Interview of Jane Piatt on her service in the 
Women's Army Corps during WWII and in the Korean War


Elsie Hornbacher:	Elsie Hornbacher acting as the interviewer for Jane Piatt for the Lansing Unit of the Women's Overseas Service League on April 21, 1983. [00:12] Jane what did you do overseas and why did you go into the service? 

Jane Piatt:	Well as it happened, I was, uh, um-, my father had no bo-, no sons to go to the service, and when war broke out and I was in, uh, University of Michigan getting my master's degree, uh, the idea, uh, was being established that there was a possibility we were going to have a women's service. And so I followed it very carefully and as soon as the applications were-, uh, had been printed and were being distributed, I had, um, – a friend of mine picked up a couple of them, and she and I both applied. Uh, we were very good friends in Lansing, and as it happened, uh, both of us were selected out of the first 4 women selected from Michigan. And all in all, there were 440 of us who, uh, had been, uh, selected out of the 1500-, 150,000 women who applied. And we reported to Des Moines, Iowa, uh, on, um, July 21, 1942. 

	The experience of the training was a lot of fun. Uh, to begin with, most of the men who were working with us were cavalry men, and they were not the least bit, uh, happy about being stationed in Des Moines working with a bunch of women. We thought that the story they'd have to tell their grandchildren was going to be pretty sad when instead of out fight-, being out at-, fighting the battle, they were teaching women to march. However, before we finished our training, we had sold the men on the idea that women could do the work. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[1:49] Weren't there any horses there? 

Jane Piatt:	Yeah there were a few horses, literally, around there, uh, and all of our officers dressed in the typical, uh, uh, uniform, you know, with the breeches and the boots and, uh, also carried their little sticks and, uh, wore the cavalry hats. So, it was s-, a lot of fun. I mean, they, and they really, most of the officers were really fine people and they, they became very fond of the women and very proud of us. And there was a lot of competition between the different, uh, platoons. And, uh, the day we graduated, there were not just a few tears among the men as we marched down for our graduation ceremony. Uh, actually it was pretty exciting. Mrs. Hobby, who was at that time the only colonel-, the only woman colonel, came to visit us twice during our, uh, time, and I think most of us would have followed her right out into battle at that point because she was a very impressive person. 

	After I was, uh, commissioned, I received the, um, uh, assignment of being the first women, uh, mess officer. And I was given a 300, what was called a 300-man mess, uh, that I was to be the chief officer for. Unfortunately, I had to take it over from the man who had been our foods instructor during our classes who knew literally nothing about foods. And, uh, he was more than happy to see me, uh, embrace his little mess that he had had, uh, uh, had not done very well with. But we had very good luck. I had all women working. I had a woman baker, a woman butcher, a woman mess, uh, sergeant, and all women employees in the, uh, in my mess. And they loved it, uh, from the gals, uh, working on the dishes right on down to my baker and, and butcher who, uh, really, uh, took a lot of pride. And before very long, we were not feeding 300 people, we were feeding almost 800. Everybody that could was eating in our mess. 

	We changed from the typical cafeteria style to family style. I found out that, um, we had, uh, plenty of dishes, uh, in the storage room and we turned in all the trays and, um, got, uh, requisitioned, uh, sheets from the hospital to be used as table cloths. The girls took some of our, of empty pickle jars and decorated them and went out in the field and got in, got wild flowers. And the, the morning that we opened the mess, we had a beautiful-looking dining room. And the general and everybody else on the all – everybody else that possibly could find their way to our mess, ate with us. And the food was excellent. And I had that mess for about, uh, oh 5 months, and then they transferred me to the officers' club, uh, which I only took for 3 months because I was very unhappy there, uh. There was a lot of racist feelings. We had some really fine Negro women in the first class of women officers, and they were not being allowed to use our officers' club. And so, in protest, uh, I asked to be transferred, and then I was sent to Des Moines. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[4:48] Back in th, those days did they use the term Negro instead of black? 

Jane Piatt:	Yes they did. Negro was the word. Black came in sometime later. I'm, I'm not sure-, I think black even came in, in the 50s, and this was in the, in the middle and early 40s. So, uh, but, uh, Charity Adams was one of the first women officers, uh, to get-, uh, to become, uh, a major. And, uh, she was a beautiful woman. I traveled with her, uh, for a period of 2 weeks at the direction of the, of the general to, uh-, we went with – it was for a 200 radius of, uh, Fort Des Moines to find out what the feeling was in the small towns. And we found out that, uh, when Charity was alone, she was not allowed into a – to stay in a hotel, and if, if we went in together, we were not allowed to stay, but if I went in alone I could, I could get a room without any problem. And it was very upsetting to them. Then when I went back to get my luggage and I came back with Charity with me and they couldn’t do anything about it, uh, but they – we told them that this was going to be reported, uh, to the army because they, uh, there was not not supposed to be any discrimination at that point, and Charity was, uh, a really very fine woman. So that was our, our very beginning.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[5:58] And this was in Iowa?

