WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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-Kind of switch around,

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and I'm going to start my webcam

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so you all can see me.

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There we go.

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All right.
Okay.

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Now all of you should
be able to see me.

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Hello.
Good morning or good afternoon.

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So as I was saying earlier, our
program is all around the theme,

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"What Floats Your Boat?"

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And this is part of actually
a festival through CILC.

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They have content
providers like us,

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museums, other organizations,

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and we're all doing programs
around this theme this week,

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so this is our version
of it here

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at The National
World War II Museum.

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To give you a quick rundown,
what we're going to do

00:00:38.434 --> 00:00:41.734
is we're going to talk about
three main things today.

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First off, we have Kali
and Josh from PT-305.

00:00:45.634 --> 00:00:48.901
They're going to be
talking about PT boats

00:00:48.901 --> 00:00:52.400
and the restoration process
here at the museum.

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They're historians, but they
also work on the boat regularly,

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so they're our awesome
special guests.

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Next, we're going to
talk about Higgins boats,

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and we actually have
a veteran for you all to meet.

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His name is Johnny Difatta.

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In the second half
of the program,

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he's going to tell you
about driving Higgins boats.

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And then, to close it all out,
my coworker, Rob Wallace,

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he's the STEM education
coordinator here.

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He will be talking
about pontoons,

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and we'll give you guys your
own pontoon design challenge,

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see if you can actually
make something float

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in your own classroom.

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As an FYI, everybody, I'm going
to be moving out screen

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in just 1 second,

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but below me,
you see this Q&A pod.

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I will be watching this
Q&A area

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throughout the rest
of the program,

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and if you have any questions

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for Kali or Josh

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or Mr. Johnny,
type them in there,

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and we'll be answering them in
different parts of the program,

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and also, if you have
any tech issues

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and you want to type in
and let me know, feel free,

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and I'll try to help you as best
as I possibly can off camera.

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You may occasionally hear
my voice off camera

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as we're kind of moving
everybody around

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since we have five of us
in here right now,

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but that'll be me,
and, you know,

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I'll be helping to direct this
whole program and moderate it.

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So with that, and now at 12:03,

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hopefully not taking up
any more time,

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I'm going to shift over,
and I'm going to welcome

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in Kali and Josh from PT-305.

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Thanks so much
for joining us, guys.

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All right.
Do you both fit?

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There we are.
-There we go.

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-There we go.
-Good morning.

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-Hello.
-Afternoon, everyone.

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-Good morning, afternoon.
-I'm Kali.

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-I'm Josh.

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We're with the PT-305
restoration

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down at that center.

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-Yeah.
-PT-305 Restoration here

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at the National
World War II Museum today,

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so I'm going to talk to you a
little bit about PT-boat history

00:02:38.901 --> 00:02:42.434
starting with why
PT boats existed.

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This is actually
a photograph...

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Do my pointing
the other way.

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This is actually a photograph
of the PT boat

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that we're restoring right now.

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It's a specially designed craft
used during the Second World War

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made out of wood,

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and they fought in almost every
major naval theater of action.

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Andrew Higgins here in
New Orleans built 199 of them,

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and we're lucky enough to have
one of them left we can work on,

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and the whole purpose
of these boats

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is actually to fire a torpedo.

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Next picture, please.

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So this is a torpedo.

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It's called
a Mark 13 aerial torpedo.

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These boats were meant to be
small and fast boats

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that would go out at nighttime.

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They would sneak up
on enemy ships,

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whether it's a big combatant
ship or a merchant ship,

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to sink enemy supplies.

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They'd sneak within
about 500 yards,

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drop this torpedo in the water,

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and the torpedo would go
strike the ship, sink it,

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and then our boat
would speed away.

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I've got a little video
of a PT boat firing a torpedo

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in a test,

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kind of show y'all...

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-There we go.

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Let's...
-For these boats...

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-Show y'all a little bit
what it did.

00:03:55.067 --> 00:03:57.534
-...Higgins also designed and
built lightweight torpedo tubes.

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These scenes are
official records of...

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-And that's
a 2,000-pound torpedo...

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-...tests made
with 20 torpedos...

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-...shooting out of a tube,

00:04:02.868 --> 00:04:04.267
so what they would do
is they would...

00:04:04.267 --> 00:04:05.367
-...prove that their many...
-...come up at nighttime.

00:04:05.367 --> 00:04:06.367
-...revolutionary
features make...

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-They'd sneak up on a ship,

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and they would point their
torpedo towards that ship,

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push the button, and it would go
jetting out of a tube there.

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-...these the most efficient
torpedo tubes in...

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-Now, a little bit later
in the war,

00:04:16.434 --> 00:04:20.200
boats develop the ability to
put it in a side-launching rack

00:04:20.200 --> 00:04:21.667
as you see in
our little photo here,

00:04:21.667 --> 00:04:23.834
so instead of shooting
it out of a tube,

00:04:23.834 --> 00:04:26.067
the guys would just kind of
drop it over the side,

00:04:26.067 --> 00:04:29.334
but all that being said,
the entire point of these boats

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was to have that torpedo there

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so that they could go
and shoot it.

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Next, we're going to talk
a little bit about

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the construction of these boats.

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How did they build them?

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The first thing you have to do
when you're building something

00:04:41.868 --> 00:04:43.634
is you got to get blueprints,

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so this is a quick
little shot of blueprints.

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The couple hundred
different prints

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go into building one whole boat.

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Every single little piece
has got a blueprint

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and a picture
with all the measurements.

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It tells you how to build it,
what to do.

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These blueprints have been
important to us

00:04:59.033 --> 00:05:01.100
in our rebuilding process,

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but this is where it all starts,
so at the Higgins factory,

00:05:04.467 --> 00:05:05.734
they look at...

00:05:05.734 --> 00:05:08.000
I believe it's in some
of our catch words.

00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.000
We've got hull
and keel and frames.

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If you look at this photograph,

00:05:12.300 --> 00:05:15.100
the frames are
all little vertical lines

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that go all the way down
the boat and all the ribs,

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and the keel, as you'll see
in all your definitions,

00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:21.667
is the main board
that goes down the middle,

00:05:21.667 --> 00:05:26.501
and that's where they start,
build the boats up from there.

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So these... Yeah.

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So these boats were made
out of wood because,

00:05:31.567 --> 00:05:34.033
if you studied
in some of your classes,

00:05:34.033 --> 00:05:36.100
metals were strategic materials,

00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:38.701
which means they needed to save
some of the metals for tanks

00:05:38.701 --> 00:05:39.968
and bigger ships

00:05:39.968 --> 00:05:41.701
and other important things,

00:05:41.701 --> 00:05:44.567
so they needed a torpedo boat
that was lightweight,

00:05:44.567 --> 00:05:45.934
easy to build,

00:05:45.934 --> 00:05:47.601
and didn't use
strategic materials,

00:05:47.601 --> 00:05:50.234
so they made them out of wood,
so amazingly enough,

00:05:50.234 --> 00:05:52.567
a lot of these boats
were built by hand,

00:05:52.567 --> 00:05:53.901
so you can see our guy here.

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He's chiseling a cut
into some of the ribs

00:05:57.801 --> 00:05:58.901
on the bottom of the boat.

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Another larger piece
will fit in there,

00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:03.267
and actually, if you look
at the two holes above his head

00:06:03.267 --> 00:06:05.634
that makes it look like
he has Mickey Mouse ears,

00:06:05.634 --> 00:06:07.100
that's actually
where the propeller

00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:08.467
shaft goes through the boat,

00:06:08.467 --> 00:06:10.534
so he's kind of cutting
the rest of the hull

00:06:10.534 --> 00:06:12.801
to let that shaft come through.

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Go to the next picture.

00:06:15.901 --> 00:06:19.033
It's not just cars that are made
on assembly lines.

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You can make really big,
big things on assembly lines.

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This is a picture of the
Higgins City Park plant,

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so at the very far,
far, far end of that picture,

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the whole boat starts
with one piece of wood,

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and by the time it gets to
this end of the picture,

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they've been putting on piece
by piece by piece

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as the boats
are coming down the line,

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and you end up with an entire
78-foot PT boat

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all made out of wood.

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Next one.

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Here's another guy working
with some hand tools.

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Higgins industries was very good
about employing.

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They employed almost one
in five people in New Orleans

00:06:53.901 --> 00:06:55.634
over the course
of the Second World War,

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which is roughly 20,000 people,

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and a lot of them worked
on the Higgins boat line,

00:07:01.567 --> 00:07:04.000
and here you see a guy
working his hand tools

00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.701
and putting the pieces together.

00:07:07.701 --> 00:07:09.000
And I think, at this point,

00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.767
we're going to kind of
go conserve our time.

00:07:11.767 --> 00:07:13.300
We're going to have
Kali talk about

00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:15.734
the boat's history in the war.

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-So the boat that we're
talking about is PT-305.

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She was also known
as The Sudden Jerk,

00:07:22.167 --> 00:07:23.734
and that's a story we heard

00:07:23.734 --> 00:07:25.734
that she backed into a dock
really hard once,

00:07:25.734 --> 00:07:27.901
so they gave her
a good nickname for that.

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Once she was built here
in New Orleans,

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she went all the way
across the Atlantic Ocean

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to the Mediterranean,

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and there in the Mediterranean,

00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.501
she was fighting
German coastal shipping,

00:07:39.501 --> 00:07:42.067
so they would go out late
at night in the dark,

00:07:42.067 --> 00:07:44.834
and they would look
for German barges or boats

00:07:44.834 --> 00:07:49.234
and try to sink them
with torpedos or their guns.

00:07:49.234 --> 00:07:52.100
The average crew on a PT boat
was two officers

00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:54.801
and about 12 to 14 enlisted men.

00:07:54.801 --> 00:07:58.067
You had torpedo men.
You had gunners.

00:07:58.067 --> 00:07:59.334
You had a ship's cook.

00:07:59.334 --> 00:08:03.334
We even had a baker
as a specialist on our boat.

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You had what were called
motor machinist mate,

00:08:05.534 --> 00:08:09.167
and they ran the engines,
the three engines in the boat,

00:08:09.167 --> 00:08:11.434
and these guys would work.

00:08:11.434 --> 00:08:14.200
They would leave in the evening,
and they would go out all night

00:08:14.200 --> 00:08:18.901
patrolling the coast in Italy
and France looking for Germans.

00:08:18.901 --> 00:08:20.734
All right?
And you see a picture here,

00:08:20.734 --> 00:08:23.434
can see the 50-cal guns
that were on the boat

00:08:23.434 --> 00:08:26.300
and one of the torpedos.

00:08:26.300 --> 00:08:28.367
Like I said, our boat
was in the Mediterranean,

00:08:28.367 --> 00:08:31.801
and while she was there,
she sank three German boats,

00:08:31.801 --> 00:08:38.200
and she was there from April of
1944 until the end of the war.

00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:40.634
She came back in May of 1945.

00:08:40.634 --> 00:08:42.801
She operated in what
was called a squadron,

00:08:42.801 --> 00:08:45.901
and that was 12 boats
that operated together,

00:08:45.901 --> 00:08:47.200
and they would sometimes...

00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.567
They would go out two
or three together at night.

00:08:50.567 --> 00:08:52.567
Now, once she came back
from the war,

00:08:52.567 --> 00:08:55.567
she had a very long,
long history,

00:08:55.567 --> 00:08:57.000
so they were sent back
to New York,

00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.267
and they were going to go
to the Pacific.

00:08:59.267 --> 00:09:02.067
Thankfully, our good
fighting men got the job done,

00:09:02.067 --> 00:09:04.234
and she didn't have
to go over there.

00:09:04.234 --> 00:09:08.467
That's one of the reasons
we still have the PT-305.

00:09:08.467 --> 00:09:13.434
So, after the war,
she was sold for just $10.

00:09:13.434 --> 00:09:16.534
This boat that cost over
$100,000 to make during the war

00:09:16.534 --> 00:09:19.400
was sold for only $10,

00:09:19.400 --> 00:09:22.901
and since 1948
when she was sold,

00:09:22.901 --> 00:09:24.868
she's had
many different careers.

00:09:24.868 --> 00:09:27.701
She's been a tour boat,
a fishing boat,

00:09:27.701 --> 00:09:30.133
and we have a picture
of her here as an oyster boat,

00:09:30.133 --> 00:09:33.901
and she would go out where
they could put baby oysters out

00:09:33.901 --> 00:09:37.167
and grow oysters
out in the Chesapeake,

00:09:37.167 --> 00:09:38.367
and this is what she was doing

00:09:38.367 --> 00:09:40.868
until 2005

00:09:40.868 --> 00:09:44.567
when a group from Texas
found out that,

00:09:44.567 --> 00:09:46.834
hey, this oyster boat
is actually a boat

00:09:46.834 --> 00:09:48.901
with a great
World War II history,

00:09:48.901 --> 00:09:52.901
and they were able to rescue her
and take her down to Texas.

00:09:52.901 --> 00:09:54.167
Well, unfortunately,

00:09:54.167 --> 00:09:55.634
they weren't able
to finish working on her,

00:09:55.634 --> 00:09:57.634
and they were going to restore
her to this beautiful PT boat

00:09:57.634 --> 00:09:58.968
from the war again.

