O\-\~.0~) \J ';;'" I , .-" ,I I I I Back in the Day

I Project I Oral histories collected I by seventh grade history Historystudents from Valley View Middle SchoolSociety I Oral 1999 I Past Historical I The I Cathryn C. Weller: teacher From I Minnesota I Voices ( I I I [ I I I I I I Project I I History Society I Oral , I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I

I All rights reserved. Copyrig ht 1999 I I r I I Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 Looking Back at the 20th Century Beth Stelson I 5 A Small Town General Store in the Early 1900s Joey Knelman 7 The Early Life of Jay Campbell Brooks Tricia Brooks I 11 The 1920s: What It Was Like Matt Boylan 23 The Great Depression through a Child's Eyes Jessica Caldwell 26 The Great Depression Andrew Breece I 29 To the Past Charles Chapman 31 The Depression Tony Gordon I 33 The Great Depression: 1929-early 40s Laura Demarest 41 My Grandma Addie NicoleProject Freeman 44 Great Depression and War Time Steven Holte I 45 Minnesota Life during the Great Depression BeccaLasky 47 The Great Depression Laura Levesque I 49 A Child during the Depression: Leon Price HistorySam Liebo 50 My Life in the Depression and World War IT SocietyRachael Penn 52 Great Depression Memories Caroline Wikman I 55 Leaving Germany in 1934 Oral Karee Shapiro 57 The Life of an Emigrated Lady from Russia RishiPuram I 62 Escape from Latvia Past Bill Kelly 65 Pearl Harbor Nate Wohl 66 My Grandpa Jack: WWIT, U.S.Historical Navy Jamie Hunt I 69 Dentistry and LifeThe in World War IT Bryan Highhill 72 My Grandpa, Who Worked on Base during wwn Jonathan Hatch I 75 One Man's Experience in the Navy during wwn LauraHamm 78 An EverydayFrom Man's War Experience Mariah Grovak 82 The Home Front in Char's Eyes Laura Field I 85 World WarMinnesota IT Chesney Engquist 88 Nazis in Norway Kelsey Deutsch I Voices89 Life in the Air Force during wwn Angela Kopp 91 World War IT: A Marine's Memories Ian Berg 95 Life in the U.S. Navy Katie Bennett I 97 Life in the Navy Justin Koester 100 Rationing during WW2 Mike Bamett I 102 My Grandpa during WWII Brett Nelson 103 World War IT Annie Meyer 105 World War IT Joe Bajda I 108 Punishment during wwn SamLiebo 110 Life during WWII Scott Leistiko I r I

112 Entertaining the Wounded of wwn John Lydon I 122 My Grandpa in World War Two ZackOlsen 124 Flying a B-17 Bomber in World War IT Merril Putnam I 127 A Jewish Soldier in World War IT Sam Tilsner 129 Life in the 40s and 50s Stacey Schumeister 132 World War IT and the Korean War Brad Liebennan I 134 Korean War Brennan Wand 137 Korean War: The Life of a Marine Brent Bohlig I 140 Richard Ash, and FBI Agent Laura Hutchison 149 Korean War Brianna Dreyer I 151 Operation Pipeline Jeff Kerzner 155 How My Parents Met Paula ProjectPiazza 158 The Wheaton School: 1952-1958 Kristen Blomme I 161 Country Boy in the Early Fifties Alicia Atwater 163 Changes in the Field of Medicine: 1953 to 1995 Will Amundson 167 Nancy's Childhood HistoryJenny Braun I 170 Memories of Okinawa in the 1960s Ellen Christiansen 172 Life in the 60s SocietyCarol Comp I 174 Vacations.and Schools during the 1960sOral Molly Hasbargen 176 . My Father and the Vietnam War Trung Nguyen 178 Vietnam: Training and Experiences Patty Haw I 180 Growing Up during the VietnamPast War Peter Frey 183 Growing Up during the VietnamHistorical War Sarah Frey I 185 Vietnam War The Mark Garretson 187 Vietnam WaI-High School through College Kristi Gerst 191 Vietnam War: The Navy Matthew Fishman I 194 Vietnam Eric Ohman 195 Peace FromCorps during the Vietnam War Mike Etten I 197 Vietnam Minnesota Jon Dosdall 199 Military Intelligence during the Vietnam War Kent Bigham 201 Wayne Bach: Experiences in Vietnam Catherine Bach I Voices203 Ideas from Home on Vietnam Sean Hunter-Siegert 205 Growing Up with Vietnam Andy Bryan I 207 The Draft and Education during the Vietnam Years Jane Anderson 210 Captain Curtis R. Bergey: Naval Dentist Bill Bergey 214 Vietnam Patty Peters I 216 Fighting in the Vietnam War Lizzie Peyton 218 Vietnam: Being Drafted into the US Anned Forces Andrew Prazich I 221 A College Student's Perspective on America's Involvement in Vietnam Ben Ransom [ r I

224 How My Mom and Dad Met Jon Snover I 225 Child in Communism Brian Reese 227 1950s and 1960s: The Drive-In Movie Mike Homolka I 229 Growing Up with the Indians Robbie Leer 232 The 1960s Jessica Nelson 235 The 60s: Attending a Catholic Girls' School Ben Macken I 237 FannBoy John Michaletz 240 The 60s Steve Dondlinger I 243 President Kennedy's Assassination in the Life ofaChild Christine Hirsch 245 Interview with Tim Crimmins on the JFK I Assassination Ryan CrimminsProject 247 The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Tucker Weisman I 249 November 22, 1963: JFK Assassination Tricia Holden 252 Martin Luther King Junior: His Assassination Emma Stensvaag 254 Jean Thomson: Surviving a Tornado Britta Peterson I 257 The Tornado of 1965 HistoryJohn Evans 260 Studying in Austria SocietyDan Strong I 265 Tornado: Cottagewood., Minnesota,Oral 1969 Kevin Day 269 Music in the 1960s and 1970s Jack Roos 271 Growing Up in the 60s and 70s Karyn Zwickey I 273 1970 Earthquake in Peru Past Valida Prentice 275 Making Music Historical Matt Peterson I 277 Fashion in the 60s and 70s Anders Olson 278 Popular Bands inThe the 1970s with My Mom Matt Milbrandt 279 What Life Was Like as a Teenager in the 70s Kristen Maldeis I 280 How My Best Friend Died Cori Blauer 282 GrowingFrom Up in the 1970s Michael Mott I 284 High School in the 1970s Bethany Berg 286 An Art TeacherMinnesota in the 70s Jayne Christiansen 288 Airline Flight Attendant BenMerri1l I Voices290 The Flood of 1987 Katie Braun 292 How My Dad Met My Mom Matthew Kleiber I 293 Art School Matt Fossum 295 Visiting Jerusalem Michelle Frederick 297 Memories of the 1997 Red River Flood in I Grand Forks, ND Margie Guthrie 300 Designing Dream Works Max Halverson 302 The Tornado of St. Peter Krista Danielson I 305 Up Close with My Dad: An Owner of a VW Satyam Kalan I [ I I Alphabetical Listing by Student 163 Amundson, Will Changes in the Field of Medicine:1953-1995 207 Anderson, Jane Draft and Education during the Vietnam Years I 161 Atwater, Alicia Country Boy in the Early Fifties 201 Bach, Catherine Wayne Bach: Experiences in Vietnam I 105 Bajda, Joe Wor1dWarli 100 Barnett, Mike Rationing during WW2 95 Bennett, Katie life in the U.S. Navy: WWII I 284 Berg, Bethany High School in the 1970s 91 Berg, Ian World War II: A Marine's Memories I 210 Bergey, Bill Captain Curtis R. Bergey: Naval Dentist 199 Bigham, Kent Military Intelligence: Vietnam Project 280 Blauer, Cori How My Best Friend Died I 158 Biomme, Kristen The Wheaton School: 1952-1958 137 Bohlig, Brent Korean War: The life of a Marine I 11 Boylan, Matt The 1920s: What It WasHistory Like 167 Braun, Jenny Nancy's Childhood Society 290 Braun, Katie The Flood of Oral1987 I 26 Breece, Andrew The Great Depression 7 Brooks, Tricia The Early Life of Jay Campbell Brooks I 205 Bryan, Andy GrowingPast Up with Vietnam 23 Caldwell, Jessica The Great Depression through a Child's Eyes 29 Chapman, Charles To the Past:Historical Great Depression I 170 Christiansen, EllenThe Memories of Okinawa in the 1960s 286 Christiansen, Jayne An Art Teacher in the 70s I 172 Comp, Carol life in the 60s 245 Crimmins,From Ryan Interview with Tim Crimmins on the JFK Assassination 302 Danielson, Krista The Tornado of St. Peter I 265 Day, Kevin MinnesotaTornado: Cottagewood, Minnesota, 1969 33 Demarest, laura The Great Depression: 1929-early 40s I Voices88 Deutsch, Kelsey Nazis in Norway 240 Dondlinger, Steve The 60s 197 Dosdall, Jon Vietnam I 149 Dreyer, Brianna Korean War 85 EngqUist, Chesney WMI I 195 Etten, Mike Peace Corps during the Vietnam War 257 Evans,John The Tornado of 1965 82 Field, Laura The Home Front in Char's Eyes I 191 Fishman, Matthew Vietnam War: The Navy 293 Fossum, Matt Art School I I I

295 Frederick, Michelle Visiting Israel I 41 Freeman, Nicole My Grandma Addie 180 Frey, Peter Growing Up during the Vietnam War I 183 Frey, Sarah Growing Up during the Vietnam War 185 Garretson, Mark Vietnam War 187 Gerst, Kristi Vietnam War-High School through College I 31 Gordon, Tony The Depression 78 Grovak, Mariah An Everyday Man's War Experience I 297 Guthrie, Margie 1997 Red River Flood in Grand Forks, NO 300 Halverson, Max Designing Dream Works 75 Hamm, Laura One Man's Experience in the Navy during World War II I 174 Hasbargan, Molly Vacations and Schools during the 1960sProject 72 Hatch, Jonathan My Grandpa, Who Worked on Base during WWII I 178 Haw, Patty Vietnam: Training and Experiences 69 Highhill, Bryan Dentistry and life in World War II 243 Hirsch, Christine President Kennedy's AssassinationHistory in the Life of a Child I 249 Holden, Tricia November 22, 1963: JFK Assassination 44 Holte, Steven Great Depression and War TimeSociety 227 Homolka, Mike 1950s and 1960s:Oral The Drive-In Movie I 66 Hunt, Jamie My Grandpa Jack 203 Hunter-Siegert, Sean Ideas from Home on Vietnam I 140 Hutchison, Laura RichardPast Ash, an FBI Agent: 1948-1977 305 Kalan, Satyam Up Close Historicalwith My Dad: An Owner of a VW Beetle62 62 Kelly, Bill Escape from Latvia I 151 Kerzner, Jeff TheOperation Pipeline 292 Kleiber, Matt How My Dad Met My Mom I 97 Koester, Justin Life in the Navy 89 Kopp, FromAngela Life in the Air Force during WWII 5 Knelman, Joey Living with a Small Town General Store in the Early 1900s I 45 Lasky, BeccaMinnesota Minnesota Life during the Great Depression 229 Leer, Robbie Growing Up with the Indians I Voices110 Leistiko, Scott Life during Work:! War II 47 Levesque, Laura The Great Depression 132 Lieberman, Brad WWII and the Korean War I 49 Liebo, Sam A Childhood during the Depression 108 Liebo, Sam Punishment during WWII I 112 Lydon, John Entertaining the Wounded of WWII 235 Macken, Ben The 60s: Attending a Catholic Girls' School 279 Maldeis, Kristen What Life Was Like as a Teenager in the 70s I 288 Merrill, Ben Airline Flight Attendant I r I

103 Meyer, Annie World War II I 237 Michaletz, John Farm Boy 278 Milbrandt, Matt Popular Bands in the 1970s I 282 Mott, Michael Growing Up in the 1970s 102 Nelson, Brett My Grandpa during World War II 232 Nelson, Jessica The 1960s I 176 Nguyen, Trung My Father and the Vietnam War 194 Ohman, Eric Vietnam I 122 Olsen, Zach My Grandpa in World War 2 277 Olson, Anders Fashion in 60s and 70s 50 Penn, Rachael My Life in the Depression and World War II I 214 Peters, Patty Vietnam Project 254 Peterson, Britta Jean Thomson: Surviving a Tornado I 275 Peterson, Matt Making Music 216 Peyton, Lizzie Fighting in the Vietnam War 155 Piazza, Paula How My Parents Met History I 218 Prazich, Andrew Vietnam: Being Drafted into the U.S. Armed Forces 273 Prentice, Valida 1970 Earthquake in Peru Society 57 Puram, Rishi Life of an EmigratedOral Lady from Russia (1938-1960) I 124 - Putnam, Merril Flying a B-17 Bomber in World War II 221 Ransom, Ben A College Student's Perspective on America's I InvolvementPast in Vietnam 225 Reese, Brian Child in CommunismHistorical 269 Roos, Jack Music in the 1960s and the 1970s I 129 Schumeister, StaceyThe Life in the 40s and 50s 55 Shapiro, Karee Leaving Germany in 1934 I 224 Snover, Jon How My Mom and Dad Met 3 Stelson,From Beth Looking Back at the 20th Century: A Great-grandma's MinnesotaLife I 252 Stensvaag, Emma Martin Luther King Junior: His Assassination 260 Strong, Dan Studying in Austria I Voices127 Tilsner, Sam A Jewish Soldier in WWII 134 Wand, Brennan Korean War 247 Weisman, Tucker The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy I 52 Wikman, Caroline Great Depression Memories 65 Wohl, Nate Pearl Harbor I 271 Zwickey, Karyn Growing Up in the 60s and 70s I I I l I Introduction History for this year's seventh grade students includes anything that happened I before the Gulf War. Back in the Day rings true, capturing the feelings, and sometimes the words, associated with the students' interviews. I As a culminating activity for seventh grade American history, students interview someone older than themselves for at least twenty minutes and transcribe or I summarize what was said. Some students go in search of cultural history. Others track down war stories. I This activity meets many goals. Students become actively involved Projectas historians. They apply the history they have learned to ask appropriate probing questions and I to understand the significance of what they are told. The activity sparks discussion and forges connections between the generations. All involved are honored to create I something of permanence. History Participation in this book is not a requirement of the course.Society The entries included I are those where the student, the person interviewed,Oral and the student's parents agreed. to share their work with others.

I Enjoy the tales of life, back in thePast day ... Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I I I

I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past ,[ Historical The I From E Minnesota I Voices I I I I r I [ Beth Stelson I Looking back at the 20th century: A Great-grandma's life I My great-grandma, Etta Barzelay, was born in Russia. She was born in the part of I Russia that was called White Russia but is now Poland. She was born in 1898 in a little hut with one room, dirt floors, and only the living essentials -- no luxuries. Her family was I Jewish which made it even harder. The Russian Czar wanted the Jewish peopleProject to leave the country. He tried to force the Jews out of their villages with the pogroms. The pogrom's I techniques were much like the KIu Klux Klan's only promoted by the government. Soldiers robbed, killed and burned villages. The Jewish people in the village weren't History I allowed to be in politics, become doctors, teachers, or any other professions in Russian society. In fact, the Jewish people often weren't allowed to leave Societytheir own villages for I work. But, the Jews would discriminate among theirOral own people as well. Only boys were allowed to go to Hebrew school and study with the Rabbi. The girls weren't allowed to go I to school at all. Past My great-grandma remembers when theHistorical pogroms would come. She would hide in I the basement, which was more likeThe a hole in the ground, waiting for the riders to pass, I scared to death. When Etta BarzelayFrom was six years old, she and her immediate family got the opportunity to leave Russia and head for America. She remembers her cousin saying how Minnesota I lucky Etta was to be going instead of staying. Etta didn't feel lucky though. Her mother I and father,Voices her eldest sister Fanny, her younger sister Rose, and Etta had to say good bye to all of their relatives knowing that they would never see them again. Etta Barzelay some I how knew that her entire family died in Russia either of starvation or because of the pogroms. I My great-grandma and her family traveled by ox cart taking few of their already few possessions and traveled to Germany. From there they caught a train to Holland. They I then got on a boat for a three week trip to Boston where they settled. My great-grandma

I 3 r l

came to America knowing no English only Yiddish. E Three years after they sailed to America her mother died, as Etta used to put it, of a I "broken heart." Her mother had never wanted to leave Russia even though they were in great danger. She hadn't wanted to leave all of her family behind, especially her mother. I Etta's father later remarried. She never like her new step-mom. My great-grandma dropped out of the sixth grade at age eleven. She got a job at a I lace factory where her sister Fanny already worked. There she experienced the harsh effects of child labor. She had to work long hours in a large dust filled room which was I loud and dimly lit. She had to work large machines that were very dangerous. When my great-grandma was eighteen she married Henry who workedProject in a factory I rolling cigars. Together they had two sons, Bert and Ralph. They also adopted Ross, my grandpa, who was Etta's sister Rose's son. Rose had died in childbirth. I Then the Great Depression came. The poor family becameHistory even poorer. Her sister Fanny and her husband moved in with Etta and Henry which madeSociety seven people living in a I one-room apartment. My great-grandma said she remembersOral Henry coming home with all sorts of materials. All seven of them would then sit around the table making toys, tools, I and anything else they could sell. They wouldPast each make on part of an object and pass it on like a miniature assembly line. Historical I Soon WWII broke out andThe the United States became apart of it. All three of Etta's sons were called to serve. Bert who served in '41 became a Lieutenant. Ross and Ralph I both joined in '42. Ross became a Captain and fought at the Battle of Bulge and also From fought all the way into Germany. Ralph was a private. All three of them fought in Europe I and all three of them cameMinnesota back alive. Only my grandpa was injured, deaf now in one ear. My great-grandma, Etta Barzelay, was born in a little hut in Russia at the tum of the I century.Voices During her almost century-long lifetime, she saw two world wars, a depression, ( and a man land on the moon. She saw America progress into a nation of technology where the people fill their lives with confusing electronics to make life supposedly easier. She I saw a century of change and kept up with it all. I I I [

E Living with a Small Town General Store in the

I Early 1900s I I My dad moved from Russia to one little town, Prince Albert, I think it was. And then he moved to Hudson Bay Junction, Saskatchewan. He left Russia I to get out of the war that the Bolsheviks were fighting. In RussiaProject when they were I 21 they had to go into the army. The Bolsheviks had killed my grandfather. My father didn't want to join the army, he wanted to come to America He came into

I New York with a friend in 1908, but I guess theyHistory must have parted in Prince Society •& Albert, Canada. Then he went to New YorkOral and met my mother; their marriage was arranged. My mother knew my father for 10 days, they wanted to get

I married, and they were married. PastMy mother came to America when she was 12, Historical I she came through Ellis Island,The they all did. They were married in New York and I then moved to Hudson Bay Junction. They went back to New York to their family to haveFrom me and then returned to Hudson Bay Junction I In HudsonMinnesota Bay Junction my dad bought two lots, one was for the house and one was for the store. We had a general store there. It had everything in it, Voices I and my mom would run it while my father was gone. My father would go out for I furs. The Indians would trap furs and then he would buy them, he ended up in I Winnipeg in the fur business. They had everything in the general store. They had groceries and candy; the candies were all in barrels. They would scoop the candy I out with shovels, and weigh it with the weights. I was reprimanded because I 'I 5 I I I would go take a little candy, and you have to remember I was only six. There was railroad service three times a week. The train would come and they would bring ',, I stuff in. Also, the Indians would come to our house in the middle of the night, I when the store was closed, and start knocking on the door. They wanted vanilla. It was illegal to sell it to them. It was like a liqueur, they would get drunk on it (it

I had alcohol in it.) They knew what it was. But I was just a baby I probably slept

through it; they weren't scary or bad. The Indians bought tobacco and they rolled I Project I the little papers into cigarettes. There was everything in the store.

I Ruth Knelman History Interviewed by Joey KnelmanSociety I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From E Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Tricia Brooks E Interviewed: Jay Brooks I The Early Life ofJay Campbell Brooks I My name is Jay Campbell Brooks. I was born in Port Arthur, Ontario on September 21, 1912. I lived there for 2 years. Then my family moved to

I Minneapolis for my father's business. I lived there for 5 years until my parents

divorced. When I was 7, I moved back to Canada to Bruce Mines, Ontario. I Project I When I was 8, I moved to Toronto. I lived in Canada while my parents figured out their divorce. Then, when I was 10 years old, I moved back to Minnesota to I live with my mother and stepfather. History I went to college from 1932-1936 at the UniversitySociety of Minnesota. My high I Oral school biology teacher had a strong influence on me to go to college. I also went I because in the town I lived a lotPast of my associates and friends went to college. When I was in college I was part of theHistorical ROTC which is the Reserved Officer I The Training Course. It paid my tuition and also paid me extra money during college.

I I had to go to summer camps for 6 weeks in order to be in the ROTC. I was often From ridiculed for being in the ROTC because at that time America was very antiwar. I Minnesota During college I also took many jobs. I worked at a tearoom called Mrs.

I VoicesSteward's tearoom. I lived there for $10 a month for my last 3 years of college. I I had a terrible time trying to decide on my major. Half way through my senior year I still couldn't decide whether to major in business or education (as a

I physical education teacher). I decided to major in business and become an I accountant, which turned out to be a really good choice. I I 7 I I I became a junior public accountant and auditor. I worked as an auditor for 3 months and I was fired because it was a too tedious job for me. After that

I job I worked at the Baker Garage as a credit manager. There I kept the books and I found out who owed money and charged them rent. It was an easy job and paid I good money. I worked there 3 to 4 months until 1937. I found a better job selling calculators for a company called Monroe. I traveled around selling calculators for

3 years as a junior salesman. I Project I That's when I met my first wife Sara at a country dance. I married Sara in 1939. She was a head nurse at St. Paul Ramsey hospital. At that time I didn't

I make much money so in 1940 I enlisted as an officer.History For a year I was second lieutenant and then I was promoted to a first lieutenant. SocietyAfter I finished my I Oral training I was very lucky I had chosen to be an accountant because they didn't I send me overseas. Past I was sent to work in Ft. SnellingHistorical for 3 years as a house sales officer and I The worked in the commissary and bought and distributed supplies and food for the

I war. At that time I noticed that some of my classmates who had made fun of my From . ROTC status back at college were now drafted and were nice to me because they E Minnesota were drafted and wanted good jobs. My wife and lived at Ft. Snelling.

E, VoicesIn 1943, when I became a Captain I was sent to Trinidad, Colorado to E work as the quartermaster in the German prisoner of war camp. I was the first officer to arrive there and was the only officer there for a while. The camp had

I 175 buildings and there were no prisoners there the whole time I was there. When I I arrived there were 40 boxcars full of supplies and it was my job to sort them out. I I I I They gave me a list of civilians from the town to hire. They all wanted jobs so they gave me gifts and presents to try to make me hire them. I hired civilians and

I we got supplies from the boxcars unloaded and put away. Finally they sent me 12 I soldiers and 3 officers to help set up the camp. I left 3 months later and after I left they got prisoners and a new quartermaster who wasn't very smart. He wasn't

I very good and the camp turned out like the TV show "Hogan's Heroes", a popular

TV sitcom in the 60' s. I Project I left there and went to a 6 week camp in Virginia. The camp was for field

I officers and was supposed to promote them a rank. Many of the students in the I camp thought they were big shots though and "squirrelHistory shot" to their teachers (example: "you don't know what you're talking about").Society It got so bad that the I Oral general of the camp told the students that if they didn't change there would be no I promotions for everyone. TheyPast stayed the same and no one was promoted. We were all assigned bad assignments. I Historicalwas given a troop of 200 slack off soldiers I The who were really lazy. The troop was in Camp Lee, Virginia. Luckily I didn't

I have to stay there that long because I got an ulcer, someone relieved me, and I From was sent to the hospital. I Minnesota After that experience in 1943, I was put in a pool, which is a group of

I Voicesunattached officers. I was sent to recruit women to be WACS. Finally I was sent I overseas to Glasgow, Scotland, in a pool administration and they looked at my records. They realized I was a good accountant and made me an inspector Post

I Exchange auditor who inspected stores. This was a good job that let me do I basically whatever I wanted because I didn't have a boss. I just had to tum in my

I 9 I I E reports to my senior officer. This job gave me a travel warrant on the train and a jeep. I was welcomed everywhere because of my rank: of Captain.

I On D-Day I investigated a hospital in Swansee, South Wales. They gave I me a suite looking out the window on all the boats getting ready and I thought "My God, how lucky I am." I got to stay in this nice place while all those soldiers

I were getting ready to fight and could die easily. I stayed in that job for a while

and then they sent me to Belgium. I worked there keeping track of ship supplies I Project and what was in the ship and what came out and was used for the war effort.

I There was a big difference between what was sent in the boat and what came out. I I sent out the information when there was a discrepancy,History and I filed the information when there wasn't a discrepancy. Society I Oral In Belgium, I was promoted a rank: and I became a Major. I worked in I Belgium for 4 months until the warPast in Europe ended and I went back to the USA where I saw my second child, Colin, forHistorical the first time. I could have been sent to I The the Pacific to work there, but I wasn't because I had enlisted early and had served

I many years in the army. Therefore, I was successful in bugging my superior From officers for a discharge. I Minnesota I Voices I I I I 10 I I

I Matt Boylan Period 3

I The 1920's, What It Was Like. I In the 1920's my grandpa, John Boylan, was just a young kid and lived on a farm in I Blue Earth County. I asked him these questions and asked him to tell was me what he knew. He was born in 1918. I Project In the 1920's, what was the style of clothing for boys and girls in the winter and I summer months? History I Well, during the summer months some of the boys would wear short pants, which was the pants down to the knees. Sometimes those pants,Society when they got to the knees I they'd have a little device on them that youOral could buckle up around your leg, above your knee, and then they'd kind of flounce over your knee and they were called I knickers. And in the winter, why Pastyou would usually wear long pants. And, overshoes, it got very cold and you'd have to walkHistorical through snow. Sometimes on a cold day I you'd wear two pants. AndThe also in the winter you'd wear long underwear which I means underwear that had legs going down to your ankles and the sleeves came down to your wrists.From And you needed that because out in the cold like that you needed it to E keep warm. And the girls, all I can tell you about them is I know they were always covered up. I neverMinnesota followed their styles, hardly at all. I Voices What was your favorite thing to do on the weekend when you didn't have E school? I Dh, one of the nicest things I could do on the weekend is, that I could wander around the place on which I lived. And that was a small farm on which the total acreage was I only 90 acres. But that was quite a big patch of ground for a kid to be able to walk around and see the gullies and see the streams and all that stuff. That was very nice. I I II I

I And then I could go and visit my neighbor boy whose was my friend. And he would come and visit me at times. And both of those farms, his farm and where I lived too, I they had hills and little streams down at the bottom of a valley. And to give you an idea of how big that was; if you think of a lot you live on today, a good lot is about a I fourth of an acre. And so with 40 acres, you'd have about 160 times as much land as you have on a house lot today. I What subjects did you have at school? I Project Well, in school we had standard subjects, like mathematics, and a kind of a I smattering of history, and some English. And they'd have religion, spelling, and those were the things you'd get busy with. And at that school there, it was a parochial I school where the teachers were nuns, and believe it Historyor not, the nun would have like 30 of 50 kids in one classroom and she could end up controllingSociety them very well. I Oral Was education, back then as important as it is now? I Past I don't think education was important inHistorical the 1920's. Certainly not as important as it is I now in the 1990's. But itThe was still a thing that was considered quite important because a lot of kids never finished the 8th grade, and still fewer finished high school, and very I few went to college at all. But nowadays it's not that way. A lot of kids finish From college and some finish training schools for certain trades. I Minnesota Did you get lots of homework? I Voices

y ~ there was some homework and I remember what a problem I had because we I had to memorize the multiplication tables. That's from 2 up through the 12's. Nowadays you got a computer; you don't need to even bother memorizing them. You I hit the computer buttons and get your answer. Well, that was quite ajob. And there was so many kids like say we have 40 kids, 50 kids in a class. The teacher couldn't I hear all of us recite them so she'd appoint some of us to hear the other people. Like I I \1. I

I you'd say to your friend "say well, let's go up and you recite the 12 tables of the 2's, and tables of the 3's, and tables of the 4's to me" and then you'd recite them back to I him. And so you went through that and you had a fairly good grasp of the tables 2 through 12. I What subjects did you mostly have homework in? I Well, I remember math, very well. I Project I Did you have anything else, like science? Yeah, there was a little bit of science when I was in 8th grade because we had to make I a little display case ofthe various seeds that we usedHistory on a farm. And we took a board and bored holes in that and put the seeds in there and namedSociety them and put a piece of I glass over everything so we could look at itOral and see what the seeds looked like.

I What was the classroom like? WhatPast did it look like? What was in there? Historical I Well, your seats that youThe sat on in the lower grades: like there would be seats wide I enough for 2 kids to sit on. There would be 2 kids sitting on benches, and in front of them there wouldFrom be a desk to write on, and that desk in front of it as part of the desk would be the seat for the kids in front, and they had their series of desks from the I beginning to the back.Minnesota And they were screwed right into the floor and didn't move around at all. And that way you could have a whole bunch of kids going to crowd into I aVoices not too deep of space. [ Did most people go to private or public schools?

I Most ofthe people went to public schools, because public schools then as they are now, is what most of the people went to because they were funded by taxation. And I I happened to go to a parochial school The church had to support that and you had to I I \3 I

I contribute by paying a kind oftuition there to help the school continue. But even now the private schools are having a hard time keeping going because there are so many I standards they have to meet. The public schools also have difficulties but they have the tax base to support their costs. I As a kid, what was the biggest thing to go do, was it like the fair or the zoo? I Well, they had a small zoo in the town I lived in. People would go down there and I see ... .! think there was probably like 7,8, 9, or 10 cages of variousProject wild animals. You could look in there at them. But the big thing I liked to go to was called a fair, like a I county fair. You'd go down there and see all kinds ofproducts raised on the farms around that town. You'd go and see the animals. The animals would include milk I cows, horses, and mules, sometimes goats and chickens.History All those things that were raised on farms. And then they'd have some person who Societyunderstood those various I animals, try and judge the best. And the personOral who would have, according to the judges, the best animals in that line would get a prize 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 dollars. I Whatever it was going to be. Past Historical I Were there like rides? The

I Oh yeah, they would have a carnival come in as part of the fair. You could get merry­ From go-round rides. You could get Ferris Wheel rides. And then there were other rides E like, that kind of takeMinnesota you around in a circle, kind of up and down. I don't know what they were called, but they were cheap. The rides would cost you about ten cents a ride I Voicesfor maybe 5 minutes. And that was all there was to it.

I Was there popcorn, cotton candy?

I Oh yeah, there was popcorn and cotton candy. That stuff was available. A lot of I churches would provide restaurants so you could go and eat. I I \1.\ I I What was the best thing to go do at the fair?

I I don't know.

I What was your personal favorite?

I Nice things that I liked to do, is they had a grandstand there. And they had races and everything that you could pay to get into at the grandstand. I never paid to go to the I grandstand. What you would do is, you would stand out on the edgeProject ofthe track, like away from the grandstand, and watch the cars go by there that were racing one I against the other or you could watch horses go by. Sometimes they would have stage shows that would be people dancing and singing in front of the grandstand. But if you I kind of go under the grandstand, it would be like goingHistory under a bunch of steps, and look through some cracks in the boards. If you didn't mindSociety just squatting down there, I or sitting on something uncomfortable there,Oral you could look through a crack in the board and see a stage show, women singing, people dancing, comics trying to say I something funny. And you didn'tPast even pay for it. But it wasn't the highest class way to go. Historical I The [ Were there many airports?

In the town I livedFrom in there was one airport. ( Minnesota Were planes a big thing them? E Voices Plans were really a novelty. Before they had the airport and there were planes flying I around they would look for a farmer's field and they'd try and land on that if they were running out of gas or something. Like I had a friend whose mother told him I about when he was so small and he couldn't remember it too well. The pilot landed on a hayfield. Then he had to get gas and when he took off he was going to fly over I the telephone lines but the electric lines were higher so he wanted to fly over the I I \5 I

I telephone lines and under the electric wires. So he tried to do that and he ended up crashing. I don't think he was killed. His mother never said he was killed. But another I thing we would fmd, once in a while some fellow would be flying a plane, and they'd run out of gas or something bad would happen. And they'd crash land. I remember I we went out one time and we saw a plane kind of circling. We saw it coming down. We drove out into the field. The plane had crashed there with two to three men in it. I I think they were all dead. So they just came and took them all off to the morgue. I remember one interesting thing. I saw one undertaker, he was walking around and he I had his hand behind himself. I wondered why he had his hand behindProject himself, when all at once I noticed when he turned, that when the plane fell down and crashed, one I of the men somehow had his foot severed from his body. And this guy went over and picked up the foot with the shoe on it and brought it along. He put it into the hearse I and it took him away. History Society I So you lived on a farm, right? Oral

I Yeah. Past Historical I Did you go into town often?The Were there a lot of stores?

I Yes, there were a lot of smaller stores. In fact, there's a chain of stores that's somewhere inFrom the east that's still known as Atlantic and Pacific, A & P. And the I town, when I was aMinnesota kid, why that chain of stores had 3 stores in that little town. There [ was each fellow trying to make a living selling the same kind of groceries. And then fmallyVoices they died out entirely. There were private people who'd get started in a store somewhere and try to make a living. Sometimes they'd do quite well and get bigger. I Other times they'd work for awhile and then the store wouldn't be paying for itself I and they'd have to quick sell it out or give it away and get ajob somewhere. I Were there any malls? I I I

I No such thing as a mall as you know and I know today. That didn't exist. All they had was a main street in town. I When you went to the grocery store, how much did milk cost? I Milk, believe it or not, well, you know what it costs today, like you can pay about I $2.00 a gallon. And you break that up it's about. .. You can't get it for 25 cents a quart. A quart will cost you more today if you buy milk as a quart. You buy one-half I gallon of milk. It will cost you' over $1.00. And a quart of milk, it Projectwill cost you 20 cents or more. Believe it or not, at that time milk cost 5 cents a quart and 20 cents a I gallon. That was unpasteurized milk. Most of the milk at the store was pasteurized, but you could still buy it unpasteurized, which was straight from the cow. And they I didn't have so many safety guarantees about the cleanlinessHistory ofthe place where it was bottled. Society I Oral Do you think that tasted better or worse than what you drink now? I Past Well, of course right now I think what Historicalpeople are drinking, milk, is very good. But at I that time, before 1'd everThe tasted pasteurized milk I thought it was the best. Then I I began drinking pasteurized milk. And as I got older, I thought they did something to it. They'd changedFrom the taste a bit. But now I wouldn't want to go back to unpasteurized milk. I don't think you could buy it anywhere. Generally, to get the I unpasteurized milk,Minnesota you'd buy your own cow and do the milking yourself [ WereVoices there a lot of cars on Main Street or was it horse and buggy?

I No, there were a lot of cars, believe it or not, back then. But there were still horses. People would drive them with a team of horses hitched up to a 4 wheeled wagon like I you'd haul lumber in and so on. Some people would come in with a buggy, which is a I lighter means of conveyance, pulled by 1 or 2 horses. It could be pulled by one because it wasn't hard to pull. And they would tie them up. A lot of places in town I I \1 I

I would have what they would call posts to tie your horse to when you'd park them. Now, you park your car, you can forget about it. But when you stopped your horse I you darn well better tie them up or he'd start wandering around someplace. And the cars at that time were open cars. Very few cars were closed in then. In fact, you I would ride in a car where there was a canvas roof on it held up there by wood framework. And if you didn't like that, you could fold it back, kind oflike an I umbrella and tie it on the back seat. There'd be nothing on top of you and there was no side curtains. If it got rain, you'd pull that top back out and hook it on to the I windshield in front. Then you'd still have no side curtains but at least you had the Project root: The rain coming down on your head would stop a little bit. And later on in I winter you'd buy side curtains and put them on. They were like oil cloth, with a kind ofa plastic. I think they called it isinglass so you could see through it. But, if you'd I ride in that car, it was darn cold because there was noHistory heat coming into that car. Society I What kind of make were the cars? WereOral they Model T's?

I Yeah, wel~ if you stick to almostPast all the ... The Ford is still going. That was the dominant car back in that time. Ford hadHistorical a thing called a Model T, which was a I touring car and it had no Theside curtains. It did have a top, but you could fold that back, I if you didn't like it. And when you fold it up you could buy side curtains and put them on. But Fromit was a pretty drafty thing when everything was done the very best. It was not waterproof and it was not wind proof at all. But there were other cars, like I Chevrolet was comingMinnesota on then. Dodge was there. And there were cars that died out. There was a thing called a Juit, a thing called a Rio, a thing called a Graham. All I Voicesthose had existed at one time. And then they all died out because they went broke. I And one car ... oh and these are all water cooled motors. And one guy developed a car called a Franklin car which had an air cooled motor. And when the Army tested that E for possible purchases for a vehicle for the Army, they said that motor, that air cooled motor in the Franklin, was one of the best motors they ever tested. But what happened I to the car company was that it went broke. They didn't sell enough cars to stay in business during the time the Depression came on. I I I I Were they too expensive? I Well, compared to now they weren't expensive. But, at that time they were I considerably more expensive than a Ford. A Ford like a Model T. I think my dad I bought one for $250. And that would be back in the 1917. I And how much would a house cost? Project A house, back in those days, you'd get a house built for like ....$3,OOO. That was a I small house, not a big house, but big enough to live in.

I Were bicycles popular? History Society I Bicycles were available then, but they wereOral not the kinds of bicycles you have now, that you can shift. There was just one straight chain. I Past Were they popular? Historical I The I Yeah, they were popular. And if your dad had enough money, he'd buy a bicycle for you. And kids Fromin town usually had bicycles. I never had one. I tried to get my dad to buy one for me, but he had his excuses for not buying. So, I never had one. I Minnesota But a lot of kids did have them? I Voices I A lot of kids had them They could ride them to school too. I Were there any movies? I Yeah, there were movies. Believe it or not, I've gone to movies that are silent movies. You'd go in there and see the picture. You'd see the people or the actors moving their I I I

I lips and when they got done with that, the picture would fade away. And on the bottom would be the conversation. Then there would be a picture and it would fade I away again, with the conversation on the bottom. The whole dialogue was carried on that way. I think they called it subtitles or something. And also to keep the peoples' I interest in there they usually had a pianist. A fellow who'd play the piano down in front of the screen. And so when there'd be a race on like cars or horses you couldn't I hear a thing. But, this guy down on the piano would be pounding the piano real fast to give you the impression this is a real tough race, real fast, they're going so fast, so I fast, so fast. Project

I Well, what kind of movies were there? Were they like science fiction? Were they like drama? I History Well, I didn't go real often. A kid cost a dime and an adultSociety would be like a quarter or I 35 cents. And the only time I really got goingOral to movies, just a little bit, was when I had a cousin come there and stay with me one summer for a couple of weeks. Why he I was going to movies in his hometownPast out in South Dakota all the time. He got me going to a movie in the town I lived inHistorical and all I remember about it is there was I cowboys and horses and Thechasing each other and shooting guns. Couldn't hear the I guns, but you could see the smoke and all that stuff. I don't remember any real drama or any movie FromI can really remember. Except my dad always wanted me to go and see movies about Abraham Lincoln. So I went to see movies about Abraham Lincoln. I When they would Minnesotaplay Dixie you couldn't hear it unless the pianist played it.

I VoicesWhat was your daily schedule in the 1920's, like during a weekday, during the I school year? I On a weekday you'd have to get up early enough to eat a little breakfast and sometimes your dad might take you, or else you'd have to walk to school, which I would be a mile, mile and a half. You'd stay there from like 8:00 to 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Then you'd walk home. Then you would have chores to do. You had to I I I

I feed the cows and so on. You had to clean out the barn if it wasn't cleaned and feed the horses. You'd have maybe two horses and about 20 cows. And you'd have to go I and help milk. Then you'd come in and have supper. You might do a little supper and then go to bed. I What time would you have to get up, about? I Oh, let's see, I'd guess, I don't really know, certainly by 7:00. The school would start I at 8:00 or 8:30. You'd have to eat and get down there. It would take you about one­ Project I half hour to walk. What time would you normally go to bed? I History Oh, 9:00 was about the time. Society I Oral On a weekend, what was your daily schedule? I Past Oh, I'd usually have to help my folks aroundHistorical the place on Saturday. And that could be I almost anything, like gettingThe wood to burn in the furnace. And Sunday you'd go to church and wouldn't do much else except milk the cows morning and night. And then I you'd go to school again on Monday. You were usually busy all the time. From

I Did you have a lotMinnesota of free time?

I VoicesNot too much, but you'd have time to visit your neighbor friend. Take a moment of two away from your work. And you would walk there, or if you had horses at the I time, you could get a horse and get a saddle on it and ride it over to see him. I What was your favorite part ofthe 1920's? I I I I

I (Long pause) Gosh, I don't know. The whole thing was kind of nice as I remember it. And the fairs were nice in the summer. And then you met people at school you kind I ofliked. So going to school had it's tough times but also it's nice times. I don't know. Well, almost everything I did was kind of nice in some ways, and there had to be bad I parts too.

I So, you thought it was pretty much all around pretty good?

