Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with LeRoy A. Beigemann 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.
Today is Monday, July 1, 2002. And this is the beginning of an interview with Leroy Beigemann at his sister's home in Sussex, Wisconsin. His residency is in Texas and every year he comes up to visit.
How are you, Mr. -- I'll call you Leroy. How old are you Leroy?
I'm 77 years old.
Okay. My name is Iris Bolson and I'll be the interviewer. When you were in the service could you state for the recording what war and branch of service you served in, and what rank?
I enlisted in September of 1946. This was during World War II and almost at the end of World War II. At the time when I enlisted I was working on a farm and got kind of fed up with farm life. So on a dare from another worker on the farm, we enlisted in the Army. Army/Air Force.
Army/Air Force; okay. Where did you go to basic training?
We went to Milwaukee to enlist. And then we went on the cattle train or hoop train to San Antonio, Texas. And had my basic training in San Antonio. Sack Field, an Air Force training camp. I had basic training for about 13 weeks I think it was. And after the basic training I came home on a leave, which was about a week, which would put it just about Thanksgiving time. I would have liked to have been home for Thanksgiving but they said, no, you have to ship out for overseas. So I went to Camp Stillman, California and shipped out for Guam and then to Iwo Jima later.
What was your job or task or?
Well, at the beginning of basic training, which was getting up every morning at about six o'clock, of course, we did chow line and then stand in formation. And after that they found some work for us to do, necessary or unnecessary, like fixing the area. I think the drill sergeants stayed up all night smoking cigarettes and we had to pick them up in the morning. Pick up the butts. But I was a buck private then in basic training. And then I was shipped out to Guam or to Iwo -- no. To Guam, yes, uh-huh. And had the same thing over there for a few weeks, fixing the area and getting up in the morning and having breakfast and maybe drilling, formation drilling. And then I got into a special service office, which was issuing equipment like footballs, baseballs, equipment like that so the servicemen had recreation when they were off duty.
Did you enjoy that part of it?
Oh, it wasn't too bad.
Better than when -- it was better than basic training?
Better than basic training, yes. As far as the use of weapons, in basic training I had to learn to strip down the M1 rifle and then the .45 handgun, learn about those. And I think that was it. I never was issued a weapon, though.
I see. Do you remember arriving at Guam and what it was like?
I remember the trip to Guam real well because I was put on the troop ship or cattle boat to go to Guam. And on the way we stopped in Hawaii, which was real nice. It would have been nice to get off the boat and see Hawaii a little bit, but they had the roster for KP and I was on it. I didn't get off the boat on the way over. I had KP all the time. So that was kind of a disappointment. Of course I might have got in trouble if I got off the boat though, too. So we went on to Guam and then I went to an air base over there, which like I said was assigned to a special service office. And I was -- I don't remember how long I was in that special service office but it wasn't too long and they sent me to clerk typist school to learn how to type.
Up until that point, what did you think about this whole routine of being in the service?
Well, it was a new experience to me. And, you know, I'm open to new things. And it was kind of fun.
How did you stay in touch with your family during that time?
Letters were the only way. Didn't have cell phones then, like we got now days. But it was letters. It was a long time between letters sometimes.
I know that you sent a lot of letters home. But did you receive a lot from your family?
Quite a few, yes.
Did that help with the stress of being away from home?
Oh, yes.
How did you like the food?
What was the question again?
How did you like the food?
That's what I thought you said. It wasn't too bad. It was -- some of it was pretty good; some of it was pretty bad. And it was a lot of the same thing all the time. I don't remember anymore just what it was. But it was pretty good. Especially on holidays they had pretty good food.
How did people entertain themselves? Sometimes it was quite tedious and boring?
Well, we had the USO clubs. We could go there and play cards and they had different activities come in. And then I play accordion and got a band together over there, a five-piece band, and we played at the enlisted men's clubs and some of the officer's clubs. And that helped pass the time too. Because we got together and practiced. And had a pretty good band over there.
Did you ever keep in touch with any of those guys over the years?
I tried to. I lost contact with most of them after I got back home. I did contact one of them a couple of years ago down in San Antonio, Texas. He was in a nursing home. He was diabetic and was in pretty bad shape. He had given up on life. He just wanted to lay in bed all the time. And had no desire to go home. Or he was happy where he was. And his wife took care of him. She went every day to the nursing home to see that he had everything he needed. And I went to see him a couple of times. And then he passed away. I don't know where the rest of them are.
