Interview of William Buck

Interview Team: BJ Chapman, Julien Malebranch, and Christal Judge

Faculty Facilitator: Mr. Harrington

Date of Interview: March 9, 2006

William Buck was born on March 21, 1925, at the Columbus City Hospital, later Columbus Regional Hospital. His father, Thomas Buck, owned and operated Buck Ice, which the family still operates today. His family lived at 1612 Wynnton Road, where the family had moved in 1929. It was located right next to Dinglewood Pharmacy. Mr. Buck attended Wynnton Grammar School, and he remembers many of the faculty who taught there to this day. Dr. Roland B. Daniel was the Superintendent of Schools at the time, and Buck points out that there were city and county schools at that time (not until 1958 were city and county schools combined). Wynnton School had a “wonderful art program” under Mrs. Goddard, and a great music program as well.

Mr. Buck attended Columbus High School from 1938 to 1942. As the war in Europe expanded, Buck remembers programs for helping the British, called “Bundles for Britain”, where the community would collect clothing and send it to England. On December 8, the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he took a radio to school and during lunch, he and his classmates listened to President Roosevelt address Congress and tell them that a state of war now existed with Japan. He remembers air raid and black out drills, and block wardens who insured that people were properly warned and followed instructions; however, since Columbus was so far inland, the air raid drills were infrequent. He does recall that a German U-boat was once spotted between Jekyll Island and the Georgia mainland, arousing a great deal of anxiety.

During the war, the ice business boomed. Since electric refrigerators were not produced during the war, ice boxes were used by many families in Columbus. Although Buck Ice probably would have received an additional ration to deliver its ice, Buck said that most deliveries were made using old surplus WWI wagons pulled by mules. Not only did the company save on gas, it also saved on tires—the wagons had spoked wheels with an iron rim.

Saving lard and fat was a big thing during the war. Mr Buck said that most people usually just poured excess cooking fat down the drain, but during the war, they kept special containers for that purpose. Periodically it would be collected. “They told us it was used for making explosives.” For those who had motor vehicles, gasoline and tires were rationed. In those days, many people got around town by hitch-hiking—soldiers especially-- and people were usually happy to give them rides. Gasoline was rationed according to one’s type of car, how far one had to commute, and the importance of one’s job. Stickers affixed to the automobile bumper denoted the gasoline rationing category of the driver. Mr. Buck remembers that many people participated in carpools—especially teachers. Traveling to Atlanta was usually done by train. Mr. Buck recalls that the Central of Georgia railroad purchased the passenger train “Man-o-War” specially to make the passenger run between Columbus and Atlanta—and to save people gasoline and tires. A round trip cost about $5.00.

Dinglewood Pharmacy during the war years was an exciting place. On the weekends it had live music, and of course at all times it was the source of the famous “scrambled dog”, a concoction of a hotdog, coated with mustard, topped with chili, and served on a platter with a fork. Mr. Buck’s favorite band was Fred Waring and his “half a hundred Pennsylvanians” orchestra. Asked if he had any relatives or friends serve in the war, Buck replied that one of his older brothers was a marine aviator who served in the Pacific. He also remembers Fred Schomburg coming home from the Pacific Theater and dating his sister, Helen. “Fred’s face was yellow from taking the anti-malarial medicine atabrine.” Buck wondered at the irony of that—going to fight a “yellow-raced” foe and coming back yellow yourself. “I was in Europe (during the war) and glad of it”.

Buck graduated from Columbus High School in spring of 1942, pointing out that the principal at the time was Mr.B.F. Kendrick, after whom Kendrick High School was named. He attended the Citadel in Charleston for a year, displaying his cadet dress jacket. At the end of his first year, he was drafted. He returned to Columbus and joined the army in September 1943 under the so-called ASTP—the Army Specialized Training Program. With a chuckle, he recited the poem that went with the program: “ASTP-BTC; You and the Infantry; You got fooled as you can see; ASTP-BTC”. Training at Fort Benning, he recalls living initially in big, white, pyramid tents—eventually they moved into some of the more well known wooden barracks. He deployed to Europe as a mortarman and rifleman. One day while carrying five rounds of mortar ammunition, it suddenly dawned on him that if he was hit, there wouldn’t be anything left of him to send home. At that point, he volunteered to become a unit messenger, despite the fact that the previous five had been killed by enemy fire. It seemed safer than carrying ammunition. Towards the end of the war, Buck’s unit was one of the ones that linked up with the Russian Army on the Elbe River. German civilians were fleeing in great numbers ahead of the Russians and coming through American lines. Some of the American soldiers were demanding “tribute” in the form jewelry or favors, something that filled Buck with distaste for some of his colleagues at the time.

Buck’s unit was redeployed at the end of the war in Europe to prepare for the war against Japan. Buck praised President Truman for his decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Estimates of casualties in an invasion of the Japanese homeland were as many as a million soldiers. The thinking of most Americans at the time was that the decision shortened the war and saved American lives, for which Buck was relieved and grateful.