I Not too bad, no. I didn't know anything else. There was no radio, and we lived on a Project place with no electric lights. We had a little kerosene lamp that would light the place I when my mother made supper. We'd eat with that. We'd read with that. Do our homework with that. And at night you'd turn the wick down so it wasn't such a big I light and '\vhoo" blow it out History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Jessica Caldwell Hour 6 I Experiencing the Great Depression through a Child's Eyes I 1 did my Oral History on the Great Depression as seen through a child's eyes. 1 interviewed my I Grandmother, Nancy York. "I grew up in a coal mining village called I Combs, Ky. My Father, Great Grandpa Project Lanham, owned a store/restaurant, and was a I mining electrician. Our house had only two I bedrooms. One was a guest bedroom;History the other was where the family slept. My MotherSociety and Father slept in separate beds.Oral They slept I separately, because my Father lost his leg in a mining accident. My whole family bathed in a I washtub, becausePast didn't have running water in our house. The fireplaceHistorical was our only heat I source inThe our house. We didn't have very much I money. From1 remember the children who were I "betterMinnesota off', would come down the mountain, and would eat lunch at my father's store. When 1 E Voices was in school, 1 brought a small can of cream to the lunch ladies, and in exchange I would get my I lunch. Most nights at dinner all we had to eat was cornbread, or biscuits. We were so poor, E that some nights my parents wouldn't even eat, they'd let us eat in stead, because there simply I was not enough food for all of us. I I I I I didn't receive very many clothes when I was growing up. I got the majority of my clothes I from two missionary ladies. The ladies received clothes from someone who would donate them, I and then they would give the clothing to me. I only had a few cloths my mother sewed for me. I I remember one of my favorite outfits was a wool pleated skirt and a sweater. I wore that outfit to I church, and it was my favorite! For school I got Project 2 pairs of new overalls, a new pair of shoes, and I one pencil. All of these things had to last me the entire year. For Graduation, my mother made I me a skirt and a blouse out of flour Historysacks. Back then, flour came in sacks that were cloth,Society and I had a plain print or little flowersOral decorating it. I remember playing games with friends, I or neighbors. We Pastdidn't play board games, people could not affordHistorical it. Despite this we played I a numberThe of really fun games. I recall playing marbles, because we always had fun playing I that. We also used to take vegetable cans, and we From would tie string through the can, and strap them I to ourMinnesota shoes. Then we would walk around on our "high horses", with these cans on our feet raising I Voices us up off the ground. We also caught June bugs, and tied a piece of string to the leg of the June I bug, and let it buzz around. We also caught lightening bugs, or fireflies, and picked the I glowing part of the bug off and stick it on our fingers, and called it a diamond ring. We played I baseball too! I was the only one around who had I I I I a baseball. I had a base ball, because my mother would take old rags, and wind them up into a I hard, tight, rag ball. That's how I got my baseball. There was only one person in the entire I village who had a bike; it was my good friend Roy Lee. He taught me how to ride a bike, and it I would be years before I owned a bike of my own. I had only one store bought toy. My I Father gave to me. As I said earlier, Great Grandpa Lanham owned a store/restaurant. MyProject I father had a drawing that was done at his restaurant; it was called "Chances". People I would buy a chance to win the prizeHistory and once a week, my Father would draw out a nameSociety and I that person was the winner!Oral One drawing was for the most beautiful doll I had ever seen. I was I so sad, because I Pastknew we could not win the doll, because we, (my family),Historical could not enter the I drawing. TheAfter the drawing was over, my Dad traded groceries for the doll. I had no idea that I your Great Grandpa Lanham did this trade until FromChristmas, when I woke up that morning. I I foundMinnesota the doll under the Christmas tree. That's how I grew up! I turned out all I Voices right. Even though there wasn't any TV, or I video games, we still had fun!" I I I I I Charles Edward Chapman I Oral History I 5/31/99

I To the Past I My grandma's name is Frances Sever. She lived on a farm in Iowa during the Great Depression, and was called a depression kid Oust I like a baby boomer) . Her dad had gone to business college and worked as an accountant, but when the depression came his companyProject went out of business. After the depression, Frannie and her family moved to St. I Paul. In St. Paul at that time, there were no buses, there were street cars. They ran from one side of town to the other, and traveled out into the I country. Now that they were going throughHistory the country, they had a problem, cows. So the street cars wouldn't hit anySociety cows, they had big I mesh nets on the front of them caned cowsOral catchers. If a cow went in front of the car they would be scooped up and later be let off. Also, the big I thing back then for teenagersPast was to pull a little bar at the back of the street car, making it go off the track. Then they would run off the street car Historical I with out paying. Frannie was activeThe in a church group, and was asked to represent I the state at a meeting in Chicago. There were representatives from all over the country,From and she really didn't know anybody. Back in those E days blacks were still discriminated against, so when she asked a black girl to be her roommate,Minnesota the girl was very surprised. My Grandma loved little kids and loved being with them. She I decidedVoices to make her own daycare, and it kept her very busy. She also took dancing lessons at Arthur Murray with a bunch of her friends. One I of the big dances was coming up, and she and her best friend wouldn't miss it for the world. There was one problem, they both had the measles. I Instead of missing they covered their faces with make-up and danced the night away. I I I I At school. the teachers had very strict rules. They could hit you I and mostly they would whack yotX'knuckles with a ruler. My Grandma was very smart, and she went on to receive an academic scholarship for I college. She went to college and earned a teacher's degree. Frances Sever now has ten children and is living happily in Edina. I She works at Creek Valley Elementary School as hall monitor and lunch supervisor, and the kids like her very much. She is very nice and I friendly, and 1 am proud to have her as my Grandma. I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I Tony Gordon I History, Weller I Hour 6 The Depression I I interviewed my great-grandma about the depression. Not only did I find out I what it was like through her perspective, but I also found out what it was like for I pretty much everybody and also some interesting facts. Project I At first my father had a very good business at the beginning. We had a large I home, and we even had a maid. Then we lost it all. HistoryThe first horrible remembrance I have of the depression is when Dad lost his business. ThenSociety we lost our home. Then I Oral horrible things happened, the bank only let him keep 5 cents on the dollar of what

I we had in the bank. I remember myPast Dad sitting at his typewriter crying with my Historical I Mom. We went from a five Thebedroom home to a two bedroom home with seven I children. We didn't have room for all of our furniture, so we stored it in a room at the business my DadFrom lost. Later we found that the mice had gotten to it and our I Minnesota furniture had a lot of mildew and smelled. My older brother was in college and he

I had toVoices drop out because we did not have enough money to help keep him there.

I Everybody was poor. Before the depression I didn't know the meaning of poor. My I other brother was supposed to go to college, he was three years younger than my I other brother, but he had to work with the CCC in the forest. My oldest brother, he I I E I was about 20 years old, I remember him rolling his own cigarettes., He always I smoked the packaged kind but now I was seeing him smoking this wimpy little thing hanging out of his mouth. Ah yes, and the flapper. I was a flapper. My Dad used to

I send me little dresses. My brother taught me the Charleston dance. I had an awful

I haircut, about down to my ears. It was an awful look. I Yeah, we used to dance the Charleston till we fell on our face, practically. It Project I was the first thing we had fun doing since all those horrible things happened. The food part was awful also, the milk man used to come and bring eggs, I History milk and butter, but now only milk. We had to eat discoloredSociety margarine. We would I put a little pill offood coloring in it to makeOral it look like butter. Also the eggs, we

I would have to go down to the creameryPast and get the cracked eggs that were separated from the good saleable eggs. Historical I The I That's about the last of the worst, but the most horrible thing was losing the home. It was reallyFrom terrible. Also, at the beginning I really didn't know what it was.

I That was about the worst.Minnesota I was really glad to forget it then. It was something, I I really Voicesdidn't think about anything like the depression until it happened. I I I I I r--, .--" I !.J ~.

I The Great Depression: 1929-Early 40's 1 interviewed my grandpa on the Great Depression. He told me a lot I of interesting information like, how lucky his family was to own a home and I have both parents work, how lucky he was to go to school and get a good education even in rough times. He then grew and got a job as a pediatrician I "I was born in Rochester, NY, in 1926. 1 was about 4-years old when I my family felt the effects of The Depression. At the time, we were living in an apartment above an auto dealership and gasoline station, whichProject my father I operated with his brothers and my grandfather. 1 had lived there with my parents and my younger brother for about a year before The Depression hit. I But after The Depression, aU the business dried up.History People weren't buying cars and as a result, the family lost the garage and my Societyfather was forced to I move to Rochester, NY where he found employmentOral in the construction I industry as a laborer. And my mother decided to stay in Albion, NY, which was the location of my grandfather'sPast home and work as a seamstress because Historical I she found part time employmentThe as a seamstress there. In those days, women could take the clothing home and work on the garments and bring them back I the next day or when they were finished with them. This was called "piece From I work". So she was paid for each piece of clothing that she worked on. And she would do hemmingMinnesota and make buttonholes. At that time they would sew I buttonholesVoices by hand and she was a very fast worker and it provided for some of the support for the family. We lived at that time while my mother was in I Albion, with my father's sister, Aunt Francis. She had two daughters who I were 5 and 7 years older than me. 1 really enjoyed living in that setup because 1 didn't have any older sisters but my cousins were good substitutes. I Their names were Lulu, who was 7 years older than me, and Rosy, who was 5 years older than me. Lulu has since passed away but Rosy is still living. At I I I

I any rate, we lived there while my father was in Rochester working and my mother worked as a seamstress. I completed kindergarten at a public school

I in Albion NY and I completed first grade at St. Joseph's School in Albion I NY. Oddly enough, the first school I attended in Rochester after our move from Albion to Rochester was another St. Joseph's School. That was not too I far from the grocery store business my father started at that time. That must I have been in about 1931 that we moved to Rochester. I didn't attend St. Joseph's School in Rochester for very long, because the groceryProject business was I not very good either, because of the effects of The Depression. So my father decided to go back to working in construction, and this time he had an I opportunity to become an apprenticed mason withHistory a large construction company. As a result of that employment over a periodSociety of several years, he I became an accomplished mason and concreteOral worker. He worked for this I company for about 3 or 4 years and then went into business by himself - that must have been about '33 or '34Past - and was very successful because he was a Historical [ very good worker and his clients were very happy with the work that he did. The And his pricing was very reasonable. The kind of work he did was I remodeling homes, plastering on the inside of homes and he would rebuild From I chimneys, do sidewalks, garage floors. This was all very hard work. I realized how hard it was whenMinnesota I was about 13; I worked with my Dad every weekend I Voicesand every summer, so I realized what kind of work he was involved in. But it was also very good training for me. It made me realize this was not the way I to make a living for the rest of your life! "Let's buckle down and study and I accomplish and go to college and get a good education and move on." At any rate, The Depression continued. Things improved between 1936 and 1937. I 1937 was a pretty good year but things were still slow. But my father's business was one where he could keep earning money. I remember, too, after I I I

I we moved to Rochester, for several yean, it was necessary for my mother - from about 1932-34 - to work as a seamstress. She worked as a seamstress at I the National Clothing Store, which was a department store in Rochester, NY. I At that time she was making about $10 a week, which wasn't too much, but between what Dad made and what Mother made, we lived a relatively I comfortable life. We were never in need of food because there was enough I money available for food. We were not one of the unfortunate starving segments of the population at the time. My mother, she made aDProject our clothes. I Which saved a lot of money, too: Shirts, cotton shorts, things of that sort, sometimes woolen trousen. So we were very fortunate. I remember missing I my mother during that time that she was working.History It really bothered me. I was between 6 and perhaps 9, or so. And at the time, weSociety would spend some I time with an aunt, Aunt Suzy, who was Oralmy mother's brother's wife. She had I two children, eventuaUy three: Louis, Theresa and John. It was aU right there, but it wasn't the same asPast having your mother with you. But she had to Historical I work, so there was nothingThe I could do about it. Then what happened was my mother tried to keep us at a day care during the summer. They had this nice I place on Exchange Street in Rochester. There was a large building with a From I cafeteria and large dormitory-style rooms where the children could rest, aetuaDy we had matsMinnesota on the floor. But the people were very gentle and very I Voiceskind to us. My younger brother and I would go there in the morning. We'd be dropped otT by my mom or dad. Then one of them would pick us up in the I afternoon. That worked out fine, too. They had swings there and teeter­ I totten; we'd play games. So it was reaDy kind of fun, in a way. But again, it wasn't the same as having a mother at home, who you could tum to anytime I you needed something. But finaDy I think we were well enough otT that we could live well without her working. It was about 1935 that we bought a I I .35 I

I house on Genesee St. and in 1936, my mother became pregnant with her I third child: My youngest brother, Joey, was born in ••• I believe it was May of 1937. It was a custom for the family every weekend to travel from Rochester I to Albion to visit the grandparents. It wasn't uncommon for some of the other children in the family -- my father's brothers and sisters - who also I lived in sites out of Albion to converge on weekends to visit grandpa and I grandma. So we would have frequent encounters with our cousins. That was fun. And no one reaDy suffered. Project I While we were in Rochester, we moved several times. In about 1932, we moved from the grocery store to a home in Rochester in a residential area. I We were there for about one year. In 1934, I believe,History my parents bought a home in a middle-class community on Jefferson Avenue.Society It was a very I comfortable home. My father did a greatOral deal of remodeling there and made I it an even more comfortable home. The Depression, although there was a notch of improvement in 1937, Pastworsened a little bit after that and continued Historical I until 1940 at about theThe start of World War II. I remember one of my fathers' employees had a large family; he was a laborer and he had a problem with I alcohol and he had 7 or 8 children and they lived in a hovel, It was just From I awful. I remember when we picked him up in the morning it was very unpleasant. But evenMinnesota his children seemed to be happy and content. I VoicesThat brings us through The Depression ••••

I ••. Both my parents were extremely, extremely grateful for the opportunity I for employment in the United States. They were both immigrants from southern Italy and were forced to leave their country because of the I extremely poor economic conditions there in the early 1900s. They found a paradise, so to speak, a place where if one were wiDing to work, they could I I I

I advance themselves and they could provide a good existence and future for I their children. As a child growing up in a nice middle-class community in Rochester in the 1940s, I really enjoyed it tremendously. We had a lot of I young boys my age there. We had a lot of sandlot sports we participated in there: baseball, football and soccer, to a certain extent. We even did some I tobogganing, and skiing with makeshift skis that we made out of barrel I staves with rubber tubing as a slot for the boots. It was a great time in our lives and we enjoyed it very much. My parents, of course, wereProject so happy they I could work and provide for their children. There was never a shortage of activities in the home. Mother was an excellent cook and an excellent I housekeeper, and this was even before the days ofHistory dishwashers, and dryers and things of that sort. She washed every Monday andSociety hung her clothes out I on the clothesline, did all of the ironing andOral mending, and any of the other I things she had to do. My dad, of course, worked from early morning to late at night and sometimes on weekends.Past But he never complained. He was just Historical I so happy to have work.The I lived most of life in Rochester until I was married at 23 and moved I west. The people were friendly. The schools were good. We really did not see From effects of The Depression in our neighborhood or even our town. I Minnesota Radio was a great medium at that time. Radio was a fabulous medium I Voicesat that time. It kept people informed about what was going on in the rest of the country. We all went to the matinees on Saturday afternoon. In part of I the matinees at the movies, they'd have Path News; it was really stimulating I and revealing because it did talk about the problems they were having in Oklahoma with the drought and in various farm communities where farming I wasn't very good. Farming around Rochester and Albion were always very productive; there were no farmers going out business there. So the economy I

I 37 I

I in general in upstate NY was very good. We did not see much abject poverty in our cities or surrounding town •.•• I The New Deal was extremely instrumental in bringing back I prosperity. Under President Roosevelt, the WPA program was enacted. The Civilian Conservation Act was enacted. And what this did; the WPA made I work for many, many unemployed men in construction projects: major road I projects, government building projects, street reconstruction projects. The CCC was mainly for young men who were unemployed. TheyProject worked in state I parks, county parks, in national parks, they created a great deal of the beautiful park systems that we have today: the trails, the stone bridges, the I stone retaining walls. All of these people were paidHistory by the government: the WPA workers and the Conservation Corps workers. TheSociety Conservation Corps I Workers also learned discipline becauseOral it was a regimented set up. As far as I women in work were concerned, people like my mother who were seamstresses got a break becausePast the government passed the NRA act which Historical I made better wages availableThe for workers. The thing that helped the most was, number one: a need for work, for a large percentage of the population. This I work was supplied by the WPA, by the Conservation Corps and women who From I were working in the clothing factories were entitled to unionize so they had a collective bargainingMinnesota system going on then. I know that my mother benefited I Voicesfrom the Amalgamated Oothing Workers Union's retirement pension. Even until she died when she was 94 years of age; it wasn't much that she got, but I every little bit helped .••. Franklin D. Roosevelt just was an amazing president. He took the I country from the depths of The Depression to a state of productivity which I made life better for Americans. The laws that were passed in those days were not only to take care of the immediate problems, laws such as Social Security I I I

I and income tax laws, security laws that would prevent the collapse of the market so people could no longer buy stock on margin for as little as ten I percent. These were the people that got into trouble, and they ended up with I a lot of debt afterwards•••. [the country gained its money] slowly over a period of about ten years, I even with the excellent contributions of Franklin D. Roosevelt. But I think it I was World War II that really stimulated the economy. In 1940, the United States first started the war etTort in anticipation of World WarProject n to help the I British who were already being besieged by the Germans. We turned our economy from a peace-time economy to a war-time economy by 1940. So I instead of building cars for people, there were noHistory new cars built. General Motors was building tanks. Other outfits were buildingSociety ships on the East I Coast, West Coast, down South; airplanesOral in California, airplanes in other I parts of the United States, including ButTalo, NY. So they needed a lot of workers. The workers, since therePast were no men [who were serving in the Historical I Armed Forces after theThe US entered the war after Pearl Harbor in December 1941] were women. The women not only became members of the military [ auxiliary, but also started working in the war industry plants all over the From I country. It was a time when people of color were able to get good jobs for the first time and demonstrateMinnesota their capability. There was a sharp increase in the I Voicesstandard of living for many people. I remember I had an uncle who was a trucker and his business went up. I had an aunts who worked for the war I industry in plants. Canning factories and food factories in upstate New York were going around the clock in an attempt to provide food not only for I people in this country but also for soldiers and people in England. The I farmers, of course, were very busy at this time, too. It was an extremely productive time. That lasted until the end of the war in 1945." I I I

I The stock market crash did not affect my family. My parents were working parents and they had the old country ethic of saving for the future. I They never bought anything unless they had enough money in their pocket to I buy it.

I -Laura Demarest iJ;lterviewing, I Sylvester J. SanfIlippo Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I My Grandma Addie I This is all about my grandma's life. Her name is Adeline but everyone calls her Addie. She was

I born in 1934. She is one of 13 children, 6 boys I and 7 girls. She lived on a large farm in Harvey, I North Dakota. Her dad came to the USA from Germany when he was 12 years old. Her mom and dadProject spoke

I German fluently and quite often in the home, so she I learned German very easily. She Historyspoke it regularly with her brothers, sisters, and parents.Society As a I Oral young girl she had many chores to do around the I farm. She had to feedPast the pigs, bring the cows to the barn and milk them, gatherHistorical eggs from the I The I chickens, and take care of the horses. She walked to school everyday,From which was one mile away. I Sometimes ln Minnesotathe summer her dad gave her and her brothers and sisters rides to school in a buggy and I Voices in a sled in the winter.

I They didn't have televisions or telephones when I she was a little girl. She remembers when she was I growing up playing with paper dolls and doing lots of crafts with materials she found around her home. I I 41 I

I Some of the activities in the summer were horseback I riding, playing with animals that were on the farm, I swimming in the lake, and going to their uncle's and aunt's food concession stand where they hung

I out. Some of the winter activities their family

did were skating, sledding, and sleigh rides. I Project I In 1952, Adeline moved to Minneapolis for a better life in the city. She lived in what was

I called the "Rice Club". It was Historya girl's club that Society I housed both men and women butOral they lived on I different floors ln a large building downtown. It was similar to a collegePast dorm lifestyle today. She Historical I found a job as anThe elevator operator at Northwestern I Bank. She worked there for a few years when she met my grandpaFrom who she started dating.

I Big band Minnesotamusic was very popular in the 1950's. I My Voicesgrandma and grandpa went to a lot of dances and I parties when they dated. They did ballroom dancing and the bunny hop. Knee length skirts and long

I sweaters were in fashion then. Men wore crewcuts I and women also wore their hair very short. After I I 42 I I three years of dating, my grandma and grandpa got I married when Addie was 21. They have five children and continue to live in Minnesota.

I Today my grandma has a house on a lake in I Edina. She has a canoe and a paddleboat on the I lake. She also has a beautiful horne in Naples, Florida. She loves to still do arts andProject crafts. I Her life today is much easier than when she was a I child. She loves the outdoors andHistory loves to work in her beautiful gardens. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Steven Holte I Hour 1, 5/26/99 I My Grandmother, Eileen Johnson, lived during and experienced the effects I of the Great Depression. She lived in ND and was raised living by the adage I "Make it do or do without". They were having a 7-year drought and experienced frequent dust stonns. They had to put damp towels on the window sills so indoors I Project I could stay fairly humid. Many other people had to make mattresses out of straw. \ During her high school prom the napkins used advertised food products. They I History couldn't afford many toys so people had to make their ownSociety fun playing outdoors. I Oral People with outhouses couldn't afford toilet paper so they wiped themselves with I catalogs. Past Historical I Many people were worseThe off. My grandfather was given a job by the WP A I because he had aFrom college graduate education. He was given a business job and I was assigned to manyMinnesota projects. The projects included dealing with bridge

I building,Voices clothes, working with rock piles and so on. Many people grew their own I food. My grandfather walked every morning to get water for his plants from a I river. People tried to do as much canning as they could to preserve food. I I I I I Minnesota Life during the Great Depression I By Becca Lasky 'My grandmother was born during 1926 in Minneapolis,

I Minnesota. So, she was only three when the depression I started, however even at such a young age she still remembers the depression. During the depression, for

I entertainment she would go to the movies a lot. Movies were Project I only five cents for kids and everybody came because the movies would give away stuff to make people come back and

I they got peoples minds off the depressionHistory crisis. For

example, on Wednesdays she remembers thereSociety was a "bank I Oral Night" where the movie theatre attendant would draw a I ticket number and who everPast had that ticket with that number would receive a few dollars. HistoricalOn Tuesdays, it was "Dish I The night" and people could win a dish made with what they

I called "depression glass" by the ticket number drawing. My From grandma remembers that bread and milk was just ten cents, I Minnesota but that wasn't as cheap as it sounds, because everyone had

I so Voiceslittle money. MY grandma remembers that sometimes, when I she came home for lunch, she would see her mother giving a hobo or a bun (people who were so poor they would look for

I work to get them their next meal) lunch. She says she I really didn't like having them in her house,' but she is glad her I I I I mother helped them. During the depression, my grandma's family was not well off but they had more

I money then other people because they owned a lot of I property before the depression and were able to rent it out to people who could not afford to keep their

I homes. She remembers that one of the people who rented I out space in their house could not pay they bill, so Project I they left in the middle of the night. Then her aunt and their family lived downstairs after that. Another I thing that made her pretty lucky wasHistory that her best I friend's dad was a doctor and when everSociety she was ill, he would help. He had little Oralwork but he only charged

I 2 dollars per visit. DuringPast the depression one of her I favorite things to was to Historicalroller-skate and she liked Shirley Temple. ShirleyThe Temple was a big part of the I depression because she was in all the movies. Also, From I cartoons like Betty Boop and Felix the Cat where always in the comics.Minnesota And although she didn't understand it,

I Voicesmy grandma remembers that her dad would always say, ~ I prosperity is around the corner." I I I I I

I The Great Depression I Transcribed by Laura Levesque

I My grandfather, Charles Jacobson, was born in 1921. He was eight years old when the stock market crashed in October, 1929. The

I depression didn't affect his immediate family until 1933, when Franklin D. I Roosevelt took office. His dad had a job in New York City as a salesman and he did very well until 1933. The family had steak several timesProject each I week, butter on the table, and just about anything they wanted to eat or wear. I His dad was making more than $5,000 perHistory year during those years. Society That doesn't seem like much today, but it was probably the equivalent of I Oral $100,000 today. President Roosevelt, in one of the first things he did I when he came into office in 1933,Past closed all the banks in America. Bank customers were not able to make depositsHistorical or withdrawals. The person his I dad worked for was inThe debt, and had no cash, so he couldn't pay his I employees. His dad needed cash immediately for his family, so he was forced to lookFrom for another job. I The familyMinnesota lived in a place similar to Edina so they couldn't grow much to eat. They rented a house and the landlord allowed them to stay I Voicesthere even though they couldn't pay the rent. The landlord didn't want the house to stand there empty. His Dad found another job but, it paid much

I less money. Things got worse and worse. I The family managed to eat though, not always enough. My grandfather remembers times when he went hungry. They couldn't pay I the electric bill and the company turned off the electricity. My I grandfather did his homework at the dining room table under a kerosene

I '-11 I

I lamp. They got a little coal from somewhere so they would have some I heat, and they paid the gas bill so his mom could cook the little food they had. I For entertainment, they couldn't do much that cost money. The family went to the movies every Saturday afternoon. The movie ticket

I cost only $.10 and it brought the family together. At night they would I listen to the radio. The radio was broadcast five nights a week. Since money wasn't available for entertainment, they would do jigsawProject puzzles, I play bingo, cards, and monopoly. In June, 1936, the Government paid the World War I veterans a History I bonus. His dad got the maximum payment, more than $1,500. This was a Society I fortune! Many families were living on Oralmuch less than that for a whole year. His dad paid his debts, and even bought an old car. I From 1936 to 1939, thingsPast got a little better for them, but not much. In 1933, the unemploymentHistorical rate was 25%. One out of every four I men had no work, andThe most wage earners were men. Women, for the I most part, stayed at home and bad no paying jobs. That means that one out of everyFrom four families had no income. There was no welfare at that I time. My grandfatherMinnesota graduated from high school in June, 1939, and was very lucky to get a job which paid $17 a week. The Great Depression I Voicesended when Adolph Hitler started World War TI. I I I I I I I Sam Liebo

I A Child During the Depression Leon Price I I Under President Roosevelt, Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camps were built for children who lived off welfare. There weren't enough children on I welfare, so they started to take volunteers. And I volunteered. Project I One day I was in line for lunch and someone a few people back said, "Hurry up you dirty Jew." And that really got me ticked off and we started

I fighting. The other boys were chanting us on. I roughedHistory him up pretty good.

That's how I got into street fighting. Society I Oral A while later I was fighting someone when another boy went to his side. I Then a big boy by the name of CupidPast Eartle came to my side and we took care of them. Cupid taught me how to box whichHistorical was funny because Cupid later became I The the Minnesota State Champ for boxing. He went pro, I never did though. I guess I

I wasn't born a boxer like him. From Anyway, the boys in the CCC camp set up a ring, and I started to box. I I Minnesota wasn't the best nor the worst. I was just an amateur boxer, and I fought for no one

I Voicesbut myself. And I never got paid. I I I I I I I My Life in I The Depression & World War II I This story is about my grandfather when he was in The Depression and in World War II. I And what happened to him when he got polio.

My name is Neal S. Gish. I went through the Depression. The I Project Depression had a great effect on our family because my father had put most I of our money in the stock market and in banks. I helped my family by I working in a restaurant in St. Paul after I got throughHistory high school. I worked there for $14 a week, 3 meals a day, and 6 days aSociety week. After a while my I father. was transported to another state Oralso I decided to apply at that company. I I got a job at Montgomery Wards for $16 a week as stock boy. Soon I worked selling yard goods (fabrics)Past at $22 a week. A couple of weeks later I Historical I started selling linoleumThe I was earning $25 a week. A Montgomery Wards policy did not allow 2 relatives to work for the company so I was fired. I was I drafted and joined the u.S. Navy. From I Minnesota I went to Idaho for training. While I was in training I earned $13 every I 2 Voicesweeks for spending money. I sent the remaining $100 I earned every 2 weeks back to Minnesota. I went back to Minnesota after the war ended. I I trained to be a Navy corpsman and worked at the Oakland California Naval I Hospital. In 1952 I was exposed to polio virus. It had affected my left leg. I spent 3 weeks in the hospital and 2 months in Sister Kenny Rehabilitation I Hospital. Sister Kenny is a place for people with polio. During the hospital I

I So I I stay I was in physical therapy. If I had not gone to physical therapy I could never have walked again because the person there stretched out my muscle in I my leg. Having polio affected my life and family but I am now living a I healthy life.

Story written by, I Rachael Penn I 7th grade Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I 51 I I Karee Shapiro I I Leaving Germany in 1934

I I interviewed my grandma, Eva Rose Kieffer, who is my mom's mom. I The topic we talked about was leaving Germany as a Jew in 1934. In 1933 both my grandma was born and Hitler came into power. She lived in Berlin,Project Germany,

I until 1933. Her family, who is Ema, her mom (29) Curt, her dad, (30) and Eva I herself (1) decided to leave Berlin. It was an easy decisionHistory because Ema was told by a stranger to walk on a certain side of the park becauseSociety she was Jewish. I Immediately, after that, the family went homeOral to pack for Switzerland. This early

decision of leaving Germany has allowed the family to be alive today. I Past I In Switzerland, Curt didn't workHistorical because they were there for less then a year. From Switzerland Thethey moved to Milan, Italy. They were in Milan for 3 I years. In those 3 years the family was separated, Curt stayed in Italy and made From I money by selling the apartment and other possessions, and Ema and Eva went back to Basal, Switzerland.Minnesota Then in 1938 when Curt left Milan, he met Eva and I VoicesEma again in 1939 in Basal. In Basal, Curt made arrangements for his uncle's I girlfriend to take Eva to England. The girlfriend met the family in Belgium. On the girlfriend's way back from getting Eva, she was caught by the Nazis because

I on the way to Belgium she didn't have a child and then on the way home to I England she had Eva. Somehow she managed to get free. Eva was 5 years old at. I I I

I the time all of this happened. She lived with the uncle and his girlfriend for 2 I months in England. Erna and Curt finally made their way to England by meeting a sailor that I was nice enough to hide them in his boat and bring them over. On their way there I they were hidden in the bottom of the boat with a minimum amount of food and room. They got to England in August 1939 and the war started in September

I 1939. This was not the end of their journey. Curt then went into the army. After Project I 5 days in the army he was sent home with a heart problem and then sent to prison. He was sent to prison because he was a Jew and was not able to work in the navy

I or army. When Curt was in prison Eva was sent toHistory an orphanage for 4 months. In

those 4 months she had her 6th birthday. Society I Oral Finally, Curt, Eva and Erna got back together and went to the U.S. They I reached Chicago, IL in 1948 andPast later moved to Minneapolis, MN. They are still living in Minneapolis. Now Erna is 95,Historical Eva is 66 and happily married for 45 I The years but unfortunately Curt died in 1963. This experience that my grandma went

I through will be passed on through my family forever. From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I The Life of em i;mig1"a-l:ed Lady ~om Russia I (IQ38-IQ60) I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. I was a young student and a little

I girl before the second war. I had a very good family who took care of me and we I loved eachother. I did not know too much the country because I was a child and just beginning my learning. I also did not know too much about patriotism and I about politics. However, I did know one thing at this time. I knewProject that enemies I were coming and we had to do whatever we could to help. My brother was three and I was twelve and we thought of escaping the enemies. I have to say that in History I each school, kids learned that they must give everything that they could for there Society I own country. Patriotism was in the bloodOral of each person in Russia. I am sure I that, that feeling was brought not only by families, but also by schools. In schools students studied about the historyPast of their country, they felt proud of their country, Historical I and they could not imagineThe that anyone would walk on their country besides I them. The secondFrom war started on June 22, 1941. Right when the war started my I family moved fromMinnesota St. Petersburg to Belorus, Russia, temporarily to keep safe. My mother promised herself that she would not give up and that she would return I Voices to St. Petersburg after the war. In that period of time, I was with my mom and my

I brother in Belorus, Russia. When the war started, life was incredibly awful. We I left Belorus having nothing. I mostly spent World War II in Siberia. In that time I was in fourth grade and attending school. I was a good student. I have to tell I I I 57 I I you that the system of education in all cities of Russia was beautiful to me. We had very good educated teachers.

I As I stated before, when World War II started, my mom, my bother, and I myself left Belorus. However, unfortunately, my mother's entire family, who decided to stay in Russia during the war, were killed by Germans. In the winter,

I the Germans took them and keeping them alive, sank them in to cold water. My

mother's entire family perished and was not able to make it through. They were I Project I all murdered. They suffered and died a terrible death. This was a very emotional trauma in my entire family. This is a good example showing what some Jewish I Russian families went through and how they were treatedHistory during the second war. First of all, I have to say that Russian people flushedSociety with very profound I Oral feefings to love their country. That was developed during your school lives and I during your adulthood. CertainlyPast in each society you can see different categories of people, but major feeling was to giveHistorical your life and to give your efforts to the I The country.

I During World War II, Russia spent a lot on the war. Not only money, but From also a tremendous amount of efforts. Old people dedicated their lives and there I Minnesota efforts to this war. Nobody thought about their own lives, everyone wanted to go

I Voicesfight the Germans. In that period of time, patriotism was one of the main I energetic strengths that united the whole nation. I am not talking about Stalinism. I am talking about people who are completely different from the group of people

I who led or ruled country coming together and defending their country, Russia. I I I I I In the beginning, nobody knew who the Germans were, however, when they started to make their terrible sins to our people, Russians decided to get

I together and help create an end to the war. People got drafted into the army and I did whatever else they could do to help in the war effort. However, despite these I acts, the Russian army was still not prepared for this war and had very a little experience. This is why Russian people had tremendous amounts of losses. They I lost their cities, cities were burned, and they lost their entire family in many cases. Project I However, the uniting of the entire population happened easily because Russians knew that this was their country, and they did not wanted anybody else on their I grounds. They gave everything that they could give.History Students like your age would go work night shifts and day shifts in plants to makeSociety weapons and other I Oral materials for the war. They understood that they wanted freedom and had to help I out. Not one person in Russia wantedPast to stay under the German's ego. In my perspective, these factors really helpedHistorical Russia create a strong homefront. Most I The people supported Russia's involvement in the war and dedicated their efforts.

I After W odd War II, people had a lot of deficiencies. They didn't have From food and have enough clothes, but they continued to have trust. I think that this I Minnesota distinguishes Russian nationality or population compared to others.

I VoicesAfter the second war, in 1945, my family returned to St. Petersburg. I I continued to become a student. I was again a very good student, but started to face problems with discrimination. I decided to enter a university and become a

I specialist in molecular physics. I applied with my good papers of education to a I college university. However, unfortunately I did not get accepted because I was I I I I Jewish. I did not know the differences in nationalities. To me, personalities, characters, integrity, and honesty of a person mattered. But this was my first

I lesson in my native country. I When we returned to St. Petersburg I have to say that life was very I difficult. We lost everything. We lost our apartment in St. Petersburg and had to stay in one room for a very long period of time. The food was also very poor and I not enough. This was an incredibly hard and painful time for my family. Project I Coming back to my life, I would say that because I was not accepted by that group because I was Jewish, I decide to become not a molecular scientist but I an engineer. After I started six years, in 1948, at ElectricHistory Technical University, I became an engineer. You can imagine how long ago thisSociety really was. I Oral I got married and had a family. I continued to be very dedicated to my I work as well as husband. WePast soon had a daughter, who was an educated I translator from Russian into English andHistorical vice-versa in a cultural institute. So she became an adult. However,The unfortunately, like me, she began to face problems

I with discrimination. She was not promoted for a long time and was harassed. My From husband also had problems as a Jew as welL After about 15 years of experiencing I Minnesota life in Russia, we decided to emigrate from the country. We left the country

I Voiceswithout any special difficulties. I think we were lucky because not everybody I could leave Russia as we did. Despite this, before we left Russian grounds we needed to get through the

I customs procedure. That was not only embarrassing, that was a nightmare. That I was the worst human being discrimination that could happen. Each part of my I I I I luggage was checked carefully and I was dressed down to see if maybe I had gold somewhere down hidden. I picture that as the greatest disrespect. I continued to

I stay strong and move away from my problems. I So I will summarize. We left Russia quietly and easily. We then came to I the United States as new country, about which we only knew of from literature. When I came to this country I did not speak English at all. Through very hard

work, 4-8 hours a day, I remarkably learned English. I was then hired as a I Project I research engineer at the 3M Company. I am very grateful for all people who I met in that company. I think that I developed a lot of friendships and learned

I many new things. I left after myself a good impressionHistory that Russian people who

emigrated from their first motherland found very warm receptionSociety and trust in this I - Oral country. They could give their talents to the community, which proved a lot to I the new society. I am very happyPast to be here for everything that I have received and learned. Historical I The InteT'vieweT': Rishi PUT'am I InteT'viewee: Anna LehdeT'man From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I Escape From Latvia

I This is the story of my grandma, Velta I Maria Taurins. She survived the horrors of World I War ll. She had to do many things to save her life. She was working in Valmiera, Latvia when the I Russians invaded in 1940. She was 19 when this I happened. Latvia is just west of Russia. Her family feared if they stayed the Russians would send them Project

I to Siberia and put them in a camp. The Russians I were pushing Germans back so my grandmaHistory went with the Germans. So my grandma escaped.Society She

I escaped on a boat. It was a GermanOral military boat.

I They boarded the threePast story ship in a long thin I gang plank. The only railingHistorical was a rope. My grandma wasThe extremly scared going up this. As she

I was boarding, bombs were exploding all around From her. Luckily no bombs hit the ship. She landed in I Minnesota Litsmanstadt. When she got to Germany all refugees

I Voices had to go through delicing in Poland. Delicing is I just a really good c1eanig. She got sent to Lodz. They took a train there. After she got back from

I Poland she got a job in Neuenburg. People who I didn't get jobs had to live in camps. The camps I weren't that bad, but my grandma didn't want to sit I I Escape From Latvia

I around doing nothing. She worked in a refugee I organization, as a secretaIy. Her boss' name was Herr Franse. Later he worked for the UN in

I Cambodia. He once came to visit her in Edina. He I only wore a sheet around his waist. That's how they I dress in Cambodia. While my grandma was working in Project

I Germany she met my grandpa. He was in medical I school for a while. Later he worked inHistory the refugee organization taking x-rays. He checked for Society

I tuberculosis and things in theOral chest. She remembers

a time when she was literaly scared stiff. I Past I Bombs were exploding allHistorical around her and she couldn't move.The Someone finally pulled her to I safety. After a while she got an apadavid to go to From America. They took a ship from Bremen Hafen I Minnesota to America called the General Mur. Then they took

I Voices a train to Minneapolis. The Lutheran World I Foundation paid for it all. They gave my grandma and grandpa 70 dollars to start. They had to

I pay it back in a year. I My grandma's sister didn't I I I Escape From Latvia I leave Latvia. She had a husband at the time in I the Latvian army. He said that the Latvian anny could defeat the Russians. He was wrong. After I the Russians won, the remaining Latvian soldiers I hid in the forest. They were afraid of being shot. My Grandma's sister helped bring food to the

I hiding soldiers. She was arrested a couple Project I times for this. This is what my grandma and her sister did in World War II. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I Nate Wohl I PERIOD-3- I I I am Nate Wohl and I am doing a report on a person at Pearl Harbor when I Japanese bombed it. I The first time I was involved in the military I was an assistant doctor on the San Diego naval base. I spent about two and a half years there and served Projectmany captains. I Then I was needed for a certain reason in Pearl Harbor. The opportunity was perfect

because I had always wanted to go see the tropical islands of Hawaii. I jumped on the I History next transport beaded in that direction. I left and packed at 7:45amSociety for the best time of I my life,_ as so I thought, for a free fun time whileOral working. I I lived one whole month in the warm sun of Hawaii and relaxing beaches. I loved my job. Than came a notice of planesPast approaching. They tried to keep it secret but it Historical I wasn't for a long period of timeThe when people found out by the loud sound ofp1ane I engines. It almost sOlmded like bees buzzing and looked like a flock of huge birds. To add to the bird effectFrom it looked like the birds were pooping on us. I noticed something I was wrong when the two-manMinnesota sub was blown-up. It flew out of the water like a whale.

A bomb hit about 11 liz feet offthe port-bow and I was knocked out by the impact of I Voices being thrown around. That is as much as I can remember of that particular day ofterror.

I Even so I will never forget that day in my whole life because of how horrible and I sudden this surprise attack occurred. I I I I I My Grandpa Jack World War II I The U.S. Navy I I Jack L. Dyste enlisted in the Navy to try to be a pilot. He really enjoyed the two years that he served and actually wanted to serve I longer, but the war ended. When he was released he went Projectto work I for his father as an insurance agent and later took over the business. Jack's son now works with him in the agency. I History Society I Oral I I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was raised in south Minneapolis where I went to school at John BurroughsPast Elementary School, Ramsey Junior High School Historical I and Washburn High School.The I When the warFrom broke out I was a sophomore at Washburn High School in 1941. I I enlisted in the NavyMinnesota in February of 1943 at the age of seventeen, but was not taken

until August of 1943 when I was eighteen. I enlisted in the Navy Air Force to try I Voices to be a pilot. Most of the time was spent training in the United States and I never

I got over seas and was discharged in October of 1945. I I I remember before I went into the service that I collected tin cans and aluminum to use as scrap metal for the war. They had large collections called Scrap Drives. I I I

I Even toothpaste tubes were used because they were made out of aluminum back I then and not plastic. I made sure all the toothpaste was squeezed out and rolled up the tube to be recycled. I also remember that most people had Victory Gardens

I in their back yards where they grew vegetables. I Rationing many items became a necessity and coupons were issued for many I products. Gasoline was rationed. If you weren't using your car forProject business you I were given what was called an A stamp. If you needed your car to go to and from work you would get a B stamp. My father had a C stamp because he was using his

I car in his business. They also had stamps for purchasingHistory meat and butter. My Society I mother made her own soap by saving the greaseOral and lard from her cooking. I Because coupons were issued we could only get a certain amount of sugar, flour and coffee. My mother also had toPast get stamps for meat because it was in limited Historical I supply, but because I wasThe in the service I didn't have to be rationed and had I plenty to eat. From I I was in training theMinnesota whole time during the war so I didn't get to see any action. I

was primarily getting trained to fly a plane and unfortunately or maybe fortunately I Voices I never got to fly anything or it might have been a little different for me. Frankly, I

I enjoyed the two and one half years that I was in the service. I met a lot of great I people and I had some wonderful experiences. At that time everyone was very I patriotic. We had been bombed by the Japanese in 1941. We were attacked. Whether that was predicated by some of our sanctions at that time in 1939-1941 to I I (,1 I

I bring us into the war to help England's fight against Germany I don't know. It I was a patriotic time where people graduated from high school or enlisted to serve their country. I really don't have any regrets. I I My favorite thing in training was the physical activity we had called P. T. We would box, swim, play football, wrestle and have a certain amount of gymnastics. I I also had a lot of education that went along with my training in engineering.Project I I actually enjoyed my time in the service. I was always sorry that I got out of the I service. By the time the war ended in 1945, I was still in the service as an Aviation Cadet. The war was over and they didn't need any moreHistory Navy pilots. About 95% Society I of us were sent home. I didn't have the chanceOral to stay in even if! wanted to. I do I regret the fact that I wasn't able to complete my training and hopefully get my wings and been able to fly both inPast the Navy and sometime possibly even Historical I afterwards. I was discharged in October, 1945. I was given a separation and not The I formally discharged until 1947 when they sent me a complete honorable discharge. I was held in the Naval Reserves for the next two years. I From Minnesota by Jamie Hunt I Voices I I I I I I

I Bryan Highhill Oral History report I Period 6/ Weller

I DENTISTRY AND LIFE IN WORLD WAR II

I My Grandpa said that the hardest thing about being a dentist in

I World War II was keeping the oral health of 3500 men in his Project I battalion, because he was the only dentist in his battalion. The most interesting problem that my Grandpa faced during the I History War was trying to remove a beetle from a man's Societyear. The way that he I got the beetle out of the ear was by droppingOral ether in the man's ear I which made the beetle fall asleep, and it made it easier for my Past Grandpa to pull it out with tweezers.Historical The beetle was grabbing the I The I inside of the man's ear and that's why the doctors could not get it without causingFrom the man great pain. I My GrandpaMinnesota served time in Louisiana, Michigan, over seas in I VoicesEngland, France, and Germany. Even having been at all these places, I my Grandpa's most unpleasant experience serving in the army was the I Louisiana Maneuvers. That was his most unpleasant experience because it was cold the whole time and raining most of the time. Also

I our troops spent most of the time digging vehicles out of the mud. I I I

I The best part of the War according to my Grandpa, was getting I home and rejoining his family again. Probably, the next best thing I was not having to eat any more Spam. My Grandpa said that he did not have it hard in the War

I compared to the other combat infantry men because he didn't have to I fight in the War, because he was in the medical wing of the army. Project I Even though it was difficult for my Grandpa to maintain good oral health of all the men, he still didn't think he had it harder than the I History combat infantry men. Society I "It was very hard to Oralmove camps constantly", said my

Grandpa. During the Louisiana maneuvers the troops had to move 2-3 I Past times a day, throughout Louisiana.Historical The doctors and dentists had to I The I dig an aid tent every time they moved. An aid tent was a hole in the ground whereFrom the doctors, nurses, and dentists worked. The hole had I to be 9 feet wideMinnesota and 6 feet deep. I VoicesWhen I asked my Grandpa if he liked being a dentist outside of I the war more than being a dentist in the war he answered humorously, I DEFINITELY! The reason for that was because there was nothing that he liked about being a Captain in the army. That was the only

I reason he gave, and I don't blame him. I I I

I The food that the men were served was horrible (according to I my Grandpa). The different foods were sea rations, over seas. Sea I rations were, as my Grandpa put it, "Canned Junk". When the men were on land they had K-rations. K-rations were such foods as

I tropical chocolate, which had a small coating of wax over it so the I chocolate wouldn't melt, powdered eggs, and Spam. The medical Project I staff (doctors, nurses, and dentists) were not served different food than the troops. I History When I was doing this oral history report with my Grandpa I Society I thought it was fun and ~ interestingOral to learn what his life and

experience was like in World War II. I Past THANKSHistorical GRANDPA! I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I " I I I I M,y Grandpa, who worked on base during WWIJ- I Sy Jonathon Hatcb I Project I George M. was Chief Squadron Clerk in the Air Force during WWII. Because of poor eyesight, he didn't go overseas. Instead, he served at a

I training base in Denver, Colorado. He told meHistory how he got ready to do his job

for the Air Force, which he felt was his duty to hisSociety country. I Oral I I was only 22 when I was drafted.Past I was just married and on my honeymoon Historical I in Florida when I got my draftThe notice. Being drafted surprised me because I had I been classified as a "Four F" which meant that I was unable to serve in the military due to my bad eyesight.From I I returned to Minnesotamy home in Wausau, Wisconsin. Several days later, I took a bus to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to report to the draft board. I had a physical I Voices examination by a doctor, who said my eyesight was OK, and left immediately by bus

I for Fort Sheridan in Chicago, Dlinois. Here I was processed to go to basic training I and assigned to the Air Corps. I left by bus to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, for Air Corps basic

I training. I was there for six to seven weeks. I had to do the following: march, clean I I 12. I I toilets, riflrey, and most important: learn to be an army man. After basic training, I was shipped by train to the Air Corps base at Buckley Field in Denver, Colorado.

