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Object Description
| Title | Interview with Eva Hammond |
| Interviewee | Hammond, Eva |
| Interviewer |
Peters, John Vlastnik, Alexander |
| Date | September 2012 |
| Duration | Approximately 57 minutes |
| Description | In this interview, Eva Hammond discusses her experiences before, during and after her time as an employee on Arsenal Island. She goes into detail when describing the Arsenal and the Quad Cities during World War II. She also describes changes at the Arsenal after Pearl Harbor and then again after World War II was over. She compares attitudes at the Arsenal during World War II to the years of the Vietnam War. She also describes how she met her husband and his experiences in World War II, while he served in the Navy. She also talks about what the workplace was like for women during World War II. Near the end of the interview, she discusses her involvement with the Rock Island Arsenal Historical Society and the Stephen T. Hershberg Lifetime Achievement Award she received for her service. |
| Historical Note | Eva Hammond is a native of the Quad Cities and an employee of the Rock Island Arsenal for forty-nine years. She is also involved in the Arsenal Historical Society, winning its Stephen T. Hershberg Lifetime Achievement Award. She worked in Payroll at the Arsenal after completing the civil service exam, starting in September of 1941. To serve her country, starting in work at a military base, supported her future husband aboard. After World War II, she took time off from work to raise her son and later returned to work during the Korean War. After her return to the Rock Island Arsenal, she worked in the finance department until she retired in 1990. |
| Interview Index | [00:00-03:01]- Introduction and Early Life/Family [03:01-04:03]- Education and civil service test [04:03-07:16]- Choosing a career path (WAVES, civil service, appliance store) [07:16-07:40]- Husband and the Arsenal [07:45-10:05]- World War II Propaganda and Women [10:05-11:45]- Reflection on Pearl Harbor [11:45-12:48]-Home front with Germans/ Japanese Americans [12:48-13:58]- Atmosphere at the Arsenal during and after the war [13:58-16:21]- Rationing [16:21-18:55]- Thoughts on working at the Arsenal and Family [18:55-20:18]- War Bond Drives [20:21-22:46]- Post war era and looking back on WWII [22:52-25:25]- Thoughts on being describes as “The Greatest Generation” [25:25-35:28] Woman’s war experiences [35:30-41:36]- Rock Island Arsenal Historical Society [41:36-42:14]- Public Films [42:14-43:57]- Eva’s children [44:05-51:56]- Civil Defense and Communism [51:56-53:30]-Quad City attitude towards WWII, protests at the Arsenal during Vietnam [00:00-3:22]- National and local politics during WWII |
| Interview Notes | The interview took place in the Rock Island Arsenal Museum’s research center. The space was clean and open, making it an ideal space to conduct the interview. An occasional archive worker would walk by yet this did not affect the quality of the interview. Mrs. Hammond was using a walker and was seated of the other side of a long table. Mrs. Hammond seemed comfortable, confident, and able to recall events without difficulty. She remained seated for the entirety of the interview. Mrs. Hammond still volunteers at the museum from time to time. She knew many of the workers, chatting before and after the interview with them. |
| Transcript Exists | Yes |
| Audio Exists | Yes |
| Subject | World War, 1939-1945 |
| Identifier | CD-0291/28 |
| Collection in Repository | Oral history interviews |
| Collection Number | MSS 291 |
| Project | World War II on the Quad Cities Homefront |
| Repository | Augustana College Special Collections, 639 38th Street, Rock Island, Illinois 61201 |
| Finding Aid Link | http://augustana.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/210 |
| Preferred Citation | Interview with Eva Hammond, 2012, in MSS 291 Oral history interviews, Special Collections, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. |
| Rights | Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from Augustana College Special Collections and the copyright holder. Contact specialcollections@augustana.edu or 309-794-7643 for more information. |
| Type |
Sound |
| Object Description | Compact Disc |
| Language | eng |
| Digital Format | audio/mpeg |
| Publisher | Augustana College Special Collections |
| Collection | Oral History Interviews (Augustana College) |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Transcript | Interview with Eva Hammond [1:00] JP: First, Question I have what town were you born in? EH: I was born in Owatonna, Minnesota. JP: When did you move down here? EH: When I was through high school…and that was in 1940. JP: Did you family move down here or was it just you? [2:00] EH: Yes, my family came down and moved to a farm in Wyoming, IA. When I was a sophomore in high school. I went to high school there and went to American Institute of Commerce. I attended one year there, which was a commercial school. I started working at an appliance store and took the civil service test to come over here on the island. I passed that and started working here in September of 1941. JP: That was before Pearl Harbor. EH: Yes, it was JP: Did you have any brothers or sisters? EH: I had