Veteran interview with Paul Miller (A)
(5:10) Mr. Paul Miller describes his training in the Marines before being shipped to Iwo Jima during World War II. Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive Interview with Paul Miller July 12, 2011 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood Clip 1 Clint Alley: Okay, today...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/188 |
| format |
Electronic |
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War Years at Home and Abroad Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
| topic |
Military life |
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Military life Veteran interview with Paul Miller (A) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Military life Military training; World War 1939-1945 |
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(5:10) Mr. Paul Miller describes his training in the Marines before being shipped to Iwo Jima during World War II.
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Paul Miller
July 12, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: Okay, today is July 12, 2011. I'm Clint Alley with Rhonda Haygood and we're here to interview Mr. Paul Miller. Mr. Miller is going to tell us about his experiences in World War II. Mr. Miller, we'll go ahead and start out by asking you when and where were you born?
Paul Miller: Scottsboro, Alabama, December 13, 1925.
CA: And did you grow up in Scottsboro and live there most of your—?
PM: I did, yes, until I went in service.
CA: Okay.
PM: I've been back very little since then.
CA: Now were you drafted into the service?
PM: I was.
CA: Okay. What branch?
PM: Marine Corps.
CA: Okay. Ah, what year was that, that you were drafted?
PM: Let's see, when Pearl Harbor was bombed I was six days from my fifteenth birthday. Then November, well the next fall I started my senior year, turned seventeen in December, graduated in June, about June of course. I was still not old enough to get drafted so I had to wait until my eighteenth birthday which was December 13, 1943. And I actually went in service in January of '44.
CA: Okay. Did you go to boot camp at Paris Island?
PM: No, I didn't. Paris Island Marines always said, "Did you go to boot camp or San Diego?" I went to San Diego.
CA: Well what was boot camp like for you? PM: It was eight weeks of total isolation. You saw nobody except a couple of drill sergeants and you know, once every couple of weeks you saw a second lieutenant who inspected and checked your rifles and things like that. We had ah, three or four weeks of nothing but close order drill and crawling through mud and slime and stuff like that. Then for the last three or four weeks we went to a rifle range and learned to fire all weapons including our rifles.
CA: Okay. All right. And so that took you eight weeks in 1944.
PM: Yes.
CA: Okay. Do you remember where you went from there?
PM: I do, I stayed on, at the Marine Corps base and went to, ah, telephone school. From there I went to Camp Pendleton for another, I don't remember how long, maybe two or three months of field telephone school. Ah, then when I finished that I went to a transient battalion at Camp Pendleton and was there until I was sent overseas.
CA: And Camp Pendleton, where is that?
PM: It's midway between San Diego and Los Angeles. It's on, on the coast.
CA: Okay.
PM: At Oceanside, I believe is the name of the nearest town.
CA: Okay. And then you went to the Pacific.
PM: I did.
CA: Okay. Ah, well tell us about that. What was, do you, where was your first assignment after you were shipped out?
PM: I went overseas to Pearl Harbor to a transient battalion there, and then after a week or two in the transient battalion they sent me to Maui where I joined the 4th Marine division that had just returned from the Saipan-Tinian Operations. I was one boot amidst, oh, eighteen or twenty seasoned veterans. So, it was a little rough.
CA: Yeah. All right. Well, where did, where did you go from there?
PM: Ah, well I stayed there, let's see, I got, got to Maui the 4th division camp in mid October, I guess, of '44. And we trained there as a unit. I was in a special unit, a communications unit, 4th JASCO. And Maui, it seemed that where our camp was located was the dividing line between the wet and dry side of the island. I've often said that it was the only place in the world that you could walk in the rain with dust blowing in your face. But we went to the wet side on the other side of the island to jungle training. And then we went to the dry side for beach landings, to practice beach landings. And we had plenty of both. And January the 1st of '45 we went aboard ships. We lived on the ships in Pearl Harbor for two or three weeks. And we went to Maui and made practice landings on the beach and then went back and stayed in, Pearl, at anchor in Pearl Harbor for several days. And finally, ah, it must have been late January that we started, we boarded ships, or we stayed aboard ships and headed west. And was the only operation I ever made was Iwo Jima.