I At this time, the base was just beginning and they needed people for all jobs. I Actually, I was the third person to arrive at the base. When I arrived at the camp, the Captain asked if anyone could type. I wasn't very good, but I volunteered. I

I was put in charge of the administrative office. Since that job was classified as a I Chief Clerk position, I was quickly promoted several levels and became the Project I Squadron Chief Clerk at the National School of Aeronautics. Our mission was to teach men to become aircraft engine mechanics and learn to repair aircraft engines. I These mechanics were sent to Europe and the PacificHistory to keep the Air Force planes flying. There were three squadrons of men stationed there.Society I Oral I was there for one and one half years. While I was there, there was a I housing shortage on base. I was allowedPast to live in an apartment otT base. It was I great, because my wife could join me. Historical I had met many friendsThe there. One of my best friends was assigned to the

I Carlson Raiders. This unit had very dangerous assignments like blowing up bridges From in the combat zones. The reason that he left was because he wanted to support the I Minnesota U.S. I never saw him from that day on. Eight or nine weeks later, I found out that

I he hadVoices been killed. I was saddened and really hoped that the war would end soon. I The government rationed a lot of stotT like gasoline, food, and rubber, because the soldiers at war needed the food and other supplies to fight and survive

I during the war. New cars were not made, so that the factories could produce tanks I and airplanes. Families received a stamp book from the government. With the I I 13 I I stamp book, we could buy things that were rationed during that month. After one month was over, the government would give families another stamp book for the

I next month and the next month and so on until the war was finished. When the war I was finally over, all the soldiers from the Navy, Air Force, and Army boarded buses I and trains that took them home to their families. The ending of the war was the happiest time for the soldiers who fought during that long war and for me too! I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I One Man's Experience In The Navy During World War IT

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History Society Oral

Past Historical The

From Minnesota Voices

LauraHamm American History Weller Hr. 2 May 26,1999 I 15 I I I I My grandfather, John Richard Hamm, was born on April 18, 1925. He was born I in Jamestown, North Dakota and also spent his childhood growing up there. At age 17, Richard, as many people called him, enlisted in the Navy. My I grandfather was interested in airplanes and boats and thought the U. S Navy would be the Project perfect place for him. World War II was going on at the time and it was common for many

I men to want to help their country and enlist in the services. The President of the United I States during this time of war was Franklin D. Roosevelt.History During the years 1943 to 1946, when my grandfather Societywas in the service he was I station in Corpus Christie, Texas. Though my grandpaOral was never in battle, he helped in many other ways. Some of his jobs included working on airplanes, p.t boats, and diesel I engines. These skills were very helpfulPast in life. Even now Richard likes to work on engines I and owns a boat and 2 airplanes. Historical The accommodationsThe were not luxurious but they were comfortable. About 600 I men slept in a hanger including my grandpa. The meals he thought were pretty good. In their free time servicemenFrom went dating ,dancing ,sight seeing, sometimes to the movies, I and plays. EveryoneMinnesota had to wear special uniforms. On the warmer days they wore casual white slacks and on the cooler days they wore navy blue flannels. I Voices There were quite a few women in the Navy. They were called the "Waves" which I stands for Women Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency Service. Their jobs were different from the men like night and day.

I Some of the other historical events that happened in this time were the bombing of I England and Germany, the atom bomb, and the fight against Japan. One of the most I I 7ls. I

I historical moments in World War II was the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Though this I happened before my grandfather joined the service i~ influenced his decision to join.

I Being in the service and standing up for our country makes people appreciate the life they have. My grandpa appreciates his life and I appreciate him. Interviewing my

I grandfather was very interesting for me. I'm glad I spent my time asking him questions I about his life in the Navy and hearing his remarkable answers. Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I

I Mariah Grovak

I An Everyday Man's War Experience I My biography is about my great uncle, Frank Piekarski. He was born in

I Chicago, Illinois, on March 23, 1926. He only went to high school for 2 'l2 years Project I because he had to go to work to help support his family. He worked in a machine shop until he was drafted into the Army on August 24, 1944. He was 18 years old

I at the time he went into the service. History Society I On January 8, 1945,Frank shipped outOral to Europe. The Allies had already landed in France and were marching toward Germany. Frank was a member of a

I machine gun crew. He was in CompanyPast M of the 180th Infantry Regiment in the

ETO (European Theater of Operations).Historical There were 6 soldiers in his squad. One I The I carried the gun, he was called "Gunner" and was the one that actually fired the machine gun. FromAnother soldier carried the tripod, or stand. The other four each I carried two boxes Minnesotaof ammunition. The squad didn't have a truck, they had to I march and carry everything on foot. VoicesThe soldiers in the war didn't get very much fresh meat to eat. Most I things came out of cans. One time when his squad was going through a French I forest they saw some boars, a type of wild pig with long tusks. They quickly set I I I I I I up their machine gun and shot one of the boars. It was the first fresh meat they had in over a month.

th I On March 18 , 1945 Frank's machine gun squad was fighting the I Germans in eastern France. A German artillery shell landed near by and my Uncle Frank was hit with a piece of shrapnel on the upper lip. The shrapnel tore I off his lip and knocked out his front teeth. A medical Corpsman putProject a bandage on I his mouth and he was evacuated to the 27th Evacuation Hospital where the doctors were. He eventually was sent to two other hospitals in France as he got

I better. Once he was able to travel back to the UnitedHistory States, he was sent to an Society I Army hospital to get plastic surgery to repairOral his lip. He also had to get four false I teeth to replace the ones that were shot out. My Uncle Frank spent almostPast 6 months in the ETO with his machine gun

squad before he was- wounded. He spentHistorical the next 15 months at different Army I The I hospitals healing from his wounds. Since his wounds were not as bad as some of the other soldiersFrom that had lost arms and legs, he had to wait a long time for his I plastic surgery andMinnesota false teeth. He spent much of this time talking and playing I cards with the other soldiers in the hospital, especially the ones that were more Voicesseriously injured. I Frank Piekarski spent 1 year, 10 months and 12 days in the U. S. Army I during World War II. He left as a Private First Class (PFC) and was awarded the Purple Heart, the Victory Medal, the American Theater Ribbon, the European- I I I I I I African -Middle East Ribbon with 1 Bronze Battle Star (Rhineland Campaign) and 1 Overseas Service Bar, and the Good Conduct Medal. His story is very

I typical of the hundreds of thousands of everyday Americans that went off to war I because they were asked to. I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I [ I ',,1 I ..

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I

I ThQ Unrnrs Prnnt I ..L ..L..l. '- ..l...L '\..J ..l...l...L '- ..L ..L '\..J..L..L '" I On November 31. 1941. Char Mclaughlin and John Field were married. That day they drove off to New York for their I honeymoon. They were there for 7 days returning on I December 7, 1941. They returned to the news of Pearl Harbor being bombed and the shocking news that the UnitedProject States I was going to war. The US. government started the drafting right away. On February 4, 1941, John Field \vas drafted into I the military and told to report to Fort Snelling,History the army base. During the physical examination he confirmedSociety that he had had I a knee surgery and was asked to comeOral back the next day. I Arriving at home Char was very surprised when John came in the door and she exclaimed"Past I thought you were long gone." After explaining the situation, heHistorical left the house early the next I The morning and drove into the city. He signed up for the Navy. I This saved his life because he would have been among the first wave that landedFrom in England. Most people in this wave died. I Most of their friendsMinnesota weren't that lucky and died. Char moved back to DeMoines, Iowa, to live with her parents. Soon John I Voices sent word that he would be based off of the east coast and she I could come join him. Char moved out there and saw her husband for one day at a time and not very often. Giving up I her job in DeMoines, Iowa, she found a job as a radio secretary I in New Hampshire. I I I I Than on july 10,1944 Patricia was born. Going into labor Char didn!t know at that time to wait before she went to I the hospital so she went right away. Her doctor was there and I he was an OB. After a while he came in and told her that he would be going off shift and another doctor would tend to her. I A WAVE or a girl that had signed up for the Army attended to Char. She felt so sorry for Char she brought her a ice cream I cone which came out as fast as it went in. Soon a new doctor Project came in. He wasn't any old doctor he was a psycologist. After I Patty was born Char stayed in the hospital for 7 days and after I 4 days they let her dangle her feet. That Historyis how Char and Johns first baby came into the world. Society I Soon after the birth, Char wasOral talking to her sister, and I her sister asked if she had taken her baby to the pediatrician? When Char answered no, herPast sister said get her to the I pediatrician. Char, thinking thatHistorical she had neglected her child took the bus all the wayThe down town and showed up at the I pediatrician and he asked, "Mrs. Field, have you tried squash?" Char said, "no,From should I haver I He said, "yes, tryMinnesota squash." So Char and Patty took the bus back I home and Char fed Patty and Patty spit the whole squash out. ThatVoices is what they got out of their first trip to the peditrition. I When the war ended John came home safely and said, rrI am done." I Char said, "what do you mean? You have 2 years left until you I graduate with the other men." John replied by saying, "I just want to get out of here. II I I &3 I I As Char put it " We were just plain lucky!" I I I I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I ~l{ I

Chesney Engquist I History hr 3 I June 1, 1999 Only 19 years old when the United States entered World War II, James P.

I Engquist would begin a very long journey, in a very short time. My grandfather was in I college at the University of Minnesota studying to be an engineer. He had already met I Kathleen Moore, who would later become his wife. When he was 20 he was inducted into the service in Minneapolis.Project James was sent I to a medical installation, in Fort Crook, Nebraska, where he started directly as a surgical technician. After completing two months of surgery he was asked to go to army medical I History school to study to be an X- ray technician. In 13 weeks he graduatedSociety and was sent back I to Fort Crook, Nebraska. Oral I At the time the army was sponsoring ASTP, Army Specialized Training Program, in colleges across the country. JamesPast applied for admission to ASTP and was accepted. Historical I He was sent to CCNY, City CollegeThe of the city of New York, again studying engineering I and taking courses in small engine design. There were about 200- 300 students there. He was billeted in a nearbyFrom run- down orphanage. James became very ill with an infected I vein in his leg. He wasMinnesota sent to an army hospital in the Bronx of New York. When the infection cleared James went back to CCNY. Then he was transferred I Voices to the University of Tennessee because he had missed so many weeks of school, and

I needed to catch up with the class. I The army needed more officers, so James applied at OCS, Officer Candidate School, and was accepted. He then went to Belvoire, Virginia. In September of 1944 he

I graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. I I I

I James went overseas to ETO, European Theater of Operations in Liverpool, rd I England. There he joined the 1273 Engineering Combat Battalion. He was billeted in London, England, in Omslow Square Gardens. His battalion was assigned to erect I prefabricated housing for the English people. They were doing this because the East Side I of London had been severely damaged by German B 1 missiles. He was shipped to France 6 months later, and was assigned to combat duties.

I At this time the war in Europe was drawing to a close. The troops in France and Project I Germany would go through camps for redeployment. James' personal experience with the 16 different camps was to help construct them. Each camp had the capacity of 16,000

I troops, and the camps were required to have fresh drinkingHistory water, which was in short

supply. James was assigned to combine forces of similar organizationsSociety to drill 4 water I Oral wells for each camp. After he helped complete the development of these camps, he left I Marseilles, France to got to the SouthPast Pacific Theater of Operations. While heading for the South PacificHistorical Theater of Operations the firs t and second I The atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. Just as the Panama Canal was coming into sight

I there was much celebration aboard his ship, as it was announced that they would be From turning around for the United Sates. I Minnesota His outfit reached Norfolk, Virginia and was reorganized as a service company.

I JamesVoices was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington and was reassigned to training troops for I further operations. He was discharged from the army 6 months later and returned to I Minneapolis, Minnesota. Where he was treated as a hero, with great respect for he had completed his assigned mission as quickly and safely as possible, with the minimal loss I of life. I I I I I I

. ~-., -'.. /. . ~ .. ",: .- ...... ".".. -.~ .. , c.:.~ __ , _.: I , . -. I I Project I -,,--'--- History I Society Oral I Past I Historical The I I From Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Kelsey Deutsch I History Hour #3 May 26th, 1999 I I Nazis in Norway I This is a story that's about my grandma and her older sister. She was born in Norway and lived there for about the first 25 years of her life. Project I In April of 1940, my grandma and her family were living right outside of a town called Honefoss, on a farm up on a hill. The neighbor's farm was close:-. to the main road

I and that was at the bottom of the hill. She and her sisterHistory went to the neighbor's farm one

day, co talk to a lady that lived there. When they were at herSociety hous~she had to feed her I Oral animals, so they stayed in her house as she did that. All of a sudden the Nazis came

marching down the main road, which was very close to them. There were two reasons I Past why they were scared. One was that theirHistorical dad went to the town and the other reason was I that they had to stay in that Thehouse. That's because they couldn't run up to the hill to their I house, because they could get shot by the Nazis. ,~; ~ _-1he night before the Nazis had killed five men onFrom a farm not too far away from theirs. They had to stay in that house for I a couple of hours andMinnesota couldn't resist peeking out of the corner of the window. They were only at the ages of twelve and fourteen when this was going on. They were never caught I by Voicesthe Nazis, neither was the lady feeding her animals or their dad, because he took the short cut and never even saw the Nazis. After they didn't see any more of the Nazis, they

I went back up the hill to see if their family was OK. A lot of the other families that lived I around them would hide in the wood so they wouldn't be caught by the Nazis, but my grandma's family had a little baby so they didn't go to the woods for safety. They just I stayed in their house. That is my story of my grandma and her sister and the Nazis in I Norway. I I I Life in the Airforce during World War" I My name is Robert Kopp. I was a navigator on a B 17 Bomber during the Second World War. When I I left I was 20. I had never been out of the United States before. It was fun to be out of the U.S. for the

I first time, but it was also very lonesome. My parents I were very sad when they heard the news I had to go to Europe to fight in the war. My older brother, Project I Raymond, also had to go to war, which made my parents incredibly fearful. They thought they could

I loose both of their children. History Society I I enjoyed being in theOral airforce. The only thing that I didn't like was being shot at. Most of my trip I I was worried. Only atPast times was I happy. I was scared and worried aboutHistorical being shot at and crashing. I My life changedThe because I had to risk my life for the I nation and go fight in the war. On each mission I flew differentFrom amounts. On average, I flew every two to I three days.Minnesota During my twenty-eight missions, I bombed I Voicesmany people. An average day began with getting up I very early. Next, we briefed, learned where we were going, and checked the airplane. Then we loaded I supplies into the airplane and began our eight-hour fight. As soon as we got home we had to report what I had occurred to people in higher ranks. After our I I I

I report we ate dinner and went to bed. With all this I going on I still had time to write home every few days. I was in Europe for two and a half years. I came I home when the war ended. I was back for one month then I left for Europe to be discharged. Now, as I

I think back, my greatest accomplishment of World War I II was getting back safely. I earned an Air Medal, which everyone in the airforce received, and severalProject I Oak Leaf Clusters. In conclusion, this was my life in the airforce during World War II. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I Ian Berg I World War D: A Marine's Memories

I Wes McCoy was, in his own words, a "19 year old farm boy from North Dakota" I when he joined up to fight for his country in World War II. The following are selected questions from my interview with Mr. McCoy on April 26, 1999. I

Did you think going to war was the right thing to do? I Project I After the c(Jward~v attack on us, which S1mk 19 of our ships and killed 2,300 of our senicemen and civilians, I had absolute~v no qualms about it being the right thing to I do. All of this happened when the Japanese Secretary ofHistory State was visiting Washington to "negotiate for peace ". The Japanese attack was at 7:55 A.lv1.Society Hawaiian time on I Oral December 7. President Roosevelt declared ·war on Japan on December 8 and on

I Germany and Italy on December 11. PastHe had the approval of the vast majority ofthe u.s. public when he made that announcement.Historical I The Did you enlist or were yOU drafted,) I I enlisted inFrom the Navy and was brought to the Federal Building in downtoli'l1 I Minneapolis where enlisteesMinnesota frOnT many of the ~7lrrounding states were congregated However, the Marines needed three volunteers 10 fill aliI a trainload they were shipping Voices I to San Diego. They askedfor three volunteers and no one answered. They then lined

I approximalely 300 of liS up and I made sure that I got in the back rOlV so I wouldl1 'I be I conspicuous. The Marine Sargent selected two "volunteers "from thefrOnl and put his finger on MEfor the third I gave him a lot C?fflack, but it was to no avail-so lhalnight I

I was on the train going to San Diego as a recruit for the us. Marine Corps. As irritated I I I I as I was then, I SOO11 became a corn'en to the Marines and to this day I feel they are the premier fighting forces of the u.s. Armed SenJices.

I What kind of training did you have? I The first eight weeks were spent in what is called "boot camp ". This is where they change one from a civilian to a military way of thinking, plus teaching us about all

I the weapons. Most ofour instmctors were returned veterans from the Pacific theatre so I they told us like it is. I first was at the Marine Corps Depot in Sail Diego and then was Project I sent to Camp Pendleton at Oceanside, California, for three months. I shipped out for the Pacific in October 1944. We landed at a small island called PavlIvu. This was part of

I the Russell Island chain near Guadalcallal. I was one ofHistory the many replacement marines

needed to replenish the strength of the First Marine Division Societywho hadjust suffered I Oral terrible casualties in the battle ofPeleliu.

I What was your job? Past I was aSSigned to an "Assault Platoon".Historical This platoon speCialized in flame­ I The I thr(Jl.t·ers, bazookas, and demolitions. While I knew how to operate all of these weapons, my specialty was theFrom bazooka, which is sometimes called a rocket launcher. As I recall, it I would penetrate 12 inchesMinnesota of concrete or 3 inches of steel. Were vou involved in any major battles? I Voices Yes, I was in the invasion of Okinawa on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945. There

I were 60 marines in our assault platoon when we invaded. When we secured the island, I there were only 5 of (nlr original 60 left-and I was one of them. The island was declared secure May 21, 1945. I I I I I What were your living conditions like? Overseas our living conditions were bad -especially when we were in battle at

I Okinawa. We took Atabrine, a tablet that prevented malaria. I was so scared ofgetting I malaria that I took a lot more medication than was prescribed but I Ilever did come down with it and a lot of other men did We slept in foxholes, which are long trenches, the

I length ofyour body. These were so that your body would be below ground level in case

ofa shelling attack. During rainstorms the foxholes wouldfill up with water so it became I Project I a muddy mess. I recall a rainy season that lasted 21 days, so we never dried out for 3 weeks. Yes, that was bad.

I What was the scariest thing that happened to you? History Society It's hard to single out one thing, as they're so many of them. However, I recall I Oral one night I wa~ on the watch. The Japanese were always trying to infiltrate our lines so

I we had 50% ofour troops awake all Pastnight. I was on a ledge and about every five mimltes

I'd peek over the edge to see if any JapaneseHistorical were sneaking lip on us. To my surprise, I I The I looked a Japanese soldier square in the eyes. He wasjust as surprised as I was. He reachedfor his handFrom grenade and 1 got my Tommy gun and nailed him before he could I toss the grenade at me.Minnesota There were many more incidents, but I hope this will suffice. Was it strange coming home after the war? Were there big changes in your life? I Voices When 1 was overseas, 1 thought that most of the armedforces were overseas

I where the battleground was located However, when I got back 1 learned that the I majority of the armed forces never got overseas and, if they did, they never saw any action. J was quite resentful that they received the same veteran's benefits as those who

I hadfought the battles. One in particular riled me when J learned that he spent the entire I I I war going to college at Minot State College and received the same benefits. As far as

I changing my life, I vowed that I would never encounter anything in my lifetime that I would be nearly as bad as my battlefield experiences had been. Whenever I would have a I problem, I'd think back to some of those experiences and my current problems paled in comparison.

I What is your opinion on the Yugoslavian War and did you own war experiences influence I your opinion? I'm on the side of thinking that we should let the Europeans settleProject their European

I problems. I can probably agree with the air strikes, but I am totally opposed to our I sending U.S. ground troops there. I'd say that our VietnamHistory experience has affected my attitude about fighting overseas more than WWII and we shouldSociety learn from that

I experience. Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I

I Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 122167 It seemed to be one hill after another in the drive south. Amidst tree stumps which hardly serve as adequate cover, a bazooka team waits for an opportunity I to charge into the face of Japanese fire over the crest of the hill in front of them. I I I

I Katie Bennett Hr. 2 History I I Life In the U.S. Navy

I I, Neil Bennett, enHsted ~n the U.S. Navy ~n 1942. I was an orphan, as my parents had recently passed away. I had a younger brother and sister to raise

I who were nine and ten years old. NeverthelesSy Ldecided that I had to do my Project I duty and serve for my country. I was a "90 day wonder" who began serving in 1943 and stayed enlisted for three and a half years. I was an Ensign. a Jr. I Officer, but the commander of a ship during WorldHistory War II. I was on many ships and boats during World WarSociety II and mainly fought on I subchasers and PT Boats. One of the subchasersOral I rode was the Subchaser SC 630. It was about 110 feet long and-30 feet wide.. It was mainly used for I patrolling waters for enemy submarines.Past Its draft was shallow enough so that

most torpedoes that were set for biggerHistorical ships vvould pass underneath a I The subchaser. The subchaser was made of vvood. Not many ocean going ships I were made of vvood during World WarJL My tour- of duty included-lhe i?acific, Philippines, the Fromlandings at Tarawa and Okinawa. None of the ships or boats

I that I rode were everMinnesota badLy hit by enemy submarines. The biggest war threat to

our boats were the kamikazes, suicide planes, that dived at our ships trying to I Voices blow us up. Our ships had some pretty close calls with kamikazes, but we were I never hit badly. The most dangerous situations that I encountered involved commanding my vessel during typhoons. Typhoons are the hurricanes of the

I Pacific Ocean. They lasted for days at a time and the crew and I had to be I vigilant throughout the duration of the storm. I I I

I Our ships often served as an escort vessel in convoys and landings. I There were dangers attendant to travel on the oceans, often large groups of ships travelling at night without lights or radio contact between ships. We were I also involved in landings as a support and protective vessel. I never had to fight in one-an-one combat, but the subchasers that I was on did drop depth charges,

I explosives made to blow up enemy submarines~ But no one could ever prove I that they were able to sink an enemy submarine. Long lasting friendships were-hard to.comeby..io the Navy.whereProject you I moved from ship to ship many times. Mostly you were good friends while you were serving on the same shipsr but you-ne¥er really stayed in touch afterwards. I I did exchange Christmas cards with one of my commandingHistory officers for a number of years after the war. Society

I The medals we received were for certainOral operations like the Pacific

Theater, fighting the Japs in the Pacific Ocean. Also we received them for I Past certain engagements where we had..contaclwiththeenemy. I really can't Historical I remember all of the medalsThe that I or men that I served with received. The food on the ships would be "sparse" .at sometimes, but it depended

I on the day. Other than some bad times, it was pretty good overall. From World War It was not always-very exciting LLwas often mundane and I Minnesota boring work. At times it was dangerous. Probably the scariest thing that we I wentVoices through during the war were the horrible typhones that lasted four to six I days. I I I I I I Life in the Navy I Transcribed by: Justin Koester I Aurthur Jaffee's life started out by moving a lot. He started off in New I York City and then moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and then to Des Moines, Iowa, I then to Minneapolis, Minnesota. After he lived in Minneapolis, he moved to Houston, Texas, and then from Houston, Texas back to Minneapolis.Project That was a I lot of moving, especially for a young person. Just a small part of his life was made up of going into the Navy. I As a result of moving around a lot I don't haveHistory a lot of incidents that I remember with the kids that I grew up with that you wouldSociety normally say you grew

I up with because you didn't grow up with themOral because there were so many

changes. I have bounced around merely because my parents moved. Part of my I Past life was made up of going into the Navy and being aboard ship. I happened to be Historical I very fortunate. I went intoThe the NROTC when I was a year into college. There I was a war going on so I was eager to get into the service. Most men were eager to go into the Fromservice because it was just a thing that you did back in the 1940's. It was a matter of doing something for your country. I joined the NROTC and was I Minnesota one of the youngest commissioned officers. I was actually commissioned when I I wasVoices 20 years old. After I finished the training at NROTC, I was sent down to Sub-Tracer Training School in Miami, FL. From there I was sent to Treasure

I Island near San Francisco. Treasure Island sits between San Francisco and I Oakland. It was a naval base that mainly housed Naval people whose ships were docked on Treasure Island. I was assigned to the USS Argus. The USS Argus, it I turns out, was a converted yacht. The owner of the yacht was Fleischman Yeast I and he sold it to the USA for one dollar. It was a 300 ft yacht. When I got aboard I 91 I

I it, I saw that 6-50 caliber machine guns had been installed. On the deck, there was I one 3" gun that was gigantic. I would venture to guess that it was 20' long. There were many depth charges. They were barrels that you would roll off I if you figured that there were enemy submarine in the vacinity. They would force the submarines to the surface by exploding and sending a percussion out. I was I aboard that ship for 2 112 years. When WWII ended the ship was to be put in dry I dock in mothballs. They didn't have a purpose for it any longer. In the meantime, the purpose of that ship was to go out andProject sit in the I middle of the ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii, as an example, and we would send signals so that planes flying back and forth could use our position to I help them as far as their locations. At the same timeHistory we also sent weather information back to the states. We were a ship that was aSociety sitting duck ifthere

I were any Japanese submarines around, whichOral there were. However, when they

saw our ship for example the Japanese submarines did not want to divulge their I Past position in order to destroy only a little insignificant ship. They were more Historical I interested in the freightersThe or troop ships. On one trip that we were out at sea we picked up an SOS and it came from a location that was about 30 miles from where

I we were working. The captain immediately put everyone on the ship so that they From were ready for anything. We went barreling as fast as we could which was about I Minnesota 18 nauts or about 18 miles per hour to that position. We were the first ones that I Voicesgot there and there were a lot of sailors that were hanging on to life rafts, boats and anything they could rest their bodies on. A Japanese submarine had torpedoed

I them. They were a freighter. They not only sunk the ship but when the men got I into their life boats and into the water the Japanese fired upon them. The Japanese did not know when we showed up whether we had the armament to give them I trouble. We, in the meantime, were sending out signals to ships and planes that I were in the area. We picked up all of the men we could aboard our ship and I I

I started heading into San Francisco. The Japanese submarine could have very I easily torpedoed us if it was still around but it wasn't. We took the survivors to San Francisco where they were met with all kinds of hospital equipment .and I supplies to help them. I was what was called a deck officer and I was actually up on the bow to look out for the Japanese submarine and any survivors when we I received the SOS The captain was the one who called the shots and told everyone I things like how fast we should go and where we are going. Most ships had lookouts all over. I happened to be on the bow and in charge of theProject deck hands. I That was one of my many expeditions on the USS Argus. I later became captain of the ship. My duty as captain was to bring the ship I from the sea to dry dock. After I landed the USS ArgusHistory I ended my Naval career shortly thereafter. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Rationing During WW2 I I interviewed my dad who lived during the time of rationing. My dad Ed Barnett was fresh out of college when the war started and avoided the

I army for medical reasons. My dad had a hernia and found out about it just I before the draft was about to take him. So he was on the home front and never was involved in the war more

I than he had to. One of the ways everyone was involved in helping the war Project I effort was by rationing. This is where different items were distributed equally no matter what your social class was. Not all food items were

I rationed though. Just those needed for the war andHistory all those Gl's for Society I example; sugar, meat, milk and other dairyOral products, metal, and tires. Many people also helped by buying liberty bonds, or giving the government money I to help pay for the war. Past My dad didn't like rationing veryHistorical much. He said "it was a pain in the I The I neck to have to find little stamps to pay for things." He also had another opinion aboutFrom it, he new he had to do it for the war because this was a war we I must not loose. Minnesota I A question that I was interested in was "did you get enough food?" TheVoices answer was yes because not all food was rationed, only those that were I necessary to the war effort. You also would get more food if you had a larger I family. Each person got an equal amount of food. So if you had a big family you got more food so you could feed them all. I I I I I Rationing started shortly after the war started. I didn't get a definite answer but my dad thought it was in early 1942. That is shortly after the

I war started. It ended in 1945 after the war was over. I My dad was happy to be here instead of in Europe. He has always I been against war and probably would try to shake the draft some how but he didn't and still didn't have to go to the war. My dad is still living here and I couldn't be happier. Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I 101 I

My Grandpa During World War II I By Brett Nelson

I My grandpa's name is Vernon Nelson. He served in World War II as an electrician for the planes. He also worked on the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb later in Hiroshima, a I B-29 bomber, the Angola Gay. He worked on the sights and guns on fighter planes and on bombers, mostly fixing all of the mechanical stuff. He needed to eat rations of food. When he was over seas he need to eat what they call K-rations. It was about the size of a cracker-jack box I and inside it had cans of food. Mostly they got eggs and bacon in side the can and on the side I they would get a bit oflittle solid crackers. Later they would get rations called sea-rations, again inside there would be a couple oflittle tin cans with spagetti and meat ballsProject and on the side they would probably get some compressed fruit like a fruit bar. He also got a few medals during the I war. One medal was called a good conduct medal that everyone got unless they were a real screw-up. He also got a presidential unit sitation that his whole outfit got for doing what they I did. And he got the Asia-Pacific theater and 4 battle stars whichHistory each star representing each battle he participated in. When he first heard about Pearl Harbor being bombed wasSociety when he was home living I with his parents at the age of 18. They heard it onOral the radio It was Sunday and they were just eating Sunday dinner. He traveled on a troop ship from Seattle to Hawaii to another little island I and then went to Atinian. It took them 2Past weeks to get there and on the way back it took them 2 weeks also. His grandfather served in World HistoricalWar I but he was not in any heavy combat so I nothing really happened to him. He really liked being a partThe of the war, he thinks it was a great experience for him. He I was fortunate enough to not get hurt or injured during it. Before the war he was going to school and then went into theFrom army so he could not finish it all. But when he returned back to our country he whet back to school to finish up his degree in engineering. I Minnesota

I VoicesBut before he finished school, he married my grandmother. So over all he found that war to be quite an adventure. The war changed his life in several different ways. One way the war I changed his life is when he got out of the army he seemed to be a little more mature than he used to be. Another would be it changed his perspective on the way he looked at politics. I So as you can now see that is what my grandpa's life was mostly like before during and after the war, I really found this interview to be really interesting. And that is one life World I War II changed forever. I I I b 2. I

I Annie Meyer I World War II I I My Grandpa's occupation was building plane engines right as the war was starting. Building planes and engines was part I of the war effort so his company wanted him to stay so that he couldProject help with the I war by building plane engines. My grandfather was at the Solomon Islands. The Kingo Mara was the first ship sunk near him in the South Pacific. He was on I History islands and boats for 33 months. The LST 342 was the mostSociety memorable boat to I him that was knocked out of commission byOral Japan. Five brothers were killed on

the same ship because it sunk and after the incident the government passed a law I Past I that no more than two brothers can be togetherHistorical in war. My grandfather saw mostly the Japanese fighting and shipsThe being taken captive. My grandfather also saw

I kamikazes, Japanese pilots on suicide missions to ram their planes into ships for From I their country. A methodMinnesota to prevent ships being destroyed by the kamikazes was to send little blimps up into the air with 118 inch cables attached to them. The wires I Voices attached to the blimps would cut off the wings of the plane. My grandfather's

I group in the Pacific was the first to use them. I There was a big burial site at Guatal Canal. Military cemeteries needed to I be guarded all of the time and since this cemetety wasn't guarded, some local islanders dug up the graves because the soldiers didn't live on the island so the I I I

I islanders didn't want the bodies there. During the war the navy had to recapture I some islands from Japan to gain access to the bodies buried in the ground. They didn't even look to see who the person was, they just threw the body into the pit

I and covered it. Years later some people re-dug the bodies and looked at the dog I tags at the soldiers and identified most of the soldiers lost at war. I No one else in the Meyer family had to go to war but my grandfather's sons Ted and Peter both had numbers during Vietnam but my GrandpaProject was

I inducted into service during WWII He missed the freedom of going places most in I the war. He missed going to movies, playing golf andHistory going to ball games the most. Out of everything in war he remembers the tragedySociety that war brings; the loss I Oral of lives, the hardship, the wounded. I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Joe Bajda I World War II I

I This report is about my grandfather, Stanley Ferkul Stanley was born in I Holland, and then shortly after the family moved back to their homeland of Slovenia. Although Stanley did notfight in World War II, the war affectedProject him

I and his family in many ways. They had to move many times and suffered many I hardships. History I I was 7 years old when World War II started. WhenSociety I heard stories of all the terrible things that were happening to peopleOral it scared me. I would wonder if

in I the same things would happen to mePast also. I lived Slovenia during the time that I fighting was going on between the CommunistHistorical soldiers and the home guard troops called the ''Domobranci''.The I soon experienced the terrible affects of war first hand.

I My father was threatened by the Italian fascists in Slovenia because he From I would not join the Communist side. He was beaten and the soldiers were going to kill him, but somehowMinnesota my father talked them out of it. The fighting also affected I myVoices friends and relatives, forcing everyone to go into hiding in order to remain I safe from the Communists. Many of the young boys in my hometown were killed during the fighting.

I The same happened in neighboring towns throughout Slovenia. I knew many of I the young boys, some were friends and others were neighbors. The fighting also I I IDS I

I affected my relatives. My uncle was wounded and the youngest daughter in the I family was killed. In the evenings, my family and I would have to close all of the window

I shades and tum off the lights, in order to make the house appear dark and I unoccupied. One night we went over to our neighbor's house. Everyone in the house was praying and trying to keep busy. All of a sudden there were bombs

I being dropped all around us. The bombing really scared me. I thought that the Project I house would blow up and kill all of us. Eventually, my father and brother had to go into hiding because the

I Communists threatened to kill them. Once the CommunistHistory troops came to our Society house looking for my father, but only my mother and us children were home. I Oral However, the soldiers turned out to be people that my mother knew, and they I actually helped my family escapePast from Slovenia. It was amazing how things turned out. If the troops had been anybodyHistorical else, my mother would probably have I The been killed.

I In order to escape the Communists, my family fled to Spittal, Austria in From I 1945 and remainedMinnesota in a refugee camp for 5 years. This is where my family and I I were reunited with many of our friends and relatives that had also fled from the VoicesCommunists. In order to come to America, we needed to be sponsored by I someone in the United States. Eventually, in 1950 a family in the town of I Biwabik, Minnesota sponsored my family. On the way to the United States the ocean waves were really big and the weather was really stormy. The trip to our I I I I

I new homeland was very scary for us. We landed in New York and got to I Biwabik, Minnesota, by train. This is where I still live today. When I first came to the United States I had to go to school in order to

I learn English. I learned the language pretty quick. Then I jumped up to the 9th I grade. By the time I finished 9th grade I was old enough to work. I worked at an experimental taconite plant as a machine operator. In 1954 I went in the army for

I two years. Luckily, I just missed the Korean and Vietnam wars. I was in the Project I army right in between both wars. When I got out of the army I went back to work in the taconite plant until I retired. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I (01 I I Scott Leistiko Life during World War n

I I interviewed Anne Leistiko, my grandma. I interviewed her on what it I was like living during World War II. She had a lot to say about being a teenager during the war.

I My name is Anne Heckencamp. I was 15 years old when the war came to

America. I was still in high school during the first couple years of the war. I I Project I lived at home with my family. When I graduated in 1943, I went straight to a spare parts factory in Joliet, TIlinois. The Navy Department ran this factory. The I majority of the people who worked there made partsHistory for ships, guns, ammunition, and tanks. However, I was the editor of a journal calledSociety "Parts Aweigh". This I Oral journal started in 1943. Its readers were the employees of the factory and the men I that came in by train. Past I About every six weeks, a shipmentHistorical of sailors would come in by train to learn how to work at theThe parts factory. The girls would hold dances for them after

I work. These men were about the only men who were in our factory. The girls From would date the men for six weeks while they were there, and then the men would I Minnesota leave again. The girls would all weep and cry when they left, and the next day a

I Voicesnew shipment of sailors would come in. The girls would hold dances for them I and the cycle would start allover. They would leave after six weeks, and a new bunch would come in.

I Many of my close friends from high school were sent to Europe to fight. I It was hard to say goodbye. I remember hearing about how some of my friends were missing in action. My own brother, Jack, was in the air force. However, he I I II 0 I I failed an eye exam, so he wasn't eligible to go to Europe, so he stayed in the states. I think he was lucky he didn't have to go and risk his life when his eyes

I weren't good enough. I I can still remember the ration stamps. Everything was rationed during the war. They gave you stamps for meat. They gave you stamps for many things.

