>> This is James Newberry,
and I'm here with Edith Bond on Thursday,
June 6th, 2019 in Alpharetta, Georgia.
And I want to thank you for sitting down with me and ask,
do you agree to this interview?
>> Yes.
>> Wonderful. So can you tell me your full name?
>> Edith Jones Bond.
My middle name was Edith Moreland Jones Bond.
>> And when were you born? What's your birthday?
>> July the 10th, 1921.
>> And where were you born?
>> In a little village called Yeomans,
Georgia in South Georgia near Dawson,
Georgia, in Terrell County.
>> What were your parents' names?
>> John Samuel Jones and Alice Elizabeth Moreland Jones.
>> And can you tell me what they did for a living?
>> Well, all the time, it was farming,
but also my father was
a tax collector for 12 years for the county.
>> Can you tell me about your family?
>> Well, there were 12 of us,
and I was the youngest.
My father had three wives.
The first wife had
four children and she died in childbirth.
The second mother had six children and she died,
they said, from tuberculosis.
And then my mother died from
unknown causes before he died,
and there were two of us,
two with my mother.
>> And your father was born before the Civil War?
>> Yes. His father died during the Civil War.
He did not die from battle,
but he had pneumonia and died in a camp in Virginia.
>> Can you describe your parents' personalities?
>> Well, my father was a very strict man.
He was much older than I was.
He was in his 60s when I was born.
And he was a very strict man,
but I was very close to him.
We had a real special relationship.
Although he hadn't had much education,
he was a smart man.
He had educated himself and he was a smart man,
and he was a super farmer.
Everybody looked around to see what he was going to do
so they could do what he was
doing because he was such a good farmer.
My mother was just a sweet,
sweet lady who always just did everything for everybody.
They would call on her to come in when somebody was sick.
She wasn't a nurse, but they would
call her and she would be willing to go,
but she was always a sweet lady, did a lot.
I don't know how much she liked it,
but she had a lot of homework to do,
housework to do, but she's also sewed,
she was really good seamstress.
>> Can you describe the house you grew up in?
>> Yes. It was a rambling,
wooden house with a porch around three sides of it.
And there were three bedrooms,
a living room, and a long hall,
and a dining room and a kitchen.
And during the Depression,
things went downhill and actually,
our roof got bad and it finally was leaking.
We had to put pots and pans around to catch the water
until we could finally afford
a tin roof which we finally got.
>> So you mentioned the Depression.
Can you talk a little bit about
the impact of the Depression on your family,
maybe some of your brothers who traveled for work?
>> Listen, two of my brothers,
I guess people would call them tramps.
They got on the train,
would catch a train,
and they were not riding in a regular seat.
They were riding probably in
the boxcar and went all over the country.
So one of them went to California.
I remember what he was saying,
he went and picked fruit out in California.
But they would go and then
they would come home for a while,
and then they'd go off again and just try to find work,
whatever work they could get to make a living.
>> Talk to me about your mother's death.
How did that affect you?
>> Well, of course,
it affected me very
much because I was just 15 years old,
and we weren't expecting it.
It was just something that
we didn't think she was that sick. We knew she was sick.
We had called a doctor and he came and at that time,
he didn't know what to give her.
He did the best he could,
but he gave her something that didn't help.
I don't know whether it hurt or not, but it didn't help.
And she lived,
I think it was about 10 days,
and she was gone.
And I was devastated.
I thought, what is the world coming to?
But I had those wonderful sisters that
really gathered around and
really gave me a lot of support.
>> So there were seven sisters altogether?
>> Well, six and me, seven girls.
>> And pretty much all of them either attended
or graduated from Georgia State College for women.
>> That's right, except me.
I went, but I didn't graduate.
I went to University of Georgia.
>> So why did you leave that college after one semester?
>> I went to stay home with
my daddy who did not have anybody,
who needed someone to take care of him.
Well, I guess he was in his 80s then.
He was in his mid-80s.
Somebody had to be with him.
His health was real bad.
He had to have his one leg amputated,
and so I went home to stay with him.
>> What did you do for him?
>> Well, we had some help,
but I guess just being a companion,
being there and loving him and taking care of him,
and seeing that he got fed and that he was
taken care of like he needed to be taken care of.
I was just a kid myself.
I was 18, but I was a kid.
I hadn't really gotten very mature at that point.
>> And so then you decided on the University of Georgia?
>> Yes.
>> Why?
>> Well, I don't know.
