Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with William J. Gorman, Jr. 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.
This tape is made July 22nd, 2002 with William J. Gorman, Jr. Mr. Gorman resides at 1405 South Baky Road in Evansville, Indiana. Mr. Gorman is a native of Evansville, served in the United States Army in the Third Division as a Private First Class from January 1943 to May 1945. He was drafted at age 19. He saw primary service, in areas including the state of Alabama, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. He is a winner of the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, the Combat Infantry Badge, a French Citation and a Presidential Unit Citation for service while in France. This tape is made with Larry Ordner of Senator Richard Lugar's office. Now, Mr. Gorman, thanks so much for coming in and doing this interview today.
Right.
Appreciate you doing this.
Right.
Tell me, then you were 19 years old and living in Evansville.
Yes.
Were you employed at the time?
Yes, I was employed at the shipyard.
What was the name of that shipyard?
Evansville Bridge and Iron Company.
Evansville Bridge and Iron Company. Now, at that time, I believe it's correct to say that that business was involved in the war effort. Can you tell me what you were working on at that time?
Well, I worked in the warehouse, office and everything. We had to check off supplies and everything. I had a business degree from Memorial High School. So I did a lot of correspondence and everything.
Uh-huh. Tell me now, that company, though, was involved in the war effort.
Yeah.
What did they do exactly?
They built LST. I think they built most of all of them.
Really?
Yes.
So it's almost like you were involved in the war effort even before you went in the service, wasn't it?
Yes.
Well, tell me then, at age 19 did you get a draft notice in the mail?
Yes.
Where did you go for induction?
Fort Benning from day one.
Really? Can I ask you, what was the reaction at home when you got your draft notice?
They didn't want me to go.
Yeah. A lot of guys were going at that time.
Yeah.
I guess it was pretty much expected, though, probably, wasn't it?
Yes. I was the oldest -- well, my older brother was in the service at that time, but I was just drafted and everything. Because he was in the service, I thought I could join the service too. I was the oldest boy of eight children left at home.
So, where did they send you for basic training?
Anderson, Alabama for 30 days.
How tough was the training for you?
Well, from civilian life to that is pretty rugged. 25 hours marching with six-pound fuel packs on your back and everything in eight hours, that's pretty rugged.
It sure is. Well, what other kinds of memories do you have of boot -- of basic training that stick in your mind today? Any incidents or anything in particular that you remember?
Yes. The only thing I remember I would always at 5:30 we had to get up and go out and police the area, police the area and everything. All we could hear is butts and rear ends. So they had to pick up everything at 5:30 in the morning.
So after basic training, did you get a first initial assignment?
No. I was sent to Norfolk, Virginia where I got on the ship and went to Africa.
So when you were in basic training, did you think that you would be deployed right away?
I had no idea where I was going to go or what I was going to do.
From Alabama, then, did you board a train to go to Norfolk, you think.
No, we hopped a bus.
A bus. Oh, that was a long ride, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Probably a long hot ride I guess.
Uh-huh.
So, at Norfolk, what kind of ship did you get on? Do you remember?
English pleasure ship at that time.
That had been pressed into service.
Pressed into service.
Were there hundreds of men perhaps on that ship? I mean thousands?
Well, quite a few of them. There was about seven decks.
Oh, wow.
Only takes six and a half days from there to Africa.
Well, that's a fast passage really.
Yes, sir.
Did you go as part of a convoy?
No. It was unescorted.
Unescorted.
Yes.
Did you have any encounters with any submarines while you were there?
Well, we had two warnings on the ship that excited me. Submarines.
Really. Did the word get out what that was?
Yes.
What was the reaction to it?
Well, we was all scared and of course I was scared. I wouldn't stay down in the hole. I stayed up on the deck because I couldn't swim.
Oh.
And the captain of the ship, I don't know how many times he cuts me out of the frog hole of a nighttime.
So after six and a half days, thereabouts, you landed in Africa?
Uh-huh.
On the African continent.
Uh-huh.
Did your training that you had in boot camp in Alabama prepare you for the terrain that you were going to be facing in Alabama?
No.
Excuse me. In Italy. In Africa. Excuse me.
In Africa. No, I didn't know anything about it. In fact I was surprised why they issued me three blankets. Actually of a night time, it got awful cold.
Really.
