Joseph Edward Jeanette
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Navy
Unit Info: USS Paducah
JEANETTE, Joseph Edward
Joseph Edward Jeanette was born on February 23rd 1921 to Michael Anthony & Rose Theresa [Musolf] Jeanette in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Duluth Central High School.
Mr. Jeanette enlisted into the Naval Reserve on June 17th 1940.
He served as a Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class (BM2) aboard the USS Paducah (PG 18) in Duluth, Minnesota; Brooklyn, Staten Island, N.Y.; and Little Creek, Virginia.
During WWII he was assigned to the Armed Guard as a gun crewman aboard two merchant ships, the USS Norbo (cargo vessel carrying supplies to Africa and England), and USS Esso Baton Rouge (an oil tanker). After crossing to England the Baton Rouge departed for the Caribbean in February, 1943, and was sunk by German U-Boats.
In his own words, "I was burned all over my body and subsequently spent two years in and out of Naval hospitals undergoing plastic surgery."
Mr. Jeanette received the folllowing awards and accomodations:
- Purple Heart,
- Good Conduct Medal,
- European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal,
- American Defense Service Medal, -and-
- the American Campaign Medal.
He was honorably discharged on May 18th 1945 at U.S. Naval Hospital, Bathesda, Maryland
After the war, he returned home and married Lucille M Menghini on July 16th 1949 and they started a family.
He stayed active in military and civic affairs as lifelong member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post #137, the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter #56, the American Legion Post #71 and the DAV (Disabled Amaerican Veterans) as well as the Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Jeanette died on October 1st 2022 in Columbus, Ohio at the age of 101 years. He was the last surviving member of the the USS Paducah. He is buried at the Minnesota Veterans Cemetery in Saginaw, Minnesota outside Duluth.
Source(s): Hometown Heroes: The St. Louis County World War II Project. 128.
Albert J. Amatuzio Research Center | Veterans Memorial Hall (vets-hall.org)
Page 1 WWII Draft Registration Cards - Fold3
Joseph Edward Jeanette (1921-2022) - Find a Grave Memorial
Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952 - Ancestry.com
Veterans Memorial Hall Oral History Program
Interview with Joseph E. Jeanette
February 23, 2022
Interviewer: Jay Hagen
JH: Jay Hagen
JJ: Joseph E. Jeanette
EJ: Eileen Jeanette (daughter)
Track 1
00:00
EJ: Had sent us that obituary, as well.
JH: We might be interviewing the last member of the USS Paducah here.
JJ: I don’t know of any others that are still living, so. As far as I know, I’m the last member of the crew.
JH: Everything seems to be in place here, so should we just start this a little early. I’ve got good recording on this end. We should just start it up on this end.
EJ: Jay it says that the internet is unstable and I’m not sure if that is on your side or our side, but you froze up there for a minute.
JH: Yeah, I saw you freeze up there for a minute too. We might just have to play those by ear when they com up. All right…one other thing. Do you have the ability to tilt the camera?
EJ: No, not really. Can you back up just a little bit and I’ll see if I can turn the speaker up a little bit, if it will go any louder so you can hear Jay. But he can see your whole cute, handsome face, instead of just part of it.
JH: There we go.
EJ: Just a little bit more, how’s that? Jay talk for a sec…
JH: Testing one, two, three.
EJ: Can you hear him daddy?
JJ: Yeah.
EJ: Ok. I’m going to change the view so you are just looking at Jay so you can focus on him and the conversation. So it’s like you are having a conversation with him.
JJ: Okay.
EJ: So you look at him and not at yourself.
JJ: Yeah.
EJ: Otherwise it looks weird.
JJ: Yes, yes.
EJ: Ok, the nosy daughter is stepping out now.
JH: Ok, well, let’s start the interview year. I’m Jay Hagen. I’m the Veterans Memorial Hall Program Manager with the St. Louis County Historical Society and I’m interview Joseph Jeanette. It is February 24, 2022 and this is an online oral history. I am in Duluth, Minnesota and Mr. Jeanette you are in Columbus, Ohio?
