Guess what I found!!!

My interview with pappy! Yay! I might post the audio of it later, but i gotta find the right one. Anyway, here 'tis.

Tyler: What branch of service were you in?

Paul: I started out with the 6^th cavalry regiment at Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, ended up in service with the 14^th Army Air Force, the Flying Tiger outfit in Kung Ming[?], China.

Tyler: Were you drafted or did you volunteer?

Paul: I volunteered. You will notice that the serial number of a soldier designates whether or not he is drafted or whether he volunteers. The volunteers started with a one. The draftees started with a three.

Tyler: How old were you when you entered?

Paul: I was seventeen years old, 1940. I’d just graduated from high school.

Tyler: How did you feel about the draft?

Paul: The draft was unpopular, but it was realized by the…I think the entire nation that it was necessary. We had a war to win.

Tyler: Where were you trained?

Paul: I was trained at approximately five radar schools scattered over the United States. They’re listed in that list that I gave you [included], from Hume Fogge Tech in Nashville to the American Television Laboratory in Chicago, and then basic training.

Tyler: What job were you trained for?

Paul: Radar repair.

Tyler: Describe your training experience.

Paul: Well, we started out in Hume Fogge Tech in Nashville. I had already been trained in electricity. I was a certified electrician at the time. I was also with civil engineering at Camp Campbell, Kentucky and then they sent me to Hume Fogge Tech in Nashville for radio, and then to University of Alabama in electrical engineering school, and then to the 6^th service command school in Chicago for more radio training.

Tyler: Describe your combat experience.

Paul: Well, the British were driven out of Burma by the Japanese. The Japanese took Burma and expected to go ahead and invade India. Joe Stillwe…General Joe Stillwell, who we referred to, because of his personality as “Vinegar Joe”, was given the assignment to drive the Japanese back out of Burma. And, to do this, it was planned to build a road from Ledo, India south to Bhamo, which is the west end of the Burma Road. That would connect us up with…that…we could hold materials over the Burma Road then to supply China’s war efforts against the Japanese.

Tyler: What was your rank?

Paul: Well, I was a “Buck” private most of the time. By the time of 1944, I had attained the rank of staff sergeant.

Tyler: Did you believe America should’ve been involved in the war?

Paul: In that war, yes. I was certain that we should. We, I think, had little or no choice, and that was the feeling of the general public and of the servicemen that I knew.

Tyler: What are your feelings towards war now?

Paul: I think that our President Bush has pulled one huge boo-boo like our President Johnson did with the Vietnam War.

Tyler: What do you think about the positive or negative long-range effects of the war?

Paul: I’m well satisfied with our treatment after the war. They financed the soldiers for their education. And, of course that was a great help to me personally, but it was also help to the nation because it put us on a road to large advances in engineering and science.

Tyler: Did you have a family member in the service during this or another war?

Paul: None of my family, close family, were involved in the World War II. My grandfather and nine great uncles…my grandmother’s brothers and my grandfather’s brothers. There was a total of ten in the Union Army in the Civil War. My grandfather, Joel Lindsey Reagan, was a sergeant of Company D, the first Tennessee mounted infantry.

Tyler: What did you do in your spare time in the Army?

Paul: Played bluegrass music, except that bluegrass hadn’t been invented at that time. In basic training, I met a guitar picker named “Whitey” Stanford, Lewis E. Stanford, a guitar picker. I played the mandolin. So, the two of us picked and sang together everywhere that we went all through the war. When the war was over, he came home with me, essentially, and we played bluegrass music with the students at Tennessee Tech until we finished our education in physics and then we came to work at Oak Ridge. Today, that same guitar picker lives about a half a mile from me. I will have breakfast with him Tuesday morning.

Tyler: How was the food in the Army?

Paul: It varied from good to poor. In the United States we ate rather well in the mess halls. In Asia, we had the health…big health problem. The Asia health rules were way below ours and, therefore, we were forbidden to eat any raw fruits or vegetables; nothing we could eat was uncooked. We did not eat very well at the mess halls in India. By the way, Colonel Robert Noland, who used to be the coach of the Tennessee football team, was our commanding officer in India. It wasn’t his fault that we didn’t eat well; it’s just that that’s a big deal to feed that many troops. On the Burma Road, we ate rather sparingly. Coffee made out of muddy water, C ration, and K ration.

Tyler: How did people treat you when you were stationed in their country?

Paul: Well, we brought money and extra supplies in. They looked forward to that we were not particularly welcome there, but it was mostly that we looked down upon the natives in the other…in Asia.

Tyler: What are your overall feelings about the war?

Paul: Well, as was previously stated, the soldiers felt that the war was necessary. If you’re talking about the war now, I’ve already addressed that. No, I have no regrets. It wasn’t a ideal situation; soldiering never is in a time of war. I do not regret having the privilege of serving my country, and I don’t want to go back.


Also, thanks for all the comments on my writings. I've never really considered writing as a career choice, but it sounds kinda fun. If I write something, it's usually better if it's something I'm interested in, and I rarely get to write about such things. Jason offered me an internship at the paper in Boone for next summer, which I'll definitely consider.