| Title |
Warren S. Wimmer, American Fork, Utah: an interview by Winston Erickson, May 26, 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 25, 26, and 27 |
| Alternative Title |
Warren Wimmer, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Wimmer, Warren, 1920-2006 |
| Contributor |
Erickson, Winston P., 1943-; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2000-05-26 |
| 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; Guadalcanal; Tulaghi Island (Solomon Islands); Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands; Savo Island; American Fork, Utah County, Utah, United States |
| Subject |
Wimmer, Warren, 1920-2006--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 (53 pages) of an interview by Winston P. Erickson with Warren S. Wimmer on May 26, 2000. This is from tape numbers 25, 26, and 27 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Wimmer (b. 1920) recalls his childhood in rural Utah and enlisting in the Navy in July 1941. After basic training he was assigned to the USS Rigal in Hawaii. Upon his arrival he learned that the Rigal had been towed to Hawaii to be converted into a destroyer tender and was in the process of being rebuilt. He gives a long and vivid account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the aftermath. He served on work parties that recovered bodies before being admitted to the hospital for shrapnel wounds. On December 10 he was evacuated with other wounded from Pearl Harbor on a luxury liner with two coast guard cutters as escort. He was later assigned to the USS Shaw and saw combat at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Saipan, and Savo Island. 53 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
53 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/s6jh5kdz |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Naval--American; Pearl Harbor, Attack on (Hawaii : 1941) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1026083 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6jh5kdz |
| Title |
Page 35 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1026062 |
| OCR Text |
Show W RRE . WIMMER a ' 26 2000 dare clo e our eye , or leep. We had not had any food, and we were tired. The R d ro got together and they tried to bring out orne food to u . They gave u orne food and told u to report back to the hospital as oon as it was light enough, and we would be a igned working parties to go out and do what we could. It was about seven thirty, or eight o'clock, when I was relieved from my gun tation. I went back to the hospital where I was assigned to a working party, and was given an old sweater to put on. That was the first time I'd had anything to eat in almost thirty some odd hours. So from that point on, I was assigned to different working parties. The next is a very difficult time for me to talk about because it was terrible. I was assigned to go to Aiwa Landing, the long dock. All of the small boats and motor launches in the bay were picking up the ones that had been killed-suffocated because of the oil spills, the oil slick that was on fire that had jumped off the ships. We were sent out in the bay on fifty foot, and forty foot, motor launches to pick up the dead. I had a bow hook on a fifty foot motor launch. And, as we would pull up alongside a corpse that was floating in the water, we'd grab hold of it, and pull it over into the motor launch. Lots of times when you'd go to pull on the arm, or the leg, to get hold of the corps, it would pull off because they were burnt so bad they were like they had been cooked. By the time you got it into the motor launch you might have half of a body, or just parts of a body, or just a leg or an arm or something that had come loose. And I worked on that working party all the rest of that day. We would put twenty-five or thirty-whatever we could get-into our motor launches, and we would put them in there like you were catching fish. We would pull over to the 33 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6jh5kdz/1026062 |