| Title |
Robert D. Shaffer, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, April 29, 2002: Saving the Legacy tape no. 448 and 449 |
| Alternative Title |
Robert D. Shaffer, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Shaffer, Robert D., 1917-2015 |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2002-04-29 |
| Date Digital |
2015-12-16 |
| 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 |
Hawaii; Solomon Islands; Guam; Bonin Islands, Japan; Japan; Korea |
| Subject |
Shaffer, Robert D., 1917-2015--Interviews; Veterans--United States--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Marines--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Naval operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Military operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area--Personal narratives, American; Midway, Battle of, 1942--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
Jimmy Doolittle; Doolittle's raid; USS Hornet (Ship); Panama Canal; USS Montpelier; War crimes trials |
| Description |
Transcript (72 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Robert D. Shaffer on April 29, 2002. From tape numbers 448 and 449 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Shaffer (b. 1917) recalls growing up in Vandalia, Illinois, and discusses the Depression. He participated in ROTC at the University of Illinois and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1940. He served aboard the USS Hornet at the time of Pearl Harbor, recalls Doolittle's raid over Tokyo, and the battle of Midway. He also served aboard the Montpelier and saw action in the Solomon Islands. After a period on Guam, he was assigned to occupation duty on Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands, where he served as the senior member of the board of investigation for war crimes. He also served in Korea as naval gunfire officer for the 1st Marine Division. He retired in 1961 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Interviewed by Becky Lloyd. 72 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
72 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/s64t8mfb |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Naval--American; Midway, Battle of (1942) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030365 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64t8mfb |
| Title |
Page 21 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030312 |
| OCR Text |
Show ROBERT D. H FFER PRI 2 2002 BEC: Uh-huh. ROB: It's up in the after end of the island. I hear some gunfire and off t th port side is the cruiser, Nashville. END OF SIDE A, TAPE 1 ROB: So the Nashville was a type of light cruiser that had a forward turret, then there was an elevated turret, then there was another turret, and this was forward of the superstructure. Then there were two turrets aft, and she was firing at what looked like a couple of fishing boats. And her gunnery was so bad that Admiral Halsey directed two of the destroyers of the screen to ram the fishing boats, which they did. Now, this was 800 miles out from Tokyo, so we figured that they were picket boats, they weren't fishing boats. And they weren't. You can read in this book, the Japanese had established a screen and these people that we sank had alerted the Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo. But, they figured since we were carriers that we'd be launching the attack with carrier planes so we'd be closing in to about 250 miles, which would be the range of carriers. But, anyhow, we turned into the wind-Oh, in those days, too, you had to have twenty-five knots of wind over the flight deck so you could launch. So we turned into the wind and Colonel Doolittle took off first, and all of them took off, well, except for the last one. And I'll show you a picture here of how it looked. There's a picture here of the Hornet. This is taken from the Enterprise. You could see about how rotten a day it was. Well, the last plane here, the sailor that was pulling the chock from under the left wheel slipped and the propeller cut his arm off. 21 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64t8mfb/1030312 |