I There were also many posters trying to get you to join the war effort. This is what I brought me to the Navy Department. Project I I met my to-be husband at the spare parts factory. He came in on a train as consulting engineer. He was only supposed to stay for six weeks, but he ended up I staying until the factory closed at the end of the war.History His job was to straighten up the factory and make it more efficient. I can remember Societythat we would always go I Oral on -dates at night. He wouldn't let me date anyone else. We would go to movies I and dances and anything he couldPast think of I enjoyed it and married him soon I after the war. Historical I think that the warThe greatly changed my life. It helped me meet friends at

I the factory, and I met my husband, Frank Leistiko. I did not like the general From outcome of our men dying, but the war helped my life greatly. I had a lot of fun I Minnesota working at the newspaper. I was the editor of the paper for 18 long issues. The

I Voicesnewspaper helped my writing skills. I After the war, I married Frank on December 7, 1945. After our honeymoon, he quit his job to pursue on a career in color photo development. He

I was a pioneer in color development, and worked with George Eastman, who later I founded Kodak film company. I I I II I

John Lydon I Hr.B I Entertaining the Wounded of WWII

Fred Peting, also called I Ace', served in the Navy in WWIT. He played I second tenor saxophone in a Navy dance band called the IRhythm I Doctors'. Fred Peting was a corpsman and eventually got the job of recreation technician. I Project "Well, it's a long story, and even when you're that age, I seventeen and eighteen, it seems like a long time, but it really wasn't. I I was only in the service for around four years,History and the job I eventually ended up with was a recreation technician for the Societymedical corps. Now, I when you go into service, you go to bootOral camp, and I was in boot camp at Great" Lakes, Illinois. When you are ready to leave boot camp, you I take tests. A certain amount Pastof the guys are sent off to schools, and the I rest are sent off to duties, doing somethingHistorical or another. The interesting thing about the medicalThe corps is once you're in it, you're stuck in it; it's I an entity in itself. In other words, if you need a truck driver, you get it from the medicalFrom corps. If you need a stenographer, he comes from the I medical corps. MinnesotaAll of those things that are performed in the medical I corps, for whatever reason, are performed by what they call a corpsman. VoicesCorpsmen range, like I say, from stenographers to truck drivers; dental I aids, all kinds of medical aids, anything that was done, and that's the interesting thing about the medical corps, you didn't just take care of I patients. After I got out of medical corps school, you were given a I choice of places you wanted to go, and I chose Oakland, California. I I I I I chose this because, first of all, I didn't know where it was, second of all, I was born in the mid-west, and third of all, I had never seen an ocean, I so I thought this would be great. Therefore, I chose Oakland, California over Corpus Christi. They were both on the coast, and Corpus Christi I was in Texas, and thars how that started. When I got there, everyday I was lots of exercising and that kind of stuff. You were assigned wards when you were out there as a male nurse. H you stayed long enough, I you had certain specialties, like a dental technician or an aide of some type. Everyday, morning, noon, and night seemed like youProject were I exercising. They assigned me to the fleet marines as a corpsman, and this was just before Guadalcanal. I was to go with the marines to I History Guadalcanal as a corpsman, and that is what I wasSociety doing out there; I I was getting ready. The marines, they Oraldon't have any of this stuff. The marines are really a division of the navy, so all of the things that are I done, like truck drivers, and whateverPast it happens to be, are all done by I navy people - the marines don't doHistorical much of that. Even the guards on a marine base are all navy.The So, that kind of sets the background. Going I to Guadalcanal would have been a certain death sentence, because when somebodyFrom gets shot in the jungle, the corpsmen have to run out I there at the spotMinnesota where he was shot while you are getting shot at. In actual combat, about thirty seconds was your lifespan! Anyway, I was I exercisingVoices one day and they asked, 'Does anybody here type?' And of I course, I said that I could type. Well, when they saw my typing they said, 'He can't type. He isn't much of a typist!' So, one day they said, 'Is I there anybody here that can play an instrument?', and I raised my hand. 'Well,' the guy that was in charge said, 'They are forming a little I dance band down here, and they want guys that play instruments to go I I ll3 I I down there and try out.' Thafs what I did and thafs how it all started. Up until that time, I was about three months into a ward I corpsman, or a ward male nurse. Some of the things were interesting, or horrible actually, because most of the people we got in those days, I since we were on the Pacific Ocean, and Guadalcanal was the first I engagement that was involved in the Pacific up to that time. The Navy would fly in these guys where guns exploded and shells exploded and I all that stuff; they were literally burnt from head to toe, just crisp, and we had to take care of them along with anything else they Projectflew in. If I the injured were not dying, they came in by ship. And that's the kind of things we handled on the West coast until Guadalcanal, and after I History that of course, the entire war was island-hopping allSociety the way to Japan. I I went down, and we tried out forOral this band. They gave us all spots. The officer's club, at that time it was the only building that we I had for recreation. We had poolPast tables and all kinds of stuff in there. I We also had a theater in there. So,Historical I got into this dance band, and the longer we stayed and Thethe longer we worked, the more ratings we made I as a group, and pretty soon we were all assigned ship's company. Now, when you'reFrom assigned ship's company, they can't move you, for any I reason, unless you'reMinnesota moved from Washington D.C. You see, it was kind of a guarantee to keep all of the band together, and thaf s what I theyVoices wanted to do. We had a Lieutenant in charge, and he never I showed up, and then we had a First Mate, I guess you'd call him, and a Chief Mate. These guys, the First and Chief Mate, were really more in I charge, because they were closer to this, and through those guys, I became what was known as a recreation technician. What a recreation I technician did was running the theaters, the stages, and the I I I I amphitheaters of the base. At the base, we had one main theater and one large amphitheater. Then we had the theater down at the officer's I club. We had three theaters, a lot of stage shows, and all of this kind of stuff. You just kind of learned as you go. They built these theaters I while we were there. They did send me off to San Diego for three I months at the Motion Picture Technical School, if you can imagine such a thing. M.P.T.S. was another name for it. My orders read II was I to return to my original base when the school was over'. A lot of guys at that school, when I was there, they didn't have any suchProject orders, and I they would be placed aboard ships to run movies or to put on shows or whatever their expertise were. I went back to the same base I came I History from because that's the way the orders were cut, andSociety the base was the I Oakland Naval Hospital in California.Oral I don't know if today it's still there or not. It was a few years ago, and I heard that it was being torn I down. They would consolidatePast everything back at Mere Island, where I the big medical center was before theHistorical war. Anyway, that's how I got into this, and I was ship'sThe company permanent duty, because of the I dance band. Now, a lot of the guys that did dance band became surgical assistants, dentalFrom assistants, all kinds of things. This was because the I men had all thisMinnesota time and all of these schools were available. I When I came back from M.P.T.S., we had our own car and went toVoices San Francisco, which was like, oh, maybe thirty, thirty-five mile I away from the base. We went there every day and picked up film for our theaters at the base. We got a new one every day. We even got I movies before they ever came out in the regular theaters. We had them and we would show them, and we would take them back every I day. It was a great deal! We would leave every morning and would get I I 115 I I the new film. Then we would go get breakfast or lunch in San Francisco. Little by little we acquired theaters, swimming pools, and I bowling allies. All of this was under the recreation department. I also had to run the movies with other staff every day. That was really my I principle job. In those days, movies were run by big hart machines. I You needed at least two operators to operate one movie. Today, you go to a movie where there are nine screens, and one guy pushes a button I and the rest is done by computers. Ifs amazing! I never went back to a ward as a corpsman and I neverProject acted as a I medical person on a one to a patient basis ever again. I would have stayed in the navy my whole life if they had given me a guarantee of I History that job - a recreation technician. The thing is, theSociety navy wouldn't do I that. Every seven years you had to goOral to sea whether you liked it or not, and you would lose your job. It takes in the Navy ten, fifteen, I twenty guys on shore to keep Pastone guy at sea. So, most of the Navy is I not at sea. Historical I didn't relish theThe fleet marines in Guadalcanal. Some guys did. I My best buddy, a trombone player, the longer he was in the dance band, the madder heFrom got. He wanted to go to war! I don't think he ever did. I He said, 'Before Minnesotaifs over, I want to see it.' I wasn't quite that eager. The dance band was the thing that got me into this job. We were I aVoices swing dance band which was very popular at that era. We had the I works - five saxophones (including me), three trumpets, three trombones, piano, and bass - we had it all. We played in the dance band I not only for our own base, but allover California. My favorite memory, of course, was this dance band. You might think it would be I running the movies or theater, or something like that. No, it was the I I /1 ~ I I dance band - it was just great! We played behind all of the Hollywood stars - Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Bud Abet, Lou Costello, Marx Brothers­ I anybody, on and on. I wasn't that good at the saxophone, and I'm still not that good today. I did, however, learn one thing from the dance I band. I never learned it in grade school or even high school, 'cause I I wasn't much of a practicer. When you play four hours a day, just practice, you get good, you get a hell of a lot better than you were! I What I played was second tenor, and you don't do much there except follow the notes. The lead tenor takes all of the rides and Projectdoes all of I that stuff. That's a lesson to learn in life - practice makes perfect. You know the old saying, 'How do you get to Carnegie Hall? You practice, I History practice, practice'! Society I Right now, there are more peopleOral in Los Angeles then there were in the entire state of California in those days. No one was there. I California was literally discoveredPast by the GI's and the service personnel who were being shipped out from Historicalthe Pacific. Looking back, I would do I this again. I would haveThe kept on doing it, too, if they would have let I me keep my job. The worstFrom memory was all of the wounded coming in from the I Pacific, from battleshipsMinnesota and islands and stuff like that. It was a sad thing - seeing guys all beat up - blind, no arms and legs, and on, and on, I Voicesand on. I The crowds loved the entertainers. We had an amphitheater that held about 5,000 to 8,000 people. Everybody would go, and they I would scream and yell. These were days before T.V., and you only heard the stars on the radio and movies, and that's basically why people I liked them so much. They were all big name Hollywood stars. The I I 111 I I crowds, being predominately male, liked the girls the best - Rita Hayworth, Eva Gardener, and so many more. And of course, Bob Hope I and those guys provided them with lots of girls in their show. The entertainers that I liked the best were the Big Band leaders - I Duke Ellignton, Harry James, Bing Crosby, Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, I and many more. Sometimes, they even broadcasted out of the base. This was called the Big Band Coca-Cola hour. The entertainers came I there mainly because it was a Naval Hospital. Even to this day, when you see a star someplace they always visit the hospital or Projectthe wounded, I and it was the same then. That's why they came there, not because we were a better audience and we were not on the beaten path, like San I History if Francisco or Los Angeles. All of the patients, theySociety could hop, crawl, I or wiggle, they got there. On an average Naval base, they probably - Oral didn't get any or very few entertainers. This is because there wasn't this I need to serve the men who hadPast been wounded serving their nation and that kind of thing. We took careHistorical of all of the entertainers. We'd I have to get everythingThe set up for them and do the whole dang thing, I and it became just like your second skin. After a while, you did the job and it was notFrom overwhelming, it was just a job that you did. I The entertainersMinnesota were good and bad, but mostly good. Some of them you had to see that they got to visit patients on the ward and I Voiceshave their pictures taken. Most of the guys and gals were really I appreciative and really good. One guy, he was just an egotistical no good - just awful- he treated everyone terribly. But thars the way it I was with the entertainers. My worst memory of the job was taking care of certain entertainers. Some were rude and inconsiderate, some of I them would throw coats at you or demand this and that and say, 'Take I I I I care of this boy!' I remember one time, we were wheeling out a grand piano from the stage out onto a truck for Jose Turbe, a famous pianist. I As we were rolling it from the rolling dock onto the truck, the truck moved and the piano fell straight down, smashing into millions of I pieces. Oh, it was awful! That was a bad memory, but it's kind of funny I now. The dance band played for all of the bond drives. We would go I to the ship yards and to the ammunition factories, and all of that. We'd play allover - Alameda Air Force Base, and all kinds of placesProject in I California. When I got out of the service, you had an option. You could I History sign up for the reserves, national guard, or you couldSociety just go out scot I free. Well, I thought, 'I'm not going toOral sign up'. Some of my buddies did. They all got drafted right back into the Korean War, which was I only about four years after WWII.Past Some were in college and some had families. They only got probably Historicala few bucks a month, and then they I had to go back. SomeThe people wanted to get into the thing, and until I they get shot, there happy with it. I was attached to the medical corps - medical corpsFrom all the way - but I did very little medical stuff. I I'm sorryMinnesota I didn't shoot anybody! It was really a pleasure and a lot of fun." I Voices I I I I

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I My Grandpa in World War 2 I I interviewed my grandpa Charles Shellenberger about the time he served in World War 2. He was drafted into the military before he graduated from high school but

I the government allowed him to finish high school before he had to report for training. He I chose to be in the navy. He served in the United States Naval Services from June 16, I 1943 to October 4,1945. His ship was the APA54 USS Wayne. His primary job on the ship was to be a dental technician. When in combat, he served as a medic.Project His rank was a I Pharmacist Mate 3rd Class which is like a sergeant in the army. He trained in Farragut, Idaho at the naval training center and also was discharged there after sailing home the I History week the atomic bomb was dropped in Japan. Society I His ship's job in combat was to carry troopsOral into combat and remain by the shore I to help wounded soldiers. When not in combat, the ship would pick up and deliver supplies. The ship traveled in-betweenPast New Zealand and Japan. The ship had a crew of Historical I 500 sailors and could hold 1500The marines. His ship was never hit by an enemy but had I several close calls. Only 3 people of the crew of 500 died on the ship. The ship only had 2 5-inch guns operatedFrom by a gun crew. The ship shot down 4 Japanese planes and took a I few prisoners. After theMinnesota war the ship made trips to the Philippines and Japan before it was discharged and sold for scrap. I Voices The food on the ship was usually dehydrated. It wasn't very good. They also had

I fresh Australian meat that very few people would eat because it tasted horrible. I Vegetables and fruits were usually dried. The water on the ship gave people many cavities because they had to take the salt out of the water before they could drink it. That

I process also took out all the minerals and nutrients. I I I I The living conditions were mediocre. They had bunks for everyone below the deck but almost everyone slept on the deck because it was extremely hot in the bunks.

I My grandpa slept in his dental office. I When not in combat the crew was allowed some recreation. Some things he did I was swim off the boat when the ship was not in shark infested areas. He got off the ship in 1945 in Hawaii. He drove ambulances in Honolulu for three I months. Finally he was discharged and went home during the dropping of the atomic Project I bomb. All together he served 2 years and 4 months in the military. Seventeen of those months were on board the ship. He celebrated his 19th and 20th birthdays on the ship. My

I grandpa had a very interesting experience while serving Historyhis country. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I /2..3 I I Flying a B-1 7 Bomber in World War II

I My grandfather, Doug Putnam, told me this information I based on his experience as a 8-17 bomber in World War II. I was 1 8 when I was drafted to fight for the United I States Army Air Force in World War II. I was trained as a

I gunner and radio operator for 8-1 7 bombers. I flewProject from I Nebraska to Maine, from Maine to Newfoundland, and from Newfoundland finally to Ireland where we landed in Nuts I History Corner. There we left our plane to be outfittedSociety with guns and I such as we got on a boat and headedOral to Sudbury, England. In

Sudbury there was a 8-1 7 base. We few 31 missions over I Past different parts of Germany fromHistorical this base. I The Every morning we got up very early around 4 or 5 am, and

I went over and had breakfast. We always had plenty of food. From I From breakfastMinnesota we went to a briefing room where people explained what was going to take place, such as our route, I Voices target, and altitude. Some missions were longer than others

I but most were from about 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. I Once on one of our missions we were sent to Dresdin, I Germany, which was far away. We were running low on gas on I I I I the way back so we had to crashland on a cornfield right on the I verge of enemy borders. To avoid capture we relied on our compass to decide which way to go. Fortunately we returned

I safely, but they still made us fly more missions.

I Another time while at the base camp a red alert signal I came on. Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran to concrete shelters or trenches. The signal had goneProject off because I a V-1 bomb was near and actually ended up landing just miles

I from our base. Later a green signal cameHistory on, which told Society I everybody they could come out. Oral I When I flew in the B-1 7 each individual crew member got a heated suit. These suitsPast were electrical and what you did Historical I was plug them in andThe you could regulate the temperature of it. I We also had flak suits. We had these because some of Germany'sFrom main weapons were anti aircraft cannons. These I Minnesota were cannons that shot missiles way up in the air where they

I Voicesburst. When the missiles burst lots of little pieces of sharp I metal went all over. Once one of them went right through my I radio room. The suits protected us from these pieces. Despite these jackets, our navigator was wounded on our first mission

I to Berlin. Another of Germany's weapons was fighter planes I I 1'2.5 I I which we tried to shoot down. I In each mission, we flew with a group of about 13-30 planes. One of the jobs of the first two planes was to drop

I chaff. We dropped chaff in order to confuse the German's radar I guns. The radar guns detected the planes telling the Germans I how far to shoot up the missiles. Since chaff was half metal and floated downward it did indeed confuse their radarProject

I detectors.

I After fighting for 39 months I gotHistory back to the United Society I States. To me things hadn't changedOral very much. Luckily I was I never injured in the war. I believe World War Two was definitely worth fighting Pastfor. Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Sam Tilsner I History Per. 2 WWII I 6/1/99 I Oral History For my oral history transcript, I decided to interview my grandpa. I chose him

I because he was in World War II and he is Jewish. I thought it would be interesting to I find out what it was like for him during the war. He had a lot to tell me. Here's what he Project had to say.

I I tried to enlist once, with a few of my friends, but I was not taken because I had I the wrong birth-date. I was later drafted when I was 17History or 18 into a medical unit of the US army. I had basic training in Missouri; then I was put in Societya mule pack and sent to I France-at the tail end of the war. I did not likeOral it in the army because I was very home I sick. Past I Something that helped me in EuropeHistorical was that I played catcher for an all-star baseball team. We played otherThe army teams, and teams from different countries. During I the games against other country teams, there were very few problems. We did not argue or get into fights.From There was no gunfire during the games we just enjoyed playing. I Minnesota As far as the Holocaust goes, I was aware of it, but I wasn't scared because I was I "safe."Voices I was safe because I was in the medical unit of the US army and we didn't do the I fighting, the troops did that. My family was pretty lucky, because none of our family members were in the Holocaust. We did have family friends that were put in

I concentration camps, but my family was still pretty lucky. I I I /2-, I I Throughout my time in the army, I was treated pretty well. I had food when I needed it. I had a bed to sleep in and shelter. I never had any trouble with other soldiers.

I I was well respected since I was a staff sergeant. All in all, I got along good. I One of the jokes in my group was that the US army killed more of its own men I than the enemy did. This was because the US army was moving so quickly in Berlin. I thought this was kind of funny but true. I It was very interesting to talk to my grandfather about his time in the war. I Project I learned many things about him I did not know before. For example, I didn't even know that any of my grandparents were in the war until I told my dad that I was doing an

I interview for history. History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Stacey Schumeister I Life In The 40's and 50's I interviewed my grandma, Ruth Miller Brand. She is full of interesting stories, and

I I wanted to hear some of them. She talked to me about what life was like in the 40's and I early 50's. We talked about all aspects oflife: social, professional, home, and every thing else. She said that talking about this brought back many fond memories for her, and it was

I very fun and interesting for me. Project I I was born in Omaha Nebraska in 1923. During the 40's, I was in my 20's. The 40's was a very different era. It was before television, penicillin, polio vaccines, frozen foods,

I pantyhose, dishwashers, air conditioners, CD players, artificialHistory hearts, and contact lenses. It Society I was before house-husbands, gay rights, computerOral dating, and people got married first and then moved in together. Smoking cigarettes was fashionable. If something was "made in

I Japan" it was considered junk. Past

I graduated from Central High SchoolHistorical in 1940. The war was going on in Europe, I The I but America was not in it yet. In high school, I sometimes worked as a model for a store. I was in a high schoolFrom sorority. It was great. I remember my dress for one of our formal I dances. I wore a gownMinnesota with a black velvet coat with a white fur collar and white gloves. It I was absolutely stunning. VoicesAfter high school, I stayed in Omaha and attended University of Nebraska. I Unfortunately I only stayed there for a year and a half. The men and some women from I America went to fight. They left all of their jobs open, so I left college and I never returned. I went to Omaha to work, like many other girls. I worked there as a legal assistant in a law I firm. I lived at home with my parents. My sister Fannie was married and my brother Ben

I /2..t!j I I I was in the war fighting in the South Pacific. We worried about all of the soldiers, but did not hear much about what was really going on. We only heard what the government wanted

I us to hear, not all of the bad things. I had many girlfriends there. In fact, my six closest I friends then are my six closest friends now. We went to movies, listened to concerts, and I many other fun things. I remember going to Peony Park all the time. It had amusement rides, a huge dance floor, and good food. We did not date much. Most of the men were in I the war, so there was no one to date. Most people in my age group weren't married until Project I they were over 30. Some of the latest fashion trends were capri pants, twin sweater sets, hats, white gloves, below the knee, white cotton pleated skirts, and the "Dior" look. I met

I Mickey Rooney, Ann Rutherford, and Doris Day. History In 1953 I met my husband-to-be, Irving Brand. I wentSociety to Minneapolis to visit a I Oral friend. Her lawyer's firm needed legal assistants so I stepped in since I had experience. I I then met a lawyer there who knew Irving.Past I am actually going to that lawyer's 50th anniversary party next week. He set us up onHistorical a blind date. Four months later we were I The married! Irving was not in the war; he luckily had a diabetic condition. Although, his

I brother Morey was a prisoner of war. Thankfully he survived. From As you can see, the 40's and 50's was a very different era. Both for the good and I Minnesota bad. We were able to survive some hard times, even without modem technology! I Voices I I I I 130 I I I I I I I Project I

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I .. -. .. ~. 'i:;~\""'(~~~h:'TI1'~'~:'~"';f"~'~':'::' _. ~ I 13 I I I Brad Lieberman wwn and the Korean War

I I interviewed my grandpa about WWII and the Korean War when he was I in the navy. I "First of all I was drafted into the navy in 1944. I had to go to a training camp in San Diego. I learned basic training things there on what I needed to do. I Then I went to Blaine Bridge, Maryland to a school to major in accounting and Project I being a secretary. After this I was ready to be an accountant and I went into war. First I went into WWII. I boarded the U.S.S. Houston in Brookland and I

I went out to sea. My job on this ship was to pay the soldiersHistory and officers. I had to

make sure people got the right amount of money and thenSociety I paid them. Twice a I - Oral month each person got paid, but each at different times. There were over 8,000 I people on the ship that I had to pay.Past I never even came close to comingHistorical into WWII. All we did was practice for I The a year and then we came back to the U.S. On this ship I was all over the Atlantic

I Ocean. Finally we brought the ship back and put it in a harbor in Philadelphia. From There was a little trouble putting the ship in the harbor, but we did OK. I Minnesota I enjoyed my life on the ship because we went to many different ports.

I EachVoices day I had to compute pay and do other accounting work. I liked the job. For I entertainment I saw a movie every night on the ship. I loved the food. We had beans for breakfast every Saturday morning.

I When I was aboard the ship we went to many fun places. I got to go I swimming off of the coast of Sicily. I went to the Italian Alps and went hiking I I I

I and sight seeing. That was very fun. One weird thing we had was a corps in the I refrigerator. When I came home I finished up college until I was called back for the

I Korean War. In the Korean War I had the same exact job, but there were many I more people to pay. I was also better and faster at the job. I was put on the U.S.S. Scarland Bay. One ofthe ship's jobs was to go into

I the Caribbean Sea to catch a Russian Sub, but this failed. Entertainment was the Project I same on this ship as it was in WWII. The ship that I was on in this war was different because it was an aircraft

I carrier. This ship never went to war, but many airplanesHistory did. Four soldiers died Society because their planes were shot down. Later we held services for them. I Oral Finally, we came back to the U.S. and landed the ship. While we were I landing the ship, we hit a large tankerPast in the port while it was standing still. The men who were driving the ship got kickedHistorical out of Virginia (that was the place I The where we landed the ship). Because of this we put the ship on commission. Then I

I went back home and became an accountant. I was glad to be home." From I Minnesota I Voices I I I 133 I I I I Korean War Hi, I am Brennan's grandfather and I fought in the Korean War. I I was a member of the 47th Division of the National Guard. In the fall of 1950, President Harry Truman called up my division to go to Camp Rucker in Alab&l1a to start I training because soon we would be sent over to Korea. At the time I was 22 years old and living in South Minneapolis. I I was home on leave in June of 1951 and when I returned to Camp Rucker my F.E.COM orders for Korea were waiting for me. I then returned back to Minneapolis I several weeks later and was married before going overseas. Project \\'hen the time catTle to leave for Korea, '\t've left on a troop ship from Ca..'TIP I Pendelton in California. This was my first time going under the Golden Gate Bridge. On the second day on the way to Japan we ran into a very bad storm and I got really sick. I After that though it was very nice the rest of the way. WhenHistory we finally reached Japan, it had taken us about one week to get there. Society I When we got to Japan, we docked at YokohamaOral which is a big seaport in Japan a..'1d from there \ve went to Tokyo. In Tokyo we got a bunch of different shots but the one I that I remember the best was a shot calledPast JB which was short for Japanese B. After that we stayed overnight in Tokyo and the next Historicalmorning we were shipped to the city of I Sasebo. From there we were Thetaken over to Korea on a Japanese boat. While we were on I the boat we either sat or laid on mats almost the whole time because there were a lot of men and the boat wasFrom not ail that big. I Once we got to Korea, we were sent to city kIIO\\'Il as Puson. From there we took one of the worst train ridesMinnesota I have ever been on to about the 38th Parallel where we then went to our assigned units. The reason it was so bad was because the windows were I Voices almost all broken, it smelled horrible, the bunks were triple stacked and there wasn't I much room to move around. During my time in Korea, I was assigned to the 151 st Field Artillery Battalion. In I tbis Battalion, I was a Gunnery SergeaTlt. I was in charge of telling t.he artillery when to shot when it was needed. I was also in charge of making sure all of the preparations were I met for the next firing. After a week in the line battery, I was asked to go to service battery as the supply Sergeant. A typical day for me started with breakfast. When I was I I I I over in Korea they had very good food. After breakfast I had to get the records and supplies ready. One eXfuliple of this would be sending a truck to the corps headqufu"1:ers to I pick up food rations for the entire battalion for the day. When they returned from the food depot, I then sent the truck to the other four batteries for distribution for the day rations. I After about 5 months we were given an R&R leave (rest and recuperation). We went by truck to Seoul and by plane to Tokyo. We stayed at the U.S. governrnent- run I Tokyo Hotel. Food and lodging were included in the R&R leave- ail other expenses were paid by service personnel. During this time (5 days) we were free to do what ever we I wanted, sightseeing, shop, etc. I went to see the Emperor's palace from the outside and did some shopping on Ginza Street, which is still a popular street for Projectshopping. The I weather at that time (winter) was much the same as Minnesota, but not quite as cold. Tokyo had no snow but there was snow in the mountains. I During the afternoon there would usuaily be a mailHistory call. There would also be some Phy Ed a couple days a week. They would also clea.'l upSociety tb.e grounds in t.~e ca.'1lP I every couple of days. In the evening after all ofOral my day's work was done I would go over to the mess hail and see the Sergeant for something to snack on. I would either stay at the I mess tent or take it back to my own tent.Past There I would make coffee to go with my snack. Also during the evening I would eitherHistorical write letters or play cards with the other I SGTs in my tent. Once in a Thewhile there would be a movie for everyone to watch. We \vould usually go to bed arouIld ten or ten tl-.irty aIld be up the next morning arOllIld six I A.M. On Sunday mornings there would be a worship service for ail that wanted to attend. You could only attendFrom if you didn't have any other duties to do. Sometimes you were I assigned to the office Minnesotaor as Sergeant of the guard for the day and then you couldn't leave your post. I VoicesWe were warned anytime we went waiking not to wander of traiis and roadways, for fear of t.1-te la'ld mines that had been planted by the North Koreans. One day one of I our supply trucks hit a land mine when it backed up to the supply tent. Luckily, no one was injured, only a tire blew out. I I was in Korea for only 9 months and they had to rotate me because my enlistment I period was up in June of 1952. I \35 I I I During my time in Korea I only saw one person from Minneapolis and that was a friend who happened to drive by in a jeep. It was good to See I-Iim. I On my way home I went by truck to Seoul, Korea, and boarded an army transport and contrary to the rough trip I had going to Korea, I had a smooth, peaceful trip back to I California. I landed at Camp Pendelton and from there I took an army airplane to Camp McCoy in Wisconsin where I was discharged from the service. It took a couple days to I get discharged. On May 15, 1952, I boarded a bus for Minneapolis and my wife.

I By Brennan Wand HourProject 3 I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Brent Bohlig I Korean War: I The Life of a Marine. I Charles E. Bohlig was a young Marine who set up radar systems and other electrical equipment in the heat of the Korean War.

I "When I graduated from high school in May of 1948, I enlisted in the I Marine Corps., and was inducted in September, 1948. I was then taken to the Marine Corps. recruiting depot in San Diego, California, for training.Project I spent the

I next three months there until just a few days before Christmas of 1948. Then I I graduated from the Marine Corps. recruiting depot andHistory came home for a ten-day leave, to visit family and friends. Then, I was ordered to Societyreport to the Marine

I Corp. air station at El Toro in Santa Ana, California.Oral I was assigned to a squadron

I called Marine Ground Intercept SquadronPast No. l. The job of the squadron was to maintain and operate radar systems to interceptHistorical incoming planes in case of war. I The first two months wasThe job training, so I that could learn about what the I equipment was and how it worked, and then what to do with it. After that I was From I selected to go to Memphis, Tennessee, for six months of training in electronics and radar systems.Minnesota There, we learned how radar worked and how all the other I Voicesdifferent kinds of equipment worked. Because we may have to use all different I kinds of equipment, we had to be trained on all of them so no matter where we were we could maintain that equipment and keep it in good repair. Then, I I graduated from Memphis and went back to EI Toro. I was then assigned to I Marine Corp. fighter squadron VMF 234. What I did there was maintain all the radar on the airplanes. All the planes at that time were beginning to have radar I i I I I systems. They were attached to a pod underneath the wings or on the tail system. We had to know how these worked. I was trained on these pod radar systems for

I a while until I was asked to work on larger radar systems. These systems were I able to track planes from five to ten miles away. This gave you surveillance of planes coming your way. You'd watch for planes on a TV screen that would

I bleep whenever it would pick up a plane. So you could measure the plane's speed I and the direction it was traveling by watching the screen. That was used for the protection of airfields to detect incoming enemy airplanes. It was Projectcalled an early

I warning system. I Now, it was the 1950's and the Korean War Historybroke out. Our squadron was selected to go as one of the first groups of Marines to go intoSociety action with the

I Marine Corps. and the UN. We packed up Oralall of our equipment and got

transported to Long Beach, California, where they put us aboard troop ships. The I Past ship was like a cruise liner with rows ofHistorical rooms, like the Titanic. This was a very I spartan place, you had justThe a small room and you might have 50 people in one I room. That ship went from Long Beach, California, to Osaka, Japan. Once there From I they got us all off the ship and went to an abandoned Japanese airfield just northwest of Osaka.Minnesota This is where we set up radar systems to watch for any I enemyVoices planes. After two months at the airfield, they decided to send us over to I Korea. We got onto a LTV ship that had big doors that would open up in front to let out tanks, trucks, and troops. Then, we got in trucks and drove up to Pusan

I and unloaded. After that we headed for a small town where we set up some I equipment on a high hill. We could get better surveillance because we could vector (direct) American and UN planes for bomb runs. We also kept note of any

I \ 6'l I I I enemy airplanes coming our way. Korean planes didn't last very long. They had fabric covered wings and just weren't very good. So, we didn't have much to

I watch for. As the war kept going on, we got some new equipment that was more I portable and was attached to a truck. We could crank the radar antenna up and down on the truck. This allowed us to be more mobile. As, the war kept

I progressing, we kept beating the Koreans. We then went up to the Chosan I Reservoir in North Korea where there was intense fighting. It was starting to become winter and the Chinese were coming into the action. ThereProject were

I thousands and thousands of Chinese troops. They came in and over ran the I American forces. This forced us to pack up what weHistory could, get in our trucks and retreat. We got as far south as Pusan, South Korea. We Societythen got some old LST

I warships that were used to carry civilians andOral our equipment. When we got on

I the ships we headed for Inchon, SouthPast Korea. There they got all the troops together and invaded and captured Seoul,Historical the capital of South Korea. Later, some I troops got to take a few daysThe and have some "rest and relaxation" in Japan where I you could get a shower and some good food. Then, we continued our military From th I action by crossing the 38 parallel. After that, we got pushed back to Inchon and got back on the LSTMinnesota ships and went to Japan. I VoicesI then went to Hawaii, east of Honolulu. I stayed there for a while then I got on an aircraft carrier and went back to San Diego. There I hitched a ride back to Minnesota where I visited with family and friends. Later, I went back to El I Toro for six months then was discharged from the Marines. I later got married I and started a family."

I 13'1 I I

I 5/25/99 Richard Ash, an FBI Agent I Began in 1948 and retired 1977

I Richard Ash became an FBI agent right after World War II. He started his career in 1948 I and was very talented and successful in his job. After solving many cases and arresting fugitives and such he retired in 1977. I FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation. Our motto is "Fidelity,Project Bravery, and

I Integrity." I joined the FBI in 1948. I had been a Staff Sergeant in the Anny during WWII

I and had returned to college to complete my education towardsHistory a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. At that time, the FBI was acceptingSociety applications from I Oral college graduates who had had at least three years of experience in a "supervisory" I position. My Staff Sergeant met that standard.Past Historical I I believed that the FBI wouldThe provide my family with a sufficient organization with I an outstanding reputation. I would be doing a patriotic service and above all it was much more interesting than Fromany of the engineering jobs. As it turned out, I was never I Minnesota disappointed that I made this choice. I MuchVoices of my time in the early years in the FBI I investigated the activities of

I communists and their various organizations in the US. who were sympathetic to and I under the influence of the Soviet Union. In the later years, I was engaged in various I criminal investigations. I once was a coordinator of all the bank robbery investigations in western Missouri and all of Kansas. I investigated kidnappings, looked for fugitives, and so I I I I I on. During the Vietnam War, I was in charge of seeking and arresting US. personnel who had left their assigned posts without pennission. These people were called deserters or

I AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave.)

I During the 1960's I was assigned to the FBI Headquarters in Washington DC. My I first job there was to coordinate all of the Selective Service Cases throughout the US. and provide the results of those investigations to the Selective Services HeadquartersProject in I Washington DC. At this time all male citizens of the US. 18 and over had to register with

I their own local draft boards (this was during the Vietnam War.)History Society I Other chores I had later were teaching FBI OralAgents at their training academy in Virginia and being and FBI Instructor. I was responsible for taking teams of FBI agents into I Past the various FBI facilities to review their efficiency. I was also the Assistant Director in I Historical Minneapolis (then my family andThe I lived in Edina and two of my daughters attended Edina

I schools.) This is the number two position, responsible for assisting the Special Agent in From Charge in managing all of the activities in the division. This division was responsible for I Minnesota all the FBI activities in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. As you can see we I Voices had to move a lot; it is a policy in the FBI that agents were transferred at least twice. As an I Assistant Director I was a member of the FBI's Executive Conference which was the senior

I advisory group for the FBI Director, Clarence Kelly. This was the position I held at the I time I retired in December 1977.

I I 'i \ I I

I There have been times in the FBI where I have been scared, but fear is not a bad I thing when you are in a potentially dangerous situation. It increases the adrenaline and I makes you more alert and more careful. The whole point of being afraid is what bravery is all about. Many of the cases involve seeking and arresting dangerous criminals. these

I activities always involve risks.

I On one occasion another agent and I were seeking a deserter. (mentioned before.) Project I Most of the deserters were not dangerous people. They were usually just people who wanted to go home and see their family. On one occasion we found the deserter in a I History residence where he was visiting his wife. When we arrested himSociety he asked our permission I to pack a bag of clothes that he would need on hisOral way back to the army so we granted

his request. As he was packing the bag, my FBI agent partner inspected the bag and to I Past our surprise he had a hidden a loaded handgun.Historical Naturally we confiscated the gun and I The I were quite upset with the deserter. I have also stood up to a hijack which was very threatening (Which isFrom explained more in the article.) One of the great things about I working as a special agentMinnesota of the FBI was that there were very few, if any, boring I moments.Voices I found all the things I did interesting. I The everyday routine in the FBI was different depending on my particular I assignment. I was pretty much in the office supervising the activities of the others in my later years. The normal working day was from 8:15 am to 5:00 pm. However, there was

I always more work to do than could be accomplished in that period of time. I would look I I I

I over cases that were assigned to me, usually 25 or 35 such cases. I would fill out a card

I that was kept by the FBI telephone switchboard that would indicate where I was going I that day so I could be located if I was needed. I would then leave the office, go to the garage where I could get an FBI car. The FBI car was equipped with a radio that was on I a channel reserved for the FBI so I could talk to other agents in FBI cars. If the day's

I activities included potentially dangerous activities, I would ask another FBI agent to Project I accompany me. I doubt I had any time during the week for family activities but I do recall being I History involved in the usual school activities such as the PTA and conferences, that sort of thing. I Society During the -weekend we had more time for familyOral gatherings. Each weekend we would

I attempt to plan family activities together.Past We frequently went to drive-in movies. The kids would take their sleeping bags and whenHistorical they got tired they would lay down in the I The I back of the station wagon. I recall going to rodeo and fairs. We planned vacations for the summer, visited myFrom family or my wife's family, or we would plan picnics or gatherings I with other agents' families.Minnesota

I IVoices am proud of my service in the FBI. The FBI is a unique organization. I feel that I I had the opportunity to work in an organization that has a great reputation for service with I a group of men and women who believed 'in Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity" and lived and worked by those standards.

I Transcript by Laura Hutchison I ''-'3 I ~~..... -e- ....------.-----­ ~~ .. ~.~ ~ ..V .. ~ ~' v, v"o U·· ~ \U .~. ,~ , JIIIIIt-'" .,. . i~ .. ·I.qll!ll:I'i1\Hl\~~!l!~1I~Ji~l!l1lil!HIHlliLi\~ It'" I'Hllll\"ll .. "t • .'. ,;'",.' (;, f." , 'I, . '.. : 'II tI ' \~).. ~~ .. J ~ , : ~ : ~ ~ ,I: ,'.1;.' .'.... ;:::-. BUFFALO EVENING NEWS .~., . , .:' .,' .' Wednesday, JulyS, 1972 " ":' ... ':.. ~~::.:.~:~.~-:-~ Project

History Society Oral

Past Historical The

From Infant Cheton Smith Minnesota is carried away by FBI's Richard Ash after being taken Voices .from her father, Charles Smith, who held. her at. knife­ point for 3 hours.

Three Hours of Tension at the B~ffaloAirport I I I

\. \'

llIE GIRL, J etuan Smith, LEasfSideMan ..... , 18 months old, of 372 Riley St". was released from St. Joseph Intercommunity Hospital after !Also Link~dJ(): <."! having a smaU cut on her nose . t.-eated:···, ., ,,--. .- .. ;.: .... Jetuan's white. nightgown was splattered . with blood· which authorities said was not ',Doubl~~ Project ~ers.: Slashing . .. . By MIKE- DODD"', _._"e". . '-, C". ~~ ___ ~ ::. Smith· offered no .resistance I ;vhile he was· handcuffed and' A Buffalo man who trieQ to hijack an American searched. His white print shirt . also was covered with blood Airlines 707 jet at Greater ~uffalo .lnternational·Air. stains.· ' port today surrendered to authorities after holding his z- U. S. Magistrate Edmund F; , baby' daughter hostage at knifepoint in the plane for I,· t Maxwell·. set bail at $200,000 nearly 3 hours.History . .,.. . ' after Smith was arraigned on charges of attempted piracy, Police said the would-be hi­ or hijacking. He set 11 AM jacker stabbed two Societypersons in July 14 for a preliminary hear­ Full Page of Pictures. IZ ing. The .charge carries a max4 Oral PICTURE PAGE imum,20-year prison term. a Riley St. apartment and left .... ' a suicide note at his mother's R. WILLIAM Stephens, who home before driving to· the I-~' was assigned as Smith's ~ttor­ airport with the baby. c- ney, asked the magistrate to h order a. psychiatric exam toPast A motive for the bizarre chain of events is still being 1- determine Smith's mental com­ n petency, but the magistrate Historicalsought by police. , I;;> e said only a federal judge had Authorities identified the man is ,the jurisdiction to doThe this. as Charles Smith, 23, of 117 ,d Mr. Stephens also opposed Donaldson Rd. He was whisked 1- the bail, which he called a from the airport by federal· e "very gross figure" and asked authorities moments after his that it be set at $211,000. A9St. surrender.. I~ - U. S. Atty. Richard.J. Arcara, • • • addeT 1 bad requestedFrom the $200,000 bail .. He said no one was inside I '. -The suspect .. was .renlanded to ;. the plane when Smith ran up I Erie County Jail. .'. .. I the ramp. , Chief of MinnesotaDetectives Ralph V. ". .. . ) . Degenhart indicated Buffalo SMITH SURRENDERED o police would charge Smith with about 7: 45 this morning after two counts of assault in the , about 2 hours of coaxing by his stabbing incidents. Police said family, ministers and members Smith may' also face a' bur-. I~ Voices of the Federal Bureau of In- RICHARD H. ASH I glary count. . vestigation. . Police believe the blood stains . The suspect's mother, friends FBI Agent in Charge I were either Smith's or those of , the two persons' he reportedly and the ministers were brought stabbed in an. apartment prior , to the airport by BufNil0 police I~ from the Cold Springs precinct. to his hijack attempt. , * * * At least one federal agent, ACCORDING TO Byron. Rog­ dressed in the uniform of an An argument apparently' fol­ I~ ers, district· sales manager for \ American Airlines worker, fol­ lowed and Mrs. Smith was cut . American Airlines here, the lowed the suspect down the in .the ches·t: A companion, ' suspect boarded the plane ramp after he threw out a knife Dennis Keeys;. 23,' of 199 'Riley '-' about 5:25 AM after chasing a with a 3-inch blade before his St., was cut on both arms, postal employe through a small surre~de_r ~ ______--:- __ police said. '" . . . I~ tunnel near the plane. • • • Police said the drama began "He came around the service about 5 AM in the apartment BOlli WERE rushed to Dea­ entrance behind the airport of Smith's estranged wife, coness Hospital, .. where' Mrs. ;::J post office first," Mr. Rogers Smith was reported in fair '. Ethel; f2. condition and . Mr. Keeys: in I ., said. Detectives Stanley A. Lewis He said men' were working critical condition resulting from and Robert F. Arnet of the Joss of blood. . around the plane to ready it Homicide Squad said they found for an "empty ferry" flight to Smith is believed,. t? have Rochester. The suspect dashed the window of the apartment shattered when' they:· ari"ived .....~ .. ;cq up the ramp steps and was im- I (Would-Be' .' Hijacker,. con- They said they were"told Sroith .' ~"'.-:.."" : tinued on Page 15, Column 1.) - mediately spotted by personnel . 1 . . urn'l"'lrina . nntC:O;"A thA nl"!1.."a J...a. had crash~d thioueh "th'e:' win"': :";;< -•. I I I I

IWednesday, July 5, 1972

J I ( Project I

_ .. -._" •.---.~ .... _-,:-: . .. _ . . "-NetDl Chief Photographer' Bamell Kerr ...... I AIRPORT -DRAMA .ENDS-Wouldbellija-cker Charles Smith, 23, descends from an Anfe~.~~~-:A!!line~jet~iner HistorycarryiJ?ghis~aughter, Jetuan, 18 mOnths, and fol· lowed:c.1~,elyby·a_n l"BI agent dressed-in"anSociety -airline worker's uniform. Moment I before;,1he:suspect-:had.thrown a knife from the plane in surrender. .f.~>6iH~ GIRL;~":~~r~~~~::~illdOral I .:1/.... 0' ·u-·'I--·d··· B'e' H'.e -·" 'c'k--·'e·'r' .. :~::f~~~~a::fi~~~~UZ;e~fJ!~\'~rif::~ '~~r~a;~~Ch~~dar~~r~ '. . - ja , ·~.~~o;~i~or!O~~n ~~~ ;~~\gen~ ';"~e~~:~~~~': i~ c~~~ :~h~td" b$ d 3 H . D· 'approach the planeand~a'ter Rev. Frederick Hinton of St. 'i ! Past one would 'stay' clear 'an ·n SOUr ra ma about 15 minutes consented to Franci9 de Sales., Church on . - . \ . having the auxiliary .P!'wer unit ;.N.9~11ind ::A,ve: .said he' was one - would.' shoot him .. . . '. .. shut off so authontiesHistorical could·called.to the airport to try ~o Ash said.: .". . ,': ;.' " (Continued from Page I) hear him. , " talk'Smith;out of !he plane:' '.Mr. Ash said he offer€' 'the hUd 'ith him from '.:The The auxlha-ry power unit, a Father H.11\ton ~Illd Sm~t~ }iad promises other than the a :1tl~n CSt W rtment and' gas operated ·genera.tor·type asked to speak With a mmlster.. ment that, Smith.would nf .. rt~~r drf!e~ to his unit which is hooked u~ to the . Police . called St.,. J~seph's .. shot. ,;' :' ,'.:' .. ,:" . : h' Yh' at 117 Oo·nald.· plane under nose, IS used Cathedral and Rev. 'LOuls J. er some . th~ ., th I ...... th '- Hi :-.. . .'. . Rd where he had been to provide power In e pane HencIr:icks reac'u= Fa. Elf. n- -: .. ASKED HOW ,the· FB I a' : Ion in:': ' ' '. : :. ~hen the engi~es are not run· t···ton;" .". . ~ ...... got, into the plane just b~ . 'I,g, ... '. nmg. It also IS 'us~d to· start ~ .;,. .• .;, ":'. SmIth gave Up, Mr. Ash ~. obce said ~e ~rot~~~ SUI, From the jet engines. , ':.' ..FA11IJ::R HINTON. s.8ldthe' ,'s~ered:, ;~~They., got in ". ,.note there"saymg. I Jove When Mr. Ash asked.,lf he ,:suspect'g.,·mother, ,.Llly' Belle, --TIght." ': e '1.0u, 1.1 llove G·mod, BI It°,:e· Ieveh rye could board ihe 'plane to discuss .: and two friends .also ,tried to . "All of us' 'fl'n'·a·.llY· c· 0 " ·one. ove ... u I f .ave Minnesotarth . , S'th rd···· 1 d b' ... ·f·, 0\1 :1 0 away with myself I will." .' .::'Voices , not gonna wait too,~much :',)lei son to give up .. ~ .. ' . About.20 offiCials of the :::' <~ >~ .. :.- ..::.~:, .~ .. _.~:.~. -~:-~:':::"'" ' .... ; _::JQnger.'~ _ ". _ .'_'. _ ._.. . . ·~~:~:·:~When·he refusedi ;sJ:1e walked Buffalo ~nd .Cheek~~waga p ",'fIE FBI, Cheekt9~'a,ga: po- : ' When Mr. Ash tried speak-' ~,l~oWn Sobbing :aIidshaking .her- were at the scene at 5:4J 'j/and ,B~ffalo:pohcerusbed ing 'again, Smith yelled "Shut··;hea:d.;Shecol~~sed·~d had to . About· 30 pe~~ons who " ;\ the plane '.. ~~ea ,.whenSmJth up and get mt. a pilot. "'be revived With 6I!1ellmg salts. Come ~o th~ Illrport for t :-ae'!landed a pilot. ~,." ~ ',He ,later shouted: "If I don't '.~hen :,he 'was: taken,: into cus· i departInfc flights stood, in ~ _!Chard H. Ash, speCial age~t' .get one, little girl gonna die.'~ ,~tOdt, &the. Jhre.w her arms, second·f OOr lobby lOOk. In? ~. ,charge .of the FBI here, said " $ .. '$ ,.' . 'around him .and ,sobbed. , ' at the I?lane through the; : 'ith demanded to be flown i ,'··MR.ASH nOw tried to ·talk ':';'As she' . and 'friends talked I glass wlOdow. . . : otof the country." 0.,. " ~'the hljackerillto exchanging <~ith Smith, FBI agents work· j.Others crowded .with r _, ,·About5:4~ A;M Mr. Ash,usmg ;,'hostages .. "Take me ,and let "ed:their way into the aircraft. ; men and photographer:s t,

::Ibullhom .t.ned to coax the i. ',<, the.little gid go," he Said .... ',: Minutes. later,. Smith thr.ew a ,closer view fr~m th~ hal _ spectout of the plane.. , . Smith' refused. " " . ,'.' ·out'the.knife, walked·down the ~mdow.s on the Amen,can =. mith, ~eated .at·,the door of '\ . '.'Charles, we :want to help stairway ramp and ti1m~d the .lmes wlOg of'~he t~.rml~al -. t e plane 10 clear V1c:.~, s~~uted i . ou but ,no.. ilot '&111 et on, bab ·:over to Mr. Ash;' ::., Th~ attempte~ hIjackIng ~el'w~~.s1d!I·:the,:g~~l:lf· ,he \ ".·i'he'plane as fang as Yo~ have'. Jr .. Ash said afterw;lrds that jthe first, such atte!'lp~ rep' dn'.~ .•-get.::a.:,:pll?t~ .. ,.,;,]~~.:; .. 1 ·"t~e'little.girl,"Mr.,"Ash ·said. Smith. had demanded to be at the Illrport, offlCpilS sal = lfe .'.hel~~~e '~lrl,;.Ul. h1§:left 1\ : Smith still refused., " ' .' . flown out of the' coU;"~ry. but i J_:.. ,~;:an~:"t!te)~nlfe,-:,sOm~tlmes • '.:At: 'Dne 'polnt; about 6: 20,. did not name a speCifiC loea· : ::;:P'!tn!~~;.atber~~~t~~J~~:~ \ ,SIl),!tb screart.'~d .that ,he w.as tion.·· ... ':: '" . , _,' !,~!~if.:g~~'~!'~~!"~;~~~l~.k d " givmgauthorl.tles 5 '!lore mm· '. Af~er th~ coaxlDg, R~ agTee~ , .' . --, --'._.,' .' . '.:utesto get .hl'!l a pilot, Asst, ,to.glve himself up ':i1 eyer}, I ',. ,_ '--'--...... '-, " Chief of Detectives Thomas p, :ai' . ---' ; ;·McMahon of ,the , Buffalo ,police said, .. , .. ';, .. , , ... • Project THI<; IS ra • ••• • • •• CERTlF"Y , ..... r RICHARD H. ASH

WHOSE SIGNATURE AND PHOTOGRAPH APPEAR HE~EON, IS A ~rc.U~.fl.RI y APPOINTED ASSISTANT DIRECTOR HistoryOF THE F['OF.UA L 8U~£ AU OF" INVEST IGA liON. l.. ~;TED STATEs Ol: p~ ~TP.4E'NT OF JUST:CE, A.NO AS Society Oral

SUCH IS CHAIlltGEO WITH THE OUTv OF INVESTIGATING VIOLATIONS OF' THE LAWS 01' THE 1.''''''T£O STATES COLLECT'N~ E PastVIDENCE IN CASES IN W"'CH THr UNITED STATES IS OR "AY BE .. PARTy :N .NTffol':;ST "NO P[Fli"ORMIf"'~ OlMER DUTI[S ' .... OSEO UPON H'M 8Y LAW Historical TheIIFFI<'E OF THE j)!f~E('T()lt

;;- • •• ••• • • ••• •• . • • •• • • ~ ••• • • •• • • " From• • ••• • •••• ••• • "' Minnesota 3', UIIDllI OF, THf ATTORN~Y G£NERAL Voices 01' !HE UNITED STATES

i i I I I I I I Project I

I History Society I Oral I Past I Historical The I From I Minnesota I Voices ASSISTAXT DIRECTOR

I 1975 - 1977 I I. I I I Brianna Dreyer I History Hr. 8 Interviewed: Bob Dreyer I Korean War

I Bob Dreyer was a big part in our Nations history. He was a Sergeant in I the army during the Korean War. Although he never fought in the Korean War, he had a part in helping the United States end the war in victory.

