Oral Histories

Cutter turned down a music scholarship at an Illinois college to attend the Naval Academy, where he became an All-American football star and standout on the boxing team. Following graduation in 1935, Cutter embarked on a career heavily intertwined with sports. His first duty was as football coach for the ...

Darden's life was one of public service, as a U.S. Congressman, governor of Virginia, president of the University of Virginia, and delegate to the United Nations. This short volume concentrates on two facets of his career – as a Marine and a Congressman. A Marine Corps aviator in World War ...

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1929, Admiral Davidson served in the battleships Utah (BB-31) and Arizona (BB-39). From 1933, when he entered submarine school, through World War II, his life was submarines, with service in the USS Cachalot (SS-170) and S-45 (SS-156), and command of the S-44 (SS-155), ...

Admiral Bruce DeMars (1935- ) was one of the early successors of the legendary Admiral Hyman Rickover in running the Navy’s nuclear power program. He grew up in Chicago and received his bachelor’s degree and commission at the Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1957. In the following year ...

Admiral Dennison's memoir is an especially valuable one, because of his close contacts with prominent individuals, notably service from 1948 through 1953 as naval aide to President Harry Truman. Early in his career, Dennison was a submarine officer and acquired postgraduate education, including a doctorate in engineering. He had contact ...

During World War II, after being commissioned as a Naval Reserve officer, Dille was involved in the training of new recruits at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station north of Chicago. In 1942, with the influx of thousands of black sailors among the recruits, Dille volunteered to be involved in ...

General Doolittle describes in detail the background and preparation for the air attack he led on Tokyo in April 1942 – the famous Doolittle Raid. Among aspects he covers are mechanical difficulties, crew training, and the personalities he dealt with in bringing off this daring attack.

In this short volume, Captain Dornin, a highly successful World War II submarine skipper with nine successive war patrols, discusses his wartime service as aide to Chief of Naval Operations Ernest J. King. Among the topics he covers regarding Admiral King are a meeting with General De Gaulle, a hair-raising ...

Admiral Duncan was XO of the USS Hutchins (DD-476) in 1942 in combat action in the Aleutians and South Pacific, then CO of the USS Wilson (DD-408) taking part in action in the South and Central Pacific. After World War II, he served as XO of the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) ...

A native of Chicago, Dunn was captivated by aviation when he took his first airplane ride at age ten. After a year at Northwestern University in Illinois, he was appointed to the Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1951. His initial commissioned service, which included Korean War duty, was ...

In the years before and during World War II, Dyer acquired an intimate view of high-level command through his service on the staffs of Admiral James O. Richardson, Ernest J. King, and Richard L. Conolly. And early submariner, Dyer also served in a number of surface ships, including the battleship ...

This is the memoir of one of the most respected codebreakers of World War II. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1924, Dyer served in the battleship New Mexico (BB-40). During this duty his talent at puzzle-solving came to the attention of communications experts. He was stationed in Pearl ...