History 5960 Darlene Perry Transcription of First Interview Counter number topic of discussion 003 Birth date, February 22, 1923 Birthplace, 5 miles outside of charlotte. 
006 Names of father and mother: Adrian P. Price and Ola Jennings 012 Father's work: originally a farmer, he hauled sand, sold automobiles, and worked at the AP Warehouse. 
022 Mother's work: his worked in the home. 026 Father's education: his father did not finish high school. 030 Dr. Prices education: He went to Bear hill High School, graduated in 1940, then 
went into the Navy in 1942. After the Navy, he went to business school. 038 The Navy: He was not drafted; he signed up. 
048 Particular event about childhood: ordinary "depression" childhood. The family home burned down when he was four years old. It was later rebuilt. 064 Hardships during the depression. His father always had a job and his mother. 
worked hard canning fruits and berries. 076 Wife: They met about 1928 in Church. Started dating 1942 and married 1947. 086 Naval Service: He became a Naval Cadet and signed up for the Marines to be a 
pilot. got wings in 1944. During WWII stationed mostly in States. Was a dive bomber. 115 Went overseas: In 1945, went to Saipan. Stayed until the end ofthe war. Talks about the intelligence on the atomic bomb and the bombs effects on Japan. 196 Rank: First Lieutenant. 198 Friends in the Marines: Pretty close, but lost track ofthem after war. 204 After Saipan: Went to Japan for six months with occupation forces to Nagasaki. Talks ofbomb's devastation. 248 After the service: Plan was to go back to college. He went to a junior college then transferred to Davison College in 1946. Graduated in 1949. 271 Degree: has degree in economics. Went to graduate school in history in 1949 in North Carolina (Chapel Hill). 
284 Research: Master's thesis on railroads in North Carolina during the Civil War and dissertation on railroads in North Carolina during Reconstruction. 
290 Spent two years in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, then he finished his degree at Chapel Hill. 
305 ECU: began at ECU in 1957. 
306 Classes taught at ECU: five classes a quarter. 
315 Taught economics the first year. Had agreement to get back to history. 
365 First impressions ofECU: School had a tremendous failure rates. 
388 What the campus looked like: much smaller. Austin was well designed. Mentions old football field and Leo Jenkins at the football games. 
439 When ECU changed from college to a university: Leo Jenkins wanted to make the change and made a recommendation to the faculty meeting. 
496 ECU as a party school: Little truth to it, dating back to WWII. ECU lacking school spirit. Then came football. Built up pride at ECU. 
575 Football causes positive changes at ECU. 
586 Changes in the History Dept.: In early 1960's changed from social studies to history dept., was more professionally oriented. 
Tape one Side B 
001 Social Changes at ECU: 1959 first black student came, it was very quiet. 
Price thought integration at ECU was "handled very well." Racist teacher in the history dept. Howard Clay accused by black students for being a racist because ofthe way he said "Negro". 
032 Another racist history professor: LeBaron was an "out and out" racist who was against integration. LeBaron started a radio program "History Behind the News" he was racist in the approach that he had. Caused much controversy on campus. LeBaron was a fraud, had no college degrees at all. 
094 Students on desegregation: students did not talk about it that much. He was not "conscience" of not talking to the students about desegregation. Sometimes blacks grades were lower than that ofwhites because of History 5960 Darlene Perry Transcription ofFirst Interview 
background. 129 Quality ofstudents changed over time. 148 Women's issues. He taught NC history to teachers, most women. 
172 Women's rights: Some women faculty in the history dept. felt discriminated against. He does not think so. 
181 Changes in the student's attire: Ruth White would not let women walk across campus in shorts. Changed in the 1960's. Briefperiod of streakers on campus. 
212 Changes in students over the years: Increase in entrance requirements and quality in students. 226 Changes in faculty and student interaction: no socializing. 
236 Bob Thonen case: He was chairman ofthe committee that heard that case. He says it had to do with sexual drawings. Students who ran newspapers did not have the same standards. He was in favor of a reprimand [he has a hard time remembering this issue, there are a lot ofpauses.] 
315 The impact ofveterans on ECU: He said "I can't answer that." He talked about how he went to school on the GI. bill. 366 Veterans were better students more mature. 373 Vietnam veterans on campus: he does not recall any major problems. 397 Does not know about the rumor that Brewster Building was built. 403 Major changes in the history dept.: He says the faculty government. The faculty voted on the chairmanship. Faculty senate. 457 The "teacher's union": The AAUP. He says that it is not a teacher's union. Stop Tape two side A 001 Involvement in the creation ofthe ECU manuscripts collection. He was the first director ofthe manuscripts collection. 046 Research and publishing: Price says he published sixteen articles on railroads and military history in various historical journals. 
