Texas Oral History Collection - 4 Matching Results
Search Results
- Oral History Interview with John W. Flemmons, Jr., March 18, 1989
- Interview with John W. Flemmons, Jr., a United States Navy veteran from Lubbock, Texas, regarding his experiences and memories of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941 while aboard the target battleship USS Utah.
- Oral History Interview with George P. Lawley, November 3, 1973
- Interview with George P. Lawley, an Army WWII veteran and POW from Odessa, Texas. Lawley discusses his time with the so-called "Lost Battalion" on Java and his experiences as a Japanese prisoner-of-war, including: joining the National Guard in 1940 and training, deployment for East Asia with 2nd Battallion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment; diversion to Java at the start of the war; the Japanese attack and his unit's capture; and his experiences in internment and labor at Tanjong Priok in Batavia, Changi Camp in Singapore, Thanbyuzayat and several camps on the Burma Railway, and near Nagasaki.
- Oral History Interviews with Charley L. Pryor, 1972-1973
- Interview with Charley L. Pryor, a Marine WWII veteran and POW from Lubbock, Texas, who survived the sinking of the USS Houston (CA-30). Pryor discusses the sinking of the Houston, his capture, experiences in imprisonment at Serang, Java, experiences at Bicycle Camp in Batavia and Changi Camp in Singapore, building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, American air raids, and liberation.
- 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.