Audio
Gus Tramonte Interview
Transcript
[Female and male talk in a quiet setting. Older man speaks slow.]
Gus: At that time, the planes weren’t as good as they are today. We were not prepared for that war.
Susan: In what way were we not prepared?
Gus: I was 21 in boot camp.
Susan: Where did you go to boot camp?
Gus: San Diego, California.
Susan: Oh, you did go to San Diego cuz you were west of the Mississippi.
Gus: Yes.
Susan: How did you get out there?
Gus: Train.
Susan: You took the train.
Gus: At that time, we had to cross the Mississippi River. The train had to cross. They didn’t have the bridges at the time, so we crossed on barges.
Susan: Was it all military people on the train?
Gus. Yes.
Susan: You remember that trip? Had you been out of Louisiana before?
Gus: No. Not to California, no.
Susan: How was it for you? Was it exciting? Uncomfortable? How was the train ride?
Gus: Well, it was my first train ride, so.
Susan: A couple days you had to be on the train. Do you know how long you trained in San Diego?
Gus: Boot camp was 8 weeks. Susan: Were you in pretty good shape?
Gus: I was. I was young then.
Susan: Was it tough?
Gus: Boot Camp was tough, yeah. By the time you got out of boot camp, there was nothing you couldn’t do physically. They put you through their training.
Susan: Were you stronger when you came out?
Gus: Yes.
Susan: Was there any particular area you did better in? Did you run? Were you a runner?
Gus: No, I played music.
Susan: That’s right! You played before you went in. Did you play in high school? What got you involved? What instrument did you play?
Gus: Yeah. Tenor Saxophone. Well, I just like music and I decided. They were furnishing instruments in school so that’s why.
Susan: Was there a band at school?
Gus: Yes. The school band.
Susan: New Orleans and Jazz so saxophone fits right in there. Did you play in a band outside of school?
Gus: I had a band of my own. And we played on Saturday and Sunday nights in a place called, West We Go. It was across the river, so you see West we go. And we played every Saturday and Sunday nights.
Susan: Was that for the public? Was it a restaurant?
Gus: Yes. It was a restaurant and a dance hall. It was on a hill. There was a levee there.
Susan: Even before the war started and we got involved, people were going out and dancing. Did that change? I assume Pearl Harbor was…
Gus: Yes. I went to work for a steel mill plant making steel barrels for the army. Then I decided I might as well join the Marines myself because of their reputation.
Susan: That seems to be the case. The Marines stand out. They’re a tough group.Do you remember when you got deployed?
Gus: Well, I think the training was about 8 weeks. Then training in California Then we shipped out from San Diego from a vessel, a ship. It wasn’t a regular army ship. It was really a poor ship for transporting troops because it took us about 14 days to get there.
Susan: Was it a small ship? They converted it from a civilian ship?
Gus: Yeah. It was a little freight ship. And on our way there, they didn’t have too much food on the ships. They would give you a sandwich and an apple or something to eat. And no accommodations other than that.
Susan: Did you know where you were going? Did you have orders?
Gus: I knew I was going to the South Pacific. I didn’t know the Guadacanal from any other place.
Susan: But how was that on the ship? Was it all Marines?
Gus: Navy and Marines.
Susan: Was everyone going for the first time?
Gus: Subleaners. Staff sergeants. And knew nothing about the place. Hadn’t heard of it before.
Susan: The trip. Going from San Diego to the Guadacanal, that had to be a pretty long trip.
Gus: Yeah. It was a long trip then because it was an old ship. It was an old vessel, we were not prepared for the war. Matter of fact, they were full ___, rifles, ammunition.
Susan: For young guys, you need to eat. You were probably hungry?
Gus: Right. Out of boot camp, we went to Matthew Camp to train with the rifles. It was an M-1 rifle. It was a good rifle at the time.
Susan: Were you used to shooting guns before you went into the Marines?
Gus: No.
Susan: But you were good. I saw you were a sharp shooter. So you took to it.
Gus: Yeah.
Description
Susan Caolo interviewing Gus Tramonte
Duration
10 minutes, 18 seconds
Credit
Susan Caolo
Date Created
03/14/2018
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