>> Today is Wednesday,
October 25th, 2017.
My name is Adina Langer,
and I'm here at the Sturgis Library at
Kennesaw State University with June Chandler.
Do you agree to this interview?
>> Yes.
>> Wonderful. Could you please state your full name?
>> June Evelyn Chandler.
>> And what is your birthday?
>> 12th, 2, '35.
>> And where were you born?
>> Enfield, Middlesex, England.
>> And can you describe where that is located?
>> It's 10 miles South of London.
>> And is it near the water?
>> No. It's between the channel and the River Thames.
We were in the area where the Germans flew. [LAUGHTER]
>> And so what were your parents' names?
>> Evelyn Sarah Knight and my dad was William George.
>> And did you have a large family?
>> One brother.
>> One brother. And what was your brother's name?
>> Douglas William.
>> And he was older than you?
>> Yes. He was, let me see.
I'm 81, he was 84.
>> And can you tell me about your neighborhood.
What was the neighborhood like?
>> It was what we call row houses.
It was almost like what they have as townhouses now,
but they were built in the late 18th century.
So we had neighbors stuck
with us and we had upstairs and downstairs.
>> And did you have any kind of a courtyard or garden?
>> We had a garden in the backyard,
and then we had a little side area that we
could go down to go up front or use the front door,
so my place where I used to slip out. [LAUGHTER]
>> And was it a friendly neighborhood?
>> Very. We used to call all our neighbors,
aunt or uncle, it was never mister or missis.
And so that's just the way they did back in those days.
>> And what kinds of jobs
did your parents have and the other adults?
>> My dad worked with a pharmacist and my mom,
she was a telephone operator until she retired.
>> And what are
some of your earliest memories of your childhood?
>> Basically, we had a very nice area.
We had a lot of parks and it
was safe then to let kids go out,
and I can remember going.
We had a river that ran through our backyard,
and we would get out, catch fish.
And in wintertime, we get out there and
skate because it was at the back of the yard,
but it also went through the parks.
>> That sounds lovely. Well, so you were born in 1935.
>> Correct.
>> So you were only four years old
then when the war began?
>> Right about there.
I can't remember exactly.
I know I was about five during evacuation.
>> What do you remember about the start of the war?
>> At that age, you really don't think too much about it.
It's just life.
But I do remember we had to put out shelters.
In our neighborhood, we all had
a shelter in the backyard.
It was corrugated iron and
then they put a lot of dirt over the top of
it and we had a little door and there was
four bunk type beds
in there because there was four of us.
And during air raids,
that's where we stayed.
>> And was that something issued by the government?
>> Yes.
>> And do you remember when
your father built the shelter, what that was like?
>> I just remember,
like I said at that age,
you don't pay that much attention.
I can just remember my brother and
I playing in the dirt because we
weren't allowed to do that very often. [LAUGHTER]
>> And had you started school when the war began?
>> Yes, because they
start earlier over there than they do here.
>> And what was your school like?
What was it like to go to school?
>> We all had different classes and it was boys and
girls through the early ages
of school, like the elementary.
Then after that, we went
into the high school, was all girls.
Middle school was all girls.
>> And did you walk to school?
>> Yes. Sometimes my mom
would give me a penny and I could get the bus,
but most times we walked
because my brother walked with me.
>> And was it close to your home or far?
>> It felt like a long way,
but I'm sure it wasn't.
[LAUGHTER] It was close to probably a mile.
>> And did you have to do
anything to prepare for the possibility of being bombed?
Did you have a gas mask?
>> We had the gas masks that we took over.
They didn't issue those until probably the second year.
And for children my age,
we called it a mickey mouse gas mask because it was
red and it had a flap on it and it had royal blue trim.
And when you talk or breath in,
the flap would go supposedly
to entertain the kids, I guess.
But it was in a little square,
carbo box with string,
and we just carried it over
our shoulders and took it to school.
Wherever we went, the gas mask went.
>> And the air raids,
were they usually at night or?
