Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Helen Brown was digitized.
This transcription was encoded with minimal changes to the original text in an effort to preserve original content and idiosyncrasies of the person interviewed. Period language and terminology are also retained. Encoding is literal with regard to the transcriptionist's capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Spelling errors are indicated with [sic]; however, recurring errors in spelling within a single document have been marked the first time and not subsequently.
War history interview of World War II veterans, conducted by Harold Phillips for the Hanley Library Archives and the Winchester Frederick County Historical Society. Today is the 4th of September, 2002. The interviewee is Mrs. Helen Brown.
I'm Helen Brown, born April the 5th, 1925, at Rosedale, West Virginia, which was a little oil town in the central part of West Virginia. Then I went to elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse in a little place called Walker, West Virginia. Then I graduated from high school in 1944. World War II was deep into war with Japan and Germany. Uncle Sam was on every billboard and posed, pointing his finger at us, saying, "I need you." Of course, I thought that meant me. There was very few young men in our community. We didn't have proms or yearbooks during the year -- war years; and when I was a senior in school I had two brothers in the Navy and the Army. One went in the Navy at seventeen. Of course, Rick and I were planning to be married when the war was over. Rick was in the Philippines at the time. I boarded a bus with $20.00 in my -- my purse to Akron, Ohio and was hired at Goodyear Aircraft and had the privilege of joining the flying squadron, a group of ladies who would work in every department in the plant. We were also offered night classes which I took advantage of. I worked as Rosie the Riveter, any mechanics on the Corsair, office work, payroll, where we -- anywhere we were needed, except the paint shop. We were paid $1.97 when the war ended August the 14th, 1945. During -- during the war were the -- during the war was the saddest days of my life. Every day was filled with anxiety, not knowing -- not knowing there was -- not knowing if our family and friends would return. Families placed a white square in your window with a blue star; and if your loved one was killed in serve -- in service, you replaced with a gold star. It was a terrible, sad day when a blue star turned to gold. During the war we needed rationing stamps for most everything -- leather shoes, gasoline, nylon hose, many groceries. We lived on a farm and had most of our fruits, vegetables, and meat. If, as young people, couldn't get -- could get a gallon of gas, we would get to a friend's house, listen to records, exchange books, or whatever. We had one class in school where we learned to knit sweaters for the soldiers. I was left-handed, so my sweater was always wrong side out. We sent many letters to servicemen. Of course, I wrote Rick every day. I received 500 letters from him, kept 50 and have misplaced them somehow. While at Akron we would go downtown to the USO, United Service Organization, where several military service boys would be. There were very few cars. We rode buses everywhere. Sometimes you would wait for a second and third bus, but as they were full, sitting and standing. There was very little communications during the war. We either heard a radio from some of our famous broadcasters or newspapers. But we had to get our newspapers a day behind because we got them by mail. They were not delivered in the country. That's what I had there.
Were you recruited to go to Akron --
No.
-- or did you just hear --
After high school, just a lot of the people went. A lot of the girls went because there weren't any guys to work. And everything was turned into a -- into a -- a plant. There was many plants there in Akron. There was a tire and rubber plant. There was -- but Goodyear Aircraft was the only one that finished a plane.
Did you have friends that were there, then --
Yes.
-- that you could stay with?
Yes. I did have.
Was it a common practice before the war for girls to leave like that and go to work?
No. Oh, no. No, you didn't do that very often.
So this was something new?
Something different.
Yeah.
And very adventurous, I'd say, because I -- you know, you find lots of -- the thing, but there weren't any young men around, so you didn't -- you know, they were all either older --
Did you feel apprehensive about leaving all your --
No. Because I had a friend there that had been working in one of the other plants, in the tire and rubber plant; and we were well-respected in the plants. We were. And we were, you know, asked to do many, many things; so you just jumped in and did them.
Did I understand that you said -- you were talking about Corsair?
Yes.
The airplane?
Yes. They finished it right there in the plant. It was so nice to see one fly away because you'd helped on it.
And what was your job?
Well, I did some -- I did -- was Rosie the Riveter awhile. I worked in the -- well, you just worked -- our group worked everywhere. We worked in the -- in the cafeterias. I remember running a cash -- a cash register in the cafeteria. I remember doing night jobs. We would be on night shift, and work in the office and do all kinds of office work. I felt kind of prepared for that.
And what was the riveting like?
Well, that was --
What did you actually do?
You actually riveted. Yeah. You had a -- you had to have safety shoes. You had to have your head covered with, usually, a bandana or something; and then you had to -- you had your riveting machines. We used them.
Was it a power tool --
Yes. Oh, yes.
-- like an air hammer?
Yes. Yes, and we learned to -- if you didn't watch out, you could run a nail over wrong, I know, because there were several ruined in our -- in their department because you were too -- trying to think you had to really work at it, when you just had to let it work itself.
You brought the ration books in.
Uh-huh.
Was it -- and there're quite a few stamps left inside of --
Well, see, we lived in the country, and we didn't need a lot for the veg -- or the foods that you would need if you lived in the city. So we did have those left.
It wasn't that they gave you so many coupons.
No. Oh, no. You run out all the time, especially if you had very many in your family.
Well, we were able to get lots of coupons because the older brothers went into the --
Right.
-- armed services.
Yes.
So we would empty out the book with all their coupons before they left.
That's right. That's the way we did with my brothers', too.
Yeah.
Yes.
You mentioned the USO.
Yes.
Did they have a band there, recorded music, or what was that like?
Gosh, you know, I don't remember. I believe it was a band; and it was up over another building, but it was the whole size of the building. It was big.