I really was interested in it,
and I was shocked that my father
agreed for me to go because
he thought that was the end of the world.
But I think because I
had stayed with him a couple of years,
he felt like he was giving me
a boost there by letting me go,
and he did agree to it.
And actually, it's amazing.
My mother had left
$1,000 insurance after everything was paid.
I went through all of
University of Georgia and got out and had $100 left.
So you can imagine how different
it is now from what it was then.
>> What did you study?
>> I started off with journalism
because I wanted to be an author.
But when I got to starting with journalism,
all they wanted you to do is go out and
interview people and I did not like that,
so I changed over to social work.
Well, actually, it was sociology
because they didn't have social work then.
But at that time, Roosevelt had started all of
his social programs and
it sounded really interesting to me.
I had a really wonderful
professor who was in charge of that,
and he didn't talk me into it,
but just the way he talked
made me feel I wanted to do it.
So I majored in sociology and minored in psychology.
>> Can you talk to me about
your father's death while you were at Georgia?
>> It was the first summer I
was there, first summer school.
I was going to summer school,
and my niece, my older brother's daughter,
was there in college too.
She had already graduated from college,
but she was getting brushed up on
something, I don't know what.
But they called her when he died instead of calling me,
and that really almost broke my heart.
She came over at the dormitory
and told me that he had died.
Well, that was really rough.
But we got on a bus and drove to Atlanta,
and my older brother,
her father, met us and took us down to Dawson,
to Yeomans to the funeral.
What happened to the family home after he died?
>> Well, originally,
the four older children's grandfather had given
that property to his daughter
and my father when they married.
So it was agreed that they would get those four children.
It was 100 acres and they had taken
four acres for a school.
So there were 96 acres left and they
were naturally going to
go to those four children when they left,
of course, by that time,
it was depression and it wasn't worth very much.
But the house and the 96 acres
went to them and we moved. We left.
And Bell who was
one of the middle sisters offered us a home,
and I went there and I used her address in Braington,
Florida all during my navy time.
>> So you were back at the University of Georgia
and I want to talk
about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
>> Yes.
>> And the entrance of the United States into the war.
Tell me about your memories at that time.
>> Well, Pearl Harbor,
I was trying to think about D-Day and I remember that,
but there was no TV,
of course, and all you got was radio.
So I was trying to remember where
I was when I got that news,
but I remember when it happened,
but I don't remember where I was.
But when Pearl Harbor was bombed,
I was in college.
It was Sunday afternoon and we were studying for
final exams and one girl came running down the hall,
saying, the Pearl Harbor
has been bombed and the president has declared war.
And of course we didn't know where Pearl Harbor was,
but we knew that it was
something that belonged to the United States and it was
something very crucial since
the president had declared war.
And we were all just in a tizzy about it.
We just didn't know what was going to happen.
Well, we had a ROTC at school.
And there were a lot of our friends who were in
ROTC and we were already picturing them having to go.
So it was a really intense time and scary time.
And one good thing about it is that
the dice professors that were having
the final exams the next day said
they would not have final exams.
That was the best thing about the whole thing.
They said they would take our average for
the year and for the semester and use that.
>> The whole park?
>> Yeah. It needed a park at that time.
>> So do you remember about how long you remained
at the university before you made the transition?
>> I graduated in 1943,
and it was in March because we were going year round.
We weren't taken off for the summer.
We were going year round, and I
graduated in March of '43.
So that was about not quite a year
and a half after the Pearl Harbor, I guess.
Ask that question again, please.
>> So you remained at the University until about March?
>> And then my roommate and I we had someone who came
to recruit for St.
John's Shipyard in Jacksonville, Florida.
He had been a former University of Georgia student and he
came in and we
decided that's what we're going to do because
we knew we had to
have a job and we didn't know what we're going to do.
So my roommate and I decided that's what we do,
and we applied and we got it.
And they put us on the midnight shift.
And you had it was at
the shipyard and we weren't close to the shipyard,
and we had to ride one bus and change buses
in the middle of town and everything was blacked out.
There was not a side of light anywhere.
And we would have to stop at the downtown,
get off and change buses and go to the shipyard,
where we worked all night and then we were still young.
So we went to the beach a lot on the day
and then we didn't sleep
much and then we were tired the next night.
But it was a difficult time
because they were talking about
having submarines off from
the coast and Jacksonville
was right on the coast and
everything was blacked out at night.
We were staying in a place that was right on
the river and it was a beautiful place
and a beautiful river.
But everything was blacked out at night,
it was not as light anywhere.