three brothers and two sisters. JP: Did your parents ever work for the government? EH: My father was a mechanic, and he came back to Wyoming and started farming. JP: Was it still in the family? EH: No the farm isn’t in the family. JP: O we were going to ask you where you went to school but you already answered that. What did you think about the area when you first moved here? EH: Well, I was homesick at first but then I got use to it and I really liked the area. JP: What did you miss most about Minnesota? EH: Well, I miss tennis quite a bit. And swimming we had that in high school up there. JP: Was it for a team? EH: It wasn’t so much a team just a class we were required to take. And I enjoyed swimming. JP: Did you ever swim in the [Mississippi] River? EH: No, too dangerous. JP: I agree with you. [03:00] AV: Anything particular you remember about your college experience? What were the classes like? Or your peers? EH: Well, I had very good friends there, but I worked for my room and board so I didn’t have much free time. And I took shorthand and typing and machines, like nine key adding machines. I forgot what the other one was called and I got pretty proficient at it. And that’s what I took the civil service exam in. JP: What was taking the civil service test like? Was it difficult? EH: Yes, very hard. JP: I can imagine. EH: I know there were quite a few who had to take it a couple of times. JP: And you got it on the first try? EH: Yes. JP: That’s impressive. [04:00] AV: How did you choose to work at the Arsenal? EH: I figured it was more of a steady job with more pay, and more chance for advancement, then being a book keeper in an appliance store. And I was a clerk to begin with, and I thought it was a very mundane job. We had job cards we had to sort and verify. And then the ones that ran the adding machines took them and accumulated totals for all the jobs that were being performed on the island. And there was another book keeping machine. That the older people that have been here longer operated and recorded all the cost and so forth for all the jobs. [05:00] JP: Sounds pretty important. EH: I had talked with my boss and I told him I wanted to enlist in the service and he said well you can do just as much good here, so I stayed here. JP: What would you have liked to have done if you did enlist? EH: I would have liked to have gone into the WAVEs. The Navy portion and into the finance area. JP: Did you have friends that gone into the WAVEs? EH: I had one really good friend that went in, and she was trying to talk me into it. So I could go with her but I decided to stay here. [6:00] JP: Did you like it? EH: Yes, I liked it. JP: You probably helped out just as much one the island here for the war effort. EH: yes, that’s true. JP: Did you have to interview or what kind of background work did you have to do besides the civil service test. EH: No, they figured you can do anything in the area. JP: Was there a lot of woman working there at the time? EH: Yes there were. JP: Some years later my grandmother and grandfather worked at the Arsenal,. Do you know them? Joanne or Calvin Peters? EH: I have heard the names. JP: My grandpa was head of maintenance and operations. And my Grandmother was in munitions. [07:00] EH: My husband worked here to till 1943. Then he was drafted into the service. JP: What did he do while he was here? EH: He was a machinist. He went into the Navy aboard a ship. AV: Did you two meet here at the Arsenal. EH: We met quite early while I was living in Wyoming. And he came down here before I did. And we started dating again. [08:00] JP: Looking back we don’t have that good of an idea. We look at posters of Rosie the Riveter and went going to work on the home front and doing their part. How did that affect you and the woman workers at that time? Were you proud of that? EH: Yes, I was. I thought well we all need to do our part and if we can do the job should do our part. AV: Did the image make you proud? And what did you sense other people’s reactions were to it, using images of women doing their part for the war effort. EH: Well I thought it was, in order to win the war we needed to do our part and I was proud that we could do it. JP: Were there those posters all over the Arsenal? Or where were they at? [09:00] EH: Yes they did, Chris (Arsenal archive employee) was just telling me that in her book that she has some of my pictures are in there. JP: Did they have any motivational speakers come and talk to you guys? I know they had bond drives but did they come on the Arsenal and give presentations or show films? EH: Not at that time they didn’t JP: What was the atmosphere like on the Arsenal? EH: It seemed like it was a really good atmosphere everyone seemed congenial and we worked together and there wasn’t so much friction JP: As there was possibly later. It felt a lot better you had a sense of purpose. EH: Right [10:00] JP: Interesting, so you started working here in September of ‘41, what was it like when Pearl Harbor happened? Were you working that day or it was a Sunday right? EH: No I don’t think I was working that day. But I think it was sad around and didn’t know what we should be doing to curtail all of the fighting that was going on and with the draft and everything for the men that left more jobs that needed