jackson veterans

Interviews of Jackson Residents who Went to World War II

USS St Louis
USS St Louis
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B-24 Waist Machine Gun
B-24 Waist Machine Gun
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fire control station
fire control station
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B-24 Bomber
b-24 bomber
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USS St Louis Battle Damage
uss st louis battle damage
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B-24 Waist Gunner
b-24 waist gunner
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Ordnance Truck
ordnance truck
7 /7
click on arrow to change photo

This website features oral histories of veterans from the Second World War who resided in Jackson, Ohio. Seven vets beginning in 1989 gave oral histories to me. I audio–taped the question–and–answer interviews. Later my wife Aggie and my former legal secretary Bonnie Dameron very capably transcribed them. I removed most of the questions to turn the transcripts into narrative texts.

The veterans’ recollections remain the veterans’ own words‚ with the sometimes coarse language and grammatical errors left in. I included biographical details before and after the war so the reader can understand that these were all very capable and successful men. I was struck by the breadth of wartime experiences which folks from our small town encountered. Every town has similar stories, so imagine the impact which the Second World War had upon our people across the nation!

The texts are quite lengthy‚ so I divided each narration into chapters and prepared extensive links to outside sources‚ frequently Wikipedia or YouTube. Each link opens onto its own window‚ so you can close the hypertext window to return easily to the original text. Just click on the x in the tab for the window. Feel free to click on the links. Also, I styled the text so that it will print from most browsers‚ with appropriate page breaks. The photographs were intended to be taken only from the public domain, or with appropriate photo credit. Please select an oral history below by clicking on the small photographic icon.

world war ii oral histories
by jackson veterans
[click on photo]
Lyle Pittenger Lyle Pittenger — combat engineer
B24 Bomber ralph cochran — b–24 gunner and prisoner of war
Red Ball Express ed clark — infantryman in europe with the 84th infantry division
USS St Louis phil mills — naval seaman on the uss st louis
Bayonet Training carl crawford — ordnance sargeant in the first armored division
Alonzo Howell alonzo howell — b-24 bomber navigator
Tom Blanton tom blanton — sea marine