Interview of Bettie Golden Tyler

Interview Team: Beth Helmer, Forrest Parker, Aaron King, and Jamaica Turner

Faculty Facilitator: Mrs. McDuffie

Date of Interview: March 9, 2005

Bettie Golden Tyler was born on November 29, 1925, in Columbus, Georgia. She and her parents lived in a house off Jeanette Avenue in the shadow of the current AFLAC building. During World War II, she attended Columbus High School.

She heard about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor through the grapevine when walking “on a bright sunny day” with friends in front of her house, and then she told her family to listen to the radio to see if it was true. Because of her age, she did not think too much of it because she did not realize the significance of its happening nor did she think how long it would last--just that “we’d win.”

She had a lot of friends who were serving in the armed services: two friends who were POWs, a former boyfriend who was a pilot in the Air Force, and her husband and brother-in-law who were in the Army. At this time everybody was helpful to each other and would do what they could to help with the war. When the soldiers at Ft. Benning got free time, they would come into Columbus. People would take them home with them and feed them hoping that they would feel like they had a family here instead of their families being miles and miles away. When Bettie wanted to help out with the USO, her mother was very strict with her; she was only allowed to serve out the drinks.

Her favorite singer at that time was Glenn Miller, and her favorite song was “Sentimental Journey.” Her family’s favorite restaurant was Spano’s. For fun, she would go to the movies, have gatherings of friends at her house, go to Sunday dances, or just hang out with friends. She said that sometimes she and her friends, as a treat, would go to Atlanta on the train all dressed up with hats, gloves, and stockings. She recalled that they might have been neatly groomed when they left Columbus, but they were all frazzled when they got there, either from riding in the open air between the cars or from the open windows on the train, since there was no air conditioning.

She stated that rationing did not affect her family very much because they lived quite simply; however, she recalled her grandfather giving her a shoe coupon so she could have an extra pair of shoes. Her family only had one car but could not use it too often because of the rationing. She remembered walking a lot and stated that most of her friends lived close by.

During the war, people would do what they could do to support the war. She mentioned that her grandfather, who was a banker and was instrumental in getting Ft. Benning in Columbus, was in charge of war bonds and bought war bonds for her and her other siblings to help the war effort. Her father, whose company Golden Foundry made steering mechanisms for troop ships during the war, received an award from the President of the United States for his company’s service to the country at a big ceremony held for it in Columbus.

She said that Phenix City during World War II was considered as a bad, filthy place to go and was the dregs, but to the teens and young adults, it was a place of fun and as much an unregulated a place as they could go. Bettie went over to Phenix City a couple of times and even had a date over there. She mentioned one night she and a date went to a dance club and were having a lot of fun, but two MPs came in and tapped her date on the shoulder and he was taken off the dance floor.

She recalled hearing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death that occurred a month before she got married. She expressed that though her family did not vote for him, she thought that his voice gave people confidence.

In 1945, at the age of nineteen, she married her sweetheart who was in the Army and in OCS. They had met at an OCS dance, although her mother did not let her go to dances unless her mother knew the soldiers she was with.

Mrs. Tyler was at Ft. McClellan with her husband when the atomic bombs were dropped, and felt that the war would end soon because of their being dropped. When the war ended with Japan surrendering, she remembered church bells ringing at Ft. McClellan.