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My name is Virginia Hamrick. I'm here with Ruth Gallaxhar. It is December 14th, 2014, and we're here to talk about her experience in the Panama Canal. Hey, and we just mhm only the okay, the red light is on. Okay. Okay. So could you start just with saying what year you were born?

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I was born in 1921. And where were you born? In Atlanta, Georgia. And when I was about 21 I worked in a big office building in downtown Atlanta and I worked on the second floor. So I walked up the steps every day while the other girls went up on elevators.

00:00:48.860 - 00:01:17.340

And one day we noticed that there was a military major had set up a card table with a stack of papers on the table, and he was talking to girls and giving them the papers. And I didn't pay any attention to him until one day. Uh, the girl that I worked with had had one of the papers and she was smiling and so happy, And And I said, Well, what's making me so happy?

00:01:17.340 - 00:01:38.230

And she said, I'm going to Panama and to work, and I said Why? And she said Way have just been recruited by this major downstairs to go down and for girls to go down to Panama and relieve Army soldiers so they could go into active duty.

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And he's recruiting 100 girls and in this building. And she said, We're going to get, ah, lot more money. We'll have our buildings. Our housing is paid for We'll have breakfast and lunch at the mess hall with with the soldiers and, uh, are will have almost no power bill at all.

00:02:03.420 - 00:02:23.480

Mine was 75 cents a month, 70 75 cents a month for power. And, uh so I thought, Well, that sounds really interesting on, uh so I thought, Well, I better better go down and get one of those papers, too. And I looked at it and I had just gotten over T B.

00:02:23.490 - 00:02:43.610

And I told my mother about it, and I told her all of the girls that were going on and they were all girls I had gone through school with, and I knew everybody really well, and, uh and she said, Well, I'm surprised that you didn't sign up to and I said, Well, I just didn't think you'd let me go because of my illness.

00:02:43.620 - 00:02:58.920

So she called the doctor, and the doctor said it was the best place in the world for me to go because of the TV. That's only 10 10 degrees difference in there night and day. And in Atlanta it was cold at night and and hot during the day.

00:02:58.930 - 00:03:22.220

And, uh so she said, I think I think if you want to you you could do it because I had three brothers who were in the service and I felt like I was doing nothing. So we filed for our passports. He he signed up 100 girls, 99 passports came in mind, did not.

00:03:22.230 - 00:03:55.690

And and it said that the reason that I could not go was that I was related to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany so they would not allow me to go. And, uh, the Major Miller said that when he read it, he thought, well, of all the people in the world who would want to kill Hitler, it would be anybody related to Kaiser Wilhelm because he threw Kaiser Wilhelm out of office, and, uh so he went to the state department and he talked to them and they saw it his way then and they said, Well, yeah, you're right.

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So, uh, all 98 girls had already gone down and you had been put into the into various jobs. And so my roommate and I were the last two to arrive, and, uh, Major Miller picked us up at the airport and, uh, and took us into Thio to the girl who assigned jobs.

00:04:20.180 - 00:04:39.710

And she said, Well, there are no jobs left. She said, We don't have a single space except working on airplanes and the hangers, and I said, Well, that's not why I'm in Panama. I came down to do secretarial work. So Major Miller said, You stay right where you are for about 15 minutes and I'm gonna go.

00:04:39.720 - 00:05:02.230

I've got an idea. I'll be right back in. 15 minutes later, he came back and he was really smiling. He said, How would you like to be the secretary to the commanding general of the six Air Force? Well, I couldn't believe it, but I said, well, I'd love it and he said, Well, I'm taking you over right now to introduce you to him.

00:05:02.240 - 00:05:21.210

and he said he decided to give up the man who was working for him because he wasn't much of a secretary. And hey said, I know you have done secretarial work, So I started working. I first worked for, uh I can't think of his name now give it to you later.

00:05:21.220 - 00:05:44.380

But he was only there for about a month and he was transferred. And then General Sorenson came in and he was secretary. He was the commanding general for about three or four months, and I got along really well with both of them. And then General Lundberg was boys brought in and they were the other two.

00:05:44.380 - 00:06:04.910

What were gone? And General Lundberg and I were just like grandfather and granddaughter. We just took to each other immediately and e it got to the point where he could tell me to write a letter and I would would write a letter thio and he would sign and he'd say, that's exactly what I was gonna say.

00:06:04.920 - 00:06:27.550

Eso way just got along famously, and, uh, then I've done Let me see what happened. Well, I've worked there for Ah, long, long time. I was with him for almost five years and I wanted to tell you some of the things, So that happened while I was working for him.

00:06:27.940 - 00:07:00.420

Um, I just told Cathy that how I met the president of Panama, this, uh, Langil a who was a General Lundberg's a pilot and aid. Um, the three of us were just like family. We were together all day and usually a lot during the night. And he called me one Sunday and he said, Are you doing anything with the general today?

00:07:00.420 - 00:07:20.060

And I said no and he said, Well, I've got to take the soul Panamanian man to see his land General Lundberg called me and told me to do it, and he said, We're going thio take him to Rio Hata. And he said, I thought if you had nothing to do, you might like to go because they have.

00:07:20.070 - 00:07:42.270

They have such good fresh lobster and, uh, hey said and then waken enjoy a good good lunch there and then fly back. And I said, Well, I don't have anything else to do it, so I guess I will. And he said, Well, the old man is getting on the plane on my side of the field and we'll taxi over.

00:07:42.270 - 00:07:58.680

And when you see the generals taxi plane taxiing over, you walk across the street and get on the plane. And I just lived right across the street from the airport. So I saw the plane and I went over and I got on and there was nobody on except me.

00:07:58.830 - 00:08:22.060

And then we started down the runway, and the first thing that that I realized what all of the barrage balloons were gone. The barrage balloons were like Zeppelins, but they had no engines in them. They were just air, and they went from 20 ft by chained to the ground up to 2000 ft.

00:08:22.240 - 00:09:10.940

And they were almost solid. But it was to keep Japanese and German planes from bombing the canal. So I finally figured out that it had to be the president of Panama who had who had done it. But I didn't know his name. So, uh, when we started to get, have about an hour later and we had flown all up and down and around about all over every inch of Panama, and I realized that it was all armed and there were tents or there were, uh, soldiers and rebels, and there were all sorts of Army installations of the whole whole country was covered.

00:09:11.490 - 00:09:37.740

And, uh, the door opened from the cockpit. And this young young man who was my age came out and he said, uh, my name is Tony. And hey said my father and and Lynn were worried about if we were making you sick with flying up and down and around and I said, No, I've enjoyed every minute of it and, uh, hey said, Well, we're going to be landing.

00:09:37.740 - 00:10:01.710

It really had a pretty soon. So after a while I saw we were going down and I could see all of the men from from Rio had were out on the field, and they all had bandits and their guns and the flags were flying. The band was playing, and I knew that it was a reception, you know, for the president.

00:10:01.720 - 00:10:22.360

And so then we landed, and this nice man came out and he said, Uh uh, Ruthie, I'm Tony's father, so I still didn't know his name. And I said, Yes, sir. And and, uh, he said, I've invited you and Linda Goto our ranch for lunch, if you would like.

00:10:22.360 - 00:10:43.740

And I said, well, uh, that would be very nice. And, uh, thinking all the time I'm gonna kill in July if I ever get a chance because he had done it deliberately. He really got me. So, uh, we all got in and one head a a strangest looking car.

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It was khaki green, and on one side was the American flag, and on the other side was the Panamanian flag. But it was a Cadillac that had been specially made so that there were four people could sit comfortably on the back seat. And then on the back of the front seats were two more chairs that opened up to make more, more space.

00:11:08.210 - 00:11:28.980

So we got in the car and we drove down the runway. We didn't ride on the street. We went down the runway on, we got to the end of the runway, and there was a dirt road, and we turned off of it. And then we got to their ranch, and, uh, so way went in and we had lunch.

00:11:28.980 - 00:11:59.340

And, uh, during lunch, Tony had left the table for a few minutes and I heard this terrible racket and noise, and I said, What in the world is that noise? And his father said, Well, he said, That's Tony riding a horse through the house And he said, The cook has has been at him since he was four years old with a switch and she's got a switch back there now.