>> Now, what job did you do at St. John's?
>> Well, it was I guess a low level computer job.
We ran the machines that
kept the time for all the employees,
which there were a lot of employees.
And then we wrote the checks at the end of the week.
We computed and well,
I didn't do any computing in my head.
I did it all on
the machine and then
wrote the checks at the end of the week.
>> Do you recall how much money you were paid?
>> I really cannot remember.
I was trying to think, but it was minimal.
A hundred to something dollars, probably.
>> Did you have to have some sort of
special identification to go in and out?
>> We had a name tag,
and I think that's about all we had.
>> What kind of clothes or uniform did you wear?
>> We didn't wear any uniform.
>> Did you have any interaction
with the workers who were out in the shipyard?
>> Well, once a week they would have
a big dance and we tried it once or twice,
but it was so wild, we just
decided we did that one for us.
So we didn't really have any interaction with them.
We had interaction with other people
who do run in the keyboards and doing things like that,
but we didn't have with the shipyard workers.
>> Did you go on any dates at that time?
>> A few, a few, but nothing serious.
It's just a few people I had met.
>> So let's go back to the bus.
I know you were working the midnight shift,
taking the bus through these blackouts.
>> Yeah.
>> At a certain point, your friend left.
>> Well, she was planning to leave.
When she left, I left.
We both left at the same time because she was going to
leave and I knew I was not going downtown by myself.
I just knew I wasn't.
So I just said,
I'm leaving too, and I did.
And I applied for
a job for Florida State Welfare Department,
and they sent me to Fort Myers.
>> Before we go on to Fort Myers,
can you tell me about your sister,
Mary Alice coming to live with you in Jacksonville?
>> My sister's husband was in the Navy
and we didn't know where he had
been sent until this crucial night,
but he had been sent to Italy.
And my sister didn't have any special place to go.
So she came and lived in the same house we lived in.
And I remember one night,
it was after midnight and it was pitch black outside,
not a slight anywhere,
and the doorbell rang.
And the lady of the house
went and answered and then called her and
she went and they told her that her husband
had been injured and wounded in action.
They didn't tell her anything
else but that he'd been wounded in action.
So she had no idea what was going on.
Well, of course, the whole house
was upset all night long.
And she started the next day working with
Red Cross and finally,
I took it took two or three days to find out that he had
a leg wound and that he was being sent to St. Albers,
New York, and the Naval Hospital there.
>> Did she leave right away?
>> And she left right away and went back.
So she was gone.
>> So let's get back on track.
You decided to take
another job and talk to me about that process of moving.
>> Really it was interesting.
I had really enjoyed that job, in a way.
A lot of the streets weren't paved.
And I did social work on a bicycle.
It wasn't my bicycle.
My boss let me use her bicycle.
Well, you get in Sandy Place and try to ride a bicycle.
I'd have to get off and push it.
But I felt like I did some good.
We mostly worked with seniors,
very old people like me now [LAUGHTER] who
needed help and financially
we got a small check every month.
But I had to go and
see them and see how they were getting
along and decide how
much they were going to get and that sort of thing.
>> And that was out of Fort Myers?
>> Yes.
>> So was it
a fairly large geographic area around Fort Myers?
>> Well, some of it,
I had to go out and my boss let me use her car.
And one of my friends had to
go off on the islands to see people,
but I didn't ever have an island assignment.
>> What kind of meetings did you have with these people?
What were you asking them or what were you giving them?
>> I guess, mainly
just seeing what they needed and giving
him I hope some moral support as well as
just financial support because
his financial support was small,
but everything was cheap back then.
I remember one poor man who didn't have a stove,
and we were able to get him a stove,
and he was the happiest thing you ever saw.
He lived by himself,
and he was so glad to get that stove.
>> Where did you live in Fort Myers?
>> I lived with three other girls
in one big room in a boarding house.
And we had our meals
at another house and except breakfast.
So we had our evening meal at this house.
But I would go to the drugstore and get
me I think it was toasted coffee about every morning.
That was my special thing.
But I remember going and sitting there at
the drugstore every morning before I went to work.
>> Were you having to ration at that point?
>> Oh, yes. I remember having tried to buy shoes.
You were limited in how much you could spend for
anything of leather and shoes were about that.
All of them were that then.
But since I was eating out,
I didn't have to worry about the things that you have
to buy like coffee
and sugar and that thing because I was eating out.
I wasn't trying to cook.
>> So you were at
that position about how long? You remember?
