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Gerald
Dawkins: World War II Interviewed
by Lisa Spires (Midwest City Rotary Club Interview) Interview
Date: April 22, 2004 Q:
When and where were you born? A:
I was born in Prague, Oklahoma in 1926. Q:
When did you first begin thinking that the US might be involved in World
War II? A:
When I was in junior high in ’41 and Pearl Harbor was bombed. Q:
And you were in junior high? A:
Yea. Q:
Did that occur after the attack at Pearl Harbor, or did you think that
the US involvement in the World War was inevitable prior to the attack of Pearl
Harbor? A:
The first I heard of war was Pearl Harbor. Q:
OK. Like I said, some of these are redundant questions. A:
That’s all right. Hey, I’m in the insurance business, we have to ask
questions over and over. Q:
Oh, that’s true. What was your reaction and the reaction of your family
and friends when Pearl Harbor was attacked? A:
Well, we worried because there were a few neighbors who were in the
service and they started hitchhiking. They went into town in Prague, which did
not have an interstate, but a four-way stop. Every time a serviceman stepped up
to raise his hand, a car picked him up. They all went back to their base. Q:
Wow. A:
And I was a little boy watching them. Q:
And you just hopped on with them? A:
No, Mam! I didn’t hop on with them! I just went back to school. Q:
Oh, OK. Let’s see, how old were you in December of 1941? A:
Fourteen. Q:
And were you already in the military in December of 1941? A:
No. Q:
If not, were you drafted or did you enlist? A:
I was drafted. Q:
OK. A:
I tried to enlist. My father wouldn’t sign for me for the navy, so I
went into the infantry and got shot at – and got shot. Q:
How did the other men in your area feel about serving in the military? A:
Everyone was eager. It was the most popular war in the history of the
world. Q:
Yea. How did you family, wife, or girlfriend feel about you going off to
war? A:
Well, since I was the youngest child, my mother was worried that
something would happen. Q:
Oh, yea. A:
Because a cousin had already died in the war. Q:
Wow, ok. In what branch of the military did you serve? A:
In Europe, I was in the 10th Armored Division, and came home
with the 45th Infantry heading for Japan and Harry Truman dropped the
bomb and stopped the war. Q:
OK. Where did you undertake basic training? A:
Fort McClellan, Alabama. Q:
OK. What was that experience like, and please elaborate both on your
training and your interaction with men from all parts of the country. A:
That was a different experience. I heard people – I went to the south,
but I came back with somewhat of a Yankee accent because most of the troops were
from the north. And I went to the sunny southland where we camped out and snow
was 4 inches deep and one time. And – in running or whatever, I could outrun
everyone in my whole division because I’d been a high school – had been a
distance runner in high school. So I usually on the 30 mile marches would carry
someone else’s pack. Q:
Oh, wow. Did you make lots of friends that way? (laughing) A:
I was barely 18. Yea, I made friends that way because they were bigger
and tougher, and I was too little and couldn’t fight, but I could run. Q:
Let’s see, after basic training, where did the military send you? A:
After basic training, I was admitted to officer’s candidate school and
the Battle of the Bulge came along and they cancelled all officer training and
sent me directly to Europe when I joined the 10th Armored to help
break free of the Battle of the Bulge. Q:
OK. This next one has a lot to do with that. In what capacity did you
serve during World War II – your duty, rank, the places at which you served? A:
My rank got no higher than private first class, and I was a machine
gunner with a 50 caliber machine, and worked with a Browning automatic rifle in
the armored infantry division. Q:
Wow. In terms or your own experience during World War II, under what kind
of conditions did you live and work. And elaborate on as many aspects as
possible from food to clothing, etc., and so forth. A:
In World War II, we had some of the comforts of dorms. Of course, along
line of beds, and if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night
you walked 50 or 100 feet on the snow to go. But anyway, that’s neither here
nor there. I’d never seen a ship or an ocean, and I went in February – I saw
the Atlantic Ocean – and I went – got on a ship in New York and for 14 days
we were on a ship – a Liberty ship – that flip-flopped back and forth like a
row boat. And finally landed in France – about a third of the people got
seasick – I did not. We landed in France, got into a boxcar and rode several
hundred miles toward the front. And slept like bums all over the floor on the
boxcar. And I reached the 10th Armored in a truck under German fire.
And we entered Crailsheim, Germany, where I learned to shoot and try to stay
alive. They called me “kid” because I looked like a kid, and I was younger
than anyone else. Q:
You were the youngest one in your. . . A:
And then we – we liberated Dachau in Germany and saw those Jewish
people starving to death that they hadn’t burned yet. Q:
Yea. A:
And they killed half of my company, even though it was only in combat
about six weeks. Q:
Good grief! What kind of contact did you have with people back home? A:
We wrote letters and one time I got busy having fun right after the war
ended and I didn’t write home for about four weeks and my dad had gone to the
Red Cross, and the day he went I had . . . Q:
Oh, no. A:
. . .I sent another letter home. It took a letter about 10 days to get
home. Q:
Oh, really. OK. What kind of correspondence did the military permit? A:
They let us write letters and opened enveloped and they censored out
anything that they didn’t want me to write. Q:
OK. A:
They furnished free cigarettes! Q:
For writing? A:
No, just free cigarettes to anyone who wanted cigarettes. Q:
Oh really? A:
The tobacco companies got the government to pay them and tried to get . .
