Excerpts from an Oral History Interview with Marie Boucher

JB: And how did you come to America?

MB: Well, my father was a civil servant when the revolution was going on, he was a policeman, and all civil servants had to go underground so that they would not be imprisoned. So he decided to come to the United States and leave my mother and I behind until he could get established here, get a job. He would send money home and then we would come. Well, I came to the United States when I was about 5. And my father at that time was working digging ditches for the railroad, and going to school at night to learn to speak English. After that he got a job at the UI and worked his way up to becoming an engineer and we came when I was 5.

My mother died in childbirth shortly after, maybe a year after, our arrival[i].

JB: How did those around you, uh you mentioned your mother-in-law uh and Morris, how did they feel about the war itself?

MB: Morris felt he had to go because all of his friends were going and he didn’t want to be the only one not to be going. He felt it was something he needed to do. My mother-in-law had three sons so she was constantly worried that they would all three of them have to go, and eventually they did. Paul his older brother also went into the navy. He became a gunner and Norman, his younger brother went into the army.

He (Norman) was a private stationed somewhere in Florida. He never got to go overseas. They rejected him the first time because he had a heart murmur, but he got to go the second time.

JB: Can you tell me about the trip out there? Out to San Diego?

MB: The trip was a heroing trip. The trains were so full of servicemen, servicemen and families like us, going back. And it took us 5 days to get there. We didn’t have any sleeping arrangements, we slept in the same seats that we sat in all day and would get up every once in a while when the train would pull into the station so we could stretch our legs a little bit and get some fresh air. Food was not very plentiful. In the morning someone from the dining car, and there was no dining car where you could you could go and eat, but they would prepare some sandwiches and big enamel pots of coffee. And someone from the dining car would come walking through the train. Usually by the time they got to our car the coffee was gone. If we were lucky sandwiches were still available. But once in a while, fortunately, and the blessed Red Cross would be at some stations anticipating that the trains were gonna stop. And they would have coffee and donuts and milk for the children and we would get off for the few minutes that the train would stop there and get some food and get back on the train. M.E. (Marry Ellen) who was very young would sleep at night across our two laps. We would wrap her up in a blanket and we would sleep and she would sleep with both of us hanging on to her. It was a very difficult trip. Babies would be crying all night and children would be running up and down the aisles. It was not easy.

JB: Had the shortages and the hard times of the depression prepared you (For the shortages and hardships of the war)?

MB: I think they did. I think we never quite got over the fact that we couldn’t splurge, that you had to save things. Coffee became very special. I wouldn’t think of pouring myself an extra cup of coffee. We had coffee in the morning but you wouldn’t have a cup of coffee during the day because you just didn’t do that, that was kind of squandering it, you know? And you had to preserve it, the same with margarine or anything, sugar. Sugar especially because I could never get used to drinking coffee without sugar. And to me that was like gold, I hoarded it. You know I was so careful how I used it. Now I drink coffee all the time without sugar and think nothing of it (laughs) but then it was a luxury I was not willing to give up.

JB: How do you think today’s generation understands the experience of the war?

MB: I am not sure that they do, and it concerns me. They have not had to make sacrifices. You know, they’ve always lived in good times.

JB: What do you think the war’s place is in History?

MB: Well, I think we learned a lot. I think we learned what war was all about. I think we learned to appreciate things. But none of our lives were easy. I mean if it wasn’t the war it was the depression. You know, people stood on the street corners selling apples or things like that. You know things were never plentiful for us, they just never were. And I think that we then made the mistake of wanting our kids to have everything and not wanting them to have to sacrifice anything. And now I’m not sure that was the right thing to do, because they don’t know how to make sacrifices. I’m sure they will, and I’m sure that they’ll learn. And I trust them completely, but it is going to be a lot harder for them than it was for us, because we were used to it, and they are not.

JB: How do you think the Second World War will be remembered?

MB: Well Popop (Morris) told me that it was going to be a war to end all wars, but it didn’t turn out to be that way. He went when he didn’t have to go because he wanted to make sure that the world was a safe place for his kids and he never wanted them to have to go. Well they didn’t, but here we are again.