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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMilitary Panel Home Interview- Jim CashionHOME INTERVIEW - MILITARY JIM CASHION MILITARY HOME INTERVIEW EC Mr. Jim Cashin and we're at the Conference Center, rm. 102, on April , 1997. OK Jim, how many members of your family were in the Spanish American War? JC Well, I'm not sure. None that I know of. ES Ok. And how about members of your family that were in World War I? JC Well, my dad was secretary of the YMCA at Austin College and he went to Europe as a YMCA person to serve the troops in France. During WWII, I mean WWI, and immediately after WWI, he joined the British YMCA and signed to Egypt and N. Africa. And stayed there until sometime around 1920 and he went back to Austin College. Then he came to Bryan/College Station for A &M in 1925. ES Do you happen to have any memorabilia back from then, letters or photographs, or anything like that? JC Well, I think we do. I don't know whether I have it or Red has it. We have some things that he brought back from Africa, but it doesn't have anything to so with College Station. ES Right. It's just that memorabilia at that time. Sometimes if theres a picture of someone, we like to make a print of it, because this is all going to be done up in a big book. JC I'm sure I can find pictures of that era. ES If you have an opportunity to do that, and, then, we'll work ourselves up to World War II, likewise, too. OK, where were you when you heard about the United States entering into WWII? JC I was at the campus theatre, and, uh, I'd read recently that they stopped the movies and told everybody about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. I don't remember that. I just remember walking home from the campus theatre. And we lived right here on Timber St. at that time. I know about the fact that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. And I didn't know where Pearl Harbor was, but I was at the campus theatre when I heard it. ES And you were how old at the time? JC Oh, I think I was 14 or 15. I'm not sure of that exactly. 15. I guess I was 15 years old. ES What was your family doing at that time? JC Well, it was a Sunday afternoon, so I'm sure they were at home. ES Then they heard the news. JC Right. ES Uh, did any members of your family join immediately? JC No. ES Okay, well, you weren't in the war so you didn't worry about sending or receiving letters or censorship...oh... JC Well, I was .... I guess my first reaction was that I'm not old enough to go. Three of us were. But the war lasted long enough till I got to be old enough. And I was drafted in 1944. Went in the service. Finished training camp at Fort Hood, TX. It's not important. And when the war in Europe was over, during the time I was in basic training They said 18 years couldn't go overseas until they'd been in the service for 6 months. So they sent some of us down to Camp Rucker, Alabama. And we were down there until the 1st of August. Then they shipped us to Ft. , CA, where they put us on a ship and 2 days after we left San Francisco, they dropped the atom bomb. So by the time we got overseas it was over. ES Aren't you glad? JC You know it. ES What was it like around the A &M college around WWII? JC Well, for the most part, I was a teen -ager. In the first place we had gas rationing. We had food rationing, sugar, meat. And, uh, you couldn't get tires for your automobile. And so those are the things that would affect a teenager. You can't go far on 4 gallons of gasoline a week. Even in those days you couldn't get very far so that obviously changed the way we would have conducted ourselves. We rode lots of bicycles and did a lot of walking. It was probably good for us, but we didn't think so at the time. ES And you know about the other thing you brought in about the training of the military on the campus, the Corps.... JC Of course, that was another thing The students at A &M were mostly younger that 18 because soon as you turned 18 unless there was some "special" reason, you were drafted. ES Unless you got deferred, right? JC Right, unless you were deferred for either a physical disability or I think the main students that were deferred were veterinary students. There were several of those. And consequently, all the Aggies were just young kids about the same age as high school and there weren't enough girls to go around so that presented kind of a problem. We were constantly competing with the high school. The high schools over here somewhere, unless its been torn down. They started to expand this part, you know, but it was so close to the university that it went too far with the students ES And you were living on Timber at that time? JC I was living at the corner of Timber and Anna, where Homer Adams is right