RSSWar Stories: Norma Baird
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The War Years – Special SectionWar Years Photo Gallery
More 'Special Project'
- War Stories: Norma Baird
- War Stories: Reva Blomé-Bunnell
- Letting it out
- Aboard the Superfortress
- 'They needed nurses'
- Grim and grimy
- Before Pearl Harbor
After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, declared war on our enemies. This awakened the patriotism of the American people, and all wanted to help our country.
At the time I was living in Los Angeles. I was a very eager 18-year-old and I went to work at Northrop Aircraft. I was hired as an electrician for a plane called the Black Widow. It was really a P-61, with a twin fuselage and a red dot painted on its belly. It really looked quite wicked. About a month after hiring on, there seemed to be a need for riveters, and I volunteered. It was a good job -- quite noisy, but I liked it.
I was put on swing shift, working with nice people. I especially became friendly with a girl named Tommy, and she lived close to where I was staying with my mother. I remember that once a week, at least, we would catch the Red Pacific Electric car and ride to Ocean Park, which was close to Venice Beach. There was a huge dance hall there, and it was always full of people.
We jitterbugged to Big Bands like Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey and Les Brown. They had marvelous singers, too. One I remember was a fellow who was so skinny, but had a decent voice; he was named Frank Sinatra.
I remember getting off work at midnight and starting to dance about 1:30 a.m.; then in the wee hours we'd ride the P.E. car home, go to bed, then to work, and do it again the next week. Oh! to have that vitality, just one more time.
The time finally came when I had to say so long to Northrop. My duties were to be of another source in Ogden, Utah, where my grandfather lived. He was ailing a bit and lived alone.
When I told Tommy that I was leaving, she immediately said that she would like to go with me. After arriving and getting settled and Grandpa feeling more at ease with our being there, we set out to seek employment. It seems that our previous wages had gone for clothes. I guess we were young, patriotic and foolish, but we had to look nice for the soldier boys with whom we danced with.
We went to the Ogden Arsenal, which was an Army depot. They stored all kinds of ammunition and bombs of all sizes in underground silos. We placed our applications there, and the next day we were notified to come to work.
We went out to their motor pool for driving tests, passed, and were all of a sudden drivers of staff cars, 11/2-ton trucks and "tomato bugs," which were extra-long sedans that carried 18 passengers.
We drove military officers to Fort Douglas, in Salt Lake City, transported patients to the Brigham City Amputee Hospital and hauled supplies to wherever was needed.
These were all wonderful, fulfilling jobs, that I am very proud to have been a part of. I would do it all over again, if I could convince the government that 82 going on 83 years of age is still young.
-- Norma Baird
Yakima