JJ: Bexley, Ohio.
JH: Okay, is that near Columbus?
JJ: Just outside of Columbus.
JH: I have to do a little stutter when I say Columbus because my wife is from Columbus, Indiana.
JJ: Oh, ok.
JH: I think it’s about a three hour drive from where you are at. So, first of all, may I call you Joe?
JJ: Yeah.
JH: Okay, great. And thank you for your service, by the way. I really appreciate that. My role here is to make sure we capture every story of every veteran who touched St. Louis County in one way, shape, or form. Can I get you to state your full name and spell it for me please?
JJ: Joseph Edward Jeanette.
JH: Great, thank you very much. The interview is going to go like this, I’ll ask some basic questions, but I want to hear your story. So I might prod you a bit more for some additional information, but this is the chance for you to tell your story. So the first thing I’m going to ask you is, I understand you had a birthday yesterday? Can you tell me all about that?
JJ: Oh, it was…it was an interesting thing. My two daughters are here and my lady friend that’s here took me out for breakfast in the morning. So, I had a ham and cheese omelet and some wiggly bacon. A couple pieces of cantaloupe, little pieces sliced up and I enjoyed it very much. When we get up to leave we found out somebody had picked up the tab and paid the bill and I say God bless that man or person, whoever it was that did it. We had a very good time, laughing and telling stories of course. We always do that. Remind each other of the good things that have happened in the past from one family that has passed away or something. We had a good time and then they had a party for me at the Bickford residence with a cake, no ice cream. I had a little bit of wine, of course. I never pass that up. We had a lot of people from the residence were there. There must have been, what do you say…?
EJ: 15 to 20 people there.
JJ: 15 to 20 people there and that was interesting. Then my oldest daughter played a DVD that she had made when I was 90 when they had a birthday party at the Sheffield Hotel which is under another name now in Duluth. Anyway, we played that DVD and they all got a big kick out of that. But the residents learned a lot about me that they never knew before. But nobody said anything about it since. So maybe later on they will remind me of it. Then when the party was over, I guess I was still hyped up and went back to my room and rested for a little while and then I think I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. I slept all night.
JH: May I ask how old you are?
JJ: Well, 101. I would have never believed it. I wake up every morning and when my eyes open and I look and I see I’m still in my room I figure well, the good Lord hasn’t taken me yet.
JH: That’s wonderful.
JJ: Maybe I was too ornery for him and He doesn’t want me around.
JH: Well, one question I have is are you originally from Duluth? Or are you from Ohio? Why are you in Ohio when you used to be on the Paducah?
JJ: I was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota. I went to school in Duluth and had six children. I have a son yet that is living and my oldest daughter who lives in Columbus brought me here from Tucson, Arizona when I was in the Navy. That was in 2018, November 1 of 2018. So that is why I’m here in Columbus. But I lived in Duluth from the time I got out of the service in 1945 until…oh I forget the dates. But I lived in Duluth until I went into the service. I went into the service and came out, went back to Duluth and lived in Duluth. I married a lady that was from Michigan and her name was Lucille Menghini. We were married for almost 30 years…just a couple of months short of 30 years and she passed away. I lost both of my children, one passed away in 2013 and the other one Mary passed away…she had cancer.
JH: I’m sorry to hear that.
JJ: Well, it’s kind of tough. You know, to have your children pass away before you do.
JH: I understand. So you were in Duluth when you first joined the service. You joined the Naval Reserve? Is that correct?
