Video 1 | Video 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

George Eddlemon served in army stationed in the Philippines during the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Eddlemon was part of the Safety Coast Artillery, Battery A as a BEC control operator. Eddlemon was a Japanese prisoner-of-war after the Japanese attacked Corregidor in May, 1942.

James Robert Eddy (Army Air Force) Documents

James Robert Eddy was born in 1916 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He served in the U.S. military for 30 years, including in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was an aircraft gunner and participated in operations on Guam, Tinian, and Saipan. After a stroke at age 48 while still in the service, he became a passionate advocate for disabled veterans and played a role in advancing the Americans with Disabilities Act. He passed away on February 2, 2005, in his hometown of Knoxville.

Louis “Kayo” Erwin (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Born 1925 in Rhea County, Tennessee; childhood on family farm in Meigs County, TN; teenage years going to school and working in Chattanooga, TN; enlisted in Navy December 26, 1942 at the age of 17; assigned to USS Indianapolis after boot camp in 1943; worked in multiple positions on crew operating five-inch guns; record of action at Saipan, Tinian, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima; experience with kamikaze impact at Okinawa; daily life on board the Indianapolis; torpedoed by Japanese submarine on route to Leyte after delivery of atomic bomb components to Guam on July 13^th, 1945; survival in water before rescue by the Cecil J. Doyle and taken to Guam for recovery; discharged and returned home to Chattanooga, TN in 1946; life after war working for Ellis Distributing Company; post-war legacy of the Indianapolis and the trial of Captain Charles McVay.

William H. Ettinger (Army Photography) Video 1 | Video 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

William H. Ettinger was drafted into the Army on August 8, 1941. Ettinger was sent to photography school in Monmouth, New Jersey. Later, Ettinger was sent to the Pacific theater, visiting such places as Australia and the Philippines.

Tom Evans (Army Air Corps) Video | Transcript

Tom Evans was born on December 15, 1922. After finishing his first year at the University of Tennessee, Pearl Harbor was attacked which pushed Evans to want to join the service. Evans enlisted in the Army Air Corps and started basic training in February 1943. After training, Evan flew into Calcutta, India in the Sam Valley. Evan was part of the 12 Bomb Group in the 10th Air Force. Evans’s records detail his experiences around Southeast Asia.

Clifford Fitzsimmons (Army Air Force) Video 1 | Video 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2 | Transcript 3

Clifford Fitzsimmons enlisted in the Air Force on April 4, 1965. He trained as a radio operator. After training, Fitzsimmons was stationed in Cam Ranh Bay and then moved north to the Da Nag area. Fitzsimmons’ unit was the 2nd Black Tiger Unit, a CIA-driven unit that worked to establish safe villages for down pilots operating over the north.

Marvin Flitcroft (Army) Video 1 | Video 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

Marvin Flitcroft joined the National Guard in 1938 and was assigned to the 46th Infantry Division during World War II. This Division was an anti-aircraft unit stationed in Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea.

Winston Folk (Navy) Video | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

Winston Folk graduated from the Naval Academy in 1923. After training in meteorology from CalTech, Folk was set to retire from the Navy. However, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Folk was invigorated to help the war effort. Folk was assigned to the USS Birmingham and was sent to Sicily on July 10, 1943. Later, the ship fought throughout the Pacific. Folk’s account details naval combat in the Mediterranean, building of ships, repairs, and conflicts in the Pacific.

Jake Foote (Army Air Force) Audio | Transcript

Jake Foote was born into a flying family: his father was a barnstormer and his mother was a wing walker who thrilled crowds as she performed acrobatics on bi-plane wings. Foote flew throughout Asia during World War II, landing in places such as Burma and China. Foote died while flying for Slick Airlines during a thunderstorm sometime between 1947 and 1948.

Cecil L. Forinash joined the service at the University of Iowa’s ROTC program in 1935. After the war broke out, Forniash was assigned to the Philippines, arriving in the summer of 1940. He was assigned to the 45th Infantry, the Philippines Scouts, a heavy weapons company. Forinash’s account details various operations throughout the Pacific.

