After graduating Macomb High School in 1942, my first job was at Harps Produce in Shawnee. I was paid 35 cents an hour to break eggs that were then dried and sent overseas for service personnel.
In 1943, I went to work at Tinker Air Force Base as an Instrument Technician. I rode to work, from Shawnee to Tinker, in a 6-person car pool. At that time we were rationed 3 gallons of gas per family per week. However, the person who used his car for the car pool was allowed more gas. Other things that were rationed included sugar, nylons and tires. It was also impossible to buy shoes with leather soles. In the three years I worked at Tinker I had moved up to $1.20 an hour, and as the war was ending, I was sent to another shop where we cleaned machine guns for storage.
In 1946, I had a chance to transfer to Hickam Field in Honolulu, Hawaii (then a territory), where I would be paid $1.55 an hour. We rode a train from Oklahoma City to San Francisco where we boarded the ship, Arcadia. The Arcadia had been a hospital ship during the war. We were six days at sea from San Francisco to Honolulu.
At Hickam, we were housed in Army barracks and had to go to the PX to check out our bedding and a mirror. The furniture in the barracks was as the soldiers had left it. Our laundry was often done in the sinks.
We were transported to work in open Army buses and had meals in the mess halls. For entertainment, the Army would transport us to different bases for dances!
After 6 months of working in Hawaii we were to leave by ship from Honolulu Harbor. However, a ship had gone aground there so we were sent to Pearl Harbor where we boarded our ship, the George Washington Carver (named for the man who made the peanut famous!). Absolutely no photos of Pearl Harbor were permitted.
Due to some bad weather, our return trip to San Francisco took 11 days. About 2 months after my return, I was notified that I owed the Hawaiian Islands a territorial tax — I promptly paid!
In 1947, I went to San Diego and worked on North Island for 3 months before returning to work at Tinker as a riveter (yep ... really!). This is where I was working when I met my husband, a returning disabled veteran.
Submitted by Margrette (Coley) Sheppard, 83, of Tecumseh
