Interview of Dick McMichael

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

Faculty Facilitator: Mrs. McDuffie

Date of Interview: March 9, 2006

Dick McMichael was born in Columbus, Georgia, on October 2, 1930 and was eleven years old when the war broke out. His father was a produce salesman who later owned and operated the Columbus Produce Company, and his mother worked as a telephone operator for Southern Bell and then later worked for her husband. His family rented the upstairs of a house at 1109 ½ 5 th Avenue near the Central Georgia Depot. He attended Eleventh Street School and later Jordan Vocational High School. He remembers Columbus at the time as having the reputation of being both a mill town and a military town with thriving businesses and restaurants due to the influx of so many soldiers.

Mr. McMichael recalls that December 7, 1941, was a sunny day in Columbus. His father was listening to the New York Philharmonic on the radio when John Daly, a well known newscaster, interrupted the program to announce the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Going outside, he met one of his friends, Carlton Bussey, and he remembered telling him, “This is serious business—this means a lot of people are going to die.” This showed that even a eleven year old caught the seriousness of the news.

Everyone pulled together helping the war effort in any way he or she could. Mr. McMichael , for example, was a member of the Boy Scouts and helped out with collecting newspapers for scrap paper drives. Various businesses would volunteer their trucks; the Scouts would direct them to homes around the city asking people for their scrap paper. They did this often, and it was quite effective. The fact that people would allow them to borrow their trucks even during rationing of gasoline and tires is a testament to the genuine support for the war.

Mr. McMichael explained that people had to have ration stamps to buy so many different things. He vividly remembered that in his family, it was necessary to divide the sugar ration equally among members of the family, to prevent one family member or another from using more than his/her fair share to sweeten coffee or whatever. No one complained; he said that it was “just something you did.” The war affected everyone; therefore, by doing what they could, they believed they could contribute in some way to winning the war. At the early stages of the war, he also recalled that volunteers would walk up and down the streets checking for light coming out of houses during blackout drills and blocking out lights that were visible. Once it was understood that Columbus was probably not a prime target because of its inland location, the drills abated.

In his spare time, Mr. McMichael did what all boys his age were doing, such as playing softball and football in the front yard and going to Weracoba and Idlehour Parks. Idlehour Park in Phenix City was a great attraction, having a swimming pool, skating rink, bowling alley and other activities. He also enjoyed music. He liked the music of Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Tommy Dorsey, and Frank Sinatra. He was also in the band and played the drums in high school. His family’s favorite places to eat, such as the Empire Café on 12 th Street and Goo Goo (not the car wash), were restaurants that bought his father’s produce. He enjoyed his childhood even with a war going on.

He stated that buses, during the war, were heavily used as the means of transportation in Columbus. His family was fortunate in that they had a car, and his father’s business got allowances in gasoline rationing. He recalled the excitement of his first trip to Atlanta to see his brother’s induction into the army at Fort MacPhearson. Later, he and his mother traveled to Joplin, Missouri, by train, to visit his brother’s training camp. Between Columbus and Birmingham, seats were at a premium—his mother was able to find an empty seat, but Mr. McMichael remembers wandering the aisles and sitting temporarily in seats of people who went to the restroom. Luckily, when they switched trains in Birmingham, enough seats were available. In Joplin, the situation was much the same as in Columbus—no hotel rooms were available, so they stayed in a rented room in a house in town.

In high school , he became the Drum Major for the Jordan band. His senior year was the first year that the famous band director, Bob Barr, came to Jordan Vocational High School. He remembered that when he was a child, he would go to the high school football games to see the bands perform. He once saw a drum major “throw his baton all the way into the lights.” That same drum major lived across the street from him, and he would often see him practicing. In those days, students could choose what high school to attend. By that time, there were three white high schools in Columbus, Columbus High, Jordan, and the brand new Baker High. At the time, Columbus High had a reputation of being more demanding academically than Jordan. Mostly soldiers’ kids went to Baker. Even though his brother and sister had both attended Columbus High, Mr. McMichael explained that his academic record was not exemplary. When many of his friends opted for Jordan, he did too—it was a combination of “peer pressure and practicality”.

Besides playing in the band, he also had several jobs during his high school years. His first job was working at the Bradley (Grand) Theater where he was an usher. He liked to watch newsreels at the movie theaters for they were entertaining as well as informative. He also worked at a grocery store, and told about the existence of the black market in Columbus during the war. In this particular case, it just involved a candy bar, but many rationed items were available to those who were willing to pay premium prices. During his senior year, he had an afternoon radio show that was based in Phenix City, Alabama, where he would go to work after he got out of school each day. He also was a member of the student government at Jordan, appointed by the woodshop department on the promise that he would push for “more meat to be served in the cafeteria.”

When asked about Phenix City, Mr. McMichael laughed. Though it was known as a fun place with live bands and dancing, it was also known as being “sin city,” a place of total corruption and a numbers racket. He recalled one instance when a particular lottery spot known as the “Bug House” collapsed under all the weight of the people coming to collect their money, and driving by with his father to see the devastation. He stated that this, however, did not keep him from crossing the river in his older teenage years; at seventeen, one could drink and gamble and nobody asked any questions.

People in Columbus treated the soldiers very nicely. They would also invite them to eat dinner with them and entertain them at night. His family rented out rooms to soldiers here in Columbus. Families were concerned with their daughters going out with soldiers; however, many Columbus girls dated soldiers. Additionally, many girls volunteered for the USO Club parties. Mr. McMichael had many relatives who were involved in the war, as did most everyone at the time. They would treat the soldiers well, hoping that somewhere else their relatives in the armed services were being treated the same.

One evening in 1945, as Mr. McMichael was ushering at the Bradley Theater, the curtain was drawn, and the movie was stopped. An announcement was made asking for everyone’s attention and that some breaking news was going to be broadcast from the radio. Everyone was quiet and waited patiently. Soon after, the radio announcer stated that he had some urgent news that Germany had surrendered. Everyone immediately left the theater and went out into the street; whistles were going off and car horns were being blown, and paper torn into confetti was thrown up into the air. There was a party throughout the city.

When the announcement was made that the United States had dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, there was not as much celebration. However, people were happy because they believed that if the other side had acquired the atomic bomb first, they would have used it as well. They knew that the war would be over soon after that. The Japanese did not surrender right away; it took a second bomb on Nagasaki to finally end the war. Mr. McMichael stated that he did not think that we understood the full consequences of dropping the bombs, but thought it is was influential in ending the war.

When the news finally came that Japan had surrendered, there was much celebration, even more so than when Germany had surrendered. This meant that the war was truly over, and that the allies had won. The number of people out in the streets was tremendous. Thousands of people celebrated and cheered throughout the Columbus and Phenix City downtown area.

After the war, Mr. McMichael served in the Army in Europe; he auditioned for the United States Army band and was selected. Returning to Columbus, he established a decades-long career as newscaster before recently retiring, but has stayed active writing and lecturing.