Interview of Virginia Emrich on her experience running Red Cross recreation clubs in Australia for U.S. troops during WWII. Part 2
In the second of two oral history interviews, Virginia Emrich describes her service in the American Red Cross during World War Two. Emrich says that she was sent to Australia in 1944 and then to Manila in June 1945 where she was quartered in a bombed-out building with indoor toilets and showers, but with little privacy. Emrich remembers regularly hearing gunfire and bombs as U.S. troops tried to dislodge the Japanese, setting up a recreation hall for the 11th Airborne Division and regularly suffering earthquakes and tropical rains. She says that she was never hungry during her time in the Red Cross, but was often homesick, cold and tired and always sustained by the conviction that she was doing something worthwhile. Emerich says that she was sent to Japan in September 1945 to open recreation clubs for U.S. occupation forces and that although she enjoyed her time in Japan, she finally asked to be shipped home to care for her aging mother.
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- In Collections
-
Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Copyright Status
- In Copyright
- Date Published
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1983-06-11
- Interviewees
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Emrich, Virginia, 1913-2008
- Interviewers
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Cornett, Virginia
- Contributors
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University of Texas at San Antonio. Libraries
- Subjects
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Emrich, Virginia, 1913-2008
American National Red Cross
World War (1939-1945)
Barracks
Food supply
Military participation--Female
Psychology
Soldiers--Recreation
War work--Red Cross
Japan
Philippines
Philippines--Manila
- Material Type
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Sound recordings
Interviews
- Language
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English
- Extent
- 00:57:53
- Holding Institution
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Vincent Voice Library
- Call Number
- Voice 35027
- Catalog Record
- http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/record=b11870633
- Permalink
- https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m59s1pt3h