North, Buford (Interview outline and video), 2014

• Main Author: North, Buford
• Other Authors: Erichsen, Wallace (Interviewer)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan 2014
• Subjects: World War; 1939-1945 > Personal narratives; American; United States. Navy; Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States > History; Military; Michigan > History; Veterans; Flint; Orleans; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/document/41052; https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bd3d65fc2791dd55d45e20c6a6b3e70e.m4v; https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1972ae9cc777bff848d363f4b31383da.pdf

Buford North was born in Paragould, Arkansas, in 1922. His family later moved to Flint, Michigan where he attended high school. He enlisted in the Navy in June 1942. He received basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois and transferred to New Orleans, Louisiana for further training and his assignment to a ship. From New Orleans he went to Orange, Texas to board the USS William D. Porter as an Electrician's Mate 3rd Class. The USS William D. Porter participated in escorting President Roosevelt to Allied conferences in Africa and the Middle East as well as campaigns in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the Philippines, and finally at Okinawa supporting the invasion there. On June 10, 1945 the USS William D. Porter was struck by a Japanese kamikaze plane and sank off the coast of Okinawa. Buford, along with the rest of the crew, was successfully rescued and returned to the United States.