to be filled JP: the only thing we have to compare to that is 9/11 was like our Pearl Harbor for our generation I remember sitting in class and feeling like what am I supposed to be doing is that a similar feeling to what you had? [11:00] EH: [nods] AV: Right after did you notice, with the drafts, a higher percentage of women going to work here at the Arsenal? EH: Oh yes, and I noticed we had guards, women guards at every building. We had to wear our badges and show them everywhere we went. JP: Security was tighter? EH: Yes it was very tight JP: What was, if you don’t mind me asking this, what were you feelings after Pearl Harbor when we went to war if you heard someone who was Japanese or German around were you suspicious of them? What kind of feelings did you have towards them? [12:00] EH: Well I didn’t know that many people who were Japanese or foreign but I did hear my father saying that we had a German background and they could talk German. And they had these country phones where everyone could listen in so they would talk German to their friends and they couldn’t anymore JP: Because that would raise suspicion? EH: Yes JP: I was just curious about that because same thing for our generation and 9/11 and the suspicion of Middle Eastern peoples. Was there anyone who worked here who was under suspicion? EH: No not at that time JP: Did you notice any big difference in the Quad Cities before the war to after the war? I know it’s kind of a broad question [13:00] EH: We were all relieved that it was over and that we had won and just wanted to start our lives over in a more tranquil time. JP: Just wanted a new start? EH: Yeah AV: Did you feel like it wasn’t tranquil during the war? Were things more hectic during the war than before and after? How would you compare the time periods? EH: Well I think it was hectic during the war because people had to ride the bus to come over here to work and there was gas rationing. After the war everything seemed to level out a little bit. [14:00] JP: I know they had a lot of metal drives and rationing of food could you just talk for a minute on that? EH: If we used canned food we were to wash the cans smash them down and keep them for metal drives. JP: When you say metal drive did they come around and pick them up? EH: There was a drop off place. As far as I remember there was a drop off place for them now you just have it on the curb but then they had a drop off place JP: I know you talked about the cans but were there any certain foods that were rationed? [15:00] EH: Oh sugar was rationed and I think cream was rationed because I always drank my coffee with cream and I had to wean myself off of it and drink it black. But I wouldn’t use sugar, only for baking and I would have to save for quite a while to do any baking. JP: When you went to the store did they limit how much you bought at one time or how did they do the rationing? EH: I think we had coupons or slips to turn in in our ration book JP: Okay and that was the only way you could get that sugar? EH: Yes JP: What about gas? EH: That was rationed too and I couldn’t go home as often as I wanted to because the only way I could get home was by car JP: When they rationed it did the prices go up a lot? Or did they just stay the same? [16:00] EH: As far as I know they stayed the same and they limited what we could get. AV: I was just wondering if you enjoyed your time working at the Arsenal. And then did you enjoy it more before, during, or after the war because I know you worked here a long time after as well. EH: Well I worked at and was married in 1945 before the war ended and we could only get a couple of days off and we went to Chicago and then in the next year I had my first child and they wouldn’t let me work up until due date like they do now. You had to take time off two months ahead of time at least and so then I decided I was going to stay home with my child. [17:00] JP: So what year was that? EH: 1946 JP: What did you feel like being a mother at that time coming out of the war? What did you feel like the world was going to be like for you kids? EH: I thought well the war was over and I thought things would be better for children and then I didn’t go back to work until the Korean War which was in 1953 I believe and I worked for a few months and then my husband was able to get back to work so then I stayed home again and then I got to the point where he couldn’t work anymore so I came back again and I stayed. I retired then in 1990 [18:00] JP: What were the bond drives we always hear about like? EH: They were often and they were trying to get everyone to do payroll deduction which I did and I had quite a few in savings that way and then after we had rented a house for a while we decided to own one so that’s when took some of my savings to make the down payment. And I still had quite a few and finally when the 30 years was up I put it in a irrevocable trust. [19:00] JP: What were the shows like? Did they have the shows at the bond drives did they have cheerleaders or other things? EH: Not here they didn’t they just had individuals that went around and talked to you about it and encouraged you to participate. JP: Was there a difference between, well you said they urged you to do payroll deductions at the Arsenal but was there a difference