Robert Ingram Transcript Summary (download full transcript above)
0:00:00.1 Dialogue carried out before interview
0:01:46.4 Introduction and permission to record and film interview
0:02:32.9 Growing up and working in California
0:04:05.6 Traveling to San Francisco in 1941 to find work using his building trade
0:06:24.4 Traveling to Dutch Harbor on the steam ship, the Mt. McKinley
0:08:51.3 Making furniture and equipment and repairing a patrol boat
0:10:48.7 Room and board costs and living on an old ship called the Northwestern
0:12:31.0 Work contract in the Aleutians
0:14:18.7 Adapting to weather conditions
0:15:49.9 Short stays due to lack of communication and concern for family
0:17:10.2 Punishments for drinking alcohol
0:19:32.5 Purchasing government bonds with earnings
0:21:07.3 Catching lingcod and trying to barter with a restaurant
0:22:13.0 Bombing on June 3, 1942, and building caskets
0:25:45.6 Siren notification system
0:26:55.8 The bombing of the Quonset hut
0:29:26.3 Searching for survivors
0:32:54.2 Bombed oil reservoir causing burning oil flow
0:35:00.3 Planned escape with friends
0:38:12.3 Civilians stealing Army rifles and ending up in the Army
0:39:45.1 Building a foxhole on the beach
0:41:36.0 Eating food out of cans without labels
0:42:47.3 Setting up a kitchen on the beach to feed soldiers
0:44:23.9 Getting arrested while loading more food supplies
0:46:12.0 Termination requests for coverage of transportation
0:47:42.3 Navy Construction Battalion (Seabees) moved in to replace civilians
0:48:52.4 Stopping in Kodiak and getting offered a job for the same construction company
0:50:10.6 Repairing the boats
0:52:55.6 Signing up to fish at Uganik and applying for Merchant Marines
0:54:43.3 Entering the Navy and being assigned to Mare Island, California, to build prostheses
0:56:43.9 Learning to make prostheses for wounded Marines
0:58:43.4 Interview break
1:00:32.6 Value of details during interview
1:02:12.9 Repairing submarine walkways and a dry dock
1:05:03.0 Improvising to make necessary repairs
1:08:07.7 Making molds of a surgeon’s face
1:10:19.2 Civil service taking over the shop after the war was over
1:13:04.5 Missionary work after leaving the Navy
1:15:09.8 Living on Saipan for a year and the sea turtles
1:17:42.3 Plane traffic on Tinian and the transporting of bombs
1:19:45.9 Battle on Saipan and the large number of suicides
1:22:05.0 Invasion of Tinian
1:23:35.9 Remnants of the war
1:26:01.4 Visiting the Aleutians after the war
1:29:15.8 Native baskets
1:30:35.6 Keeping in contact with coworkers from Siems Drake over the years
1:32:50.5 Native people’s work style
1:35:59.3 Contacting a bulldozer operator that worked on Mount Ballyhoo
1:37:44.6 No cameras allowed for civilians during War
1:40:22.9 Setting up video footage of photographs
1:41:32.8 Reviewing and describing photographs
1:43:35.5 The inscription on the stone at Attu
1:45:48.1 Mr. Ingram showing a photograph book of Attu and Shemya
1:47:29.2 Photographs of the landing strips on Shemya
1:48:55.8 Photographs of the Coast Guard station and Memorial Site
1:51:36.0 Photographs of Adak and the Northwestern wreckage
1:52:58.9 Photographs at the 50-year reunion
1:54:31.5 Various photographs from 1942
1:56:01.7 Making copies of photograph album for attendees
1:57:23.9 Reviewing the 40-year reunion photographs
1:59:50.5 Photographs are in the Forgotten War book by Stan Cohen
2:02:37.8 Reviewing photographs from the 60-year reunion
2:06:14.0 Donating a Japanese silk flag to a museum
2:07:55.1 Reviewing photographs of the ship he rode to Alaska
2:08:41.9 Taking photographs of Mr. Ingram's pictures
End of interview at 2:11:24.9