00:09:58.968 --> 00:10:02.667
So the World War II Museum
found out about it,

00:10:02.667 --> 00:10:05.868
and the World War II Museum
got the boat in 2007,

00:10:05.868 --> 00:10:07.868
and that's when
people like Josh...

00:10:07.868 --> 00:10:11.901
Josh started at the beginning
restoring the boat,

00:10:11.901 --> 00:10:14.234
and so we're going to
tell you a little bit

00:10:14.234 --> 00:10:16.767
about the boat's restoration.

00:10:16.767 --> 00:10:20.467
So you saw the pictures before
and how pretty she was

00:10:20.467 --> 00:10:22.367
and everything on top,

00:10:22.367 --> 00:10:25.400
and this is what she looked
like when we got her.

00:10:25.400 --> 00:10:28.300
It's kind of sad.

00:10:28.300 --> 00:10:31.167
The boat was 78 feet
long originally,

00:10:31.167 --> 00:10:33.434
but so that people
could use it after the war,

00:10:33.434 --> 00:10:35.100
they had to cut 13 feet off

00:10:35.100 --> 00:10:38.501
so that she was only
65 feet long,

00:10:38.501 --> 00:10:40.267
so one of the things
we had to do

00:10:40.267 --> 00:10:43.434
was put that extra
13 feet back on,

00:10:43.434 --> 00:10:46.767
and then we had to take her down
to all the bits and pieces.

00:10:46.767 --> 00:10:48.901
We had to take out
all the metal.

00:10:48.901 --> 00:10:51.634
It starts to rust,
and it starts to expand.

00:10:51.634 --> 00:10:53.667
So this is a really good picture
to show you

00:10:53.667 --> 00:10:56.067
how we've opened up the boat,

00:10:56.067 --> 00:10:58.100
and you can see
the old planking,

00:10:58.100 --> 00:10:59.601
and you see the new pieces

00:10:59.601 --> 00:11:02.734
and how we've combined the
new pieces and the old pieces,

00:11:02.734 --> 00:11:04.434
and we take the old pieces,

00:11:04.434 --> 00:11:07.200
and we can use them
somewhere else.

00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:08.868
Josh actually has here...

00:11:08.868 --> 00:11:11.968
This is a new piece
of the boat's decking,

00:11:11.968 --> 00:11:14.901
so you can get a little idea
of the construction.

00:11:14.901 --> 00:11:18.400
So it's all wood construction
like Josh said, so it's...

00:11:18.400 --> 00:11:21.100
Turn it, and we'll see
how thin it is.

00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:24.567
So you got...
What's the thickness?

00:11:24.567 --> 00:11:26.000
-It's an inch thick.

00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:29.334
-So just imagine being out
in the Mediterranean at night

00:11:29.334 --> 00:11:32.067
looking for Germans in a boat
that's only an inch thick.

00:11:32.067 --> 00:11:34.567
There's no metal on it
to protect you,

00:11:34.567 --> 00:11:39.300
nothing between the water
but you and this inch of wood.

00:11:39.300 --> 00:11:40.801
So the way the boat
is constructed

00:11:40.801 --> 00:11:42.767
is you've got the two pieces

00:11:42.767 --> 00:11:45.667
that are put together with
canvas to make it watertight,

00:11:45.667 --> 00:11:47.801
and one of the things
we've had to do is find out

00:11:47.801 --> 00:11:50.667
all these original
techniques that they used

00:11:50.667 --> 00:11:52.467
so that we could copy
these techniques

00:11:52.467 --> 00:11:54.033
and do it as it was before.

00:11:54.033 --> 00:11:57.501
So you can see
all of these here.

00:11:57.501 --> 00:12:00.300
These are copper rivets,
so, yes,

00:12:00.300 --> 00:12:02.467
I did a little Rosie
the Riveter job,

00:12:02.467 --> 00:12:04.901
and I got to help rivet
all these in.

00:12:04.901 --> 00:12:10.801
There are 39,000 that we did
with just an air gun

00:12:10.801 --> 00:12:12.267
and a lot of...

00:12:12.267 --> 00:12:14.367
-Patience.
-...patience, yes,

00:12:14.367 --> 00:12:15.801
sometimes being crammed.

00:12:15.801 --> 00:12:18.934
You can see in the picture, as
deep as the boat gets in that V,

00:12:18.934 --> 00:12:20.667
we had to climb
all the way down there

00:12:20.667 --> 00:12:22.601
and rivet all the way down.

00:12:22.601 --> 00:12:24.100
And this right here, this piece,

00:12:24.100 --> 00:12:27.334
is where one of the ribs
would've gone,

00:12:27.334 --> 00:12:29.067
so the ribs get screwed in,

00:12:29.067 --> 00:12:30.701
and then we rivet
in between that,

00:12:30.701 --> 00:12:34.033
and it makes it nice
and watertight,

00:12:34.033 --> 00:12:36.400
so that's been a big challenge.

00:12:36.400 --> 00:12:39.067
Originally when they built
the boats, it took them a month

00:12:39.067 --> 00:12:41.033
to put the boat together
at Higgins Industries.

00:12:41.033 --> 00:12:43.634
It took us a year
just to re-rivet it,

00:12:43.634 --> 00:12:49.234
so that's been a very big,
big challenge for us.

00:12:49.234 --> 00:12:51.267
But part of the fun...
Chrissy, can you play?

00:12:51.267 --> 00:12:52.734
-Yeah.
-We've got a special time-lapse

00:12:52.734 --> 00:12:54.734
video that...
-Yeah.

00:12:54.734 --> 00:12:57.501
This is really cool.

00:12:57.501 --> 00:12:59.501
-It's a good up-close
shot of me to begin it.

00:12:59.501 --> 00:13:00.601
-Yeah.

00:13:00.601 --> 00:13:02.000
All right.
Let's check it out.

00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:04.100
-So one of the things
that's important to us

00:13:04.100 --> 00:13:08.467
is putting back in things that
were originally in the boat,

00:13:08.467 --> 00:13:11.634
and when our boat was built,
did it have portholes, Josh?

00:13:11.634 --> 00:13:13.267
-Did not have portholes.
-So you want to tell them

00:13:13.267 --> 00:13:15.067
about how we got
the portholes in our boat?

00:13:15.067 --> 00:13:18.334
-Yes.
A crew member of ours...

00:13:18.334 --> 00:13:20.501
-James Nerison.
-...James Nerison,

00:13:20.501 --> 00:13:24.400
he was in France
during the war in 1944,

00:13:24.400 --> 00:13:27.501
and he saw a bunch
of wrecked French yachts

00:13:27.501 --> 00:13:29.067
that had been bombed out
in the harbor

00:13:29.067 --> 00:13:30.534
that they were
staying in that day,

00:13:30.534 --> 00:13:33.200
and so he saw some portholes,
and he went up to his captain,

00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.033
and he said, "You know,
I'd love to have a window

00:13:36.033 --> 00:13:37.667
in the side of my side
of the boat,

00:13:37.667 --> 00:13:39.267
and so captain said that,

00:13:39.267 --> 00:13:41.067
"That's fine as long
as you black it out

00:13:41.067 --> 00:13:43.467
so that no light gets out while
you're patrolling at night."

00:13:43.467 --> 00:13:47.067
So he installed the portholes
that you're seeing them

00:13:47.067 --> 00:13:48.767
install
in this time-lapse video,

00:13:48.767 --> 00:13:50.167
and the captain
apparently liked them

00:13:50.167 --> 00:13:53.000
so much the captain asked
for another set for himself too,

00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:56.767
so what's really special
about these is that,

00:13:56.767 --> 00:13:58.501
for everything
we've had to rebuild,

00:13:58.501 --> 00:14:01.734
we've got these portholes
that James Nerison

00:14:01.734 --> 00:14:04.767
took from a French boat in 1944,

00:14:04.767 --> 00:14:07.534
and he placed them
inside the boat.

00:14:07.534 --> 00:14:09.334
That was his own little
personal touch

00:14:09.334 --> 00:14:11.400
that makes our boat very unique,

00:14:11.400 --> 00:14:12.901
and we're very honored,

00:14:12.901 --> 00:14:15.601
and we're very lucky
to have objects like this

00:14:15.601 --> 00:14:18.901
that represent our boat's
specific history and story

00:14:18.901 --> 00:14:21.701
and things that our crew
members did for our boat,

00:14:21.701 --> 00:14:23.467
and so we went
through the process.

00:14:23.467 --> 00:14:24.400
We took them off.

00:14:24.400 --> 00:14:25.667
We cleaned them.

00:14:25.667 --> 00:14:26.834
We fixed the hull,

00:14:26.834 --> 00:14:30.667
and then here's the guys
reinstalling them,

00:14:30.667 --> 00:14:35.667
and then me sitting in a video
just kind of watching.

00:14:35.667 --> 00:14:38.501
-So one of the challenges
we have on the restoration

00:14:38.501 --> 00:14:41.100
is trying to understand
how the boat was built,

00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:45.200
and as historians,
we are able to do research

00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:46.601
and look at
the National Archives

00:14:46.601 --> 00:14:48.534
and find original documents

00:14:48.534 --> 00:14:50.801
and get recollections
from crew members,

00:14:50.801 --> 00:14:53.801
and this allows us to do things
like put the portholes back in

00:14:53.801 --> 00:14:55.267
and put them in
and understand

00:14:55.267 --> 00:14:56.767
why they were there
in the first place

00:14:56.767 --> 00:14:58.601
because, when we got the boat,
everyone said,

00:14:58.601 --> 00:15:01.300
"Why are there portholes? This
must have been after the war.

00:15:01.300 --> 00:15:03.434
These boats aren't supposed
to have portholes,"

00:15:03.434 --> 00:15:07.234
but once we got the story from
James Nerison, we understood.

00:15:07.234 --> 00:15:08.868
Okay.
This is something the crew did,

00:15:08.868 --> 00:15:12.200
and it's a special thing that,
as we restore the boat,

00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:16.567
it makes it true to the boat's,
you know, origins,

00:15:16.567 --> 00:15:18.367
and it's also these
special touches

00:15:18.367 --> 00:15:22.501
that the crew members
put in that make the boat unique

00:15:22.501 --> 00:15:23.834
and make it special.

00:15:23.834 --> 00:15:26.167
-Yeah, because, ultimately,
the most important thing

00:15:26.167 --> 00:15:29.467
isn't just to have
a piece of equipment,

00:15:29.467 --> 00:15:32.167
but it's a piece of equipment
that has a story.

00:15:32.167 --> 00:15:33.734
These guys were young.

00:15:33.734 --> 00:15:35.133
They had to go to war.

00:15:35.133 --> 00:15:36.567
This is the service they chose.

00:15:36.567 --> 00:15:38.100
They fought.

00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:40.801
They lived on this boat, so it's
very important to do it right,

00:15:40.801 --> 00:15:43.467
do it the way it was
and to share their story

00:15:43.467 --> 00:15:48.100
because we do not want
to forget their story at all.

00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:49.267
-So we've got a few minutes.

00:15:49.267 --> 00:15:51.567
We're going to tell you
a little bit about

00:15:51.567 --> 00:15:53.567
Higgins Industries,
and you see here

00:15:53.567 --> 00:15:55.567
this is actually
one of the plants

00:15:55.567 --> 00:15:58.868
where they built PT boats,

00:15:58.868 --> 00:16:03.467
and we saw we got some people
here from New Orleans,

00:16:03.467 --> 00:16:07.367
so you might have some family
members who worked at Higgins.

00:16:07.367 --> 00:16:10.968
As Josh said, he employed
at least 20,000 people at a time

00:16:10.968 --> 00:16:12.634
in New Orleans
during the war,

00:16:12.634 --> 00:16:16.200
and he had an impact
on a lot of people here.

00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:19.033
So Higgins not only
built PT boats,

00:16:19.033 --> 00:16:21.167
but he built landing
craft of different kinds.

00:16:21.167 --> 00:16:24.100
You'll hear more about
that later, and at one point,

00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:26.634
92 percent of the boats

00:16:26.634 --> 00:16:29.400
in the United States Navy
in World War II

00:16:29.400 --> 00:16:31.734
were built by
Higgins Industries,

00:16:31.734 --> 00:16:33.467
and that was quite
an accomplishment.

00:16:33.467 --> 00:16:35.467
-Mm-hmm.
-And this picture you see here

00:16:35.467 --> 00:16:38.100
is a celebration
for the 10,000th boat

00:16:38.100 --> 00:16:40.901
that Higgins built for
the Navy during the war.

00:16:44.701 --> 00:16:47.167
Yep. I'll show you some other
pictures I forgot.

00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:51.667
-Well, I'm going
to actually...

00:16:51.667 --> 00:16:54.767
We'll leave that to the expert
on the LCVP here in a minute.

00:16:54.767 --> 00:16:56.000
-Yeah. Yeah.
We got him in a sec.

00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.868
Actually, we've got
some great questions.

00:16:57.868 --> 00:16:59.067
-Do you guys want to take
some questions

00:16:59.067 --> 00:17:00.767
in the time that we have left?
This is Chrissy,

00:17:00.767 --> 00:17:03.267
the disembodied voice
off camera.

00:17:03.267 --> 00:17:04.534
But we've got...
-It's over there.

00:17:04.534 --> 00:17:10.133
-...a couple good ones
from PFTSTA sixth graders.