now. Do you know Homer Adams? ES No. JC He Ives in the yellow house, right on the corner of Timber and Anna St. That house was on the campus. In 1940, I believe, they made certain people move off the campus. And my dad bought the house and moved it down to this corner, and remodeled it, and that's where we lived. It was pretty convenient to A &M Consolidated. ES When you say the high school, I don't, there again. JC Well, the high school was right behind this building. And there was a high school building, and the gymnasium, and then the elementary school building were all on Timber St. This building was at one time the high school. But this one was built after that one became obsolete. ES And now we have Oakwood School over there on Willow Branch. JC There several generations later, we moved down here the first 6 and a half years the school we went to was on the campus right where down 2 is now. ES That's where elementary school? When you started. JC And high school was south of the Academic building in an old building called Fifer Hall? And in 19...let's see, 1942 or 45 it was in seventh grade, they moved us off the campus and of course the buildings were brand new, but it was in the war and consequently they were frame buildings and what not. ES Now, did you go on campus? Did they have an Aggie band that you listened to, or did they have an orchestra you would go listen to? JC Well, they had an Aggie Band orchestra prior to the War but I think if I'm not mistaken at one time the Aggie Band got down to less than one - hundred members. Because they didn't have anybody to play. There were less than 2000 of us in school in 1943 -44, the rest of the campus was taken up to Army, Navy & Marines military. ES Do you remember if any members of our family went on campus in orientation regarding the war. JC I am sure my dad did. My dad was recruiting at the YMCA. I never did get involved in it, but if they had orientation, I am sure my dad was involved. He was a member of the faculty. ES There again, you were rather young. Was there support groups around for those who lost loved oneswhen they came back? Do you remember knowing anyone? or someone's dad? JC No I don't remember. I do remember some of the ones that were lost. I remember Mr. Tipscomb. that owned Tipscomb Pharmacy at the Northgate, his son Webb was killed, Paul Haynes, he had three brothers close to my age and Paul was killed in the war, and those were families that had been here for a long time and everyone knew in that was very traumatic for everybody, not to mention the families ES Do you recall what churches were around here at the time? JC I recall some of `em. I know A &M Presbyterian church met in YMCA chapel for a while, then in campus theatre, and then later in Gine Hall The A &M Church of Christ was at Northgate, and the Baptist church, the Catholic church, and the Methodist church were all at the Northgate, just within a couple of blocks. ES Yeah, cause Northgate isn't that big. JC I guess those buildings are still there. Presbyterian Church didn't have a building untill after the war, I am sure there were other churches, but these were the ones I remember because those are the ones I was most associated with. ES Our next study we're going to have in July to be on churches, and I happen to be Lutheran and so I know a couple of old timers who were here, started that. JC When was the Lutheran church started? ES I honestly don't know. Our Savior was the first one, and where I go now on 2818, that Peace Lutheran. Some people started another mission and now we're going. JC We even had a Lutheran church at Northgate. ES Right behind Northgate. JC Yeah, right. ES That's Our Savior. JC Right behind what used to be Church of Christ. ES Now the big Church of Christ is on 2818. JC Yeah, they just outgrew it, if I am not mistaken the Methodist church has taken over what used to be Baptist and Church of Christ, and they have their nursery and taken in all those buildings and of course A &M Presbyterian church is behind the Dixie Chicken. ES Do you recall any involvement at the Bryan AFB during WWII? JC I don't remember any special involvement. Bryan was more involved with Bryan AFB than C.S. There was a distinct difference and distance between Bryan and CS at that time. There was 5 miles between Bryan and CS and there wasn;t anything between and transportation was so scarce the Bryan/College Station people weren't nearly so cooperative and together as they are now. Even though sometimes people don't think they cooperate, it was a whole lot different when there was an actual distance between the two towns. So I think primarily people of Bryan were more protected by Bryan AFB than people in CS. ES Of course they had Coulter Field out there too so it would be the same thing about not