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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMilitary Home Interview Dr. G.L. Huebner7poStephanie Noble interviewing Dr. George L. Huebner at his home 9 * qcf Oral History Project — Military Memory Lane August 1999 SN— Stephanie Noble (moderator) Dr. Huebner — George L Huebner (interviewee) Wife - - -Dr. Huebner's wife Interview: SN: The questions pertaining to this oral history are kind of how long you've served in the war, and how the war affected your family in terms of whether or not your family stayed here. Another person I interviewed, the wife went to Houston to work in a shipyard, and all sorts of interesting things. Can you first off tell me what you did in the war and after...? Dr. Huebner: During this (pause) war, oh that's what you're talking about now? SN: uh huh. Dr. Huebner: ok (pause) the first part of the war I was in school, of course, at Texas A &M, and I left here and went to Houston and believe it or not for approximately six months I worked in a shipyard also. SN: Oh really? Dr. Huebner: and... SN: Were you drafted or did you just decide to serve? 700) Dr. Huebner: No, no, no. I just wanted to. But anyway, I wanted out of there then because in do respect some people your working with the dregs of humanity there, but anyway, I left there and went with the FCC, Federal Communications Commission, in an intelligence operation and I worked there, oh roughly three years all together... Wife: Well, you were in Kingsville and you were in New York almost three years. Dr. Huebner: Yea, yes it was Kingsville, oh yea, I started, transferred to Houston, worked there awhile, and then I went to New York...stayed up there. SN: What did you do for the FCC? Dr. Huebner: I helped run down (pause) if you want to say spies. Wife: activities Dr. Huebner: Yea, operations, because, (pause) not as much in this area, (pause) but up in that area, boats of the shipping unit from here over to your left up in that area you know in New York and so forth, and (pause) it was the feeling, not only a feeling but it actually happened. The (pause) enemy at that time, Germany, had agents that would let the ships; the submarines know when a convoy was leaving. SN: uh huh. Dr. Huebner: And we were after those individuals, obviously, plus others that were helping in some ways and there were some of them around all right. We had some real odd ball things happen, but anyway, I was there and (pause) right about the end of the war I wanted action; so I finagled my way from that into the Navy and actually I should have stayed were I was, I was doing a whole lot more good there, but (pause) I actually was (pause). I came back down here and went back to A &M and got through. I lacked a year so about a year and a half. SN: How did the university change from the time you left to the time you came back? Dr. Huebner: Well, because we had many individuals in school here that were ex Army, Navy, Marines, and so forth; and their attitudes obviously were much more.. mature if you want to say it that way than the average individual just out of high school. SN: Right, they have seen much more. Dr. Huebner: Oh yea, they've seen a lot. And (pause) they (pause) some of them lived in the dorms, but not very many of them..the stuff that went on in the dorms (pause) by kids out of high school, which we used to think, was real cool stuff. They didn't look at it that way, obviously. Wife: Well, see they had an expidited program and you had like 19- year -old seniors. SN: What was the purpose of the expidited program, to get kids out so you go into the military? Wife: ?? ?out of school ?? Dr. Huebner: Well, yea. You had individuals that were over the outfits and companies here in school that were 20 years old. Which was ok, (pause) at the time I was at that level and it seemed pretty good. SN: Yea, (laugh) Dr. Huebner: After you've been out and around three years or so, you don't look at it just the same way that we used to, and I finished here, obviously, in '46 and went back to Houston and worked as an engineer until '50. At that time I came back up here to get a Ph.D. and I did eventually, all right? I worked here and (pause) went to (pause) Texas Instruments in Alice and worked with them a while and (pause) Texas A &M told me that they would pay me the same thing if I would leave them and come on back here and I did which was a good thing because I almost doubled my income in a very short time that way and I have (pause) lived ever since. I stayed with the university, taught, and did research and projects that we had you know research work for 30 years. SN: Some of the other questions may or may not apply, I'm just going to ask you just in case. Dr. Huebner: Sure. SN: We'll kind of jump around. (pause) In terms of when you were traveling from Kingsville to New York did you follow? Did you go