Robert C. Fraim (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Robert C. Fraim enlisted in the U.S. Navy in March 1943. After training as a radioman, Fraim served aboard PT Boats throughout the Pacific. Fraim’s account details PT boats and their use in the Pacific theater.

John M. Gabard (Navy) Documents

John M. Gabard was born on July 11, 1909 in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. He attended Vanderbilt University from 1927-1931 and studied business. During World War II, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Navy and fought in the Pacific Theater, including the Admiralty Islands. He died in November of 1974.

Grady Gallant (Marines) Audio | Transcript

Born in June 14, 1920 in Gadsen, AL; early life in Alabama and Florida; enlisted with the United States Marine Corps on September 3, 1941; basic training; served with the Fleet Marine Force from 1941 until 1945; describes assault on Iwo Jima; postwar; journalism school at Emory University; career in journalism; work as author; discussion of books The Friendly Dead and On Valor’s Side.

Robert H. Gentry (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Robert H. Gentry was drafted into the Navy in May 1944 and shipped to the Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. There, Gentry took care of the radio and radar systems on various Naval aircraft.

Albert Gill (Air Force) Audio | Transcript

Born 1921, Fort Smith, AK; childhood in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Great Depression; enlistment in the Aviation Cadet Program, October 1942; basic training Fort Jackson, Aviation Cadet Program, University of Tennessee Knoxville and Maxwell Field; pilot training, Jackson, TN and Fort Meyers, FL; training with B-24s; 307th Bomb Group, 13th Airforce; deployment to Noemfoor, and Morotai, New Guinea; camps life; bombing raids on Balikpapan and the Philippines; leave to Australia and encounters with Australians; Battle of Leyte Gulf; Japanese atrocities on Palawan, VJ day; return to the United States; Post War life; activities with veterans’ groups.

Paul E. Gomer (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Paul E. Gomer enlisted in the Navy on January 1, 1942. Gomer arrived in Pear Harbor, Hawaii, on February 15, 1942. Gomer was assigned to a crew that cleaned up the ships that were sunk in Pearl Harbor. Later, Gomer was apart of the Battle of the Aleutians. Once completed, Gomer’s vessel protected convoy prior to the invasion of Normandy.

Walter W. Goolsby served in the Navy during World War II. He worked on a resupply ship that worked out of Okinawa.

Richard L. Graham (Army) Audio | Transcript

Born in Hazel Green, AL, 1923; father a World War I veteran; studied Agriculture Administration at Auburn in 1942; ROTC; enlisted in Army, 1943; trained at Fort Bragg and Fort Leonard Wood; 475th Infantry Regiment, Company G of “Mars Task Force”; route from Newport News, Cape Town, Bombay, Burma; arrived in Burma in June 1944; march through Burma toward the Burma Road; promoted to Sergeant; march from August 1944- Spring 1945; encountered combat in Myitkinya; travels home through China, India; Egypt; returned to Huntsville, AL; married with three daughters; real estate agent.

Clarence Higgins (Navy, USS St. Louis) Documents

Clarence Higgins was from Erwin, Tennessee. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1940 and was stationed on the USS St. Louis (CL-49) at Pearl Harbor. He was at Pearl Harbor during the attack by the Japanese on December 7th, 1941 with the USS St. Louis narrowly escaping destruction. He was later promoted to Electrician’s Mate, 1st Class and served on three submarines in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he was a school teacher in Unicoi County, Tennessee before graduating from the University of Tennessee Law School and becoming an attorney.

Ray H. Higgins (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Born June 18, 1921 in Woodbury, TN; grandfather a Union veteran of the Civil War; trained as a radio operator; Radio school in Boston, 1942-43; enlisted as a radio operator for the U.S. Navy; trained on the U.S. towboat, Vicksburg; training on the Mississippi River, Chicago to Mississippi; sent to Port Hueneme, California in 1944; worked on U.S.S. Christopher S. Flanagan and U.S.S. William H. Taggett; Ensign; sent from Hawaii to Marianas Islands; Yokohoma Japan; experience at Eniwetok, Phillipines; Mindanao; Manila; Luzon; Postwar; Southern Fire and Casualty Company in Knoxville; owned own business for twenty years.

