Oral history interview of Elizabeth Mann Due

Collection:: Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
Title:: Oral history interview of Elizabeth Mann Due
Creator:: Pahr, Marilyn A.
Due, Elizabeth Mann, 1917-2013
Date of Original:: 2004-07-14
Subject:: Rationing
World War, 1939-1945--Georgia--Atlanta
Due, Homer H., 1911-1991
Lewis, Edith
Dunn, Ann
Castleberry, Frances
Stewart, Joseph A.
Majette, Susan
Seydell, Mildred, 1889-1988
First Baptist Church (Atlanta, Ga.)
Fox Theater (Atlanta, Ga.)
Girls High School (Atlanta, Ga.)
Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.)
Southern Railway Company
Beta Sigma Phi
Kimball House (Atlanta, Ga.)
Lawson General Hospital (Atlanta, Ga.)
Atlanta Woman's Club (Atlanta, Ga.)
Davison-Paxon-Stokes Company (Atlanta, Ga.)
People:: Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945
Location:: United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, Georgia, Chattahoochee County, Fort Benning, 32.35237, -84.96882
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, East Point, 33.67955, -84.43937
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Fort McPherson, 33.70733, -84.43354
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Piedmont Park, 33.78649, -84.37382
Medium:: video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv
Type:: Moving Image
Format:: video/quicktime
Description:: In this interview, Elizabeth Due describes life in Atlanta during World War II. Her father died when she was only one year old. She graduated from high school in 1934 but wasn't able to go to college due to the Great Depression. She worked as an assistant dental hygienist and did secretarial work in a railway office and in government agencies. She recalls being courted by her future husband at Lake Clara Meer and having to change their wedding date because her fiance kept getting draft notices. They were at choir practice when they heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Her mother took in boarders to make ends meet; one was an Army officer who recommended a job for her. She belonged to a cultural sorority and describes their work in helping servicemen, serving coffee at Terminal Station and visiting them in the hospital. The sorority also sponsored parties and dances. She gave serious thought to joining the WACS, but didn't want to leave her mother. Mrs. Due displays several artifacts and photographs from her life. She remembers having to collect gas ration cards in order to travel for her honeymoon.
Elizabeth Due was a civilian living in Atlanta during World War II.
MARILYN PAHR: July 14th, 2004. My name is Marilyn Pahr and I'll be conducting an interview with Elizabeth Due here at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta Georgia. Mrs. Due, we'd like to start with you telling us your date of birth and where you were born? ELIZABETH DUE: I was born in Atlanta back in March 27, 1917, a long time ago. I've been here all of my life. MARILYN PAHR: All of your life. Can you tell us a little about your childhood and your upbringing? ELIZABETH DUE: Well, I was raised in a Christian home. My father died when I was very young. In fact, I was born in '17 and he died in '18. And I was the youngest of five children. My mother was very smart and industrious woman. She took care of all five of us until we were grown and went to school, married, or what have you. But I've lived in Atlanta all of my life. And lived as a matter a fact in the same general area, in the area of Piedmont Park in my younger years, had a lot to do with going to Tenth Street School there, which has been torn down, the fire station is there now. And used to go to the Park and play and ride the swings and what have you. And then later on as I grew older, we were still in that general area up around Peachtree, First Baptist Church on Peachtree near Fox Theatre, up in that general area. I went to Girls' High School; it was O'Keefe Junior High was the only school there. I went to Girls' High School; that building is still there. This would have been our seventieth anniversary of graduation this year. And let's see, I did not get to college because when we graduated in '34 that was the height of the Depression, and we didn't even get to have a school annual published that year. I never will forget that. But I went on and worked awhile and then got to college later. So, I started having looking at dental outfits, as an dental assistant and met some [Unintelligible]. And then I don't know where I went from there, but anyhow let's see. You want something about Atlanta. First Baptist Church there, sang in the choir and that's where I met my husband. And there's another story. We used to; I'll tell it again because it's kind of interesting. We used to, we both sang in choir, in fact he came down from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1939 to start up an insurance company here. And we met in the choir and this was like in March of '42. On Thursday, we had choir rehearsal on Thursday night, so after choir rehearsal we would go over to the Varsity