June 2, 2025 • 44 mins
The remarkable century-long journey of Louis Tippit Jr. unfolds through vivid storytelling that transports listeners from the hardscrabble poverty of Depression-era Missouri to the Pacific battlefronts of World War II and beyond. Born in a cypress log house with no electricity in 1925, Louis shares how his early life was defined by grueling farm labor, picking cotton for mere pennies, and walking six miles daily to attend a three-room schoolhouse.
Louis's life took a dramatic turn when he joined the Navy Seabees at age 18 with two friends they nicknamed "The Arkansas Travelers." With disarming humility, he recounts how military service introduced him to modern conveniences most Americans now take for granted—his first experience with electric lights, his first pressurized shower, his first train ride. His wartime duties took him to Pearl Harbor, where he helped construct crucial warehouses for military supplies, and later to Saipan, where he witnessed history as the Enola Gay departed for its mission to Hiroshima.
What makes this conversation truly exceptional is how Louis connects personal experience to sweeping historical changes. From traversing the Panama Canal to supporting wounded soldiers returning from Iwo Jima, his memories provide intimate glimpses into pivotal moments of the 20th century. After returning home, Louis built a 31-year career as a millwright at Fisher Body/General Motors, passionate about the role unions played in creating worker protections and benefits. Now at 100 years old, having experienced 70+ combined years of marriage to two "good women," Louis reflects on a life spanning from log house poverty to recognition as part of America's Greatest Generation.
Join us for this extraordinary conversation that serves as both personal memoir and historical document—a living bridge connecting us to America's transformation through the eyes of someone who not only witnessed it but helped build it. Louis's story reminds us how far we've come and honors the resilience of those who paved the way through hard work, service, and unfailing optimism despite overwhelming challenges.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today is Monday, June 2nd 2025.
We're talking with LouisTippett Jr, who served in the
Seabees Construction Battalionin the United States Navy.
So good afternoon, Louis, Goodafternoon.
It's great to see you today.
Thank you.
And we're going to start outsimple.
I know you've been doing a lotof interviews so you're probably
pretty good at this by now, butyeah, so when and where were
(00:22):
you born, Louis?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Moulton, missouri, duncan County.
Probably pretty good at this bynow, but uh, yeah, so when and
where were you born?
Lewis, malton, mozart, duncancounty.
Okay july, july 26 1925 allright, my uh.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
My grandfather was born in ken, missouri I'm sorry,
may may all right 1925 I'mgoing to ask that question again
then all right, so we'll startout simple.
When and where were you born,lewis?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Born in Moll, missouri, may 26, 1925.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
All right, so you are officially 100 years old right
now.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
One Monday it's past the week ago today- yeah,
congratulations.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Thank you, yeah, my grandfather was actually born in
Kennett, missouri.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh, that's just a hop the jungle way.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, it's up by the arkansas border, I think that's
right.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I I went to.
I was raised up in arkansas andthe town I went to a lot with
monette m-o-n-e-t-t-e and yougot it monette missouri okay,
and my uh, my grandmother isfrom Mark tree, arkansas.
Yeah, okay, yeah, that's,that's a South of the, let's see
(01:30):
.
Anyway, it's not too far fromJonesboro.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Well you, so you know how.
I know that my grandfather wasborn in Missouri and not in
Arkansas.
No he was born in the back ofhis house.
If he was born in the front ofhis house, he would have been
born in Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh, the state line went through the house.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's what my family tells me.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, I've heard of that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about growing up.
What was it like for you as achild?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What was it like for you as a child?
Well, we were very, very poorand, like I've told different
ones, I was as happy as I wouldhave had a million dollars and,
like I was saying the other day,I don't believe I ever remember
getting a Christmas present.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Really Mm-hmm, that's something.
Yes, so did you have brothersand sisters?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
We entertained ourselves by homemade stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Okay, all right.
And how many brothers andsisters did you have?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Well, at that time we just had the one brother Lowell
.
He celebrated his well.
He signed that law book thatI've signed that's going all
over the world.
He signed it this past Friday.
Law will be 98, the 20th ofSeptember.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So you guys are pretty Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He's bald, and Martin's bald, and so are I too.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, so you guys are pretty close in age.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, about two years and five months I am older than
he is.
He served in the occupation ofJapan and he enlisted in the
Army Air Force in December of1945, and they had a cutoff date
in 1946 or 1947, I think, andhe's counted as a World War II
(03:25):
vet, but I enlisted in 1943.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Okay Now, growing up, did you have the opportunity to
go to school?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, this grade school was about three miles away.
Dirt road Three miles one way,six miles on and back.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
You walked every day.
Oh yeah, Wow.
And what was that?
Do you remember?
Do you recall what that waslike?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Pardon me.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I said do you recall what that was like, what going
to school was like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well, I enjoyed it.
We walked along with other kids, uh-huh, we laughed and talked
with your playmates yeah, wasthere a lot of kids at your
school?
Well, it was a three wingschoolhouse.
Uh, I think there were.
I believe, uh, each room hadabout two grades, I think, uh, I
think the one room before youwent into eighth grade.
(04:17):
I think, uh, fourth, I'll saythird, fourth, fourth and fifth,
fifth, I think, the sixth andeighth one in the.
That's the last road okay, soyou, you went up through the
eighth grade then yeah, well,actually in the eighth grade I
(04:42):
was on the record enough that Iwas a pastor.
I was around enough otherpeople that I knew everything.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Okay.
So after you got done withgrade school, what did you do?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh, I was on the farm .
We had two seasons.
You had a cotton choppingseason.
You had to cut picking time.
That's, that's how we made herliving that's.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
That's some hard work , isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
oh god yeah, when I went in service, I was getting
one dollar a day oh my gosh, andit's, uh, it's, it's, it's hot
during that time of season.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, yeah, it can be .
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So July, when I land by the crop shouts it's going to
be hot and you start pickingcotton, I think in September.
It's been so long since I'vebeen on the farm.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So you did that for a number of years then.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh yeah, after a while.
And then I went in service.
The first electric license leftunder when it went in service,
the first shower under pressurewhen it went in service, the
first train rider was when itwent in service.
You just keep counting.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, a lot of firsts for you.
Pardon me, I say that was a lotof firsts for you.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, yeah.
So where did you go to basictraining at?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I went to boot training at Camp First Virginia.
I came back to Gulfport,mississippi and took my advanced
and the advanced training wasover.
I went to Gulfport, virginia,and uh, when the advanced
training was over, like the goldseas, went back to north port
virginia and uh went through thepanama canal and out in the
south pacific and the pearlharbor.
But pearl harbor back in, oneof those might not know it was
(06:35):
not a state I did not know that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So were you a pearl harbor then when, when attack
happened?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
No, I was too young.
I was only like 16 and a half.
Okay, it happened December 7,1941.
Just from there until 1942,just very short.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Okay, so how did you come about being a CB?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, a couple of friends of mine at the they have
the MoNet which I I've got kindof got acquainted with them.
They said they was joining theCBs and they wanted to be done.
We all three joined.
They called us the ArkansasTravelers, and one of them was
one day older than me and onewas two and we were born the
same year and the same month.
We didn't know each other.
We got into the Seabreezetogether and we stayed together
(07:29):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, now, when you got done with your advanced
training and you went overseas,where did you go?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Went to Pearl Harbor.
