Oral History Interview with Bill Smith, September 17, 2011 All Tracks

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Smith. Smith joined the Navy in October 1940 and received basic training in San Diego. Upon completion, he was sent to Pearl Harbor, where he worked as a baker. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was aboard the USS California (BB-44), hoisting ammunition from the third deck to the antiaircraft guns topside. The California was torpedoed, damaging fuel lines and covering Smith in oil. Stunned by the explosion, he was urged to jump ship by Marines, whom he credits with saving his life. He swam to safety and was later transferred to Kaneohe. Six months later he was reassigned to the submarine base at Pearl Harbor, and six months later to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. As a baker, he had a fair amount of free time, and so he enrolled at the high school in Honolulu. There he met his first wife, whom he married in 1943. Smith was on his way to the States with orders to attend chief petty officer school when the war ended.

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