00:17:10.133 --> 00:17:12.234
They want to know,
"Are any crew members

00:17:12.234 --> 00:17:15.033
from PT-305 still alive today?"

00:17:15.033 --> 00:17:17.033
-Yeah.
-Yes, there are.

00:17:17.033 --> 00:17:19.434
We're very fortunate
that Mr. James Nerison

00:17:19.434 --> 00:17:23.267
is still alive, and he's...

00:17:23.267 --> 00:17:25.100
You can see him
in the picture here.

00:17:25.100 --> 00:17:26.200
-Think I have a pointer.
-Yeah.

00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:27.267
-Yeah.
I was going to say...

00:17:27.267 --> 00:17:29.167
-He's...
-...hard to do this.

00:17:29.167 --> 00:17:30.100
-...right there.
-Oh.

00:17:30.100 --> 00:17:31.501
-Yeah.
That's...

00:17:31.501 --> 00:17:33.033
-Sometimes it doesn't work.

00:17:33.033 --> 00:17:34.567
Let's see here.
There he is.

00:17:34.567 --> 00:17:35.534
Right there?
-Yep.

00:17:35.534 --> 00:17:36.567
That's Mr. Nerison.
-Yep.

00:17:36.567 --> 00:17:38.400
-So he's from California,

00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.200
and he was one of
the original crew members,

00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:44.467
and original crew members to
a boat are called plank owners,

00:17:44.467 --> 00:17:47.767
and this photo here,
it's our plank-owner crew,

00:17:47.767 --> 00:17:50.667
and Mr. Nerison is one of those,

00:17:50.667 --> 00:17:52.634
and he's still out
in California.

00:17:52.634 --> 00:17:57.701
And then Joseph Brannan,
he came onto the boat

00:17:57.701 --> 00:17:59.601
in late '44, I believe.

00:17:59.601 --> 00:18:01.934
-Yeah.
-And he lives out in Colorado

00:18:01.934 --> 00:18:05.133
as we understand, and the museum
has actually interviewed

00:18:05.133 --> 00:18:08.667
both of them and two
other crew members

00:18:08.667 --> 00:18:12.434
who have since passed on,
unfortunately, Benedict Bronder,

00:18:12.434 --> 00:18:16.901
who lived in Minnesota,
and he was 99 last year.

00:18:16.901 --> 00:18:20.167
He was a little bit older
for our PT boaters.

00:18:20.167 --> 00:18:21.767
-We... The boat...

00:18:21.767 --> 00:18:24.367
This is the only crew
that was on this boat.

00:18:24.367 --> 00:18:26.267
There was how many men?

00:18:26.267 --> 00:18:27.434
-About 46.
-Yeah.

00:18:27.434 --> 00:18:30.968
About 46 men, not all at once.

00:18:30.968 --> 00:18:32.934
-No.
-That would be a little crowded.

00:18:32.934 --> 00:18:36.133
They did shifts,
so this crew served

00:18:36.133 --> 00:18:37.501
for about a year,

00:18:37.501 --> 00:18:41.434
and then, in late 1944,
another crew came on,

00:18:41.434 --> 00:18:42.868
and then there was
a couple other guys,

00:18:42.868 --> 00:18:47.334
so of the 47-odd men
that were on the boat,

00:18:47.334 --> 00:18:49.934
we are lucky enough that two
are still alive to this day.

00:18:49.934 --> 00:18:53.601
A few others passed before
they may have been able

00:18:53.601 --> 00:18:55.834
to see the boat,

00:18:55.834 --> 00:18:57.567
but unfortunately,
they've since passed,

00:18:57.567 --> 00:19:00.067
but we're also looking
for other men

00:19:00.067 --> 00:19:01.767
that are still alive
from the squadron

00:19:01.767 --> 00:19:04.467
and from her 11
other sister boats,

00:19:04.467 --> 00:19:06.367
so the search will continue.

00:19:06.367 --> 00:19:08.267
-Yeah.
-We've got...

00:19:08.267 --> 00:19:10.067
-Say, is it Mr. Pincher's class?
-Yes.

00:19:10.067 --> 00:19:11.601
-"Were you guys talking
about watertight doors,

00:19:11.601 --> 00:19:13.300
and what do you"...
-We are now.

00:19:13.300 --> 00:19:15.467
-Yeah.
Well, now let's talk about it.

00:19:15.467 --> 00:19:17.934
-That's a good question.
-That is a very good question.

00:19:17.934 --> 00:19:20.133
When we're talking
about the wood here,

00:19:20.133 --> 00:19:21.701
the two layers of planks,

00:19:21.701 --> 00:19:23.467
in between it is canvas

00:19:23.467 --> 00:19:26.467
and then a bedding compound
called Dolfinite.

00:19:26.467 --> 00:19:28.100
It looks like green
peanut butter.

00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:30.634
It's real nasty and really
sticky and everything.

00:19:30.634 --> 00:19:31.934
-It never dries.
-But what you do is you

00:19:31.934 --> 00:19:33.534
take two pieces of wood.

00:19:33.534 --> 00:19:36.467
You put canvas cloth
and then Dolfinite,

00:19:36.467 --> 00:19:37.934
and then you
smash them together,

00:19:37.934 --> 00:19:40.901
and it fills in the gaps
between all the boards

00:19:40.901 --> 00:19:42.901
to make a watertight seal,

00:19:42.901 --> 00:19:45.968
so when you say it's a wood
boat, you put Dolfinite in it.

00:19:45.968 --> 00:19:49.100
You caulk around it, so you make
this big watertight thing.

00:19:49.100 --> 00:19:51.334
Then the boat does have
watertight doors,

00:19:51.334 --> 00:19:53.067
so you've got
different compartments,

00:19:53.067 --> 00:19:55.400
and then you use doors
to get between.

00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:56.901
Hopefully that answers
the question.

00:19:56.901 --> 00:19:59.434
-And the watertight doors are
actually metal doors that seal.

00:19:59.434 --> 00:20:01.133
-Yeah. The watertight doors
are aluminum.

00:20:01.133 --> 00:20:04.067
They've got rubber gaskets,
and you can close them.

00:20:04.067 --> 00:20:05.334
We actually have a...

00:20:05.334 --> 00:20:07.534
We have actions reports
of boats taking damage,

00:20:07.534 --> 00:20:09.901
and those watertight doors
saved the boat,

00:20:09.901 --> 00:20:12.300
kept it from leaking
so very useful.

00:20:12.300 --> 00:20:13.501
-Mm-hmm.
-All right.

00:20:13.501 --> 00:20:15.434
I have one more.
This is maybe a little selfish.

00:20:15.434 --> 00:20:18.133
This is my question,
last question before we move

00:20:18.133 --> 00:20:20.567
on to Higgins boats.

00:20:20.567 --> 00:20:22.767
What's been the hardest thing
about restoring that boat?

00:20:22.767 --> 00:20:24.400
What's been the most
difficult thing for you guys

00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:26.534
if you can even name one?

00:20:26.534 --> 00:20:30.267
-I would say just getting parts
and getting information.

00:20:30.267 --> 00:20:31.834
-Yeah.
-We have a lot

00:20:31.834 --> 00:20:33.400
of original drawings

00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:35.968
but not all of them,
so we have to fill in the gaps

00:20:35.968 --> 00:20:37.701
with photographs

00:20:37.701 --> 00:20:39.667
or other documentation

00:20:39.667 --> 00:20:42.067
and then finding the parts.
-Yeah.

00:20:42.067 --> 00:20:43.467
You can't go to a boat store.

00:20:43.467 --> 00:20:45.434
There isn't a PT boat section.

00:20:45.434 --> 00:20:47.033
-No Home Depot,
no trips to Home Depot.

00:20:47.033 --> 00:20:48.534
-Yeah.

00:20:48.534 --> 00:20:51.701
And so the crew changed little
things while they had the boat,

00:20:51.701 --> 00:20:53.901
and then just a lot of parts
aren't made anymore,

00:20:53.901 --> 00:20:57.067
so what we have to look
for are called

00:20:57.067 --> 00:20:58.567
usually legacy
companies, you know,

00:20:58.567 --> 00:21:00.734
maybe someone that built
a piece back then.

00:21:00.734 --> 00:21:02.300
They've got bought out
by someone else,

00:21:02.300 --> 00:21:03.534
and it's under a different name,

00:21:03.534 --> 00:21:07.334
or you would be amazed
what's on eBay,

00:21:07.334 --> 00:21:10.601
and you would be amazed what
people walk in the door and say,

00:21:10.601 --> 00:21:12.133
"Oh, I have one
of those in my attic.

00:21:12.133 --> 00:21:13.200
You know, I'll bring it down."

00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:14.400
-Yeah.
-But we're still looking

00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:15.701
for parts

00:21:15.701 --> 00:21:18.100
if y'all are holding on
to anything for a PT boat.

00:21:18.100 --> 00:21:19.300
Just put it
on the question thing.

00:21:19.300 --> 00:21:20.601
-We're looking for
a compass this week.

00:21:20.601 --> 00:21:22.400
-Yes. Compass this week.
-All right.

00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:23.767
Compass is our next challenge.

00:21:23.767 --> 00:21:24.934
All right.

00:21:24.934 --> 00:21:26.334
Well, thank you, guys, so much.

00:21:26.334 --> 00:21:29.467
I know we're doing a whirlwind
sort of webinar today,

00:21:29.467 --> 00:21:33.367
but if you all are interested
about more information

00:21:33.367 --> 00:21:35.734
about PT-305, at the end,
I've included a document

00:21:35.734 --> 00:21:37.033
that Kali and Josh put together

00:21:37.033 --> 00:21:39.367
that could answer almost every
single question

00:21:39.367 --> 00:21:41.968
about that boat
if you want to know more.

00:21:41.968 --> 00:21:44.934
And I think this is just the
first of many webinar series

00:21:44.934 --> 00:21:46.434
that we'll do with them, so,

00:21:46.434 --> 00:21:49.467
everybody, give a virtual round
of applause for Kali and Josh.

00:21:49.467 --> 00:21:50.367
-Yay.
-Thank you.

00:21:50.367 --> 00:21:51.400
-All right.
Thanks, guys.

00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:52.501
All right?
-Nice talking to y'all.

00:21:52.501 --> 00:21:53.767
-Next, we're going
to shuffle in,

00:21:53.767 --> 00:21:54.968
and I'm going to come
back into the screen,

00:21:54.968 --> 00:21:57.567
and I'm going to welcome
Mr. Johnny Difatta.

00:21:57.567 --> 00:22:00.334
All right.
Let me scooch on in here.

00:22:00.334 --> 00:22:02.200
Mr. Johnny, how about
you come this way?

00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:03.567
-Okay.
-All right.

00:22:03.567 --> 00:22:06.901
Let's see here, and let's
get you on camera here.

00:22:06.901 --> 00:22:09.434
Let's see if we're
both on camera.

00:22:09.434 --> 00:22:10.868
All right.

00:22:10.868 --> 00:22:13.033
And while we're kind of
getting situated,

00:22:13.033 --> 00:22:15.300
I'm going to play a little video
of the next thing

00:22:15.300 --> 00:22:16.801
that we're going
to be talking about,

00:22:16.801 --> 00:22:19.868
the Higgins boat, or the LCVP.

00:22:19.868 --> 00:22:20.801
All right.
There we go.

00:22:20.801 --> 00:22:22.133
Now we're both on camera here.

00:22:22.133 --> 00:22:23.634
There we go.
-Hi.

00:22:23.634 --> 00:22:28.000
-And you guys can see an LCVP
loading in right now troops,

00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.968
and Mr. Johnny,
during World War II,

00:22:30.968 --> 00:22:32.634
he drove one of these boats.

00:22:32.634 --> 00:22:34.234
And these are actually...

00:22:34.234 --> 00:22:37.234
I think this is
some video from Europe,

00:22:37.234 --> 00:22:39.868
but he actually drove
boats out in the Pacific,

00:22:39.868 --> 00:22:44.200
so we want to know kind of all
about that, you know,

00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:45.968
and what your
experience was like.

00:22:45.968 --> 00:22:46.934
Can you tell us a little bit

00:22:46.934 --> 00:22:48.734
about driving one
of these boats?

00:22:48.734 --> 00:22:49.901
What was it like?

00:22:49.901 --> 00:22:53.400
-Well, it wasn't an easy
riding boat,

00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:56.267
and it wasn't an easy
driving boat

00:22:56.267 --> 00:22:58.901
because you had
one engine in here,

00:22:58.901 --> 00:23:00.400
and you have to watch the bow.

00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.033
-Show that on the screen
if you want.

00:23:02.033 --> 00:23:03.367
There we go.
There we go.

00:23:03.367 --> 00:23:06.434
-You have to watch that bow
doesn't pull on you.

00:23:06.434 --> 00:23:09.767
You have to keep it straight.

00:23:09.767 --> 00:23:10.968
Now he built

00:23:10.968 --> 00:23:13.167
20,000 of these during the war.
-Yeah.

00:23:13.167 --> 00:23:15.167
Show some pictures here.

00:23:15.167 --> 00:23:16.968
Let's get to them.
There we go.

00:23:16.968 --> 00:23:21.334
-And it's all wood
except the ramp.

