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GILBREATH, Walter (b.1922)

Military ServiceU.S. Navy WWII Veteran

Oral Histories

OH 1688

For the Tarrant County War Veterans Project. Longtime North Texas business owner. Childhood in Navarro County, Texas, Altus, Oklahoma, and Lewisville, Texas; parents’ divorce and family break-up; struggles to survive in the Great Depression; experience working with heavy landscaping machinery in Civilian Conservation Corps at camps in Wyoming and Colorado; work as a ranch hand in West Texas; decision to enlist in U.S. Navy following Pearl Harbor; deployment as a mechanic on the USS Nassau; missions throughout Pacific theater; marriage to Lorena Bassinger; transfer to the minesweeper YMS-146; preparation for invasion of Japan; “shellback” initiations; discharge and return to North Texas; decision to open a tree-planting and nursery business; memorable jobs, including tree-planting at North Park Mall in Dallas and Dallas-Fort Worth Airport; lessons learned from World War II service.