Prologue:
I am interviewing Eleanor Hill. She is known to me as Aunt Peg. She is 84 years old, a mother of three, grandmother of many, a great grandmother and has been married for 65 years come February. She has been one of my dearest friends for 15 years.This wonderful woman has lived through some incredible times. One of those times is WW II. She was 14 when the war started and she met Uncle Walt. I thought I would explore what it must have been like to be engaged to a service man during that time. It wasn't long into the interview before I realized they weren't engaged before he went to California. They were supposed to marry when she turned 16. Grandpop Malony said no because he didn't want his daughter stranded alone out there if something happened to Uncle Walt after he shipped out.
I decided to change my focus to what life was like for a young woman of those times. What in her life would change because of the war? I focused on the results of those changes due to growing up during a time of war.
It is interesting to note that that even though she quit school, went to work at Campbell's Soup, joined the USO and focused her life on making the lives of soldiers easier, she never felt that she was sacraficing anything. The climate of the country at that time was such that everyone had a responsibility and they took it seriously and without bitterness. In fact they did it out of love for their country and their soldiers.
I had originally wanted to tell Aunt Peg's story through a series of letters between her and my daughter Allyssa. I was unable to follow a theme or use subheadings because the interview went in all different directions at a very quick pace. So I decided to tell her story through a Q and A format.
Eleanor Hill
Q What was relationship like with Uncle Walt before he enlisted?
Well I met uhUncle Walt when I was 15, and the war was startin to begin he was going to
enlist, ya know had to go in the army I was at a friend’s house when President
Roosevelt declared war on Japan and I said it was frightening time because we
were with Germany and Adolph Hitler was really a frightening person and I was
scared to death because of him going into France and thinking of England and I said It was a scary
time and I was afraid he was going to this country because he was such a a what
can I say a scary person then when the 6 million Jews of the holocaust was devastating
to everybody in this country,
Q Were there people who didn’t believe what Hitler was doing? How were you getting your information?
It is truebecause my husband saw. Thru the radio
of course but we did get that information Everybody believed it true nobody
hesitated about it cause it was really happening but I said it was really scary
time and of course all the men they went all the young boys, the country was so
wanted to do what they could for their country everybody was behind everybody
else There was no I don’t want to go, or runninin to Canada ya know to get away
from the war and all the women went for jobs then cause they took over the
men’s jobs like I did. Campbell’s soup pulling those big baskets at the age of 16, 17,
Cause I quit school to do that so a but it was, and with seein all those soldiers gone and
with President Roosevelt dyin during the war cause he did have polio. But imagine a death
you know during the war and ya know he started social security his best thing he ever did
Q You were involved in the war effort. What sort of things did you do?
Everybody was behind the soldiers I wrote to different soldiers because we were asked to
write to lift their morale and then as I said I was USO hostess at Fort Dix until
the war was over
Q What went on at the USO parties?
Dancing,communicating, being talking inviting them to your home for dinner which I had
several soldiers at my mother’s house for dinner. And they enjoyed it they came like for a
weekend but you had to keep up the morale I used to bake cookies and send cookies
them I used to do bandages with the red cross I did everything I could to help
with the I war bonds I sold war bonds It was Everybody was behind everybody
else nobody wanted war but beins there was war we were just happy to do our
share.
Q You only had a couple of dates with Walt before he left?
Yeah and then he got sent away and then he was away for more than a year or so in
California and the he got a furlough and I saw him then and then I didn’t see no more for
three years. And he went to France and then he went to England and we still corresponded
we weren’t engaged we were just letter writing.
Q Walt was on his way to Japan when Truman dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, what happened?
Then he was on his way to Japan, when the war was declared over When President Truman
dropped the atomic bomb I remember that Hiroshima the war was over. And they turned his
ship round. He turned back he missed it. He was already to go to Japan. And he put
bombs in the airplanes.
Q What was life like here at home? Like getting supplies?
Well like as I said like buying things that you couldn’t get like for one year for Christmas I
wanted a typewriter, couldn’t get it because of the war. We could not find a
typewriter anywhere so my mother bought me a record player, victorola that you
wind by hand, instead of a typewriter she said that they couldn’t find that.
Q What goods were rationed?
