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VETERAN: Walter C. Chop
INTERVIEW DATE: March 4, 2010
TRANSCRIBER: Kimberly D. Bures
TRANSCRIPTION DATE: September 19, 2011
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ROBERT MASTIONI: Okay. Today is the 6th of March 2010.
I am interviewing Walter Chop, who was born on
November 10, 1924. The two people who are at this
interview are Robert Mastioni, who is doing the
interview, and Walter Chop, who I'm interviewing.
Walter Chop was in World War II. He was in what was
then called the Army Air Corps. His rank was a
corporal, and he served in England, France and Italy.
So we're ready to begin the interview.
Were you drafted, Walter, or did you enlist?
WALTER C. CHOP: I was drafted.
MASTIONI: Tell us how that came about.
CHOP: Well, I tried to enlist in the Marines, and they
refused because of my poor vision, and then I tried
to enlist in the Navy, and they refused because of my
poor vision, and several months later I was drafted,
and that was it.
MASTIONI: And where were you living at the time?
CHOP: In Bridgeport, Connecticut.
MASTIONI: What was the address at the time?
CHOP: I lived at 413 East Main Street in Bridgeport.
MASTIONI: And so why did you join?
CHOP: I tried to join.
MASTIONI: Why did you try to join?
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CHOP: Because I wanted to get in the service. I was
anxious to do my part in the war effort, and I was
anxious, so right after graduating high school, I
tried to join both the Navy and the Air -- the Navy
and the Marines, but they wouldn't accept me because
of my poor vision, and finally
several months after that, I was drafted, and they
had taken me in the Air Force.
MASTIONI: Can you recall your first days in the service,
what it was like?
CHOP: Oh, yes. I enjoyed it. My basic training I did in
Miami Beach, Florida, and it was like a vacation. We
lived in hotels. We did our exercises and marching
on the beach in Miami Beach, and it was just
wonderful. We were eating in the best hotels and
served as though we were guests, and it was just
great, and we had very little additional duty outside
of our basic training, and we enjoyed it very, very
much. It was like a wonderful vacation.
MASTIONI: Do you remember any of the instructors that you
had at the time?
CHOP: No, no. That was over 60 years ago.
MASTIONI: Any experiences in boot camp that stand out in
your mind?
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CHOP: No. We were living in a hotel, and it wasn't like
living in a camp, and eating in restaurants and
sleeping in beautiful places, two men to a room. We
had our own showers. It was just great, absolutely
great.
MASTIONI: So all in all a good experience.
CHOP: Yes. Like a vacation.
MASTIONI: Now, you served in World War II, and tell us
exactly: Chronologically where did you go during the
course of your time in the service?
CHOP: Well, from basic training we went through a number
of different tests to see what we were qualified for
the most, and apparently they put me into parachute
school, and I learned how to pack parachutes. We
were transferred. I went to a place in Illinois, and
that's where they taught us how to pack parachutes,
and that's what my job was.
Eventually from there I went to -- they transferred
me to a squadron, the 439th Troop Carrier Group, 93rd
Squadron, and I was one of the parachute riggers.
There were a number of us.
MASTIONI: Could you explain in a little bit more detail:
What's a parachute rigger? What do you mean by
packing the chutes?
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CHOP: Chutes had to be packed and repacked every 60 days
so we knew they weren't damp or anything like that,
so we would unpack a packed parachute, unpack it and
refold it and put it back in its case. Each person
in the Air Force who we worked with had to be fitted
separately, and since I had background as a tailor in
civilian life, I was the one who did it the best, and
I was doing most of the officers.
MASTIONI: Fitted for what?
CHOP: For the parachute. Each parachute fits according
to your size, and we had to fit them. They had to
try the parachute on, and we would tighten it up and
stitch it so it would fit that person, and only that
person could use that parachute. If you were big, it
was one way. It was -- if you were small -- I'm very
small. I was five foot six, and I was fitting the
people who were six foot six, so you could see the
difference in sizes, and it made a big difference in
fitting them, so I was fitting them since I had a lot
of experience in civilian life as a tailor.
MASTIONI: Part of it was sewing the --
CHOP: We did a lot of sewing too, yeah, and if there was
anything -- as we were packing the parachutes, if we
saw any type of tear or anything, I would sew it up
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and stitch it. We had sewing machines, and it was a
very interesting kind of work.
