Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (F)
(7:40) Mr. Gober describes his return from the Korean War and his life after leaving the military.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive Interview with Bill Gober June 23, 2011 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood Clip 6 Clint Alley: So were you, were you present...
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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/157 |
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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 Bill Gober (F) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Military life Korean War, 1950 – 1953 |
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(7:40) Mr. Gober describes his return from the Korean War and his life after leaving the military.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Bill Gober
June 23, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 6
Clint Alley: So were you, were you present when they signed the armistice? Were you at the, at the parallel there?
Bill Gober: Oh, we were...
CA: At the DMZ?
BG: No, I was already out, rotated home when, when that happened.
CA: Okay. Okay.
BG: See, I, I got rotated out, rotated home. I'd been gone three years. I got rotated home the latter part of '51. And I was stationed over here at Charleston, South Carolina. They sent me over there to warm out, thaw out.
CA: That's a good place to do it, isn't it?
BG: Yeah. Oh, Charleston is a nice place. If I were ever to leave here to go live somewhere, that's where I'd go.
CA: Um, it's beautiful down there.
BG: It's, it's a, Charleston is a nice place to live. I think it would be. It was for the troops there when I was there. I was there fourteen months.
CA: Well, did you, did you leave the Marine Corps after that fourteen months in Charleston?
BG: Yeah, I got discharged. I came home to go to school.
CA: Okay. Okay. And did you come back to this area?
BG: Yeah, I came back to Sheffield.
CA: Okay, you've been here ever since, huh?
BG: Yeah. CA: All right. Well.
Rhonda Haygood: How, how did people react to you when you, when you came home?
BG: We had good reception.
RH: Did you?
BG: Yeah. I can't, can't fuss about it. When we got to, when we docked at Cali—, at uh, what's that town there across the bay from San Francisco?
CA: San Diego?
BG: I never saw so many convertible automobiles in my life. They put us in those convertible automobiles and carried us off back down through Stockton, that's what I was trying to think of. They went back through with it, right down main street and everything in the convertible automobile and the people were just out with flags and everything. So we got a good reception. Of course I, we was some of the first ones that come back, though. See, I'd been gone three years. I'd been overseas three years when I got home. When I, when I got rotated home. I’d stayed a year in Guam, a year in Japan and nearly a year in Korea. And then, then, see, we got extended our service time, enlistment, got extended indefinite. That's a pretty long time.
CA: It is.
BG: And they finally bro—, broke it down to one y—, one year and that's where I finished my time out over at Charleston. When they cut it back to a year, I was ready to get out, see.
CA: Yeah.
BG: I’d done served that extra year.
CA: Hum.
RH: When you first found out that you were going to be drafted how, how did you feel about that?
BG: When I got out of high school, got out of high school in 1948 they had reestablished the draft after World War II ended. They, they discontinued it for a while but they wasn't getting any volunteers so, so they had to reestablish the draft. And I was up at Detroit, Michigan making $102 a week, cash money.
CA: Oh, me.
BG: And I got drafted.
RH: Right.
BG: So, I came home to go meet my draft notice and I met my classmate and he'd joined the Marine Corps and I joined with him. So we went back to Parris Island, see.
CA: Hum.
BG: And then—.
RH: So, so when they notified you—
BG: So when I, when we got through, when we got discharged, the draft didn't have nothing to do with us because we'd done served our time.
CA: Okay. What about your friend that you joined with? Did he, where did he serve?
BG: He served with me.
CA: Oh, okay.
BG: We wasn't to toge—, we was in the same division, we never saw each other, but we was at the same place.
CA: Ah, okay. So he was at Chosin as well?
BG: Yeah he, he was there, too.
CA: Okay. Did he, did he survive and make it home?
BG: He, he survived.
CA: Okay. Well now, your, your M1 in there, is that the one that you carried in Korea or is that one that you—?
BG: No, no. I bought that after I got here.
CA: Okay, okay.
BG: When, when we started, when we got rotated out we had to go through a line and pitch our M1s in. And some of us got out, went early, uh, the replacements there had little ole carbines. They just issued them one temporary and they wanted to buy M1s. We all went back through and got our rifles and sold them for ten dollars. [unintelligible]. Then they took the rifles away from them.