00:11:59.350 - 00:12:24.850

And, uh, and he was I could hear him laughing. And when he came in, he was on one of those beautiful white, uh, lips and stallion's. And and we were all started laughing. And I said, Oh, are you my, um what do you call it? They Are you my Oh, I'm lost for words.

00:12:27.740 - 00:13:03.560

Night, night, shining armor, You my knight in shining armor. And he said, I hope so. And, uh, and he wrote on off and and, uh and then hey took us back over to the to our plane and they stayed in Rio had, uh and, uh, two days later, my roommates camera broke and she will ask me, we were not allowed to go into Panama by ourselves, and, uh, she asked me if I would go in with her to get her camera fixed and I said yes, and we went in and there was there was Tony and his brother Tito.

00:13:03.570 - 00:13:26.110

And, uh so we he rushed over and he said, I've been trying to find your phone number because I wanted to call and see if you'd have dinner with me some night. And I said, Oh, I'd like that. So, uh, that's we Four months later, we were engaged to be married, but on he had been, I guess, my knight in shining armor.

00:13:26.120 - 00:13:47.760

But I did a lot of interesting things when I was with them, you know? And now let me see. What's the next thing I want to tell you about first? Can we backtrack? What year did you say you went to Panama? 42. Okay, I should make sure we have that on the record.

00:13:47.770 - 00:14:09.580

Um, tomorrow mentioned something you had a great story about. She said, Ask about the pineapples. Yes. One day Tony called me at about quarter of 12, and he said, I've just come down from the ranch and I've got three big bags of pineapples that I picked for the Union Club, which was their private club.

00:14:09.590 - 00:14:31.770

And hey said, I know how much you enjoy their food. So I thought maybe you'd go over with me for lunch and would take the pineapples and, uh then I'll bring you back to work and I said, Oh, I love it. So I went out and got in the car and we went, went to the Union Club and we had Thio weren't able to park right in front.

00:14:31.770 - 00:14:56.200

So we had to park about, ah, half a block away and he got out and he picked up one bag of the pineapples and he said, g, these air heavier than I thought they were gonna bay and And he picked up the second bag and he said, I'm gonna have to come back and get the third when I guess And And I just reached over and grabbed one of the bags of pineapples and and, uh, hey said, Put that down right this minute.

00:14:56.210 - 00:15:18.460

You can't touch that. And I said, If you can carry it, I can carry it. So I just took off and and he got the other one and tried to reach me as quickly as possible. But a zai got to the club one of the waiters came running out and grabbed the bag of pineapples out of my arms and and took it in real fast.

00:15:18.470 - 00:15:36.150

So, uh, we had our lunch. And when I came back to my office and about 15 minutes after us had been in the O S s called and that was like CIA and they said, uh, did you enjoy your lunch with Tony at the at the Union Club?

00:15:36.150 - 00:15:52.400

And I said, Well, yes, I did. And they said, You know what? You carried in? I said, Yes, a bag of pineapples And he said Yes. There were three pineapples in the top of each bag and do you know what was underneath him? And I said no and they said, Hand grenades.

00:15:52.840 - 00:16:18.070

I said, You mean I carried bags of hand grenades and and they said Yes. And I said, Please don't tell General Lundberg because I knew he would not like that at all. So they said, All right, if you promised not to do anything like it again and I said, Well, I said, And he said, We've got some really pretty pictures of it if you'd like to see them and I said no But I said, what were you doing there anyway?

00:16:18.070 - 00:16:36.550

And they said Tony knew that we were following him to protect him in case some of the Japanese or the Germans, you know, tried Thio overtake his car knowing what was in there. And, uh, he said, but we had no idea he was going to go into all Brookfield and pick you up.

00:16:36.840 - 00:17:09.910

But he said we followed him on in tow dog Brookfield, and we followed him. And he knew we were following him because he knew that he was always watched and protected. And hey said, uh uh, but he said, Do you mean that? You've You've been dating him and you didn't know that he was an American spy And I said, No, he's never said anything about it And he said, Well, he has done a lot of good things for this country, and he helps us all the time.

00:17:09.910 - 00:17:37.850

He and his father and he said, You know, his uncle ARN Awful, who has been president, is Hitler's friend and, uh, harm Odio, who is his who's Tony's father is Roosevelt's good friend. So, uh, he said, just, uh, just hey, said Tony did did not want you to touch that bag, but he said it worked out.

00:17:37.850 - 00:18:00.340

All right. So, uh, that was one of the things that, uh that we did and let me see something else. Uh, but I also heard you caught a Nazi. Yes, I caught my very own knoxy on. We really had a which was a bomber base and a huge bomber base.

00:18:00.350 - 00:18:39.150

And it was all the land had been owned by Tony's father Harm Odio. And I was just reading in this book that the United States government paid paid him $30 million a year rent for leasing that land for that base. But, uh, way were teaching all of our allies, Uh, like, uh, well, any any allied country who wanted to send bomber pilots to be talked to be bombers, uh, at Rio Hatta.

00:18:39.160 - 00:19:07.510

And sometimes there would be three or four different groups there at one time, because it was huge. And this one and sometimes they would want to celebrate when they would graduate. So this one night, uh, the commanding officer, uh, area had to call me and he said, uh, we've got a group from Guatemala who wants Thio have a party when they graduate.

00:19:07.510 - 00:19:33.150

And he said, Do you think you could get 30 or 40 girls to come up? And it was easy. All I had to do is put a paper on the board because we got a beautiful piece of jewelry and we had a drawing for money for tickets and and the girls signed up Justus fast as I put the paper up, So way got up there and, uh, the man Excuse me.

00:19:33.160 - 00:19:54.560

Stop this thing. What was I talking about? Oh, the green was going to Rio. Oh, but so we when we got off the bus, uh, different ones from Guatemala. They were standing in the line and and they would say, Can I be your escort for the weekend?

00:19:54.560 - 00:20:27.410

And and all the girls would say Yes, because we had, ah, beautiful barracks that they had, uh, that was directly on the beach, and they had cleaned it completely out just for all of the girls. And we even had guards on the outside. So the man that had had worked with me to plan the party was my escort for the weekend, and we had on Friday night we would just have an informal get together and eat and and talk and get to know each other.

00:20:27.420 - 00:21:05.730

And on Saturdays we would stay all day at the beach and then, late in the afternoon with the girls would have to come home and do their hair and and put on long formal gowns for for the big Saturday night pro problem program. And I The mess hall was was huge, and in back of it was the dance floor, and it was tiled floor, but it was screened in, and it was directly on the sand of the beach, and, uh, it was, and they had brought abandon for it.

00:21:05.740 - 00:21:26.710

And, uh so I had danced with a lot of the different Guatemalan man and and, uh, my my escort and I had had gone over and sat down on a sofa, and we're just talking. He was standing in back of the sofa and I was sitting on it and this Guatemalan man came over and said, Would you like to dance?

00:21:26.710 - 00:21:47.110

And I said Yes. And so we danced two full dances and never said one single solitary word to each other. And when he brought me back, I thought, Well, this is sort of embarrassing, you know, not to say a word. And so I I sat down on the sofa and I said in my escort was still in back of the sofa.

00:21:47.120 - 00:22:05.740

I said, I said, You must be very proud of yourself for graduating for bomber School and I said, Now you can can join our group and go over and get rid of Get rid of Hitler And he said, Oh, no, not me. He said, I'm a knoxy.

00:22:05.750 - 00:22:27.850

I'm going to join Hitler and my escorts Fist came across that sofa and how he reached I'll never, ever figure out. But he hit that man under the chin and knocked him on his back and and in his fancy white uniforms, Hey went all the way across the dance floor.

00:22:28.440 - 00:22:48.790

So the party was over for the night. You know, they stopped, and they the officer the day who had been about 15 ft away from me when when this happened and he saw it happened and he saw my my date hit hit him, you know, and he came over and he said, Did that man say something bad?

