- 7 weeks ago
These are recordings my father made when he was in the Army during WW II for his family as he traveled from Brooklyn to Alaska.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00These are recordings that my father made during World War II when he was in the Army and he was crossing the country from Brooklyn, New York to Alaska, the Aleutian Islands.
00:14So, let's listen and then I'll upload them.
00:19Okay, let's go.
00:24Mrs. Levine, as part of their war work activities, the Teamsters Union is in Seattle.
00:29I'll take pleasure in sending you this recording of your son's voice.
00:33Hello, Mom. Here I am in Seattle, Washington.
00:36This is Fort Laughton and it's a very beautiful place located right on Puget Sound.
00:41You can look for that on a map.
00:42We had a very beautiful time coming here.
00:45We rode the Northwest Passage.
00:47If you look on the map, I'm sure you'll see all that.
00:49This is a great country going through the Rocky Mountains and Glacier National Park.
00:53While we saw hundreds of deer running around, we saw swift running currents running through the mountains.
00:58Natural sites that I'll never forget in my whole life.
01:01The whole trip was covered by snow.
01:03And a great big mountain snowing on the peaks and the sun shone right through the mountains where it was just like a piece of gold on the top of the mountains.
01:11Well, Mom, I want you to know that this is a swell place and everything here is okay.
01:15The food here is better than Jefferson Bags.
01:17Well, goodbye, Mom.
01:25Hello, Mom. Here I am down in the USO Service Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
01:30And I'm making a record especially for you. I hope you like it, Mom.
01:34Well, everything out here is pretty good.
01:37I have no kicks. The chow is fine.
01:39We have nice living conditions here and I want to tell you I'm here now with Ruby.
01:43And Ruby is now writing a letter to Ann Gertie.
01:46He doesn't want to come in with me because he doesn't like this sort of making record.
01:50Well, anyway, Mom, I'm having a hell of a nice time here in St. Louis while I'm here.
01:54I don't know how long more I'm going to be here, but while I'm here, I'm having a nice time.
01:59This is the USO Service Center in St. Louis.
02:02Every Saturday night they run a big dance here and on Sunday they run two dances.
02:07One is a tea dance from 3 to 6 and the other one is from 8 to 11.30.
02:13Well, I'm finished with my basic training and they give me all sorts of detailed jobs.
02:18For a while I worked in the office and they failed to get up and give the captain the usual salute
02:24and they didn't call attention when he came in one morning.
02:28Well, we all got fired.
02:29And from there they stuck us on different detail for punishment.
02:33One day they put me on a trash truck.
02:35That's garbage, you know.
02:36Well, I stayed there two days then.
02:38I got out of it.
02:40I was corporal of the guard right after that until tonight.
02:43I quit.
02:43I was corporal of the guard for two weeks.
02:45I was in charge of ten men and I placed them in the area, in the squadron, all over the squadron, in fact.
02:51Well, I put two men down at the cemetery.
02:54And, of course, when I go down there late at night, oh, it gives you the creeps.
02:59And I had two men down at the rifle range.
03:01Well, that isn't a bad place because right there they have a field kitchen.
03:05You see?
03:06This is sort of different.
03:07When the men go out on the range, they have a field kitchen where they feed the boys that fire on tractor shots.
03:11Well, my friends are the cooks there, so you can just imagine when I go down there.
03:15Why, they told me to give them an order for ham and egg or a steak.
03:19Well, Mom, I'll see you on the other side.
03:20Take it easy.
03:25Hello, Mom.
03:26Here I am again.
03:27Well, I want to tell you something about this place.
03:29This place is one of the oldest posts down on this side of the country.
03:34In fact, everything here is very beautiful.
03:35We have some swell ground here, and I'm in one of the new barracks.
03:39There are no kicks here at all.
03:40All the noncommissioned officers as well as officers are good friends of mine.
03:44I come and go as I please.
03:46I'm not any more treated as a trainee.
03:49See, I was a trainee at first, but now I'm in with the boys, and we sort of get along fine.
03:53In fact, when there's a job to be had, they all ask me if I want it.
03:57I don't know.
03:57They all seem to like me a lot out here.
04:00I come and go.
04:01I pick my own jobs.
04:02I can go and eat when I want, but the only thing is I hate like hell to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning.
04:07When they holler all up, all out, up and at them, well, you just have to get up and start dressing.
04:15Well, Mom, Ruby sure did give me a surprise when he came here.
04:19I, when I came in after Chow the other night, I found a telegram that he was coming in last night.
04:25And I had to run and get a Reveille pass so I could meet him and be with him for a while.
04:30Because I already put him for past the 1 o'clock in the morning, and a Reveille pass is till 5 in the morning.
04:35Well, I got that easy enough.
04:36As soon as I walked in the office and I told the officer of the day that I want a Reveille pass,
04:41oh, he didn't know what to do for me.
04:42He gave it to me right away because I worked with him on several jobs.
04:45I helped him out a lot.
04:46See, when I'm Corporal of the Guard, I place 10 men, and it's my responsibility to keep them on the ball.
04:52On the ball means keep them on a move and see what they're doing.
