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Interview of First Name Last Name 3/24/2026

Transcript of Interview of First Name Last Name 3/24/2026

Oral History Interview with John Benjamin Herr, WWII Veteran

Mar 24, 2026, 11:50 AM

Oral History Interview with John Benjamin Herr, WWII Veteran 00:00 06:33

Speaker 1
(0:11) Okay, this is the biographical data form for John Benjamin Hurr, Jr., born April 17, 1917. (0:22) He lives at 314 Hannah Street in Columbia City, Indiana. (0:28) He was born in Thorn Creek Township of Whitley County, Indiana, and he served in the U.S. Army, the 83rd Infantry, 330th Regiment, Company D. (0:42) He attained the rank of corporal. (0:45) His dates of enlistment were October 20, 1942 to October 28, 1945. (0:52) And his locations of military service were at various sites in the States and on to Omaha Beach.(1:07) Oh, Benny, were you drafted or did you enlist?
Speaker 2
(1:11) No, I was drafted.
Speaker 1
(1:17) Okay, well, let's see. (1:22) Tell me a little bit about the experience as you went to Camp Perry and through training.
Speaker 2
(1:28) I was inducted at Camp Perry at Toledo High. (1:32) I was given my clothing and so forth, and went from there to Camp Atterbury. (1:40) I was there during the winter of 1942 and spring of 1943.(1:48) During July, August, and September of the summer of 1943, I was on maneuvers at Nashville, Tennessee, and came back to Camp Breaking Ridge. (1:59) I was there during the winter, and in the spring of 1944, in April, was shipped overseas.
Speaker 1
(2:13) Okay, and when did you—and you were landing at Omaha Beach?
Speaker 2
(2:22) We landed at Omaha Beach, yes.
Speaker 1
(2:25) Okay, was that on June 6th, or was that after June 6th?
Speaker 2
(2:31) No, that was before June 6th.
Speaker 1
(2:33) Yeah, okay, okay. (2:36) So you were in the thick of it.
Speaker 2
(2:42) Yes, we were some of the first ones that went in.
Speaker 1
(2:46) Oh, okay, so you were in the first wave. (2:49) Oh, my. (2:49) We were in the second wave.(2:51) Yeah, well— We went in and relieved the first wave. (2:54) Okay, okay, and then tell me a little bit about where you were wounded.
Speaker 2
(3:06) I was hit in the shoulder with shrapnel and stopped at the aid station to have some attention, have a Band-Aid put on it, and the medic gave me a shot of morphine right away and told me he would give me a ticket to go back to the field hospitals and have my wound taken care of. (3:37) And the Germans came in and captured us while we were there in the aid station. (3:41) Wow.
Speaker 1
(3:44) Okay. (3:46) That was on July the 8th. (3:49) July the 8th.(3:50) Of 1944. (3:51) And how long were you a prisoner? (3:53) Ten months.(3:54) Ten months. (3:56) Do you remember the day that you were released? (4:02) Yeah, May the 8th of 1945.(4:04) May the 8th of 1945.
Speaker 2
(4:05) When the war was over.
Speaker 1
(4:06) Oh, okay, so you—okay, I see. (4:11) Okay, I didn't know—okay. (4:14) All right, then after the war was over, you returned home.
Speaker 2
(4:19) I came back to the United States. (4:21) Uh-huh. (4:23) And you were mustered out and— Well, I still had a little bit of time left, and they sent me out to Camp Adair out of Eugene, Oregon.(4:32) I was out there for a month.
Speaker 1
(4:33) Ah.
Speaker 2
(4:34) And I was sent to Camp Beale, California, and that's where I had my separation. (4:41) Then I was sent home.
Speaker 1
(4:43) Okay, so then you returned to Columbia City.
Speaker 2
(4:47) I had to return to Atterbury, where my starting point was, and then I came home, yes. (4:54) Okay.
Speaker 1
(4:56) And what did you do after you became a civilian? (5:00) What was your wife's work?
Speaker 2
(5:01) Went to work for the Farm Deer Co-op.
Speaker 1
(5:03) Ah, okay. (5:06) Well, was there any other things that you think of, interesting experiences or anything that sticks in your mind from those times?
Speaker 2
(5:19) I might tell you about being a prisoner. (5:21) I did not spend very much time in camp. (5:24) I was sent out to work most of the time.(5:28) The first time, we were sent out to work at a sugar beet factory. (5:34) We worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week. (5:39) When that was over with, around Christmas time, we were sent back.(5:44) Then about the middle of January, we were sent to Chemnitz to work for the city. (5:49) We were there then until the war was over.
Speaker 1
(5:54) Okay. (5:56) What was the food like in the prison camp?
Speaker 2
(6:02) About the same as where it is everyplace else. (6:06) They just did not have very much to feed us, that was all. (6:09) They fed us what they could, but it was very scarce.
Speaker 1
(6:16) Okay. (6:19) Anything else that— Not that I know of. (6:23) Okay.(6:24) Well, I thank you very much.
Speaker 2
(6:26) Very much thanks to you.