Walter M. Higgs (Army Air Corps) Audio | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2 | Transcript 3

Walter M. Higgs enlisted in the Army Air Corps on October 8, 1940. Higgs was a part of the 27th Bombardment Group Light, 17th Squadron. He flew the Lockheed B-18s in the Pacific. Higgs arrived in the Philippines twenty days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. His account details the mobilization of those forces already in the Pacific and other events during the war.

Boyce Holleman (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Boyce Holleman enlisted in Navy Aviation in July 1942. This composite squadron worked with the naval aircraft carriers. The climax of Holleman’s service was when he was shot down during the invasion of Saipan on June 15, 1944.

Oll C. Hopkins (Army Air Force) Documents

Oll C. Hopkins from Cocke County, Tennessee was born April 26, 1915. On December 5, 1939, he joined the United States Army Air Force, and in 1941, he was part of the 23rd Bomber Squadron in Pearl Harbor. He survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and used a machine gun to return fire before boarding a patrol cabin cruiser to hunt down enemy ships. He also served in the Pacific Theater, including the Northern Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and the Central Pacific, and he achieved the rank of Master Sergeant. He was honorably discharged on September 12, 1945, and he died on November 11, 2007.

E. L. “Jim” Horton (Army) Audio | Transcript

E. L. “Jim” Horton was called to active duty in November of 1940. Horton was assigned to the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, appointed to work with the Philippine Army during the war. Horton’s account details the Filipino Army, their training, and their equipment.

Robert M. Howes (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Robert M. Howes enlisted in the Navy in April 1944 at the age of 32. He left behind his wife, two kids, and his job with the Tennessee Valley Authority to be assigned to the USS Dayton. By the time Howes arrived in the Pacific, the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had already occurred. Howes’ account details the USA’s arrival on the Japanese mainland and various events in Tokyo.

William Hoyl Hunt (Army Engineer) Documents

Lt. Col. William Hoyl Hunt was born in Knoxville on July 19, 1921, to Martin and Agnes Hunt. Hunt would graduate from Knoxville High School before enlisting in the United States Army. With the Army, Hunt would serve alongside the 110th Engineer Combat Battalion during World War II. With the 110th, Hunt would be a part of the first day landings at important invasions such as Okinawa. Upon completion of his military service, he would work with the Army Corps of Engineers until his retirement. Hunt would go on to be an involved member of the Knoxville community until his passing in 2008.

Obie Jenkins (Army Air Corps) Documents

Obie Jenkins was born on March 9, 1917, and died on April 14, 1945. He was the first Lieutenant of the 499th Bomber Group, 878th Bomber Squadron. Aircraft B-29-42 departed from Saipan, Marianas Islands, on a combat mission to Tokyo; however, the aircraft was not contacted by radio after its takeoff. One of the surviving men, T/Sgt Louis T. Vance, said enemy fighters fired two bursts into the number four engine and punctured a fuel cell. His body was interred in a military cemetery in Yokohama, Japan, before his family received his remains back. He earned the Purple Heart.

George M. Johnston (Navy) Transcript 1 | Transcript 1.2 | Transcript 2

George M. Johnston joined the Navy in 1943. After basic training, Johnston was sent to Pearl Harbor to work on submarines. After landing in the Philippines, Johnston was assigned to the USS Hake, a Gato-class submarine assigned to the Pacific. The submarine continued to cruise grounds around the Philippines, patrolling off Luzon and later moving south to Mindanao. Johnston’s account discusses life aboard the submarine, naval warfare, and his reactions throughout the Pacific.

Stanley Farwick Jones (Navy) Documents

Second Seaman Class Stanley Farwick Jones was born on the 12th of December, 1915, in Claiborne County, Tennessee. Whilst on a mission on the 30th of July, 1945, near the Philippines, Jones’ ship was struck by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Second Class Seaman Jones was marked as Killed/Missing In Action, being awarded the Purple Heart, and his remains were never recovered. Today, Second Class Seaman Jones and all of his fallen compatriots are immortalized for their service in Manila American Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines.

