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US Navy, 1943-1945, Pacific theatre (Tarawa, Hawaii); assigned to the Seabees in 98th Naval Construction Battalion; desribes experiences as an occupation troop for 4 months. OHP Control Number 1708

Murray King Wheeler (Navy, 1944-1946) joined the Navy when he was seventeen and was trained as a signalman at Great Lakes and then served on the USS Pasadena. He speaks about his job and the flags that he used to perform his job as signalman. He tells of the training and the drills they completed aboard his ship. He talks about the threat of Kamikazes and anchoring in Tokyo Bay after the armistice was signed. Wheeler describes the welcome that his ship received when arriving in San Francisco in the early spring of 1946. He states that he got out of the military and attended business school. In 1949, he decided to join the Army and retired with twenty-six years of service. OHP Control Number 0813

Interview recording, compact cassette. 1 of 2.

Interview recording, compact cassette. Tape 2 of 2.

Cassette 007. Rev. Wheeler Parker's Interview

Left to right: Wheeler Quick; bridgetender Fred Moore, Arthur Letson; and John Mauthner (small boy) at Dania Beach Blvd. Bridge. Quick and Letson were Fred Moore's stepsons.

Left to right: Wheeler Quick, John Mauthner, and Arthur Letson at Dania Beach Blvd. Bridge.

Raymond Wheeler (Navy, 1943-1945??) trained as an armed guard in Gulfport, Mississippi and was assigned to the merchant ship in the Makawao. His next assignment was to the gun crew of the USS Fairland. He tells of how he spent his off duty time and the cruises the ship took to Hawaii and New Guinea. He was transferred to the Jean Nicolet as the pointer on the 5-inch .38. His ship was hit by a torpedo and most of the crew members surrendered to the Japanese crew of the sub that hit them, He recounts the atrocities that the Japanses crew committed on the Americans that had surrendered. He was one of only twenty-three that survived the ordeal. Wheeler went back to the states via India and was reassigned in Brooklyn and then at the Lake Denmark Ammunition Depot, where he remained until the end of the war. OHP Control Number 0957