00:23:21.334 --> 00:23:25.267
It's seven-ply, which you
just saw the PT boat wood.

00:23:25.267 --> 00:23:28.234
-Yeah. Want to hold that up
for everybody?

00:23:28.234 --> 00:23:31.400
Yeah. There's the wood.
-And that's it.

00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:33.434
That's how thick it is.

00:23:33.434 --> 00:23:40.167
He built 20,000 for the war,
and then he built...

00:23:40.167 --> 00:23:43.767
Well, it holds
36 fully packed troops.

00:23:43.767 --> 00:23:46.033
-See? There's some
on that image there.

00:23:46.033 --> 00:23:48.634
-Yeah. And this is when
it hits the island.

00:23:48.634 --> 00:23:49.934
-Yeah.
There we go.

00:23:49.934 --> 00:23:52.100
Can you tell us,
why does the boat have a ramp?

00:23:52.100 --> 00:23:54.234
Why would a boat
like that need a ramp?

00:23:54.234 --> 00:23:55.267
-Well...
-What was its purpose?

00:23:55.267 --> 00:23:57.033
-...actually,
I'll tell you why.

00:23:57.033 --> 00:24:01.767
This is the first boats
he built with a bow on it.

00:24:01.767 --> 00:24:04.167
We had one here
at the warehouse.

00:24:04.167 --> 00:24:10.334
The reason that boat hit
the beach in Guadalcanal in '42,

00:24:10.334 --> 00:24:12.601
the back was still
in deep water.

00:24:12.601 --> 00:24:15.834
Troops were jumping
off the sides.

00:24:15.834 --> 00:24:18.133
Well, that didn't work
too good, so Mr. Higgins

00:24:18.133 --> 00:24:19.534
told his engineer,

00:24:19.534 --> 00:24:24.434
"Graham, cut 14 feet off
that boat and put a ramp on it."

00:24:24.434 --> 00:24:30.501
Since 1942, every boat
built here had a ramp on it,

00:24:30.501 --> 00:24:32.934
20,000 of them.

00:24:32.934 --> 00:24:38.901
We actually built
16,000 here, 13,000,

00:24:38.901 --> 00:24:40.901
and we gave our plans
to other boat builders

00:24:40.901 --> 00:24:45.334
because we couldn't put out
any more than 18 a day,

00:24:45.334 --> 00:24:47.234
and they wanted more,

00:24:47.234 --> 00:24:49.467
so we gave our plans
to another boat builder,

00:24:49.467 --> 00:24:51.667
Chris Craft and two other ones.

00:24:51.667 --> 00:24:53.567
They built 7,000.

00:24:53.567 --> 00:24:56.200
We built 13,000.

00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:01.567
20,000 LCVPs were built
in New Orleans.

00:25:01.567 --> 00:25:05.300
Now he built 10,000 of these.

00:25:05.300 --> 00:25:06.667
These are all steel.

00:25:06.667 --> 00:25:11.367
They're 50 feet long,
carried 60 fully packed troops,

00:25:11.367 --> 00:25:12.701
a Sherman tank, bulldozer.

00:25:12.701 --> 00:25:14.901
-Did you drive one of these?
-I ran one of these.

00:25:14.901 --> 00:25:18.734
Actually, I was
on this boat when we invaded

00:25:18.734 --> 00:25:20.834
Treasury Island
in the Pacific.

00:25:20.834 --> 00:25:22.601
-Actually, I've got a map
of the Pacific Ocean.

00:25:22.601 --> 00:25:25.434
-1943.
-Let's see here.

00:25:25.434 --> 00:25:27.501
-So Treasury Island
is somewhere. Let's see.

00:25:27.501 --> 00:25:29.667
-I don't think you're going
to find it on the map.

00:25:29.667 --> 00:25:31.467
-Is it not on there?
-It's close to Bougainville.

00:25:31.467 --> 00:25:33.400
Actually...
-We're down there, I think.

00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:36.534
-...we were a decoy
for Bougainville,

00:25:36.534 --> 00:25:38.400
and we didn't know that
until after the war.

00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:42.133
We were 16 miles south
of Bougainville.

00:25:42.133 --> 00:25:45.868
Bougainville is the closest
island to the United States,

00:25:45.868 --> 00:25:49.400
and the Japanese had
a big air base on it.

00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:51.934
They were getting ready
to bomb the United States,

00:25:51.934 --> 00:25:56.000
so we took it back in '43.

00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.033
And I got a picture of it.

00:25:59.033 --> 00:26:00.767
-Let's see.
-It's so small.

00:26:00.767 --> 00:26:01.767
It's not on...

00:26:01.767 --> 00:26:02.634
-Oh, I want to put
it up on screen.

00:26:02.634 --> 00:26:03.834
Yeah.
-It's so small.

00:26:03.834 --> 00:26:05.667
It's not even on a big map.
-Oh, yeah.

00:26:05.667 --> 00:26:06.868
-It's a little bitty island

00:26:06.868 --> 00:26:11.200
right there
16 miles south of Bougainville.

00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.634
-Small island.
-Yeah.

00:26:12.634 --> 00:26:16.534
Actually, the reason we got
this map, the admiral

00:26:16.534 --> 00:26:19.734
that bombed Pearl Harbor,
this was his flight.

00:26:19.734 --> 00:26:23.100
From Guadalcanal, he was going
to Bougainville.

00:26:23.100 --> 00:26:26.033
When he got that far,
we broke the code.

00:26:26.033 --> 00:26:28.067
We knew where he was.

00:26:28.067 --> 00:26:29.634
Seven planes went after him.

00:26:29.634 --> 00:26:32.434
Three of them shot him down.

00:26:32.434 --> 00:26:34.968
After the war,
they went back to check.

00:26:34.968 --> 00:26:36.367
They found his plane.

00:26:36.367 --> 00:26:41.267
He still had the seat belt
on him, so we knew it was him.

00:26:41.267 --> 00:26:42.801
Now...

00:26:42.801 --> 00:26:45.167
-Got another picture?
-One of this.

00:26:45.167 --> 00:26:46.100
-Oh, which one?

00:26:46.100 --> 00:26:48.067
This one or...
-The big one.

00:26:48.067 --> 00:26:49.100
-Big one.

00:26:49.100 --> 00:26:50.367
Ah, here's the big one,
this one.

00:26:50.367 --> 00:26:54.934
-Now I was on this boat here
as a crew member.

00:26:54.934 --> 00:26:57.133
-There we go. Yeah.
-I was sitting back here

00:26:57.133 --> 00:27:01.567
with a 50-caliber machine gun
at 17.

00:27:04.300 --> 00:27:05.901
-Age of some of you guys
out there, right?

00:27:05.901 --> 00:27:10.067
-And today, they still use
this gun, a 50-caliber.

00:27:10.067 --> 00:27:14.701
It was in World War I, II,
all the way until today.

00:27:14.701 --> 00:27:19.033
That's how good this
50-caliber machine gun is.

00:27:19.033 --> 00:27:22.734
-Tell us a little bit about you
signing up for the Navy.

00:27:22.734 --> 00:27:23.834
I know you...
-Well...

00:27:23.834 --> 00:27:25.667
-He was 17,
so tell us some...

00:27:25.667 --> 00:27:27.934
I know we probably have some
17-year-olds out here, right?

00:27:27.934 --> 00:27:29.200
How'd that happen?

00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:33.100
-Well, I was 17 in July,
and I told my mother,

00:27:33.100 --> 00:27:35.100
"I want to get in the Navy,"

00:27:35.100 --> 00:27:39.000
so I talked her into it because
my brother was in the Army,

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:40.067
and then I get 18.

00:27:40.067 --> 00:27:41.634
They're going to draft me.

00:27:41.634 --> 00:27:44.767
They'll put you where they want,
so I wanted to get in the Navy,

00:27:44.767 --> 00:27:47.267
so she signed for me.

00:27:47.267 --> 00:27:50.601
Soon as they signed for me,
I went to the custom house,

00:27:50.601 --> 00:27:52.033
swore me in.

00:27:52.033 --> 00:27:56.901
I was in San Diego
in July, August.

00:27:56.901 --> 00:27:59.801
September, I was in Guadalcanal.

00:27:59.801 --> 00:28:05.901
October 19, I was invading
Treasury Island,

00:28:05.901 --> 00:28:08.834
and I didn't come back until 20.

00:28:08.834 --> 00:28:09.934
I was...

00:28:09.934 --> 00:28:11.067
-You want to show
that picture of...

00:28:11.067 --> 00:28:12.100
-This is...
-He's got a picture

00:28:12.100 --> 00:28:13.701
of when he came back
from the war,

00:28:13.701 --> 00:28:15.033
so we can check that out.

00:28:15.033 --> 00:28:20.000
-This is September 1945,
San Francisco.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:21.634
I was 20 years old there.

00:28:21.634 --> 00:28:23.434
The war was over.
-You're in the middle, right?

00:28:23.434 --> 00:28:25.334
-Yeah.
-Right here.

00:28:25.334 --> 00:28:28.133
Right there.

00:28:28.133 --> 00:28:30.167
So you started off.

00:28:30.167 --> 00:28:31.701
You know, your jobs changed,
right,

00:28:31.701 --> 00:28:33.234
on different boats,
so you were on one boat...

00:28:33.234 --> 00:28:34.968
-Well, actually...
-...and then another boat,

00:28:34.968 --> 00:28:36.534
right? Yeah.
-...after we leave a ship,

00:28:36.534 --> 00:28:37.901
we don't go back to the ship.

00:28:37.901 --> 00:28:40.167
We stay on the island

00:28:40.167 --> 00:28:42.334
because we're unloading
ships all day long.

00:28:42.334 --> 00:28:44.467
We have to put CBs
on the island.

00:28:44.467 --> 00:28:46.067
You know what the CB is.

00:28:46.067 --> 00:28:47.467
-I don't know.
Tell them.

00:28:47.467 --> 00:28:51.767
-Construction Battallion,
men that have all kind of...

00:28:51.767 --> 00:28:55.434
They build a lot
of stuff, contracts.

00:28:55.434 --> 00:28:56.868
Well, we put them on the island,

00:28:56.868 --> 00:28:59.767
so we have to put their
equipment on the island.

00:28:59.767 --> 00:29:03.634
Then they build us a tent,
so we get in the tent,

00:29:03.634 --> 00:29:05.167
and then they build
an air strip.

00:29:05.167 --> 00:29:08.834
Every island we hit,
we put an air strip on it.

00:29:08.834 --> 00:29:09.934
Our planes land.

00:29:09.934 --> 00:29:12.901
We fuel them up,
send them back to fight.

00:29:12.901 --> 00:29:15.234
And then I was forced
at Admiralty Islands.

00:29:15.234 --> 00:29:20.300
I was 2 degrees off
the equator on Manus,

00:29:20.300 --> 00:29:24.501
and I stayed there
until September 1945.

00:29:24.501 --> 00:29:28.300
That's when they dropped
the second bomb August the 9th,

00:29:28.300 --> 00:29:31.000
and after that,
the Japanese quit.

00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:32.100
-And then you came home, right?

00:29:32.100 --> 00:29:33.901
-And then I was on my way home.

00:29:33.901 --> 00:29:35.067
-That's right.

00:29:35.067 --> 00:29:41.968
-Got out in 1946,
got married in '47.

00:29:41.968 --> 00:29:47.133
My daughter was born,
so I got my life back together.

00:29:47.133 --> 00:29:50.300
All my teenage years,
most of them was overseas,

00:29:50.300 --> 00:29:51.834
out of the country.
-That's right.

00:29:51.834 --> 00:29:54.000
Can you guys imagine that,
you know,

00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:57.400
being that far away from home,
right, near the equator, right?

00:29:57.400 --> 00:29:59.067
-Oh, right on.
-[ Chuckles ]

00:29:59.067 --> 00:30:00.300
-Course I'm from New Orleans,

00:30:00.300 --> 00:30:01.634
so it didn't bother me,
the heat,

00:30:01.634 --> 00:30:04.901
as much as boys up north.

00:30:04.901 --> 00:30:07.334
This is what it looks like
on the island.

00:30:07.334 --> 00:30:08.300
-Let's see.
Got any...

00:30:08.300 --> 00:30:09.434
-I don't know if you can...

00:30:09.434 --> 00:30:11.400
-...big pictures or...
Oh, yeah.

00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:12.701
There's some good ones here.

00:30:12.701 --> 00:30:15.701
Maybe we can zoom
in a little bit.

00:30:15.701 --> 00:30:17.801
Looks pretty tropical.
-Yeah.

00:30:17.801 --> 00:30:19.501
And we did have coconuts.

00:30:19.501 --> 00:30:20.601
There's a coconut tree.

00:30:20.601 --> 00:30:22.701
-Oh, yeah. Okay.
There we go.

00:30:22.701 --> 00:30:24.200
-We have coconut, pineapple.

00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:27.067
We had bananas,
all kind of fruit.

00:30:27.067 --> 00:30:30.801
-So, I mean, did you enjoy
your time in the service?

00:30:30.801 --> 00:30:32.501
Did you enjoy driving
a Higgins boat?

00:30:32.501 --> 00:30:37.200
-Yeah. It was nice once
you got used to it.

00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:38.601
I was a deckhand.