JJ: I joined the Naval Reserve in June of 1940 and sailed Lake Superior for training during the summer and then the government activated all of the reserves and we left Duluth in October of 1940. We were sent to Chicago and the Paducah was on training missions. So we went by rail from Duluth to Chicago and in November the Paducah was sent out to Chicago to pick up our crew. So we left Chicago on November 11, something like that and sailed through the seaway to Brooklyn, New York to a ship yard where they put the ship into dry dock and big fitted it. That is where we lived for a couple of months and then they moved us over to Staten Island, New York and we went there for…until about mid-1941 and then they sent us back to Brooklyn. First of all they shipped us down to, the whole ship down to…it was down in Virginia. It was a training mission and we were trained for gun crews on merchant ships. It was Little Creek, Virginia that is where they sent us. So we trained for that and then we went back to Brooklyn and we were stationed at the Brooklyn Armory in Brooklyn. Then we were there for a couple of months and come December 1941 we were…some of us were getting ready to go to church and they wouldn’t let us out of the armory. One of the fellas had a radio and he was playing it when all of the sudden the President came on and announced that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese and we were at war with the Japanese and we had declared war on Germany. Hitler had been bombing England and they had submarines in the Atlantic and the Pacific. So that’s the one reason they were training us for gun crews on merchant ships to help protect them, if possible. So the next day, they send us to New Orleans where I pick up my ship which was the USS Narbo which was part of the Lykes Line system. I sail on that with our cargo to Cape Town, South Africa or Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Then from there, we headed back to England with a load of cargo and we went to Ireland and England and then sailed back to Cape Town and up the Red Sea into the Mediterranean through ports, the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean, where we unloaded our cargo and then sailed from there back down through the Red Sea into the South Atlantic to South America to Dutch East Indies and we picked up a load of bauxite ore that was going to the United States. We came back to the States and came home on leave when we got back and on the way back to Brooklyn they assigned me to my next ship which was a tanker, an oil tanker the USS Baton Rouge, Standard Oil Company. We sailed from there to England and Ireland and then we were coming back from there…this was in February. We were on our way back and we got torpedoed on February 23, 1943. That was a rough day. Anyhow…I got some burns on 60% of my body. On my face, my hands, my arms and legs. I got off of the tanker and into a life boat and the ship went down. We were picked up by an escort ship…we were in convoy at this time and I can’t remember the name of the ship that picked us up. But some of the crew members and one of my crew members took care of me and took care of my burns. They had solutions they were putting on them. They took me to St. John’s Island in the Caribbean. There was a Naval Dispensary and they dropped me off there. Well I was there for probably a couple of weeks till I could get back on my feet. They didn’t think I was going to make it but for some reason or another, the good Lord didn’t want me yet. So anyhow, they got me on my feet and I needed help to get dressed and move around and eat and stuff like that. Then they shipped me to San Juan, Puerto Rico to the Naval Hospital that was there at the time. And they performed some operations, skin grafts and whatever they could do. That was one of the places that I wasn’t very happy with…when I got there they put me in this bed and I woke up and I could feel things crawling all around. I yelled out real loud and they come running and there were ants crawling all over me. So they got me cleaned off and I guess the ants smelled the burns and…so they finally figured out how to stop it and they gave me a new bed and put the bed in four bowls of alcohol so the ants wouldn’t come in the bed. I was there till May of 1943. Then they put me on a hospital ship and sent me back to the States. Then I was in Portsmouth, Virginia Naval Hospital for a few months. They got me up and walking around and operated, doing more skin grafts. Then I could get around and do things, doing a little bit at a time. There were limitations as to what I could do, but I was getting tired of the hospital so I requested some limited duty someplace, whatever. So they sent me to Piney Point Maryland where I was in charge of a ward, or a bunch of recruits. I got tired of that and I asked for something else. They put me on the switchboard so I was answering the phone. I managed the pull the plugs and put them back in the holes. Then in the meantime, I heard about plastic surgery at the Bethesda Naval Hospital and I requested it. They sent me down there and I talked to them and they said there was lots of things they could do for me. So I requested a transfer to the Bethesda Naval Hospital. In the meantime, the total number of operations I had was about 24. Skin grafts, they redid my ears.
EJ: Daddy, show Jay your hands. Lift them up a little higher if you can.
JJ: Yeah, I had them operated on, they cut off some of the tips.
EJ: We call him stubby.
