Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Thomas H. Gilliam who served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Theater during World War II as a radar operator and was present during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. This collection contains photocopies of black and white photographs taken during the war, a memoir of his experience written by David G. Verdier, and documents related to radar and the Pearl Harbor attack.

Scope and Contents The Sonia Visser collection contains one folder with a 24-page typed transcript of an oral history interview and another six page document with questions and answers from Sonia Visser. Sonia Visser served in the Women's Army Corps from 1943 to 1945. She experienced public discrimination as a WAC in rural American towns. She served overseas in the Pacific in base port command at Hollandia, New Guinea. While in New Guinea, she experienced attempted sexual assault on two occasions and witnessed the prevalent threat of sexual assault against other women soldiers. She went home and discharged in October 1945, and later married a soldier who had proposed to her on the ship going to...

Content Description

This collection relates to Colonel William G. Walker Jr., and his service in the Army and Army Air Force during World War II in the European/Pacific Theater of Operation. The collection consists of a manuscript he wrote for his grandchildren describes his experiences in the during the war years and includes some photos of himself and aircrafts. He shares a timeline of his time in World War II, starting with his enlistment and training as a pilot shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He also includes certain anecdotes of missions he carried out in Newfoundland and the Owi islands, including naming the specific aircrafts he used.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Richard Bruce Watkins who served two years in the Pacific Theater of Operations as a U.S. Marine platoon leader, then as a commander of the E Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division at Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa. Immediately after the war in August 1945, Watkins also served in China. The collection contains a manuscript entitled "Brothers in Battle--One Marine's Account of War in the Pacific" written by Watkins that concerns his time in the Pacific Theater.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript of Marcia Wilkinson who served with the USO on the home front during World War II. This collection also contains personal photographs.

Content Description

This collection relates to Libby Werbner who served as a teacher with the Manzanar, California Japanese American Internment Camp during World War II. The collection includes an oral history interview transcripts and original photographs. Werbner describes her experience as a third grade teacher, Japanese culture, life in the camp, Army recruitment and the difference between her experiences at an internment camp and what she heard about concentration camps.

Content Description

Willis Winston served with 2nd Battalion 7th Regiment, 1st Marine Division in the U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. He participated in the campaigns for Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, and Peleliu This collection contains an oral history.