Oral history interview of Rachel Lehmann

Collection:: Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
Title:: Oral history interview of Rachel Lehmann
Creator:: Wallace, Fredrick C.
Lehman, Rachel, 1903-2009
Date of Original:: 2003-07-09
Subject:: World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Grossinger, Paul, 1915-1989
Hobby, Oveta Culp, 1905-1995
United States. Army. Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
United States. Army. Women's Army Corps
Atlanta Opera Company
Grossinger Hotel and Country Club (N.Y.)
Pancoast Hotel (Miami, Fla.)
Location:: United States, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Miami, 25.77427, -80.19366
United States, Florida, Volusia County, Daytona Beach, 29.21081, -81.02283
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, New Jersey, Burlington County, Fort Dix, 40.02984, -74.61849
United States, New York, New York County, New York, 40.7142691, -74.0059729
Medium:: video recordings (physical artifacts)
hi-8
Type:: Moving Image
Format:: video/quicktime
Description:: In this interview, Rachel Rosen Lehmann describes her experiences during World War II. She enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which later became the Women's Army Corps. At the time the war began, she was working in a beachwear shop. She was over the age to enlist in the WAAC, but she was so persistent, she was signed on. She recalls her basic training and her jobs as clerk and mess hall sergeant. She discusses the effect her Army career had on her life, and her post-war work.
Rachel Lehmann (born Rachel Rosen) was in the Women's Army Corps during World War II.
Bo FREDERICK WALLACE: Today is Wednesday, July 9th, 2003. This is the beginning of an interview with Rachel Lehmann. Ms. Lehmann was in the United States Army during World War II, and she was in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, or the WAAC. This interview is being conducted at the Atlanta History Center. My name is Frederick Wallace, I am with the AARP and I am the interviewer. Ms. Lehmann, as I explained earlier, we want you to relate your military service experience for the American people. Take us from the date of your enlistment in the service. Tell us why you enlisted, through your boot camp experience, and from boot camp. How did you travel from boot camp to your permanent duty station? And then tell us what your experience was once you got to your permanent duty station. So, Ms. Lehmann, this is your story, will you begin please? RACHEL LEHMANN: Well, I lived in Miami Beach when war broke out. At that time I had a beachwear shop on Miami Beach. And when war broke out, the area that I lived in, the hotels in that section were all taken over by the army for their training. The area that I had my shop was where the men who were officer training were housed. And I had a shop, beachwear shop, where I sure couldn't sell beachwear to the men who were in training, but a friend of mine had a shop at the lower end of Miami Beach, and what he did in his shop, he put in men's uniforms. And so I said to him, why don't you take your uniforms, put them into my shop in my area, where the men are training for officers, your part of the area where you were living was for the enlisted men. But my area is where you should be; let's find out if you can put your merchandise into my store. In the meantime my lease was running out and here I am making so much money from the boys that were coming into service and they were being fitted for their uniforms for officer training, and it hurt me that I'm making money on these boys that might not even come back. It hurt me very much until I decided I don't need all this money. I am nobody; I'm all by myself, no children no nothing. I said, I'm going to give this up and I am going to enlist in the WAAC, and because one thing about enlisting in the WAAC you can travel, and that's what I wanted to do. So, we arranged with the owner of the store to turn my lease over to this other man. I left and went to New York because my mother and family lived in New York City. I went to New York City, and I went to the headquarters of the Army Headquarters and filed papers for enlistment. But at the time I was over the age for the WAAC enlistment. The age limit then was thirty-nine; I was already forty-one. So I was over the age for that, but I insisted I said I want to join, there's nobody in my family that can be of service. And another thing I said, do you remember that picture of Uncle Sam that said “I need you!” he was pointing to me. So, I filed it up, well they said you're over the age, but since I was so insistent if you pass the mental and the physical test, we'll sign up. What happened I took the mental I took the physical and I passed, and they waived the age limit and I went in. Then when we got the orders to go where you're supposed to and to sign