"Women were taught to fix the machines, be mechanics, to drill, to do anything a man could do at the time. We were determined to win this war, we were . . . us Americans."

Caroline San Angelo was born in Naugatuck Connecticut in 1925, one of 10 children to Italian immigrants Savario and Pasqua San Angelo. Caroline tells of her childhood growing up in this large, poor, but happy family that loved music and dancing. She speaks of the prejudice she and other Italians faced in school, such as taunts of "dirty guinea" and "greasy guinea." Caroline provides insight as to how Italian-Americans regarded Mussolini. She also tells of how, when America became involved in World War II she tried to join the WAACS but was turned away as she was only sixteen. Shortly after, she took a job at Scovil's making mortars "for the boys." She recalls writing letters to several soldiers particularly her brothers and family friend William Angiolillo, the man she married shortly after the war. In this segment, Caroline describes the atmosphere of Scovil's, tells of how the war impacted her social life, and recounts the celebrations she attended on V-E Day and V-J Day.

Did you and your family follow the events of the war before Pearl Harbor?

Yes. Every one of us. And I would read the paper to my mother or father, because they didn't know how to read, and one of my brothers, and we followed all the events of the war . . . My father, I used to listen to him all the time, he said Mussolini was good in Italy, he was for the people when he first got in to office. And when he ever got in with Hitler, us Italians were very ashamed of him. Very ashamed of him. To think that he put Italy with Germany into the war. And he didn't take care of his people, he just followed, he was a follower. He was a fascist, OK . . .

Everyone's life changed where I lived. It seemed like everybody just went into the factories. And in the factories, and every place in Connecticut, we were making war material for the GIs. They made parachutes down the chemical [plant], Sikorsky made tubes in the rubber factory, Lewis engineering made equipment for the planes, instruments. Before the war, I was an aide at St. Mary's Hospital . . . It was very common for women like me to work. I left, and then I went into Scovil's. We made mortars on two big machines, seven days a week. There was just women no men. They all got drafted. Maybe the owner, he was old, but ah, the other ones, no men. Women were taught to fix the machines, be mechanics, to drill, to do anything a man could do at the time. We were determined to win this war, we were . . . us Americans.

Now you said there were two big machines. Were you responsible to work both?

Yeah. Stick one tube in and it would do work, and then you stick another one, and you'd be on a platform. With grease pouring down. I didn't mind, I didn't mind at all. Because every time we'd make a tube, we'd say, "This will be for the boys," which was true . . . For most women, this was their job. They never worked. Most women stayed at home. The mood was good, people would go in on a Sunday, because their husbands were fighting a war and it seemed like a happy mood because they were doing something, they felt like they were adding on to something . . . They would send the Army band to play for us, oh, we just loved it! We would stamp our feet, and they would come over and talk to us on the machines and say, "Well would you like to dance." I says, "Well we ain't got time to dance, we got to do these things!" But they just wanted us to come to work. To keep up the morale.

Was it just white women, or-

Oh, black! And we got along just fine. Oh yes. We didn't know what racial was or prejudice was, that came after. We all worked together . . . You couldn't say nothing. The machines made a lot of noise. But when we went to wash up, you know, "Are you comin' in tomorrow," "We had a pretty good day," "My machine broke down," things like that. But during working, there was too much noise. We all stayed until after the war. And after the war, everyone left and they turned it into, like Westinghouse appliances, different things like that. Most people left, some people stayed. I left I think because I got married and had kids. And then I stayed home for a while. That was it, when you had children. I think most women went back home, mostly for their children, or got married, or moved away, or things like that . . . I don't think they minded, they accomplished something.

Did the war impact your social life at all?

Damn right it did! It sure did, but. Social life, I don't think anyone had a social life. The only thing is that every once in a while we'd go to New London base and they'd have dances down there, and we'd go and dance, but the sailors came and went. Some were sad because they were shipping out, some were happy that they were staying. But, I guess, in all they tried to have a good time. But that was the only social life we'd have. It was just, there was no one around. It was sad . . . I'd go to the movies and in the movies we would always win the war. You know. Planes and everything. They would ration, give you stamps for sugar, butter, but I don't think anybody minded. We had quite a few blackouts and everybody would sit on the street and be quiet for a while and they had air raid wardens, you now, they were women. They'd yell, "Shut the lights, Shut the light!" Oh, they were funny, they were. All women.

What can you tell me about your remembrances of V.E. day and V.J. day.

V.E. day we worked in Scovil's. We built the biggest bonfire in the street, stopped all the machines. And hugged and kissed and screamed and hollered. We did that then. V-J Day, at the end of the war I was in New London with a bunch of girls. It was just a happy mood. The sailors were bouncing people around all over. Trying to get trains to go home, the streets were cluttered with people all over. Everybody was dancing in the street and singing and I got a little scared though, they were picking up benches and everything, I had to get home. They broke up a few bars, chairs, everything . . .

What I'd like today's generation to remember about World War II is the atomic bomb. Killing people. Guns. Nobody's a winner in a war. World War II, they were there to fight and to win. There was no buts. It wasn't Vietnam. It was to win. Vietnam, our boys should have never gone there because [in World War II] we were hit first then we retaliated. I don't think today's generation understands. Today's generation is, what could you do for me. It's not what could they do for themselves. That's terrible isn't it?
 
 

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