If we wanted to shave, we had to put our helmet out there and catch the dew and everything to shave the next morning. So I didn't have any kind of training on it to know what to do.
What was the nature of your duties in Africa?
Well, I just went in as a replacement for Third Division and everything.
Now, can you tell me what that division was? What kind of activity they were -- what they were doing in Africa at that time? What was the nature of the war in Africa?
They were fighting in Africa.
Yeah. That was -- I guess they were really up against Rommel's group at that time --
Yes.
-- weren't they?
Right.
How much of a problem did the sands of Africa pose to troops?
Well, you just had to get used to it, and actually you had to drink a lot of water and swallow a lot of salt capsules. That's all they done for you.
That had to be awfully miserable conditions, though, I would think.
Yeah.
So what kinds of -- do you have any particular memories from that time in Africa, anything that really sticks in your mind?
The only thing that stuck in my mind is all the venereal disease that I seen. One of the first things I seen was a lady nursing her baby, and after she had all the venereal disease on her breasts and everything. And the venereal disease was awful.
How soon after your time in Africa were you sent on to Sicily?
Within ten days.
Really?
Yeah. They needed replacements. Of course, that's the thing I experienced all the time. We was always needing replacements.
Uh-huh. Now, when you got to Sicily, again the terrain was so different from Africa?
Yes.
How did you feel prepared for that? Was it pretty good?
Well, it went fairly smooth because actually it took only 30 days to take care of Sicily.
What was -- can you tell me about what the nature of the fighting was like in Sicily at that time? What was your mission there, if I can ask you that.
Well, the mission was to get Hitler. That was the thing.
To keep moving.
Keep moving. And as Patton said, Blood and guts. In other words, that's the thing.
Yeah. When you got to the Italian mainland --
Uh-huh.
Now, Italy was pretty mountainous, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Did you have to fight?
Actually I landed at the foot of Italy. It was my first landing. Then I went all the way up to Naples and everything. Then from Naples we went to End field.
Oh really.
Yeah.
Can you tell me about, can you tell me about these incidents, what it was like for you?
Well, the only thing actually I think they instilled in all of us that we're doing this for our country. So that's the thing that we always looked like. Of course they told us too one thing is when you're there, don't get next to anyone. Just learn to work together. And then things will come out all right and that's what we did.
How intense was the fighting?
Very severe and there was always a lot of men lost and everything and wounded.
When you got to Italy, was Italy the roughest fighting you encountered?
Italy was, yes.
Is there anything that you can tell me about the conditions that you fought under?
Well, the seasonal things are always changing. Of course at that time there's a lot of rain and everything, that we had to put up with that. And you never did get a chance to go and change clothes and everything. You wore the same clothes for at least 30 days before you could go back. And they had a 55-gallon drum, that that's what you take in the shower with you. But we never got to change any clothes. And we never got any fresh food or anything.
Well, did you have rations?
We had sea rations.
Can you tell us, for the purposes of the tape, what did that consist of?
Sea rations consist of actually some meat ground up and then you got two biscuits and three little bitty pieces of hard candy. That's what we lived on.
What did that do for your physical condition? Did you lose a lot of weight during this time?
I never, I think when I went in, I weighed 97. When I come out, I weighed a hundred and seven.
Really.
So I never gained a lot of weight.
Did your unit -- can you tell me maybe what was the more -- you were faced with combat day after day, though, I take it.
Continually, yes.
How many days would that have gone on, you think? Roughly.
Well, actually, like I say, I was over there for over two years up at the front line. And but actually sometimes the thing would be 30, 35 days, something like that. Of course when we hit Anzio over there, actually in that first day when we landed at Anzio, my squad, I was the lead man on it, we got within four miles of Rome and we lost contact. We had to come back. We seen a lot of rear echelon German people at that particular time. But we couldn't capture them or anything like that, because there was only eight of us in that squad.
My goodness. Can you tell me, how it was you were able to keep your moral up out there in conditions like that day after day?
Like I say, they taught us to learn to work together and do the best we can and go from there.
What were -- I know there had to be some days that were much more difficult than others.
Well, there -- actually that landing of Anzio was the roughest one. Well, actually the roughest part of it was the Casino. I got up on the mountain.
Montecasino.
Montecasino.
Can you tell me about that, please.