in, which was down on Whitehall Street at that time in New York City. And I got my order, it was a telegram and I went down there, and we signed in. You only carry your civilian clothes just what you can use that day or whatever it was, and off we went on a train. We didn't know, we were a group of—these were all women. We didn't know where we were going, but the train, that's another thing the train with double bunks and they put me in the upper bunk, and I'm afraid of heights and I'm in the upper bunk afraid that I will roll over. And we always asked the porter, where are we going, because we didn't know. And he said, I think we're going west. We landed--at that time the reason that I enlisted from New York, I didn't want to enlist from Florida because at that time they opened a WAAC training center in Fort Oglethorpe Georgia, and I did not want to go to Georgia. And that's why I went to New York to enlist, thinking if I go to New York they had a WAAC training center in Des Moines, Iowa. And I thought that's for me. But we're traveling and finally we get to our destination. They had just opened a third WAAC training center, Daytona Beach Florida. So here I am back in Florida, which was good because it was January. Because in January, I didn't want be in Des Moines Iowa. So we're back in Daytona Beach where we had six weeks of basic training. And of course at basic training you are doing KP, and I used to write to my mother and I used to tell her that the pots that we had to wash, I could stand up straight in it they're so big. But we had six weeks of basic training. Now basic training is all different classes that you attend, gas masks, jumping, drill. I was assigned to a drill one day, and what did I do, I took my group into a fence. That was no fun; of course we made a big joke out of that. But that's what drilling was. FREDERICK WALLACE: You were a drill sergeant? RACHEL LEHMANN: Well, in basic you're a little of everything. FREDERICK WALLACE: I see—it was your turn to come out and help? RACHEL LEHMANN: My turn, and instead of telling them to column right or column left, I said straight, and right into a fence. Then so we had a lot of training. Now usually when you're in basic training, from basic training you're assigned to your permanent post where you're shipped out different places. The group that I was with, when we graduated basic, they were going to use our group for a guinea pig. And instead of sending us into the field they sent us right into our spot, Fort Dix, New Jersey. That was the extent of my traveling, but that was all right because my family lived in New York, which was one hour from Fort Dix, Trenton was one hour. Philadelphia was one hour so that's fine. So I spent three years at Fort Dix, now I was always in supply. FREDERICK WALLACE: Let me back up a minute. How did you travel from your basic training base to Fort Dix? RACHEL LEHMANN: By train again. FREDERICK WALLACE: By train? RACHEL LEHMANN: By train. FREDERICK WALLACE: And were you alone or? RACHEL LEHMANN: No, our whole group, our whole group that was going to be based at Fort Dix. And you know there are fifty to a barracks, so then your barracks are according to your initial, [that's] how you're housed. FREDERICK WALLACE: What was your reaction to basic training? Did you think that you had made a mistake? RACHEL LEHMANN: Basic training for me was very hard, because for the one thing I had to get used to wearing shoes. You know living in Miami Beach I wore sandals; you know that's all you wear there. And I really had to get used to that hard leather shoes which later on were just as wonderful, the best thing I ever had. But that in beginning was very hard for me to wear shoes having worn sandals practically all the time I lived in Miami. FREDERICK WALLACE: What else was hard about basic training for you? RACHEL LEHMANN: Sir? FREDERICK WALLACE: What else was difficult about basic training? RACHEL LEHMANN: Well we, they then assign you to your permanent post, and they put me into the insurance department. FREDERICK WALLACE: No, I was speaking of basic training. You said it was very hard? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, basic, basic that's in Daytona Beach. So, I will talk about Daytona Beach. Because we had a lot of schooling, classes, everyday classes, different classes, different things that you had to know about. Read, read, read, and then we had, it was like going back to school again. You had to write whatever you learned that you did, and gas mask. FREDERICK WALLACE: Who were your instructors; did you have male instructors or female instructors? RACHEL LEHMANN: We had female, they were very hard. I think they were worse than the men, these women; they were really tough, because they had already been in the Army when it first started. And they were really tough gals, really were. But you go through