Interview Transcript
Warren Somerville

Narrative

Ok so what do I do?

So for the purpose of the interview would you state your name and your military rank.

Uh my name is warren Summerville I was in the navy for like a week after the war started till it ended uhhh what else oh I was only umm a yolmen who doesn’t set up the pic picture of allot of guns but believe me there were allot of guns umm

I believe the yolmen is the private rank it’s the beginning rank of the navy

Well of course when you go in your nobody uh and than you take uhh umm they test you every so often you know, so I finally made it up to first class uh than I was so glad to get out of the place (laugh) but anyway (stutter) that’s all I can tell you about that I was in that when they bring you in its like you’ve left a marvelous home a brand new wife uhh and here you are in a room with a lot of guys you don’t even know and than finally after you work your pants off umm and you do go to bed than they’d in the middle of the night they’d get everybody up and you know pretend there was some terrible thing and so you were all out in the cold and whatever and that’s the kind of thing they use to do to you to you finally you gradua you you became a real soldier or sailor or whatever I happened to be a sailor

What war did you serve in?

Ohh (laugh) the a big one uhh what what was it ahh World War II

Where were you stationed?

Ahh which time I ended up at sea in the pacific ahh umm that was a picture it self by the time the war was over and I was released I had to climb on a Ship a great big ship and the only way to get on was they had a net a great big net and I had all my cloths and everything over my shoulder and then I weighed 115 pounds so you could imagine the bag of cloths weighed more than I did so I started up this net and I couldn’t even get on the ship I (laugh) but anyway that’s way ahead

How has the war changed your life

I think it made me You know I was very young and uhh it taught me allot about people and probably brought me down to earth right when your young you think your pretty important but your not so it really I met allot of great people you know other guys and we all felt the same it was a good experience it really was (laugh) even though it was terrible

So ah what is the initial reason why did you enlist

Well the war had started and you didn’t not enlist you know ah it was ah I enlisted I think the war had started in early mid September and I enlisted before the end of September and they found me and brought me in January (laugh)

While you were stationed how did you keep in contact with family and friends

Well uh it wasn’t as easy before you were on in a regular duty but we did a heck of allot of writing course I had a new wife so I wrote every day

What were the conditions like were you were stationed?

Most places I think were pretty good I mean you know (laugh) its allot different from being Home but umm I think that most of the area places were marvelous the ship was ok to its such a different time of your life you cant complain you know

Did you sustain any injury’s while you were serving?

(laugh) I was afraid you would ask me that (laugh) well the 2 worst ones were well I have a gash here umm but that was because um I was in a room were I was working on ah the guys papers and stuff and I had sent out for some food or a sandwich or something and this young guy was there and ahh he was going out and he grabbed my sandwich and ah (laugh) he stated out the door so I ran after him than he closed the door on my arm which was all glass so I had a pretty rough arm for a while and the only other really disastrous thing was uhh I had to go to the dentist one day and this was before we were at sea and ah they had a young sailor who helped the dentist you know and uhh the dentist wasn’t like they are today and they had things to do and they went in and they one day one hurt me and my leg went up in the air and kicked the other sailor who was the attending and instead of saying something he just came over and kicked me (laugh) and uh that was my dentist incident

Describe your typical meal in your service

Some of them were pretty good the guys who did that umm cuz being a yeomen on the shh ship or the place you work I was the one who issued if you were on shore they all the permits to leave so they were really extra nice to me (laugh) that way and I uh become very friendly with all the cooks on the ships so I cant really complain about that

What was your initial thought when you were told you were

Well I hadn’t really had time to think about it because I had just gotten married and uh I think I was in the war 3 weeks after I was married and so I really you know anything like that your young I wasn’t really worried about the war I was more worried about leaving my wife

If you had just gotten married why did you go enlist?

By the time we had just got married well I knew I was gonna leave her anyway you know at 22 years old you don’t stay home from war cuz your married but I we did get married cuz I guess because of the war and umm I don’t know when your in a spot like that id a done anything to be married before the war

What did you do in your spare time?

Well you didn’t have allot of spare time umm especially in my job I uh not only had to take care of all the men’s records and stuff like that but umm I did all the umm the tests you know for getting into another step in the um your class umm I didn’t have a lot of time to worry about but any time id get some sleep

If your kids wanted to go to war how would you feel about that?

Well like any parent you’d be desperate but there’s nothing you can do about it umm I not only had me I had a brother in the army and he was stationed in Europe and you have allot to worry about and you know

Has being in war changed your thought on that? If you hadn’t gone to war do you think you would have a different answer for that?

If you could go back in time today would there be anything you would change?

I don’t think so, no I think I was very lucky. (Pause) I mean all the guys I met and worked with was, they were all good guys. No I don’t think there were any problems at all. And of course they were extra nice to me because I was the one that gave them their passes to get off the ship (laugh)

Did you form any close relationships while you were, ?

Do you mean friendships?

Yes

Oh yes, yeah, but as time goes by. You know, we were living all over the world. So there were a lot of guys that you liked but they lived about a thousand miles away from you, you know, so you really didn’t see too much of them.

If I was to ask you, how you felt about World War II now that its over and you can look back on it, what feelings do you have about the war.

Well, it’s a war, you know, and actually I hated every minute of it. And all I can say is that I really didn’t run into anybody delighted with it.

Were there like, any dark moments in the war that. What was your darkest moments when you knew you were at war?

You mean the first problems, troubles?

What was your darkest moment in your time of service?

Is there anything that you had to do that, was just a moment in your life that, ?

Oh yeah, there was, yeah. Yeah there were things I had to do. For the, actually, you know, (pause) a lot of things about nature changed with the war, and you know there weren’t very many boys your color (African -Americans) before that. Then they started to hire young men that looked like you. And they would, and would put them in little boats and teach them about saving peoples lives and stuff like that. And one day, three young men, maybe 5 years older than you. They went out on these little boats and one of them had and one of them had three navy boys and one of them fell over and before the thing was over all three of them had fallen, them had jumped into the water to save one another, you know. And unfortunately nobody saved anybody. And they took them to a morgue and they asked me to go (laugh)(veteran becomes emotional) very very hard, to identify them, which I did. And that was the hardest thing I had to do. You know to see young people hurt like that. (Pause)(laugh) im sorry, you brought it up.

What was the most important lesson you learned during your service?

Well, I think it was what every bodies was, you know. Its respect for each other and (pause) I don’t know, caring, caring for people.

When you think about it know, what was your overall experience in the war?

What was your what kind of experience?

What was your overall experience like just, how would you sum up your military experience?

Good or bad experience overall? No, the overall experience was it was a good experience.

Good experience.

it taught you a lot about living it taught you a lot about people, it taught you a lot about your home.

Describe your most glorious moment during your service.

Were they any glorious moments, moments that just made you?

Oh there many, you mean happyvGlorious moments

describe a glorious moment that just made you, well happy during the war?

Yeah

oh yeah, yes there were a lot of those. In fact we were all , on my ship, we were all friendly, you know. As I suppose may of them. And we cared about each other and when it could be it was a very friendly glorious time. I can remember (laugh) going up into the radio room, you know. And we would listen to all the ships sending messages. Sending messages, and as a matter of fact my father in law had an office in the empire state building and I was up there the day the plane crashed into the building, and , so I was kinda worried about my father in law but in a way, it was, I wouldn’t go through it again (laugh) but in many ways it was a great experiance.