History Commons^™

Mf089 Marshall Dodge Collection, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History Finding Aids

Rob Golding and Earl Bonness give humorous stories and anecdotes of Downeast about local people and events, and these anecdotes reflect the quintessential Downeast character and type of humor later made famous by Marshall Dodge in his stories of “Bert and I” and may suggest the origins of the types of characters and humor Dodge used in his “Bert and I” records.

Phyllis Sprague, Interviewed By Kristen Frey, Part 2, Phyllis M. Wheeler Sprague

MF144 Women in the Military

Phyllis Sprague, interviewed by Kristen Frey on November 14, 2001. Sprague was born in Newbury, Vermont in 1943. Sprague talks about joining the Army in 1961; a typical day in basic training and then working for the Army; experience as a medical officer in the Army; Sprague’s attitude toward the military and government becoming more patriotic after her service; way soldiers were welcomed home after Vietnam compared to the Gulf War; relationship between men and women in the military in the 60s; having to leave the military for pregnancy; absence of sexual harassment in the Army. Text: 10 pp. transcript. …

Paula Pietrowski, Interviewed By Annie Howley, Paula K. Pietrowski

MF144 Women in the Military

Paula Pietrowski, interviewed by Annie Howley, April 21, 2003. Pietrowski, age 36-37, talks about her decision to join the Coast Guard; her family and boyfriend’s reaction to her enlistment; her basic training experiences; returning to Maine for assignment; male vs. female commanding officers; tension between men and women and between women; minorities in the Coast Guard; sexual harassment; whether women should be included in the next draft; how she spent her leisure time; her discharge and transition to civilian life; rising through the ranks; gays and lesbians in the military; whether she would do it all over again; her most …

Deborah Smith, Interviewed By Sarah Beazley, Deborah Schultz Smith

MF144 Women in the Military

Deborah Smith, interviewed by Sarah Beazley, April 15, 2003, in her home in Brewer, Maine. Smith, age 42-43, talks about her decision to join the Air National Guard; rising through the ranks; her family and friends’ reaction to her enlistment; her current duties in the Air National Guard; her basic training experiences; how basic training affected her self-image; the bonds she formed with other female enlistees; discrimination in the military; changes in the role of women in the military; nursing as a historic profession for women in the military; women organizations in the military; her leisure time; meeting her husband …

Anne Tenney, Interviewed By Elizabeth Bunten, Anne E. Howes Ferris Tenney

MF144 Women in the Military

Anne Tenney, interviewed by Elizabeth Bunten, May 7, 2003, in Castine, Maine. Smith, age 81, talks about her decision to join the Navy (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in World War II; her basic training experiences; being assigned to New York City; her anti-submarine work; marrying and leaving the service after her pregnancy; remarrying another WWII veteran as a widow; public perception of women in the Navy during the war; minorities in the military; and changes in the role of women in the military. Text: 6 pp. transcript. Recording: No recording.

Erma Frances Fletcher, Interviewed By Amy L. Stevens, Erma Frances Dancer Fletcher

MF144 Women in the Military

Erma Frances Fletcher, interviewed by Amy L. Stevens, April 24, 2003, in Dexter, Maine. Fletcher, age 79, talks about her family history; her early life; working in a factory after high school; the stigma against female military service; enlisting in the Navy in World War II; her basic training experiences; marching for President Roosevelt; surviving on a small stipend; missing out on serving in Manila; her transcription work; how she spent her leisure time; meeting her husband during the war; regretting not staying in the service after 1946; moving to Washington, D.C. after her service; her sense of patriotism during …

Mary Jane Miller, Interviewed By Elizabeth Bunten, Mary Jane Chase Miller

MF144 Women in the Military

Mary Jane Miller, interviewed by Elizabeth Bunten, May 9, 2003. Miller, age 80, talks about her family; enlisting in the Navy (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in World War II; her family and friends’ reaction to her enlistment; her basic training experience; the relationship between male officers and female enlisted; her not going overseas during the war; whether she would do it all again; changes in opportunities for women in the military; leaving the Navy after the war; delivering a top secret message; and working under women officers. Text: 8 pp. transcript. Recording: No recording.

Colonel Judy-Ann Carroll, Interviewed By Davida Kellogg, Part 1, Judy-Ann Carroll

MF144 Women in the Military

Colonel Judy-Ann Carroll, interviewed by Davida Kellogg, August 20, 2002, in Ms. Kellogg’s home in Orono, Maine. Carroll talks about her service in the United States Army through the College Junior Program; her training conducted at Fort McClellan, AL; being stationed later in Darmstadt, Germany; serving as a training officer with the Women’s Army Corps and as a Military Police Officer. Text: 35 pp. transcript, 10 pp supplemental material. Time: 01:45:42. Restrictions: None.

