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Technical Sergeant Derrick enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1939 and served until 1943. He was 29 years old when he enlisted. After basic training, he served as an instructor in Norman, Oklahoma and was then assigned to a bomber squadron in the Pacific as a technical sergeant. The were involved in the fighting at Guadacanal and the Philippines. He used the G. I. Bill for farming training at Highland Community College. He was interviewed by Suzette McCord-Rogers on Feb 1, 2008. Derrick was born in Rogersville, Tennessee, on January 29, 1910. His family moved to Kansas when he was 7 or 8 years old. His father had a brother in Kansas who encouraged them to move here to go into farming. Derrick graduated from Highland High School and completed 2 years at Emporia State Teachers College. After two year of college, Derrick and a friend Vern Frisky "hoboed" for a year, ending up on the West Coast. He spent most of the 1930s in Alaska working on an oil pipeline. At some point after the war, he returned to Alaska. He was living in Wathena, Kansas at the time of this interview. The 2005 Kansas Legislature passed a bill funding the WWII Veterans Oral History grant program. This transcript is from one of the nine community institutions that received these grants. The transcript from the interview is presented here; the original audio copy of the interview is available through the Doniphan County Historical Society (Troy) and through the Kansas State Historical Society.
Creator: Derrick, Doyle Earl
Date: 1 February 2008
Item Number: 212196
Call Number: World War II Oral Histories Project
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 212196
Business and Industry - Chemical, petroleum, and gas - Oil
Collections - Oral History - Kansas Veterans of World War II - Doniphan County Historical Society, Troy, KS
Date - 2000s - 2008
Military - Service - Marines
Military - Veterans - Benefits - G. I. Bill of Rights
Military - Wars - World War II
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Transcript
Places - Cities and towns - Highland
Places - Cities and towns - Wathena
Places - Counties - Doniphan
Places - Other States - Alaska
Places - Other States - Michigan
Thematic Time Period - Great Depression and Dust Bowl, 1929 - 1941
Thematic Time Period - World War II, 1939 - 1945
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Transcript
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/212196