Veteran Interview with Leon McCrary (A)
(5:57) Mr. Leon McCrary discusses his life in Anderson, Alabama, getting drafted into the Army, and basic training in Las Vegas, Nevada during World War II.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Interview with Leon McCrary March 12, 2010 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood Cli...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/117 |
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Electronic |
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War Years at Home and Abroad Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Military life |
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Military life Veteran Interview with Leon McCrary (A) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Military life World War 1939-1945; Military Training |
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(5:57) Mr. Leon McCrary discusses his life in Anderson, Alabama, getting drafted into the Army, and basic training in Las Vegas, Nevada during World War II.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library
Interview with Leon McCrary
March 12, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: Today is March 12, 2010; I’m Clint Alley with Rhonda Haygood and we’re here today interviewing Mr. Leon McCrary at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library in Florence, Alabama. Mr. McCrary is a World War II veteran and he’s gonna tell us some about his experiences. Ah, Mr. McCrary, I’m gonna ask you first, when and where were you born?
Leon McCrary: I was born in Lauderdale County in, ah, 10-11-23.
CA: October 11, 1923. Want to ask you a little bit, also, about your, just your family growing up. Did y’all farm? Is that what y’all did?
LM: No, my dad owned the, a garage in Anderson, Alabama. And I used to, I used to go out and pick cotton, but I got paid for it see; I, I loved that, you know. I had money to buy pocket knives and all this sort of thing, so I did, I did work in the field some, but, ah—
CA: You always got paid for it.
LM: —it was my—yes.
CA: That’s great. Okay. So, your dad had a garage. Ah, did you do any tinkering around in that garage?
LM: Yes, I did. At one time I had the, ah, I was the grease monkey. We had this pneumatic grease gun that would shoot the grease, you know, and my dad caught me shooting bumblebees with it and I lost my job.
CA: Oh, me. That’s funny. Well, do you remember where you were when, ah, when Pearl Harbor was bombed?
LM: A friend of mine told me the other day that we were driving from Rogersville to Anderson and we heard that it had been bombed. But, I was, I was still in high school at that time.
CA: You heard it on the car radio?
LM: Um-hm.
CA: So you would have been about sixteen or seventeen years old then?
LM: I must have been—Forty-one – I was eighteen.
CA: Eighteen; okay.
LM: Just about eighteen.
CA: About eighteen years old? Okay. So you were I guess about a senior in high school then probably.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Well, what were your reactions when you heard Pearl Harbor had been bombed?
LM: Oh, I was just like everyone else, just blown away. How could they do that and all this sort of thing and very patriotic. I tell you, it was a, a different time. Everyone, well, almost everyone anyway, we were all inflamed at the idea.
CA: So, would you compare it to say like September 11th, was it similar to that on like a greater scale, maybe?
LM: Well, it was on a larger scale but, in a way, but, September 11th was worse in, in my way of thinking, that they would, someone would dare do what they did, you know, right, right in our country.
CA: So, were you, were you drafted into the Army?
LM: I was. I had the opportunity to delay my draft. I was working in Mobile at a airfield there and the foreman there told me, he says, “Leon,” he says, “I can delay this two or three months if you want to.” And I said, “Oh, no, I’m ready to go.” And course I was smelling the paper mill down in Mobile at that time and that didn’t help much. No, I was, I was eager to go.
CA: Were you?
LM: Um-hm. And I was nineteen at that time.
CA: Nineteen. So you got drafted in 1942?
LM: Well, no, it was actually February of ’43.
CA: February of ’43.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Okay, so the war had still been, had been going on for some time when you got drafted.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Do you remember where you went to boot camp? LM: I think it was Fort McClellan. Oh, I went to boot camp, no, Keesler Field. I was inducted in Georgia, but I went to Keesler Field for my basic training.
CA: Okay, Keesler Field, that’s in Georgia?
LM: Mississippi. Keesler Field.
CA: Did you know at that time that you wanted to fly? Or you wanted to be part of a flight crew?