Jane Piatt:	Iowa. Fort De Moines, Iowa. Uh-huh. And, uh, we still had men on the posts at that time, but, uh, by the, by the time we had been there about 6 months, it was all turned over to the women. We had all women, except the general. They, uh, the, the colon-, the base, uh, colonel and the general were men on the base. So, uh, at that point, we only had 1 woman colonel and that was Colonel Hobby, Oveta Culp Hobby, who was a very interesting person. And, uh, she came, uh, to visit us as did Mrs. Roosevelt in February of, uh, 1943. We had a, a very impressive parade both on the base – on the post and downtown in Fort Des Moines. And the temperature was 9 degrees below 0, and Ms. Roosevelt and Colonel Hobby stood out and pra- – and watched the review of the troops outdoors in the wind. And it was so cold that the, um, commanding, uh, officers of the various platoons while we're waiting for the, uh, officials to arrive would have to have their girls marching and jumping to keep us from freezing our toes. Uh, I was walking where the officers and marching with the officers, and so we didn't get the opportunity to, to, uh, get warmed up the way the enlisted women did and then I had to leave the ranks and go to the hotel where she was going to be coming to eat because I was responsible for it. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[7:18] What month was this again? 

Jane Piatt:	In February of 1943.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[7:22] And was there a great deal of snow in Iowa then? 

Jane Piatt:	Yes, we had a lot of snow, but, uh, mostly at that particular time right on top of the snow we had extremely cold weather for about 10 days. And some of the women-, the enlisted women, uh, did not have proper uniforms and they had to send to a nearby army base and have them send over men's clothing. And we had, um, some of the small women were wearing overcoats that were so large that as they walked along they literally took about 2 steps before you saw the coat move. You couldn't see their hands – their hands were way up in the sleeves – and they had knitted caps that came clear down over their ears. Uh, they were a pretty sorry looking bunch of people, believe me, but it was all, you know, a joke, and before very long they, they did get their correct uniforms. They had a much bigger supply of women than they actually had originally anticipated. The, the volunteerism among women was a fantastic thing, and all you had to do to say to a woman if she complained was, you know, you volunteered to do this job, nobody made you come. And, uh, we didn't have too much trouble with women, uh, getting, uh, into problems of that kind. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[8:25] Jane, what was the pay during those days, do you remember at all? 

Jane Piatt:	Mm, I well remember – $50 a month, uh, and that then – and then from that you pay – you were given a food allotment, uh, to eat in, uh, in the, uh, on the base. If you ate off the base and – you paid out of your own pur-, out of your own money, um. And, uh, uniforms were supposed to be furnished, but for most of us, they didn't fit very well and so we sent home for money and had our uniforms tailored as soon as we possibly could. But, um, the, the uniforms were at that time, uh, the typical, uh, uh, green, uh, army, uh, olive green I suppose you would call it. Uh, it was really kind of a sickish, sickish brown. And, uh, we wore the same colored skirt as jacket and then a, tan shirts with the, um, light, uh, tan, uh, necktie and we had the regular high-collar necked shirts with a foreign hand, uh, ne-, uh, ties and we had, uh, what I always called were the, the foreign legion-type cap, the, the round cap that stood up about 3 inches on our heads. And, uh, uh, actually they, then our summer uniform, of course, were, was a khaki uniform and then with our dress uniform we did have what was called a pink skirt. It was really a pinkish gray. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	Mm-hm. You mentioned $50 a month. Uh, compared to the years 1943 when I was teaching, I was making, uh, $140 a month, uh. In the factory that same year, I worked in the summer and I made $280 a month in the precision department at General Motors in Flint. I thought it would be nice to make this comparison. 

Jane Piatt:	Yeah well that, it really was something and – 'cause I wouldn't, the $50 a month, uh, wasn't really as bad as it sounds because we did get an extra allotment for food as officers and the enlisted personnel got their food free on the, you know, they had nothing to pay, um. It was, I don't think any of us really gave it much thought because we were, we had nothing to spend our money on and in the first, uh, 5 weeks when we were being trained, we were so tired, uh, that we didn't wanna go anywhere until about Friday after, uh, Saturday afternoon. We had to work all through Saturday morning. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[10:40] You ment-, you mentioned free time. About how much free time did you have? 