having much interaction. JC Of course, Easterwood at that time was practicaly insignificant at that time as an airfield. ES Ok, you told about how your dad was with YMCA and went to France. One of the questions: Explain any work your family did to go away to to work for the war effort such as the factory ship yards P.O.W. camps? JC Well as far as WWII is concerned, my family, I was the only one that had to leave. My dad stayed at the YMCA and my mother ws here and Ray had stayed at an elementary school and he didn't graduate from high school until after the war was over so he didn't have to go. So our family wasn't really affected much by the war in terms of having to leave. ES Right. OK. Now we're gonna list a couple things of how it affected things during WWII such as the prices, did they go up? JC Well, I think that they were pretty much managed by the government. as I recall, the Office of Price Administration and everything. The government controlled what you payed for almost everything, as I remember and that may not be right at all, but, uh, as I recall to keep things, prices from going up. ES Yeah see, I don't remember that either, I just remember like you, the things that were rationed and living on a farm we had dfferent things. JC And, I think that because they were rationed if the gov't hadn't cntrolled them the prices would've skyrocketed. Uh, I never was involved much in the black market so I don't know what you know what was going on along those lines, but uh, as I recall things were pretty controlled by the gov't as far as price. ES That's good because of supply and demand Do you remember your day of using credit cards back then or was everything cash and carry or ... JC We had a, I remember having a gasoline credit card and as far as I know that was the only credit card we owned. ES OK, then getting credit like, uh, to buy a house, getting downpayment and everything...did that all go like that to or do you know? JC I`m guessing that he went to the bank and .... ES And they know him as a JC And he appears to be a kid. Well, I know that he, when um, when we were actually moved off the campus, we were living in campus housing and one of those ideas was to get more space for the college student span and so they gave people that lived in the house an opportunity to buy them and we bought the house for, I don't know, less than $1000. I mean between my dad and I, I didn't have anything to do with it. And we moved, I remember the, between where we lived and whats now Wellborn Road there was nothing but a pear orchard. And they started moving our house, they moved it straight back toward Wellborn Road from where it was sitting and it started raining and they got it in the middle of the pear orchard and it set there for about 3 months until it got dry enough where they could get out on the highway. And then they moved it down Wellborn road to what was at that time Jersey Street and down Jersey Street to Kenmer and set up a foundation at Kenmer street. Of course as t turned out that was a pretty good location because the only thing between our property and the school was a barbwire fence and I know that uh, the original consolidated football field backed up to our property and evertytime somebody would go into my backyard. ES You probably though that was kind of neat, didn't you? JC Yeah ES Do you have any idea about uh, how they brought in goods, shipping and receiving - whether it came by train or bus? JC I would imagine it came by train, I'm just.... ES I know it didn't come by air, probably... JC No, it didn't come by air and they were I guess they, Highway 6 was built, what's now Texas Avenue I think just before WWII started, but uh, I suspect a lot of things came by train. I know that there were, I think 6 passenger trains that went through Bryan - CS everyday and I don't know how many freight trains you know and the post office at that time was right down at the depot ES I imagine 2 trucks maybe JC I'm sure there were some trucks but I really don't know. I'm just guessing because I wasn't too concerned how they got there. ES Well, that's true, yeah. Do you remember reading the newspapers or listening to the radio and the advertising that went on. Did they talk a lot about the World War or... JC I just, I remember, I remember listening to the radio, my folks wouldn't go to bed at night until they heard the news for the day and , uh , of course there was no television but we, I don't recall the radio having as many commercials as they do now. Not by any sense of the imagination. There were programs that we really enjoyed listening to, at Saturday night we'd go and hit parade. Then on Sundays it was One Man's Family and Shirley McGee and Molly and let's see, I can't think of any. There were alot of programs that came on