>> More at night, once in
a blue moon during the day, but mainly night.
>> And what do you remember about what that was like?
>> The biggest memory I have, it wasn't a base.
It was a huge tent in the green area near my house,
and there was a bunch of
Americans lived there and they had
tanks and the AK guns and sattelites.
So when the planes came over,
they would get their search lights
on and shoot at the plane.
So we had a lot of shrapnel everywhere come morning.
And my biggest thing was the doodlebug,
the V2 rocket,
and we called it doodlebug
because when they would come out,
they had no pilot or anything.
And they would doodle lootle and when they cut off,
they would just drift,
they would land and wherever they
landed, that's where they blew up.
And so the Americans had the big AK guns and they
would try and shoot it before it hit the ground.
So that was a big memory for me because we
sometimes stand outside the shelter and watch it.
And then when we saw they were ready getting it,
then we get back in our shelter.
>> It was easy then to get in the shelter?
>> Yes. We just walked in and stepped down.
It was a couple of steps going down into it.
>> And was there a metal door that shut?
>> It was a metal.
I don't know how thick it would be,
but it was a metal door and we locked it from the inside.
>> And did you
have to have everything pitch black at night?
>> Yes. We had blackout curtains.
And my dad was what they called an air raid warden.
He and another neighbor,
they would walk the streets at
night to make sure no lights were showing
through the windows and they
were taken in turns with different neighbors.
So maybe one day a week,
he was the warning and they wore
their helmets and just walked the streets.
If anyone had a light shining,
they would go let them
know because when the German planes,
if they were running out of fuel or getting
close to running out of fuel,
they would drop their bombs wherever and we
were in a good area for them to drop them.
>> So do you remember a lot of
destruction in your neighborhood?
>> Yeah. And we had our windows
blown in a couple of times.
And then they got to the point
where we didn't replace the glass,
they would replace it with a black tar paper.
So your house was dark all the time,
needless to say, I keep my house dark now. [LAUGHTER]
>> It's interesting you didn't go the
other way where you want lots of light.
>> No. I like my house dark.
>> And did you ever have
an experience where you
got close to being in danger yourself?
>> Just a street over from us,
we called them bread baskets.
They were incendiary bomb
and they dropped those and it hit
a street behind us and the whole street burned down.
And that was close.
We did have windows blown in
because of the blast and everything.
I remember one time when I was a kid,
a shelter had got water in it because of
the river and we went to our next door neighbor's house.
My dad was airway warding that night.
We had the bombing and the sirens were
going and my mom grabbed my brother
and I and we ran into the house
next door and all our houses
had a cupboard under the stairwell and we
went in the cupboard with my next door neighbor.
And my brother and I were barefoot
because mum had woke us up and
the glass from the front door had blown in and we
ran over that barefoot and neither one of us got a cut.
It's just weird to this day.
I think about that how we ran
on glass and didn't get cut.
>> That was quite lucky.
And when we spoke a couple of months ago,
you mentioned that there was one time that there actually
was an air raid during the day?
>> We had laid down.
A German plane came over when
I was actually coming home from school,
and the air raid warden from
the daytime he threw me basically
in the gutter and laid
over me because if they saw movement,
they would machine gun.
So I don't know that it happened anywhere near me,
but that was a possibility.
So whoever was watching
for kids and everything at that particular time,
they would take care of whoever was walking.
>> And you were very young. Did you
feel frightened or did you feel safe?
>> No. I never thought
about being frightened because like I said,
I was so young when it started,
and after that, it was just a way of life.
So if it happened, it happened,
if it didn't, it didn't.
>> What do you remember about rationing during the war?
>> I had a green ration book because of my age.
My brother had the blue,
and my mom and dad had white ones.
And I was able to get orange juice on mine,
and we could get an egg once a week,
and meat was almost unaccessible.
My dad would buy some black market once in a while.
But everything was rationned.
Well, milk was not, I'll take that back.
We had a milkman, but we had the cows around.
