Oral History Interview with Arnhold Schwichtenberg, September 17, 2011
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Oral History Interview with Arnhold Schwichtenberg, September 17, 2011 (Sound)
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arnhold Schwichtenberg. Schwichtenberg joined the Navy in September 1940 and was assigned to the USS Trever (DMS-16). During the attack on Pearl Harbor, he went out on a whale boat and rounded up officers and a substitute captain to help the Trever get underway. He watched torpedoes hit the USS Utah (BB-31) and the USS California (BB-44). He saw a bomb hit the USS Curtiss (AV-4) and saw a bomb intended for the Trever splash into the water beside him. A week later, the Trever left to escort a Norwegian freighter. When they arrived to meet the freighter, it had been torpedoed, and so the Trever picked up the survivors. Schwichtenberg was transferred back to the States to attend diesel school. He was promoted to chief machinist’s mate and prepared the USS Brennan (DE-13) and USS Steele (DE-8) for commissioning. He went to sea with the Steele and was aboard the USS Rockingham (APA-229) during atomic bomb tests. Schwichtenberg returned home and was discharged in August 1946. He worked for the Navy as a civilian employee, leading a crew that commissioned 20 destroyers.
Oral History Interview with Arnhold Schwichtenberg, September 17, 2011 - ark:/67531/metapth1609850
Oral History Interview with Arnhold Schwichtenberg, September 17, 2011, text, September 17, 2011; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1606043/: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.