The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James T. Murphy. Murphy grew up in Montana and joined the Army Air Corps in May 1941. Once he finished training, he was assigned to the 43rd Bomb Group, 63rd Bomb Squadron. He then went to reconnaissance for the Battle of Midway. He then rejoined the Pacific Theater and pacticipated in skip bombing and flying B17s. He tells the story of receiving his Silver Star from General Douglas MacArthur. He mentions returning to the Air Force in 1949 and remaining in service for 20 years, until he left to join NASA as a civilian. He also mentions writing a book on Skip Bombing in the 1990s.
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Orland Harris. Harris went to Santa Anna, California for Aviation Cadet training in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He went to primary flying school in Visalia, California and then went to LaeMoore, California for more training. From there he went to replacement training units, flying the P-38, P-322 and P-39. Harris had take civilian pilot training for one year at college before he went into the service. He received his wings at Williams Field in Arizona 3 Nov 1943 and became an officer that day. He went to the South Pacific in a C-54, along wih about 30 other pilots, ending up in Nadzab, New Guinea with the 8th Fighter Group (part of the 5th Air Force). His P-38 missions included targets of opportunity around New Guinea, a cave on Corregidor and straffed ships on the way to Borneo, and the Philippines. Normally they flew cover missions for B-17s and B-24s but on occasion covered B-25s and A-20s. Harris was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) when he was flying out of Mindoro in the Philippines on a night mission (26 Dec 1944) attacking a Japanese task force coming down from the north to Mindoro. On one of his passes at two destroyers, he hit the superstructure on one of the destroyers and had to bail out. While in the water, he had some close calls with the Japanese destroyers he had been straffing but was rescued by a landing craft. Harris and one of his squadron mates were sent to Australia on R&R after their rescue. Harris was at Luke Field when the atomic bomb was dropped. There are two pictures (dated 1944) of Harris in the folder as well as a copy of his DFC.
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ramon Acuna. Acuna grew up in Arizona and joined the Army National Guard in 1941. He joined the Bushmasters, Company B, known as the Bushmasters. Acuna spent time in Panama for a year before sailing to Brisbane, Australia on the USS Dickman (APA-13). He also spent time on Toem and Wakde Netherlands, New Guinea, and Luzon. His division was at the Battle of Lone Tree Hill or the battle of Wakda-Sarmi. Acuna stayed on Sarmi, ill with malaria, which his team went onto Noemfoor Island. Once he recovered he rejoined them. On the road to Rosario, Acuna's arm was hit and he went to a hospital at San Fernando. From the hospital he was taken to Hollandia and from there took the USS Monterey (CVL-26) back to San Francisco for more surgery.
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