But everything else was rationed tea,
more juice they didn't get,
vegetables that we didn't
grow we had to use ration books for,
but my dad had a garden,
so we grew a lot.
My mom did a lot of pickles and stuff to keep us going,
but everything was rationed.
In fact, when I left England in '54,
meat was still hard to get.
It wasn't rationed,
but it was hard to come by.
Everything we had was rationed.
>> And what do you remember about the garden?
Was that something you helped with ever?
>> Not really. Just pick out the weeds.
My dad he would grow potatoes and green beans,
we call them green peas,
English peas, and that kind of stuff.
And then my mom would pickle a lot of stuff.
So we did all right vegetable wise.
>> You mentioned you didn't have meat.
Did you ever have canned meat like Spam?
>> We had Spam.
>> It was called Snoop,
but it's just like
Spam over here and which I will not eat.
And we had canned salmon once in a while.
We had a lot of fish,
being an island there was plenty of fish.
So that's what I basically was raised on was fish.
And you mentioned that there were
different colored ration books
for different mebers of the family.
Did they give you access to different things?
>> With the children with the green ration book,
you had more access.
You got an egg a week or sometimes two if they had it,
and you would get the orange juice,
and trying to think
the government gave us cod liver oil which we had to take
every day and it was liquid and [inaudible] food,
I think it was what it was called.
It was like a liquid vitamin,
that only was given to younger kids.
But what my brother and my mom and dad
had access to, I don't know.
She did cook and so I
really didn't pay that much attention.
I just knew that sometimes
we were hungry and most times we were not.
My mom was very good with what she did.
>> Had the rationing started before the war?
>> No.
>> You were born in '35 which was during the depression.
Was there a sense that things were harder than usual?
>> Not that I know of.
Not that I remember.
>> What did you do for fun.
Was there something you could do?
>> Well, we loved jigsaw puzzles.
We played snakes and ladders,
they call it shoots and ladders now.
We played snakes and ladders.
We just played a lot of board games,
and we played cribbage and we played cards.
I had my little friends who would come
over because we played house.
And a lot of our stuff,
we would do a little bit in the dirt
when my mom let us get dirty and we'd
make little houses in the dirt and
pretend this is my room and this is your room.
You had to use your head back
then to think up something to do.
But we had a dolls pram
and dolls and stuff like that for Christmas.
I feel like I had a very good childhood.
I had a good mom and dad,
which makes it better.
>> Did you ever, in your games, act out war?
>> No. Well, once in a while we
played like cowboys and
Indians because we had seen that in the movies.
And then sometimes we would
play Germans against the English.
There was one little boy in our neighborhood,
his name was Schuler,
his dad was German and we made him
German and he used to cry
because he said that wasn't fair.
I can remember this child very well.
>> So you mentioned the movies.
Did you go to see movies over theatres?
>> Yes. My mom worked at the theater for a while.
It was called the Rialto.
And if it was
a quiet day after we got
back from being in the evacuated,
we would sometimes go there and they
always had the news of the week on and it
would show a real of all
what had happened overseas during
the war and keeping you up to
date instead of to read the paper,
you could go see the news reel.
>> Did you have a radio?
>> Yes.
>> And did you ever hear news stories on the radio?
>> No. My mom wouldn't listen.
She wouldn't let us listen to them.
What a little bit of music it came from BBC.
So what a little bit of music was on,
she would let us have that.
And then there was a soap opera on that
she would listen to called Mrs. Dale's Diary.
And she didn't miss that when she was home.
[LAUGHTER] But yeah, we called it
a radio gram because it had
a gramophone on the top of it.
But it sat this high. It was huge.
>> And so you mentioned that you were evacuated.
>> Right.
>> Do you remember how old you were?
>> I was probably around five, five or six.
And I remember my mom and dad putting my brother and I
on the train and I remember as having a gas masks,
but I don't remember having any luggage.
I'm sure we did.
And they put us on the train and we went out to
a place called Altrincham in Cheshire near Manchester.