I Bob was a company clerk. First, he was a company clerk here in the Project I United States but was soon moved to Korea to continue his clerical duties. He joined the army and trained to be a squad leader. He went to

I school to be an infantry leader. He was brought to KoreaHistory to become a part of Society I the replacement depot in Inchon, Korea. HisOral job in Korea was to assign I soldiers to certain battlefields. When they left, he assigned them ships to come back to the United States. PastBob had a choice of being drafted and going Historical I for two years or, joining theThe service and going for three years. He decided to I join the war. Bob also tried to be a part of the Air Force and the Navy before entering the army.From I Bob first enteredMinnesota the war in 1951. He was 19 at the time and was out of

high school. Bob wasn't married at the time, but was engaged to a woman I Voices named Joyce Schultek, soon to be Joyce Dreyer. Bob was often very

I lonesome because his family was never very close. His mother and father got I a divorce when Bob was only I or 2 and he hasn't seen his father since then. I Although his mother was worried about him entering the war, and she did write him and his friends quite a bit, he still wished that his brother and sister would I I I have written and kept in touch. Before he went to Korea, he stopped in

I California to say good bye to his sister. She was married and had I children. She was worried about him but never kept in touch by writing I letters. He saw his brother before he left, even though he lived closer to home he never kept in touch either.

I "I never really knew that much about the world at the time, and I when the government called, I knew it was my duty to go." Bob thought that he should obey the rules and that is what he did. Bob saidProject that the I thing that he got out of it the most was the fact that he got to explore,

not only most of the U.S., but some of the world. I History " That would never have happened if it wasn'tSociety for the war." He I wentall around the U.S. to places suchOral as, Washington State,

Alabama, Georgia, and California (where his sister lived). Then he went I Past I to Japan for three days and finally Historicalto Korea. Once again, he was sent back to San Francisco,The California. He was then discharged from the I army in Colorado and finally returned home to St. Paul, Minnesota. He I got home justFrom in time for New Year's Eve, where there was a wonderful welcome waitingMinnesota for him. Fortunately the government paid for the trip I Voicesaround the U.S. and in eastern Asia. I Bob said, "it was a good experience and was worth going. It was a part of my responsibility of being an American citizen." I I

I \'50 I I

Jeff Kerzner I Period 3AB 5/26/99 I Operation Pipeline John Moberry had graduated from college and was just beginning his

I engineering career at General Electric when he was drafted in 1950. His army I experience started with basic training but instead of being sent to Korea he was I sent to a clearinghouse at Fort Meyers where he was assigned to Operation Pipeline at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. There, John workedProject with a I group called the Ballistics Research Lab. This was a rather elite group made up of scientists and engineers. There was even a Private First Class with a Ph.D. The I History reason this group was formed was to replace all of the civilianSociety engineers and I scientists who had been drafted and were servingOral elsewhere! I At Aberdeen Proving Ground Private Mobarry and the group worked on a device, which measures the machstemPast 1 of an atomic weapon. The reason they Historical I needed to build a new measuringThe device is because the pressure of the explosion I destroyed conventional measuring devices. The way the device worked is that there were wires, spacedFrom fifty feet apart, that spiked the monitor when a switch was I triggered. To get the suppliesMinnesota to build the device the group had to drive from Maryland to Pennsylvania in solid steel trucks. For some strange Army reason, I Voices they weren't allowed to drive themselves. They Army assigned truck drivers and

I they formed a convoy. It seems that the regular Army drivers and the scientists I weren't always on the same wavelength. On one convoy trip when the crew was finishing breakfast at a motel, Private Moberry went to the bathroom and when he

I came out he found that the convoy had left without him. A civilian couple I lSI I I I witnessed his plight and quickly drove him in their own car to catch up with the convoy. When they reached his truck the Army driver refused to stop so Private

I Moberry and the civilian flagged the leader of the convoy, affectionately known as I Lieutenant "Billy Bones" over to the side of the road. Fortunately, he stopped. I On a different convoy mission when they left Illinois one of the men didn't realize that he had left his rucksack behind until they were halfway through I Missouri. A driver volunteered to go back two hundred miles and get the rucksack Project I and then drive the 200 miles back to catch up to the convoy. The driver was five minutes away from catching up to the convoy at the bottom of Missouri

I The bombs were detonated in Nevada. One can onlyHistory imagine how long the

trip seemed in steel trucks. On the base in Nevada the Army hadSociety to build its own I Oral devices -using whatever equipment they had. Much of it was "homemade." The I Naval group also working on the projectPast had top of the line equipment, much to I the Army's dismay2. Historical Private Mobarry and the rest ofThe the Aberdeen Proving Ground group called

I themselves the Desert Rats. Their unit designed and printed their own tee-shirts: From of a soldier carrying a large slide rule over his shoulder as though it was his I Minnesota weapon.

I DespiteVoices the idiosyncrasies of having to do things the "Army way" it was an I exciting experience and also a learning one. Many in the unit completed research, which they were able to use when they went on for advanced degrees.

I Private Mobarry had the unique experience of seeing atomic bombs I detonated. His description makes one feel the unleashed power of the bomb and in I I I I some ways the effect it can have on us. "It's so eerie. First a great, big, bright blinding ball and then it comes out, the smoke and rumbling out and out, and then

I there's no sound. When it (the sound) finally hits it almost knocks you off your I feet and it goes on and on and on, 15,20 minutes and it's still rumbling-it's awesome."

I Awesome is another way to describe the Mobarrys. While Private Mobarry I was in Nevada he married and his wife joined him there. She was an artist who Project I got a civilian job drawing pictures of captured enemy weapons and ammunition. They are still in touch with several of the Desert Rats. Private Moberry went on to I Graduate School in Cincinnati. They, and their five children,History moved to Edina

where they built the very first house on West 61 st Street. Society I Oral

I Machstem: Past Historical I The I 1 The machstem ofa bomb is the effect that occurs when the rebounding shockwave of the bomb cannot keep up with the initialFrom shockwave of the bomb. I Minnesota I Voices I ( I I

I )53 I I

~, " . ...~ I :.,.'

. : ... " I ..... ~ .• ,.:.-.:." /~·~;::~.-·-~·+.~~~t~~·;~~~,~~;6;X;i~-~~;.;- .... \ " .: ... ; , ~''; ...... ---:~. " .. ", "':''':',j' ~;~~.• ~;.': .• : ~.:.~!: .. «.:'" . -·7:'·:'',.:..;····..:....·.. ··~, I '. I I 2 Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Oral History

I Paula Piazza Period 3

I F or my Oral History project, I decided to interview both my parents on how they have the same cousins, how they met, and how there families I were connected even before they were married. I have this really cool picture of both my grandpas on the same neighborhood football team when I they were 15 and 17 and that sort of triggered my interest in the story behind it. I thought this story was a very amazing story of fate, and alsoProject a cool one on how my parents have the same cousins. I Note: The words in parenthesis are from me to clearify some of the confusing factors in this interview. I History Mom: My grandparents owned a grocery store in a neighborhoodSociety close to I Oral where your father's grandparents lived. My grandparents lived above the

I grocery store; therefor they all livedPast in the same neighborhood. Eventually, Historical I these people would all meetThe each other. I Dad: This neighborhood was located in the north side of Minneapolis, specifically on PennFrom Ave. N. and 6th Ave. N. which is now Olson Highway I 55. My grandparentsMinnesota lived on the corner of 6th Ave. and Morgan Ave. N.

I TheVoices Inveens (my mom's family) lived on Penn Ave. and Glenwood- the I south side of Highway 55. I Mom: My father worked for his parents as a young man and would deliver groceries to the Italian quarter. (My dad's family) At a wedding shower I I discovered that my father's sister (Mary Jane Inveen) met my husband's I I J55 I

I father's brother (Richard Piazza) at a tennis match in a country club in the I neighborhood. She didn't like him. She thought he was stuck up, but I somehow they got together and started dating. Dad: That would be in about 1944. They eventually got married in 1946 and

I had five children. I Mom: Those five children were all both your father's and my cousins. They Project I were Mary Burnedete, Peter, Paul, Annie, and Chris Piazza. The first time I saw your father was at the wedding where our mutual cousin Annie was I History getting married. I was 12 and he was 19. He was not Societyinterested in dancing I with me. He didn't notice me much. He wasOral wearing black with one of his

sisters and I thought that was kind of strange at a wedding. I Past Dad: The first time I remember seeingHistorical her was at the restaurant. (owned by I The I my grandpa and my dad) She came in with her brother who also worked there. She said sheFrom was on her way to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance I Kid across the street.Minnesota I said to her brother, "Who is that girl?" and he said I "Who?"Voices and I pointed to her. He looked around and said, " Who that? That's I my sister." I knew that she was an Inveen who was related to my uncle's wife. In a couple of years she started to work there and the rest is history. I And here we are in 22 years of marriage and we still have the same cousins. I I I I

I Mom: We still attend family get togethers with these cousins where both our I families are there. Many people don't understand our connection and think I that we are committing incest, but the truth is that our connection is only through marriage. And that's how your father and I met, how our lives

I intertwined, and how we have the same cousins. I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I

I 157 I I By Kristen Blomme I The Wheaton School - 1952-1958 I My name is Karen Blomme (Olson). I attended the Wheaton Township School from 1952 to 1958 for my first six grades. It was often called the Fairview I School. I have an older brother Ron who attended the Wheaton School from first through eighth grade and a younger sister who attended for first and second grade. I My father Reuben also attended from first through eighth grade. His father (my I grandfather), Ole Olson, helped organize and support the school. We lived on the farm just south of the school and so we walked. We'd go through ourProject trees, I through a field, cut through a pasture, and up the hill. No matter what the season or weather condition, we had to walk to school.

I Myoid country school is located in WheatonHistory township, in the western edge of Bottineau County in North Dakota. The nearest townsSociety are Sherwood and I Oral Antler. The city of Minot is about an hour south. The Wheaton School was built I in 1904 and open for the school yearPast of 1904-1905. It was the first consolidated school in North Dakota. It was a statelyHistorical white building, with a large main floor I (moveable partition to makeThe two classrooms) and a full basement. Grades one I through eight were taught as long as there were children in that grade. In the school's early Fromyears, two years of high school were offered. There was a I teacherage next toMinnesota the school where a teacher always lived. Some teachers lived nearby and drove to school. I VoicesFour of us started first grade together - Beverly, Judy, Loretta, and myself I After our second grade, only Beverly and I were left since the other two moved into town. While I attended Wheaton, there were two teachers each having four I grades. My three teachers were Mrs. Henderson, Mrs. Drangsholt, and Mrs. Caufield. The highest enrollment while I attended was about 28 students in the I entire school. Our school day lasted from 9 am to 4 pm. We started every day I with the pledge to the flag and then our teacher read to us, which was the highlight IS~ I I of the day. We then had classes and had recess at 10: 15 am for fifteen minutes. In I the spring and fall we would always play softball during recess. In the winter we would slide down the snow banks and skate and slide on the frozen pond. The I playground had three teeter-totters, two swings, a softball field, and a lot of trees. After recess we would have classes and then at noon we had an hour for lunch.

I Then we would go back to class, have another 15 minute recess at 2: 15 pm, and I back to class until the end of the day. There really was no one that acted up for very long. You would be disciplined at school and then at home. A typical I punishment at school would be to lose recess and the noon hour. No one wanted Project to sit inside and do work while everyone else was outside having fun!

I The movement in the early '60s was to close all rural schools. So in 1958 I we began riding the bus to the school in Sherwood, aboutHistory 10 miles away. The Wheaton School closed because of declining enrollment. TheSociety building is still I standing today but is falling into disrepair. ItOral is still used for township board meetings and elections. Visitors who stop at the school write their names and I messages on the chalkboards withPast the date. I The yearly Christmas programs areHistorical the most wonderful memories! We would put on a ChristmasThe play (written by Mrs. Henderson) and everyone had a I part. We would have Christmas carols, poems, and visits from Santa. I remember my father tellingFrom me how the kids who lived far away got to school back when he I was there. If it wasMinnesota spring or fall, the bus was a covered wagon that had benches inside and was pulled by horses. If it was winter, the horses would be pulling a I Voices sleigh. There's one particular story I also remember hearing from my father. It I was back in 1923 when someone came to school wearing a brand new pair of shoes. It was winter and so during recess they went out onto the ice. He went

I way out to the middle and fell through the ice clear up to his chin. He couldn't go I back to school like that so my dad brought him back to his farm Gust south of the school) to dry off They put his new shoes in the oven to dry off, but they must I I I have overcooked them since they turned out about three sizes too small. He went I home without his new shoes! It was a wonderful education. I basically had a tutor for my first six I grades. Everyone learned and everyone succeeded. Every kid who went to the country school knew she/he was an important part of the school and was included

I in everything from spelling bees, to softball teams, to the Christmas programs. My I country school offered the best elementary education and I am forever grateful for my years at the Wheaton School. I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I - I I

I I lived in Williams, lyf"rinnesota til I was eight years old, and from there we moved to Warroad, up on Lake of the Woods. I was completely aware of what took place in the cities. We had a radio when we were in Williams, and we bought our I first T. V. when we moved to Warroad. Some of my favorite T. V. shows were things like, News from Vietnam, Monty Python, Dr. Who, and Dan Messer's Jubilee. In I Williams, the town had tbree hundred people in it, dirt streets, crank telephones, and no T.V. 'So All we had were the radio shows. The Lone Ranger, and The BLue Bunnv Ice Cream shows were some of the favorites. For mv oersonal recreation as a I J J ~ child, I mainly had to entertain myself. Radio, playing with otherProject kids, picnics, drives in the woods, watching-steanl engines~ play41g in -the sandbox ... ~11en I I moved to Warroad, things were different. Of course, I was also much older, too. Now, I could watch T.V., go camping, played a lot with my buddies, dances, I falconry, played a-lot of Star1ight- Moonlight, PumpwnHistory Pullaway, Fox and Geese, . went silooting,-poachedanil11als, played·with Molotov Cocktails,·blew up mailboxes;- switched signs on buildings, -and also just satSociety arowld and talked. We I -were so· into polka up there! !! Just kidding! OralI hate that stuff. Yes, of course we listened to Rock n' Roll. It was a very commontppic ofdiscussion.lvly father, on I - the other respect of the matter; hated it,-and thought-it was awful. All in all, I was -just a prettY -regular guy for my-dayPast and age. As for As a child, I always .felt as if I wasHistorical missing- something ... It happened to, be. my I blanki that my mother threwThe away when I was twelve, which she now r~grets .. No, to be more serious, I never felt I was-missi!lg-anyt:llliJ.g, because I-had the country. I I am so glad I grew up where I did. It- had every appeal to me as a boy, and it still From Trick or Treating was awesome!! ! You gota whole bunch of home-made I .goods. We were only aMinnesota to\\TIof one thousand in Warroad, but ev~ry yea( my parents made two hundred-popcomballs, -and every year t4ey'd run out. As for your I -friends,Voices there were fewer -people-ta choose- from~ I m~ we had forty eight students -in-my lllgh-sehool class.-We -aU entertained -ourseives.·But we ,always felt sorry for -the city kids. I -always thought they-were big wimps. I· beat up the town tough guy in I Bemidji, who was a whole lot bigger than I was. But, then again, he was a city kid, and I was a country boy. There was really no shock to city life, when I eventually had to move here. Peonle are neonle_ wherever vou ~m. But I do miss thiuQ:s_ that I ...... A.. '" J ~ ...... J city life cannot offer ... I miss the night sky. I miss not having a quiet spot to sit and I think, and a place to get away fi-om people. People in the city have lived in a cage so long, that they can no longer see the bars containing them. I J~I I I I Steve Atwater is currently an Emergency Room physician in the Methodist I Emergency Room. He still misses the part of Minnesota that he calls home, and goes up to visit it every so often, to get away from city life. I Interviewed by Alicia Atwater I

I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Will Amundson I History, Hour 8 I 5-23-1999 Changes in the Field of Medicine from 1953 to 1995

I My grandfather, C. Sherman Hoyt, MD. has been a doctor for 42 years I and is retired. He described many ofthe changes in the practice ofmedicine that occurred during this time frame. I Project I I graduated from medical school in 1953 with a M.D. degree. Then I went to a rotating internship, with a month or two on various specialties for one year. It

I was at Valley Forge Army Hospital. It was a salariedHistory position, more than most Society I internships because it was through the ArmyOral and I was in the service. I spent two years in the Air Force delivering babies and then one year of family practice

I doing pediatrics and obstetrics. Then,Past because I liked pediatrics better, I went to a

2-year residency at the Mayo Clinic to becomeHistorical certified by the American Board I The I of Pediatrics. Then I joined a private practice of pediatricians in Edina, MN. I was the fourthFrom doctor to join the practice. By the time I retired in 1995, there I were 20 doctors inMinnesota the practice. Now there are 33 doctors. Southdale Pediatrics I Limited was incorporated in 1970. VoicesWhen I started, doctors were able to make a nice living by charging $3 I and $4 for office calls. The overhead was relatively small because we used one I bookkeeper to cover the practice. Patients chose you because they wished to have you take care of their children. We were always available and had a very busy I practice, adding new doctors every few years. If the patients couldn't afford the

I \ ~3 I I I treatment, we didn't expect them to pay, but still treated them like other patients. There were very few patients on welfare. House calls were frequent, although we

I frequently were unable to determine the cause of fever by exam only, needing x­ I ray and laboratory studies so the practice of medicine in the home wasn't as I complete as the practice in the office or hospital. Most people had insurance that only covered hospitalization. There were no provisions for outpatient care, which

included check-ups and office calls. In 1965, President Johnson declared the New I Project I Society, which made it degrading for a person to accept free care. Welfare and Medicare began. The cost of medicine was increased greatly because of the I paperwork involved in making claims. Insurance wasHistory changed to have HMO's (Health Maintenance Organizations) which paid for first Societydollar coverage, meaning I Oral you would come into the office and everything was paid for, not just for hospital I bills. This increased the numberPast of people coming to the office, requiring increased office space, more doctors, moreHistorical bookkeepers, more lab technicians, I The more nurses, x-ray technicians and more overhead. This required that the fees be

I increased. More HMOs were developed with competition between them and From patients oftentimes were enrolled in an HMO through their employer and not I Minnesota every physician was a provider for than HMO. Prior to this, children could go to

I Voicesthe same doctor throughout their childhood. Now, if the parent changed jobs and I HMOs, they might have to go to a different doctor. In 1959, I went to a meeting where some heart surgeons from Mt. Sinai

I Hospital reported that they had operated on six patients with Atrial septal defect, a I hole between the two low-pressure chambers of the heart. Four died during the I I I I surgery. I was at Mayo Clinic at the time where they had done 200 ASD surgeries without a fatality. Better surgical methods were being developed, but

I there was a learning curve in smaller institutions as the newly discovered methods I because more widely practiced. I Technology and new methods have helped cure many diseases. New antibiotics were developed to treat bacterial meningitis. Before this, bacterial I meningitis was 100% fatal. Now, with drugs to treat it, fatalities are very low. Project I The most common form of meningitis, H Influenza, is almost non-existent because infants are immunized against it with the RIB vaccine. Polio has I disappeared with the development of Polio vaccines.History Now, a vaccine for RSV, a severe respiratory disease, very serious in the first four monthsSociety of age, is I Oral available. Leukemia had been universally fatal, but new techniques have been I developed over the past 35 years Pastthat have improved the cure rate. In some types, there is now almost a 100% cure rate. HistoricalMeasles vaccine was developed too. I The Measles had a fatality of one in a thousand cases and is now almost non-existent.

I New lab tests were developed to make the diagnosis of many illnesses From easier and the treatment more specific for the illness. Examples include strep Ids I Minnesota and tests for mononucleosis. X-rays became safer as the speed of the film

I Voicesrequired less x-ray exposure. Surgical techniques improved. Heart conditions I previously fatal shortly after birth can be corrected. A new field of neonatalogy, specialization in the care of the newborn, was developed and premature babies,

I which used to uniformly die, now have a good chance of recovery, although some I of the very small immature premature babies are handicapped. Some require

I 1(,5 I I I mechanical ventilation, being technologically dependent with mild to severe I retardation. Various techniques have been developed so that many children born with I handicaps can lead a normal life. A child with a severe hearing loss may have hearing aids before six months of age and be able to develop normal speech. The I .,..~ surgical techniques to correct handicaps of heart 'Of limb have continued to I improve. Computers have made communication possible for persons unable to Project I speak due to cerebral palsy. A lot has changed since I became a doctor. The cost of medicine has

I increased dramatically due to the demand for increasedHistory care, increased technical

improvements of care (tests, treatments, etc.), which requiresSociety much more I Oral expensive treatments. By stopping smoking or never smoking, people have I increased their life span by manyPast years. Better diet, more exercise, better lifestyle have increased the number of elderly persons.Historical Life span has increased many I The years. The highest utilization of medical resources is in the last year of your life.

I In our pediatric practice, where we had one bookkeeper, now we have 20 From employees assigned to processing medical claims. Now, the average cost of a I Minnesota tiny premature baby's hospitalization is $1,000,000. When I started to practice

I Voicesmedicine, there was no treatment for these tiny babies and they usually died I within minutes or hours of birth. I I I I I I Jenny Braun I Nancy's Childhood I Nancy Nordstrom was born on July 16, 1954. Her life as a child was typical for a I life in a small house in St. Paul. She had 2 brothers and 2 sisters and was the youngest child for a while until her younger sister was born and her life was I changed forever. She lived in a 2-story house until she was 4 years old when her Project I family built a house next door where there was an open lot. The new house was much smaller and had only 3 bedrooms, one for the boys, one for the girls, and one I for their mom and dad. History

When Nancy was a young child in the late 1950's to earlySociety 1960's, she remembers I Oral that they never had organized sports. "We would pretty much just go out and play I with the kids on our block and makePast up our own little games. Parents back then didn't drive their kids around to activities.Historical We would walk almost everywhere we I The wanted to go and we were always up for walking a few miles ••• rain or shine ••• no big

I deal. We would playa lot of night games like The Ghost is Out Tonight, Kkk the From Can, and many others." In Nancy's neighborhood there were a variety of children I Minnesota to keep them occupied, but they couldn't play every day! Every Saturday they had

I a cleaningVoices day. She said, "We always knew never to make plans on cleaning day I because we could never do them until all our chores were done, and done right. We always woke up early on Saturday so we could get our cleaning done so we could

I have adeast part of the day to play." I

I 1<-1 I I I Not everything has changed since then. Young girls such as Nancy had teen idol crushes just like girls today. Most of them were from a T.V. show called Bonanza.

I "Little Joe was the cutest••• he was the heart-throb and everyone fought over him. I We liked to playa game kind of like house but where I and a few neighborhood girls would pretend to the be the Bonanza boys' girlfriends. The older girls always got

I first choice and of course they always picked little Joe first so I was stuck with the I leftovers. Still I was happy with the chunky brother Bass from Bonanza because Project I none of my friends wanted to fight me for him." When Nancy was a child she never enjoyed watching much T.V. other than I Bonanza and spent most of her time playing outside.History Down the street from where she lived there was a large, over-grown hill that was a perfectSociety place for her and her I Oral friendS to play. "We would take our playing to 'the hill' and everyone knew what I 'the hill' was. We went down the hillPast not only for privacy but for a fun time. The hill kind of resembled a jungle so we wouldHistorical play games like Tarzan and Jane. The I The hill was also a great place to hide for night games and hide and go seek and stuff. A

I hobby that we did on the hill was make various forts. We had forts all over that hill From and it was really fun to go from fort to fort. We never got bored on our hill." I Minnesota For vacations Nancy's family didn't have much money so what they normally did

I on Voicesweekends and in the summer was go camping. "In the summer, we would go out I and rent a camp ground and stay there for about 2 weeks at a time. Out of those 2 weeks, one day would normally fall on my birthday. At the time, I didn't like that

I but now that I look back on it, it was pretty cool. My mom would make cupcakes I and for a candle she would put on a twig, light it, and that was my birthday. The I I I I reason 1 didn't like it was because 1 had wanted fQ ~ave a big party like the rest of my friends. That is how 1 spent most of my birtltdays until 1 grew up and we no

I longer took camping trips." I Nancy earned her money through an allowance. Her allowance was worth about 2 dollars in today's money but just 25 cents back then. "I spent my money fast.

I Normally on my way to school 1 would stop at the candy store where 1 could buy a I piece of candy for a penny and I was able to get a bag of candy for 25 cents." Project I This is the story of Nancy Nordstrom when she was a young child. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I ~.:1emories of Okina\-va in the 1960' s Told by: Karen Christiansen, Transcribed by: Ellen Christiansen

I "1 lived in Okinm;va. a small island southeast of Japan in 1967-1969. I was I in 3rd through 5rh grade. We were in Okina,:va because of the Vietnam War. :\Jy I father was an airforce pilot. He fle,\" CI-30 cargo planes. \Ve lived there during \Voodstock. I liked living on the airforce base. \Ve had \vonderful recreational

facilities nearby. I Project I Okina,va had a Japanese culture. Our schools ,vere taught by American teachers, but a Japanese teacher came in once a \veek to teach about Japanese I culture and language. We leamed pIn'ases and greetingsHistory in Japanese.

As a child, my lifestyle changed very little. I \-ventSociety to schooL did I Oral home\vork, and had chores to do around the house. Our play was a little different. I \Vhen we [u'st moved to Okinawa,Past we lived off base, and we American kids \vould run tlu'ough the sugarcane fieldsHistorical and cra\vl over the ancestral tombs whik I The playing hide and seek. ~.:1y mother would often \vam us to be on the look out for

I saboo (snakes), and we were never allmved in the sugar cane fields at night. ~.:1y From dad was gone quite a bit. He would leave in the middle of the night unexpectedly, I Minnesota and return a few weeks later in the middle of the night. \Ve ,vould \'vake up and

I Voiceshe \vould be home. We \-vere alw"ays happy to see him because he brought us I gifts. \Ve never krlew exactly ,",,,here he \,;as flying: it ,vas top-secret. He v\'ould also be gone ;:vhenever a typhoon was present. He ,,,ould take the planes to a

I safer aTea. DUrhLf~: t}phOOil, :ny mother, sister, and I wouk put the wood I I I I I shutters up over the ,vindo\ys. \Ve would bring everything inside and tape any \vindmv not covered by a shutter, then \vait for the typhoon to pass.

I The Vietnam \Var really affected our life. :\"ot only \-vas our father gone. I but there ,vere shortages because the troops in Vietnam received top priority to receive supplies. For instance, I needed glasses while in Okina\va. The only two

I choices were pink or blue cateye frames. I chose the blue cat eye frames.

One fun memory in Okinawa was the go-cali my dad made for me. \Ve I Project I named it Crazy-K. I was the envy of all the kids in the neighborhood. It was \V'hite with a steering ""heel and \ve decorated it with tic-tac-toes over the body_ I We lived in a house at the bottom of a hill. One personHistory would be the driver and the other person would push the go-cart up the hill and jumpSociety on the back of the I Oral go~cart when going dO\vn the hill ~ ,- I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I

I ,. f I I Life in the 60's I Interview with Ann Almlie, by Carol Comp History Hour 3

I Life in the 60' s was very different. F or instance in Nebraska

I girls' could not wear pants and boys' could not have their hair touch I their ears. The skirts the girls' wore in school could not be past their I knees. When I moved to California the rules were a lot more flexible then the ones in the Midwest. Also the expectation in the ProjectWest was I very low compared to the ones in the Midwest.

I I really wasn't that old in the 60's. HistoryI was 7-16 so I really Society I didn't know how dramatic the war was. OralI never was a hippie because I I didn't grow up around any. Also my mother and father would not let Past I me be with hippies and the schools didn'tHistorical tolerate them. My parents did not believe in what wasThe happening in the war, because my dad saw

I the war first hand. It was very hard for him to tell anyone about what From I happened because itMinnesota was so hard on him and everyone around him. My parents were also afraid of what was being said about the hippies. I Voices I Being a women in the 60' s was very different from what women I are like today. Women in the 60' s had little or no respect from the I I I I I men. Because, the boys bask then had low self esteem, so to make I them feel better they picked on the girrs and women. Women didn't have the best education because everyone thought that all women were

I supposed to be housewives and most women that worked were either a

I Nurse or a teacher.

Since my parents were conservative I was too. Because I knew I Project I if I was a hippie)my parents wouldn't care for me or tolerate me. My parents didn't let me go out with guys or girls that were Hippies. The I History reason I wasn't allowed to go out or be with hippies Societyis that my parents Oral I were afraid of what they were doing. Most people in California were

I able to be without an adult, becausePast most parents didn't care what was Historical I happening to their kids. The I If I was drafted I would have run to Canada because I didn't agree with whatFrom they were doing in Vietnam. Most people drafted I Minnesota didn't care about Vietnam because it didn't effect them. But, one day

I it willVoices effect us, because we have been one of the best it is close I enough for us to start falling. I think living in the 60's wasn't too hard I on me because it really didn't effect me. I I I I

Molly Hasbargen I Vacations and Schools During the 1960's I When I asked my mom about vacations when she was a young girl, she told me many things. A lot of the information that I got shows that going on

I vacations in the 1960's was much different than today. My mom's entire family I went on the vacations, and they got to their destination by car. The family usually I went on one vacation a year after my mom was in middle school. During the summer, my mom's family went up north to Gull Lake. They usuallyProject stayed there I for two weeks. Two times my mom's family also went to California. Even my mom's grandparents came with on the vacations to California. They went there to I History visit relatives. One tradition that my mom's family had wasSociety they always stayed at I a Howard Johnson's and they ate a hamburger,Oral French fries, and drank chocolate I malts. One thing that my mom remembers being different is that they didn't have any seatbelts in the cars. Past Historical I I also asked my momThe about school when she was a kid. I got a lot of good I information about that too. My mom went to school at Christ the King for first through sixth grade,From South View for seventh through ninth grades, and Edina I High School for tenthMinnesota grade through twelfth grade. Christ the King was a private, Catholic school, but South View and Edina High School weren't private or I Voices Catholic schools. They had to wear uniforms at Christ the King. At first, these

I uniforms were a blue jumper; white shirt; and red, white, or navy socks, knee­ I highs, or tights. Later the uniforms were changed to a green plaid jumper; navy, red or white socks, knee-highs, or tights; and a red, navy, or white sweater. At

I South View and Edina High School they didn't have to wear uniforms. However, I I I I they did have to wear skirts or dresses until my mom was in twelfth grade, when girls were allowed to wear dress pants. My mom got to school by taking the bus.

I Some trends that were coming into style were miniskirts and bellbottoms. I However, when my mom was in schoo~ you weren't allowed to wear bellbottoms because girls had to wear dresses or nice pants, and often they weren't allowed to

I wear miniskirts because they considered too short. You were never allowed to

wear tennis shoes in school, unless you had gym. They had recess at Christ the I Project King, but there was no playground equipment, so the children just played in the

I parking lot. They had passing time at South View. At Christ the King, you I always had to bring your lunch to school. It was notHistory offered to buy a lunch. Also, you were not allowed to talk at the lunch table at Christ theSociety King. At South View I Oral and "Edina High School you could bring your lunch to school, or you could buy a I lunch there. These are some of thePast things that my mom told me about schools I when she was a kid. Historical From doing this interviewThe on my mom, I have learned some valuable I information about schools and vacations during the 1960's. It has helped me get a From better understanding of what life was like for my mom when she was a kid. I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I I My father and the Vietnam War Tu Van Nguyen was in the Vietnam War as a navy soldier of the South I Vietnamese Army. He served for many years, from 1965 to 1975. Tu became a u.S. citizen in 1996 and so far has a very successful life. Today he is a grandfather at the age of 59. His grandson's name is Alexander I James McLaughlin.

I I was forced to go the war because the army needed men to fightProject the Communists. I I did not have a choice to go or not. I was fighting against the Communists Ho Chi Minh and his soldiers for the

I South. My brother and all my friends joined the war Historywith me, but many of my friends Society I had died and few of them managed to survive. OralMy brother was one of those few people. I wasn't afraid to die because if I died, I just died! I On the boats I had to eat my foodPast really fast because I had to go back to my station. I did not get very much sleep. I sometimesHistorical had two, three, or four hours of sleep I The because we had to see if there were any enemy ships nearby.

I South Vietnam didn't have enough help so the Americans came in. They brought From I in supplies such as food,Minnesota drinks, bandages, writing utensils, paper, weapons, and ammunition. They too came and fought with the South. I was not happy when the war

I endedVoices because North Vietnam now controlled South Vietnam. I Soon after the war had ended, I married a beautiful gal named Hoa Truong and we had two children in Vietnam, Hang & Tu Jr. Soon after, my family decided to move

I to America to begin a new life. We went to the state of Minnesota in the city of Edina. In I 1985 we had a third child. This boy's name was Trung Minh Nguyen. I I I

I If there was a second Vietnam War I would never be in it because now I am older I and I have children and I would be afraid that I might die.

I By Trung Nguyen I I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Patty Haw I I Vietnam: Training and Experiences I I was 20 years old when I enlisted. I was 19 when I joined the marines and 20 when I went to the combat zone. I chose to join and my parents had no I problem with it. They wanted me to go, to serve my country. But I was scared, Project I very scared. I enlisted because it was the thing to do. Everyone was enlisting, most of my friends at least. I could have gotten out at any time though. I had a lot

I of physical problems, a weak knee, muscle spasms Historyin my back, hay fever, I also

had asthma. I wasn't in the best physical shape either. I couldSociety have gotten out at I Oral anytime but I didn't. I I was a radio operator. I Pastdrove a jeep on a convoy (group of vehicles) I told head quarters where everyone wasHistorical and what was happening. There were I The about ten people in my squad and as far as I know none of them were killed. One

I day when I was the head of the convoy, I was driving my jeep and I thought I saw From some dug up road so I went around it. Well, the truck behind me didn't and blew I Minnesota up. It was a land mine, I mean there was a land mine in the road. We lost three

I Voicestrucks in that blast and the end of my jeep was scorched. It was a terrible accident I and I'm sad that men were killed. I was active for thirteen months (in Nam) and inactive for four years

I which means I could have been called back at any time. While I was inactive I I went to the University Of Minnesota and met your mother Beverly Hazard. Eight I I I I months after that we got married. After that the Marine Corps never contacted me again. Before I got married they sent me a sheet to fill out and send back every

I year with updates on our financial situation and how our health was. They only I wanted to know so they either had an excuse to send us back or keep us home. I I knew when I got glasses I would never be called back. This was also before the lottery and everyone who was classified 1A was sent. Most of my friends were I drafted and sent to different services. Project I Training was long and hard. I had nine weeks of boot camp which was the worst of the whole thing. We would wake up every morning before dawn and we

I would work well past sun down. One month of infantryHistory training to teach me about

the guns I would use ifl were to fight. I learned how to useSociety one pistol, two rifles, I Oral and- one machine gun, I never had to use these skills. One month of radio training, I one month of leave when I went homePast for the first time, one month of combat training, and after that I was in the combatHistorical zone. That is what my training and I The experience was like, hard but in the end I think, now I know it did me good and I

I learned a lot. From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Growing Up during the Vietnam War By: Peter Frey

I For my oral history assignment, 1 interviewed my father about

I growing up during the Vietnam War. His name is Jim Frey and he was I born on January 25, 1956. By this time, the conflicts between North I Vietnam and the United States were really starting to heat up. The following narrative is a first person account of the informationProject 1

I gathered from my father.

I "I was seventeen years old, and for me, Historythe Vietnam War was just Society I a part of everyday life. 1 had been hearingOral and reading about it for as I long as 1 could remember. Every night, the local and national news carried coverage of the numberPast of American and Vietnamese soldiers Historical I that had been killed thatThe day. Also covered by media was actual live I footage of warfare. When 1 was in elementary school and early junior From high, 1 did not really know just how devastating war really was or how I Minnesota many lives it really affected. Once 1 grew older and entered high school, I Voices 1 became more informed about the war and about its direct, and

I devastating effects on human beings and our entire nation. 1 became I very opposed to war and began taking part in war protests. While these I I I \ ~o I I protests did not change a lot of things, they did make people pay more I attention to what was really happening. My immediate family was not directly involved in the war, but I I did have some close relatives that were involved in military action. My

I Uncle Joe was a fighter pilot in the Air Force who flew many missions

over Vietnam during the war. Even to him and to the rest of my family, I Project I this was considered a very unpopular war. There were many fears that I had during the war. First, I was I History afraid that other family members older than I wasSociety would be drafted I into t.be war. I had many close cousinsOral of draft age who I feared for

I most. I was also afraid for thePast future of the United States, because I worried about what might happen Historicalif we got too involved and kept losing I The American lives. I was also scared for myself, particularly afraid that I I would be draftedFrom when I turned eighteen and I would never see my I family again. ButMinnesota I did have a plan in the event I was drafted. I would I haveVoices first moved to Toronto, Canada, where I had some friends that I had already moved there, and attend college and work. Thankfully, I never had to act on that decision.