and—but basic, it turned out all right, for one thing because it was Florida, and it was January, and then we shipped up to there, to Fort Dix. And then at Fort Dix I was put into the insurance department where I knew as much about insurance as the man in the moon did. But they don't put like—I was in supply all my life. Put me back in supply where I can measure somebody, sizes and all. The Army doesn't work that way, the Army works differently. And what happened at Fort Dix, the girl that was; see we went according to our initial. My maiden name was Rosen, R-O-S-E-N, and the girl next to me was R-O-S-S-O-N, Fonda Rosson. And Fonda used to come back from mess, the night and talk about the wonderful meal her sergeant made her, and the wonderful visit that she had, and I couldn't eat. I walked into the mess hall and I would turn my stomach. I couldn't, the food it smelled awful and I lost a lot of weight. So they decided since I lost so much weight I was—they were going to send me out. And I said I'm not leaving the Army. I said I came in here healthy and I'm going out healthy. Send me to a farm, which they did, they sent me to a farm in Pennsylvania for fifteen days furlough. And then I put on the weight and came back, but I was still envious of this other girl who told me about the food that she eats, because she was with the mess. And one day I said to her, I would like to come into your office and meet your major or whoever it was. So I went with her one day, and he said to me, pulled me aside he said, “What did she have for breakfast, lemon juice?” She was a real sour person, didn't want to be in the Army like a lot of girls didn't want to be, they didn't belong. So, then [some] managed to get out, but she didn't make any effort to get out, but was just mean. And that's when he, then when orders would come to ship out somebody, you had a—your number was on a MOS. Were you in the army? FREDERICK WALLACE: No, I know what a MOS is. RACHEL LEHMANN: You know what a MOS is. A MOS is what your rank is. My rank was… FREDERICK WALLACE: It's a specialty, a military occupational specialty. RACHEL LEHMANN: Right, mine was Chief Clerk. And when this, I kept thinking, I hope my MOS never comes out to get shipped overseas. My mother was sick then, and God forbids something happens and I'm overseas. But my Captain then, not my Captain because I wasn't with him as I was still supply, an MOS came out. And he said, I happened to be in the office then, and he said I have a MOS to ship somebody out to so and so. He said, now I can send you or I can send her. I said let me stay here, let me stay. He shipped her out, and I became charge of the mess and we had two hundred mess halls that we were in charge of. And I was three years with them. FREDERICK WALLACE: You were in charge of the mess hall? RACHEL LEHMANN: The mess hall, consolidated mess. We fed everybody that came into Fort Dix. We fed everybody that was going out of the service at the mess hall at Fort Dix, consolidated mess. FREDERICK WALLACE: When you say everybody, you're talking about male and female soldiers, is that correct? RACHEL LEHMANN: Right, anybody that was coming in or going out. FREDERICK WALLACE: So did you have some kind of training to prepare you for this? RACHEL LEHMANN: No, no, you learn, you learn. I even learned how to type. I got a book on typing because I had to type letters and everything, type up menus and all. You learn, keep your eyes open. FREDERICK WALLACE: You said you wanted to travel, but when the occasion came for you to travel you turned it down, why? RACHEL LEHMANN: Because I didn't want to go away. My mother was sick then, and here I am only one hour, God forbid if anything happens, I'm only one hour from there. But if they're sending me, usually what they did they sent them overseas. Because a group that was with me in my group, and my captain went to Boston to be trained for shipping out of overseas. And they shipped that group to Africa. And we used to get letters from her. And she said, you kids think you have it bad. Here we eat out of our helmets, mess out of your helmets. Bathe out of helmets; she said you kids think you have it bad, she would write back to her. FREDERICK WALLACE: What was living conditions like in Fort Dix? RACHEL LEHMANN: Then after I got into the mess I had got another stripe, and I was assigned to a Cadre Room, which means we were just two girls in a room upstairs over the barracks, because in the barracks are fifty, twenty-five and twenty-five. So I had Cadre room with another girl who was from Kansas City, smart girl. She was a bank. If anybody was short of money she would lend them money, but charged interest. She was a former banker. But as far as my travel, I was glad that my MOS never came up to ship me away somewhere. FREDERICK WALLACE: So when you were, you made your additional rank and you