Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Leslie Bruce Allen 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.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Today is August 8, 2003. And we have the honor of interviewing Leslie Allen, birth date June 25, 1916, lives on Florence Street in Salem, Indiana. I'm Gertrude Stevenson, the Washington County coordinator for the National History project, to be placed in the Library of Congress. This is being promoted by Senator Lugar. And this recording is soon to be available through the internet. It is open to any veteran who might be interested to participate. And we have the pleasure of interviewing Leslie Allen.
And would you begin by telling us where you were inducted and then where you went?
I was living in New_____ at the time but I enlisted after my two brothers were in, I said I would go in. I was 27 and I had two children living at that time. And I joined because they went in. And I picked the Navy. And my younger brother belonged to the Navy. And my older brother to the Army. And I took my basic in Great Lakes Naval Training Station. I was platoon leader down there at Great Lakes then I went to Iowa State College to electrical -- Navy electrical school for 16 weeks. And I was section leader there. Then I was transferred, after I finished that, I got 18 weeks more at Williamsburg, Virginia, Camp Perry. After that I went with them overseas.
Where did you ship out from?
I shipped out from San Francisco.
How did you get from Iowa or -- where, across the nation?
I -- my wife and children were there at Virginia with me and we came back through here and I left them and took a train out to Frisco and I went from there.
How many days did it take you? Slow?
It took over six. I don't remember. But I went over to -- I landed at New Guinea and was on a repair ship there, the ARTA. And then from there I went to Los Negros island in the Admiralties and I was there for nine months. Then I went to the ________ island in the Philippines down in the Leyte Gulf. And I was discharged from there. I mean, I was just sent back home to the Great Lakes and discharged from the Great Lakes after almost two years.
Forty-four, January of '44 to--
December of '45.
Yes.
It was almost two years.
Almost two years.
And a year of it was there in the Pacific. But my two brothers were both in the Pacific, too.
Did you get to see them or --
No, I didn't. They got to see each other but I didn't--
They were --
They were officers and I was called petty.
Did you have any furlough or did you not see your wife in between that time?
No, no, not after I started overseas but she was with me when I went to school both places, she and the children. But I -- I was glad I went in the Navy. I always liked the Navy.
You could keep clean, couldn't you?
Well, yes.
Yes, an electrician.
Yes.
But did you have a memorable experience, something that you could remember especially?
No, not particularly.
See any USO shows?
Oh, yes, I saw USO shows and the like, but I don't remember who it would be or who performed there.
Uh-huh. And what rank did you have?
EMIIIC, electrician's mate third class. I never did amount to much.
Well, now, that's not -- because that's very important on those.
Yes.
What kind of a ship were you on?
Well, I was in -- in repair bases except the ARTA didn't repair ships in the beginning. And after that I was on an island base.
What was the food like there?
When I went from Admiralty islands to the Philippines, went on LST. And they -- I volunteered to -- for chow duty. I was -- I didn't have to take chow duty but I -- because we had gone 16 weeks without any fresh meal, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables. And we -- it was -- I just got to eat that way. I wanted to eat. Then when we crossed the equator, -- no, it was as we came up the line, they had to chip paint and I was in my sack laughing at them because I didn't have to go out but I did it.
Well, did you have an experience when you crossed the equator?
No, I watched them. We had eight Navy nurses aboard and they took them through separately through their --
Initiation?
-- initiation.
Yes.
And they took the fellows through first and they'd cut their hair and they would run a thing. They would catch a guy with long hair, and they would cut it, and they kept it according to color. And they would get these nurses in there and tie their hands behind them and take it. The nurse would say, "Please don't cut my hair" and this guy would zip, zip and dropped hair in their lap. And they cried.
I've never heard that.
And they -- but they were using these men's, the men's hair, and the women thought it was theirs. And they didn't touch a head.
Is that right?
Oh, they had a big time out of it.
Screaming and crying and --
Yes, yes. And then they wouldn't let one of the nurses see, any of the nurses that had been through, they had to go through it all.
What a dirty trick.
Yes.
Yes. Well, where were you, let's see, when the war ended?
I was in the Philippines in _______.
What did you hear? What did you hear about it?
Well, I don't remember what it was. They said was over so I was planning on going home.
I would think so. I would think so. Do you keep up with any of your buddies or --
No, no.
Did you make any --
No, I don't keep up with any of them.
You don't keep up with any of them?
No.
Do you belong to any veterans--
VFW and the Legion --
Oh. Okay.
-- here in Salem.
Do you think that serving there in the capacity as an electrician, it helped you later in life?
Yes, oh, yes. I was an electrician here in Salem for 48 years. And, well, part of that time I was with the post office but I still did a little electrical contracting on the side.
