The Center has been privileged to work with a number of extraordinary individuals from a variety of backgrounds and service histories. Its mission is more critical with each passing year because the ranks of our greatest generation, the World War II generation, are dwindling. Several of the people extensively interviewed on video tape and in the Stories From Wartime class have already passed away. We are fortunate to have been able to capture their stories for future generations of students, historians and history enthusiasts. Here is a partial summary of the interviews the Center has conducted and the topics they've talked about. |
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| Name | Branch of Service | Interview Topics Summary | ||
| Bob Ball | Air Corps | Shot down from his B-17 in 1943, spent nearly 2 years in Germany. Describes camp conditions, efforts to aid escape attempts and fight boredom among the prisoners. Was force marched through Germany for 3 months in the coldest winter on record to evade approaching Russian army, ending in Austria. Describes the similarities between actual Germans at the camp and characters on "Hogan's Heroes". Active in POW organizations locally and nationally postwar. | ||
| Peg Ball | Civilian | Details the shock of the Pearl Harbor attack from the perspective of the home front. Describes the impact of rationing on civilian life in the United States and the difficulty of having little contact with a loved one in a German POW camp. Active in POW organizations in postwar period, talks of how wives and families support the efforts to remember the POW experience. | ||
| Ray Spiro | Army | Armored unit commander rising to Lt. Colonel. Introduced to Churchill by Patton as one of his best tank commanders, Extensive coverage of Armored warfare and European combat, Battle Of The Bulge. Winner of multiple Bronze and Silver Stars. Took no German prisoners at Buchenwald. | ||
| Hal Leith | Army | Language Expert (Chinese, Russian, others) parachuted into Manchuria to liberate POWs including General Jonathan Wainwright. Dealt With Japanese surrender, invading Soviets, Chinese factions at end of the war. Continued with the CIA postwar as an expert on Soviet-Asian issues. Has written a book on mission to Manchuria. | ||
| Mike Quering | Air Corps | Veteran of 34 B-17 bombing missions in Europe. Severely wounded on last mission in early 1945. Extensive coverage of air combat, heavy bomber losses and the psychological toll the war took on the young men in the bomber squadrons. Talks of how the Regis program helped him remember the war. | ||
| Phil Antonelli | Army | Served with artillery unit accompanying Patton's army in drive across France and into Germany. Saw heavy combat, especially around Metz. Liberation of concentration camp. Regis' role in helping him remember the war. Talks extensively about returning to Normandy for D-Day 60th anniversary and the generosity of French citizens toward the Americans who helped liberate France. | ||
| Romana Antonelli | Civilian | Growing up as young girl in German occupied northern Italy. Her American-born mother rescued a downed British flier while her father protected the family and other Italian civilians by dealing with the Germans. Came to America after the war and displays fierce patriotism for the United States. | ||
| Gil Maestas | Air Corps | B-24 flight engineer on bombing raids throughout southern Europe. Describes raid on Augsburg where his plane was rescued by Tuskegee Airmen allowing them to ditch plane in Adriatic and be rescued. How the camaraderie of his crew was lost when unit dispersed at war's end. The war's effect on is postwar Regis experience and becoming a military doctor during Korean War at Lowry AFB. Describes encounters with Germans and Japanese Veterans after the war. | ||
| Artie Guerrero | Army | Ranger whose unit was annhilated by a attack in 1967. Survived multiple wounds and returned to civilian life, eventually developing Multiple Sclerosis partly due to his wounds. Now paralyzed, he is a wheelchair athlete who returned to Vietnam to ride the length of the country on a hand cycle. An advocate for the Paralyzed Veterans of America, active in advocacy for that group and other veterans issues. | ||
| Joe Sakato | Army | Medal of Honor winner from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Family interned Arizona after being driven off the west coast. Vivid and detailed descriptions of infantry combat in Europe. Was given Medal Of Honor over 50 years after his service and accepted humbly on behalf of those who didn't survive. | ||
| Bill Bower | Air Corps | Doolittle Raider. Pilot of plane that trained for and executed first bombing raid on Japan, then bailed out over China and left country with the help of the Chinese underground. Later joined General Doolittle in the European theater. | ||
| Glenn Berry | Army | Bataan Death March survivor who survived the brutalities of that event, harsh labor conditions in the Philippines, 2 Hell Ship sinkings that killed hundreds of fellow POWs, and POW camps in Japan and Korea. Discusses the role of faith in surviving the ordeal and patriotic pride he feels for this nation. Became a career Air Force officer after the war. | ||
| Tom Foley (Deceased) | Marines | Survivor of the brutally cold conditions in North Korea as vastly outnumbered American forces battled from the Chosin Reservoir to the sea for evacuation. | ||
