Title
John Oatman interview with Lindsey Peterson and Jennifer Jacobs
Subject
World War, 1939-1945-Iowa-Oral histories
Description
Oatman's Army training included 12-mile hikes. When he arrived in Washington state, he was assigned as clerk to headquarters company because he could type and his spent his entire service stateside.
Publisher
Buena Vista University
Date
3/3/2011
Rights
These oral histories are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that a credit line reads: "Courtesy of Buena Vista University Archives, Storm Lake, IA." Prior permission from the BVU Archives is required for any commercial use.
Format
video/mp4
Language
English
Type
Moving Image
Identifier
Interviewer
Lindsey Peterson, Jennifer Jacobs
Interviewee
John Oatman
Transcription
JOHN OATMAN
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:00] Today is March 10th, 2011, and we are interviewing John Oatman from Storm Lake, Iowa at the Communications Center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Oatman was born on July 28, 1927. My name is Lindsey Peterson and I will be the interviewer, along with Jennifer Jacobs.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:19] Okay, sir. What were you doing before you entered the service?
John Oatman [00:00:24] Going to school, yeah. Just graduated from high school, well, a year earlier. And then I-- and I went to college at Iowa State, for about a half a year and turned 18 and drafted.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:41] What year were you drafted in?
John Oatman [00:00:45] Well, let's see. [19]44 or [unintelligible] No not '44-- is when I graduated from high school, and I was, okay-- so I'd be-- '45 is when I was drafted. I turned 18 in '45 and they-- they took me.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:10] How did you feel about being drafted?
John Oatman [00:01:13] It was a thing to do back then. Everybody-- when they get in the war effort. I was too young for the actual fights or whatever you want to call them because I got in on the later part of the-- of the war.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:01:39] When you went to boot camp, can you tell us what that was like?
John Oatman [00:01:43] You know, it went so darn fast. You forget what it was. I can remember the long walks. Today, a walk is about-- a long walk is about 20 feet, but back then I remember from bivouac after six weeks of an intensive training. Then they had another, a ten or 12 mile-hike back to the camp. And that was pretty long. I remember that. But-- but otherwise, you-- you meet a lot of people, you think you're going to keep in touch. But, you know, in six weeks and-- and up at five every morning, you don't have too much time to-- to get ad-- addresses and stuff like that. So, that basically is-- I can-- I can still remember my corporal's name though-- Corporal Poch. P-O-C-H, I think is the way it was spelled from then. Did you want more or--
Jennifer Jacobs [00:02:51] When you were drafted, what branch were you drafted into?
John Oatman [00:02:55] That was the Army.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:03:02] Hm-hmm.
John Oatman [00:03:02] I remember more about that, I think, than I do the actual-- when-- when I was drafted, we had to go to Minneapolis, to Fort Snelling. But to get there, we got on a train here in Storm Lake. Took it to Fort Dodge. Pretty good train at that time. But then they put us in a car and took the train to Minneapolis, and that was about the roughest train ride we ever-- I can remember that more than I can some of the-- some of the service-connected things, but. So that gets us up past through the bivouac days or the younger days of-- of my service.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:04:03] So then when you were finished with boot camp, did you take-- did you take a ship over-- did you-- You were in Japan, weren't you?
