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The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William H Mullins. Mullins joined the Navy in July 1939 and received basic training in San Diego. Following in the footsteps of his father, a World War I Navy man, he attended machinist�s mate school. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Tangier (AV-8) at Pearl Harbor. On 7 December 1941, Mullins was on duty in the engine room, monitoring lubrication of large bearings at the recently damaged propeller shaft. He received updates on the action from someone shouting from above, and he felt the ship heave out of the water when a bomb landed in the mud nearby. Mullins was selected to attend Officer Training School at the University of New Mexico under the V-12 program. He was then assigned to the USS Coghlan (DD-606), where he was responsible for the rescue of downed pilots. Before his discharge, he served briefly in Japan; Mullins recalls vividly the ruins of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.