JJ: But anyhow, they were going to take these fingers off and I said I don’t think so. The way they are…
JH: You’d like to keep those right.
JJ: I wanted to keep them, I could turn a wheel, I could do somethings with it. So that’s what they did. They left them the way it is. So, I was there until the first part of June 1945 and they discharged me. They sent me home. So that was my experience in the Navy.
JH: Wow, that is quite the story. What strikes me as…Mr. Carlson, Bill Carlson, he had a very similar story at the beginning as yours. Did you know him at the time?
JJ: Yes, I knew him.
JH: Okay, because he mentioned the same story about taking the train down to Chicago and picking up the Paducah down there.
JJ: Yeah.
JH: But then you must have parted ways in New York?
JJ: We parted ways in 1941 when the war broke out. Actually, maybe even before that. Because I was shipped as far as the Navy armed guard…that was what we were called, the gun crew and a lot of the other fellas if they were engineers or other civilian life, other talents that they had. A lot of the fellas went different ways. Some wound up in the Pacific and some wound up in the Atlantic area.
JH: The stories kept going in parallel and you were both torpedoed but on different ships, is that right.
JJ: Yeah, right, right. And, I got knocked around for another four or five years and then I met this lady from Michigan that I mentioned before and we got married in 1949 and we had six children together. I have two of them here with me right now.
JH: Very nice. So getting back to your original time in the Naval Reserve, what brought you or took you to the Naval Reserve? Did you want to see the world via boat or by ship? As compared to going into the Army? What was your rationale?
JJ: A lot of my friends went into the guard…what was it, the Army National Guard. A lot of them had gone into that and I decided I wanted to go into the Navy. So that’s how come I went into the Navy…when I turned 18 I joined the Naval Reserve in Duluth and I told my mother and father that I had they were kind of upset. But I was 18 years of age and I can do what I want. So I did it and I don’t regret it.
JH: And you don’t regret it…that’s good. I have to bring up a personal side on this comparatively. You joined the Naval Reserve in 1940?
JJ: Yes.
JH: Unlikely, but I had approached Mr. Carlson about this…my uncle James Joseph Hubert was with the Naval Reserve from August of 1938 to January of 1940 and I asked Bill if he knew my uncle or not and he said he did not recognize that name. He was stationed on the Wilmington. Was that another ship that you were familiar with?
JJ: No I don’t know it.
JH: He was in the same type of position where he was sent to Chicago and they went to training up and down in the Great Lakes on the Wilmington. But his names was James Joseph Hubert and he was just…his remains were found on Tarawa in 2015 and we repatriated him in 2017.
JJ: Oh my…
JH: On of the reasons that I’m very heavily involved in veterans affairs was because an uncle who I never met…my mother didn’t even meet her own brother, that’s one of the reasons I’m heavily involved in this now. I’m always looking for somebody who was in the Naval Reserve at the same time my uncle was who might recall the name or had a conversation or knew him.
JJ: No, that name doesn’t ring a bell. I wish I could help you on it but I can’t.
JH: But that is one of the reasons why I’m doing this job. I’m just passionate about veterans and their stories. So, a couple questions about the Paducah. How many people, how many crew members were there at any one time?
JJ: There was 250+ on board. We slept in hammocks.
JH: Okay, what was your role on the Paducah?
JJ: I was in an apprentice seaman and then I made first class after we got…sometime in early 1941 and I was Boatswain Mate Second Class in 1944.
JH: And what is the role of a Boatswain Mate First Class?
JJ: He is usually in charge of the ship. The Chief Boatswain is the head one. But the Boatswain Mate Second Class is…I’m trying to remember what we all did. You got to remember this was almost 80 years ago. He was in charge of the Seaman, cleaning the ship, making sure everything was okay and ship shape. If it wasn’t boy I’ll tell you, they didn’t get…well how do I say it. They didn’t get the blame, we got the blame.
JH: That’s how it goes right.
JJ: You had to be kind of tough.
