Army wives tell their stories

Norma remembers being awakened at 4 A.M. by someone pounding on her win- dow. She grabbed the pistol her husband gave her before he left for Vietnam. This was not a popular war; she never knew what to expect. The battalion commander and chaplain in uniform at her door needed no explanation, but they did get the gun away from her before they broke the news. It was Saturday and on Monday morning the packers were at her house asking her where she wanted her household goods sent. The phone calls had already started. "Babykillers," the voices would say, "Your husband got what he deserved."

Upon their arrival at Fort Myer, Va., a six-horse-drawn caisson was waiting for Virginia and her new husband at the gate. They rode on the back, touring the post and ending at the commander's house for a reception in their honor. When Virginia went to the White House, she left her calling card with the guard at the door. A few days later, an invitation to tea was issued from Eleanor Roosevelt. It was, of course, the proper thing for an officer's wife stationed at Fort Myer to do at that time.

Pam had the wine chilling. After months of unpacking their household goods she was finally finished. Her husband walked in the door, spotted the wine and asked what they were celebrating. She shared her joy at emptying the last box. "Guess what," he replied, "They are coming next week to pack it all up again."

Another Virginia endured a typhoon on a troop ship headed for Taiwan. She didn't see her husband often during the 21-day trip because he served as the provost marshal on the journey. Upon arrival, their sponsor was nowhere to be seen. He had already moved. The first night in their home, which was surrounded by rice fields, they awoke to a "bombing" welcome ceremony. "It was really quite horrifying," she said. "These Chinese firecrackers were going off outside our house late at night." Neighbors had arrived with supplies from the officers' club to greet the new family and welcome them.

Marjorie was only a small child in 1920 when Gen. John Pershing picked her up and kissed her at a reception where her mother was pouring tea. Years later, as an Army wife herself, she remembers a grueling 15-day trip to Europe on a ship. The men and women were placed on different decks. The mothers and children were in a wardroom, and the men spent the voyage playing poker on the decks below. It was not a pleasant trip. In post-war Germany she remembers the swastikas on the beautiful Damask tablecloths. Her experience in 1947 was quite different from that of the Army wives who would follow her later to a reconstructed Germany.

Tina grew up in Estonia during the time of the Soviet empire. She lived on a farm that her grandfather received from the Tsar. It was later taken away. In 1944, she was 19 when the Soviets advanced into Estonia. She fled to Sweden on a French frigate, only to have it torpedoed and sunk. The Germans rescued 800 of the 1,400 passengers and took them to Bremerhaven. Fearing that she would be sent to work in a factory, she volunteered to train as a German Red Cross nurse. "I had a striped dress, a little hat with a Red Cross on it and a gray nurse's coat and one pair of shoes, stockings and a tiny suitcase," she said. After training, Tina was in a group of 20 nurses being taken to the Italian front when the war ended. She was stranded at the Brenner Pass. Eventually she made her way to Salzburg, Austria, where she became a nurse's aide at the U.S. 32nd Field Hospital. It was here she met her future husband and started her life as a U.S. Army wife.

These vignettes are just a few glimpses into the stories of Army wives. They are part of the Army Family Oral History Project (AFHOP) located in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Although the Veterans' History Project was announced this year on the anniversary of the D-Day invasion of France, the Army Family Oral History Project has been around since 1998. It originated with two Army wives, Betty Rutherford and Mary Ann Meigs, who were concerned that stories of Army wives, which represent a piece of 20th-century military history, were not being recorded and soon would be lost.

The Combined Arms Center (CAC) commander agreed and the volunteer group was formed under the auspices of the CAC History Department at Fort Leavenworth. Dr. Lewis Bernstein of Huntsville, Ala., the group's original adviser said, "This project illuminates a part of the Army history we don't know about. The trend is now toward social history." He continued, "The Army itself has contracted for a history to be written about the Army family in the 20th century. The AFOHP interviews have already been studied by the Center for Military History in Washington for that project."

Kelvin Crow, assistant command historian and current adviser, also recognizes the value of the oral histories. "This is a very important project," he said. "Too often, we as historians get so caught up in the logistical moments, the change of commands, and the inauguration of major programs that we lose the daily rhythm of life." These spouses will say, "Oh, I didn't really do anything special. I just raised the children and volunteered. But the whole time they were dodging the thousands of slings and arrows of a normal military lifestyle," Crow said. "These stories bring life to military family histories."

The Army Family Oral History Project is cochaired by two volunteers, Betty Rutherford and Dana Fontenot. A small group of volunteers conduct interviews with Army wives of all ranks. Their stories are taped transcribed, put on acid free paper and placed in the Special Collections Archives at the Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) at Fort Leavenworth. The project is funded by donations from the Association of the U.S. Army, the Fort Leavenworth Spouses' Club and the Fort Leavenworth Thrift Shop.

At a ceremony on January 27, 2002, the first 30 interviews of the "20th Century Army Spouse Interview Collection" were placed in the CARL, where they will be preserved and will be accessible to interested historians, writers and researchers. The oral histories provide a picture otherwise not available on the conditions of life as an Army spouse. This can also be "a resource for policy makers, determining how things should be done," said Crow. "We are seeing a revolution in taking care of the total Army family."

The goal is to collect enough interviews so that scholars and researchers will have a substantial body of first-hand accounts of Army life in the 20th century. The accounts written by 19th-century wives such as Libby Custer, Martha Summerhayes and Alice Grierson have provided insight on an aspect of our Westward movement that few, if any, of the male participants chose to describe. "The experiences of 20th-century wives have never been gathered. The events they lived through, all the trials and tribulations of being an unofficial ambassador, have never been told," said Fontenot. "We didn't want to lose that part of the Army history. And we want to begin interviewing male spouses who have become an integral part of the spouse story as well," Fontenot added.

The project can continue and grow but needs volunteer interviewers in other parts of the country. A how-to handbook enables new volunteers to learn the art of conducting an interview as well as the information and materials needed to make that interview a part of the AFOHP Collection. Rutherford says, "The stories from the wives of soldiers and officers, from World War II to Vietnam and Desert Storm, are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always gripping. Without this unique historical project, this vital part of U.S. Army history would be lost forever."

JUDITH SCHREIBER LEE, an Army wife of 19 years, currently resides at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where she is a volunteer interviewer for the Oral History Project. She has a degree in journalism and is a freelance writer.

Copyright Association of the United States Army Nov 2002
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