MASTIONI: So did you end up in this because of tailor
background?
CHOP: Yes. I don't know why they would have put me in
there otherwise.
MASTIONI: You weren't in actual combat, correct?
CHOP: No. I saw no combat at all.
MASTIONI: Were there any causalities in your unit that
you worked for, or --
CHOP: No.
MASTIONI: -- were they all --
CHOP: No. We would -- we used to fly the paratroopers.
The troop carriers carried paratroopers. Like when
we started in England, we used to fly them into
France, and they would jump, and our airplanes would
come back to England.
MASTIONI: You weren't on the airplane when they jumped.
CHOP: No.
MASTIONI: You would be back in England.
CHOP: Right.
MASTIONI: Did you ever jump out of a plane?
CHOP: No, no. We were not allowed to jump.
MASTIONI: Okay. So your -- you packed uniforms for those
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who then subsequently jumped like --
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: Were they, for example, individuals who jumped
on D-Day at Normandy? Did you pack the chutes for
those people?
CHOP: We didn't pack them for the soldiers. The soldiers
packed their own, who jumped. They packed their own
chutes. We packed them for our Air Force personnel
who was flying them over, so in the event they had to
jump from the airplane, they had their own parachute.
It was only our people. The paratroopers were from
different units, and we were just flying them over.
MASTIONI: So paratroopers packed their own --
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: -- parachutes.
CHOP: Yes. We packed them for our Air Force flying
personnel from our unit.
MASTIONI: Okay. Did you have any experiences in the
service during the time that you were -- and you say
you went to England?
CHOP: Yeah.
MASTIONI: And to France?
CHOP: Yeah.
MASTIONI: Now, explain how that happened. You went to --
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you first went to England?
CHOP: First went to England, and after the United States
and our allies took over France, then we moved into
France. We went to an airport in France, and we were
stationed in France.
MASTIONI: So that would have been after '44, then.
CHOP: Yes, yes. I don't remember the exact time the
allies took over France, but that's when we moved
into France.
MASTIONI: Do you remember where you were stationed in --
CHOP: No. Not in France, no. I don't remember.
MASTIONI: Did you ever get liberties in France?
CHOP: Oh, yes; oh, yes. You know, we worked like we
worked as civilians. We worked, you know, five days
a week packing parachutes, repacking parachutes,
fixing and fitting up officers, and on weekends we
would have leave to go in through -- we used to go to
Paris and places like that.
MASTIONI: And then from there you went to -- Italy, was
it?
CHOP: Yes. We were in Italy for just a very short
period.
MASTIONI: Again doing the same thing.
CHOP: Yes.
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MASTIONI: Memorable -- memorable times or people that you
met anywhere in -- along the way, England, France
or --
CHOP: Oh, yes. We met a lot of people. Of course, I
don't remember their names, but everyone was very,
very sociable to the troops in Europe. They were
very, very sociable.
MASTIONI: When you say anyone, are you talking about
civilian populations?
CHOP: Civilians, yes.
MASTIONI: What did you do for entertainment, then, during
the times that you were -- when you were stationed?
CHOP: Well, we used to go to the movies there, theaters,
and, of course, we went to a lot of cocktail lounges,
and we had a very -- it was almost like being a
civilian. We enjoyed it very, very much.
MASTIONI: And I see you had some letters of citation.
Can you just talk about those? What were they?
CHOP: Well, it was a good conduct, of course, and then I
forgot what the other citations were for.
MASTIONI: That was at the European theater --
CHOP: Yes, yeah.
MASTIONI: And a distinguished unit badge, now, do you
recall what that signifies? That has to do with your
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unit receiving the citation for --
CHOP: Yes. Doing our work and doing it well.
MASTIONI: Okay. And which -- I assume because of the
nature of what you did you took it very -- your work
very seriously --
CHOP: Oh, yes.
MASTIONI: -- because you --
CHOP: Oh yes.
MASTIONI: -- had lives in the balance.
CHOP: Yes. We were very serious about our work.
MASTIONI: Did you stay -- during the time you were in the
service, were you able to stay in touch with your
family?
CHOP: Just by mail.
MASTIONI: And explain that. How often did you get
letters and -- were these the things called V-mails
or something like that?
