| Tape Number: |
WCWW2-075 |
| Title: |
WW2 Interview with Annette Howards #3 |
| Title Type: |
Element
|
| Format: |
BetaSP
|
| Creator: |
Derks, Mik//Producer
|
| Date Created: |
2002-09-26 |
| Publisher: |
University of Wisconsin Board of Regents//Copyright holder
|
| Subject: |
war
|
Description:
Tape Number WCWW2-075
05:00:28;14 05:00:30;17 [00:00:02:03] WCWW2-075
:keywords:
Annette Howards - interview, part 3
Early chow pass
No privacy in barracks
Work and free time
Bernie's missing Vise Grips
Putting off Bernie
Battle of Casino
Discharge papers
General orders
Soldier's pay
War bonds
Mom never happy about her going in service
05:00:39;22 05:01:23;29 [00:00:44:05] WCWW2-075
:Early chow:
On base there used to be a long line to go into the chow hall-- the mess hall. And we would wait very patiently on this long line, you know we had a limited time, and then we noticed that some of the women were going up to the head of the line and flashing this little card and they would go right in. So we kind of researched it and found they have a special pass and so we had the paper and a typewriter and so we typed up this little special pass to admit Annette, you know, Annette and Phyllis to early chow, and that's what we would do. We scribbled this signature on the pass and we would just go and flash it before they really had a chance to [see], and we would just go and have early chow.
05:01:23;29 05:01:46;03 [00:00:22:04] WCWW2-075
:Q- Probably there never was such a thing...:
:Howards- Oh no! (laughs) Listen, there's another saying about Semper Fi. It also could mean "I've got mine. To heck with you." (Laughs) That's not a nice thing to say. But you know, if you don't look out for yourself, nobody else will. So we looked out for each other is what we did.:
05:01:46;03 05:01:52;11 [00:00:06:08] WCWW2-075
:Q- You were in a large barracks?:
05:01:52;11 05:02:19;14 [00:00:27:01] WCWW2-075
:The Barracks:
Right. One floor housed like 100 women and we had two floors, and you had double bunks, and the only way that you had any sort of privacy is you had these wardrobes and we would open up the wardrobe doors so that the doors would meet in the center-- two sets of doors-- and so to close off... we called [them] little cubicles. We had little cubicles. You really didn't have any privacy, you know.
05:02:19;14 05:02:41;25 [00:00:22:11] WCWW2-075
:Q- And then did you find that your closest friends were nearby?:
:Howards- Yes. Oh yeah. My closest friend was my bunkie and the two girls that worked with me in the tool cribs. You know. And we'd... we became like a little unit. You know, we all went out together and we did things together.:
:Q- How much time did you have to go out? What were your hours like?:
05:02:41;25 05:03:22;28 [00:00:41:01] WCWW2-075
:Hours of work and free time:
I'm trying to think. You worked a very, you know, a full day. Sometimes we pulled barracks duty. You had to be at the desk, you had different shifts I guess is what you'd call them. You had different shifts, but there's somebody always on duty, you know, for the 24 hours. So sometimes that somebody would wake me up at 2:00 in the morning to report to the desk. But you did get time off and occasionally you would get a 48 hour pass, a weekend pass, to go into town, you know, and so there was always time. There was always something to do on the base. You know, recreation-wise. I did learn to go horseback riding once. Once was enough. (Laughs)
05:03:22;28 05:03:26;09 [00:00:03:11] WCWW2-075
:Q- Did women marines ever go overseas?:
05:03:26;09 05:04:17;16 [00:00:51:05] WCWW2-075
:Women abroad:
Just a very handful-- a very select few-- Annette Coy was a telephone operator. Isabelle was a link trainer, and she went to Hawaii, and those are the only two I know that went to Oahu. But otherwise, the women marines stayed at home. They were-- mostly a lot of them were at Cherry Point. We had a big contingent at El Toro. We ended up at El Toro. The base is closed now. But that was our home port. But mostly the WACS went overseas. I dont' know about the Navy. I know the Coast Guard didn't. But it would have been a wonderful opportunity. But somebody had to stay home and take care of the tools. (Laughs)
05:04:17;16 05:04:21;18 [00:00:04:02] WCWW2-075
:Q- Do you miss your tools?:
05:04:21;18 05:05:12;28 [00:00:51:08] WCWW2-075
:Missing Vise-Grip Pliers:
Well, I learned another thing... telling you about putting off Bernie all the time... When we had a transfer from North Island to El Toro, the men had to turn in their toolboxes, and every tool had to be accounted for. And if a tool was missing, then it was up to them to find some sort of substitute-- any sort of substitute. And I had Bernie checked out for a pair of Vise Grip pliers. I remember that. And he swore up and down he never took it out, and I said, "I'm sorry, I have your chit that says you did. I'm not signing your release." And I wouldn't sign his release til he came up with a substitute tool. I don't know why I did those things. But years later as an anniversary gift, I went out an bought him a pair of Vise Grip plyers. (Laughs) I mean, I don't know why I did all those things.
