>> Today is March 29th, 2016,
and I'm here at the Sturgis Library
at Kennesaw State University.
My name is Adina Langer,
and I'm the curator of
the Museum of History and Holocaust Education.
Could you please state your full name?
>> Mary Howell McKunky.
>> And when and where were you born?
>> In Rome Georgia.
In 82nd Street is where I lived,
and I was born at home
and I was born in August 30th, 1921.
>> Can you tell me about your family?
>> Yes. It was four girls and four boys.
And we lived about a half a block from the school.
Then you didn't have lunch rooms.
And you went home or somebody had to
bring food to you at school or you took it with you.
But we could go home for
lunch because it was only a half a block from
school from the 1st to the 5th grade to Neeley school,
which was right above that.
And then the high school
was still where you could walk to it.
>> And where in this grouping of siblings, did you fit?
Were you at the top, the bottom, the middle?
>> I was close to
the bottom because I was the third one from the small,
the six-year-old and the nine and
I was 12 when my mother passed away.
>> So before your mother passed
away, was she a homemaker?
>> Oh, yes, that people back then.
Women didn't work like they do now.
And with that many children,
we had a good growing up part because
we lived right off of Broward Street,
but it was a dead-end street on that end and
the church was down there and we could
go through the back part to get to the church.
And the school was right above.
And we weren't allowed to go off from our street.
We couldn't go anywhere else.
>> And what did your father do?
>> He was a painter.
He had people that worked for him too.
The city clock that's in Rome,
I don't know if you've ever saw
a picture of the city clock in Rome,
but he used to paint there.
>> Did he have all kinds of special
equipment to get up there?
>> Yeah. He had big ladders to get up there.
Well, you can walk up in it now.
They've got steps and you can go up in it.
>> That is pretty cool. Can you say what
your father's full name was?
>> It was Jesse James Howell.
>> And how about your mother?
>> Hers was Aladi Amo.
>> And so when your mother passed away,
did you keep going to school or did you have to drop?
>> I went to school till I was in the eighth grade.
[NOISE] And the oldest sister
was married and had a baby and
couldn't take all of us on.
[LAUGHTER] And my other sister that was
older than me had to quit
school because we didn't have anybody.
Had a six-year-old child that had
an eight-year-old sister that had to be taken care of.
So I told her after I kept going and I said you just
have too much to do because that's
too much for you. I'm going to quit.
And I quit, but I went back and got my diploma later.
I just felt that she
just had too much to do because back then,
you didn't have washing machines and
things and all that stuff,
and you cooked three meals a day too. [LAUGHTER]
>> And what was a typical day like for
you and your sister when you
were taking care of the children?
>> Well, we didn't have difficulties as much,
but we got by.
[LAUGHTER] We did real good.
>> And at this point,
the stock market would have crashed,
the great depression had started.
Did you feel the effects of that?
Did it affect your father's business?
>> No, he was real strict with us
and we couldn't get in the car and go with a boy.
[LAUGHTER] Even after we got older and going to church.
They said we'll just drive you home.
I said if you can walk with me home,
but I can't get in the car.
[LAUGHTER] So he'd have to walk home with me [LAUGHTER]
>> So going back just a little bit,
the great depression had just started,
the stock market had crashed.
Your father's business,
did he have trouble because of
the economic downturn at that time?
>> Well, back then,
people got by though.
You didn't have a lot of things,
but you got by. [LAUGHTER]
>> And you've mentioned that church a couple of times.
What church did you belong to?
>> Mark MacDonald Baptist Church
because we could just walk
down the front pace was on Eighth Avenue,
but the back of it was to second.
So we just go in the back way and go
around and go to the front, either one.
>> And do you have any memories
of what church service was like?
Were there lots of people there?
>> And it a great teacher too.
Until she passed away,
we were real good friends.
Even though I had moved,
I was in California,
but then we moved out
of that district and went to another church.
But when we moved back over in that area,
she was still living.
>> Do you remember her name?
>> Miss Lily Smith.
