Mr. Henry Von Essen
[b. 07/23/27]
Recorded on 11/14/04
[Interview starts at 001 on counter]
Pablo Romo: [indiscernible dialogue]…Henry Von Essen at his home on 571 N 300 W Street in Greenfield, Indiana. Mr. Von Essen is 77 years old having been born on July 23, 1927. My name is Pablo Romo and I’ll be the interviewer. Mr. Von Essen is my neighbor’s father.
*(Lorraine, Mr. Von Essen’s daughter is also attending and asks some questions)
[007]
Pablo Romo: Mr. Von Essen could you state your name for the recording and what war and branch of service you served in?
Henry Von Essen: Okay, Henry Von Essen and I was a seamen Petty Officer Third Class US Navy reserve. I was one of the last ones in the reserve, one of the first ones out. Reserve was only a wartime branch, otherwise it was regular Navy. Regular Navy you had to stay in for four years. Reserve was the duration in six months.
PR: And what was your rank?
HVE: Petty Officer Third Class
PR: And where did you ser—? [interrupted by HVE]
HVE: Yeah I wasn’t in there for too long I was one of the last fellas and one of the first fellows out. I got in July of I guess 44 and I come out of there in ‘45 maybe August [or] September ‘45. About 13 months.
PR: And where did you serve?
HVE: I served in the South Pacific, Marshall Islands.
PR: So, were you drafted or did you enlist?
HVE: I enlisted.
PR: Where were you living at the time?
HVE: I was living in Queens County in New York City.
PR: Why did you join?
HVE: Well, it’s either that or being drafted, and when you enlisted you got a chance to getting close to what you want.
PR: Why did you pick the service branch you joined?
HVE: Navy?
PR: Yes.
HVE: Well, my grandpas—my great-grandpas were whale hunters. I was a good swimmer living out on Long Island or close to Long Island. I liked the water. No problem with the navy.
[027]
PR: Do you recall your first days of service?
HVE: My first day in service?
PR: Days—like your first day.
HVE: First day?
PR: Days.
HVE: Days in service, uh pretty lonely. [Gap in tape] –getting ready to get your physicals you gonna go for your aptitude tests; these are what they did on the first days. Tell you how to mop your clothes because you gonna wash them and take care of them, and most guys lose their clothes (saying losing is a nice way of saying getting it for nothing). Anyhow, they give you a lot of the [floor matter?] what it’s gonna be like what you gonna have to do. That was the first days.
PR: What did it feel like?
HVE: It was altogether different, um to what you were used to, at home you kinda did what you felt like doing even if you was working. You did as much of this as you wanted today and then you do the rest tomorrow. So when you’re in the navy or the army, any armed forces, you’re doing exactly like they say.
PR: Tell me about your boot camp or any training experiences.
HVE: Boot camp, I’ll tell you the truth I king of enjoyed it and I’ll tell you why. Because it was very regimented, it was very strict and I think I like the strictness. Once the boot camp was over, sailors kinda feel [indiscernible text} they like to raise a little ruckus and I didn’t go for that as much as I did for boot camp. But it was nice I enjoyed it.
PR: How did you get through it?
HVE: How did I get through it? One day at a time, let me see. You start early in the morning, five-thirty you run a ramp, it’s a mile around the thing. Every day is marked out for different classes, different operations that you’re gonna learn. Things that you’re gonna be doing in your navy career.
PR: So, you served in WWII?
HVE: WWII.
PR: Where exact— [interrupted by HVE]
HVE: You gotta realize the fact now, I came in in July. When was the war over in August?
PR: I think so.
HVE: Yeah so I really didn’t see any action thank God for that. I never had to pull a trigger on nobody which I was always glad for.
[054]
PR: Where exactly did you go?
HVE: Sixty years later now he’s asking me a twenty dollar question. Where exactly did I go? From Sampson from the training center in Sampson, New York I took a troop train which took about seven days, and you’re gonna cross the United States to San Diego. San Diego put me on an aircraft carrier (it was a receiving center, what they called it) Then I went to Guam—no, went to Pearl Harbor first. And you stayed there for maybe a couple of days until they get you signed up for what you wanted. I requested a small ship. And I got it. PCE-874, patrol craft escort is what it stands for, and we took that patrol craft escort and we went out to Guam. [That] was our next stop. And that’s up there towards the Marshall Islands. You got Guam and Kwajalein [Goad Island] all those different islands, they’re all in a line, and that’s where I spent my remainder of time in the service.
PR: Do you remember arriving and what it was like?
HVE: Yeah, it was hot in the day and cold as ice at night. San Diego (I never wanna live there)
PR: So what was your job assignment?
HVE: On the ship?
PR: Yeah.