| Pat Hanlon | Air Force | Air Force Academy graduate who flew in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Describes the high technology nature of his war but also the personal nature of supporting ground troops surrounded and under fire on the battlefield. | ||
| Felix Sparks | Army | One of America's most highly decorated veterans, Sparks commanded infantry units throughout the European theater, surviving some of the fiercest battles of the war. Twice was one of the only survivors of his unit. The first American commander to liberate Dachau, tried to prevent reprisals against the Germans and pulled a gun on an American General who tried to usurp his authority over the camp. | ||
| Clay Decker (Deceased) | Navy | One of only 4 survivors of the sinking of a submarine alive at the time of interview. Aboard USS Tang, one of the most successful subs in the Pacific when errant torpedo sank it off the coast of China. Spent final months of the war as POW in Japan, one of his cellmates was Pappy Boyington. Describes the deprivations and atrocities the Japanese inflicted on POWs. | ||
| John Brown | Marines | Joining the Marines in 1939 to escape the Depression, he describes a small branch of service that frequently got the least qualified and sober recruits before the war. After the war started, he was allowed to transfer out of a bomber gunnery position because his pilot had ditched 5 planes he was aboard. | ||
| Herb Jack | Air Corps | Served with an engineer unit that constructed airstrips and bases out of the jungle of New Guinea some of which weren't even used upon being completed. Also had experiences with headhunting natives that operated against the Japanese. Later served in the Philippines where his unit dealt with Japanese air and land attacks. Talks of how the stress of the war and separation from family drove some men to suicide. | ||
| Lou Eckland | Air Corps | Served aboard B-24 bomber in the India-Burma theater. Late in the war, he participated in raids in Burma that included the early tests of a new weapon that was essentially a crude, radar guided smart bomb. | ||
| Jim Bennett (Deceased) | Navy | Broadcaster who was on the air when news of the Pearl Harbor attack came across the wires. Joined the Navy and spent the war on the home front in support capacities. Later became one of Denver's first TV weathermen and news Director for KLZ-TV Channel 7 during their dominance in the local news market. | ||
| Ron Fenolia | Army | Forward observer who frequently was at or ahead of American lines to spot for the artillery. Frequently was just a few yards away from German positions while conducting missions and engaged in close combat with the Germans. Had experiences very similar to those depicted in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Wounded in action but later returned to the lines for the push through Germany in 1945. | ||
| Tom Sander (Deceased) | Air Corps | Glider pilot who landed in Normandy D-Day +1 describes the dangerous flying conditions and close calls with German troops landing in France. Also piloted gliders during the airborne assault in Holland later in 1944, and flew supply missions until the end of the war supplying troops advancing into Germany. | ||
| Don Maison | Air Corps | B-24 pilot who delivered supplies for the Flying Tigers and troops over Other Hump from India to China. Describes the dangerous flying conditions through the mountains and canyons of the Himalayas. A reserve pilot after the war, later flew supply missions during the early stages of the Vietnam war and dealt with a hidden enemy that often was located just off the runway of supposedly secure US airbases. | ||
| Monroe Withers | Air Corps | Another Hump pilot who flew the slow but reliable C-47 cargo plane, an unarmed aircraft that was easy prey for Japanese fighters. Had narrow escapes from fighter attacks as well as close calls taking off and landing on crude jungle airstrips that were far shorter than the plane was rated to safely land on. | ||
| Blackie Blackburn | Air Corps | B-29 crewman who operated the automated fire control and turret system on B-29 bombers at the very end of the war. Now flies on the only remaining B-29 in the air operated by the Commemorative Air Force. Tells of how most crewman were between the ages of 19 and 23, he was an old man of 26. | ||
| J.B.Hudson | Air Corps | Former Virginia state trooper who trained first as a gunner and later as a radar operator stationed on the island of Tinian which at the time was the world's largest airbase and home of most of the B-29s bombing Japan. Another Commemorative Air Force volunteer who flies the country educating younger generations about the planes and the crews that flew them. | ||
| Jack Bradshaw | Air Corps | American college student who went to Canada to join the Royal Air Force before America entered World War II. Flew Hurricanes and Spitfires for the British until reluctantly transferring to the U.S. Air Corps, mostly because of higher pay. Flew nearly every significant fighter plane in the European theater. Was shot down late in the war while flying a P-47 Thunderbolt after an American B-24 gunner accidentally fired on him. Bailed out and later returned to action. | ||
| Vic Metz | Air Corps | B-17 Bombardier who participated in raids throughout southern Europe. Describes the importance of various targets in southern and Central Europe largely unreachable to bombers flying out of England. Gives detailed description of the process and technology that bombardiers had to make accurate drops from high altitudes. | ||