And were those usually GI's coming home on leave --
Yes.
-- and then they went down --
Yes.
-- to the USO.
Yeah. Right.
Did you have any trains pulling through there, like troop trains that would sometimes --
No. But when my brother left, I went to the bus to see him leave. Everybody left by bus at our home because that's all that was there. There wasn't a train in the county where we lived, so everybody left by bus; and that was the hardest thing for me to do was to see my brothers off.
Was there any trouble keeping up with the mail? You said you got quite a few letters.
Oh, no.
Did they come in batches or --
Well, sometimes. I think when Rick went overseas he got 30 from me because I had written him every day -- at one time. But we -- I got them pretty often, and sometimes I'd get two or three. That was always nice.
When the war ended, did the job end, as well?
Oh, yes. The day the war ended, you didn't make any more planes. It went into something else. But I came home at that time.
Did they actually lay off the --
Oh, yes.
-- women workers?
Oh, yes. Everybody left because they weren't making any more, especially the Corsair because all it was, was a fighter plane.
Did you ever meet any of the pilots that flew them?
No. We met several celebrities that would come visit the plant, but I don't think I ever met any of the pilots. No. They were all there -- I guess while we were there, they were serving.
Do you remember any of the money raising drives that they had, like war bonds and --
Oh, yes. War bonds were big. That's why the celebrities were always at the plant or would come through and stop. And you'd pay 10 cents for a stamp, you know, and then you'd fill your book.
Get an $18.75?
Right. Right. $18.75. And it was -- it was tough because there was no one around, and transportation was bad. Communication was bad, and there wasn't really much to do. What you did, you just had to do -- find on your own.
Were there any social functions aimed at raising money?
No. Not any that I remember.
Well, you said cake walks.
Yeah. Well, we had those, but that wasn't for the service. We did a lot of that in the country where we lived.
Just to raise money.
Uh-huh. That's usually for the schools because our schools were very small.
You graduated in '44?
'44.
Yeah. Did the school have difficulty getting teachers prior to that?
Well, I think they always had a hard time getting teachers back then because that's when you didn't really have to attend college too long to get a school. But some of our -- I think, was poor teaching in those days. But we've made it. But you worked at it.
Maybe there wasn't as much to learn in those days.
That's right. But I went to school at night when I was up there, and we had great teachers for that, though, because we had, like, some of the professionals, of course, were there that taught our night classes.
Did you want to go home when the war ended, or would you rather have stayed on and worked? If you had your druthers --
Well, I might have if I'd have had my rathers, maybe. I hated to go back into Hills, West Virginia. But it was home, and that was good. And we had a nice home, wonderful parents, and so forth. But my brothers didn't get home then. It was much later when they got home.
And how much later did Rick get home?
He got home in May of '56 -- or '46, and we -- got home in April, and we got married in May of '46.
Do you think your work, your time on the job was any value to you? Did it teach you anything, or did you learn anything from it?
Yeah. I -- yes. Because you had to associate with people, and you had to work with people every day, and that was nice. You found out who would work and who wouldn't work, and we had lots of -- lots of young teachers and people that were in college, but they came to work to get money to go to college on. So that was -- it was -- yeah, it was very rewarding.
Was there anything unique about the squadron that you were in, or was that just a work group?
Well, that was a work group; and, of course, we all went to school at night. And one or two girls I remember from Southern West Virginia, they had been to school a couple of years or a year, and they were going back to school; and I remember they -- they just needed the money very badly. I think, though, with the sacrifices we made in those years has really -- was really rewarding for us because you had to use your faith. You lived with faith, alone, almost, because that's all we had.
Did you get any kind of mustering out pay or --
No.
Nothing?
The last check.
Last check.
Last check. I'd saved some money while we were there. We had used it on furniture when we were married, a little bit of it, whatever I had. And it was tough years, but they were rewarding years; and the sacrifices these guys made was unreal. Of course, you knew that.
Do you have anything more you'd like to add?
No, except Rick and I got married and have had a wonderful life together, and I think a lot of it had to do with the sacrifices we made then.
He was worth waiting for?
Oh, yes.
Can you think of anything you might want to add?
Nothing, except she chased me halfway around the world.
He chased around, but I was there when he come home. That was the thing. Those were the important things.
Well, thank you very much.
Well, you're certainly welcome. When I moved to Winchester, I met a young lady, Linda Taylor, and her mother had worked in the same shop as I had in the paint shop; and I have never met anyone else that has ever worked there, except the friends that were working there when I went there, that I still know as a family that had gone there because the war, they couldn't live there.
When you first started on the job it was probably rather exciting, but how about after a while?
It was exciting, but I never got tired of it because it was -- I was in a group that went from one job to another, and we never got tired of one job. Every six weeks they moved us into another job. So, you learned lots of jobs, and cooperate with other people, and to follow directions. That was one of the big things that was very hard to -- for many people to do, and --
Were there ever any labor disputes or hassles?
No. I don't remember ever any -- having any disputes on the lines; and, of course, the lines, you know, you worked down the lines all the way to the finishing end, and that was interesting. But I wouldn't want to do plant work all my life. That's --
How did your salary compare to --
I was making -- when I -- when I finished I was making $1.97 an hour, and that was big time money --
That was a lot --
-- at that day.
That was considerably higher than a woman could get in a retail store?
Oh, yeah, probably. I never worked in a retail store at that time. But it was -- you felt like you -- like you had something to give to the war --
And your work --
-- during that time, and you were contributing something. It's sad. We had so many friends that was killed, too. Of course, everyone did. Their families all came home.
Thanks again.
Well, you're welcome.
[CONCLUSION OF INTERVIEW]