Oral History Interview with Gene F. Dauer, February 18, 2005 Page: 2

                                
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with his knee and I was history, unconscious. That was the end of my
football career. (laughs) I did play, and had subsequent success in
basketball, at the Junior High level.

Mr. Atkinson:
Mr. Dauer:
Mr. Atkinson:
Mr. Dauer:
Mr. Atkinson:
Mr. Dauer:
Mr. Atkinson:
Mr. Dauer:

But, you enjoyed sports?
Oh, I enjoyed sports. I just wasn't very good at it. Believe it or not, as
a youngster, I was a kind of a ninety-seven pound weakling. I was
always trying to put weight on. Now, I'm trying to get it off. (laughs)
Anyhow, my step-brothers had came out to California, or went out to
California, his brother had gotten him a job in a foundry, Western Holly
(?) Stove Company. He was quite and engineer. He was very good at
instrumentation and things like that, so he got work at the foundry. So
then he sent for my mother and my younger brother. That was trip and
half to.
We drove out with the husband of a friend of an aunt and uncle that
were in Los Angeles area. He went back to Detroit to pick up a brand
new Plymouth business coup. I never will forget that thing. He was
driving it back from the Detroit area, and to keep cost down. My mother
shared the cost for gasoline and......
What year was that?
1941. I graduated in February of 41. I was a semester behind in school
for help and other reasons, so we packed up and moved the Los
Angeles area.
Do you recall Pearl Harbor and the attack.....?
Oh yes. Very much.
What sort of memory do you have of that?
Of course, I didn't know anything about Pearl Harbor. It was a shock
and I had the usual patriotic, you know, I just turned fifteen, the

previous October. I was too young. I had to be, I think, sixteen years
and nine months. Something like that. Anyhow, as soon as I was old
enough, I kept trying to enlist, first in the Navy. My hearing was so bad
that I couldn't pass the hearing test. I was crushed, because, you know,
I wanted to part of the operation. I took all kind of vitamins and...I