Voices from the Pacific War Voices from the Pacific War

Oral Histories

EARL GUERRY--USMC

Earl Hampton Guerry was borne in Orlando Florida on 29 January 1921. He joined the US Marine Corps on 12 January 1942 and saw action in the South Pacific Area from May 20, 1942 to August 6, 1945.

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Bill Littlejohn: ABOARD THE USS ST. LOUIS, CL-49

Bill Littlejohn was born 1922 in Mitchell, Nebraska. He was the youngest of nine children, and worked in the grocery store of an older brother after graduation from high school until he entered the United States Navy in October 1940. 

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John J. Eberle: ENTERPRISE, HORNET, AND ALTAMAHA

Mr. John J. Eberle was born and raised on a farm in North Dakota. He was one of twelve children, and during the Great Depression he served in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) before enlisting in the United States Navy in 1939. 

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William Stokesberry: USS INDEPENDENCE, CVL-22

Mr. Stokesberry was born in 1917 in La Junta, Colorado. His father was a farmer most of his life, and they moved often. Mr. Stokesberry was the oldest of six children, three of whom were boys. Both of Mr. Stokesberry’s brothers served in the U.S.

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Dominick C. Maurone: USS LCI(G) 440

Mr. Maurone was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November 1924. He graduated from high school in June 1942, but was declared 4F by his draft board because of flat feet. His draft status was changed to 1A in 1943, at his request. He served aboard

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Joseph Garofalo

October 1942, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy Seabees and arrived at Boot Camp – Camp Bradford, Virginia in November. For a city boy, 22 years old, it was culture shock. The conditions were primitive, cold and muddy. We piled snow against our tents f

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Bill Lewis: USS Breese and USS Latimer

Mr. Bill Lewis was born in 1919 in Esparto, California. His father was also born in Esparto where he worked all his life as a hired farmhand. After his retirement from the Navy in 1962, Mr. Lewis continued to go to sea as a merchant marine officer unti

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Edwin Kirschenmann: One carrier and three sub tenders.

Mr. Kirschenmann was born in 1916 and raised in Acampo, California, near Lodi in the San Joaquin Valley. He dropped out of school at the age of sixteen and worked in agriculture and on agricultural machinery for the next seven years. 

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Raymond Bowden: USS OKLAHOMA SURVIVOR

Mr. Raymond Bowden was born at home in Bradley, California, in 1921. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1938. Upon completion of boot camp he was assigned to USS Oklahoma, BB-37.

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Manuel "Mal" Garcia: ABOARD THE USS ARGONNE AT PEARL HARBOR

Manuel Garcia was born in San Pedro, California, in 1924. Both of his parents were Portuguese immigrants from Madeira Island in the Atlantic Ocean. At the age of seventeen, he was a radioman striker on board the USS Argonne (AG 31) in Hawaii when the J

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Ray Tirey: USS LCS-54

Mr. Tirey was born in 1926, in Tulia, Texas. In 1943, about six months after he graduated from high school, he enlisted in the United States Navy. Having never seen the ocean while growing up in Texas, the navy was a natural choice for him.

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Norman Stanton: "I hated the war and the navy"

Mr. Norman Stanton was born in 1924, in Oakland, California. He was one of six children, four of whom were boys. His two older brothers, Joe and Walt, went into the Navy before Pearl Harbor. His forth brother had a medical deferment, and Mr. Stanton en

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B.L. Pettit: The Thirteen Year Old Sailor

Mr. Pettit was born in Houston, Texas, in 1928. In 1942, he falsified his age to get into the U.S. Navy, something that was not uncommon at that time. Mr. Pettit went from seaman apprentice at the age of thirteen to electrician’s mate first

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