Pearl Harbor: December 7th, 1941

Interview with WWII Veteran Gerry Hosford at Delaney Street Baptist Church in Orlando, FL, May 30th, 2010, Memorial Day weekend. Veteran Hosford served as Staff Sergeant in the Army Air Corps during WWII working on aircraft such as B-10's and the Keystone Bomber. He recalls being on a date in a movie theater in Shreveprt, LA when the news broke out: "Pearl Harbor has been bombed. All military report to base." His date was surprised because he hadn't told her he was in the military. Mr. Hosford remembers Orlando as a small town when he came in the 1960s and today he says Orlando, "Is a wonderful place to be!"

Interview with WWII Veteran Robert Brodrick at VFW 4287 in Orlando, FL, Memorial Day 2010. Veteran Brodrick served in the U.S. Army as a Platoon Sergeant in Europe during WWII. He recalls in detail firsthand experiences liberating the first big town in France, Nancy, (The Battle of Nancy in 1944) and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge - Operation Market Basket. He shares his military experiences in Belgium, France, Holland, and Germany where he got hit with shrapnel on Dec.10th and was back on the frontline on Dec.16th. Veteran Brodrick is thankful "to all the buddies who sacrificed  their life to give me this freedom". He currently serves in the Honor Guard at VFW 4287.

Interview with WWII Veteran Clyde Russell McCumber at Delaney Street Baptist Church in Orlando, FL, June 30th, 2010. Veteran McCumber was on his way to church when the war began and was dodging bullets in the Phillipines when the war ended. He served in the Army Air Corps from March 1st, 1943 to March 1st, 1946. He remembers those who didn't come home and gave their life so he could keep on living. Veteran McCumber has an appreciation for our country and all the advantages we have in the United States: "I think America is the greatest!"

Interview with WWII Veteran Tom Connors at St. James Cathedral Church, Orlando, FL, July 1st, 2010.

Veteran Connors served in the Southwest Pacific during the war in extremely native areas such as New Guinea and Okinawa. He is the only living survivor from the original WWII Navy 7th Fleet Amphibious Force. Hear his firsthand detailed account of landing in New Britain, delivering mail through New Guinea, listening to Tokyo Rose on the radio, seeing the Bob Hope Show  in New Guinea and meeting Russian female soldiers on a train from Manchuria.  Veteran Connors  shares his memories of the crew and ships he experienced while serving his country.  At the beginning of WWII they worked on a wooden ship  from WWI because that is what they had.  They had a good  navigator  Bill Robinson, who went on to become managing editor of  Yachting  magazine.

Having  studied radio in New York at RCA Radio School, Veteran Connors worked the radio shack on the ship and was the  radio man  receiving the message from President Truman: "We have dropped an A-bomb on Hiroshima". He discusses the Japanese suicide bombers, typhoons and mines at sea.

He is thankful to God to be close to death and survive it. He says, "If you're ever called on to serve this country, serve it.  It will be an honor and you'll be proud."

Interview with  WWII  Veteran Tom Connors at St. James Cathedral Church, Orlando, FL, July 1st, 2010. Veteran Connors served in the Southwest Pacific during the war in extremely native areas such as New Guinea and Okinawa. He is the only living survivor from the original WWII Navy 7th Fleet Amphibious Force. Hear his firsthand detailed account of landing in New Britain, delivering mail through New Guinea, listening to Tokyo Rose on the radio, seeing the Bob Hope Show in New Guinea and meeting Russian female soldiers on a train from Manchuria. Veteran Connors shares his memories of the crew and ships he experienced while serving his country.

At the beginning of WWII they worked on a wooden ship from WWI because that is what they had. They had a good navigator Bill Robinson, who went on to become managing editor of Yachting magazine. Having studied radio in New York at RCA radio school, Veteran Connors worked the radio shack on the ship and was the radio man receiving the message from President Truman: "We have dropped an A-bomb on Hiroshima".

He discusses the Japanese suicidal bombers, typhoons and mines at sea. He is thankful to God to be close to death and survive it. He says, "If you're ever called on to serve this country, serve it. It will be an honor and you'll be proud.

Interview with WWII Veteran Tom Connors at St. James Cathedral Church, Orlando, FL, July 1st, 2010.

Veteran Connors served in the Southwest Pacific during the war in extremely native areas such as New Guinea and Okinawa. He is the only living survivor from the original WWII Navy 7th Fleet Amphibious Force. Hear his firsthand detailed account of landing in New Britain, delivering mail through New Guinea, listening to Tokyo Rose on the radio, seeing the Bob Hope Show  in New Guinea and meeting Russian female soldiers on a train from Manchuria.  Veteran Connors  shares his memories of the crew and ships he experienced while serving his country.  At the beginning of WWII they worked on a wooden ship  from WWI because that is what they had.  They had a good  navigator  Bill Robinson, who went on to become managing editor of Yachting magazine.

Having  studied radio in New York at RCA Radio School, Veteran Connors worked the radio shack on the ship and was the  radio man  receiving the message from President Truman: "We have dropped an A-bomb on Hiroshima". He discusses the Japanese suicide bombers, typhoons and mines at sea.

He is thankful to God to be close to death and survive it. He says, "If you're ever called on to serve this country, serve it.  It will be an honor and you'll be proud."

Interview with World War II Veteran Jerry Kinsley at St. James Cathedral in Orlando, FL, August 12th, 2010.

Veteran Kinsley served in the 90th Naval Construction Battalion in and around Japan. A contracter by profession, Mr. Kinsley was at work building  the plant  for the  atomic bomb when he  quit to serve in the military. He saw many boys coming back from the war who had lost limbs and he thought "I got to do something to help".  He went directly to the volunteer office on Orange Avenue  in downtown Orlando and volunteered. A week after bootcamp he was in Pearl Harbor: "It was pretty well shot up. I saw a lot of ships on their  sides in the harbor."

Serving in WWII showed him "You can help other people." He is proud  he was a part of WWII and that we did win. He says, "It is unbelievable we could be in the spot we were in with nothing and in a year's time we got more boats, planes, jeeps than there were in the rest of the world. Pretty good accomplishment for the boys fighting in WWII." Hear his firsthand account of these historic events. 

Interview with Mr. Jerry Kinsley, at Saint James Cathedral in Orlando, FL on August 12th, 2010.

Mr. Kinsley recalls coming to Orlando in 1939 and marrying  his wife, Elizabeth, at Saint James Catholic Church in downtown Orlando in 1941, when it was still a little wooden church. His daughter, Patricia, remembers the beautiful sound her dress shoes made on the church floor. She shares the memories with her husband, Al Stinson, of raising their four children at Saint James Cathedral Church and school.