CHOP: Yes, yes. And, of course, I sent letters home to
my mother and father, and two of my brothers were in
service, and I used to write to them. One of my
brothers was in the infantry, and he was fighting in
Europe, different parts of Europe. And my other
brother was in the Navy, and he was stationed in --
out in Chicago on the lake. I forgot the name of the
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lake that borders Chicago. And then from there he
went to California, but he never went overseas.
MASTIONI: Were you in contact with your brothers?
CHOP: By mail. And when I was in -- went to parachute
school, it was in Illinois, and it was a short
distance away from Chicago, and on weekends I used to
visit my brother in Chicago.
MASTIONI: And the one that was in the infantry in Europe,
did you see him while you were over there?
CHOP: No, not at all, no.
MASTIONI: Talk a little bit about the food that you had
particularly when you were in England and France and
Italy. Was that Army -- was it basically Army
MASTIONI: What was that like, the mess food?
CHOP: It was -- I thought it was very, very good. Many
of the people complained. I don't know why. But I
thought it was excellent. The food was good, well
prepared. And, of course, some of us occasionally
did KP. We worked in the kitchens, and that was on
rare occasions. Not too often did we do it, but I
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thought the food was good, and, of course, in both
England and France we enjoyed when we were on leave
to go to the fancy restaurants and enjoy the food.
MASTIONI: Was there enough to eat? Did they give you
plenty?
CHOP: More than enough to eat. I can't get over it. I
don't know why a lot of people complained about Army
food. I don't know what they were thinking about,
but I thought it was excellent.
MASTIONI: And so plenty of food. And you -- what about
supplies, your uniform and stuff? Were you always
supplied -- had adequate supplies?
CHOP: Anything we needed, and if something were damaged,
if we tore a pair of pants or a jacket, we'd bring it
into the supply department, and they take the old one
and give us a new one.
MASTIONI: You talked a minute ago about the
responsibility that you had. Did you feel a sort of
stress in what -- your job because you had
responsibility? Was that -- was that a stressful
situation?
CHOP: No, no, it wasn't. It was very similar to what I
was doing in civilian life, so I felt very
comfortable doing it.
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MASTIONI: Going back to this entertainment, whether you
talk about England, France or Italy, what did you do,
again, to entertain your -- I know you had mentioned
movies. Were there -- also were there entertainers,
the USO or shows? Were there shows or things that
you had?
CHOP: Yes. On very rare occasions we had -- I forget
what they called it. The USO would come and bring
entertainers there, but that was on very, very rare
occasions. During the war we were just too busy to
be able to leave our work and see entertainment.
MASTIONI: So when you said movies, were they movies on
base that you would go --
CHOP: No, no. The movies we saw were off base. We'd go
to town evenings, weekends.
MASTIONI: Was it secure, or was there still any --
CHOP: No.
MASTIONI: -- danger of bombings or whatever?
CHOP: No, none whatsoever.
MASTIONI: And in England were they still bombing in
England when you were --
CHOP: There was some bombing going on, but it didn't
affect us at all because we were on the outskirts.
They were doing most of the bombing in the bigger
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cities, and we were in camps on the outskirts.
MASTIONI: So did you ever get into a place like London?
CHOP: Oh, yes. Very often.
MASTIONI: Could you see damage when you were --
CHOP: Not at that time, no. It was already -- they were
doing bombing of other countries at the time. We saw
practically no bombing in England and in London, but
there was some going on, but it never affected us.
MASTIONI: You didn't get to travel on leave when you were
in the service and go places, then. You were --
CHOP: No.
MASTIONI: -- pretty much confined --
CHOP: Right.
MASTIONI: -- to where you were, what country you were in.
CHOP: Right.
MASTIONI: Do you recall any humorous events, anything
funny that happened when you were in the service?
CHOP: Not really. Only the humor we had among us in our
groups, the people we worked with.
MASTIONI: And was there a prankster in your group or
anybody that -- a particular jokester or whatever?
CHOP: Not really, no. If there was, I was the only one.
MASTIONI: Would you?
CHOP: Yeah. I always joked around.
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MASTIONI: Okay. We had asked about photos, and you said
you didn't have any photographs of you in the
service.
CHOP: I had taken many photographs. I have no idea where
they are. I've taken them in service, when I was on
leave, many photos, and I can't find one.