moved into the Cadre room, so living conditions were much improved? RACHEL LEHMANN: Well I'm mess sergeant. I could go into the mess hall and say, sergeant, I want a steak or I want potatoes, I want this or I want. Well, he would call me up and say, sergeant, what can I fix for you today? So, I was in heaven, because I didn't have to eat the regular food that was being served, I couldn't eat it. Then war ended and you had a choice of staying into service or going out. And I decided since I had it—had it not been for my mother being ill, I would have made it my career, because I was very much for young people to enter service instead of going to work at that time, always behind the counter or any other place behind a counter. Go into service and stay in service. Then when the war ended and so by I made—my captain said, if you stay in you'll get another stripe. But so [when] we had anybody coming into Fort Dix from overseas, [they're] under quarantine for a certain length of time, three days or three weeks. I really don't remember that. And this one boy comes into my office, and he said, sergeant I would like to have a pass. I said, you can't have a pass, you just got in here three days ago, or something like that. Well, my name is Paul Grossinger, does that name mean anything to you? At that time it didn't mean a thing to me because Paul Grossinger's mother had a resort in the Catskills Mountains, very famous, the Grossinger Catskills, very famous. And he said, I'm Paul Grossinger. Well, Paul could have said I'm king of Siam, it meant nothing to me. I said, I'm sorry, Private, you have to be in camp so many days before you can get a pass to go home. Next thing I know I got a phone call. Sergeant, this is Major so and so, you have a boy there that just got in, Paul Grossinger. I want you to issue him a pass. I said Major—but [I was a] sergeant, what could I do. I had to issue him a pass, because Paul probably told him about his mother's hotel, when you come out and all that stuff. So, but that's all over. So, then they said when I was ready to leave, you're up for another stripe. I said you know I'm going out of service. A stripe to me means nothing, let's give it to a boy who's staying in service, who, it would mean something to him. You know this young fellow that just came in here, Paul Grossinger that wants to go home, give it to him. I said give it to him. And later on after I met Paul Grossinger later at his mother's hotel, he said, “You know, she always refused me a pass, she wouldn't let me go on pass for nothing.” FREDERICK WALLACE: Most of the service men whom you came in contact with were transients, were they? Or were they in the process of shipping out somewhere? Were they packing a new ship? RACHEL LEHMANN: See from Fort Dix, they went to their permanent base. FREDERICK WALLACE: So Fort Dix was sort of a staging area? RACHEL LEHMANN: Yes, [they] came there first. FREDERICK WALLACE: I see. RACHEL LEHMANN: And from there they went to their permanent base. FREDERICK WALLACE: And most of the people that ate in the mess hall were different ranks? Were they all low-ranking? RACHEL LEHMANN: They were all PFC's, privates. These are coming into service, privates. FREDERICK WALLACE: So they were the lower ranking —? RACHEL LEHMANN: Yeah, this is not officer mess. Officer mess was different. We took care of officer mess also, but that was different from what the mess halls that we were in charge of. FREDERICK WALLACE: Well, tell me, as a female soldier, what did you feel was the other soldier's thinking about you? RACHEL LEHMANN: They were very up against us, especially their mothers. Because we came in and took office jobs where these boys could be doing it, but instead we're sitting here on an office job and the boys are being sent into the field. So, it was the mothers that were against us. Now we were all, our group, we were always invited to dances to the other camps where the boys were stationed, we were invited. And this one boy that asked me to dance was very insulting, very insulting to me. Because I know WAAC and I have no business being in there, and everything, and I just couldn't take anymore. How I can I get rid of this kid who I'm dancing with, how can I get rid of him? And then I saw this fellow passing by, and to me it looked like an older person. I said, oh, to the character, oh excuse me there's my friend. And I went over to that man, and I told him, I said, look, make believe you know me please, make believe you know me. And that's what made me turn away because this kid [unclear]. Not all the boys because I help, being in the position that I was in the mess. [The] group train was going to an area where I know a boy I had lived in that came from that section, I made sure to get him a three day pass to go home for three days. But I said you have to be—you know because we were falling