Preserving the Voices of the Greatest Generation: The Center for Pacific War Studies’ Oral History Program

At the National Museum of the Pacific War, the Center for Pacific War Studies Oral History Program is dedicated to preserving and sharing the personal stories of individuals who experienced World War II in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater firsthand. With a collection of more than 5,000 oral histories, the program seeks to document the memories of World War II veterans, witnesses to wartime events, and individuals with experiences on the home front and in postwar occupations.

Since the program was started in 1988, dedicated museum volunteers have conducted thousands of oral histories that provide invaluable personal perspectives that help inspire and educate researchers, students, educators, families, and future generations to come.

Each interview captures unique stories of service, sacrifice, resilience, and daily life during one of the most significant periods in modern history. From combat experiences in the Pacific Theater to life on the home front, these firsthand accounts offer insights that cannot be found in textbooks alone.

One particularly compelling oral history in the collection comes from Will Lehner, a sailor aboard the USS Ward during the attack on Pearl Harbor. On the morning of December 7, 1941, Lehner took part in the Ward’s engagement against a Japanese midget submarine outside Pearl Harbor, an encounter widely recognized as the first American shots fired by the United States in World War II. Later that morning, he witnessed the beginning of the aerial attack firsthand, recalling: “Pretty soon, here came a couple of planes over towards us. They came down and dropped bombs on each side of us. They were low enough then that we could see and we could see the big red ball… I said, ‘God, those are Jap planes.’” His oral history provides a powerful firsthand account of one of the most pivotal moments in American history, and you can check out his full oral history here.

The Center is committed not only to recording these stories, but also to making them accessible to the public. Today, approximately 3,924 oral histories are available through the Portal to Texas History. Most of these collections include audio or video recordings, while a smaller number are available as transcript-only records. New oral histories are regularly recorded, transcribed, and added to the Portal, ensuring that these important voices are preserved before they are lost to time.

The oral history collection represents one of the Center’s most significant and widely utilized historical resources. To date, the oral history collection has been accessed more than 123,090 times through the Portal, demonstrating the continuing public interest in firsthand accounts of World War II and the enduring value of preserving these personal narratives.

As filmmaker Dan Wolf, producer of The Pacific War in Color, reflected, “When we discovered the online oral history collection at the National Museum of the Pacific War, we were like kids in a candy store. The stories were jaw-dropping, and the sheer volume of material allowed us to find a voice for just about any Pacific War storyline, combat or not.”

As we move further away from the end of World War II, preserving the Greatest Generation's stories becomes more urgent than ever. Each oral history serves as a lasting record of personal experiences that shaped both the Pacific War and the world that followed. Through these firsthand accounts, future generations can connect directly with the individuals who lived through this defining moment in history. Explore these remarkable stories through the Portal to Texas History Oral History Collection today!