Collection:LPB

Genre: Interview

Place Covered: North Africa, Japan

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 2007-09-20

Duration: 00:49:21

Subjects: Arbour, Sidney V. (Sidney Vincent), 1914-2011 | World War II | Military | Veterans | World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives | United States. Navy | Housatonic (Tanker) | Sibley (Attack transport) | World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Africa, North | World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Pacific Ocean | Iwo Jima, Battle of, Japan, 1945 | World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Japan -- Okinawa Island

Contributors:

• Lefebvre, Marian Interviewer
• Arbour, Sidney V. Interviewee

An oral history interview conducted on September 20, 2007, with Sidney V. Arbour, Jr., a gunnery officer in the United States Navy during World War II. He discusses: his deployment on the USS Housatonic, an oil tanker; the ship’s role in transporting airplanes and refueling ships during the invasion of North Africa; his travels in the Atlantic theater; his transfer to the USS Sibley, a transport ship; the ship’s role in housing Marines before the Battle of Iwo Jima and caring for the wounded following the battle; the ship’s role in staging a fake invasion during the Battle of Okinawa; his travels in the Pacific, including Guadalcanal, the Philippines and Japan; his visit to Hiroshima following the atomic bomb blast; leading the search for missing Army whiskey on the ship; his return home from the war; and the two men that were lost from his ship. He also shares photographs of the USS Housatonic and the USS Sibley.