with him? Wife: Yes, I did go with him. SN: Ok, did you still have family in this area or did you have to... Wife: Oh yes, my mother and my sister, and his family lived in Mayburk County... SN: Was it difficult... Dr. Huebner: Are they able to here you on there you're not very loud. SN: I'm sure we'll be ok. Wife: Well, you were asking about how the war affected us, Stephanie. He was a senior at Texas A &M in electrical engineering and I was a senior at TWU and we were so smart we figured out that it really wouldn't be any trouble at all for us to get married and meet on the weekends. So we were planning to be married on the 27 of December when the war broke out on the 7 of December. So it really did change our lifestyles, and very soon after then you had about, the last of January, you had about a week and then a new semester would begin. At the semester we decided we'd be really smart and leave school cause he knew he was gonna go and I couldn't see any point at staying at a girl's school while he was gone so we both went to Houston and I went back that summer and graduated from TWU. Dr. Huebner: We got married in Houston at that time. SN: Now some of the questions are pertaining to communication. Was it difficult to communicate with your family ? (pause) Did you find any censorship of letters? Some of the people that were overseas they noticed that letters were censored as they were mailed home. Wife: Oh yes, they were. Dr. Huebner: True, true. It depended upon where you were. Those in England, well some of that was...there were some things over there that shouldn't have been written about. Normally if you were in the U.S. you didn't have any trouble. Wife: Oh I had no trouble calling. SN: You could call and you could use telegrams.. Dr. Huebner: use the telephone all the time. Wife: Now, New York was blacked out, you here about the great . There was none of that not even on New Year's Eve. It was pitch dark and when we had an air raid it seemed very real, everything was black. SN: Also one of the gentlemen I interviewed yesterday, he mentioned that (pause) a lot of the news that was happening on the war wasn't getting to families. Did you notice that (pause) news radios were discussing what was going on, were there fireside chats? Wife: Well, now we get it almost...like we saw the Kennedy thing.... SN: Right, Desert Storm Wife: But (pause) you would see it in the paper, but it wasn't always exactly the way it was... Dr. Huebner: Well, at that time... Wife: And I think we were young and stupid and didn't take it that seriously. Dr. Huebner: At that time, TV wasn't in use as much as it is now. Well, they had it up East alright but not as much as they do now, and so they were careful as to what they had on there obviously; that's pretty high information to everyone. SN: Right. Dr. Huebner: So in that particular instance, yes it was (pause) they were careful as to what they had out, yes. SN: In terms of A &M, during the war, would you say their mission at the time was pretty much the war effort. You talked about the expidited program. Dr. Huebner: Yes. Wife: Well, it was getting those kids out and getting them in you know the t -shirts saying "Give me a unit of Aggies and I'll win a war, Give me a whole bergade of something else and I'll win a battle. SN: And (pause) the core was pretty much training for the military at the time? Dr. Huebner: Well, it always has been. It always... very definitly..I went through it here all four years of it and what we had here was exactly what the ones at West Point had, same thing.. And (pause) it stayed like that all during the war and afterwards.. Wife: Oh yea, until the early 60's. Dr. Huebner: It didn't alter, right now it is but the actual emphasis is not as strong perhaps now as it was at that particular.. Wife: Every student was a military person, there were no girls, and every boy was in full uniform all the time. Dr. Huebner: It was, everything was oriented... Wife: That was A &M until Rudder decided it had to have girls. Dr. Huebner: At that particular time, we had only Army..except for some special units of the Navy that were here. Wife: Yes, now the war brought those. Dr. Huebner: They were out..they actually had some schools here for the Navy. I mean a whole lot of individuals, I don't know about that, but they did have them here. (pause) But they were learning particular specialties is what they were doing. Majority of the stuff here was oriented toward the Army obviously. SN: What was A &M news like, the Battalion, was that pretty much centered on the war effort or was that as... Wife: It hasn't changed much over the years. It's just a lot more bologna now. Dr. Huebner: Well, it was smaller, it was a much smaller newspaper then. Wife: They ask also about the A &M College band, the Aggieland orchestra, A&M Mother's Club, anything ?? Wife: Oh, George played in the orchestra. SN: Oh did you? Dr. Huebner: Yea. SN: You played in the orchestra? Dr. Huebner: Oh, it was an orchestra that we had, a faculty orchestra. But, obviously we didn't win any prizes..