Well, we lost a lot of men. Germans were built in and everything. Actually when we pulled off of there, there was only nine men left out of my company.
Out of how many would you say?
If we are lucky, the company at that time was 80 or 90, but we pulled off with just nine men.
Goodness. So you lost a lot of friends.
Yeah.
That area was quite mountainous, wasn't it?
Very, very mountainous, in that wall, it was awful hard to try to scale it. You counted down below. They've got bombs blowing up completely.
Can you tell me about, did you think that maybe you might not survive that? Were you faced with that?
Well, I always looked at it like I've always been taught, live one day at a time. Don't look back and don't look forward. Just do the best you can. Then that's what I done. That's what got me back to the states.
My gosh. Where was it that you were when you were injured? Were you injured in the Italian effort?
Yes, I was there.
Can you tell me about what happened that caused your injury?
Well, it was a phosphorous shell that come in and hit my elbow and everything there, and they had to operate on it three times to try to stop the infection, and they wanted to take my arm off. And I said no, don't take my arm off. They said well, then, you have to go back to the front line. I said I'm ready to go.
Wow. And you went back.
I went back.
Despite your injury --
Yes.
-- to your elbow.
Yes.
Was there an infection that set in?
Well, they had me in a sling and everything, and then I was in the heavy weapons at that particular time, so I carried ammo is what I actually done. I didn't do any firing of machine --
I see. My goodness.
But, I'll be one that made that landing at Anzio after we finally liberated Rome. We was only in Rome three days. And actually they told us to send us back to state side. But we didn't do it. They sent us back to Naples, and then we got the word that we was going to have a landing in southern France to help the boys out in the Army.
Yeah. What was -- did you have a good sense at that time of the progress of the war? I guess, in a way it was probably -- for the overall war, it was probably a good sign that you kept moving, wasn't it?
Yeah. Actually, we always thought if we could move up we're fine. We accomplished something. If we can get up the next time, great.
You guys kept, certainly kept moving, didn't you?
Yes.
What was it like for you in France? Did -- every geographic area you went to probably posed problems, didn't it?
Well, it was all together different. And we found out actually that the people in France didn't like us very well.
They didn't?
They didn't like us.
Why was that?
I don't have the -- well, actually I went back there about ten years ago and the people, they're just cold people. That's all there is to it. They're not very friendly.
Can you tell me something about the nature of the U.S. involvement in France at that time and maybe what, where Hitler's forces were and what you were trying to achieve in France?
Well, they always brought us up to date what the Air Force was doing, bombing each site and everything. They kept us in tune with what was going on and to our next objective. That's what we done. But there in southern France, I remember one thing. We had a replacement that come in.
Yeah.
And boy, he was very gung-ho. So he put a bayonet on his rifle. And as we was going along there, we knocked out a 17-mile convoy on both sides of the road. This big horse that they used for the, to pull their heavy equipment and everything, was all blowed and everything. So we was taking his bayonet and stuck it in that horse there, man all that sprayed out on him and everything. And so actually they didn't give him anything, change of clothes or anything. We had to put up with it for about ten days. His stink and everything. But I won't forget them sticking a bayonet in that horse and everything. But he got deathly sick at that time. I felt sorry for him but there wasn't nothing you could do for him.
Yeah. If a man was injured, I mean, how -- it had to be awful in terms of trying to get medical assistance, wasn't it?
Yes.
Was it a long time coming in some cases?
Actually, I think we was fortunate. I think our officer -- medical officer was real close to us all the time so they could get to us. And they could help us get help and everything. No, when I made that landing there at Anzio and everything, you know, I was issued a special combat badge, I mean sweater or jacket, and that's the -- when they got wounded and everything, they'd take my jacket away from me. So when I got back to the hospital about the three days later, they give that jacket to my lieutenant, and my lieutenant got wounded.
Really.
But he still goes out and shows PFC on his jacket. He said, I'm lucky to have your jacket that I'm alive today.
I'll be darn.
There at Anzio too one of the things that I remember quite a bit is actually we was told to stay in as much as we could and that's the -- actually we dug our fox holes and got in them. We got a replacement come in. We had one of the fellows had enough points in to go home. So they put me in with him and actually they got a direct hit, and the replacement didn't get nothing. He got blown to pieces. So, this is one of the things I remember. Here this guy did all this fighting all these years, and what did he get out of it? Blown to pieces.
