Interview of Mildred Blandford on her service as a secretary in the American Red Cross during WWII Dorothy Harrison: [00:02] This is Dorothy Harrison, um, interviewing Mildred Blandford (B-L-A-N-D-F-O-R-D) in Louisville, Kentucky in oOctober1983. Mildred, who presently lives in Washington, D.C., is back in Louisville for a short visit and we took the opportunity of interviewing her since she is still a member of the Louisville Unit of the Women's Overseas Service League. Dorothy Harrison: [00:34] All right, Mildred, let’s start. Um, with first your telling me what, um, branch of service you, uh, served in with the, uh, Red Cross and how long, for how long, and where? So, first of all, the branch of service? Mildred Blandford: The Hospital Service. Dorothy Harrison: [00:56] You were with the Hospital Service, and in what capacity? Mildred Blandford: I was a secretary to a unit headed by an assistant field director. Dorothy Harrison: [1:04] Very good, all right, and how long did you do this job? Mildred Blandford: I was only in the service about 15 months, going in in August of 1944 and coming out in November of 1945. Dorothy Harrison: [1:19] And where did you serve? Mildred Blandford: I served in the ETO in Paris most of the time. I’m, well, in ’44 when I first crossed the ocean. And then, uh, when the war was over in May over there, I went, I volunteered to go to the Pacific. Dorothy Harrison: [1:39] Did you get there? Mildred Blandford: Yes. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [1:41] And, where did you land? Mildred Blandford: I landed in Okinawa, finally, after 8 weeks crossing the Pacific Ocean. Dorothy Harrison: [1:48] So you began in Europe and you ended in the Pacific. [laughter] That’s quite a spread. Um, I’d like to ask a, another question. I should have perhaps asked this first. So, at this point, I will go backwards a trifle. Now, um, I’d like to ask you some information on what you did before the service. In other words, given me bi-, some, some biographical information about yourself. Mildred Blandford: I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and…is that what you want? Dorothy Harrison: [2:21] Yes, yes. You were born in Louisville? Mildred Blandford: And, uh, did my ordinary schooling at, uh, I graduated from Atherton High School and went 1 year to the University of Louisville and had to – couldn’t continue because of family reasons. And, uh, then I got a job with, with a chain grocery store here in Louisville and… Dorothy Harrison; [2:50] That was Winn-Dixie, wasn’t it? Mildred Blandford: …private secretary. Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [2:52] You were a private secretary with Winn-Dixie. Mildred Blandford: Of course, I went to business school, too, before I did that. Dorothy Harrison: [2:57] Yes, I see. And had you worked for them for any length of time? Mildred Blandford: I worked for them about 10 years, I think, before the war. Dorothy Harrison: [3:06] Yes, before the war. Mildred Blandford: And, uh, tried to enlist in the, in the American Red Cross a long time before I got in because of, because I was too – I didn’t weigh enough. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison [3:18] You didn’t weigh enough?! [laughter] Mildred Blandford: I didn’t weigh enough. Dorothy Harrison: [3:20] You’d have to gain some weight before you could get them to let you in. Mildred Blandford: Right! They said their girls lost about 20 pounds going overseas and I lost 20 pounds, I would be more of a burden to them than… Dorothy Harrison: [3:32] …than an asset. All right, that gives us a little, uh, start on, uh, your, uh, background. Very well, now we’ll return to the series of questions, which we’ve been asked to, uh, ask each of our, uh, in-, individuals to be interviewed. And, that is, what, uh, influenced you to volunteer? Mildred Blandford: Just the sense of adventure, I suppose, and the fact that I’d worked for a man who was in World War I and who had me quite interested in the whole subject of going overseas and so on. He, in fact, wanted to go again himself and couldn’t. And, uh, besides that, I was very, very interested in the war and the reasons for the war and I wanted to go. Dorothy Harrison: [4:22] Very good. All right, and, um, uh, what did you do in the service? Now, you’ve already told us that you were in a hospital unit, uh, as a secretary, but what were your specific tasks? Mildred Blandford: Well, the basic task, I guess, for a secretary was to sort of keep the books, what books they were, for the unit. And also to be sure that we had the supplies we needed and cigarettes and stuff like that. And then, my job was to help out wherever I could, like, havi-, going around the hospital wards and writing letters for the boys who wanted to, reading to them if they wanted to, wanted me to, playing with them in the recreation hall, cards, checkers, whatever. Dorothy Harrison: [5:13] So, it wasn’t all just transcribing, uh, uh, notes and writing letters for the, uh, did you do this, by the way, you said for an assistant field director, uh, so your, your involvement as a secretary was in no way, uh, connected with the army, uh, unit you were with? Mildred Blandford: Not at all. Not at all. Dorothy Harrison: [5:33] Not at all. By the way, what army un-, unit were you with? Mildred Blandford: We were an auxiliary. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [5:38] You were an auxiliary. Mildred Blandford: I was with the 194th General Hospital. Dorothy Harrison: [5:41] 194th General Hospital. And, uh, your assistant field director, uh, was, can you remember what, uh, his or her name was? Mildred Blandford: Her name was Catherine Rice. Dorothy Harrison: [5:52] Catherine Rice, all right. And, um, she would, of course, have been taking care of some, uh, social problems. In other words, if the men had some special problem, uh… Mildred Blandford: Yes, money-wise, or family-wise, or whether they, somebody died at home and they wanted leave, she had to attend to all of that. Dorothy Harrison: [6:13] That’s right and, um, uh, then this was also the type of letter you would have to write? Mildred Blandford: Right. Dorothy Harrison 6:19] Right. Um, very good. Now, the next question is, uh, and this sounds like a circa 1970s/80s question, uh… Mildred Blandford: [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [6:36] …from the point of view of [inaudible 3:37] uh, yes, uh, a women’s movement question. Did you expect this experience to prepare you for a career and did it? Mildred Blandford: No, I never expected anything. Uh, I could maybe have gotten a job at the Red Cross when I came out, but I felt a need to go home. But, I never expected to be anything but a temporary help in the, during the war. Dorothy Harrison: [6:59] In other words, you…Very good. Um, and, what was your pay? Mildred Blandford: I think I made about $200 a month. I’m not positive but I know it seemed like plenty then. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [7:18] Yes, I agree with you. I think that must have been roughly the correct amount. Um, perhaps a little more, uh, I remember I was paid $1500 with the American Red Cross, uh, in 1943, and, um, I eventually rose to the, to the heights of $1800 in the 2 ½ years I was there… Mildred Blandford: That would be…I, I’m sure you made more than I did, but I thought I did. Dorothy Harrison: [7:50] About $200? Mildred Blandford: It seemed like there was an extra bonus for going overseas… [inaudible 7:55] Dorothy Harrison: [7:55] …I see. All right, here’s another one of these feminist questions; were you given equal opportunity for service and education? Mildred Blandford: Well, I certainly felt that I was at the time because I didn’t expect anything. I just went over there to do my bit, you might say. Dorothy Harrison [8:13] Right, and, uh… Mildred Blandford: And I was treated beautifully the whole time, taken care of. Dorothy Harrison: [8:17] Right. And your education was taken care of, uh, by your previous experience, of course, as a secretary. And, uh, did you give any, were you given any special training by the Red Cross? Mildred Blandford: Just the ordinary training for going… Dorothy Harrison: [8:34] How long? Mildred Blandford: …for going overseas with the hospital, yes, which I had never done before. Dorothy Harrison: [8:40] What, how long was that period? Mildred Blandford: Only 3 weeks in, uh, Washington. Dorothy Harrison: [8:44] In Washington, right. Mildred Blandford: The rest of it, you got on the job. Dorothy Harrison: [8:48] Exactly. [laughter] Now, what assignments were given to women? Mildred Blandford: Like, what do you mean? Dorothy Harrison: [8:55] Well, this, as I say, I believe this is an E.R.A.-era questionnaire [laughter] – they seem to be terribly worried about women. Um, I think what they’re trying find out here is if, somehow or other, women were given lowly jobs, uh, whereas the men were always given the big ones, as you’ve just told me that… Mildred Blandford: Not at all. Dorothy Harrison: [9:15] …as you were just telling me, uh, the, your assistant field director was a woman… Mildred Blandford: We were all women in our… Dorothy Harrison: [9:22] …group… Mildred Blandford: …group. Dorothy Harrison: [9:23] So, there wasn’t much point in, there’s really not much point in answering that question. Mildred Blandford: No, because the women, we were, uh, billeted with about 33 nurses. Woman were kept separate from the men and all that. Dorothy Harrison: [9:37] Thank God! [laughter] Mildred Blandford: Yes. And, uh, the men looked out for us and I, I was certainly not aware of any… Dorothy Harrison: [9:46] …discrimination. Mildred Blandford: Discrimination. Dorothy Harrison: [9:49] What was the nature of your housing? You’ve just said that you were billeted with, um, the nurses. What type of housing did you have