Amy Hammon: Um, I would like to start the interview by just finding out when and where you were born.
Delores Hammon: I was born in, um, at home in Bloomingdale, Michigan on May 2, 1930.
AH: Can you tell me abouta little about your early life, before the war?
DH: Well, I lived on a farm with my parents, my grandparents and my sister. And, we went to a one-room country school. Um, we helped around the farm, um. Just played, and our activity was mainly playing with our cousins and that kind of thing.
AH: And was your sister older or younger than you?
DH: My sister was older than I was.
AH: Um, can you tell me a little bit about your parents? What was their education? What were their occupations?
DH: Well, my father, um, before the war, worked on the farm and he also had an egg route and fresh, uh, vegetables and fruit and, uh, poultry. These he would take to Kalamazoo, Michigan and peddle from house to house, plus being a farmer. He had a high school education. My mother, um, went as far as tenth grade and she did a lot of things around the farm. She did housecleaning for other people and that kind of thing.
AH: And you specified that your father did that stuff before the war?
DH: Yes.
AH: Did that change during the war?
DH: Yes, my father, during the war, went work at the factory to help produce things for heavy-duty trucks.
AH: That was defense work?
DH: That was defense work, yes.
AH: In the school, how many grades were included?
DH: We had, instead of calling it kindergarten, we called it beginners but then it went through eighth grade. Beginners through eighth grade. While I was there, we never had all of the classes the grades filled. One time I remember 22 people being there but it was more like a family than it was like a school. The older children would help the younger children and by that way we became very close. It was a close-knit thing. And the community activities were around the school. School was where people went for plays and meetings and different things like that.
AH: When did you first become aware of World War II?
DH: I believe I was subconsciously aware of it but the big thing was when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th.
AH: What do you remember about Pearl Harbor?
DH: Just that, how upset the adults were around, I was eleven years old at that time. And I remember how upset my parents were, my grandparents were. Everybody seemed afraid of everything. Afraid that wethat the war would eventually come to the United States, proper. I remember because my last name was Blust. It was a German name. And my father's name was Adolph and my grandfather's name was Adolph and it was not a very popular name, at that particular time. So you didn't go around telling people that your grandparents came from Germany because you didn't want them to be upset.
AH: So, even though it was the Japanese that were involved in Pearl Harbor that's around when you became?
DH: Yes, aware of the whole situation.
AH: Did anyone in your family serve in the war?
DH: I had cousins that were in the navy and in the army.
AH: And were you close with these cousins?
DH: Very close with these cousins. We were very pleased with my cousin Lorraine who went into the WAVES because that was really something different. (Laughs).
AH: So you were very proud of the people that served?
DH: Oh yes, very proud.
AH: When you were younger, did you want to?
DH: Oh, sometimes. I thought, well gee, that would be a nice thing to do when I grew up because I always looked at Lorraine as what I wanted to be when I grew up.
AH: So you were very impressed with her?
DH: Yes, very impressed with her serving.
AH: Did you correspond with them at all when they were over seas?
DH: Uh, yes, we wrote back and forth. During the war years, there was gas rationing and because we were on a farm we got extra little coupons. My parents would save these extra coupons and give them to the servicemen when they came home on leave, so they that they would have fuel to drive around and see people.
AH: So because you were on a farm you got extra coupons?
DH: Yes, to do like tractors and that kind of thing.
AH: Wow, I didn't know that. How did you view the different enemy nations?
DH: Oh, we really thought of them as terrible people. In fact, I was brainwashed so much probably, by the adults around me that I couldn't see anything good about the Japanese at all. Now, of course, knowing that my grandparents came from Germany, I knew all Germans weren't bad. (Laughs). It was a little different. But you wondered how people could act the way that they did.
AH: What about the Italians, did you think about them at all?
DH: Vaguely, but right now I can't recall any negative thoughts or that kind of thing.
AH: Did the people around you, your parents, talk about the war a lot?
DH: Basically, when anyone got together that was the topic of conversation.
AH: How do you remember feeling about American involvement in the war?
DH: Proud, very proud. We all believed that nobody could put the Americans down. Patriotism was at its height.
AH: Did you talk about the war in school, in your one room schoolhouse?
DH: I believe that we did. Ithat's forty-one. I'm trying to think back to where I was. It continued on until I was in high school also. Yes, the war was discussed, especially in your history or social studies classes. The feeling was America was going to win. It was
AH: So there was never a question?
DH: Not really. I think we were very idealistic and that. In fact, I wish today we had a little more of that idealism. (Laughs).
AH: Where else did you hear about the war, you heard about your parents talking
DH: It was in the papers and of course it was on the radio. And when we went to the theatres, we'd have newsreels and the newsreels always had pictures.
AH: Did you go to the theatre a lot?
DH: We probably went to the movies once a week.
AH: What sort of things did they show on the newsreel?
DH: Battle scenes, a lot of battle scenes and fighting and it looked atrocious. So therefore you were built more feelings of patriotism and that we were going to win and do anything we can to help. I told you we had gas rationing, we also had some food rationing. Sugar, was one of the things I remember, coffee.
AH: And how did people feel about the rationing?