LM: Yes.
CA: Did you? Okay. So that’s something you chose and not something they chose for you.
LM: Yeah.
CA: I guess you were working at an airfield when it started; I guess you already had experience with airplanes?
LM: Well, I worked on the airplane instruments and I had some, some knowledge.
CA: Well, about how long did it take? Did—I, I’ve heard some people say that they, ah, they shortened the period for training because they needed so many men. Was that the case with you?
LM: It didn’t take very long. In fact, I went from basic training to the gunnery training center in Las Vegas, Nevada, airplane and flying and shooting at targets and everything. It was great sport; it was almost—it was fun, really. We’d be in an airplane and there’d be a, be another airplane was out there towing this target that looked like a cigarette paper but it was larger and we’d shoot at it. Gunner training was fun. We shot skeet a lot. We’d ride along in a pickup truck in the desert then all at once here’d come this target shooting out through there and we had to shoot it with a shotgun and that was great fun. Of course, I’d hunted a lot and shooting a shotgun was second nature. But, I was in the service with some New York fellows and they had never really shot a sho—and, and they would be bruised from here to here [Mr. McCrary indicates an area from his wrist to his shoulder] with that shotgun. But, gunnery training was my next stop and, and it was, it was fun.
CA: That’s good. What, ah, what caliber guns did you shoot from the airplanes?
LM: Fifty-caliber.
CA: Fifty-caliber. Okay. Were they single barrel or twin barrel?
LM: They were single barrels in this training and fifty-caliber bullets and they had some kind of coloring on them and when they hit the target they’d make a little spot and a hole and tell whose, who was shooting it and so on.
CA: Okay, so you all had different colors, then.
LM: No, actually not. But I guess somehow or other they could tell. I don’t recall how, but they kept up with it. I, I know that I had a pretty good score, but, and it was like thirty-eight to forty percent hits, and we were a long way from that other airplane.
CA: Um-hm.
LM: But that was fun.
CA: And that was in Las Vegas, Nevada.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Okay.
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| title |
Veteran Interview with Leon McCrary (A) |
| titleStr |
Veteran Interview with Leon McCrary (A) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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FLCPLwar117 |
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https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/117 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/war/id/117 |
| _version_ |
1705462192712712192 |
| spelling |
Veteran Interview with Leon McCrary (A)World War 1939-1945; Military Training (5:57) Mr. Leon McCrary discusses his life in Anderson, Alabama, getting drafted into the Army, and basic training in Las Vegas, Nevada during World War II.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryLeon McCrary2010-03-12sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishIs part of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionContact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to useFlorence-Lauderdale Public Library
Interview with Leon McCrary
March 12, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: Today is March 12, 2010; I’m Clint Alley with Rhonda Haygood and we’re here today interviewing Mr. Leon McCrary at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library in Florence, Alabama. Mr. McCrary is a World War II veteran and he’s gonna tell us some about his experiences. Ah, Mr. McCrary, I’m gonna ask you first, when and where were you born?
Leon McCrary: I was born in Lauderdale County in, ah, 10-11-23.
CA: October 11, 1923. Want to ask you a little bit, also, about your, just your family growing up. Did y’all farm? Is that what y’all did?
LM: No, my dad owned the, a garage in Anderson, Alabama. And I used to, I used to go out and pick cotton, but I got paid for it see; I, I loved that, you know. I had money to buy pocket knives and all this sort of thing, so I did, I did work in the field some, but, ah—
CA: You always got paid for it.
LM: —it was my—yes.
CA: That’s great. Okay. So, your dad had a garage. Ah, did you do any tinkering around in that garage?
LM: Yes, I did. At one time I had the, ah, I was the grease monkey. We had this pneumatic grease gun that would shoot the grease, you know, and my dad caught me shooting bumblebees with it and I lost my job.
CA: Oh, me. That’s funny. Well, do you remember where you were when, ah, when Pearl Harbor was bombed?
LM: A friend of mine told me the other day that we were driving from Rogersville to Anderson and we heard that it had been bombed. But, I was, I was still in high school at that time.