. Q:
Oh how neat! How very interesting! A:
. . . as many people hooked on cigarettes as they could. Q:
Oh! How very terrible! OK, let’s see. . . A:
I did finish my service in army intelligence. Q:
Oh, really? OK. A:
Which is the spy division, similar to the FBI and the CIA. Q:
OK, that’s kind of one of these questions. I don’t know, let’s see,
it says if you feel comfortable talking about combat, please describe the combat
experiences you had, if any. A:
Yes, I feel comfortable. I do now – I didn’t want to when I came
home. Charles Keller joined the 10th Armored the day I did and a week
later they him shot right in the heart and he died right beside me. He was one
foot away. Q:
Is that Keller? A:
K-e-l-l-e-r. Q:
OK. A:
And other people died, but that’s the one I knew the best. Q:
Right, right there beside you. A:
We had to – shared the
same room the night before. Q:
Ah, I can’t talk about it – I’ll end up in tears! It’s, ah, I
don’t know – that would be hard. A:
One night in the mountains in Germany – this will be good – the
Germans were shooting and we couldn’t raise our head up. We were in a ditch
with water running down out of the mountain – ice cold, and my arm was in the
water, and I told the fellow from Brooklyn, “I think my dad didn’t let me
join the navy – I’d be in a nice warm bed tonight.” He said, “Yea, or
you might be in a shark’s mouth.” Q:
Oh, that’s true! What was your most memorable experience during World
War II, combat or otherwise? A:
Probably the most memorable was as we were advancing into Germany with
our armored equipment – well, some days we had a red banner, some day we had
green banners, some day white, some day yellow – on our vehicles so that our
bombers would know it was us. Q:
Yea. A:
And you could see our B-17s and B-24s as far as the eye could go – it
was impossible to count them – heading into Germany showing what the
industrial might of America was. I don’t know how they went back the other way
from England because they were picked up from France and England both. And there
was just thousands of airplanes in the air at the same time. And you’d hear
them after a while bombing the targets ahead of us. Q:
Wow. A:
That was impressive. I mean to tell you, they were almost wing-tip to
wing-tip. Q:
I bet, they’d have to be. Do you have any idea how many there were
actually? A:
I just know there was hundreds and hundreds and maybe thousands. Q:
yea. A:
As far as you could see. And there was fighter planes mixed in with them
because the – the bombers couldn’t change their altitude and the fighter
planes would chase the other planes – enemy planes away. Q:
OK. A:
I saw my first jet the day Roosevelt died. Q:
Oh, really. A:
I was shooting – I was still dumb – I was shooting at it from my
machine gun and they taught me later to get off of the vehicle and get out to
the side of the road because they strafed the vehicles.
Q:
Ah. A:
But an 18 year old the first week in combat felt brave! And dumb! Q:
Brave and dumb! Well, how long did you serve during World War II? A:
Two years. Q:
OK. After serving during World War II, where did the military send you or
were you immediately discharged? A:
I was discharged. Q:
OK. What kind of reception did you receive when you got back into the
United States? A:
Wonderful. Q:
Were you a school teacher? A:
Yea, I went to college – after I got out of the service I went to
college and became a school teacher. I’d been a farm boy up until then. Q:
That’s not one of these questions? Actually, my ex-husband’s
grandparents said “Oh, yea, I believe he was a school teacher,” so I guess .
. . A:
Who was that? Q:
Jack and Maxine Windsor? They are from Pointon City. A:
Well, I was principal of Carl Albert for 20 years. Q:
OK, well, they live in Harrah now. We live in Harrah. A:
But that was the Carl Albert area. Q:
Anyway, grandpa had mentioned – or actually it was grandma – she
knows all the dates and the names and the birthdays and all that and thought
that you had been a school teacher. Let’s
see, in terms of your war experiences, how did those experiences affect, if at
all, your relations and interactions with your family, friends, spouse and/or
your girlfriend? A:
Had no girlfriend – I was too young. Everyone acted happy to see me at
home, and it was a great experience. I had never been 50 miles from home when I
went in the service. I had never ridden in a train until I went into the
service. I had never seen an ocean. I had never been on a ship. Q:
You grew up quick? A:
Yea. Q:
Do you still keep in touch with some of the people you served with? A:
Yes, I do. Q:
Are they around this area? A:
One of them lives at Spencer now. Q:
Oh, really, how neat! How has your World War II experience impacted your
life. A:
It probably removed provincialism from my life. My life – world ended
probably 40 or 50 miles from home. And then I found out there was an entire
world out there. . . . Q:
Right. A:
I have been back to Germany and I have stayed in German homes and they
have stayed in our homes and been a lot of friendships developed since then. Q:
Did it have any affect on your views of other wars the US became involved
in after World War II? A:
Well, I’d say that after World War II, I think it was a very necessary
war, but I question the necessity of some of them since then. I started off
supporting the Vietnam War and then decided we should get out of it. My
position’s just like Paul Harvey’s. Q:
What? A:
He said, “As a long-time supporter,” I was listening to my radio one
day, “I supported the war in Vietnam. I’m now reversing my position.” I
said I thought the same thing. Q:
Yea. Let’s see, the last question, what kind of general observations
and conclusions to you have about World War II and your World War II experience? A:
World War II, I think, was very essential, and got rid of a tyrannical
government and showed the solidarity of Americans – no one wanted to be
opposed to the government or to each other – it solidified everyone’s
thinking. And I’d say the hot heads that wanted to be hot headed could shoot
at the enemy instead of each other. Rose State College |