Okay, sorry about selling out,but Pearl Harbor they just got
through raising them oklahomait's in such a bad shape they
took it out and sunk it and thearizona I went around did a lot
of times going over the portalto work, just the superstructure
(07:57):
sticking up out of the water.
Have you ever been there?
Right up from pearl harbor isred hill.
You see inside out on thehighway there.
That's where camp was.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Okay, what kinds of things did you do there in Pearl
?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Well, one of the things was what's called Banana
Project I think I'm pronouncingit right and we built warehouses
.
It was all metal except thewood.
The frame was wood.
It was like 40 by 100.
Frame was wood.
It was like 40 to 100.
Anyway, they didn't haveelectric in them or concrete
floors because they only putstuff in there that didn't have
(08:33):
to be refrigerated like coffee,sugar, flour and stuff like that
.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
All the dry storage right.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I was going to say in that area.
Now it's what I think is a bigk-mart store it's what, I'm
sorry k-mart shopping center,but they still got some
warehouses, I think there yeah,probably some of them that you
built yeah, yeah.
Now, how long were you at pearl?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
seven months okay, and then, uh, where'd you go
from there?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
well, what got on?
A ship, uh uh, went from there,started out, got out to carry
all in the marshals and it wasinvading the uh uh philippines.
We had to sit in the harbor inthat hot sun for 12 days waiting
on the escorts going intoSaipan and we just got, not too
(09:34):
far out from Pariala, our shipplayed out.
The sub was trying to get us.
Anyway, they saw our escortcircle around us and located the
sub and went to drop an ash canon it.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
You heard them say ash cans.
I can tell it wouldn't go downso far as to go off.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Oh yeah, the depth charges, I think, is what they
call it.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, depth charges.
Yeah, we went to the fan tailof a ship, a Navy ship, a little
one somewhere.
They said they got it, but youknow they play tricks.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Right, right and then .
So how long were you in?
So eventually you went into thePhilippines then.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
No, I didn't go.
We had guys in our outt outfitthat did go to the Philippines.
I backtracked a little bit.
I was at Pearl Harbor.
They found out that they couldput flamethrowers on tanks.
So people in my company- wentto got the OTA from DC to put
(10:44):
flamet, flame throws on tanks.
I don't have any flame throw ontanks.
They put flame throws on them.
We had three guys in my outfit.
I used my name to them.
It went to our instructors toshow them how to use the flame
throw in the.
Philippines and when we tookthey came back to our outfit on
(11:06):
the side fan okay, all right andthen.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So how long were you there?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
in 13 months okay, and the norway.
If you know anything abouthistory at all.
I was on side pan.
The nor Gay took off from.
Indiana which was separated bywater three miles, august 6,
1945.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
It was a military secret, so you saw it take off
then.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
No, no, no, it was a military secret, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Alright.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
You know what the name of the airplane was?
Yeah, it was named after hismother, noah Gay.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Oh so I knew the name , but I didn't know it was named
after his mother.
Oh so I knew the name, but Ididn't know it was named after
his mother his name wasT-I-B-B-I-T-S and mine is
T-I-P-P-I-T.
Oh, did they ever get the twoof you confused?
No, go ahead oh no, I was goingto ask what kinds of things did
you do when you were in Saipan?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
oh, I was in powder wrapping group and I was also in
the harbor working when theship came in from Iwo Jima with
the wounded on it.
We left from there a lot ofthem, because we were about 1400
miles away and we had the watertowers built for them, the
wounded on there.
We left from there a lot ofthem because it was about 1,400
miles away, we had the watertowers built for them, we had
(12:30):
hospitals built for them and Iknow we actually we got set up
with ice cream.
When they came in, we arrestedthem and took ice cream to the
wounded.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I bet they appreciated all of that.
Oh, they did.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I was 20 years old.
I left there November 22, 1945,if you count it up, 1963 is
when Kennedy was killed.
On the same day I also landedin San Pedro, California,
December 7, 1945.
That was another same day.
I also landed in San Pedro,California, December 7th by 1945
(13:08):
.
That was another extraordinaryday.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And so, when you came back from Saipan, was this at
the?
This was towards the end of thewar then, oh it was the end of
the war.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It was the 15th of August 1945.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, yep, it took a while for a lot of guys to come
home, though, didn't it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I think we traveled day and night, I think, on that
aircraft there.
I think we've got 70 dayscoming back.
Some of them had a slow boat toChina, which was.
I forget how much ship wecalled that.
That's one of the old tanks andstuff like that.
Okay, so that's a real thing ofthe old tanks and stuff like
that.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Okay, so that's a real thing.
Slow boat to China.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
That's right, yeah, lsts are what they were.
Lsc yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Those were flat bottom boats, weren't they?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
They opened up like a I don't know, like in front of
it like hands open.
They're very, very slow.
They haul like tanks and thingslike that they use them for
landing.
Yeah, because they go up prettyclose to land.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, exactly.
So you say you went through thePanama Canal on your way home.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, sure did.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, what was that like?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Oh, it was real close , on each side Wasn't very much
room and the lack of the lackwhen he was going through over
on the left-hand side was like atrain track and uh, uh, uh, uh,
uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh.
I don't know how it worked.
Anyway, it was connectedsomewhere.
(14:43):
Rather than a track to pull theship to the bottom of the ocean
, it had to be filled, had tofill up the water to go over in
the Pacific.
Got in a certain location, theyshut locks on each end of the
island and filled up the waterto be at the same height in the
Pacific when they opened thegates to go out.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah.
So what some people might notknow is that the whole purpose
there is because one waterway islower than the other waterway
and so you can't just take aship through and do that.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I know they load this .
We took on coffee and onbananas.
I remember saying to them I'vebeen sugar too.
I'm not sure it was about.
Oh, I think we stayed overnightafter we got to the canal.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Tell me a little bit about what shipboard life was
like for you.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
What ship life?
What do you mean?
What?
Speaker 1 (15:45):
was it like to be on a ship.
Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The first 24 hours we was out left Norfolk Virginia.
Oh my God, that ship had onlybeen out for a shakedown.
The number was PA-44, theflagship.
Anyway.
One of my buddies got so sickhe said I wouldn't care if this
SD sunk.
But when I got, when I'd getsick, I would go to the top side
(16:15):
and get that cooler and havebeer there.
And it wasn't so bad, youcouldn't.
You got swept off the ship.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We had all our equipment, our equipment plus a
thousand people you know, Italked to a guy who was in World
War II and he said that when hegot on the ship they served him
pickles and mustard and thatkept him from getting sick.
I don't know if you've everheard of that.
I don't know if it was true orof that I've heard of that that
(16:45):
song kind of knew.
I don't know if it was true ornot.
He said it worked for himthough.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah yeah.
I know when we were all rockingwe'd go down to eat.
We'd mostly eat soup, had tostand up to eat and all the
people would just follow thewhole place.
When we got out in the Pacificit wasn't so hot I never saw it
wasn't all our airway got downthe hose but it was pumped to us
and I got out in the Pacific,used my life jacket for a pillow
(17:13):
and it just slipped.
The rain felt good yeah,because there wasn't.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
There wasn't air conditioning no ships officers
oh well, that's nice I don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I think I'm telling it right yeah, so you uh.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
When you came home at the end of the war, you uh
where did you?
Where did you?
Uh?
You came into california thenno, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Oh yeah, the ship we went up on the flight the next
morning and had built no nutsfor us had a sign on the brick
building that said welcome home.