CA: You heard it on the car radio?
LM: Um-hm.
CA: So you would have been about sixteen or seventeen years old then?
LM: I must have been—Forty-one – I was eighteen.
CA: Eighteen; okay.
LM: Just about eighteen.
CA: About eighteen years old? Okay. So you were I guess about a senior in high school then probably.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Well, what were your reactions when you heard Pearl Harbor had been bombed?
LM: Oh, I was just like everyone else, just blown away. How could they do that and all this sort of thing and very patriotic. I tell you, it was a, a different time. Everyone, well, almost everyone anyway, we were all inflamed at the idea.
CA: So, would you compare it to say like September 11th, was it similar to that on like a greater scale, maybe?
LM: Well, it was on a larger scale but, in a way, but, September 11th was worse in, in my way of thinking, that they would, someone would dare do what they did, you know, right, right in our country.
CA: So, were you, were you drafted into the Army?
LM: I was. I had the opportunity to delay my draft. I was working in Mobile at a airfield there and the foreman there told me, he says, “Leon,” he says, “I can delay this two or three months if you want to.” And I said, “Oh, no, I’m ready to go.” And course I was smelling the paper mill down in Mobile at that time and that didn’t help much. No, I was, I was eager to go.
CA: Were you?
LM: Um-hm. And I was nineteen at that time.
CA: Nineteen. So you got drafted in 1942?
LM: Well, no, it was actually February of ’43.
CA: February of ’43.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Okay, so the war had still been, had been going on for some time when you got drafted.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Do you remember where you went to boot camp? LM: I think it was Fort McClellan. Oh, I went to boot camp, no, Keesler Field. I was inducted in Georgia, but I went to Keesler Field for my basic training.
CA: Okay, Keesler Field, that’s in Georgia?
LM: Mississippi. Keesler Field.
CA: Did you know at that time that you wanted to fly? Or you wanted to be part of a flight crew?
LM: Yes.
CA: Did you? Okay. So that’s something you chose and not something they chose for you.
LM: Yeah.
CA: I guess you were working at an airfield when it started; I guess you already had experience with airplanes?
LM: Well, I worked on the airplane instruments and I had some, some knowledge.
CA: Well, about how long did it take? Did—I, I’ve heard some people say that they, ah, they shortened the period for training because they needed so many men. Was that the case with you?
LM: It didn’t take very long. In fact, I went from basic training to the gunnery training center in Las Vegas, Nevada, airplane and flying and shooting at targets and everything. It was great sport; it was almost—it was fun, really. We’d be in an airplane and there’d be a, be another airplane was out there towing this target that looked like a cigarette paper but it was larger and we’d shoot at it. Gunner training was fun. We shot skeet a lot. We’d ride along in a pickup truck in the desert then all at once here’d come this target shooting out through there and we had to shoot it with a shotgun and that was great fun. Of course, I’d hunted a lot and shooting a shotgun was second nature. But, I was in the service with some New York fellows and they had never really shot a sho—and, and they would be bruised from here to here [Mr. McCrary indicates an area from his wrist to his shoulder] with that shotgun. But, gunnery training was my next stop and, and it was, it was fun.
CA: That’s good. What, ah, what caliber guns did you shoot from the airplanes?
LM: Fifty-caliber.
CA: Fifty-caliber. Okay. Were they single barrel or twin barrel?
LM: They were single barrels in this training and fifty-caliber bullets and they had some kind of coloring on them and when they hit the target they’d make a little spot and a hole and tell whose, who was shooting it and so on.
CA: Okay, so you all had different colors, then.
LM: No, actually not. But I guess somehow or other they could tell. I don’t recall how, but they kept up with it. I, I know that I had a pretty good score, but, and it was like thirty-eight to forty percent hits, and we were a long way from that other airplane.
CA: Um-hm.
LM: But that was fun.
CA: And that was in Las Vegas, Nevada.
LM: Um-hm.
CA: Okay.
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