with the 194th? Mildred Blandford: Well, after we got settled, going over there and getting, before we got to Paris, we just took whatever we could possibly have, and they weren’t always of the best, but that was nobody’s fault but the war’s fault. Dorothy Harrison: [10:14] Exactly. And now, you spent some time in tents? Mildred Blandford: No, uh, until I got to Pacific… Dorothy Harrison: [10:20] I see, you were in tents in the Pacific? Mildred Blandford: In Europe, we were never in tents. We were in a villa off, uh, near a little spot near the [hov 10:29] for about 3 weeks during the Battle of the Bulge, and we were part of, sort of cozily bedded down there. [laughter] At least, the women were. Dorothy Harrison [10:40] A little crowded? Mildred Blandford: And, um, it was cold and miserable sometimes and we went without baths and we kept our clothes on and all that. But, it was all adventure. Dorothy Harrison: [10:51] Exactly. Mildred Blandford: The best we could do. Dorothy Harrison: [10:53] And then when you got into final quarters, uh, where were you? Outside of Paris? Mildred Blandford: When we? When we, no, we were billeted in Paris, right near the Arc de Triomphe. Dorothy Harrison: [11:02] Oh good. Mildred Blandford: In a hotel called the Pennsylvania Hotel. [Rio des Cassius 11:06]. And, um, went to, out to the hospital, which is, was at the Port [de Saint Clee 11:13], and we went there every morning on the metro. Dorothy Harrison [11:19] And, when you say, when you say, uh, this little, uh, this nice little hotel, Pennsylvania Hotel, did it have single rooms or did you, were you 2 in a room, or…? Mildred Blandford: I was, we were 2 in a room. I was with, uh, my friend, Catherine [Way 11:33], who was a staff aide. Dorothy Harrison: [11:37] I see. And, um, your room was, of course, uh, supplied, um… Mildred Blandford: We had a maid, my dear. Dorothy Harrison: [11:46] You had a maid? Mildred Blandford: We had a maid who laid out our pajamas every night. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [11:51] I’d say you lived in luxury! [laughter] And this, of course, this housing was supplied to you free of charge? Mildred Blandford: Absolutely. As far as I know. I had nothing to do with the financial end… Dorothy Harrison: [12:00] And, with the branch – in other words, your pay was in addition to, uh, the pay we’ve previously mentioned was in addition to housing and food. Mildred Blandford: Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [12:12] And, your uniforms, I believe, were also covered. Mildred Blandford: Right. Dorothy Harrison: [12:16] So, now, what about medical care? Of course, in the middle of a hospital that came free, too… [laughter] Mildred Blandford: We had doctors all around us all the time. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [12:22] That was very, very handy-dandy. And, what was your dress, your standard dress? Was it… Mildred Blandford: Well, the regular Red Cross, sort of the oxford gray with the little blue tabs and so on. Dorothy Harrison: [12:37] All right. Mildred Blandford: In the wintertime. Dorothy Harrison: [12:38] In the wintertime. Mildred Blandford: In the summertime, they were lighter blue, uh, seersucker. Dorothy Harrison: [12:44] Oh, you had the seersucker dresses? Mildred Blandford: Dresses. Mm-hm. Dorothy Harrison: [12:48] All right, now, I need to ask you what your memorable experiences were. You can, uh, take it from any place you want. Mildred Blandford: Well, we did so many things. We had, we were stationed in Paris and, uh… Dorothy Harrison: [13:09] Where did your men come from? Mildred Blandford: They came from the field stations first. Dorothy Harrison: [13:13] Yes. Mildred Blandford: From, and we had mostly the patients from the Battle of the Bulge, at least that’s what I remember the most of. And, uh, we would meet them, the ambulances would come in and we would meet them at any time of the day or night. We would probably know when they were coming in. We’d meet them with cigarettes or donuts or whatever, depending on the degree of injuries. And then, they were brought into the hospital and I remember one boy in particular who came in wrapped from head to foot in bandages. He’d been terribly, terribly burned and he was terribly, terribly bitter and would not open up and talk or do anything or let you help him in any way. And that sort of has always stayed with me as the most poignant case that I came across. Dorothy Harrison: [14:08] Came, had come across, yes. Mildred Blandford: And then you had others who didn’t want to write home. They didn’t want to tell anybody all about their misery… Dorothy Harrison: [14:16] That they were wounded. Mildred Blandford: Yes. And, uh, sometimes you had a little success and got them to write home and then you felt like you had… Dorothy Harrison: [14:25] Accomplished something. Mildred Blandford: …accomplished something. Dorothy Harrison: [14:26] Right, then, did they stay long with you at the 194th? Mildred Blandford: No, they didn’t. Uh, the ambulatory ones might stay 2 or 3 weeks but the very seriously injured were hustled on out of Paris to London and then to the United States. Dorothy Harrison: [14:42] In other words, you were a transient facility, in effect? Mildred Blandford: Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [14:46] And those that were not so badly, uh, hurt, um, they could go back to, uh, duty? Mildred Blandford: Yes, and so we entertained them as much as we could. Dorothy Harrison: [14:56] Yes. Mildred Blandford: And played games with them and so on, and some of’m, uh, felt like we were people, their home, you know? Dorothy Harrison: [15:05] Yes, and I suspect there was some romances going on, there would be romances… Mildred Blandford: Oh yes, definitely. [laughter] And they would almost cry when they had to go back to… Dorothy Harrison: [15:15] …to the front. And, did you have any, uh, as we would say, nervous in the service, or war-weary men, uh, battle-shocked types? Mildred Blandford: Yes, but I guess we didn’t see a whole lot of them. Dorothy Harrison: [15:29] I see. They were sent to a different facility? Mildred Blandford: At least I didn’t because I had no training for that. Dorothy Harrison: [15:34] Yes, of course. That would be true. All right, and, um, then when you got to the Pacific, um, I think you once told me something about a terrific, uh, uh, typhoon you were in? Mildred Blandford: A typhoon, that’s right. Two of’m! The first one, we managed to stay in our tents and, between all of us, we were about, oh, maybe 10 beds in this tent, and the storm was coming from one direction and so we put all the beds over on the other side, as far away as we could get from, from the rain that would come in the screened top of the tent. And, we sang all night long one night, singing all kinds of songs that we’d ever knew, known. [laughter] And, uh, then the next time, maybe only a couple of weeks later, here comes another one. So… Dorothy Harrison: [16:30] Now when was this, actually? Mildred Blandford: This was, we landed in Okinawa on the 1st of September in 1945. Dorothy Harrison: [16:36] ’45, so this was, uh, a September or October typhoon? Mildred Blandford: Mostly late September, I guess. Because I do remember a few weeks of peace and quiet, as far as storms are concerned. And, uh, so the next time, the Seabees came and hauled us away to their, uh, what do you call those… Dorothy Harrison: [17:00] Quonsets? Mildred Blandford: Quonset huts, yes. We later learned that there was more danger in those Quonset huts during a tornado or a typhoon, as they call’m over there because if the top blew off… Dorothy Harrison: [17:14] You’d go blowing with it. Mildred Blandford: But they’re made out of that steel or whatever they are. Dorothy Harrison: [17:19] Yeah. They’d decapitate you if you got in the way. Mildred Blandford: They would decapitate you. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [17:23] Well, at least they were thinking of you. Mildred Blandford: Yes. They were, they took good care of us. Dorothy Harrison: [17:28] Um, your housing then in the, in the, um, in Okinawa was in tents, as you’ve already said, and these tents weren’t canvas tents or anything like that? Mildred Blandford: They had canvas tops but wooden bottoms and screened in… Dorothy Harrison: [17:42] …sides. Was it half wood, up halfway? Mildred Blandford: Halfway, yes. Dorothy Harrison: [17:46] And then screened the rest of the way. Mildred Blandford: Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [17:48] And, um, each with [inaudible 17:50]. Mildred Blandford: [inaudible 17:50] With some kind of a more permanent top, I don’t remember just exactly what it was, whether it was canvas or tarpaulin or what. Dorothy Harrison: [17:57] Or something of that sort. And then you, were they up on stilts or, uh, were they on the ground? Mildred Blandford: Yes. I think they were on stilts. Dorothy Harrison: [18:05] I keep remembering that they used to put things up… Mildred Blandford: I’ve got some pictures somewhere but [laughter] I don’t know where they are. Dorothy Harrison: [18:11] Yes. Well, at any rate, um, it was not quite the same as the little h-, h-, little hotel in Paris with the maid service. [laughter] Mildred Blandford: No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t. Dorothy Harrison: [18:20] All right, um, we’ll get back then to the list of questions. Mildred Blandford: And, actually, well, you might be interested to hear this. After 6 weeks of this, 2 typhoons, General Stillwell ordered all the women off the island to go home. Dorothy Harrison: [18:38] Oh, he did? Mildred Blandford: So, we came home. Dorothy Harrison: [18:42] Very interesting. I had no idea that he decided that was too much. Mildred Blandford: I could have stayed but, by this time, I was soaked out. All my clothes were in ruins [laughter] and I thought it was best to go home with the rest of the women. Dorothy Harrison: [18:55] With the women, and what was the date at this point? Mildred Blandford: This is about the middle of October 1945. Dorothy Harrison: [19:01] 1945. Well, the war was over. Mildred Blandford: Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [19:05] And, so, he, I’m sure General Stillwell thought there was not much point in continuing to keep you there. Very well, we’ll go on with the questions. Um… Mildred Blandford: We had also, um, welcomed back some Japanese prisoners American-Japanese prisoners. Dorothy Harrison: [19:21] Oh, you did! Mildred Blandford: On Okinawa. Yes, with coffee and donuts. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [19:25] Were you, what state, what condition were they in? Mildred Blandford: Well, um, more or less normal. They seemed in pretty good shape, the ones I saw. Dorothy Harrison: [19:33] You saw, yes. Um, then they were going on to Okinawa, back to the United States. Flown or shipped? Mildred Blandford: I expect they were gonna be shipped. Dorothy Harrison: [19:44] Shipped, shipped. Yes, probably. Um, now, this next question, can you compare service careers then with present? Mildred Blandford: Not really, I can’t, because I don’t know anything about the present. Dorothy Harrison: [19:59] Very good. 13, did you experience conflict between being feminine and being a military professional? Since you weren’t a military professional, [laughter] that seems a totally beside-the-point question, doesn’t it? Mildred Blandford: Well, I think there were some, maybe, some officers who had some kind of an objection to women being over there but not to any… Dorothy Harrison: [20:23] …great extent. Mildred Blandford: …great extent. Dorothy Harrison: [20:25] And, certainly, you didn’t have any trouble being feminine, did you? [laughter] Mildred Blandford: No. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [20:30] Um, 14, uh, did you use benefits of the GI Bill? Mildred Blandford: No. We were no entitled to that under the Red Cross. Dorothy Harrison: [20:40] No, of course you weren’t. It was, the American Red Cross was totally volun-, voluntary. Mildred Blandford: Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [20:49] Uh, what demands demanded the greatest adjustment for you, um, in getting used to your, your overseas experience? Uh, uniforms, or living with others, or regulations, or lack of freedom, or the terminology that was… Mildred Blandford: Well, I sort of enjoyed the whole thing. I supposed maybe the hardest thing to do was to live with a, such a great big group of women. Dorothy Harrison: [21:14] Yes. Mildred Blandford: And taking showers together and so on, you know. Dorothy Harrison: [21:19] The lack of privacy. Mildred Blandford: Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [21:23] Uh, what was the, what was the most unpopular regulation that you, that you met? Were there any? Uh, were you confined to quarters for any reason after a certain hour or anything like that? Mildred Blandford: Not that I remember. The whole thing was a, just a big experience for me and I enjoyed it. Dorothy Harrison: [21:45] Um, and, uh, what did you, what have you done after your, your service? Mildred Blandford: Well, I came home. Actually, my mother expected me home, needed me home, and I came home and went back to my same job I’d had before and continued on and became an office manager for the company. Dorothy Harrison: [22:09] It’s a Winn-Dixie, wasn’t it? Mildred Blandford: Yes. Dorothy Harrison: [22:10] Yes. Mildred Blandford: And went down to Montgomery, Alabama and stayed a couple of years with them. And finally came back to Louisville again because of my mother’s health, and then she died and I, having had a long-time dream of going back to Europe, I went back and stayed for 6 years in Paris and I loved it. Dorothy Harrison: [22:34] I think, I think that’s so, such an interesting part of your, of your life and, uh, what did you do over in, in Paris? Mildred Blandford: Well, I first went back to my first love, which was Paris, and, uh, the first thing I did was go to the American Embassy and see if there was any possibility of getting a job. And, they told me no, that the Americans living in Paris were not eligible for a job with the American Embassy, that if they gave jobs to anyone over there, they must give’m to French people. So, I, they, they sent me over to the Chamber of Commerce and I went over there and met a delightful French woman, American woman, I think, who was born in Paris. Anyway, do you want me to go into all that? Dorothy Harrison: [23:27] Well, it doesn’t, just as long as we find out how you ended. Mildred Blandford: Yes. Uh, but, so I wanted to say I went to school. Dorothy Harrison: [23:38] Yes. Mildred Blandford: I went to the Alliance Française and worked for a year and a half. All the