John Oatman [00:04:10] No. I was-- I'll lead into that. You want me to talk about that now? We were-- get out of boot camp at Fort Lewis is where I was sent. I didn't mention that. We took a train-- train trip from Minneapolis then, and I took that to-- to Fort Lewis, Washington. And where am I going on this? The. Boy. Oh, yeah. Taking the train. We took the train over there, and then we-- we were-- I went to this camp and we're getting ready to being shipped out, and they picked two of us out of the company of around 120 or, I think, 120 in a company. They picked two of us out to stay with the head-- headquarters camp. And I think-- I became-- I don't-- I think they pulled us out to-- I had on my MO that I had taken typing in high school. And at those days, not too many men were-- took typing lessons so. And this other person with me also had and we were put in a-- in a headquarters company in Fort Lewis not knowing what we were doing there. Well, you're a clerk. And so that's what we did. I started by hauling some mail around from different places, but-- and that didn't-- well, it lasted, but I did that, but then they started getting a lot of-- that would have been about the end of the Japanese war. And-- but they're still training people to go over for after the war happenings, and then when my position or whatever you want to call it was-- there were a lot of soldiers that had been in the service for quite a while and getting-- getting their discharge. Well, somebody has to-- has to type them up. We don't have any-- all electronics that we have now. So that-- that was my job, so to speak, for taking care of the fresh mail that the local people came into. But then also, signing or checking the-- the discharge papers for, I don't know how many people. I don't sign 'em as a private, but I did most of the work and then the captain or the colonel or whomever, put his final MO on it. And so-- so that's basically what I did all the time I was in the service. And very enjoyable place, if there is such a-- if that was the right word, but Fort Lewis, Washington [was]pretty, very good. And every morning you get up, and you can look out of the window or the door, out the steps and see Mt. Rainier in the background. That's where the wife and I took a trip around that about 1980, something like that, about ten, 15 years ago. And it's still there. The mountain is, but it's a lot more clouds, and it wasn't quite as plain as-- but that brings back some memories. I didn't really make friends with any people-- any lasting friends like some people, but I didn't really get too close. Seemed like I was so busy working. And believe it or not, we did work pretty hard in that department. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:08:59] As your comrades came back from their time overseas, did they tell you any stories of, you know, what they experienced or anything like that? Was their demeanor-- were they, you know, obviously they were cheerful to be back. What was that like?
John Oatman [00:09:12] I was thinking, you might ask-- you know, I don't remember her name, but then they come so fast and they go so fast. But you hear-- you remember there-- there were stories, but you never know if they're the true stories or not. And so I didn't wade too much into that fact. So. I could not repeat them today, though. Whatever-- I mean, I wouldn't remember 'em, the stories, so. That's the way. We aren't getting to many other things here. I can remember going up to-- the--Seattle. No. Olympia is where we went, a friend and I-- I managed to get-- we stayed overnight and saw the sights, that was after-- after basic and had managed to find a-- it was a cream holder on a-- for-- for the coffee. And I had brought that with me and I still got it. We got toothpicks in it. I don't know if Mrs. Oatman knows that where it came from or not, but-- but we got toothpicks [in] that cream-- cream holder now. So. A monu-- something to remember Fort Lewis by. Actually it was in a hotel close to Fort Lewis, in Olympia, the capital of the-- Washington. So that's where we went on a-- on a week--on a weekend. They-- we didn't have any-- any breaks for those first eight weeks during basic. You were-- just get up at "Reveille" and "Taps" at-- at night and then you're waiting for the next day. You do have the weekends off, though, they weren't that bad. But a lot-- a lot of people going through and-- and they most-- most all of them came in by boat. So they-- they were getting pretty weary already. You check them in, and then you check them out, like I say. Work on their-- and somebody at the other place else, I didn't have anything to do with the money, but there were they were paying out cash and some-- for some of these people and some-- just checks. But because they're way behind on-- on the-- on the paperwork as far as knowing how much money you got coming. Yeah, can't be much. When they started out at the beginning of the war, $21 a month. But I-- I had a little better, that I started out when I got in, it was $90 a month already. So I was really a rich man. Not really, but it was-- there was a little higher price then. I did get-- didn't [unintelligible] Well, anybody-- everybody that gets out of basic and passes, so to speak, gets a raise up to a corporal. So. No, not a corporal, a private first class was my first. And then about six months later, I was-- I got my corporal or T5 diploma. I don't know what you call it, but there's a word for it. I can't think of it, but I get them-- Yeah, so that's what I was discharged at, was a corporal.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:13:14] After you were discharged, did you did you come back here to Iowa? What did you do? Was it hard to readjust back to civilian life?