(laugh)..or that..we were just messing around..but the Aggie band was operable then. SN: The next question says, explain going to, I don't know how to say this word, G- u -i -o -n Hall. Wife and Dr. Huebner: Guion. SN: Guion Hall on A &M campus for any orientations regarding WWII. Dr. Huebner: It as very hot usually because it had no air conditioning and the heating in the winter was horrible. SN: Where is Guion located? Dr. Huebner: (pause) It isn't anymore. Wife: It's not anymore. SN: Or where was it? Wife: It was right where the MSC.. Dr. Huebner: It was right where Rudder Center.. Wife: Yea, Rudder Center.. Dr. Huebner: Theatre, it was right there. They tore it down. SN: And what would they do? Dr. Huebner: Well, that was the place in which they had performances, stage performances, and everything like that. Wife: In fact, Lily Concerd ? ?? used to come and sing here. (laugh) SN: Oh Really? Now... Wife: It was built like the ?? Center, it was right at the end of what they call Military Drive (pause), Military Walk, and it had these little pictures. Dr. Huebner: Do you know where that entrance into Sbisa Hall is? Toward the back? If you go down that street all the way to the other end, and if you walk beyond that to the end of that street about a hundred feet you would be at the entrance of where that hall was. SN: Now was the hall the site for information for WWII? Wife: It was for graduation, it was for... Dr. Huebner: Anything, they used it... Wife: You see Stephanie, even when George joined the faculty there were only seventy - eight hundred students. Dr. Huebner: It was small then. SN: So it was reasonable to get them into a hall.. Dr. Huebner: Oh yes.. Wife: Well, they had to take turns often times. Dr. Huebner: Part of the graduation exercise was not held there, they were held out on the football field. SN: Oh really? Dr. Huebner: That's where I had mine. SN: It must have been really hot. Dr. Huebner: Well, it was in May.. SN: You were in full uniform.. Dr. Huebner:... and it was pretty hot. Wife: There wasn't air conditioning everywhere like there is now. SN: I would be very ?. Wife: to Center school and hang a wet towel over a fan. Dr. Huebner: Well, there weren't any halls that were air conditioning at all, none. No classrooms were air - conditioned. I'm thinking the only air conditioning was in the hospital, in parts of it not the whole hospital. Wife: Not the new one, where it is now. You know where the chapel is? Dr. Huebner: All Faith's Chapel ..well right behind that is where the hospital used to be. It's now an office building back in there and the dorms. SN: Ok, (pause) because of the large number of students that went into the military was there a support service for students and family members in the College Station area or just A &M family members for those who lost loved ones? Dr. Huebner: Well, I don't know because at that particular time the only family I had, she was there and she was the one with me. I didn't know if anything like that was happening here. SN: Did they have any kind of service that helped (pause) people that have served in the war effort come back and make the transition back to school? Wife: Oh, for going to school, yea. You see most of those guys got the GI Bill, in fact there's a lot very sad about the war. That brass plaque over at the MSC reads like an invitation has in '41 and '42. Dr. Huebner: Not all those roommates, their names are up there, all of them are. But that was the only thing, I suppose they did have some help. Wife: But Stephanie, the GI Bill provided many boys who I knew that would have had no chances of going to school. In fact I had dated a boy before I met George who was the eldest of eleven children, and he was very smart and very ambitious but he didn't have a prayer of going to school. Well, he went into the service not according to his liking, of course, when he came back the GI Bill paid for him to go to school. SN: One of the questions here asks how many churches were here at the time? Wife: I'd say about the same. Well, Baptist, Methodist, Prespyterian, and that's it. Dr. Huebner: Most all of them were here, they were smaller and there weren't at that time they weren't located in the same spot. I wrote this up, you may want part of it. This is in regard to St. Thomas... SN: Oh yea, I'm sure they'd love it. Dr. Huebner: I didn't write it just for you, I already had it written up of course. If you'd like you may go through it and use what ever you'd like, the whole thing or part of it I don't care. It's the history of St. Thomas. SN: I'm certain they'd find it valuable. Wife: What to? SN: My family's Catholic. Wife: The Catholic Church was about where