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Interview of First Name Last Name 3/24/2026

Transcript of Interview of First Name Last Name 3/24/2026

Oral History Interview with Frances Brown, Military Wife and Airplane Mechanic in WWII

(0:10) It's March 24th, 2003. (0:14) We have Frances Brown, whose birthday is May 27th, 1926. (0:27) Her current address is 309 Shinneman Drive, Columbia City, (0:32) 46725.
(0:34) We are at the Peabody Public Library, (0:37) and the person doing the interview is Janet Skank. (0:40) Frances, why don't you go ahead and start (0:42) with what you have, some of your remembrances there, (0:45) and then we will go from there. (0:49) 1940 seems ages and ages ago.
(0:54) And yet, when I think about it, it was only yesterday. (0:58) I was sitting in a ninth grade class in Pineapple, Alabama. (1:04) The class was a Latin class.
(1:07) We were not in the war yet, but our friends in Great Britain, (1:12) people in Great Britain were. (1:15) And the children in America, especially (1:18) in my part of the country, had been (1:21) asked to knit mufflers to put around (1:25) the necks of the British Air Force, the RAF. (1:29) We learned a great deal of history this way, (1:31) and geography, because the teacher pointed all the places (1:35) out on the map on that dingy old wall in that school room.
(1:40) I had never had knitting needles in my hands before. (1:45) And I remember that the boys especially (1:48) found lots of interesting things to do with the knitting needles (1:53) rather than knitting. (1:54) But they got down to it, too.
(1:56) And in that Latin class, we were just knitting away (2:00) on those mufflers for Britain as we conjugated (2:04) those Latin verbs, amo, amas, amat, da-da, da-da, (2:09) and knitting away these long, dark khaki-colored mufflers. (2:17) They were, it seems to me, they were about five feet long. (2:21) I'm not really sure of the exact length of them.
(2:25) But we felt that we were doing something for Great Britain. (2:29) And then came 1941, and our country was at war. (2:36) I remember our youth group going all over the countryside.
(2:43) Now, in Pineapple, Alabama, there (2:45) were a lot of junky places out in the fields (2:49) and along the cotton fields with scrap metal. (2:54) And our youth group spent many Saturdays (2:57) trying to gather the scrap metal for the war effort. (3:02) And then there were the long lines (3:06) for stockings, meat, all kinds of things.
(3:11) And I remember one long line that I (3:13) got into in Montgomery, Alabama when we had gone up (3:17) for a visit to the big city. (3:20) And there were several lines. (3:23) And I got into one, and I thought it was for stockings.
(3:27) And when I got up close to the front, it was the wrong line. (3:30) It was the line for meat. (3:32) And that was one thing I did not want (3:34) to have anything to do with, because I lived on a farm.
(3:38) And there was butchering going on all the time, (3:41) and I didn't want any part of meat. (3:44) It just, I wanted those beautiful stockings. (3:48) And then I remember we saved our sugar stamps, (3:53) and we pooled them as families.
(3:55) And we would have, like, one big birthday (3:58) when we saved enough extra sugar stamps so we could (4:01) make this big cake for the family. (4:05) There were so many other things, but I'm (4:08) sure other people have told all those things about the home (4:11) front. (4:13) But one thing I will never forget, (4:14) it was our custom.
(4:17) We were supposed to listen to all the newscast on the radio. (4:21) And some of us still had the ones (4:22) who lived outside of town, where there was no electricity, (4:27) still had the battery radios, those big old ugly things. (4:31) And the ones who lived in town had, of course, (4:34) electricity that ran most of the time.
(4:39) And we were expected as children to, or young people, (4:43) to be on that front porch as soon as supper was over. (4:47) And my Uncle Wiley, who was so up on everything (4:52) and followed every step of chasing (4:55) Rommel across North Africa, he had a big map on the porch. (5:00) And he moved those pins where our troops were every day.