00:30:38.601 --> 00:30:42.267
I was a seaman first, but I
qualified after 3 1/2 years

00:30:42.267 --> 00:30:44.767
to run the boats,
didn't get the rate,

00:30:44.767 --> 00:30:47.801
but I got it in my rackets.

00:30:47.801 --> 00:30:51.300
-What was the most difficult
about driving a boat

00:30:51.300 --> 00:30:54.133
or even being a seaman
on one of those boats?

00:30:54.133 --> 00:30:55.567
What was so...

00:30:55.567 --> 00:30:56.701
Was there anything that was
really tough about it,

00:30:56.701 --> 00:30:58.033
or you knew what
you were doing?

00:30:58.033 --> 00:31:02.567
-Well, once you got used to it
and you ran it one time,

00:31:02.567 --> 00:31:04.367
you didn't have
a problem anymore.

00:31:04.367 --> 00:31:07.501
-Yeah.
-It was that easy.

00:31:07.501 --> 00:31:10.133
-Well, tell us just
a little bit about...

00:31:10.133 --> 00:31:12.801
You know, this museum,
we started off, you know,

00:31:12.801 --> 00:31:14.467
as the National D-Day Museum,

00:31:14.467 --> 00:31:17.734
and that Higgins boat is so,
so important to our story.

00:31:17.734 --> 00:31:20.667
Can you tell the students,
you know, why is this boat

00:31:20.667 --> 00:31:22.934
so important to World War II?

00:31:22.934 --> 00:31:25.934
-Because they were built
right here in New Orleans.

00:31:25.934 --> 00:31:28.400
That's the reason
the museum is here.

00:31:31.033 --> 00:31:37.033
When this museum opened in 2000,
I had 147 of our members

00:31:37.033 --> 00:31:41.100
and their wives to come here
because of that boat.

00:31:41.100 --> 00:31:42.634
I said, "We have to"...

00:31:42.634 --> 00:31:44.868
Every year, we go
to different states,

00:31:44.868 --> 00:31:48.701
so I had it hosted here
in New Orleans

00:31:48.701 --> 00:31:51.901
to get all the men
around this boat,

00:31:51.901 --> 00:31:56.601
and once they got around there,
couple of tears were falling.

00:31:56.601 --> 00:32:00.968
First time they saw
the boat that long.

00:32:00.968 --> 00:32:04.701
-And these boats were used in
every major amphibious landing

00:32:04.701 --> 00:32:05.968
during World War II...
-Every one.

00:32:05.968 --> 00:32:07.834
-...to bring the troops
to shore, right?

00:32:07.834 --> 00:32:09.100
-Right.

00:32:09.100 --> 00:32:10.534
-Including some of the stuff
you did, of course.

00:32:10.534 --> 00:32:15.067
-Well, I can say we were
fighting the war since 1941.

00:32:15.067 --> 00:32:19.767
These boats made every invasion
and then Normandy in '44.

00:32:19.767 --> 00:32:22.033
That's why
General Eisenhower said,

00:32:22.033 --> 00:32:24.968
"Mr. Higgins won
the war with his boats."

00:32:24.968 --> 00:32:26.634
-That's right. He did win
the war with these boats.

00:32:26.634 --> 00:32:28.400
-He did.
-Yeah. For sure.

00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:29.934
-That was the...

00:32:29.934 --> 00:32:33.400
President Eisenhower said that.

00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:34.801
-Can you tell us
a little bit about...

00:32:34.801 --> 00:32:37.133
Now we're kind of
going into present day.

00:32:37.133 --> 00:32:39.467
Tell us a bit about when
you started volunteering here,

00:32:39.467 --> 00:32:40.801
how often you're here and...

00:32:40.801 --> 00:32:42.234
-Well, I'm here...

00:32:42.234 --> 00:32:44.067
-...your experience
with some visitors.

00:32:44.067 --> 00:32:47.601
-...three years going
on 4 years now.

00:32:47.601 --> 00:32:51.167
I just got my $1,000 --
1,000-hour...

00:32:51.167 --> 00:32:52.767
-Thousand dollars
would be nice, too.

00:32:52.767 --> 00:32:53.734
-Yeah. I know.
-[ Laughs ]

00:32:53.734 --> 00:32:55.934
-We don't get paid.

00:32:55.934 --> 00:32:59.467
No.
Thousand-hours pin.

00:32:59.467 --> 00:33:02.434
I think it was the blue one,
and I don't know

00:33:02.434 --> 00:33:04.501
how many I got now since then.

00:33:04.501 --> 00:33:06.634
That's about a year ago.
-Yeah.

00:33:06.634 --> 00:33:09.434
-So I've been about 3 years now.

00:33:09.434 --> 00:33:10.868
-Every single Thursday, right?

00:33:10.868 --> 00:33:12.234
-Every Thursday, I'll come in.

00:33:12.234 --> 00:33:15.534
-You'll find him here
if you guys ever get down here.

00:33:15.534 --> 00:33:18.200
-Till 4:00, I'll stay here
till 4:00.

00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:20.367
-All right. So you got
to get here before 4:00.

00:33:20.367 --> 00:33:21.267
That's right.
-Yeah.

00:33:21.267 --> 00:33:23.400
Make sure you come on Thursday.

00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:24.767
It's the only day I'm here.

00:33:24.767 --> 00:33:26.167
-Well, we've got some questions.

00:33:26.167 --> 00:33:28.200
I told you people were typing
in some questions for you.

00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.167
-Oh, okay.
-Let's check some of them out,

00:33:30.167 --> 00:33:34.901
so Mrs. Guthrie's class
was asking,

00:33:34.901 --> 00:33:37.167
"Were you always
on the same boat,

00:33:37.167 --> 00:33:40.300
and if not, how many boats
then were you"...

00:33:40.300 --> 00:33:41.934
Do you remember
how many boats you were on

00:33:41.934 --> 00:33:42.868
during the course of the war?

00:33:42.868 --> 00:33:44.300
Is that...
-Well, let's see.

00:33:44.300 --> 00:33:48.667
We went on one going across,
then we went from Guadalcanal.

00:33:48.667 --> 00:33:50.834
That was two,

00:33:50.834 --> 00:33:55.501
then from Treasury Island
to Admiralty Island.

00:33:55.501 --> 00:33:59.267
That was four, and I went to...

00:33:59.267 --> 00:34:04.133
Coming back home, it took us
4 1/2 days to get home.

00:34:04.133 --> 00:34:06.100
That was another one.
That's five,

00:34:06.100 --> 00:34:08.267
so there was
five boats, ships,

00:34:08.267 --> 00:34:09.501
five ships I was on.

00:34:09.501 --> 00:34:12.234
-Did you have any kind
of affection for...

00:34:12.234 --> 00:34:14.434
Was there a boat that you
were on or that you drove

00:34:14.434 --> 00:34:15.968
that you felt like,

00:34:15.968 --> 00:34:17.934
you know,
once you were apart from it,

00:34:17.934 --> 00:34:19.901
you kind of missed it
or, you know, like that?

00:34:19.901 --> 00:34:20.934
-I'll tell you a little thing.

00:34:20.934 --> 00:34:23.834
Coming back,
we were on transport,

00:34:23.834 --> 00:34:26.467
lot of troops on there.

00:34:26.467 --> 00:34:27.868
They asked for any volunteers.

00:34:27.868 --> 00:34:29.601
I said, "Volunteers for what?"

00:34:29.601 --> 00:34:30.834
"For the galley."

00:34:30.834 --> 00:34:33.434
Whoa.
I put my hand up, so I was...

00:34:33.434 --> 00:34:34.701
-Could you tell them
what a galley is?

00:34:34.701 --> 00:34:36.667
-The galley is where you eat.
-Yeah.

00:34:36.667 --> 00:34:39.634
-That's the main thing
with a trip.

00:34:39.634 --> 00:34:43.801
A ship full of troops,
you could have eaten a long time

00:34:43.801 --> 00:34:45.400
before you get up there,

00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:49.501
so working in the galley,
I was first class.

00:34:49.501 --> 00:34:53.300
I ate first time,
and all I had was a mop,

00:34:53.300 --> 00:34:55.133
and if you missed
the garbage can,

00:34:55.133 --> 00:35:00.400
I mopped it all the way home,
and I want to tell you.

00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:04.000
My last...

00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:09.400
In the Navy, I was
mess cooking for the waves...

00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:11.601
-Yeah. There you go.

00:35:11.601 --> 00:35:14.334
-...for 2 months.

00:35:14.334 --> 00:35:18.200
I had to serve my last time
6 months in Norfolk, Virginia,

00:35:18.200 --> 00:35:20.234
the 8th Navy District,

00:35:20.234 --> 00:35:23.434
and that's when I got out.

00:35:23.434 --> 00:35:26.033
-All right. Now, next,
from Mr. Pinter's class,

00:35:26.033 --> 00:35:28.267
we have a question,

00:35:28.267 --> 00:35:30.934
"What was the most
frightening experience you had?

00:35:30.934 --> 00:35:33.834
Did you sustain any injuries?

00:35:33.834 --> 00:35:35.634
What kept you going,
being so far away

00:35:35.634 --> 00:35:37.267
from New Orleans and from home?"

00:35:37.267 --> 00:35:39.334
-I was fortunate.
I never had any...

00:35:39.334 --> 00:35:41.067
Never got hurt or anything.

00:35:43.334 --> 00:35:47.734
I know what I did, but I didn't
get hurt, so I'm okay.

00:35:47.734 --> 00:35:48.734
-Yeah.

00:35:48.734 --> 00:35:50.234
Were you ever scared?

00:35:50.234 --> 00:35:51.334
-Oh, yeah.

00:35:51.334 --> 00:35:53.601
Well, you know, at 17,
you didn't know

00:35:53.601 --> 00:35:56.000
what you were getting into,

00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.868
but when we dug a fox hole and
we had to get in that fox hole

00:35:58.868 --> 00:36:04.400
and them bombs were falling,
yeah, you were afraid.

00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:09.367
I have a 10 percent disability
in hearing because of that bomb,

00:36:09.367 --> 00:36:11.167
and it came so close,

00:36:11.167 --> 00:36:15.200
and Fred, my buddy,
was here about 2 months ago.

00:36:15.200 --> 00:36:18.567
He has total --
he's got hearing aids,

00:36:18.567 --> 00:36:21.567
and he wrote a letter where
we were in that same fox hole

00:36:21.567 --> 00:36:26.434
when that bomb fell
that close, so yes.

00:36:26.434 --> 00:36:27.701
-You were scared.

00:36:27.701 --> 00:36:31.934
-You do get afraid,
and you start praying then.

00:36:31.934 --> 00:36:33.634
-Were you homesick?
Did you ever miss...

00:36:33.634 --> 00:36:36.167
Did you have a girlfriend back
at home or anything like that?

00:36:36.167 --> 00:36:37.601
-Yeah. My wife.

00:36:37.601 --> 00:36:39.501
-Oh, your wife. [ Laughs ]
Yeah.

00:36:39.501 --> 00:36:42.767
-I knew her when she was
9 years old.

00:36:42.767 --> 00:36:44.901
She lived right next door
to my grandmother,

00:36:44.901 --> 00:36:47.234
and I used to see
her all the time,

00:36:47.234 --> 00:36:49.100
and when I got back, I was 20.

00:36:49.100 --> 00:36:50.334
I got married at 21.

00:36:50.334 --> 00:36:52.300
She was 18.

00:36:52.300 --> 00:36:54.133
So were you guys writing
back and forth

00:36:54.133 --> 00:36:55.400
and all that kind of stuff?
-She wrote. Yes.

00:36:55.400 --> 00:36:56.701
-Family, too?
-Yes.

00:36:56.701 --> 00:36:57.801
-Yeah.

00:36:57.801 --> 00:37:00.934
-My mother, she couldn't write.

00:37:00.934 --> 00:37:01.968
She couldn't...

00:37:01.968 --> 00:37:05.167
No education,

00:37:05.167 --> 00:37:08.601
so my wife had to write to her,

00:37:08.601 --> 00:37:10.467
and she'd go
to my mother's house.

00:37:10.467 --> 00:37:12.400
-Oh, and ask what your mom
wanted to tell you.

00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:14.267
Oh, that's so nice.

00:37:14.267 --> 00:37:16.634
-So how that's
how that happened.

00:37:16.634 --> 00:37:18.801
Mail wasn't that close anyway.
We never...

00:37:18.801 --> 00:37:19.901
-Took a while to get
the mail, right?

00:37:19.901 --> 00:37:22.868
-Took a while to get it.
-[ Chuckles ]

00:37:22.868 --> 00:37:24.467
Now, you were talking
about food, so now

00:37:24.467 --> 00:37:26.300
Ms. Guthrie's class
also is wondering,

00:37:26.300 --> 00:37:28.234
"What kind of food do you
eat on a boat or a ship?

00:37:28.234 --> 00:37:31.167
Is it any good?"
-Well, our rations was Spam.

00:37:31.167 --> 00:37:33.200
You know what Spam is?

00:37:33.200 --> 00:37:37.000
We had it in a can,
and we had a key to open it.

00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:40.901
Today, you just pull a tab.
-So yeah.

00:37:40.901 --> 00:37:42.667
Canned ham, is that
what you got every day?

00:37:42.667 --> 00:37:45.200
-Spam. Yeah.
We had that.