MASTIONI: Okay. And I asked you this already, but maybe
there's something you want to elaborate about.
Overall what did you think of your -- the officers
that were responsible for you? How did the officers
treat you and so forth?
CHOP: They treated us very, very well. I was very happy.
I was happy in the service, and, of course, the
officers helped us as much as possible. I don't
remember one officer we had problems with all
throughout my entire service. All the officers were
very, very good to us.
MASTIONI: How about your fellow -- your fellow soldiers?
CHOP: They were also -- you know, we got along very, very
well.
diary?
CHOP: No. I was very young. I probably should have,
but...
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MASTIONI: Do you recall the day that your service ended?
CHOP: Not exactly. I remember the period where it was
ending because --
MASTIONI: Were you -- let me rephrase the question.
When the war ended -- and that would have been, I
believe, in May of '45.
CHOP: Something like that, yes.
MASTIONI: Were you over -- where were you stationed at
that time?
CHOP: I was in England. We were back in England.
MASTIONI: So what was your reaction when you heard that
the war at least with Germany had ended?
CHOP: It was -- we were very thrilled and happy about it
because we knew we'd eventually be going home. And I
had transferred into a service squadron, and I was
supposedly in a very active squadron where we used to
get points. The service squadron did not get the
points that we did. I don't remember --
MASTIONI: What do points mean? What does that mean?
CHOP: It was -- you would get so many points for every
month of being in service, and we were considered --
we were an active service. The service squadrons
were not considered active, so I got more points than
the people I transferred to in the service squadron.
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As a result, when it came time for discharge, I was
pulled out of the service squadron and one of the
first to be discharged.
MASTIONI: You weren't discharged until November of '45,
so --
CHOP: No. I was discharged before that.
MASTIONI: Well, according to your records it --
CHOP: It was in September.
MASTIONI: Wait a minute. Yeah. According to your
records it says you were discharged on the 11th of
September.
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: I'm sorry.
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: September '45. What did I say?
CHOP: November.
MASTIONI: November. No. September of '45. So the war
had ended in May sometime, so, now, what were you
doing between May and September?
CHOP: I was in the service squadron not doing much of
anything. We were still packing because the -- our
planes were still flying, not in action, but they
were still flying, so we were still packing
parachutes, and, of course, when it ended --
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MASTIONI: So what was the time like after the war ended?
Did things --
CHOP: It wasn't much different for us because we never
saw any action during the war, and after the war it
was pretty much the same.
MASTIONI: I see. And did you go to any of the places
after the war was over where there were hostilities?
Did you ever get to travel to any --
CHOP: Not really, not really, because we were all waiting
to see how soon we'd be going back to the States.
MASTIONI: Okay. So you never got -- you never had any
travel time where you went to -- you were able to
travel --
CHOP: Not after the war. We did a little bit of
traveling during the war when we were on pass.
MASTIONI: So, now, you then came back to this country in
what? Was it September, about there?
CHOP: It was the end of August, beginning of September.
MASTIONI: Okay.
CHOP: But I know I was discharged in September.
MASTIONI: Where were you discharged from?
CHOP: From Fort Devens, Massachusetts. That's where I
originally went when I was going into service. My
first place was to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and
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that's where I was discharged.
MASTIONI: So you went in at Fort Devens. From Fort
Devens they sent you to Florida, where you take your
basic training.
CHOP: Yeah.
MASTIONI: From Florida you went over to England.
CHOP: No. From Florida I went to parachute school in
Illinois.
MASTIONI: In Illinois.
CHOP: And from parachute school I joined my outfit that I
was with, the 439th Troop Carrier Command, and that
was in North Carolina.
MASTIONI: And then from North Carolina?
CHOP: From North Carolina we went overseas.
MASTIONI: Okay. And then -- so were you in England, from
England to Fort Devens, then?
CHOP: From England I went to Fort Devens, yes, to
discharge.
MASTIONI: Discharged in Fort Devens.
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: So then what? Took the train back --
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: -- to Bridgeport?
CHOP: Yes.
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MASTIONI: Okay. When you get back here, talk about
the -- do you recall the day you got back?
