World War (1939-1945) -- Pacific Area
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Jack Williams, an automotive dealer and realtor from Grand Junction, Colorado, talks about his experiences in World War II’s Pacific Theater. He describes sitting on the deck of a destroyer in Pearl Harbor when the bombing began on December 7, 1941. He describes the aerial attack by Japanese forces, the mobilization of US Naval forces, and receiving credit for the downing of a Japanese plane. He discusses engaging with Japanese submarines in the...
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Compound
Jim Colman talks about his childhood in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Grand Junction, and Salt Lake City. He describes taking officer’s training courses through correspondence school before receiving a commission as a reserve infantry lieutenant in 1937. He speaks about becoming a communications officer and headquarters company commander with the 57th Infantry in the Philippines in 1941. He describes the horses and mules used by officers in his unit,...
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Voice Recording
Mrs. Rose Perry relates her son’s experience on the U.S.S. Helena, a Brooklyn-class light cruiser used by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater of World War II. The Helena was one of the cruisers attacked in Pearl Harbor, and was directly torpedoed by the Japanese. The Helena survived the attack and was assigned to assist in the Guadalcanal campaign. It helped to destroy several Japanese aircraft and battleships and contributed to American victories...
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Voice Recording
Melvin Feller talks about being stationed in the Philippines, where his US Army Air Corps unit slept on dikes in the rice paddies because they anticipated a Japanese attack in the two weeks prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He speaks about the Japanese attack on US bases in the Philippines the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He describes evacuating from the Philippines on a ship and being most probably the only surviving member of his company....
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Compound
World War II veterans Charles Huffaker, Melvin Feller and Lawrence Azuma talk about the history of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor in a November 1982 panel discussion of the Museums of Western Colorado. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Voice Recording
Homer Colman talks about his family genealogy and his family’s history on the Western Slope of Colorado. He clarifies aspects of his earlier 1982 interview with the Mesa County Oral History Project, including his survival of near starvation conditions in Bataan, what he perceives as the failures of the US military’s War Plan Orange, his criticism of General Douglas MacArthur, the bombing of US military installations in the Philippines that followed...
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Voice Recording
John Andrew Sigmon describes lying about his age so that he could join the US Navy in 1931. He tells about life in the Navy and working on destroyers prior to World War II, and about transferring to submarine duty just prior to US involvement in World War II. He talks about being stationed in Hawaii during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and about receiving commendation for shooting down a Japanese plane on December 7, 1941. He describes submarine munitions,...
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Voice Recording
Lawrence Azuma talks about being drafted into the US Army prior to World War II and working in the combat engineering corps in Hawaii prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He recalls being removed from his unit along with other Japanese soldiers after World War II began, and then sent for infantry training and military intelligence training in the United States. He speaks about his experiences as an interpreter in the code breaking unit at Vint Hills...
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Voice Recording
Lloyd Bullington talks about his enlistment in the Army 18th Engineers just prior to US involvement in World War II, his recruitment into the then new 804 Engineers, and constructing a runway in Kauai at the time of Pearl Harbor. He discusses his experiences building runways in contested areas just behind the front lines in the Pacific Theater. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries...
Format:
Compound
Charles Huffaker talks about enlisting in the US Navy as a teenager from Jal, New Mexico, about his basic training in San Diego in 1941, and about serving on the Tennessee, a battleship stationed in Pearl Harbor. He describes attending signal school in San Diego to become a signalman. He discusses the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, manning a gun aboard the Tennessee during the attack, the sinking of battleships around them, and the burning...