Jane Piatt:	Well, I don't think that we really had as – uh, what you'd call free time more than about, uh, through our lunch period, uh, which was exactly an hour, uh, and then we had classes until about 4:00 in the afternoon. And then the, the instructors were free to m, make us do extra drill or, uh, extra class work or, if they thought that we needed it. So there were many times when we didn't – we would report in 15 minutes before we had to march to dinner at night and then, uh, as soon as we finished dinner, we had to, uh, extra classes or had to go drill again. So, I don't think – we, we didn't do anything like going to movies or anything like that. We had no time. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[11:26] I'm sort of curious, uh, uh, did the gals, uh, drink, uh, beer or wine, uh, or, uh, uh, the men? 

Jane Piatt:	Yes we did, um, and I, I'm sorry to say I think that there were many women who literally became alcoholics as a result of their service because in their, in, during our serv-, our, our training time, uh, weekends primarily were the only time that we were really had any opportunity to drink. At night we honestly and truthfully were too tired to do anything except shower and go to bed, uh, and, and study. We all had to study awfully hard because transferring from, from, um, a civilian's life to military life, uh, involved a whole new way of, uh, living, including a, a jargon, a language, uh, that was totally different too. And, uh, we had a lot to learn in the 5 weeks. Normally, uh, uh, that class, it was 6 weeks but because of the fact that they, our uniforms were not ready and the, all of the staff wasn't, uh, on hand, uh, we ended up with 5 weeks. So that was hard

	But after we became officers and had free time at night and free time on weekends, we did drink. And, uh, at, at first, uh, at we were, at first, we weren't allowed at the officers' club and then they, they did. They opened up the officers' club. That was when I said they wouldn't let the Negro women come. But we would, we drank in our rooms. And we did, we drank an awful lot. Uh, as I look back on it now, I, I sometimes, I don't see how we managed because we would go into Des Moines on, uh, Saturday at noon and take rooms in the hotels, and most of us just went to bed and slept for about 5 hours and then got up and did the town. But we could – we really couldn't do much in the town as such because we had to wear uniforms and you are not allowed to drink in uniform. So, uh, that cut that sort of thing until later, uh, when people began disobeying, but in the first, in the beginning, uh, bunch of us, we were pretty law abiding, I mean we, we were pretty terrified of breaking rules and, uh, any drinking we did, we did in our hotel rooms or at private clubs. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[13:30] What about your sleeping conditions, were you in bunks, uh?

Jane Piatt:	No, well we had regular typical army beds in dormitories in, uh, in our training period, uh, you were, you were, uh, dormitoried by platoons. And, uh, there were in each, in each company, there were 4 platoons. And in the first class, there were 4 companies. So there were 16 platoons and, uh, we had about 30 women, I think, in each platoon. And, uh, those were big dormitory rooms. And, uh, I, um, had a bed, uh, next to a gal who was 52 years old and she was a, a political appointee. Her name, uh, she was, um, um, she came from a very wealthy family in, uh, in, uh, New York City and had never had to do anything, uh, to kind of, type thing that we had to do –scrubbing floors and, and walls and woodwork and making your own bed and all of that sort of thing. And she was a JP Morgan granddaughter. And, um, but she was a good sport and, and to top it off, she had a very bad back and was, uh, partially deaf but she was, she-, and she need not have gone through this training. She could have gotten a commissioned appointment, uh, direct, but she chose to go through with us, and it was mighty hard. And she so she marched – she was tall, and she marched [inaudible 14:51], uh, right near me. And so she used to watch me and, uh, but if she took her eye off of me and we were given a command and she didn't hear it, she was liable to find herself marching down the field by herself, but she was a good sport.

	And one day I came in to, uh, the quarters and Helen had been excused from, um, a, a drill because of her back and, uh, I, it was hot night and I came in and unfastened my shirt, the top of my shirt and had my hat on, on the back of my head and, um, discovered somebody sitting on my bunk. And believe me that's a, a, a crime punishable almost by death because at all times our beds were supposed to be so tight and taut that you could bounce a quarter off of'm. And uh, I, I marched over to this gal and, in all intent to really say something and I happened to notice that there were eagles on her shoulders. We only had one officer with eagles on her shoulders and that was Oveta Culp Hobby. And it turned out that she was a very good friend of Helen's and so, uh, Helen introduced me to her, and Colonel Hobby jumped up and said "Oh I'm so sorry I, I'm sitting on your bed, aren't I? And I know that's against the rules" and I said, "Oh man do sit on my bed, I would be proud to have you do it." 

