Add to ORKGThe National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John McKelfresh. McKelfresh joined the Navy soon after the war began, leaving behind his career as a schoolteacher. Upon completion of officer training at Northwestern, he was assigned to the USS Hansford (APA-106) as assistant navigator and legal officer. In reviewing ingoing and outgoing mail, he consoled the many recipients of Dear John letters. He also had to let go of a highly skilled navigator who committed the indiscretion of broadcasting the ship's whereabouts via coded letters to family. At Okinawa, a young sailor was killed in an innocent but reckless competition to see who could unload their landing craft the quickest. McKelfresh chose to record the death as m...