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Charles Huffaker talks about enlisting in the US Navy as a teenager from Jal, New Mexico, about his basic training in San Diego in 1941, and about serving on the Tennessee, a battleship stationed in Pearl Harbor. He describes attending signal school in San Diego to become a signalman. He discusses the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, manning a gun aboard the Tennessee during the attack, the sinking of battleships around them, and the burning...
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John Andrew Sigmon describes lying about his age so that he could join the US Navy in 1931. He tells about life in the Navy and working on destroyers prior to World War II, and about transferring to submarine duty just prior to US involvement in World War II. He talks about being stationed in Hawaii during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and about receiving commendation for shooting down a Japanese plane on December 7, 1941. He describes submarine munitions,...
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Jack Williams, an automotive dealer and realtor from Grand Junction, Colorado, talks about his experiences in World War II’s Pacific Theater. He describes sitting on the deck of a destroyer in Pearl Harbor when the bombing began on December 7, 1941. He describes the aerial attack by Japanese forces, the mobilization of US Naval forces, and receiving credit for the downing of a Japanese plane. He discusses engaging with Japanese submarines in the...
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Dave Hinkle talks about coming to Western Colorado in the 1920’s, riding the rails in search of work, dealing with the railyard “bulls,” working the peach harvests in Palisade, and working for the railroad in ice cars packed with peaches. He recalls other jobs he held, including the Star mail route from Dragon Mountain to Somerset, ranch work for the D.R.C. Brown Ranch on Muddy Creek, and herding sheep on the Uncompahgre. He speaks about the...
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Grace Traynor talks about her son Harold Baker Wood and his service as a Boatswain’s Mate aboard the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. She discusses her son’s death during the attack and subsequent medals he received. She speaks about the enlistment of her sons in the armed forces during the Great Depression, when jobs were scarce, and about their lives in Grand Junction as young adults. The interview was conducted...
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Rosemary Kitson talks about the death of her older brother during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the devastation it caused her family. She talks about her journey to Hawaii to memorialize her brother during his reburial in a veterans cemetery. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado. *Photograph from the 1950 Colorado...
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Mrs. Rose Perry relates her son’s experience on the U.S.S. Helena, a Brooklyn-class light cruiser used by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater of World War II. The Helena was one of the cruisers attacked in Pearl Harbor, and was directly torpedoed by the Japanese. The Helena survived the attack and was assigned to assist in the Guadalcanal campaign. It helped to destroy several Japanese aircraft and battleships and contributed to American victories...