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Part 2: mfc_na3253_c2366_02
Part 3: mfc_na3253_c2367.1_01

Colonel Judy-Ann Carroll, Interviewed By Davida Kellogg, Part 2, Judy-Ann Carroll

MF144 Women in the Military

Colonel Judy-Ann Carroll, interviewed by Davida Kellogg, August 20, 2002, in Ms. Kellogg’s home in Orono, Maine. Carroll talks about her service in the United States Army through the College Junior Program; her training conducted at Fort McClellan, AL; being stationed later in Darmstadt, Germany; serving as a training officer with the Women’s Army Corps and as a Military Police Officer. Text: 35 pp. transcript, 10 pp supplemental material. Time: 01:45:42. Restrictions: None.

Listen:

Part 1: mfc_na3253_c2366_01
Part 2: mfc_na3253_c2366_02
Part 3: mfc_na3253_c2367.1_01

Colonel Judy-Ann Carroll, Interviewed By Davida Kellogg, Part 3, Judy-Ann Carroll

MF144 Women in the Military

Colonel Judy-Ann Carroll, interviewed by Davida Kellogg, August 20, 2002, in Ms. Kellogg’s home in Orono, Maine. Carroll talks about her service in the United States Army through the College Junior Program; her training conducted at Fort McClellan, AL; being stationed later in Darmstadt, Germany; serving as a training officer with the Women’s Army Corps and as a Military Police Officer. Text: 35 pp. transcript, 10 pp supplemental material. Time: 01:45:42. Restrictions: None.

Listen:

Part 1: mfc_na3253_c2366_01
Part 2: mfc_na3253_c2366_02
Part 3: mfc_na3253_c2367.1_01

Agnes E. Flaherty, Interviewed By Melissa Piselli, Part 1, Agnes E. Flaherty

MF144 Women in the Military

Agnes E. Flaherty, interviewed by Melissa Piselli, February 22 and April 26, 2005, South Portland, Maine. Flaherty, born in Portland, Maine, talks about her parents, Anna and Mark Flaherty; her family’s involvement in nursing; enlisting in the military during WWII as a nurse in the Army Air Core; working out of Grenier Field in Manchester, New Hampshire; her experiences and favorite memories as a flight nurse; early medications; experiences with the Women’s Army Core (WAC); patriotism during WWII; serving in the Pacific as a flight nurse; working out of Hickam Air Field in Oahu, Hawaii; relationship between nurses and doctors …

Agnes E. Flaherty, Interviewed By Melissa Piselli, Part 2, Agnes E. Flaherty

MF144 Women in the Military

Agnes E. Flaherty, interviewed by Melissa Piselli, February 22 and April 26, 2005, South Portland, Maine. Flaherty, born in Portland, Maine, talks about her parents, Anna and Mark Flaherty; her family’s involvement in nursing; enlisting in the military during WWII as a nurse in the Army Air Core; working out of Grenier Field in Manchester, New Hampshire; her experiences and favorite memories as a flight nurse; early medications; experiences with the Women’s Army Core (WAC); patriotism during WWII; serving in the Pacific as a flight nurse; working out of Hickam Air Field in Oahu, Hawaii; relationship between nurses and doctors …

Beth Parks, Interviewed By Sarah Kneeland, Part 1, Mary Beth Clayfield-Parks

MF144 Women in the Military

Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, February 16 and 23, 2005, Corea, Maine. Parks talks her experiences in the Vietnam War and how she dealt with it afterwards: reasons for becoming a nurse; training at D.C. General Hospital; volunteering as an officer in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC); Viet Cong tunnels underlying the base camp at Cu Chi; attacks against their camp; operating rooms in the MASH and evacuation hospitals; it was the peak of her career; army vs. civilian nursing; attending the reunion; Annie Cunningham, Glenna Goodacre and Diane Carlson Evans; her film “A Chunk of My Soul”; coping …

Beth Parks, Interviewed By Sarah Kneeland, Part 2, Mary Beth Clayfield-Parks

MF144 Women in the Military

Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, February 16 and 23, 2005, Corea, Maine. Parks talks her experiences in the Vietnam War and how she dealt with it afterwards: reasons for becoming a nurse; training at D.C. General Hospital; volunteering as an officer in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC); Viet Cong tunnels underlying the base camp at Cu Chi; attacks against their camp; operating rooms in the MASH and evacuation hospitals; it was the peak of her career; army vs. civilian nursing; attending the reunion; Annie Cunningham, Glenna Goodacre and Diane Carlson Evans; her film “A Chunk of My Soul”; coping …