Job well done.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
How'd that feel.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Oh good, I spent two birthdays over there.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, so how many years total were you Well?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
actually I was in two and a half years on the fdr and
and harrod as trouble and alland reserves on six years during
the vietnam conflict of johnsonand and uh, on nexus.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Okay, I was in, I served on the four presidents so
when you served in the reserves, did you still do sea duty or
any of that stuff?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
oh yeah, two different places, two weeks each
time different places and seadays.
We did things for schools andBoy Scouts and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Okay, just a lot of civil service types.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, and you had people in the CBs who could do
everything you could think of.
Yeah, we didn't go to noclassroom.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
We trained under people that knew the job which
sometimes is a good way to learnit right oh yeah that's the
best way.
I guess I was one of theyoungest yeah, so you were how
old when you got out then?
20.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I've been 21.
In May I got out.
I was just short.
December 14 1945 you weren'teven old enough to drink the
whole time you served no, oh, infact we had, uh, in the little
town where I was raised or wentto a lot more than arkansas,
it's about six miles out of townwhere I was raised I had a pool
(19:41):
table, a pool hauler, and Iwasn't even allowed to go in
that.
But when we came home on theleave the guy said, well, I'm
going to let you guys play pool.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
That's good.
Oh yeah, yeah, you know, mygranddad was a bootlegger back
in the day, so he didn't care ifyou were 21.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I heard my I was just telling a little bit about that
.
Well, he had, he had to doanything he could do to make a
living that's the truth, and hedid, and he did, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I'm sure you did as well.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
So yeah, it's terrible how people see a
generation I was in was a badand the one way before me was
terrible.
I had to work.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Right?
Well, you were born just afterthe Depression.
Really Something like that.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I know I've heard my mother pick cotton for 35 cents
a hundred and my grandpa.
I was around him about 10 yearsbefore he passed away and he
always had some stories that heused to tell.
I didn't say anything.
He and his father and hisrelatives met Jesse James and
(20:52):
gangled him.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Really, that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And my mother was raised, started out in Norville
Illinois and went from NorvilleIllinois to Oklahoma and turned
white.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Well, you just don't hear those stories anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
And another thing I wanted to say I was raised in a
log house, not a cabin.
A log house A lot of people saycabin, but I think cabin is a
little bit different than logout.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah Well, it was like a house, it wasn't just a
small.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh yeah, it was all cypress log and the mark didn't
peel off of them.
It wasn't no electrical stuff.
I did everything with acrosscut saw, hand saw and
chopper axe.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yep, and did you use?
You didn't use nails either,did you?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Oh yeah, I had to put the roof on.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Everything was.
The roof was a log that hadbeen buried in the ground.
You dug dirt out around them.
It had been buried in theground for years and years and
oh, I guess I was like threefoot over three foot through.
We saw them all the way to theboard.
We split four big boards andthat's what went on the roof.
(22:08):
I was just 10 years old, I washaving to carry the board from
where I spent my time going tothe roof.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So you spent your whole grown-up time working hard
.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Oh yeah, I started making a hand in the field as
well.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Gosh, which probably, which probably helped you stay
healthy even now.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well like we had nobody had an
electric and started gettingelectric after I come home from
service.
And the food my mother cookedthe morning we had to eat it
that day.
And then in the summertime whenit got real warm without
(22:56):
picking cotton, they had icetrucks from different little
towns that delivered ice.
They brought ice.
They could get 20 pounds of icefor 20 cents and we had an old
refrigerator that had ice on theporch that covered up with old
war-out oil and the ice was onlyfor your tea, oh, Ice tea.
(23:17):
We drank ice tea.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I see we drank iced tea out of corn fruit jars.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So you were saying that the ice was 40 cents for 25
?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
40 cents for 20 pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Okay.
So your mom had to pick 100 ofcotton almost to pay for ice for
a day.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Well, yeah, my mother didn't come to the fields and
she got everything took.
Here we had like three milkcows and either one or two of
them giving milk all the time,and she always did those short.
I didn't have her to say oh,get out here, come out here and
have your milk to couch.
I'll have to, I'll have to a lotbecause you used to say to me
(24:06):
just a kitten, I know she usedto say us, us two boys.
She said she had a nickel, shewouldn't have invited a cleaner.
She used to say the girls couldhave a brother and couldn't
have it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Wow, so let's talk a little bit about what happened.
So you served in the reserves,you did your service.
So what did you do once youleft the military?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Well, at first I came home and served as an Arkansas
just a short time.
I know President Truman was thefirst president I got voted for
because at that old I had to be21.
And I went to California just ashort time.
The people out there I got toworking with in skilled trades
(25:07):
and I know I first started outthe place where I was working
building a rock crusher, andanyway, time come me to join the
labor union and the people thatwere working there said no, no,
you're not doing those laborunions, you're going to be in
skilled trades.
I liked it real well, so I gotin skilled trades, just worked
(25:27):
at that a short time.
We built a rock crusher.
I got paid.
I came back to Arkansas, juststayed a short time, came to St
Louis and worked at Fisher Bodyin 1960, this was bought in 1969
(25:47):
.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My son was born in December of 1948.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Okay, so you got married.
Then in there, yeah, I gotmarried.
Got home the 14th of December,the girl and I got married.
We knew each other.
Of December, the girl and Imarried.
We knew each other.
We rode over to all the time Iwas in service.
We got married the 27th ofDecember and guess what was?
I don't know.
I'll tell the story.
We stopped on Dirt Road Port, Iguess you'd call it, and anyway
(26:18):
, she was supposed to be realquiet and she said I sent the
penny for your thoughts.
I said would you marry me?
Speaker 1 (26:28):
she said yes, did you get your penny pardon I say did
you get your penny?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
yeah, I don't know.
Anyway, it was married 37 and ahalf years and, wow, my wife, I
lost her.
And he said, I mean, and I'llsee you July 19, 84.
(26:57):
Yeah, 84.
She tried to go through thefourth of the heart surgery at
the Mayo Clinic and she didn'tmake it she tried to go through
the fourth vocal heart surgeryat the Mayo Clinic and she
didn't make it.
We had two here at Barnes andtwo at the Mayo Clinic out here
in Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Then I married.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I ran into my large brother later and I'll tell you
a story about her.
Her and my first wife'sbirthday was one day apart, but
Louise, my first wife, two yearsolder, but I'll say I was
married to two good ones.
I was married to a large motherof 35 years.
(27:35):
She's married now.
I worked next to her.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
So you have a total of almost 70 years of being
married.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
That's a pretty good record yeah, and like I told
everyone something I never didbelieve meeting up on your wife,
I never did hit either one ofthem yeah, well, probably
probably one of the reasons youstayed together so long.
That's right I know one timebar's mother was sitting on the
(28:06):
couch and I'm standing up thedoorway, uh, and I asked this
ask would be doing this becauseI want to hear what she had.
So I said are you mad atbecause she's real sick?
She said no.
I said I couldn't be mad at you.
She said you're too good.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
That's really nice, really nice.
Now, did you have children?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Oh yeah, One son.
I lost him first of October 24.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Oh, okay, he was 67.
What's it?
I'm just curious, what's itlike to watch your children kind
of grow old with you?
You know that's.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah Well, my wife, my first wife, had the rheumatic
fever when she was 11 years old.
The doctors I had then wasn'tany more than veterinarians.
Now veterinarians are moreabout human life than they did
back then.