and get a hot dog. And then we would go out to Piedmont Park over where the lake, the lake there is and we'd sit in the swings and talk and talk and talk. So that's where we courted. Well that was in March, and in August our minister [Unintelligible] was called to go to be a president at a seminary in Myrtle, Baptist Seminary, and came as quite a shock to most of us. And so everybody was so unhappy because he was leaving, so that Sunday night we, after the service and after he had told us about leaving, we went out to the park. And we didn't talk, we just sat there and cried, I did. And then after this happened for a little while, I don't know, we were just talking about how much we would miss Dr. [Unintelligible], and then he just started in, “Will you marry me?” And as I tell my friends, I don't think I ever said yes, but we were married in September [Unintelligible]. MARILYN PAHR: And your husband's name? ELIZABETH DUE: It was Homer. And the odd part about it was he had gotten his draft card and he thought he would be drafted. And he had bad eyesight and wore glasses, but anyway we had scheduled a wedding for spring. And then he had found another card, and it was moving up, and it was moved up and so finally we gave up. We had decided, well, we'll just go ahead and get married in September. So I went down and bought all of my jewelry, my wedding gown, and all the [Unintelligible] and what may, back then it was daisy [Unintelligible]. But anyway we were very happily married for almost fifty years before he had a cardiac arrest and went on to be with the Lord. But we have two sons, Homer, Jr. is fifty-eight and he lives out in Arkansas. In fact, he was here just last week. And then John, who is my youngest son, is here in Atlanta, just a short distance from me, single. My oldest son is married. But John is just a good old confirmed bachelor. MARILYN PAHR: I'm going to take you back a bit now. ELIZABETH DUE: Okay. MARILYN PAHR: So, you were in Atlanta when war first broke out? ELIZABETH DUE: Yes. MARILYN PAHR: Can you tell us a little about that time period as the war builds up and then leading into 1941? ELIZABETH DUE: Well, things were pretty rough back then. And of course we had a lot of young men, going into service. We had a lot of friends who went after war hit, but my husband never was called. I guess it was because, I thought and he did too, they he might be called or just sit behind the desk in the office. But he was, things were pretty rough, and times were pretty hard. And people were having a hard time with just really having enough food and shelter and so forth back in those days. It was rough times. MARILYN PAHR: Can you tell me where you were on December 7, 1941? ELIZABETH DUE: I can tell you exactly where I was. I was in choir room at First Baptist Church. We were getting ready to present our Christmas music and we had a rehearsal on that afternoon. And it just so happened that there was a radio on, and we heard the President come on and give those fatal words. So everybody was just overpowered, and we lost a lot of young men out front who made it in the service, some of them got back. It was interesting years, they were not just real good. And of course after we married in '42, it was still into it, you might say. I was working for the Civilian Conservation Corps that President Roosevelt had started. And we were housed in warehouse out in East Point; I believe it was on the main building there. And then I don't recall why but later we were moved, the office was moved to the grounds of [Unintelligible]. MARILYN PAHR: Could you tell us a little about what was your decision in getting involved with the CCC, and do you remember where and exactly when that it was? ELIZABETH DUE: That was, had to have been '40 I think, because at that time I had forgot to mention that after I had served in dental hygiene not hygiene assistant, I got a job with Southern Railway. And was there from '36 until '40, and the reason I went there to the Civilian Conservation Corps, back in those days my mother kept roomers, so we had a house where we had two spare bedrooms and she rented them out as a means of existence. And there happened to be a very fine man, who had been a Captain in the Army, and he was assigned to Civilian Conservation Corps for his term, and he was telling me about that they could use somebody out there, and it would be, what do you call it? Anyway it would be a good job and they would pay me well and so forth. Anyhow I had never done secretarial work or anything like that in my life, but I was assigned to do the assistance department, which they took care of all the canteens, and the equipment and stuff like that. And I enjoyed my work because that was out in East Point, and I had to ride the trolley from we were out on the other end, this is before I was married. And we were out on Penn Avenue which is out almost [Unintelligible]. But I would ride and take the trolley downtown and stand under Rich's clock and catch the other bus that took me out to that location. MARILYN