between the public and the civil worker bond drives? Were they different? EH: I don’t know because I never participated on any off of the island JP: Okay [20:00] AV: You mentioned you worked here during World War II and then you had your first child and didn’t work again until the Korean War were there any differences coming back to work and were they just time things or was it because of the different nature of the war created different situations for you? EH: Well I think it was a little bit different because it wasn’t a sudden war entrance, I worked then in the financial section for a short time and I don’t think it was quite as hectic during the Korean War as it was during World War II JP: Was there more of a sense of urgency during World War II? EH: [Nods] [21:00] AV: What did they have you doing in the financial department? EH: I really don’t remember just what they had me doing. It was in the payroll area. And they had a payroll cart that would go out on payroll day for people that were working here and regular book keeping exercises. JP: Did you ever think there would a chance we would get involved in the war? Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, and Japan attacking a bunch of other countries. What were your concerns? [22:00] EH: I didn’t think there would be a war when I started working over here and I just didn’t realize that there was that much friction in the world. I didn’t see us having a surprise attack. JP: What did World War Two represent for you in your life? EH: That there should be more people working together in the world rather than doing evil things. [23:00] JP: What do you think of Tom Brokaw’s book and labeling your generation the greatest. How do you feel about that? EH: Well, I think all generations work when there is a crisis and I know we did a good job but I think there are other times when people work together and held out. When I think of other countries that have had natural disasters, everyone comes together and works for the good. JP: It seems we are a little more divided now. EH: Ya, That’s true [24:00] JP: Us being History majors we have a sense looking back that this generation in particular seem to work especially good together. How did that time period compare to the rest of the time you worked at the Arsenal. Did everything just run so much better? Why? EH: I think because of the crisis everyone was working together better. Afterward there were sort of people wanting to get ahead. And sometimes they did things that weren’t quite right. And people weren’t being treated fairly. But during the war everyone worked together, there wasn’t that much friction. JP: Do you think it was best everyone knew more people involved in the war? More husbands, brothers and others overseas and stuff? Did you think that was why? [25:00] EH: I think that people who worked during the war got more preference and I think that caused some of the friction AV: I was just curious, since you worked before and during World War Two did you see after the war, women losing their jobs to the men coming back? How were these large influxes of woman into the work place did they get laid off after the war? I know you kept your job. EH: Some of the women were really relieved that they could stay home again. I don’t think they minded too much if they got to stay home with their families. AV: You did notice that a lot of them went back to the home after the war. EH: Yes. [26:00] JP: What other jobs did woman do on the island? I know you said you worked in payroll and finance. EH: Some of the worked in machine jobs, doing the burring and other sorts of thing with the machines, along those lines. JP: You said also there was some security too? EH: In the security department they worked to see that everyone abided the security that was around the island. They issued the badges and the security ratings in very secure areas. [27:00] JP: Were you proud of having a badge? EH: Yes I was. JP: what did those look like? EH: They were similar to what policemen wear, but they were a little smaller. JP: Metal ones? [28:00] EH: Yes. JP: You told me earlier on the phone that you switch to doing some computer data analysis at one point. Can you tell me about that? EH: When I came back I was working where we kept track of where everything was and equipment that was needed. And we had files and I did the filings for the equipment. And then I worked a little on the business end of it. I worked to keep track of all the equipment whether it was overseas or here in the country, if it was in storage and needed to be shipped we shipped it. And then that division went to Tennessee and I wanted to stay here. So I switched to data processing. In 1964. And I stayed there till I retired. Working with financial records, printing reports and writing programs. [29:00] JP: How did you feel about your husband getting drafted? EH: I thought he could do just as much good here. JP: Can you tell me a little about his service? EH: He went into the Navy. He was a machinist in the Navy. He was on a supply ship. He made sure all the motors were working properly and if they broke down he would have to fix them. [30:00] JP: Did he like it? EH: Ya he liked it. JP: Did you guys keep in contact pretty well? EH: Yeah we wrote letter to each other and he didn’t get