And my brother got to go stay with an aunt of
mine because she had old boys
and I stayed with a school teacher,
which was my aunt's friend.
And she had two daughters,
so I was very well looked after over there too.
>> How long were you there?
>> A year.
>> And what do you remember about that place?
>> It just being very nice.
It was out in the country.
And I know the lady that kept me,
it was one classroom school,
and there were several different ages in there,
but it was way out in the country and I remember she had
the geese and she had rabbits and
all the stuff I'd never seen in being close to London.
We didn't have all of that.
But they were very nice to me.
They got me a bike, so I could
ride over and see my brother.
And it was good.
In fact, I think I enjoyed it so much,
especially with having like two older sisters,
which they were not.
But they were very good with me and
when my mom and dad came to pick me up,
I didn't want to go home
because I hadn't seen them in a year.
So now I understand it,
but I think it made or upset my mum must have
been to think I wanted to stay where
I was instead of going home with her.
[LAUGHTER]
>> So they were not able to come out and visit you?
>> No. She had to do what they called
piece work and because my dad had to stay.
Anyone that had a baby,
the mother could go with them,
but because of my age,
basically, you can say you didn't need your mom.
So that's the reason she wasn't able to go.
>> And her work was essential to the war effort,
both your mum [OVERLAPPING]
>> The piece work. She made the safari helmets.
That everybody didn't have small children,
they had to work.
>> And did she do that at home?
>> No. She went out.
I don't know where she went to do it, but yeah.
She started that actually before I was evacuated.
>> And your father, you say he worked in the pharmacy.
>> He worked with a pharmacist.
He would check in everything the pharmacist needed,
make sure they are the right amount of drugs or whatever.
So he was like a helper, I guess.
>> And did his work ever end up
involving the soldiers or something like that?
>> No.
>> So when you came back,
the war was still still going on.
And you moved on
to elementary school and I guess you [OVERLAPPING].
>> Junior school.
>> Yeah.
>> Which was all girls.
And then from there we went to high school.
>> You mentioned that there was some
American soldiers in your back?
>> Correct.
>> When you were a little kid,
did you interact with them?
>> Oh, yes. We always go up there and say,
got any gum chum?
Because we couldn't get candies
or gum or anything like that.
They let us sit in the tanks and show us all things.
Yeah, they were very good to us.
So I guess they missed their own kids,
so they interacted with us.
>> And did they ever give you things from their back.
>> They give us some chocolate and like I said, the gum.
And to us, they were all yanks.
Rebels they were all yanks.
Every American was a yank.
>> Did any of them stand out to particular.
Do you remember any particular soldiers?
>> No. They were all just very nice.
They'd see us coming and because we lived
right down the street to where the attempt was.
So they would see us coming and
they'd always give us a little something.
>> And when did
you start having the ability have lights on again?
>> It was after the war ended.
And the first thing I remember
about that is the first guy fox night,
which is 5th November.
We were able to have a big bonfire.
And that's the first time we had
really seen anything and then they
started getting the lamplights and everything going.
And the first Christmas at the after
the end of the war my mom and dad took us into London,
which I mean, it was a lot of it
on the ground because it was so bombed there.
But what little area they could decorate.
They had Christmas lights out and it was
just something else because I've
never seen Christmas lights before.
Not that I could remember.
>> What do you remember about the end of the war.
Was there a sense that things were different?
>> Not really because stuff was still
rationed and little by little,
there was more to buy and we
got a lot more clothes
because all their clothes were rationed also.
And we were able to buy like I had one pair of
shoes for school and one for Sundays.
And then after I remember after the war,
my mom took me to a place called Selfridges in London.
It's a big department store,
and she bought me an extra pair of shoes,
and I thought I was very well off.
[LAUGHTER]
>> Did you have
any family members who were in the service?
I had an uncle. My dad's youngest brother.
He was in the service.
He was captured in
Germany and he stayed in
a prison camp there for about a year.
And actually, I think
the Americans when they got
over there, they released them.