Did you have any kind of good luck charm or anything that you carried when you were over there? Or did you do anything, you know, go through some kind of motion or something or a signal for good luck?
No. After the type of school that I went to on Guam I went to Iwo Jima. And there I got into a special service office there for a while. And then I went to an armed forces radio station and was a disc jockey. Played records all day for the -- over the radio for the guys on the island. And gave them the news that came out of Japan. And I also had a band there. Some of the guys from Guam went with us to Iwo Jima and we carried on there. But I had a girlfriend in high school and she was the one that -- she helped me, kind of forced me to go to the Army because she wanted to go to New York City. She wanted a career in singing. So she went to New York City after I left and I went in the service. So then I got a Dear John letter over there.
Did it crush you?
Yeah, it was crushing for a while.
Yeah. I was the girl who always wrote the Dear John letters.
Oh, you were?
(Laughter).
How many did you write?
Two or three I think.
Oh, yeah. You were pretty popular, weren't you?
Yeah. When you did get a short leave, where did you go and what did you do?
Well, I was on Iwo Jima for 13 months. And I had leave while I was there but I stayed there. I liked it so much, you know. I had a chance to go to Japan but I didn't -- Japan didn't interest me. So I just stayed right on Iwo Jima and spent my time down at the beaches. And, of course, when I got to Iwo Jima, why, there was Japanese there in the caves yet. They would come out of the caves at night and go to the mess hall and steal food. Until they got caught. And I guess they were sent back to Japan then. In those caves on Iwo Jima, they were off limits to us. Because there was live ammunition in those caves yet. And we could have got blown up.
Ammunition that the Japanese had put in there?
Uh-huh, yeah. And then I was friends with a Catholic chaplain there and also the Protestant chaplain. The Protestant chaplain was in charge of the radio station, and the Catholic chaplain had a small boat. He would go out fishing off the island. So there was about four or five of us at the radio station and the two chaplains went out one day on this little boat fishing and swimming. And I can't swim. So they had this rubber airplane innertube. Airplane tire innertube. And put that in the water to float on. So I got on that rubber innertube and I was just like the rest of the boys, you know. And I fell off. And I went down once. Down twice. And the third time they got me back in the boat, I guess, because I'm still here today. But we had some good times over there. Kind of homesick for home at times.
Good rapport with your fellow soldiers and officers? Did you have any antagonism going on or?
No, we got along pretty good.
Get stir crazy once in a while and somebody pop someone or?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, they'd go to the beer hall and get tanked up a little bit and start fights every now and then. Then there was a couple of guys that I knew that went to the beer hall and got tanked up pretty good and went out driving on the island and rolled the thing over and killed themselves.
Oh.
Crazy stuff, you know.
Uh-huh. So you started -- let's just go back here a little bit and kind of review what you did. You had your basic training in Texas.
Uh-huh.
And then you went to California.
Camp Stillman.
Okay. And then after that you went to Guam and you were there how long?
Probably about three months I guess.
Three months. And then to Iwo Jima.
For thirteen months.
Thirteen months.
After Iwo Jima, back to Guam again.
Okay.
And I was still in the special service office on Guam when I got back there. And I still had a band on Guam again.
What was your total length of service?
Total length of service was I think it was 28 months. I got what they called the convenience of the government discharge. They discharged us early because there was nothing going on and didn't need us anymore so they rather than keep on paying us to do nothing, why, they discharged us.
So the average term of service was even longer then?
The total length of service was -- you signed up for three years.
Oh, I see. Okay. All right. Do you recall the day your service ended?
Yes, I do.
What were your feelings that day?
Whoopee, I get to go home. (Laughter) But they told me before I got my discharge papers that I would have to re-enlist or I wouldn't get my discharge papers.
Strange. This is strange.
Yeah. They wanted to get rid of me but they wanted to keep me, you know. So I told them, "No, I want to go home. I want to get out." A lot of guys signed up to stay there. No, I'd had enough. I wanted to get out and make a living.
One thing that hasn't come up while you were talking is -- and if you don't want to talk about this you don't have to. But Mahalla mentioned something she had read in one of your letters about the condition of the fox holes that you searched. And sometimes you would find dead bodies in there.