Kinko's is now. SN: Oh really? Dr. Huebner: Yea, right, it was small. Wife: A lot of the churches met in one ymca. Wife: You walked up great big stairs to go up there. I think really and truly as I recall because I came here to live after he came back from the war and went to school after we found a place to live. Well, the Catholic, Methodist, Baptist Presphyterian, Church of Christ, (pause) the many of them I don't think they even thought of such a thing as having an (pause) not 7 day Adventist or mormonsDr. Huebner: (pause) they had clubs all right. And earlier that's all they had . They had a Lutheran club, another club, and so forth. Dr. Huebner: Yea, they were, but many of them were (pause) did not have the whole church here, but the church was in Bryan. After the war was over by that time, I think all of them had their own here by that time. SN: I'm not certain how much this is relevant to WWII, but were there ever any individuals harassed because of there involvement in the war? Wife: Oh no.. SN: Was the country pretty much backing people that went in? Wife: Oh you can't imagine the difference. It would be very hard for you to imagine the patriotism. Shoes were rationed. SN: Did you experience any of that rationing? Wife: Oh sure. SN: What was it like? Wife: Shoes were rationed, sugar was rationed. SN: When you say rationed how was that done? I mean how.. Wife: You got a book of tickets and (pause) of course say it was just George and me well we had the skinny book. It was kind of portioned to your family, but when we were living in New York, have you been to New York? SN: Yes. Wife: Well, you know downstairs id the super market and upstairs is a wonderful apartment. We had a supermarket downstairs, and I guess this guy was raised in the Bronx and he said, one day he said `How would like a steak ?' and I said oh Leo I don't have enough.... And he said "Dammit I didn't ask you what you had, I said would you like a steak ?' SN: For the university, in the College Station area, was the automobile a major component of transportation. Dr. Huebner: Yes. Wife: No students had cars then no matter what. SN: So how'd they get around? Buses or bicycles? Wife: Bicycles or trolley. SN: There's a trolley? Where did the trolley run? SN: He was being nice to you. Dr. Huebner: He was giving to her. Wife: He had enough bacon to start oinking and he rationing. It was pretty severe rationing on meat. Dr. Huebner: Gas was rationed. Wife: When I got home I had two lovely steaks. SN: Based on if the gasoline was rationed, how did most people commute? How did they travel? Wife: You walked or you rode the bus.. Dr. Huebner: Ok, you had `A' stamps, `B' stamps, and `C' stamps. `A' stamps were for everyone. You got a certain amount every month. If you used them all up well that's all you had. `B' stamps were used if you were going to work and you were the only one that was using the automobile. `C' stamps were available if you had someone along with you, in other words you are carpooling, and so we used that. `C' stamps were given to you depending on how far you had to go from your house to work. Dr. Huebner: Between College Station and Bryan. Boys that were called up for hazing would say "I wasn't beaten..no..I got that riding a trolley." (laugh) Wife: At first when we came back here there was one store along southside, but to get groceries I had to go to downtown near the railroad track because that where the train would . We had an old Buick, but I didn't drive it because every time I left town in it I couldn't get home because SN: Do you know anything about the Bryan Air Force Base? Dr. Huebner: Yes, at that particular time, (pause) it wasn't during WWII now, it came in the Korean War. At that particular time it was activated, and they trained pilots out there and then it was used during Vietnam for a little while. Then they deactivated it for the Air Force's use and gave it to the (pause) actually to Texas A &M with the understanding that if we had another war they had to have it back. Well, they haven't done it, of course. During the war, some of A &M's students were out there. Some of the ones lived here in the dorms and some lived out there. SN: And what would they do for them? Dr. Huebner: The whole reasoning behind it (pause) I don't know if they want to say it for the records or not. You had kids that were pushed ahead in the command of the outfits here beyond what their age would let them be normally, and hazing was pretty bad on the first year individuals. So they did not let them live here, they let them live out there and they had their classes out there even. At the end of their freshman year, they could move back here. SN: Very interesting. Dr. Huebner: And that went on about (pause) well I wasn't here at the time but it went on for about a year and a half . Wife: The Bryan Air Force Base was not there during