every week and everybody listening to. ES Soap operas and stuff they came on Saturday. JC Well, not so much soap operas ES Saturday morings or whenever it was? JC Well, I don't know. I didn't ever listen to any soap operas. ES Cause I remember mother would listen to them. And we never had any blackouts or any thing like that, though. JC No, I don't remember having.. ES Even practicing? JC Well, let's see, there was, the nearest we got involved, we were schelduled to play some football games down around Sealy or one game at LaPort, I remember. And they wouldn't play them at night. They played them in the afternoon because they didn't want to turn the lights on at night. ES Now, did you go out of town at all or was every thing done here at Bryan. JC Everything we did we did right here in, huh, College Station. ES What was the in thing to wear, do you remember? Anything special, or just.. You didn't spike your hair or anything like that.. JC No, no we didn't, uh, uhm, ah we wore overalls and kakkies and uh, some wore jeans and.. ES Okay, at the YMCA at A &M could non- students attend, do you know? JC Oh yea, they had a, in the YMCA, they had a main lobby that they had daily newspapers in, it, it was a pretty nice place for the students to just come in and read the paper and play ping pong. There in the basement they had a bowling alley and pool tables and a convention area and a barber shop and huh, a covention area was huh, and a barber shop, both indepentaly run. They, they were part of the University or the College at that time. And anybody that wanted to use them were welcome to use them, you know? ES How about did they have the golf course, or a golf course? JC Uh, what's now the municipal Golf Course in Bryan, was called the Bryan Country Club and they had a, they had a club house, and later on they had a swimming pool, but not. I don't think they did until after the War. But, huh.. ES Didn't they have a golf course at one time over here on Oakwood Circle Division? JC At one time there was a there was a golf course that Sand Green, um, now, now, I'm, let me see, in front it was ready, it wouild be somewhere it the neighborhood of huh, probably south of Holleman Street and just East of Wellborn Road, in that vicinity, Now I don't know, I can't remember exactly where it was, I , I remember playing, going there with my dad a time or two but, huh, the Bull Nettle was so bad that uh (ES laughs) that I didn't like to go there. I got, I got stuck, huh, but, I do remember that Sand Green that they had, huh, uh, there, the greens were sand was mixed with oil and so it wouldn't, it wouldn't blow away, and they had rollers and when you got ready to play, well you rolled you a path for the ball to follow. ES Oh for heaven's sake, what a difference, huh? JC Yeah, a whole lot, a big difference. ES Uh, remember the big bands coming in? JC Yeah, that uh, it seemed to me that , huh, the bands, I'm, I'm sure they came in some before the War, not much during the War, and alot after the War. Right after the War they would , the huh, the University, the College. There was a big band thast came in almost every weekend, and I mean, huh, the the top bands. They'd bring them in from. They'd have a special dance on Friday night and then an all college dance on Saturday night and they would, they would, the dances were ususally in Sbisa Hall. And there'd be sometimes a thousand couples, and they were, and everybody was huh, you know either in uniform or dressed to the T, and the girls generally either stayed in, they'd clear out a dormitory for them, or in some cases the girls would stay in private homes. But, they, would, huh, ... ES Bring them in from all over... JC Well, mostly from TSW you know they'd huh, they'd come down by the busload. ES You fellas would line up and get ready. JC That's right... (laughing) ES How about a victory garden? Did your folks have one or did they have one in conjunction with other people? JC Well. we had a, my dad was a , was a frustrated farmer, I mean he, that was one of the reasons that he moved out here. Across the street from where we lived there, we had four lots and those four lots were his garden and huh, he grew tomatoes or vegtables for the whole neighborhood, And, that, it was his delight in the mornings to get up and pick his tomatoes and leave some everybodies doorstep. The one's he didn't give away, why he, he took them around to the groceriey stores. There were only two grocery stores in town that I remember. And he would , he would sell them a bushel of tomatoes for eight or nine cents a pound. ES How about social gathrerings? Did you have any at your home or your Church? JC Well, we, huh, I don't remember anything special, except most of our entertainment, eh, high school, was in somebodies home, you know? Ah, I