War Makes Men of Boys: A Soldier's World War II

Chapter Five: Work and Bureaucracy

Years later, people who had grown up during the worst times of The Great Depression looked back with a certain pride. . . . Hard times had propelled them into the adult world much sooner than they might have wished, yet they had discovered within themselves strengths and skills that would last throughout their lives. Russell Freedman, Children of the Great Depression Children and adolescents today learnaboutworkinmany different places and ways: at home, at school, from part-time employment, andfromtelevision,movies,andtheinternet.1 Butmyfather,growingupduring the Great Depression, did not have this ubiquity of avenues for learning about work and the workplace. Dad’s father had difficulty finding work as a printer during much of the 1930s, though by the time Dad left for basic training , Oscar Miller had opened his own print shop. Dad obviously knew something about the operation of the shop (setting the type, running the press, embossing), but it is not clear that he had much understanding or respect for the print shop as a business. He repeatedly sent his father requests for stationery for his buddies, and in a letter dated March 12, 1944, along with an order for a friend, he included some ribbing about his father’s shop as a profitable enterprise:“Bythe way, Joe wants alittlestationery,too.PutonitJOSEPHB. DIBRELL & U.S. Army. Same as mine. Now listen to this. Joe absolutely & positively refused to take it unless he paid me. Now you do this, & send me the bill, no DO IT!!!!!! Heck, you’ve got to make a little money in the printing business.” Therewasalso some limitedlearning aboutworkintheMillerhousehold. While growing up, my father undoubtedly had assigned chores, though his younger sister remembered him as being more or less exempt from housework . It was typical of the era for work to be largely segregated along gender lines, and that my father benefited from such a division of labor can be deduced from the following letter to his mother, dated April 16, 1944: chapter five Work and Bureaucracy H 90 H chapter five I also wanted to tell you of some of my household accomplishments to date: 1. I have learned to make a bed very efficiently, neatly, & tightly. Average time—3 to 5 minutes. Of course that’s a single bed. 2. Wash clothes (prior to receiving your fine shipment of clothes.) 3. Cook. It may be just heating C rations in cans, but it’s still cooking. 4. Sweep, mop, & scrub. Sweep & mop every day, scrubbing every Fri. nite 5. Wash dishes, etc., Peel potatoes. Results of K.P. 6. Shine shoes—achieving a bright polish. 7. Sew. Not good, but buttons, tears, & small patches. Don’t you think I’d make some fine woman a good wife? (End of joke, laff here—ha ha ha) In his job as a stringer reporting on high school and junior high sporting events for the local newspaper, my father also had some teenage experience with paid employment. Itwas,however,sporadicandindependent—heprobablyhaddeadlinesto meet,buthedidnotpunchatimeclock.Thus,hisexperienceswiththeworkplace were somewhat limited when he entered the army, but they ramped up quicklyintheearlymonthsofbasictraining.Inadditiontoundergoingphysical conditioning and weapons training, Dad was experiencing a crash course in the world of work. Part of this introduction meant developing a clearer understanding of his own competencies in completing various assignments. Part involved improving his knowledge of the ins and outs of hierarchy and bureaucracy. And part involved learning about occupational differences and divisions. Many of these strands of understanding are represented in a letter he sent home on May 10, 1944, describing a particularly successful day of work: Dear Folks, Riding the gravy train today, thanks to Lt. Levy. A summary of events since my last letter. Last night, as we were marching out of the area with full fields en route to classes till 10:30, Lt. Levy called me out, told me to get rid of my pack & report to the orderly room. So for about ½ hour I stuff envelopes. Then, Lt. Levy—“can you type, Miller? Corp. Corcoran isn’t doing so well.” Me—“Yes sir.” Work and Bureaucracy H 91 Lt. Levy—“Go to work.” So for the next 3 hours I typed Signal Operations Instruction Sheets, Authenticators , & other name sheets. Every time I turn around Lt. Levy says, “Say, you’re really fast Joe. We’ve really got this thing licked.” Then this morning me & the others went out to the Bivouac area. So we provide communications between h.q. & the company commanders via the SCR 536. Boy...