Sugar, well I only remember the sugar, but I think gasoline too. I think I do remember the
gas. Certain things you could get and things were okay ya know because after
the depression things gradually got better graaadually I mean like Walt’s parents well they had it
rough But I remember my mother and father having it a little tough but not like
as bad off as his parents. So but it seemed everything seemed to be plentiful except eh if you
had the money of you had the job. You just gradually worked up to getting jobs.
Q What was it like not having the men around?
Yep the only ones around were the ones who were older and couldn’t go or ones who had hearin
problems or some other affliction or if they were their weight wasn’t up to what it should be.
But there was, it was really lonely. I mean because wherever you went it seemed like a part of your
world was gone because the boys were gone and they just enlisted like crazy cause they stood
behind their country. And we were so proud cause they were fightin for us why shouldn’t we do
what we felt we should do in these times ah like Campbell’s Soup and these companies, take their places.
Q What was it like doing the men’s jobs?
Hard! It was tough but I enjoyed it I was doin my part and I was happy about it.
Q Do you feel like you missed out on anything growing up?
Nah, no, I think I seen plenty I mean I was around in a difficult not the depression years but
look how many things I’ve seen space and roads being put in and freeways I mean
it’s a whole century like whole different thing like I think of my parents and
parents before that what would they ever make of this ya know. Now today it’s so different people are not
respectful but back then people couldn’t do enough the neighbors were everybody
was pullin together. But today nobody cares about anybody and it’s different.
And the war of course nobody likes a war but it’s not like it was before WWII.
Eisenhower all of our good commanders Commander in Chief Eisenhower and
Mac Arthur and Truman I loved I just loved Truman but Roosevelt was a wonderful President.
Of all I think he was the best of our presidents
Q When you corresponded with Walt what kind of things did he tell you about?
Well he told all the…he couldn’t tell me some things cause it was private but what he had to
guard and load in the planes with the bombs, scary how cold it was when you
took showers it was ice cold where you would be you’d just have a big
bucket. Just somthin to wash yourself in.
Q How were the soldiers treated overseas?
Good. Walt said ya know good as far as he was happy a went aol which
you’re not supposed to do he liked to come and see me just snatches but he had
to cook you had to do your cooking and the potatas and KP duty. Yeah that’s it yepp. And he’d say
how beautiful Paris was He saw the ovens, that the people were put in, he said they were monstrous those
ovens. But imagine how people felt they thought they were goin in to get showers and they were gassed All them
Jews and a lot of people still don’t believe there was a holocaust and there absolutely was .
Q Tell me about the German Flag you received from a friend.
I had a German flag that one of my friends sent me from when he was over in Japan no in
Germany he sent me a Nazi flag that I gave to my Grandson.
Q What was on it?
Blood. Yeah and while he was there he found it while he was there
Q How did you feel when you saw the blood on the flag?
I cried! Because it was somebody’s blood no matter whether it was Germany or
those boy’s, those boy’s couldn’t help what Adolph Hitler did It was some mothers son’s
blood. But I cried when I saw that. So I had for years in my attic so I thought and Walt says
pot it on the internet no I said I’d rather give to my grandson, he wants it.
So that’s what I did I gave it to Scotty.
Q How did your sense of your future change from when Walt left and then when he came
home three years later?
Of course by the time he was home I was no more 16 I going on close to 19 and of course
when he was gonna come home I was thrilled to death when the war was over and when he
first came to my house after three years that was herd because I didn’t know
how I was gonna react because I had another proposal from another soldier here
from Fort Dix and I was undecided because I hadn’t seen Walt for 3 years and I
saw this guy every week that I went to the uso so when he asked me to marry him
this young man and he was ten years older than me and I said I can’t answer ya
I said cause I love you too and I love Walt but I have to wait until he comes
home and then I’ll know as soon as I see him I’ll know whether it’s him or
you. So when he came home and he was in full uniform his hat a nice mustache so young
looking and so handsome I thought, and I was upstairs and my mother called me, and all week
I dieted and got my hair done, bought a new dress, new shoes, tryin to make myself
spectacular and I was upstairs and my mother called me she said “peggy Walt’s
here” I was shakin like a leaf, I didn’t want to come down stairs cause I was
nervous, and I come down so far and I saw standing at the bottom of the
stairway he didn’t see me but I peeked around there and went right back in the
hallway again cause I was so nervous and I went down the steps and we just stared
at one another (because you had both grown up) I know he was 24 and I was goin
on 19 and we just looked at one another ya know and I thought my heart was
beatin a mile a minute and I was shakin like a leaf and we just face to face
and my mother said “well are you gonna kiss him?” And then he kissed me and
then we out to Audubon where the Audubon pool was and we sit on the swing it
was in the evening and he was pushin me on the swing and that’s when he asked
me to marry him. And then I got married like three months later.