00:22:48.790 - 00:23:16.510

to you, Ruth, and I said, No, he's And we both said in one word, he said He's a knoxy and he said, You gotta be kidding And I said No. And so they called in the, uh What do you call the police? The MPs and 22 MPs took me out and put me in a car, and they told me not to say one word to anybody.

00:23:16.520 - 00:23:35.710

And they took my escort and they took. They took the other man in hand in handcuffs, the Guatemala and, uh So they took us to headquarters and they called in all of their legal sources. And I was in and an office for about an hour before anybody came in to talk to me.

00:23:35.770 - 00:24:03.310

And yeah, the man on officer came in, one of the attorneys came in, and and, uh, I told him exactly what happened, and he said, Well, that's exactly what your date said to. So he said, Uh, but we're not keeping you here. He said. We call General Lundberg, and General Lundberg said that he was sending his own plane up to get you and that he would meet you at all.

00:24:03.310 - 00:24:20.100

Brooke Field and he wants you to come back immediately because he's afraid something might happen to you. So I when I kept saying But my purses and on the dining room table and And what about my clothes? And they said, Don't worry about anything. We'll handle it all.

00:24:20.100 - 00:24:43.510

You you've got to go right this minute. So I got on the plane and went back. Thio all Brooke and General Lundberg was there with a couple of our lawyers and they went back to his house and he lived in a big house on all Brooke Field or not, not a like a barracks or anything like that.

00:24:43.510 - 00:25:02.340

You know, it was a great big, beautiful house and he said, You're staying here for the night and you'll be guarded. And, uh, I said, Well, what about all the things that I left and I really had a And they said, Well, you're, uh we'll see to it that everything you have will be brought back to you.

00:25:02.350 - 00:25:20.180

So, uh, they all listen Thio all all of my story. And I told him exactly what happened, and General Lundberg said, Well, I want to keep you out of it because I'm afraid that a German or Japanese might kill you, you know, for turning him in.

00:25:20.410 - 00:25:40.830

So hey said you will be guarded and in fact, they put up offices. Ah, guard shed right in front of my apartment. And they said, You'll be guarded night and day now. And it was came out in the newspapers, but my name was not in it.

00:25:40.840 - 00:26:06.970

And I was not even allowed to tell my roommate what happened, and everybody was imagining all sorts of things, you know, But they had no idea what what I had gotten into. And finally, the day of the that I was to testify, General Lundberg had seen to it that there would be absolutely nobody in the court except the judge and the jewelry.

00:26:06.980 - 00:26:34.560

And, uh so I I testified and, uh, I got out of it. I was I was all right. So I asked him Then I support what happened. Thio, Knoxy and and to the my escort. And he said, Well, your escort has been sent to Italy for active duty, and he's out of it, and the, uh, knoxy is in the Panamanian jail.

00:26:34.570 - 00:27:09.450

So he said Guatemala will have to take care of that. But then, after thinking about it, uh, during during the trial, they had found that there were two other Knox is in in that group. And General Lundberg got to worrying about that. We were training. Doc's is, you know, we were just taking in and allies, uh, troops and there was no test on them or no, no investigation.

00:27:09.460 - 00:27:34.260

So they all all of the leaders of all of the army, Navy and air Force groups all went to Washington and they decided that they would change their entire system of how they would go about training allies. So they had had to be investigated thoroughly before they would be allowed to come to rehab after that.

00:27:34.740 - 00:28:15.930

So then let me see what was the next thing, and I head down here. So you lived at Rio had I lived at all Brooke Field, Uh, and like barracks? Well, we had I had just when I first went to got to Panama, I left it for Clayton and for Clayton was a brand new fort, and, uh, we had thio come to work on a bus and we'd have to stand out and wait for the bus and in the meantime, then the answer the Nats or whatever it was from the from the fresh ground would just chew our legs up.

00:28:15.940 - 00:28:40.180

And all of us, all of us girls had to wear pink Cala mean lotion on our legs. And one day, General Lundberg said to me, uh, what do you girls wear? Pink Kalemie in lotion on your legs? And And I told him about for Clayton and he said, Well, I don't want you doing that And he said, uh, would would you move to Albert Field?

00:28:40.140 - 00:29:02.360

And I said, What? Yeah, I'd love to and he said, Well, this apartment's right across the street from where we work and he showed him to me and he said, Uh, you'll have everything that you want. You'll have a maid, you'll have everything and eso I I had was I only lived it for Clayton.

00:29:02.360 - 00:29:23.040

Maybe maybe a month. I don't I don't remember. It wasn't very long, but then I lived at, uh at all but field. But the girls from from Fort Clayton when if there was no bridge over the canal at that time, and if they got to the canal and the ship was trying to go through.

00:29:23.050 - 00:29:48.730

They they just laid down on the bus and went back to sleep because it might taken our, you know, for that big ship to go through the canal or through the locks. And, uh so they would be late to work. And I was I was right across the street from where we worked, and I had my breakfast at the mess hall and and I usually met General Lundberg and they had an officer's mess.

00:29:48.730 - 00:30:09.190

And I met General Lindbergh, and I had a note pad with me, and I wrote down what are plans were for the day and who he was seeing and different things and and all all of the bill. Everything in Panama at that time was only two stories high, except for one building.

00:30:09.190 - 00:30:31.870

It was the old Panama Hotel, and it was six stories high. And, uh, uh, mhm way lived on the I mean, we worked on the second floor of this building, and it was called the Ivory Tower, and there was 22 Spanish girls worked in there. They were interpreters.

00:30:31.880 - 00:30:58.590

And then I worked in there for the General and then they had put my best friend in in that building so I wouldn't be by myself. And one day I was sitting at my desk and I looked out out the, uh down the stairs, and I saw the best looking man I have ever seen in my life, and I was just I just couldn't take my eyes off of his face.

00:30:58.590 - 00:31:22.350

He had black, wavy hair and green eyes and was gorgeous. So he came in and he said, Uh, General Lundberg is expecting me, and I looked on the list and I said, I don't I don't know. Let me go talk to him. So I went in and I said, I said The best looking man in the whole wide world is out there said that that you are expecting him and he said, Well, did you notice where he was from?

00:31:22.640 - 00:31:42.670

I said, What do you mean, where was he from? He said, Ruth, he didn't have on American cash uniforms. Hey said if if that had been a German, would you have let him in on Japanese? And I said, I know, I guess I would have noticed the difference and and he said, Well, he's from Canada and he's here.

00:31:42.670 - 00:32:06.690

Thio, uh, inspect our radar installations. And he said, You know, there are a lot of little islands. Now, here I am saying what I was not gonna say, Uh, there are a lot of little islands up there, and, uh, they're thinking of putting the the radar on their little islands just like we have.

00:32:06.700 - 00:32:57.170

And this this man, well, he's here all by himself. He doesn't even have a co pilot. He's completely alone. And, uh, hey said, uh, he's going thio, inspect just for the radar and it's top secret. You're not supposed to tell anybody, So I said Okay, so, uh, I when they talked for about an hour and when they came out, General Lundberg came with him, which was unusual, and he said, uh, I can't remember the man's name, but he was He was from Canada, and he said, uh, he has asked me if I would ask you if you would go out with him and show him where all the young people go at night and maybe introduce him to some people because he's here completely alone.

00:32:57.240 - 00:33:16.100

And I said, Oh yeah, I'll do that s o I showed him where I lived and and the general said, I'm giving. I'm gonna let you have my car tonight so you don't have to worry about, uh, taxes or anything. And he said you show him all of the places where you young people go.

00:33:16.110 - 00:33:46.770

And, uh, so the 1st 1st place that we went into, we went into a bar where they had Spanish entertainment, and I just just as we sat down four or five different offices, people that well, I knew almost everybody because of my job. But four or five different officers came over to say hello to me because they saw the different uniforms and they wanted to know who he was and what he was doing that in there.

00:33:46.740 - 00:34:08.300

So, uh, we told him that he was there on on a mission, and and then the next place we went, we went thio dinner, and, uh, we went to What was that? The big hotel. El Panama? No, it was a big white wooden building. This just like the Bellevue building.