00:37:45.200 --> 00:37:47.167
We had chocolate
and stuff like that,

00:37:47.167 --> 00:37:51.234
but mostly Spam until we put
the Seabees on the island,

00:37:51.234 --> 00:37:55.901
and they built us a tent,
and then they built us a galley,

00:37:55.901 --> 00:37:59.167
which is where we ate,

00:37:59.167 --> 00:38:02.601
so that was okay then.

00:38:02.601 --> 00:38:04.267
-Wasn't so bad, right?
-No. Unh-unh.

00:38:04.267 --> 00:38:07.200
-So yeah.
-No. We had eggs then.

00:38:07.200 --> 00:38:08.501
Whew.
-Yeah.

00:38:08.501 --> 00:38:10.133
Do you have...
-Nice eggs.

00:38:10.133 --> 00:38:13.434
-Do you have any friends
that you still keep in touch

00:38:13.434 --> 00:38:15.334
with that were either
on the boats with you

00:38:15.334 --> 00:38:17.067
or part of your crew
or anything like that?

00:38:17.067 --> 00:38:20.501
-Right. Well, I just talked to
one of them 2 months ago.

00:38:20.501 --> 00:38:23.133
I mean, he was here
in the museum,

00:38:23.133 --> 00:38:25.334
and I talked to another one.

00:38:25.334 --> 00:38:28.300
He's in Sarasota, Texas.

00:38:28.300 --> 00:38:30.868
I keep in touch with him,
so there's three of us.

00:38:30.868 --> 00:38:32.467
We talk to one another.

00:38:32.467 --> 00:38:35.000
-That's great.
-And we're all 90 years old.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:37.701
One is 92.
-Yeah.

00:38:37.701 --> 00:38:39.968
So you guys all entered
pretty early in the war.

00:38:39.968 --> 00:38:41.400
Yeah.
-Yeah.

00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:44.868
And Fred came here, and he
went to the boat, and he says,

00:38:44.868 --> 00:38:49.133
"Man, I packed more of these
boats, patched them up."

00:38:49.133 --> 00:38:52.067
That's what his job was because
we used to bang them up.

00:38:52.067 --> 00:38:54.767
We'd hit the ship,
hit the beach.

00:38:54.767 --> 00:38:58.434
He'd have to take
all that off, redo it.

00:38:58.434 --> 00:39:00.133
-So that was another
important, you know, job.

00:39:00.133 --> 00:39:01.334
You know, there are a lot
of different jobs...

00:39:01.334 --> 00:39:02.467
-Right.

00:39:02.467 --> 00:39:03.501
-...you know, taking care
of those boats

00:39:03.501 --> 00:39:04.701
that you were
running too, right?

00:39:04.701 --> 00:39:07.267
-Right. And when I got
to the Admiralty Islands,

00:39:07.267 --> 00:39:10.300
they took me off the boats
and put me in a galley

00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:14.267
with a ship fitter
maintaining the galley.

00:39:14.267 --> 00:39:16.968
That was a big base there.

00:39:16.968 --> 00:39:18.834
-You kind of had to know a
little bit of everything, right?

00:39:18.834 --> 00:39:22.300
-Right. So I'm a qualified
ship fitter, third class,

00:39:22.300 --> 00:39:24.701
and coxswain
for the boats.

00:39:24.701 --> 00:39:26.167
-There you go.
-It's all in my record...

00:39:26.167 --> 00:39:28.400
-[ Laughs ] Oh, nice.

00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:30.400
-...my discharge papers.

00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:33.901
Well, I really appreciate
you sharing these.

00:39:33.901 --> 00:39:37.234
Oh, here is another good one
from Ms. Guthrie's class.

00:39:37.234 --> 00:39:39.267
You guys have a lot
of great questions.

00:39:39.267 --> 00:39:42.734
Maybe last one for you,
if you don't mind.

00:39:42.734 --> 00:39:46.667
Where did you sleep on
the big boat or big ships?

00:39:46.667 --> 00:39:49.033
-On the ships?
-Yeah.

00:39:49.033 --> 00:39:52.367
-Out on a rope or anything.

00:39:52.367 --> 00:39:54.167
Coming back?
-Yeah. Anytime,

00:39:54.167 --> 00:39:56.968
coming back or going there.
-Going there, we had a bunk.

00:39:56.968 --> 00:39:58.300
-You had some bunks?
-Yeah.

00:39:58.300 --> 00:40:01.801
Going there, we did have a bunk
on the Liberty ship,

00:40:01.801 --> 00:40:05.300
but coming back,
you never had...

00:40:05.300 --> 00:40:06.567
-Why, because there's
so many people?

00:40:06.567 --> 00:40:08.501
-There's too many on there.
Yeah.

00:40:08.501 --> 00:40:11.901
Two transports
after the bombing,

00:40:11.901 --> 00:40:16.167
and Navy and the Marines.
-Yeah. Wow.

00:40:16.167 --> 00:40:18.701
Well, you're going to sleep...
-Wherever you can.

00:40:18.701 --> 00:40:20.601
-...wherever you can lie, right?
-Right.

00:40:20.601 --> 00:40:23.400
So you sleep standing up, huh?

00:40:23.400 --> 00:40:27.701
-But it was... We were coming
home, so it wasn't that bad.

00:40:27.701 --> 00:40:29.033
-Yeah.

00:40:29.033 --> 00:40:31.367
-You just keep thinking
about getting to that base.

00:40:31.367 --> 00:40:32.601
-Yeah.

00:40:32.601 --> 00:40:34.300
Well, you know, Mr. Johnny,

00:40:34.300 --> 00:40:37.334
we really appreciate you sharing
your story with students about,

00:40:37.334 --> 00:40:39.501
you know, being able
to drive a boat

00:40:39.501 --> 00:40:42.601
and, you know,
running and

00:40:42.601 --> 00:40:44.534
on the galley
and what you ate on it,

00:40:44.534 --> 00:40:46.033
where you slept,
all that good stuff.

00:40:46.033 --> 00:40:47.767
-It's fortunate
I didn't get hurt,

00:40:47.767 --> 00:40:50.167
so I thank God for that.

00:40:50.167 --> 00:40:53.234
-Well, I know they all really
appreciate your perspective.

00:40:53.234 --> 00:40:55.067
They can't... you know,
we can't see them,

00:40:55.067 --> 00:40:57.300
which he really wanted
to see all of you guys,

00:40:57.300 --> 00:41:00.534
but, you know, please give him
a virtual round of applause,

00:41:00.534 --> 00:41:02.334
so...
And thank Mr. Johnny

00:41:02.334 --> 00:41:04.234
for spending
some time here today,

00:41:04.234 --> 00:41:06.000
and actually, if you don't mind,
what we're going to do

00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:07.501
is I'm going to swap you out.

00:41:07.501 --> 00:41:09.334
Do you want to swap spots
with Rob?

00:41:09.334 --> 00:41:11.767
And we're going to kind of
close out the program today.

00:41:11.767 --> 00:41:13.033
-All right.

00:41:13.033 --> 00:41:15.133
-And tell them about
what they're going to do...

00:41:15.133 --> 00:41:17.067
-Sit Rob in there.
-[ Chuckles ]

00:41:17.067 --> 00:41:19.200
...all about the pontoon,

00:41:19.200 --> 00:41:23.067
so we're going to transition
into another area.

00:41:23.067 --> 00:41:25.000
Everybody, welcome Rob.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:27.567
-Hi.
-Wait. Wait.

00:41:27.567 --> 00:41:29.801
You guys maybe saw him earlier
if you watch a lot

00:41:29.801 --> 00:41:31.300
of our webinars.

00:41:31.300 --> 00:41:34.367
We were talking about
the atomic bomb last year,

00:41:34.367 --> 00:41:36.601
and so we are actually
going to go

00:41:36.601 --> 00:41:39.667
and transition
into another area,

00:41:39.667 --> 00:41:43.968
and we're going to tell you
all about your design challenge,

00:41:43.968 --> 00:41:45.868
and, Rob, first tell them...

00:41:45.868 --> 00:41:47.567
Let's talk about
what they're going to do

00:41:47.567 --> 00:41:49.434
and what a pontoon is.

00:41:49.434 --> 00:41:53.868
-Right. Most of the time,
you see in the slides now,

00:41:53.868 --> 00:41:55.467
but in between the slides,

00:41:55.467 --> 00:41:58.434
you've been seeing
this big map between us,

00:41:58.434 --> 00:42:00.901
and so in World War II,
we made all this stuff,

00:42:00.901 --> 00:42:05.167
and we had 14 million
military guys to get to war,

00:42:05.167 --> 00:42:07.901
and as you'll notice
from looking at that big map,

00:42:07.901 --> 00:42:11.467
there's two big oceans
on either side of us,

00:42:11.467 --> 00:42:15.434
so getting guys onto
a boat isn't that hard,

00:42:15.434 --> 00:42:19.133
and getting them over
there isn't that hard,

00:42:19.133 --> 00:42:22.834
but getting them
on shore was hard,

00:42:22.834 --> 00:42:24.801
and so that's what
the Higgins boats did,

00:42:24.801 --> 00:42:28.601
was they got the guys on shore.

00:42:28.601 --> 00:42:30.200
About a year before

00:42:30.200 --> 00:42:33.033
the successful D-Day
invasion of Normandy,

00:42:33.033 --> 00:42:37.167
they tried to take a port
in France called Dieppe,

00:42:37.167 --> 00:42:39.667
and it didn't work out
because they tried to go

00:42:39.667 --> 00:42:41.367
into this fortified port

00:42:41.367 --> 00:42:43.534
and dock the ships,
and it just didn't work out.

00:42:43.534 --> 00:42:44.834
-Got stuck.

00:42:44.834 --> 00:42:47.167
-So that's why the Higgins boats
were so important,

00:42:47.167 --> 00:42:50.601
but then how do you get
all these supplies ashore?

00:42:50.601 --> 00:42:56.067
So when we invaded Normandy,
we made this portable harbor

00:42:56.067 --> 00:42:58.801
that we sent out there,
and they were called mulberries,

00:42:58.801 --> 00:43:00.601
and you'll read about it
in the handout Chrissy

00:43:00.601 --> 00:43:03.567
is going to send you,
and they made these piers.

00:43:03.567 --> 00:43:06.434
They drove these hollow
piers into the sand

00:43:06.434 --> 00:43:08.901
and then stuck sections on them.

00:43:08.901 --> 00:43:12.934
They sank old boats
around to slow the tide

00:43:12.934 --> 00:43:14.067
and the waves down,

00:43:14.067 --> 00:43:16.267
and then they made
this temporary harbor

00:43:16.267 --> 00:43:18.968
that stretched a mile
out into the ocean.

00:43:18.968 --> 00:43:21.400
-See if we maybe have some...
Where's that picture?

00:43:21.400 --> 00:43:22.501
Is that a good one?
-Yes.

00:43:22.501 --> 00:43:23.801
That's part of a mulberry.
Yeah.

00:43:23.801 --> 00:43:26.501
So they stretched a whole mile
out into the ocean,

00:43:26.501 --> 00:43:32.667
and they just offloaded
things onto it, tanks, trucks

00:43:32.667 --> 00:43:35.801
and just sent them ashore,
and they lasted about a week,

00:43:35.801 --> 00:43:37.634
and then one of
the biggest storms

00:43:37.634 --> 00:43:40.701
ever to hit the English Channel
came through,

00:43:40.701 --> 00:43:43.000
so D-Day was on June 4th,

00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:47.267
and about the 12th to the 19th,

00:43:47.267 --> 00:43:52.000
this big storm came through and
just destroyed the whole thing,

00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:54.901
so the British designed
these mulberries,

00:43:54.901 --> 00:43:56.434
and the Americans came up with

00:43:56.434 --> 00:44:00.300
a really kind of different
solution with pontoons,

00:44:00.300 --> 00:44:03.801
and a pontoon is
a big floating thing,

00:44:03.801 --> 00:44:05.133
so it's a big empty thing.

00:44:05.133 --> 00:44:06.367
You may have seen...

00:44:06.367 --> 00:44:09.567
Like, if you go boating
on a lake or a river,

00:44:09.567 --> 00:44:12.067
we use pontoon boats,
and they just have big floats

00:44:12.067 --> 00:44:15.501
and a platform
across the top of them,

00:44:15.501 --> 00:44:17.534
and so we made
these big pontoons,

00:44:17.534 --> 00:44:19.067
and if you go back
a couple slides,

00:44:19.067 --> 00:44:21.000
you'll see a pontoon boat
right there.

00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.100
That's called a Rhino,
and the Americans made these,

00:44:24.100 --> 00:44:26.067
and it had some
big floats underneath

00:44:26.067 --> 00:44:28.033
with a heavy platform on top,

00:44:28.033 --> 00:44:31.634
and they could put motors on it
and send it as a ferry,

00:44:31.634 --> 00:44:33.901
or they would just connect
a whole series of them

00:44:33.901 --> 00:44:38.501
together to make a big dock
or a harbor or a bridge.

00:44:38.501 --> 00:44:41.667
They made that bridge
across the rivers in Germany

00:44:41.667 --> 00:44:45.200
using pontoons,
so your design challenge is...