home on leave that I can remember. JP: Just being too far? EH: He was always out traveling he was always out in the pacific area. JP: Do you remember him talking about it, any memories he had while out there? EH: Yeah he said it was kind of dangerous in some places he did get rest a couple of times in New Guinea I think. JP: And he came back in ‘45? [31:00] EH: Yeah he was injured so he came back and was stationed in California in a hospital there for a while. JP: Do you mind me asking how he was injured? EH: Well, I think it was just an accident they were more or less fooling around I think from what he said and he fell from his bunk it wasn’t a bunk but a hammock and hurt his shoulder and neck so then he was brought back here and then they discharged him. JP: Did he ever want to serve again after that like in Korea? EH: Well I don’t think he could have, he had partial permanent disability. [32:00] JP: Sorry to hear that. How did you feel around here when a lot of the men left, what was the Quad Cities like then? Any stories you remember? EH: Not it just seemed like we girls got together and went to movies and things like that. JP: You said movies, what else did you do? EH: Well there wasn’t much else to do except go to movies, my friends went athletic as I was so I didn’t get into any tennis or anything like that. JP: You said you missed playing that because your friends didn’t like playing that? EH: Well I guess they never got started in school like I did. [33:00] JP: Interesting, after working here for so long what feelings do you have coming back like even today. EH: Well, I feel like it’s a good place and I think it’s a good thing to keep it going just in case of any other uprisings. AV: You mentioned your friends, did you meet them at the Arsenal, and were they your coworkers and what was the community like here? When you left work did you just go home or did the same people you worked with go to the movies with you? EH: Well they did, we just made real close relationships and did things together. Oh one time we took a trip to Chicago to be by the lake and swim in the lake just to see what is was like. [34:00] JP: What was Chicago like at the time? EH: Well we didn’t get out too much on the streets but we did enjoy the air and just being by the lake, it was just for the weekend so it was a short trip. JP: Were most of those your friends? And were their husbands enlisted too? EH: Some of them weren’t married yet and I don’t believe I was married yet either and there were four of us who went up and they were mostly coworkers AV: Did you take the train up or was it busses? How did you get up there with the gasoline rations? EH: Umm I think we took a bus up there. JP: Was there a lot more community transportation in the Quad Cities? [35:00] EH: Yeah a lot of people rode busses and I think more people rode busses to work too because you had to get down there really early to get a bus to get here on time. JP: Nowadays I don’t think people would do that they only go with their cars EH: That’s true and there is normally one person per car. JP: We had done a little research and found out you got an award from the Arsenal Historic Society, what was that for? EH: Yes, it was for volunteering… I’d have to ask Chris. JP: What did you do for the historical society? EH: I typed the newsletter every month and got it ready to go out and I helped with some filing. [36:00] AV: We had the news release here form it and it said you worked in the museum gift shop too? EH: Oh yes I did that too. AV: Was this after you had retired then? EH: Yes. JP: It said you spent a bunch of time reorganizing 35 years of society records. EH: Yep that’s about right. JP: Sounds like you’re pretty good at that. EH: Yeah I guess when they moved that had their records in boxes so I took each of the boxes and put them into the pile. JP: Sounds like a lot of work, did you like being part of the historical society? EH: Oh yes, I’m still a member but I’m not quite as active as I used to be. [37:00] JP: How did you get involved with that? EH: Well I just decided I wanted to belong to the society and hear more of the history of the island. JP: Just from working here so long got you interested? What do you find are the most interesting parts where you worked or parts that you didn’t? EH: I think parts that I worked at and just the society meetings themselves. We have interesting speakers and we’ve always had good meals. [38:00] JP: Haha, that’s always a plus. What was the Arsenal like did you guys have picnics? What was the community like on the island? EH: Well I brown bagged everyday I think but our picnic for the historical society are always held here on the island when we’ve had them on the picnic grounds over on the river now we meet at the Arsenal club, the golf club. JP: That’s a nice building I’ve been in there. Do you remember is there any certain phase during WWII where there was any event or security drills like that? Were there picnics, events, speakers anything like that? [39:00] EH: No they did have areas or times where they would instruct us which way to go and had a way to get out of buildings but outside of that I don’t remember and actual drills that we had. JP: Would security take over that? EH: Yes JP: Were there a lot of soldiers on the Arsenal? EH: I