00:34:08.310 - 00:34:28.650

Tivoli. Tivoli? Yes. So we went to the Tivoli and just sat down there and here come all these different officers over to say hello to me when they really want to know What's this man in this different uniformed doing in this country? So, uh, and then then we went to the nightclub in the same thing happened.

00:34:28.660 - 00:34:45.960

Well, it was It got to be funny. So hey, and I got to be really good friends and and media dated quite a quite a while and And then one day I was at work and General Lundberg called and he said, I'm in Hangar seven and I've I forgot to bring a file.

00:34:45.960 - 00:35:04.620

It's on my desk and he said, Would you get a G I to bring it down here for me? And I said, You sure? So I went in and I get picked up the file and I thought, Oh, it's a beautiful day and I haven't been out and I haven't walked down for Violet to the hangers in a long time, so I think I'll just take it down myself.

00:35:04.630 - 00:35:23.360

So when I got down there, the there was a guard at the door and he had had guns on him and he said, You're not allowed in here and I said Yes, I am. General Lundberg just called me and told me Bring him the smile. So I just walked right past him and opened the door.

00:35:23.370 - 00:35:41.760

And I got the shock of my life because I had never even heard of a white room. But everything in that room was snow white. The floor and nylon had not been invented yet. So all of the all of the men who were working in they had on white rubber uniforms.

00:35:42.640 - 00:36:00.560

And I was only in there for one minute. General Lundberg pushed back out so fast, but I was in there long enough to see this Canadian plane was had five men working with big buckets of soapy water and brushes, and they were scrubbing every inch of that plane.

00:36:01.030 - 00:36:20.350

And I thought, uh, you know, he's not not in there for, uh, radar installations. He's there's something going on. So general number came right on back out then and he he said, Let's walk out on the runway so that nobody can hear one word of what we're saying.

00:36:20.530 - 00:37:04.010

And he said, You've got to promise me that you'll never tell. Never talk about this as long as you live, you'll take it thio your death with you. And I said, Well, I promise because I wanted to know what was going on too. And, hey said, uh, Canada and the United States Uhh made, uh, a new agreement that we would allow him that Canada had had invented the strongest a poison that anybody had ever heard off had ever seen they had had had Thio used it someplace to see how effective it waas.

00:37:04.020 - 00:37:26.390

And and he said, uh, we did not ask Panama because we were afraid that we knew the Panama would say no. So we did it And he said, He said, I know how close you are to the to the areas family and he said, You must never mention this to them at all.

00:37:26.400 - 00:38:01.270

Don't you ever say anything to anybody And I said, Okay. And hey said he goes out there on Mondays. He flies out and chooses the islands that he wants. Tuesdays. They felt this plane with with poison Wednesdays he goes out and he and he, uh, poisons and he takes pictures of the islands and he chooses the ones that has the most animals and the most plants on it and on Thursdays.

00:38:01.270 - 00:38:58.440

Then he comes back in and he develops those pictures. And on Fridays he flies to to Texas, where he meets somebody from Canada and gives them all all of the information, and they give him more poison. Thio fly back here and then they said, he said then that's why he's so busy that he only has Saturdays and Sundays, you know, free and, uh but he said, No, you absolutely cannot ever tell anybody because Andi, I just told, told her that I really don't want this Anything published about this because the United States of Panama in trouble anyway, they don't get along really well, and it could only cause big trouble if they found out that that the United States did something without their permission because they would have said no.

00:38:59.020 - 00:39:24.960

So I didn't really mean to tell you about that, but I don't know what we're gonna do about it because it's on there. This is unbelievable. You will not believe it, and it's, I believe, now in miracles. I It was the last of October in 1942 and we were told that if we didn't send our Christmas presents by the first of November.

00:39:25.160 - 00:39:56.590

They would not be delivered in December in the United States, and I had not brought my mother's Christmas present yet. And I ran into a friend in the restroom and she said that She said, I just bought my mother a handbag from India and all of the stores were with countries all over the world had had stores in Panama, and they were all built, joined one by one, and usually they had the name of the country above them, but sometimes they didn't.

00:39:56.590 - 00:40:20.030

Sometimes they had had a name above them, but, uh, she's, she said. I bought it from India and she said, I think your mother would like it to because she knew my mother and she said, It's leather and it's hand engraved And and she said I only paid $10 park, which would be about 100 now, and I said, Oh, I think my mother would like that, too.

00:40:20.030 - 00:40:39.530

That's a good idea, but we've rule number one was that you never, ever went into Panama City alone. If you did, and you were caught, you were fired and sent home the next day because they were so afraid that the Germans or the Japanese might kidnap us.

00:40:39.840 - 00:41:00.630

So we had to have somebody go with us. That was rule number one. Rule number two was that you absolutely never went into the Japanese store, the Germany store or the Italy store. So, uh, I asked my roommate if she would go. She couldn't. I asked four or five other girls if they would go with me.

00:41:00.640 - 00:41:22.370

They couldn't. And I thought she would. I could do this by myself. I'll just go get on that bus and they won't know that I'm by myself. And I know exactly where India is. So, uh, I got on the bus and I went and I was wandering around in my mind.

00:41:22.370 - 00:41:42.080

Must have been on something else because when and all the stores had sliding glass doors because there was no air conditioning. So they were all wide open to the sidewalk and I went into what I thought was India, and I thought Jesus of the prettiest things I've ever seen in my life.

00:41:42.090 - 00:42:00.690

I've never seen anything this gorgeous, a lot of goals and reds and Ivory's and everything. And there was not a soul in there, and the room was not much bigger than my living room. And, uh, there wasn't anybody to wait on me or not a song I thought, Well, I mean you all by myself.

00:42:00.690 - 00:42:18.970

I might as well look, And, uh, I was enjoying it, and I saw a white silk kimono that was absolutely gorgeous. The back of it was was a vase of flowers of all different colors embroidered. And I thought, That's what I want for my mother right there.

00:42:18.980 - 00:42:39.720

And, uh, about that time, this old man came in a really old and he said, Can I help you? And I said, How much is this Carmona? And he said, uh, $15 And, uh, and at that time, I saw these two spies come in and I thought, Oh, God, I've had it.

00:42:40.200 - 00:43:04.610

They're going there. They're Japanese spies and they're going, They've come in here and they're gonna kill me. And I thought, there's no way out, because I know that that's what's gonna happen. So, uh, this men took, took the kimono off and was putting it in a bag and he said, uh, you work all Brookfield and I said, Yes, I do.

00:43:04.610 - 00:43:25.530

And he said, What did you What do you do? Well, now I know that I did not say these words, but they came out of my mouth and I heard them. I said, I'm a, uh, file clerk. And these Jap, these, uh, spies were 5 ft away from me.

00:43:25.530 - 00:43:45.510

They heard every everything that I said, you know? So the old man didn't say anything, and he said, uh, it'll be $15 and I looked in my purse, and I thought, and I've got tins and I've got fives, and I'm gonna be sure that I give him 15, but I don't know how I'm gonna get out of this.

00:43:46.100 - 00:44:23.410

And when I handed those two tens the $15 to that man, it was two tens. And I know that I deliberately had chosen 10 and a five, but they were too tense when I handed them to him. And at the the very minute that I handed them to him, Ah, voice came into my head and it was I thought it was loud and it said the minute he turns to get your change, you run out that door as's fast as you can and you run right into the traffic.

00:44:25.160 - 00:44:50.240

And so when he turned to get the money, I grabbed my bag and I ran out and the first car stopped and didn't hit me in the second car, slammed to a stop to miss me. And would you believe that? It was a taxi and it was empty and I jumped into it and I was crying and I was I know I was shaking and I said, Take me to all Brookfield immediately.

00:44:50.250 - 00:45:07.100

Assess fast as you can and he said, I don't have a permit for for all Brookfield And I said, Well, take me to the back gate. I know I'll show you how to get there And I said, There's there will be guards who will open that back gate and we'll let let me in.

