Okinawa Island (Japan)

Scope and Contents This collection includes a United States Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas Intelligence Information Bulletin on Okinawa, dated 15 November 1944. It also includes a U.S. Naval Training School (Hollywood Beach Hotel, Hollywood, Florida) graduation class 4-44 yearbook entitled "The Quarterdeck," dated 21 July 1944.  Other content includes Thanksgiving and Christmas 1945 dinner menus for U.S. troops in Samar, Philippines. Class photographs included int he collection are from Landing Craft School, A.T.B. Coronado, CA, as well as, Naval training class photographs. The collection also contains photograph album pages...

Scope and Contents

Arthur G. Johnson served in a U.S. Navy Construction Battalion (Seabee) from December 1942 through the end of World War II. This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript.

In the transcript, Johnson recounts his experiences from basic training to North Africa, then on to Banica River in the South Pacific, Okinawa and back to Guam where he broke his neck, taking him out of the war. The interview also talks generally about the Seabees, family life after the war, camaraderie with the Marines, and censorship.

Content Description

This collection relates to Daniel Duffy who served as a U.S. Navy executive officer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Duffy details his experience with the U.S. Navy, the V-12 program, descriptions of his time in the Pacific theater, and the GI Bill.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Ensign Madison D. Farnum, a staff member for the commander of the Amphibious Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War II. Farnum participated in the campaigns for Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Okinawa. Farnum was assigned on the Flagship USS Eldorado under Admiral R.K.Turner in the South Pacific Theater 1944-1945. The collection includes photographs, documents, and letters.

Scope and Contents

This oral history transcript relates to Stewart Abbott Fraser who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theater. Fraser served aboard the USS Missouri. Fraser was also present during the formal Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945

Content Description

This collection relates to Ross Hansen who served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946 in the Pacific Theatre. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Hansen details his work for the War Department during World War II and his life upon his return to the U.S.

Scope and Contents The materials in this collection document the experiences of Helen Toles Buffington, a young woman growing up during World War II, as well as the experiences of Herman Buffington, who served with the 96th Infantry Division as a combat soldier who fought in the Battle of Okinawa. Included in the collection is a transcript of Mrs. Buffington’s high school diary, in which she details her daily activities and emotions from 1941 to 1945. Also included in the collection are excerpts from a diary Helen kept while attending Young Harris College and excerpts from a diary Helen kept during the summer of 1945 while working as a phone operator at the Bell Aircraft Corporation, a major...

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Joseph Hrabovsky who served with the 1524th Quartermaster Laundry. Joseph Hrabovksy received quartermaster training in Camp Lee, VA before being assigned to the occupation of Japan. This collection contains a Camp Lee Quartermaster Training Pamphlet, a photograph collection of Japan and Korea, and other documents including a timeline of Joseph Hrabovksy's service in Japan.

Scope and Contents This collection relates to John W. Rockwood who served with the U.S. Navy during the Second World War in the 145th Construction Battalion Seabees. He served in the Solomon Islands and Okinawa. This collection contains ten letters from Rockwood to his cousin, Jane Brunkow, and her father in Pelham Manor, New York and a photograph of Rockwood with his children during a duck hunt in 1950. His letters reference his time in the Solomon Islands. He mentions sending mementos, such as a whiskey shot glass and bracelet made from Japanese planes and shells, some crafts from the local natives, as well as some dirt from his foxhole. He also spends some time describing the environment of...

Scope and Contents This World War II collection relates to First Lieutenant Carl Johnson and his wife Marion Bennett Johnson and includes various letters, photographs, telegrams, cards, documents, and memorabilia. Carl's letters to Marion comprise the bulk of the collection and detail his college experiences as well as his training and overseas military experience as a United States Marine Corp officer during and after the war. During his career as a Marine, he was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, then went to San Francisco to start his voyage in the Pacific. He went to Pearl Harbor, Guam, and Okinawa before arriving in China where he served as a Commanding Officer. Marion's letters to Carl...

Content Description

This collection relates to Technician Grade 5 Thomas McFarland who served as a medical aide with a field hospital unit during World War II in the European and Pacific Theaters. This collection consists of letters from McFarland to his family about his time stationed in France, Africa, and Okinawa.

Content Description

This collection relates to the Reserve Officers Association and the experience of its members during World War Two.

Scope and Contents This World War II collection covers the overseas experience of a sailor in the U.S. Navy aboard the escort aircraft carrier U.S.S. Natoma Bay (CVE 62), Composite Squadron 63 (VC-63). The collection includes sets of uniforms, a bomber jacket, personal papers, medals, awards, and a plaque. His personal papers include personnel documents, two journals, captured Japanese papers, the Bluejacket Manual, Natoma Bay records, and various publications from and about the Natoma Bay Association. The papers primarily document his time spent in the Pacific Campaign, although his records also date his trainings in Rhode Island and Jacksonville, Florida. This sailor also...

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Todd Silverman who served in the U.S. Navy as a radio and radar operator on PBY and PBM flying boats in the Pacific Theater Operation during World War II. The collection contains an oral history transcript and photographs.

Content Description

This collection relates to Corporal Charles F. Silzer who served with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, during World War II in the Pacific Theater. He participated in the battles of Cape Gloucester, New Britian, Peleliu, and Okinawa and occupation of China. The collection contains letters Silzer wrote to his fiance, later wife, Florence Erickson, photographs of Silzer, and a framed discharge document.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of 278 photographs taken by an American Seabee in the Pacific during World War II. Many of the photographs document native life on the islands of New Caledonia, the Russell Islands, and Okinawa. There are images of native communities and homes, religious items, burial sites, workers, and other aspects of native life. They also document the operations of the 20th Naval Construction Battalion and various other US military units and operations. This includes photographs of construction, stevedoring, camp life, and American servicemen.

Scope and Contents

This collection includes a scrapbook from Thomas Edward Stubbs, Jr, a private in the U.S. Army who served in World War II. Included are photographs of the Pacific Theater.