John F. Wiggins
Connor Nolan
Mr. Thomas
USH Period 7
9 May 2006
The interview conducted below recounts the experiences of John F. Wiggins during World War Two. A Private First Class with the U.S. 6th Army he participated in the Battle of Rabaul. Rabaul was a Japanese stronghold on the island of New Guinea. The United States needed to take the fortress to liberate the island. They were successful in the operation.
Transcript of interview with John F. Wiggins conducted 22 April 2006.
Interviewer: Connor Nolan
Time Start: 1:03 PM
Q: Grandpa I have to ask you some questions for my United States History project, about World War Two, alright?
A: Okay.
Q: You joined the service right?
A: That’s right, I was in the Army.
Q: Were you drafted?
A: No, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, I went down to the recruiting center and signed up right away.
Q: Alright, and did you start fighting as soon as you signed up?
A: Oh, heavens no, first we had to go down to Camp Atterbury for basic training.
Q: And how long did that take?
A: Oh…I’d say about 6 months give or take.
Q: Ok, so after you were done with basic training what did you do?
A: We were shipped down to Barksdale in Louisiana to practice tactical maneuvering in the swamps.
Q: So after that training where did they send you?
A: Well, we spent a good 7 or 8 months in Barksdale, and then they sent us to San Francisco and loaded us onto boats.
Q: Where did you go?
A: We went across the entire ocean, Pacific that is, and we landed in Australia a couple of weeks later.
Q: What did you do then?
A: Well we went to a little place called Brisbane, tiny, tiny place, really, but all around it was a huge military base. Huge! Cause, General MacArthur had his headquarters there and such.
Q: Alright, and what was the year?
A: It was somewhere abouts mid-1943 by that time.
Q: So had you seen any fighting yet?
A: No, but then we put into a unit that was part of the Sixth Army, that was MacArthur’s.
Q: So you were serving directly under General MacArthur?
A: Yes sir, and almost as soon as we were put into the Sixth we went out on the ships in something the officers called ‘Operation Cartwheel’.
Q: And what was that?
A: The Colonel said that, Colonel Rogers as I remember, he said that it was our goal to cut off the Japanese base of Rabaul on the island of New Guinea.
Q: Alright and what exactly did you do?
A: Well since I wasn’t trained in amphibious landing. I stayed on the cruiser we had, the U.S.S. Salt Lake City, but once the Marines had cleared the beach we went in.
Q: So how much fighting did you see?
A: Well the word was that the Navy was repairing itself for some big campaign about to happen, so we saw fighting almost everyday for about 4 months straight.
Q: Wow, so what was the big campaign that the Navy was planning?
A: Well, we didn’t know much at the time, but a few months later we heard that the Japs had been slaughtered in the ‘Turkey Shoot’ at Leyte Gulf.
Q: So, after that what did you do?
A: Well MacArthur had said it was time to return, to the Philippines, that is. I guess he decided the time was right for him to make good on his promise.
Q: Alright, and what did you do?
A: Well we sailed up to Corregidor and this time I did take part in the landing, and after we cleared the beach, the general waded ashore, and I was about, oh, 10 feet away from him when he finally got out of the surf and said that he had returned.
Q: So after that what did you do?
A: Well, not much really, I didn’t see anymore action, maybe a skirmish here or there. But, I followed the new recruits up through the Philippines, and helped repair bases the Japs had destroyed.
Q: So when did you get to go home?
A: I left the Philippines sometime in June of ’44, and got home on August 15, 1944.
Q: And after that?
A: I got to raising a family.
Q: Alright, thank you Grandpa.
A: Anytime.
Time Finish: 2:16 PM