| Title |
Melvin Lewis, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, July 16, 2001: Saving the legacy tape no. 402 and 403 |
| Alternative Title |
Melvin Lewis, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Lewis, Melvin, 1917-2010 |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2001-07-16 |
| 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 |
Pakistan; South Pacific; Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands; Guam; Shasta County, California, United States |
| Subject |
Lewis, Melvin, 1917-2010--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography |
| Keywords |
Flight instructors; Army Air Corps |
| Description |
Transcript (77 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Mel Lewis on July 16, 2001. This is from tape numbers 402 and 403 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Mel Lewis (b. 1917) grew up in Redding, California, and operated a private airstrip before enlisting in the Army Air Corps one day after Pearl Harbor. He flew with the 14th Air Force in Pakistan, the 5th A.F. in the South Pacific, and the 7th A.F in Saipan and Guam. He was also a flight instructor in Greenville, South Carolina. 77 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
77 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/s6bk3bkc |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Aerial--American |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1024582 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6bk3bkc |
| Title |
Page 38 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1024539 |
| OCR Text |
Show M LL WI MEL: BBL: with that? MEL: .J 1 '2001 Under the Golden Gate Bridg , yeah. Was that considered illegal at the time or could you g t in troubl No, it really wasn' t. As a matter of fact even it became kind of com1non practice with military pilots from Hamilton Field and some of those places. I thought, Heck, if they can do it, I can too. BBL: Yeah, that's something. So were you drafted or did you enlist? MEL: Oh, no. I wasn't drafted. No, Pearl Harbor was bombed on Sunday, and Monday morning, I was enlisting. BBL: Oh, really? MEL: Yeah. So, that was kind of interesting. I went over to the Presidio in San Francisco and they had a little airstrip that was called Chrissy Field; that was the closest thing I could think of and I knew I wanted to fly and I knew darn well I wasn't going to allow myself to get drafted. So I went into the recruiting office and there was a sergeant there at the desk and he gave me some forms to fill out. And I sat down and filled the forms out. And when I finished, I handed them back to him. And he looked at them and the first thing he looked at was my age. Well, now, at that time, the military was still operating on pre-war standards and in order to be a pilot, the cut-off age was twenty-five. BBL: Oh. MEL: Well, I was, let's see, this was in December, and the next February, the following February, I'd be twenty-six. And I know that's what he looked at. BBL: Right. 35 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6bk3bkc/1024539 |
