| Title |
Ross Fullmer, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, April 12 and 15, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 440 |
| Alternative Title |
Ross Fullmer, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Fullmer, Ross, 1923-2009 |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2002-04-12; 2002-04-15 |
| Date Digital |
2015-09-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, United States; New Zealand; Australia; Midway Islands; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States |
| Subject |
Fullmer, Ross, 1923-2009 --Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Naval operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area--Personal narratives, American; Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941 |
| Description |
Transcript (44 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Ross Fullmer on April 12 and 15, 2002. This is from tape number 440 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Fullmer (b. 1923) joined the Navy in December 1940. After basic training he was transported to Hawaii on the oil tanker USS Tippecanoe before transferring to the West Virginia on the morning that Pearl Harbor was attacked. He describes the attack in detail and recalls his experiences on his next ship, the Chicago. He saw action in the Pacific around New Zealand, Australia, and the Coral Sea. He was serving on Midway Island when the war ended. He was discharged in 1946. 44 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
44 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s60g5jcs |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Naval--American; Pearl Harbor, Attack on (Hawaii : 1941) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1022735 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60g5jcs |
| Title |
Page 18 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1022707 |
| OCR Text |
Show RO LLM R PRIL 12, 2002 But the captain said to abandon the ship so abandon ship now." The captain was a real gentleman. Being a captain, he is the supreme commander on that ship. He was a friendly person. During inspection he would talk to the enlisted personnel. This is unusual for a captain. He was from Salt Lake City, Utah. Shorty Iles was in my division; he was from Greenfield, Massachusetts. We spent a lot of time together and we became good friends. After we were told to abandon the ship, Shorty said to me, "Let's get off this ship." Well, where do we go? Should we go to the stem? The port side of the stern was going under the water. The midship of the West Virginia was on fire. So, Shorty and I went to the bow of the ship. Now the bow of the ship was high out of the water. As I looked down over the edge of the bow I thought to myself, My God, I thought the Empire State Building was high. Around the whole ship are three cables. A hand line, life line and a foot line. We had to get through the cable in order to jump. I was holding on to the hand line. I had to get off this ship before it blew up. As I was holding on, another torpedo hit the ship. To this day, I do not know whether I was blown off or jumped off the ship. All I know is that it felt like I must have gone clear to the bottom of the harbor. Struggling, I came to the top of the water. When I reached the top of the water, I heard a guy hollering at me. The man said '~Help me! Help me! Push me over to the Tennessee. I can't swim." I thought to myself, That must be a Marine! That was not a nice thought. I knew the guy was a swab be, because he still had a navy T -shirt on. Shorty Illes was swimming toward Ford Island. I helped the other sailor to the Tennessee. I then continued to swim toward Shorty. 17 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60g5jcs/1022707 |