WWII? Dr. Huebner: No. SN: What about the Bryan Coulter field during WWII? Dr. Huebner: This other happened right at the end of it al right. It wasn't always operating that way. Wife: It's always been just a private air it's never been... Dr. Huebner: Well, I learned to fly out here at Easterwood. Easterwood at that time wasn't like it is at this time, obviously. The Bryan Air Base, you didn't have it out there then. As we landed around here and strips all over the area. Wife: Coulter was not there. Dr. Huebner: No, not like it is now, no, no. But there were little old strips all over the area that we used. SN: Was any of your family involved, I know you worked in the shipyards afterwards, is that what you said? Dr. Huebner: Well, right at the beginning. SN: Right at the beginning, and what did you do? Dr. Huebner: I was an electrical engineer, and I worked down there with them. SN: Was any other family member involved in the factory or the shipyards, air raid wardens, or any.. Dr. Huebner: My family, no, no.. Wife: I had two uncles in submarines. Dr. Huebner: Yea, she did. Well, my brother, no he wasn't in WWII, no. SN: Explain what you know about the filming of the movie at A &M in 1942 called "We've Never Been Licked ". Dr. Huebner: I wasn't here then at that particular time, who was the leading fellow? What was his name (pause) or the actor that was the leader? Anyway, he made this statement "If I were able I would buy up ever copy of that and destroy it. That's the worst job I've ever done!" (laugh) SN: Oh really? Wife: It was sort of like a home movie. SN: I've never seen it. Dr. Huebner: It wasn't exactly like A &M. They took many liberties with that. SN: Oh really, for example... Dr. Huebner: As to how that operate... Wife: Oh they made a big romance out of it. Dr. Huebner: They hammed it up, you might want to say. SN: You didn't have censored letters.. Dr. Huebner: If you were in the army or Navy someplace offshore but not here no, no. SN: What about entertainment? Did you (pause) were you able to...? Wife: Well, like in Houston, there was a big nightclub called the Plantation ., South Main way out there. And they had what they called tea dances in the afternoon. They would bring the boys in on buses from ..the one I know.. Helington Field which was where . Then of course the USO had dances a lot. SN: Did you receive any metals for your efforts in the FCC? Dr. Huebner: They didn't give out any metals that I know of. I've just been forbidden to discuss a lot of the stuff that we did. SN: Did you encounter any famous generals? Dr. Huebner: Generals? Not that I know of. I probably did but I.. SN: You weren't aware of it? Dr. Huebner: Yea, I guess. Wife: Some of the guys that went to A &M became generals. SN: Right. Was it difficult adjusting from your service to coming back to school? Dr. Huebner: No. SN: What about housing when you came back was that a problem? Wife: Oh, pitiful. Dr. Huebner: Hard to find.. SN: Really? Was the city just not developed? (Answer was cut off by end of tape) SN: So they didn't have married housing on campus or near campus? Dr. Huebner: No. SN: It's good they have it now. Dr. Huebner: That came out actually from the old barracks that were out at the airport /airbase. Wife: Well, you're saying that there was no activity during WWII, but there was because they moved those out there after the war. Dr. Huebner: Yea, right at the last part. Wife: I saw them moving those and they were barracks. They were pretty good for the kids. They liked them better than the new ones. SN: Yea, I'm trying to think of any other questions we have. Oh here we go, a whole bunch. How did, this may not be something you can answer because you were in New York and in Kingsville, how did the war affect businesses and prices and all those kinds of things? Dr. Huebner: It didn't have any affect, I don't think it had much affect. Wife: There weren't many businesses around here. We had (pause)I can't think of a single business in College Station that... SN: With all the men going off to war though were the women (pause) did the women find themselves in different roles because of (pause) they had to take care of themselves? Wife: Well, a lot of the Profs., I think got deferments so they could go on teaching. Dr. Huebner: But women were not in school here then you know. SN: But would they (pause) but they would live in town or they'd come visit. Wife: Of course the Profs. lived on campus, they had houses that belonged to the college... SN: Some of the houses I've discovered were houses on campus at one time and they offered to give away the houses if people would move them. Dr. Huebner: You will find out on the Southern Heart area, South of George Bush.. SN: Like Pursing and all of those? Dr. Huebner: A lot of houses out there that used to be on campus here. SN: How does one determine if their house was one that was