The U.S. Naval Institute Memoir Collection

The U.S. Naval Institute’s Memoir Collection honors and preserves the personal stories of those who served in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. For family members, friends, shipmates, and researchers, the growing Collection serves as a valuable source of firsthand accounts and primary-source history.

  • Many rank their military service as a defining milestone in their lives.
  • While service memoirs generally face tough hurdles in the publishing market, the Naval Institute Memoir Collection provides authors with an accessible, central online location for the preservation of their autobiographical accounts, viewable today and by future generations as well. Whether already self-published or never published, their stories have a welcoming venue in perpetuity with the USNI Memoir Collection.
  • Others may have a memoir - of their own or of a family member's service - simply gathering dust somewhere, unseen but nonetheless a part of the overall American historical record. With the Memoir Collection, such memories - be they in the form of a shorter vignette or a fuller autobiography - now have a valued place in a permanent, searchable online archive.
  • Learn more by clicking below.

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Captain William Green
Memoir

Prelude - The Korean War

William C. Green
Korean War
Prelude - The Korean War Captain Green graduated from the University of Southern California’s NROTC program in 1952 and was immediately assigned to the cruiser USS Helena (CA-75) in Korean waters. Next came duty in various submarines, culminating in command...
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Memoir

Hal's Navy

Harold H. Sacks
Vietnam War
Commander Sacks' memoir covers the breadth of his 20-year naval career, beginning with his experiences at Officer Candidate School in 1952, through the Korean War, the Vietnam War, to his retirement in 1972.
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Captain William Green
Memoir

Arriving Aboard USS Helena (CA75)

William C. Green
Korean War
Arriving Aboard USS Helena (CA75) Captain Green graduated from the University of Southern California’s NROTC program in 1952 and was immediately assigned to the cruiser USS Helena (CA-75) in Korean waters. Next came duty in various submarines, culminating in command...
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Emile F. Domning
Memoir

WORLD WAR II REMINISCENCES OF EMILE F. DOMNING

Emile Frederick Domning
World War II
This memoir is a transcript of audio tapes made in 1976, 1984, 1987, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004, which were recorded, transcribed, and edited by Daryl Domning. "ADB" denotes information supplied by Alice Domning Burnham. Material in...
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Memoir

Samuel Eliot Morison Looks Back on World War II

Samuel Eliot Morison
World War II
Samuel Eliot Morison, the dean of American maritime and naval history, is most renowned and revered for his epic 15-volume magnum opus “History of United States Naval Operations in World War II.” He wrote several other massively popular and influential...
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