BALCH, Jean (b. 1923) | Oral History

BALCH, Jean (b. 1923)

Oral Histories

His experiences in the Pacific Theater; and his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Boot camp at San Diego, California, 1942; radio school, San Diego, California, 1942; radar school, Memphis, Tennessee, 1943; gunnery school, Yellow Water, Florida, 1944; assignment as a radioman-gunner on a SBD with Bombing Squadron 3, USS Yorktown, October, 1944; operations during the Leyte invasion, November, 1944; missions over Luzon, December, 1944; Task Force 38, the Yorktown, and the typhoon off northwest Luzon, December, 1944; raids on Japanese installations on Formosa and Saigon, French Indo-China, January, 1945; his plane shot down on a raid to Hong Kong and his capture on January 16, 1945; interrogations and beatings by the Kempei-tai; trip from Hong Kong to Japan via Formosa; imprisonment at Ofuna, Honshu; solitary confinement for six months and continued interrogation; beatings by Japanese prison guards; starvation diet; end of the war and liberation; his participation in the war crimes trials held by the International Military Tribunal, Far East, in Tokyo, 1947-48.
Date of Interview: October 12, 1996

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