Q. What year did you graduate from high school?

A. January 1937 from Central High School in Newark.

Q. During your years in grammar school and high school in the 1930's were world events talked about or taught inschool, especially what was happening in Asia with Japan invading China?

A. No, I do not recall that these events were ever mentioned in school.

Q. You are of Italian and German descent; was Mussolini ever discussed in your Italian neighborhood in Newark?

A. Oh yes, they were very proud of Mussolini and they felt he did a lot for Italy and its culture.

Q. Were they aware that Mussolini was a Fascist?

A. Not the people I was friendly with.

Q. Your mother was of German descent, were you aware of Hitler's rise in Nazi Germany?

A. Not in 1937, but a few years later we became aware of Hitler.

Q. Did your German relatives speak of Hitler?

A. My grandfather was the only one from Germany, I believe he was proud of Hitler in the beginning, but later on never spoke of him again.

Q. Were you aware of the Spanish Civil War?

A. Yes and no, I really was not interested in who was on what side in that period of my life.

Q. Do you remember it being spoken about at home or in the newspapers?

A. No and I wasn't a newspaper reader at that time.

Q. Do you remember the America First movement and some of its backers?

A. Yes I do, and I remember that Charles Lindbergh lost a lot of respect for his involvement in it.

Q. When Germany invaded Poland on September 1,1939 were you aware of what was going on and what were feelings?

A. I was very aware of that and I was very surprised that Hitler invaded Poland.

Q. You were working at the Prudential in Newark in 1939. Was the invasion or other world events talked about when you were at lunch or with your friends?

A. No, we were only seventeen and eighteen years at that time and it was not our particular interest.

Q. Were you thinking about the United States being drawn into a war?

A. I became aware of it when the young men started to get drafted and then I started to think about it.

Q. When did you meet my father, John Joseph O'Beirne?

A. In February 1941, he was in the US Army and was honorably discharged in the summer after spending three years inthe Signal Corps.

Q. Where were you on Sunday, December 7,1941?

A. I was in my living room, by myself, listening to the New York Giants football game. An announcement came over the loudspeaker that all military personnel were to report to their respective posts. They made this announcement a couple of more times. A little while later in the game they announced that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. I was shocked. I knew where Pearl Harbor was because one of my friend's boyfriend was stationed at Pearl Harbor. He did survive the attack.

Q. In the days following the attack what was the feeling at work, home, etc?

A. Everyone was still in shock over the attack. All the young men who were anti-service before the attack were heading to the recruiting stations of their own free will. All those that were against the draft were now lining up at the recruiting stations and the lines were down the street.

Q. Was my father drafted back into the service?

A. Yes he was drafted back in and they were glad to get him. He had spent three years in the service and went right back to Fort Monmouth because he did not need basic training. This was in the summer of 1942.

Q. After the war broke out did rationing begin immediately?

A. Yes. Gasoline and sugar were the first things rationed, then meat and shoes. I remember that in order to get a new tube of toothpaste you had to turn in a used tube.

Q. Your father owned a delicatessen in Newark. How was he affected by the war?

A. It was hard to get coffee and sugar; these were some of the items people really wanted.

Q. Was there a blackout?

A. Oh yes, every night a man from the neighborhood walked up and down the street to make sure the shades were pulled and there were no unnecessary lights on.

Q. Where was my father at this time?

A. He was still at Fort Monmouth and then he was sent to Maryland. He then applied for Officer's Candidate Schooland was accepted. He went back to Fort Monmouth for three months of OCS and graduated in March 1943.

Q. Did you see him at all during this period?

A. Very seldom. They were very restricted as far as coming home, so I did not see him as often as I would have liked to.

Q. You were married in March 1943 and honeymooned in New York City. Was that because of travel restriction?

A. Yes, and because he had to report back in one week, so we could not go too far.

Q. Where was his next station?

A. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Q. What happened next?

A. He went to Philadelphia in April 1943- I stayed back in New Jersey until he could find an apartment and I joined him in November 1943 in Philadelphia.

O'Beirne's at a picnic, June 1944

Q. What was life like in Philadelphia?

A. Well there were not many cars on the road. We traveled mostly by bus. Meat was getting harder to get. We went to baseball and hockey games for entertainment, most of the time there was no admission charge for those in uniform.

Q. Getting back to the war, after Pearl Harbor, do you remember Doolittle's Raid?

A. Oh yes, I remember that and reading about it in the papers. It was a big event, almost unreal. They were heroes.

Q. Do you remember the Battle of Midway?

A. I remember it but I was not too involved in it. I was a soldier's wife and I was more aware of what was going on in Europe and North Africa.

Q. Do you remember when we invaded North Africa?

A. I remember that and it seemed so far away. In the beginning I did not realize why they invaded North Africa and as the battles went on I understood how important it was for going into Southern Europe.

Q. Did you have any fear at the time that your husband would be sent overseas?

A. Well we always had that in the back of our minds, so we enjoyed our life while we were able to. Everyone felt they were going to be sent overseas but you didn't know when.

Q. Did my father ever experience guilt feelings because he was never sent overseas or saw any combat action?

A. It wasn't till after the war and he wasn't sent overseas that he had great guilt feelings about that because most of his friends had participated in the European or Pacific action and he was in Philadelphia. It took him many years to get over that guilt feeling but eventually he realized it was not his doing and that what he was doing must have been important.

Q. When did you leave Philadelphia?

A. In the fall of 1945 after the war ended and then he was going to be assigned to Japan because he had not served overseas during the war and they were going to bring home the men who had served in foreign lands and those had served here would be sent overseas.

Q. Then you drove to California with another couple?

A. Yes, and on the way, I think it was in Salt Lake City, we bought the morning paper and there was an article in the paper that there was a new ruling that men who had a certain number of points, I don't know how many, would not have to serve overseas. Fortunately my husband had more than enough points having served three years before the war, so we proceeded to California. The couple we traveled with to California he did not have enough points and he was shipped to Japan. My husband served for a few months in California. He was a 1st Lieutenant, and was discharged from active duty there. He went into the reserves after the war.

Q. What was it like on V-E and V-J Days?

A. Very exciting, everyone was shouting and there were parties everywhere. I was by myself on V -J Day; my husband was in a military hospital in Philadelphia with pleurisy, so I celebrated by myself.

Q. Were you aware of the Holocaust or any other atrocities that were occurring in Europe?

A. No, we didn't learn about that until the war was over and the soldiers discovered the concentration camps and the emaciated bodies that the camps contained.

Q. When you look back on that period of time, besides getting married, what would stand out about the World War II era?

A. I remember that some of my neighbors and some of my husband's circle of friends were killed and that was always very sad and always shocking. I remember how everyone was so pro-American and everyone was anxious to do their bit either by rationing or serving in the military. Everyone was so proud to be American; there were no rallies against the war. Everyone was a hero.