00:44:45.200 --> 00:44:49.000
-Let's get into that. Yeah.
-...to build your own pontoon.

00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:50.300
Oh, go back one.

00:44:50.300 --> 00:44:51.567
I meant to show you how far
this thing stretched.

00:44:51.567 --> 00:44:52.901
-Oh, yeah. There it is.
I was looking for that.

00:44:52.901 --> 00:44:55.534
-So look how far that thing
stretched, a long ways,

00:44:55.534 --> 00:44:57.467
and there were some that
were longer than that.

00:44:57.467 --> 00:44:58.701
All right.

00:44:58.701 --> 00:45:01.968
So you're going to make
your own pontoon boat,

00:45:01.968 --> 00:45:04.033
and so there's a list
in the handout

00:45:04.033 --> 00:45:05.300
that Chrissy
is going to send you.

00:45:05.300 --> 00:45:07.067
-Yeah. And, actually, you see
the teacher guide.

00:45:07.067 --> 00:45:11.300
If you look in that files pod,
there's that PT-305 FAQ

00:45:11.300 --> 00:45:13.734
I was telling you about
earlier and teacher guide

00:45:13.734 --> 00:45:15.901
with this challenge in it,
so you do it yourself.

00:45:15.901 --> 00:45:18.100
-So you're going to make it,
and it's just ordinary,

00:45:18.100 --> 00:45:19.634
regular, everyday materials.

00:45:19.634 --> 00:45:22.434
There's some cardboard,
some tape, some string,

00:45:22.434 --> 00:45:26.767
some washers,
some drink bottles,

00:45:26.767 --> 00:45:28.234
and you're going to try to see

00:45:28.234 --> 00:45:32.334
if you can make something
that'll hold a vehicle, okay,

00:45:32.334 --> 00:45:34.734
and keep it from capsizing.

00:45:34.734 --> 00:45:36.701
Now, one of the tricks
with a pontoon,

00:45:36.701 --> 00:45:38.868
one of the challenges
to that design

00:45:38.868 --> 00:45:40.834
is that you're floating
on top of the water,

00:45:40.834 --> 00:45:44.467
so if you get up too high,
they like to flip over,

00:45:44.467 --> 00:45:48.801
and so you can weigh it down, so
that's what they do sometimes,

00:45:48.801 --> 00:45:51.801
and that's why we let you
have some washers and string

00:45:51.801 --> 00:45:53.300
because you might want
to hang a weight

00:45:53.300 --> 00:45:56.200
down into the water
below the pontoon boat

00:45:56.200 --> 00:45:58.167
to lower its center of gravity,

00:45:58.167 --> 00:46:01.100
but you can make
the whole thing, you know,

00:46:01.100 --> 00:46:04.467
and we're going to test
to see how much weight

00:46:04.467 --> 00:46:07.267
can your pontoon boat make,

00:46:07.267 --> 00:46:09.067
so you're going to compete
against other classrooms

00:46:09.067 --> 00:46:11.067
to see how much
weight you can hold

00:46:11.067 --> 00:46:15.667
and also how long it can
stay up in the water.

00:46:15.667 --> 00:46:17.434
-So you can see
the details on there.

00:46:17.434 --> 00:46:18.868
What we want you guys to do

00:46:18.868 --> 00:46:21.334
is take a picture
of your best design

00:46:21.334 --> 00:46:22.868
and also your best trial,

00:46:22.868 --> 00:46:25.601
so, you know, how much it held

00:46:25.601 --> 00:46:28.501
or how long your pontoon
floated before it sunk

00:46:28.501 --> 00:46:30.167
or maybe it didn't sink at all,
which would be awesome.

00:46:30.167 --> 00:46:31.434
-That'd be awesome.

00:46:31.434 --> 00:46:35.467
-And so you're going to record
all of that data

00:46:35.467 --> 00:46:36.701
and what we've provided,

00:46:36.701 --> 00:46:38.000
and then you're going to
take a picture of it

00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:41.267
and snap it and actually
e-mail it over to me,

00:46:41.267 --> 00:46:43.400
and the e-mail is included
in there too, teachers,

00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:44.701
and then what Rob and I
are going to do,

00:46:44.701 --> 00:46:45.901
we're going to go through it.

00:46:45.901 --> 00:46:47.767
We're going to cull through
all the results,

00:46:47.767 --> 00:46:50.100
and then we're going
to pick the winners,

00:46:50.100 --> 00:46:51.367
and the winners
will be featured...

00:46:51.367 --> 00:46:53.367
Tell them a little bit
about your blog.

00:46:53.367 --> 00:46:58.067
-So I have a blog every 2 weeks
called Sci-Tech Tuesday.

00:46:58.067 --> 00:47:02.234
It's on the museum site,
and we just talk about stuff

00:47:02.234 --> 00:47:04.100
that's going on
around anniversaries

00:47:04.100 --> 00:47:06.968
in World War II
or something else.

00:47:06.968 --> 00:47:11.501
This week, I wrote about
the Nobel Prize for medicine

00:47:11.501 --> 00:47:12.834
that was announced on Monday,

00:47:12.834 --> 00:47:16.834
went to some folks who
studied parasites and diseases

00:47:16.834 --> 00:47:21.100
to fight parasites like
malaria or elephantiasis,

00:47:21.100 --> 00:47:23.300
and it's kind of interesting

00:47:23.300 --> 00:47:25.434
because we've been
fighting that battle

00:47:25.434 --> 00:47:26.968
since World War II.

00:47:26.968 --> 00:47:29.934
I mean, we still haven't come up
with a great cure for malaria,

00:47:29.934 --> 00:47:31.901
and so I wrote about that,

00:47:31.901 --> 00:47:34.267
so it may be around
an anniversary

00:47:34.267 --> 00:47:38.968
or it may be around something
that's happening in the world

00:47:38.968 --> 00:47:41.567
that connects to the
technology of World War II.

00:47:41.567 --> 00:47:43.267
-So what we're going to do
is we're going to,

00:47:43.267 --> 00:47:44.901
as I said, look at
all your results

00:47:44.901 --> 00:47:47.701
and then publish
the winners in that blog,

00:47:47.701 --> 00:47:50.467
sometime between
Thanksgiving and Christmas,

00:47:50.467 --> 00:47:53.000
and then the winning classes
will be sent a prize.

00:47:53.000 --> 00:47:54.634
We're actually going to
send you guys some classroom

00:47:54.634 --> 00:47:57.667
posters to hang up,
propaganda posters

00:47:57.667 --> 00:48:00.067
and some from our
robotics competition.

00:48:00.067 --> 00:48:03.400
So you can decorate
your classroom

00:48:03.400 --> 00:48:05.434
if you win our design challenge,

00:48:05.434 --> 00:48:07.534
so all the details are in there.

00:48:07.534 --> 00:48:09.934
We actually... You know what?

00:48:09.934 --> 00:48:11.701
We did really well on time,

00:48:11.701 --> 00:48:13.567
and so we actually have
a few more minutes,

00:48:13.567 --> 00:48:15.033
and I know that...

00:48:15.033 --> 00:48:17.367
-Can I talk about a question
I'm surprised nobody asked?

00:48:17.367 --> 00:48:18.467
-Yeah. Yeah.
Go for it.

00:48:18.467 --> 00:48:20.067
-Why did they make
these PT boats

00:48:20.067 --> 00:48:24.100
out of wood instead of metal?

00:48:24.100 --> 00:48:25.267
-Well, do you want
to answer that,

00:48:25.267 --> 00:48:27.801
or should we bring in
our PT boat experts

00:48:27.801 --> 00:48:30.300
one more time, so yeah.

00:48:30.300 --> 00:48:31.701
Mr. Johnny talked
about that too,

00:48:31.701 --> 00:48:34.501
about these boats being
made out of mahogany,

00:48:34.501 --> 00:48:36.501
whether it's a Higgins boat
or a PT boat,

00:48:36.501 --> 00:48:37.901
so actually, you know,
Kali, Josh,

00:48:37.901 --> 00:48:40.534
you want to close it out
and talk about --

00:48:40.534 --> 00:48:42.367
I'm going
to scooch over one more time --

00:48:42.367 --> 00:48:45.934
and talk about, you know,
why boats are made out of...

00:48:45.934 --> 00:48:47.334
-Change chairs.
-Yeah.

00:48:47.334 --> 00:48:51.567
We're doing a little
musical chairs here, so yeah.

00:48:51.567 --> 00:48:54.434
Why are boats made
out of wood, not metal?

00:48:54.434 --> 00:48:57.234
-Well, the Higgins boats
in particular,

00:48:57.234 --> 00:48:59.567
Josh kind of mentioned
that metal

00:48:59.567 --> 00:49:04.701
was an important strategic
material during the war,

00:49:04.701 --> 00:49:07.734
so one of the things you can see
when you visit the museum here

00:49:07.734 --> 00:49:12.100
is that families would
collect all their scraps,

00:49:12.100 --> 00:49:16.501
and even extra razor blades
or lipstick tubes

00:49:16.501 --> 00:49:18.267
could be used to make bullets

00:49:18.267 --> 00:49:22.367
or, you know, anything that
we needed to use,

00:49:22.367 --> 00:49:26.000
and so steel was too heavy,

00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:27.634
and so they tried
to make these boats...

00:49:27.634 --> 00:49:30.601
They actually did make
the first boats out of aluminum,

00:49:30.601 --> 00:49:35.133
but they couldn't go as fast
as the Navy wanted, so...

00:49:35.133 --> 00:49:37.534
-Because they fell apart
when they went that fast.

00:49:37.534 --> 00:49:39.434
They weren't strong enough.
-No. They were fine.

00:49:39.434 --> 00:49:42.267
That's a really
strategic material.

00:49:42.267 --> 00:49:44.200
Aluminum, you use
aluminum for airplanes.

00:49:44.200 --> 00:49:46.501
-Yeah.
-So it's just better to save it

00:49:46.501 --> 00:49:48.667
for a P51 than a boat.
-Right.

00:49:48.667 --> 00:49:50.234
-And all the thousands
of bombers

00:49:50.234 --> 00:49:54.234
that were needed to drop bombs

00:49:54.234 --> 00:49:55.601
over Germany and Japan,

00:49:55.601 --> 00:50:00.300
so one of the other reasons
that mahogany was used in

00:50:00.300 --> 00:50:01.667
Higgins boats

00:50:01.667 --> 00:50:05.467
is because Andrew Higgins
actually bought a huge shipment

00:50:05.467 --> 00:50:08.868
of mahogany from the Philippines
before the Japanese invaded,

00:50:08.868 --> 00:50:12.267
so it was a material
that he had plenty of to use,

00:50:12.267 --> 00:50:14.267
and then down here
in Louisiana, unfortunately,

00:50:14.267 --> 00:50:15.868
we did cut down
a lot of our trees,

00:50:15.868 --> 00:50:17.968
but a lot of the cypress
and the spruce

00:50:17.968 --> 00:50:20.267
and the fir was a readily
available material

00:50:20.267 --> 00:50:22.801
that wasn't needed
for other areas of the war,

00:50:22.801 --> 00:50:26.868
so you can use it to build
almost 600 PT boats,

00:50:26.868 --> 00:50:29.567
and you're not taking away
from vital materials

00:50:29.567 --> 00:50:33.334
needed to make bombers
and fighters and Liberty ships.

00:50:33.334 --> 00:50:36.934
Now, Higgins did make
some metal boats.

00:50:36.934 --> 00:50:41.634
There's one called LCM, so it's
a landing craft mechanized,

00:50:41.634 --> 00:50:43.133
and it is a steel boat.

00:50:43.133 --> 00:50:45.501
It was needed...
They needed it to be sturdier

00:50:45.501 --> 00:50:47.367
so that they could put tanks

00:50:47.367 --> 00:50:50.267
and larger land
equipment on that,

00:50:50.267 --> 00:50:52.300
and then he did build
Liberty ships,

00:50:52.300 --> 00:50:55.801
but the metal went to things
like that that were vital,

00:50:55.801 --> 00:50:57.734
and wood was just
a surplus material

00:50:57.734 --> 00:51:00.567
that also made
a very light boat.

00:51:00.567 --> 00:51:03.234
You want to tell them
the weight of our boat?

00:51:03.234 --> 00:51:07.567
-Our boat weighed
around 53 tons,

00:51:07.567 --> 00:51:10.868
so maybe take 53 cars
in the parking lot,

00:51:10.868 --> 00:51:14.100
and that's about as much
as the boat weighed,

00:51:14.100 --> 00:51:15.601
which is pretty heavy.

00:51:15.601 --> 00:51:17.734
A lot of the weight
was in those torpedoes.

00:51:17.734 --> 00:51:20.634
The picture of that torpedo
we showed you earlier,

00:51:20.634 --> 00:51:22.234
that thing weighs 2,000 pounds.

00:51:22.234 --> 00:51:24.400
That thing weighs as much
as a pickup truck,

00:51:24.400 --> 00:51:26.167
so, you know, there's...

00:51:26.167 --> 00:51:28.167
It's amazing that all of this
really big,

00:51:28.167 --> 00:51:31.033
heavy stuff fits
on this wooden boat

00:51:31.033 --> 00:51:34.234
who's got, you know,
inch-thick walls around it.

