Thank You For Your Service!

 

HISTORY Q&A

Author: Joe Todd; Historian

Article Text:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Historian Joe L. Todd interviewed Jack Leisure on March 29, 2016 in Bartlesville for the Eisenhower Library.

Jack Leisure was born on Oct. 1, 2914 in Coffeyville, Kan., to John Leisure Sr. and Wilma (Pierce) Leisure. His father was an engineer for Cities Services. The family moved to Bartlesville a year after he was born. He attended school in Bartlesville, graduating from College High School in 1942.

JOE TODD: Who was your favorite teacher?

JACK LEISURE: They were all good and really didn't have a favorite. Custer taught math and he was the coach.

T: Did you know him? L: I knew him pretty well.

T: Tell me about him.

L: He was mainly interested in athletics and he was a good coach. He coached football, basketball and tennis. I played all three.

T: Did you have a good football team?

L: Yes, we won about half our games. Back then the blacks had a school across the tracks and we really didn't have good teams until they let the blacks come to College High.

T: Didn't the Custer's have Sanipool?

L: Sanipool was owned by Phillips at one time and the Custers managed it. I life guarded there. Rufus Bandy and I were lifeguards there.

T: What did you do as a lifeguard at Sanipool?

L: Our qualifications were pretty low but I belonged to the YMCA all my life and Jo Allen Lowe taught me how to swim. To be a life guard all you had to be was a good swimmer. We had no formal training as a lifeguard.

T: Where did you live in Bartlesville?

L: 706 S. Creek when we moved to Bartlesville then we lived at 2090 Southview. South from 20th on was in the county.

T: What did you do for recreation for high school?

L: Played sports.

T: Did you climb Circle Mountain.

T: Yes.

T: What did you do up there?

L: Back then the upper classmen took the freshmen out and made them strip down to their underwear and made them walk all the way up Circle Mountain.

T: Did you have to do that?

L: Almost, they picked me up right after football practice and I had a buddy that was a big husky fellow, his name was Hyman. He told them if you take Jack you have to take me too and they drove off. They didn't want to tackle him.

T: How often would you go to the movie theater here in Bartlesville?

L: Probably once a month at the Osage.

T: They had the news of the world and the color cartoon.

L: Yes.

T: On the news of the world did they show what was going on in China?

L: I don't remember.

T: What grocery stores did you shop?

L: When we grew up there was Ward's Grocery on the east side then later on we shopped at the Food Palace right across the street from College High.

T: Where were you Dec. 7, 1941?

L: I had a date and we were walking to the Osage theater when we heard about it. It was Sunday and I was 17 and knew I would be going to the service.

T: After the war started did you help with the scrap metal drives or rubber drives?

L: I think so.

T: Where did you take the scrap metal?

L: It was picked up.

T: What type of scrap metal did you collect?

L: I don't remember. My good buddy Dick Hyman, his father had a scrap metal business right across from the depot and he collected the scrap metal. That was his business.

T: How did rationing affect you and your family?

L: I don't think it had much affect.

T: I didn't ask, how did the great Depression affect you?

L: None of us had much anyway and I can't say it had much affect. We didn't have many luxuries. My father was still working for Cities Service.

T: When did you join the Marines?

L: Aug. 19, 1943.

T: Where did you go for your Boot Camp?

L: San Diego. Everybody west of the Mississippi River went to San Diego. Everyone east went to Parris Island.

T: Why did you join the Marines over the Army or the Navy?

L: I didn't want the Army and I didn't want the Navy and I had always heard about the Marines and every Marine I had met was proud to be a Marine and so was I.

T: Tell me about the trip to San Diego.

L: I don't remember too much about the trip but the train was loaded with service people.

T: When the train stopped were you allowed to get off?

L: No, we stayed on train and the trip took a long time.

T: Where did you sleep on the train?

L: In our seats.

T: How long did the trip take?

L: I think about a week. T: How were the meals on the train?

L: Pretty good.

T: Tell me about Boot Camp.

L: Fortunately I had been an athlete and was in good shape but it was tough. Really tough on those young men that had not had a lot of physical training.

T: Did you pull KP?

L: No.

T: Did you have the forced marches in Boot Camp?

L: Yes and they would get you out in the middle of the night and do things.