00:45:07.110 - 00:45:35.900

And so we got there, and the minute they saw me, they said, What are you doing by yourself? Where have you been? Why are you coming in this way? And we've got to report this and I was crying so hard and they put me over in their little shed, you know, and gave him some water and they said, You've got to calm down but you we have to report it and I finally talked him into it.

00:45:35.900 - 00:46:00.960

I said, Then they'll send me home because they knew I was the secretary of commanding general. And, uh, finally they said all right, but he's Nobody ever comes in this back gate because it's it's always locked. And, uh, he said, You'll have to wait until we change ours and that may be another six hours, but that's the only way you're gonna be able to get out of here.

00:46:00.960 - 00:46:21.890

Because it was on one side the way, Ah, long, long walk around the airport and I never could have made it. I couldn't walk across the airport. So about an hour later, yeah, a NA Army car drove up and there were two officers in it, and they wanted to come in that that that way.

00:46:21.890 - 00:46:44.650

And I just ran over and I said, I live on the other side of the field and I'd ride over with you and they said Yes. And when I got in the car, then they said, What are you doing over here by yourself and what's that bag has Japanese writing on the outside, and then they let in on me that you've got to be reported.

00:46:44.760 - 00:47:21.630

You're going home tomorrow. And I was crying so hard, and, uh, I'm about to have a heart attack. I was scared to death because I knew those those spies were right on me. And so they took me right to my apartment, and I ran in. And thank goodness my roommate wasn't there, so I hit the bag, and, uh, I've been there about 15 minutes, and the phone rang and this man said, That was a beautiful robe you bought for your mother for Christmas.

00:47:22.480 - 00:47:40.150

And I said, How did you know that I was in there? And they said, Didn't you see us? We were standing right there by you. And he said, He said, What made you decide to just run out through right into traffic where you could have been killed?

00:47:40.160 - 00:48:06.600

And I said, Well, ah, voice told me to and I don't I didn't You hear it? And he said no and I and he said, uh, we didn't We didn't hear any other voice but yours. And I said, Well, I didn't say I was a file clerk either, but some somebody did, and it came out of my voice, came out of my mouth And, uh, I said, But I'll tell you one thing.

00:48:06.610 - 00:48:28.840

You're not going to get me now because I'm not coming off of all Brookfield for the rest of my life, I'm never going toe put 1 ft off of all Brookfield and he said, I think you've got it wrong. He said we were American spies, and he said we were walking up the other side of the street when we saw you and we knew who you were.

00:48:28.850 - 00:48:51.780

And we saw you walk into Japan and our first thought was, Oh, my God, is she a spy? And he said we crossed that That was the main street, you know, And and the traffic was terrific. But he said we crossed and we came in and we were there to protect you, and, uh, I just couldn't believe it.

00:48:51.780 - 00:49:10.190

I said, Oh, God, I said, You're not gonna tell you remember car you and they said, Yes, we've got to and I said, Oh, please don't. So I went through this whole thing again and They said if you behave yourself and you never do anything wrong again, we'll let you get by with this because we know you were scared to death.

00:49:10.170 - 00:49:34.380

And, uh, so that, uh, that was in in in that story. But, uh, all of the spies, lady, uh, that I had gotten to the point where I could tell the spice way away because they all looked they dressed almost alike without knowing it to me.

00:49:34.380 - 00:50:01.000

I knew who they were. They're always to two men together. And, uh, they were the men who hated the United States, where the German spies and the Italian and Japanese spies, but the ones who loved America, they were our spies. But they were all Panamanians because we would have recognized the Germans are the are the Japanese, uh, immediately.

00:50:01.000 - 00:50:21.620

But I knew there responds. The second thing came in the door, but it never occurred to me that they could be American spies. So that's that was one of the things that happened to May. And I made me believe in miracles because somebody told me to run right out into that traffic.

00:50:21.620 - 00:50:39.420

And how did how did that taxi just happened? to be there. Person. It was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life. But that's that's the end of that story. Now, let's see. What else? How often did you go? Other times?

00:50:39.420 - 00:51:04.090

How often did you go into Panama? Not very much after that. I was always afraid to go. But, uh uh, What what's the name of? Not the p X, but the place commissary. When we bought our groceries, Uh, we were all on on the bus and and it was It was legal.

00:51:04.100 - 00:51:33.140

So, uh, my roommate and I, uh, uh huh had gone to buy our weekly groceries. And when when? When the bus stopped, all of these soldiers were crying and holding up newspapers. And we thought, What in the world did we lose the war way? Just couldn't imagine why soldiers would be crying on way.

00:51:33.140 - 00:52:12.520

Asked him what? Why you crying? And they said, Didn't you hear? Roosevelt just died, So we went on in and got our groceries, and that was, you know, that all of all happened about that. But let's see, what else? How long did you live? How long did you stay there five years, and I was telling her that, um, the linen I took, uh, President Arias on another flight Thio around Panama in March.

00:52:12.530 - 00:53:16.640

I mean, may of one of I guess it must have been 44 45. And, um, we inspected everything and and then the following Sunday, uh, General President Arias did not go up to the ranch with Tony. Me, Uh, some friends of mine went and and I didn't ask anything at all about where he'd been and and when he came back, he said I had to go to Washington to talk to them about the canal on Hey said, That's why I wasn't here last week and, uh, than about two weeks later, uh, we went in on to the ranch and and there really nice home there was here, set the dining room table and six chairs and floor lamps.

00:53:16.740 - 00:53:34.050

And I thought, Well, isn't that strange that, you know, wonder why they But maybe maybe he's president. He had a meeting up here, so I didn't say anything about it, and we went on out of the back and sat down for a while until they've made our lunch and called us and said our lunch for some of the table.

00:53:34.060 - 00:53:58.140

And when we went in, he said, Ruthie, I want you to sit here in this chair next to me and I want you Thio, Tell me who you think sat in this chair last one week ago Today I said, I cannot imagine that there's no way that I would know And he said, First you have to promise me you'll never tell a soul as long as you live again.

00:53:58.150 - 00:54:22.030

And I said, Well, all right. And he said, uh to listen to He said, Uh, then you can't tell anybody either. And well, that's it. All right. So, uh, he said it was your President Roosevelt and he said, I wanted you to sit in his chair And he said, You remember when I went to Washington about the damp about the corral and I said Yes.

00:54:22.040 - 00:54:57.650

And, uh uh, hey said we had our meeting of all of the Army people and everything, and I told him exactly what was going on. And after the meeting was over, uh, President Roosevelt asked me if I would, uh, stay and have lunch with him and I said, Sure, So he said, As soon as they had served our food and we were in the room all completely alone, President Roosevelt said, You know, I've been thinking about about you coming up.

00:54:57.650 - 00:55:15.250

I knew you were coming and he said, I just got to thinking about our past and our friendships and and he said, And I was thinking, Isn't it odd that we both have four sons and one daughter? And then he said then the next thought that came into my mind was his two son.

00:55:15.260 - 00:55:37.770

Two of his sons are in college in England, and they will be coming home in June for summer vacation and saying, And then I thought, Wouldn't it be interesting if I could get them to fly over Thio to the main part of Europe and see what they could see?

00:55:38.340 - 00:55:57.270

So he said, I wanna talk to you about that and he said, Uh, he told General President Harris. He said, If you disagree with me one bit, it is not going to make one bit of difference in our relationship because he said, I don't know which way I would go on this if it was me.

00:55:57.340 - 00:56:18.440

But he said, I got to thinking, maybe your two sons could go over there and spy, you know, tell us what always going on. See, just say that they were to Panamanian boys brothers who were on vacation and they could rent a car and see how far they could go.

00:56:18.450 - 00:56:47.920

And uh so they talked about that for a while, and then President Arias said, You know, I think I have a better idea. He said, I won't my boys to fly back to Panama and take a plane toe Lisbon, Spain. And buy a car and go from Lisbon And he said, I think we ought to change their last name because I'm president and somebody might recognize that you know that that my name.

