Leo Key Mrs.

Dinges US History 1A 27 March 27, 2012 A World War II Interview with Francis Learning something in History is nothing like hearing the first hand experiences from someone. Being able to hear someone tell you what it was like along with what happened. So I decided to interview a nice man with the name Francis Whitman. This is his interview. Name of the person being interview: Alvin Francis Wittman. Current address and phone #: 1403 9th Avenue 2-8 743 - 3463 How old were you during the war? I was about twenty-two when the war began. Where did you live during WWII? I lived on a farm right outside of Cavendish Idaho. Did you have a job? I helped my dad on the farm. During those years you didnt go around job to job. If you changed jobs you could be drafted. What did you and your family do to help with the farm effort? Well, except farm we didnt do much with the war. Except for my five siblings being in the war. My brother Hennery died in the war. He died here in America while flying a plane. He was a piolite and crashed in Utah. The most flat part of the United States. Did you ration anything? You Bet! We rationed sugar pretty much everything that could be rationed. Such things as gasoline, tires and sugar. I still have a ration for half price tires somewhere.

How did your family deal with the shortages? We didnt have much of a problem since we lived on a farm. We raised everything we ate. We did ration tires and gasoline. What did you do for entertainment? Well I dont know. We had lots of jam sessions. We went to a lot of movies and dances. What was your morale during the war? We didnt feel bad. The war didnt have much impact on us because of where we lived are attitude didnt change until word came of my brothers death. Were you ever afraid during the war? No not really, I wasnt in the war so not really. At what point do you think was worst for the allies? Well I dont know. I think the battles on the islands in the south pacific and the beaches of Normandy were the worst. When did you know the war was going our way? Well, when they started the invasion of Normady. What did you think of FDR? Boy I tell you what, he was a good president. He did a lot for the United States and for the war. It wasnt until awhile after his death that I found out he was in a wheel chair. He had good Morales unlike todays politics. What did you think of Churchill? Well, without Churchill England would have had a lot of trouble. If we didnt have England we probably wouldnt of won the war. What did you think of Stalin? Oh no Well all I can say is that Im glad he is dead. He ordered for a lot of killings. What did you think of Hitler?

Well he was just as bad or worse. Stalin concentrated on everyone one and killed anyone who got in his way but Hitler focused on Jews. He could put up with other people but when it came to Jews he wouldnt stand for anything. What did you think of Mussolini? He was just a big front man. He was just a fake. He wasnt as big as impact as Stalin and Hitler. Not as big as leader. What did you think of the Japanese? Unfortunately they were run by a war lord group. They wanted to conquer the world. What did you think of the Germans? Before the war they werent considered that bad but when the war began everyone hated them. What did you think about the Italians? I think most Italians were against us. I dont think the Italians were for the war. What do you think of the military strategy? I think they did a good job. They won the war but there was a lot of casualties. I think people like General Patten helped with the war. What did you think of the interment of the Japanese-Americans? I think it was necessary but very cruel. Most of their lives were ruined but I dont think we had a choice. What did you think of the dropping of the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I think it had to be done but killed more people than it should of. Have any of your opinions changed over the past years? Not really, no. I feel the war was forced on us we were in the right. Where were you and how did you feel about the attack on Pearl Harbor? That was scary. We were at home listening to the radio. We were frightened. There were too many unknowns.

How did you feel about D Day? I dont remember really where I was but like everything else we had to do it and it felt like the end was near. How did you feel about the end of the war in Europe? Relieved, we knew that it was time to focus on japan. How did you feel about the end of the war in Japan? It was a relief it was over. There were a lot of people I knew which didnt make it out of the fight over there. How did you feel about the death of FDR? That was another scary thing. A President that was so popular dying. A lot of faith was in that man then it was all gone. How many siblings did you have? I had six, five brothers and one sister. Who were your parents? Well my dad was German. My grandparents immigrated here from Germany. My mother was from Missouri. After this entertaining interview with Francis Wittman I learned the views on many things have changed. Learned that we will never know how the war really is like they did. I learned that there are somethings they will never forget. Francis taught me a lot about that time period and Im happy to meet him and think I have met a new friend.