>> And so you mentioned a little bit what it
was like to meet a boy and have him walk you home.
What was your social life like?
You must have been so busy.
>> [LAUGHTER] Yeah, we had done a lot of things,
but we just weren't allowed to get in the car and
ride the horse. [LAUGHTER]
>> So how did you meet your husband?
>> He went to church where I went to,
but I didn't want him to sit by me
and I'd make girls come and sit by. [LAUGHTER]
>> Was that because you were shy or you didn't like to?
>> [LAUGHTER] I don't know, but I remember doing that.
>> And so what was his name?
>> [inaudible]
>> And so what was your courtship like?
You got married in 1941.
>> We got married right before the war started
and [inaudible] was drafted right after we got married.
>> So do you remember, how did he ask you to marry him?
>> Well, when we decided we were going to get it later,
but his brother was going to get married and he had
surgery and he wanted
him to get married at the same time.
So he said, would you marry me then?
I said, well, I guess so. [LAUGHTER]
>> Did you get married in that church?
>> We got married at the pastor's house.
>> And did you have family there?
>> No. He didn't want anybody,
but some people found out
and they got there and we didn't know it. [LAUGHTER]
>> So at this time, did you have a sense of what was
going on in the world that that war might be coming soon?
>> Well, we didn't really think about it,
to begin with, but then when it did,
then that's when the war started in Germany,
and that's when he was drafted.
>> And do you remember when
the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor?
Do you have a memory of that happening?
>> Of what?
>> When the Japanese attacked?
>> We were really upset about it because they attacked.
And so he was drafted right
away and we had not been married very long.
>> Before he went into the army,
what were your hopes and dreams?
>> He didn't go till right at the last.
He stayed in the States and he was on
an aircraft and they sent him
to guard the ocean in California,
and that's where he was stationed at.
And so that's where we lived.
He wanted me to come out there.
>> So before we get into that,
how did you find out that he was drafted?
How did he find out that he was called up?
>> When he was called up,
the warhead they had born Pearl Harbor.
So everybody in that age
knew they had to go because they already
had to sign up and he got
drafted right away because he was just right in there.
And so when they got sent to California,
he went to San Pedro first and he called and he said,
I want you to come out here.
I said I don't think I can come that far.
[LAUGHTER] But he said I want you to.
And he said it's another boy and his wife is in Atlanta
and I want you to call her
and you'd have somebody to come out here with you.
So I called her and we went out together.
>> And did you know anybody else in the service.
Did your brothers go into the Army too?
>> Yes, my sister's husband had to
go and they had two children and he
had to go and all my brothers had to go.
I had one brother that passed away when he was
19 and the other three had to go.
They all were drafted.
>> All into the army or into other branches?
>> Different ones, some was in the army,
some was in the, I
can't even think Navy and then another one was
in another unit of the army.
>> So tell me about getting in touch with
the other woman and planning a trip to California.
>> We had apartments
all along the road close to their camp,
they were from Alabama and one was from Georgia.
It was four of us.
And so when they would not get very much time off,
but we could go to there
because we was right in that vicinity.
If you live there, you could go to
the camp because it was not a big army camp.
They had got sent to Manhattan Beach,
so that's where we went to live there.
And we could go over when I got off from work,
I could go over and see
him but he couldn't leave from there,
but I could go over and that's what we did.
>> So before you got to California,
how did you get there?
What did you do to travel
across the country to California?
>> Well, I knew the people.
I didn't even think about the train and you
didn't fly back then like now,
but the bus station and I
knew them and I just call went down and asked him,
about what route would go in the girl in
Atlanta that wanted her husband wanted her to come out.
I said so make me out of route,
and I'll just go to Atlanta and meet her and then she
can get the same route and we can go
together and that's what we did.
And so we stayed together for a long long time.
>> How long did it take you to
get from Atlanta to California?
>> A whole week. It took a whole week.
And she'd say, let's go out of
the bus station before the next I said,
I'm not leaving from here.
You could eat there and
everything and then you could go in
and sponge off you couldn't take a bath,
but you could get cleaned up.