Barbara Beal, Interviewed By Amy L. Stevens, Barbara Ann Kasnic Beal

MF144 Women in the Military

Barbara Beal, interviewed by Amy L. Stevens, May 1, 2003, in Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, Maine. Beal, age 56, talks about her service as an Army nurse in the Vietnam War; her family and friends’ reaction to her deployment; her anxiety prior to deployment; her training experiences; her preconceptions of the war vs. the reality; her emotional experience of the war; her typical day at the medevac hospital; the dangers of the job; her leisure time; socialization between men and women; her most important relationships during the war; her reception upon returning as a veteran; whether the war …

Christine Dipompo, Interviewed By Sarah Beazley, Christine Ermentrout Dipompo

MF144 Women in the Military

Christine DiPompo, interviewed by Sarah Beazley, May 15, 2003, in her home in Brewer, Maine. DiPompo, age 82, talks about her family background; joining the Women's Army Corps in World War II; her basic training experiences; barracks life; her work as a W.A.C. lab technician; married women being forced out of the lab; working a second job at a plastics factory; her treatment from her male and female superiors; visiting home; social life during the war; meeting her husband, a fellow lab technician; her family and friends’ reaction to her enlistment; the W.A.C.’s scandalous reputation; lesbians in the W.A.C.; her …

Angel Tyler, Interviewed By Miranda Coombs, Angel Tyler

MF144 Women in the Military

Angel Tyler, interviewed by Miranda Coombs, May 5, 2003. Tyler talks about her experiences in the Gulf War. Text: 23 pp. transcript. Time: 00:57:59. Photographs: p14544-p14548.

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Olive Benton, Interviewed By Miranda Coombs, Olive R. Stuart Benton

MF144 Women in the Military

Olive Benton, interviewed by Miranda Coombs, May 2, 2003, in Benton’s home in Bangor, Maine. Benton was born in Etna, Maine. Topics covered include Benton’s experiences in the Army during the Korean War; basic training; segregation of men and women in the military bases; being in Tokyo during the Korean War; treatment of lesbians; homosexuality unacceptable in the military; Benton’s relationships within the military; her marriage and death of her husband; treatment of soldiers in foreign countries; Benton’s willingness to rejoin the military. Text: 27 pp. transcript. Time: 00:41:13. Photographs: p14549-p14551.

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Deborah Owens, Interviewed By Jessica Mayhan, Part 1, Deborah Lynn Owens

MF144 Women in the Military

Sergeant First Class Deborah Owens, interviewed by Jessica Mahan, October 30, 2001, in Owens’ home in Newport, Maine. Owens, born in Clemens, Georgia in 1966, talks about joining the army when she was 18; experience driving trucks in the Army; difference between training for men and women in the army in 1985; tasks as an army recruiter; experiences while stationed in Saudi Arabia; family support of her going overseas; equality of genders in military squads; plans to remain in the army until retirement; experiences in all the places she was stationed. Also included Xerox copies of photographs; 2-page journal. Text: …

Deborah Owens, Interviewed By Jessica Mayhan, Part 2, Deborah Lynn Owens

MF144 Women in the Military

Sergeant First Class Deborah Owens, interviewed by Jessica Mahan, October 30, 2001, in Owens’ home in Newport, Maine. Owens, born in Clemens, Georgia in 1966, talks about joining the army when she was 18; experience driving trucks in the Army; difference between training for men and women in the army in 1985; tasks as an army recruiter; experiences while stationed in Saudi Arabia; family support of her going overseas; equality of genders in military squads; plans to remain in the army until retirement; experiences in all the places she was stationed. Also included Xerox copies of photographs; 2-page journal. Text: …

Colonel Frances Auclair, Interviewed By Kim Sealy And Sarah Lawler, Part 1, Frances M. Auclair

MF144 Women in the Military

Colonel Frances Auclair, interviewed by Kim Sealy and Sarah Lawler, November 29, 2001. Auclair talks about running away to join the army after hearing stories about other’s experiences in it; her parents’ experiences in the Army, followed by Auclair joining the Navy; basic training followed by her first military job; being a hospital corpsman for the Navy; inequalities between gender in the 1970s; a typical day in the military as a woman; her time working in a hospital in MA; her opinion on jobs and work policies; community support for military personal; how leisure time was spent in the hospital …

Colonel Frances Auclair, Interviewed By Kim Sealy And Sarah Lawler, Part 2, Frances M. Auclair

MF144 Women in the Military

Colonel Frances Auclair, interviewed by Kim Sealy and Sarah Lawler, November 29, 2001. Auclair talks about running away to join the army after hearing stories about other’s experiences in it; her parents’ experiences in the Army, followed by Auclair joining the Navy; basic training followed by her first military job; being a hospital corpsman for the Navy; inequalities between gender in the 1970s; a typical day in the military as a woman; her time working in a hospital in MA; her opinion on jobs and work policies; community support for military personal; how leisure time was spent in the hospital …

Colonel Frances Auclair, Interviewed By Kim Sealy And Sarah Lawler, Part 3, Frances M. Auclair