know that one of our favorite places was right up here on huh, on uh Lee Street. The Marlins lived there and huh, Mary, Mary Marlin is our age, huh about two years younger than me, but huh, they had huh, a big room upstairs with a p000l table and a, huh, Mrs. Marlin always had plenty of Cokes and chips and that. We congregated there a good bit. ES Fun times, it's like... JC Fun times. ES Alot of our relatives would get together, being out in the country. But different families would come over after Church and we'd all get together, all the cousins played and stuff. That was great. JC Well, they had, uh, the w , one of the things my dad was concerned about was the fact that on the weekends there really wasn't much the students could do. they didn't play touch football, or softball, during the Spring er, huh, er something like that. He'd, he was concerned about `em gambling and stuff, and the, the, in the dark and so the YMCA sposored a free movie. And, urn, of course, because it was free there was no income from the movie and so he generally just would buy the cheapest movies he could get ahold of. You know some of them weren't even talkies, there, the're silent movies. But, huh, they had, huh, at one o'clock every..., they had a, they had a free movie in the, in the Assembly Hall. And anybody and everybody that wanted to go would a you know, was welcome to go. And it would be jammed packed every Sunday afternoon. ES Did they hjave outdoor movies for a while on campus? JC They did at the, at, at the... ES Later years.. JC Was called the Grove, but that was mostly after the War. You know, later, later in the spring in the latter part of April or May, uh instead of having the dances in the, in Sbisa Hall, of course it wasn't air conditioned, and so they had `em outside there at the, uh, at the Grove. That's what they called it. And I don't know what they call it later, but, huh.. ES Do you recall seeing any troop trains go through town? JC I'm sure there were some, but no, I don't, I don't. I, I recall riding a troop train from Camp Rutger, Alabama to huh, Fort Ord, Califonea. Took us ten days, to get from Alabam to Califomea, but, huh, huh, I don't recall troop trains coming through. ES Right or convoys of military equipment. JC Once in awile you'd see it, but, eh.. ES Course we're kinda pout of the way they'd travel. JC Yea, we're not in the beaten path. I'd, I remember one time just before World War II started, huh, an Army Unit came through College Station and they, they spent the night. They bivowacked down at Kyle Field. And they pitched their tents down there. And one, one of the things that I remember, and I don't know why I remember this, but they, in , in the Army units will do when they bivowacke , they posted a guard and he had a post to walk back and forth, and in that one night they walked this post and they wore a path in the grass. And I thought, you know, you know, I, I still remember thinking that they must of walked all night long to... ES Yeah, to do that. JC ...to wear a path in the grass, in the grass in one night. ES And that's just something that's stuck in your mind? JC That's something that's stuck in my mind. ES Made an impression, yea. Do you remember any school holidays that were or extra days off because of the War? JC No, I don't remember taking any uh I don't rememeber days off I, I remember some. I remember we used to collect scrap iron, you know, we had in front of the school. In fact, some, right, right along here somewhere. Someplace we had a big pile of scrap iron... ES I remember that, too, that we did, yea. JC And everybody would, you know, everytime you'd find a piece of metal of any sort, you'd throw it on out. ES And we ever had any old tires and all that stuff we'd save too. JC Yea. ES It seemed like we did, yea. JC We had a, we had a big scrap iron pile right out in front of the school. And we had a flag on top, you know, it was... ES Uh, okay, how about any of the farmers around here if they were any of your families friends, did they continue to grow cotton, if they already did, or did they switch to something else? JC I, I don't have a clue about that. ES I know back home we had we grow a ham and stuff. JC Oh yea, well, I'm sure that, you know, huh, we, huh, we were all in the conservation programs that, huh, went on. Huh, uh promoted , but huh, you know, whoever, the government or somebody else, but, huh. I guess that, huh looking back the thing that you know that we, that we were thinking most about rationing. ES Right, we couldn't JC You couldn't, thing, certain things you couldn't get and you couldn't travel, much because they, umm, ran gasoline an hour, I do, I do remember nearly everywhere we went in an automobile, um, I thought, huh, what is the most direct route to from where