C. Elliott Kane (Navy) Documents

C. Elliott Kane of Knoxville, Tennessee was born on May 10, 1923 and graduated from the University of Tennessee’s journalism department. During World War II, he served as a navigator in the Navy on board the USS LST (Tank Landing Ship) 133. As part of this crew, he was one of the first soldiers to land onto the beaches of Normandy during D-Day. He also fought in the battle of Okinawa in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he owned The Kane Company and established Kanecrest before his death on September 9, 2014.

Charles Kelley (Army) Audio | Transcript

Charles Kelley was drafted into the Army on July 18, 1941. During training, Kelley learned how to set up landmines and eventually was sent to the Pacific theater of the war, landing in such places at Australia and New Guinea.

John E. Kesterson (Medical Corps) Audio | Transcript

Surgeon, Medical Corps; 114th Gen Hospital, UK; 84th Field Hospital, France; Served in the Philippines, Newton Baker Gen Hospital, Mayo Clinic.

Wallace Key (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Wallace Key joined the Navy on December 19, 1942. Initially, Key was part of a security force in San Diego before being shipped overseas to Guadalcanal and then eventually to the Mediterranean.

Turner Kirkland (Army) Documents

Turner Kirkland was born August 14, 1920 in Union City, Tennessee. In 1942, he joined the army reserves, and the military sent him to complete college coursework in Kentucky. Afterwards, in April of 1943, he became a private and was soon promoted to corporal. He joined the Army Specialized Training Program and attended the Polytechnical Institute of Brooklyn where he studied electrical engineering and math until he was sent overseas in 1944. He spent time in the Philippines as he waited to be sent to invade Japan and was part of the Army Signal Corps. He was present at the surrender of the Japanese to the United States in Tokyo.

F. D. Kuhlman (Navy) Audio | Transcript

F. D. Kuhlman enlisted in the Navy on February 2, 1942. Kuhlman’s account details his training, his service in the Pacific, and his comradery with other sailors.

Dan Kutcha (Army Air Corps) Documents

Dan Kutcha was born on September 24, 1924 in Cudahy, Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee. After graduating from Cudahy High School in 1942, he enlisted in the Air Force during the heart of World War II. He fought in the Pacific Theater at the tail end of the war, and was the Aircraft Commander for the C-46 and C-47 planes in Japan, China, and the Phillipines from 1945-1947. He also was the Aircraft Commander for a C130 in Okinawa, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam from 1964-1968. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star for his service. Since retiring from the military, he worked at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as the director of Non-Credit Programs. He passed away in December 2018. Immediately after his death, his family donated his war records and materials to the Study for the Center of Tennesseans and War.

Paul H. Lankford (Army Air Corps) Audio | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2 | Transcript 3

Paul H. Lankford enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on October 26, 1939. Lankford was a part of the 27th Bomb Unit, which worked on plane maintenance. After sailing to Hawaii, Lankford’s crew was sent to the Philippines, where they soon became prisoners of war after the Battle of Bataan. Lankford’s account details this experience and the cultural differences between America and the Japanese.

Luke Lea was incited to join the war effort after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Most of Lea’s experience was as an intelligence officer, working with figures such as General Curtis Emerson LeMay in the Pacific.

Art Lombardi (Army) Documents

The son of a World War I veteran, Art Lombardi, enlisted in the United States Army on February 10, 1943, with the desire to become a paratrooper. Lombardi started training at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, before entering parachute training at Fort Benning, Georgia, then finally ending his training at Camp Polk, Louisiana. Upon completion of training, Lombardi would embark on a journey that would see him serve in the South Pacific, New Guinea, and eventually Japan during World War II. Lombardi would serve alongside the 11th Airborne Division in World War II, the 24th Infantry in Korea, and even with the 101st Airborne during peacetime. Lombardi would serve in the military until his retirement on September 30th, 1978.

