Oral history interview with Russell R. Gonnering, [sound recording], 2006.

ArchivalResource

Gonnering, Russell R., 1925-2007,. Oral history interview with Russell R. Gonnering, [sound recording], 2006.

Oral history interview with Russell R. Gonnering, [sound recording], 2006.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/757938370

Russell R. Gonnering, a West Allis, Wisconsin native, discusses his service as a Navy photographer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Gonnering talks about enlisting right after high school, at age seventeen. He describes boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes (Illinois) and befriending a recruit from Cleveland. Assigned to the USS Hornet, he details getting in trouble for refusing to skip church to do the bosun's laundry, setting the record straight with the chaplain and executive officer, and requesting to be transferred. Sent to a photographic squadron at Norfolk Naval Air Station, Gonnering talks about jumping at the chance to go to photographic school and motion picture school at Pensacola (Florida). He describes assignment to the USS Bunker Hill in Task Force 58 and his duties on the flight deck making motion pictures of planes taking off from and landing on the aircraft carrier. Gonnering speaks of taking aerial photos of installations on small Pacific islands and processing them in the shipboard photo lab. He addresses living quarters, food, a typical day, and trading photographs for extra food. Gonnering describes his cameras and photographic equipment, and he reflects on watching live action through a viewfinder. After the war, he recalls the ship's homecoming to San Francisco and taking a picture of the sailors spelling out "Bunker Hill" on the ship. Gonnering mentions being offered a promotion in exchange for service at Bikini Atoll, which he turned down, and later discovering the job would have involved filming nuclear bomb experiments. He speaks of assignment to Santa Ana (California) filming air-sea rescue movies. Gonnering addresses working on blimps and PT boats, cooperating with 20th Century Fox Studios and Pathé News, and the new use of sonar buoys in rescues. He describes filming different types of ships attempting different turning maneuvers side by side. Gonnering talks about having fun in the blimps: observing sunbathing actresses through field glasses, dropping sandbags on cows, getting in trouble for dropping fuel on orange groves, using landing lights to confuse train engineers, and photographing the Rose Bowl. He tells of almost freezing his leg while taking aerial mapping photos at high altitude. He comments on some of his photographs and photo albums. Gonnering details landing in a blimp and recalls an accident that resulted in two deaths. He comments on being allowed to roam 20th Century Fox buildings and see movies being made. Gonnering speaks of his civilian career in lithography, keeping in touch with a few Navy photographers, and joining the American Legion and the Knights of Columbus.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassettes (ca. 55 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Master sound recording : 1 sound cassettes (ca. 55 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript : 20 p.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center