Q When did you realize that Walt was the one?
As soon as I saw him. So when I saw the other guy again I told him no no it was
definitely him. So that’s the last I heard from the guy But then the other soldiers I used to
have home and one of the soldiers that came over to my mother’s house for
dinner and he had taken to the movies at the ritz then it was the movies. And while we were
in there he fell asleep. I got up and left him sittin there and come home. And then later
there was a knock at the door and his name was virgil palmer and he was a sailor he knocked
at the door and said I’m awful sorry I fell asleep ys know could I have another date? I said no,
I don’t think so. But I wrote to a lot of soldiers in England I did a lot of letter writing
Q Did you continue writing to the other soldiers?
For a long time yeah and after I got engaged I wrote them all. And then Walt when
he was in the service and I wrote to him and the girl that I was in school with in the locker
next to me she wrote to him. And she said oh I got a letter from Walt Hill tody I said oh
so did I or yesterday we compared letters and they were the same identical letters “as soon
I come home from the service you’ll be the first one I visit." So after I saw that letter I didn’t
write to Walt no more. So he wrote to me and he said please write he was sorry that it
happened all this stuff. So he quit writin to May Downs and continued writing to me.
Q What was life like for your siblings at this time?
I was the oldest so none of my siblings had to go in the war. Iwas married eight years
before anyone else started getting married. I was the only one who had kids
for years but I only had scotty and martin then. Then Joan and Marty were goin
together and Jane and ed was goin together and I don’t know if Eddie was goin
with Marilynn or not. But they all used to come to my house Christmas and load my kids
with gifts. And gradually after eight years they started getting married and have their own families.
But they didn’t realize what was goin on
Q Had Walt changed at all, from being in the war. Did he suffer any issues from it?
No , no nightmares no nothing. He got his job back, they held his job for till he come
back ya know those days they held the service men’s jobs for them. They got
their jobs back they took em right back. He had no dreams no nothing.
Q Do you think that could be because they had such total support on the home front?
I think so yeah. Oh yes. They had such a patriotic sense of duty, all of em. They all
were gung ho on it, let’s go fight the war and get it over that kind of thing
Q There was a real sense of pride in the community wasn’t there?
I think it was a more helpful community before the war. And after the war became even
more so I mean both ways everybody helped one another. That’s the thing not liketoday.
Nothing compared nothing like today.
Q How did the community feel after the war was over?
You thought the worst was over so it was a happy time that better things were to come.
Except for president Roosevelt dyin that was a that was sad. During the war but Truman
I loved him too. He was a let’s pound it to them he was one of those Presidents that "Drop the bomb!"
like I always say to Walt "Here I go on my President Truman again last night drop the bomb!"
over there and be done with that Suddam Hussein That way like Truman did of course innocent
people are gonna dye but that’s the only way you’re gonna end it. Get Truman back here. But see
we’re too easy this country.
Yep we’re letting in too many foreigners I mean they get more than our own do in our own
country. It’s the truth.
Afterword : Telling Aunt Peg's story was difficult due to the fact that I could not engage her in an in-depth conversation about her feelings concerning the life she lived. She has an almost innocent point of view concerning the her life during that period. Keeping her on task was next to impossible as you can hear on the audio. In retrospect I think I would have chosen a different subject after the first interview because it was so frustrating. I have heard this woman tell many stories in the past and thought she would be the perfect subject. But, once the recorder was in front of her all bets were off. I thought that when I went back for the second interview she might be more comfortable, however, by the end of that inyerview her frustration was showing because she felt she was repeating herself. This project was the perfect example of how difficult doing an interview or oral hisstory project can be. I also stuggled over how to present it. Because her answers were so scattered I couldn't even present it by theme, like a subheading of Walt, or Hitler because it all so mixed in together. This is my third try!