I When I was seventeen, I was involved in a car accident that left

I me permanently paralyzed from the waist down. This eliminated any I I I~\ I I fears I had had about being drafted, and even though the accident was a I real tragedy, I was actually relieved at the same time. But the war was I still going on and I still had fears about friends and family members being drafted, especially since the war started to involve even more

I countries, and seemed to be getting worse and worse. This resulted in I the U.S. getting even more involved itself. But luckily by 1973, the war Project I had finally ended! I was so thankful. My relatives who had been involved in the war came back safely and it was a great relief. Finally, I History there were no more riots or protests, no more deathSociety counts or live video I taping~ of actual battles. Finally, I feltOral free of the devastation and

destruction of war. I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Sarah Frey I Growing up During the Vietnam War

I Have- you- ever woodered what it woold be like to- grow liJHiuritlg a war? I, Jim I Frey, was born the year the Vietnam War started and until I was seventeen, it was just a I way of life. When-I was- seven- years old, the- United- States was just gettingProject involved- in the I war. At that time, I didn't have strong opinions either for or against the war, but as I grew older, I became-very- strongly- opf>6Sed-to-it. My immediate-family was not directly I History involved in the war. After all, this was a very unpopular war. SocietyWhen I grew older, I was I involved- in- protests-where-peeple; mestly my age;Oral eaHed-- for an- end- to- the- Waf. Many I people even burned their draft cards. Since it was mostly people my age who were against the war, a concept- ealled-the- "Generatitm-Gap"Past devek>ped-, wheremest people Historical I over thirty supported the war,The and those of us under thirty strongly opposed it. There was I even a saying, "Never trust anyone-over thirty." Some- families- were- separated--because of this. The "Hippies"From group was formed as a result of this separation, or gap, between I families- when- kids- wentMinnesota off tt)- find "peae&' and-live- with ethers- who felt the- same way they did. In highschool, no one really participated in a team sport. It was believed that I Voices anything that involved- structure-and organizatioo- was too--"r-egimeJltecf' and- eoold lead to

I a war-like situation. As a result of the war, life was very different than it is today. I I had many fears dttring this- time-of Waf. First, I was afraid for relatives who- went to war. They never came back as the same person they were when they left. Second, I

I was afraid for my future and- myself. My mother had- a plan for me-thottglr. If!- were I 1'1>3 I I

I drafted, she would encourage me ta- g& to- Canada. Once tfleFe, I woold- stay with- some of the many other people I had known that had already moved there. As I got older, my

I fears ehangefr very mueft. At the- age-of seventeen, I was- in- a-- ear aeeident- that- resulted in I a spinal cord injury that left me paralyzed from the waist down. Because of my spinal I cord i-nj-ury, I n-e--loogeF feared fer my- future in the same way because I-lmew I would never have to go to war. I remained afraid for relatives and friends who were in danger of

being-dfafted-beeattse--the-war was-- expanding- and lflOfe-eoontfles- were-getting- mvoLved. I Project I This war was tearing our nation apart. We were deep into this war and I was not certain if we'd ever get-oot Even-thoogh--my fears-changed as-the Waf dfaggeEl-oo, my view of it

I never did. I always did, and always was, going to believeHistory that the war was one of our

nation-' s biggest mistakes. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Mark Garretson I Hour: 3 Weller I Vietnam War I For my oral history report I interviewed my dad. During the Vietnam War my dad was between the ages of 16 and 20 years old. He was not drafted for the war

I because his mother was the head of the local draft board for the area he lived in. I His draft number was 186 and they got up to 190. Because his mom was the head of the draft board she couldn't vote to send him to the war, so the otherProject two members

I of the draft board decided to let him stay and not go to the war. I During the war my dad was still in school. HeHistory thinks that he would have I gotten a better education if he didn't have the war to deal Societywith while he was still in school. -He thinks this because during this timeOral he was going to a lot of protests on I the war. He was also not learning atPast the top of his ability because he had other I thoughts on his mind having to do with theHistorical war. He was thinking about how pointless the war was becauseThe so many people who didn't want to go to war were

I going. From He knew a lot of people that went to the war but didn't know anybody who I Minnesota got brain washed. But he knew what it was like when they came back talking about

I how Voicesthey had to patrol the jungle looking for the enemy. When my dad was 13 he I was a foreign exchange student in Guatemala and when he was going through the I jungle there he saw troops moving around looking for the enemy because there was small war going on then in Guatemala. I I I'iS I I I My dad doesn't feel guilty about the war because he knew that he didn't I agree with it. But he felt sad because he knew kids that were coming back from the war that had serious mental problems and knew people that were coming back I missing an arm or a leg. Also these days just the thought of war and all of his friends I gets him really sad with aU of these bad memories. When he went to the Vietnam Memorial he almost had to cry because it was so sad. I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Kristi Gerst I 5/25/99 I Vietnam War-High School through College I Marsha Gullickson was a high school and college student during the Vietnam War. Although she did not actively support the War, she did understand some I of the reasons why many did. She presently teaches in the Edina School system and hopes that we will soon be out ofKosovo and that there will be no more loss of life for I either civilians or military personnel. Project I According to history books, the Vietnam conflict was from 1956-1973. During this time, I was a little kid, and then I went through all of my schooling and by the end, I I History was teaching and married. So really, I was alive and knowingSociety a lot that went on during I all parts of the Vietnam War. Oral I I think I formed my opinion on the Vietnam War even as a little kid. My dad was in WWII and spent 5 years in EuropePast and was an officer in the Army Air Corps, which Historical I later became the Air force. AmongThe my earliest childhood memories were photos of my I dad in uniform, the sights in Europe, playing with his earphones from the warplanes and hearing the storiesFrom of the War. I also remember him becoming very frightened whenever I there was thunder becauseMinnesota he would think that he was in the bombing that he had experienced in WWII. He told me about seeing wounded soldiers and losing his buddies I Voices in the War. Even though he never had to shoot anybody, he had to dodge bullets and

I spend a lot oftime in foxholes. This made me never want anyone else that I knew go to I war. Therefore, when the Vietnam War was in full conflict, many of my young friends were being drafted and sent to this place that we really didn't even know much about. I I I I

I Our teachers in high school kept up on current events, but we also got caught up I in the protests and I suppose that we weren't very supportive of those men and women that were over in Vietnam. When I was a junior in High School, I was on a class trip to I Washington D.C.over Easter week. As we were touring the sites of Washington D.C., I I saw a group of protestors marching around the White House. I thought this was funny, because the president wasn't even there. There were some extra signs, and I was not for I the war, so I grabbed a sign and started marching with the protestors. Imagine my Project I surprise when a policeman tried to take me away with the rest of the protestors. I must have told a good story, because he let me go back with my high school friends to

I complete the rest of the tour. I kept that sign for many Historyyears because I was not for the

war, but I was also very content to let the government do whateverSociety it wanted to. I Oral None of my family members actually had to go to Vietnam during the war. I They were either too young, or had somePast health problems so they didn't get drafted. My husband to be (I didn't know him yet) wasHistorical in a ROTC program at the University of I The Wisconsin, Madison and really wanted to quit school after his sophomore year and go to

I Vietnam to fight. However, his parents discouraged this, and he also quit ROTC. After From he graduated, he was drafted, but he was ineligible because of a medical condition. I Minnesota However, as we became engaged and later married, we still got notices from the draft

I board,Voices and we were always afraid that he would have to interrupt our life and go into the I service. I know this was kind of selfish, because many other people had this experience. I was in college at the height of the Vietnam War. There were many protests,

I but many guys also really wanted to enlist to serve their country. On the other hand, I many guys tried to enlist in other branches of service that had specific duties so that they I I I

I wouldn't get sent to Vietnam. Two of my friends went into service sponsored Drum and I Bugle Corps and were guaranteed state side service. Others took their chances and were sent to Germany or to other parts of Europe. I also knew men who became conscientious I objectors and spent the time that they would have been in the service working in nursing I homes or doing other jobs that substituted for being in the army. The only real Vietnam servicemen that I knew were the vets that had come back I from ''Nam'' as they called it. On campus, they kind of stuck together because they were Project I sometimes older, wore army fatigues, and would just talk to each other about their war experience. I think I kind of stayed away from these guys, too, because they had a

I reputation that they were drug users and you never quiteHistory knew what they were going to

do. I think maybe I prejudged this, and didn't give them a chance.Society In a way, this was the I - Oral ultimate rejection of the people that had served our country in Vietnam, and I know that I they felt this and many still do. Past There were many things that happenedHistorical to influence people of my age during the I The Vietnam War. The music ranged from super patriotic songs like "The Green Beret," to

I "We Gotta Get Out of This Place." President Johnson did not run for a second term From because of what was going on in Vietnam. Students were getting killed at Kent State, I Minnesota and were blowing up the math building at UW Madison.

I VoicesI feel that our military leaders used WWII fighting for a very different war, and I that was one reason that we couldn't win. I know a fighter pilot that refused to drop bombs on North Vietnam and left the service. This action still influences him to this day,

I and it was tough for his dad to understand, because his dad had been a fighter pilot during I WWII and had never questioned the orders of his commanding officers. This was a I I I I time that was confusing to many and tested convictions for both individuals and for the nation. As I think about the Vietnam Memorial and think about the past, I know that this

I conflict was a great loss to our country. I know it will influence our involvement in the I world and its conflicts for many years to come. I

I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I Matthew Fishman Hour 1 I May23,1999 I Vietnam War: The Navy This story is written from the perspective of fonner Navy Officer Gary Fishman, who served his country for five years, from 1968-1973, during I the period of the Vietnam War. He went to Vietnam twice, first serving on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin. The second visit he went back as I an adviser to the Vietnamese Navy where he was stationed in Can Tho.

I I was assigned to different locations for various reasons. On my first assignment, Project I my ship, the u.s.s. America, was in the Gulf of Tonkin because it was sending aircraft on bombing missions over Vietnam. Their missions were secret, so we did not know what

I the targets were. These planes were extremely heavy withHistory fuel and weapons, so I was

concerned that they would have a hard time taking off from theSociety short runways on the ship. I Oral Special mechanisms (catapults) had to fling the planes into the air at a calculated direction I and speed because of the short runwayPast on the ship. From time to time I was afraid that a plane would not take-off the right way and Historicalwould fall off the end of the ship, because the I The I ship lacked sufficient wind speed. The next timeFrom I went to Vietnam I had two different jobs. U.S. troop involvement I in the war was declining,Minnesota but the U.S. still had thousands of advisers in Vietnam. I was assigned to advise the Vietnamese Navy in the Mekong Delta, which is in the lower part of I Voices South Vietnam. The Delta is very wet, full of rivers and canals, and the Army needed I naval support for its ground forces. When U.S. forces were being further reduced, I was I reassigned to Navy headquarters near Saigon at Tan Son Nhut airbase. There, I was a press officer and took many reporters, from the U.S. and around the world, out to ships in

I the Gulf of Tonkin to report on the battles. We traveled to the ships by helicopter. The I I I Matthew Fishman Hour 1 I May 23, 1999 I reporters would ask me and other people on the ship questions and take photographs. One of my responsibilities was to ensure that they did not receive and report on

I confidential information. I My parents were a little concerned that I was going to Vietnam. I did not exactly want to go to Vietnam either, but I was obligated to serve in the Navy for five years after I graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. Many of my friends from Projectthe Academy were I also in Vietnam, so I got to be with some of my colleagues. While in Vietnam, I also made new friends. I History I often became homesick because it was very boring Societyhaving to stay on a ship for I long periods of time. When I was in Can ThoOral and Saigon I could go downtown to a I restaurant. Once in Saigon I went to a park, other times in Vietnam I'd play tennis, watch movies, or play pool. I was fortunate Pastto be on bases that offered recreation. Historical I During the year I wasThe in Vietnam, I also had the opportunity to take a few trips I outside of the country. I spent a week each in Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Tokyo. That was a lot of fun andFrom very interesting. It was a nice break from the tragedies occurring in

I Vietnam. Minnesota I VoicesI had my own thoughts about concepts of the war. I believed that the United States had entered the war to prevent the spread of communism. The U.S. is a democracy

I and didn't want communism to move throughout the world, because we believed that it I wasn't a good government system and posed a threat to the U.S. Many citizens of the I U.S. also believed in the "Domino Theory", which was that if communism began to gain a I I I Matthew Fishman Hour 1 I May 23, 1999 I foothold in Vietnam, it would keep spreading until it was everywhere in Asia, like dominoes falling one after another. The U.S. wanted to contain the spread of communism

I in Asia. I I did not think that the war was worth it. If you view this incident from the perspective of history, the war cost many lives for no good reason. In the end, I communism took over South Vietnam and the U.S. pulled out of the war.Project It appears the I Domino Theory was no big threat. In the countries where communism did take control, it is now changing. The governments are seeing how bad it really is and then how successful History I democracy is in the United States. This war could have been avoided. Society I Because the war was so far away from theOral U.S., we shouldn't have thought of it as I being as big of a threat as we did. The Domino Theory did not develop into the problem people thOUght back in the 1960's. PastThe primary reason the U.S. got involved in the Historical I fighting of Vietnam turned outThe to not have been the big threat it was thought to be. I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Eric Ohman

I Vietnam

I In July, 1967, my dad, John Ohman, entered the army at the age of 21. He went through several months of training. He trained in Fort Cambell, Kentucky, and also in I Alabama. In December, 1967, he was shipped off to Vietnam. The Plane landing was I very scary because all of the plan's lights had to be turned off at a high altitude, for safety, in case an enemy might shoot at the plane Project I In Vietnam my dad lived in a personnel armor carrier for six months. After these six months he had the opportunity to have Rand R (rest and relaxation) in Singapore. I Later in the war he also guarded road construction equipment.History The last thing he guarded in the war was a base camp. After my dad had beenSociety in Vietnam for one year,

I he was going to be leaving for home in America.Oral When he arrived in America he first

visited his sister Jean Ohman, in San San FranCisco, California. Then he returned I Past back to his anxious and excited family. After the Vietnam war my dad suffered from Historical I emotional pain, and thought theThe war was uneccesary. I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Mike Etten History I May 25, 1999 I interviewed my mother on her experiences in the Peace Corp? dwing I the Vietnam War. She talked about wanting to do something positive with her life and for her country at a time when many people were angry at the I United States for its' involvement in what was considered an immoral war. I was in high school when the Vietnam War actually started, but the I war became part of the American conscience and the major anti-war activity occurred while I was in college. After I got out of college, I decidedProject to go into the Peace Corp and my country assignment was the Philippines. I was in I the Peace Corp from 1972 to 1974. A typical day in the Philippines was getting up very early, like 6:00 I a.m. People got up early because it was cooler inHistory the morning and because we had no electricity, so everything had to be done by the light of day. We would go outside and pick a piece of fruit right of theSociety tree, such as a papaya, I banana or pineapple. This would be our Oralbreakfast. Then we would walk around, talking to the people in our village, or "barrio" as it was called there. I We, along with Filipino agricultural extension workers, would hold nutrition classes, talking about diet and health.Past Sometimes we would do odd jobs for the Barrio Captain's mother. She wasHistorical old and cranky, but we were living in I her house, so we had to beThe nice to her. By noon, the temperature was usually around 100 degrees, so everyone rested for a couple of hours till it cooled I off. Evenings were generally spent fixing dinner, chatting with neighbors, and going to bedFrom early. We also had a weekly radio show about nutrition and introduced rabbits as a food source into the barrio. Rabbits are a cheap, easy­ I to-raise source of protein,Minnesota which we thought was a wonderful concept. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to want to have the rabbits as pets, rather I than as a food source. Even the Barrio Captain hated the thought of killing one Voicesof our rabbits, even though he understood the importance of protein in people's diet. I We faced many different possible injuries and diseases while in the Philippines. There was a guerilla war going on in our area-Moslems vs. the majority Christians-- so we always had to be cautious of problems related to I this issue. Some of the most common diseases were malaria and amoebic dysentery. I got amoebic dysentery the first year I was there. It's a disease I that causes nausea and diarrhea for a short while, similar to what we think of I I I

I as stomach flu. The difference is amoebic dysentery keeps coming back and back and back.

I While living in the barrio, I met many new people. I was on a fIrst name basis with all of the villagers. Communicating with them was tough, I even though we had learned one of the many different Filipino dialects. In my area, there were about 15 different dialects spoken. Only a few people in our area spoke English. One of them, though, was our Barrio Captain, which I was a great help to us. Everyone in the entire province treated us like celebrities. When we arrived, the Governor of the Province came out to the I field they called an airport to met us. I joined the Peace Corps for a few reasons. I wanted toProject do something meaningful, while doing something exciting. Joining the Peace Corps gave I me that opportunity. I would be able to travel, live in an entirely different culture, while hopefully doing something useful for the people of that I country. I could learn, while teaching. As it turnedHistory out, I learned a lot more than I taught. My family had mixed emotions about my goingSociety into the Peace Corps I and to. the Philippines. They thought it wasOral a good chance to meet people and see the world. On the other hand, they were scared for my health and I safety. This is a basic summary ofPast my experiences and life in the Peace Corp. I was strongly opposed to our involvementHistorical in the country of Vietnam and I tried to do something ofThe use in another beautiful Asian country-my "Home I Away from Home", the Philippines. From By Mike Etten and his mother, Mary Crowley. I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I History Interview ~\ --.) ~.~ :." .. ~ ...:~ .... ' . I 1. What did you do before the war? I worked for IDS, I was drafted in 1966 during the Vietnam War. First, I did basic

I training then went on to advance training in Ft. Pulk in Louisiana. I 2. How did you feel when you found out you were going to be drafted into the I Army? I expected to be drafted, I didn't want to at first. I felt it was my duty to myProject country to go. I 3. What did you do once you finished your training? I I was assigned to Germany in the 4th Army Division headquarters. 4. What did you do when you got to headquarters? History Society I Division headquarters assigned different units to goOral out into "field." I was lucky because I the Lieutenant in charge of headquarters was from Minnesota. So he wanted everyone from Minnesota to be on his staff, so I wasPast picked. Historical I 5. What kind of tasks were youThe assigned to? I I had several jobs, my main one was to type orders to promote Privates to PFC's or Private First Class. From I 6. What other kinds ofMinnesota jobs did you do? We worked in big tents all summer with typewriters, papers, orders, etc. I Voices I I I I I \G1 I

I 7. Did you have any kinds of drills? I We had war exercises where we would keep track of officers that were killed in action, or that were missing in action in a mock war. I 8. What things did you do that were enjoyable? I I was stationed in Germany so I got to meet lots of interesting people and I got to travel all over Germany. However, being in the Army was not fun. I 9. What was one of the most dangerous experiences that you had? Project I I was stationed where Germany borders Czechoslovakia, without warning the Russians took over the Czechs and we were afraid that they would invade Germany and a WWIII

I would begin. History

10. Where did you go after the war? Society I Oral After the war I came back to Minnesota and got my own job back at IDS. I 11. Did you face any protesters of the warPast in Vietnam? Not really, I was hurt that they were attackingHistorical people who were drafted into the Army. I The 12. What kind of feelings did you have after the war?

I I wanted to get out of the Army very badly, I felt somewhat older after the war. From 13. Is there any thing else that you could tell me? I Minnesota Well, when I was in Europe we stayed in a barracks that belonged to the German Army in

I WWII. VoicesSo you could still see some of the swastikas painted on the walls. I I ,: . ~.' -" I I I I I

I Interview done by Kent Bigham Interview on Charles Bigham I The date if the interview was May 25, 1999 I I was Sergeant First Class from 1967 until 1969. My job was I military intelligence. I went to Vietnam (NAM) approximately 30 times on temporary duty (TDY). Project I Much of what I did in Vietnam is still classified and I can't tell you I much about my assignments. The disappointingHistory part of U.S. Vietnam intelligence was that our Embassy in Saigon was screening and tampering with the data. My visitsSociety were to get the I real scoop back to our boss (RobertOral McNamara). I reported to Joint Chiefs of Staff and was assigned to the Pentagon. I Past The most exciting visit to NAM Historicalbegan on January 30, 1968 when I I arrived in Saigon at theThe Tan Son Hut airport located near the Pentagon East. Late on January 31, I climbed into a helicopter I inbound to Ben Cat, located roughly 65 clicks due north of Saigon. Ben Cat was aFrom firebase located on the north and most eastern point I of the Iron Triangle. The pilots expectation was a CLZ (cold landing zone), butMinnesota it turned out to be an HLZ (hot landing zone). At about a quarter of a mile from the LZ (landing zone) with about I 300Voices feet of altitude, the helicopter took fire. Our vertical rotator took a hit and went into an auto-rotation and crashed into a rice I paddy. At the time we didn't know that the Viet Cong (VC) had begun the famous Tet Offensive. An Army Captain that was riding I with us was thrown face down into the rice patty. He had a full metal jacket on and it held him down. I was close to drowning I when another Sergeant and I pulled the Captain out by his straps. We made our way, under fire, to a point bunker on the outermost I I I

I perimeter of Ben Cat. We proceeded to defend the fire base from the point bunker against the VC. The bunker had two M-60 I machine guns and I manned one of them for the next twenty-four hours. We repelled seven VC frontal attacks. The Captain, we'd I saved earlier, was killed standing next to me as he fed my machine gun. He took a round in the head. By the morning of the first day I I was standing knee deep in brass. I Our kill ratio was 200:1 caused by all our cannon and machine gun fire. I walked away with a few scratches and a slightProject hearing loss I in my right ear. I returned to NAM eleven times after the Tet battle. The Tet I offensive was a major American military victoryHistory over the VC. The VC were no longer a major fighting force.Society I Oral It is my theory that the North Vietnamese politicians and military command engaged the guerrilla warriors (VC) in a traditional stand I up battle for the purpose of eliminatingPast the VC. After the Tet, the significant U.S and South VietnameseHistorical military engagements were I against the North VietnameseThe Regulars (RVN). It seems to me that the North Vietnam's rational was that the U.S. had already lost the I war politically and that the VC presence in the South was a threat to the North Vietnam'sFrom dominance in the South. I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I .leo I

I Catherine Bach I Oral History . Wayne Bach: Experiences in Vietnam I Wayne ,Bach was drafted into the army in 1968. He was 22 years I old, just out of college. The first two months were tough because he I was in boot camp, where there was a lot of running, crawling, sitting in mud for long periods of time, ect. Every morning, everyoneProject got up at I 5:00 a.m., stood in line for a long time, sometimes in the rain, waiting to get breakfast. The food there was not always good tasting, but it I was good nutrition-wise. Then, after boot camp,History there was 9 months of radio repair and communication training. There,Society he worked on Oral I fixing broken radios, and was trained to keep them running. Overall, training wasjn 3 different cities: First, he went to Fort Louis, I Past Washington. Then, he went to FortHistorical Sill, Oklahoma. Then last, Fort I Benning, Georgia. ThenThe he went to Viet Nam. I In Viet Nam, he was sent right next to a town called Ducpho and lived in a tent forFrom one year. He kept all the communication equipment maintained and working. He also got supplies for the company he I Minnesota worked for. The Vietnamese people seemed very primitive, but he I neverVoices talked to them because they aU spoke Vietnamese. Mostly everyone who lived there lived in bamboo huts. They basically were I village people. I He saw only a few Americans get hurt. When people saw other people get hurt or killed, it scared them a lot. There were a lot of I rockets that came in very close to where he was standing. There was I nothing good about being in Viet Nam. Some of the worst things I I

I were: the fact that you could get shot or killed at any moment, and I how people could destroy their lives with drugs. Lots of Americans took drugs to escape reality. A lot of people that took drugs couldn't I be soldiers anymore. Another bad thing was the heat. You could be sent to jail for being out in the sun too long because if you were so I badly burned that you would have to go to the hospital, you weren't I being loyal to your country so you were put in jail. Wayne was 24 when he came back from Viet Nam.Project The first I thing he did yvas look for a job. His family was very glad he made it back safely. His friends that weren't in the war with him were very I understanding of him. A bad thing also wasHistory some people didn't respect him for fighting in the war because thereSociety was no need to fight I Oral in a war: Wayne doesn't think that the war should have happened at all I Past because there were too many politicsHistorical involved in a war. It was hard to I fight enemies you couldn'tThe even see. Also a lot of people on the other I side were di99in9 holes in the ground and were hiding from the bullets so they never gotFrom hurt. I That is WayneMinnesota Bach's story about the Viet Nam war. I Voices I I I I I I

I Sean Hunter-Siegert

I Ideas from Home on Vietnam I

I I interviewed my father for the oral history report. The main I thing I interviewed him on was the Vietnam War. He knowsProject a lot I about the war because he was in his late teens to early twenties I History when it happened. He didn't like that we even wentSociety into Vietnam I Oral because it was their Revolution/Civil War. He also didn't like it I Past because the army didn't know whoHistorical were allies and who were I The I enemies because some of the South Vietnamese were our allies From during the day and our enemies during the night. I Minnesota I VoicesSome ways he showed how he felt about Vietnam were: he

I always wore a peace sign, attended rallies, took part in petition

I drives, and counseled people on how to avoid the draft. His best

I friend was drafted and so were a lot of other people, some of whom I I I

I died. He was drafted and able to get out of it because his lawyer got

I a doctor to write a letter to the U.S. Army saying that one of his ears

I was partially deaf and he could not go to war because of this. He lost

I some friends because of some political issues, and it took up a lot of I his time. His friends were mostly mixed in feelings aboutProject the war, I although none of his friends were neutral. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I By Andy Bryan I Growing Up With Vietnam I

I Hello. My name is Roy Bryan. I was born in 1957 in Buffalo, New York. I grew I up during the Vietnam War. Although I can't remember all my experiences that had to do with the war, one I can remember like it was yesterday. I was 11 yearsProject old and it was a I beautiful spring day in 1968. My dad and I were going to the University of Minnesota to

pick up my older sister who was a student at the school. We arrived at a place called I History Dinky-Town and I can still remember the large crowd. They wereSociety probably students but I I had ne~er seen people such as these in person before.Oral They were longhaired and wild I looking. I had seen them on the television before but never in person. They were all listening to some kind of speaker standingPast on a platform. Then the man took out a North Historical I Vietnamese flag and started wavingThe it around while the crowd cheered. Then some men I and women from the crowd took out a huge lighter and lit the American Flag on fire. This really effected meFrom because I had thought most people had wanted to be in this war and I that it might be illegal Minnesotato go against the government like they had. Then my dad and I went to my sister's dormitory. I Voices Later that week I was watching some television and the reporters were talking

I about the body count in Vietnam They always said that that day had been a great success I and we would be done with the war soon. Now I realize that this was just a government I scanda~ which tried to keep our hopes up at home. They would also show pictures and send out magazines of how they wanted you to join the service because you could make a I I :lOS I

I huge difference. Some of my older friends were worried that they might be drafted. I I didn't really have to worry because I was too young. Those years of my life were different from any other I lived through and I learned a lot from my experiences. Overall,

I the Vietnam War was a while ago but it showed how people at home could influence I what happened in the war by protesting and being rebellious. I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I The Draft and Education during the Vietnam years. I By Jane Anderson

I I interviewed my dad, Jeff Anderson, about the military draft and education during I the Vietnam years. I will be presenting my information in the perspective of my dad. When you turned eighteen, you had to register at your local draft board. You I were required to register with in a relatively short time after your eighteenth birthday. If you didn't register, you could be taken to jail. Project I Each draft board had a quota, which is the number of men the board had to I produce depending upon how many men registered. The local draft board that I registered at was in Richfield, at 66th and Penn. It was an small officeHistory located in a strip mall. They Society I gave me a card to fill out, and I had to identifY myOral high school and other information. Then they sent me a card with my name, address, and classification on it. This card was to I be carried around in my wallet like a driversPast license. I Ifyou were in high school or collegeHistorical you would get a school deferment which was ''2A.'' Some people would getThe "lA." This meant that the draft could take you right away I because you weren't in school. Ifyou had a physical deferment, you would get "4F." A physical deferment Fromwas an injury, disease etc. One of my friends received a physical I deferment because he wasMinnesota running away from the police and his class ring got caught in a fence while trying to jump it. His ring finger was torn off. I VoicesWhen you registered for college, the school would send your draft board I something saying that you were enrolled as a full time student, because the draft would not take your word for it. Every semester, your school had to verifY to the draft board I that you were a full time student. If you dropped out of college, or were not making normal progress, your draft board would be notified by the college. This made plenty of I work for the colleges. If you were not making normal progress, the draft board would I I I I "re-classify" you from a "2S," to a "1A." Once you graduated, you would be I "re-classified" as a "IA" within three months. There were some decisions you bad to make after college. If you wanted to go on

I to graduate schools, the draft might give you a deferment. Medical students would I receive deferments. If you were married, with a child or you were the only son and worked on your family farm, you would also receive a deferment. Law and masters I students would not receive one. If you were drafted you were sent to Fort Leonard Wood in central Missouri. You would be in basic training there for six weeks. ProjectIf you didn't I want to go to Vietnam, you could attend Coast Guard school, and become a coast guard. Or you could join the National Guard. With the Guard you would serve six years, one History I weekend each month. Other options included the Navy and Marines. Society I In 1969, President Nixon and his advisorsOral came up with a new alternative to the draft. This alternative was called "The Lottery." They took every day of the year(365 I days) and put them into a hat. Every manPast born in 1948 received a lottery number based on his birthday. One by one they would drawHistorical a date, the :first dates drawn would be the I first men to go, and so on. TheThe people who had their birthday's drawn after 175 or so, I would basically stop worrying about the draft because the draft boards generally did not need that many men.From I Going from the Minnesotaopen draft to the lottery made a huge difference on protests. In 1970, there were serious protests, but not as many people attended them because men

I who Voicesbad high lottery numbers wouldn't worry about going into Vietnam, so they figured it I wasn't their problem anymore. I was number 124 after college in 1970, so I was a bit worried. The draft board I where I signed up figured they would draft men with numbers up to 140 or 150. When my number came up, I was called in for a physical. I flunked the exam because of a recent

I knee operation. My knee was swollen like a grapefruit, so they wanted a medical report I I I I from my doctor. They gave me a one year physical deferment, and I was told to be ready I in 1971. But when 1971 came around, the war had died down a bit and the draft only got up to lottery number 110, so I wasn't called back. In 1972 the draft went to numbers 85

I or 90. One of my brothers drew 360, so he didn't have to worry. My other brothers were I born later on and were not given a number because the war was slowing down. They ended the lottery in about 1978. Some men went into the war because they wanted to. I For others, their lottery number and deferments determined whether they were drafted into the army. Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I '2.0er I

I Captain Curtis R. Bergey: Naval Dentist.

I Curtis R. Bergey was born on April 3, 1956, in Philadelphia, PA, to Patsy I Ann Rhoads Bergey and Eugene Alter Bergey. He grew up hearing military stories from his father and grandfathers. His father was a signal man during WWII on the

I battle ship the New York. His grandfathers were both in WWI. During the Vietnam I war while in high school in West Chester, PA, his lottery number for the draft came up #1 for the following year. Fortunately, they stopped sendingProject troops to

I Vietnamjust before he was sent. However, with his family history of being in the I service, he felt strongly that he would serve his countryHistory in some fashion. After he I married Norma Ellen Batchelor on December 26,1981, andSociety graduated from Temple Dental School in the June of 1982, heOral decided that he would join the

I Navy. Past I Ajob in the military can be rewardingHistorical as well as challenging. The Navy, which was officially formedThe by the U.S. on October 17, 1775, is one of the

I toughest services for family life. Sailors have to spend many months out to sea From away from their families sometimes without any communication for long periods of I Minnesota time. When Curt joined the Navy, he and his wife thought that it would be for

I threeVoices years. However, the Navy recruiting slogans of "Let the Journey Begin" I and "It's not a job, it's an adventure" truly describes his and his family's life in the I Navy. I I 2.10 I I

I Naval dentistry started in 1912, and provides a valuable service to the I Navy and Marine sailors, aviators and soldiers. While it seems like a simple service, it is important because it can effect how a sailor performs his duty. When

I military personal are not service ready, it costs the military. An example of not I being service ready might include having a toothache because of too many cavities or a sinus infection. Imagine being deep under the ocean in a sub, or high in the

I sky, and having excruciating pain from one of these problems. It could mean the Project I loss of a multimillion dollar jet or having to surface near an enemy sub. A naval dentist can even ground a four star general or an admiral. Navy dentists make sure

I that everyone is able to do their jobs without any dentalHistory problems. Society I In order for Navy and Marine personnelOral to be serviced by a dentist, a naval I dentist has to leave his family for deployments out to sea or with the Marines. While he was assigned to ship dutyPast on the destroyer tender, the Yosemite, Curt Historical I had to leave his family forThe 13 out of24 months. He and his family missed each I other very much. Bill, his first child, was born just before he left for a 6 month deployment. AnotherFrom hard ship was not having direct communication with his I family at all times. MinnesotaWhile the Navy tried to help by sending videos of the ship's

activities, and by Curt caIling home to talk when the ship pulled into port, I Voices communication still was difficult. If there was a emergency, MARS communication

I was used. This was like a CD radio with an extra person in between. Life on board I the ship was also difficult at times. Personal space was limited. Sometimes, fresh food even ran out and simple things such as milk were not available. Exercising

I was accomplished by running around on the deck, or wherever space was I 2. \ \ I I

I available. Entertainment was also limited. Reruns of videos were shown over and I over. During the time Curt was on the ship, the Iran crisis was going on so there were not too many liberty ports. However, he still managed to enjoy life on the

I ship by working on learning how to drive the ship in his spare time. He also got to I see many places that he may have never seen ifhe had not been in the military. One of the positive features of being in the Navy is that you get to go many I places and see many things. Curt's career has taken him and his familyProject all across I America. His first duty was at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Jacksonville FL. Next, he was on a ship in Mayport, FL. From Florida, the family moved to Camp

I Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC. Advanced schooling wasHistory next in Betheseda, MD. In Society I Bethesda, we met many military families thatOral had adopted Korean children. This is I when we adopted Kristina. Afterwards, we had a tour with the Marines at Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, AZ. ThreePast years later, he joined the staff at Naval Historical I Hospital in Portsmouth, VThe A. The Navy then chose him for more advanced training I in Oral Facial Pain management at the University of Minnesota. Next, he will return to Norfolk,From V A. to be on staff at Naval Station Norfolk. Along the way he I and his family haveMinnesota seen and done many things that a lot of other families have never had the opportunity to do. The Navy has allowed the family to meet many I Voices wonderful people and enjoy the way of life in many different communities.

I Life in the Navy has its positive and negative points. While the pay isn't as I good as for a dentist in the civilian world, Curt has no regrets in choosing the I military as his career. He chose the military from the professional stand point. I I I

I He has enjoyed working along side of his naval fellow dentists instead of being in I a solitary practice. He has advanced from the rank of Lieutenant all the way up to Captain. He had planned on staying in the Navy for three years and it turned into

I 17 years. Those 17 years in the Navy passed quickly, and it really has been an I adventure! By Bill Bergey I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

-. ~ I f-'a!ty t'erers Hour 6 H1S!Or:"/ I \7 ictrlall1 I 1 '~:va.s an-ala ofioemg armed mro Vlema.rtl. I \:vas 2(J yea.rs ola aIlc rea.dy ror mj! I draft !ltlm.ber. i-\'Q.W! males 18 j!cars ana. Oloer \:vere ~l'{en one of tn.esc nll...TJ1oers. I\ti)F number \vas i65. Tile Tilitary \vould call ~lOU up by number until They had enOtlg.n

I young males signed up to fight. HOWeVer,! was a cou.ege smdem at the t;n'1e. Coilege Project I srudents received someThing. called a deferment_ Tms meant thaI "OU could DOT be drafted umil you had finished coUege. in i 972 j dropped my defennem because j I History Society I so, my ±a..1Jlily was very arraia. They didn't wantOral me to go mte war. However, tney I man t tbip~~ I should try to dodge the draft by moving to Canada or anyrhi.'1g. 1 never considered eniisting because i didn·tPast want to interrupt my college education. i. knew I Historical mends that went to Viema..'!LThe One OIme star athletes at my m~iJ. school, Rick I Anreason, hac. rus roo! D1O'-\'!l. off in a 18...'10 mine. He couid have gone to coJlege and From I went to college). ThereMinnesota was no nomecormna da..'1ce, no nomecommg fOo!baE game, ~. ~ ~

I ana noVoices homecoming parade~ nort11ng unlli the DOyS at '/ietnam. came home. Ine I sru.aenJ comm_on.S \vas bom.bed~ 1! \:vas compiete chaos. Sometlmes y'Oll. \vonder lftne I \\rar is acnlall)r beJng ibll~ht 111 \iietn.8m. or ifit lS be1ng tought here ~T1 .l\.. !TI.erica . .t~ven. tn.Dug.t':!.l C1Cln t a.cttlaJJ.)! ngbJ l.U \/iemaro~ th.e \~V8..r L11J.pactea DIe greatl~y'. t'~rery nlg...t'J.t on I I I I

I l""- tnere were Tlims oipeopie ngi1!ing, wounds, ana Durnea c!"maren. Tne war created I much distrusT Towards tne government. I I I Project I

I History Society I Oral I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Lizzie Peyton I Oral History: Fighting in the Vietnam War I I was a first lieutenant and head of a platoon (there were 20-35 men in one) when I was in the field during the Vietnam War. When I was in the rear (not fighting) I was an

I executive officer- that is more of an administrative position. My title was a battalion I engineer, I would fix everything from barbed wire to "drainage." I was in Vietnam for one I year- the longest year of my life. I won·three bronze stars for heroism. I won them because I saved Americans. Project

I I went into the war when I was 22 and came out when I was 23. It was right when I I came out of college. In college I was in ROTC (ReservedHistory Officer Training Core), that brought me into the war because if you were in that you went Societyinto war when you got out I of college. I didn't think the war would still be goingOral on when I got out of college so I

took the ROTC. It gave me a six year obligation to fight in the war. In the summer I went I Past to boot camp and learned discipline. Historical I I was located in the centralThe highlands of Vietnam. Since my unit was in the I highlands it wasn't as hot as it was where the other units were placed. The temperature of some of the coldestFrom nights were 45 F. It was very muggy and we were in dense forest- a I Minnesota three layer canopy jungle is what it is called. There were a great number of hills in the

I area.Voices This was a problem becuase of the the heavy backpacks we had, they were up to 60 I pounds. In them, we carried food, clothes, and demolition. Sometimes we were located in a double canopy jungle. That would be very hard to move in because it would get more

I sun than the triple-canopy jungle. There would be much more foliage and it would be I harder to move in. I recall one time it took me 3 hours to move 200 yards because of the I I I I density of the foliage. I had to crawl through it (because I couldn't hack at it) so I could I get through it more easily. Since there was so much forest there wasn't a need for the Vietnamese to use any I of their tunnel systems- it was very easy to sneak around without being seen by the enemy. I When there was a ''battle'' there were no large engagements on battlefields. We usually were "walking around" (to put it casually) and we would come upon an enemy I concentration and there would be a short fire fight. Otherwise if we wereProject in a permanent I position, the enemy would shoot mortars at our camp. Some of the soldiers didn't want to fight- so when they went to fight, they didn't shoot their guns once. Then there were the History I soldiers that were so pumped-up they could go fight and take down a whole unit. It all Society I depended on your feelings towards war and howOral well run your unit was. I In the military I had what I call military friends. They are friends that you go through drill with and talk to. You don'tPast get to know them very well for the fear they Historical I might get killed. Well, my bestThe friend in the military died. I didn't even know he had a wife I with a baby back at home- that is what a military friend is. Only a few of my military friends got hurt duringFrom the war- I never did. I don't keep in touch with those friends I anymore- it's a shame IMinnesota don't. I VoicesMy family wasn't effected by this war too much. My mother and father just worried about me. My brothers didn't really care because they weren't that involved with

I the war. I would write my family and friends back home to tell them how I was. I would I always downplay what was really happening when I told my mom and dad about the war; I otherwise they would get too worried. I I I

Andrew Prazich I Hour 3, May 26, 1999

I VIET NAM: BEING DRAFTED INTO THE U S ARMED FORCES I During the Viet Nam Era the law required that you register with the Selective Service on your 18th birthday. I went to the U S Post Office in

I the small town where I was growing up, and completed a Selective

Service registration card. I had to provide my name, address, social I Project security number, birth date, race, religion and current status, such as

I "student." My name was recorded at the selective service office, and I I was mailed a selective service card, also knownHistory as a "draft card." The Selective Service had the duty of drafting men into theSociety U S Armed Forces. I Oral To be drafted meant that you were going to be inducted into a branch of I the U S Armed forces without youPast choice. The U S Army was the most likely branch that you would go to, followedHistorical by the U S Marine Corps, the I The U S Air Force, or the U S Navy.

I Draft status was very important at this time because the Viet Nam From War was in full swing. If you were 18 years or older, and not a student, I Minnesota sole surviving son, disabled, or of a certain religious belief you would be

I drafted.Voices Listed below are some of the draft classifications that showed up I on draft cards: 1-A Ready for Induction Drafted

I 2-S Full Time Student I 4-F Disabled, Not Qualified to Serve 1-D Discharged from Active U S Military Duty I I I

I After graduating from high school I was fortunate enough to go to college I for 4 full years. This meant that I had a 2 - S classification, meaning I was a student. My college was required to report that I was a full time I student, as well as my grades to the Selective Service Board responsible I for me. During my senior year of college a new way of selecting men for

I induction into the U S Military came about. This was called theProject "Lottery." I Instead of buying a chance to win a cash prize like today, birth dates were drawn out of a hat, and by the order they were drawn determined whether

I or not you would be drafted. There were 366 numbers;History my birth date was Society I drawn 4th. I was going to be drafted. I wasOral not happy about this. I graduated from college in May, and received my 1 - A

I classification 30 days after thatPast date. This meant that I could be inducted,

and called to active duty at any time.Historical I The I had a choice of volunteering for the U S Navy for 6 years, the U S I Air Force for From5 years, or the U S Marine Corps for 3 years. If I were I drafted I would haveMinnesota to serve only 2 years. I decided to take my chances and serve for 2 years as a draftee in the U S Army.

I VoicesDuring late summer of the year that I graduated from college the I Selective Service Law expired. Congress chose to delay the paSSing of a new law. There was a provision in the expired law, which I was governed

I by that said that if I did not receive my induction orders by the end of that I year, I could not be drafted. I was hopeful that this would happen so that I I I I

I could move forward with my life. However, Congress passed a new I Selective Service Law in October of that year; I was drafted into the U S Army in December. I , was inducted into the U S Army, and served 2 years. During that I 2 years I spent 6 months in training in the U S, 6 months training and working in Japan and the Philippines, and 12 months working in Viet Nam,

I Thailand and Korea. I was glad to return home at the end ofProject my two years I of service. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I I A College Student's Perspective on America's Involvement in Vietnam I By: Ben Ransom

I interviewed my mom, Susan Schultz, on the student antiwar movement I during the Vietnam War .. While the Vietnam War was going on college students were heavily protesting the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. She I was a college student during these protests. "During the Vietnam War I was a college student at the UniversityProject of

I Colorado. I was a freshman in 1969 and at that time, I only knew generally about I the war. I was an English major aspiring at that time Historyto be an English professor. During the academic year of 1971-72 I studied in London, SocietyEngland."