(5:05) Sometimes it would only be an inch, (5:07) but he knew how far we were, our troops were advancing. (5:11) And I was lucky, I guess, to grow up (5:13) in a family where people were interested in what (5:18) was going on in the world and the welfare of other people, (5:21) even though we lived in a town of about 400 people (5:25) in rural Alabama, where most of us (5:31) had never been very far away from home. (5:34) Perhaps 60 miles was it.
(5:38) So at 16, I knew that the next year I (5:43) wanted to get out of Pineapple and go away to college. (5:47) And since I was going to need money, (5:52) I took a test at an airfield with the government. (6:00) And I guess I must have had a photographic mind, (6:04) because I could remember, with tearing down (6:07) the small airplane engines, the AT-6s, which were trainers, (6:13) I could remember how to put it back together, (6:16) because I could remember how I took it apart.
(6:19) And I could do that very quickly. (6:21) But so far as knowing what the parts did (6:24) or how it kept the plane running, I have no idea. (6:28) But they gave me a job.
(6:30) And I could tear down an 18.6 engine (6:33) and do whatever had to be put back in. (6:37) And so I was, I guess, an airplane mechanic (6:42) at that early age. (6:44) And the next summer, I was hired back at the same airfield.
(6:50) And this time, I talked the boss into just letting (6:55) me see if I could taxi one of those planes (6:58) just a little ways. (7:00) And I'm sure this was against all government regulations. (7:06) But he let me do that.
(7:09) And pretty soon, they had me taxiing those AT-6s (7:13) into position from the hangar out to the line (7:16) where the test pilots would be taking off and testing (7:21) those planes. (7:22) Thought that was a pretty big responsibility. (7:24) And I just felt so glamorous at 17 to be doing that.
(7:30) And of course, my other job was to check out the radios (7:35) to make sure that the radio apparatus on the AT-6 (7:38) was reaching the tower and that sort of thing. (7:42) Now, I'm not one bit mechanical minded. (7:45) And my children, when I tell them (7:48) that I did this during the Second World War, (7:51) they look at me aghast.
(7:54) And they say, mother, and the United States (7:57) won the war with you as a mechanic? (8:00) So that's been a family joke. (8:04) I guess living through those times did change our lives. (8:11) Because it gave us a much broader view of the world, (8:15) not our narrow little world, that there (8:18) were other people, other human beings that (8:23) had the same basic wants and desires as we did.
(8:28) And after the war and after college, (8:33) things went on pretty much as usual. (8:37) The world became a whole different place. (8:39) From that moment on, it just seemed (8:41) to change so quickly with new ideas, new gadgets, (8:46) new apparatuses, and just a much calmer life than before.
(8:58) Just a few questions to add to that. (9:05) You said you were 16 when you started and then 17. (9:10) And what year would that have been? (9:12) OK.
(9:14) I began, let's see, I believe, but I won't say for sure (9:18) because I don't have a pencil and paper here. (9:22) But I was a little past 16, going on 17, (9:26) and then 17 going on 18. (9:29) And so that would have been 1942 and 43.
(9:35) Did you do that? (9:36) Did you continue to do that? (9:38) No, that was during the summertime, (9:41) making money to go to college the first time. (9:44) And then between my freshman and sophomore year, (9:48) I graduated from high school early. (9:51) One reason for that was not that I was brilliant, (9:54) but my principal, remember all the young men (9:58) were going off to war, even when that last year of high school, (10:02) they were enlisting right and left.
(10:05) Pineapple was just a harem of women, of girls. (10:10) And so my principal took me in the office one day and said, (10:16) Frances, you have enough credits. (10:18) Would you like to graduate a year early? (10:20) So I skipped 11th grade.
(10:24) And so that's why I was so young doing that. (10:28) But the government didn't seem to mind that I was very young. (10:32) It was what you scored on the test.
