| 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 26 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030317 |
| OCR Text |
Show ROB RT D. HAFFER PRJ 29 2002 He was about, I guess, say this far from me. There was an En ign Hob n right b hind him. One of the rounds got Lieutenant Ingersoll in the heart. BEC: Oh. ROB: And then it raked down the island. The Marine gun crew at the 1.1 gun, Sergeant Ignacio us was killed. There was a young Marine by the name of Humfleet who had just stuck his head up above the clipping room. There's an armored clipping room on the flight deck, and he just stuck his head up, and his head was blown off. So we suffered casualties from our own people, not from the Japanese. BEC: ROB: BEC: ROB: Did you get hurt? No, I was lucky. Wow. Very. That was one of the closest times I came to getting killed. I'll tell you about the other one later. But after that, the battle continued on. We chased the Japanese for, I think, about three days. Their fourth carrier was sunk, as I remember, the second day. We got the cruiser Mogami about the third or the fourth day and there were some others, but basically, we didn't attack their invasion fleet, their transports carrying the Japanese troops, because they heard about the naval battle and turned back to Japan. BEC: I see. ROB: But then after that we pulled into Pearl Harbor and the people thought we were the saviors. The populace thought-well, we were great. Anyhow, let's try and think-oh, I forgot to tell you, too, when we were off northeast of Midway, we were told that we were being backed up with the battleships and cruisers that had been repaired on the West Coast. Trouble was, they were a thousand miles east of us, so there wasn't much 26 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64t8mfb/1030317 |