As I stated before, I Love This Woman but I would never want to interview her again...Maybe I could just record her stories when she couldn't see the recorder?
I decided to change my focus to what life was like for a young woman of those times. What in her life would change because of the war? I focused on the results of those changes due to growing up during a time of war.
It is interesting to note that that even though she quit school, went to work at Campbell's Soup, joined the USO and focused her life on making the lives of soldiers easier, she never felt that she was sacraficing anything. The climate of the country at that time was such that everyone had a responsibility and they took it seriously and without bitterness. In fact they did it out of love for their country and their soldiers.
I had originally wanted to tell Aunt Peg's story through a series of letters between her and my daughter Allyssa. I was unable to follow a theme or use subheadings because the interview went in all different directions at a very quick pace. So I decided to tell her story through a Q and A format.
Eleanor Hill
Q What was relationship like with Uncle Walt before he enlisted?
Well I met uhUncle Walt when I was 15, and the war was startin to begin he was going to
enlist, ya know had to go in the army I was at a friend’s house when President
Roosevelt declared war on Japan and I said it was frightening time because we
were with Germany and Adolph Hitler was really a frightening person and I was
scared to death because of him going into France and thinking of England and I said It was a scary
time and I was afraid he was going to this country because he was such a a what
can I say a scary person then when the 6 million Jews of the holocaust was devastating
to everybody in this country,
Q Were there people who didn’t believe what Hitler was doing? How were you getting your information?
It is truebecause my husband saw. Thru the radio
of course but we did get that information Everybody believed it true nobody
hesitated about it cause it was really happening but I said it was really scary
time and of course all the men they went all the young boys, the country was so
wanted to do what they could for their country everybody was behind everybody
else There was no I don’t want to go, or runninin to Canada ya know to get away
from the war and all the women went for jobs then cause they took over the
men’s jobs like I did. Campbell’s soup pulling those big baskets at the age of 16, 17,
Cause I quit school to do that so a but it was, and with seein all those soldiers gone and
with President Roosevelt dyin during the war cause he did have polio. But imagine a death
you know during the war and ya know he started social security his best thing he ever did
Q You were involved in the war effort. What sort of things did you do?
Everybody was behind the soldiers I wrote to different soldiers because we were asked to
write to lift their morale and then as I said I was USO hostess at Fort Dix until
the war was over
Q What went on at the USO parties?
Dancing,communicating, being talking inviting them to your home for dinner which I had
several soldiers at my mother’s house for dinner. And they enjoyed it they came like for a
weekend but you had to keep up the morale I used to bake cookies and send cookies
them I used to do bandages with the red cross I did everything I could to help
with the I war bonds I sold war bonds It was Everybody was behind everybody
else nobody wanted war but beins there was war we were just happy to do our
share.
Q You only had a couple of dates with Walt before he left?
Yeah and then he got sent away and then he was away for more than a year or so in
California and the he got a furlough and I saw him then and then I didn’t see no more for
three years. And he went to France and then he went to England and we still corresponded
we weren’t engaged we were just letter writing.
Q Walt was on his way to Japan when Truman dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, what happened?
Then he was on his way to Japan, when the war was declared over When President Truman
dropped the atomic bomb I remember that Hiroshima the war was over. And they turned his
ship round. He turned back he missed it. He was already to go to Japan. And he put
bombs in the airplanes.
Q What was life like here at home? Like getting supplies?
Well like as I said like buying things that you couldn’t get like for one year for Christmas I
wanted a typewriter, couldn’t get it because of the war. We could not find a
typewriter anywhere so my mother bought me a record player, victorola that you
wind by hand, instead of a typewriter she said that they couldn’t find that.
Q What goods were rationed?
Sugar, well I only remember the sugar, but I think gasoline too. I think I do remember the
gas. Certain things you could get and things were okay ya know because after
the depression things gradually got better graaadually I mean like Walt’s parents well they had it
rough But I remember my mother and father having it a little tough but not like
as bad off as his parents. So but it seemed everything seemed to be plentiful except eh if you
had the money of you had the job. You just gradually worked up to getting jobs.