(10:35) And I guess my ability in talking them (10:38) into giving me a job that I needed if I was going (10:41) to get a college education. (10:42) And did you go after that? (10:43) Once you got out of high school, did you go on to college? (10:45) Because it seems to me the war was still going on. (10:47) Oh, yes.
(10:48) When you left high school. (10:48) Oh, yes. (10:50) I graduated from college in 1943 and went right on to college.
(10:57) But between that summer after graduating from high school (11:02) is when I was working on the airplanes. (11:04) And then after you got out of college, what did you do? (11:07) Well, of course, while I was working at that airfield, (11:11) I met a very handsome and delightful young man (11:15) who was testing those planes that I had worked on. (11:19) And there were a lot of jokes about he (11:21) was scared to take up any plane that I had touched.
(11:24) But we got married. (11:26) And we were married for 26 years and had three children. (11:30) But you were married during the war? (11:32) Yes, we were married in 1944.
(11:35) And he lived for Europe for 18 months with the Air Force. (11:41) And I was in college. (11:42) And of course, we were writing letters back forth (11:46) every single day.
(11:49) How did you keep in touch? (11:50) Let's talk a little bit about your family life itself. (11:55) Were there many people in your family (11:57) that were actually serving in the war? (11:58) Oh, yes. (11:59) Cousins.
(12:01) Well, and you know, a southerner (12:03) has cousins first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth. (12:06) Doesn't really matter. (12:08) You're all family.
(12:09) But many of my first cousins, they (12:11) served in all branches of the service. (12:14) And how did they keep in touch with their families (12:16) and with you? (12:17) We had something called V-mail. (12:19) It was one of those little fold-up letter kind of things (12:23) with APO boxes.
(12:25) And everyone shared letters. (12:28) As soon as great Aunt Minnie got a letter from anybody she knew, (12:33) we all shared letters. (12:39) You've touched upon saving your sugar rations.
(12:42) Yes. (12:43) What other kind of things were rationed? (12:47) Like I say, I wasn't in charge of food. (12:51) The older people were in charge of food.
(12:54) But I remember sugar. (12:55) And I didn't drink coffee at that time, (12:58) so it didn't much bother me. (12:59) But I know that coffee was very rare.
(13:06) And rubber for rubber tires. (13:10) You thought before you jumped in the car and went anywhere. (13:14) And of course, gasoline, your gasoline stamps.
(13:18) And so we did a lot of walking between cousins' houses (13:22) and aunts' and uncles' houses. (13:25) Because the car was saved for only emergencies. (13:29) You said they did some recycling of the rubber, (13:33) because that was very important.
(13:35) Things like grease. (13:35) I've heard that you had to save grease. (13:38) Grease from cooking? (13:40) Yes, but that I can't really say.
(13:44) You weren't involved in that. (13:45) Because when you live on a farm and you butcher pigs, (13:50) there's a lot of bacon cooked. (13:53) And so there was always a quart jar (13:55) on the side of that big old black stove (13:58) where you poured the extra bacon grease.
(14:01) I don't know what they did with it, (14:03) but I know it was used to season black-eyed peas and turnip (14:07) greens. (14:08) And oh, did it taste good, because we had no thought (14:10) of cholesterol in those days. (14:13) But all of those relatives lived to be almost 100.
(14:19) What about the social activities, (14:22) the kind of things you did for fun down in Pineapple? (14:25) Well, Pineapple didn't have a theater. (14:29) When we went to the movies, it was about six or eight of us (14:34) in a car to take one car. (14:38) And usually that was about once a month.
(14:40) And we went to a little town called Greenville, Alabama, (14:44) on Saturday. (14:45) And that's when they had the movies. (14:46) They had the serial that carried on from one Saturday (14:50) till the next.