we were going to try to keep from using any moe gasoline than we had to. ES And I remember in the country I think we got some extra for the tractor. However, I don't remember dad using horses, doing something he could of used the tractor for... JC Right ES But he didn't because he had to save. JC Well, you know the, the urn, merview. Just everybody got an "A" sticker on their gasoline. Now, that was the low, that was the minium, four gallons a week. And if he had hardship of some sort, why you could get extra, you could gat a `B" sticker or some other, and, huh, I remember the ones that lived on the farm usually had a little extra gasoline because of the tractors. My dad was on the gas ration board so there was no hope for us to get extra, huh, huh.. ES (laughs) JC Get extra amount of gasoline, I, I was urn working at the post office delivering special delivery letters every morning. And every once in awile the post mistress would give me an extra gas band for, I could buy an extra four gallons of gas, every once in awile, but it wasn't anything on a regular basis, it just kinda, she thought about it. ES Okay, do you remember the movie that was made back in `42 called `We've Never Been Licked "? JC Oh yea, I sure do. ES Ahh, What do you know about the filming of that? JC Well, I don't know much about it. I just remember that every chance we got we went to watch them film the movie. And you know, and , of course it was mostly the huh, University , huh the College, the corps people involved and we would just, we were just, huh spectators as far as, huh, and the, and the ones that were in the movie were, you know, were not certain, were not well known actors at that time Although then later some of them got to be pretty well known, but, huh the high light of the whole deal was we, the Consolidated Football Team, played, huh, I believe it was Marble Falls in a bi- disrict game, and we invited some of the people from the, the movie to come to the game. And they showed up. And we played in Bryanat what's now the Stepheen F. Austin Field. It was called Bronco Field at that time, and I guess maybe it still is called Bronco Field. ES Yeah, JC But it was that, it was the high school football field. We didn't have lights on our field and so some of our home games we played in Bryan, so we could play at night. And I remember that, huh, the huh star of the movie, the actress that was the star of the movie came to the football game, and that... ES Interested you..(laughs) JC ..Yea, we were, we were impressed. ES Alright, did you like the movie? JC Well, huh.. ES Or ah (laughs). JC I liked it when I, you know, when I first saw it and huh, I guess it's affright, huh I mean compared to the movies they make this day and time. ES Oh, well sure. JC They're not you know, it's not too sensational, but it was alright. ES Okay, now when you were in the military later, not necessarily right during the war, right, but we'll get into that too. Did you have C- rations? JC C- rations? Seem like that was oh, that was, that was a ration book wasn't it? Didn't you have... ES Yea, we had ration books, but when you were in the military you had... JC Oh yea, oh yea.. ES You had, you had your eight, the C- rations. Wasn't that what they called it, O- rations? JC C- ratons..That was one of the, that was one of the.. ES Got your Spam? (laughs) JC Yea, that was one of the.. ES And you have a stamp for Mail Call? JC Well, uh, our mail was censored, until see um, but the time I got overseas the War was over. ES Right, uh huh, right, right, uh huh JC But until that time, I guess somebody looked at our mail, but.. ES So you had no problem from getting boxes from home, or recieving newspapers? JC No,No ES Oh, you know, that's the same way with my husband. JC I never was in a situation where the mail was a problem you know, and uh, uh, you know we didn't have any, I, I personally didn't have a problem like that. Some people did I'm sure. ES And, now the rest of the questions, are pertaining mainly to people who were in the war actually. You know, what medals they won and all that. And where that doesn't touch from you going in later, after the War and stuff and so... and um everything and so...When you came back from the being in the service, did you have any problem finding urn you could continue in school, college,whatever finding a job or... JC No, I, of course I had finished two semesters when I went, when I was drafted. So, I just came back and started.. picked up right where I left off and uh I got back in November, so, I didn't start school until January til mid - semester. And then I uh theorhetically I was six semesters from graduating at the time. I was uh I was beginning my sophomore year. I got, I joined the ROTC to get my commision and it took me an extra semester. So