They thought she was justhaving chills and when he was
(29:12):
born they came back on her andsaid she's not having more kids
Three years before he was born.
Another thing my cousin, hiswife, got married.
That day.
I didn't really know it.
My wife and I got married thatnight.
They were on my marriagelicense, Signed my marriage
(29:37):
license Four of the surpluspreachers.
You know what it cost for a kidto get married?
How much Three dollars Wowthat's wife.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Four of us are blessed preachers.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You know what it costs for to get married.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
How much?
Three dollars, wow, that'scheap.
Better stay married because itdoesn't get any cheaper.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I had two good people .
They both had both good workers, good cooks, everything you can
think of.
They've had just a whole lot oflife.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah Well, tell me a little bit about your son.
What kind of work did he do?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Well, my son graduated from the Academy of
Fine Arts in Overton Park,Memphis, Tennessee, and he was a
photographer of a trade.
He'd done lots of silkscreening.
I know you've probably heard ofWinfield, Kansas State, Council
of the World where they playmusic.
Yeah, he went there almost 50years and he had two brain
(30:38):
surgeries, all 24 and 25 yearsago and I don't know exactly.
People well-educated and very,very smart and I just went
downhill.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah, yeah, you must've been proud of him,
though.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
And he didn't.
He wasn't the loud and holleredor spoken.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, that's something I did, that's
something that never did botherme, and then so when you married
Barb's mom, she already hadBarb then.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Oh yeah, Barb was 29.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Okay, oh yeah, I guess, if you do the math.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
She had three girls Uh-huh and Barb was at the
wedding, and uh and the weddingwas in her backyard, real close
to your work from where we're atright now.
And I think we had about 80people there and we had a five
piece band and my mute my sonknow a lot about music, was in
music with other people and handbar got abandoned, band
(31:42):
together we had a five-pieceband.
It was about 80 people therefor a wedding outside in her
backyard that sounds really nice.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
It was how did you meet barb, or how'd you meet
barb's mom?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
well, I worked with a guy at the picture body.
It was a it was a room in herbasement and he told her about
me and my wife just didn't.
Then, oh, lucky, you heard,that happened so I know
different ones.
Oh, you're too early.
I said well, you see, a nicelady like Mary was you let her
(32:16):
get away?
You're going to be sorry?
And anyway, he told her aboutme.
I guess she was interested inme.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Believe it or not, he told her about me.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I guess she was interested in me.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
She came to see me.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Oh, that's something, and when we got married I knew
we was going to get married Isaid, Mary, I'm going to ask
that you ask me to get married.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
She did, she might as well.
She came to see you first,right yeah so how long did you
work at Fisher Body?
Speaker 2 (32:50):
31 and a half years okay, so you retired.
Fisher and Chevrolet wenttogether 71 or 72, I'm not real
sure.
Uh huh, go ahead the new plant.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I just opened it up when I retired.
I'm not real sure Go ahead thenew plant.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I just opened it up when I retired.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Okay, so you pretty much worked there the whole time
after you got out of theservice son, right up to your
retirement yes.
Yeah, what kind of stuff didyou do there?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
I was a millwright.
I worked with a lot of steel.
I built the bear, I don't know.
There's different things thatwe uh was asked to do.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Okay, Well, we had a good union.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
We didn't.
We didn't have a generalmaintenance.
I think general maintenance Igot that all the way, for I was
at maintenance.
I think general maintenancethat got down all the plants
Before I was that Melrod did hiswork, five-year did his work,
but the electrician did his workbut the welder was neutral
because they could call on thewelder to work with any of the
(33:54):
trains.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Oh, so you didn't have to worry about it.
If you needed a welder, then no.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
This is your trade.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Yeah, so you retired in the 1990s.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
In December of 1982.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Okay, wow, and so you've been retired for 43 years
, then.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I think I was.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Well, 43.
I've been telling everybody 42.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
So you really kind of lived three lifetimes.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah, I know we went through ATWL and some of the
things we had to go throughbefore we got a good union.
I was just thrilled to death atState World because I got a
union pension out of this worldand that's nice, I got a
hospitalization pension out ofthis world.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, my dad was a member of the United Auto
Workers Was a what?
He was a member of the UAWUnited.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Auto Workers, oh good , from Detroit or where.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Out of Lansing, michigan actually.
Oh yeah, so always had a roofover our head, yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
I know you probably heard him speak at Wal-Mart.
Wal-mart rules are a lot.
Yes, I know Wal-Mart rules havesaid well, it's starting to end
and you're going to try to getyeah, try to get hospitalization
for us from cradle to grave.
We almost made it.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah Well, you think about it like I.
So here in Michigan, at themuseum right here in my town,
there's a whole section of themuseum that talks about the
unions and there's pictures ofthe unions.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Well, I'll tell you what people don't realize it.
If it wasn't for unions,retirement, social Security and
everything like that, it wouldbe a drawdown.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
A lot of people.
You've got people.
When I was out 30 years ago,some of the new people would
come in and see pictures of howthings were.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
They'd say oh was it really this bad?
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I'd say yes and worse .
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, because the unions really the unions started
because of safety.
Yep, they started because ofsafety and the conditions were
good.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Fisher Body went out and all the women brought food
to their husbands and theystayed in the plant.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
They have to go out like that.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Well, and they stayed in the plant.
Mm-hmm, yeah, they have to goout like that.
Well, and before the unionsbecame a force, I mean, there
were fights that actually wenton with the security guys.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Oh God, yeah, Walter, Ruzer, I guess had a medical
more than once.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
There's a picture of him at the museum here and they
have actually one of his shirtsthat has his blood all over it
from all the fights he got.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I remember my old union from Fisher Valley.
The local one I want to go towith the new planet is 2250.
I was out there and theyhonored me of my retirement and
the mayor out there made me aflag.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I don't have the stuff I've got.
I've got something I can writea book.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
You should, for sure.
Is there anything that youhaven't talked about that you'd
like to talk about today?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
no, I wasn't thinking all of a sudden doing the
others like you've done, likeyou've done yourself okay, all
right, so that's so.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
That's one of the questions I always ask is you
know, what would you like to youknow?
When someone's watching this ahundred years from now and we're
both not here?
What would you like them totake away from how you lived
your life?
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Well, I can just think about what we went through
to make things like they arenow.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, truly the greatest generation.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
I enjoyed working at GM.
I just I got skilled tradesyeah, alright.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Well, lewis, I appreciate you taking time out
today to talk with me and I hopeto talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I was going to tell you Barb was supposed to be
taking me, her and anotherperson taking me to Pigeonport,
tennessee, which is somewherearound the last October, for a
military reunion.
Oh yeah, I was there.
I've been to Delport,mississippi, as an old World War
(38:40):
II veteran, also been toPigeonport, oldsville and, I
think the year before last,mississippi as old World War II
veterans also getting thepigeon-borne old ones.
And I think year before lastI'm trying to think back they
gave me a Navy quilt and I gaveit to Bart.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Well, you're pretty popular.
From what I understand, a lotof people want to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, I've heard that , In fact, me talking to you
today.
I didn't know about it untilBart told me I was going to
Dennis well, she had reached outto me and we finally connected
and I said hey, let's do this.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Let's get this done well very good.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Now there's a.
There's a lady.
I'm a member of American Legion, been American Legion 36 years,
I think.
I mentioned before and one ofthe ladies American Legion, the
things that she often said aboutme and was the MC at my
birthday party.