HVE: Okay, I was storekeeper—supplies and accounts. Like I say, this was pretty close to what I was doing with my dad and the business. We had a small business and this was very similar. My job was to get all the provision on the ship. In order to get the provision on you gotta know what you going to be eating. So it mostly had to do with commissary food, although if a gunners mate needed parts or certain pieces for repair work, they would have to give me the requisition for that or [if] the motor mack’s aft part of the ship needing anything from the supply house went through my office. The ship was—well, you don’t want me to get into that you’re gonna ask me other questions.
[082]
PR: Okay, tell me a couple of your most memorable experiences.
HVE: Most memorable experiences, huh I see. We had thirty cases of beer on the ship which we had to get rid of. [Laughs] You’re gonna scratch that right?
PR: Yeah.
HVE: Anyhow we had a party on the ship. We’re like the love boat fixed it all up with lights and I asked the officers to stay off the back deck (and they did). Somebody was getting into the locker rooms and taking a can out every night. So instead of one guy having the whole thirty cases, I ain’t gonna throw it overboard, we had a beer party. And we had salads and sandwiches and we strung up lights and we really enjoyed it. That was on the ship now okay?
[Indiscernible dialogue between Lorraine Gardner and HVE]
LG: Is it gonna have to be good or bad?
PR: Well, I mean—
LG: Are we talking about a kind of scary moment or--?
HVE: No, but I well I remember one time I really had my back against the wall because being the storekeeper you got just everything lined out. I got three meals a day and I got provisions for thirty-seven days on that ship and I can’t lose any. I remember it was getting near a holiday almost like where we are now. And I had the sale to bring up and the reefers or the refrigerators, two cases of turkeys. When we brought the turkeys up and we thawed them out they were rotten they stank they was terrible (what a stink) someone had left them on the docks someplace and then pushed them back in and refroze them. We didn’t know it until we got it and here I am one of my main meals—cases of turkeys and I’m gonna lose it. So the guys were all, “Hey, Henry—hey, you got your problem!” Yeah, but just don’t throw it out just leave it right there. and I went up to the officer and told him what my problem was and he said, “well, what are you gonna do?” and I said, “we’re gonna go fishing and I’m gonna turn those turkeys into shark steaks.” “You gotta be kidding!” “No,” I said. “We can do It but I don’t know where to get the sharks. I don’t know what we need for equipment. You gotta get somebody who knows how to and this.” Other sailors right away—they chimed in they were glad to work. They knew—they did deep sea fishing where they came from. They know just what kind of hooks to make and boy, we caught up the nicest sharks and we sliced it and I made—and I made the shark steaks. Sharks are very close to tuna to halibut, you know what I mean. We gained a lot of halibut there and nice inch and a half thick steaks. Yeah. And so that was a moment of disaster that’s turned into a joyous time.
[118]
PR: How did you stay in touch with your family?
HVE: Hmm, pen and pencil. But I wasn’t very much at writing. I, mean I think today a lot of kids call back home, but years ago, or type letters, or what even the computers now today, V-mail. But with us it was strictly mail, you know. It was a tougher situation for me because with a name like Von Essen I could get mail under V; I could get mail under E.
[126]
PR: Did you have plenty of supplies?
HVE: On the ship?
PR: Yeah.
HVE: No, water was the big thing never had we always short on water. In fact—well, you don’t want me to go into that.
PR: No, it’s interesting you say water because you would think—
HVE: Water was the—yeah it was the scarcity. It was limited; they would shut off the water bases, couldn’t even wash.
[131]
PR: Did you feel pressure or stress, at all at any point?
HVE: No, I don’t think so. I did good what I was doing.
PR: Was there something special that you did for good luck?
HVE: I didn’t hear that.
PR: Was there something special that you did for good luck?
HVE: Yeah I said my prayers.
[136]
PR: How did people entertain themselves in their spare time?
HVE: Would you believe it, we had a movie theater, Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, What’s that girl that sang that little button that little, what was her name, Katherine Grayson. “Anchors away!” I must have seen that about eight times because you don’t have too many movies.
[Clock starts in background]
PR: Where there any entertainers where you were stationed?
HVE: Oh no, oh well, maybe where we were stationed—yeah, if we would be like in the receiving center. Even myself [at] that time—I used to yodel remember? And I used to play guitar, but my guitar playing wasn’t that good. But I met a real nice feller in Ohio and he loved the way I sang Chime bells. And I remember there must have been five thousand guys in the audience. Yeah I didn’t mind singing a country western.
[147]
PR: What did you do when you were on leave?
HVE: When I was on leave? Would you believe it I didn’t go on many leaves. First of all the only time we would go on leave would be in Guam. The other islands were so small there was no leave. What we would do was keep the ship about a half a mile out from shore, used the whale boat and come in and have like a beach party. That would be our little entertainment. Guam would be the only place that they had leave and I never went out.