Chester Wade Marshall (Army Air Corps) Documents

Chester Wade Marshall was born on March 19, 1917, in Lexington, Holmes County, Mississippi. Marshall volunteered for the Army Air Corps in 1942, trained in Texas, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant before being selected for secret training on a B-29 Superfortress. He flew 30 combat missions from Saipan to Japan, including the first B-29 raid on Tokyo on November 24, 1944, and earned himself the Distinguished Flying Cross for his many missions. After his discharge in October 1945, Marshall returned to Mississippi, but soon moved and settled in Memphis, Tennessee. He died on August 21, 2008, in Memphis, and was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery-South in Memphis.

Joseph F. Marvin (Naval Air Corps) Audio | Transcript
Joseph F. Marvin was part of the Naval Air Corps patrolling the water around Astoria, Oregon. Marvin flew SBD Dauntless, a bomber that flew out to sea to challenge Russian shipping. Later, Marvin was sent to the Pacific, was aboard the USS Alabama, and participated in combat in the Philippines and Okinawa.

Gordon A. Mason (Navy) Audio | Transcript
Gordon A. Mason joined the Navy on December 5, 1939. Mason was a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. Mason worked on boilers aboard the USS California. Mason’s account details his experiences on December 7, 1941, including his initial thoughts, his work attempting to bail the ship, and the frantic nature of the attack itself.

William A. McClain (Navy) Audio | Transcript
William A. McClain enlisted in the Navy in 1943. He was assigned to the Pacific, sailing to the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and then up to the Yellow Sea, spending the rest of his service in China.

William Wesley McGill (Navy) Audio 1 | Audio 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2
William Wesley McGill joined the Navy sometime before 1942 and fought in the Pacific. Stationed out of Tonga, McGill’s job was to refuel the Navy, including many ships, such as the USS Yorktown, USS Lexington, the USS Portland, USS Astoria, and the USS Vincennes.

Seaman Louis H. McKeehan (Navy) HVHS Fallen Warriors Military Memoriam

Seaman Second-Class Louis H. McKeehan was born on February 12, 1926, in Elizabethton, Tennessee. He was a graduate of Happy Valley High School. He served on the USS Hull (DD 350). McKeehan was lost at sea and pronounced dead shortly thereafter on December 18, 1944, after a severe typhoon capsized his carrier and two others. He was only 18 years old. McKeehan was awarded a Purple Heart and has two grave markers: one at the Manila American Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, and one in Tennessee, McKeehan Cemetery in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

Owen Musgrove (Navy) Documents

Owen Musgrove was born on July 15, 1918, in Lenoir City, Tennessee. He served from 1940 to 1946, spending time aboard three ships in the US Navy: the battleship Pennsylvania, the USS Swallow, and the USS Catskill. His service included participation in major Pacific campaigns, with his time on the Pennsylvania seeing action in the Philippines, as well as surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor. He later died in Lenoir City and was buried at Lakeview Cemetery.

Johnny L. Nelson (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Johnny L. Nelson joined the service on February 14, 1941. He attended basic training at Norfolk and was transferred to the North Atlantic Squadron. Later, Nelson was assigned to the Pacific and was stationed in Midway when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. Nelson and the destroyer he was assigned to was sent back to Pearl Harbor to see that the harbor looked like a “used car junkyard.” This made Nelson, among others, very angry. The rest of the account details his service in the Pacific.

Robert Neyland (Army, China-Burma-India, UTK Football coach) Documents

From Greenville, Texas, Robert Neyland graduated from West Point in 1916 and served with the Army during World War I. He worked as a professor of Military Science and football coach for the University of Tennessee, starting in 1926. He was recalled into active service during World War II. He served as a district engineer in Norfolk, Virginia before being sent to the China-Burma-India Theater in 1944. He retired as a Brigadier General and worked for UTK Athletics until his death in 1962.

Richard Nodell (Navy) Documents

Richard Nodell was born on October 8, 1915, in Newport, Tennessee. Nodell was a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack, with him being attached to a naval command present on December 7th, 1941. Nodell afterwards served in the Pacific Theater, seeing action during the Leyte campaign in the Philippines in 1944. After his service, Nodell returned to Newport, where he lived out the rest of his life and died on September 29, 1996.