originally on campus? Dr. Huebner: You can ask somebody. Everybody knew where they were. SN: Oh really? Wife: There's not terribly many left now. There was one up on (pause) across the street from Southwood Valley School. His name is Ron and his last name is Dr. Huebner: They moved (pause) altogether they moved probably fifteen houses off campus. See at that time where the MSC is right now there had houses all around that... SN: Who lived there? Professors? Dr. Huebner: Professors. Wife: Well across the street from where McDonald's is now was houses and then the maintenance people lived up on Talber right there behind, oh it's not Ramada, it's the dormitory now, University Tower. SN: So they determined that they wanted that land for the university and ..? Dr. Huebner: Well, obviously when the university got larger they hired a lot more individuals as professors or whatever, and then there wasn't room on the campus and they needed the room where the houses were situated so they passed or rather said they shall be moved or be torn down. Wife: It was getting expensive also for the school to maintain those houses. Dr. Huebner: Yea, all the houses belonged to the university. SN: So the condition was if you can move it, you can have it? Dr. Huebner: Well, you bought it from the school at a very nominal fee, which quite obviously you bought the house with the understanding that it had to be moved. SN: Right. How would they move it, I mean did they have large... Dr. Huebner: Oh yea, just like they do now. Wife: Just like they do now, probably easier.. Dr. Huebner: It was easier then because there were not as many oak trees running around then as there are now..(laugh) SN: True, true. Do you remember watching any troop trains come through the city? Dr. Huebner: We didn't have any... SN: Or convoys? Wife: I saw in the station, cause I told you....(couldn't hear the rest) SN: Were there school holidays at the university because of the war? Dr. Huebner: No, just like they are now, just the same thing. Wife: Except that they had a summer session, it was really more of a trimester there for a while. SN: Just to get the people through? Dr. Huebner: Right at the beginning of the war, if you were beginning year or last year you were given a commission (pause) and you were gone. SN: Do you know anything about the prisoner of war camp in Hearne? Dr. Huebner: Yes, I've looked at it after the buildings were long gone. The old (pause) pipelines and fire hydrants that they had and all that were still there, but (pause) that's all I really know about it. I've looked at it. Wife: People around were very kind and very nice. SN: Oh really? Dr. Huebner: Yea, they would (pause) what they would do often was that they would have a guard that was to be over them and they were to get out and do some labor of some sort and they would go down to the woods and the guy would say "You guys go over there and clip those trees down" and he would lie down and go to sleep and they'd come back and wake him up and say "Hey, it's time for us to go back." SN: Is it the same for the prisoner working up in Huntsville? Have you heard of that one or...? Dr. Huebner: I'm not familiar with it. SN: Is there anything else that you think would be interesting to someone wanting to know how College Station was affected during war time and for someone like me. I have no basis of understanding for that kind of thing. Wife: I was thinking about a minute ago while y'all were talking, I'm sure, of course it's a very real part of our lives and for you it's a concept like `what war'. You know, it's like we feel about WWI and ..well even more so about the Civil War. This is remote to us and you all have no concept. SN: And it's such a shame because it's such an important part of our history. It was so important to our grandparents and the role (pause) I mean just listen to the stories that I'm hearing are just so amazing and so heroic but it's such a shame that we really don't understand what went on and the horrible things that were witnessed. Dr. Huebner: It was a very big war to put it that way, I mean, the biggest war we ever had. Wife: Well, one thing that you could not comprehend in any way I don't think is the patriotism. I can remember we were in Dallas (pause) I'd met him in Dallas (pause) and we came out of a movie it was on Sunday afternoon, the day of Pearl Harbor and big trucks were going by saying "All military personnel including A &M cadets report to your base.' Well, so, I went back on the bus, to Denton, and he came down here and I can remember us sitting around the radio that night thinking `Roosevelt better declare war. He better not let those..' and you know we didn't even think about the fact that every one of our boys and I can't tell you (pause) well, I was suppose to move out of my dorm since I was getting married at Christmas. When I came back to school