don’t think there were too many. AV: I was wondering if in the historical society there are a lot of retired workers where they retire and they still want to be involved in the Arsenal such as your story? After you retired you joined is that a common thing? [40:00] EH: I think it is most of them worked over here that are in the society but it is open to everyone who wants to be. Well historical people who want to know more about the area and so forth can belong. JP: Do they have anyone come and talk to you; you mentioned they have really good speakers, so any of them discuss WWII? [41:00] EH: I don’t remember any but I know they are open to it. They have news people come over and then people who talk about the Civil War have been speaking. JP: I know he’s (Alex) is doing a project on the Civil War in another class and he’s working on the Confederate Civil War Cemetery. EH: Chris knows a lot about that. Yeah she gives a lot of talks at different organizations outside of the island. JP: You said you went to the movies with your friends a lot but I’ve seen before some movies they would have a newsreel update of the war did they do that here? EH: I don’t remember them. JP: No? I just had seen that in a couple movies and was just wondering if it was true, or they were made up. EH: I don’t remember them but I know we always went to those slapstick-three people… [42:00] JP: The Three Stooges? EH: Yeah the Three Stooges, we went to a lot of those. AV: You said your first child was born and you stopped working did you have other children? EH: Oh yes, I had a boy and two girls. JP: Did they ever ask you what it was like to work here during WWII? EH: Yeah, my son was in the Navy too. But he didn’t have to go overseas at all he stayed in Washington D.C. at data processing. JP: Took after his Mom. [43:00] EH: It was during the Vietnam War and he had to go into he enlisted in the Navy portion. JP: Did he go into the Navy because your husband was in the Navy? EH: I think he just thought it was the better branch for him and he had taken some computer courses in college and he had a lot of college to go so he stayed in Washington D.C. and got out of the service and they offered him a job doing the same thing as a civilian. JP: That’s nice, I had a question to just change gears a little bit here I was going to ask you just a little bit about the Cold War while you were here in the late 50s early 60s and I was just wondering, I found a lot of evidence down here that there were civil defense drills here. What was the civil defense department doing here? [44:00] EH: I’m not quite sure during the Cold War. JP: I just found a lot of these down here, how to design your own bomb shelter in your house. EH: Well I think people took some precautions and what to do incase anything happened as far as me or we making any I don’t think we did. But it’s interesting. [45:00] JP: It is interesting isn’t it? There are 4 or 5 different types of fallout bomb shelters for in your house. Did they hand these out or anything? EH: I don’t remember seeing them. JP: Anyone ever come and talk to you about what to do in case of a nuclear bomb or anything like that? EH: No I think we just got it off the news and so forth. JP: Okay so the Arsenal didn’t help you out at all? EH: I don’t remember them having anything or any lectures on it. JP: I found these things too these security things too (security cards). Did they pass these out or talk to you about them? [46:00] EH: No, this is the first I’ve seen of them. JP: Oh really? There from the Cold War here and they say WELCOM security I’m not sure what that is do you know what that is? EH: Well I think I was working while it was under WELCOM JP: I just thought that working at the Arsenal they would hand these out since the Arsenal was one of the top military targets in the country. EH: I don’t remember seeing them. JP: Here is the Subversion Espionage Directive of the US Army… EH: WE had information on this. JP: Oh did you? What was it like? EH: that we should really guard what we were working with. [47:00] JP: Like the projects? EH: Yeah JP: So it was more guarding what you were working with at the Arsenal rather than guarding you. Interesting, did they ever have speakers come to you and talk about this or was it just work notices? EH: Work notices. JP: I found that on a couple of armed forces days, I don’t know if you want to look at this, there are others. EH: I’ve been here for a few of those armed forces days. JP: I know they had civil defense exhibitions. Do you know anything about what those were like? Did they show you how to stock a bomb shelter or make one or anything like that? [48:00] EH: They gave us instructions on food and so forth. JP: On those days or just in general? EH: In general in case anything did happen. JP: I know on a couple of those days I was reading the Target (employee newspaper) from 1964 and they showed a map of the island and it showed a dot where the exhibits were so I was just wondering what they showed there because it doesn’t say. It said 11,000 people came but I was just wondering what they saw. EH: I don’t know, I don’t know if Chris would have anything on that or not. JP: These are pretty interesting, I know they had the air raid sirens and such but was it through the news organizations that