And he came home and I remember I didn't know who he
was because he had not eaten and he was so frail.
But I mean, it took I'm sure
over a year or better to start building him back up.
I just remember.
I didn't know who he was when I saw him.
>> And you had known him before?
>> Yes. Yeah, he and my dad were close.
My dad was the oldest of four and he was the baby.
So they were very close.
>> And was your dad just too old to be drafted?
>> Yes.
>> Service?
>> Yes.
>> And did you count the end of the war from
May of '45 when Germany
was conquered or did you wait till the end with Japan?
>> It was when it was totally over,
that was the end of the war for us because that's
when things started to get a little bit better.
But I will tell you one thing.
When they started the war,
we had rails in our yard
separating us from the front door, at the front,
from the neighbors, and we had
real pretty iron rails
in front of the house going all around the park,
what everybody did and they
took all of those out for ammunition.
And the last time I went home,
we went there and they still hadn't replaced them.
And I actually tried to go in the house
and see if I could look
around and see my old room and everything,
but the people that owned the house then had moved well,
excuse me, not moved.
They were home. They were not home at that point.
So but that was an exciting day for me.
[LAUGHTER]
>> Had you not been back in a long time?
>> No. I was over here 23 years before I went home.
I had four children and really couldn't afford it.
So after my dad passed away,
we made a point so I could go home.
>> Sure. So when did you start high school?
>> Year wise. I don't know.
I was probably maybe 13.
They do they did do differently over
there or what they do because I
got out of high school at 16,
but that was that was how they did back then.
So you graduated when you were six?
>> Yes.
>> And did you have friends that you would go around
with and travel to London and do things with?
>> Yes, I did. I went to London a lot. I loved London.
And so we just mainly were not during the war.
When I got older,
we were able to catch a bus or train and go into London,
go to some of the newer movies and then have to take
the last bus home or else you'd be
walking because they would quit at 10:00.
So we knew whatever we did in London,
we had bit stopped by 10.
>> Did you ever get stuck?
>> Yes.
>> What happened when you got stuck?
>> Police picked a up. [LAUGHTER] Actually,
my girlfriend and I,
we'd missed the last train and there was
no bus at that point and we got out and we were thumbing.
And back then, we felt like
we didn't know anything could happen to you.
And I think we were about 15 to 16 and the policeman,
we were in a car stopped and I asked what we were doing.
And we said we'd missed the last train.
He wanted to know where we lived,
I told him we were on gentleman's row and he said,
get in the back of the car and we got a lecture.
All the way home and I told him I said,
please don't stop in front of
my house because my mom never did
know to this date
that we had a police car taking us home,
he dropped us off around
the corner so we could walk to the house.
Telling tales now.
[LAUGHTER]
>> So can you describe how you met your future husband?
>> I was in London and my girlfriend and we're going to
a movie and my husband was very I did not
like him when the lights change in London,
traffic goes and they don't care who's in the road.
And I had run with the girl I was with to get up
on the curb away from
the taxis because they travel very fast.
And he was standing there and he wouldn't
let me up on the curve.
And I was so mad I just slogged him.
I had a brother, so I knew how to take care of myself.
And we went and sat in a milk bot
my girlfriend tonight and then he and his friend,
we were pickups, I guess and they followed us around.
So and then my girlfriend told
him where I lived and out of the blue,
I got a letter from him and
I finally after I've met him a couple of
times in London and I invited him to come to
my house and I met him at the train
and took him and my parents just fell in love with him.
So the only thing is he called
you was ma'am this and ma'am that.
And my mom, she'd say, Jeff,
don't call me, ma'am I sound like an old school mom.
We used to laugh about that.
>> And what was his name?
>> Well, his actual name was Laverne,
but we called him Jeff because that was
his nickname on the base because
of Jeff chang of the movie style.
So when he introduced himself,
he introduced himself as Jeff.
And Laverne never worked for me.
He always stayed Jeff.
>> So he was a soldier?
>> He was the air force.
>> And he was from the United States?