Q What was it like not having the men around?
Yep the only ones around were the ones who were older and couldn’t go or ones who had hearin
problems or some other affliction or if they were their weight wasn’t up to what it should be.
But there was, it was really lonely. I mean because wherever you went it seemed like a part of your
world was gone because the boys were gone and they just enlisted like crazy cause they stood
behind their country. And we were so proud cause they were fightin for us why shouldn’t we do
what we felt we should do in these times ah like Campbell’s Soup and these companies, take their places.
Q What was it like doing the men’s jobs?
Hard! It was tough but I enjoyed it I was doin my part and I was happy about it.
Q Do you feel like you missed out on anything growing up?
Nah, no, I think I seen plenty I mean I was around in a difficult not the depression years but
look how many things I’ve seen space and roads being put in and freeways I mean
it’s a whole century like whole different thing like I think of my parents and
parents before that what would they ever make of this ya know. Now today it’s so different people are not
respectful but back then people couldn’t do enough the neighbors were everybody
was pullin together. But today nobody cares about anybody and it’s different.
And the war of course nobody likes a war but it’s not like it was before WWII.
Eisenhower all of our good commanders Commander in Chief Eisenhower and
Mac Arthur and Truman I loved I just loved Truman but Roosevelt was a wonderful President.
Of all I think he was the best of our presidents
Q When you corresponded with Walt what kind of things did he tell you about?
Well he told all the…he couldn’t tell me some things cause it was private but what he had to
guard and load in the planes with the bombs, scary how cold it was when you
took showers it was ice cold where you would be you’d just have a big
bucket. Just somthin to wash yourself in.
Q How were the soldiers treated overseas?
Good. Walt said ya know good as far as he was happy a went aol which
you’re not supposed to do he liked to come and see me just snatches but he had
to cook you had to do your cooking and the potatas and KP duty. Yeah that’s it yepp. And he’d say
how beautiful Paris was He saw the ovens, that the people were put in, he said they were monstrous those
ovens. But imagine how people felt they thought they were goin in to get showers and they were gassed All them
Jews and a lot of people still don’t believe there was a holocaust and there absolutely was .
Q Tell me about the German Flag you received from a friend.
I had a German flag that one of my friends sent me from when he was over in Japan no in
Germany he sent me a Nazi flag that I gave to my Grandson.
Q What was on it?
Blood. Yeah and while he was there he found it while he was there
Q How did you feel when you saw the blood on the flag?
I cried! Because it was somebody’s blood no matter whether it was Germany or
those boy’s, those boy’s couldn’t help what Adolph Hitler did It was some mothers son’s
blood. But I cried when I saw that. So I had for years in my attic so I thought and Walt says
pot it on the internet no I said I’d rather give to my grandson, he wants it.
So that’s what I did I gave it to Scotty.
Q How did your sense of your future change from when Walt left and then when he came
home three years later?
Of course by the time he was home I was no more 16 I going on close to 19 and of course
when he was gonna come home I was thrilled to death when the war was over and when he
first came to my house after three years that was herd because I didn’t know
how I was gonna react because I had another proposal from another soldier here
from Fort Dix and I was undecided because I hadn’t seen Walt for 3 years and I
saw this guy every week that I went to the uso so when he asked me to marry him
this young man and he was ten years older than me and I said I can’t answer ya
I said cause I love you too and I love Walt but I have to wait until he comes
home and then I’ll know as soon as I see him I’ll know whether it’s him or
you. So when he came home and he was in full uniform his hat a nice mustache so young
looking and so handsome I thought, and I was upstairs and my mother called me, and all week
I dieted and got my hair done, bought a new dress, new shoes, tryin to make myself
spectacular and I was upstairs and my mother called me she said “peggy Walt’s
here” I was shakin like a leaf, I didn’t want to come down stairs cause I was
nervous, and I come down so far and I saw standing at the bottom of the
stairway he didn’t see me but I peeked around there and went right back in the
hallway again cause I was so nervous and I went down the steps and we just stared
at one another (because you had both grown up) I know he was 24 and I was goin
on 19 and we just looked at one another ya know and I thought my heart was
beatin a mile a minute and I was shakin like a leaf and we just face to face
and my mother said “well are you gonna kiss him?” And then he kissed me and
then we out to Audubon where the Audubon pool was and we sit on the swing it
was in the evening and he was pushin me on the swing and that’s when he asked
me to marry him. And then I got married like three months later.