And how many years were you in the post office?
Twenty-nine. I retired as a postmaster.
Yes, yes. Did you use the GI bill?
No.
To go on to school? You didn't go on to school then?
I didn't go to school. I should have.
Well, I think retiring as a postmaster is something. Do you remember the medals or anything? Do you have any of those medals? Do you still have any of the --
Let's see, I guess I have the -- someplace the ribbons. I don't have any medals.
Uh-huh, uh-huh. Well, you've got several. You've got a Navy Citation, an Asiatic Pacific, American Theatre, Philippine Liberation, a Victory medal. You've got it. Quite a chest full there.
Yes.
What -- any funny thing happen while you were in service? I think your women's haircut was --
Oh, that was the funniest thing. And it was pathetic for the women, I know that, they were in agony. I mean, when they saw that hair dropping in their lap, they thought it was theirs. And they pleaded, "No, don't cut my hair. Do anything else but don't cut my hair, please." Zip, zip. They thought it was theirs.
Oh, I think that's great. That's a great story. Did you keep a diary?
No, no, I didn't. I wrote -- about every day I wrote to my wife and she wrote me every day.
Uh-huh, nothing like mail call, was there?
No, no. In New Guinea, I forget how many -- I had a buddy that he was put in to electrical school in Virginia, Camp Perry, Virginia while I was going to -- no, he was going to post office school while I was going to electrical school. And he was on the same ship I went over on. And he -- when we got over there, he dug out all the mail for all the fellows and we got it that way.
Wow, it pays to have friends, doesn't it?
That's true.
Yes.
He -- he was very nice.
I think so. Well, I bet you hardly knew the little children when you returned home, they had grown?
No, one of them was six months, the other two and a half when I left.
Did they know you when you --
I mean, when I went in. Their mother kept informing them, you know, who I was, refreshing their minds.
Uh-huh.
She came home to her mother's while I was overseas. And she came here to Salem.
Uh-huh. Well, is there anything else that you'd like to tell about? Your officers, were they --
I didn't know officers, I knew chiefs because the chief ran the Navy. The officers are up here but the chiefs are the ones that's here talking to you.
Uh-huh. Got your orders from them?
Yes, uh-huh. The only meeting I came with an officer was I had a -- I was a platoon leader and we were marching from one class to another. No, it was section leader. And I was marching from one class to another. And a boy in the squad saw a girl that he had played tennis with. And he yelled at her and this officer met us. And the officer jumped down my throat because that boy. I said, "That boy is an 18 year old boy. He's a son of a doctor and he didn't know he was in the Navy." But that was a girl that he knew. And she waved back because she knew him and --
But you got chewed out for it?
I got chewed out for that so, but both my brothers were officers.
But, you see, you were looking at -- you were a little older --
Oh, yes.
-- when you were in.
That's why I was --
And you were more understanding?
Right. And that's why I was platoon leader and section leader because I was older. And I had had better than four years in the National Guard before I went in.
Now, you said you were in something else before that. CCC?
Yes, I was in the CCC.
Yes, tell about that.
Well, that was, I came here in January of '35, and stayed until November of '36. And, of course, it was run by the Army. And while you're in camp and the -- we were foresters were in the field. And I met a girl here and went back to camp, came back here and married the girl and we moved to Louisville.
And you were telling about something being out at the fairgrounds in Memphis?
Yes, that's where we were. That's where we were --
And that's where your family was?
Yes.
Were you on the hill or were you down?
Up on top of the hill, yes, up where the -- they have the carnival in that area there. They had barracks on one side and the rec hall and the chow hall on the other side.
All fenced?
They were in barracks.
In buildings?
Yes, yes.
That's interesting. That's interesting.
And I started out in the Army when I came in in January, it was cold and I started out as a instructive, I mean, learning the Army clerk job, because I was warm and I went to the field. In the wintertime it started getting cold and I went in the VCW office as a clerk. Summertime came I went back to field. Wintertime came, I became a -- along about in the latter part of January -- of October, I went in the officer's mess to get out of the cold. I don't like cold weather.
You don't like cold weather? A lot of people don't.
And in the South Pacific I was nine months just two degrees off the equator. I got up there and clerked there and I liked it. But we were close to the ocean. I could go swimming.
Uh-huh, you went swimming, then?
Oh, yes.
Well, that's great. That is just wonderful. Well, is there anything else you would like to tell about?
Not that I know of.
Well, I've kind of gone throughout here. And we surely appreciate your taking time to come in and talking this over. And let's hope it will turn out well for you.
Well, I thank you.
All right.
I appreciate it.
Thank you a lot.
[END OF INTERVIEW]