UNT Oral History Program - 17 Matching Results
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- Oral History Interview with J. Frank Rollins, July 20, 1996
- Interview with J. Frank Rollins, an oilman and a geophysicist, concerning his work experience with Petty Geophysical Engineering Company doing refraction seismic work; his employment with Geophysical Service, Inc.; doing reflection and refraction work in 1936; oil exploration in South America; work in oil field instrumentation equipment; work as a "computer" interpreting geological data; founding of Rayflex Exploration Company in 1948; technological developments for oil field exploration; geochemical surveying; the sale of Rayflex to Phillips-Eckhart in 1962; his work as a geophysical consultant; the application of oil field technology to national defense; German espionage activity in South America during World War II; and pro-German activity in South Louisiana during World War II.
- Oral History Interview with Eugene L. Brown, October 16, 1995
- Interview with Eugene Brown concerning his experiences before, during, and after his employment in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. Brown worked at camps in Cleburne, Texas (Company 3804) and San Antonio, Texas (Company 3822).
- Oral History Interview with Bunichi Ohtsuka, March 18, 1995
- Interview with Bunichi Ohtsuka, a veteran of the Imperial Japanese Air Force, concerning his experiences while training to become a kamikaze pilot in 1945.
- Oral History Interview with Ken Towery, March 19, 1995
- Interview with Ken Towery. Towery joined the Army in early 1941 and was sent to Corregidor to join a coast artillery unit. He recalls several details about life under siege at Corregidor before he was captured by the Japanese and taken to Cabanatuan. He left the Philippines later that year and was taken to China. Towery shares his opinions about being a POW as well as several anecdotes. He also comments on being liberated by Russians and how the Russians and Chinese communists cooperated right after the war. When he was liberated, Towery was put aboard a hospital ship at Port Arthur.
- Oral History Interview with Ray Hunt, March 19, 1995
- Interview with Ray Hunt. Hunt joined the Army Air Corps in early 1939. After training, Hunt became an aircraft mechanic and went to the Philippines in November, 1941. He was captured on Bataan and made a prisoner of war. Hunt describes his experiences on the Death March. Along the way, he escaped and was aided by Filipinos until he was healthy enough to join a guerrilla band in Tarlac. Hunt describes his activities and the command structure of his guerrilla organization. When the Allies invaded Luzon, Hunt’s band of guerrillas created havoc behind enemy lines. He received a battlefield commission retroactively sometime in 1945. He stayed in the Army, retiring in 1959.
- Oral History Interview with John Bumgarner, March 18, 1995
- Interview with John Bumgarner, a physician and an Army veteran, concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese following the fall of the Philippines during World War II. Bumgarner discusses the fall of Bataan and his capture, Bilibid Prison in Manila (1942), Cabanatuan (1942-1944), the hell ship to Japan (1944), Hakodate, Hokkaido (1944-1945), and his liberation.
- Oral History Interview with Dorothy Still Danner, March 19, 1995
- interview with Dorothy Still Danner. Danner graduated from nursing school in Los Angeles in 1935. In 1939, she applied and was accepted as a nurse in the Navy. After a while, she received orders for the Philippines and arrived in early 1940 on a two-year assignment. Danner recalls the idyllic setting prior to the war before describing activities just after the Japanese invasion. She was stationed at a hospital at Sangley Point near Cavite in Luzon, Philippines. She was captured by the Japanese and interned at Santo Tomas starting in March 1942. Sometime in 1943, she was sent to Los Banos.
- Oral History Interview with Ernest Gordon, March 19, 1995
- Interview with Ernest Gordon. Gordon was born in Scotland and joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1939 at Stirling Castle. He was sent to Singapore in January 1940 before the Japanese invaded. Gordon recalls defending the Malay Peninsula starting in January 1942. Gordon was the last to go over the causeway into Singapore before it was destroyed. As Singapore fell, Gordon escaped to Sumatra. When Sumatra fell, Gordon escaped on a sailboat but was captured asea and sent back to Singapore where he entered Changi. He was sent north to build the Death Railway. He describes the conditions along the railway and the work environment.