Charley T. Odom (Navy) Audio 1 | Audio 2 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

Pre-war life; Great Depression; work at Standard Oil Company; Pre-war Navy life, training, and experiences aboard the USS Stone, a World War I era submarine; left Navy 1940 and worked for the Merchant Marine; returned to Navy 1942; assigned to USS Billfish; life on board a submarine in combat conditions; Perth, Australia; Post-war; service on a Navy tanker ship during the Korean War; duty as an Instructor at naval schools in New London, Connecticut, and San Diego and Tiburon, California; Jimmy Carter as one of his naval students; retired from the Navy 1956 and taught at Fulton High School, Knoxville; received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee, 1976; work in writing group in Knoxville and activities in veterans’ organizations.

Philip Oliver (Marines) Audio | Transcript | Digital Project

Philip Oliver was born on February 18th, 1923, Philip Oliver spent his entire childhood and adolescence in Morristown, Tennessee. At the age of 18, Oliver, along with his older brother Thomas, traveled to Nashville and enlisted in the US Marines. Oliver completed training at Parris Island, South Carolina, Quantico, Virginia, and Chicago, Illinois, graduating as an aviation mechanic in 1941. From Chicago, Oliver transferred to Southern California, where he was assigned to Camp Kearney as a member of squadrons VMJ-152 and later VMJ-153, both part of MAG-25. In June 1943, Oliver was transferred overseas, where he served as flying crew chief while making routine flights in the South Pacific. He was then assigned to be crew chief on the personal plane of General William H. Rupertus of the 1st Marine Division, working as both co-pilot and transportation sergeant, and assisting with the consolidation of New Georgia, the Northern Solomon Islands, and Peleliu Islands.

Dr. Joseph K. Orr (Army Medical Corps) Audio | Transcript

Dr. Joseph K. Orr was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the Army and was assigned to the Pearl Harbor Hospital in Hawaii. On December 7, 1941, Orr and his family watched at the Japanese planes flew over Pearl City. He quickly reported to the hospital and spent 76 hours caring for wounded servicemen. The burns from oil were the major problems the medical staff dealt with after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After Pearl Harbor, Orr was assigned to a submarine vessel and served throughout the Pacific.

P. Neal O’Steen (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Prewar life in Bedford County, TN; Enlisted Jan. 1941; Philadelphia Naval Hospital until Dec. 7, 1941; Naval Recruitment Station, Philadelphia until June, 1943; Sole medical staffer aboard USS ATR-23, rescue tug, in eastern Pacific, 1943-1946, Pharmacist’s Mate, First Class; U.S. Navy Reserve 1947-1951; Korean War at Norfolk Naval Air Station 1950-1951, Chief Hospital Corpsman; Postwar; UT-Knoxville, Class of ’50, Journalism; Kingsport Times, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot; Director of Publications at UT-Knoxville, 1957-1985.

Thomas N. Parlon (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Childhood in Lafayette, Indiana; Prohibition; Great Depression; education at Perdue University; Navy 1941, training Great Lakes, Illinois; officer’s commission; U.S.S. William K. Vanderbilt; Fiji Islands, South Pacific; sinking of ship; assigned to U.S.S. Abercrombie; reassignment to U.S.S. Mormactern; escort of supply ships from Wellington, New Zealand to the South Pacific; life on board ship; post war civilian life.

Lavoy E. Phillips (Army) Audio | Transcript
Lavoy E. Phillips was born on August 14th, 1922, in Adamsville, Tennessee. After his marriage in April 1942, Phillips was drafted into the Army in January 1943. He was sent to the Marianas Islands at Guam and served as a radio mechanic, where he worked mostly on preflight routines for the B-29. Phillips’s account discusses his time abroad, his service, and general attitudes toward the war.

Ulysses Phillips (Navy/Seabees) Audio | Transcript

Ulysses Phillips enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and received his orders in 1943. He joined the Seabees, a part of the United States Naval Construction Battalions. His unit was attached to the “1st and 2nd Raider Divisions, the Marines, and our duties were heavy equipment operators. Travel, drag line, bulldozer.” Phillips was eventually sent to the Solomon Islands. Phillips’ account tells of his war experiences and his duties as a Seabee.