(39:37):
My birthday party was somethingelse.
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
At the.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Lodge.
I'm a member of America and Iwas having a building party, my
birthday party.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
That's quite a memory for you, huh.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Oh yeah, I've been amazing.
They gave me my 65th year pinwhen.
I was there.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Well, that's a long time.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
They probably don't give out a lot of the 65-year
pens, do they?
I had three ladies I spoke toask to come up and pen on me
Barb, my sister, mydaughter-in-law and a lady nurse
that I know real well.
I asked them to come up and penthe pen on me.
I did, and they participated init.
They was our military squad andalso I was a squadron.
(40:31):
So about 20-some years I was asquadron squadron.
I think it was South Dakota.
You might not even know it byyourself.
He came all the way here, flewin and gave me a pipe.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Well, 100 years, that's a milestone for sure.
Today is Monday, June 2nd 2025.
We're talking with LouisTippett Jr, who served in the
Seabees Construction Battalionin the United States Navy.
So good afternoon, Louis, Goodafternoon.
It's great to see you today.
Thank you.
And we're going to start outsimple.
I know you've been doing a lotof interviews so you're probably
pretty good at this by now, butyeah, so when and where were
(00:22):
you born, Louis?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Moulton, missouri, duncan County.
Probably pretty good at this bynow, but uh, yeah, so when and
where were you born?
Lewis, malton, mozart, duncancounty.
Okay july, july 26 1925 allright, my uh.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
My grandfather was born in ken, missouri I'm sorry,
may may all right 1925 I'mgoing to ask that question again
then all right, so we'll startout simple.
When and where were you born,lewis?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Born in Moll, missouri, may 26, 1925.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
All right, so you are officially 100 years old right
now.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
One Monday it's past the week ago today- yeah,
congratulations.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Thank you, yeah, my grandfather was actually born in
Kennett, missouri.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh, that's just a hop the jungle way.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, it's up by the arkansas border, I think that's
right.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I I went to.
I was raised up in arkansas andthe town I went to a lot with
monette m-o-n-e-t-t-e and yougot it monette missouri okay,
and my uh, my grandmother isfrom Mark tree, arkansas.
Yeah, okay, yeah, that's,that's a South of the, let's see
(01:30):
.
Anyway, it's not too far fromJonesboro.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Well you, so you know how.
I know that my grandfather wasborn in Missouri and not in
Arkansas.
No he was born in the back ofhis house.
If he was born in the front ofhis house, he would have been
born in Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh, the state line went through the house.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's what my family tells me.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, I've heard of that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about growing up.
What was it like for you as achild?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What was it like for you as a child?
Well, we were very, very poorand, like I've told different
ones, I was as happy as I wouldhave had a million dollars and,
like I was saying the other day,I don't believe I ever remember
getting a Christmas present.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Really Mm-hmm, that's something.
Yes, so did you have brothersand sisters?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
We entertained ourselves by homemade stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Okay, all right.
And how many brothers andsisters did you have?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Well, at that time we just had the one brother Lowell
.
He celebrated his well.
He signed that law book thatI've signed that's going all
over the world.
He signed it this past Friday.
Law will be 98, the 20th ofSeptember.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So you guys are pretty Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He's bald, and Martin's bald, and so are I too.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, so you guys are pretty close in age.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, about two years and five months I am older than
he is.
He served in the occupation ofJapan and he enlisted in the
Army Air Force in December of1945, and they had a cutoff date
in 1946 or 1947, I think, andhe's counted as a World War II
(03:25):
vet, but I enlisted in 1943.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Okay Now, growing up, did you have the opportunity to
go to school?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, this grade school was about three miles away.
Dirt road Three miles one way,six miles on and back.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
You walked every day.
Oh yeah, Wow.
And what was that?
Do you remember?
Do you recall what that waslike?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Pardon me.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I said do you recall what that was like, what going
to school was like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well, I enjoyed it.
We walked along with other kids, uh-huh, we laughed and talked
with your playmates yeah, wasthere a lot of kids at your
school?
Well, it was a three wingschoolhouse.
Uh, I think there were.
I believe, uh, each room hadabout two grades, I think, uh, I
think the one room before youwent into eighth grade.
(04:17):
I think, uh, fourth, I'll saythird, fourth, fourth and fifth,
fifth, I think, the sixth andeighth one in the.
That's the last road okay, soyou, you went up through the
eighth grade then yeah, well,actually in the eighth grade I
(04:42):
was on the record enough that Iwas a pastor.
I was around enough otherpeople that I knew everything.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Okay.
So after you got done withgrade school, what did you do?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh, I was on the farm .
We had two seasons.
You had a cotton choppingseason.
You had to cut picking time.
That's, that's how we made herliving that's.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
That's some hard work , isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
oh god yeah, when I went in service, I was getting
one dollar a day oh my gosh, andit's, uh, it's, it's, it's hot
during that time of season.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, yeah, it can be .
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So July, when I land by the crop shouts it's going to
be hot and you start pickingcotton, I think in September.
It's been so long since I'vebeen on the farm.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So you did that for a number of years then.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh yeah, after a while.
And then I went in service.
The first electric license leftunder when it went in service,
the first shower under pressurewhen it went in service, the
first train rider was when itwent in service.
You just keep counting.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, a lot of firsts for you.
Pardon me, I say that was a lotof firsts for you.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, yeah.
So where did you go to basictraining at?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I went to boot training at Camp First Virginia.
I came back to Gulfport,mississippi and took my advanced
and the advanced training wasover.
I went to Gulfport, virginia,and uh, when the advanced
training was over, like the goldseas, went back to north port
virginia and uh went through thepanama canal and out in the
south pacific and the pearlharbor.
But pearl harbor back in, oneof those might not know it was
(06:35):
not a state I did not know that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So were you a pearl harbor then when, when attack
happened?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
No, I was too young.
I was only like 16 and a half.
Okay, it happened December 7,1941.
Just from there until 1942,just very short.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Okay, so how did you come about being a CB?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, a couple of friends of mine at the they have
the MoNet which I I've got kindof got acquainted with them.
They said they was joining theCBs and they wanted to be done.
We all three joined.
They called us the ArkansasTravelers, and one of them was
one day older than me and onewas two and we were born the
same year and the same month.
We didn't know each other.
We got into the Seabreezetogether and we stayed together
(07:29):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, now, when you got done with your advanced
training and you went overseas,where did you go?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Went to Pearl Harbor.
Okay, sorry about selling out,but Pearl Harbor they just got
through raising them oklahomait's in such a bad shape they
took it out and sunk it and thearizona I went around did a lot
of times going over the portalto work, just the superstructure
(07:57):
sticking up out of the water.
Have you ever been there?
Right up from pearl harbor isred hill.
You see inside out on thehighway there.
That's where camp was.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Okay, what kinds of things did you do there in Pearl
?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Well, one of the things was what's called Banana
Project I think I'm pronouncingit right and we built warehouses
.
It was all metal except thewood.
The frame was wood.
It was like 40 by 100.
Frame was wood.
It was like 40 to 100.
Anyway, they didn't haveelectric in them or concrete
floors because they only putstuff in there that didn't have
(08:33):
to be refrigerated like coffee,sugar, flour and stuff like that
.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
All the dry storage right.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I was going to say in that area.
Now it's what I think is a bigk-mart store it's what, I'm
sorry k-mart shopping center,but they still got some
warehouses, I think there yeah,probably some of them that you
built yeah, yeah.