CHOP: Not the exact date, no. All I know is when I got
back my first thought was the government would pay
for my college education, so I was looking. I went
through a series of tests that they were giving
veterans to see what they'd be most qualified for for
the rest of their lives, and they were doing that in
Bridgeport, and I took a series of tests, and they
said I'd be qualified to go to a teachers' school and
study physical education, and that's what I did.
MASTIONI: Under the GI Bill.
CHOP: Yes. Not only was it paying for my tuition, but
they gave us a certain amount of money for living
expenses. That was the gift of God to us.
MASTIONI: I want to go back a minute to what you had said
before. Were there any acquaintances that you made
in the service that you continued after the service?
Were there any friends that you met that you were
CHOP: For a short period of time, but eventually as we
got married, we just separated from each other.
MASTIONI: Were they -- where were they? Where did they
live, any of them?
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CHOP: Most of them lived in Connecticut -- a few of them
in Connecticut and a couple in Massachusetts.
MASTIONI: Did you ever join a veterans organization?
CHOP: I did for a while, but I was so busy, you know,
with college, and after I finished college, I was
teaching, and I was busy. Then I got married,
raising a family, so I didn't seem to have the time
to spend much time with organizations, not only
veterans, but other organizations. Between family
and colleges and studying and teaching, I didn't have
that kind of time.
MASTIONI: Let's talk about your career, what happened
from school. You know, what did you do?
Can you get your speaker? Where -- I don't see your
speaker. You can hold it in your hand for now. Go
ahead.
CHOP: Well, I went to college. I went to college for
four years, and when I graduated I couldn't get a
physical education job in the school system. There
were no openings, so I did graduate work in
elementary education, and I went to New York
University for my graduate degree, and I ended up
getting a teaching position in an elementary school
teaching science in grades seven and eight.
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MASTIONI: In Bridgeport.
CHOP: In Bridgeport.
MASTIONI: And then?
CHOP: And I did that for a number of years until I took
the principal's exam and I was promoted. I became a
principal, and eventually I went on to become --
MASTIONI: Principal at an elementary school in
Bridgeport?
CHOP: Elementary school in Bridgeport.
CHOP: And then from there I was made an administrator
with the board of education, and I went up the scale
on the ladder until eventually I became
superintendent.
MASTIONI: So you were actually a chief superintendent of
schools.
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: For the city of Bridgeport.
CHOP: Yes.
MASTIONI: How many years did your career span? Well, you
must have started around what? '40 --
CHOP: I started actually teaching in 1950, I think. It
was 1950. And I retired in 1976, so I was with the
system about 36 years. Plus, they gave me credit for
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my time in the service.
MASTIONI: Finally, Walter, your -- did the military
experience influence your thinking about war, about
military in general? Did that have any --
CHOP: No, no. Once I became a civilian, that was all
behind me. There was so much to look forward to with
college and starting a new career and family and
marriage and family and all that.
MASTIONI: Did you ever attend any reunions as far as your
service group? Were there any service reunions that
you ever went to?
CHOP: No.
MASTIONI: How would you say that the experience you had
in the service and in World War II -- how would you
say it affected your life?
CHOP: It uplifted my life. I don't know if I would have
been as successful as I have been if it hadn't been
for the service. The service gave me the opportunity
to go to college, where I became an educator, and I
went up the ranks in education, and I think much of
that was due because of being in the service. If I
hadn't been in the service, I don't know whether I
would have ever gone to college, because I didn't
have the money.
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MASTIONI: Finally, Walter, is there anything that you
would like to add that we haven't covered in this
interview?
CHOP: Well, the fact I have some very, very fond memories
of being in service, and I think it was an important
part of my life, a very important part of my life,
because it changed my whole life for me. Without my
service experience I would never have succeeded in
the life I lived.
MASTIONI: Walter, thank you very much for your time, and
thank you for serving our country.
CHOP: Well, I enjoyed reviewing it because, you know, I
don't spend that much time reviewing my past life,
but it was -- I thought I had a very good life, and I
think that's the result of being in service. As I
said, if I hadn't been in service, I don't know what
I'd end up doing for the rest of my life.
Here I am. I'm 85 years old. I'm in good health,
good memories, family, friends, and I think much of
that is as the result of my being in service. I
would have never gone to college, and I have good,
fond memories of my time in service.
MASTIONI: Thank you very much, Walter.
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