And probably escaped death many times.
Yes.
And then just in a blink it can happen.
Wiped out. That same thing happened to me in France actually, in the machine gun section.
Really.
In the forest there. The big old guns out there, they blew the machine gun up and everything. When I woke up, no machine gun, no one else around. I remember just taking my hand and wiping parts of your buddy's body and blood off of you.
How on earth did you keep going? I know you had to do it, but, my gosh, that had to be awful.
Well, I had to just keep remembering that do the best you can. I mean, that's the way I was taught. Just one day and do the best. And I was thinking I was doing it for our country and our flag. I mean to tell you, I respect that flag more than anything else there is. And nowadays you see the children that, what they do to a flag, it tears me up. When they come back from overseas, the most beautiful sight I could remember seeing, when I come back I was on the hospital ship and put down three decks below and locked up. See, I was locked up when I was shell shocked and everything. So that's the thing that I remember quite a bit. And for 17 and a half days down below locked up.
Were you there at the time that France was liberated?
Yes.
Can you tell me, how did the French people respond to that?
Well, they were happy and everything else, but they still had to, like I said, they didn't respect you much.
Really.
In other words, they felt like that was your job and you owed it to us. In other words, the United States owed France to do what we're doing.
My goodness. Did you encounter many French troops at that time? Did you have much dealing with French forces?
I remember the French -- I remember some of them back to back in Italy some. We fought with some of the French there.
So, after the liberation of France then you moved on to Germany.
On into Germany.
Well, how, did you feel at that time roughly about, was this maybe what, '44 maybe thereabouts?
Yes.
Did you feel at that time that you had Hitler on the run?
Yeah, I thought we had accomplished quite a bit.
Was there still lots and lots of bombing going on at that time?
Very much so. And things that I remember more than anything is all the concrete things that the Germans made that we hada try to overcome them things there.
Tell me, I guess -- I don't understand what you're saying now. What do you mean?
Well, these concrete pill boxes they had. They had machine guns or their artillery would be in it. So actually we had to wipe them out and managed to get one of them out.
So they were pretty well fortified.
Very much so. In fact, the day that we made the landing at Anzio, we was supposed to land 20 miles parallel with -- with Rome. We was supposed to make the landing go right in from Rome which would have only been 20 miles. So, it was changed that morning. 3:00 o'clock in the morning, they come in and say we got different landings and things we got to do.
How do you think that your commanders got the word?
Well, I think they were just like us, they understood and there was particular death that we have someone in G2 or G3 keeping us posted on everything. We always got a good idea of what was happening. I can remember making a landing in southern France. They warned about three different things we could do. One was the telephone line wire down that actually was mined and everything, and one of our replacements had his hands bent -- he'd take and try to get the wire over his head and everything, got his hand blown off. Then he told up the next one in the house, there was a gun in there. Everyone was always looking for a souvenir and they told us to stay away from that because it was highly so they didn't do it. They went in and they got blown up. So I'd say after your G2 and G3 really give us a lot of information.
There seems like there was a lot of -- aside from all the combat injuries and deaths, there were a lot of deaths due to accidents too, weren't there?
Oh yeah. Actually I can remember on one ship we was at when the big guns that they fired and everything.
Yeah.
When they fired them, how many times, them cargo nets that we had to go down. They would fly out about 30 or 40 feet and come back and hit the ship. We lost an awful lot of men right there on them cargo nets. Because they had their full fuel packed and everything on them. There was nothing they could do. In fact, I remember one day the landing in southern France, the only driving lane I ever got, actually the little old boat we was on, Mexican nut -- looking for the mines, he hollered Mines in reverse and then he stripped the thing and come back and they backed out. And when they backed out, we'd seen the, a sailor next one that was on the boat before that got blown off, got his legs blown off, and he said, Go in here over where he got blown up. So we did. Actually it was my boat got a dry landing. We never touched any water. In fact, my squad and everything had to wait for everyone else to come in to catch up with us.
Just curious, did you ever do any landings from an LST?
Yeah.
How did that make you feel? Chances are the possibility it could have been made right here in Evansville.
Oh yeah.
I guess you probably thought about that too, didn't you?
