This collection includes seventeen interviews detailing United States Army, Navy, and Marines veterans’ recollections of listening to the “Tokyo Rose” Japanese radio broadcast while serving in the Pacific Theater during World War Two. The interviews were conducted in 1987 by Clover Koopman as part of her master’s thesis War of Words and Music: Veterans Remember ‘Tokyo Rose’. The interviewees discuss understanding Tokyo Rose’s broadcasts to be propaganda, designed to demoralize them. They recall varying degrees of fear or anger while listening to her prisoner of war broadcasts and predictions of U.S. strikes. The original interviews are held as Oral History collection 238 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
This collection includes 17 interviews.
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Barry Zorthian Interview, November 25, 1987
Barry Zorthian
Barry Zorthian discusses the effectiveness of Tokyo Rose’s World War Two propaganda, which he listened to while serving in the U.S. Marines in the Pacific Theater. He discusses strategies he used as a propaganda specialist during the Vietnam War, such as emphasizing homesickness or loneliness. ... Read More
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Bill Ohrmann Interview, October 28, 1987
Bill Ohrmann
Bill Ohrmann recalls serving as a U.S. Army Air Corps member in the Pacific Theater during World War Two. He discusses Tokyo Rose’s broadcasts, which he listened to while on guard duty in New Guinea, and recalls that the troops did not take the propaganda ... Read More
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Bob Johnson Interview, October 29, 1987
Bob Johnson
Bob Johnson recalls his World War Two service in the Sixth Defense Battalion of the United States Marines Corps on Sand Island, of the Midway Islands, in 1943 and 1944. Johnson discusses listening to Tokyo Rose for entertainment, and remembers the servicemen guessing that Tokyo ... Read More
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Clifford Uyeda Interview, February 19, 1988
Clifford Uyeda
Doctor Clifford Uyeda discusses his work, beginning in the 1950s, to obtain a presidential pardon for Iva Toguri, indicted by the U.S. government as “Tokyo Rose.” He recounts Toguri’s plight during World War Two, as an American citizen stuck in Japan, and her struggle to ... Read More
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Clover Koopman Radio Broadcast, March 1988
Clover Koopman
Clover Koopman introduces her oral history project, War of Words and Music: Veterans Remember “Tokyo Rose”, and provides background on “Tokyo Rose” and Iva Toguri—the voice behind Tokyo Rose. Using clips from Tokyo Rose broadcasts, interviews with World War Two veterans and historians, Koopman provides ... Read More
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Gareth Moon Interview, October 25, 1987
Gareth Moon
Gareth Moon discusses his experiences with Tokyo Rose while serving in the 9th regiment, 2nd battalion, 3rd division of the U.S. Marine Corps during World War Two He specifically discusses Japanese air attack while posted at Henderson Field in Guadalcanal, either in 1943 or 1945. ... Read More
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Georgana Egeland Interview, October 27, 1987
Georgana Egeland
Georgana Egeland discusses her husband, Roy Egeland’s experience listening to Tokyo Rose while serving in the United States Navy during in the Pacific Theater during World War Two. She recalls her husband remembering enjoying the music in Tokyo Rose’s broadcasts, and while some of the ... Read More
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Ken McConnell Interview, October 2, 1987
Ken McConnell
Ken McConnell recalls his World War Two service in the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army, from August 1942 to November 1945, in the Pacific theater. He remembers listening to the broadcasts of Tokyo Rose including: her selection of popular music from the United States; ... Read More
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Kenneth R. M. Short Interview, December 3, 1987
Kenneth R. M. Short
Doctor Kenneth R. M. Short discusses U.S. radio propaganda during World War Two. He discusses the Office of War Information, which existed from 1942 to 1943 in the United States, which released propaganda aimed at U.S. citizens’ perception of World War Two and U.S. allies. ... Read More
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Lawrence H. "Larry" Suid Interview, February 10, 1988
Lawrence H. Suid
Lawrence “Larry” Suid discusses radio and television propaganda used by the United States during World War Two. He discusses the Armed Forces Radio’s monopoly on prime airtime, and programming production. Suid discusses similarities and differences between U.S. propaganda during World War Two and the Vietnam ... Read More
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Lester B. Tucker Interview, October 28, 1987
Lester B. Tucker
Lester Tucker recalls his service in the U.S. Navy during World War Two chiefly from 1939 to 1943. He reflects on his time serving around Guadalcanal from August 1942 to September 1943, and discusses listening to Tokyo Rose. Tucker recalls how quickly Tokyo Rose would ... Read More
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Mariano Villarin Interview, February 18, 1988
Mariano Villarin
Mariano Villarin, a prisoner of war in Japan during World War Two, discusses his interactions with Iva Toguri, convicted by the U.S. government as “Tokyo Rose.” He recalls the U.S. government’s subpoena of his wartime diary, to be used to convict Toguri, in which he ... Read More
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Max Kraus Interview, 1987
Max Kraus
Max Kraus discusses performing combat propaganda while in the United States Army in Europe during World War Two. He recounts an instance where, broadcasting propaganda to German forces across the front line, he was credited with the surrender of 2,500 German troops at Lorient, France. ... Read More
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Paul Snyder Interview, October 26, 1987
Paul Snyder
Paul Snyder recalls his World War Two service in the U.S. Navy, beginning in 1940, in the Pacific theater. He discusses the romantic music Tokyo Rose played, and how it made some soldiers, including him, homesick. Snyder recalls Tokyo Rose’s propaganda as usually ineffective, due ... Read More
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Richard A. "Dick" Grant Interview, October 28, 1987
Richard A. Grant
Richard Grant recalls his military service in New Guinea in 1943, during World War Two. He discusses Tokyo Rose’s broadcasts, which would often give accurate predictions about American forces’ movements, angering the troops. Grant recalls enjoying listening to Tokyo Rose because of the modern American ... Read More
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Robert Anderson Interview, October 26, 1987
Robert Anderson
Robert Anderson recalls his military service in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater during World War Two. He recalls listening to Tokyo Rose, which the ship recorded and played for the men. Anderson remembers Tokyo Rose’s warnings that the atabrine tablets the crew took ... Read More
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Will Clover Interview, October 25, 1987
Will Clover
Will Clover discusses his time in radio communications for the U.S. Navy during World War Two. He recalls being aboard the USS Meredith in 1942, which was sunk about 90 miles away from Guadalcanal, and the ensuing three days he spent on a raft while ... Read More