PAHR: How long of a wait was that? ELIZABETH DUE: It took about forty-five minutes from the beginning to the end. And then I think somewhere along the line, somebody had a car, I did not have a car but I think I got a ride out there some of the time. But I think it was while I was working there at that location that we were married. And of course after we were married, we had a car, and so I brought along a car with permission part of it and gave it to the gate for [Unintelligible]. So I worked there until from'40 until about '43 I guess, because the unit moved again to Nashville Biscuit Company Building [PHONETIC] which was over, across the railroad tracks. And you had to go up three flights of stairs to work and that was a little bit more than I had. Well, I had some surgery along at the time, I forgot about that. And after I had the surgery I decided to quit from there to work with First Baptist Church in [Unintelligible]. MARILYN PAHR: So the time period that you were in the CCC was 1940 until 1943? ELIZABETH DUE: Yes. MARILYN PAHR: You started out in East Point and then they moved you Fort McPherson? ELIZABETH DUE: Right. MARILYN PAHR: So during that time period at Fort McPherson, could you tell us what that was like? It must have been very active? ELIZABETH DUE: Oh, it was, and in fact I was so impressed with the soldiers and the [Unintelligible] and at one time I thought seriously about joining the WACS. I had several friends who had joined the WACS. In fact, I had one friend who, I believe she was the first WAC that was sent overseas or whatever, Susan LeJeppe [PHONETIC] was her name, and she was a wonderful person. But I had several friends who worked there in the office with me that we were all just gung ho to join. And I guess I was reluctant and that would have taken me away and I didn't want to leave my mother alone. And I was the only child she had left. So, but it was interesting and there was a lot going on out there. In fact we were in a frame building, but we got out a bit [Unintelligible]. But it was interesting, it was interesting work. And we on one occasion, I don't remember exactly what it was, shows where we took a tour on all the CCC camps in and around the state of Georgia. And we got to see a bunch of places. It was sort of [Unintelligible] type of thing. And I was so impressed with how they took these young men, high school age boys, and made them work [Unintelligible]. These boys were very helpful and a lot of good to be there. So that is about all I can remember about that. MARILYN PAHR: Give us a sense then, since you were so close to being on Fort McPherson following the progress of the war, were there, it would be hard to anticipate ahead of time how long you thought the war would last. But did you have times where you thought it was peaks and valleys, and give us a sence of how you felt the war effort was going? ELIZABETH DUE: Well, I don't really remember, except I know I was so concerned for all the young men going overseas and out in the field [Unintelligible]. And it seemed like such a [Unintelligible], but I had the utmost respect for the bravery and all that they did in giving their lives [Unintelligible] you sit back and felt sorry for those boys who had young minds, young children, families, and stuff. MARILYN PAHR: Do you remember where you were when you heard that President Roosevelt had died? ELIZABETH DUE: Yes, I do, I was in my office in First Baptist Church. Me and the secretary, we had the radio on and in fact, if I remember correctly, I started crying because I had [Unintelligible]. In fact that was in '45, that was right before my oldest son was born. In fact I retired shortly after that, after he came I didn't work anymore until after they were grown and in school, and I was free again. MARILYN PAHR: So you listened to the radio quite a bit then. Is that also how you also heard about the end of the war, was radio? ELIZABETH DUE: Probably but I don't remember. I'm sorry I don't remember that. But there were a lot of things. I belonged to a sorority, Beta Sigma Phi. It's not a school sorority; it was an international cultural sorority. It was all over the world. And we spent a lot of time and effort doing things for the soldiers. We went over; at one point in time I was assigned to Terminal Station, the train station. And we had our coffee place down there, and we would be there and greet them when the young men would be there. And I know I used to be so concerned. I would see these soldiers coming in all bandaged up and you thank the Lord. And then the sorority also had dances and parties and things out at Fort McPherson, oh dear, there goes my mind. Anyway I've got some pictures here that show some of the dances. And one in particular that was quite interesting. I don't think anyone living remembers the Kimball House, but it was a beautiful, beautiful hotel down at the very center of Atlanta, right there in five points. Beautiful building, red stone and they've torn it down, of course. And we had a very, very nice dance. It was formal, all