CA: Aww.
BG: Buddy, buddy business.
CA: Yeah.
BG: But we needed a little money to buy something from the Red Cross.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: They was out there selling coffee for fifty cents a cup and we, we didn't have any money. So we sold our M1 rifle and got ten dollars.
CA: Oh, me. Well. All right. Do you have any other questions, Rhonda? I think we've covered everything―
RH: I think I'm good.
CA: ―that I can think of. You have anything else you want to say before we turn the machine off?
BG: Well it's, let me say, it, from here, Inchon to here, to up here, back to here, back to here and then back to here was an experience that it's hard to tell what it, what it meant in—. But I'm happy I made it. And I have no regrets whatsoever of what I did. If I had to do it over, and we’ve, we sort of took a poll at some of our reunions and nobody says—if they had it to do over, they'd do it again. And I think they said it and meant it. I know I'm saying it. I mean, I'm real proud of my tour. [Break in interview] This Chosin Reservoir here, there was seventeen Medal of Honors, they was seventy Navy Crosses and a number of Distinguished Service Crosses and everything. And it is one of the, the Marine Corps has done a lot big things in their life but this is one of the biggest ones.
CA: Um, yeah. Um.
BG: And, you can go to a reunion and they find out you was a Chosin Few, you can't hardly buy a drink. They want to buy you—. I've never drank. I've never smoked. Never took drugs. I've never bought a pack of cigarettes and smoked them. And a guy took issue with me down at the shop here a while back. He said, "You telling me you stood, stayed in the Marine Corps four years and never smoked?" And I said, "That's what I'm telling you."
CA: That's good. It can be done, can't it?
BG: It can be done. But I just never wanted to smoke. I guess that's why I'm still in pretty good shape at eighty-three.
CA: All-righty, well we sure do appreciate this, Mr. Gober. Thank you for letting us come down.
BG: I hope I wasn't too boring. |
| title |
Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (F) |
| titleStr |
Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (F) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLwar157 |
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https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/157 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/war/id/157 |
| _version_ |
1705462192876290048 |
| spelling |
Veteran Interview with Bill Gober (F)Korean War, 1950 – 1953(7:40) Mr. Gober describes his return from the Korean War and his life after leaving the military.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryBill Gober2011-06-23sound/textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishPart of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionMay be protected by U.S. Copyright laws. Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Bill Gober
June 23, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 6
Clint Alley: So were you, were you present when they signed the armistice? Were you at the, at the parallel there?
Bill Gober: Oh, we were...
CA: At the DMZ?
BG: No, I was already out, rotated home when, when that happened.
CA: Okay. Okay.
BG: See, I, I got rotated out, rotated home. I'd been gone three years. I got rotated home the latter part of '51. And I was stationed over here at Charleston, South Carolina. They sent me over there to warm out, thaw out.
CA: That's a good place to do it, isn't it?
BG: Yeah. Oh, Charleston is a nice place. If I were ever to leave here to go live somewhere, that's where I'd go.
CA: Um, it's beautiful down there.
BG: It's, it's a, Charleston is a nice place to live. I think it would be. It was for the troops there when I was there. I was there fourteen months.
CA: Well, did you, did you leave the Marine Corps after that fourteen months in Charleston?
BG: Yeah, I got discharged. I came home to go to school.
CA: Okay. Okay. And did you come back to this area?
BG: Yeah, I came back to Sheffield.
CA: Okay, you've been here ever since, huh?
BG: Yeah. CA: All right. Well.
Rhonda Haygood: How, how did people react to you when you, when you came home?
BG: We had good reception.
RH: Did you?
BG: Yeah. I can't, can't fuss about it. When we got to, when we docked at Cali—, at uh, what's that town there across the bay from San Francisco?
CA: San Diego?
