Southern Oregon Stories The War

Southern Oregon Stories: The War

In an effort to preserve an important piece of history and the contributions of southern Oregon’s local veterans, SO PBS interviewed eight area residents for their stories of World War II.

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: Lawrence J. Bradford

1st Lieutenant US Army; 83rd Infantry Division; 324th Field Artillery Battalion

Served in the Army, Normandy through to Berlin

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: Janet L. Nelson

Student at McKinley High School (near Pearl Harbor) in Honolulu, Hawaii, December 7, 1941

Later in life, was an aircraft ferry pilot

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: Earle Tyerman

Corporal, Expert Rifleman, United States Army Forward Echelon, 7th Corps

Landed at Utah beach the day before D-Day

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: Kay G. Chaffey

Flew Cargo as a WWIIW.A.S.P.

Women Airforce Service Pilots

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: Gordon (Bud) Durna

Seaman 2nd Class, Naval Aviator; Bombing Squadron #5; USS Yorktown

Earned a Purple Heart

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: Robert “Bob” Sage

Corporal, Messenger, 2nd Battalion, 347th Infantry, 87th Division, Left Flank of the 3rd Army

Shares the hard reality of losing a good friend to war

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: August Egli

Staff Sergeant, Motor Pool, 3rd Armored Signal Battalion, Camp Polk, Louisiana

Single-handedly “sunk” a Japanese cargo submarine

SOUTHERN OREGON STORIES: Keith D. Arasmith

Private US Army; Superintendent of Heavy Equipment; 802nd Engineer Aviation Battalion

Nearly killed in a caterpillar tractor accident

A production of Southern Oregon Public Television