>> He was from South Carolina.
>> And so he been stationed in London?
>> He was he moved over there, I guess in 51.
He was stationed there,
I met him in 52, and we married in 54.
>> And can you describe what your wedding was like?
>> It was just the justice of the peace.
We just went to a place called Edmonton and
my brother's girlfriend and him and
a couple of three of my friends and my mom
and dad, we were there.
That was a very small,
and then we went out to tea for they didn't do
things back there then like they do over here,
it's not wasn't that lavish.
>> And was there a sense for you
that getting married and moving to the United States
would be a better thing
than staying back in
England or was it just that you'd fallen in love?
>> I just fell in love and I couldn't
have asked for a better person the one I'm married.
And you know at that age there again,
I was 18 and you don't
think when he was from a tobacco farm.
So I thought that was a regular English farm,
which is very green and very
pretty with horses and the whole bit.
And I saw my first mule at
his house I've never seen a mule in my life,
It was just so different.
But it was a big shock going into that and we
lived there for a year and then moved up here
and my husband got a job at Lockheed.
>> So what was it like moving
to the United States initially.
What were your first impressions.
>> Well, I had a lot of friends
when we first got to New York.
We went to New York Port of entry.
We were up there nearly a month for
my husband to get out of service.
And then the town we had to
get a taxi we got a train to Florence,
South Carolina then we got
a taxi from there to where he lived.
And I had dozed off of course it's 3:00 in the morning.
And he thumped me he said, wake up?
This is our town and I came up
like this and I'm like, where?
He said, well, we're through it now.
[LAUGHTER] I was used to London and it was
like a cross road with a couple
of little shops or stores in.
So that was different to me.
But I didn't like
South Carolina and I
didn't like having to live with in laws,
but after I got up here,
things got a lot better.
I made friends and everything
because I was close in with people.
>> So he got a job at Lockheed?
>> Yes.
[inaudible]
>> He's a flat line mechanic.
>> And what was Marietta Lake,
what would you first see?
>> Beautiful. It was quiet, no traffic hardly.
The chicken was there
and it was a chick chuck and shake back then.
And but Marietta was wearing
East Marietta out near off of Pallas ferry.
And it was just very pretty out there Poserr was
a two lane road and it had
woods and It was just beautiful out there.
Chattahoochee River when you went from
Powers ferry to across the Chattahoochee River,
it was a swinging bridge,
one lane and people took turns going across,
which wouldn't happen in this day and time.
But it was very pretty around here.
>> What was your first home like?
>> You talking about apartment or house?
>> The first place you lived.
>> The first place we lived was a duplex.
Actually, the girl that I was with
when I met my husband married
the guy that he was
with and they ran into each other at Lockheed.
And I was living in Carolina then because we couldn't
find a place to live up here and they had a duplex,
told us it was empty.
So we moved up here and lived in
the duplex with them basically.
And then we moved off of the square.
In Marietta on Frazer Street.
And then we bought a house in off of Powers ferry in 57.
So that was our first home and I'm still there.
>> Were the homes new then?
>> Yes. They were in the process of
building house when we bought it.
And actually, they let us live there from February 55,
I guess it was till 57 I'll take it back I'm sorry.
57, we moved in in February and
we didn't have to start payments on it until June.
The builder let us just stay
there until we close the house out.
So which were very nice.
>> And what were your neighbors like?
>> We've had good neighbors.
Most of them since the 60s
because a lot of them have passed away since,
but then we have younger neighbors than we used to have,
but for the most part,
we have very good neighbors back then.
Everybody was from somewhere else.
Nobody was from Georgia because of Lockheed.
So and then my husband got laid off from
Lockheed many times and he was in the National Guard.
So they had an opening there,
so he joined the National Guard
and he retired from there.
>> And that was right nearby. That was done?
>> Yes.
>> So it probably did
feel good you didn't have to worry about moving?
>> Yes. He he
traveled a lot when he was at Dobins because,
they have to go especially bad weather.
