Oral history interview with William J. Alexander, 2002 November 11.

ArchivalResource

Alexander, William J., 1927-. Oral history interview with William J. Alexander, 2002 November 11.

Oral history interview with William J. Alexander, 2002 November 11.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/425686874

Interview with William J. Alexander, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences as a teenager during World War II; his experiences as a sailor during the last months of World War II. Early youth in Casper, Wyoming, 1933-42; his close relationship with his older brother; life in Casper during the Great Depression while living with his aunt and uncle; local reactions to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor; his move back to Denver to be reunited with his parents and employment at the Brown Palace Hotel; the family's move to Los Angeles and his employment at Earl Carroll's Theater; vignettes about John Barrymore, Sammy Kaye, Harry James, and Betty Grable; wartime rationing; the family's return to Denver; his brother's enlistment in the Navy; his employment at Station KOA in Denver, 1943-45; his making broadcast announcements about D-Day, June 6, 1944; the sinking of his brother's destroyer, the USS Spence, during a typhoon, December 18, 1944; the effect of his brother's death on him and his parents; his joining the Navy, April 2, 1945; boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois; V-J Day celebrations in Chicago; assignment to Opa Locka Naval Air Station, Florida; his role as director of the base chapel choir at Opa Locka; his postwar career.

70 leaves ; 29 cm.

University of North Texas Library, UNT