Now, how long were you at pearl?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
seven months okay, and then, uh, where'd you go
from there?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
well, what got on?
A ship, uh uh, went from there,started out, got out to carry
all in the marshals and it wasinvading the uh uh philippines.
We had to sit in the harbor inthat hot sun for 12 days waiting
on the escorts going intoSaipan and we just got, not too
(09:34):
far out from Pariala, our shipplayed out.
The sub was trying to get us.
Anyway, they saw our escortcircle around us and located the
sub and went to drop an ash canon it.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
You heard them say ash cans.
I can tell it wouldn't go downso far as to go off.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Oh yeah, the depth charges, I think, is what they
call it.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, depth charges.
Yeah, we went to the fan tailof a ship, a Navy ship, a little
one somewhere.
They said they got it, but youknow they play tricks.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Right, right and then .
So how long were you in?
So eventually you went into thePhilippines then.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
No, I didn't go.
We had guys in our outt outfitthat did go to the Philippines.
I backtracked a little bit.
I was at Pearl Harbor.
They found out that they couldput flamethrowers on tanks.
So people in my company- wentto got the OTA from DC to put
(10:44):
flamet, flame throws on tanks.
I don't have any flame throw ontanks.
They put flame throws on them.
We had three guys in my outfit.
I used my name to them.
It went to our instructors toshow them how to use the flame
throw in the.
Philippines and when we tookthey came back to our outfit on
(11:06):
the side fan okay, all right andthen.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So how long were you there?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
in 13 months okay, and the norway.
If you know anything abouthistory at all.
I was on side pan.
The nor Gay took off from.
Indiana which was separated bywater three miles, august 6,
1945.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
It was a military secret, so you saw it take off
then.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
No, no, no, it was a military secret, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Alright.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
You know what the name of the airplane was?
Yeah, it was named after hismother, noah Gay.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Oh so I knew the name , but I didn't know it was named
after his mother.
Oh so I knew the name, but Ididn't know it was named after
his mother his name wasT-I-B-B-I-T-S and mine is
T-I-P-P-I-T.
Oh, did they ever get the twoof you confused?
No, go ahead oh no, I was goingto ask what kinds of things did
you do when you were in Saipan?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
oh, I was in powder wrapping group and I was also in
the harbor working when theship came in from Iwo Jima with
the wounded on it.
We left from there a lot ofthem, because we were about 1400
miles away and we had the watertowers built for them, the
wounded on there.
We left from there a lot ofthem because it was about 1,400
miles away, we had the watertowers built for them, we had
(12:30):
hospitals built for them and Iknow we actually we got set up
with ice cream.
When they came in, we arrestedthem and took ice cream to the
wounded.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I bet they appreciated all of that.
Oh, they did.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I was 20 years old.
I left there November 22, 1945,if you count it up, 1963 is
when Kennedy was killed.
On the same day I also landedin San Pedro, California,
December 7, 1945.
That was another same day.
I also landed in San Pedro,California, December 7th by 1945
(13:08):
.
That was another extraordinaryday.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And so, when you came back from Saipan, was this at
the?
This was towards the end of thewar then, oh it was the end of
the war.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It was the 15th of August 1945.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, yep, it took a while for a lot of guys to come
home, though, didn't it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I think we traveled day and night, I think, on that
aircraft there.
I think we've got 70 dayscoming back.
Some of them had a slow boat toChina, which was.
I forget how much ship wecalled that.
That's one of the old tanks andstuff like that.
Okay, so that's a real thing ofthe old tanks and stuff like
that.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Okay, so that's a real thing.
Slow boat to China.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
That's right, yeah, lsts are what they were.
Lsc yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Those were flat bottom boats, weren't they?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
They opened up like a I don't know, like in front of
it like hands open.
They're very, very slow.
They haul like tanks and thingslike that they use them for
landing.
Yeah, because they go up prettyclose to land.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, exactly.
So you say you went through thePanama Canal on your way home.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, sure did.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, what was that like?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Oh, it was real close , on each side Wasn't very much
room and the lack of the lackwhen he was going through over
on the left-hand side was like atrain track and uh, uh, uh, uh,
uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,uh, uh, uh.
I don't know how it worked.
Anyway, it was connectedsomewhere.
(14:43):
Rather than a track to pull theship to the bottom of the ocean
, it had to be filled, had tofill up the water to go over in
the Pacific.
Got in a certain location, theyshut locks on each end of the
island and filled up the waterto be at the same height in the
Pacific when they opened thegates to go out.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah.
So what some people might notknow is that the whole purpose
there is because one waterway islower than the other waterway
and so you can't just take aship through and do that.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I know they load this .
We took on coffee and onbananas.
I remember saying to them I'vebeen sugar too.
I'm not sure it was about.
Oh, I think we stayed overnightafter we got to the canal.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Tell me a little bit about what shipboard life was
like for you.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
What ship life?
What do you mean?
What?
Speaker 1 (15:45):
was it like to be on a ship.
Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The first 24 hours we was out left Norfolk Virginia.
Oh my God, that ship had onlybeen out for a shakedown.
The number was PA-44, theflagship.
Anyway.
One of my buddies got so sickhe said I wouldn't care if this
SD sunk.
But when I got, when I'd getsick, I would go to the top side
(16:15):
and get that cooler and havebeer there.
And it wasn't so bad, youcouldn't.
You got swept off the ship.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We had all our equipment, our equipment plus a
thousand people you know, Italked to a guy who was in World
War II and he said that when hegot on the ship they served him
pickles and mustard and thatkept him from getting sick.
I don't know if you've everheard of that.
I don't know if it was true orof that I've heard of that that
(16:45):
song kind of knew.
I don't know if it was true ornot.
He said it worked for himthough.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah yeah.
I know when we were all rockingwe'd go down to eat.
We'd mostly eat soup, had tostand up to eat and all the
people would just follow thewhole place.
When we got out in the Pacificit wasn't so hot I never saw it
wasn't all our airway got downthe hose but it was pumped to us
and I got out in the Pacific,used my life jacket for a pillow
(17:13):
and it just slipped.
The rain felt good yeah,because there wasn't.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
There wasn't air conditioning no ships officers
oh well, that's nice I don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I think I'm telling it right yeah, so you uh.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
When you came home at the end of the war, you uh
where did you?
Where did you?
Uh?
You came into california thenno, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Oh yeah, the ship we went up on the flight the next
morning and had built no nutsfor us had a sign on the brick
building that said welcome home.
Job well done.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
How'd that feel.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Oh good, I spent two birthdays over there.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, so how many years total were you Well?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
actually I was in two and a half years on the fdr and
and harrod as trouble and alland reserves on six years during
the vietnam conflict of johnsonand and uh, on nexus.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Okay, I was in, I served on the four presidents so
when you served in the reserves, did you still do sea duty or
any of that stuff?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
oh yeah, two different places, two weeks each
time different places and seadays.
We did things for schools andBoy Scouts and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Okay, just a lot of civil service types.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, and you had people in the CBs who could do
everything you could think of.
Yeah, we didn't go to noclassroom.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
We trained under people that knew the job which
sometimes is a good way to learnit right oh yeah that's the
best way.
I guess I was one of theyoungest yeah, so you were how
old when you got out then?
20.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I've been 21.
In May I got out.
I was just short.