I said, I'm not leaving out
here because you don't know what you might run into.
>> How far from home had you been before this new trip?
>> Chattanooga Birmingham,
no Atlanta, that is as for as Florida I haven't gone.
>> So can you tell me about the moment when
you arrived in California,
was your husband there?
>> He was to meet me and her,
he was to meet us and when we got there,
he was not there.
And he said he called and told
the girl there that he was supposed to be in there,
but they put him on duty and he didn't get to come.
And the other guy, her husband,
he would be getting off of the and he could come,
but it would be the next morning and I said,
what we are we going to do?
And that place closed it didn't
stay open at night for where we went
into out of Los Angeles and she said, I don't know.
I said, well,
there's a hotel right across the road.
I said, let's go over there because they
are going to close at night there.
I said, we can't stay here, I said,
let's go over there and get a room.
Well, we got over there and that was the sweetest girl.
She said, I am so sorry we're just booked completely up.
And I said, we've got to have a place to stay I said,
because they can't pick
us up till in the morning and they had
a place that they had got for three days and I said,
we can't go to inn.
And I said, we've got to have a place to stay tonight.
They're closing over there and she was so sweet and she
called everywhere trying to find
a empty one that could take us in.
But it being the war, I guess,
it was just booked up and she said, well,
I'm going to call the YWCA said that lady is real good.
And she called her and she said, yes,
she would take us, but she didn't have a empty room,
but she kept cots in the basement and you could take
a shower and sleep
and she'd be glad to have us over later.
The sweetest lady,
she was she was a southern lady on top of that,
but she was so sweet.
And so we couldn't find a place the next day,
we stayed to three days and we
still walked and walked and walked them three days
trying to find somewhere to move
to and nobody would even talk to you if you opened,
they came to the door,
if you was a soldier,
I think they'd had some trouble with people.
And so we couldn't find a place for three days,
we walked and walked and couldn't find
a place and the lady at the YWCA,
she said, well,
I can keep you in the cots downstairs
so you can find a place and she helped us
find a place because she know
the southern lady that wouldn't take
us in and she got to go there.
And when he got transferred,
we found a place to live.
>> This was in San Pedro.
How long was he in San Pedro?
>> He got sent to
Manhattan Beach and I
didn't know where Manhattan Beach was.
So he told me
he wanted me to come over there, and I said,
well, we got to
find a place to live for I can
leave and come over from here.
And so I said we've got to
go over to Manhattan Beach and I said,
so I've got to go find a place and
move and so we found a place
and I moved didn't have nothing but my suitcase to move.
>> So you got
a job at an airplane factory, is that right?
>> I did work
when I first went out there, before I moved,
while I was at San Pedro at the aircraft plant,
but they couldn't transfer me when he
got sent over to Manhattan Beach.
And I thought,
well, I got to get another job.
So it was just a little small town
and it didn't have much in it.
It had some restaurants,
and restaurants then would have to close one day.
They couldn't stay open because of the ration and all.
And so I thought,
well, I've got to get a job.
I can't stay out here until I get a job.
Well, I just go start
out at the first place and just go all
around the little part here that could hire somebody.
And first place I went into was a little bakery.
I never worked in a bakery or anything.
But the lady hired me right
on and put me in
charge of all of them that was already there.
And I went in early and did the doughnuts
and the rolls and stuff like that.
They had to get ready.
After the bakers got through with them,
I'd do the doughnuts and stuff.
>> Were there special recipes you had to
follow because of sugar rationing or other things?
>> Yeah. You just got so
much of those little things to get sugar with.
And I'd save mine to when he had time
off and I was going to be able to fix something to eat.
I'd keep mind to do that
because I worked in that bakery
and it was a lot of sugar.
So I didn't even eat
the sweet stuff because us being with it,
you didn't even care for it.
>> Did the bakery have to deal with not having
enough of these ingredients or were they able to get?
>> Yeah. They did.
They could get more in the rations than we could.
And they did bread and everything.
They did all cakes and everything.
But they were the best two people that owned it.