056 Last Question, Is there anything else that we did not talk about that you would like to speak about?" Dr. Price talks about Leo Jenkins. I chose the beginning ofthe interview to transcribe because I made so many 
mistakes and that makes it interesting. The first mistake I made was putting the wrong 
side ofthe tape in. 
!=interviewer N=narrator 
I: Ok, Dr. Price, where were you born and when were you born? 
N: I was born February 22, 1923. Ah, what was about five miles outside ofCharlotte back then, but its in the city limits ofCharlotte now, it's not on the South side of what we call York Rd. so . .. 
I: Could you tell me the names ofyour mom and your dad and any brothers or sisters you may have? 
N: My father was Adrian P. Price. My mother was Ola Jennings, both of them were from-in fact my father was raised in a the same area I was raised. He owned that land. His family owned that before him. My mother was also raised in Charlotte. I guess she moved around I can't pinpoint it exactly,just mostly in the city of Charlotte. 
I: 
Ok [ interviewer stops tape to check for sound] 

I: 
What kind ofwork did your father do? 


N: Huh, he was originally a farmer, but he quit that after WWI, and he used to haul sand, sell sand, in fact he had the contract for the building, the franchise for sand to build the Johnson building, the first skyscraper in Charlotte. But he couldn't keep up so he lost that contract very quickly. See, he had the biggest pile of sand you ever saw, but it all disappeared within about two weeks [chuckles] and then he had to give the contract to somebody else. After this, he had various other jobs, he was in, ah, sold automobiles and ah, later after the depression. Course automobile companies went out ofbusiness then. So he ended up working for A & P Warehouse. Which is where is ended at. 
I: Did your mother work at home? Or did she work outside the home? 
N: She did, she worked, oh I guess right after their marriage right up to WWI., but she quit, she had a family and never worked again. 
I: So she worked inside the home and took care ofthe family? 
N: Women get mad ifI said they don't work. She was a house, a housekeeper [laughs] she worked, she just didn't get paid. 
I: That's right. Did your father go to college? 
N: No, he did not. He didn't finish high school. Back, when he grew up, they had these little one room schoolhouses. When he finished that he didn't go any farther. Think to go beyond that they would have gone to a private academy and his father died so he took over to help his mother with the farm. So he didn't go to school beyond that. 
I: Well, where did you go to school? 
N: You mean, public school? I went to Bear Hill High School graduated there in 1940. And ah, then went in the Navy, as a flight training cadet in the 1942 and I didn't go to college until after the war. 
I: So you graduated high school and did you work in between there did you say? 
N: I went to business school, a business college, Kings Business College for one year and then worked as accountant, a cast accountant, down in a gold mine in Kershaw, SC for a period up to the coming ofthe war. 
I: Were you drafted or did you sign up? 
N: No, no I sure wasn't. No, back in those days, it was quite the opposite ofthe way it is now. Everybody was trying to get out of it, but back then you were afraid you couldn't 
get in. [laughs] so I eh, had my boss down at the gold mine talk to me into waiting. I wanted to quit and go join the Marine Corps back then, but he said wait, without college you're not going to get a commission, but if you wait I'm sure you will. And he was right. 
They dropped the college requirement for flight training, so I went in and joined in August of'42. 
I: So, you knew that and that's what you wanted to go for. You knew they would drop the requirement, you pursued it .. . 
N: Well, I was hoping they would. You had to go to college, you had to be a college graduate until they dropped that requirement in '42. 
I: Well, when you, ah, well do you remember anything in particular about your childhood? Particular, that ah, you might want to talk about or that you thought was interesting? 
N: It was just an ordinary childhood nothing special just the usual depression children. We didn't have much money, but living out in the country and having neighbors that were farmers we always ate well. Our house burned down when I was about four years 
old so we moved to town for a couple ofyears and then came back and, rebuilt on the same place. That was just before the depression, I guess they completed it in 1929 or '30, just after the depression started, maybe a year or two later. But anyway, we moved in when I was six years old when I was in first grade. We moved in the house. That would be in '29. 
I: Just before things changed and it got hard, you just made it. 
N: Well, it was beginning, it was hard already at that time so, it got worse. 
I: Did you experience a lot ofhardships during that time, with your family? 
N: Well, daddy always had a job. He, he would take whatever came along. And sometimes he would collect for Kay Jewelry Company and things ofthat nature until he got a job with A & P Warehouse, but he always had a job. So we kept food on the table and made the house payments, but we didn't have a whole lot of money beyond that. 
I: Did he farm for vegetables or ah ...[interrupted by narrator] 
N: Well, no, my mother did. 