Q When did you realize that Walt was the one?
As soon as I saw him. So when I saw the other guy again I told him no no it was
definitely him. So that’s the last I heard from the guy But then the other soldiers I used to
have home and one of the soldiers that came over to my mother’s house for
dinner and he had taken to the movies at the ritz then it was the movies. And while we were
in there he fell asleep. I got up and left him sittin there and come home. And then later
there was a knock at the door and his name was virgil palmer and he was a sailor he knocked
at the door and said I’m awful sorry I fell asleep ys know could I have another date? I said no,
I don’t think so. But I wrote to a lot of soldiers in England I did a lot of letter writing
Q Did you continue writing to the other soldiers?
For a long time yeah and after I got engaged I wrote them all. And then Walt when
he was in the service and I wrote to him and the girl that I was in school with in the locker
next to me she wrote to him. And she said oh I got a letter from Walt Hill tody I said oh
so did I or yesterday we compared letters and they were the same identical letters “as soon
I come home from the service you’ll be the first one I visit." So after I saw that letter I didn’t
write to Walt no more. So he wrote to me and he said please write he was sorry that it
happened all this stuff. So he quit writin to May Downs and continued writing to me.
Q What was life like for your siblings at this time?
I was the oldest so none of my siblings had to go in the war. Iwas married eight years
before anyone else started getting married. I was the only one who had kids
for years but I only had scotty and martin then. Then Joan and Marty were goin
together and Jane and ed was goin together and I don’t know if Eddie was goin
with Marilynn or not. But they all used to come to my house Christmas and load my kids
with gifts. And gradually after eight years they started getting married and have their own families.
But they didn’t realize what was goin on
Q Had Walt changed at all, from being in the war. Did he suffer any issues from it?
No , no nightmares no nothing. He got his job back, they held his job for till he come
back ya know those days they held the service men’s jobs for them. They got
their jobs back they took em right back. He had no dreams no nothing.
Q Do you think that could be because they had such total support on the home front?
I think so yeah. Oh yes. They had such a patriotic sense of duty, all of em. They all
were gung ho on it, let’s go fight the war and get it over that kind of thing
Q There was a real sense of pride in the community wasn’t there?
I think it was a more helpful community before the war. And after the war became even
more so I mean both ways everybody helped one another. That’s the thing not liketoday.
Nothing compared nothing like today.
Q How did the community feel after the war was over?
You thought the worst was over so it was a happy time that better things were to come.
Except for president Roosevelt dyin that was a that was sad. During the war but Truman
I loved him too. He was a let’s pound it to them he was one of those Presidents that "Drop the bomb!"
like I always say to Walt "Here I go on my President Truman again last night drop the bomb!"
over there and be done with that Suddam Hussein That way like Truman did of course innocent
people are gonna dye but that’s the only way you’re gonna end it. Get Truman back here. But see
we’re too easy this country.
Yep we’re letting in too many foreigners I mean they get more than our own do in our own
country. It’s the truth.
Afterword : Telling Aunt Peg's story was difficult due to the fact that I could not engage her in an in-depth conversation about her feelings concerning the life she lived. She has an almost innocent point of view concerning the her life during that period. Keeping her on task was next to impossible as you can hear on the audio. In retrospect I think I would have chosen a different subject after the first interview because it was so frustrating. I have heard this woman tell many stories in the past and thought she would be the perfect subject. But, once the recorder was in front of her all bets were off. I thought that when I went back for the second interview she might be more comfortable, however, by the end of that inyerview her frustration was showing because she felt she was repeating herself. This project was the perfect example of how difficult doing an interview or oral hisstory project can be. I also stuggled over how to present it. Because her answers were so scattered I couldn't even present it by theme, like a subheading of Walt, or Hitler because it all so mixed in together. This is my third try!
As I stated before, I Love This Woman but I would never want to interview her again...Maybe I could just record her stories when she couldn't see the recorder?
| test1.wma |