	And I had several other contacts with Mrs. Hobby after that. I, I served her when she was back, came back to, uh, Fort Des Moines one time with a bad cold. And, uh, two of us went over and spent the evening with her and rubbed her back and, uh, tried to get her to feel better because she was supposed to go out, uh, the next day but it, she was feeling so badly that her, um, her, uh, aide, uh, asked us if we would stay with her while she went down to the railroad station to make a change in reservations. And we had an opportunity to really give her some insights on what was going on. This was when we told her that the women never should be – have to lift those hundred-gallon G.I. cans that we were having problems and this kind of thing. And she, uh, listened to us and wrote it all down and, uh, so from then on whenever she came wherever I was, if she found out I was stationed there, she'd look me up and it, it was a nice contact. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	Back in the factory back in those days we weren't to lift over 25 pounds. 

Jane Piatt:	And, and you know, this is still a, a problem, uh, the men are saying if the women want to do everything that the men do, then they should have to lift all these things. And, uh, we're having, uh, uh, really quite a bit of controversy about this, although I, I now hear that they've decided that it's better not – for the women not to do all of the training with the men. They've gone back to separating the women because of the fact that their bodies are just not built in the same way. There are some women who literally can compete, uh, job for job with a man but, uh, we, we made up in, um, in quantity by doing a better quality of our job we felt. And, uh, eh, every woman was perfectly willing to, to lift 2 50-gallon cans as opposed to 1, uh, hundred-gallon can. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[17:38] How long did you stay in Des Moines?

Jane Piatt:	Uh, I was transferred from, um, um, [inaudible 17:45]. I stayed in Des Moines – after I got to be an officer, uh, I got to be, I was commissioned at the end of August and the next, um, March I was sent to Washington to be one of the first 4 women in the, um, um, inspector general school, uh.

Elsie Hornbacher:	[18:05] This is in 1944?

Jane Piatt:	1943, 1943 March of '43. It was a [month's 18:10] course and there were 4 women and 175 men. Most of the men were colonels and lieutenant colonels and we were lieutenants and captains and, uh, we, we, we came out the top of the class, the 4 of us. So it, uh, but the problem was because we spent our time studying most of the men didn't. The, they spent their nights carousing and having good times and then they, they flunked their exams but they – we worked like the dickens and we got good m-, good grades. Then I came back and I was an inspector on our post until, um, uh, uh, October. And in October of '43, I was transferred to the Army Air Corps and sent to the first, to the first air force headquarters in Tampa. And, uh, I was sent down as inspector gen-, as an inspector general, but when I got there, I heard about the air inspector's office and, uh, listened to the, uh, the man in charge of the air inspector office, and I was so fascinated with that job that, uh, I went to the office and asked to see him. And his executive officer kept putting me off and telling me that he was busy and he couldn't see me and so on. So I found out what the, wh, what day the executive officer had off and then I went in and, uh, and presented myself personally to Colonel[Ennis 19:20], and he gave me an interview and handed me a portfolio and said the car-, I'll have a car outside and you'll be sent out to make your first inspection and you'll, you'll meet the team out there. 

	So I had an opportunity then to travel with a team of officers by plane when we were inspecting units all over the eastern coast. And, uh, out, oh I can't remember just how far out west we went but, um, we had some kind of hairy experiences. And, uh, I, I did the, had that job from, uh, October of 1943 until, uh, July of 1944 when I was transferred to Florence Army Air Force Base, uh, with Colonel[Ennis]. He was sent there to take over. We had made an inspection and found a very terrible situation going on, and when we reported it back, uh, my colonel was promptly sent there to head the, to head the, um, uh, program there. And he, um, the, uh, officer that we were replacing was discharged with a dishonorable discharge. And, um, he and I went out and, uh, he wanted me to take over a, a squadron of women, but he wasn't able to get them and I was glad that he wasn't because I, I had had, the only training I had had in giving orders for marching was in my basic training in my officers, uh, uh, school. So, uh, I was very grateful that he was never able to get the women and instead, uh, he made me then officers' club officer and I had a chance to take a very bad situation and, and turn it into a, a really fine club. And, um, I was there until, um, October of 1944. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[20:58] What were your activities in the officers' club that made it a very fine club?

