James Philips Berkeley oral history interview

1979-09-11

Berkeley, James Philips; Mayo, Marlene J.

Oral history interview with James Phillips Berkeley conducted by Marlene Mayo on September 11, 1979. James Phillips Berkeley (July 1, 1907 – February 13, 1995), born in Portsmouth, Virginia, was an officer of the United States Marine Corps. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1927. He attended the Army Signal School and had various appointments as a communications officer. In late 1943, he joined the Fifth Marine Division and was sent to the Pacific in late summer of the following year. He served as the Signal Officer at Iwo Jima. In mid-September 1945, the Fifth Division was sent to Japan as part of the Occupation forces. Upon arrival in Sasebo, Berkeley took part in the installation of an extensive radio network to facilitate communications for the Fifth Amphibious Corps. When that job was complete, he was appointed officer in charge of the disposition of enemy material and remained in that position through the end of 1945. He then took command of the Sixth Regiment with headquarters in Fukuoka. He left Japan in 1946. He had numerous appointments over the next 19 years. He retired in 1965 from the Marine Corps with over 38 years of active service, having attained the rank of Lieutenant General.

University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)

Oral histories

Japan--History--Allied occupation, 1945-1952

Japan; Virginia; Norfolk

Postwar Japan

Special Collections and University Archives

English

Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the University of Maryland Libraries at http://www.lib.umd.edu/special/contact/home.

Recording: 01:25:00 (audio cassette; mp3); Transcript: 43 pages (PDF)

This oral history interview is part of the Marlene J. Mayo oral histories. A guide to the full collection of Marlene J. Mayo oral histories is available in our archival collections: http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/42478.
Accession 2009-209-GWP
An interview transcript is available.

Filename: prange-087508