BG: I never saw so many convertible automobiles in my life. They put us in those convertible automobiles and carried us off back down through Stockton, that's what I was trying to think of. They went back through with it, right down main street and everything in the convertible automobile and the people were just out with flags and everything. So we got a good reception. Of course I, we was some of the first ones that come back, though. See, I'd been gone three years. I'd been overseas three years when I got home. When I, when I got rotated home. I’d stayed a year in Guam, a year in Japan and nearly a year in Korea. And then, then, see, we got extended our service time, enlistment, got extended indefinite. That's a pretty long time.
CA: It is.
BG: And they finally bro—, broke it down to one y—, one year and that's where I finished my time out over at Charleston. When they cut it back to a year, I was ready to get out, see.
CA: Yeah.
BG: I’d done served that extra year.
CA: Hum.
RH: When you first found out that you were going to be drafted how, how did you feel about that?
BG: When I got out of high school, got out of high school in 1948 they had reestablished the draft after World War II ended. They, they discontinued it for a while but they wasn't getting any volunteers so, so they had to reestablish the draft. And I was up at Detroit, Michigan making $102 a week, cash money.
CA: Oh, me.
BG: And I got drafted.
RH: Right.
BG: So, I came home to go meet my draft notice and I met my classmate and he'd joined the Marine Corps and I joined with him. So we went back to Parris Island, see.
CA: Hum.
BG: And then—.
RH: So, so when they notified you—
BG: So when I, when we got through, when we got discharged, the draft didn't have nothing to do with us because we'd done served our time.
CA: Okay. What about your friend that you joined with? Did he, where did he serve?
BG: He served with me.
CA: Oh, okay.
BG: We wasn't to toge—, we was in the same division, we never saw each other, but we was at the same place.
CA: Ah, okay. So he was at Chosin as well?
BG: Yeah he, he was there, too.
CA: Okay. Did he, did he survive and make it home?
BG: He, he survived.
CA: Okay. Well now, your, your M1 in there, is that the one that you carried in Korea or is that one that you—?
BG: No, no. I bought that after I got here.
CA: Okay, okay.
BG: When, when we started, when we got rotated out we had to go through a line and pitch our M1s in. And some of us got out, went early, uh, the replacements there had little ole carbines. They just issued them one temporary and they wanted to buy M1s. We all went back through and got our rifles and sold them for ten dollars. [unintelligible]. Then they took the rifles away from them.
CA: Aww.
BG: Buddy, buddy business.
CA: Yeah.
BG: But we needed a little money to buy something from the Red Cross.
CA: Um-hm.
BG: They was out there selling coffee for fifty cents a cup and we, we didn't have any money. So we sold our M1 rifle and got ten dollars.
CA: Oh, me. Well. All right. Do you have any other questions, Rhonda? I think we've covered everything―
RH: I think I'm good.
CA: ―that I can think of. You have anything else you want to say before we turn the machine off?
BG: Well it's, let me say, it, from here, Inchon to here, to up here, back to here, back to here and then back to here was an experience that it's hard to tell what it, what it meant in—. But I'm happy I made it. And I have no regrets whatsoever of what I did. If I had to do it over, and we’ve, we sort of took a poll at some of our reunions and nobody says—if they had it to do over, they'd do it again. And I think they said it and meant it. I know I'm saying it. I mean, I'm real proud of my tour. [Break in interview] This Chosin Reservoir here, there was seventeen Medal of Honors, they was seventy Navy Crosses and a number of Distinguished Service Crosses and everything. And it is one of the, the Marine Corps has done a lot big things in their life but this is one of the biggest ones.
CA: Um, yeah. Um.
BG: And, you can go to a reunion and they find out you was a Chosin Few, you can't hardly buy a drink. They want to buy you—. I've never drank. I've never smoked. Never took drugs. I've never bought a pack of cigarettes and smoked them. And a guy took issue with me down at the shop here a while back. He said, "You telling me you stood, stayed in the Marine Corps four years and never smoked?" And I said, "That's what I'm telling you."
CA: That's good. It can be done, can't it?
BG: It can be done. But I just never wanted to smoke. I guess that's why I'm still in pretty good shape at eighty-three.
CA: All-righty, well we sure do appreciate this, Mr. Gober. Thank you for letting us come down.
BG: I hope I wasn't too boring.http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/war,157 |