Oral History Program Verl Thompson Interviewed by Lorrie Rands 13 October 2016 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Verl Thompson Interviewed by Lorrie Rands 13 October 2016 Copyright © 2018 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The World War II "All Out for Uncle Sam" oral history project contains interviews from veterans of the war, wives of soldiers, as well as individuals who were present during the war years. The interviews became the compelling background stories for the "All Out for Uncle Sam" exhibit. The project received funding from Utah Division of State History, Utah Humanities Council and Weber County RAMP. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Thompson, Verl, an oral history by Lorrie Rands, 13 October 2016, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Verl Thompson 13 October 2016 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Verl Thompson, conducted on October 13, 2016 in his home in Layton, Utah, by Lorrie Rands. Verl discusses his life and his memories involving World War II. Melissa Francis, the video technician, is also present during this interview. LR: It is October 13, 2016. We are in the home of Verl Thompson in Layton, Utah and we are talking about his experiences growing up in Clarkston and his experiences during World War Two. I just want to thank you, Verl, again, for you willingness to do this for us, and I’m just gonna jump right in with when and where were you born? VT: 30th of January, 1927, in Clarkston. LR: If I’m not mistaken, Clarkston is a little bit east of Tremonton? VT: Northwest of Logan. LR: You grew up on a farm, what was that like? VT: Hard work. I enjoyed it, it was nice. LR: What did your dad raise? VT: Grain, alfalfa, sugar beets, potatoes. LR: Did you raise your own animals? VT: Yes. 2 LR: Where did you go to school in Clarkston? VT: Elementary school was in Clarkston. Junior High was in Smithfield. High School was North Cache in Richmond. LR: I know you really weren’t that old when the Depression hit, but do you remember what it was like during that time? VT: Well, it was hard, with everybody in the same boat. LR: Well that makes sense. You mentioned before that you were drafted. VT: I made three trips to Fort Douglas, and was sent home each time. I had a kidney problem. LR: Each time they literally just sent you home to go back to work on the farm? VT: Right. LR: So what was it like during World War Two as you were working on the farm? VT: Well, there was plenty of work for me. The farmers had a hard time getting help. LR: So what were some of the things that you did? VT: Well I helped with the hay, putting it up. I thinned a lot of sugar beets, picked up a few potatoes. Then the harvesting of the grain. 3 LR: Where would you send the grain after you had harvested it? VT: Sold it to a trucker, and he’d transfer it to Ogden and to Cub River (?). LR: You mentioned before that you would take what you’d raise on the farm, and would send it to the open market in Ogden. Was that typical? VT: No, not really. LR: What do you mean? VT: Like I say, we sold a lot of it, most of it to truckers and they transported it. LR: Okay. So during the war, I had in my head that you would sell what you grew to the government and they would in turn distribute it. VT: We never sold anything to the government. LR: So just to the truckers who then sent it to the open market. VT: Yeah. LR: You mentioned a little bit about the one time you interacted with some of the POWs. Will you talk about that for a minute? VT: Well, they bussed the POWs (German) in to the farmers, and the farmers would show them what they needed to do and they’d do it. Usually there was one of the guards that spoke enough German that they could communicate. My Dad never did use the prisoners, but I worked at a 4 turkey plant for a number of seasons, and one season as I went into work, they give me three prisoners and send me back in to a cooler, by myself with those three, to set up for the work. That was interesting, and for a little while, I was quite nervous. Then I realized it was going to be okay. The one prisoners spoke enough English with his dictionary in there that we could communicate. I asked him how he felt about being a prisoner. He says, “Well, that was a good thing. We’re comfortable, and have all we want to eat, and we’re taken care of. After the war I’m going home to get my family and come back.” LR: Did he mention how any of the other prisoners felt? VT: Well he didn’t say anything about the other prisoners, but as I watched them on the floor they felt good about things. LR: You mentioned before that they were fed. VT: The farmers had to feed them one meal a day. LR: Okay. You mentioned that on the farm there was always guards with the prisoners. VT: Three guards came on the bus with them. They would station themselves around where they were working. LR: Did there seem to be any problems with the prisoners? 