05:05:12;28 05:05:19;09 [00:00:06:11] WCWW2-075
:Q- You talked about what a handsome guy Bernie was. I'm surprised you put him off so many times.:
05:05:19;09 05:05:46;22 [00:00:27:13] WCWW2-075
:Putting off Bernie:
I don't know why. I can't tell you why. He was absolutely sunburnt by the sun. He was brown and his hair was almost bleach blond from, you know, working outdoors. I said he could have been on any Marine Corps recruiting poster. And maybe, of course, I was so hard to get that he went after me. I don't know. I was strictly a hands-off person. But I don't know. Somehow it worked out. It worked out.
05:05:46;22 05:05:51;01 [00:00:04:09] WCWW2-075
:Q- But all the women marines weren't hands-off?:
05:05:51;01 05:06:21;12 [00:00:30:09] WCWW2-075
:Dating in the Marines:
I don't know. I can't speak for all of the women. I always said I was spoken for. That was my excuse if I went out. I never hurt for dates. I went out on dates until that person was shipped overseas, but I always said, "I'm spoken for. He's in the Army. I'm waiting for him to get out. If you want to go out and dance, fine, everything's platonic. Hands off." And I never had any problem. That was me. You wanna do anything, you put a ring on my finger first. (Laughs)
05:06:21;12 05:06:26;21 [00:00:05:09] WCWW2-075
:Q- Did you ever have any doubt at all how the war was going to turn out?:
05:06:26;21 05:07:21;13 [00:00:54:20] WCWW2-075
:Battle of Casino:
No, I had no idea how long it would take, you know. If the war had lasted six years, I would have been in for six years, plus six months. I remember some of the terrible battles. One of them was Casino. They had the battle of... I don't know why that stands out in my mind. They had this abbey at Casino-- I don't know if you remember that-- in Italy. And the Germans were holed up in there and were they going to bomb the abbey or not? I don't know why, and then of course you had all the stuff about the concentration camps. It was just a matter of time, you know, and I was glad they used the atomic bomb. Maybe that, you know, shortened the war. There's a lot of discussion about that. Did we do the right thing? Yeah, we did. If it saved American lives, absolutely. Absolutely.
05:07:21;13 05:08:11;20 [00:00:50:05] WCWW2-075
:Q- I don't think anyone in your generation has a question about that.:
:Howards- I've got great admiration for President Truman. Nobody thought much of him. He was just some hick Vice President. And I went to visit his home and you go into his-- I can't remember where the home is now--:
:Q- Missouri:
:Howards- Missouri! That's right, Jeff took me there to see him. We went to see his home. You walk into the kitchen and it's just like an ordinary kitchen, a little kitchen table that was set. It could have been just anybody-- your next door neighbor. I've got the greatest admiration for him. I think I lived in a good time.:
05:08:11;20 05:10:44;03 [00:02:32:11] WCWW2-075
:Q- What a time... I think you were all very much alive:
:Howards- Like I said, I made friends that we still keep in contact after 60 years. We're still family. We keep in contact with another. I met a wonderful man, my husband. We raised a super family. I have no regrets.
:Q- And you know the name of every tool.:
:Howards- Yes. I do know the name of how many different kinds of hammers there are. A hammer isn't just a hammer. There's a claw hammer, a ballpeen hammer, a mallet, a Vise Grip pliers, a duck bill pliers, a needle nose pliers, a round file, a rat file, a flat file, a bastard file. (Laughs)
:Q- That doesn't even touch the screwdrivers.:
:Howards- Oh, ratchet screwdriver. Yeah, I learned a lot, and then it was fun to... the men found ways to make little do-dads to send home. They made bracelets out of little pieces of stainless steel. I made two of them. You would take these little pieces of stainless steel and bend them around a pair of duck-billed plyers to make like links. And then you'd find some other metal and you'd shine it up and go over to the shop and have somebody engrave your name on it. There's all those little things you can make, out of plexiglass, you know, that was hard to get? I made a plexiglass letter opener in the shape of a Corsair (Laughs) and I took it over to the sandblasting shop and they sandblasted all the details on. My son has it now. A little plexiglass Corsair. Flat. They were very inventive. It was, like I said, a good time. I've never regretted joining the service. And today there's so many opportunities open to the women today. They can do anything the men can do, except go into the front lines. That I'm against. With so many opportunities, you know, they got the whole world open to them. Because we had the courage to leave home.
05:10:44;03 05:10:49;03 [00:00:05:00] WCWW2-075
:Q- How did you feel when you got the discharge paper?:
05:10:49;03 05:11:39;18 [00:00:50:13] WCWW2-075
:Discharge papers:
I was very proud. The first thing my husband said, "You have to go have it registered," so that's the first thing I did when I got to Milwaukee was to have my discharge papers registered. It is very important for coming benefits. Yeah, I'm very proud of that piece of paper. I can look upon it and say, "I actually did it," and when things got tough for me when Bernie was very ill, my kids said, "Mom, you made it through boot camp, you can make it through anything." And that's kind of been my climantra(?). If I made it through boot camp, then I can make it through this crisis. And that's got me where I am today. A lot of memories coming back. I'm going to laugh all the way home.