the girls went formal. MARILYN PAHR: Do you remember what you wore? ELIZABETH DUE: I was just going to say, I've got the dress. It was a full dress and off the shoulders, and it happened to be my birthday. Well, the reason all this came about, I was president of two chapters there, the Epsilon Chapter and the [Unintelligible], which was as high as you could go. And also we had about five or six, there goes my mind again. What do you call the different groups? Anyway there were about five different units in Atlanta, and then we had a, what we called a council of these five, and I was president of it for several years. And we, anyhow on this particular occasion we were having this beautiful, beautiful dance down at the Kimball House. And we were all decked out and all dressed up, well, it happened to be my birthday. And during the evening, we were all having a good time. We had refreshments and everything. And then at one point, two young men, they were MP's, they were, came up and took me by my arm and said, “You come with us.” And I thought what in this world is going on? They escorted me, just poker faces, into the room next door where they had this beautiful birthday cake, and they all sang Happy Birthday to me. I'll never forget that if I live to be one thousand. But so chapters, chapters I'm new at this. But anyway it was a very, very worthwhile group. And then I have pictures there of some other places. We were out at the hospital. We went to the hospital to visit the, I can't remember the name of the hospital. It was out there on Peachtree Road, not the Veterans Hospital, but it was another hospital. But we went out there and had cold drinks and refreshments and things. MARILYN PAHR: Can you tell me a little bit about the music? What was some of your favorite music? ELIZABETH DUE: Oh, mercy, I don't think I can remember but I loved it all. I just can't remember, I'm sorry, I'm showing my age now. MARILYN PAHR: No problem. ELIZABETH DUE: But I know I went somewhere not too long ago, oh I went to a program that they had on television about the music through the years and they were playing things back. I thought, oh my goodness, like “The way you look tonight, “and all that stuff like that. But I loved music. But the sorority did a lot of good. They did a lot of good, and they're still very active I think. I had to resign after the children came along. I was raising my family. But it was very well. We had a convention down in Gainesville, Missouri, and we had chapters all over the world. MARILYN PAHR: How did you travel to the conventions? ELIZABETH DUE: By train, yes, by train. And we stayed at the Lemont Motel [PHONETIC]. I remember that. Let's see, I don't believe I have a picture of it, but we had quite a [Unintelligible]. But that was that part of my life. The chapters are still active here in Atlanta. I had one friend who was there, [Unintelligible] and she had lost track of me and she wanted to know if I was still living, you know. But so many of my friends have gone to be with the Lord, and I'm just eighty-seven years old, don't take pills and in excellent health. And He's just been real good to me. MARILYN PAHR: That's wonderful, is it all right with if you if we stop the tape for a moment. And let's get the materials and then we'll talk about your photographs? ELIZABETH DUE: Sure. MARILYN PAHR: Okay, we are resuming the interview with Elizabeth Due. She's brought some artifacts for us, and she's going to explain some of the items that she brought. ELIZABETH DUE: I thought you might be interested in seeing these little cards that I used to have to have to get in and out of [Unintelligible]. This one on top here is called an Officer Registration [PHONETIC], and a number of us did a lot of Red Cross work back during the war of the years. And then we had a card that allowed us to use the person exchange for groceries and what have you. And then down at the bottom is a card that was issued to me from my sorority to allow us to go out to Lawson General Hospital, where we used to visit the patients out there that had returned from the war. Up in the corner, I'm proud of my little service ribbon here. I was with the Corps Engineers after we moved from the CCC, well, we were still the CCC division, but it became part of the Post Engineers working area. And you were a Corps person at that time. Then I have a little stuff here that was telling me about the sugar ration book, that I had to, it was not valid until I had put the name on it and the address in the spaces provided. And if the homeowner is unable to write his agent will sign for him. And this was signed by office of ____ Administration. So, you see, they were even hard to get along with after those days. Here I have some priceless possessions on ration books. They were issued to me, I don't have a date on it but it must have been in '42. It was after I was married because it had my married address on it. But here, it's falling apart as you can clearly see. But here are the ration stamps, and it says fair, and I don't know