Oral History Interview with Francis D. Reynnet, May 12, 2001
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Oral History Interview with Francis D. Reynnet, May 12, 2001 (Text)
Transcript of an oral interview with Francis D. Reynnett. Reynnet was in Oklahoma in 1925 and moved to East Lansing, Michigan during the depression, where he attended Michigan State University. Drafted into the Navy in 1944, he attended Boot Camp in Simpson, New York and Radio School in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Radioman Third Class. First assignment was to Fort Story, Virginia, an Army base, with Navy personnel controlling the harbor entrance. Sent to the Navy Department in Washington and began studies in basic weaponry as well as indoctrination on China. Then on to San Diego, where he shipped out to Calcutta, India in mid-1945. Received field training in weaponry at Camp Knox in Calcutta. He recounts that two sailors who shipped over to Calcutta with him were killed there, one in a training accident with live ammunition and the other drove a truck off the Burma Road. He was flown on a DC-3 over The Hump into China, and prior to reaching their destination the plane lost one of two engines and had to make emergency landing. He and a companion were then flown onto Kunming, China in another plane. He was in Kunming for only a few days, assigned to the covert SACO (Sino-American Cooperative Organization). He recalls that there were almost 100,000 personnel assigned to Miles and Di-Lei under the SACO organization. Petty Officer Reynnett was responsible for transmitting weather information. He then recounts a trip from Kunming, to Hong Kong and up the Chinese coast. His next recollection is of being loaded up fully armed with 15 or 20 others in a truck. He believes that it was just before or after the Japanese surrender. His group took the crew of a Japanese gunboat prisoner and while guarding them, a large vehicle pulled up and Admiral Miles stepped out in his dress white uniform to inspect the prisoners. He stayed in China performing duties as a Radioman until June 1946 when he shipped out of Shanghai and on to San Diego and eventually back to Michigan where he was discharged.
Oral History Interview with Francis D. Reynnet, May 12, 2001, [transcript] ark:/67531/metapth1603473
Oral History Interview with Francis D. Reynnet, May 12, 2001, audio recording, May 12, 2001; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1607441/: accessed July 16, 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.