[156]
PR: What were some of the pranks that you or others would pull on each other?
HVE: Pranks?
PR: Pranks.
HVE: Oh boy. Well. [Laughs] pranks that we would pull on each other. I don’t know if you’d say it’s a prank. When I came aboard the ship there was another sailor told me he didn’t like me in any way. Hated my guts. I thought that was a terrible thing to say (I’d never met the man in my life). And I was determined to turn his thinking around (which I did). I, first of all, not noticing him too much, and help him whenever I can that he didn’t know I was helping him. And finally he found out that I was the one in back of him, making it easy for him. If you want to call this a prank, it wasn’t a prank, but it was certainly something I had to work out myself. And we wasn’t on the ship two and a half months and he came to me and told me I was a pretty nice guy. I told him I didn’t change I’m still the same fella I was when I came out of here. He says, “yeah but I think I changed a little.” So it proves you can work with people and you can get along if you put an effort to it. That doesn’t really come under pranks. We didn’t do much fooling around because fooling around could lead to accidents and accidents is always a problem.
[176]
PR: So what did you think of your fellow officers?
HVE: Fellow officers, you’re asking me what did I think of my fellow officers? Would you believe it, of course it was such a small ship, only forty-five men; our captain was a lieutenant junior grade. That’s next to nothing. I mean in rank. I mean they got full captains and there’s how many more ranks I don’t even know till you get up to be a captain. But he’s acting captain okay. We had a twenty-year man who was only a chief and he knew more about the running of that ship than the captain knew. In fact he was up in the office up there upon the captain’s cabin most of the time telling him how to do things and what to do and he’d do them. We used to call them ninety-day wonders. They went to school when they enlisted and in ninety days they were an officer. Well, how much can you learn in ninety days? No experience, so you’re counting on some of the real old salts, the old sailors. And his 20 year man who had been out to sea. So he would help the officers very much. The officers were very nice to get along with. I kinda liked the whole setup that we had. The ship was very well.
[194]
PR: Do you recall the day your service ended?
HVE: The very day that it ended? I wanted to end in California. I was gonna buy a car and travel all across the United States, but they wouldn’t let me do that. They said we picked you up in Brooklyn and were taking you back to Brooklyn. So I didn’t like that too much. My last days, I remember gettin off the bus and everything had changed. I mean in one year they put a subway in Brooklyn where I lived. The streets were widened, the house was there, some houses were taken down. Imagine the little changes when you wait even for a year. I was very much amazed at the difference. I just walked from the bus station to home.
[208]
PR: Did you continue your education after the war?
HVE: Education for me, well that’s a good one. No, I didn’t continue any schooling. I really didn’t fool around when I was in the navy. That whole navy was school for me. I learned more in the thirteen months that I was in the navy than I learned my whole life. Because, first of all school and I we didn’t get together to good. I wasn’t the best student. I mean scholastically, ok. It was hard for me to learn, it was hard for me to get promoted, but I went to parochial school and the systems were very good, no kid left it. That went way back there. Anyhow, I would say just that the workings of the navy and what I had to do taught me an awful lot that I used through my business career (and I’ve been in business all my life). In fact our whole family, my father and my grandfather, we were always self-employed. And we carried it on. Even my sons now, same thing same business. So, no I didn’t continue any schooling.
PR: Did you make any close friendships while in the service?
HVE: Yeah, one fellow I still call him once in a while. He lives out in Oklahoma. He was a gunners mate—very nice gentlemen. I met a couple of them a year or two after. There was another fellow I knew in Washington, DC, and my brother was going to the Catholic University down there cause he was a missionary priest. I called him and we went out on a date with, well I was down with family and friends. We had a nice time I remember that. Nice best [??].
[236]
PR: Did you join any veteran organizations?
HVE: Only the American Legion. That’s the only one I joined and I’m not a real active member, I wouldn’t call myself an active member. I mean I pay my dues every year. I’ll go down to maybe one or two meetings once in a while. But other than that no that’s about it.
[241]
PR: I remember in the pre-interview you mentioned something about Bikini Island and the nuclear weapons testing.
HVE: Oh, Bikini Island, yeah. I mentioned that right? That was um—do you remember the year or the time when they shot of the first bomb in Japan?
PR: Uh, not right now I don’t.
HVE: Do you remember the city?
PR: Hiroshima?
