Donald Campbell oral history interview

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald L. Campbell. Campbell joined the Navy in August 1943, at the age of eighteen. He completed gunnery school in Gulf Port, Mississippi and served as an Armed Guard aboard Merchant Marine ships. In February 1944, he was transported to Fremantle, Australia. Campbell shares his experiences getting initiated upon crossing the equator, and transporting supplies of ammunition, bombs, planes and Army trucks to Calcutta, India. He notes going through the Suez Canal in their travels to New York. In August 1944, he was assigned to SS Ralph W. Emerson, and traveled to Scotland and unloaded food and ammunition supplies to Omaha Beach in September. In December, they traveled through the Panama Canal on their way to deliver supplies to Manus Island and Bougainville and landed in Manila by the end of May 1945. He continued his service after the war ended, receiving his discharge in March 1946.