Oral History of Joseph E. Creer
Conducted on March 14, 2008 by ShaLyse Walker
Location: Home of Joseph E. Creer in Spanish Fork, Utah
What day were you born?
August 30th, 1921
Were you born at home or in the hospital?
At home.
How many kids are in your family?
There were originally 6 boys—we’ve lost two so we’re down to four. I’m number
Four of the six.
Did your mom have any easy time having you?
Well, I don’t know, she never told me, but a week before she died she told me I
was born with the cord around my neck. See, that’s what has been wrong with me the whole time.
Did you have a lot growing up?
Well, we were a farm family. And, we didn’t think we were poor but I don’t think we had a lot of money. Being on a farm, there was always plenty of work and plenty to eat---and uh, I thought we had a real good childhood. We walked a mile to school, and the joke is---uphill both ways.
Do you have any photographs of you when you were a baby?
There’s one photograph and I’m assuming I was about five years old. That’s the only one there is of me. The folks just didn’t have cameras---at least not in the home.
Then who took the photograph of you when you were five?
I remember the folks bringing me up to Spanish Fork, ( we called it “up town”) and I remember sitting there, wondering why I was there, and them taking my picture.
Who was the most memorable President of the United States growing up?
The most memorable is President Roosevelt—most of all. He was the most important one of course during WWII.
Did your family have a radio when you were little?
I think maybe I was ten years old when we got our first radio.
What kinds of things did you listen to on the radio?
Well, there was “Amos and Andy” and different talk shows, but we didn’t spend a lot of time—maybe a half an hour or an hour in the evening and that would be all.
Did your mother regulate how much you got to listen to it?
My mom pretty much regulated everything in the house!
Tell me about President Roosevelt---did you listen to his “fireside chats?”
Yes---it would be all radio, and we started going to the picture shows is we had a dime, and they had news reels, and they were very interesting.
And that’s how you got your news?
A lot of it---but we would only get to the shows about once a month---it wasn’t everyday or every week.
What kinds of movies did you watch?
They were mostly Westerns and jungle shows like Tarzan.
When you worked on the farm did they pay you so you could do things like go to the movie?
Yes, we got breakfast, dinner and supper! But when my dad would let me other farmers would hire me for a dollar a day. I was in junior high and I didn’t have a bicycle and I didn’t know how to ride one so I peeled beets with my uncle, and in two weeks I earned fourteen dollars and came to Spanish Fork and bought a bicycle and it took me a few hours to learn how to ride it!
What is your first memory of the TV?
My wife and I were married in 1942, and I think it was getting to be ’46 or ’47 before Floss and I got our first TV, although we did see them.
Did you family have a telephone when you were little?
Nope, no.
What kinds of shows did you watch on TV?
Oh, they had Jackie Gleason (laughs), and the news, and they had a lot of those comedians you know.
Who is Jackie Gleason?
Well he was one of the first comedians on TV and he was very popular—and tonight on TV they were talking about the early comedians and he was first one they mentioned.
Who were the famous movie stars that everyone knew of then?
Oh, we heard quite a lot about Judy Garland and Perry Como…and who was the little baby doll girl?
Shirley Temple!
Yeah, Shirley Temple, uh huh.
What are some of the significant news events in your life that you remember?
I remember when the Dion Quintuplets---5 children born in Canada. I also remember when Lindburg made his flight across the Atlantic, that was big news. Also, at that time there were a lot of gangsters that we heard about back East. There was “Baby Face Nelson,” and “Dillinger,” and there were a lot of news about them. Walking to school we were even afraid they were going to come get us!
Can you think of anymore throughout your life?
Well, I was working at Lockheed---on aircraft, the P38 Fighter, and living with the Harmer family, and came home from church and it was on the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
What was your reaction?
Well, we were shocked. Everyone was shocked to think that they could do it and would do it!
Tell me a little bit about your experience in WWII.
Well, Floss and I were married on July 7, 1942, and at the beginning of September I was working at Lockheed in California and the mailman came and hollered through the doors and said “I hate to do this you” and he delivered a letter, that said, greetings from the President, but you have been drafted.
Then what did you do?
I quit Lockheed to come back to Spanish Fork to get my affairs in order, and on October the 7th, I went to Salt Lake to the big post office on State Street and joined the Navy. Then I came home and worked two jobs—so I could get my car and Floss’s ring payed for, and then on the 27th of Dec I left for boot camp in Idaho with all the money I had—that was five dollars.
Did you know you were going to get drafted.
Oh yeah, everyone expected it. Although, I was hoping since I was working in the aircraft industry I would get deferred, but they were bringing in ladies from Oklahoma to take our jobs.
What happened after bootcamp?
I went to Norman, Oklahoma, then spent 18 months in Cocosolo, Panama and worked on two different types of planes—the PBY and the PBM’s which would go out and observe the oceans to see if any German submarines were sitting on the surface. We were very worried the Germans were going to come in and blow up the locks at the Panama canal. Then when I got back after 18 months in Panama, I was able to take Floss with me and we went to Jacksonville, Florida to the Naval Air Station there. I remember once we were in dowtown Jacksonville and we had one nickel and we could decide whether to buy the Sunday paper or an ice cream cone and I think we bought the paper! In the last of August, we were downtown and there were the papers, saying we had dropped a bomb on Japan and then a second bomb, and about two days later they surrendered.
And that was the end of the war?
Yes, and it was a big celebration. There was horn blowing and toilet paper coming out of the hotel windows in Jacksonville. Everybody went crazy.
So then you went home?
Yep, we had enough money to go on a little DC2---a two engine passenger plane, and we flew from Chicago to Salt Lake on the day before Thanksgiving of 1945.
-I had a new wife and a new baby---I could’ve went to college, but I wanted to make money so I went to work for Jex lumber and installed furnaces for six years! Then I went to work for Dougway—they made bombs that released poison gas—which I wish we had never done, we’re still trying to get rid of them! I made a lot of money—I went from $1.30 to $2.00 an hour!!
You’ve always been interested in the news.
Floss says I watch it too much!
Why do you think I person should keep up with the news?
Well, our whole life is tied up in the news—what’s going on. It effects us. The war now is affecting us, the stock market is affecting us, the price of gas is affecting us. The news is important.
So going back to important news events, do you remember when President Kennedy was assassinated?
Oh do I ever!!
Where were you?
I was in my shop in Provo---I was alone in the shop, and I stopped work and leaned against the wall and just could not believe what I was hearing, just couldn’t believe it. And that’s all we heard for days. In fact, a few days later, I was at church and I was standing out in the hall and one of the men came in and said Oswald had just been shot and killed, and the nation was upset because they knew that everything he knew died with him. It was all on television. You actually saw the gun put to his stomach, it showed the pain in his face—it was very dramatic.
Do you remember the tapes of Kennedy being assassinated?
Oh yes, over and over.
Tell me about hearing about September 11th.
Well, we were at home, and Bob called said “turn on TV quick,” and it may have been re-runs but we saw the high rises come down—one then the other, and it was a very dramatic time in our life! We had been attacked!
You’ve seen lots of history in your life.
Well, I have and it’s all been fun. I’m 86 and a half and Floss and I have been married 66 years in July.
Is there anything else you want to add?
The most important part of our life has been our family—we’ve have five children, three boys and two girls, we have 19 grandchildren, and 26 great-grandchildren. They’re the joy of our life and that’s what’s been really important to us.