>> Probably about six months.
>> And any memory of the money you made?
>> Oh, no, I don't, but it was not much.
I think it was a little bit over $100.
I think that's what it was a little
bit over $100 a month.
>> So not much different than in Jacksonville.
So how did you find out about
the women's branches in the military?
>> Well, I was patriotic.
People were patriotic back then.
People love that country and they were
patriotic and we're really afraid
that we were going to lose it because we
were fighting to well,
yeah, we were fighting two boys in.
No, yeah. We were fighting two boys in
and one in the Pacific, one in Europe.
And people really cared about what happened.
And I did. I had
a real strong feeling that I was not doing enough.
I just feel like something I need to do.
And I couldn't decide what it was.
And we had a lot, in Fort Myers,
you would see a lot of service people around.
I tried to decide what do I
want to do and I decided I thought
about the Navy and the Marines and the Coast Guard.
I didn't get to the army.
I wasn't thinking about that.
But I was thinking about one of those,
and my system Meralis
did her persuasion that
she thought I should go in the Navy,
not only because her husband was in that
because she felt that since I had
a degree that I could go in as
an officer officer training at least.
And if I went in the Marines,
I couldn't Coast Guard, I could have.
But anyway, I did decide on
the Navy and I was interviewed by all three.
They had somebody come by and talk with me and I
don't even remember how I got in touch with them.
But then when I applied for the Navy and a few weeks,
I had a letter asking them for me to come
to Miami for test and interview.
And I got on the bus Tammy and me trails and went through
the everglades and One interesting thing
I saw some seminar women sitting on
the backs of the canal washing my clothes.
I would not have known it unless the bus driver had
said that's what they were
doing because we were going back.
But then we got to Miami and they gave
us a physical exam and
a written exam and also
just interview and sent me home again.
And then about two weeks later,
I had noticed that I had been accepted.
I had to send in my picture and all this stuff,
but I had been accepted
and told me when to return back to Miami.
And I was sworn in and went back and I was sworn in
and they gave me a ticket to Northampton,
Massachusetts, that's where they
were training wave officers.
>> Was there any friend or family member
discouraging you from joining the military?
>> I don't remember.
They may have been,
but I don't remember it if it were,
I I blocked them out.
>> And were you at all conscious of
the fact that this was the first time
women could even join the military?
Well, yeah, I don't
think that had anything to do with me joining it.
But I was aware of it.
>> So you had to make a trip up to Massachusetts.
How did you make that trip?
>> Oh, on a Radley Old train.
Actually, I went to Washington
and got off there and went to visit
my sister who her husband was at Solomons,
Maryland, then in training to go back to the Pacific.
And I went on a Pullman train.
First time I had been on a train a number of times,
but I had never been on
a Pullman and I never had it at night.
And it was a rattles old train you ever saw.
And I got they put me in the top berth and
the the curtain kept
flapping and I just knew somebody was trying to get in.
And I know it must have been the train was rattling,
but at that point,
I wasn't sure at all.
But I finally made it to I made it to
Washington and my sweet sister met me and the next day,
she took me on a two
of everything in Washington and a taxi.
She didn't have a car.
So we went through all stopped at all these places.
And it's a good thing because I went back to
Washington and I didn't see a thing.
But well, I saw a few things, but not much.
But then after my two or three days visit with her,
I went on to got back on the train and
went to New York and got to Grand Central Station.
And that was almost the end of my life.
That was the worst experience I ever had.
The place was bobbed
with service people with other people.
There was not a seat anywhere to sit.
I sat on my suitcase most of the time when I was there
and I didn't know
what train I had to catch to go to Northampton
and my order said I had to be there that day.
And there was only one train
going to Northampton, Massachusetts.
So I saw this information, booth,
and I went to the went up and this was a long line.
And when it came my time,
I asked her and this lady said something.
I don't know what she said until now.
She she had some accent.
I don't know whether Brooklyn or what,
but she had some kind of accent
that I didn't know what she said,
but she sold me to move on.
I asked her again, and she said, move on.
Well, I got out and I thought, what am I going to do?
This is only information booth.
And so I decided I'd get back in line again.
Well, I got back in line again,
and she said, you've had your chance you go.
She said recognized my clothes, I guess.
But anyway, then I said I thought what in the world?
I was scared to death.
I really was scared to death.
And I saw a wave officer with a number of
recruits and these were not going to be wave officers.
These were people recruiting for regular service.
I saw her and I thought she'll know
hopefully she'll know which train I'm supposed to get.