T: What is in a full field pack?

L: I don't remember.

T: How long did Boot Camp last?

L: It seemed like forever but I think it was six weeks.

T: What is your most vivid memory of Boot Camp?

L: We had inspections all the time and I remember this one time we were called out and I didn't put any socks on and this sergeant noticed it and he made me feel like an asshole. He said, "In Oklahoma don't you wear socks?"

T: After Boot Camp where did you go?

L: I had asked for aviation and went to Miramar then they sent me to Memphis, Tennessee, to an aviation mechanics school.

T: Tell me about the school.

L: It was a good school and Millington was the name of the base and it was a few miles out of Memphis. In Memphis they had a Marine Canteen and a lot of high school girls came there and danced.

T: What type of training did you have?

L: We learned to service aircraft.

T: Were you working on a specific aircraft?

L: Mainly I specialized in the SBD, a dive bomber.

T: How long did the school last?

L: About two months. T: How were the instructors in the school?

L: They were real qualified and they were Navy.

L: After that school where did you go?

L: Back to San Diego.

T: What did you do there?

L: I wasn't there very long then I was shipped overseas.

T: Where did you leave the states?

L: San Diego.

T: Do you recall the ship you were on?

L: It was a troop ship but I don't remember the name.

T: When you were leaving the states on the troop ship what were you thinking?

L: I was kind of scared. I had never been out of the U.S.

T: Where were your quarters on the troop ship?

L: About three decks down and I had a top bunk. They were stacked five high and I got seasick. Some Navy Chief saw me throwing up and he told me to just keep eating even though you are throwing up and you will eventually hold it down and he was right.

T: What were you told to do in case the ship was torpedoed and sinking?

L: I don't think they gave us instructions. One time overseas I on a troop ship and we were being followed by a Japanese submarine and they put us down below deck in the hold. I would have rather been up on deck than down in that dark hold. We had escort ships that dropped depth charges. One of the depth charges knocked out the lights and that is why it was dark down there but we made it.

T: How did you pass the time on the trip?

L: We played cards, poker.

T: Did you win?

L: A little.

T: How were the meals on the ship?

L: Pretty good. Those navy chefs knew what they were doing.

T: Where did the ship go?

L: We stopped overnight in Hawaii. The officers went to shore but we couldn't. Then we went to the South Pacific.

T: Did the ship go to Pearl Harbor?

L: Yes.

T: What did you think when you saw the Arizona and the Oklahoma?

L: They hadn't had time to clean it up and all that wreckage was visible and it pissed me off, plainly speaking. I was ready to fight every Jap I could find.

T: Where did you go in the South Pacific?

L: North of New Guinea to the Caroline Island Group.

T: Were you on a Marine base?

L: Not really they just kept us busy and we didn't get to a Marine Base until we got to the Philippines.

T: Were you working on the SBD?

L: Yes we were working on the land=-based SBD.

T: What did you do?

L: I was a plane captain and kept the plane in good shape.

T: What are the duties of the plane captain?

L: My job was to keep the ship in ship shape but then they were short on gunners and the commander said the plane captains are going to fly gunner. They gave us a short course in gunner. The SBD had twin 30 caliber machine guns in the back cockpit. Those Marine pilots were good.

T: What did you think being a gunner?

L: I had been on the rifle team in high school and had shot rifles all my life so it wasn't anything new.

T: What were the main targets?

L: Mainly the Japanese Zero was our main target but I never did see one when I was a gunner. After we were on a base in the South Pacific we were bombed a lot and that is when I saw the Zero.

T: How many missions did you fly as a gunner?

L: I don't know.

T: Did you have one SBD that you worked on or did you have several?

L: Just one. Later on I did work on a TBF, torpedo bomber for a short time.

T: What is the difference between the two?

L: The TBF only had one cockpit and the SBD had two cockpits.

T: When did you got to the Philippines?

L: 1944. We put up a sign but they made us take it down and it said, "Thanks to God and the Marines MacArthur returned to the Philippines."

T: Why did they make you take it down?

L: They didn't want MacArthur to see it. That famous picture of him wading ashore, Leyte was secured when they filmed that.

T: What did you do in the invasion of the Philippines?