They just really took us in
and kept just like my mom and dad.
>> Do you remember their names?
>> What was the names? Do you remember?
After all, I was young,
but we stayed in touch a long time.
>> So I want to go into this a little bit more,
but before that, I want to talk just a
little bit about that airplane factory.
How did you find the job there?
>> Well, when I got there, I thought, well,
there's not much around here except restaurants,
and they had closed.
They couldn't stay open every day.
So I thought, I've got to have a job.
If I don't find it here,
I'd go down three beaches right along the road.
>> That's great. But I'm
thinking before you even got there.
The airplane plant,
how did you find that job?
>> Well, the girl that was from Mobile,
she had worked in Alabama there at that one.
And she said, come and go out there. And I did.
And I got a job. And I worked while we were there.
>> And what did you do? What were
your duties at the plant?
>> At that one, they first put me on the assembly line
because I didn't know anything about this.
And I kept cutting my fingers with the pieces of metal.
So they gave me a thing that looked like
a washing machine ringers
and had those same little things.
And all I had to
do was pick them up and put them in that.
I didn't have to scrape them.
I just put them in that and it mashed it down.
And that's what I did while I was there.
>> And what were your co-workers like?
Were they mostly women or all different kinds of people?
>> Well, there were some women and
some men sometimes, but women usually.
But then when he got transferred,
I didn't have a way to get out there.
I went on the Greyhound bus
and I had to catch it that morning.
And I went to work that night.
And by the time I'd get back home,
if I go ride the Greyhound, I'd have to be back.
>> How long was your shift?
How many hours a day did you work?
>> I worked from 11 o'clock at night until 7:00 the next
morning when I was working at the airplane.
>> So you probably didn't get to see
your husband very much at all?
>> No. But the one that I
went to work for was just really great.
And anytime he had any time off,
I could be off.
>> This was at the bakery?
>> Yeah.
>> So what did you do for entertainment?
Did you ever go to
an event or a program sponsored by the USO?
Was that a phenomenon?
>> Yeah. But usually the married ones didn't go to
the USO with their family or their wives there.
We went in at one time,
but I never did go back.
He didn't go anyway.
But we didn't go back because that was for the people
that didn't have their family there or were not married.
Most of them were young.
>> So what did you guys do?
>> Well, we'd go to a movie sometimes,
but we'd go to the beach if we
wanted to because he didn't get much time off either.
So I could go see him at
the camp because we got a place right where he
was in the area because
that was a small camp that he got sent to.
They guarded. We couldn't
go in the ocean right there where we lived because
that's where the aircraft rifle
was and it shoots over that.
So we couldn't go in.
We'd have to go down to the other one.
>> That sounds dangerous.
Did you feel frightened by that or did you feel safe?
>> No. I felt they know
what they were doing if they come up over there.
But it was blacked out anyway.
All of it was blacked out.
You couldn't have lights that went toward the ocean.
See, I was right on the ocean.
>> So did you
learn about what was going on in the war at that time?
>> Yeah.
We had a radio,
but not a television.
Radio. And we would
have known through them what was going on too.
>> And did you listen to
Roosevelt's fireside chats on the radio?
>> Yeah. We played the radio a lot.
>> And when you went to a movie,
do you remember seeing newsreels or anything like that?
Before the feature film would start,
were there newsreels about what was going on in the war?
>> Yeah. They'd show some things, but no.
But a lot of times they would take the soldiers down
to the movie in a bus,
but he'd say, come on down.
He could sit with me in the movie,
but he had to ride down and ride back with them.
>> So how long was he there in Manhattan Beach?
How long did you live there?
>> We were there a long time.
And when he left from there,
we would not have left if his brother had not got shot.
And he was in the war and they had sent him home.
They called the Red Cross call and
said to let him come back to his brothers.
And then from there,
he was sent to Kentucky.
And I went out to Kentucky.
>> And all this time, before you went to Kentucky,
were you still living nearby your friend from Mobile?
>> I was still out there,
and I had to come home,
because I wouldn't stay out there and him not there.