00:56:47.930 - 00:57:22.660

And he said. But let's leave their same birthdates because if they get stopped, they don't wanna have to wonder. What? When was my birthday? Make a mistake? So So President Roosevelt said yes, That's a That's a good idea. And he said, Now, when they come home in June, he said, I want you to talk to them about it and see if they would would be interested and, uh artist said, Well, I know they're gonna say yes because they're they're smart, they're interested, they're into newspaper work And and he said, And I'll tell you something.

00:57:22.660 - 00:57:54.710

I'm not Wait until you and I'm catching the next plane to England. So he went to England and he talked with the boys and of course, they were just gung ho. They couldn't wait. Thio do this because this is this was so special. So they came home and they this Oh, and in the in the meantime, uh, the United States had to get get State Department to get Spanish passports for them and they used a different last name.

00:57:54.710 - 00:58:20.940

But they used their own to Tito and Moto for the first names, and, uh and then they flew to Lisbon and they bought a car off the street so that there wouldn't be any records of it, you know? And they both this car and they started and they drove and they drove all the way over to Italy and nobody gave them any trouble at all because they were from Spain and and the tag on the car said Spain.

00:58:20.950 - 00:58:40.740

So when they got into Italy, the first time they came a close to an airbase. Uh, they did get stopped and wanted to know what they were doing. And they said they were just two Spanish. Well, in the first place they could speak no Italian, and and the Italians could speak no Spanish.

00:58:40.750 - 00:59:00.680

So they tried. Thio say we're just two Spanish brothers on vacation and we wanted Thio just drive around and they would just say, We'll get go, you know? And then they drove on and they remember the name of that town and they couldn't write anything down.

00:59:00.690 - 00:59:20.760

They didn't have a map, they couldn't write anything. And but they spoke perfect English. So they decided that one of them said, Well, let's start a song and make up a song about parts of the name of the city where we have been on And so they did.

00:59:20.770 - 00:59:38.900

And then they saw other things and and they would, uh indicate, you know, in their song pretty much what they saw. And then they found another island that jutted out into the ocean. And it was a big airplay air base, and it had lots of ammunition.

00:59:38.910 - 00:59:55.320

And they said, uh well, what are we gonna do about this? And one of them said, Well, let's Oh, and about the air First Air base They said, Well, let's just say it And and then on a n RB and that would be a new air base.

00:59:55.330 - 01:00:37.920

And, uh so then the next place they went, uh, was this huge man armed place that was really enormous. And I said, What are we gonna do about this? And when IM said, Why don't we just say I don't remember exactly what the Wordsworth they said, but it was something like trial Allah and said, We'll just say, Try la la Onda that's means huge and and they finally she got shoot out of out of Italy because the Italians couldn't talk to them in Spanish and they couldn't talk to the Italians in in Italian, so they would just say, Well, go get away from here and they would go on and they got stopped a lot.

01:00:37.930 - 01:01:07.740

But it was always get. And then they got into France, and, uh, and France, it got a lot tougher. And, uh, and they finally, uh, told them that they wanted t just see that the beach that they wanted that they were from Spain and they wanted Thio Thio go on on the sand and on the coastline and on the beach and and they were told to get get away from here.

01:01:07.740 - 01:01:30.590

You don't get going And And they went all the way up the beach and then they came to this place called Normandy, and it was another I ammunition place, and it was bigger than the one in Italy. So they put another trial a lot in their car and their song and their song was in in English.

01:01:30.600 - 01:02:13.820

So, uh, they went on up and they went all the way a pinto, the Netherlands and into Holland. And they dreaded coming back down because they knew they had to go through Germany. And they were so afraid of that. But they they came back. They decided they'd go back down a new entered road in France and and And they continued their song, you know, and in parts of the names of the cities were in the song and they had to sing it over and over and over all day, you know, so that they couldn't forget where they had been because they couldn't draw anything on the map.

01:02:13.830 - 01:02:43.920

They couldn't write anything down. So, uh, they finally had to go into Germany. And in Germany, they were greeted. And, uh, we're treated really, really nice. And they could go anywhere. They wanted to go in Germany, and they were really shocked, But But they sang their song, and they Then they went back to, drove back to Lisbon, and they took their luggage to the airport and checked it.

01:02:44.400 - 01:03:07.900

And then they took their car and they drove it into a big, deep lake. And then they hitchhiked back to the airport and, uh, the day that they landed on a Saturday and, uh uh, General Roosevelt had planned to be down there the day they got back, you know?

01:03:07.940 - 01:03:41.880

So he land General Arias was able to tell ria had a that they had to have a complete blackout, absolutely complete, except that he wanted the last three lights at the very end of that airport on from nine o'clock on. And, uh, it was such a huge bomb bomber base that this little fighter plane came in and landed sideways, and, uh, they could see fine because, you know, they had had that light on.

01:03:41.890 - 01:04:08.670

And and general Irises two boys, Tito and Modi, uh, they had driven over. And they had to pick Roosevelt up out of the plane and put him in the car because, you know, he didn't walk and and his two sons with it, and they came back to the ranch and they started working in the dining room on the dining room table.

01:04:08.680 - 01:04:35.480

And President Roosevelt had brought huge maps in large maps, and they took a 10 and and drew the outline of exactly where they had been and where the troller laws were and all of the different things. And, uh, but But it was not not light enough that they could see real well.

01:04:35.490 - 01:05:13.300

So one of the boys said, Well, let's move the dining room table into the living room and get some extra lights and we could see So they found found these floor lamps and they brought him in, and they they had the table and the chairs and the and the lights, and they drew the entire map of every inch of the space that they drove and told President Roosevelt exactly what they had seen and General Roosevelt had told General Eisenhower to come back in from London on the on that Sunday.

01:05:14.290 - 01:05:42.240

And then he showed Eisenhower the map and all of this information, and Eisenhower said that's exactly what I needed to know. He said nobody else could ever have gotten me that information. And he said, I know now that my invasion will be Normandy because we've got to get rid of all that ammunition and we've got Thio.

01:05:42.250 - 01:06:04.470

Try Thio, get rid of the power. And, uh so that's that's where he invaded was was Normandy. And, uh, those two Panamanian boys were the ones who had had given them all of that information. Wow, Now, isn't that a fascinating And they're not. One word is written in history about it.

01:06:04.470 - 01:06:30.760

Not one single solitary word has ever been written down. So you're the You really are hearing something for that Nobody else. Stoves and I had I was not supposed thio tell anybody about that. But D Day came up this year and I thought, well, everybody that I was involved with and was involved in in this plot, uh, they're all dead because they were all older than me.

01:06:31.180 - 01:07:04.340

and I'm 93. So, uh, I thought, Well, I'm going to tell somebody that it was to Panamanian boys who who really saved the war. And, you know, Eisenhower knew exactly where to attack and what to do. So I don't know who was the first person I told one of my neighbors probably talked about it, and and then I thought, Well, I think I think somebody in Panama should know.

01:07:04.340 - 01:07:33.820

But the President Arias had told me. They said, We cannot tell a soul because the people who hate the United States will kill my two sons. And he said, We have got to keep it silent and nobody knows but us, the family. So, uh, I was the only one that could have told about it because even years later they would.

01:07:33.830 - 01:07:56.220

And even now they might go after an R IUs one of their descendants, you know, you know, I don't know, but I kept it quiet for all those years. 70 years at least. I never even told my husband and my husband was in the service, but I never even told him about it.

01:07:56.780 - 01:08:28.870

Did you? Ever after your five years in Panama, how, When you came back here to America, did you ever return to Panama in 19 nineties? Sometime or other three couples office? Uh, friends. We just went down for a vacation. And when I was in Panama, everything was two stories high, and it was all adobe brick, you know, and all gray and all sliding glass doors because there was no no air conditioning.

01:08:28.880 - 01:08:54.800

And, uh, we went back in the nineties. Here were these tall buildings that we were just We could not believe that what happened. This is not the same place where we lived and way enjoyed it. But we were just in a state of shock about the buildings, and it was, uh, Central Avenue that, you know, had had been.

01:08:54.800 - 01:09:15.060

So was the only really busy street when we were there, and it was still really busy. But But the all of those little stores were now a great big stores. Great big buildings. You said you knew the areas. Did you know any other Panamanian families? Were you?