Jane Piatt:	Um, well to begin with, the man that had been in charge had been in cahoots with the base colonel and with the, uh, uh, uh, officers' club sergeant and the supply officer and his sergeant. And they had been stealing and, uh, then, uh, uh, serving very poor food. The officers' club was a mess, it was filthy, dirty and so were the officer's quarters. And, uh, so it didn't take very much to get in and, and really clean it all out. I had a little, uh, I, I was given the opportunity to, to pick my own mess sergeant, uh, officers' club sergeant. And I found out that they, one of the units had a man who was really fantastic, and I went down to the squadron and watched him work. And finally propositioned him to come and be my, my mess sergeant and, uh, he told me no he couldn't come because he was due to have a leave and he hadn't had one for 3 years. S, I, I went back and talked to my colonel and he said well make him any offer you can. So I went back said well if, if you'll come and work a week to get it started then I will see to it that you have a 3 week leave and also that you get 1 more, you'll get a promotion. And, uh, he came to me but he came back at the end of 10 days he was so excited in the change we were making in the officers' club. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[22:15] In what sort of a building was this club housed?

Jane Piatt:	It was a wooden, uh, it was a frame building, uh, at, at the officers' club was, uh, really quite nicely laid out. There was a great large living room, huge living room. When we took it over, the rug had been rolled out – up and it was out on the front porch and it was rotted. And all of the lamps had no shades and one bulb in it. All of the upholstery had burn spots and, and broken springs. It was really a, a, a depressing place. And, uh, the colonel gave me permission and almost carte blanche money to, uh, go ahead and do, get something done about it. And we went, uh, his wife and I went to Charlotte, North Carolina, uh, to a large store there and were able to get a hold of a Persian rug that was, um, 60, 60 feet by 40, and we got it for $700 with the, uh, agreement that at the end of th-, of time, that if the base were closed, it could be returned for the same amount of money. And, uh, they, uh, when we brought it back, everybody said well it'll never last because the men will ruin it and I said they won't ruin something this nice, and they never did. I never had anybody grinding a cigarette into the floor or, or, uh, spilling stuff and that sort of thing. The club was kept beautifully. And we, we put in all new lamps and new chairs with davenports and, um, jukebox and the whole works. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[23:38] What was the building used for before you used it as an officers' club? 

Jane Piatt:	It was built as an officers' club. Uh, the air force base had been there as a training base before the war started. And, uh, we had, uh, something like 45 units for, uh, officers' quarters. And they were little, like little wooden motel rooms and they were – when we got them they, they had a bed and a chair in it and a single light bulb in the center of the room. And I put in rugs – not carpets but rugs – and a comfortable chair and a desk. And we got all new beds and mattresses and put in drapes and lamps. And, uh, the men didn't mind paying their money then. Before I wouldn'ta blamed'm if they'd all stood up and said we're not gonna pay to live in this hog pen. But there was no place else to live and South Caro, in, um, Florence at that time. They had 1 hotel, and, um, it was almost impossible to find a, a room, you know, so they had to live on the base. 

	I was able to live off the base 'cause they had no quarters for women in all, at all and so I, I lived – one of the officers had, had asked me, he and his wife asked me to live with them. And I lived with them until I was able to locate a room, which turned out to be about 8 months that I stayed with them and then I found a, a room. I had a room and bath in, uh, uh, the parents of one of the officers in the club. But it was a, it, it was mix-, it was a fun experience and it was a successful one and then I went from there, I became a – I was ordered to, um, Fort Dix as a counselor. The war was over. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[25: 07] Where is Fort Dix? 

Jane Piatt:	In New Jersey. And, uh, the men were all coming back from service and I was, I was counseling them, uh, as to what their benefits were and, uh, how they could go about getting housing if they were single people and how, where they could go to apply for jobs [inaudible 25:23]. I tried not to tell them about the benefits that they could have financially if they didn't get a job because we had discovered that most of'm just plain didn't try to get a job; they just took the benefits, uh, but I was there from – only from October until, um, the third week of December and I had enough points then to get out. And since my mother had died, I decided to, um, go home and, and be with my dad and go out of service, uh, but, uh, we were told that we weren't not being allowed to actually go off of, uh, service. We were called, uh, we were considered to be in, uh, United States Army, uh, still and, uh, could be called back at any time. 

	And then in 1948, they decided to, uh, go on and have a women's, uh, army, uh, per, uh, on a, um, a permanent base, uh, idea, and, uh, I had an opportunity to go into the, uh, uh, as regular or to go in as reserve. And since I had [build 26:20] another nursery school by that time, I decided that I better take a reserve commission and go into the air force 'cause I had been serving with the Air Corps. So I took a reserve commission in the air force, and in 1952, uh, 50, at the end of 1951, I was re-called, uh, time of Korea. And, uh, I was recalled to recruit women from-, uh, university women and, uh, supposed to have been just a temporary 1-month assignment, but at the end of the 1 month, I received orders for the next year. And, um, then before that year was up, it was extended to 2 years and then that was when I was sent to England. And, uh, in, in England, um, I was, we were, I was sent to a big air force base. In fact, it's the largest supply depot in, uh, the world. And there we did do all the supplies, strangely enough, for Korea and training all of the officers. And much of my job was a secret and so that I had to have a special kind of a clearance. 