>> Your friend that you traveled with,
I didn't get her name.
Do you remember your friend from Mobile,
Alabama? What was her name?
>> Just a minute. One of
her daughters is still living
and she's moved in close to Rome now.
Pat Gunn was her name.
>> So when your husband was transferred to Kentucky,
this was after he had gone
home to Rome to see his brother?
And his brother, was he out of the army at
that point after he got shot or just on leave?
>> No. I lived in Kentucky too,
while he was there,
but I couldn't get to that camp because
it was way out where the camp was,
but he could come.
If I lived there, he could.
When he had the time off he could get
a ride up to where I was at,
but I never could go out to where he was at.
>> I just was curious.
Right before you went to Kentucky,
what was the homecoming with his brother like?
>> He was just shot in the foot,
but he didn't have to go back into the service.
So that's when he got transferred.
He probably would have stayed on out
in California if it hadn't been for that,
but they had him report back.
And then he got sent overseas
right at the end and the war ended there,
but then he was sent back to go to the Pacific,
and it finished right after he got there.
>> That's a relief.
>> Yeah [LAUGHTER].
>> So before all that,
when you were in Kentucky,
what did you do in Kentucky?
Did you have another job?
>> Yes. I had another job.
It was a little store,
because it was a little country town.
I never did get to the Fort Campbell,
but it was a little town and it was a grocery store,
and the thick sandwiches for the children that come
up from that school later to eat at lunchtime.
And they sold kerosene,
oil, and all gas.
But inside, they had other stuff.
And so I was living in a house with an older lady,
and I just had a bedroom and I could use the kitchen,
and it had a well in the kitchen,
and I never had a well,
or outside bath,
a [inaudible], or whatever they call it.
And I said, "My goodness."
He said, well, as long as it's here.
I wanted you here and
that's some things I could find and I have
to cut grass to get you the room.
I said, "Well."
So when I met the people at the store,
I said, " Whose those buildings
back here that's apart like little houses?"
And they said that he owned them.
And he always let the servicemen,
that was bigger wheels into army, have them.
And I said, I wondered how you could get one of them.
He said, "Well, if you come
work for me, you can have one of them."
I said, "I'll be glad to."
[LAUGHTER].
And me and another lady,
he said he'd take her and me both
and then we could get two of those cabins.
And they had kitchens and bathrooms and everything.
I didn't have to do that.
And so we worked for them.
They were the nicest people, him and her both.
And I really enjoyed it because they
were so good to us and they were really good people.
>> And what were you paid?
Or were you just paid
in board, like you could [OVERLAPPING].
>> I can't even remember,
but we got by on it,
because I only got $50 from the army,
and that was enough to keep me
from having to go back home.
>> And what was it like to work in the store?
Did people bring in
their ration cards and you had to stamp them,
or how did that work?
>> They would have so many,
but most people tried to save on them. I did too.
I'd save mine when [inaudible] was in California,
so that we could go have
something that I could get for
us to have by not using them.
>> And at the store, did you have to administer?
If folks came with their cards,
is that how they bought things at
the grocery store where you worked?
>> No. Not where I worked in.
There, I worked in a bakery.
And when I worked in the store,
it was a dress shop in in Kentucky.
>> The dress shop is [OVERLAPPING].
>> Not Kentucky. What was that other place I went to?
>> [inaudible]. Yeah.
>> Yeah. I worked in a dress shop.
>> So when did you move to Oklahoma?
>> Unless it's in here, I can't remember.
You know I can't remember all of this stuff.
>> This is from Kentucky. Your husband
was transferred to Oklahoma?
>> Yeah. That's the reason. But from there,
he was sent over
after we had come home when his brother got shot.
But the war ended so after that, I stayed home.
>> Do you remember what life was like in
Oklahoma when you worked at this dress shop?
What was that like working at the dress shop?
>> Well, when I was working there,
the three other of the couple, it's a big house,
we rented a big house and each
one of us had a bedroom and we could use the kitchen,
whoever wanted to cook.