So I ran and got her called her in
the middle of all these got all these trainees coming in,
and I called her and I asked
her if she knew the track that I had to get on.
Well, she told me Well,
you could go right down to the tracks right then.
I mean, the way it was done and I went
right down to the tracks and it was
an hour before that train left.
And it was a funny thing that one
of the railroad people came by and said,
Don't you want to wait to wait room? I said, No.
I'm going to wait right here
because I go up to that train.
I was the second person on the train.
And I never been so glad to
get anywhere in my life. Okay.
So you arrived at
Northampton and this was at Smith College.
>> Well, actually, no.
We lived in Northampton
inn in which we had been converted.
We did all of our training in Smith College.
But we lived in the inn and had wonderful food.
I think they had regular people
work at that because we had wonderful food.
The rooms were small,
I had a real nice rebate from South Carolina.
Well, there were four of us,
but one that bunk made, I guess,
I'd say and she said she'd choose a upper bunk and I
was so glad because I
didn't want to get on that upper bunk.
But anyway, they started in and we were
up and we had to be out in
formation at 6:30 in the morning fully dressed.
They'd already told us what we had to wear that day,
exactly what our uniform had to be.
And we were stand in line,
and I think I was double 21.
I still remember that you were the 21st in line.
But anyway, after that,
if they call the roll and done whatever they did,
they'd sent us we have breakfast.
And then we had to fix that a bit,
well before we went even down to go to Muster,
we had to have our room in perfect order,
and they actually came by with
a quarter and bounced it on our,
they didn't do it every day, but they did at
times just to see if we had done it right.
But anyway, we marched
and it was hot it was July
and we marched to Smith College,
which was a good faith piece.
I don't know how far it was it felt like miles,
but I'm sure it wasn't.
But anyway, there was nothing in a condition then,
there was no such thing in that part of the world,
anyway and we marched up to classes every day.
Several interesting things,
one was they gave us physical examinations and they us
made strips to nothing
and sit and wait for them to examine us,
which was really rough for somebody like me.
And then another thing was,
I got bronchitis and I was really
sick and they sent me to the infirmary.
And I must not have been a very good patient
because they discharged me
too early and I
was still sick and I knew I was still sick.
And I got on the elevator and
the commanding officer of the ways said,
you don't look like you feel very well,
and I said, well, I don't.
And she said, come to my office
and took my temperature it was 103,
so she sent me right back to the infirmary,
which made them unhappy
and I had to stay for about three or four more days.
So I missed some of the training.
But one thing I didn't say the second day we were there,
we got measured for uniforms,
and Phalin and Boston made the uniforms,
and they had them by
the end of the week they had the uniforms,
the shoes, everything perfect.
We had our full uniform by the end of the week.
So they were really good.
>> What uniform was it?
>> Well, at that point,
we had a regular navy one and then we had,
I called it a seal circle,
it was really like a seal circle.
It was a little navy and white stripes.
I've forgotten what they called it,
but they didn't call it
a seal circle but that's what it was.
But later on, I bought my white one,
but they did not give us that.
>> What was the training other
than marching? What else did you do?
>> Well, we teach navy history,
navy terms, what was
going on in the world I
mean as much as they would tell us.
I don't remember anything more than that,
but a lot of it was just what the navy meant.
>> And how long
did you have to complete
the training? Was it a certain amount of time?
>> Six weeks.
>> Six weeks. And this was an officer's.
>> Officer training. And it was interesting.
One of the wave officers who had
already gone through it all said,
Washington is the worst place to get sent,
and I hate to tell you,
but most of you are going to get sent there.
So I got sent there
but it was not a good place to be sent.
>> So how did you get the news
that you were going to Washington?
>> They gave us our orders.
And I don't remember how the orders came,
I think they were written orders,
but I don't remember seeing them.
>> So how did you get there?
>> We had a train back to New York and then there
was one of my wave officer friends had lived in New York,
so she asked some of us
to come and spend a night with her on the way so we did.
And she took us down to
Radio City and I remember I saw my first TV.
It was on the street and I thought it was a joke,
I didn't think it was real.
I thought it was a trick
because I say you just can't do that,
it's just not possible.
But that's about the only thing I remember about
New York except a lot of traffic.
After that day, I got on the train and
my roommate from South Carolina was going home.
She could go home, but I knew I couldn't go
to Florida back in two or three days,
but she went home and I was by myself
in Washington for a couple of days in a hotel.