	And, uh, first I was a air inspector at Burtonwood Air Force Base, which was this big depot, and then I was sent down to Brize Norton, which was a special training base down about, uh, 50 miles north of London. And there, I, uh, acted as administrative officer, which was the, uh, equivalent to the old [inaudible 27:36] and I had, um, a young, uh, officer, commanding officer, uh, who was a very interesting person and, uh, uh, I enjoyed working with him. He just turned over the job to me until he found out that I was having to, uh, pass out prophylactics and then, uh, he was very concerned about the fa-, that I would have to do such a terrible job. And I told him that I, it didn't bother me at all. I was very glad to do that I lectured the men when I passed them out and, uh, I had a sergeant who actually dispensed them. But, um, I worked with the, um, English people who, uh, were working on the base. I heard their, uh, problems and their complaints and, um, I had to talk to the mothers of, uh, women who were pregnant and, uh, help to straighten out the affairs of the men, uh, uh. 

	And then I was a go between the, uh, the, um, the, the, um, squadron officers and the colonel. And, uh, if they came to see him and I felt that the colonel was having a bad day, I would tell'm to come back in the afternoon or the next day or something, uh, so that, uh, we wouldn't, uh, to make as little friction as possible. And he was a very interesting person. He had, he was known in the beginning as being the strictest man I guess in England, and he even was doing such things as having church call, which had long gone out and, uh, the men just hated that. But he, uh, had given that up when I got down there. And he had a wife and 5 children that were delightful people. And, uh, I think he learned a lot, I mean, he was a, a, a, he really was a good officer. And he took me, I, I, I went on several trips with him to the continent and, um, the last trip we came back and he wanted to sleep so he turned the plane over to me. And I had been, uh, something I had eaten apparently had, uh, had disagreed with me and when they had called me to tell me to go out and get the plane ready to go get it stacked with sandwiches and coffee, I was half sick. So, when halfway over the channel when he said here you take the wheel, uh, I was petrified. And he slept and he, he stayed asleep until we got way past the White Cliffs of Dover, and I knew that we should be making a turn, and, uh, I, I, I, didn't know anything more about handling the plane. 

	I couldn't get him to wake up finally he just said oh you can do it, but, uh, I finally got it. Impressed him with the idea that we were already past our point of turn and, uh, I was there from, uh, uh, Jan-, uh, February of 1953 until, um, July of 1954. And I came back to the United States and stayed in the reserve and, uh, uh, was assigned to Selfridge Air Force Base where I went on, um, a-, I first went down once a week. And, um, then it was, uh, it, it got to be too much with my teaching in Lansing and I, uh, asked to be put on a, another type of service where I went only once a month. And then, uh, in 1967 I decided that the rat race of getting up and leaving Lansing at 4:00 in the morning and, and, uh, in the winter time having to go down, um, in the-, all the way down and all the way back in pitch dark, uh, and then in the summer time having to follow, uh, cars pulling boats and all this other thing, uh, at the crack of dawn, it was just getting to be too much of a hassle. And by that time, I had some, uh, 29 years' time, so I took a retirement and, and, eh, became a air force, uh, reserve retired. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[31:09] Then, may I ask, uh, what financial benefits you have from this? 

Jane Piatt:	I got a pretty good, uh, retirement at the time. I thought, you know, if I got 50 or $60, it would be enough to make a payment on something but, uh, much to my amazement, uh, uh, that pay now is, is up over $500 a month. And, um, uh, they-, we have-, I have-, could have the benefit of, of using military hospitals if I was anywhere near enough to do it. But, uh, the way, uh, my military insurance is set up, I can use any hospital that's, um, approved, uh, hospitals it would be-, uh, taking Medicare, uh, benefits and, um, my Mediplus, which is what the military insurance is called, uh, is, uh, a great help. And, um, I could also, um, uh, be using, uh, commissaries and, uh, post exchanges but we don't have any anywhere near Lansing. Frequently, if I'm traveling and going near a military base, uh, I will go on, uh, the post and, uh, use the officers' club or something like that, particularly if it's a famous one, a well-known. And I had-, they do, all, also have, uh, accommodations if you want to ask for them, uh. And sometimes they're quite nice in the officers' clubs and you can have-, take your family or your friends whoever is traveling with you. But I, uh, I haven't done anything much with the military now for a number of years. 