I -" During my freshman year I listenedOral to a number of speeches on campus

I and that, combined with reading thePast news, I became increasingly against the war. I There was a dashing antiwar figure on campusHistorical named Jon Hillson who gave riveting speeches with compellingThe information that caused me to question whether

I the government was being honest. There was an organization called the 'Student's From Moratorium Against the War' and I joined that group. As a participant in that I Minnesota group I passed out leaflets, I was in several nonviolent protests, talked to other

I studentsVoices about the war, and also was part of a 'sit-in' on campus. A sit-in was a I form of protest in which a group of people literally sat down somewhere to stage a protest against the war. We carried signs and banners and sat in a large group

I outside of the college administration building. I This sit-in went on for several hours into the late evening. The police came and I I I

I stayed while student speeches and concerns were voiced. Finally, the police said I that the students must leave the campus area where we were sitting and that they would arrest students who stayed. I think that all of us left but I'm not sure. I left

I because I felt that our point had been made and I tried to imagine calling my father I from jail and asking for bail money. I didn't want to do that. I think that this protest was in the spring of 1970. In the fall of 1970, I went door to door with a I photo spread by Ramparts Magazine that showed photos of VietnameseProject adults and I children injured and maimed by napalm. This was to persuade others and to get contributions of money for the moratorium. " History I "1 did not have any close friend or relative that was in the war. My Society I brother, David, a year younger than I, had aOral very low draft number and we were all I worried that he would be sent to Vietnam. It turned out that because he had nerve deafuess in one ear, he failed the physical.Past Also, 1 briefly dated a classmate that Historical I was part of ROTC. 1 knewThe of two students who tried to fail their draft physicals. I One went on a starvation diet and the other tried to cause himself to have high blood pressure."From I "I think thatMinnesota the Vietnam War had a powerful effect on popular culture and I 1Voices became quite swept up in it. Music was full of peace and love themes and themes ofthe sadness of war as well as suspiciousness of government. Protest music

I included Peter, Paul and Mary; Bob Dylan; Buffalo Springfield, and Joan Baez. I During this time there was also an emphasis on being free with your love and a I very famous rock concert in Woodstock, New York. I didn't go to this concert but I heard about it. There was a movement in the country also that promoted the I I I

I notion of drug use to enhance one's enlightenment. A Harvard professor named I Timothy Leary suggested that people 'drop acid' which was slang for taking a hallucinogenic drug called LSD. Also there was a great deal of marijuana use in the

I hippie culture. I had mixed feelings about all of this, especially since there were I news reports of tragic deaths related to drug use. There was a popular novel by Ken Keasey that described a group of people driving around the country in a bus I participating in 'love-ins' in which people took LSD. This view of Projectdrugs as I pleasurable recreation was common and very different from views now. My parents)neighbors 'dropped out' during this time which was startling to me. I had

I babysat their children who were still young. DroppingHistory out meant that you left your Society I middle class existence for a more simple, hippieOral life. This husband was an affluent I attorney and his wife was a homemaker. They sold their large home and moved into a commune." Past Historical I "My parents wereThe liberal democrats and were increasingly against the war I in Vietnam. They were supportive of my interest in expressing my political views but were concernedFrom that I be safe. This was particularly a concern after students I were shot and killedMinnesota by the National Guard at Kent State in Ohio. My

participation in war protests fortunately did not involve physical danger to me or I Voices I my classmates." I I I I I

I How mv., mom and dad met By: Jon Snover I We met while I was a x-ray student at what is now known as Abbott-Northwestern

I hospital and Terry was a security guard waiting to get on the police department. In your I last year of x-ray training you work a shift known as night call. This is when you take x- rays only as needed. This meant if you didnt have any x-rays to take, you could visit with I the other hospital personnel that worked the same shift. We usually metProject at the telephone I operators room because she had to stay up all night and also she was a friend of mine. In comes this cute looking security guard and the operator introduced us. Then the next History I weekend the younger students were having a party and I asked him if he wanted to go. Society I After that we went out on a regular bases thenOral we got married two years later on OCT,5,1973. I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I

I Child in Communism I

I This is a story from a person who remembers growing up with the

fear of communism and the fear of being drafted to fight communism. I Project

I From what I can remember back in the 60's and early 70's a child's I main concern was always that Russia was going Historyto attack the United States at any given time. We always lived under the fear thatSociety Nuclear War was I Oral -going to start. As kids we were told that Nuclear Weapons were pointed I at the United States and that thePast button could be pushed at any given time. I As a kid we were told that Russia wasHistorical arch rivals with the United States and fwe did not act likeThe a good country, it would be more or less a race I between the two countries as to who would push the button first and who From wold retaliate. At that time there was equipment but not good enough I Minnesota equipment to get notice that this could occur, basically the fear was that at

I Voicesany given moment one would start and the other retaliates. In general we I were in fear depending on where we lived in the country. You might be a bigger target in one area. At the time communism was a real threat to the

I United States and we would always worry about those things. I I I I I As I got older, was becoming more aware of the threat of Vietnam. I At the age of 18, I was given a draft card. An actual draft number, I think it was 45, so at that time it was staring to wind down. So we had a lot of I concern whether we would be drafted and have to fight in the war whether I we wanted to or not. I think that as a male my particular fear was I might not get to lead the kind of life I wanted to. At 18 I had ideas of going to I college and eventually getting ajob. Working and having a family is what Project I I wanted to do. I think there were groups of people my age that thought, I can either enlist and have more control where I will be sent. Or I can take

I my chances with the draft and take the risk withHistory draft. There was a lot of

uncertainty for a young kid not knowing what your futureSociety would hold. As I Oral a kid our teachers would tell us that communism was a real evil thing and I if you showed any interest inPast it people would have something to say. I remember that as a kid we were toldHistorical that Russia's children would kill their I The parents for a reward to show their support for communism. Growing up,

I we believed that communism would never end and it was a scary thing. From We were raised to fear it and worry about it every day. I Minnesota

I Voices By Brian Reese I I I I I I

I Mike Homolka Period 6 I I 1950's and 1960's: The Drive-In Movie I I interviewed my dad, Dan Homolka, about the drive-in movie. He said that he has been to a drive-in movie about twenty-five times in his life. He also said I that the drive-in was regrettably a passing fad and a lost way of havingProject fun. I The drive-in first became popular in the 1950's because it was a hangout for kids to see a movie and show off their cars. My dad mentioned that the reason people went to I History a drive-in movie was to meet with people and to see a movie.Society He also says that it was a I special time if kids were able to see a movie. OnceOral my dad and his brothers and sister I went to a drive-in with his parents. When they went to stopped for gas beforehand, they asked for two dollars worth of gas. ThePast attendant pumped five dollars worth of gas by Historical I accident and they missed theThe movie because they did not have any money. I Prices to get into a drive-in movie were very cheap. You could have a carload of people admitted forFrom roughly two dollars. Even though prices were cheap, people still

I thought that it would beMinnesota a good idea to get in for a bit cheaper. A common way of getting I moreVoices people in for less money was that people would hide in the trunks of cars. This was I possible because trunks were a lot bigger back then. My dad knows one story that involved a bunch of guys getting caught for sneaking in. There were five people trying to

I get into a movie with three guys in the trunk. One of these guys "flatulated" and the I people in the trunk were pounding on the door to get out. Every one in the party paid. There are many ways that the drive-in theater has changed over the years. One I I I

I way is that before, you would hear the movie by attaching a speaker to your car window. I Now they use radio stations. Today, out ofthe few remaining drive-in theaters, they are I not very clean. When they first evolved, the theaters were an ideal and safe place to go. These are ways that new and old drive-in theaters have changed over the years.

I I asked my dad if there has been a decrease in the popularity of drive-in theaters. I He said that there was no doubt about it. Probably the biggest reason for change, is that indoor theaters were more comfortable and air conditioned. Project

I Soon enough, drive-ins went from being incredibly nice, to a mediocre, cheap I way of seeing a movie. Few drive-in theaters remain butHistory they do play an important part in American history. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Growing up with the Indians

I Bonnie G. Leer grew up in Cass Lake, Minnesota (northwestern Minnesota). The small town population was around 1500 people. It was located on an Indian reservation, and she experienced a childhood like no other. She was nice enough to sit I down and share her experiences with me, about Growing up with the Indians.

I It was a very nice town, the industry was forestry. The U.S. forestry service was there along with U.S Indian agency. Consequently, we lived with a lot of well-respected I and educated Indian people who were our very best friends. We were consideredProject an Indian reservation, my mom and dad owned a bakery. All the time people would come in I and say, ''where's the reservation?" and my mom and dad would say, "Well, you're I standing right on it!" That's what it was, it wasn't someHistory Indians living in the hills or something, they lived right within the city limits. They lived Societyin houses, many in very nice houses. There were some who didn't live Oralin houses, but that was their choice, I because there was a lot offered to them. They were very nice people [the Indians]. They I all were very well respected. Some were on the city council and just an equal part of the community. One example of this wasPast the fact that the mother of a very good athlete, Historical I Sammy Long, was at one time the head of the PTA. She also was a very well educated woman. She also worked withThe the Indian agency, and helped to organize the Indian I museum, which was started years ago. She was a very involved, active person. They had Froma big Indian celebration in Cass Lake because Cass Lake was kind of I the center point of the Minnesotanorth. All of the Indians from surrounding places came. Indians from Red Lake came, and a few Ojibwa Indians. They all had different drumbeats, and I authenticVoices dances and that's how you could tell them apart. To us though it was hard to tell the difference, but of course an Indian would know the difference. The Indians on my I reservation happened to be Chippewa. The celebration went for 2-3 days and they had a big pow-wow and it was really cool. I I even got an Indian name. An authentic Indian chief, George Selkert, his Indian name was Chief Little White Cloud, lived on the reservation. He is a very well known I Chippewa chief. He did a lot of work in Washington, in fact he only died 10-15 years ago. He came into our bakery a lot and took a liking to me. When the community was I I I I getting ready for the 4th of July celebration we were going to have, he came in one day and asked my mom if I could be in the parade. They were bringing in a movie star, and I this was pretty big, bringing in a movie celebrity into this little town. She would be riding in a convertible in the parade and the chief wondered in could ride in the convertible I with her dressed in Indian regalia. My mom said yes so he got me this buckskin dress. Some of the Indian's women dresses have beads and they are made oftin, and they jingle I and everything, but mine was just plain without any jingle sound, it just had the fringe. I also had a headband, wristbands, and moccasins, but the moccasins were not Chippewa, I they were Sioux. The Sioux wore white buckskin, the Chippewa wear tanned hides, which are tan and darker. These moccasins that I was wearing were whiteProject and the chief I had told me all about these. So I rode in the parade with Olympia Bradna, and I don't think anybody really heard of her, but she was big time with us because she rode in the I parade, and I thought I was pretty important as well. TheHistory interesting thing with this whole situation was that there was no color discrimination. WhySociety he didn't choose a real I Indian girl to ride in the parade, I don't know. OralFor my being part of the celebration he said I was going to be an honorary member of the Chippewa tribe. So down at the pow­ I wow they made this Olympia BradnaPast an honorary member of the Chippewa tripe as they did me, and when you are a member you getHistorical a name. The name Chief Little White Cloud I gave to me was Junebug. HeThe always called me Junebug from then on, I have a note thanking me from him and it was to Junebug. I My mom used to buy Indian crafts from them and then sell them at her bakery, and their crafts areFrom so beautiful. Some of the crafts were birch bark birdhouses, and they I put all of this work intoMinnesota them and then they would sell them to my mom for $0. 10 and then my mom would sell them for $0.50 cents or something. They made bracelets, belts I theyVoices really worked hard on all of their crafts but sold them for so little. I was very happy that I was able to have this experience in my life. When Chuck I went off to college [my uncle, her son] one of the first papers he wrote was on how underprivileged he was for growing up in southwest Minneapolis and not having the I chance to go to an inner city school like Central. He felt he would have gained a lot of feeling and real life experience had he gone to an inner city school. He told me that I had I gotten those feelings by growing up with the Indians, and I very much agree. As any I I I I paren: will tell you, you wo:-k hard to get your kids in a good situation, but yet some think I gro\\:ing up "v'/ith the Indians: I I I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Jessica Nelson I The 1960s

I I lived in two places during the 60s. For the first half I lived right outside of Detroit Michigan, and for the second half! was in New Hope, MN. For the first half of the 60s I was at Garfield Elementary in Livonia, Michigan. Then for two years I went to a I junior high in Livonia, Michigan, through 8th grade. 9th grade I was at Hosterman Junior High in New Hope, MN, and then I went to Cooper High School which is also in New Hope. I went there until 1969. I Technically Vietnam started in 1960 as I recall. But it didn't really escalate until the late 60s, about '66 or '67. I knew quite a few people who fought in it. I had several friends I that went over there. A couple of them got killed over there. Both the guys that I knew that died were infantry soldiers. Those are pretty much the people that youProject have seen pictures ofjust walking down the streets with guns or going through the woods I with guns. I had one friend that was drafted but wound up getting out of the service by a conscience objection, which means that violence of any type was morally wrong and for that reason would not fight. I Lydon Johnson was vice president when JFK wasHistory assassinated so he became president in 1963. He had been a very hard nosed militarist; a Societyhawk is what we called them. If they were in favor of the war they were called hawks and if they were opposed to I it, they were called doves. He started off as a doveOral and then turned into a hawk. I believe that Lydon Johnson had kinda' changed his view of the war and I think that he felt that he couldn't win with the stance for peace. I I kept up with the war somewhat.Past I was pretty young. I was in high school and current events was not something very high on a high school student's list of things to do. I thought that it was great [that JohnsonHistorical had announced to put a total halt on I bombing in North Vietnam]! IThe was opposed to the war. That was probably the brightest news since the war had started. In another war, Egypt had launched war and attacked Israel. Israel had retaliated I and drove the Egyptians back way past where the original battle had started. In the mean time taking over a Fromlot of the Saini desert. It was pretty amazing! I was very much for equality in the sexes. In fact there was no reason that a I woman couldn't be justMinnesota as qualified for many positions as men ..

I'm not sure [where I was when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed]. I don't think I that IVoices heard about it until school the next day. It was pretty upsetting. I think that it was September of that same year that JFK's brother, Bobby was assassinated. I I still don't know why but I was home [when JFK was killed]. For some reason we were out of school that day and I was at home playing in the front yard and I heard about the assassination. I heard about it on the radio. I was only 12 years old at the time I so .. I didn't really know about Malcolm X until much later. I didnt really know much about him in the 60s. I I don't know ifl watched Apollo 7 take off. That one [the Apollo 8 take oft] I am sure that I did watch. I tried to watch as much as I could but if it was during school day,

I 23'2.. I I

chances were that I didn't get to. I thought that all of the Apollos were pretty cool. Pretty I high adventure! Yes, I know that I watched them walk on the moon. I was working one of my first jobs after high school. I was working the late shift in a gas station and I remember that I I brought a little TV in there and watched in there. I was incredibly impressed, amazed, in awe. I have never looked at the moon the same since! Well, Woodstock started out as just a music festival with a lot of top name bands I and so many people showed up that it turned into one of the most note worthy and musical events ever held. Many of the biggest names in Rock and Folk were there. No I didn't go because I heard about it the weekend of it and it was too late to make any plans. I I was in Minnesota and it was in New York. Yes, music really defined the time because of war, women's rights, civil rights. I Music was also a big part of my life. I was playing guitar and listened to music. Bought a lot of albums, course you can't talk about music in the 60s without talkingProject 'bout the Beatles! Wow! I don't think that I had a favorite band. I always had pretty diverse music I taste. I would listen to rock and roll, classical, country. I don't know. It changed from year to year. At the end of the 60s my favorite band was probably Led Zeppelin. I don't I really know why I liked them. I guess I liked the way theirHistory music made me feel. It was pretty loud Rock and Roll. I was not a big Elvis fan, but I did listen to some of hisSociety music. It really woke I people up to Rock and Roll music. There were Oralother people that were doing Rock and Roll but no one was doing it like Elvis did and no one got as popular as Elvis was either. I think Bob Dylan was bigger with college age kids then teens. He was kind of a I poet/folk singer, the kind that was more popular with college age students. Yes, some of the bands are popularPast with the same age group as they were in the 60s. Probably not as popular with the youngerHistorical kids now as in the 60s. People like the I Rolling Stone and the Beach Boys. The Grateful Dead was drawing a lot of young people to their concerts up until a fewThe years ago when Jerry Garcia died. So there are some. The Beatles became popular in, I think, 1962. And remained at the top of the I charts with music and popularity right up to their breakup in '68. It was amazing that a group could hang together for over 8 years and have such an influence on many people. Their popularity wasFrom originally primarily popular with teenage girls and they were I probably the biggest partMinnesota of their fans. Kind oflike the Backstreet Boys now. Then as the band matured and moved from just pop music, the base of listeners and fans became much broader. The Beatles continue to influence new artists even today. I VoicesWell, there were different types of role models. There were the movie actresses and actors like Annett Funochelo and Franki Avalon, Troy Donahue. Then there were music idols like the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Gosh, there were so many individual I singers that were so popular that I can't even remember names. Janice Joplin wasn't really a teen ideal but she was definitely an admired musician. Your fashion depended on who you were or whom you wanted to impress or I whom you hung around with. In the mid to late 60s there was a really popular style of jacket called a Neru jacket. And those were very popular. If you were into sports then you would wear letter jackets and sweaters. Synthetic materials kind of started in the 60s with I polyester and synthetics, which kind of led to the leisure suit which were probably the I I I

ugliest things someone could ever wear! Not too many girls wore jeans, instead a lot of I skirts and pedal pushers. In the late 60s there was a lot of influence by the hippies and the war too. A lot of peace symbols, a lot of clothing that was red, white, and blue to make it look like a flag. I There were so many different groups of kids. I guess as I was growing up in the 60s I was trying to do things that were popular for kids that were my age to do. Listen to the popular groups, do popular things. Things like hanging out with the kids at the park I and stuff like that. I was a swimmer in high school so I hung out mostly with people who I knew from swimming. I was doing more things that were just of a particular interest to that group offriends. I wasn't so quite concerned about big picture popularity. I Cars were incredibly popular. The mid to late 60s were the prime time for what they called the "Muscle Cars". Another step up in popularity was if you had a fast good­ looking car. I never had my own car but because my dad worked for American Motors he I would usually get either Javelins or an AMX that he would let me drive. Sports were pretty much like they are today except the players weren'tProject making all that much money like they are today. Not all that much has changed. There have been a I few new ones added but the biggest ones were always baseball, football, and basketball. Soccer wasn't played much in the 60s, at least around here. I was into swimming mainly. I It was the only one that I actively participated in. History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I • I Ben Macken 5-25-98 I

I The 60's-Attending a Catholic'. Girl's School I I Linida Fox Macken was a Catholic school student fonn 1962-1968. She left while she was in 7th grade because her dad got a promotionProject for I MMM and they needed to move to Minnesota. She then went to Valley View Junior High School. She then went to Edina West ( now Edina High I School ). She lives with her husband, Mike, andHistory has four children who attend the Edina Public Schools. Society I Oral ~, I attended St. John the Baptist Catholic School for girls in Millsdale, I New Jersey from 1962-1968. I wentPast through the seventh grade there. In our school, we had mass onceHistorical a week during school time. We sat I with our class. We also hadThe religion as a subject, and every month a student I had to go to conifession once a month. There were no boys' in the school, and we had to wearFrom unifonns They wore plaid skirts or jumpers and a white shirt. I When it was cold, weMinnesota wore a jacket or a sweater. After Mass, we ate in the classroom. For oUf lunches we had to sit at I the Voicessame table. We couldn't talk until they rang a bell. There was no meat on Friday and if they found the meat they took it away. I School was hard, and I learned French in 5th and 6th grades. If you I talked in class you got a detention. You had to clean the boards as a punishment. The nuns slapped people on the wrist if you did something bad. I I I I I

I had to clean the boards once for talking in class. The nuns were very strict I and kinda mean. They made you work hard in school. When I moved to Minnesota, I went to public school. Valley View was I bigger than St. John the Bapist and I didn't have to wear uniforms. It was easier. I liked public schools better because the were more varieties of I classes, nicer teachers and there were more activities to me. I Linda Fox Macken told to Ben Macken Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I I Farm Boy I John Michaletz "Well growing up on the farm was kind of a lot of work. I always thought

I that growing up ... the farm kids always had a lot more work to do than the city I kids, so we always wanted to be city kids. Well we had our chores, each of us had Project I our chores that we had ... had to do. Most of mine were in the evening time. But probably the easiest way to talk about the farm is in the seasons cause everything

I revolved around the seasons. In the spring, it Historywas planting time and so I

occasionally got involved in some tractor work with planting.Society But that was fairly I Oral mechanical and so there wasn't a lot for me as a youngster to do. So I had my I chores every evening. I helped outPast with the feeding of the cattle and I would go up in the hay barn and throw hay down theHistorical shoot. I then spread that out and helped I The I clean out the equipment. As the summer went on, it became time to bail hay and originally youFrom used the old fashioned bailer that made a bail and it would come up I a shoot and you'dMinnesota have to load it on a wagon. And then you'd back the wagon up to the barn and you'd use a pitchfork to lift the bails up about 8 at a time, or 10 at I Voices a time. And the way they'd be lifted up is with a tractor, and my job was to drive

I the tractor, which pulled the rope, all the way through the haybarns. So I was I pulling the rope through one way and it was pulling the bails up into the haybarn, I and all the way to the back. And, so I learned very quickly how to back up, go I I I I I forward and back up, because half the time you're going forward, and half the I time you're backing up. I did that when I was probably about 7 years old, started driving a tractor. As the ... year progressed, summer got hotter and we did other

I field work and, uh, what I remember most is doing field work while I felt like I everyone else was having fun. What I came to realize was those people living in town didn't necessarily have much more fun then ... then I did. InProject the evenings,

I after the chores were done, sometimes my uncle would come over and hit us balls I and we'd play some 500. And the goal there was forHistory him to hit the ball, my cousin I and I would try to catch it, and he would try to hit it so itSociety was up right against the shed, pretending it's the homerun fence. AndOral we had a lot of fun doing simple

I games like that. I remember my dad'sPast birthday was in the summer and birthdays I were big deals. A lot of people came,Historical a lot of relatives came and men played cards, and the women playedThe a different game of cards. Kids just goofed around

I outside in the dark, and then we had a big meal at about 11 0' clock at night, From sandwiches and chips and all kinds of things. So birthdays were big occasions for I Minnesota family. In the fall, the days got longer and pretty soon it was time to harvest the

I com.Voices It was either made into silage or you harvested the, uh, cobs. And there was I a lot of tractor action for me as a youth there also. And what I remember is taking I some hay bails and putting them about 3 high and it was football season, so I'd take a football and I'd run at those haybails and I'd try to knock them down. Life I I I I I I was simple back then. You had simple pleasures. I watched quite a bit of TV. I I watched Axel when I came home from school, and then in the evening I watched a lot of TV, probably more then I should have. But there were no things like video

I games or electronic equipment or things like that. Did a little bit of homework and I watched TV and then you started the day allover again. I remember one time at Christmas, I got a bow and arrow, and I was probably about 10 yearsProject old or so. I'd

I be standing out there in the snow shivering away, practicing my bow and arrow, I shooting it into strawbails. And then the year startedHistory allover again. So that was I what farming life was like growing up on the farm in the Society60's." Oral-Russ Michaletz

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

Steve Dondlinger I Hour 1 I The 60's

I Terry D. grew up in the early to late 60 'so This is a record ofwhat life was like I in the early 60 'so "I lived in Omaha Nebraska. It was an older neighborhood, the houses must have I been built in the early 40's. They were small two room houses mostly, they were put very close together, we had a very big back yard with a flower and vegetableProject garden. I got to I mow it, the grass that is." "In the early 60's, when I was in middle school, what we would do for is listen to I music. There were a lot of groups that we liked to listen Historyto like Elvis and the Rolling Stones and Simon and Garfunkel, the Monkeys, the Beattles, theSociety Animals, Chubby I Checker, the Everly Brothers and we'd have danceOral parties. Everyone was to shy too dance, of course, but when we did we'd dance crazy dances like the twist and the monkey, I the mashed potato, the limbo. We oftenPast baby sat and we saved our money and bought the latest 45 rpm record. The top hit of the weekHistorical was 89 cents. In the summers, most of the I days we'd spend at the pool. TheWe'd volunteer in the morning for swim lessons and then they'd let us swim free all afternoon. After we ate dinner, we'd sit outside with our I neighbor friends and play hide and go seek or capture the flag. We liked to play Mad Libs From and we'd playa lot of card games and we'd talk on the phone sometimes." I "The clothes wereMinnesota bright colored. The boys would wear plain button down shirts and jeans or slacks, and loafers. People didn't wear tennis shoes very often. The girls I had toVoices wear skirts. Something called a shift, was very popular, it was kind of like today, I the dress just kind of hung on you, there was no waist to it. In the first part ofthe sixties the hair was short especially for the boys and girls and the girls would do something called I teasing it so that it would poof up a little bit. As the sixties went on the Beattles started to become popular and the boys' hair started to get longer and the girls started to get their I hair longer too." I I I

I "There weren't any fast foods back then, they were just starting up. I think they had just one restaurant in Omaha. We didn't eat out a lot but they did have one place I where it was a drive up parking lot, and you'd pull in and order over all these little speakers and they'd bring the food out to your car and set up a tray. It was kind of like I the A&W used to be, and that was fun. We'd have hamburgers and French fries. We didn't have a lot of ethnic foods, but there were Chinese restaurants that were popular in I town." "I remember when Kennedy was elected in 1960 and I remember when he was I assassinated in 1963. I was in 7th grade and I was in my science class and it was about Project 1:30 in the after noon and they announced it over the loud speaker. Everyone was just I really quiet and didn't know what to say. I remember the Vietnam War and the people having to go off to war and the draft because a lot of my classmates got drafted. There I was a lottery and they drew birth dates and if your birth Historydate was one of the earlier numbers then you got drafted and ifit was a later number youSociety didn't get drafted. I I remember that we put a man on the moon in 1969".Oral I "We got our first TV in 1956 it had a photo tube in it and when the photo tube ran out, what would happen is a man wouldPast come to your house to replace it and it took I about 4 or 5 hours and we'd all sit around Historicaland watch everything he did, it was fun. There were a lot offamily shows onThe TV at that time and quiz shows were very popular. I American Band Stand was especially popular for teenagers." "Not manyFrom people owned their own cars and we walked a lot. Many things were I in walking distance orMinnesota we would ride our bikes a lot. There was very good bus transportation, and when we used to go down town, we used that alot. Not many people I flewVoices on airplanes in those days. When we went on vacations we always went by car and that was kinda a hard cause not all the inter-states were finished, we did a lot of back road I driving going up and down hills." "Our middle school was very strict. We had strict rules about what you could and I couldn't do in class and the teachers were allowed to kinda grab a hold of you if they wanted to; some of the boys got their ears pulled a few times. The girls had to, wear I dresses everyday and their skirts had to be down to their knees. Boys wore jeans and nice I I I I shirts, no dirty shirts. Moe hairs sweaters were popular as was something call a madris shirt which is a type of plaid, that was popular. We wore bobby socks and loafers no gym I shoes or tennis shoes or anything like that. In middle school we used to have class parties twice a year and that's when your homeroom class which was about 25 to 30 kids would I have about an hour party after school in the music room and the teacher would bring records and food and you'd dance and it was pretty much torture but it was fun. We I would have sock hops about twice a year and that's when the whole school was invited to the gym, and they'd take their shoes off and dance line dances in their socks and that was I fun. We had basketball games in junior high that we would go to on Friday nights in the Project gym. We'd have cheerleaders out and we'd have a prep crowd and we'd wear green I sweaters for our school color, and we'd cheer them on. We used to put a musical on every year in middle school and a variety show where you'd do acts and you'd get chosen I just like the one they have in the schools now." History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Christine Hirsch History - Hour 8 May 26,1999 I Oral History Transcript I President Kennedy's Assassination in the Life of a Child I My name is Bill Hirsch. My friends call me Billy. I Today is November 22, 1963, just an ordinary school day, but soon to be remembered by people all around the world. Project I We are all sitting at our desks at Woodale Elementary School in Edina, Minnesota. I am about 10 years old and in

I third grade. As our teacher is talking to the class, IHistory hear a

school announcement over the loudspeaker. The principalSociety is I Oral talking and I'm trying to understand what he is explaining to I us. He is announcing that school will be dismissed for the Past I day and, we should get our book bagsHistorical and get ready to go home on the buses. The I He then tells us that the President of the United States, PresidentFrom John F. Kennedy has been assasinated. I I look up from my books,Minnesota see my teacher crying and saying good-bye to us. It all happens so fast. I VoicesBy the time I get home, my parents are watching the I news on television. We all watch together, to find out that the whole world is shocked by the assassination of a young I president. My parents have been crying, and I have been crying, in private too. Many of my friends are crying, even

I though some don't really understand. I I I

I The next few days are very quiet at school, with the I flag halfway down to honor the president. I watch a lot of TV. and my whole family watches the funeral. I It is really sad because President Kennedy was the youngest president to ever serve for the United States and

I the first Roman Catholic. He had many good ideas, and that I causes me to feel hurt about the President's assassination. I didn't listen to anything he said while he was serving his Project I term, because I was only ten. Later, I learned to appreciate his hard work for civil rights, which helped him make our

I country a better place for everyone. He was also marriedHistory to I Jacke Onassis. Society His assassination has touched manyOral people, and in I the end, we will live through it all. President John F. Past Kennedy is still remembered today as one of the best I Historical presidents our country hasThe ever had. I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Ryan Crimmins I Interview with Tim Crimmins on The JFK Assassination. I Tim was only eight years old in his third grade class in St. Mary's campus

I in South Bend Indiana. He was. He was shocked when he got the news about the I assassination. He was with a class of about 20 kids when a nun came in crying Project I saying the president had been shot. It was a sad event. Kennedy was the fIrst Catholic president. People loved Kennedy as a person. Kennedy made him feel I proud to be an American. Kennedy was a very excitingHistory president. Kennedy I brought hope. Kennedy had a beautiful family. During JFK'sSociety funeral he watched all day. He watched very little TV as a boy,Oral but the black and white TV was

I always on through the whole timePast of the funeral. I There were a lot of rumors goingHistorical around about communism and as to who did the murder. It was a quietThe time in his home. His parents worked so hard that it

I did not effect his parents very much. Everyone was sad, the TV was sad, it was From I very dark time but there was very little anger. Then AmericaMinnesota seemed to change. Shortly after the assassination, came the I Beatles.Voices It was thought people moved away from religion. There was a lot of I chaos across the nation and he was becoming a teenager at the time. Then came the death of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. For almost 10 years

I There seemed to be a change in values. People started to hate the military, which I was where he went to school. The president became a criminal at Watergate, and I I I

I people began to make fun of churches. Along with these troubles, came drugs and I the Vietnam War. Kennedy had a traditional family, where Kennedy worked as president and

I his wife raised the kids. After Kennedy's death came women's lib, which changed I the roles of men and women. At Culver, the military school Tim went to, things stayed about the same.

I When he left Culver, it was like a whole new world, greatly effected by the JFK Project I Assassination.

I History Society I Oral I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I I Tucker Weisman

I The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I I interviewed my stepfather on the assassination of John I Fitzgerald Kennedy. Project I I was in my dorm in college. The radio was on. All of a sudden

I a man came on and announced that John FitzgeraldHistory Kennedy had been Society I shot. I was 18 years old. They didn't Oralknow if John Fitzgerald Kennedy was dead or if he was injured and taken to the hospital. I kept the I Past I radio on and about a hour later I heardHistorical that they had found the suspected murderer, LeeThe Harvey Oswald.

I I thought that it was tragic that John Fitzgerald Kennedy was From I assassinated. I thoughtMinnesota he did good things and bad things. I liked him more after he was assassinated because I did not know much about I Voices I him when he was alive and I learned about all the great things he did after he died.

I I liked that he encouraged people to do things that they never I thought of doing. He encouraged people to be idealistic. One of the I I I

I things he did as president of the United States of America was to try I to fix the lack of patriotism. He wanted peace and founded the Peace I Core. If John Fitzgerald Kennedy were alive today, I would probably

I think less of him because over the years I have learned many of the I bad things that John Fitzgerald Kennedy did when he was alive. Some Project I bad things that he did were he practiced nepotism. He appointed his brother the Attorney General of the United States of America. There I History were rumors that he had friends in the Mafia. TheseSociety are bad things I because if you are the president of theOral United States of America you

I should not do these things or Pasthave connections with the Mafia. John Fitzgerald Kennedy alsoHistorical did good things while he was the I The president of the United States of America. He cared for the under I privileged. HeFrom understood the importance of a strong military. He I understood the importanceMinnesota of foreign policy. These are all very I importantVoices if you would like to be the president of the United States of I America. I remember the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy more I than anything else that ever happened to me. I I I I

Tricia Holden I November 22, 1963: JFK Assassination I I November 22, 1963: JFK Assassination I People said and felt John Fitzgerald Kennedy was so young and full of I life. He was the youngest man up to that point to be president, and he was so full of excitement, dreams, wishes, and hope for a better country. He was Project I assassinated November 22, 1963. I have many memories from when JFK was assassinated. I was ten years I History old and in the fifth grade when Kennedy was killed. I was eating lunch when the Society I school principal came into the cafeteria and flickedOral the lights on and off to get I everyone's attention. She said that the president had been shot in Dallas and they didn't know much more because thatPast was all the current television interruptions Historical I were offering. The I I remember the teachers were all upset, some crying, wondering about his condition, shocked,From and very quiet. None of the kids including me really I understood how big ofMinnesota a deal this really was, but we did know it much have been important to make the teacher be in this state. We (the kids) were impressed by I Voices this statement-whatever it meant-because of the way the adults were acting.

I The principal came in again ten minutes later and said that the president was dead. I I think that today there would have been a much different response to the news because today there is less innocence in the world. It was very surprising news,

I not to me, but to everyone who could comprehend the situation. After making the I I I

I announcement of the president's death, she called up the color guards, the I students who raise and lower the flag. This group included myself and four others. Our principal told us to go outside and to lower the flag to half mast. I School was then let out and we all went home. I When I got to my house and went inside, I found my mother crying. She said something to me of importance when I walked in, but I do not remember I what. She sat really close in front of the television. It was really odd for her to sit Project I so still and quiet, as this was not her usual behavior. I wondered whether or not I should go to an afternoon Girl Scout meeting that I had or not. But I went, and

I the troop leader was also crying, her eyes were all red, andHistory she said she couldn't

lead the meeting today, so I walked home. Society I Oral There was no school the next day, and then came the weekend. Until after I the funeral, nothing happened. EverythingPast seemed so gloomy. The children just tried to stay out of the way of the adults. MyHistorical mother, the perfect housewife, didn't I The cook all weekend. My father who was constantly traveling, was home for the

I weekend. The whole country was mourning and supporting each other. From I remember watching Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn into I Minnesota office on television. His wife stood on one side of him and on the other side stood

I Mrs.Voices Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy's dress was blood stained, the blood of the I president. I remember watching Mrs. Kennedy that day so well because she didn't look beautiful and glamorous like she always did. I foun4 out years later she was

I asked if she want to change her dress for the ceremony, but she responded, "No, I I I I I

I want them to see what they've done to Jack." That was a pretty firm, bold I statement for any woman to make in those days. I remember watching the president's funeral also. As the elaborate procession I passed the White House where.the family and important people stood, "John-John"> the I three year old son of JFK, stepped forward with an American flag in his hand and saluted his father's casket. Ifanyone hadn't yet cried over the president's death they

I certainly did right then. It was very emotional. Project I I think that there is an innocence that no longer exists in this world. I also think the assassination of JFK changed the way people thought of

I violence in this world. I have many memories fromHistory when JFK was killed. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Martin Luther King Junior: Emma Stensvaag I His Assassination I I I was a senior in high school when I first heard about Martin Luther King Junior's assassination. I was at home getting ready for an early dinner because I had to go to a

I speech class meeting for a big speech contest I was about to take part in. I remember Project I seeing the evening news begin the report about his assassination, and how surprised I was to hear about it. After I ate dinner and went to my speech class, more reports about his

I death were coming on the television and radio. At my Historyspeech class my teacher talked

about what a tragedy it was. We all were still astonished aboutSociety it, so we didn't talk much. I Oral The next day everyone was talking about it, but since we lived in rural Minnesota I we didn't have any marches or ralliesPast going on like we were reading about in the newspapers. I think just the fact that we tookHistorical in his assassination was enough. A little I The after his assassination in April, we had a school gathering in May to remember him, and

I what a wonderful man he was. There were speakers and everything and I think everyone From really appreciated the gathering. I also remember a few months after his assassination I Minnesota that a minister talked about him and his ''1 have a Dream. . ." speech. There was also a

I hugeVoices shift in the Civil Rights movement after his death. There was more violence than I the peace Martin Luther King Junior had talked so much about. I believe that if we had listened more to Martin Luther King Junior's peace talks, we may have accomplished

I more in the Civil Rights movement than we really did. Yet, the one night when the news I I I I

I stations all talked about Martin Luther King Junior's assassination, was a night to I remember. I I I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I :153 I I

I Britta Peterson I Jean Thomson: Surviving a Tornado I I It was May 16, 1965, in the season of spring, and the time was 5:30 I P.M. I was 16 years old at the time. My mom, two brothers, my dog, and I were all watching a sitcom on TV. It had been storming out for aProject while, but we I didn't think anything of it. Then, I felt this odd pressure in my ears. It was kind

I of like taking off in a plane, but instead of a steadyHistory incline, it was like shooting straight up in the air. There was no way to know that thereSociety were 5 to 6 funnel I Oral clouds outside, in the storm. The Twin Cities TV's didn't have weather I warnings that would flash acrossPast the screen. The way I knew, was the Historical I pressure in my ears. I heardThe the roar, just like it was supposed to sound, like I a freight train. I said, "Mom, I think we had better go to the basement." The thing was, we Fromhad never thought that there was a possibility of a tornado. We I Minnesota thought that they just didn't happen in Minnesota, but the truth was that there

I hadn'tVoices been a tornado in many years.

I My family had no safety plan, like families do today. The way I knew I the basement was the place to go, was from the movie, 'Wizard of Oz", and I instinct. We lived on Christmas Lake in Excelsior, which also has many large trees around it. As I headed to the basement, I passed by a widow and saw I I I

I that all the trees had either bent or fallen over. I also saw the tornado. While I we were down there, we listened to the radio for the latest news. I It didn't take long for the tornado to pass us over. When we emerged from the basement, we saw that all the windows had been sucked in. There

I was 4 feet of debris that was up to our waists in all the rooms. The most I spectacular thing was that a branch had flown straight through one of the Project I walls. (Afterwards, my mom always hung a potted plant there.) After we had waded out of our house, we went to the neighbors. Their house had I History completely blown up from the impact of the tornado. TheySociety had stayed alive in I these tunnels that led from their house toOral their garage. It used to be a bomb

shelter. The force of the tornado had been so strong for them, that they could I Past feel the tornado trying to suck them outHistorical from their hiding place. I The Even though no one died, there were effects on my life. There were I several short-termFrom disruptions. School was canceled for 4 days. We couldn't I live in our house forMinnesota a week because there wasn't any electricity, running I water,Voices and everything was damaged. Our neighbors lived in our house until I they could find somewhere to stay, and all their furniture was stored in our basement until their home was rebuilt. I There were two long-term disruptions. I still get very scared whenever

I there is a storm, and so did my dog. Whenever there was a storm, Jolie (my I I I

I dog) would literally try to crawl down the shower's drain. She died about 8 I years later. I If there is one lesson to be learned, always look for that pressure in your ears, because then you'll always know to seek shelter. That is what it

I was like to survive the 1965 tornado. I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I John Evans The Tornado of 1965 I

I "My mom was listening to either the radio or TV and they had been talking about funnel sightings in other parts of the surrounding Lake Minnetonka I communities. They were also talking about some severe weather that was rolling in and in the event of a tornado how you should protect yourself The date was I May 7, 1965, and around 5 or 6 in the evening. I was thirteen years old at the time. Project I I wasn't really sure what was going on at first because I had been through I severe weather before and it fascinated me. The mostHistory damage I had seen from storms was trees and branches that ha(f:,b~en knocked down.Society I didn't really get I what the fuss was about. Oral

I This was the first time thatPast I had really heard anything about a tornado so I was obviously nervous. The people onHistorical the radio told us to go to the southwest I corner of the basement orThe to a low area. We followed their instructions and went to our basement. We took a couple of candles and a transistor radio with us. We I went to a small unfinished area of our basement and we talked to each other and listened to theFrom radio. We were in a small uncomfortable space in the basement I with no windows orMinnesota outlets. We could hear what was going on outside.

I VoicesIt became calm all of a sudden and I became anxious so I decided to go upstairs and take a peak outside. I looked out our kitchen window and it was I calm and the sky was green. I went to look outside another window but before I knew it I heard a fierce wind outside. It got closer and louder and sounded like a I freight train. I didn't wait to look outside and bolted as fast as I could back down I to the basement. I I I I About five minutes later, we came back upstairs and took a look at the damage. I could not believe the damage. I could see that there were several limbs I down along with a couple of uprooted trees. I also noticed that all of the windows in our porch had been shattered. These huge storm windows were shattered by I the change in pressure brought in by the tornado. We took a couple peeks around the house before calling it a night. We woke up the next morning and we were I lucky because the structure of our house and garage were in tact. We waited a couple days before we started cleaning up the trees and replacing the windows. I Our neighbors lost a couple of big trees as well and their houses remained in.tact along with ours. Project I This tornado happened during the school year and I can remember going I to school the next day and talking to people I knew.History I found out that nobody I knew really had much damage. Most of the other studentsSociety in my school I experienced little or no damage because ofOral where the school district's boundaries were. Minnetonka Beach and especially the area around Bracket's Point were I badly damaged. Across the lake Pastin Cottagewood the damage was absolutely devastating. I remember hearing that overHistorical 200 houses were flattened by the I tornado. The only commercialThe area hit hard was Navarre, which was really close to us. Many businesses were leveled and destroyed. I also remember going I across the lake later that year and seeing what happened in Cottagewood. It looked as if someoneFrom had taken a bulldozer 100 yards wide and just leveled an I entire area. Even Minnesotafrom a distance the path of the tornado was evident. The fortunate thing about the tornado was that the damage didn't occur in a I Voicescentralized area. As a result of the tornado two people were killed and another person died from a heart attack. As far as the clean up goes it took us several I weeks to clean everything up. It took several months for most of the houses and businesses to be rebuilt. By mid-June all but a little bit of the rubble had been I cleaned up. I I I I I It's been 34 years since the tornado came through. I would probably say that the areas hit have fully recovered. The tornado may have changed the city of I Navarre. Navarre wasn't an industrious city to begin with and it was basically a convenience stop along the way. In Navarre people have been able to rebuild I their businesses and in Cottagewood and Minnetonka Beach and other communities people have rebuilt their houses. Personally I can't think of I anything not being the same after the tornado but the people who lost all their possessions will never be the same. Those people saw the power of nature first I hand and kids ended up losing some of their innocence. It was very difficult for the people who had their entire houses swept away before them. Project I There are still visual scars to some people in Cottagewood. There are several I areas with little or no trees where there used to be treesHistory and the trees planted after the tornado are shorter and skinnier than the rest. PeopleSociety who didn't lose a thing I were helping those who lost everything andOral for most people it was a bonding experience. After the tornado came through there was some looting in I Cottagewood. The tornado broughtPast out the good and bad sides of people through the enormous power of nature." Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I '259 I I

I Studying in Austria

I My dad went to Austria and studied there for one year. He left in fall of 1967 and came back on I the spring, May 27, 1968 I was selected to go over there through an interview process. There

I were about 15 kids that wanted to participate in the exchange program to I Austria from St. Johns Preparatory, Minnesota, to Konvick Stift in Melk. A Project I Konvick is a monastery and a Stift is a castle. It was a castle and a monastery put together over there and they did an exchange of 6 students per I History year. So I interviewed. I had taken two years of GermanSociety and I really wanted I to go ... and they selected me. Oral

I I always wanted to take Spanish,Past and when I got the selection between Spanish and German the Spanish wasHistorical filled up so I had to take German and I I The I was not vary happy about it. As it turned out my senior year we were the second group toFrom go to Austria .... it was an opportunity to study abroad. It I was something I wantedMinnesota to do so I interviewed for the chance to go.