how many we had. I know it was a hard time getting them. Oh, here is the sugar ration book, I mentioned over there. You had to sign your name. This was a sugar ration book from my husband. And you had to just give your life to get over this. I know I used to, during the war years we had a little lamb, but we had lamb on every occasion, and I don't think he was lamb, I think he was a goat. But you were thankful to have to have that. Here are some more if I can get it out, some more rations. Oh, this is a savings bond. We all had a savings bond, and this is another ration book, some of this that I just showed you. And we had to have one each, my husband and I had one each. But here is the Postal Savings Plan with the purchase of United States Savings Bonds. And you'd have $1.00 for a $100.00 bond. And I don't know how many I had, but it looks like I didn't have any in this one. But this is where you'd put your stamps. You'd buy your stamps and then the total stamp value would be your eight dollars. So, that was interesting back in those years. And here is another war ration book. I think this shows, now this must have been before I married because my address was on Penn Avenue, and don't have any date on here but it was back at the very height of the war. And that was another ration, that was my husband's. And here's another one, war ration number two. Down here is the mileage ration identification folder that had my, well, it was my husband's car. I didn't know how to drive back in those days. MARILYN PAHR: Do you remember what kind of car it was, does it say? ELIZABETH DUE: It was a [Unintelligible], I beg your pardon it was a Chevrolet. We had a '41 Chevrolet, expiration date May the 18th, 1945. And it was special, and he was with the American Conalegal Insurance Company [PHONETIC]. At that time [that] is what they came down here [as] to open up, and then later it became the American Insurance of New Jersey, and then it was American something else, and then they merged Pilots of America [PHONETIC], and then it became American Express. So, long history goes with that. He was with that company for forty-seven years when he retired. And when he retired I quit. I was working at the Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. And I [Unintelligible] and he was six years older than I was, and I promised him when he retired I would quit, which I did. And then we traveled extensively through Europe and [Unintelligible] and landed here within five years so. There's another thing from the price and rationing, oil price and rationing board. I don't know if I can take this out or not. I think it's just like some of this other stuff. Oh, it's got the motorist basic mileage ration stamps. And he had to get some special ones on our honeymoon. We begged and borrowed from everybody to get ration stamps so we could go there and get back. MARILYN PAHR: How far did you go? ELIZABETH DUE: We went from Atlanta to Huntington, Virginia, West Virginia, where our aunt was. And then we went over to St. Louis and then I met his family up there, and then we went to Indiana and I met his parents there. His mother was here for the wedding, excuse me. But anyway we had to have special rations just for that. And, oh, at his brother's farm in Indiana, he had his own gasoline supply. So, he gave us some gasoline to get back down to where we could get home. Interesting life. It was an interesting life. This, I was telling you about the beautiful party we had at the Kimball House. And here is yours truly, well, let me show you this first one. Here is where after we were dancing, this was back in the 1940's, these MP's came up and captured me only to take me into the adjoining room where they had this beautiful birthday cake. And I don't remember which birthday it was, but it was probably in the twenties believe it or not. And everybody, this girl right here is still living. She's a member of my church, Edith Mirth [PHONETIC], and she was a member of the sorority but I don't know about the others. But that was a long time ago, believe me. This is, this came out of an old scrapbook. This was the Thanksgiving Ball for Lawson General Hospital on November 26th, 1941. And it was held at the Atlanta Motorist Club. And this is to be [Unintelligible] and this was a very nice young man. And I think I was listening to sweet nothings in my ear that part. And then on the back here we have, this was another, I think this was the same occasion because I have on the same dress. But anyway this was with two more young men, and this was a sorority sister that lives out in California, and she was a movie star. Do you think I can remember her name, no? But anyhow, Ann, anyway she was a movie star. Here is a picture of a beautiful dance at [Unintelligible] at the station there, service men stuff. And let's see, here is yours truly in a fancy long gown and what have you. And there were several articles in the paper from time to time—this was back in '42 and '43—of affairs that we had for, like the Gaylord 4th of July Ball, for the service