and I was not allowed to live on campus. By the time I came back. Stephanie, so many of the girls had gotten married over the holiday because there boys were leaving, that they gave us the top floor of one of the dorms. You would of thought we were nuts, but never the less. We didn't stop to think about what that sacrifice was or how boys were going to be killed. SN: Well, people my age don't understand just the fear and what courage is and what being a hero is all about. My students, they look at a basketball player and they think that's the ultimate hero, when there are people that just risk their lives for the opposite side just because there's a human that needed to live and fought for they weren't sure why except they just believed in their country. I mean to me.... Wife: It has worried me greatly about what we would do were we to be faced with a conflict because I don't think most of the boys from you're generation would step out and say `Send me'. And I mean we were, gee, we were upset if you couldn't go. Dr. Huebner: If the United States at this particular time had something to happen in which we were at risk like we were then, I think the individuals would do the same thing now. Wife: I don't know I think it would take a . Our son -in -law was in Desert Storm, he's an Aggie graduate and has a career in the military. I don't think he felt at all like we felt. SN: Was the United States aware of what was going on in Germany at the time? Dr. Huebner: Yes, but not aware of ...now after the war sure we knew what was happening then but... Wife: I don't think that we perceive the camps. George and I have been to Germany several times since and we've visited some of the prisoner camps. You just think `My gosh, how could we possibly have stood back and let that happen ?' Dr. Huebner: We didn't know what was going on over there. No, I didn't know that. Well, you didn't have instant communication like we have now. If something is happening they'll beam it up to the satellite and see it. At that time no, you.. SN: Yea, satellite.. Wife: I think the shock of our lives is when Japan bombed us. We were aware of conflict in Germany and I think the powers that be were beginning to worry about each other. We were in a depression, and really and truly I think maybe we might have (pause) They were waiting for the war (pause) the war saved us, I guess, eventually because a dollar a day was the going salary, Stephanie. When George started working in the shipyard now he was in his senior year at that time. Dr. Huebner: I was making $0.35 a week, a day I mean. Wife: No you didn't, you made $0.35 an hour when you started. Dr. Huebner: Yea, I guess that's right. Wife: I remember us going out for hamburgers when he got a nickel an hour raise to $0.40. Dr. Huebner: Yea, I remember it was $0.40 an hour or $0.35 Wife: I remember after we moved to New York while he was on very odd hours and I'm a night person, so I would wait up on him to come home. Of course in those days it was real different you could walk down 5 Ave. We would take long walks, and we stopped in a hamburger place and hamburgers were $1, but we were just making $250 and we were paying $75 a month in rent. SN: Was there a big celebration after the war in College Station? Wife: Oh we weren't here then. We were (pause) I was in Houston, I don't know where you were. Dr. Huebner: We were not here when the war was over. Wife: I doubt it seriously. Now my friend who lives down at the end of the street was born and raised here. Her dad was a Prof. and she probably knows all about it. She married a military boy. There's not a whole lot of us left that have been here for a long time. SN: I wish that there was some kind of program where people like yourselves experiencing that could go to elementary schools and talk to the kids. Wife: Those kids can't comprehend it. SN: No, but I've talked to... Wife: I mean when I've talk to my kids it's kind of like what war? SN: I think though... (tape cuts off) Remarks: City of College Station Memory Lanes Oral History Project Memory Lane: in, / r Name L4' if ' // Interviewer ► i L irn Interview Place • 121P, Special sources of information tylef Date tape received in office Original Photographs Yes '/ No # p hi 1 Describe Photos 14 ADi Interview Agreement and tape disposal form: Given to interviewee on Received Yes No Date Signed Restrictions- If yes, see remarks below. Yes No Transcription: First typing completed by Pages Date (name) 4 .7rm (name) Received from interviewee on Copy editing and second audit check by Pages Date First audit check by Sent to interviewee on Final copies: Typed by Oral History Stage Sheet f Q Proofread by: 1) 2) Photos out for reproduction: Original photos returned to: Indexed by: Sent to bindery by Received from bindery Deposited in archives by: Interview o. 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