JH: The rank has its advantages right. So what type of boat was the Paducah? Was it purely for training? Or would it perform an active role in conflict?
JJ: I think you froze up.
EJ: Jay, you froze up.
JH: Okay…so what type of ship was the Paducah? Was it purely for training? Or would it perform an active role in conflict?
JJ: It was a gun boat and it was used in the China area way back when. Boy you are taxing my brain now. I should remember. There are times I have remembered it, but now I forget. Well in the China Sea, years before WWI it was used in the China Sea area. It wasn’t a huge ship, it was just…you must have a picture of the Paducah around some place.
JH: Yeah, we’ve got pictures of it. Were you familiar with the name Doofick? Let me see if I can find his name, Jerry Doofick?
JJ: Doofick…that rings a bell.
JH: He was asking me all kinds of information about the Paducah as well. And he actually…he showed me a book. Apparently, the Paducah had another life after…
JJ: Oh yeah, it wound up carrying the Jewish people from places in Germany to Israel.
JH: Right.
JJ: Yeah.
JH: I thought that was an amazing story that the ship lived after it was no longer being used.
JJ: It was sold by the Navy after the war and they refitted it so that it could carry groups of people and it was finally sunk in the Mediterranean someplace.
JH: Okay, wow. Well back to you. So on your profile, you have a purple heart. You have multiple accommodations. I assume the purple heart was a result of the burns from the incident.
JJ: Yes.
JH: And you said you were out of commission for almost two years?
JJ: Two years.
JH: Can you tell me about…we talked about the purple heart, but can you tell me about the other medals.
JJ: Well it’s just the American Defense Medal and the European Theater Medal. They didn’t catch me.
JH: They didn’t catch you…(LAUGHTER). So you were on these other ships? Where else in conflict were you deployed?
JJ: The Brooklyn area, New York City, the harbor…we traveled through there and went to South Africa, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and then England, went up through the Red Sea. When we went through there, there were ships that had been sunk by the Germans. I don’t know why or how we got through there without any problem. We went up through the canal there and into the Mediterranean Sea to Alexandria and Egypt where we unloaded cargo. Then back out of there the same way we came. Then we went to South America where we picked up bauxite ore, which is aluminum and brought that back to the United States.
JH: So the reason you went around Africa, was that because the Straights of Gibraltar were controlled by Germany?
JJ: Right.
JH: That’s a long way around, isn’t it?
JJ: Long way around.
JH: Wow!
JJ: We made it.
JH: So were you familiar with the 125th Field Artillery?
JJ: Yes.
JH: Is that what you were servicing when you were in the Mediterranean?
JJ: No.
JH: Okay, but you were familiar with the 125th?
JJ: Yes.
JH: Did you know any members of that group?
JJ: Oh yeah, Munses, Joe Ridinger, you are taxing my brain.
JH: I don’t want to do that…if you have some names, that’s fine. And speaking of names, by the way, Dennis Hughes worked with you on the Purple Heart group here. He said to say, hi.
JJ: Oh, hi to him. Anyhow, I’ve had a good life in spite of my disabilities.
JH: So what other stories do you have? What crew member stories do you want to tell us that maybe you have never brought up before, good, bad or ugly?
JJ: No, there was no bad. It was all good. I could tell a story about something but I won’t.
EJ: But this is your shot dad, you could be famous.
JJ: No this is something that I don’t bring out anymore.
JH: You can always write it and it send it to me in a letter if you want…I promise I won’t post it online if its that bad.
JJ: Well it’s not that bad. It’s just…on the USS Paducah they had urinals that were long troughs and one day we…forget it.
EJ: No you have to say. You have us all completely curious. No judgement…
JJ: Well okay, okay. Well, there was a partition on the urinal and so there was a couple of guys on one end of it and they had some newspapers and there were fellas down there doing their thing and so they lit the paper and put in the trough.
EJ: So you had burning newspapers going down the urinal…that’s not so bad daddy.
JJ: Anyhow, that was it.
