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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army Air Forces/Corps
  • Unit of Service: 9th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group
  • Location of Service: China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

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"You have a tendency to want to duck but you can’t duck because you have a job to do."

Sharing his experiences with a classroom of special education students, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Alfonso Perez, who served throughout the China-Burma-India Theater in WWII, recalls his most difficult take-off: “We were all lined up. The first plane went to take off. He didn’t have the speed and exploded. On the next plane, apparently the pilot was nervous. He started putting on the brakes, and he exploded.” Perez recalls losing twenty of his friends while waiting to depart. “And then we were next to take off. And the pilot just decided we were going to make it all the way -- we were going to have full power. I remember that. Thanksgiving Day, 1943.”

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About this Item

Title

  • Alfonso Bernard Perez Collection

Names

  • Los Angeles Unified School District
  • Leonard, Diane
  • Perez, Alfonso Bernard
  • Pacheco, Bryan

State of Birth

  • TX

Home State

  • CA

Headings

  • -  Perez, Alfonso Bernard
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army Air Forces/Corps.

Notes

  • -  A special education class jointly interviewed the veteran.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • Hispanic

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army Air Forces/Corps
    • Unit of Service: 9th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group
    • Location of Service: China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater
    • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
    • Dates of Service: 1941-1945
    • Entrance into Service: Drafted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: VHS [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 05/19/2005)
  • Video: MiniDV [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 05/19/2005)
  • Photograph: Original photographic print [3 items] -- Photograph (collected 05/19/2005)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/34427

Cite as

  • Alfonso Bernard Perez Collection (AFC/2001/001/34427), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

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

Recording:

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

Photograph:

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

Computer file:

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

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), 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:

Los Angeles Unified School District, Diane Leonard, Alfonso Bernard Perez, and Bryan Pacheco. Alfonso Bernard Perez Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.34427/.

APA citation style:

Los Angeles Unified School District, Leonard, D., Perez, A. B. & Pacheco, B. (1941) Alfonso Bernard Perez Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.34427/.

MLA citation style:

Los Angeles Unified School District, et al. Alfonso Bernard Perez Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.34427/>.