[Creger Personal Narrative Draft]

Text: Sunday December 7, 1941 "We interrupt this program. Pearl Harbor has been bombed by the Japanese."

These words from President Roosevelt changed our world forever!

I remember listening to the radio while riding along a Florida highway. It took a while for the shock to wear off. I was 22 with a very bright future as a model and designer for Kickernick lingerie, manufacturing geared for war supplies. Labor was needed for defense. Nylon was needed for parachutes. Grease paint even went to war. It was needed for camouflage -- tents, tanks, planes, vehicles, and uniforms were transformed into khaki. Civilian cars were all black. Lucky Strike sacrificed their familiar dark green. Rationing books were issued for gasoline (4 gallons a week), sugar, meat and cigarettes. Shoes were also rationed for me pair a year. mattresses in the South were at time stuffed with moss, and they smelled like it. With demand being greater than supply my job was over.

Women became the greatest state-side commodity. In droves they manned the shifts in defense plants and in every facet of employment left vacant by the exodus of men going to war. The remnants of poor economy of the Great Depression were still evident. The war changed that trend; however, I remember housing being so tight that even chicken houses were being whitewashed and rented. I hat to go -- get in the "groove" -- do something toward the war effort. I became a "graveyard" shift employee of Douglas Aircraft -- biding my time until my niche became evident. My brother joined the marines at 16. I itched to pursue military environment. Papa and mama must have felt a stab in their hearts to give permission for my brother. I had to support his decision. When an ad in the Oklahoma City paper advertised a job for women pilots -- THIS WAS IT! Working nights, I could take lessons in the day to get the 35 hours required to apply. I was accepted out of 25,000 applicants and 1830 accepted, and was fortunate enough to be among the 1074 graduates. What a great bunch of women. We had a sorority unlike any known. We had true concern for each, and that seems to exist today -1996- 1999, with -776- >600 still active.

Of course there were hardships, but I cannot recall complaints. We learned, compromise, substitutes, and togetherness never seen before nor since. I'm talking about the general population -- not just WASPs.

I lived in Norman, Oklahoma. At the navy base, dames for G.I.s coming through were about the only entertainment. I was quite a jitterbug in those days, and did not lack for dancers. Tex Beneke was stationed there so we practically had Gean Miller. the U.S.O. also had many happy nights for the "boys." This girl didn't miss much!! Just about every eligible female found a mate during those times. My mind was on the clouds -- hoping to be among the chosen few for the WASP program.

Romance while in the service was so painful. "Tomorrow may never come" was a familiar line. Letters were read so many times, and tears blurred the lines. Plans were on hold and eroded due to the harsh realities of war. Those scars remain for both the sender and recipient, yet understood and categorized in the files of our hearts. Wars change everything! Some scars never mend; just put on hold to ruminate when reviewing historical events such a[s] D DAY! But one is older and grateful for all the memories, for they were, for the most part, quite character building.

Did you know that hose were so scarce that special little tools like a crochet hook could be used to mend the runner? We learned a lot of "make-do" and "quarter round," and were these times to return -- this valiant group could cope without looking back.

Charlene Creger
WASP WWII
Nurse - Korean Conflict

The announcement for D day was "blasted" into our meterology [sic] class in W.A.S.P. training at Sweetwater Texas.

On the second page, numbers have been marked out and corrected, including the date and the number of active WASPs.