Last week, I traveled to Arizona to visit with James Gann, who served in the 182nd Infantry during World War II. He joined Company G in 1943 on Fiji, survived the Battle of Hill 260, and finished the war (Leyte, Cebu, and Japan) in the Wire Section of 182nd Regimental Headquarters. James was kind enough to allow me to interview him about his experiences, and we recorded 90 minutes of his detailed first hand accounts of the war. He also allowed me to digitize his photographs from the war, which include many of the men of Company G in various Pacific locations. Some years ago, James had sent me photocopies of these pictures, but now we have the ability to share them in digital high resolution. Of particular importance to me was to get a good scan of his photos of James “June” Edwards, one of the men who was killed in action during the war.
I’ve included a few of James’ photos on this page. In the future I hope to upload either a transcript of the full interview, or perhaps the interview itself to YouTube. I’m still working out the best strategy on that, so please stay tuned.