01:09:15.070 - 01:09:46.490

Did you have any Panamanian, other Panamanian friends? Not like that. They were my family. And I spent all of all most all of my time with them. I know there was one time when, uh, Tony and I were out driving someplace and we went by his his the newspaper office and his father came out and, uh, to the car and he told Tony that he wanted to go to wanted him.

01:09:46.490 - 01:10:11.090

Thio fly down to Chile for something and he said, I want you to take get the next plane out And he said, I think this will be enough money for to fly you down there and you could always write a check. And he took this money out of his pocket and and handed it Tony and Tony handed it to me and he said, You count it for me And it was $3300 that he had in his pocket.

01:10:11.360 - 01:10:30.750

And I thought That's the most money I ever held in my endeavor. And there was just in his pocket and Tony said that that will get me down there. Then I could get money. So but it was just just that family that I was really, really close.

01:10:30.750 - 01:11:02.760

Thio, I spent every Sunday all day with him up at the ranch. Um, is there anything that we've been talking for while any stories you think you've left out or well, let me see. I wrote some things down here, uh, where I worked in in Atlanta, in the passport and and hi, I got fire on 12.

01:11:02.760 - 01:11:37.720

7. What was Oh, that was I was telling you about on December the seventh. I don't know if I told you or not about that. Uh, Arnulfo was president, and, uh, the army had declared a complete blackout. Absolutely no cigarettes or anything on you are now forgot Hiss his Hitler buddies and all of their friends and told them to make fires all along the canal.

01:11:37.730 - 01:12:09.670

And our soldiers were up all night long, uh, putting out the fires, because as soon as they put that 11 set of fires, another one would start and kept him busy all night. So the next morning, when arno folk went into the presidential palace to his office, uh, our board department was there with handcuffs, and they said, We're taking you down to your friend one uh, Perrone in Argentina.

01:12:09.680 - 01:12:47.060

And where you go from there, you can go to Germany, or you could go to Italy And wherever you go, we don't care if you're not coming back to Panama. And, uh so that was the fire on that night. And then I got the knoxy in the shop in Japan and, oh, you know, I don't know if when you were there, they still had the ah little white building halfway between the on the train halfway across the canal that there was a a little white building over on the right hand side.

01:12:47.060 - 01:13:05.130

Was it still there when you were there? Because there's something that looked like that the office to the cage. I mean, to the zoo where you would buy your tickets to go to the zoo. I can't place with them. Well, it's probably all now I think they've got big hotels in there.

01:13:05.140 - 01:13:26.780

But when I was there, there was this white building. It was just halfway across, And, uh, so 11 Friday, General Lundberg told me that he said, I hope you don't have any big plans for the weekend because we're gonna have a blackout from Friday until sunset on Monday because the Japs are out trying to get to us.

01:13:26.950 - 01:13:47.300

And, uh so I call my roommate and I said, Let's outsmart him Let's go over to the other side and spend the weekend and and we can shop and, you know, just have a really good time And I said, But on the way, let's go to the zoo and and she said, Uh okay, that's that would be fun.

01:13:47.310 - 01:14:06.780

So when we got to that white building, we rang the bell for the train to stop. Well, all the Panamanians who were on the train looked at us like, have they? Who are they? And have they lost their minds? Well, we got off the train and we went over, and the white building was completely empty and the doors were locked.

01:14:07.640 - 01:14:23.660

And but there were the windows there. You know where you paid to go to the zoo. And I said, Well, maybe maybe they moved it on down a little further. So, uh, I was I was thin and she was sort of heavy. And and I was, uh oh.

01:14:23.660 - 01:14:41.930

Maybe 100 or so feet ahead of her. And I had I had borrowed the General special new camera, and I and I got to this little lake and and all around the lake. The trees were full of our kids that were in bloom. And I thought, This is the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.

01:14:41.940 - 01:15:00.020

And I was aiming to take the picture and, uh, heard something up above me that made a move. And I put the camera down and I looked up and here was about a £300 gorilla sitting in the tree looking at me, scared to death his eyes.

01:15:00.020 - 01:15:22.180

Where is afraid of Maya's I waas. And the next thing I heard was that camera hitting the water on down with that camera. And I was running so fast and and when I got up to where Bonnie was, she said, What are we running from? And I said, Shut up and run And, uh So we ran and and we tor down the door, the locked door in that building.

01:15:22.190 - 01:15:43.580

And then we sat against it so that whatever it was family And so we went over then to the other side and checked into the Washington Hotel, and I was so smug, I said, I said, We're beating the people on the other side. I said, they're having a blackout and he said, I hate to tell you, but we are too.

01:15:43.590 - 01:16:04.690

He said the Germans were right outside our border and hey said, uh, you're in this much trouble overhears you were over there. So, uh, we, uh we came back and I called Tony Arias and and I told him I was that we had thought we had gone to the zoo and I told him where we went and he had a fit.

01:16:04.700 - 01:16:22.750

He said, That's the dairy and jungle And he said, No telling what? All you would have gotten into if you'd gone any further And he said, I don't know. I don't know a soul who has ever been done in there And he said, If you want to go the zoo, I'll take you to the zoo here in Panama.

01:16:23.930 - 01:16:42.400

So that was That was our visit to the zoo. So let's let's see if that had anything normal Zoo visit. So did you break the camera? You said the camera was gonna pond, so I had to go back and and I have gotten it from his aid on, and, uh, hey had just let me borrow.

01:16:42.400 - 01:17:03.790

And without telling the General so hey, had to make up a story to the general, and, uh and then the general got another another camera. And, uh, Tony and I had been some place, and it was must have been a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and we went to his brother's house.

01:17:03.790 - 01:17:28.000

Modi and, uh, Modi lived right directly on the water. There was, uh, ah wall from his yard into the water. And he had, 05 or six boats, little boats because, you know, we were not allowed to have have really boats during the war because the water was mind.

01:17:28.010 - 01:17:45.680

And Tony said, Can we take a rope? Uh, not a rowboat. What you call him with a motor motor boat? Can we take a motorboat up and and go for a little little ride? And his brother said, Sure. So we got in the boat and we got out.

01:17:45.690 - 01:18:05.410

We could just barely see his house, his brother's house, and all of a sudden the motor fell off the back of the boat and we stood up in the in the boat and we were yelling and waving and his brother sauce and he waved back and and it took us forever.

01:18:05.420 - 01:18:26.020

I mean, we were yelling as loud as we could, but he couldn't hear us. And I guess finally, he must have seen that that we didn't have a motor and he had to come out there and haul us back in. And when when we got back in, I I had taken the camera with me and I had gone to the bathroom.

01:18:26.030 - 01:18:44.740

But I'd left the camera in the car when we got out at his brother's house and I was the bath bathroom was on the front of the house, and when I finished, I looked out the window and I saw a pen of sand. Bless Island person walk past that car, but they didn't stop.

01:18:45.220 - 01:19:02.750

They just walked on and we went out to get in the car and the camera was gone. So here was the second camera that I had lost, and these were, you know, we had little black boxes, and but this was the first fancy riel camera that had been invented.

01:19:02.750 - 01:19:27.250

So I guess that, uh, man's general, Mr Philip Well, I don't know what's happening to my cameras, but they're sure disappearing. But I never asked to borrow another one. How was the last time? Yeah, I decided I had enough trouble. Oh, and I I think I told you about the Berlin that left E.

01:19:27.250 - 01:19:57.520

I didn't tell you. Yeah, well, General Lundberg had had gone to Washington for a meeting and, hey, went with uh oh. I can't remember the We had a four star general who whose office was down inside Quarry Heights because that was the top secret office, and you could go up there and then you had to go way down to get get into his office.

01:19:57.530 - 01:20:22.410

And, uh, I was I was making notes for the two of them about what they were going to do when they were going to build a Washington and and how long they would be gone. And this general, not Beck. But anyway, he said, uh, he said, Ruthie, we're going T o stop in and Miami.

01:20:22.410 - 01:20:39.580

But we could just as easily stop in Atlanta if you wanna go see some of your family. And I said, Oh, I just came back. I was just there a couple of weeks ago, and I said, But I've got a brother who is in the service over in Puerto Rico, and I would love to see him, and nothing else was said about it.