No, I never saw that at all. I never saw that at all.
Okay.
No, the fox holes were -- by the time I got over there the fighting was over with, all finished.
Okay.
I was just -- well, what would you call it? Just keeping the base going on on Iwo Jima, keeping it maintained. And just to make sure that war didn't start up again. While I was on Iwo Jima there was a group called the AGRS. They were digging up graves of the soldiers that were killed on Iwo. Digging up the graves and sending the remains back to the states for burial here.
Oh, I see.
That was a group of colored soldiers.
Did you feel the -- was there a great divide between the black soldiers and --
No.
-- and the white?
No, no.
We hear so much about it today. You didn't feel that at --
No, they -- we got along pretty good together. In fact, the base player that played with us on Iwo Jima, he was a colored man. A good base player.
Well, you had your accordion shipped over to you?
Uh-huh. When I got it it was in bad shape. So I had to get a part and fix it.
Oh, boy.
No place to get it fixed over there.
No.
So I managed to get it working again.
I imagine you had no doubt or you had no idea when you learned to play the accordion where you were going to end up playing it later on in life.
No. It was a good experience. I mean, yeah.
What do you feel -- well, when you got out of the service, where were you exactly when you were free to go?
They turned me loose in Camp Stillman, I guess it was. They gave me money to get home on the train or plane or however I could find my way back here. Called severance pay. So I think I got the bus all the way back. Because I wanted some money left for the spending when I got home.
Oh, yes.
Which wasn't very much.
I bet it wasn't very much, no.
No. So I think I brought the bus back all the way, which is a long ride. And got into Chicago, got the bus from Chicago to Milwaukee. And the streetcar from Milwaukee home.
And what were some of the first things that you did? When you first saw your family, where were you or where were they?
Well, I went to my brother's in Waukesha, my brother and sister-in-law. And the first thing we did, we went to the store and got some clothes to wear. Bought a new suit and new shoes and I was all dressed up. And that was the day of Mahalla's graduation. She graduated that next night from high school. And so I met the family in the park at graduation. Except for my brother and sister-in-law.
Surprised to see you?
Surprised, yeah, uh-huh. They didn't know -- they knew I was coming home but they didn't know when.
So what happened after that, Leroy? Did you go immediately back to the farm and start working right away or did you goof off awhile, go see old friends?
I think I goofed off for a few days. This was in June I got a discharge. Wasn't it June? And then I went to Chicago to air conditioning refrigeration school. I started in September I guess. And I guess I more or less goofed off until September when school started. And went through the air conditioning school and couldn't get a job. So then I -- what did I do? Oh, I had a couple of different jobs in the Chicago area. One was a (Travel) Manufacture. I worked there for a little while. And I worked at a plastic factory. I worked in a drill factory. I drove a bus in Chicago for about a year. And then I drove a truck for 29 years after that.
Did you join a veterans organization after you got home?
No, I didn't. I joined the VFW probably in 1984/85.
What made you decide to join at that time?
I thought maybe the benefits would help me.
Okay.
Because I had dropped my army insurance and everything like that. And I was getting older so I thought maybe I need some attention, you know.
Yeah.
But I don't death.
No.
Just keep on going.
How do you feel your service and experiences of serving your country affected your life?
It was a very good experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I mean, I wouldn't have gotten to see the world, to see Guam or Iwo Jima or even to Hawaii if I hadn't joined up. Even though I had KP on the boat in Hawaii. But it was a good experience. I learned a lot. Did some crazy things, too, but it all goes with life, I guess.
Yeah. Is there anything else that you would like to share, any crazy things or unusual things before we close?
Well, I don't know. I think we've covered about all we can cover.
There probably are some things you can't cover; right?
Yeah. It's been quite a while ago.
Yeah.
A lot of things I've forgotten about.
Do you remember any pranks or anything or crazy things that you tried to pull on your officers or fellow soldiers or?
No. Nothing like that.
Okay. Well, Leroy, I'd like to thank you for sharing your memories. You certainly have a good memory for all those details.
It's getting shorter every day, though.
That's why it's so important to get as many people that have served to talk about those. And with your permission and after you've listened to the tape, then I ask you just to fill in and sign the release form. And then we'll send it into the Library of Congress when I get the whole project completed.
Sounds good to me.
Okay. Thank you very much, Leroy.