I graduated in um, urn. I was supposed to graduate originally in in 1948 I was in the class of `48 and being gone a couple of years I graduated in June 1950. And uh, ten days after we graduated the Korean War started and they called us back into service, back into uh 1950. ES During 1950 is when I got out of high school. And my husband he uh enlisted in 19 um 47 and so time years come back out and then decided that he'd go back in so he'd, he got commisioned. Now when you were drafted, that was for a period of two or three years? JC Well, it was uh, it was for the duration plus 6 months plus a year, whatever. I was, there was no time ES Oh, there was no time Like when you enlist they, you enlist for three years, four years? JC Right. ES So how long were you... JC Actually it was just. I was, I went in the servvice in January of 1945 and the War was over uh in September of that year, August of that year, and I after we got overseas they shipped us to Korea, and I stayed in Korea uh for over a year before I came home. So I was in the, I was, I was inthe service for uh the first time, for about a little over two years. And the second time we were called in for two years and uh went in uh December and I got out two years later in November. ES Were you married at the time, the second time? JC No, No I wasn't married. That was you know, and I and a another thing uh the uh because I spent that little over a year in Korea right after World War H uh when I got through wtih my, they, When I first came back in 1950, they sent me to Carlotta Burke, Pennsylvania to a school and that school lasted three months and out of 35 of us that were in that school 32 went to Korea and 3 of us had been in Korea right after World War II, it was on our service record so they sent us to Germany. So while they were fightin' in Korea, I was in Germany. ES See, that's the way my Bob was, too. Now what, where were you stationed in Germany? JC I wass stationed at Seoul. No, I mean that was in Korea. In Germany, I was in... is it Giesen. I was at Frankfurt. I was at uh uh Hope Saole. ES Okay we were down in the Bouerion port in Langsferd. JC Oh. ES And then over in Ending. You know near Mooseberge where they had the concentration camp. JC Well, the uh , the first, I guess the first six months I was at I was at Hope Saole, it was on the Saole River. And it was right where East Germany and Czechloslavakia and uh American Dome Germany come together in that little kindof point and we were up there with the Constabulators on the border. Now I was in a an Army Security Unit and we were monitoring Russian radio tack. ES Bob was on Johnson Island, outside, whereever it is outside of Hawaii in `48, `49 and then he got out and that's when I met him and then he was sent into Germany in 1950 and we got married in `51 and so I I went over there as a young bride. JC Oh yea.. ES And that's why I got to experience... JC We got the same, we're there `bout the same time. ES Living there in the Bouerian Port, which is very nice. So well that's all the questions I really have Jim, but is there something that you'd like to add about, about College Station and... JC Well I, you know , I, looking back on it uh uh I'm sure there were a number of people just older than me, just. I mean in some cases just months older than me that were, that really got involved. I mean several of the, of the people that uh, after the war was over we came back and we were all part of a group that was uh the that were College Station and Bryan kids that went to A &M and we were yet, and some of them had pretty tough times. You know they really got into combat and there was a group us that were about my age or a little younger that got into it at the tail end of it. That we you know uh about the my thing that the way it even inconvenienced us so was but it certain didn't invade us as much. Uh I uh one of the things I do remember is that no matter when you went in as long as.. before the war you didn't know how long you were going to be there and uh that started a disconcerting. I remeber thinking I'll be glad when this war is over so I can take a nap. ES But when you did come back at least everybody was treated like heroes and stuff. JC Right, yea right. ES But they were older you see. JC Yea they were older, and they didn't have to be much older because you know, see I was uh I was just barely 15, I my birthday is si October so when the war started in December 1941 I was 18 uh 15 years and two months old. Well, I was drafted, I was. Let's see in 1944 I became 18 and I was 18 on the 11th of October and I was drafted on the first of November. That's how quick(snap) they... ES Right, right. JC They got ya. And so uh you know a person three or four months older than me would have been you know they could have