	I came into WOSL in 1963 when I, when I moved back to Lansing and, uh, that was the first I'd heard about it and, uh, one of the teachers that I was working with, uh, was, uh, uh, WOSL and she's the one that asked me. I actually feel like I sort of came in on a shoe string or by the back door because I did not serve in a country that was at war at the time I was there. Of course, England was no longer at war, uh, but we were serving Korea and that's what the war was all about. And England itself, uh, apparently, uh, hardly knew the war was over. They still, um, traveled, uh, with their dim lights on in the cars, they still were on rations on meat and butter and, uh, certain clothing items, um, they kept their shades pulled down at night. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[33:23] What year was this?

Jane Piatt:	And this was between 1952 and 1954. And in London and in areas that had been badly bombed, very little effort had been made to replace these, uh, they just put up big fences around and marked that a bombed-out area. And I when I traveled in Germany, it was just the opposite. They were working frantically to rebuild and, and replace all of the bombed-out areas. In England, they came to work about 9:00 in the morning and worked until 4 with 2 good tea breaks plus their lunch break. And, uh, in Germany, they worked from 7:00 in the morning until dark and, uh, right through the weekends. It was very interesting to see the difference in the attitude. 'Course England was getting no help from us because they were on our side. Germany, on the other hand, was the enemy, and as you know, our custom has been to help the enemy after we've defeated them. But, um, I loved England and, uh, I was given very good care. I, uh, was allowed to live off the base finally, uh, because they did not have good quarters there. I, uh-, the women officers didn't have as good quarters as the, um, uh-, as the teachers, as the civilian employees. They were given an allotment to live off the base, but we were not allowed to at first. And then, uh, then they allowed me to for about 2 months and then they took it away so-, but they did let me live on my own and I lived in a lovely, lovely home. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	Back in '53, '54, I hesitated to go to England because it was cold during the winter time when I could have gone. 

Jane Piatt:	Well, [throat clearing] um, you know the kind of a winter we've had in Michigan this year has been a, what we would call a mild winter. And they didn't have, uh, any, an-, even as cold weather as we had. We, a couple of times we had some cold weather. One time it went down to 19 degrees and you'd have thought – it felt like it was 9 below because it was damp. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	[35:12] I'm referring to the rooms you had. 

Jane Piatt:	Oh.

Elsie Hornbacher:	You, were you warm at night? 

Jane Piatt:	In the, in the, uh, apart-, in the house that I lived in it was a 900-year-old house. It had belonged to the church in the little village of Combe and, um, uh, the church had long ago had to give it up. They could no longer support anything like that. So then some of the, of the, um, uh, titled, uh, families had taken on these big homes and by, when the war came on, they couldn't support them either. And the house that I lived in had been purchased by a, a, an older woman that only had had a third-grade education but who had gone to work at [Blenheim 35:49] Palace during World War I. And had gotten lots of contacts while she was there, and when World War II came, she put in an application to build the roads at Brize Norton and she got the, um, uh, contract. And she and her, and her son built the roads at Brize Norton. And with the money that she had, she had elevated herself out of a contact with the local people because she had money, but she could not associate with the upper class because she had no education. And so she had, uh, no upper mind that her life would be with the Americans. 

	So she, uh, made this lovely big home had, it had 3-, uh, 4 very nice apartments in it, including hers. And, uh, then she, and the gate, gate house was an apartment and also the garden house. And the grounds were, were just gorgeous. Beautiful flowers and vegetables and all this sort of thing. And Mrs. Bishop took a liking to me, and so when I went, uh, to get, to rent the apartment, she said what she, could I wait for 4 days while she had it cleaned. Well when I got back there, she not only had had it cleaned, she'd had all new carpets put in. She had, um, uh, taken the refrigerator, which had been in the hall and was supposed to had been shared by everybody, and that was now in my kitchen. And when I said something about it, she said don't worry about that. She said they can all get refrigerators of their own at the PX. [chuckle] So I had the only refrigerator in the building beside the one that she had. 

	And, uh, her husband, uh, furnished me with vegetables for – for 2 weeks I had, uh, uh, uh, cook, uh, uh, uh. After I'd been there for 2 weeks, she suggested that I get a, that I have a cleaning woman. And she said don't have her come in the morning, just have her come in the afternoon and build your fire and cook your dinner, so I did. And, um, uh, I hadn't made any arrangements for any special food or anything and the first night I came home, I had lamb chops and potatoes and Brussels sprouts and the typical kind of thing that you have in England, the pudding. And, uh, it, it's, this all came courtesy of Ms. Bishop and, um, I, I said well, you know, I want to pay you for this. No, no, she wouldn't let me. But I discovered that they couldn't get good beef or pork. So I used to buy beef and pork for her in the commissary and then she bought lamb and veal for me and, uh, which, uh, pleased me greatly. 