5 VT: I never heard of any problems at all. LR: At the turkey plant, you were alone with the prisoners, there were no guards with you inside? VT: Yeah, for most of one day. LR: Were you glad when that day was over? VT: Well at the start, yes, but then I got interested in talking with them a little bit. When I realized that it was okay. LR: So you wouldn’t have minded having another day with them? VT: No. LR: Okay. We talked a little bit before about the ration program that was set up during the war. How much did that affect you on the farm? VT: Very little. We raised everything we needed. Gas was rationed, the farmers got what they needed. When you were here before, I told you how I had some tokens, I found them. LR: Oh did you? Tax tokens. Did they put a hole in that, or did it come like this? VT: Yeah. I don’t know why, but it did. LR: These are cool. 6 MF: So what were the tax tokens for? VT: Finance the war. LR: Thank you for showing them. So how were the tax tokens different from the the war bonds? VT: The war bonds, you kept em, you’d renew or you’d cash them in. LR: Okay. VT: This stuff, when you bought it the money was gone. You had to use them when you bought stuff. I went to the store and when I bought anything, I had to use so many of those tokens. LR: So it’s almost like the precursor to sales tax. VT: Yeah. LR: I didn’t know that. So you mentioned that the rationing really didn’t effect you guys too much on the farm. So, when the war ended and the rationing was over, it was just business as usual really, wasn’t it? VT: Got rid of these tokens, and as I mentioned the gas, the farmers got what they needed, but they had to get permission from the ration board to get the gas. LR: So would they just get gas for the farm? Or could they use that for their 7 personal vehicles too? VT: The gas for the farm, and then there was the personal use too. LR: Okay, so they really separated it all out. VT: No, they got it all together. LR: Okay. You mentioned that you raised everything and your Mom would just can, would you talk about the meat that she would can? VT: My Dad raised the pork that we needed, and my mother would cook it, put it in quart jars, and pour the lard over it to seal it. That would keep indefinite, really. LR: Your mother would can all the vegetables and fruits and stuff too, so your storeroom was your grocery store almost. VT: I don’t think my Dad or Mom ever went to the grocery store more than half a dozen times each year. They didn’t have the money to go anyway. LR: Do you have any questions, Melissa? MF: You said that there was lots of work available for you, and that you worked on the turkey farm. VT: Turkey plant, processing turkeys. MF: Did you work on other people’s farms as well? 8 VT: Oh yeah. MF: So what was a typical day like for you, working on the farms? VT: Well that’s hard to answer. LR: Well, you would go to a different farm for a day, would you stay at that farm all day? VT: Yeah. LR: Okay. So who determined what farm you would go to? VT: The farmer would come to me to for help, and most of the time I spent the day with them, he’d feed me one meal. Then pay me a small amount. LR: Would that be on top of what you needed to do at your dad’s farm? VT: Yes. LR: So you’re kind of doing double duty there. VT: I kept busy. MF: Definitely. LR: Would you say that was typical of those that were working on the farm, to just always be busy? VT: Yeah. 9 LR: So you really didn’t’ have any downtime. VT: Right. LR: So when you did have downtime, what would you do for fun? VT: Well I used to play sports. Baseball, basketball, occasionally a movie. LR: Did they organize any events during the war that young people could go to? VT: Not that I remember. The three LDS Wards, they bought a machine and they’d buy films, and we’d show up for a movie that maybe showed once a week. LR: Okay. Well that, that would keep the kids busy. LR: So there wasn’t a movie theater close by? VT: Well, twenty miles. LR: Okay, so after the war was over, you and your family moved to Ogden? VT: I moved to Ogden, my family didn’t. I was single when I came to Ogden. LR: Oh, I did not catch that. When you came down and started working, where did you work? VT: Swift and Company. 10 LR: Swift and Company, and what was that? VT: Butcher type work. LR: Okay, and you worked for them quite a while. VT: Yeah, for nineteen years. LR: Where did you live at in Ogden during that that time? VT: Oh, I lived for a while on Second Street, then I rented an apartment on 21st Street, then I got married and moved to 5th Street. LR: And you were there for quite a while on 5th Street. VT: Yeah. LR: You worked for Cream of Weber for a while, too? VT: Yeah, I did. I worked making cheese at Cream of Weber. MF: How did you make the cheese? I don’t know anything about making cheese. VT: Well, we pumped the milk into big vats, then put the stuff for the cheese, to make it set, and then when it set we had a knife with wires on it to pull through it to cut it up in small pieces and then we put it in boxes. MF: I want to ask a little bit about your family, growing up. How many siblings 11 did you have? VT: I had four daughters. MF: You had four daughters? How did you meet your wife? VT: Through another girlfriend. I don’t talk about that too much. MF: Well, had your family always lived in that area in Cache Valley? VT: Yes. MF: How many brothers and sisters did you have? VT: Two of each. LR: Where did you fall in that? VT: Oldest. LR: Were any of your siblings drafted? VT: No, I was the oldest. The next two were girls. LR: Did either one of them work for the Red Cross or volunteer? VT: No. LR: You all just worked on the farm? VT: They helped on the farm. I had one sister that would sooner work on the 12 farm, and help with the cows, then stay and help her mother. The other girl was just the opposite. LR: So what would the girls do? VT: Well, she would help milk the cows, and take care of the cows and anything like that. LR: Okay. And the ones that stayed with their mother, what would they do? VT: House work, cook the meals, and then they helped in the garden. LR: So, did most farmers have a little side garden? VT: Well in Clarkston, the majority of them had gardens, you had to have a garden to grow vegetables. LR: Yeah that makes sense, just had never occurred to me. Do you have any other questions? MF: Well none that I can really think of. LR: Verl, I’m grateful for the time you gave us, talking about some of your experiences growing up. Thank you very much. VT: Well you are sure welcome.