HVE: No, no, not Hiroshima. I’m trying to think of it. I should have it on the tip of my tongue. Nagasaki, is that what it was? I don’t know. America didn’t know what they had when they had it. And after they shot it off they wanted to see what could it really do or what’s the effects of this bomb. So they went down to this island of Bikini. Now Bikini is um, boy I had it pinpointed really close. Not too far off from the Philippines. I would say it’s in the Marshall Islands. I knew the islands that was near it. They blew the bomb off not knowing what was gonna happen there was a very sad fate. You know this taught me a story today. Because here we have a little war going on (a bunch of terrorists), and how people are willing to jump on our presidents or on our leaders if something happens wrong. But yet you learn by doing things, and that was the fastest way they could learn about the bomb, was to blow one off again. But I, being on the small ship, was in the background. Up from were the big carriers, the destroyers, the battlewagons, and even aircraft carriers. It was a shame to see them take those, I seen three of them go down. Not that they were blown apart, but they were all radioactivity, the sailors was dying, they didn’t know what to do with the ships. And they took em out and actually sank them. And that was the biggest disaster I, I could never forget it. And all we were, we were maybe two miles back of it, and we witnessed tidal waves ten fifteen feet tidal waves just kept coming oh, for days after the bomb went off. And that’s about it. But we were lucky we were far enough away. And the learned an awful lot I think from doing that. But it sure took an awful lot of lives, and a lot of good equipment. Oh, to see them battle ships go down was terrible. You’d see the pictures of Titanic and the [??] what a disaster! Such a [??] ship could go down. And here we got a [??]. Then they learned how to take the radioactivity out of the ship. They learned how to control the radioactivity. Even for the men you see. But I don’t know really how many men were lost in that. As much as you almost had in the battle. More than this whole Iraq thing I guarantee just in that one thing. But people didn’t go around yelling at President , “Hey you klutz what’s a matter?” You know what I mean? [Or was it there?] You missed one, you can’t get em all. You try to do the best you can. You see your living life. It was a very costly experience, I’d say, for the United States.
[297]
PR: What was your ship doing exactly?
HVE: Well, we had to make reports on the weather. After the war they turned it into what they call air and sea rescue and weather patrol. What they call it in [??] And we used to send up balloons and things. We were always recording weather. So they had a lot to do. I think that maybe they kinda knew that they were gonna do this again and they got that ship ready with certain equipment to tell what changes happening in the air. Sonar we had detections underneath the water, what was happening underneath the water. So that’s what the [??] ship did.
[308]
PR: What did you do after the war, what career?
HVE: After the war? After the event in my father’s shop worked with the box business, been there ever since. Sixty-two years.
[312]
PR: Did your military experience influence your thinking about the war or about the military in general?
HVE: Do that again did what?
PR: Did your military experience influence your thinking about h5e war or about the military in general?
HVE: Influence my thinking. Well you’re concerned with what’s going on. You mean then or today?
PR: Today.
HVE: Oh, um well was it ex—[cut off]
What we happened okay well just the story I told you about that sure. Things happened then back in WWII, and it’s happening again now, were going through the same thing. I kinda liked the way we hung together in WWII. I don’t know if everyone is hanging together in this problem that we got over in Iraq. But it’s a different war again. Let’s face it they all were in uniform you know who there were shooting at. Here they don’t know. One minute they got a group of people that they gotta shoot at the next minute their all mixed in with the other people and you don’t know who to go for. So it’s a different problem again. But we gotta stay united, stay together on it. Did your service and experience affect your life in any way? Just that I think that I became a better man, um the do you shut it off [referring to the clock in background]
PR: No.
HVE: I did what we [??] Yeah, of course you have to take care of yourself. Hey, you know you’re eighteen years old you’re really not dry under the nose yet and you’re here you are—you’re away from home you gotta take care of your clothes. I say in the service either makes a man or breaks a man. And some people, they couldn’t handle it. They had to get themselves drunk every time they go out; they get tattoos and all that kind of stuff. That ‘s why I said I didn’t go on a lot of leaves because I didn’t, those fellas that went into those islands, let’s face it they were looking for female friendship and the people that lived there didn’t like it. So they coming back all beat up, all bloodied up. And there were a lot of fights. Well I’m not gonna get entitled in their fight. So you’d stay on your ship. I forgot the question rambling around.
LG: You said it either breaks you or makes you.
HVE: Yeah break you or make you
LG: [??]
HVE: I think it made a better man out of me. You learn how to cope with things. You learn how to get along with people.
[356]
PR: Is there anything that you would like to add that we haven’t covered in this interview?