you knew about civil defense not through the government? [49:00] EH: [nods] JP: What was it like? EH: Well I think they had them over here too. JP: Oh, what were the ones here like? EH: Well they had air raid sirens then you would have to go the way they told you to go. JP: Was that for nuclear attack or any kind of attack? EH: Any kind of attack or any big fire like that. JP: So the fire drill was kind of like the civil defense one? EH: Yeah JP: Was there any shelters on the island or anything you could go to? EH: I don’t remember them but there probably was. JP: They just didn’t tell you or? [50:00] EH: Well I don’t know, I don’t remember them. JP: What about WWII did they have you do the same deal or did they change it from WWII to the Cold War? EH: Well security wasn’t quite as strict. JP: During the Cold War? EH: No I don’t think it was. JP: They ever catch any spies? EH: Haha, I don’t know, at least I don’t remember them doing that? JP: I just find it surprising they didn’t do more to protect employees especially with the amount of knowledge that you knew that they didn’t want to protect them better. EH: Well I think they had their classifications for security and maybe the ones that were higher classified they gave them more instructions and so forth. [51:00] JP: Say you were at home and heard the siren what would you have done? EH: Probably go to my basement. JP: Probably just go to your basement. Wasn’t there public fallout shelters? Like a high school or somewhere you could go to? EH: Not that I remember. JP: Just weren’t worried about it? Hope it didn’t happen? EH: No I guess not. JP: I had one other question too, we hear a lot about the Vietnam War being protested what was it like during WWII were there any protests or was the Quad cities all pro war? EH: No I think we were all pro war once Pearl Harbor. [52:00] JP: Do you remember any of the protests at the Arsenal? Because I heard there were some in the 60s. What were those like driving to work and seeing people protesting you? EH: I don’t know, they had the guards out and just got through we didn’t pay too much attention to them so we could get here. JP: Every war that I can remember has been protested so it’s interesting to see how we’re all behind something and what we can do. Is there anything else you would like to cover? EH: Umm, No [53:00] JP: Say if someone 40 years from now in a historical society or at Augie (Augustana College) is doing a research project on WWII is there anything you would like to tell them? Any lessons you want them to know? EH: Well if it’s a good cause and you can see it then do all you can to help. JP: Put all your effort into it. Rationing, buying bonds, doing work, seemed like you were doing it 24/7. Do you have anything else? AV: Nope that’s all I had. [54:00] JP: Well thank you for your time we really appreciated it and should be able to get a good project out of this with this form is there anything you want to sign off on you didn’t want to include? EH: No everything I said can be included. If you want to drop anything out that’s fine too. I mean that isn’t pertinent to your project. JP: Yeah, I understand. [00:00] JP: What did you think about the politicians you had at the time? What did you think about FDR? EH: I think FDR was a great President and sometimes I don’t think it’s the President so much as the Congress. The Congress needs to do a better job I think. JP: What did you think about the local politics in the Quad Cities during the war? Could they have done a better job? EH: Well I think they were doing what they thought was right and got us through it. JP: Do you think they went above and beyond or just kind of… EH: I think they did. JP: How so? EH: Well I think their security department was well managed. JP: What did they do for the security department? [01:00] EH: Well I think they did a good job tracking more of the foreign countries and there, what should I say, what they were going to do and where they were at and so forth. AV: How do you feel the response after Pearl Harbor was handled? Do you think the country did a good job in the immediate aftermath and mobilizing everything and getting everyone ready? Do you think that was well handled? EH: I think it was. AV: Was that the general consensus? Did you ever hear people saying things should have been done this way or it should have been done differently? EH: No I think some people thought maybe we should have known more beforehand but I think they handled it well once it happened. [02:00] JP: How do you think we handled WWII in comparison to the Vietnam War? Even part of the Cold War how do you feel we politically handled that? EH: Well I don’t believe we should have entered the war. JP: The Cold War or Vietnam? EH: Vietnam, I think it was congress called it war or declared war and I think that’s where we fell down and its taking much too long. JP: What did you think of the Russians and Communism at the time? Did you feel like your freedom was at risk? [03:00] EH: Oh yeah, I think it was at risk with Hitler in power and so forth. JP: What about the Russians and Communism did you think you freedom was in jeopardy then too? EH: Oh yes, I think with Communism your freedom is in jeopardy. JP: Interesting, well I think that’s all. I just forgot the political stuff. |
