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- Description:
- In an oral history interview, Jessie Melis talks about her service as a teacher in occupied Germany from August 1950 to July 1953. She recalls the devastation in German cities, socializing with German citizens, German customs, her living quarters in Munich, taking meals in the officer's mess, her experiences with the black market and the depressed German economy. Melis also talks about meeting former Nazis, the differences between teaching in Germany and the U.S., the differences between American and German students and traveling to Berlin through the Russian Zone. Melis says that she traveled to Palestine and Jerusalem before finally returning to the U.S. to help her family and re-establish her career in East Lansing, MI. Melis is interviewed by Elsie Hornbacher.
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Elsie Hornbacher talks about her overseas service as a teacher in Japan, Italy and Austria after World War Two. Hornbacher talks about going to Japan in 1949, her ocean voyage to Yokohama, shipboard life, riding out a typhoon, the destruction still evident in postwar Japan, Japanese culture, and how life for the Japanese gradually began to improve. Hornbacher discusses the school where she worked, the curriculum, her students, visiting Hiroshima and about the Korean War and American dependents evacuating from Korea to Japan. Hornbacher says that she was reassigned to Naples in 1952, and that the city was unsafe and controlled by the mafia. After "enduring" a year in Italy, she says that she was next sent to Austria which she found both colorful and interesting and was finally sent back to the U.S. in 1954.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-04-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Josephine Boecker discusses her service in the American Red Cross in the Pacific Theater from September 1943 to September 1946. Boecker describes being contacted by the Red Cross and later being called for war service, going through the required background checks, taking a leave of absence from her job, and enduring a grueling three month training regimen. Boecker says that she believed she was headed to North Africa and was surprised when she found herself aboard a train bound for the west coast and duty in the Pacific. She describes the four week trip to New Guinea, being stationed at the 47th General Hospital near Milne Bay, the camp conditions, sanitation, the food, the steps taken to prevent malaria, the perpetual rain, camp social events, and her job of setting up entertainment and recreation facilities for the troops. She says that she spent her leave in Australia and later moved forward with the troops to the Philippines. She recalls her reaction to the news of the dropping of the atomic bomb, being sent to Japan to staff a hospital in Tokyo, the destruction she saw, and the effects U.S. occupation had on Japanese society. Sound quality deteriorates near the conclusion of the recording.
- Date Issued:
- 1985-02-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- In a wide-ranging oral history interview, Josephine Boecker discusses her service in the American Red Cross in the South Pacific from September 1943 to September 1946. Boecker says she was contacted by the Red Cross and later called for war service and recalls anticipating being sent to North Africa and being surprised when she found herself on a train bound for the west coast. Boecker talks about activities on board ship during the four week trip to New Guinea, the reception the nurses received from the soldiers when they came ashore and being assigned to the 47th General Hospital near Milne Bay where Red Cross workers staffed recreation programs. She describes camp conditions, sanitation, food, the malaria epidemics, finding activities to keep the troops occupied, and spending her leave in Australia and later following the Army to the Philippines. Boecker says that she was overjoyed when she heard the news of the dropping of the atomic bomb and that the war was over. She says she was later and shipped to Japan to staff a hospital in Tokyo and discusses the destruction she saw and the effects that the U.S. occupation had on Japanese society. Boecker is recorded for the Radcliffe College Library.
- Date Issued:
- 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project