HVE: I learned how to take orders. Anything I’d like to. No I used to say, well that’s because I used to look at the religious life; I used to say that the navy would be pretty good. It’s a communal life, just like a missionary would be, (I had to brothers that went away to be missionaries). And it was so nice to go visit them. It was like being in the navy, only the language is not as bad, you know what I mean? You prayed together, you worked together, you did things, and I got a love for community life that way. And that’s all the service is. I didn’t join no convent—I mean, order or anything like that. And I didn’t want to stay in the navy; I like what I was doing at home. I wanted to get married young. I liked business. Have the children; that’s just what happened. Thank God, I didn’t come back dismembered or with some real ill effects from the wars. That’s a hard thing and we have to realize that we have to face that. My father was very lucky before me in fact he had his uniform on WWI and then armistice came and okay they didn’t even take him to the receiving center just go home. Everybody go home. Yeah, so they wasn’t too regimented those years. Now today I guess they wouldn’t work like that. We almost was in the first it was just a little [??] thing AND I was a little bit too young for WWII. But I know a lot of my good friends that I went to school with that never came back. That’s the hard part.
PR: I’d like to thank you for letting me interview you.
HVE: Oh, it’s okay. I appreciate you being here talking to you about it. Because these are things that you wouldn’t have known unless somebody that went through it tells you about it. You’re a good [??] boy and you’ve got a lot to put together. A whole lifetime to do it.
PR: Thank you
HVE: Ok thank you.
[After finishing the interview HVE remembered a story]
[402]
HVE: Cousin Rudy right. Here’s a nice young German boy, comes from Germany. And he wanted to be an American citizen so he joins the army and lo and behold, they put him on the [?] from over in Germany. Why make the poor boy shoot his own family, his own nationality you know what I mean. And I even feel because he was killed so quick that it didn’t make sense. Our own men couldn’t mistake him for a German. Like he shot one of our guys, put on a uniform. And he couldn’t even open his mouth over there cause he had such an accent, that German accent. You know what I mean. He would look like a German soldier in disguise. To our own people and I just couldn’t understand why they would put that man in that particular. Put him in the south pacific. And then even myself with a name like Von Essen. I don’t wanna be over there in Germany. You know what I mean. Because with a name like von Essen when you’re in boot camp. Well, who’s Von Essen? I mean, their looking for Germans. They were fighting Germans there were fighting Japanese right. Today there looking for Iraqis I guess—don’t’ know.
[424]
PR: Do you think there was a lot of that?
HVE: A lot of mistakes yes, a lot of people was killed that shouldn’t have been killed. And that’s a big thing you see.
PR: Was there a lot of like division between soldiers?
HVE: Was there division?
PR: If anyone happened to be Japanese or German were they—?
HVE: Nationality.
PR: Yeah
HVE: Okay, well, it’s supposed to be all Americans right? We don’t [care about?] nationality. But that poor boy he was not born here he was not, you know—long enough to even loose his accent. I mean he just came over a couple of months before. You see. I mean you had plenty of German fellas that were fighting on the German side. I don’t know that we had any Japanese people fighting Japanese. That was a hard war, too, you know. That was almost like terrorists because they were infiltrated into the forest. Like monkeys they were in the trees they were all over the place. And go ahead, get em out of there. You know what I mean. One of the big weapons that they used an awful lot, because you don’t know what you’re shooting at you know you hardly see it was flamethrowers. You ever seen a flame thrower?
[446]
PR: Yes.
HVE: That thing would throw out a flame fifty, sixty feet you know, easy enough. So if somebody’s there they start yelling, they run back.
LG: Did anyone ever question you because you were a Von Essen?
HVE: Whose Von Essen? They wan—
LG: so a little discrimination could have gone on if people were different nationalities.
[454]
HVE: Just for the navy yeah. Poor blacks couldn’t get no place what are you talking about. The navy had a rule that a white man can’t, did I say this before, a white man can’t sever a white man. He has to be black Indian, yellow, anything, but not white. White couldn’t sever white. I remember we only had one black boy on the ship and he was the nicest guy. He’s the only guy who’d kneel down say his prayers at night. Yeah, and he came down with dysentery from the I don’t know. Anyhow his job was to serve the officers. They ate the same food we did. Now I’m in that line of business. I’m with food that’s all I am ok and I worked with him very closely many times. And when he was sick I thought I could put the food on the trays and take it into the officers. And they stopped me; the officers stopped me and our own men. Henry you know you can’t go in the officer’s chambers. You can’t serve the officers. I said you’re gonna see that rule is going to be changed. Because you’re looking at the man’s color and you can’t do that. We got to have respect for his uniform. In other words you got officers they deserve to be served. I don’t care who serves them/ and but they wouldn’t let me, even the officers, Henry, just leave our stuff here on the table and we’ll take it in ourselves. Till he’s better. But he was a heck of a nice guy. And I felt sorry for him because he was the only one. And when he was sick I used to make little soups and stuff and take it to him. And he never would come up on the deck. I forget his name now, but I used to tell him, com on whatever, jerry, come on up on top, you never come up on top. Aw they don’t want me up there. Come on you come up with me we’ll go take a walk. And it was hard and guys would look at you like what are you [??] with them for you know what I mean. [??] Nothing, he’s every bit of a person, a better person than some of them; He had more courage and everything. He was a good, a very good kid. But no that was the rules. Well times change. And it’s changing today, you’re seeing it more and more. We have to get rid of all that color. I think if we could just keep the creed together we’d be doing a good thing, what we believe in. People are kinda gonna go to the what—your beliefs are more than what color you are. Boy, you look at downfalls, this America. WE shouldn’t hold our heads up so high. Look what we did to the poor Indian, all right. This was their country nice and free they were running around here with their little aprons on, what could be nicer. In the sunshine growing corn, and here comes the white man with his guns and everything else. Boom, boom, boom. Oh my goodness now look where they are. On a little reservation, that seems so cruel right? And then ourselves as a people, we came here we got the whole continent to roam on, but now we gotta start to fight. English against the French, against the Dutch, against whomever. The revolutionary war you had. What came first the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812?