John Oatman [00:13:23] I was so anxious to-- to get home knowing-- knowing I'm going home. And I had, I don't know, it wasn't-- I didn't dislike the army. It's just that I wasn't ready for any more of it. So I-- I can remember one error I made in my discharging. I didn't take any of the life insurance plan that the government had for us. And it was just excellent. And it-- and it-- it was privately run, I think mostly, and talked to other people afterwards. I just wanted to-- didn't want anything to do with the service right at that point. So I took a cash settlement, which wasn't very much, but it turned out to be very lucrative for-- for the people that kept it. You kick-- kick yourself, though, for not doing that, but-- I was ready to come home. We got an early discharge, if I could-- I wanted to go to college at-- but I was in-- at Iowa State at that time, again, I was going-- I'd gone down to look for a room and then-- but there were a lot of people coming back to the campus. And I had reserved a room and went back about the time school-- school was to start, and she had rented the room and-- if any of you know where the campus is, there were-- you had to walk downtown from-- from the campus as it was. I didn't-- had-- I didn't want to do that. That's quite a walk, but-- and anyhow, then I did not do that. I didn't go to school, I ended up farming, and I farmed for about ten years. And then I went back to school here at BV. And I got my degree in science teaching and-- went up to-- that it or you want to go further? I don't know.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:41] I have a question.
John Oatman [00:15:42] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:43] You said you had your weekends off.
John Oatman [00:15:45] Yeah.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:45] What did you spend that time doing?
John Oatman [00:15:48] Well, what did-- probably sleeping. Sleeping mostly, and then going down to the-- to the store. And I had finally turned-- gotten legal at 18 then, and so I'd had a few beers while we were doing that. Just on camp, though, that you couldn't get-- while you're in basic, you couldn't get any-- any passes unless they were emergency passes. And so the, the pass I wanted-- I mentioned that we did have was aft-- at the end, after we had graduated from boot camp. So. Yes. Do you--
Lindsey Peterson [00:16:51] Is there anything you wanted to share with us? Anything you can think of? Anything else?
John Oatman [00:16:56] You wanted me to lead up a little more all the way?
Lindsey Peterson [00:16:59] No. If there's anything else that you just want to make sure is remembered or--
John Oatman [00:17:04] From the service days and or--
Lindsey Peterson [00:17:06] From your experience.
John Oatman [00:17:07] Oh. I don't know if I mentioned that I-- after I taught for three years and then I got a gov-- I went on a government bill. And I took a year off of teaching and went to Grand Forks, North Dakota, at the university and got my master's degree up there and came back here and went to find a teaching and most of my years then-- I farmed all this while after I came back. And so I farmed. And I-- [Recording ends abruptly]
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:00] Today is March 10th, 2011, and we are interviewing John Oatman from Storm Lake, Iowa at the Communications Center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Oatman was born on July 28, 1927. My name is Lindsey Peterson and I will be the interviewer, along with Jennifer Jacobs.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:19] Okay, sir. What were you doing before you entered the service?
John Oatman [00:00:24] Going to school, yeah. Just graduated from high school, well, a year earlier. And then I-- and I went to college at Iowa State, for about a half a year and turned 18 and drafted.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:41] What year were you drafted in?
John Oatman [00:00:45] Well, let's see. [19]44 or [unintelligible] No not '44-- is when I graduated from high school, and I was, okay-- so I'd be-- '45 is when I was drafted. I turned 18 in '45 and they-- they took me.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:10] How did you feel about being drafted?
John Oatman [00:01:13] It was a thing to do back then. Everybody-- when they get in the war effort. I was too young for the actual fights or whatever you want to call them because I got in on the later part of the-- of the war.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:01:39] When you went to boot camp, can you tell us what that was like?
John Oatman [00:01:43] You know, it went so darn fast. You forget what it was. I can remember the long walks. Today, a walk is about-- a long walk is about 20 feet, but back then I remember from bivouac after six weeks of an intensive training. Then they had another, a ten or 12 mile-hike back to the camp. And that was pretty long. I remember that. But-- but otherwise, you-- you meet a lot of people, you think you're going to keep in touch. But, you know, in six weeks and-- and up at five every morning, you don't have too much time to-- to get ad-- addresses and stuff like that. So, that basically is-- I can-- I can still remember my corporal's name though-- Corporal Poch. P-O-C-H, I think is the way it was spelled from then. Did you want more or--
Jennifer Jacobs [00:02:51] When you were drafted, what branch were you drafted into?