I: Your mother did. 
N: She had a garden and back in those days there was a lot ofwild fruit we'd go and collect plums, blackberries and strawberries and all kinds of wild stuff and mama used to put up, I guess hundreds ofjars of fruits and vegetables and things ofthat nature. We weren't hungry. 
I: That's good. When did you meet your wife? 
N: Well I'm not sure about 1928 I think. We went to the same church. So we were familiar with each other in the church. 
I: Oh, so you knew each other for so long. 
N: So we knew each other a long time before. We didn't date or anything we just knew each other from the '30's on. And her father was active in the church. Usually clerk of the session. One ofthe leaders in the church and we knew the family real well. Ah, we started dating during WWII, and about I guess early 1945, or thereabouts and we got married in '47. 
I: Did you write her during the war or? 
N: Yes, after '45 I did. 
I: Now, when you, ah, went into the service, you said you signed up and you went into the Navy? 
N: You had to go into the Navy to get in flight training so the way to go into the Marine Corps was to go into the Navy. So I became an aviation cadet joined August and there was a wait until December before they called us to active duty at the pre-flight school. And , so don't ask me why, but they called us to active duty on December 24, Christmas Eve. Couldn't wait til after Christmas. So we went to pre-flight school. We went to Chapel Hill to pre-flight school there. And I finished there in about ten weeks. And went on to Purdue, Indiana for primary training and finished up in Pensacola. Finished flight training and got my wings in October 1943. Then the choice to choose the Navy or the Marine Corps and I chose the Marine Corps, and we always said they took the upper ten percent. Which wasn't true, but it sounded good anyway. 
I: Where, when you um, when the war was going on, where were you stationed? What theatre, do you remember? 
N: Ah, mostly in the United States. I was, I went into dive bombers. Dive bombers became, ah, seldom used from '44 on to we go through, '43 ah in late '43, uh, they didn't use that many dive bombers. So we must have spent most of out time in Cherry Point. Spend about three months in the third command, and we'd go out, we were stationed outside ofLos Angeles and we'd pick up dive bombers and fly them to Pensacola. That was the best duty you could ever have. All our entry time was spent in L.A. and Hollywood and eh, then when we were flying first night we'd stop in Palm Springs, then maybe we'd get to Phoenix and stop at eh, El Paso so we go to Juarez. And then after this we can make a big trip so we couldn't get very far then, but then after this, we can fly all the way to... not then we had to stop at Ft. Worth. So then, we stopped at Ft. Worth, then, we fly all the way to Pensacola, weren't any other good places to stop after that so that went on for about three months. 
I: And did you ever go overseas at that time? 
N: We went over seas in 1945. In the Spring of'45. And we, the way we went over seas is strange, they told us that they didn't have any use for dive bombers, but they wanted, needed pilots for artillery spotting planes. So we, the whole squadron, except for two or three volunteered. And they guaranteed we'd be overseas in six weeks. So it worked out. We got our training, they shipped us right out. We went over to Saipan, and replaced the squadron at Saipan. We stayed there until the end ofthe war. Several operations were 
planned, but weren't carried out. One operation we were actually loaded and briefed on to take a little island on, I don't remember the name of it, but it was halfway between Okinawa and then Japan. So we were already to go there we were going to take it with one division ofMarines, the second division. Later, after the war, they found out, that the Japanese had about 200,000 men on that island.[laughs] and we were going to take it with about 30,000. So, fortunately they called it off last minute and decided that we really didn't need that. They could go directly to Japan. Then I guess it was about July, therebouts, '45 we were briefed for landing in Japan. The Second Division, which was on one side ofthe island, and the army was on the other. Our unit would be flying off ofan aircraft carrier. Flying light planes like, part ofthe problem when you flew off, you couldn't come back. And as soon as they got a foothold, then we'd land on the beach make-shift airstrip and operate out ofthat. Fortunately the atomic bomb was dropped before we had to make that operation. I've never understood the dates, all the intelligence and all ofthe historical information talks, as though the plan ofthe invading ofJapan was, I think they say November. We were briefed for September operations. In fact, we were actually loading. We'd been briefed on it, packed up and in the process of loading when the bomb dropped and they called it off. 
I: So, they didn't say anything prior to that why, what was happening, they just cancelled it abruptly? 
N: Well, the atomic bomb was dropped. 
I: I mean before that though. 
N: No, it wasn't dropped. 
I: No, they weren't saying anything to you is what I meant. They were just having you on the ready, and then the bomb hit so that was like. 
N: [narrator interrupts] well, as soon as the bomb hit, of course that 
I: [interviewer interrupts] right, but you didn't know, you had no idea so, you were just being prepared and ready to go. 