men, and then at the Motor Base at Conley [PHONETIC]. Everywhere where there was a service center or something that had to do with the guys, we were there. And this is a young lady that I'm sure is long gone, but they were very helpful. This was, this is a picture of the five Atlanta Chapters of Epsilon Sigma Phi that were so active and doing so much for Army military. And this is awfully small, but I think, let's see, but this was I think this is the same picture as that. Here is an article that was in the Council News, a picture of one of the dances there. This one, I don't know where it was but it was another one. This was the Council News that went out all over the United States. It's to let other chapters of the sorority know what we were doing with the military. And here is a list of some of the guests that we had, lieutenants, and the captains, and the majors, and lieutenant colonels, and what have you. Their names are all listed here, some of the ones that were there. MARILYN PAHR: And did they represent all the different branches of the military? ELIZABETH DUE: Yes, yes they did. MARILYN PAHR: So you saw a great part? ELIZABETH DUE: We did, we really did. And it was an exciting time. And we felt like it was something that was well worth our time to help them. This was a dear friend of mine, Frances Castleberry, who was [Unintelligible] and she died a couple of years ago. And I went to Missouri to see her, but we were dear friends. And then she went into, she was in the, she applied to the Atlanta [Unintelligible] headed by Colonel Joseph A. Stuart [PHONETIC] of the US Army a year ago for a job operating one of the machines in the machine record station. And here she is working there, but she was very much a part of the Army. And as I said she was a colonel, she was a full colonel when she died. And then here is another friend of mine who was in the WAC, Susan Jet [PHONETIC], she was an [Unintelligible] in the Navy. And here is just a page of a young man that I knew that was in the service. Well this young man was in Australia, why I don't know. Anyway this was a fine young man, a lieutenant. And then on the back here is a cousin of mine who was killed over in France. And this was another cousin that rescued nurses in the dark. And this is a big picture of the Founders Day Dinner in 1942 of the organization of Epsilon Sigma Phi, the sorority that I belonged to. This was simply Atlanta Woman's Club, and this is the head table where all of the presidents of the different chapters, and how we had very prominent people who were our sponsors, or I don't know what you call them but we had Young Sidle [PHONETIC] was one, [Unintelligible] was one, just very, very powerful people in Atlanta. This is a better picture of that, this is Mildred Sidle here, and this is, all these girls were presidents on down the [Unintelligible] of sororities. This lady was charming, I can't remember her name to save my life, but she was very, very proud of Atlanta. And she was our sponsor or whatever you want to call it. Here is a picture of [Unintelligible] at Fort McPherson. In fact of April of 1943 and as I mentioned earlier it was just a framed house, just a framed structure but there was Mr. Butrell [PHONETIC], he was our Officer Manager, and then Mrs. Phillips [PHONETIC] I think she worked in our end and Louise Cowden [PHONETIC] my friend and I who thought we were going to go into the WAC, then Lieutenant Daniel, and then Molly whoever she was. This was Lieutenant Pendergrass [PHONETIC] and Kathy Strider [PHONETIC], Lieutenant Riley and [Unintelligible] I don't know who he was. But this was just some casual pictures. By the way this was my going-away wedding suit. And this is just more of the same here. And then these are just more pictures that were made down there. This last one was a picture made that shows the old company headquarters, district CCC out in East Point, district commander and staff. This was November the 15th, 1940. And this was a Christmas card that they made and sent to us. And here are some of the pictures of the office, workers on the inside. And this was a Sunday that we all, the office all went down to Fort Benning to see what was going on down there. And I think we spent the day down there. Here I am all dressed up with a big fur coat and top on there. But as I recall it was very interesting, we saw the base and saw a lot of things that were going on. And this is a picture of our inside office in which I was in the Subsidence Department which I told you took care of the food and the equipment. That's me over there. I never took typing in my life, but I went through life learning typing with the hunt and peck system, and had three jobs that took me through with that. And this was the sweetest little girl, and these were some of the fellows that worked out there. And that's about it. The last little thing is a little container, a little calfskin container that I used to keep my tokens in. This side says red tokens and this side says blue tokens. And I kept these in here when I