Oral History Interview with William St. John, December 5, 2008

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William St.John. St. John graduated from high school in 1939 and joined the Navy. He was assigned to the USS West Virginia (BB-48) in the gunnery division. His duties also included handling plane catapult charges. In December 1940, St. John received radio communication training in Hawaii. He was then assigned to the brand new Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station, maintaining radio equipment. On the morning of December 7, he was working on a transmitter when he watched in shock as the Japanese attacked. St. John later spent nine months in aviation communication on Palmyra Island, coordinating emergency landings. He was sent back to the States to oversee the installment of electronics on the USS Guam (CB-2) and USS Portsmouth (CL-102) prior to commissioning. He was then trained in coding machines and sent aboard the USS Dayton (CL-105) as a radioman, first class. His final duty before his November 1946 discharge was preparing top secret monitoring stations in California and New York. He applied his wartime experience to embark upon a civilian career at both the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Kelly Air Force Base