(14:52) And of course, there was always a Hopalong Cassidy movie (14:56) or Gene Autry. (14:58) And we would just go and time ourselves to be there. (15:02) I think it cost $0.10. (15:04) And we would be there when the theater opened.
(15:07) And we would just stay and see it over and over. (15:10) And we had to be home before dark. (15:13) But we got our $0.10 worth.
(15:18) Oh, yes. (15:20) And there were always dances. (15:23) There was one lady in my hometown (15:25) that's son was away in the Marines.
(15:28) And Miss Georgia thought that we should all just carry on (15:32) and be as happy as we could in spite of the war. (15:36) And so even though most of the boys, available boys, (15:40) were gone, she got the men around town (15:44) to teach us girls how to dance. (15:49) And she just cleaned out all the furniture (15:52) in this big back room at her house, (15:55) because houses were big in Alabama.
(15:57) And she had the Victrola. (16:00) And she got the fathers and the aunts of the uncles (16:05) to dance with us so we wouldn't miss out (16:08) on that social grace, I guess she called it. (16:13) It was very interesting.
(16:14) And then the church, the youth groups, (16:18) had box suppers where the young girls (16:23) fixed the prettiest food, but not a basket, (16:26) but it was a box. (16:28) Little dainty sandwiches with the crust cut off (16:31) and all kinds of pretty foods. (16:33) And then it would be tied up with a beautiful, (16:36) the prettiest bow you could find.
(16:39) And then maybe there would be some fresh flowers (16:41) stuck in the bow. (16:42) And then the boys would bid on the box, (16:50) supposedly not knowing which girl brought it. (16:54) And then they would have eat, go off in the garden.
(17:00) And most of the houses had big gardens with garden paths (17:03) and would eat supper with the girl. (17:05) And I was never really sure, (17:09) because I didn't think about it at the time. (17:11) I was more interested in who I was gonna eat supper with (17:15) and who was going to buy my box (17:18) than I was what they did with the funds.
(17:20) Now, whether the funds went for any war efforts, (17:22) I really can't say. (17:24) I must ask somebody. (17:28) Before we end, how about, let's talk about (17:30) the end of the war, the end of the war.
(17:32) Yes. (17:33) Do you remember where you were? (17:34) No, you were married by this time, right? (17:36) Yes. (17:37) Where were you? (17:38) But my husband was still overseas.
(17:41) He was over there for the Army of Occupation (17:46) and didn't return until 1946. (17:49) So at the end of the war, (17:50) all of the celebrations that went on, (17:54) I had visited some people in Buffalo, New York (17:59) when the war in Europe ended. (18:02) And I remember people on the streets just laughing (18:06) and dancing and a lot of kissing and hugging going on.
(18:11) And I had never been kissed by anybody (18:16) except after my husband. (18:18) And he's in Europe, and I remember a great big sailor (18:21) grabbed me and whirled me around. (18:23) I do remember that.
(18:25) But I remember the joy and the celebrations (18:27) and the sounds and the shouts of joy. (18:32) You've had some very interesting things to say. (18:36) Is there anything else that you'd like to add at all? (18:41) Well, I haven't really thought about it, (18:44) but the first thing that comes to my mind (18:46) that here we are in the middle of another war.
(18:53) And of course, after the Second World War, (18:55) my brothers went away to the Korean War, my cousins. (19:00) Here again, we lost family members. (19:03) And then the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War.
(19:07) And now here we are again. (19:09) It seems that we'll never learn. (19:12) But I think we've come a long way, too, (19:15) in learning to respect others.
(19:18) And hopefully, someday, we'll be at peace. (19:25) Frances, thank you for sharing all your recollections. (19:29) We will send this on to where it goes and reach out.
(19:34) Thank you.

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Interview of First Name Last Name 3/24/2026