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He was the handyman and the dish washer, and the 2 ladies were the cooks. We fed them 3 meals a day and at noon time a lot of the office personnel for Callaway Mills came and ate. We fed around 90 at noon. There was a bachelors' quarters down the street for chemists and lawyers and who ever worked for Callaway Mills. So, we fed them also. There were I I of them down there. Mr. Misenhimer How did you get the food, with rationing? Mrs. Hilliard It was my job, as a 15 or 16 year old, to keep all of the books together and know what stamps were good and what was on sale at the grocery store, because we had to count our pennies, too. It was my job to plan menus around the canned goods that were good. One summer, we decided we'd buy some corn and cut it off and can it ourselves. The city built a cannery for the people so they could can. We cut our corn off and we went down and put it in our cans and we sealed them up. We put them in the vat. It was going to take about 3 hours, so we decided to go to the picture show. When we got back, those cans were not hot enough to have been in that vat. My mother said, "You know, I don't think that young man did them right." About 2weeks later, on a summer afternoon, those cans began to explode on the back porch. So, we lost our corn crop. What a mess. Mr. Misenhimer So, you had to use all these ration coupons to buy food for all the people eating there? Mrs. Hilliard Yes. You were only allowed 4 pounds of sugar a month and I think 2 pounds of coffee. 5 pounds of meat. We didn't get very many canned fruits because they cost more coupons that things like beans and corn. Mr. Misenhimer
What was your father doing at this time? Mrs. Hilliard My father died March 27, 1942. That was the reason mother moved out to the teachers home and did that job. Mr. Misenhimer Did she do any other war work of any kind?
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Martha Hilliard. Hilliard was born in October 1928. She provides a good description of what her home town life was like growing up as a teenager during the war years.
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Hilliard, Martha F.Oral History Interview with Martha F. Hilliard, February 28, 2002,
text,
February 28, 2002;
Fredericksburg, Texas.
(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1603965/m1/6/:
accessed July 17, 2024),
University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu;
crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.