01:20:39.590 - 01:21:08.710

So we finished. Oh, their conversation. And they left. And, uh, the day after general on Berg left, the Southern Generals pilot called me and he said, I understand that I'm supposed to take you to Puerto Rico and I said, Well, I'm really shocked, but I'm really pleased because, you know, I didn't have any work to do with the General Khan and he said, When do you want to go?

01:21:08.710 - 01:21:28.440

And I said, Well, let's just go tomorrow So we went and I stayed over there for the week that they were in Washington. And then he brought me back home. So and he let me He let me copilot b 17 and I he left me. He said, No, you have to do it very, very gently.

01:21:28.450 - 01:22:03.630

And I was went down and down and down, and finally the, uh, bomber from underneath. He came up and he said, My feet are getting wet. I want to go up. So, uh, this pilot told me. Then he said, Well, I guess we better go up some so but he let me fly that b 17 for quite a while, and I I you know, we had, uh, flowing on all army planes wherever I went.

01:22:03.630 - 01:22:23.420

I mean, it was just like a free air force for me. And and I thought since then, I hope they changed. That made things a little different, You know, people. But I don't know that they don't have many Americans working for the Air Force and then the army now, do they?

01:22:23.800 - 01:22:51.130

I bet they have all Panamanians. Because we had We had to, uh, Panamanian girls who worked in our building. And they were just to interpret anything, anything that we needed. But then obviously, there was something something else that that reminded me of. But I can't remember what iwas they say You're sitting Mayor.

01:22:52.500 - 01:23:30.750

00 I was going to tell you about the burly in there as well. General Lundberg had thio when he came back. Hey, Yeah, he said I'm going to be transferred and he said, I want you to go with me is my secretary. And I said, Oh, I've spent five years now working for the army and and I've met Jack Gallagher and he's in 20th Troop and and he was a pilot and I said, Well, we want to get married and start a family because Jack was 30 then and I was almost 25.

01:23:30.750 - 01:23:58.850

I was 2024 I guess. And I said, and he said, Oh, please. He said You would be so happy, both of you. And I said, Well, Jack's gonna come out of the service because at the end of the war, you know those who who had been, uh, well, who made who were made to go into drafted, drafted thank you, but drafted, uh, they could come out if they wanted Thio.

01:23:58.860 - 01:24:15.810

So he and I had decided that we wanted to marry and start our family. And General Lundberg just kept begging and begging and begging, and I just kept saying, No, no, no, I would love to go with you, but and he said you would love it.

01:24:15.790 - 01:24:51.770

He said, It's going to be the most interesting job in the world and I said, No, I'm just not gonna do it. So we we married after assume Aziz, we got out and we've been married for several months and we went and we were living in Atlanta and we went toe a movie theater and they showed the news back then and they said We're going to show you the Berlin Airlift and the first picture that came up I just jumped up out of my seat and I yelled, There's general number.

01:24:51.780 - 01:25:10.220

He's head of the Berlin Airlift and, uh, Jackson. Everybody was laughing and Jackson sit down and be quiet. So in just a couple of minutes, So he held my hand and he said, I'm not going to stand up and yell But he said, That's Al deal flying his plane.

01:25:10.890 - 01:25:36.130

And he said General Lundberg took the 20th troop carrier squadron with him when he went to Germany, and he said, That's why he was so anxious for the two of them. For me to stay in the service and for you to go with me because he knew that that we were going to be together in Berlin and and hey, Waas, that was their job after that was Berlin arely.

01:25:36.790 - 01:26:00.210

But that was about the end of all of my stories about I mean, the war was over then, but I've got lots of things to show you okay? And I can get some pictures or more. Question, though. Did you think when you came back after five years did you think Atlanta was different or America was different?

01:26:00.780 - 01:26:18.440

Well, Atlanta was different because all of my friends, uh, all of my girlfriends had married and their their husbands were soldiers, and they were all all gone. I was just about the only one left, and then in time that most of them did come back to Atlanta.

01:26:18.450 - 01:26:47.350

But Atlanta was, uh, pretty much the same as I had left it, but except for people, But I was and I missed Panama. I loved Panama, all of everything about it. And when we went back in, uh, in the nineties, I was so fascinated by that big bridge that goes across, you know, from from somewhere to somewhere.

01:26:47.360 - 01:27:14.490

Well, from the East Bank to the West. Yeah, that was that was amazing to May because and then they had bridges two across the Canale that people didn't have to just sit and wait for the ships to go through. That was I couldn't believe it. But those tall buildings Oh, gosh, because there had been absolutely nothing but took the two story buildings when I was there.

01:27:16.680 - 01:27:41.150

Came back and it was developed or more build up. Yeah, And I would just love to know what the arias family is into now what they own. And you know what? All they have, because they were still getting $30 million a year rent for that Rio had until 1999 $30 million a year.

01:27:41.150 - 01:28:03.600

Can you believe that? And I just was reading about that in this book. And let me tell you what else Let me read you something that else that shocked the daylights out of me. Uh, Tony was such a good guy, and he was a lawyer, and they owned the newspapers, and they owned.

01:28:03.610 - 01:28:24.820

They owned just about everything, but, uh said now they're talking about Arnulfo and Arnulfo, you know, was the Hitler Hitler buddy and Tony hadn't liked him when I was there, and it said, uh, the president forced forced owners of choice coffee lands to sell out the taxpayer's expense.

01:28:24.830 - 01:28:56.060

He put a similar squeeze on Panamanian bankers. Ah, huge narcotics and gold smuggling operation developed under the alleged leadership of his favorite nephew. Tony the druggist, Darius the druggist died in 1956. And a mysterious plane accident. Well, Tony was best friends with John Wayne, and, uh, John Lane was married to Tony's cousin and they had become really good friends.

01:28:56.060 - 01:29:23.950

And Wayne had been had been married to one girl and, well, he'd been married to Tony's cousin and they divorced. And then he married a Mexican girl and they divorced. And and, uh, Wayne was in Spain making a movie and couldn't get away. And she died and he called Tony and asked him if he would go to Mexico and take care of all of her affairs.

01:29:23.960 - 01:29:51.440

And Tony said, Sure, he'd be glad. Thio and, uh, some couple in and Panama related. Probably two of them was getting married that day, and they had a private plane that they were going Thio go to Mexico on their vacation on their honeymoon. So Tony asked him if he could fly up Thio, uh, Mexico with them, and they said, sure, and they landed in Nicaragua.

01:29:51.450 - 01:30:16.690

Thio get gas, and the story that came out in the newspapers here in the in the United States said that the thought Waas that that plane had had been put. They put the wrong gas in the plane deliberately so that it would blow up and that it was to murder Tony.

01:30:17.160 - 01:30:49.790

And, uh, I don't think the bride and groom are The pilot were killed, but Tony was killed and they animated. You know, that was Tony's murder. That that that was the reason for the plane crash. So I guess General Lindbergh was right and telling me to stay away from those people because he died in 1956 and we would have been married probably about maybe 10 years.

01:30:51.760 - 01:31:11.410

So I was glad I didn't I just can't believe that he would get in. But I did read in a, uh remember when? When those newspapers that was a little tacky. Papers were out the Enquirer and different things that were just just junk talk, I thought.

01:31:11.420 - 01:31:50.990

But I read in one of them where Tony Rs is plain. Uh, yacht was seen coming from Haiti, Thio Panama, and it was surrounded by four smaller boats and, uh, the and his one of his brothers was married to Papa Doc's, uh, of Haiti, his daughter and Papa Doc you know, was the head of Haiti So And said that they thought that Papa Doc had put all of the gold on John Tony's yacht and was sending all of his all of the gold from Haiti over to Panama.

01:31:51.760 - 01:32:17.580

So, uh, I guess that's that was the connection of the gold in the narcotics and gold, But, uh, that was I can't believe that that Tony would have gotten into that, but he did. But anyway, what are you going thio to? Are you goingto have just a little showcase or something and are