| Ed Kirsch | Air Corps | Training instructor who was active in Denver throughout the war. Trained gunners at Lowry and was one of the first servicemen to serve at the newly created Buckley Field. Also offers extensive description of life for servicemen in Denver during the war. | ||
| Stanley Knoop | Navy | Aboard the repair ship USS Vestal which was tied up next to the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Describes the violence of the blast that sank the Arizona and the heroism of his own Captain who guided the Vestal to safety after most of the crew had abandoned ship. Addresses the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and efforts to salvage the fleet. | ||
| Bennie Saindon | Navy | Crewman on minesweeper that preceded allied invasion forces before several major Pacific battles. Tells of extremely close calls both with mines and Japanese troops awaiting invasion. His ship entered Nagasaki harbor soon after the Atomic Bomb was dropped and tells of the devastation there and of Japanese reaction to American occupation in the days immediately following the war's end. | ||
| Mike Todorovich | Navy | Naval officer whose Slavic language abilities led him to be clandestinely dropped into occupied Yugoslavia to make contact with Tito's Partisans (though not necessarily acquiring a favorable attitude toward Tito himself). Later ventured to Russia as an American representative who secretly monitored Soviet activities. | ||
| Wright Morgan | Army | Infantry forward observer in Patton's 3rd Army who frequently went in advance of the front to locate German positions to radio back to following mechanized units. Describes an informal code of ethics among American and German observers that precluded them firing on each other for their own mutual safety. A fierce devotee of Patton's style of warfare where rapid movement limited casualties. | ||
| Ted Mangnall | Navy | Training instructor on the home front during the early stages of the war. Trained female WAVE cadets in Milledgeville, Georgia before being sent overseas to the Philippines for the American invasion where he served in administrative roles. | ||
| Russ Warmack | Navy | In high school for much of the war he talks of how high school students viewed the war knowing they were soon to be going themselves. Entering the service during the final months of the war in the Pacific and was part of occupation units in the immediate aftermath of the war. | ||
| Sophie Bellino | Civilian | Brooklynite who followed her husband to Air Force Bases in Texas and Nevada while he served alongside other disabled servicemen in the Army Air Corps. In Texas, was one of the millions of women who served the war effort in factories making airplane parts and later moving on to supply duties at the base as a civilian Talks emotionally about the men like her husband who couldn't serve overseas, but were proud to serve in any capacity, as well as the women who wanted to serve, and who worried about their husbands and sons in danger. | ||
| Bill Reynolds | Air Corps | B-29 commander in 1944-45 bombing missions to Japan. Describes the danger of flying extremely long range missions and bombing Japanese cities from low altitudes at night while flying close formations. Was in the same air group as the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Also stresses the important role of the ground crews that maintained and repaired the aircraft | ||
| Dick Newell | Air Corps | Meteorologist who predicted weather conditions for American, Australian, British and Dutch pilots operating out of northern Australia and New Guinea from 1942-45. Describes Japanese air attacks on American bases there. | ||
| Clarence Edmonds (Deceased) | Army | Offers impressions of life during the depression before joining the CCC and later the Army. Served as a supply sergeant in the Pacific with tales of wheeling and dealing supplies on the black market. Also provides an eyewitness view to Kamikaze action and the invasion of Okinawa | ||
| Pauline Edmonds | Civilian | Pauline Edmonds went from working at JC Penney in Grand Junction to working on the Manhattan Project within a matter of months. With little scientific training, she participated in the experiments on splitting the atom. She also describes life in the restricted town of Oak Ridge Tennessee, a town so secret, many in this country didn't even know of its existence. | ||
| Murray Brown (Deceased) | Navy | Officer who oversaw physical training programs for incoming Navy personnel at boot camps on the home front. A former college and AAU basketball player, traveled the country on Navy basketball teams playing other military squads, and also organized visits of Bob Hope's USO shows to bases where he was stationed. Offers comments about the willingness of raw recruits to work hard in the physical regimen of Navy life. | ||
| Julius Jordahl (Deceased) | Navy | Joined the Navy in 1938 to escape the hardships of the depression, and was serving aboard the battleship USS Tennessee at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Gives a detailed account of the attack and its immediate aftermath, including retributions committed by Americans against a downed Japanese pilot. Later served on Navy support ships and bases in the Aleutian Islands campaign. | ||
| Joe Lemmo | Navy | Crewman aboard a Jeep Carrier a smaller converted ship that ferried planes and later conducted operations against the Japanese in the South Pacific. Describes accidents that killed and injured crewmen on his ship as well as Kamikaze attacks that were faced by his task force later in the war. | ||
