Oral history interview with Jean Balch, 1996 October 12.

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Oral history interview with Jean Balch, 1996 October 12.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/341768117

Interview with Jean Balch, a Navy veteran (Bombing Squadron 3, USS Yorktown), concerning his experiences in the Pacific Theater; and his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Boot camp at San Diego, California, 1942; radio school, San Diego, California, 1942; radar school, Memphis, Tennessee, 1943; gunnery school, Yellow Water, Florida, 1944; assignment as a radioman-gunner on a SBD with Bombing Squadron 3, USS Yorktown, October, 1944; operations during the Leyte invasion, November, 1944; missions over Luzon, December, 1944; Task Force 38, the Yorktown, and the typhoon off northwest Luzon, December, 1944; raids on Japanese installations on Formosa and Saigon, French Indo-China, January, 1945; his plane shot down on a raid to Hong Kong and his capture on January 16, 1945; interrogations and beatings by the Kempei-tai; trip from Hong Kong to Japan via Formosa; imprisonment at Ofuna, Honshu; solitary confinement for six months and continued interrogation; beatings by Japanese prison guards; starvation diet; end of the war and liberation; his participation in the war crimes trials held by the International Military Tribunal, Far East, in Tokyo, 1947-48.

87 leaves ; 29 cm.

University of North Texas Library, UNT

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SNAC Resource ID: 7354304

University of North Texas Library, UNT

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

University of North Texas. Oral History Collection.

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International Military Tribunal for the Far East

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Historical Note The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) was established by a special proclamation of General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) on January 19, 1946. MacArthur thus implemented the Potsdam Declaration of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom (July 26, 1945), as accepted by the Japanese signatories of the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, that war crimina...

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Built and launched at New York Navy Yard; commissioned Nov. 12, 1944; scraped in 1993. Served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. From the description of USS Bon Homme Richard (CV/CVA-31) photograph collection 1944-1971. (The Mariners' Museum Library). WorldCat record id: 41657866 The federal government decided in 1941 to send Supply Corps personnel to Harvard Business School for training in the business of equipping the Navy. This was effected by a transfer...

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Alexander, William John, 1855-1944

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William John Alexadner was born of Scottish parents in Hamilton, Canada West, in 1855. He was educated in Hamilton and at the University of Toronto where he won a scholarship which enabled him to study English at the University of Wales College in Charlottetown for two years. He obtained a PhD in Greek And Philology at the newly constituted Johns Hopkins Unviersity in 1833, and spent a further year studying modern languages in Heidelberg. Dr. Alexander was appointed professor of English language...

United States. Navy. Bombing Squadron 3.

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Balch, Jean, 1923-

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