L: You did what you were told to do. I was 19 years old at that time. I recall we were bombed on Leyte and Luzon by the Japanese.

T: What were you thinking?

L: Scared.

T: What type of quarters did you have?

L: We slept in tents and we dug a foxhole outside of every tent and we didn't get much sleep in those foxholes. It was raining and wet and the only thing we had to cover with was a poncho.

T: What is your most vivid memory of the Philippines?

L: The islands were beautiful, it reminded me of the Ozarks. On Leyte after it was secured we picked up some nurses and one told us how the Japanese had raped the nurses and destroyed their quarters. She was a Navy nurse. The Japanese were mean. We took that nurse to some temporary quarters they had set up.

T: Did you come in contact with any other prisoners the Japanese had taken?

L: We were on an island in the Philippines and I forget which island and we were in the chow line and there was a man that looked Japanese behind me in a Marine uniform. Come to find out he was a Japanese soldier that had taken the uniform off a dead Marine and he was starving and he was in our chow line. We called the MPs and they took him away. He had come down out of the hills and got in our chow line but he looked different than any Marine I had seen.

T: Were you preparing for the invasion of Japan?

L: It has been so long I don't remember.

T: Did you have any contact with the local people in the Philippines?

L: Yes and they were good people but I had very little contact with them.

T: How long were you in the Philippines?

L: It seemed like forever but it was only about six months.

T: Were you in the Philippines when the war ended?

L: No.

T: When you heard about the atomic bomb what did you think?

L: I didn't know much about it but I thought it was good.

T: What did you do on V-J Day when the war ended?

L: I was in San Diego and had a date and everyone was celebrating.

T: What did you do?

L: We went to a bar.

T: Tell about the trip home.

L: It was uneventful and again it was a troop ship.

T: Where did the ship land?

L: San Diego. One thing that I will always remember was the burials at sea we had. I will never forget that. They were under an American flag and they were slid off the ship into the water on a ramp. It has been a long time ago. You go out on points and when we got to San Diego I got out pretty fast because I had a lot of points. I had an aunt and uncle in Long Beach so I went to visit them for a while

T: When were you discharged?

L: Oct. 20, 1945.

T: What did you do after you got your discharge?

L: I came back to Bartlesville and enrolled at Oklahoma A & M.

T: What did you study? L: Geology. I got my degree and went to work for Cities Service as a geophysicists. I worked for them for 20 years. They sent me to Bogota, Columbia and worked there for three years.

T: What did you do?

L: I supervised seismograph crews.

T: Did you find oil?

L: Some.

T: Who was your supervisor at Cities Service?

L: The chief geophysicist was Bradley. He was a Colorado School of Mines graduate. He was smart.

T: When did you retire? L: My father-in-law was a land developer here in Bartlesville and I went to work for him.

T: Where did you meet your wife?

L: I picked her up on a street corner here in Bartlesville in 1947.

T: What is her name?

L: Donna Marilyn Gordon.

T: When did you get married?

L: 1949 and we have been married over 60 years.

T: Would you join the Marines again?

L: Yes.

T: I'd like to do a word association. I'll give you some works and you give me your reaction. The first one is Adolf Hitler.

L: He was kind of a nut but had a big following in Germany.

T: Tojo.

L: He was a good military leader and the Japanese loved him.

T: Boot Camp.

L: It was good training. We spent two weeks on the firing range.

T: What rifle did you have?

L: We started out with the .22 then went to the 30-30, the M-1. That was a good rifle.

T: Aviation mechanic school.

L: It was a good school in Memphis, Tennessee

T: Troop ship.

L: I didn't like troop ships.

T: Why?

L: Too many people boxed up in one area.

T: Philippines.

L: The Filipino people I knew I had a lot of respect for them. They were pretty islands.

T: Douglas MacArthur. L: A great man. I saw MacArthur once. He examined our troops. He was in the back of this vehicle and we had all of our airplanes on display and he saluted us.

T: Dwight Eisenhower L: Another great man. T: Franklin Roosevelt. L: A great man.

T: Harry Truman.

L: I like Harry. He had a lot of common sense.

T: WWII.

L: It had to be.

T: What did we learn from WWII?

L: That is a good question. I'm not sure we learned a lot.

T: How do you want to be remembered?

L: As a good Marine.