Oral history interview with Rose F. (Jrolf) Ray, [sound recording], 2008.

ArchivalResource

Ray, Rose, 1918-. Oral history interview with Rose F. (Jrolf) Ray, [sound recording], 2008.

Oral history interview with Rose F. (Jrolf) Ray, [sound recording], 2008.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/753560282

Rose F. Ray, née Jrolf, discusses her World War II service in the Army as a cook in Alliance, Nebraska and a mess sergeant at Sedalia Army Air Field. Ray talks about her parents' immigration from Brazil and her childhood in Racine and Milwaukee (Wisconsin). After high school, she touches on working at Allis Chalmers and enlisting in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Sent to Daytona Beach (Florida), Ray speaks of attending cooks and bakers school and dehydration school, living in tents, and being spooked by Florida wildlife. She tells of once being assigned as assistant mess sergeant and, after cooking for and feeding 700 women, being so stiff and tired that she couldn't work the next day. Admitted to the regular Army in 1943, she contrasts her civilian and military paychecks. Assigned to Alliance (Nebraska) as a cook, Ray addresses living conditions, helping cook at a WAC mess hall, and homesickness. Promoted to staff sergeant, she tells of being assigned to Sedalia Army Air Field (Missouri) to discipline a kitchen staff that was not working well together. Ray mentions having to demote someone, the improvement in attitude of her staff, and doing all the holiday cooking with the other officers. Ray addresses keeping her mess hall clean, organizing women to hand-sew curtains, and writing letters home. She details meeting and dating Fred Ray, her future husband, who delivered food to her kitchen as a quartermaster. After getting orders to go to India, she tells of going home on furlough and getting mail from Fred. She describes marrying Fred six weeks after her furlough and recalls how angry the officer in charge was when Ray asked to cancel her trip overseas. Ray talks about living in a rented room off-base with her new husband, being discharged only two days apart from each other, and going home to Milwaukee. She talks about other family members who were also in the military during the war, describes her and her husband's adjustment to civilian life, and mentions the military had offered her rifle training, which she refused. Ray states her most memorable day of service was when she carried the flag in Florida.

Sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 75 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Master sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 75 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript : 21 p.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center