Mary Nelson
Matt Behan
Personal Interview – Mary Nelson
7 May 2006
G: Hello
M: Hey Grandma. How are you?
G: I’m good, thanks; I’ve been trying to remember everything I can from WWII.
M: That’s good; well I’ll start with my first question then. How old were you around 1940 when the war started?
G: Well, I was born in 1924 so you do the math.
M: So you would have been 16 or 17 near the beginning.
G: Yes, how old are you dear?
M: I’m 17 so you would have been right at my age. Alright, are you originally from America?
G: No, I was born in Poland in a place called Krakow. I actually came to America when I was two and my brother was 4. We came through Ellis Island with my mother and father, who had to borrow money to be able to afford to trip. We actually traveled with the animals because that was cheapest. When I went back to Poland around 20 years ago though, I traveled first class.
M: That must have been a much better experience.
G: Oh yes it was.
M: Well, did you ever hear news from Poland?
G: Yes, actually my mother sent care packages back to Poland because the people there had so little. They had to pay high taxes on the things they received though. I didn’t feel the war quite as much as my mother did though, because she had lived through WWI as well. She used to break down while watching the news.
M: I see, where did you live during the war?
G: I lived in Brooklyn, New York on 14th street. I either took the subway to school or walked every day.
M: What was life like with the war going on?
G: I didn’t notice the war too much at the beginning because the boys my age were too young to enlist or be drafted. A couple years later, the enlistments and the draft gave my age group a shortage of boys.
M: Did you ever have any interaction with soldiers?
G: Yes, many of us were brought from college to different camps and locations to dance and entertain the boys on leave or between stages. That’s how I met Chuck, my husband. We met while I was at NYU. He became an officer and went to England. After a year he came back then went to the Pacific.
M: What king of jobs did you have during the war?
G: I helped collect and fold clothes for people, I didn’t do that that much though. My biggest help was selling war bonds. I would be stationed at a restaurant and try to convince people to save money by buying bonds. You could say I was a commander of selling bonds. I always used to tell Chuck that he was a commander in the real army, and I was a commander in the pretend army.
M: Did you have any relatives involved in the war?
G: Yes, my brother was in the war, my husband, my uncle, and all my cousins. I lost a nice neighbor though and my brother was wounded, which I think led to some of his memory loss.
M: Ok grandma last question. Did you see any change in the social standing of women during the war?
G: Ha-ha, well we had to learn to dance without the boys. Women started to become much more active in politics. There were still a lot of men around who managed to avoid going to war for medical reasons. Many women started to work in factories, but I was too young. My parents wanted me to go to school and get a good education. That was really important to them. Many women assumed new responsibilities and we still are.
M: Well, thanks a lot grandma. See you later.
G: Oh, you’re welcome dear, goodbye.