Quotes from the Early American Museum
We at the Early American Museum are committed to the importance of oral histories. The Early American Museum has conducted oral history projects, worked with schools to promote the tradtion of oral histories, and developed this web page to aid teachers, students, and others in understanding and using oral histories to increase their knowledge of their heritage and strengthen the ties to their past. The Early American Museum welcomes questions. We can be reached by:
Phone: 217-586-2612.
Postal Mail: Box 1040 Mahomet, IL 61853
E-mail: early@cu-online.com.The following quotes were taken from the 'V is for Victory: Remembering WWII' oral history project and exhibit undertaken by the Early American Museum during 1994.
On watching the Japanese sign the surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, "We took turns looking through the binoculars. They had like a little table on the forward deck that they sat at to sign. I think we were more excited that our chief petty officer told us that if everything went smooth maybe in three or four days we would be allowed to leave ship and go in and look around"........Chuck Casad.
On the Great Lakes Naval Training Center at Waukegan, " The first night you could hear people all night falling out of their hammocks. There was a lot of marching. First time I ate pizza was there [in Chicago]. Should have come home and started a pizza parlor. You never heard of it down here"............Frank Byra.
"We saw this orange flame [from artillery fire]. When we turned around and saw that we said, 'Isn't it beautiful, that orange flame.' Then all at once we looked at each other and we said, 'Boy we can get killed by that stuff.' Up until that time I don't think I had realized people really shot at you".........Charles Flewelling.
"In Chicago, you could have neighbors and never really know them. Because of the war, they started setting up civil defense watches and you would have actual block meetings and get together with people. We got acquainted with everybody that way.We all got closer. If something happened, you could act more like a friend"........Doris Koeck.
"[I was] driving along the country somewhere and ... these German [soldiers] come out of the woods with their hands up. They were hungry and cold and wanting something to eat. You had maybe five or six of them on your jeep and right here at your side you've got a gun.They could have taken care of me right easy. But they weren't interested in that. They wanted to get something to eat"..............William Colvin.
On living near the University of Illinois with all the young men attending the military training courses set up at the UI. " You didn't have to hunt for boyfriends, that's for sure".........Kathleen Payne.
"The train ride to San Francisco, the point of embarkation, I remember [took] about three days because the trains were numerous, one following another, loaded with recruits. The men were being shipped out so fast and accumulating [that] there wasn't room. They didn't have barrack rooms. We were living in tents under the Golden Gate Bridge...for about 10 days".......Kermit Michael Clark.
|| For quotes from the We're Americans First: East Frisians of Champaign County.