gotten into all kinds of stuff. I know several friends of mine, Richard Collins that lived just across the street from me uh Richard was about, I think he was 4 or 5 months older than me, and he got, he got involved in the Battle of Okinawa and uh and then the brother of one of the girls that was in our group was about, was two years older and Bobby Scofielo, and he got shot up pretty good. You know and so some of us were so lucky. ES Right place, right time. JC ..to.. ES One thing that uh we discussed that's rally interesting to me is what your dad did in the YMCA those on the campus and... JC Yea he uh.. ES I think that's JC Of course he got to Europe. Evidently the YMCA sent people wit the military during World WAR I soda like the Red Cross. So he was not actually in the service. ES Right, he was just.. JC But he was there in support somehow. I don't know exactly what he trip. I have, I have a wooden screw that he sent back, now, I didn't know anything about it until about 3 or 4 years ago uh a cousin of mine um came to visit and brought this spoon that my dad had given his mother. It was his sister and on the spoon it said this spoon was used to store. I think it said a hundred thousand gallons of of uh hot chocolate in France from a certain date to a certain date. And so evidently that's the kind one of the things he did, and so instead of coming home, he joined the Greece YMCA and they sent him to uh Egypt and Africa and he stayed over there a few years, And then when he came back, he went back to Austin College they were, well he, met my mother just before he left, but they hadn't got married. They were married in I think 1924. And he had the oiler to come, to come here. I think they came in 1925 and I was born in `26. But this is a wonderful place to grow up in those days. We lived right on the campus. Uh all our friends lived right on campus you know and there was a a it was kinda like an oil camp in that yhe uh the housings was uh you know if your in. Where you lived on the campus and how big your house was reflected your rank in the University at the college. ES Your rank in the community? JC Yea right, but, uh you know.. ES So you lived in this are your life. JC I was.. ES Okay, or there JC Well I lived here all my life until I finally graduated from A &M and then I started teaching school and I was I started teaching school. Well, I started the first time I started in Madisonville in 1950, right after I graduated and I lasted until Thanksgiving of that year and that's when I had to go back in the service to the Korean War and then when I came back, I came back to A &M and got my Master's Degree and I went to Odessa and I stayed out there eleven years and that's where I met Lyle and we, we lived there `til 1965 and then we moved down to Freeport and we stayed down there until we retired then we came back. ES You came when you retired,okay. JC But, uh, when, you know when we were growing up here on the capmus, why it was a small enough place, everywhere we went we could walk or ride a bicycle or I, I remember when I was old enough to ride a bicycle and Red was still small enough that he had to ride a tricycle. We'd go someplace and play f000tball on Saturday mornings you know just to think and we'd always I'd always try to run off and leave him you know and, but it was a few minutes and he'd come on the tricycle and catch up with us.(laughing) ES He was first downing even way back then wasnn't he? JC Even way back then yea right. ES Well that's one of the reasons I the area now that when my husband died in `92 I decided to stay here. JC Well, I think it's a wonderful area. ES Yea, I do too. JC It's so different now than it was, but it's still a wonderful place. ES Right and I love A &M and uh our church neighbors and friends and stuff. JC Right, right. ES I'm just going to stay here. JC Well, I'm, that's what we're planning to do. we always planned to come back, I um, my kids um we had four kids and uh after my dad died, Tom Harrington was the president of A &M and he offered my mother the oppportunity to be the hostess for the board of directors and live on the campus in that big old white house up there by the, used to be right next to the post office. I don't really remeber. ES Yea, I don't remeber but I read about it and we've seen some pictures of it. JC And, uh, so as my kids were growing up they thought that was Grandma's house, you know, and everytime we would come from Odessa and we'd go right to the middle of campus and that you know that was all they knew about college was that. ES But, that's great, isn't that wonderful memories though.... JC Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I wouldn't take anything for it. ES Well listen, it's been very enjoyable for me visiting with you Jim JC Well it's....