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| title |
Veteran interview with Paul Miller (A) |
| titleStr |
Veteran interview with Paul Miller (A) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLwar188 |
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https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/188 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/war/id/188 |
| _version_ |
1705462193039867904 |
| spelling |
Veteran interview with Paul Miller (A)Military training; World War 1939-1945(5:10) Mr. Paul Miller describes his training in the Marines before being shipped to Iwo Jima during World War II.
Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryPaul Miller2011-07-12sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishPart of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionMay be protected by U.S. Copyright laws. Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Paul Miller
July 12, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: Okay, today is July 12, 2011. I'm Clint Alley with Rhonda Haygood and we're here to interview Mr. Paul Miller. Mr. Miller is going to tell us about his experiences in World War II. Mr. Miller, we'll go ahead and start out by asking you when and where were you born?
Paul Miller: Scottsboro, Alabama, December 13, 1925.
CA: And did you grow up in Scottsboro and live there most of your—?
PM: I did, yes, until I went in service.
CA: Okay.
PM: I've been back very little since then.
CA: Now were you drafted into the service?
PM: I was.
CA: Okay. What branch?
PM: Marine Corps.
CA: Okay. Ah, what year was that, that you were drafted?
PM: Let's see, when Pearl Harbor was bombed I was six days from my fifteenth birthday. Then November, well the next fall I started my senior year, turned seventeen in December, graduated in June, about June of course. I was still not old enough to get drafted so I had to wait until my eighteenth birthday which was December 13, 1943. And I actually went in service in January of '44.
CA: Okay. Did you go to boot camp at Paris Island?
PM: No, I didn't. Paris Island Marines always said, "Did you go to boot camp or San Diego?" I went to San Diego.
CA: Well what was boot camp like for you? PM: It was eight weeks of total isolation. You saw nobody except a couple of drill sergeants and you know, once every couple of weeks you saw a second lieutenant who inspected and checked your rifles and things like that. We had ah, three or four weeks of nothing but close order drill and crawling through mud and slime and stuff like that. Then for the last three or four weeks we went to a rifle range and learned to fire all weapons including our rifles.
CA: Okay. All right. And so that took you eight weeks in 1944.
PM: Yes.
CA: Okay. Do you remember where you went from there?
PM: I do, I stayed on, at the Marine Corps base and went to, ah, telephone school. From there I went to Camp Pendleton for another, I don't remember how long, maybe two or three months of field telephone school. Ah, then when I finished that I went to a transient battalion at Camp Pendleton and was there until I was sent overseas.
CA: And Camp Pendleton, where is that?
PM: It's midway between San Diego and Los Angeles. It's on, on the coast.
CA: Okay.
PM: At Oceanside, I believe is the name of the nearest town.
CA: Okay. And then you went to the Pacific.
PM: I did.
CA: Okay. Ah, well tell us about that. What was, do you, where was your first assignment after you were shipped out?
PM: I went overseas to Pearl Harbor to a transient battalion there, and then after a week or two in the transient battalion they sent me to Maui where I joined the 4th Marine division that had just returned from the Saipan-Tinian Operations. I was one boot amidst, oh, eighteen or twenty seasoned veterans. So, it was a little rough.
CA: Yeah. All right. Well, where did, where did you go from there?
PM: Ah, well I stayed there, let's see, I got, got to Maui the 4th division camp in mid October, I guess, of '44. And we trained there as a unit. I was in a special unit, a communications unit, 4th JASCO. And Maui, it seemed that where our camp was located was the dividing line between the wet and dry side of the island. I've often said that it was the only place in the world that you could walk in the rain with dust blowing in your face. But we went to the wet side on the other side of the island to jungle training. And then we went to the dry side for beach landings, to practice beach landings. And we had plenty of both. And January the 1st of '45 we went aboard ships. We lived on the ships in Pearl Harbor for two or three weeks. And we went to Maui and made practice landings on the beach and then went back and stayed in, Pearl, at anchor in Pearl Harbor for several days. And finally, ah, it must have been late January that we started, we boarded ships, or we stayed aboard ships and headed west. And was the only operation I ever made was Iwo Jima.
http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/war,188 |