John Oatman [00:02:55] That was the Army.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:03:02] Hm-hmm.
John Oatman [00:03:02] I remember more about that, I think, than I do the actual-- when-- when I was drafted, we had to go to Minneapolis, to Fort Snelling. But to get there, we got on a train here in Storm Lake. Took it to Fort Dodge. Pretty good train at that time. But then they put us in a car and took the train to Minneapolis, and that was about the roughest train ride we ever-- I can remember that more than I can some of the-- some of the service-connected things, but. So that gets us up past through the bivouac days or the younger days of-- of my service.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:04:03] So then when you were finished with boot camp, did you take-- did you take a ship over-- did you-- You were in Japan, weren't you?
John Oatman [00:04:10] No. I was-- I'll lead into that. You want me to talk about that now? We were-- get out of boot camp at Fort Lewis is where I was sent. I didn't mention that. We took a train-- train trip from Minneapolis then, and I took that to-- to Fort Lewis, Washington. And where am I going on this? The. Boy. Oh, yeah. Taking the train. We took the train over there, and then we-- we were-- I went to this camp and we're getting ready to being shipped out, and they picked two of us out of the company of around 120 or, I think, 120 in a company. They picked two of us out to stay with the head-- headquarters camp. And I think-- I became-- I don't-- I think they pulled us out to-- I had on my MO that I had taken typing in high school. And at those days, not too many men were-- took typing lessons so. And this other person with me also had and we were put in a-- in a headquarters company in Fort Lewis not knowing what we were doing there. Well, you're a clerk. And so that's what we did. I started by hauling some mail around from different places, but-- and that didn't-- well, it lasted, but I did that, but then they started getting a lot of-- that would have been about the end of the Japanese war. And-- but they're still training people to go over for after the war happenings, and then when my position or whatever you want to call it was-- there were a lot of soldiers that had been in the service for quite a while and getting-- getting their discharge. Well, somebody has to-- has to type them up. We don't have any-- all electronics that we have now. So that-- that was my job, so to speak, for taking care of the fresh mail that the local people came into. But then also, signing or checking the-- the discharge papers for, I don't know how many people. I don't sign 'em as a private, but I did most of the work and then the captain or the colonel or whomever, put his final MO on it. And so-- so that's basically what I did all the time I was in the service. And very enjoyable place, if there is such a-- if that was the right word, but Fort Lewis, Washington [was]pretty, very good. And every morning you get up, and you can look out of the window or the door, out the steps and see Mt. Rainier in the background. That's where the wife and I took a trip around that about 1980, something like that, about ten, 15 years ago. And it's still there. The mountain is, but it's a lot more clouds, and it wasn't quite as plain as-- but that brings back some memories. I didn't really make friends with any people-- any lasting friends like some people, but I didn't really get too close. Seemed like I was so busy working. And believe it or not, we did work pretty hard in that department. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:08:59] As your comrades came back from their time overseas, did they tell you any stories of, you know, what they experienced or anything like that? Was their demeanor-- were they, you know, obviously they were cheerful to be back. What was that like?