Oh, I thought about it and everything. I remember the big old doors opening up and everything. In fact, I remember back when working there at the shipyard that actually the guys that's working there, the bottles that you christened the ship with, they stole them and cut out the bottom and drank the thing and got the young back together. Actually, some of them ships they weren't christened with wine.
That's funny.
Yeah.
What did they put back in it?
That I don't know. The only thing that I know that we found out what they did.
Isn't that something?
I remember too I couldn't imagine green bananas, all the green bananas, what they used to go down to anchor the things there. That's what the ships laid on. So it wasn't oil. It was bananas.
Yeah. Where was it, Mr. Gorman, that you became, with the shell shock condition, when did that happen?
Well, that happened in the black forest. You going into Germany and everything. At that particular time, I was probably thinking at that time that, Boy, when is my number coming up? Am I going to be next?
I mean, you had to have been absolutely sick of war by that time.
Yeah. But I kept wondering when I'd be the next casualty.
I bet you did.
Yeah.
So that was in the black forest.
Yeah.
Can you tell me about that?
Uh-huh. Well, when they said black forest it really means it, because you couldn't see, you couldn't see through it and everything. So after you go in there, you're lost.
Was this still in '44 or '45 you think.
That would be in '44.
'44.
I lasted up until the, right there at the German border that's all the further I got.
Wow. What was the nature of your condition then? What happened to you?
Well, what happened, well, it brings back what the fellows that I seen before that, that had to be up there for a while. You'll start crying and everything else because you realize we're at a shelter going to land or what to do and everything else. I just broke down and cried. And for three days they doped me up trying to keep me so I could stay out on the front line. I couldn't do it.
So you were given basically drugs to keep you on the front line.
Yeah.
That had to be just horrendous. Do you remember anything, any details about that time or is it pretty fuzzy by now?
At that time I was pretty well confused of everything. In fact, I remember one of the things in France actually that they -- a farmer had a cow out there in the field, and they got killed. He went out there in that barrage and drug that thing, that cow back in. So that night, we built a big bonfire and we'd taken our bayonets and got to hold the cow on the stick because we hadn't anything to eat. So We just seared them steaks. The next morning, the poor old man came back crying and everything else. I told him don't worry about it. The government will take care of it. He said that ain't it. He said me and my people here don't have any meat and you can't replace the meat that way. He said we need it now. Now. And we don't have it now because you've done -- but it was a big bon -- We wasn't supposed to make any bonfires either. Man, it was a big one.
Well, that was a threat to any bomb, I mean, saying, Here we are, I guess.
At that particular time, we didn't care about anything.
I'm sure everybody was just really hungry.
Yes. You get real hungry when you're out there for four or five days and don't have any food.
I'm sure. Well, when you were really faced with this shell shock condition, when did you finally get some help? Did you have to wait for that time to be up in order to get some help?
They flew me back to Paris at that particular time. After Paris they flew to England and landed in England there. I was supposed to come home the next day and I had an emergency appendectomy at 3:00 o'clock in the morning.
I'll be darn.
And man, I mean to tell you -- I got a scar, a great big long one. For 15 days, I had to lay flat on my back. But I mean to tell you, they had to drain it. Man it stunk awful.
In London, do you remember where you were?
I don't recall. The only thing I remember was the quanson hut we was in.
So it was more of a base --
Yeah.
-- that you were at.
Yeah, the colonel in charge of the base there is the one that did the operation.
But it was a U.S. base, right?
Yes, U.S.
Do you think that your mental state improved during that time, too? Do you think? Just getting, finally getting away from the combat.
Well, you've got a little bit good but you also felt like your country.
Really there was still some guilt involved in not being over there.
Yeah.
My goodness.
In fact I look back today and say how lucky I am. I should have been one of them in the cemeteries that I got to see and everything. In fact, the largest one was right there at Anzio I got to go back and see it a few years back. I mean to tell you, it was -- it's awful.
And it could have been you very easily. Did you ever wonder -- some men have told me that they wondered why they were spared.
Well, like I said, I wondered why I wasn't one of them that got killed and got hurt real bad. I often wondered why that. Come back here and now here when I go down to the VA. I go down twice a week. We have a discussion group on Tuesday. Actually -- I can see a lot of men. I'm thankful that I'm in a lot better shape than they are.
Yeah. I'm sure. Well, you finally got to come home then.
Yeah.
You recovered enough to get to come home.
Yeah.
How did you get back home?