And sometimes the two of
them might have a pass at the same time, overnight pass.
And then again, they wouldn't.
But we were three that lived together.
Us four lived together out in California
so we got along real good.
>> So it was the same folks from
California that were in Oklahoma?
>> Uh huh.
>> And how did you get
the job at the dress shop in Oklahoma?
>> I just went down trying to find it,
because I had worked before in places like that.
So I just went down to see if I could get a job.
And I got one in the dress shop.
I just stayed at the register
and they would bring the merchandise,
after they picked it up and I'd bring them up.
>> What town was this in Oklahoma?
Do you remember the name of the town?
>> We went to see the rodeo.
That was one of the things.
>> Name of the town.
>> Gosh, Janie, do you remember the name of it?
>> What Fort was your husband stationed at?
>> Was that Fort Sill in Oklahoma?
Was that where it was at?
[inaudible].
>> That's okay. Tell me about the rodeo.
Do you remember the rodeo?
>> Yeah. That was fun.
>> Was it a big rodeo?
>> Yeah. And there they have big.
>> And how different
was this from where you had grown up?
Did Oklahoma [OVERLAPPING].
>> It was different.
Yeah. California, we liked that better.
We said we was coming
back out there and live but we didn't.
>> What did you like about California?
>> I liked California. Where we were at.
We went into Los Angeles,
but we didn't get to get in there very much
because we went a couple of
times because when he'd have a night off,
we didn't do all that.
If it's a day, we could go down to the beach,
not where we was at,
because you couldn't go in that one,
but we'd go down to the other beach.
>> Was it the weather you liked about
California or was it something else?
>> Well, the people were really
nice and the weather was nice too.
>> Nicer than in Kentucky or Oklahoma?
>> No. I didn't want to go back.
The people in Kentucky,
they were really nice,
the ones I worked for.
And I liked them.
But as far as going back to Kentucky, no, I liked it.
>> So when your husband was done with all
of the state side work,
was he training in Oklahoma?
Was that a training base for him,
or do you know what work he was doing in Oklahoma?
>> He worked on the plotting side of
the big guns and that's what he done.
He was in that part of it.
>> And he was learning how to work with them in Oklahoma?
>> In Oklahoma, yeah.
They plotted the course for the shooting and all.
>> So then the next thing that happened was
he was transferred to Italy?
>> That's where he was.
>> And you went home to Rome?
>> Yes.
>> What did he tell you about Italy?
>> He liked it. And when
they were hanging up,
he got to see them.
>> When the people hung
Mussolini in the in the town square,
he got to see that?
>> Yes.
>> Did he tell you anything about
the crowd? Did he tell you about that?
>> Yeah. He really liked Italy.
He thought that was a really nice place.
>> Tell her about the people in
the crowd that hit them with their rifle butts.
>> I didn't hear what you're saying.
>> So your daughter just said that there were people
in the crowd that hit them with their rifle butts.
Did your husband tell you about that story?
>> Put your arm down.
>> I can't see, that light's in my eye.
>> The crowd was a large crowd
and they would walk by and hit
them in the head with the rifle butts.
>> So he told you about these folks?
Do you remember that?
>> Yeah. He told me all about that.
He said that that was really to see something like that.
>> And so what were you
doing then in Rome while he was in Italy?
>> I went to work. I had to get a job.
You just couldn't live on $50,
and so I went to work in
a dress shop down on Broad Street.
>> Also working at the cash register,
at the register at the dress shop?
>> I could help. I decorated the window and
the models, things like that.
I did stuff like that.
>> Did rationing affect people's ability to buy clothes?
>> They could buy clothes.
It was just food mostly.
But by then, it was
different from the rationing while it was so bad.
>> At the end of the war,
it seemed like it wasn't as bad, the rationing?
>> Later. When that war ended,
the other one was still going on in the Pacific.
>> So did you get letters from
your husband while he was in Europe?
>> Email, them little.
>> Can you tell me about what it was
like to get the letters?
>> He talked about how much he missed us.
I told him one other time,
we had a chance to go to Italy,
I said, let's go back where you were at.