They were needed to go somewhere,
but it was nice knowing that he
wasn't going to get laid off he
had a permanent position there.
So he went in as a staff sergeant
and came out as a senior master sergeant.
So he worked very well.
>> Did he ever have to serve,
in any of the Ct?
>> No.
>> No. We were lucky.
>> And so what was your slash is your house like.
>> It's just a small two bedroom house for the pine
paneled and we have
a basement that when my daughter came,
we didn't have anywhere to put her.
So we built the basement
in because I had three boys and it was able,
we were able to keep them all together.
But when she came along,
we didn't have anywhere to put her,
so we built the basement in,
which I stayed down there all
the time now because it's dark.
>> When was your first child born?
>> 1955, August of 2055.
Boy, of course.
?? And what are your children's names?
>> Glen, J, Doug, and Karen.
>> And what was it like to be a new mother?
It was hard because I didn't have anybody to help me.
And at that point, I didn't know anybody because
we were still living I lived in Carolina,
which I didn't have any friends later there
because there's no houses close.
And when I moved up here,
Glenn was about three months old.
And after I started meeting people,
it got a lot easier,
but I wished I'd have my mom
closer to help me out some friends.
It was hard but you learned so he was on swing shift.
My husband was on swing shift then
so and my son had carlic and it always
started at three in the afternoon
and he was gone. [LAUGHTER]
>> What did you find to be
a support network you met people, what did you do?
>> After I moved out to where I'm living now,
like I said, everybody was in the same boat.
They were all from different states and
they had come in basically for Lockheed.
So we were all about the same age back then.
And we just visited each
other and I got everybody drinking tea.
So when I go to any of the neighbors,
the first thing they do is put on
the kettle and we'd have a cup of tea.
So it was very nice.
>> And did your family
ever move from England
and were able to come out and visit you?
>> My mom came out once and my brother came out several
times but she had a glass over here,
but she was late 60s when she came and she loved it.
>> And that was the only time she had come out?
>> Yes.
>> And did you ever work outside the home?
>> I worked at Lennon's and things for 20 years,
but I didn't do that until
after my daughter got out of high school.
I was one of those stay at home mom.
So when they got in from school,
they knew I was going to be there
and they better be in on time.
[LAUGHTER]
>> And how was it like raising your four kids here?
>> It was fun. I feel like they had good schooling
and trying to think three of them came here to school.
And the oldest one did
a year here and went to the University of Georgia.
The middle one graduated from here and
the youngest boy graduated from
Southern Tech and my daughter graduated from here.
So all in the family here.
>> And where are they all located now?
>> My oldest boy lives in Covington on Lake Jackson.
My middle son lives in Charleston, South Carolina.
My youngest son lives in Clearwater,
Florida, my daughter lives in Smyrna.
So my daughter her first husband passed away,
but he was a basketball coach at
[inaudible] state and he passed away.
I think they've been married about 13 months
and he had brain cancer.
So it was Ron Walker.
I don't know if they still had they used to have
something a picture of him in the gym.
I don't know since they've redid the gym,
whether he's back there or not.
>> And do you have any grandchildren.
>> I have six grandchildren,
three great grandchildren and two on the way.
So I say pretty busy.
My granddaughter is very good texting back and forth.
I keep up, they send me pictures.
The Thanksgiving, we always go to
my oldest boy's house because it sits right on
the lake and it's very pretty
there and they've got a lot more room than anybody else.
So the whole family,
grandkids, everything will go there.
So we have a blast at
Thanksgiving and I don't have to cook.
>> You don't cook anything?
>> No.
>> Do you like to cook?
>> No. I had to with four children,
but when I got where I didn't have to cook, I don't cook.
>> And so do you go around and
visit them in their homes? Do they come visit you?
>> I don't drive that far anymore.
They come and visit me,
but my sons call me every day, almost every day.
My daughter calls me two or three times a day.
And so I don't know if they're
bored or I just want to
make sure I'm still breathing. [LAUGHTER]
>> And your husband, is he still alive?
