Let's talk about Pratt & Whitney.

I went to school for Pratt &Whitney, and it was kind of more challenging. We had to learn how to read blueprints and all kinds of instruments to measure with-- the inside calipers and the outside calipers and so forth. And all the parts. I donít know why we had to know the parts, but we did. And then I went to Pratt & Whitney.

I was an inspector in the spur gear department. I inspected gears. All sizes and shapes. Theyíd bring them in on big crates, and metal trays and theyíd have oil on them so they wouldnít rust. And they had tickets on them. And youíd have to check it and then youíd put a ticket on it.

We had a nice group. It was just one big happy family. And everybody was happy. . And when they played they played hard. And they worked, they worked hard.

I worked from 3:30 to midnight at Pratt & Whitney. There was gates that you went through, right where the streetcars let you out and you had to have a badge. If you didnít have that badge, you couldnít get in. And you had to open your purse and let them look in your purse. Without that badge, then somebody has to come down from your department and identify you. And that was pretty embarrassing. So you didnít do that very often.

Q. Entertainment?

A. Everything was open (when I got off work at midnight). The movie houses open. And sometimes weíd go to them. When Iíd go up to my girlfriends, weíd eat there on Minnesota Avenue-- a cafÈ that was open all night. A lot of places was open all night then.

When you go to the movies, first theyíd show a cartoon, then theyíd show the news of the day. And theyíd show pictures that had been taken in the different war areas. ëCourse, I imagine they were quite a bit propagandaíd to keep people enthused about helping out, and how good we were doing.

Kansas City was really an open city for people that worked. You know we had a lot of people working in the different plants around town. And there was all kinds of things to do. At the Pla-Mor, weíd ice skate. At the El Torreon, weíd roller skate. We didnít do this all at one time. And we rode horses out at Cleidbergs Stadium. And, oh at the Municipal Auditorium, each week they would have a name band in that played all the music of the day.

Q. Brother in the service?

A. (My brother) went in 1943, letís see í43 or í44, I donít know. And, him and my dad was living in California, and he was working at a silver-plating place where they silver-plated different things. And thatís when he was,I think he was 17. My dad had to sign for him, and he went into the Navy. And he was in for 10 years.

He stayed in, after WWII. He was on an aircraft carrier, Miles Seahawks for most of the time. Then they had a landing crew that went to Okinawa. And he was there for awhile. He was one of the first navy landing crews.