I VoicesI studied a variety of subjects: German, physics, chemistry, Greek, I French, literature, art, and biology. I The name of the school I went to was Konvick Stift Melk, and Melk I was the location it was at. It was a castle of the Hapsburg empire. They were I I I

I king and queen of the Holy Roman empire lived there for 100 years. The I school was always part of the monastic community and we were taught by I priests and brothers who lived in the monastery. There were nine grades, 1-9. This is what you call a gymnasium and

I it's spelled the same way as gymnasium but pronounced with a long a. It's

I their secondary school, it's like a high school except they have nine grades. Project I They go four years of folkschule that is their grade school. Then you are selected to go the a gymnasium .... and this one happened to be a language I History gymnasium. There is a Technical Hochschule thatSociety was a technical high I Oral school that went from grades 1-9. There were probably 40 people in every

I class. There were about 300 kidsPast that went to the school from forth grade to Historical I a second year in college.The I There was not a campus at all, it was similar to a high school. It was like a grade schoolFrom and high school put together. It was wrapped around a I Minnesota court yard. We played in the courtyard at recess and stuff like that. We

I brokeVoices for noon and then and then we did the physical education in the

I afternoon then we went do'\\-'U to the playing fields. We had to walk through I the monastic gardens to get down to the paying fields. There was a soccer I field ..... we always played soccer for physical education. I I I

I All the classes were in one room, except chemistry, biology, and I physics were in other rooms. Desks were called banks and there were two to I a desk and you sat right next to a person and there were all these banks all over the room. The teachers are the ones that changed rooms.

I We lived right in the monastery ... jt was part of the school, they had

I renovated part of the castle. We lived four to a room and there were probably Project I about 100 kids that would stay there all the time out of the 300. The rest lived out of the building. There were four desks and four beds and four lockers in I History this room. Our room overlooked a big plaza that hadSociety a big fountain in it. I I Oral was on the third story of this castle.

I I did not get along withPast my roommates very well, we had two Historical I Americans and two AustriansThe in our room. One of my roommates was a twin I that had another roommate that lived right next door. They had different political views Fromthan we did, and did not like American very much. I Minnesota Hardly anybody spoke English, it was all in German. It was kind of a

I shockerVoices when I first got there that I could understand people ... but I could not

I talk to people very well. It took about six weeks before I started really I understanding people. It took about three months until I started thinking in I German, then I started dreaming in German. I heard German every day for I I I

I about six months. The only people I talked English to were the five other I exchange students that went over there with me. I There was a small town with about 3000 people right down the road. We used to go to the town, and it had a movie hall. What was interesting

I about the movie hall is that there were 3 different prices in tickets. If you

I wanted to sit up front it coast you a quarter, and if you wanted to sit in the Project I middle section it cost you a dollar, and if you wanted to sit in the back it cost you a dollar fifty. They had the different prices for the rows, like in an I History American theater you can sit wherever you want forSociety the same price. The I Oral further back you were the more expensive it got.

I I missed my family the mostPast while I was there because I did not see my Historical I family for a whole year.The I did not come home for Christmas or Easter or I anything like that. My mother and father did come over in February and I saw them for aFrom couple of days then. I missed Christmas with my family, it I Minnesota seemed that I did not have Christmas that year. I missed the food. We had no

I AmericanVoices food over there at all; we ate all Austrian food. I missed

I hamburger, eggs and meat. We ate mostly bread. I On a normal day we would get up about 6:30 and we would go to I chapel. We would have a prayer service but we would not have a mass. I I I I After that we would go down stars and have two pIeces of bread for I breakfast... that was it. Then we would go to class in the morning and then we I would break for lunch. It was usually soup. Then there would be a couple more classes and then physical education and we would go out and play.

I Then was study hall, we had to be at study hall by 4:00. Then we ate dinner

that was just a piece of pastry like cake or something like that. That's all we I Project I ate, there was not much eating over there. We did have milk at supper, the other two meals we would have water. It usually took an hour and a half to I History eat, there was not much to eat. At our table there wouldSociety be guys that were in I Oral their first, second, third, fourth through the ninth year. The ninth year students

I would take what they wanted firstPast and then the eight year students and so on Historical I and sometimes the little Thekids would not get anything that they wanted out of I the bowl. After supper we would have a little free time, and then eight o'clock was studyFrom hall. Then you went to bed around 10:30 .. .11:00. It was I Minnesota funny that we never had a whole week of school. The was always a day or

I afternoonVoices off because of saint days.

I -Dan Strong I I I I I I Kevin Day I I A perfectly regular morning was waiting for me as I had just awakened from a long night of sleep. Something seemed to be out of place on

I Lake Minnetonka on this day, it was something that I was not hearing. I

I could not determine what that sound waS that was missing. I Projectsat up in bed. I thinking to myself about the day ahead of me, but that emptiness still bothered me. I could not think straight as I sat in bed for another 15 I History minutes. All of a sudden I knew what was missing, it wasSociety the sweet sound of I Oral all the birds and animals so cheerful in the yard, singing and communicating

I with each other. Every morning thePast birds chirping right outside my window Historical I awakened me. Now, for someThe odd reason that had stopped and there was not I an animal in sight. I then got to thinking that I might have overslept, and sure enough myFrom family was just about to leave. It was a Sunday and they I Minnesota were getting ready to go to church. Just as I flew out of bed to check the I clock,Voices my mother came bursting in saying, ·Child! What are you doing? Church

I starts in 10 minutes!" I told her I was very sorry and I promised that we I would still make church on time. I I I I I I was right on time for church, and my mother forgot about the whole I thing. As we were walking to church, something was still very odd. It wasn't I just that the animals were no where to be seen, it was that the sky was such a weird color. My mother and Father then noticed it too; they both asked

I each other if they had heard anything about bad weather or if anything was

I to happen today. They both had the same response and that Projectwas that today I was supposed to be a gorgeous day. So my mother, father, Marnie my younger sister, and my youngest brother Danny carried on walking slowly I History down the road. Then, out of no where, my mother yelled,Society "Oh nof Hurry, run I Oral back homef· We all had no idea what in the world was going on, we just

I started running. Luckily, we weren'tPast far from home so we were back in no Historical I time. As we reached our Thehouse, mother finally told us why we had run home. I She told us to look out the window, and then we must come quickly. We looked out the windowFrom to sadly see that there was a huge funnel cloud I Minnesota settling directly above our house. Then we all had to "fun as fast as our little I legsVoices could carry us· to the neighbor's house, the Norths, because our family

I did not have a basement to protect us from the tornado. I We were now hiding in the basement of the North's house, and a panic I came over me. I had forgotten my dog Mitzy! At once, without even thinking I I I I I got up and sprinted back to our house with both my parents yelling for me I to come back. I found Mitzy at the bottom of our kitchen stairs pacing back I and forth. She did not look up at me until I got with a foot of her. Then she noticed me and ran back to the North's basement along side of me. We could

I both feel the wind picking up as it blew against us, trying to hold us back. As

I we slammed the cellar door behind us, my parents had a relieved look on both Project I their faces as they saw Mizty right along side of me. Now, it was time to find a comfortable position and sit there until it was over. I History -I remember walking from the North's house, Societywith no one saying a I Oral word, with a fear that our house was okay. As we passed some of our other

I neighbors, we noticed that theirPast houses were untouched, but their trees Historical I were spread throughout Thethe neighborhood. As we cleared the hill in front of I our house, we all stopped at the same time with our jaws dropped. -Where's our roof?- I shouted,From as it was clear that the whole roof was torn right off I Minnesota the house. We hurried into the house to see that everything in every room I wasVoices exactly where we left it. I was so overwhelmed on this whole thing that

I I fell asleep as soon as I laid down on my bed. I slept the whole day, and the I whole night. I I I [

I ·Chirp, Chirp, Chirp were the first things I heard the next morning, I with a plastic tarp roof over my head, the animals' noises were clearer than I ever. This is a memory from my mother, Monica Robb. When she was a child

I a tornado took the roof right off her house. This happened in Cottagewood,

I Minnesota in 1969. To this day, she remembers the tornado soundingProject like a I train going overhead and in the aftermath, forks being lodged into trees. I From her description it was obviously a frighteningHistory time. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I E I lack Roos I I Music in the 1960s and the 1970s I I sat down with my mom Laurie Zenner and we talked about what I music was like when she was growing up. This was a fun and very interesting project for me to do. Project

I My mom's favorite bands were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the I Byrds, the Animals and Bob Dylan to name a few.History In the early 60s the music was a lot of love songs. The Beatles changed Societythis by creating Oral I complicated lyrics about drugs and other important stuff at the time. I "Everyone listened to thePast same thing. We all had our favorites but everyone knew all the songs and theirHistorical lyrics. Songs would be popular for a I The week or so and die along with the bands.'1 I ManyFrom parents hated the music. For one thing it was something that I they didn't understand.Minnesota Many of the songs were anti-war. Parents really hated this because they had been taught that you always had to serve your I Voices country in a time of war. This caused a rebellion against the parents and it

I also made kids do anti-war protest. One other reason that many parents I disliked the music was that some songs talked about drugs and many bands I I [ I I were on drugs. This made kids and young adults smoke marijuana and do I other hard drugs. An example of this is Jimmy Hendricks who died of a drug overdose.

I The music modeled the fashions at the time. I had long hair and I wore bellbottoms. I also wore knit shirts and miniskirts. Boys wore jeans I and white tee shirts with sweaters and clothes like that. In the 1970s music started to change. The Beatles brokeProject up and

I heavy metal bands were formed along with the music style of disco. While I in the 60s everyone listened to the same thing, inHistory the 70s you could pick and choose what you wanted to listen to. This time periodSociety was much like it I Oral is know where everyone is listening to different types of music and I different bands in these differentPast types of music. The 70s were a very peacefulHistorical time but the music in the 70s was not I The nearly as good as it was in the 1960s. My favorite band from the 60s was I the Beatles butFrom now I really like jazz music and I do not have a favorite jazz I artist." Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Growing up in the 60's and 70's Karyn Zwickey

I Life in the 60's and 70's was definitely an interesting life full of many I events. My name is Cathy Nevers. My family was very patriotic because of my I dad, who served in World War II as a tank driver. Our family had many discussions of Vietnam, which was going on when I was about 12 and even

I though my dad served in WWII, he wasn't totally for this one. We hadProject many I controversies because my sisters who were 5 years older and 10 years older than me were against the war in every way. They walked in peace marches and were

I basically hippies. Although we had no other men in ourHistory family besides my dad, Society I we still had friends that were being drafted toOral war. Many of Marybeth's (my oldest sister) friends were drafted and some died. Other events that I remember

I distinctly were when the Kennedys Pastwere shot. When John F. Kennedy was shot, Historical I my school was Catholic so Thewe prayed and everyone was really sad. We had to I leave school because of this tragic event. My family all watched the funeral sadly. Another major eventFrom that went on during my childhood was the assassination of I Martin Luther King Jr.Minnesota This was a big deal because of all the racism and how the blacks wanted equal rights. Another huge event that went on was the Watergate I Voices scandal. This was a big deal because we lost faith in the president and in the

I political system. I Besides these events, my childhood was very fun. We had lots of freedom riding our bikes places, playing with neighborhood friends and going to the I I I I I country club. I grew up in Duluth in a safe neighborhood and went to a Catholic I school. It was very strict and the nuns had an interesting fonn of punishment. I remember one specific event that happened when I had lots of energy. I am left I handed and the nuns believed that all people should be right handed. So this one I day I got the courage to write with my left hand. It turned out not to be such a good idea. The nun pulled my hair out and whipped me with a wood ruler. This

I was a day I will never forget. Project I When I look back at my childhood, I remember the historic events and my own events that happened in my life. I History Society I -Written by Karyn Zwickey with pennissionOral of Cathy Nevers

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I 'I I Valida Prentice

I 1970 Earthquake in Peru I I This interview was with Chuck Prentice. He was in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer in and around 1970. One normal day, everything started to

shake. I Project I The earthquake occurred a little after 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon in May 1970 in Peru. I was 23 and I was laying in bed reading. It happened just after a

I big soccer game had ended. History

There had been a number of tremors in the weeksSociety before. I felt scared and I Oral very shocked by the strong trembling of the ground below me. I felt as though I I was at the mercy of nature. I wasPast afraid the earth might open up because that was my image of earthquakes. Historical I The The earthquake was a 7.5 on the Richter scale, which is a very high. I

I think the reports said it lasted for less than a minute, but it seemed like five From minutes. It made a rumbling noise. The only damage I saw was some bricks that I Minnesota fell over.

I VoicesThere was no certainty that a big earthquake would happen at that time, I but the tremors in the preceding weeks made people think that a big earthquake wascommg.

I I was not injured at all. More than 50,000 people died. Most who died I were from Huaraz. It was buried under ten feet of mud because the earthquake I E I I knocked a glacier off a mountain near Huaraz. The glacier fell rapidly down the canyon toward Huaraz pushing dirt and trees and boulders along with it. It buried

I the town varying in 10 to 20 feet of rubble. I I went out into the street. I tried to get away from buildings that might have fallen on me. While standing in the street, I watched out for cracks that

I might happen in the earth.

After the earthquake, I worked on earthquake relief for a couple of I Project months. I drove supplies into the damaged region. Some of my friends near

I Huaraz had to act as doctors even though they had no previous knowledge of I medicine. This was the worst natural disaster in theHistory Western Hemisphere this century. Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Matt Milbrandt I Popular Bands in the 1970's With My Mom Some popular bands and artists with my mom in the 1970's are KC and The

I Sunshine Band, Billy Idol, Donna Summer, Elton John, Rod Stewart, The Village I People, Jackson 5, The Osmonds, Earth Wind and Fire, and The Beach Boys. She went to the concerts but she doesn't remember which artist or band it was. She I said she had no particular favorite;she said she liked mostly all of theProject artists and I bands the same. She said that she really didn't watch or read any autobiographies about the artists;she said all she heard about some artists is that some were using History I drugs and other stuff like alcohol. My mom also thought that Donny Osmond Society I was cute for some reason that puzzles me. OralMost popular music in the 70' s was disco. I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Cori Blauer I How my Best Friend Died I "It was late August 1971. I was 21 years old, and I was at my I last week of work for the summer in FlintMichigan. I On Thursday night there was a big storm, I remember even Project I my car was flooded. On Friday I was feeling good. The company I was working at told me that they liked my work and wanted me to I History work for them next year, and I was getting readySociety to go to my last I Oral year of collage at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

I When I got home I rememberPast my father saying I'm sorry to Historical I spoil it but Terry AlickThe was dead. He had been killed by lightning

I in the storm the night before. From I Terry AlickMinnesota was my best friend since I was five years old. I We Voicesplayed sports together and we both attended the U of M in Ann I Arbor, Michigan. I As you can imagine I was shocked! I had never known I anyone to die young before. I I I I His was the fIrst funeral I had ever been to. At his funeral I I was the pallbearer (that is one of the people who carries the casket I at the funeral). I From Terry's death two things happened, one is that whenever things are going good I worry that something awful will I happen. Project I The other thing that happened to my life from Terry's death is that I History I named my fIrst child Teri. I was going to nameSociety my fIrst child I Terry no matter if it was a girl or boy.Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I [ VI" ,.,- I .1 ..[' ()-r; I I I Growing up in the 1970s I Written by Michael Mott, as told by Stacy Mott Growing up in Minnesota in the 1970's was a memorable experience

I for my mother, Stacy Mott. A year before she entered Southwest Junior High

School, girls were allowed to wear pants to school. By the time she got there, I Project I they could wear jeans. School lunch cost 35 cents, and a milk was 3 cents extra. Boys were required to take wood shop and drafting classes, while home

I economics was required for girls. When she was in theHistory 7rb grade, Minneapolis Public Schools teachers went on strike for three weeks time,Society which the students I Oral never had to make up. I Southdale had a store Pastcalled Now & Then, where all the kids shopped. They sold everything that is backHistorical in-style now; love beads for I The doorways, incense, plastic and blow up furniture. They all had paper daisies on

I long wire stems in stretched out Coke bottles. The fashions were hip huggers and From halter tops, huk-a-poo shirts and platform shoes. I Minnesota The weekends were time for all the kids to have some fun. On Friday

I nights,Voices they went to adult organized dances called Off-Beat. They were held in I the space above what used to be the fire station and is now the restaurant D'amico and Sons, on 43rd and Upton. They used to take the bus to Southdale on Saturday

I afternoons. Woolworths had a store on the lower level where they sold Pizza-by- I I I I I the-Slice for 45 cents. There was also an amusement area in the basement (which is now where Marshall's is located) with a few small rides.

I Rowan and Martin's "Laugh In" with Goldie Hawn was a very I popular television show. Also, "The Brady Bunch" was a sitcom hit. I Her father owned a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis called The Cork & Fork. There was a piano bar where a singer and pianist named George GriakProject played I every weekend. She used to sit with him at the piano while he sang to the customers. I History The Vietnam War was raging during the yearsSociety she was growing up. I The shootings at Kent State University wereOral her most vivid memory from those I years. As the war slowly came to an end, some of her close friends had to register for the draft. Past Historical I Lake CalhounThe at Thomas Beach was a popular place for hanging out I in the summer. The Aquatennial was also something they enjoyed watching. The fIreworks wereFrom shot off from Lake Calhoun in those days. Drive-in movies were I another source of fun.Minnesota

These were the fond memories of a childhood in Minneapolis in the I Voices 1970's. I I I I I I I Bethany Berg I High School in the 1970's I was in High School from 1971 to 1975. I remember the great times, like

I football games, bonfires, and coronations, because I was a cheerleader. I was I actively involved in my school. There were about 175 people in my senior class. I was involved in many I extra curricular activities, such as my youth group at our churchProject and marching I band, where I played the flute. I also twirled baton, was a cheerleader, on the Yearbook committee, part of the GAA, (Girls Athletic Association), and was in

I many musicals. History Society I I went to Staples High School, upOral in Northern Minnesota. Staples is a small town, and is in rural Minnesota. I was a Staples Cardinal. Our school was

I energetic, and especially excelledPast in wrestling, cross-country, Basketball, and

Golf Every year the ability level wentHistorical up and down, but even still today, they are I The I doing well in many sporting events, like Basketball and cross-country. In the 1970's, there Fromwere not very many girls' sports. Those were just starting. I was I not involved as a VarsityMinnesota athlete during High School. Prom was an exciting event for our High School. Every year, a song and a

I themeVoices was picked as the theme of the prom, and a class song. Our song was I "Time in a Bottle". I was involved in the prom by helping with decorations like I the center theme, which was some sort of contraption in the center of the gymnasium, where lots of attention was drawn. Prom was a great time! I I I I I Transportation was not a big deal for me. I lived about three blocks or a half of a mile away from High School. I would not drive to school, and I had

I friends and brothers to walk with. I If I had to rate my high school experience, I would have to give it about an I eight. I had fun at school, but looking back, I wish I had taken advantage of more opportunities, which were available to me. Things like school trips did not seem

like a big deal then, but it would have been interesting and fun to go places and I Project I see the sights, besides Staples and the few other places I had been. When it came time to decide what to do with my life, I really did not know, and I felt that maybe

I if I had done other things when I had the chance,History I would have been more

ambitious. I wanted to get some sort of college education,Society hoping I would find I Oral something I was interested in, so I registered at Brainard Community College, I about thirty minutes away fromPast Staples. I was, however interested in Dental Assisting, and I decided to go to the VocationalHistorical School in Brainard. I The In the 1970's, High School was very different from High School now. In the

I earlier times, back a few decades, most young women were not expected to make From something out of their lives. Women did not always believe in themselves, I Minnesota because that was what they were used to and it was the way they were brought up.

I VoicesAlthough during the seventies, there were many changes going on, not everyone, I especially in a small rural town, would change right away or as fast as some people. It was not the way of life. I I I E I I Jayne Christiansen History Hour 6 I An Art Teacher in the 70s I I was an art teacher 1974 through 1977, in Nashville, Tennessee. My earnings paid for everything, for my husband and myself. He was a law

I student at Vanderbilt at the time. When he had accomplished law school, we

I moved up here to Minnesota, and I was no longer an art teacher.Project I wanted to I be a stay at home mom with my children. I decided to become an art teacher because I really enjoyed art, and I History thought I had talent. Also because I've always been interestedSociety in it, and I love I Oral kids! As much as I liked my job, that did not pay for everything. I also was a

I piano teacher teaching 20 kids, somePast being students from school. I worked at Historical I an art supply store on someThe nights, and all weekends. I I majored in art and music in college. I didn't want to do one or the other so now I amFrom a music and art substitute teacher. If I could have gone I Minnesota back and picked a different occupation, I would be a music director for some

I sortVoices of choir.

I The kids really enjoyed me. I always laughed, and helped them reach I their potential. Most of all, they liked my native tongue! Since they were not I used to a Minnesota accent, they considered me to talk different and have a native tongue. They learned allot of things too, so they weren't the only ones I I I "I who liked me, their parents liked me also. I guess because I taught them I things like how to draw, paint, sculpt, weave, how to draw textures, design, and print make. I My favorite memory of being an art teacher is that on the first day of

I school, I was teaching a class of seventh graders, and I was asking them what

their names were. The first person said chop, so did the next, and the next, I Project I and everyone did but the last person. The last person yelled; TIMBER! And they all fell off of their chairs. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I Airline Flight Attendant

I Rosemary Merrill, a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines, enjoyed flying for ten years, from 1976 until 1986. She flew in many types of aircraft I and her routes always changed. She had many interesting experiences some were fun and some I were frighting. She felt her experiences, still help her today with the way she views circumstances in her life. Her home base was Minneapolis-St. Paul, and I although she has retired from being a flight attendant, she and her family still receive travel benefits. They have enjoyed trips in the U.S., Hawaii and Mexico I and plan to travel to more destinations in the future. Project I I became a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines because I liked the idea of traveling to many places. I wanted to see other areas of the country and also the world. It seemed like it wouldHistory be a good job and a I great learning experience besides it was a good paying for job for a woman with excellent benefits. Society I In order to become a flight attendantOral you needed to have some college or working experience. Once hired you would go through a six I week training program where Pastyou would learn about the different aircraft you would fly on as well as the emergencyHistorical procedures for each of those I aircraft. The training programThe also taught me many first aid skills from CPR to how to plan for crash, a terrorist attack or how to ditch the aircraft I in the ocean. I also learned about the company policies and how to portray a positiveFrom image for the company. We also learned about food I service in first andMinnesota coach class in order to serve the passengers. Walking on the planes took some getting use to, it was not hard to I doVoices unless there was a lot of turbulence due to stormy weather. If it got really rough or the plane would experience severe turbulence, the pilots I would ask us to sit down and stay buckled up. However if you worked a long day (up to 14 hours) you could still feel the motion or the movement from the planes for several hours after you were done working. I I had many interesting and exciting experiences while I was a flight attendant. I was in New York City during the Bicentennial Celebration in I 1976, when all the ships from the around the world were in the harbor. I I I We watched the fireworks there. I was in London when Prince I Charles married Lady Diana and still have many souvenirs from their wedding. There were also some close calls related to flying in bad I weather such as lighting strikes to the aircraft. There were also some frighting experiences like the time when one of our engines blew up I shortly after take off and our pilots had a hard time getting enough power to gain altitude and to control the plane. I Only once did I experience a bomb threat to one of our flights and that was when I was traveling to London. We had not yet taken off from I the ground when someone called and said they planted a bomb on board the plane. The pilots were able to take the plane to Projectan area away from the airport. We then evacuated the passengers, crew and all of the I cargo and a bomb squad was called to come with dogs trained to sniff out and locate the bombs. After the investigation took place which lasted I several hours we were able to go back on boardHistory the plane and resume our flight. Thankfully they never found a bomb on board.Society I I felt my job had many wonderfulOral benefits that many other companies did not provide. We had life insurance, dental insurance, I health insurance, a retirementPast plan and best of all reduced and free travel and many of these benefits wereHistorical for my family also. The airline also I has their own credit unionThe where you can bank. Today because I took an early buyout from airlines and retired I still have reduced travel benefits. I I think sometimes when you don't know about something it can make you afraid of it butFrom because I traveled so much and met many different people I in ten years it has opened me up to experiencing new things that come my way. Being Minnesotaa flight attendant was an excellent experience in many ways. I Voices by Ben Merrill I An Oral History I I I I I Katie Braun Hr. 1 The Flood of 1987 I I

I "It was about 7:30 PM on July 23, 1987. You, your father, and I were all outside I sitting on the porch celebrating my birthday when the sky started to turn a dark grayish-black color. The wind was coming from the southwest and started to pick up. It I became very humid, and then it started to sprinkle out. As we started to pick up the wrapping paper we could hear thunder and lightening crackling in the distance.Project

I No sooner had we gotten inside then the tornado sirens went off. We all moved into the basement and turned on the radio. Your dad decided to go upstairs and poke his I History head out the window. When he came back downstairs he saidSociety it was pouring and the wind I was very strong. As we listened to things crashingOral and tumbling above us, the radio announcer came on and said that a tornado had been spotted on Highway 169 and I Crosstown. We waited until the sirensPast had stopped blaring before we came up. It rained all through the night and into the morning. WhenHistorical we got up that morning, what we saw was I devastating. The I Water was everywhere! The highway, we were told, was flooded. Not to mention our basement andFrom the yard. Trees were lying everywhere. We were told that about 24 I inches had fallen, and Minnesotanot to leave our houses that day until the roads at been cleared. Of I Voices A~ ~~; I course, you know me, I decided to go to the bank. ~# The route I took led me through the roads around Braemar golf course. I made it through Braemar safely, and was I headed on to 77th street when my car stopped dead in the middle ofthe street. i It was I very embarrassing, because a ton of other people had to come and help me push it to the side of the road. You began to cry because you had a wet diaper, and I didn't have any I I I Katie Braun Hr. 1 The Flood of 1987

I fresh ones for you. I was lucky enough to find a phone, and when I did I immediately called your father. A business associate of his came to pick me up. Once we had been

I picked up, we were taken to an office building over by Centennial Lakes. I waited there I for five hours until your father came to pick me up. Luckily, the car was eventually fixed. What a birthday present I got!" I

I Project I I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Oral History Interview This is the story of how Robert Kleiber, my dad, met Nancy Mosher, I my mom. I interviewed my dad for this topic. Matt Kleiber: How did you first meet Nancy Mosher? I Bob Kleiber: I met her at a meeting of a charitable organization called Santa Anonymous. I went with my friends, and she went with her friends. We talked a little. I Matt: What happened after that? Bob: I worked for the regional staff at IBM in Chicago in 1982. She wanted briefing for her customer in the subject I was an expert in- tools for analyzing I data. After the presentation, which I thought went we", we went out for a drink. got to know her better, and we started dating shortly afterwards. Project Matt: What were your dates like? .1 Bob: We did a lot of things. We went to lots of different restaurants, and there were so many great ones around town. We went to a bar fairly often which had the best margaritas. We rode our bikes near the lake (Michigan) I Matt: What were your favorite kinds of food when youHistory were dating? Bob: We loved Mexican and Chinese. And there was a place with some awesome Italian ice ... We liked to go to the driving rangeSociety and play golf. I Matt: What were your favorite television showsOral and movies? Bob: We didn't see many movies or watch much television ... Sometimes we would just go down to a nearby bar a have a drink. I Matt: When did you move into the Pastsame apartment? Bob: We moved in just a few weeks before our wedding, mainly because that's when our leases were expiring. Historical I Matt: What date were you married?The Bob: October 22, 1983. Matt: I'm going to rewind. When did you start working at IBM? I Bob: Right out of grad school. I went to Northwestern University, and the IBM branch office wasFrom litera"y down the street. Matt: What major events were going on in 1982 and '83. I Bob: Boy, I don't rememberMinnesota much. Um ... (pause) Herald Washington was the first black mayor of Chicago Matt: Did you have any pets? I Bob:Voices No. Matt: Did your parents say much or give any advice at your wedding? Bob: Not really. I was only 28. If they did say anything, I probably wouldn't have I listened (laughs for a few seconds). (Long pause) Bob (changing subject): I remember when I first came to Minneapolis. When we I landed at the airport, it was 25 degrees below zero. I never believed in black ice, or engine exhaust freezing, but it turned out to be real. When I was filling our car I with gas, I thought I was going to freeze. I I I

Matt Fossum I Hour 6 I ART SCHOOL I My mom's name is Sally Fossum. She went to an art school named Hennipen Technical College. The class she took was called I Advertising Art. The purpose of the class was to create art for I advertisements such as commercials and magazines. ProjectShe took the

I class from 1988-1990.

I Her favorite kinds of drawings were lifeHistory drawings (people). Society I She liked to use black ink on white paperOral the most. Her favorite

I drawing she ever did was a brochurePast that had portraits of famous people. It usually took her a day Historicalto plan what she was going to I The I draw and an hour to draw it. This art school changed her life in many ways, oneFrom way is that it made her more creative in her work I Minnesota habits. Advertising Art has changed a lot over recent years, back I Voices then everything was done by hand, now everything is done on I computers using special effects. The following paragraph tells I what she did every day in her own words. I I I I I "Every day we had many assignments to complete. Our day I was divided into segments, some for illustration, others for I learning how to use the different utensils. We learned how to use I equipment such as darkrooms, laminators, T -squares, and stat cameras. Next we had lunch which was always a treat since the I chefs in training (Class next door) cooked wonderfully.Project After I lunch our instructors went over our work and critiqued them. The History I rest of the day was spent going over our mistakes and handing in Society I our work for the fmal grade. I reallyOral enjoyed art school and

I learned a lot." Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I I Michelle Frederick I Visiting Jerusalem My dad traveled to Israe1. When my dad traveled to Israel I he stayed in the old Jerusalem city. I Some of the differences berureen the United States and Israel that my dad said were that enemies surround Israel. I Since it has more enemies, it is more security conscious. This means that there is always a man in sight Projectwith a gun I incase of enemies attacking there. Another difference between the United States and Israel is everyone in Israel is I required to join the military. Both menHistory and women. Even though there are some differences betweenSociety the United I States and Israel, there are someOral things similar, one thing that is similar is both countries have a lot of people from I different cultures. Past Israel had a lot of differentHistorical food than the United States I too. In Israel they Thehave a lot of Mediterranean food, like humus made from chic peas and garbonso beans. They I also had a lot of citrus fruits. Israel produces citrus fruit, olives, and FromIamb. My dad said that he liked most of the I food but he saidMinnesota the citrus fruit was a little sour and said that the beal1s were pretty good and so was the lamb that he I ate.Voices Israel had a lot of historical events there. Some of I them include, a lot of things about God and Jesus in the old Jerusalem City because that is where Jesus \-vent after he I grew up. wfy dad said the old city of Jerusalem \vas really I nice ~nd that it was very interesting to learn about because he took m~ny tours there. Israel also has m~l1y religions I I I I living there. Israel is considered the center of several religions such as, Christianity, Judaism, and IsI~m. Israel is I also an Ally of the United States. My dad said that he wasn't very scared to go there I because there was always an anned military man visible. He also said that he would like to visit there again but not I live there. In conclusion, I think I would like to visit Israel some I day because of all the neat stuff my dad bringsProject home to me when he goes there afld because of what I have learned I about Israel. I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I I

I Memories of the 1997 Red River Flood in Grand Forks, ND I By: Margie J. Guthrie I I interviewed Margaret C. (Margie) Heilman who lived in Grand Forks, ND, from

I 1985 until the summer of 1997. In the spring of 1997, the Red River flooded the cities of I Grand Forks, ND, and East Grand Forks, MN. Ms. Heilman was a kindergarten teacher for the Lincoln Elementary School at this time. The National WeatherProject Service had I predicted the Red River to crest at a level of 49 feet so dikes were built to protect both

cities to 52 feet. But the Red River finally crested at 54.11 feet and flooded both cities. I History Lincoln Elementary School was in the part of Grand Forks whereSociety the flood did the worst I damage. The school had to be completely tomOral down. Below are Ms. Heilman's

comments and feelings about what happened during this time. I Past Historical I The flood was a pretty Thescary time. I think it was a shock that it even happened. I I had been out sandbagging with a lot of other people weeks before. We all thought we would be able to sandbagFrom the dikes high enough so that there wouldn't be a flood. It I wasn't until the mayorMinnesota said on the radio that people could start to voluntarily evacuate the

It I cityVoices that we all started to realize that there was going to be a flood. was also a tiring time because people were working almost all day helping people to protect their homes

I from the water. But it was a time when the communities stuck together. A lot of people I became friends while fIlling sandbags. And total strangers became new friends quickly as conversations took place sandbagging the dikes. Everyone just worked together and

I those people that needed help got help. I I I I What was hard for me about the flood was not being able to be in my home and the

I city, and losing contact with my friends and co-workers. When everyone had to leave the I city, you didn't know where everyone had gone. It was like everyone had just I disappeared into different directions. It was really hard not knowing where all my friends were, and I just felt so cut off from all the people I was used to having as a part of my

life. I Project I Some of the people I knew had to stay out at the airforce base with about 3,000

I other people, and they had to sleep on cots. It was reallyHistory hard there because they didn't

have a home to go to or someone to stay with. And with all theSociety people there, it wasn't I Oral very relaxing and they didn't have any privacy. They also were only able to take a I shower every couple of days. And evenPast though they got to know the people there really well, they had to keep telling themselves toHistorical stay calm and be patient at times. I The

I One of the hardest things was coming back to Grand Forks after the floodwaters From had gone down and seeing all the destruction. Even though my home wasn't ruined I Minnesota because it was a second story apartment, it made life really hard for people who weren't

I ableVoices to go back to their homes because they had lost everything. It was also really hard I for people to have to throwaway precious possessions and things that were destroyed by the floodwaters. I I I I I I When I went back to the city it was very depressing. It seemed like a ghost town. Usually I would just go back for a day or so to get some things out of my apartment. It

I was really different because only parts of the city were open. There were also curfews I people had to follow, like when you could be in the city and when you could be out or I driving around. Curfews were set to control vandalism from businesses and homes, and to try to maintain some order in the city. It was also strange going back because a lot of

the restaurants weren't open, and at the ones that were, they had a very limited menu. At I Project I Applebee's there were only five things you could order to eat.

I As people came back to the city, the total topic ofHistory conversation revolved all around

the flood. Everyone was anxious to hear everyone's story asSociety to where they went, what I Oral their houses were like, and what their plans were for recovering from this horrible natural I disaster. With limited supplies and onlyPast a few businesses open, most people would get their meals from the Salvation Army truckHistorical that would drive down the streets. And I The although times were hard and people had lost everything, the one thing that both cities

I were very proud of was that they made it through this natural disaster without any loss of From life. Today both Grand Forks, ND, and East Grand Forks, MN, continue the long process I Minnesota of rebuilding their communities. I Voices I I I I I I oo€ I I '1TTD.u I: ~n '..,TT U U AT'" A' nA ( VV"'dV" T A "TTY'V -J ...... :I..lr. .£110'''''''..,. ""V~.£J.J.. 1.1 .. " ...... V"" LLVL ... .J'V'U .L'LQ _!-~ V""' .....•• -...... ,.J &: ...

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T "'","", l.lT 1" T 1 T 1 co I 1 am Cie~Hgnmg vIeam vv 011(S IS a lll1snomer. lllsteau, 1 manage uie rest 01 I the team and have tiieIH do tileiI- part. TIlis project will take about two and one half years. TheProject designing I section wlll take about six 1l101ltiiS. After designing we have to draw up docwnents that tell the con{ractol how to build Dream Vi orks and this will

I take about six 111onths. Vvl1ile we are mitking the Historydocuments, the COilli CtliLOl will stalt cOIlsl.ructioiJ.. Society I The entire studio is going to be aboutOral a half a minion square feet, a I quarter rnillion square feet for sOW1d stages, and a quarter million square fect !' .....•..___ ~_._._. _ •• ,, __.. _~. ____._ =__ Past~ .... __ ._ "'::"'::r. __"! •._ . .• _.:~~ 1 ___ =_1~4_._, ... ~~._. __ .__ ..J lUI UIHlit::s. IVIUM VI lUI;; ~lagt::s 111 VI t:Cl1UHistorical VV Ul1\.:S W HI Vt: 1;;1~Ht:t:H UIUU:SCl11U I square [eel. Ivfost or theseThe stages will aiso be sound stages and will be the I same desig.n. Oile siagt: though will be iargel, rOfty-two thousand square feet, and will haveFrom a large water tank [Of shooting underwater scenes. "1[...... 'II - 1· • .. r-. .. d"" r 1 • D. ream worKS :stUulOS 15 me Hlst 1110V1e stu· 10 uUht 110m tne grouHa I Minnesota up in sixty years. Architecture is a very interesiing field of work. And when

...... 1 • • 1· . I YOUleVoices WOf.iung on a prOjeCi HKe iJrefuil WorKS, yOU Know Uiat ueslgnlllg a studio is i.he firsi. siep in making a fHOV ie come ifue. Because the show must

I go OHf I I I I I

I Krista Danielson I The Tornado of St. Peter My mom's friend, Colleen Jacks, lives in St. Peter, Minnesota. She was there when the

I major tornado of1998 hit. Colleen is a professor at Gustavus Adolphus College. She is the I Associate Professor and Chair ofthe Department ofBiology. Colleen also attended GAC. Here are Colleen's words: I I had been in the St. Peter 5 Movie Theater watching Titanic. The movie Project I had ended and I was watching the credits. All ofa sudden, the movie turned off. I thought that the movie theater was too lazy to let all the credits run, so I got up I to leave. As I entered the main lobby, the employeesHistory told us there was a tornado I on its way to St. Peter. I was considering going to the storeSociety to pick up some food, but I heard there was a tornado sighting in aOral town called Nicollet, which is about

I 15 miles away. When I got home,Past I put my car in the garage and turned on the I television The storm sirens were goingHistorical off, so I grabbed my cat, Sara, and went and sat about halfway downThe the stairs. I figured that I would wait 5 minutes to

I see if anything happened, and that if it didn't, then I would go back up. From I I live on the north end of a side-by-side duplex. The tornado came from the southwest, so myMinnesota landlady's house sustained more damage than mine did. I WhenVoices the tornado was passing through, I could hear the sound of glass breaking. I The tornado blew out all of the windows on my landlady's side. On my side, I only had one broken window, which was in the bathroom. In the toilet, there was

I a shingle from the roof We lost electricity for 10 days, so I had to throw all the I food in my refrigerator away. The entire house had to be re-roofed and re-sided. There were also several trees that were lost. I 30"2- I I I When the tornado hit, I had my cat Sara with me. She did not want to go into the basement, but she sat on my lap until the tornado got close. Then she

I screamed and pulled away. Luckily, she could not get out of the basement. When I we went upstairs she ran under my bed. When I saw how much glass there was I I was worried because I did not want her to get cut. Sara was acting very depressed until the heat and power came back on. I It was hard to see the large amount of damage that had been done to the Project I campus, because I attended college there and have worked there for the past 10 years. When I went to the building where I work (Nobel Hall), I wondered I whether we could ever open up the college again. AboutHistory 80% of the windows were broken. Luckily, my office and lab rooms were okay,Society except that everything I Oral in the refrigerator and freezer had to be thrown away. The telephone in my office

st I was working, so I had the 1 chancePast to call my family and tell them that I was I okay. Historical It was very luckyThe that the tornado had hit during spring break. If had not

I been spring break, there might have been more injuries, or even deaths. The From students started to come back to check out the damage and start cleaning up. I Minnesota When the college opened, we had to have two "orientation" days so the students

I Voicescould find their classes, the post office, and the dining service. I think the I students had a hard time studying the last few weeks of school. Because ofthe power outage, I could not see the media coverage. Most of

I the people in town felt like celebrities when we saw the TV vans. I have enjoyed I watching the storm videos that were produced by KARE 11 and weco. The one I I I I thing that I did not like about the media coverage was when the vans would set up at one part of town and then ''pretend'' they were in a different spot by turning

I their cameras. I There were many positive things that came out of the tornado. The most positive thing, I thought, was the sense of community that developed in the

I college and St. Peter. It touched all of us to think that so many people would take I the time to come and help us clean up the damage. The buildings that survived Project I the stonn are actually looking better than they were before because they had to fix them up. I It was hard to believe that things would actuallyHistory ever become nonnal again in St. Peter. Everyone was overwhelmed with the amountSociety of work that had I Oral to be done. I, like many others, wanted to help the people that had been hit the I hardest. It was difficult to do thatPast because we had no power. The only place you I could get a hot meal was from the SalvationHistorical Army, National Guard, or Red Cross. The hardest thing was to Thesee people having to rebuild their lives from scratch.

I I feel that the town was prepared for an emergency like this. The night

after the tornado,From the fire department came and checked every house in St. Peter I Minnesota to make sure there were no gas leaks and that everyone was okay. Thankfully, I I Voiceswas not injured. Some of my friends had minor injuries, but that was from doing I the clean up. All ofus went to have tetanus boosters just in case. Even though the tornado is over, I can still feel the huge effects it had on my life. I I I I I

Satyam Kalan I HourS I Oral History Up close with My Dad: An Owner of a VW I Beetle in the 70's and Today.

I I asked my dad to compare the Beetle he drove in the 70's and the one our I family has today. I asked a series of questions that really captured the essence of the VW Beetle. Project I The VW Beetle was my dad's first car. The reason he chose this was

because it was cheap and very economical. And at the time he didn't have the I History money to buy anything better. Society I I posed the question, " Would you ratherOral have the 70's version of the

Beetle or the new '99 model?" I must say that my dad was at a loss for words I Past because he felt that neither car was better than the other. He was swayed both Historical I ways because my dad feelsThe that each of the models had their own unique I characteristics. My father'sFrom thoughts about how the new engine feels compared to the old I one is understandable.Minnesota He said that the newer engine is better because it has more

power and is a lot more responsive. The 70's engine is a wee bit sluggish and just I Voices takes longer to get going. But what you must keep in mind is that the 70's version

I is about 25 years old so one would hope that the new '99 engine is better because I of technological breakthroughs. Another question that I popped was what is the difference in the feel of the

I car when it's driven. He said the 70's version was hard to drive because it didn't I 305 I I

I come with power steering so you literally had to turn the wheels without any I assisted help. But the new '99 model is very smooth and has a quieter ride due to new and improved suspension. Along with that, my father said that you get pure

I exhilaration right from the second you step on the gas pedal. Thus, the two cars I are distinctly different. My dad bought the 70's version of the Beetle because it was cheap, and

I very ideal for young people. It was perfect for commuting and getting from point Project I A to point B. The reason my dad purchased the new '99 Beetle was more nostalgic. Without a doubt, the new Beetle brings back happy memories and it's

I almost a way to relive all of that which is locked in ourHistory lustrous history.

On the topic of safety, my father said that he didn'tSociety feel safe in the 70's I Oral model because there were very few safety features. Remember back then, there I were no airbags and the Beetle didn'tPast come equipped with seatbelts. Plus add the fact that you are sitting in a car that looksHistorical like a Beetle to some others really I The doesn't sweeten the deal. The new Beetle however, feels safe. My dad feels this

I way because there are seatbelts, side and dual airbags, patented crumple zones, From and high safety ratings. Plus the latest materials due to the dramatic increase in I Minnesota technology. So he basically thinks you can't go wrong.

I VoicesThe last but not least question that I asked was to compare the features of I the old Beetle to the new one. My dad expressed that the 70's model was really, really, simple. I guess you could call it vastly simplistic. The new Beetle is fully

I equipped with a lot of nice things. It comes with Ale, 6-speaker sound system, I I I I

I and a small vase that adds a perfect feminine touch to the interior of the car. So I there is definitely a significant change in-between the 25-year gap. Those are some thoughts from my Dad about comparing his Love Bug to

I his Y2KBug. I I Project I

I History Society I Oral

I Past Historical I The I From I Minnesota I Voices I I I I I