December 14 1945 you weren'teven old enough to drink the
whole time you served no, oh, infact we had, uh, in the little
town where I was raised or wentto a lot more than arkansas,
it's about six miles out of townwhere I was raised I had a pool
(19:41):
table, a pool hauler, and Iwasn't even allowed to go in
that.
But when we came home on theleave the guy said, well, I'm
going to let you guys play pool.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
That's good.
Oh yeah, yeah, you know, mygranddad was a bootlegger back
in the day, so he didn't care ifyou were 21.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I heard my I was just telling a little bit about that
.
Well, he had, he had to doanything he could do to make a
living that's the truth, and hedid, and he did, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I'm sure you did as well.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
So yeah, it's terrible how people see a
generation I was in was a badand the one way before me was
terrible.
I had to work.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Right?
Well, you were born just afterthe Depression.
Really Something like that.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I know I've heard my mother pick cotton for 35 cents
a hundred and my grandpa.
I was around him about 10 yearsbefore he passed away and he
always had some stories that heused to tell.
I didn't say anything.
He and his father and hisrelatives met Jesse James and
(20:52):
gangled him.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Really, that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And my mother was raised, started out in Norville
Illinois and went from NorvilleIllinois to Oklahoma and turned
white.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Well, you just don't hear those stories anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
And another thing I wanted to say I was raised in a
log house, not a cabin.
A log house A lot of people saycabin, but I think cabin is a
little bit different than logout.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah Well, it was like a house, it wasn't just a
small.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh yeah, it was all cypress log and the mark didn't
peel off of them.
It wasn't no electrical stuff.
I did everything with acrosscut saw, hand saw and
chopper axe.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yep, and did you use?
You didn't use nails either,did you?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Oh yeah, I had to put the roof on.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Everything was.
The roof was a log that hadbeen buried in the ground.
You dug dirt out around them.
It had been buried in theground for years and years and
oh, I guess I was like threefoot over three foot through.
We saw them all the way to theboard.
We split four big boards andthat's what went on the roof.
(22:08):
I was just 10 years old, I washaving to carry the board from
where I spent my time going tothe roof.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So you spent your whole grown-up time working hard
.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Oh yeah, I started making a hand in the field as
well.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Gosh, which probably, which probably helped you stay
healthy even now.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well like we had nobody had an
electric and started gettingelectric after I come home from
service.
And the food my mother cookedthe morning we had to eat it
that day.
And then in the summertime whenit got real warm without
(22:56):
picking cotton, they had icetrucks from different little
towns that delivered ice.
They brought ice.
They could get 20 pounds of icefor 20 cents and we had an old
refrigerator that had ice on theporch that covered up with old
war-out oil and the ice was onlyfor your tea, oh, Ice tea.
(23:17):
We drank ice tea.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I see we drank iced tea out of corn fruit jars.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So you were saying that the ice was 40 cents for 25
?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
40 cents for 20 pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Okay.
So your mom had to pick 100 ofcotton almost to pay for ice for
a day.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Well, yeah, my mother didn't come to the fields and
she got everything took.
Here we had like three milkcows and either one or two of
them giving milk all the time,and she always did those short.
I didn't have her to say oh,get out here, come out here and
have your milk to couch.
I'll have to, I'll have to a lotbecause you used to say to me
(24:06):
just a kitten, I know she usedto say us, us two boys.
She said she had a nickel, shewouldn't have invited a cleaner.
She used to say the girls couldhave a brother and couldn't
have it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Wow, so let's talk a little bit about what happened.
So you served in the reserves,you did your service.
So what did you do once youleft the military?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Well, at first I came home and served as an Arkansas
just a short time.
I know President Truman was thefirst president I got voted for
because at that old I had to be21.
And I went to California just ashort time.
The people out there I got toworking with in skilled trades
(25:07):
and I know I first started outthe place where I was working
building a rock crusher, andanyway, time come me to join the
labor union and the people thatwere working there said no, no,
you're not doing those laborunions, you're going to be in
skilled trades.
I liked it real well, so I gotin skilled trades, just worked
(25:27):
at that a short time.
We built a rock crusher.
I got paid.
I came back to Arkansas, juststayed a short time, came to St
Louis and worked at Fisher Bodyin 1960, this was bought in 1969
(25:47):
.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My son was born in December of 1948.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Okay, so you got married.
Then in there, yeah, I gotmarried.
Got home the 14th of December,the girl and I got married.
We knew each other.
Of December, the girl and Imarried.
We knew each other.
We rode over to all the time Iwas in service.
We got married the 27th ofDecember and guess what was?
I don't know.
I'll tell the story.
We stopped on Dirt Road Port, Iguess you'd call it, and anyway
(26:18):
, she was supposed to be realquiet and she said I sent the
penny for your thoughts.
I said would you marry me?
Speaker 1 (26:28):
she said yes, did you get your penny pardon I say did
you get your penny?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
yeah, I don't know.
Anyway, it was married 37 and ahalf years and, wow, my wife, I
lost her.
And he said, I mean, and I'llsee you July 19, 84.
(26:57):
Yeah, 84.
She tried to go through thefourth of the heart surgery at
the Mayo Clinic and she didn'tmake it she tried to go through
the fourth vocal heart surgeryat the Mayo Clinic and she
didn't make it.
We had two here at Barnes andtwo at the Mayo Clinic out here
in Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Then I married.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I ran into my large brother later and I'll tell you
a story about her.
Her and my first wife'sbirthday was one day apart, but
Louise, my first wife, two yearsolder, but I'll say I was
married to two good ones.
I was married to a large motherof 35 years.
(27:35):
She's married now.
I worked next to her.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
So you have a total of almost 70 years of being
married.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
That's a pretty good record yeah, and like I told
everyone something I never didbelieve meeting up on your wife,
I never did hit either one ofthem yeah, well, probably
probably one of the reasons youstayed together so long.
That's right I know one timebar's mother was sitting on the
(28:06):
couch and I'm standing up thedoorway, uh, and I asked this
ask would be doing this becauseI want to hear what she had.
So I said are you mad atbecause she's real sick?
She said no.
I said I couldn't be mad at you.
She said you're too good.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
That's really nice, really nice.
Now, did you have children?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Oh yeah, One son.
I lost him first of October 24.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Oh, okay, he was 67.
What's it?
I'm just curious, what's itlike to watch your children kind
of grow old with you?
You know that's.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah Well, my wife, my first wife, had the rheumatic
fever when she was 11 years old.
The doctors I had then wasn'tany more than veterinarians.
Now veterinarians are moreabout human life than they did
back then.
They thought she was justhaving chills and when he was
(29:12):
born they came back on her andsaid she's not having more kids
Three years before he was born.
Another thing my cousin, hiswife, got married.
That day.
I didn't really know it.
My wife and I got married thatnight.
They were on my marriagelicense, Signed my marriage
(29:37):
license Four of the surpluspreachers.
You know what it cost for a kidto get married?
How much Three dollars Wowthat's wife.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Four of us are blessed preachers.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You know what it costs for to get married.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
How much?
Three dollars, wow, that'scheap.
Better stay married because itdoesn't get any cheaper.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I had two good people .
They both had both good workers, good cooks, everything you can
think of.
They've had just a whole lot oflife.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah Well, tell me a little bit about your son.
What kind of work did he do?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Well, my son graduated from the Academy of
Fine Arts in Overton Park,Memphis, Tennessee, and he was a
photographer of a trade.
