Warren Wimmer, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah

Transcript (53 pages) of an interview by Winston P. Erickson with Warren S. Wimmer on May 26, 2000. This is from tape numbers 25, 26, and 27 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History ProjectWimmer (b. 1920) recalls his childhood in rural Utah and enlisting in the Navy in July 1941. After basic training he was assigned to the USS Rigal in Hawaii. Upon his arrival he learned that the Rigal had been towed to Hawaii to be converted into a destroyer tender and was in the process of being rebuilt. He gives a long and vivid account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the aftermath. He served on work parties that recovered bodies before being admitted to the hospital for shrapnel wounds. On December 10 he was evacuated with other wounded from Pearl Harbor on a luxury liner with two coast guard cutters as escort. He was later assigned to the USS Shaw and saw combat at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Saipan, and Savo Island. 53 pages