| Title |
Dale H. West, Provo, Utah: an interview by Winston P. Erickson, June 23, 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 45 |
| Alternative Title |
Dale H. West, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
West, Dale H., 1918-2007 |
| Contributor |
Erickson, Winston P., 1943-; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2000-06-23 |
| 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 |
Utah County, Utah, United States; New Guinea; Philippines |
| Subject |
West, Dale H., 1918-2007--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
7th Army Air Force; Radio; decoding |
| Description |
Transcript (28 pages) of an interview by Winston P. Erickson with Dale H. West on June 23, 2000. This is from tape number 45 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
West (b. 1918) recalls his childhood in Provo, Utah, and describes getting a degree in English from Brigham Young University. He taught school for several years and eventually received both a master's degree and doctorate in English. He served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of Operations with the 7th Army Air Force. He describes intercepting and classifying enemy air-to-ground and point-to-point radio messages. He decoded and relayed information concerning weather conditions, enemy air action, and enemy administrative orders to locally-based air combat units. 28 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
28 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/s6sx8cdx |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1023445 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6sx8cdx |
| Title |
Page 13 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1023427 |
| OCR Text |
Show DALE H. WEST June 23, 2000 DAL: They sent me almost immediately to Atlantic City, New Jersey. I was in the hotel there for about a month. I had some training on the boardwalk, and it was in January and frozen. My shoes, of all things to have, were leather soles, not rubber soles. My leg muscles got pretty used up. I quite enjoyed it there. It was a different place for me. Glen Miller's orchestra was there. They gave me a few tests, and then sent me almost immediately to Kansas City, Missouri to go into high speed radio school. It was a two-year course that they gave us in six months. WIN: That's high ~peed, isn't it? So you had basic back in New Jersey, and then they sent you to I Kansas city, Missouri for high speed radio school. And what did that entail besides cramming a great deal of information in a short period of time?· DAL: We were learning to send and receive Morse code, and we had to do it at 25 words per minute. If yo~owho~ fast that is you know it's very fast. I don't know what I was, but the fellow who had been the one in charge of the group before-there were 50 of us-had become ill. And so they put him in charge of us when he got a little better. Well, he got ill again immediately, and they put me in charge of the whole group. ·we did have hotel rooms, stripped quite well. We didn't even have to make our own beds. They would try to get us through because they needed the radio people. WIN: · So you stayed there for six months, and then where were you sent? D~: After that I was sent to Fresno, California. And I had some more basic training there. I was not an officer. I was an enlisted man. I did go through the process of getting a permit to go to officer's training school, but I liked what we were doing. They kept saying, "Well, if you were an officer it would take you that long to become one; then you'll have to stay in at least another year after the war.'' So I had that choice to fall back on if I wanted to, even though I didn't ever use it. 11 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6sx8cdx/1023427 |