JH: We need to hear these types of stories. Backing up to the point where you were torpedoed on the ship. In what area were you when the ship was hit? Were you in the Mediterranean or the Atlantic?
JJ: We were in the Atlantic, north of Azors.
JH: Okay, that had to be a pretty rough area if the Germans were already protecting Gibraltar. That wouldn’t have been too far away.
JJ: No it wasn’t too far away. They got us and I think they got one other ship. I understand that the submarine that torpedoed us, also got sunk.
JH: So how many of the crew survived?
JJ: We only lost one of the crew, one of our gun crew.
JH: Oh wow.
JJ: He passed…when they sounded the alarm for us to go to our quarters, he was already there. I was on the catwalk on the tanker and I was on the way from my chow and the alarm sounded about the submarine being in the area. So I was heading to my gun station and I was on the catwalk when the torpedo hit. I got whale burns and torpedo flashed. That did me in. They called to abandon ship so I headed for…I got off the catwalk and went down a Jacob’s ladder and into the lift board.
JH: So how many crew members were on that ship that was torpedoed?
JJ: Ah
JH: Roughly…it was bigger than the USS Paducah I would assume?
JJ: You mean the civilian crew members and the gun crew.
JH: Yeah, I’m curious as to…you said you lost one crew member. So you were getting into life boats and how many life boats would have been on a ship of that size.
JJ: I think there was…none of the civilian crew members were lost. It was just a Navy gun crew member that passed from the torpedo.
JH: And you said you were rescued. Another Naval vessel?
JJ: It was a Navy vessel, it was an escort vessel.
JH: Oh it was an escort vessel so it was going with you at the time?
JJ: That’s right. It was one of probably a few of our escorts.
JH: Okay, another question I have. Now we are talking post-war because you told us about how you ended up in the hospital because of the burns. I see your name on reunion lists for the USS Paducah, did you go and have regular reunions for the Paducah crew? How did that happen?
JJ: Yeah, we would get together…Steve Mollard, Davidsons, Bill Carlson, oh I don’t remember them all, Phil Gothier. But we used to get together once a month those that were in Duluth. Then there was the Mildee’s that came up from Minneapolis. We got together at least once a month for lunch some place and then a couple of times we had the wives come.
JH: Nice. I think I sent Eileen a picture of the last man bottle. How many drank from that bottle. It usually goes to the last person, which means you should have gotten it for yourself. But how many were left when you cracked it open.
JJ: I was in on that. I remember when we opened it. We toasted all the rest of our crew members.
JH: This Jerry Doofick was saying that he was present when you were there and he said that the bottle wasn’t that good.
JJ: It wasn’t too bad. It could have been better, but what the heck.
JH: He just wanted me to relay that story. He said he saw some odd looks from a couple of guys.
JJ: But anyhow, a lot of people, a lot of guys they don’t like booze anyhow. They just had a little sip anyhow.
JH: Any other stories you can tell me about your adventures or your time on the Paducah…what did you do after? You went to reunions…but were you part of the VFW? Or American Legion?
JJ: Yeah, I’ve been part of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #137. I belong to Purple Heart Chapter #56, and I belong to the American Legion Post #71 and the DAV, I’m life members of all of them. I also belong to the Council #447 Knights of Columbus and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
JH: So you kept very busy in your post military life?
JJ: Yeah, I was very active in the VFW. I was State Commander in 1983 and 1984. I was busy. I was quartermaster for many years, commander of the post once. District Commander, purple heart state commander back in 63-64. When were you born?
EJ: 65.
JH: Alright, so any other stories. I mean we are coming up on the one hour mark, but did you have any other stories or any other things after your military service that you would like to talk about.
JJ: Well, let’s see. I worked for the air force for 14 years.
JH: Oh really, I didn’t see that.
JJ: I worked for the 340 fighter group. I was in supply. In fact when I retired the last few years that I worked for them, I was the supply specialist. I was in charge of all of the funds for the satellites in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota, for the missile sites.
JH: So what years was that? Was that during the Korean conflict or Vietnam? Or the Cold War?
