Audio Transcript

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Folder 99.0366, Object 017

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Audio Transcript of Interview by Robin Sellers of Lillian Rudd Davisworth. In the interview Rudd discusses her wartime experiences. Rudd begins by discussing her family history (Floridian for many generations) and how she got the job at Camp Murphy after she graduated High School in New Smyrna Beach. She applied to Camp Murphy, and went to Belle Isle Business School while she waited to hear from them, and in October 1943 she received a telegram. While there, she kept files on the men, typed special orders, and eventually was promoted to writing the orders: Every time a GI was transferred, they needed to have "orders" to take along with them. The school trained highly specialized men, at one point about 6,000, to use radar. Rudd also discussed the blackouts that occurred along the coast of Florida. While Rudd was in New Smyrna Beach, there were dog handlers whom patrolled the beaches at night. Rudd's husband was from New Smyrna Beach, and he transferred to Hialeah as part of the Coast Guard, where he was tasked with building and maintaining telephone connection up the east coast of Florida. Rudd recalls how rationing made it hard to get certain things, including panty hose. Rudd's mother struggled especially while running a restaurant, although there will still tourists coming. Rudd also references how the German POWs at Daytona beach were allowed to go for swims, even though it was known that Germans were torturing the US POWs. She also discusses Forrest Ferguson, before discussing her own personal life. She married her husband on September 30, 1944 at nineteen in New Smyrna Beach. Then he headed to Long Island without her, but she rejoined him in New Orleans. From there they headed to Galveston, Texas, which is where he transferred into the Air Force. They moved after that to Denver Colorado, which Rudd found terrifying, as it was the middle of winter. They spent so much time moving and traveling, they put heaters in their car so their daughter could sleep

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