04:55Well, when I'm on the job, that means he can go in to sleep.
04:58You get it, Mom?
04:59Well, now that's the idea.
05:01Well, I expect Stephanie out this week.
05:05I hope she comes.
05:05She'll have a nice time here.
05:07We've got this plenty to do right down here in the USO Service Center.
05:10Well, Mom, the Chow here is the tops.
05:12And I want to tell you something.
05:13We have meat here that you don't have to cut with a knife.
05:15You just look at it and it cuts by itself.
05:17There's no wonder you have no food at home.
05:19We get it all.
05:20Well, we get every day the best.
05:22We get meat three times a day.
05:24In the morning, we get chicken.
05:25Chicken for breakfast, believe it or not.
05:28At dinner, we get steak and chops and all that.
05:30Well, Mom, see you on the other side.
05:31So on.
05:32Hey, Dee.
05:38Hello, Mom and Pop.
05:39How are you all doing back in Brooklyn?
05:41Well, I'm down here at the USO Service Center again.
05:44I have Stephanie outside.
05:46And we had quite a nice time over the weekend.
05:49We went all over.
05:51I took her down at the USO Service Center here.
05:54And we went over to the Veterans Hospital over on the post.
05:58She went in while I took a shave.
06:00And then I came back, which is...
06:01This Veterans Hospital is only about a city block, I should say, away from my back.
06:07And, of course, that's all the convenience is there.
06:09I went over to my back, so I took a shave.
06:10When I came back, Stephanie was there with my adopted son.
06:14As you know, I adopted a son there.
06:15He's 18 years old.
06:16He's from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
06:18He's very cute.
06:19He just got married.
06:20He's a young kid.
06:21So I left him talking to Stephanie while I went to take a shave.
06:24We had quite a nice time that afternoon.
06:27We took pictures over.
06:29Over on the hill overlooking the Mississippi River.
06:32Well, everything out here is just about the same as when Stephanie was last here.
06:39And everything will be the same after she's gone.
06:43Well, as you know, I was put on shipping Friday, the day she came out.
06:47I went and took a physical examination at 3 o'clock.
06:51I was put on shipping five minutes to 3.
06:53At 3 o'clock, I took my physical.
06:55At 10 after 3, I had my bags packed and I was supposed to leave.
06:59I then called up Stephanie and told her what the score was.
07:02And she started to bawl and all that.
07:04She started to cry.
07:05She was worried.
07:06She said that she came out a thousand miles in the air.
07:07She couldn't even see me.
07:08I was supposed to see her that evening.
07:10Well, I finally got scratched.
07:11The water break that was.
07:13Well, that's about all on this side.
07:15I'll turn over now.
07:16So long, everybody.
07:23Hello, everybody.
07:24Here I am again.
07:25Well, Stephanie's outside now talking to my friend.
07:27I'm Robert Sloan of California.
07:31And he's keeping her company while I make this record.
07:35Well, as I told you on the other side, how fortunate I was to escape shipping.
07:40Well, I don't mind being put on shipping, but I certainly do mind putting me on shipping
07:44when I have to go out in one hour, especially when Stephanie came all the way from New York.
07:48Boy, that would be some break if she ever had to go home without seeing me.
07:52In a way, I didn't want to miss that shipping order.
07:55They were getting nice summer clothes, and everything was nice.
07:59Well, anyway, Sunday, we came down here at the USO.
08:02That was yesterday.
08:03I introduced Stephanie as some of my ex-girlfriends.
08:06And she sat down and had quite a chat with Miss Juanita Hager.
08:11Oh, Juanita's a very nice girl.
08:12And they sat down, they started talking, and Juanita asked Stephanie how long we were married.
08:16I tell Juanita I'm not married.
08:19But when she sees me with Stephanie, I say I'm married.
08:22Of course, you must realize when I'm here and Stephanie isn't here, I've got to say I'm not married.
08:27I can just about see Eva laughing now.
08:30Well, Eve, what do you know?
08:33You don't know anything?
08:34Well, ask Peggy.
08:35She probably knows all the answers.
08:37Right, Peg, old kid?
08:39Hey, Peg, you certainly would like St. Louis.
08:41This is a hip-tip-tip-toe town.
08:44Well, I guess I'll have to be signing off soon.
08:47Well, anyway, I took Stephanie over on a bus ride through my end of camp.
08:51I showed her the field tips and the rifle range, the obstacle course and all that.
08:54But she showed practically everything, and she met all my friends.
08:57I've got some bunch of friends here.
08:59What fellas?
09:00Very nice.
09:01Well, the band is starting to play now.
09:04I guess I better go inside.
09:05Stephanie wants to dance.
09:06Well, goodbye, everybody.
09:07And take it easy.
09:08And when I go overseas, just keep your chin up and don't worry about me, because I'm going to win this war.
09:14So long, everybody.
09:18Well, there you have it.
09:21Those were made during World War II.
09:24By my father.
09:26Ladies, listen up.
09:27He lives in Brooklyn at the time.
09:30And that's about it.
09:35Okay.
09:36Thanks for listening if you got this far.
09:39Bye.
09:39Bye.
09:39Bye.
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09:54Bye.
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