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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Service Unit/Ship: 4th Division, USS Nevada (BB 36); USS St. Louis (CL 49)
  • Location of Service: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Pacific; Guam (Mariana Islands); Midway; Guadalcanal, and Bougainville Island (Solomon Islands); Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands); Great Lakes, Illinois; Norfolk, Virginia
  • Highest Rank: Motor Machinist's Mate Second Class
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/861

View full service history

"There was so much smoke in the harbor, it just blocked out the sun…" (Audio interview, 10:54)

For Richard Paull, a Motor Machinist's Mate Second Class on the USS Nevada, the shock of the attack helped him overcome the fear and panic that he might have experienced. Time passed quickly as he pulled wounded soldiers out of the water and wrapped the dead in shrouds made of blankets ripped from ship bunks. Two days later, conditions were still surreal. Finally able to take time to sleep, he found a makeshift barracks: the lanes of a nearby bowling alley.

Richard M. Paull Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript

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Richard M. Paull Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript

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About this Item

Title

  • Richard M. Paull Collection

Names

  • Legacies: Stories from the Second World War
  • Paull, Richard M.
  • Swope, Thomas A.

Home State

  • Ohio

Headings

  • -  Paull, Richard M.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Service Unit/Ship: 4th Division, USS Nevada (BB 36); USS St. Louis (CL 49)
    • Location of Service: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Pacific; Guam (Mariana Islands); Midway; Guadalcanal, and Bougainville Island (Solomon Islands); Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands); Great Lakes, Illinois; Norfolk, Virginia
    • Highest Rank: Motor Machinist's Mate Second Class
    • Dates of Service: 1940-1946
    • Military Status: veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran is a Pearl Harbor survivor.

Materials

  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2005-10-18; 2005-10-18)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2002-01-30)
  • Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 2002-01-30; 2006-01-09)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 2006-01-03)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/861

Online Format

  • audio
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Legacies: Stories From The Second World War, Richard M Paull, and Thomas A Swope. Richard M. Paull Collection. 1940. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00861/.

APA citation style:

Legacies: Stories From The Second World War, Paull, R. M. & Swope, T. A. (1940) Richard M. Paull Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00861/.

MLA citation style:

Legacies: Stories From The Second World War, Richard M Paull, and Thomas A Swope. Richard M. Paull Collection. 1940. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00861/>.