PR: War of 1812 came after.
HVE: Came after the Revolutionary War. Thanks. There, but look at the Revolutionary War, right? Hey who’s who, who’s gonna run the show. Look at all the blood that had to get spilled before you come up with a democracy. We come up with a way of governing ourselves. That just proves it you don’t learn these things in books. You learn by experience. By going through it. And yet the world is thousands of years old. So you think we would know what kind of government we would want to set up. But there was greed to see? England full of, hey this is, I’m gonna be in here, this is gonna be part of mine, France. Everybody that came over here, figured they’re gonna have part of it. No, didn’t work out that way. So history itself is a tremendous thing, although I was never much for a history book. But it tells you a lot. I think so. I just feel that the young people today, they got more problems, than what they had years ago. And because everything is so fast today, it’s gonna be harder for them to come up with conclusions that would be helpful as a people. I think we’re gonna have to go through a lot of suffering before you see real peace. You know you think about it you go overseas there were they’re fighting, ask anybody would you want to live in America, everybody would want to live in America. And yet they’re looking to blow the place to pieces. Instead of let’s do what they’re saying; maybe they got a way of life. And the people here in this country are starting to get a little; I wanna use the word Teed off. Because why, because we don’t have a job, our job is going overseas. Hey anything you buy today its Taiwan, Cambodia, and China. You know what I’m saying, everything is going overseas. Down sourcing, there it goes. And I was only the other day with Larry picking up parts, picking up pallets. And what do you think comes in on these pallets? They’re in big boxes, as big as that piano over there. And it’s just the casings from the Chevrolet trucks all made in Italy. They could be made right here in this country, but no it’s all made there, comes over here, and these guys take it and repack it up the metal cart, were it goes right into the factory. But everything was being made over there. America today can’t even make a teddy bear.
[580]
LG: Oh dad, end of interview.
HVE: Well, I will.
PR: I’d like to thank you.
HVE: No, it’s okay.
[Yet another story is remembered by HVE]
[584]
HVE: My navy experience was at the tail end of being in service. But you live through the whole war, December 7, 1941 Japanese bombed pearl harbor that was a big day in the [??] anyplace, and it was great to realize and to see how people pooled together they really did. That’s the days of Rosy the Riveter.
LG: I know a rosy the Riveter now.
HVE: I mean everybody went to work. Even myself I was seventeen years old. Now you wouldn’t give a seventeen year old kid a truck with boxes and send him to go deliver it. And where I’m delivering it, [McEster] and Robins, that’s a wholesale drug company, of course their material had to get to every little drugstore. They didn’t have it like it is today you know with the supermarkets. You had drugstores, every, three on every block. Well here I’m come back in an hour, with my truck with a thousand boxes on it. And here’s the cop standing right there on the dock. Well we knew him because we were only a block away from the precinct, around the corner from where our shop was. So the cop says you didn’t see me Henry, I say, no I didn’t see you. He’s supposed to give me a summons, for seventeen years, no I was sixteen, seventeen already they give you a wartime license. A wartime license.
LG: What’s a wartime license?
HVE: Only good for the duration of the war. Seventeen year old boys could go out and get a chauffeurs truck. They needed everybody to work. And with all the war effort, you see. But then after the war was over. They said you had to be eighteen.
LG: Eighteen for licenses really?
HVE: Eighteen to get a license. And that’s even how I got a job at the navy, because I was doing dad’s trucks back in the alleys of Brooklyn. Well I remember having a big truck to get supplies, and I had an officer with me. And he would enter to the main office to talk about something; I had about five workers that we would all load up. And the truth is wow! A hundred and fifty feet away from where do we have to carry this stuff. I says wait a minute guys, I’m gonna turn this truck around and back it right up down there next to the door. Yeah you better not because the officer was the one driving the truck. I took it on myself to turn the truck around and back it in there. Then the officer came out how’d that truck get back there? Henry put it back there. Henry! Very good I want you to sign up for ships chauffer.