And that was pretty
scary because I was scared to get out of the hotel.
I didn't know a thing about Washington and I'm not very
brave so I didn't like those few days.
And then we tried to find a place to live.
The Navy helped some and we
first stayed overnight I
think two nights in somebody's home.
And then they found us
a place in what was called Midian Hill hotel,
and it was a hotel for women.
It was a new hotel and it was really
a nice hotel except it was not air conditioned.
The rooms were nice,
they didn't have much in them,
but they had basics.
But the windows were blacked out and you
couldn't open them and it was hot
and blazes and there were no fans,
it was summertime, too, August.
Anyway, it was very hot
and the lobby was
just loaded with people who spoke foreign languages.
I don't know where they were from,
but you hardly ever heard English spoken
down in the lobby and it was full.
They were packed up,
sitting on top of it so far they were sitting everywhere.
And you go in the lobby and
it would certainly not a place where you
could find anybody you know really to
talk to So I spent a lot of time in my room,
which was really bad I like to read,
but I got tired,
I didn't have enough to read.
But when I went to work,
I was assigned to the Navy department Bureau
of ships expediting department.
And what we did was
call different companies and try to get
materials for shipyards that
were building ships for the Navy,
they would let us know that they needed
something in order to complete
the job, and we would call in.
And for the first part,
it worked out real well.
They were very cooperative and then
they started telling me that they
couldn't do it anymore because
the Manhattan project had top priority.
And I remember asking somebody from GE,
what in the world is a Manhattan project.
He said, nobody knows and
we later found out it was atomic bomb.
But I guess that was a good thing that they did that.
But anyway, I stayed in that department,
there were two male one Lieutenant
and one Lieutenant JG who worked there.
And they were nice, but
they had their families and friends and
I really didn't have any social contact with them.
There was some civilian people that I met that were very
nice that I enjoyed having lunch with
occasionally when we could get together at the same time.
But Washington just really about finished me up,
I really was very I don't
know whether it was home sick or just
feeling it was really hard being
there you didn't even see
anybody except all these people that you don't know.
And you rush from work,
you had to get an express bus to go down to
work and then get express bus home.
They did have a cafeteria at the hotel,
which that's where we ate but
there was no social contact at all.
And I was miserable and
my friends talked me
into it because I didn't think it was
any chance of me getting a transfer,
but they talked me into it.
They say you need to do that and I did apply.
But two or three things happened in
Washington that I am glad I was there when it happened.
One was, when Roosevelt won his fourth term,
he came they let us out.
It was a rainy day, it wasn't really rainy,
but it was sprinkled a little bit
and it was in November, so it was cold.
And we had to walk I think
a block to get to in front of
the White House and he came riding up in this open car.
I didn't see a single person guarding him.
He was an open car.
He had somebody in with him,
a man that we were laughing and talking.
And then in the front of that was one man
sitting looking straight ahead and then the chauffeur.
There was only people there and nobody was doing trying,
it amazes me now with all the security they
have to have that at that time, there was none.
And then four months later,
I was there when they brought
his body back from Warm Springs in the case
and the case on and we watched
him take the body up to White House.
And that was very impressive, I'll tell you.
And then the night before I left,
I was in my room and I heard
all this screaming and I went
down to see what it was and everyone was saying,
Germany has surrendered, Germany has surrendered.
It was pitch black outside,
but we went out in the pitch black and
the newspaper had been
printed and we didn't know what we were grabbing,
but we were panding money and getting a paper,
and I did get a paper and I paid for it.
But it was really exciting.
The only thing was
Germany had not actually signed a surrender.
They didn't sign it for two or three days later,
but they had somehow
it had gotten the news that they had surrendered.
So those three things were very interesting to me.
And another thing, I did see someone,
and I don't know who it was.
I don't know whether Schruman who placed the wreath at
the unknown soldiers tomb.
But those things I'm glad I saw,
but I did not enjoy my time in Washington.
But when I got my orders,
they told me I was to see this captain again.
I talked to this captain when I'd asked him,
but I bless his heart.
He must have seen how desperate I was because he did
approve it or get it approved for me being transferred.
And I got called in and said,
which would you prefer
Naval Air Station Pensacola
or Naval Air Station Corpus Christi?
And I took Pensacola.
So they wrote the orders and I
got transferred to Pensacola.
And I don't know how many days it was,
but then I went to stopped in Atlanta to see my sister.
And while I was there,
that's when they said that
Germany had actually surrendered.
