0:00:23 |
Came to the Armory on July 19, 1939. |
0:00:32 |
Was a reserve officer on extended active duty for one year. |
0:00:41 |
Worked at the Armory until December of 1946. |
0:01:15 |
Lived in Boston and graduated from MIT and was commissioned as a reserve
officer from ROTC there |
0:01:30 |
Given a mobilization assignment to Springfield Armory. |
0:01:35 |
If war started would be ordered to go to Springfield. |
0:01:50 |
Received letter from the Armory telling of haw the production of the M1
Rifle would soon be starting. |
0:02:05 |
Was asked to come on one year tour of duty and ended up being extended. |
0:02:20 |
Had a choice of whether or not to take orders and came voluntarily . |
0:02:39 |
Graduated from MIT as an industrial engineer and in business engineering
administration. |
0:02:52 |
Had four years of industry experience. |
0:03:02 |
Mobilization assignment was with the ordinance corps. |
0:03:20 |
Employment in private industry was indirectly connected to ordnance. |
0:04:12 |
Purchased a full uniform before coming to Springfield and upon arrival found
it was not required. |
0:04:45 |
Searched for living quarters which were not available at the Armory. |
0:04:50 |
only twelve officers were stationed at the Armory and all were regular Army. |
0:05:04 |
First reserve officer to come on active duty. |
0:05:10 |
First assignment was as war plans officer, |
0:05:15 |
Had project to reduce and document all manufacturing processes that went
into the making of small arms. |
0:05:35 |
In the event of war plans would be ready to be given to commercial manufacturers
so they would know what machines would be needed, and what the processes were. |
0:06:02 |
Worked with John T. or~efl who was the former works manager. |
0:06:45 |
Had a four man team which put together descriptions of manufacture. |
0:07:00 |
John T. OrNefl had been at the Armory for over forty years, and had been
superintendent at the watershops. |
0:07:24 |
Additional duties of safety officer and fire marshal. |
0:07:32 |
Became familiar with armory buildings as well as Federal square and the
Watershops. |
0:08:05 |
Found very old documents in the basement of the Tape |
0:08:25 |
Tape administration building which went back to the begining of the Armory. |
0:09:20 |
Talked about whereabouts of documents today, as fire marshal and safety
officer was able to go out on the Watershops pond in a boat to check an security
and safety of the area. |
0:10:10 |
Lived off of Belmont Avenue in am apartment. William S. Gould a reserve
officer lived in an adjacent apartment. William Gould had worked for the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and became the finance officer at the Armory. |
0:11:29 |
Talks about being a reserve officer and treatment received from regular
afficers and West Point graduates. Became adjutant in place of one of the West
Point graduates. |
0:12:10 |
Replaced Ray Pilliuant. |
0:12:48 |
Became intelligence officer- Had many collateral duties. |
0:13:15 |
Socialized regularly with fellow officers. Moved onto armory grounds ef
ter one year into quarters five. Hajor Walter Gorton lived in quarters six. |
0:14:00 |
Felt very secure about leaving small children on the post when going out
into the city. |
0:15:23 |
Both families living in adjacent houses would look after each other's children. |
0:16:10 |
Very fond of neighbors. Quarters one was the commanding officers quarters
who was Brigadier General Gilbert H. Stewart. Was appointed aid to the general. |
0:16:35 |
Quarters Two was occupied by General Thomas J. Hayes who was the works manager
in charge of all manufacturing shops. |
0:17:05 |
Colonel Sidney P, Spaulding was in Quarters Three. Quarters seven, eight
and nine were for reserve officers. |
0:19:58 |
Lieutenant ColonellFord who was in charge of planning lived in Quarters
seventeen. |
0:21:06 |
Colonel George Woody became works manager after General Hayes went to Washington. |
0:23:00 |
Building number ten was an infirmary- Army contracted civilian doctor to
take care of personnel. Had some social contacts with civilians in the community.
Became a Mason. |
0:27:00 |
The Armory made over one thousand Garand Rifles a day. At time of production
buildings were not big enough to support manufacturing of so many rifles. Received
authorization to construct building 104. Wrote the Garand song. |
0:28:14 |
Collaberated with Owen C. Durant in writing the Springfield Armory March. |
1
0:31:10 |
As administrative officer was responsible for military personnel to take
care of records and assignments. |
0:31:44 |
Went from twelve regular array officers up to more than sixty. |
0:33:00 |
As fire and safety marshal was able to go through all the buildings associated
with the Armory. |
0:33:21 |
The Armory had its own fire department. |
0:33:30 |
Used trailars to Eight small fires but had to rely on the city for must
of the firefighting. |
0:33:51 |
Was fire marshal at the time of the building 20 blaze. |
0:35:36 |
Fire hydrants located at the Armory were not adequate because pipes were
rusted. |
0:36:18 |
Building 19 was used to store lumber that was used for the gunstocks, Building
13 was for the most part empty at the time. |
0:38:19 |
Museum was not open to the public. |
0:39:22 |
Had many special events such as band drives. |
0:40:10 |
President Roosevelt visited the armory in 1940. |
0:40:44 |
The President met John Garand at the time. |
0:41:11 |
Had frequent contact wi th civilian employees. |
0:42:00 |
As safety officer had to write official reports on any accidents that occurred. |
0:42:15 |
A great amnt of emphasis was placed on safety training. |
0:43:25 |
Both male and female employees had specific safety precautions. |
044:05 |
The armory had a large amount of safety regulations. |
0:44:40 |
Bulletin boards were the main form of communication. |
0:45:50 |
At the end of WWII there were many celebrations in the city. |
0:46:55 |
Work began to slow dawn after the war and the military personnel began to
leave. |
0:47:55 |
Some of the Army personnel chose to take military assignments. |
0:48:15 |
Housing availabilitk was in limited supply in Springfield. |
0:48:40 |
Tn 1945 applied for regular Army commission but did not get on first list
of 10,000 who applied. |
0:49:20 |
Decided to go into a civilian career. |
0:49:36 |
Became assistant superintendent for the American Bosch Corporation in Springfield
in 1946. |
0:50:20 |
On January 21, 1946 received a telegram from the War Department telling
of selection into the regular army. |
0:50:45 |
Made the decision to go back into the Army. Stayed in the Army until 1965
and then retired. |
0:51:10 |
Went to work for the Army as a civilian. |
0:51:20 |
Worked for the Army material command for 27 years, and was involved with
ordnance. |
0:51:50 |
After returning to regular Army was stationed in Washington, Germany, Detroit
an4 Hawaii. |
0:52:35 |
First time back to Springfield since 1946, 337 Expresses appreciation for
the Armory and what was accomplished there. |