Oral history interview with Joseph J. Kuhar [sound recording], 2003.

ArchivalResource

Kuhar, Joseph J., 1939-. Oral history interview with Joseph J. Kuhar [sound recording], 2003.

Oral history interview with Joseph J. Kuhar [sound recording], 2003.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/60678959

Kuhar, a Wauwautosa, Wis. native, discusses his service with the Navy during the Cold War and the Vietnam War serving aboard the USS Phillips, USS Taylor, and the USS Eperson; upon his discharge from the Navy he enlisted in the National Guard and then the Naval Reserve and served until 1999. Kuhar, who enlisted in the Navy directly after high school, talks about radio school at Bainbridge (Maryland), and duty at "Dismal Swamp" (Virginia) where he radioed the location of unidentified ships and planes to Norfolk (Virginia). Transferred to Formosa (present day Taiwan), he touches upon monitoring the radio traffic of Chinese Nationalist forces and seeing President Eisenhower and Chiang Kai Shek. He was discharged in 1961 and reenlisted due to lack of employment in the United States. Assigned to the USS Phillips, he comments on a six-month cruise of the Western Pacific, duty as a "lifeguard" ship at Yankee Station (Tonkin Gulf) rescuing pilots who could not land on an aircraft carrier, screening for submarine destroyers, and assisting ships from a Philippine base in the Manila Bay associated with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). Kuhar mentions shore duty, work at China Lake (California) missile test facility, and work aboard the USS Eperson. After a brief stay at a Philadelphia naval hospital, Kuhar joined the USS Taylor and recounts a typical day in the life of a radio operator. He describes a voyage where his ship and others it traveled with encountered problems with the Russian navy where he saw Russian ships collide with the USS Walker. He talks about providing naval shore fire from Da Nang and Nha Trang, seeing the explosions caused by night combat, and communicating with ground troops. He touches upon shipboard life including saltwater showers and swimming alongside the ship, joining the National Guard and participating in Reforger 1987, and joining the Naval Reserve.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 50 min.) : analog, 1 7/8 ips.Master sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 50 min.) : analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript: 21 p.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center