John Oatman [00:09:12] I was thinking, you might ask-- you know, I don't remember her name, but then they come so fast and they go so fast. But you hear-- you remember there-- there were stories, but you never know if they're the true stories or not. And so I didn't wade too much into that fact. So. I could not repeat them today, though. Whatever-- I mean, I wouldn't remember 'em, the stories, so. That's the way. We aren't getting to many other things here. I can remember going up to-- the--Seattle. No. Olympia is where we went, a friend and I-- I managed to get-- we stayed overnight and saw the sights, that was after-- after basic and had managed to find a-- it was a cream holder on a-- for-- for the coffee. And I had brought that with me and I still got it. We got toothpicks in it. I don't know if Mrs. Oatman knows that where it came from or not, but-- but we got toothpicks [in] that cream-- cream holder now. So. A monu-- something to remember Fort Lewis by. Actually it was in a hotel close to Fort Lewis, in Olympia, the capital of the-- Washington. So that's where we went on a-- on a week--on a weekend. They-- we didn't have any-- any breaks for those first eight weeks during basic. You were-- just get up at "Reveille" and "Taps" at-- at night and then you're waiting for the next day. You do have the weekends off, though, they weren't that bad. But a lot-- a lot of people going through and-- and they most-- most all of them came in by boat. So they-- they were getting pretty weary already. You check them in, and then you check them out, like I say. Work on their-- and somebody at the other place else, I didn't have anything to do with the money, but there were they were paying out cash and some-- for some of these people and some-- just checks. But because they're way behind on-- on the-- on the paperwork as far as knowing how much money you got coming. Yeah, can't be much. When they started out at the beginning of the war, $21 a month. But I-- I had a little better, that I started out when I got in, it was $90 a month already. So I was really a rich man. Not really, but it was-- there was a little higher price then. I did get-- didn't [unintelligible] Well, anybody-- everybody that gets out of basic and passes, so to speak, gets a raise up to a corporal. So. No, not a corporal, a private first class was my first. And then about six months later, I was-- I got my corporal or T5 diploma. I don't know what you call it, but there's a word for it. I can't think of it, but I get them-- Yeah, so that's what I was discharged at, was a corporal.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:13:14] After you were discharged, did you did you come back here to Iowa? What did you do? Was it hard to readjust back to civilian life?
John Oatman [00:13:23] I was so anxious to-- to get home knowing-- knowing I'm going home. And I had, I don't know, it wasn't-- I didn't dislike the army. It's just that I wasn't ready for any more of it. So I-- I can remember one error I made in my discharging. I didn't take any of the life insurance plan that the government had for us. And it was just excellent. And it-- and it-- it was privately run, I think mostly, and talked to other people afterwards. I just wanted to-- didn't want anything to do with the service right at that point. So I took a cash settlement, which wasn't very much, but it turned out to be very lucrative for-- for the people that kept it. You kick-- kick yourself, though, for not doing that, but-- I was ready to come home. We got an early discharge, if I could-- I wanted to go to college at-- but I was in-- at Iowa State at that time, again, I was going-- I'd gone down to look for a room and then-- but there were a lot of people coming back to the campus. And I had reserved a room and went back about the time school-- school was to start, and she had rented the room and-- if any of you know where the campus is, there were-- you had to walk downtown from-- from the campus as it was. I didn't-- had-- I didn't want to do that. That's quite a walk, but-- and anyhow, then I did not do that. I didn't go to school, I ended up farming, and I farmed for about ten years. And then I went back to school here at BV. And I got my degree in science teaching and-- went up to-- that it or you want to go further? I don't know.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:41] I have a question.
John Oatman [00:15:42] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:43] You said you had your weekends off.
John Oatman [00:15:45] Yeah.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:45] What did you spend that time doing?
John Oatman [00:15:48] Well, what did-- probably sleeping. Sleeping mostly, and then going down to the-- to the store. And I had finally turned-- gotten legal at 18 then, and so I'd had a few beers while we were doing that. Just on camp, though, that you couldn't get-- while you're in basic, you couldn't get any-- any passes unless they were emergency passes. And so the, the pass I wanted-- I mentioned that we did have was aft-- at the end, after we had graduated from boot camp. So. Yes. Do you--
Lindsey Peterson [00:16:51] Is there anything you wanted to share with us? Anything you can think of? Anything else?
John Oatman [00:16:56] You wanted me to lead up a little more all the way?
Lindsey Peterson [00:16:59] No. If there's anything else that you just want to make sure is remembered or--
John Oatman [00:17:04] From the service days and or--
Lindsey Peterson [00:17:06] From your experience.
John Oatman [00:17:07] Oh. I don't know if I mentioned that I-- after I taught for three years and then I got a gov-- I went on a government bill. And I took a year off of teaching and went to Grand Forks, North Dakota, at the university and got my master's degree up there and came back here and went to find a teaching and most of my years then-- I farmed all this while after I came back. And so I farmed. And I-- [Recording ends abruptly]
Original Format
DVCAM
Duration
0:17:47
Bit Rate/Frequency
80 kbps