05:11:39;18 05:11:43;10 [00:00:03:22] WCWW2-075
:Q- Not only boot camp, but through the tear gas chamber.:
05:11:43;10 05:12:24;25 [00:00:41:13] WCWW2-075
:Learning general orders:
Oh yes, we went through the tear gas chamber, yeah. We did that. I think the only thing I was deathly afraid of was that we had to learn general orders. I think there were ten general orders that you had to learn down to the every comma and period, and my biggest fear was that I would get guard duty and somebody would come up to me and say, "Give me order number 7," and I would be tongue tied. Thank goodness that never happened. I did have guard duty, but nobody ever asked me the general orders. But we would sit and write them down on a piece of paper. So-and-so comma so-and-so period, you know, until you got it down to the last dot, every dot.
05:12:24;25 05:12:57;11 [00:00:32:16] WCWW2-075
:Q- Are they still there?:
:Howards- We still have general... I don't even remember them anymore.:
:Q- No but I mean, in your mind...:
:Howards- No, I think the only one I can remember is "I shall walk my post in a military manner." That's the only thing I remember. I think that's pretty good after 60 years. (Laughs):
:Q- I think you're still walking your post in a military manner..... You showed me how much money you made...:
:Howards- What did I say? Fifty dollars?:
:Q- When he asks you a question, talk to me like I asked it.:
05:12:57;11 05:13:19;18 [00:00:22:05] WCWW2-075
:Earnings for soldiers:
I was looking at the folder there, and I can't remember, I think that a private made $50.00 a month. And a corporal, I think they got up to $66.00 a month. That's besides sending-- I also sent an allotment home, you know, and bought a war bond. But that's what we earned then. That was a lot of money.
05:13:19;18 05:13:21;06 [00:00:01:18] WCWW2-075
:Q- The war bonds were pretty important.:
05:13:21;06 05:14:06;19 [00:00:45:11] WCWW2-075
:War bonds:
Yeah. You know, during the war, at the movies, they used to show double features, and during intermission, the lights would go up and they would pass canisters down the rows like you do in church for offering. And people would put their change in for the war effort, and that's what they did. In school they sold stamps. You would buy stamps for a quarter till you filled up this book enough to buy a war bond. I think the war bonds were $12.50 and worth $25.00 in ten years. But that's what we did. I sent money home for war bonds. That was my marriage money. I didn't have a penny.
05:14:06;19 05:14:11;00 [00:00:04:11] WCWW2-075
:Q- What did your mother ultimately think?:
05:14:11;00 05:15:14;00 [00:01:02:28] WCWW2-075
:Mother's feelings:
What did my mother think? My mother was not very happy. One, it meant a big reduction in household income. And two, I was supposed to be the good daughter who did what she was told to do without question, you know, "This is the order of things, and this is what you do." My other cousins had married their fiancees before they went off to war, and here I was going away. My grandmother said a prayer for me because now I was 20 and I wasn't even spoken for, so I was on the way to be an old maid, and probably come back a wanton woman, you know, being in a camp with all these men. No, my mother was not happy, but there wasn't anything she could do once I turned 20. That was the magic age. I said, "I'm going, period." Yeah, it took a lot of courage on my part to leave home. My sister was very happy because now she got my bedroom and all my clothes.
05:15:14;00 05:15:19;11 [00:00:05:11] WCWW2-075
:Q- Did your mother ever come around?:
05:15:19;11 05:16:25;10 [00:01:05:27] WCWW2-075
:Mother's feelings, cont.:
She was never very happy with my going into the Marine Corps. I came home on furlough one time to assure her that I didn't "have" to marry. There was a lot of dissention in the family about my being in the Mar... it was alright for my brother to enlist, but not for me to leave home. This is not what a good daughter does. So it took a long time. But like I said, a lot of the public was not accepting women in service. It's alright for them to go work in the factory, that was alright, but not to leave home and go into the service. But it's different today. No, I admire the women today. They have so many opportunities open to them. And they can have families. They can have... they can raise |
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| Description Type: |
Log
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| Format Aspect Ratio: |
4:3
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| Format Generations: |
Moving Image/Original Footage
|
| FormatLocation: |
Media Library |
| Duration: |
00:14:40;00 |
| Format Colors: |
Color
|
| Genre: |
Interview
|
| Genre Authority Used: |
PBS PODS
|
| Language: |
eng
|
| Date Of Record Release: |
2009-11-20 12:37:33 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Record Checked: |
2009-11-20 |
| Format Tracks: |
track 2: right mono
track 1: left mono
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| Format Media Type: |
Moving Image
|
| Alternative Modes: |
No Captions
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| Subject Authority Used: |
International Press Telecommunications Council |
|
Annotation:
Cataloged as part of the American Archive Pilot Program |
|
| FormatIdentifierSource: |
Wisconsin Public Television |
| Date of Record Creation: |
2009-11-20 12:32:00 (W3C-DTF) |
| Identifier: |
http://wptmedialibrary.wisc.edu//SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=572 |
| Date Last Modified: |
2009-11-20 12:39:04 (W3C-DTF) |
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