Oral Histories

Admiral Tolley's colorful life and skill as a storyteller make him the perfect subject for an oral history. In Volume I he discusses his early years as an Army brat and his midshipman years leading to graduation in 1929. His career followed relatively normal channels as junior officer with duty ...

Tomlinson graduated from the Naval Academy in 1917 and became a naval aviator shortly after the conclusion of World War I. In the 1920s he was very much his own man, defying both official regulations and abominable flying weather. His descriptions of flying through ice, fog, rain, and other hazards ...

Because he grew up in a Navy family, Train was imbued from childhood with the goal of attending the Naval Academy. His career as a midshipman included playing center on the football team that played to a notable tie against West Point in 1948. After graduation in 1949, Train served ...

Captain Triest joined the Civil Engineer Corps in 1941, and his first assignment was the design and logistics for building a secret base, "Bobcat," as a refueling station in the Christmas Islands. He describes the construction of an airfield, hospital, tank farm, and loading facilities on Ascension Island. In 1942 ...

Born in Valmeyer, Illinois, in 1930, Trost entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1949. He was commissioned an ensign in 1953, graduating first in his class. He reported to the destroyer USS Robert A. Owens (DDE-827) and in 1954 was detached to attend the Submarine School, New London, Connecticut. In ...

After growing up in the Chicago area, Turner spent a year at Amherst College prior to entering the U.S. Naval Academy in 1943. His class of 1947 graduated a year early because the academy’s curriculum was shortened in World War II. After brief service in the escort carrier USS Palau ...

On 28 May 1980, 55 female midshipmen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy for the very first time in history. These interviews, recorded between 1984 and 1987, document the early Navy career perspectives of six of those pioneering women: Sandy Daniels, Tina-Marie D’Ercole, Maureen P. Foley (now Maureen Foley Nunez) ...

Mr. Vaessen grew up in California in the 1920s and 1930s. During the Depression he worked steadily at a variety of jobs to support himself and his family. Around 1938 he joined the Naval Reserve. This memoir describes the informal atmosphere of the program in that era. He worked at ...

Designated a naval aviator in 1924, Admiral Van Deurs served as a pilot with Torpedo Squadron Four, then Observation Squadron Three, the first squadron to operate regularly from catapults, based in the USS Memphis (CL-13). After four months with Observation Squadron One, he served as flight instructor, later test pilot ...

Admiral Veth's naval career, almost from the outset, has been concentrated on mine warfare. After being graduated from the Naval Academy in 1935 and tours in the battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) and light cruiser USS Phoenix (CL-46), he transferred to the minelayer USS Ramsay (DM-16), serving as mining officer. In ...

In 1975, as the Vietnam War was coming to a close with the fall of Saigon, the Naval Institute Oral History Program undertook a project to collect the firsthand accounts of U.S. Navy personnel who had endured imprisonment at the hands of the North Vietnamese during the conflict. From 1975 ...

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1925, Admiral Walker served in battleships until he was "volunteered" for submarine school in 1927. Between 1928 and 1937 he served in a series of submarines: USS R-8 (SS-85), USS R-15 (SS-92), USS R-13 (SS-90), USS S-21 (SS-126), and USS S-31 (SS-136). While ...