would go to the grocery story. So, that's about it in the memorabilia line. MARILYN PAHR: Well, you have quite a treasure. I'm curious a little bit about the dresses that you had. You went to so many of these dances, and you mentioned in some cases wearing a dress more than once, of course. Do you recall how many you had, how did you take care of them? Like how much preparation time to get ready for one of these dances? ELIZABETH DUE: Well, I had several, several gowns. And I still switch off and wear at least one. And it didn't take me long because I was not like my sisters. I had one sister who would be at the vanity for an hour and half putting on her face. All I'd do is wash my face and put Jergens lotion on it, and slap some powder and rouge on it and then I was ready to go. I don't do anything to my eyes, I do comb my hair. My hair is naturally curly, thank goodness, so I don't have to do anything on that. But I was always ready, I was always ready. And we just had real good times and the fellowship was just wonderful with the young men. And they, a lot of times, well, not a lot of times but some of the times, they would be just so appreciative of the fact that they could talk to somebody. And if they were from out of town, or way away from home and just to share some of their personal life with us. And we just tried to encourage them [Unintelligible]. MARILYN PAHR: So they didn't so much want to talk about what they were doing in the war as how? ELIZABETH DUE: No, no. They didn't, they just wanted to talk about other things. I noticed that to be very true. But it was an interesting thing and we really felt paid back for going, for the effort that we were putting out. And we were doing a lot of nice things. Of course, we would always have refreshments to get together and stuff. And it was particularly hard when we would go to the hospital, because some of them were in such bad shape. Of course, we didn't see the severely injured, but as long as they could talk [Unintelligible]. But I felt like it was a very worthwhile. And as I said, I was trying to think; no I think this just about covers all the territory on that. MARILYN PAHR: Did you have any other closing remarks that you would like to make? ELIZABETH DUE: No, but I just want to say that I am so thankful that I was born when I was, and have seen so much these eighty-seven years, some good and some bad. But I think this is a wonderful world that we live in and I just feel that we need to do as much as we can as long as we can, when we can. And I think that probably ends my story. MARILYN PAHR: Well, thank you so much for coming in and sharing with us your artifacts. ELIZABETH DUE: My pleasure. MARILYN PAHR: Thank you. ELIZABETH DUE: A can of GI, can of peanut butter that the rations [were for]. It was peanut butter and something else that I kept in the basement for the longest time, back when we used to have air raids and stuff. And I had a little corner down in my basement where I had first aid supplies and I was ready to go down there and hide if they came in on me, they'd never find me. But they were just there in that little corner. But I still have a canteen of peanut butter and something else, or water. Oh, in fact, I brought canned water over here, several years ago and I bought something else along that line. And I brought my sisters [were] also at the Girls' High School. And I brought my oldest sister's wedding gown, graduation dress. And I had mine, it's in perfect condition and I'll bring it in. And then my other sister, there were three of us that went through high school and the gown is in peak condition. So, I've got a lot of stuff that was carefully labeled for the Atlanta History Center. These you would have to throw away. But I've watched this building being built and I've been so interested in everything [Unintelligible]. But I love history and I love to be a part of history. MARILYN PAHR: You're definitely a part of history. ELIZABETH DUE: And so I have little children. I don't have any grandchildren, well, I have some step grandchildren, but they were way out there to have the opportunity to know me better. But I just have a lot of good memories that I could show. I love Atlanta, lived here all of my life. I lived [Unintelligible]. Now our home is south of Patterson Funeral Home to Atlanta, because they've changed the street names, they've moved the buildings, they've torn down the buildings. That's the only thing that I fuss about in Atlanta, is all the beautiful architectural jewels that they've had that they've torn down and put up a lot of modern things, but anyway that about covers the territory. MARILYN PAHR: Okay, thank you. [END OF INTERVIEW] [CJ]
Metadata URL:: http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/157
Additional Rights Information:: This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
Extent:: 45:15
Original Collection:: Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center
Holding Institution:: Atlanta History Center
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