	And so I had a, a very, uh, lovely experience with my cleaning women, cook, uh, combination who unpacked my trunks when they came, pressed all my clothes, mended them, and, uh, when Halloween came, she insisted on making a costume for me and, uh, baked and did all this kind of thing and she did all the planning. I didn't do anything. I would say to her, you know, what do you want me to bring home, and she'd say oh we've got things. Well then, I found out, I watched how they bought their meat. The meat man came around with a little truck and, uh, actually, uh, had a horse and, um, the people, the neighbors would go out with their pans and the meat was all hanging up inside and they'd pick out what they wanted and he'd cut it off and put it on their platter and they'd bring it back in the house. And, uh, it wasn’t the most hygienic kind of service in the world, but I never had any problem with it. 

	And, uh, then I met people who, uh, worked at the, um, at the, at the post exchange and, uh, they invited me to their home in Cheltenham and, uh, I frequently went there for weekends. Now that, I was the coldest I ever was anywhere when I went to visit them because they had a, an old apartment that had been at one time bombed out and repaired. And it would, it had to be at least 9 feet – the ceilings had to be at least 9 feet tall and the "central heating" was a small pipe about, um, 2 inches in diameter that ran around the, the base of the floor. And then at one end of the room, they had a very small fireplace with a firebox that – what I would say wasn't more than 8 or 10 inches deep and probably, um, uh, um, dimensions of about 15 by 20 opening. And, uh, you know, that, that, it's typical of the English women, the backs of their legs were all red, and this was from standing in front of heat, literally. 

	And, uh, but these people were simply great to me and when I went there I wore my uniform 'cause it was a heaviest thing I had and, uh, would take a sweater to wear in bed at night. And they would put a soapstone in my bed and, uh, all these puffs and all this kind of thing, you know. You felt like you were gonna be smothered. But then in the morning, they would bring you in your tea when you were so cold you couldn't imagine putting your arms out to take the tea. And then, um, uh, and they used their rations – this is the thing that always worried me and I always felt so guilty because then when I got ready to go home on Sunday, I would go on Saturday, and, uh, when I got ready to go home Sunday, I felt like a school girl going back to home, uh, to school after spending the weekend at home because they would pack boxes of, uh, food for me to take home. Leftover roast and puddings and cakes and gelatins and all sorts of things, you know, to take back to my room with me or to my apartment with me. But, uh, they were very friendly I, I loved them, I, uh-, and I kept thinking I'd go back, but I haven't been able to. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	Few more minutes.

	I really think that, uh, my association with WOSL has been a, a really nice experience. At the time that I went into it, um, I really didn't know anything about the reason why I was in it to tell you the honest truth. I didn't really know, uh, I had not realized that, uh, teachers, for instance, uh, were sent over by the, uh, State Department, uh, and, uh, worked under the military. I mean, I knew that we had teachers at our base and, uh, but I didn't really know anything about their background. And in our unit in Lansing, the majority of our members are teachers because I guess it was started by teachers. Is that true? 

Elsie Hornbacher:	I don't know. Jane Power was one of our first members. 

Jane Piatt:	And she was Red Cross.

Elsie Hornbacher:	Red Cross or nurse I'm not certain. 

Jane Piatt:	I think she was Red Cross. Yeah but, uh, it's been a, a really fun experience and, uh, was one of the few social things that I did when I first went in and I was teaching in Lansing, uh, and I was so tied up with my teaching and professional work that, uh, it was kind of a relaxing thing to go and be with the gals at WOS. And now since I've been retired and have been so busy with volunteering. I think I still, it's one of the few things that I do that isn't something that's going to require a lot of work. At least my unit, uh, work isn't. I, I ended up with a lot of, uh, national jobs but, uh, it's been a, a really remarkable experience and I've enjoyed it very much. I can't think of anything more that I should say, do you? Uh, anything more you want on the questions? 

Elsie Hornbacher:	I guess not. 

Jane Piatt:	I think that, uh, this is, uh, program that's important for us to do an oral history on our members and, uh, Lansing is really, uh, having a lot of success getting the members to volunteer to, to be taped, and I'd like to see this go on. 

Elsie Hornbacher:	Thank you Jane Piatt. The biographical data on Jane Piatt is listed in, in a separate paper. Her address is Jane Piatt, P-I-A-T-T, 13420 Bower Road Eagle, Michigan  48822. Her telephone is 517 (this is the area code), and the number is 626-6601. Further contacts can be made directly with Jane. 


/hm