J.W. Wayne Pierce (Navy) Documents

J.W. Wayne Pierce was born January 21, 1922, in Champaign, Illinois. He lived in Maryville, TN, when drafted as a Seaman Second Class aboard the USS Pickerel in the Pacific Theater. In May 1943, the submarine and its 84 crew members went missing during a mission near Honshu, Japan. The vessel was last seen refueling on March 22, 1943, at Midway Island. All crew members were declared dead on August 10, 1945, and are memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii.

Harwell Proffitt (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Harwell Proffitt was on Guadcanal sometime between 1942 and 1943. He served on the USS Yorktown and recounts fighting against Japanese kamikazes. Proffitts’ account details Navy commanders, such as Halsey and MacArthur, and generally the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Frank L. Pryor (Marines) Video

Frank Pryor enlisted on April 7, 1944, in Oklahoma City, to then attend boot camp in San Diego. There, he qualified as an Expert Rifleman and was assigned to the 5th Marine Division. Frank was sent to Hawaii, where he would meet his lifelong friend Ron, and the two would be shipped off to Saipan, before ultimately storming the beaches of Iwo Jima. Frank spent the battle firing a 75mm Howitzer after narrowly escaping from the beach with his life. After Japan had surrendered, Frank found himself in Nagasaki, witnessing firsthand the destruction of the atomic bomb. He was discharged in 1946 and later moved to Knoxville to be near family.

Darlene Deibler Rose (American Missionary) Audio | Transcript

Darlene Deibler Rose was a missionary in New Guinea at the outbreak of World War II. Sometime during the war, Darlene was a prisoner of the Japanese. During her imprisonment, Darlene made Japanese uniforms, worked in rice fields, built roads, raised livestock, and cooked. Darlene’s account details a dysentery epidemic, her work in caring for sick prisoners, and the death of her husband. Darlene’s account is rich in religious fervor as she endured hardships.

Charles Seay (Air Force) Audio | Transcript

Childhood, Lebanon, TN; family history, experiences during the Great Depression; ROTC; enlistment as aviation cadet, 1941; training at Camp Tullahoma OK., Fort Oglethorpe, GA., and Visalia, CA.; training with B-25 bombers at Greenville, SC.; trained by veterans of the Doolittle Raid; assigned to 70th Squadron, 13th Airforce, Pacific Theater; Henderson Field, Guadalcanal; bombing raids against Japan; encounter with a Japanese prisoner; Rabaul; supply runs to Australia; night raids; Russell Islands, Bougainville; Port Moresby; impressions of Australian airforce, interactions with island inhabitants; relationship to crew; supersitions among crew; V-J Day; return to United States; G.I. Bill; university; post war career.

William Eugene Silvey (Navy) Photos | Documents

Silvey was born in Knoxville, TN in 1919. He was an offensive lineman for his high school football team. He worked as a salesclerk at a grocery store. Then, Silvey enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, even though he could not swim. He somehow passed the Navy swimming test even though he had never seen a pool before. He served on a submarine chaser (USS SC 980) and an auxiliary fleet tug (USS ATA 206) in waters around Hawaii, Guam, and Japan. He participated in towing and salvage operations, and he even survived a typhoon. Silvey was honorably discharged at the rank of Quartermaster, first class in 1945 with a Good Conduct Medal. After the war, Silvey started the first “self-service” grocery store in Knoxville. Prior to the war grocery store clerks would take the customer’s list and fill the order, bag it and bring it to the customer at the counter. He also purchased two school buses and outfitted them with shelves and generators and started “rolling store” routes in Knoxville. He hired veterans to drive the buses and manage the routes. He died in 1992.

Sam Smith (I) (Navajo Code Talker) Audio | Transcript

Navajo Nation family history and growing up on the Reservation in the Gallup, NM and Cornfields, AZ communities; Educated at Ganado Mission School, Fort Wingate Indian School, Albuquerque Indian School; At age 17, enlisted in U.S. Marine Corps, April 3, 1943; Departure and homecoming ceremonies on the Reservation; Basic Training at San Diego; Camp Pendleton and Code Talkers school; 4th Signal Company, HQ Battalion, 4th Marine Division in the Pacific.