PR: So you did some chauffeuring while in the navy.
HVE: Oh yeah! You’re talking about, see that would have been good stuff to put down.
PR: Well I mean I can still—
[846]
HVE: Well there was only two ships. There was only two jeeps assigned to our ship. One was a nice [lilies] all decked up nice for the officers. And the other was a rusty old Dodge that they gave me as a storekeeper. Mine comes out of a pool, there’s comes out of a nice office, you know for the officers. For some reason our ship was too small to come into the dock area. They’d always made us anchor out half a mile. We’d all go half a mile back and forth. [??] That it was fun too. Anyhow, I remember this one time some of the officers was in officers clubs or in meetings. And another officer came to me and said Henry could you take your key and go to the officers club and pick ensign up so and so and this and that you know. I could do that sir, yes. So I went in and I put a white uniform on. He said you didn’t have to do that, I said I know that but as a respect to the officer I’m not going to go with dungarees on. I’m gonna be dressed in a white uniform. Not dress white, but they had what they called undress white, no stripes just plain white. Cause I used to serve [??] on the altar. I used to do altar boy, and I always put undress whites on and the priest said Henry you can serve with just your dungarees on. But I felt that you had to do that little extra. Means that shows you care.
[904] [tape ends]
HVE: So I had this officer that time, and I think we were on the way down to the ship. You know it rains there just like it does maybe in your country. Where shh—you get a gusher and then it’s gone right. I had a poncho underneath my [??]. I need to go all decked out. We put that over head, and I got on there and [??] And I was soaking wet when I got there.
LG: So did you get to take the officer’s jeep or your own jeep?
HVE: Oh no, my own jeep no! The officers’ jeep was gone. And this other officer wanted him to come visit him on the ship. And so that’s why I [??] that time. Then there was another time I went, you were talking about pranks a while ago. And I had to take three or four of our officers, no two. Two of our officers to the officers club again. The club was nice they had cocktail their they’d talk yackety-yak. Anyhow, what are you going to do while, don’t worry about me, I go around to the kitchen, and I’m talking with the guys in the kitchen. Well would you believe it here we are in the United States and we didn’t have any beans? We didn’t have any beans! You couldn’t get beans at any supply house. Well we can have a can of beans on our ship. So I go down there and these guys are loaded with beans, they got all kinds of beans and so I conned them out of about oh, six or seven cases of beans. So, when my officer came [??] You got all three of us sitting here. I said nobody can sit back there that’s booked. Well Henry now what do you got? I ain’t gonna talk about it till we get away from here. Let’s get out of here. Get in here. And they’re all getting in the car and we’re starting. So what have you got underneath the canvas. Beans I says. I got six or eight cases of beans. Wow how did you get that? I said I invited them out to dinner. When? Sunday night. We’re leaving on Friday. I know. So they’ll come out to go to dinner. I told the guy you come out I’ll cook yeah I can cook I can do anything. You know, we’ll have a nice time out, Get away from the kitchen here on the island. Like the Love Boat I said, you know. We ain’t gonna even be there.
[932]
HVE: You know that’s another thing in the navy. I get [??]. If you borrowed fifty dollars or ten dollars from me and then your number comes up and you get shipped out, it cancels all debt. Ain’t that funny. [??] That happened to me too. I was with a couple of fellas when we were in the receiving center in San Diego, when we first got to San Diego. And we could get off the base. And we went to this dude ranch, just to get some horses. And he said you can take these horses and ride over that hill. There’s a nice little town on the other side. Get yourself something nice to eat. It’ll take you guys the rest of the day till you come back. Oh, I don’t know how much could I spend for the horses and [??]. He had clothes for us there right on the farm. We took our uniforms off we put on this whole western clothes and went riding with these horses. And it was a lot of fun see, but nobody had any money. I was the only one with money. It’s always there. Would you believe it? Well anyhow, so they owes me maybe ten dollars or fourteen dollars, but their number came up. And I remember in the middle of the night. They comes up and they come over to my sack. Hey Henry, Henry I’m leaving. I’m pulling out right now. So thanks for the good time. I’ll send you the money. You don’t owe me nothing, I said, stick to the rules.
LG: And you never heard from them?
HVE: No, no, no.
LG: [??]
HVE: Well you do that so you don’t loan money. They don’t want guys to loan their money. That’s the thing behind it. But, I had something else I was going to ask you but I forgot. Easy huh. But we enjoyed that. And them beans was good.
