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An
american soldier told about his war day by day, from hell
of Omaha to Hurtgen, in the ranks of the Big Red One |
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John
F. Mickey was American, he was 35 in 1944 and lived
in Michigan. He did enlisted in september 1943, he thought
he could do some "job" in this war. When he
enlisted he was not expected for that kind of life :
the long separation from loved one, the horror of war,
and even hunger and thirst. All along the fightings
he took notes, and many years later he decided to write
about sixty pages. John F. Mickey passed away in 1989.
With his son's permission, his memories are told there.
It is the experience of a "common" man who
believed in some human valours, and who fight for them
from the beaches of Normandy to the Hurtgen forest,
in Germany, where he had been wounded.
(John
F. Mickey's memories - 1944/1945) |
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Episode
28 : Coming back home
"The
new Plymouth is packed and we are on the way..."
By
John F. Mickey |
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| Back
home
Still in uniform I went to see the personal manager at Dows,
who asked me to take a walk through the plant. It looked deserted,
only a skeleton crew working. He told me of the cancellations
of war work, and asked if I was interested in a job in the
Dow chemical plant in Midland, about twenty miles away. I
hesitated about the driving and asked to think about it. A
week later I was asked to come to a woodworking plant near
home, where it also had cancellations of war work and planning
to expand in production of radio cabinets. At the plant I
met all the employees in the office.The president asked if
I would |
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be interested in a personal ma-nager position. It was
then I was told that the work force would be doubled
or tripled and a personal office was in the new plans
of the remodelling blue prints. I did not hesitate,
I was sure it was exac-tly what I wanted and my past
experience, dealing with people as manager of retail
stores would be helpful. I met again with Bill Saterlee
of Dows, and I spent time in the library where I saw
a book that caught my attention : Employees are
people, written by a personal manager for personal
manager. I learned a lot about the work I would be doing. |
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| Road
66 in Saint-Louis county at the end of years 1950. (DR) |
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I began work at the wood plant getting familiar with
the machinery and type of various operations. With help
from the foremen I was hiring men and women for every
department. Orders from leading radio distributors were
contracted for large quantities and more workers were
needed. From radios we changed to television cabinets.
With two shifts and 350 employees were turning out a
thousand cabinets in a short time. I was happy in my
work and management was very pleased with my performance
as company man, and friend with the employees. It is
possible to be on the company side at a bargaining table,
and sympathetic toward the other side. When morality
was high throughout the plant, production was at its
peak.
A new
life begins
Exactly one year from date of my discharge a son is
born, I am a father. I have never seen Harriet that
happy before. We named him Dennis after Dennis the medics,
whom we all respected in combat. Life has new meaning
and every day is more enjoyable than the past. After
nine years with the wood plant I resign. Harriet is
asthmatic and a change of climate is suggested by the
doctors. Within two weeks a new personal manager takes
over and I make plans to move somewhere west. Everything
seems to be working out for us. In ten days our house
is sold and all furnishings. The new Plymouth is packed
and we are on the way. We did not have to hurry there
is no job to rush to. Dennis now 8 loves everything
he sees. We stop to stay over at national parks. The
motels on highway 66 are nice, and at $ 8 a day, it
suits us fine. The Petrified Forest and the two large
caves we went into was a real educational experience
for all of us. Phoenix is on our itinerary, we heard
how dry it is so we stay here a day and the temperature
is 112. Harriet said : “it is hot, dry and dusty
lets move on”. About the eighth day we were in
California, where we take a motel for several days.
The more we see it the more we all agree that this is
where we will settle, and didn’t come here in
a covered wagon.
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| To
follow in November the last episode
All
rights of the author of text and photographs
reserved. Excepted with authorization, reproduction and any
other use of works else than private or individual consultation
are prohibited.
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