| Louis Goos (Deceased) | Air Corps | Communications specialist attached to Air Corps Unit. Was one of group of soldiers in North Africa chewed out by General Patton for not wearing proper uniform in the desert. Also served in invasions of Sicily, Southern Italy and Southern France. Was left behind enemy lines when unit retreated after German counterattack during invasion of Italy while he was repairing communications lines but evaded capture until Americans recaptured the area. | ||
| Paul Murphy | Navy | Survivor of the USS Indianapolis, which was torpedoed after delivering the Atomic Bombs from the US to Tinian. Spent four days in the water while other crew members died of exposure and sharks before being rescued. Now leads organization devoted to restoring the reputation of his captain after Navy cover-up of the true circumstances of the sinking. | ||
| Phil Bissell | Army | Officer in a replacement company sent overseas in 1944 to supply men to depleted units following D-Day. Talks extensively about life among the troops in France and Belgium and of the importance of maintaining contact with his wife and newborn son in the states. Sees The Atomic Bomb as a "birthday present" that prevented his shipment to the Pacific. | ||
| Grant Oasheim | Air Corps | B-24 armor gunner who participated on the first American bombing raid on Berlin. One of the few to survive over 30 missions early in the war. Talks extensively about the B-24, German fighters and anti-aircraft fire which chewed up bombers and life around their bases in England. | ||
| Hubert Peters | Army | Communications specialist narrowly escaped capture during initial part of Battle Of The Bulge. Followed unit into Germany and Czechoslovakia until the end of the war. Has perspective on his unit's combat with German armored forces and accounts of German attitude toward defeat. | ||
| Art Peterson | Civilian | Broadcaster who was on the air for both the Pearl Harbor story and news of the final Japanese surrender on VE day. Also became a respected broadcaster in Denver following the war on Radio and in the first two decades of Television for KBTV Channel 9. | ||
| Bob Seeber | Navy | Served aboard Destroyer Escort USS Isley which escorted ships of the Pacific fleet and supported the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Encountered numerous Kamikaze attacks and was damaged severely by one of them. Also defended against submarine attacks, in one case with a torpedo going directly beneath their boat. | ||
| Jim Van Buskirk | Marines | Served in support unit in the Marianas Islands including Tinian, and later in China immediately following the war. Has accounts of Marine Life in the Marianas while starving Japanese soldiers still occupied parts of the islands and attempted to steal food from American forces. | ||
| Jack Tanner | Navy | Navy Seabee who helped build airfields on Tinian which were later used by the bombers who dropped the Atomic Bombs. Narrowly escaped a raid by Betty Bomber while working on the runway when the bombs it dropped failed to explode. Talks about role of Seabees and Marines in securing islands from Japanese and making them quickly available for Air Corps to begin bombing Japan. | ||
| John Atkinson | Navy | Navy medic who served aboard landing ship, was shipped overseas for the anticipated invasion of Japan. Later spent time delivering supplies to Chinese Nationalists in Shanghai. | ||
| Bill Greenewald | Navy | Naval officer at the very end of the Pacific War. Spent time in China immediately after the war turning equipment over to Chiang Kai-Chek's forces for the resuming Chinese Civil War. Was called back to duty during Korean War. | ||
| Jim Tracy | Air Corps | B-17 turret gunner shot down after bombing raid at Schweinfurt Germany 1943. Was wounded in back of the head before bailing out. Once on the ground, spent 6 months with the French underground making his way from Luxembourg through France before walking over the Pyrenees to Spain, twice escaping capture by the Germans. | ||
| Alice Louise Lyon (Deceased) | Army | Army nurse stationed near POW camp near New Orleans. Treated German POWs laboring in the cane fields while her own brother was being held prisoner by the Germans. | ||
| Dick Hazen | Army | Infantry soldier who fought through the push into Germany in the Spring of 45. Was near Torgau where the Americans and Russians linked up to cut Germany in two at the end of the war. Has interesting perspectives about German troops surrendering at the end of the war. | ||
| Stan Kerkhoff (Deceased) | Navy | Served aboard destroyer torpedoed off the coast of Algeria by German U-Boat. After rescue, became part of original crew of the USS Missouri, eventually becoming the ship's photographer. Took unofficial movie footage from a gun turret directly above the deck where the Japanese surrendered to Douglas MacArthur. | ||
| Daniel Leonard, Kristy Klinck, Christopher Dietrich, Sarah Jackson | Civilian | Students in the 2004 Stories From Wartime class describe their impression of the veterans stories they heard and how it impacted their outlook on their studies. Each describes how they interacted more extensively with individual veterans and family members while preparing their research projects. | ||
| James King | Air Force | Student from the 2003 Stories From Wartime program who is also an Air Force Reservist. Interviewed following the 2003 classes while he was on active standby for possible callup in advance of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Puts the experiences of war veterans into perspective while facing the possibility of serving in a modern war. | ||