time having been promised finally that I might get a job at the Embassy and finally, after a year and a half about, I got a job with, they called me in and gave me a job with the CIA… Dorothy Harrison: [23:59] All right, now that… Mildred Blandford: …which had an office across from the American Embassy. Dorothy Harrison: [24:03] Embassy, in other words, although they had said they needed to give you a, you know, that they would give the job to the French, in this case, they [laughter] they, they didn’t want, uh, this CIA job… Mildred Blandford: They couldn’t have [inaudible 24:13]. That’s right. They couldn’t use a French person… Dorothy Harrison: [24:16] Person in this position. And, um, I suspect also they, they, when you had first arrived in Paris, your French was not in such good condition. Mildred Blandford: Not very good at all, no. So, I worked with them for about a year in Paris and, at that time, uh, Mr. De Gaulle wanted us to get out of Paris. We were under the NATO organization and… Dorothy Harrison: [24:45] So the job was through the Embassy, not – in other words, you worked for the CIA, but you got the job through the Embassy. Mildred Blandford: Right. Dorothy Harrison: [24:53] And, it was the CIA that was in NATO. Mildred Blandford: That’s right. Dorothy Harrison: [24:56] Or under the… Mildred Blandford: It was connected with NATO. Dorothy Harrison: [24:58] con-, NATO, right. Mildred Blandford: And, uh, so we were requested to move our office out of Paris. So, my boss decided he wanted to go to London and I went to London with him. I worked there for 3 ½ years until Mr. Nixon called all the extra help that [laughter] had been hired in Paris and London to come home and I came home again. Dorothy Harrison: [25:25] You came home again. Mildred Blandford: After 6 years. Dorothy Harrison: [25:26] And you, you were a secretary in the CIA? Mildred Blandford: A secretary and, um, a receptionist. Dorothy Harrison: [25:34] Receptionist, yes. All right. Mildred Blandford: Again, an odds-and-ends kind of job. Dorothy Harrison: [25:37] …job, yes. All right, fine. And then, um, did you retire at once? Mildred Blandford: Well, yes. Dorothy Harrison: [25:45] Yes, at that point. Mildred Blandford: From any formal work. Dorothy Harrison: [25:48] And I, yes, and I know that you came back to Louisville and that you stayed with us a number of years and then decided to go and live in Washington, which was near the closest relatives that you had, your sister and, uh, so we lost you. Mildred Blandford: [laughter] Not entirely. Dorothy Harrison: [26:5] No, not entirely. Now, before we conclude this interview, Mildred, um, I would like you to tell that little story, uh, about your experiences in the, uh, school in Washington, D.C., when you were preparing to go overseas. I recall that, um, it was, uh, it was, uh, it interested me because I’m a northerner and you’re from the south and, uh, it shows that certainly there was no unanimity of, of, uh, feeling, uh, in the south on an, a very important question and I should have thought of this when we were talking about your 3 weeks of training in Washington, but I didn’t so now will you tell that little story again? Mildred Blandford: Well, I think what you’re talking about, Dorothy, is, uh, the class of people looking for the job with the Red Cross during, before we went, we were sent overseas. There was a classroom with a woman who conducted it and so on who was asking us questions, just general questions and so on, and she happened to ask, uh, if, if we knew if after we got overseas and we were at a dance being given for the, uh, soldiers if a black soldier asked us to dance, what would we do? And I was a little bit shocked by the fact that there was silence while I supposed everybody was thinking about what they, what they would do. And I knew immediately what she wanted to hear, and I put up my hand and said, “Well, I would dance with him, of course.” And, she wrote something down on a little piece of paper and almost but, within the next few days, my name was called to go out with 194th General Hospital. [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [28:13] Good! Mildred Blandford: That started it all! [laughter] Dorothy Harrison: [28:16] Well, I, I, uh, I like that story. I, of course, I have, since I’ve lived in Louisville now for, for 30 years, I realize this is a city, which is certainly not deep south in its antagonisms and, uh, and in its intolerances, it’s a very, actually a very cosmopolitan and, uh, liberal city. Mildred Blandford: I always thought so. Dorothy Harrison: [28:42] Right. And, I have grown to love the city very much. So that, um, I’m always happy to, to be able to say that I have respected, uh, this place and its people. Well, thank you very much, Mildred, for the interview and we’ll hope that this serves some historical purpose at some future date. Mildred Blandford: Thank you. I enjoyed it. /ab