Richard E. Foster Oral History Interview

February 5, 1994
Oral History #OH0142
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Creator(s)
Williams, Gene; Foster, Richard E.
Physical description
0.005 Cubic Feet, 1 audiotape, 1 hour, 16 pages
Preferred Citation
Richard E. Foster Oral History Interview (#OH0142), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions

Captain Richard E. Foster of the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1941 comments on student life at the Academy, his wartime assignments on the USS PENNSYLVANIA and the USS INDIANA, his postwar duty on the USS WRIGHT, and his years as a naval engineer involved in ship design, planning, and production. He also describes witnessing the flag-raising at Iwo Jima from the deck of the USS VICKSBURG.

Scope and arrangement

Born in Piedmont, California, Captain Foster was the captain of the U.S. Naval Academy football team in 1940. He comments on his wartime assignments on the USS PENNSYLVANIA and the USS INDIANA; his postwar duty on the USS WRIGHT; and his years as a naval engineer involved in ship design, planning, and production. Of particular interest are commentaries on the flag-raising at Iwo Jima as witnessed from the deck of the USS VICKSBURG, the surrender of Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay, and the career-ending injuries sustained in a mid-air collision of commercial airliners in the skies over New York state.

Administrative information
Source of acquisition

Gift of Richard E. Foster

Processing information

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Metadata Rights Declaration
General note

1937-1950s

Key terms
Personal Names
Foster, Richard E.
Corporate Names
Pennsylvania (Battleship)
United States. Department of the Navy. Bureau of Ships
United States. Navy--Officers--Interviews
Topical
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Ocean