JJ: I’m trying to remember…I was 54 years old when I retired. I wasn’t a member of the Air Force, I was a civilian worker. I retired when I was 54 years old. I’m trying to remember what year that was…
JH: Mid 70’s?
JJ: It was 74.
EJ: Because I remember being in junior high when you retired…wow you retired in 1975.
JJ: Because your mother passed away in 79.
EJ: Did you partially retire to take care of her?
JJ: No, she wasn’t sick at that time. She didn’t have a problem at the time, it wasn’t until later.
JH: My dad was at the air force base. He flew the 102’s up there from 1958 through 1962. I’m not sure if you were there for that period of time.
JJ: I probably was. I might have met him. I met so many people…I don’t remember everybody or every name.
JH: His name was Robert Hagen. He was one of the fighter pilots there. Were you there during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
JJ: Yeah.
JH: There was a story that we heard that there was a bear intrusion that almost triggered WWIII, because the bear intrusion turned out to be…it triggered a scramble alert down at Valk Air Force Base. My dad was one of the pilots who got scrambled and almost…with live nuclear ordnance almost started WWIII.
JJ: Oh wow. I don’t remember that.
JH: I’ll send you a copy of the periodical that tells that story. I think in hindsight it was pretty funny, but at the time it probably wasn’t.
JJ: Nothing is funny at that time. During that period of time, with the air force, they had the missile site on the north shore they called it the goose missile site, they built silos and I still think, unless they did some work up there, I think they still have that stuff in place, but it is not used. You could look into it to see.
JH: Is that the one up in Finland.
JJ: No, there is one in Finland…but this one was up the north shore, between Duluth and Two Harbors.
JH: The one up in Finland is for sale right now, if you want to buy a small base. They are selling it for something like $800,000 and you can buy the whole…whatever is left up there.
JJ: Oh, yeah. We used to, we used to…Finland was one of our missile sites. Well, is there anything else you would like to know.
JH: Well, it has been a pleasure to talk to you about all of this. I’m so happy that were managed to get this done. I know we are coming up on an hour. So if there is anything else you would like to talk about, feel free. Otherwise, I’m going to say thank you very much for your time and thank you for your service to the country. I don’t think we had you listed as working as a civilian with the air force, so I’m happy that we can add that to your record here.
JJ: Oh, good. I enjoyed my work with the air force. Around my 14th year they were making so many changes, that I decided my education, the school of hard knocks, so with some of the changes they were making it was a little bit beyond my scope. So that was why I decided to take the early retirement when it came up. But I see they still have a section up there, but I guess it’s a prison now.
JH: That’s correct. The 148th Air Base is a national guard base.
JJ: Yeah, I’ve met some of the fellas that are in it and are still in it. I have a great, great nephew that is one of the crew members out of the 148th. He’s been over in Iraq and Afghanistan.
JH: I imagine he was called to duty during 9/11, at that time.
JJ: Well, he was over there during…yeah. He was over there a few years ago I know that. When I found out about it, I gave him a life membership in the VFW.
JH: Oh did you, that’s nice. Again, I thank you so much for taking the time and I’ll be putting together a transcript of this. We’ll send it off to you to have you edit it, as you see fit. If you want anything changed or we have the wrong name, or something, we can make changes. Then we’ll post out there, with your story on the website. I think I showed Eileen how to get to that. If you have any other pictures of photos or other memorabilia that you would like to have pictured with you, feel free to send that to us.
JJ: Okay, alright.
JH: Thank you Joseph for your service to the country. I really appreciate it and thank you for your time today to tell it.
JJ: It was my pleasure and thank you so much Jay. You have a good day, a good week and a good year, and a good life.
JH: You too. I’ll make every attempt to be at your 102nd birthday.
JJ: Okay…you are on.
JH: It’s right down the road from my wife’s house.
JJ: Bye now.
JH: Take care, thanks.
End of recording
Track 1
66:32
Transcribed by Heidi Guenther