And then I went back Columbus to see two other sisters,
and then I went on went to Pensacola.
And I got off the train
and the thing is
the train didn't get there until
after dark and the train went to New Orleans,
I didn't go to Pensacola.
You had to get off the train and walk across the field,
which was not light at night
to go to another train to go to Pensacola.
So I would got off the train and with Pensacola
and I don't even remember how I got to Davila station,
but it was a different world altogether.
The wave officers had
their own building and it did have a fan.
It didn't have a condition,
but it had a fan and the people
were friendly and it
was just a different world altogether.
And when I got there,
they didn't know what to do with me.
My orders had not come from Washington.
I had my orders,
but their orders had to come.
So they didn't know what they were going to do with me.
So anyway, the first day I was there,
I bet I was interviewed by five people,
and I kept wondering what in the world.
I'm going from one person to other,
are they going to send me back to Washington or what
are they going to do? I didn't know.
And finally, they decided that they
would accept me as aid to the commanding officer.
The girl who had been the ad commanding officer
had applied and been accepted to go to Honolula.
That was the first time that they had accepted
any waves outside of the Continental United States.
And she had applied at Yatin,
and so they had a vacancy.
So here I was brain as could be,
and they accepted me.
And at least I made it.
I don't know whether I passed buster or not,
but I made it.
But I had the nicest boss,
the captain who was commanding officer of
the station was just the nicest person
and easy to work for.
He meant business.
He ran a good ship,
but he did and he didn't accept a lot of foolishness,
but he was kind and patient and wasn't demanded.
But really I thought
that I was very blessed to have that job.
>> What was his name?
>> Captain James McKay.
And he was just a fine person.
I think the hardest thing
for all of us and I know it was for him because he
had to handle it with the parents is there was
a Naval training station where these young people
were learning to fly,
and we had a number of accidents and deaths.
And he had to handle that
and sometimes the parents
would come in, sometimes they wouldn't.
But it would not,
that was not an easy time.
But we did have some good times there.
We had on weekends, during the summer,
that we would get the mess hall to make us up
a pick duck lunch and the Navy
had a little boat that would take us over to the island,
which had to be Santa Rose Island now that is populated,
but then there was nothing but a big piece of sand.
And we would spend the day over there.
There was rest room for the boys and men and women
and we loved to get out and we get sunburn of course.
But we had that activity
and we ate in the officers mess and it was good food.
And overall, that experience was good.
>> So the war was still going on in the Pacific?
>> Yes.
>> So they were training soldiers for that?
>> Yes.
>> And can you remember any of
the other women or
men who are working in that office or near you?
>> You know what, I've tried my best to
remember the girl who was a secretary there,
who is a typist,
and I cannot remember her name.
I thought about it last night and I
thought I cannot remember her name, and I don't know why.
I remember one of the only name I remember down there
besides the commanding officer is one girl from Boston,
which she says Boston.
But she heard name, Natalie Park,
she said she called herself Natalie Park and I thought it
was P-O-C-K, it's P-A-R-K.
I finally found out it was P-A-R-K at the end.
But I never saw it written down.
I just thought Natalie Park,
but that was what she called it.
But anyway, she and I were
friends and we really hated to separate,
but we really didn't keep in touch afterwards.
But when the war was over,
it was exciting and it was a let down.
It was that we're not needed anymore.
We've been deed it and we've been doing all these things.
And now we don't need anymore. What are we going to do?
And they gave I think they were
about two weeks before we were discharged.
But I had applied for Tulane.
I knew I wanted to get a master's degree in social work.
So I had applied at Tulane and they accepted me
and but I couldn't go until
the fall because they didn't start until the fall.
But I was able to get a summertime job in Atlanta where
my sister was living then and at
the Child Welfare Association for the summer.
And I worked there and then I went to Tulane for a year.
And then I went
back to Atlanta and worked for the same agency.
>> Why did you leave Tulane?
>> Because I give it out of money,
I spent all my money.
They had the GI bill,
but you had to have some money on
the side for different things,
but I had spent the money I'd saved in
the Navy and I spent it and I didn't have that much left.
I had enough to last through this until I got to
Atlanta and I could have got a double check with that.
>> And you returned to Atlanta
and where did you go to work?
>> Child Welfare Association.
>> So can you talk a little bit about
your long term career in social work?
>> Well, I don't know what it was at summer,
but the first assignment after I
graduated was at Hillside Cottages,
which was a place for dependent children.
And we had four dormitories,
two boys and two girls dormitories.