out to reveille at 5:45. I think that's why I left the army; I didn't want to get up at 5:45 anymore. But I said, you have to be in that line for reveille 5:45, if you're not I go to the… FREDERICK WALLACE: Who else in charge? RACHEL LEHMANN: Right. Believe me 5:45, those boxes with candy and flowers. They were there in line because I let them. I would be court-martialed for the things that I did for boys, really I would be. And this—another lieutenant I had, he was like a Boy Scout. Poor guy, he knew nothing about the army and no more wanted to be in the army than the man in the moon. And he used to say, but sergeant he's not due a pass. I said, lieutenant, you want a good soldier, send this boy home. His wife was pregnant. I said, send this boy home for three days, do you want a good soldier? So he was, all right, all right. Like I said if I—I would be court-martialed. FREDERICK WALLACE: When the soldiers came back from their overseas places, they came through . . .? RACHEL LEHMANN: Fort Dix. FREDERICK WALLACE: And did you talk with any of them? RACHEL LEHMANN: Absolutely. FREDERICK WALLACE: What kind of stories did they tell? RACHEL LEHMANN: No, you know, they don't talk about that. But when the boys came back, what I wanted was the company, their patch, I wanted their patch that they wore. And I have a scrapbook with the patches and where they were from. I was going through my scrapbook the other day. I have a patch from a boy in Albany, Georgia. Now one day maybe through the Internet or somewhere, the boy of course isn't living because that was your, but maybe family, way, way back somewhere, maybe somebody would love to have this boy's patch. I'm going to one day when I have time. FREDERICK WALLACE: Do you still have his name? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, it's in my scrapbook, definitely yes, Albany, Georgia. FREDERICK WALLACE: What was your most memorable experience while, or your memory, the most important memory that you retained from your service experience? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh there are so many things. FREDERICK WALLACE: What stands out in your mind? RACHEL LEHMANN: Trying to, because I objected very much to this 5:45 falling out for reveille in the morning. And that's why I was hoping, that the Cadre room, I didn't have to do that anymore, that I didn't have to stand, stay for PT, physical training. I didn't have to do that anymore because it was good being where I was, the rank that I was in, that was good. FREDERICK WALLACE: Other than the dances, what other type of entertainment was there? RACHEL LEHMANN: We had movies, we had movies there. And we were always invited to different camps for parties, and we invited them to ours. FREDERICK WALLACE: When you say different camps, do you mean different sections? RACHEL LEHMANN: Different parts of the— FREDERICK WALLACE: Of Fort Dix? RACHEL LEHMANN: Yes, not officers, not officers. And a cousin of mine enlisted and came to Fort Dix, and he was a major. And we couldn't even have lunch or anything together because he outranked me, and [he was] my cousin. FREDERICK WALLACE: And the WAAC stayed in a different section as opposed from the men? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, definitely off limits, absolutely off limits. They couldn't, and especially if you're ICQ, in charge of courts. And you see anything strolling around like that, you can report right then, not do they, doesn't belong there. No, we were very carefully guarded, very carefully guarded. FREDERICK WALLACE: And your senior officer was a female as well? RACHEL LEHMANN: Our senior officer, no for the—let me see what we had. We had a few, well, our major who was a friend of Oveta Culp Hobby [first woman to lead the Women's Army Corps and first woman to hold a Cabinet position in a presidential administration], who used to come to our camp, her friend, she was a senior officer too. Let's see, the senior officer; she would be a major, not a colonel. Colonel Hobby, she was a girl, she was a major. FREDERICK WALLACE: Yes, I heard of, her name? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oveta Culp Hobby. FREDERICK WALLACE: Right. RACHEL LEHMANN: I have pictures in my scrapbook of her. Oh, if I brought my scrapbook I would take up this whole tape. FREDERICK WALLACE: So, other than the fact that your mother was ill, you think you would have made a career in the military? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, definitely, absolutely I would have. In fact I would have gone into recruiting when I came out, because I'm very much for young people to do that, to go into service. You get discipline, you get, you don't have to worry about drugs and stuff like that, because that—you wouldn't last. And that's what I think, that young people today should definitely go into service. FREDERICK WALLACE: And you were single all the time you were in the service? RACHEL LEHMANN: Yes. FREDERICK WALLACE: And after you got out, did you get marry after you got out? RACHEL LEHMANN: After I got out—well, I was married. I was divorced when I went into service. That was the first time. I was married a few times. I said, Hollywood can do it, I can do it. FREDERICK WALLACE: Of course. RACHEL LEHMANN: No, I was divorced and the girls that were in my group, the young, some eighteen year old kids went in, and they had boyfriends and they didn't hear from them, and they'd be crying. I said I'm glad I don't have that; I don't want it, none of that business for me. FREDERICK WALLACE: What did you do after you got out? RACHEL LEHMANN: Now Paul Grossinger told me his mother had this hotel in the mountains, in the Catskill Mountains in the summer time. And in the winter time she had a hotel in Miami Beach, the Pancoast Hotel. You remember the Pancoast? And I'm coming out of service in January, and I didn't want to live in New York City, because I lived in Miami Beach most of my life. And I wanted to go back to my beach, knowing his mother has a hotel. And I said to him, I want to work; can I work at your mother's hotel? He said, when you get out, I'll call her and I'll tell her to put you to work. So, I got down to Florida, I'm still in uniform because my clothes didn't come, my civilian cloths. I'm still in uniform. And I got to Miami Beach to the hotel, went to his mother and she put me into the hotel as a cashier at the hotel. That was in the winter time which was beautiful. And in the summer time they come to Miami Beach because they have a hotel in the summer time in Miami Beach, which for me was great. So in the winter time I'm in Florida, and in the summer time I'm back up in New York again, which is great. And this went on for about three different seasons, back and forth. Until I decided I didn't want to pack winter time, pack summer time. I've got to get permanent again. So a friend of mine had opened this store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, wanted to know if I would be in charge of the ladies' dress shop, which was fine. I went in there and I worked this store until he went bankrupt. Well, it's a long story with him because he never paid rent, never paid the light bill. And I liked Fort Lauderdale, it was very, Fort Lauderdale then was what Miami Beach was when I first got there, very nice, small. And I thought this is a small town, it's a place for me. I looked around, I found a store, small, and I said, well, I'll open another shop again. So I opened a children's shop. And I called it “Rachel's Young Set” in Fort Lauderdale. And I just wanted a store where I would manage it with one other salesperson. I didn't want a big thing; I wanted one window to dress, only one window instead of dressing two or three windows. And very, very nice little shop there. It was lovely, I loved it, because I knew that I could go buying, I went to New York to buy, or bought it in Miami, and they had a mart in Miami. And that was great, and so where I had my store, we were six stores. So the owner that owned the six stores sold, this was after three years when I had my shop. Sold all the stores, and we all had to get out. I think we had something like three months to vacate. So, well, I had to sell all of my stock, all of my fixtures and everything. And I'm out, nothing. I'm out, no store no nothing. But I couldn't stay idle. So at that time Dania Jai-Lai opened, I got a job as a cashier there. So I was a cashier during the Jai-Lai season. I was a cashier at Jai-Lai. FREDERICK WALLACE: So you went full circle on us? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, yeah, I never stayed idle. FREDERICK WALLACE: If you had to tell younger people today about your experience, and give them some advice of the military, what would you tell them? RACHEL LEHMANN: Go, by all means. Go in and keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. FREDERICK WALLACE: And the discipline was basically . . .? RACHEL LEHMANN: That's how you learn. Well, that's how I learned what everybody else was doing. When I –I wasn't even sixteen years old, I think, when my family moved to New York at that time. And at that time, in dress show rooms the models, they didn't have zippers in those days they had buttons, you buttoned them. So I got a job in this wholesale house where the models, salesman would come in and pick out their clothing from the models, and the models they would button. And I used to help in the showroom to button the models. And when we weren't busy in the showroom I was in the office helping the bookkeeper. When I left there I was an assistant bookkeeper. I watched what this girl did, always watching. FREDERICK WALLACE: And do you think your military service helped you when you got out on your own? RACHEL LEHMANN: When I got out, they say that I'm still a sergeant. FREDERICK WALLACE: Very good. Well, very good, thank you very much Ms. Lehmann. Is there anything else that you would like to share with us? RACHEL LEHMANN: Well, I enjoyed my experience, it was hard sometimes. It was hard because when I went in they still didn't have uniforms for WAAC. They only have the men sizes, the men size shirt was a fourteen. My neck was a twelve, eleven and half, and this is January. And they didn't have overcoats for us yet, and the overcoats were a fourteen and I'm a ten or eleven, I don't know. So, it made it hard you know wearing the clothes until they finally got more women in and smaller sizes for us. FREDERICK WALLACE: So you saw the WAAC develop? RACHEL LEHMANN: Yes sir, yes sir. And then you're very proud. In fact my father when I would come home on furlough or weekend, he'd take my shoes and he would start polishing my shoes, he was so proud—his soldier, his soldier very proud. And it makes you feel proud, and you put on that shirt with the tie, you know. FREDERICK WALLACE: And today when you see a military person? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, I envy them, especially the girls. I want to get right back in there, get right back in step you know. And when you hear the Star Spangled Banner, forget it, the tears start going. FREDERICK WALLACE: Well, thank you very much I appreciate you sharing your story with us. RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, my goodness, I enjoyed it. FREDERICK WALLACE: I think you had a unique experience. RACHEL LEHMANN: You will have to come to my apartment. Everybody has a hall of fame; I have a wall of fame. FREDERICK WALLACE: A wall of fame? Okay. RACHEL LEHMANN: I have a wall of fame. FREDERICK WALLACE: What have you been doing the last twenty-five years, Ms. Lehmann? RACHEL LEHMANN: I—how did I get to the opera? My sister that has since deceased was an opera singer. And so we always had music in the house. And I came to take care of her, and, oh yeah, in between I got another job that I worked for fifteen years with a security company in Miami Beach, the Andy Frain Security. If you've ever been to Chicago you would know the Andy Frain Service in Chicago. And I got a job with them in the office with Andy Frain and then I was the head of the office. But I had a sister lived, that same [unintelligible] that when my mother passed, in the meantime I had a sister who was very ill, lived in Atlanta, and every month, every few weeks I'd get an S.O.S., come up to Atlanta, because they thought it was the end. Until they decided that her money, and my brother-in-law, their money is gone. The nurses, sitters, nursing homes, and the rest of the family, they were all married with children. I was the only one who had nobody. So it was up to me to come to Atlanta to take care of her, give up my job in Miami Beach, and I came to Atlanta. I stayed with her for two years until she passed away. And she passed away, three weeks later my brother-in-law passed away, the two of them. So here I am in Atlanta, all I had was a niece here who since then met someone, married and she's here. And so instead of going back to Miami Beach where I had no one, I thought, well, I'll stay in Atlanta because I still have a niece here. But I'm not doing anything, nobody needed me, and here I was needed day and night until I saw an ad in the paper, “volunteer needed for the Atlanta Opera.” I answered that ad and I'm still there. FREDERICK WALLACE: You're still at the opera? RACHEL LEHMANN: That's it, although I've had a setback a few months ago. I had a little heart attack, I had a little of this, that's what the doctor said. And so I've been home, I haven't been to my office, but I'm in touch with my office. My official title—and I'm a volunteer there now twenty-four years—and my official title is “Audition Coordinator.” In other words, if you're a singer and you want to sing with the Atlanta Opera, you send me your résumé. And then I go with Fred Scott, who is our Artistic Director and he, picks who he wants to hear. And I'm in touch with my office of course, but I haven't been really to the office. FREDERICK WALLACE: So this is keeping you, your idea of keeping busy? RACHEL LEHMANN: Right. FREDERICK WALLACE: And continue to be busy? RACHEL LEHMANN: Oh, yeah. So then when I got sick these last few weeks, whatever it is. I'm now living in an assisted living [residence] where I assist others. FREDERICK WALLACE: Well, thank you very much. We really appreciate you sharing your experiences with us. RACHEL LEHMANN: You're welcome. [END INTERVIEW]
Metadata URL:: http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/314
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:: 44:00
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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