| Summary: | (4:30) Mrs. Barton describes her husband's military career and her remembrance of VJ Day in Florence, Alabama. This inteview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Martha Barton
May 14, 2009
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 7 of 10
Clint Alley: Now, you say your husband was in education, did y’all teach at the same schools?
Martha Barton: No. Unh-uh, unh-uh.
CA: Okay. So y’all were at separate schools.
MB: He was more into the administrative part of it, although he did teach. He taught at Calhoun. And then he got to be the dean of the Vocational Department.
CA: Okay, so he was in administration.
MB: Um-hm. And when he came over here to Muscle Shoals, he was the president.
CA: Um-hm. Ah, and you say he was, he was in World War II?
MB: Um-hm.
CA: Do you know what theatre he served in?
MB: Pacific.
CA: Pacific Theatre, okay.
MB: Three years.
CA: And was, was he drafted?
MB: No.
CA: Okay, he volunteered.
MB: Volunteered.
CA: Okay, what branch was he in?
MB: Navy.
CA: In the Navy.
MB: He was a radioman.
CA: Okay.
MB: And he was in the Philippines most of that time. And his job was contact with the planes that had made bombing runs. And they had to listen to hear the—if they were coming back. And even after he became so sick, he could still do that Morse Code.
CA: Hmm, yeah.
MB: Everything was done in Morse Code at the time.
CA: Do you know the names of any of the ships that he was on?
MB: The Currituck was the only one he was ever on.
CA: The Currituck?
MB: Yeah, but he was not a part of ship’s company.
CA: Um-hm.
MB: He was going—he and—there were nine of them that were going to the Philippines to set up this radio communications unit, and that was the only ship—he had to take part in duties on the ship, but not a part of ship’s company.
CA: Okay, it was just a transport then, just took him over there.
MB: Um-hm. They took the WACS, first WAC—WAC?, WAVES that went to Hawaii.
CA: The women?
MB: The women.
CA: Women Navy?
MB: Um-hm. And most of the sailors had to sleep in the swimming pool.
(laughter)
MB: And leave the bunks and things to the WAVES.
(laughter)
CA: I bet that didn’t go over very well did it?
(laughter)
MB: No, it didn’t go over very well.
(laughter)
MB: But, of course, the swimming pool had been drained.
(laughter)
MB: They never put any water in it while he was on that boat, though.
CA: So he spent most of his time on land in the Philippines, then?
MB: Um-hm.
CA: Okay.
MB: A sailor that spent most of his years in the Navy—
(laughter)
CA: On land!
MB: —on land!
(laughter)
MB: But he was, he went into Corregidor, into the tunnels, Malinta Tunnels. They were supposed to set up communication in a bank building, and when they got there, the bank building was no longer in existence!
(laughter)
MB: In fact, Manila was not even a free city.
CA: Um-hm.
MB: And here comes these nine sailors off of this airplane, dumped down right in the middle of these battles, (laughter) and those Marines didn’t think too highly of it!
(laughter)
CA: So he landed before they liberated the Philippines, then?
MB: Yeah, uh-huh.
CA: Okay, so that would have been about 1942 or so?
MB: Forty-two, somewhere along there.
CA: Okay, 1942.
MB: Forty-three, maybe.
CA: And he, uh, did, did he come home after the war ended, then?
MB: Yeah.
CA: Okay, okay. Do you remember, ah, do you remember VJ Day in Florence?
MB: Yes!
CA: Was it, everybody was pretty excited?
MB: Oh, it was an exciting day!
CA: Did they have any special events or anything?
MB: I believe I remember W.C. Handy playing in the street.
CA: Okay.
MB: On Mobile Street.
CA: Oh, okay.
MB: It was the newspaper office was there at the time. I believe the newspaper was there.
CA: So he, he was in Florence at the time?
MB: I think—if it wasn’t him, it was somebody that was sure, was as good as he was and looked a lot like him.
(laughter)
CA: Okay. And everybody just sort of came out of the house and—
MB: Ah, yeah. And the day Pearl Harbor was bombed was another day that was traumatic to most of us.
CA: Yeah, did y’all listen to that on the radio?
MB: We were at church, and I think we had gotten home before we knew it. Because the radio was not like it is today; you didn’t have a, one in your pocket all the time to hear everything!
(laughter)
MB: And we had to have a battery radio because—and it was a battery that looked like a car battery.
CA: Um-hm.
MB: Cause we didn’t have any electricity.
CA: So it was a pretty big piece of equipment, then?
MB: The radio was—I guess the battery was half the size of the radio.
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