[Yet more stories have been remembered by HVE]
[957]
HVE: I was used to working with my father, even at home. My mother says while my father is sitting there reading the paper. Well, if Henry is going to be working down at the shop he’s gotta pay into the house. My father says, “okay, so how much do you want Henry to pay into the house?” “Oh, I don’t know. I think he should pay in at least twenty dollars every week to the house.” “Okay, Henry, give your mother twenty dollars.” “Now?” “Now. Give her twenty dollars.” “Okay.” “I just raised your salary forty dollars. Oh, forget it; you can’t get nothing out of you guys.” That’s the way my father was. You give my mother twenty dollars to keep her quiet. I mean, we had money okay; we were not a family that, thank God it was wonderful.
LG: But you went through tough times cause you went through the depression. When you lost.
HVE: That’s when we started the business.
LG: Well, I know, but you also lost.
HVE: We lost everything. Yeah! WE lost everything yeah. We lost houses, we lost, and well my father lost a lot of property. There were times we were so poor we didn’t have twelve dollars for the car. That’s when we moved into Brooklyn. My parents had a beautiful house, six rooms, complete detached garage. [In] 1927 [?] my dad bought a brand new car, I was born that year. Five thousand eight hundred dollars was the price of the house. The payments were sixty dollars a month. And we couldn’t afford sixty dollars a month. The bank says if you just give us forty, we’ll count that as rent and then when everything gets back then you go right back to the sixty and then you’ll keep going. But we’ll let you live there as long as you give us forty. My mother said if I could get the forty I’d get the sixty. But you couldn’t. She used to go in the breadline you needed a dime to go down on the bus to get the bread and the beans. Yeah we had poverty. I’d seen my parents. You see I’d never witnessed that, my parents had up and down. But through my lifetime it was always a steady climb. And I was with my dad and so I always had money. And when I got in the service I said, Hey pop! All these guys are sending money home to their families. They call it a [??]. How much do you want me to send home? Aw come on buy yourself a steak dinner, I don’t need any money. Well I said ok, but then what I did was. Here you are in the navy they gotta clothe you they gotta feed you, give you all your medications think I noticed that what do I need money for. To gamble? Or to have and go to town and get halfway loaded and then somebody hit you on the head and take yo7ur money. That’s all they did with the guys. I don’t need none of that. So I never drew a pay. I’m eating just as good as anybody else. I’m in the kitchen all the time you know what I mean. I could always make myself a good steak if I wanted too, but I wouldn’t do it because I want whatever is good for the men, you know. Anyhow, when the pay master would come up and they would put the board up. Jerry so and so sixty dollars, this guy eighty-two dollars, this guy a hundred and twenty, Henry Von Essen one thousand two hundred and sixty seven dollars. Where’s Henry von Essen, every time he come. That went as high as two thousand dollars. [??]Once a month. No when we were out at sea you didn’t get a pay until you came back in. But they want to know what do you do with this. You’re gonna give it to me when I get out. Okay, when you get out. But I never drew a pay. Why did I have money? I ran what they call a ship service store. It’s like a big closet and the top of the door opens and a little counter comes out. And I had razor blades, shaving cream, toothpaste; it was like a little drugstore. I was doing very good because that little store was behind the eight balls when I took it over. And I started putting watches in it. Different nightstands like a [??]. Fix it up a little bit. And I used to tell my guys, you know, if you’re just going to use your money it’s the same money on the ship going around. For heaven’s sake, go out and get some other guys in here and tell them to shop at our store. They were bringing other money in. So they would do that.
LG: Is that also where you cut the people’s hair correct.
HVE: That was another thing and then I was a barber.
LG: He always found ways to make a buck.
[1014]
HVE: And I had more money than I could get rid of. The ships service paid me twenty dollars a month. And I had forty guys to cut hair on. I even did the officers. I only charged them a dollar, they don’t want to pay? That’s okay too, I didn’t care. And I never went to barber school. But when we were little kids, my mother would give my brother Edward [??] And give us each a quarter to go down and get a haircut. And parks would say, if I cut your hair, and then I’ll let you cut my hair, you think mom would let us keep the quarter. Well we’d better ask her. WE wouldn’t do it unless my mom says it’s okay. But when she sees that we were willing to cut each other’s hair. That’s good, let them do that, and yeah, you can keep the quarter if you cut each other’s hair. And we would that, and we’d be very careful you know just how the guy does it. And the next thing she bought us our own clippers. Today seventy years old when he comes here my brother, he cuts my hair I cut his. And the two brothers over there today, they cut each other’s hair. We always did that. Cut each other’s hair. So that’s why I was the barber on the ship. And I would [??] Some guys you know a buck and a half. Big spenders. But uh yeah I always had money. Even when I come home. Like I was working, business was going good. And when I came back from the service dad bought me a brand new 1946 ford convertible. Man that was the top of the world, money in my pocket, brand new car. Hey what’s your name honey? That’s how I met your mother [referring to Lorraine]. Nice, very good.
[Interview ends at 1040]
