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Name: Raymond
Age: 82

Raymond is married has four children, eight
grandchildren, and lives in New Hampshire.

Do you remember anything about your grandparents?

Yeah, my father’s father, Grand pop came over from
Sweden and he lived there all of his life up until the
time he got on a clipper ship and started working on
the ship. He was what he called a “Karpinter,” a
carpenter’s helper. An interesting thing goes along with
that. When they were traveling and approaching NY
harbor the captain of the ship got a hold of him and he
said, “Fred, I hear some people talking about that they
are going to jump ship when they get into harbor,” He
said: “No, no. I’d never jump ship.” But at that time it
wasn’t a question of immigration – this goes way back.
So, he came in (to New York City) and met woman (who
was from Sweden too). Turns out, she lived a mile away
from where he did (in Sweden) but didn’t know him. So,
he wooed her over in Brooklyn and the two of them
settle down and that is how the family started. So,
needless to say, he did jump ship!

Tell us about your military career.

I went into WWII on December 10, 1942 in the Marines.
I went to different schools for training and by the time I
was through I ended up with the rank of sergeant and I
got out at that time. At that time, they asked me if I
would like to join the reserves. And I said: “Gee, that’s a
trap. What happens if I join the reserves?” They told me
that I wouldn’t be called back until there was full
action of war again. And I was willing to go along with
that. Well, Harry Truman called a police action and
that brought me back in just before I was to be married.
So, we had to move our wedding up a couple of weeks.
My wife had to send out postcards to tell people what
the new date was because I was going in on active duty.

I went right back in. But this time when I went in I had
the extra stripes so I became a Platoon Sergeant. So, I
was able to sleep off base. I took up housekeeping in a
home where they had extra beds to rent.

My wife was down South for a while. She used to write
to me and there would be drops of water on the letter.
At the end of the letter she would explain to me that
those drops were not tears. She wrote: “These are
sweat! I am so hot!”

And my wife reminded me that I had planned on being
in the Corps for 20 years so that I would go out on
retirement. I had always been very strong about that.
But I said to her: “I think I’ve changed my mind – I’d
prefer being married.” So, I got out of the service, and I
could say -- she did too!

What do you think is the best thing about the “good old
days”?

The best is watching the automobile progression. My
Dad used to have a crank car. We had to be careful that
it didn’t kick back and break your arm – this never
happened but your were always careful about it. The
worst scene I remember is the JFK assassination. Once
I took 2 of my children to see a political speech by JFK
so when I saw the assassination I couldn’t believe it. By
seeing all of this you really got to see a big part of
history.

What is the most important change you have experienced
in your life time?

Fatherhood, of course. I would say that is the biggest
one. I couldn’t put it any other way.