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Oral histories make an impression Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming World War II veteran Dr. Christian P. Hald speaks with South Medford High School students Wednesday as part of Oral History Days, organized by teacher Mike Beagle to give students an intimate perspective of the war. While other veterans recalled battle, imprisonment and armament manufacture, Hald described the wartime preparations at Camp White, which is now White City. World War II vets talk to students at South High By DAMIAN MANN I t took an army of men and another army of women to win World War II. It took women such as Medford-resident Lois Marron, sometimes called "Rosie the Riveter," who helped build the famous B-17 Flying Fortress. Marron, 79, joined about 25 area residents who recounted their experiences of World War II to 400 South Medford High School students on Tuesday and Wednesday. "It's powerful," said John McKay, 18. "One of the most interesting things one person said was that when he was our age, he was talking to Civil War vets the same way we were to talking to World War II vets." Jacob Ewart, 16, said, "It was really interesting talking about this in class, but it's a lot better hearing about it firsthand." Added Cindy Fraenkel, 18, "It really opened my eyes." Students rotated from table to table, listening to a 30-minute presentation from the speakers as part of Oral History Days, organized by teacher Mike Beagle to give students an intimate perspective of the war. "It's a great connection for our kids," said Beagle. "If these folks hadn't stepped forward when they did, there would be a big question mark as whether we'd be living the way we do." It was people like Marron who built the planes and armaments that allowed the Allies to win the war. "We were proud," remembered Marron. "We knew that we were doing something important for our country." There has even been a book written about their effort, titled appropriately enough, "Rosie the Riveter." "We got 85 cents an hour," she said. "The lead men got $1.20 an hour and they all walked around like they were big shots." The women had to wear a turban to keep their hair from getting caught in the machinery. Marron said the women still strove to look pretty, sometimes arranging their turbans like the latest craze in hat design. Deprived of nylon hose because the raw materials were being diverted to the production of parachutes, the women found a ready substitute. "We would buy large bottles of leg makeup in different colors," she said. Some of the speakers gave students darker accounts of the war. Leonard Zawacki spent three years in Auschwitz, where he saw millions of people gassed to death, their bodies piled up and burned, the acrid smell drifting for miles. But this 85-year-old Ashland resident did something that only a few prisoners ever did - he escaped. Remembering his harrowing experience, Zawacki said, "Everything was done with the utmost brutality." A native of Poland and a resistance fighter, Zawacki remembers the night of his arrest. "They knocked me down and started kicking me. They took me to a Gestapo prison and put me in a solitary cell in the basement with no windows, and the walls were dripping with water and the floor was covered with dirt." After his interrogation, he was placed in a cattle car at midnight. The trained rolled through the night. The next morning he arrived at Auschwitz, and above the gate, written in German, was a sign that said, "Work makes you free." "They made us strip down and shaved us all over our bodies," Zawacki said. "They dipped us in some kind of chemical solution and told us to take showers." He also received a tattoo on his arm with the number 13,390, which he showed to students. "The commandant had a speech and said we were there for the rest of our lives," said Zawacki. Zawacki said the Nazis had no problem gassing people to death at the camp. "The problem was disposing of all the bodies." Eventually, Zawacki and five other prisoners developed a bold plan in which they posed as SS officers to escape the camp. They stole uniforms, had holsters made and fashioned dummy revolvers out of wood. They forged the signatures of officers to create the paperwork necessary for their escape. "From the pharmacy we secured some cyanide in case it didn't succeed," said Zawacki. But the plan worked and Zawacki and the other men escaped. After listening to a few speakers, McKay said, "It was a great experience and fascinating to hear the story of what people went through." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.