DH: Some of them accepted it and were very gracious about it. Others grumbled like difficult people. I was always proud of my parents and their attitude toward it.
AH: They were very accepting of it?
DH: Yes, but my grandmother who was the one of German descent was a little bit of a hoarder. (Laughs).
(Phone rings, stop tape to answer it.)
AH: You were taking about your grandmother who was a hoarder.
DH: Yes, if she could get sugar and hide it, boy she did. (Laughs).
AH: Now, was this just based on the rationing or was it something else that made her do it?
DH: I don't know whether it was something that happened in her childhood before she came to America or what, but it was just the idea that she wasn't going to do without.
AH: Now, how did you feel about that?
DH: I was ashamed, I was ashamed of it. I thought that was, you know, if everybody else was going through this, she should have accepted it and gone through it too. But, that was not her way of life, how's that? (Laughs).
AH: Did you play any war games when you were younger?
DH: I'm sure that we did but I remember back to cowboys and Indians rather than the Germans and the Japs and this kind of thing. But we played other kind of games, but war games, I would say no.
AH: Do you remember any toys that had to do with the war?
DH: Oh, I'm sure that there were toys but of course you're talking back when toys weren't all that plentiful and most materials were used for war products rather than for toys and that kind of thing.
AH: Did you experience air raid drills or blackouts?
DH: We had air raid drills in school. We were told to hide under a desk or lean against the wall of a cement building or a brick building or something like that. But, they never seemed very real.
AH: So you weren't afraid during them or anything?
DH: No, no.
AH: And did you have blackouts in Michigan?
DH: Oh yes. You know, the shades pulled down and that kind of thing.
AH: And were you afraid during those?
DH: Not really, I think my parents did a real good job of making me feel, us all feel secure, you know. But no, I can't say I was ever traumatized or anything like that.
AH: So you never really thought that you were practicing for a real invasion?
DH: No, it never seemed that real to me. Of course, living in you know we weren't on the coast and the fact that we would come in... Of course, we were situated halfway between Detroit and halfway between uh, between Detroit and Chicago, which were both large industrial cities. And a bomb could have dropped in between, if they ever got the bombs that far in to begin with.
AH: But that wasn't a real worry.
DH: No, no.
AH: You mentioned that your father went to work at a defense plant. Was it a plant that had been near you?
DH: Uh, well, it was located about 25 miles away. It had existed before and now its part of Eaton Manufacturing Company. So, its still in existence, not just as a war plant but making parts for trucks.
AH: Did a lot of people you knew start working at the plants?
DH: Oh yes. Oh yes. Everybody was into the war effort. Anything we could do to help we did.
AH: Did you ever plant a victory garden?
DH: Oh well we always had a garden and so we never really called it a victory garden. I can remember an aunt in Chicago planting a victory garden and calling it such.
AH: What about scrap drives?
DH: Oh we had lots of scrap drives and people responded very, very well to those kinds of things.
AH: So you felt you were supporting the war by doing that kind of thing?
DH: Yes, oh yes.
AH: And that goes back to the patriotism?
DH: Yes.
AH: When people went off to war, you mentioned you had
some cousins and specifically you cousin Lorraine, did you worry about
them overseas?
DH: Well, Lorraine never went overseas, I think at that time they kept all the women doing jobs here in the States. But my cousin Walter and my cousin Frank were overseas and yes we were concerned. Frank was in the navy and I worried about him, about his ship being sunk and my other cousin was in Germany and we were worried about him too.
AH: Now did you ever When you saw the newsreels did you ever specifically worry about your cousin based on what you had seen?
DH: Yes, and we're going now into my high school years. Just before the war was ended, a lot of our classmates would leave school to go and volunteer. In fact, my husband volunteered and was in the service sworn into the service before he graduated from high school. He did graduate, but he wore his uniform and sat off stage because he wouldn't wear his robe and be like the others. (Laughs).
AH: So were you close to him then?
DH: Yes, I was his friend at that particular time. I'm still his friend (laughs) but he was a friend at that time. A couple of the fellows I had dated had gone in service and that kind of thing. One of the questions when I was going to college which one of the girls asked me was "How did I feel about not having nylons and stockings and that kind of thing during the war?" And I looked at her and I said "I was a bobby-soxer and at that time we never I wasn't old enough to wear nylons and that kind of thing."
AH: So that rationing didn't bother you at all?
DH: No, no.
AH: But your grandmother upset about that?
DH: (Laughs). No, because she was not a fashion kind of person, very rarely left the house actually.
AH: Now you mentioned that you didn't advertise that your family was from Germany. Did you feel you had to hide it or?
DH: Uh, I think there were times when yes, people would talk about their backgrounds and so forth and I would not volunteer to talk about mine. It was probably because I didn't want people to think of me as being part of the enemy. (Laughs a little). People were funny, they were funny.
AH: How do you mean?
DH: Um, slights, slurs and that, you know if you were of German nationality there had to be something wrong with you. I can remember some people that we knew who lived in Chicago and they said people threw things at them, you know. Young kids would throw things at a German named child. They would Walking down the street they might get things thrown at them. And see, I didn't want anything like that to be happen to me.