MF144 Women in the Military

Colonel Frances Auclair, interviewed by Kim Sealy and Sarah Lawler, November 29, 2001. Auclair talks about running away to join the army after hearing stories about other’s experiences in it; her parents’ experiences in the Army, followed by Auclair joining the Navy; basic training followed by her first military job; being a hospital corpsman for the Navy; inequalities between gender in the 1970s; a typical day in the military as a woman; her time working in a hospital in MA; her opinion on jobs and work policies; community support for military personal; how leisure time was spent in the hospital …

Colonel Frances Auclair, Interviewed By Kim Sealy And Sarah Lawler, Part 4, Frances M. Auclair

MF144 Women in the Military

Colonel Frances Auclair, interviewed by Kim Sealy and Sarah Lawler, November 29, 2001. Auclair talks about running away to join the army after hearing stories about other’s experiences in it; her parents’ experiences in the Army, followed by Auclair joining the Navy; basic training followed by her first military job; being a hospital corpsman for the Navy; inequalities between gender in the 1970s; a typical day in the military as a woman; her time working in a hospital in MA; her opinion on jobs and work policies; community support for military personal; how leisure time was spent in the hospital …

Joan Strayer, Interviewed By Shavonne Brosnan, Joan Strayer

MF144 Women in the Military

Joan Strayer, interviewed by Shavonne Brosnan, May 8, 2003, Bangor, Maine, about her service in the U.S. Navy and her perspective on women serving in the military. Lieutenant Commander Joan Strayer, U.S. Navy Aviation Maintenance Officer, retired in 2007 after 20 years in service. Time: 00:24:20.

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Petty Officer Lee Oliver, Interviewed By Shavonne Brosnan, Lee Oliver

MF144 Women in the Military

Petty Officer Lee Oliver, interviewed by Shavonne Brosnan, June 1, 2003. Text: 15 pp. transcript. Time: 00:29:57.

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Cheryl L. Martin, Interviewed By Kim Sealy, Part 1, Cheryl L. Martin

MF144 Women in the Military

Cheryl L. Martin, interviewed by Kim Sealy, November 15, 2001, Brewer, Maine. Martin talks about personal and parent’s educational background; decision to join Air Force instead of go to college; military history; “MAINEiacs”; federal versus state military service; time in basic training; benefits; logistics and shipping duties; year off with Fortune 500 company; CCAF; time as boom operator (air refueling); time in Kosovo; war effect on family; Shaw Air Force Base; rank and gender issues; air versus ground combat; experience in “gender free” military culture; officer versus enlisted rankings. Text: 44 pp. transcript. Time: 01:19:43.

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Part …

Cheryl L. Martin, Interviewed By Kim Sealy, Part 2, Cheryl L. Martin

MF144 Women in the Military

Cheryl L. Martin, interviewed by Kim Sealy, November 15, 2001, Brewer, Maine. Martin talks about personal and parent’s educational background; decision to join Air Force instead of go to college; military history; “MAINEiacs”; federal versus state military service; time in basic training; benefits; logistics and shipping duties; year off with Fortune 500 company; CCAF; time as boom operator (air refueling); time in Kosovo; war effect on family; Shaw Air Force Base; rank and gender issues; air versus ground combat; experience in “gender free” military culture; officer versus enlisted rankings. Text: 44 pp. transcript. Time: 01:19:43.

Listen:

Part 1: mfc_na3235_c2342_01
Part …

Lisa Powell, Interviewed By Jessica Mayhan, Lisa Powell

MF144 Women in the Military

Staff Sergeant Lisa Powell, interviewed by Jessica Mayhan, November 5, 2001, in Powell’s home in Hermon, Maine. Powell, born in McAdam, New Brunswick in 1968, talks about joining the Navy after high school; her experiences with basic training; moving on to tech school to learn her job; what Powell had to do at her job as a radioman; her time stationed in Saudi Arabia; treatment of foreign women in Saudi Arabia; how she spent her time overseas; Navy paid for her housing while overseas. Text: 7 pp. transcript. Time: 00:29:05.

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Ursula Pritham, Interviewed By Hillary Jackson, Part 1, Ursula A. Bobst Pritham

MF144 Women in the Military

Ursula Pritham, interviewed by Hillary Jackson, November 5, 2001. Pritham, who was born in New York City in 1955, talks about her background (Swiss); serving in the Army Nurse Core; serving stateside, in Germany, and in Korea; initial training; Vietnam; Gulf War; husband; typical day; toll on family; public support; funny moments; husband’s experiences in the military; his views of the military; travel; male/female relationships in the military; relationships among the women; harassment; her thoughts about the military. Text: 24 pp. transcript. Time: 01:30:05.

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Part 2: mfc_na3238_c2346_01
Part 3: mfc_na3238_c2346_02