And I guess at that time,
they was probably as good as most of them were.
Right now you probably wouldn't meet standard,
but at that time, they were pretty good.
And I was an intake worker.
I taught with the parents and then I'd do
any social work that needed to be
done between the parents and the children.
And I enjoyed that.
>> Tell me about meeting your husband there.
>> Well, that's ain't a story.
He came down from Massachusetts.
He was transferred to
Georgia and he had
two children who at that time were seven and nine.
A girl and a boy, girl seven and boy nine.
He had full custody of them.
And he had to find a place for them to stay.
And somebody that he had met on the road when he was
traveling had told him about
Hillside College where I was working.
Of course, they didn't tell him I was working there,
but that's where I was working.
He came to apply.
Well, he came through
the major agency that handled the Hillside first.
And one of the ladies did
an interview with him and she was impressed with him.
She said, "He is really nice.
You got to meet him."
Well, I was a social worker.
Of course, I met him, and it didn't take long for us to
know that we belong to each other.
So I met him in December and we married in June.
And I quit work and took care of his kids.
One of them has died,
but the other one I talked to last night.
But they have been my children too.
>> And what was his name?
>> Howard Whitfield Bond.
>> Now, why did you eventually go back to work?
>> Finances. You know when you have a sales job,
everything is not always
going as well as you like for it to.
And financially, I had to go back to work.
I didn't want to. Nobody persuaded me.
I decided I'd do it,
but I really in my heart would rather have not done it,
but I knew that it had to be done.
>> And how did you balance work and family at that time?
>> Well, probably pretty poorly.
I've tried it really hard,
and I hope I did it fairly well, but I don't know.
Sometimes I worked part-time.
Sometimes I had people keeping children during the day.
It was just different things
that had to work to get worked out.
>> I know you moved to
several different states with your husband's job.
>> We moved from Atlanta
to Indiana to Nashville,
Tennessee, to Fort Worth,
Texas, and back to Atlanta.
>> And where did you settle in Atlanta?
>> When we came back?
Well, we went to Peachtree Garden,
which was where we lived when we married.
But then as soon as we could,
we bought a house out in Dunwoodie.
>> And can you talk to me about
completing your master's later in life?
>> Well, at that point,
I was doing adoption work.
I had done adoption work for nine years for the agency,
and that was a really a rewarding work.
It was hard, but it was rewarding.
Georgia Retardation Center was just opening,
and at that point,
that was all right to
call it that because that's what they called it.
Right now, they changed names
because they did not like to use that term.
But anyway, one of the ladies that I was working with
had been chosen to go
as one of the supervisors out there.
And she started talking with me
and said that the State would pay for me to
go back to college and finish my degree,
and then I would get a job.
I would be guaranteed a job that at
Georgia Retardation Center. So I did.
I've commuted to Athens every day for a year.
Well, not every day for a year
because some days we didn't have to go in, but most days.
But anyway, it was not an easy thing.
And it was not a good transition,
but anyway, it worked out fine
and I was very grateful for being there.
I started off as a social work supervisor,
but then I was made a unit director and
a unit director for several years.
I'm not even sure how long.
And I retired there as a unit director.
>> Can you tell me about your family today?
>> Well, my immediate family
is Judy who lives right here and she's married
and has two children and
three grandchildren and I have a daughter Bonnie,
who lives in Nashville,
Tennessee, or Hermitage, Tennessee.
She has two daughters and one of them has
one son and the other one has two sons and a daughter,
daughter and a son of twins.
And then my stepdaughter is living in Fort Worth,
Texas and Paradise,
Texas right outside of Fort Worth.
Her health is not real good.
But our son died about 15 years ago.
He had cancer and he died about 15 years ago.
>> So with all of this in mind,
you've been through some of
your memories specifically related to World War II.
Can you talk to me a little bit about how you feel
about your military service today?
>> I am very grateful that I did it.
I am very grateful I did it.
I don't regret it one minute.
I think it was a thing to do at that point.
I don't know that I did
anything to make the war any better,
but it made me feel good that I was contributing.
And I wish that people were more patriotic now.
I wish that they really love
their country like we used to love our country.
I really do, and I don't think they do.
>> Can you tell me what it meant for you
as a young woman to go into the military at that time?
>> I don't know. I was scared to death.
That's all I can say.
No, I don't know.
I don't know how to answer that one.
>> Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
>> I can't think of anything.
I think you covered the right questions pretty well.
>> Well, thank you very much,
Edith Bond, and we'll conclude there.