N: Right 
I: Right. yeah. 
N: In fact, the bomb was flown right near where we were stationed. They flew the one that took the atomic bomb, both ofthem flew out of Tenyan(?), which is an island right next to Saipan. So, we used to sit over on a hill at the Naval Air Station where we were stationed and watch those planes take off. We may have seen them go,I don't know, because we didn't know what they were doing. They'd go off everyday and bomb Japan and come back. I remember one night, one ofthe B-29's, was coming back from Japan. Something happened, he had to take a, he was waved off, and had to go around the field only he got confused. When you were going to take off in one direction, you tum left, when you take off in another direction you tum right. Well, he was coming in to land and to confused and instead ofturning right he turned left. And flew directly into the mountain on the side ofSaipan. So, we woke up one night, we thought that island had been blown up it was the greatest explosion I think I had ever heard the whole B-29 flew right into the side ofthat mountain. It just about knocked us out ofthe bed and we were located several miles away. 
I: Um, after the bomb went off, did you help, where were you, did you stay there a long time? 
N: Yeah, we were working with the Second Division, but we operated out ofthe Naval Air Station located on Saipan. The great fear was that after the bomb was dropped that the Japanese would make some suicide raids against the B-29 bases, which was near where we were. So they pulled all ofthe Marines, the Second Division out, and put them out around the B-29 bases. Which left the airfield unprotected. So the commander ofthe airbase called us in, we were about the only Marines left I guess. We had about thirty men, nine officers in our squadron. We had, I think about, maybe a dozen machine guns that we just kept for what reason I know not. He heard about those machine guns, so what they were afraid of is that the Japanese would not attack that base, there was nothing there, well maybe a [I cannot translate] but ifthey got confused and landed at the wrong place, then they would have some force to defend it. So they called us in and said Ok now you be the striking force. We'll put the Navy people, in bunkers along the runway and then you'll be the mobile striking force. Well, our CO said, there ain't no way that was going to happen. And all those sailors who never saw a rifle before sitting there shooting at everything that moves we were supposed to be going to the mobile force taking the air force on the airport. We chickened out on that one. So nothing happened, it was over pretty soon. But at least things were right exciting at that time we didn't know what would happen. 
I: Do you know what your rank was at that time? 
N: I was a first lieutenant. 
I: Did you have any buddies or friends that you remember, like, did you make any lasting friendships when you were in the service? 
N: I lost track with just about everybody that was in our unit. After this, we were pretty close, but uh, did not maintain contact with any ofthem after the war. So I don't know what happened to them. 
I: Where did you go after Saipan? Did you go back to the States? 
N: No, after Saipan we went to Japan. With the operation with the occupation forces. 
I: And how long did you stay there? 
N: We were about there six months. So we went in the, we loaded up the uh, in September and went up to Nagasaki. We were the first group ofthe Second Division. We were the first group to go up to Nagasaki after the war. We didn't know what to expect. There were all kinds ofrumors that if you dropped a bomb the area will be contaminated for two hundred years and all kinds of stufflike this. And when we got there to Nagasaki, we saw those people running all over the place. The Japanese were walking right through the bomb site. So, one ofthe first things we did as soon as we got ashore was to jump in our Jeep and run over to the bomb site to see it. It was quite a sight, everything was devastated. It was, I always thought it was planned, but what I've heard lately, it was more by accident. That had some clouds and they missed their target. They were supposed to drop the bomb right on the middle of Nagasaki, but actually, they dropped it 
on the industrial area of Nagasaki. There was a mountain that shielded off a great deal of the civilian areas, the housing. So it looked liked a pinpoint operation. You destroyed everything in the area of military use, and yet, with a minimum, I won't say minimum cause a lot of people were killed, but at least the whole town was not wiped out as in the case ofHiroshima. So there was a lot ofthose people still there. When we got there we did not know what to expect. When we got there we didn't know ifthe people would be taking pot shots at us, or an ambush. But nothing happened. They completely, the Japanese completely excepted the surrender. I think the whole time we were there in six months, there was a one incident, up in Sasabo, of somebody shooting at some ofthe Marines. But we had no problem whatsoever. We had the most friendly relationships with the people. In fact, they we, became rather fond ofthem after awhile. We had one little house boy that worked for us who had been one ofthe, uh what do you call those 
people who wear the red sashes and ride the bomb in? Anyway he was supposed to make his dive just before the war ended and his greatest disappointment ofhis life was that he didn't make his flight. You know parade him through the streets as heroes. Wearing the red sashes. That was his great disappointment that he not able to make his flight and give his life for his country. But he became very friendly with us after the war.