What is your date of birth?

My date of birth is 7/14/34.

So, you were a young one?

I was young, yes.

And that’s fine.  Were are going to get these (interviews) from different aspects, people that were in the war, women that were working in factories, kids…so, this will be a nice little change.

You were born in Worcester?

Yes, I was born in Worcester.

What neighborhood?

Main South.

How many kids were in your family?

Three.  I had an older brother and a younger sister.

How old was your older brother?

My older brother was three years older than me and my sister was three years younger than me.  

So they were not involved in the war at all? Obviously not your little sister.

No.

Has your family, your parents, always lived in Worcester?

They have always lived in Worcester, yeah.

Did they have any connection to the war?  Your father?

No.  My father was an insurance man and my mother was a homemaker.

Did you have any connection to anyone in the war, any relatives, close friends of the family…?

I can’t think of anyone.

Do you remember any specific events of the war?

I remember playing touch football.  We were down at a friend’s and I was playing touch football in his backyard.  It was a Sunday and I remember someone coming in and saying that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.  And that’s how I heard about it.  But, we just continued playing.  We didn’t really understand the significance.  I mean…was that 1941?  See, I was seven, seven years old.  There wasn’t television in those days, so, really, you would get your views of the war from the movies.  You know, we’d go to see Bataan, Water Canal (inaudible).  You’d get the slant of the, of course, the American view that the Japs were all bad, Americans were all good…

That’s what I was going to ask you.  What was your view of the enemy?

Well, that was the view that you were getting…it was a sneak attack, they stabbed us in the back, all they Japanese should die.  But, then you get older and you see the Japanese perspective.  You know, you get a different view than the Japs were wrong and that we were right.  But, there was no TV that you would go home and watch and really get all different versions of it, you know.  As I say, the picture we got of the war was from the movies… when we went to the movies.

Do you remember how things changed after that? Was there a big difference in the way you lived before that happened and the way you lived afterwards?

No. I can’t remember any change in my style of life or what I was doing.  Of course I was, as I say, I was young.  I was just going to school, playing sports, and participating.  I couldn’t see my life change in any way.

Did you see any change in your parents?  No rationing or…?

No.  My father kept working and my mother was at home. I don’t remember any rationing or anything. I can’t remember any change in my lifestyle because of the war.

Did you see any change in Worcester itself?

Nothing that I can remember.  It just didn’t have that much of an effect on me. I am trying to think of people who went off to the war, to be in the war, but I can’t even think of that.  I can’t even think of any relatives.

Looking back on the war, how do you view it?  I am trying to remember whose book it was…have you heard of the book The Greatest Generation?  Do you view…

Is that Tom Brokaw?

Yes, do you view the whole World War Two generation as the greatest generation?

I would say yes because of the way everyone volunteered to go off to fight, and the were so idealistic…I would agree with that.

Then I remember the decision to drop the bombs, the atomic bombs.

You do remember that? So, you were about eleven?

Yeah.  The rationale was that the war was going to end quicker.  It saved hundreds and hundreds of American lives, well, thousands and thousands of American lives.  We just thought that it was the right thing to do.  Now you look back on it and say, boy, you dropped an atomic bomb on women, children, and innocent people.  Was it the right thing?  You probably question it more now, but we didn’t question it at all then.  Truman was doing the right thing, it was going to save American lives…who cares if the Japanese die?.  As I say, you can look back on it now and get a different perspective.  Back then, it was all positive.  There was no disagreement.

How do you view the wars (that have happened) since then? The Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War…what kind of differences do you see between all of them and the way our nation has reacted to them?  

Well, with the Korean War and the Vietnam War you get the feeling that we got involved in that ourselves to help deter the spread of communism.   In World War Two, we were attacked and it was a sneak attack.  They (the Japanese) didn’t declare war until after it was over.  So, we were in the right.  The Korean War and the Vietnam War, you had more questions of whether we should be over there, especially the Vietnam War.  At first, you though it was the right thing, but, as it went along, you saw the protestors and everything…and the news and everything, reading about it.   Of course, I was older.  But, it was a much different perspective on the Vietnam War than on World War Two.  You questioned whether we should be over there or not, and I knew more people involved in the Vietnam War, friends and stuff.  So, a much different attitude on the Vietnam War. The Korean war, not as much.  

But, then I do remember the end of World War Two, V-J Day.  There was a big celebration in Worcester with games and fireworks in the parks and stuff.  That’s a big, big memory…when it (the war) was over.

Do you remember where you were when you found out about V-J Day?

I don’t, no.

What kind of things did you do for recreation during the War?

I think there was a baseball tournament in the park. I think there were fires, hotdogs and hamburgers and fireworks that night.  It was really a celebration that you would remember.

I meant, all during the war, what did you do? What did you do for fun when you are younger?

Sports.  I played basketball, baseball, and football.   I went to school and we would listen to the radio at night.  We would listen to radio programs.  There was no TV, but we went to the movies, probably, every weekend.

Do you remember any particular propaganda, advertisements, or anything supporting the war during that time…on the radio, or…?

No.  I don’t even think we listened to the news.  You know, we’d listen to Jack Benny, Fipper McGee and Molly, the Lone Ranger.  That’s what we you would listen to on the radio.  You wouldn’t listen to news shows, or talk shows…which I listen to now, all the time.  Even on TV, I don’t watch programs.  I watch CNN.  I watch Larry King.  Everything is so different.  Back then, you were kind of wrapper up in your own world and just continued doing what you were doing…playing sports, going to school, listening to the radio programs…not discussing the war or whether it was right or wrong.  It was just so much different than it is today. 

I think we are shaped by the movies and how we think that things happened.  We see kids sitting around, listening to the news, attentively…laying on the floor and listening all about the war.  But, you are saying that you went on with your normal life?

Even in school with the teachers, I think you got the same perspective from the teachers that you’d get from the government…you know, that we were right to be in this, that the Japanese had attacked us.  So, if it did come up in school, the teacher was giving you the same perspective.  So, you never questioned it.  You never questioned what they were doing.

Is there anything else you remember about that time?

No, the two most vivid memories are playing football in the backyard and hearing that Pearl Harbor had been attacked…now, I didn’t know what Pearl Harbor was or where it was…and then the end of the war, V-J Day, the big celebrations in Worcester.  Those are my two most vivid memories. You know, I didn’t have a close relative that was involved in the war.  So, it really wasn’t a big impact on my life.

Ok, well, I guess that’s it? Anything else you can think of?

The news clips…they had news at the movies because they didn’t have television.  You saw the women who volunteered in the factories to support the boys in the service.  We didn’t experience that.  I cant remember any change in my lifestyle.  I was from a middle class family.  My father had a good job and my mother was at home.  I’d come home everyday from school and she would be there, and then I would go out playing sports, you know, and live a care-free existence.  The war wasn’t a factor.