Oral History Interview with Henry Hise, September 30, 2000

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Henry Hise. Hise grew up in Texas and enlisted in the Navy in July 1941. He later joined the Marines. He was trained in dive bombers. Hise met Joe Foss during training at San Diego. In 1942 after training, he took the Hilo to Pearl Harbor. Hise flew out to the USS Hornet. He flew day and night intensively. He deployed on the USS Long Island to Guadalcanal. He describes an encounter with Melanesian cops. Next he describes the USS Hornet almost not recognizing two friendly ships. At Guadalcanal, he was hit by a vehicle and broke his pelvis. He was moved from Guadalcanal to Espiritu Santo. While in hospital, he met many men who were dying, including men burned by tannic acid after the sinking of the USS Wasp. He was moved by Dutch ship Japarra to the USS Solace, a hospital ship. From there, he went to Auckland, New Zealand. He went back to Guadalcanal to fly once recovered and then to the United States. He was redeployed twice. He went to fly strikes on Bougainville. He next flew initial strikes into Rabaul. He was stationed at Okinawa when the war ended