And he said, no, I don't want to
>> So how else did you learn about
the war other than the letters you got from your husband?
Did you still listen to the radio a lot?
>> Yes, that's what we listened to.
But the war was about over when he went over anyway
because all the other times he was guarding the coast.
And when his brother had got shot and come home,
that's when he got moved from there.
So in the other unit,
he was in a different unit and it was not the same.
>> And do you remember
the end of the war in
Europe when you found out that Germany had surrendered?
Was there a celebration in Rome?
>> I wasn't celebrating because I knew if that one ended,
the other one was still going on.
And so see he got sent home and was on his way back
over there and the war ended there.
So that made it so much better.
He was back in the states,
but he was to be sent there.
>> So he was in the states getting ready to
go to the Pacific when the war ended?
>> Us back in Rome then.
>> And what do you remember about that?
The end, the dropping of
the bombs on Japan. Do you remember that?
>> Yeah.
Pearl Harbor was really hit bad at the beginning,
but I didn't know much about the other.
>> At the end of the war.
>> Do you remember hearing about
the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan?
>> That stopped.
>> And was there a celebration in
Rome?What was that like? What was the celebration like?
>> It was really something to hear and
see all of that on the news.
>> Were there news reels?
Did you go to the movies and see
see film of the celebrations?
>> We would go see it at
the movie too they would show a lot of that.
>> And so can you tell me a little bit more?
So your husband,
where was he before he came back to Rome?
>> Before he came back to Rome?
>> Yeah.
>> It wasn't far from Rome.
And that's when he got to the house,
got home, I was home then
because that's when he came back to the States.
He was on his way over to the the Pacific.
And so he got
home and he was there for
a week and he was to be shipped over there.
But while he was there, that one ended.
So we was in that celebration
of that he didn't have to go.
So then he was back home after that.
And it's so good because I
just had got pregnant with my daughter.
>> And so when was your daughter born?
>> She was born in Rome there right after the war.
>> 1945.
>> And did you and
your husband have your own house at that time,
or where were you living?
>> Well, I I was living
in an apartment of another house.
The landlady owned the house,
and I didn't have much room.
And then I moved because I didn't have
enough room there when I was going to have her.
So I had her,
but then I moved because I didn't have enough room.
>> Was it hard to find a house?
How did you find the house you lived in in Rome?
>> Well, it was
a upstair big apartment
up there and it was right off the town.
So that's where I went to.
But then we bought a house,
and moved when she was a year old into one.
>> And what did your husband do after the war?
>> He worked at a hover mill,
and then you went to a glove mill and he was a salesman.
>> And you became a homemaker?
>> I stayed home.
>> And so can you tell me more about your family?
What was it like to raise your daughter,
and then you had another daughter?
>> And then I had another daughter.
And so I never did work because I didn't have anybody to
keep them and they didn't have places like they
have now to leave children.
And so I didn't work.
And so we would plan our time
to do things that didn't cost a whole lot.
Where we moved to,
it was a lot of young children and
so we just entertained the children,
playing nothings with them.
>> And did you have friendships with your neighbors?
Were you close with other people.
>> We were all real close together.
We were real where we lived.
>> And did you go back to that same
Baptist church in Rome?
>> After I moved back. But the preacher
that had been there when I was growing
up had come to a church out in West Rome,
and that's where we had
bought a house, so that's where I went.
We went to that one.
>> And as a young mother,
what were your hopes and dreams for the future?
What did you want for your family?
>> I wanted us to be
a good family and do the things that
we should do as a family,
and go to church and see that they go to school.
If they have friends,
they were free to play in my yard anytime.
>> And when did you decide to go back and get your GED?
>> Well, after I got them up big enough that I
didn't have to be home all day long,
I could go go back to and take
the classes that I needed and get my diploma.
And that's what I did.
>> And how did that make you feel?
What did that mean to you to get your GED?
>> Well, I was so glad I could do it.
I had to quit when my mom
passed away and I didn't get to finish school.
So I wanted to do that.