AH: Did you have any people of Asian descent around?
DH: Not in the area, we were a rural area and very I don't remember of any living around us.
AH: How did you feel when the war ended?
DH: Oh, big relief and of course we were right the Americans won. (Laughs). And a lot of joy, a lot of cheering. People were very, very happy at the time.
AH: Do you remember VJ day or VE day?
DH: Yes I do.
AH: And what went on?
DH: Well actually parties and that kind of thing, but mainly we listened to the radio. Again without having T. V. or anything like that where you could really see it and that, you could hear people, how happy they were and with the parades down New York City with the ticker tapes and all of this. But you could hear in the background and of course, the announcer describing what was going on. It was a very happy time.
AH: And did your cousins come back after that?
DH: Yes, um all of my cousins returned and that. We had two or three of the neighbor boys that didn't return and those were sad times. Some of them we were close to. But you know, the honor was there, fighting for your country.
AH: So that compensated?
DH: It compensated but I'm sure it didn't help the mother or the immediate family all that much. But, they were looked on as heroes.
AH: How did you adjust to post-war life? Did you feel like there were any big changes in your life?
DH: Not really, I was 15, and life went on. At 15, you're not really all that concerned with worldwide things, you're more concerned with yourself and your immediate surroundings. I think that the economy was better, you know. Of course the fact that more things were available was wonderful.
AH: Did your father continue working after the war?
DH: Yes, he did. He worked until 1962, I think it was. Heavy-duty trucks are always in demand.
AH: Yes, What do you think about
(Bird clock chirps)
DH: Aren't you glad you got that?
AH: What do you think about the films that are made about the war?
DH: I often wonder why we even have them going on today. It happened so long ago. Really, I don't like watching them, how's that? And I'm sure they're very biased and if I were of Japanese or I am of German descent and all of this kind of thing, but being older I can put everything in perspective. I know I'm not part of that and I know a good share of the German people weren't part of the Hitler regime, regime. You know, because there was only a certain bunch of them that felt that of the I know, white supremacy kind of thing. I disassociate myself with them.
AH: How do you think that today's generation, my generation, understands the experience of living in the war?
DH: I often wonder if they have as much patriotism as what the people did back in the 1940's. Whether it would be too inconvenient for them (laughs) to accept some of the things that we just accepted that had to be done.
AH: Like the rationing?
DH: Yes, like the rationing and doing without so that the country could survive.
AH: How do you think the Second World War as a whole is being remembered? Do you think it's being remembered in the right way?
DH: I would hope that it would be remembered in the right way. I know that the countries, the Japanese people and the German people because and the French people and the Italian people, many of their old buildings were destroyed so that from an economic sense of view they world pitched in to build new factories, new things and made their life much easier than it was before. But sometimes I think the Americans are resented for being the leaders. I think we're looked upon as kind of pushy people.
AH: What about the way the war is taught in American schools?
DH: I have some problems with that, with history being rewritten all the time. You know,I'm wondering do we delve too deeply in and are we getting facts or are we getting people's opinions.
AH: In what way? Can you give me a specific example?
DH: I think of the Indians as more than anything else. From time began, when there's been wars, and I'm not saying wars are right, because I think it's much nicer if we can settle things over a table and talking and that kind of thing, but when someone came in and they took over the country and so forth, that was the way people did things and all of that. I don't think that we today should be blamed for things that happened a thousand years ago.
AH: And do you carry that through to World War II, that you don't think people today should be blamed for things that happened during the war?
DH: That's right, because most of us were not responsible for what happened then. We're responsible for our country, but I think that we have tried to make amends and tried to do things. I know when I was in school there were the white hats and the black hats. To wear a black hat you were bad and if you wore a white hat you were a good guy. And sometimes I think maybe history was portrayed, again, maybe not as truthfully but it was from someone's point of view. If you look at whatever we read or this, with realizing that most of these things are someone's opinion instead of the actual fact, because there is probably two or at least three sides to every thing, you know. You have to be kind of objective when you're doing these things.
AH: Any last thoughts about the war that you might want to share?
DH: No, well I hope we never have another one. I really hope that the world is coming to a time when peace talks are much more acceptable than actual getting out there and fighting and killing people.
AH: Thank you very much.
DH: Oh you're welcome.
(Tape ends, then restarts).
AH: Could you just repeat what you said about the newsreels affecting how you raised your children.
DH: Well, watching the newsreels and seeing the children in Europe wandering around without parents and they didn't know how they were going to survive, how they were going to eat or anything like that, made me make sure that my children were raised so that if something happened to my husband or myself or there was a third world war, they were going to survive. So they were taught how to find food, how to do things for themselves, so they would be able to survive.
AH: What kind of things did you do with them?
DH: I I I guess I showed them how to do things so thatHow to find food, what they could eat, what they couldn't eat, things that were in the wild that they could eat if they needed to. How to keep warm when they were there, how to build a fire if they needed to.
AH: How young did you start teaching these skills to your kids?
DH: Very young, I'm going to say four and five years old. Because Bill was the oldest, my oldest son, the younger ones learned also from him. They are quite good at doing these things today yet. (Laughs).
AH: Thank you.