Stories tagged "Pacific Front": 15
Stories
Siblings' Service
"In WWII, my father’s two brothers, Henry and John B, also served in the Army. My mother’s three brothers served in the Army, Navy, and the Marines. They were Perry Hugh, Elmer, and Emmet Joe who was in Iwo Jima."
Wartime Correspondence
"While researching my Mother’s biography, I read her letters from WWII, and the name Frase or Goldman kept appearing in the signatures. I realized it was one man, Goldman Frase. He wrote Christmas Cards to her for ten years…
The Battle of Bataan
“Beginning Christmas Day, 1941, we were put on a boat and taken across the bay to Bataan. We advanced as far up the peninsula as possible, marching until we met the Japanese, 75 or 80 miles up the Bataan Peninsula. That is where we drew a line…
Unconditional Surrender
“August 1945. We drop anchor in Tokyo Bay, begin unloading equipment, and send the troops ashore in attack waves. A few weeks ago the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and just a few days ago the Emperor Hirohito went on…
Military Might
“After twenty-two months in the South Pacific, I was sent back to the United States and given twenty days leave so I could visit with my wife and my first-born son, Herman Eugene Talmadge, Jr., whom I had not seen. When that leave was up I was…
Pearl Harbor
“I do not know where this country would have been after December 7, 1941, if it had not had the ships and the know how to build more ships fast, for which one Vinson bill after another was responsible.” Editor's Note: On December 7th, 1941, Japan…
The Pacific Theater
"Went to Charleston, South Carolina, got on another rocket ship, and took it out to the Pacific. We went through the canal, on to Pearl, and from there on to Enewetak and the outward islands ready to go and do the same thing again in Japan. I don’t…
Enlistment in the U.S. Army
"Since I was very young looking even for 17, some of the noncoms thought they could pick on me, and I did have a couple of fights. One occasion our sergeant-- who was a short man-- was trying to impress other recruits and accused me of something…
Waiting for the End of the War
"After the second atomic bomb was dropped, we were almost sure we were going back to the United States, and we didn't. And we ended up anchored at Enewetak group on Yap Island group on a little island called Maug Maug, which was a…
The First Atomic Bomb
"We just bust this outfit up, and I ended up with a unit -- a different unit called a 1333rd Engineer Regimen going to the Panama Canal on the way to the Pacific. About half the men in my unit ended up coming back to the states. Well, I got on a…