Drafted?

I was drafted, and went to Leavenworth. I spent one hour up there and had a nice steak dinner before they declared me to be a 4-F. Then I came on back and went to the bomber plant to see whether I could get my job that I wanted and had trained for. Alice and I had both trained for the NAA bomber plant at Fairfax.

Working for the Fairfax Plant?

Someone had to build these bombers, and other work had to be done. I wouldnít trade places with any of the fellows and ladies that went to service.. For instance, women flew our B-25s out of Fairfax out to the coasts, where they were loaded and shipped to the field. Some flew them right to the field, to the area where they were staged, ready to fly into battle. And some of them are still alive and still bragging about it.

I did drilling and riveting and all that fine stuff, sheet metal work. And then when they hired me, they put me on a bench de-burring the sharp edges of parts.Soon, I was transferred to a punch press. Later on, I was trained on what was called a "joggle. There was a long angle, or extrusion, which is aluminum. This is framework for various parts of the airplane. And some places, the metal that covers the plane is called skin has to fit in without being disturbed by the thickness. So we made a little joggle. We designed some dies to do that work. Most of the plant operation was designing. One foreman probably would find out, "well, we need a part like this." He would take that up to the designing department, where draftsmen would draw it out, and then someone would make a part. And then from there on out, weíd make them in quantity. From there, I went over to the power brakes, where they take the sheet metal and fold it or bend it into different shapes. That was about the end of my service there.

Shift Hours?

I had no problem with the night shift. Prior to the war, I had worked at Freuhoff trailers where we would work three different shifts, two days a shift, then switch off. So I was pretty well adapted to the night shift. The people that I worked with, were all good sociable people. We enjoyed our work. There was no pressure on us to get so many parts out or anything like that. I donít remember a time that we were ever scolded for parts that werenít proper. I mean they went right on through the inspection, where Alice would check them. And if they were no good, they either went to scrap or came back for rework.

I had no transportation of my own, although I did have a ride to work and back. But if I had to work overtime, up until 1,2,3 oíclock in the morning, no transportation, then I would walk from Fairfax to this house, out here at 47th and Leavenworth Road. If the weather was nice, I could thumb a ride, but if the weather was snowy or rainy, I knew I was going to walk the whole distance, and did many a time.

PLANT SECURITY?

We had to show our badge and that put us through the gate. And then we went right to our work place. On the way out it was a little bit more hectic, because our lunch boxes had to be checked to see that there was no loot there. And we know now that people took parts of drill motors and air guns, bits at a time. And those people knew how to take them apart and put them together. The only thing I saw was a man was held at the gate, the officer didnít want to let him out because he had a ring made out of the metal which was govít material. We stood there about a half an hour, until he finally got some of the executives and the guards to come up to the solve the problem. I had a harmonica with me one night, itís 23-inches long. And the guard didnít want me to leave without a pass. You didnít have to have a pass for private or personal property. But he didnít understand that, so that held me up for quite awhile. The guards were strict only on the way out. You opened your box and they looked into it. Now they never did paw around to find out what might be there. But usually, when youíre leaving it should be empty. But yes, all lunch boxes were checked.

Rationing?

I guess the most interesting part of the rationing was that we borrowed rationing stamps from neighbors and friends for our daughters, my sisterís wedding reception, so that we could get a ham. And we promised that we would replace those after the event. And the day after the wedding, all of the rationing was canceledÖ.We lucked out there

Bombers?

We knew that we were going to war and the bombers were going to be used for the war. But it didnítí dawn on me until years after the war that we were building these bombers that had one thing, one purpose and that was to kill people. They were trying to whip the enemy, as it were. But in order to do that, they had to kill people. And with all the machine guns on them, on the bombers, a lot of life lost. And then the 75 millimeter canon. It was the first plane that sank, first American plane that sank an enemy submarine with that big 75 millimeter cannon. Weíre proud of what we did. We built a very beautiful bomber. And from the reports that we can read, it was the most versatile bomber

Fairfax Plant?

In 1941, the plant opened and we started to build the bombers. The first six were built from parts that were brought in from California, and were just assembled in Kansas. At the first there were 1000 employees on that first week or so. And then the numbers grew as the plant neared completion. More fixtures and jigs were brought in, or actually assembled there.At one time there were 7500employees at the plant and 40% of them were women

I think that (the plant) was very important because of the wage structure. Plus the fact that in the course of three or four years that we were building the bombers there, itís estimated over 59,000 people worked there. And we started paying Social Security tax and all these other taxes, so it was very important. Minnesota Avenue was pretty well crowded with people spending their wages.

Memorial for the Bomber Plant in Kansas City, Kansas?

I think that anything, any accomplishment as big as building bombers that were used to successfully win a war, we should take our share of credit for that We want to honor KCKS and the thousands of people who built the B-25 bombers and also to kind of honor the B-25 bomber itself. So we set out with a committee of five, set a goal of $5000. ÖWe had the granite monument built. We have a plaque of 144 of the names of the people who donated toward the plaque. The plaque is at the Wyandotte County Museum. And there at the museum we have our monument, itís at the south, the entrance.

How did keep updated about war news?

War news? Probably the KC Star? And the radio. Of course, not like today... The government had to be very secretive. We didnít talk about what we did at the plant. Well, actually there was no one to talk to except our own department members. They used to say something to the effect, "Loose lips sink a ship," something like that. They didnít want information to get out.

War Bonds?

Oh yes. I think at the bank. We did bank in those days. I think when the war was over I was making 1.06 an hour. And we would buy our stamps there. When I had the opportunity to go into an plane, which was very rare, I would go up and do my work and then stick some of those stamps on the firewall inside of the airplane, so the government wouldnít have to return my quarter. (you gave it back.) I just gave it to them period.