>> And did you have any favorite subjects?
Did you like literature or math?
>> Math wasn't my best one,
but literature, because I
like to read and so a lot of that.
And I liked history too.
But yeah. I done pretty good.
>> And did you and
your husband lived together in Rome for
a long time then even after your daughters grew up?
>> Yeah. We moved up close to her
because we had a big house
and there was a lot of stairs and
he had gotteen where it was hard for him to do.
And so we moved up
there where we wouldn't have those stairs.
>> And is your husband still with us?
>> No. He passed away.
Where we lived before,
there was a lot of children
because they'd just built that area.
And I would have
a Halloween party on Halloween night in my big basement.
And I had all of them,
my nieces and nephews doing stuff,
and the kids just loved it when they'd come by the house.
That went on for years.
And I see them now and they say,
we just loved that when you had
the Halloween it's your house up there.
They just loved it because I had
them telling fortunes and ghost
and the pot with the stuff
coming out like it was [inaudible].
They just loved that.
I said, yeah, I enjoyed doing it too.
>> That's great. My husband and I are
into Halloween parties too.
What was that house like?
What do you remember about that house?
It was a big house?
>> Uh huh. It had three levels. It was a big one.
>> And had a big yard too?
>> Yes. And a big yard too. Yeah.
>> And what are your daughter's names?
>> What now?
>> Your children. What are your children's names?
>> Janie, that was her.
Janie Sue and Nancy.
Nancy was my youngest one that was killed in an accident.
>> So moving up to kind of more recently,
how did you learn about the American Rosie the Riveter?
>> Through Jane.
>> Through Jane Tucker?
>> Yeah. I went
to the dentist and she was the one that cleaned my teeth.
And all them years,
we had not talked about the war.
I went to her for years
and she said something one time about it.
And I said, yeah, I said,
I worked in an airplane factory
too because she was telling me about it.
She said, "You did?"
So she said, you got to join.
She had just started the Rosie the Riveters.
And I said, "Yeah,
I worked in an airplane factory too."
>> So when did you decide to join?
>> And I joined.
>> In 2010, right after she started it?
>> What year or was it Jane?
>> Probably about two years later.
>> Okay. So what do
your experiences of World War II
, what do they mean to you?
What does this time mean to you in your life?
Was it a really important time or just a small time?
>> Well, I'm just glad I lived this
long because I've had some sorrows,
but some of it has really been good and interesting.
And you learn a lot.
>> And do you have two grandchildren?
>> What?
>> Do you have grandchildren? Grandchildren?
>> Yes. I had two grandsons,
but the youngest one, he passed away.
But I've got a great grandson.
He's got a grandson.
He's with the FBI in Atlanta.
Don't get to see him as much because he
plays ball a lot and he's in
either baseball or basketball and busy all the time.
>> It's still pretty exciting.
So what do you think then?
What do you think future generations,
your great grandson,
what do you think that everyone should know about
what it was like to live and work during World War II?
>> Well, I don't know.
I think there would be a whole lot of difference
now because the kids now,
they have these things that they have now.
They know everything. They know better.
They can learn better from what they have now.
And that is more interesting.
When we did it, the teacher taught it and we listened.
But now they have all that stuff that
they can just go to and do it.
>> Do you think though, that there's anything special
about hearing about it from
people who lived through the [OVERLAPPING].
>> Yeah. They have that a lot.
The people go and tell them about it.
So that still goes on.
>> Do you ever talk to kids about your experiences?
>> Yeah. I've told children sometimes.
But they go to schools and tell them all this stuff.
In our town, I don't know if it's everywhere,
but they do there.
>> So is there anything that I didn't ask you
about that you want to tell me that I missed?
>> No. I can't think of anything,
but that everybody was really nice to us and good.
There was some ladies in
California that I just thought the world of
because they were so nice and good to us. Yeah.
>> That's great. Well, thank you.
Thank you so much,
Ms. [inaudible] for speaking with me
today and being here,
and I'm honored to
have been able to listen to your story.
>> Thank you.