Sam Smith (II) (Navajo Code Talker) Audio | Transcript

Navajo Code Talker and combat communications; Combat in the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima from January 1944 to March 1945; Post-war homecoming; Marries into Acoma tribe, builds first home; Various jobs—Santa Fe Railroad, Navajo water resources, heavy equipment foreman, Chief Ranger; Special Officer for FBI; Director of heavy equipment reconditioning center for Navajo Tribe; reunions; Windtalkers, the movie.

Lemuel Sparks (Navy Chaplain) Audio | Transcript

Born 1917, Newport, TN; childhood; impressions of Tennessee Valley Authority; Great Depression; tobacco farming; business school; Roanoke College, Salem, VA.; Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, SC.; school fraternities; enlistment as chaplain, 1942; Navy, training at Great Lakes Naval Center; promotion to lieutenant, junior grade; assignment to U.S.S. Sangamon; strafing attack, Philippines; duties as Chaplain; Sangamon hit by kamikaze at Okinawa, May 4, 1945; reassignment to U.S.S. Fall River; return to the United States; post war life.

Durward B. Swanson (Army Air Force) Transcript

Troup County, Georgia farming, largely cotton; moved to Dublin, Virginia when father got a job working as a superintendent doing dam construction during the Depression; Enlisted in Army Air Corps/Force in 1939; training at Fort Benning, Georgia; stationed at Wheeler and Hickam Fields in Hawaii; working as a motorcycle police during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7 1941; training in Maintenance and Bomber Crew at Chanute Field, Illinois; deployed to Pacific with 23rd Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Group, 7th Air Force; Engaged a Japanese fleet while being transferred to Midway; hit a destroyer and aircraft carrier before having to ditch plane in the ocean; severely wounded and one of only three survivors; rehabilitation back at Kennedy General in Memphis, Tennessee; Post war music career involving stars like Hank Williams Sr. and Porter Wagoner; Goes into building dams and bridges as a superintendent like father; spent retirement between North Georgia and Maryville, Tennessee.

Samuel Tauxe Jr. (Army) Documents

Samuel Tauxe Jr. was drafted into the military in 1943 and sent to Texas for training. He would qualify as a marksman and joined one unit before being held back from deployment with them. It was the next year before he deployed with a new unit in the Pacific. He fought five battles and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the Philippine liberation. He spent some time after the surrender of the Japanese, delivering Korean POWs to their home. He was discharged in December of 1945 and awarded his medal some years later by the President of the United States.

Bill White (Marines) Audio | Transcript

Born, 1924, Athens, TN; childhood; enlistment in Marines, 1941; training San Diego, volunteered for Special Airborne Infantry; training; deployment to a Raider battalion, Second Marine Division; Tulagi, Tanambogo and Gavutu; Guadalcanal; discussion of jungle fighting and Raider tactics; interactions with locals in New Zealand; tensions between American and Commonwealth troops; Tarawa; instructor, jungle warfare school, Parris Island; VJ Day, efforts to run a veteran candidate in McMinn County, TN; tensions between veterans and police; Battle of Athens, TN; hired as a deputy with the Athens Sherriff’s Department; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and readjustment to civilian life.

Howard K. Williams (Navy) Audio | Transcript

Pre-war life in Blackstone, VA; National Youth Administration school at Manassas 1941; Received exemption and sent to shipbuilding apprentice school at Newport News, VA1941; Stayed on at Newport News as civilian shipbuilder; Exemption ended, 1943; Enlisted in U.S. Navy, March 1944; Basic training, Bainbridge, MD; Further training at Gulfport, MS; Motor Machinist Mate, LCVPs [Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel]; More training, Oceanside, CA; USS LaGrange APA 124, January, 1945; Okinawa and adjacent islands; Kamikazes; Stayed in Navy until May of 1946; Postwar in VA, FL- drafting, 30 years with Bethlehem Steel estimating and sales; Retired to TN.