>> No. He died in '98.
>> That's a while ago.
>> August of '98, we've been married exactly 44.5 years.
>> And he have prolonged illness or anything?
>> He had bone cancer,
so about a year, a year and a half.
I kept him at home. We had hospice.
>> So after he died, did
you find that you still have a good support network?
>> Yeah. My kids were very good.
And all of them lived around here at that point,
but two of them have moved out since.
But I feel my neighbors were
very good and they checked on me.
Like I said, we're all been there
so many years and some of them have passed on,
but I've had a very good fortunate being
with neighbors that I've had.
>> So thinking about the war and it's history,
what do you think is most important for young people to
know about World War II and right afterward?
>> Just the closeness that we
had with family and neighbors,
everybody helped each other.
And it was just like one big family.
Our neighbors were very good where I grew up.
And they just helped each other.
If somebody was having a hard time,
the rest of the neighbors were there for them.
It's just I guess the unity maybe. I don't know.
It's just you never felt like people didn't care.
We all grew up there with
the kids and everything and it was a life.
But like I said,
we called everybody aunt and
uncle and it was just like they
were because people didn't move
over there like they do over here.
You can tell I've been in my house since '57.
[LAUGHTER]
>> And you mentioned that you got to go back to
your home town recently.
>> No, I haven't been since 9, 11.
I'm not getting on a plane,
but I went back three or four times.
After like I said, I've been here
23 years before I got to go home the first time.
And my neighbors had a party for me and had
some good eating and everything because
they knew that was my first time
back and we had a little party,
it was very nice.
>> And how have things changed?
>> Over there a lot more people.
My brother, actually, I stayed with him a lot and he
lived in right out of South Hampton in the country.
Not my country here.
There's houses around but it was
out in the country and my mom
had moved into London and she lived near Harrods.
I don't know if you're familiar with that area,
but she lived there and so we were walking distance
with everything as far as
history and everything, which I went back.
I like the museums and stuff like that.
So first time I went,
I took my daughter,
she was 10 at that time,
and my younger son went, he was 16.
So we got to see a lot of things
over there that I wanted them to see.
>> What do you think is most important
about your British culture?
>> Do you know I haven't even thought about that.
I've just blended in with
everything that goes on over here.
I lost my accent.
People who have told me if I stayed up north
I would have kept an accent because
they speak faster up there.
But I do miss that.
And going home when I left England,
they were just basically British people
living there and going home and there
were so many from
different countries there that was different to what
I remembered but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I did like I said all my history stuff.
I went around.
>> Well, that's great.
I wanted to just ask you a little
bit more about your brother.
>> He was in the Royal Navy.
So he was stationed in different areas,
but not during the war.
He joined the Navy when he got out of high school.
And his favorite place
to go was Australia and New Zealand.
That's where he'd have a lot.
He did do oil tankers for a while because he
wanted to make more money
and then he went back in the Royal Navy.
And then he started his own business,
making the mini blinds and
shades to go the awnings that go outside shops.
He did that. That was his business.
He had a little shop with Doug Knight on it.
>> That's great. And you
said he came to visit you a few times?
>> Yes, several times.
>> And are your kids in touch with his kids at all today?
>> No. Unfortunately, being that far away,
you just don't stay I did with him.
But I am in touch with one of his daughters.
And one of his sons we're Facebook friends.
So I stay in touch with him Facebook wise,
but as far as talking, no.
>> So is there anything that
you want to talk about that I haven't asked you about?
>> No, I think you've covered it all pretty much.
Like I said, if you asked me, I can remember,
but a lot of stuff,
I think you prefer to forget.
But yeah, I just feel sorry for children
and more in this day and
time because it's something you never forget and
something will jog my memory if I see
something on television, it clicks.
I remember that.
But I don't think it's anything you ever forget.
>> Thank you for your time and for your participation.
>> You're welcome. I appreciate it.
>> I really appreciate it. So thank you very much.
>> And I hope it'll do good. Thank you.