- Oral History Interview with John C. ("Jack") Fitch, March 19, 1995
- Fitch begins with a summary of the naval career of his father, Admiral Aubrey Fitch. Fitch joined the Navy in early 1942. He was assigned to the USS Wasp (CV-7) just before it sank, then to the USS Hornet (CV-8) just before it sank. He was finally assigned to CASU-3 and sent to Guadalcanal. He reflects on what it was like for him in the service while having a high-ranking father. In April, 1943, Fitch transferred aboard the USS Nicholas (DD-449). Fitch shares several anecdotes of his experiences aboard the Nicholas while engaged in the fight around the Solomon Islands and in the Slot. During the Battle of Kula Gulf, Fitch went aboard a whaleboat and rescued survivors from the USS Helena (CL-50). Fitch attended a gunnery school at Noumea before reporting aboard the USS La Vallette (DD-448) in October 1943. He describes being at the Marshall Islands invasion. In July 1944 Fitch returned to the US and put the USS Benner (DD-807) into commission. He recalls battling kamikazes while aboard the Benner on station off the coast of Japan toward the end of the war. Fitch returned to the US and was discharged in May 1946. Includes an appendix with characteristics of destroyer ships and photographs of the American naval operations in the Pacific Theater.
- Oral History Interview with Baine P. Kerr, May 4, 1993
- Interview with Baine Kerr, an attorney and Marine Corps veteran, concerning his combat experiences with the 3rd Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Kerr discusses Guadacanal, his machine gun wound at Guadacanal, Kwajalein, Saipan, and his assignment to a legal office at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
- Oral History Interview with George Gowen, May 3, 1993
- Interview with George Gowen, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences aboard the destroyer Chevalier during the Battle of Vella Lavella in January 1943 in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and his naval career after World War II.
- Oral History Interview with Lyle Specht, May 3, 1993
- Interview with Lyle Specht, a Marine Corps veteran, concerning his combat experiences with the 6th Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Okinawa in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
- Oral History Interview with J. T. Jackson, April 28, 1990
- Interview with J. T. Jackson, a United States Navy veteran from San Antonio, Texas, regarding his experiences and memories of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941 while aboard the cruiser the USS Raleigh.
- Oral History Interview with Frank Tremaine, March 18. 1995
- Interview with Frank Tremaine, a journalist from Detroit, Michigan, regarding his memories of working as a correspondent for the United Press of the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Tremaine discusses Pearl Harbor, the political environment of the WWII era, major military figures, and a description of the Japanese surrender and ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri.
- Oral History Interview with Nathan Gann, October 9, 1996
- Interview with Nathan Gann, a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps from Rogers, Texas. Gann discusses his family background, school and farm life during the Depression, joining the CCC and assignment to Bartlett, Texas, accommodations in camp, construction and surveying work, the layout of camp, having appendicitis, money, recreation and time off, the daily routine, food, educational services, initiation rituals and pranks, Army Air Force service in WWII, and joining the Soil Conservation Service.
- Oral History Interview with Gale E. Nevill, March 23, 1999
- Interview with Gale E. Nevill, a Army WWII veteran from Houston, Texas. Nevill discusses his family background and upbringing, jobs in the oil business, joining the National Guard, attending Rice University, getting commissioned, overseeing a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, working through the Depression, activation and assignment to 6th Army HQ, deployment to Brisbane, 6th Army operations in the South Pacific and Philippines, the end of the war and life afterwards.
- Oral History Interview with Warren D. Crumbling, November 13, 1999
- Interview with Warren D. Crumbling, Army veteran, special agent, and member of the White House Security Detail for President Lyndon B. Johnson. The interview includes Crumbling's personal experiences about education and employment before entering the military, basic training, various assignments, and being appointed to the White House Security Detail at President Lyndon B. Johnson's LBJ Ranch. Additionally, Crumbling talks about relations between the military and civilian law enforcement authorities in San Antonio during World War II, his marriage, his fourth enlistment and assignment to Kobe, Japan, various stateside assignments, his retirement from the Army, President and Mrs. Johnson, and his retirement from the Secret Service.