John L. Landreth Oral History Interview

March 30, 1990
Oral History #OH0119
Creator(s)
Landreth, John L., 1917- (Interviewee); Lennon, Donald R. (Interviewer)
Physical description
0.01 Cubic Feet, 2 audiotapes, 2.25 hours, 48 pages
Preferred Citation
John L. Landreth Oral History Interview (#OH0119), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions


Biographical/historical information

Lt. Commander Landreth, a member of the USNA Class of 1941, served in the NEVADA, the ALABAMA, the BORUM, and the SARATOGA during World War II. He resigned his Navy commission in 1948.


Scope and arrangement

During the first interview session Mr. Landreth discusses his youth in Whittier, California, and his involvement in acting and wrestling as a teenager. He describes his experiences at the U.S. Naval Academy as a wrestler and as editor of the Lucky Bag. He covers his assignment to the USS NEVADA in the spring of 1941 and his involvement in the ships fate during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II experiences described include the repair of the NEVADA, the construction of the USS ALABAMA, task force duty in the North Atlantic, search duty for German capital ships, assignment to the USS BORUM, and destroyer escort duty in the Atlantic prior to the Normandy invasion.


Administrative information
Source of acquisition

Gift of John L. Landreth

Processing information

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Repository does not own copyright to the oral history collection. Permission to cite, reproduce, or broadcast must be obtained from both the repository and the participants in the oral history, or their heirs.

General note

1941-1944


Key terms
Personal Names
Landreth, John L., 1917-
Corporate Names
Nevada (Battleship)
United States Naval Academy--Wrestling
Topical
Destroyer escorts
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Atlantic Ocean
Wrestlers--California--Whittier