00:51:34.234 --> 00:51:36.367
-And even with the wood,
they had to find ways

00:51:36.367 --> 00:51:38.868
to make it lighter,

00:51:38.868 --> 00:51:41.267
and one of the things
that Higgins did is,

00:51:41.267 --> 00:51:44.000
in some of the big pieces
on the side of the boat

00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:46.701
that are called bulkheads,
he cut holes,

00:51:46.701 --> 00:51:49.033
and it would stay
structurally intact,

00:51:49.033 --> 00:51:51.000
but you could take out
a section of wood

00:51:51.000 --> 00:51:53.200
and make it even lighter.

00:51:53.200 --> 00:51:54.767
The Navy originally told him,

00:51:54.767 --> 00:51:56.067
"Hey, your boats
aren't fast enough.

00:51:56.067 --> 00:51:59.300
We want these boats
to go at least 40 knots."

00:51:59.300 --> 00:52:02.434
A knot is how you measure
speed on the water,

00:52:02.434 --> 00:52:05.467
so 40 knots is about
45 miles an hour.

00:52:05.467 --> 00:52:07.868
It's not the same
as miles per hour,

00:52:07.868 --> 00:52:09.234
and so that's one of the things

00:52:09.234 --> 00:52:12.367
Higgins did, was trying to
figure out how he could continue

00:52:12.367 --> 00:52:14.033
to build these boats
where they were sturdy,

00:52:14.033 --> 00:52:16.400
but they were light,
and they could go much faster.

00:52:16.400 --> 00:52:18.601
-Another funny thing that
we actually just found out

00:52:18.601 --> 00:52:21.868
last week is that in the galley,
in the kitchen,

00:52:21.868 --> 00:52:24.834
they had glass plates
on one of the first boats,

00:52:24.834 --> 00:52:26.534
and the Navy was telling
Higgins,

00:52:26.534 --> 00:52:28.534
"We need your boats
to be a little bit faster,"

00:52:28.534 --> 00:52:29.901
and so Kali here found out

00:52:29.901 --> 00:52:32.200
that they took all
the glass plates out,

00:52:32.200 --> 00:52:34.467
and they put plastic plates in
to make it lighter,

00:52:34.467 --> 00:52:36.701
so it's every little
pound counts.

00:52:36.701 --> 00:52:37.968
-We thought they took
the glass out

00:52:37.968 --> 00:52:39.501
because it would break
on the heavy seas,

00:52:39.501 --> 00:52:41.033
but it's because it added
a lot of weight.

00:52:41.033 --> 00:52:42.567
-Yeah.
Just a little bit more speed.

00:52:42.567 --> 00:52:45.467
-So those are the things our
historic research tells us about

00:52:45.467 --> 00:52:48.200
restoring the boats,
so we can do that accurately,

00:52:48.200 --> 00:52:49.801
and that's a fun thing
as a historian,

00:52:49.801 --> 00:52:51.467
to get to work on
something like this

00:52:51.467 --> 00:52:53.067
because you don't always realize

00:52:53.067 --> 00:52:56.100
there's opportunities
to help restore

00:52:56.100 --> 00:52:58.400
a boat that...
And we haven't mentioned.

00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:00.200
It is going to be on the water.
-Oh, yeah.

00:53:00.200 --> 00:53:03.567
-It's going to be on the lake
here in New Orleans.

00:53:03.567 --> 00:53:04.868
-How much longer,
you guys think, ish?

00:53:04.868 --> 00:53:06.133
-Within the next year...
-Yeah.

00:53:06.133 --> 00:53:08.200
-...she should be back
on Lake Pontchartrain

00:53:08.200 --> 00:53:10.868
where they originally
tested these boats,

00:53:10.868 --> 00:53:12.901
so it's a really cool
coming-home story

00:53:12.901 --> 00:53:14.968
for the 305,
that she was built here.

00:53:14.968 --> 00:53:17.734
She served in the Mediterranean.

00:53:17.734 --> 00:53:21.501
She was all along the East Coast
for decades after the war.

00:53:21.501 --> 00:53:24.901
Now, she's back here where she
was built, so she's come home,

00:53:24.901 --> 00:53:26.601
and she's going to be
on the lake again

00:53:26.601 --> 00:53:30.133
where she first
got into the water,

00:53:30.133 --> 00:53:33.601
and you'll be able to come
down and see the boat

00:53:33.601 --> 00:53:35.567
and see what
we've done with it.

00:53:35.567 --> 00:53:38.000
It's going to be really special.
-Yeah. Watch her speed by.

00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:39.334
-Yeah.

00:53:39.334 --> 00:53:40.868
And it's going to be loud,
so bring your earplugs.

00:53:40.868 --> 00:53:41.968
-It's going to be very loud.

00:53:41.968 --> 00:53:43.000
We've already tested
the engines,

00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:45.934
and they're pretty noisy, so...

00:53:45.934 --> 00:53:47.100
-So I've actually...

00:53:47.100 --> 00:53:48.434
I have two questions
for you guys in like

00:53:48.434 --> 00:53:49.634
the 5 minutes we have left,

00:53:49.634 --> 00:53:52.267
so first question
kind of relating...

00:53:52.267 --> 00:53:53.334
you know, you guys
are talking about

00:53:53.334 --> 00:53:55.834
both being historians
and restorers,

00:53:55.834 --> 00:53:57.467
and this is a great example,

00:53:57.467 --> 00:54:00.868
everybody who's watching,
about careers in history,

00:54:00.868 --> 00:54:02.467
so, like, what got
you interested...

00:54:02.467 --> 00:54:03.968
You know, how did you
end up where you did,

00:54:03.968 --> 00:54:07.033
and what got you interested
in history, and, you know,

00:54:07.033 --> 00:54:08.968
how did you get to this point
in your life right now,

00:54:08.968 --> 00:54:13.367
being able to research this
boat and help rebuild it?

00:54:13.367 --> 00:54:14.434
-Well...

00:54:14.434 --> 00:54:15.834
-I've been doing this
for a long time.

00:54:15.834 --> 00:54:17.701
I actually...
I was 15 years old

00:54:17.701 --> 00:54:19.534
when I first came to the museum.

00:54:19.534 --> 00:54:21.467
They were restoring
a landing craft,

00:54:21.467 --> 00:54:22.968
and I saw the crew
working on them,

00:54:22.968 --> 00:54:24.501
and I said, "Oh,
I want to do that,"

00:54:24.501 --> 00:54:26.367
so I went and did that,

00:54:26.367 --> 00:54:28.501
and I was going to school
at the same time.

00:54:28.501 --> 00:54:31.767
I was in high school then,
and so just kind of...

00:54:31.767 --> 00:54:34.634
I followed that path while
I was going to high school

00:54:34.634 --> 00:54:35.934
and then into college,

00:54:35.934 --> 00:54:38.000
and then I got my master's
degree in history

00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:39.300
at the same time I was working

00:54:39.300 --> 00:54:40.968
on the restoration
projects here,

00:54:40.968 --> 00:54:43.000
and so it's a dual interest.

00:54:43.000 --> 00:54:47.267
School gave me the ability
to learn how to research

00:54:47.267 --> 00:54:50.167
and do all this academic
work and write articles

00:54:50.167 --> 00:54:53.267
and really think about it
in a different aspect, but...

00:54:53.267 --> 00:54:56.434
And then working on the boat
has been valuable experience

00:54:56.434 --> 00:54:57.934
because I've been able to learn

00:54:57.934 --> 00:54:59.801
how to work with
my hands and tools

00:54:59.801 --> 00:55:01.767
and make an actual
connection with something

00:55:01.767 --> 00:55:03.934
instead of just
reading about it,

00:55:03.934 --> 00:55:06.434
and so I like to put
both of those together,

00:55:06.434 --> 00:55:09.400
and now you're here
talking to me.

00:55:09.400 --> 00:55:12.067
-And I met Josh in grad school,

00:55:12.067 --> 00:55:13.734
and we were all
introducing ourselves

00:55:13.734 --> 00:55:15.434
and saying things we did,
and he said,

00:55:15.434 --> 00:55:18.534
"Well, I volunteer restoring
this boat at the WWII Museum,"

00:55:18.534 --> 00:55:20.000
so I have to be
a part of that,

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:22.667
so I've been working on it
for almost 5 years now,

00:55:22.667 --> 00:55:26.100
and like Josh said, it's a great
way to take the history

00:55:26.100 --> 00:55:28.767
and the facts and actually
apply it and get hands-on,

00:55:28.767 --> 00:55:30.968
and we've had one
or two occasions

00:55:30.968 --> 00:55:34.434
where we've had PT boat veterans
that have come to see the boat,

00:55:34.434 --> 00:55:37.801
and to see their reaction
when they step on deck

00:55:37.801 --> 00:55:39.367
and what it means to them,

00:55:39.367 --> 00:55:42.000
that's why we give up
our Saturdays.

00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:43.801
Every Saturday,
that's what we do.

00:55:43.801 --> 00:55:46.033
Bright and early, we're at
the museum to work on it,

00:55:46.033 --> 00:55:48.567
and after work,
we're thinking about things,

00:55:48.567 --> 00:55:51.367
and we've researched
at the National Archives,

00:55:51.367 --> 00:55:54.067
so we use death logs and all
these things that, you know,

00:55:54.067 --> 00:55:56.901
normally people would take
that research and just write,

00:55:56.901 --> 00:55:59.634
and we take this research
and apply it to restore,

00:55:59.634 --> 00:56:03.968
and it's areas in history
that everybody says,

00:56:03.968 --> 00:56:05.868
"Oh, you study history.
You're going to be a teacher,"

00:56:05.868 --> 00:56:07.801
and that's a wonderful thing,

00:56:07.801 --> 00:56:10.834
but there's so many things
that you can do with history

00:56:10.834 --> 00:56:13.534
and that, you know,
people don't always realize,

00:56:13.534 --> 00:56:16.567
so restoring is another thing
that you can do with history.

00:56:16.567 --> 00:56:17.868
-Yeah.
-All right.

00:56:17.868 --> 00:56:19.767
And kind of on that note
of your job

00:56:19.767 --> 00:56:22.601
and working with your hands
and being very involved

00:56:22.601 --> 00:56:25.067
in the rebuilding of PT-305,

00:56:25.067 --> 00:56:27.200
so these students are
going to build a pontoon.

00:56:27.200 --> 00:56:30.133
Do you have any advice for them
to have their pontoon float

00:56:30.133 --> 00:56:31.667
the longest or hold the most...

00:56:31.667 --> 00:56:32.667
Any strategies?

00:56:32.667 --> 00:56:34.434
-Measure twice, cut once.

00:56:34.434 --> 00:56:36.033
-Yeah.
[ Laughter ]

00:56:36.033 --> 00:56:37.634
-That's really...

00:56:37.634 --> 00:56:39.901
-Yeah. There you go.

00:56:39.901 --> 00:56:42.334
-Well, you know,
water outside the boat

00:56:42.334 --> 00:56:45.300
is usually the best
thing to have.

00:56:45.300 --> 00:56:47.267
You know, it's...
-Yeah.

00:56:47.267 --> 00:56:48.601
-You got a fun challenge
ahead of you.

00:56:48.601 --> 00:56:49.901
That's for sure.
-Yeah.

00:56:49.901 --> 00:56:53.300
-All right. Well, you know,
thank you guys for,

00:56:53.300 --> 00:56:55.634
you know, hanging out with us
for this past hour

00:56:55.634 --> 00:56:58.033
and for your advice
to see, you know,

00:56:58.033 --> 00:57:01.701
whose pontoon can float
the longest here.

00:57:01.701 --> 00:57:03.868
We're just so glad
to have you here today,

00:57:03.868 --> 00:57:07.133
and I'm actually going to
kind of close it all out,

00:57:07.133 --> 00:57:08.734
so say bye, everyone.
-Bye.

00:57:08.734 --> 00:57:13.200
-Say bye to Kali and Josh,
and so I want to tell you all,

00:57:13.200 --> 00:57:14.868
before we close and off

00:57:14.868 --> 00:57:18.000
you go to your pontoon
design challenge,

00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:19.234
our next webinar,

00:57:19.234 --> 00:57:20.801
so this is also probably
for you teachers

00:57:20.801 --> 00:57:22.501
too listening out there.

00:57:22.501 --> 00:57:24.267
We are doing a webinar
commemorating

00:57:24.267 --> 00:57:26.501
the 74th anniversary
of Pearl Harbor,

00:57:26.501 --> 00:57:28.100
and it's going to be super cool

00:57:28.100 --> 00:57:31.067
because we are connecting
with the World War II Valor

00:57:31.067 --> 00:57:33.234
in the Pacific
National Monument.

00:57:33.234 --> 00:57:37.000
Those are the folks that
take care of the USS Arizona,

00:57:37.000 --> 00:57:38.868
so we'll be talking
with an educator there

00:57:38.868 --> 00:57:42.934
and even a witness
to the attack,

00:57:42.934 --> 00:57:44.367
and we're also going to show you

00:57:44.367 --> 00:57:47.133
all a little bit of the behind
the scenes of our newest gallery

00:57:47.133 --> 00:57:50.601
opening here at the museum
called "Road to Tokyo,"

00:57:50.601 --> 00:57:54.901
so it should be another
kind of whirlwind webinar

00:57:54.901 --> 00:57:56.801
like this one.