He'd done lots of silkscreening.
I know you've probably heard ofWinfield, Kansas State, Council
of the World where they playmusic.
Yeah, he went there almost 50years and he had two brain
(30:38):
surgeries, all 24 and 25 yearsago and I don't know exactly.
People well-educated and very,very smart and I just went
downhill.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah, yeah, you must've been proud of him,
though.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
And he didn't.
He wasn't the loud and holleredor spoken.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, that's something I did, that's
something that never did botherme, and then so when you married
Barb's mom, she already hadBarb then.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Oh yeah, Barb was 29.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Okay, oh yeah, I guess, if you do the math.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
She had three girls Uh-huh and Barb was at the
wedding, and uh and the weddingwas in her backyard, real close
to your work from where we're atright now.
And I think we had about 80people there and we had a five
piece band and my mute my sonknow a lot about music, was in
music with other people and handbar got abandoned, band
(31:42):
together we had a five-pieceband.
It was about 80 people therefor a wedding outside in her
backyard that sounds really nice.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
It was how did you meet barb, or how'd you meet
barb's mom?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
well, I worked with a guy at the picture body.
It was a it was a room in herbasement and he told her about
me and my wife just didn't.
Then, oh, lucky, you heard,that happened so I know
different ones.
Oh, you're too early.
I said well, you see, a nicelady like Mary was you let her
(32:16):
get away?
You're going to be sorry?
And anyway, he told her aboutme.
I guess she was interested inme.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Believe it or not, he told her about me.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I guess she was interested in me.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
She came to see me.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Oh, that's something, and when we got married I knew
we was going to get married Isaid, Mary, I'm going to ask
that you ask me to get married.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
She did, she might as well.
She came to see you first,right yeah so how long did you
work at Fisher Body?
Speaker 2 (32:50):
31 and a half years okay, so you retired.
Fisher and Chevrolet wenttogether 71 or 72, I'm not real
sure.
Uh huh, go ahead the new plant.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I just opened it up when I retired.
I'm not real sure Go ahead thenew plant.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I just opened it up when I retired.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Okay, so you pretty much worked there the whole time
after you got out of theservice son, right up to your
retirement yes.
Yeah, what kind of stuff didyou do there?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
I was a millwright.
I worked with a lot of steel.
I built the bear, I don't know.
There's different things thatwe uh was asked to do.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Okay, Well, we had a good union.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
We didn't.
We didn't have a generalmaintenance.
I think general maintenance Igot that all the way, for I was
at maintenance.
I think general maintenancethat got down all the plants
Before I was that Melrod did hiswork, five-year did his work,
but the electrician did his workbut the welder was neutral
because they could call on thewelder to work with any of the
(33:54):
trains.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Oh, so you didn't have to worry about it.
If you needed a welder, then no.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
This is your trade.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Yeah, so you retired in the 1990s.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
In December of 1982.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Okay, wow, and so you've been retired for 43 years
, then.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I think I was.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Well, 43.
I've been telling everybody 42.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
So you really kind of lived three lifetimes.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah, I know we went through ATWL and some of the
things we had to go throughbefore we got a good union.
I was just thrilled to death atState World because I got a
union pension out of this worldand that's nice, I got a
hospitalization pension out ofthis world.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, my dad was a member of the United Auto
Workers Was a what?
He was a member of the UAWUnited.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Auto Workers, oh good , from Detroit or where.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Out of Lansing, michigan actually.
Oh yeah, so always had a roofover our head, yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
I know you probably heard him speak at Wal-Mart.
Wal-mart rules are a lot.
Yes, I know Wal-Mart rules havesaid well, it's starting to end
and you're going to try to getyeah, try to get hospitalization
for us from cradle to grave.
We almost made it.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah Well, you think about it like I.
So here in Michigan, at themuseum right here in my town,
there's a whole section of themuseum that talks about the
unions and there's pictures ofthe unions.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Well, I'll tell you what people don't realize it.
If it wasn't for unions,retirement, social Security and
everything like that, it wouldbe a drawdown.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
A lot of people.
You've got people.
When I was out 30 years ago,some of the new people would
come in and see pictures of howthings were.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
They'd say oh was it really this bad?
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I'd say yes and worse .
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, because the unions really the unions started
because of safety.
Yep, they started because ofsafety and the conditions were
good.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Fisher Body went out and all the women brought food
to their husbands and theystayed in the plant.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
They have to go out like that.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Well, and they stayed in the plant.
Mm-hmm, yeah, they have to goout like that.
Well, and before the unionsbecame a force, I mean, there
were fights that actually wenton with the security guys.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Oh God, yeah, Walter, Ruzer, I guess had a medical
more than once.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
There's a picture of him at the museum here and they
have actually one of his shirtsthat has his blood all over it
from all the fights he got.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I remember my old union from Fisher Valley.
The local one I want to go towith the new planet is 2250.
I was out there and theyhonored me of my retirement and
the mayor out there made me aflag.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I don't have the stuff I've got.
I've got something I can writea book.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
You should, for sure.
Is there anything that youhaven't talked about that you'd
like to talk about today?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
no, I wasn't thinking all of a sudden doing the
others like you've done, likeyou've done yourself okay, all
right, so that's so.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
That's one of the questions I always ask is you
know, what would you like to youknow?
When someone's watching this ahundred years from now and we're
both not here?
What would you like them totake away from how you lived
your life?
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Well, I can just think about what we went through
to make things like they arenow.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, truly the greatest generation.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
I enjoyed working at GM.
I just I got skilled tradesyeah, alright.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Well, lewis, I appreciate you taking time out
today to talk with me and I hopeto talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I was going to tell you Barb was supposed to be
taking me, her and anotherperson taking me to Pigeonport,
tennessee, which is somewherearound the last October, for a
military reunion.
Oh yeah, I was there.
I've been to Delport,mississippi, as an old World War
(38:40):
II veteran, also been toPigeonport, oldsville and, I
think the year before last,mississippi as old World War II
veterans also getting thepigeon-borne old ones.
And I think year before lastI'm trying to think back they
gave me a Navy quilt and I gaveit to Bart.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Well, you're pretty popular.
From what I understand, a lotof people want to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, I've heard that , In fact, me talking to you
today.
I didn't know about it untilBart told me I was going to
Dennis well, she had reached outto me and we finally connected
and I said hey, let's do this.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Let's get this done well very good.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Now there's a.
There's a lady.
I'm a member of American Legion, been American Legion 36 years,
I think.
I mentioned before and one ofthe ladies American Legion, the
things that she often said aboutme and was the MC at my
birthday party.
(39:37):
My birthday party was somethingelse.
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
At the.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Lodge.
I'm a member of America and Iwas having a building party, my
birthday party.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
That's quite a memory for you, huh.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Oh yeah, I've been amazing.
They gave me my 65th year pinwhen.
I was there.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Well, that's a long time.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
They probably don't give out a lot of the 65-year
pens, do they?
I had three ladies I spoke toask to come up and pen on me
Barb, my sister, mydaughter-in-law and a lady nurse
that I know real well.
I asked them to come up and penthe pen on me.
I did, and they participated init.
They was our military squad andalso I was a squadron.
(40:31):
So about 20-some years I was asquadron squadron.
I think it was South Dakota.
You might not even know it byyourself.
He came all the way here, flewin and gave me a pipe.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Well, 100 years, that's a milestone for sure.
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