Well, they sent me to Percy Jones hospital in Michigan. I was there for about a week and come back.
Did you come back on another trip ship?
I was a hospital ship I come back on, yeah.
Was it a pretty quick passage?
From England to -- I mean from, yeah, from England to there, that was 17-1/2 days.
Oh, boy. So you came across on a ship. Then what, did you go by train to Michigan you think?
Yes, uh-huh. Yeah, in three days after I -- well, I had never drawed a pay all that time I was in the service. And they wouldn't give it to me. They said no, because you're shell shocked and you're nervous, he said I have to send it home to your mother. And they did. They sent it home to my mother. That day I asked her, I said, Where can I get this checks cashed? And she told me. When I come back, she was dead. She'd dropped dead.
When you came home?
When I came home. I was home all of three days when she dropped dead.
Do you think she was just worried too much?
Well, I often was told that she lived just for me and for the time that I'd be back home. No. My brother was in the Air Force, but he, well, he couldn't get anywhere, his feet and toes are all curled up like that, so he's got to wear special shoes and everything, so he could never do any marching or anything.
Yeah. Well, you spoke your feelings about the flag --
Yeah.
-- a little while ago. I know that you had to be exceedingly proud that you served and what you did.
Yes.
How do you look back at your time in the military and think about what the U.S. accomplished during World War II and what you were part of? How's that make you feel?
Oh, it makes you feel good and everything. In fact, it made me feel good. My outfit here is one of the oldest regiments in the United States Army, get more faith, so I was proud with the outfit I was in and all that we had accomplished.
Yes.
We got a lot of citations and a lot of merit and everything.
Yeah. That was so good what you said about the flag. I know you're immensely patriotic.
Yes. Yeah, it hurts me when I go to commencement exercises or anything like that, when the flags have to all come in, people don't stand up and everything. And that hurts. People don't appreciate the flag.
Do you have any other final comments that you'd want to say about your time in the military?
Well, I thank the United States Army for giving me the chance. I also prayed that there will never be another one but looks like it's happened. So it looks like there's always going to be conflict and that you got to make the best of it.
When you got back home, did you use your GI benefits in any way?
Well, I had to, because no one would take me because I was shell shocked. And finally, I got in one of the programs, and I'd take some training at the service glass company, it's (inaudible) over for three years, I went through a training program, so that's what got me started back. So I couldn't get a job anywheres else. And it's hard to take when you come back like that and you can't get a job.
I bet it is.
It's pretty hard to understand why you are looked at like that. It seemed like they don't appreciate what you've done.
So, have you stayed in Evansville?
Yes, I stayed in Evansville and actually my uncle was selling Prudential insurance at that time and actually I guess when he retired I got his job.
Oh really?
So I've spent about 25 years in Prudential.
Did you?
Yes. Then in '76 when I had a complete nervous breakdown again is when my son went over to Vietnam. Let me tell you, I just -- and for five years, I didn't know anything. I don't remember anything.
Maybe you think it was just like the war returning to you.
Yeah.
So how are you doing today?
Well, I think with the government helping me and giving me medicine and being able to go down to the VA, I think they're helping me out considerably. And I thank them very much for it.
I appreciate you coming in today and sharing your story. I really do. I think it's a very important story that people hear.
If ever anyone wants to know something about anything, I got this book here. This tells you, pictures and everything, of everything.
This book is called from -- pronounce that for me.
Fedala to Berchtesgaden.
This was written by Nathan William White. Who was he?
He was one of my lieutenants and everything, but it's got a lot of pictures and a lot of diagrams. But I can -- if any school or anyone would ever like to know a little bit about it.
But that documents your unit's movement, right?
Very much so. Not only ours, but all units.
Oh really?
Yeah. It takes -- it tells you about everything. No, I treasure this book here. In fact, the original cover and everything got worn off. My daughter had it rebind for me. To me I treasure it very much. I let people now and then read this book and go through it and everything. Back when my son-in-law's father, he was a couple years younger than me, he said he'd like to know a little bit about what I went through and everything. When he seen this book and everything else, he shook his head. He just couldn't believe it.
Well, Mr. Gorman, thanks so much for coming in today.
Well, you're quite welcome.
I really appreciate. It's been a pleasure to meet you. It's an honor to meet you and I really mean that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
(Interview concluded.)