Hello and welcome back to the
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers
National Monument Veterans Podcast.
I'm your host, Ranger Tom Engberg.
In the conclusion of this two part
episode featuring this Vivian “Milly” Bailey,
we hear more about her
personal experiences during
and after World War Two.
Ms. Bailey goes on to quote
a few intense conversations
that she had with others at the time.
For the sake of authenticity and allowing Ms. Bailey
to tell her story as she desires,
we present her interview without edits.
We'd like to caution viewers
that some of that quoted language does contain
some profanity.
Now, we hope that you enjoy part
two of this episode featuring former U.S.
Women's Army Corps First Lieutenant Vivian “Milly” Bailey.
If we tried to get tickets
for, like, the Pullman or the car,
I forgot what we called where you had reserved
seats on a car
in one of the trains.
They wouldn't want to sell it.
But in my company,
there was a lady.
Her name was Ruby Fletcher,
and she was the wife of a former
Negro comedian
named Dusty Fletcher.
Wife, or former wife.
She looked like white.
So I got her to go and get my ticket.
And then I had to go from
Columbus to
I forgot where
to pick up the chair car.
I was.
Oh, traveling
with very little luggage.
And wherever this was, I was
to take the chair,
get the chair car.
This older man, Negro man,
who was a red cap, whatever they call it,
I asked to take my bag to this car.
He said, You can't ride in there.
I said, please take my bag.
And he said, again, I couldn't ride,
I used language he could understand.
And then he took the bag.
And so I was going to be in this chair car
until we got to where
we would get the Pullman.
And
so then I was
getting ready to
I was and in the car
now they had the Pullman
and I went in the ladies room
to get dressed for bed.
And this white lady said to me,
“Where are you going, sister?”
And I tried to sound as ignorant
as she did, and I said “down the road a piece.”
And she said,
“Well, I never rode with one of y'all, but I guess I can.”
or something.
The other white ladies in there,
because that was the only Negro woman
I saw on the train at all.
And they looked embarrassed.
So I didn't pay any more attention.
The next morning,
I happened to be in there with this same lady,
and she said, “Oh, you still here?”
Now, I don't know whether the train had stopped
or when I was supposed get off or not.
So anyway,
the next that morning, after
I was ready to have breakfast,
I went into the dining car
and the maitre d
said to me, “I'm sorry, I can't seat you at your table.”
They had one table
and they would have a curtain
if they wanted to close it off.
And General Ulio was in there
and he was behind the curtain.
And I think just think that he did
that to keep from them, from using it.
Segregate one a negro.
Again, I was the only woman and the only Negro
I didn't see a Negro man or anything.
And there was a white major
sitting at a table by himself.
And he said, “Lieutenant, won't you join me?”
And I say, “Thank you.”
And I did.
When General Ulio came from
behind the curtain,
he came over to the table
and wanted to know where we were going
and which post we were from.
And we told him and he said,
“I'm going to address your class.”
So that's how I
first met him.
Most of the experiences were quite good.
One of the ones that I'll never forget,
and it wasn't a very pleasant thing.
The first time I went in town in Alabama
by myself, I was walking down the street
and this white lady
looked at me and spit at me and said,
“Look at that black bitch.”
And I made no reaction.
I didn't even let her know that I knew
she had done it.
And fortunately, the sputum did not hit me.
But one of the most remarkable
and unforgettable experiences
on the way to adjutant
general school at Fort Sam Houston.
The general of the,
Adjutant General of the Army,
General Ulio, was on the train.
He was going to address our class.
So as we were going to disembark
the train,
he was at the front of the door.
And of course,
some of the top brass
from Fort Sam Houston was waiting to greet him
as he stepped off the train.
And I was about three or four people
back of General Ulio,
a four star general.
And he turned and he said,
“After you, Lieutenant.”
And the shock these people saw
instead of the general stepping off, they looked
and here here was this little
second lieutenant
stepping off first.
That was such a nice experience.
And I feel like
he was a gentleman before he was a general.
I went back to Oklahoma
for a very short time
and then I enlisted
and then I moved to Chicago
and work for Veterans Administration
processing claims under the G.I.
Bill of Rights.
And I worked there until I
moved to Social Security again
in Chicago.
And then my husband
and I moved to Maryland, and I
worked for Social Security
in Maryland.
That Social Security
headquarters,
well, I was stationed in Woodlawn,
but some of the people that I supervised,
some were downtown.
And in fact,
for a while I was supervising
some who were in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
I've been doing care packages
for many years, in fact,
in Vietnam.
But during
the Vietnam conflict was the first care package
I ever sent.
I with a group of people in Chicago
and we tried always to do something
for our people around Christmas.
So that particular Christmas
we decided we wanted to send
a care package to soldiers
in Vietnam
and most people didn't know any soldiers.
But then I remember that my husband,
I had met a lady on a trip out of the country
whose son was in Vietnam.
So my first care
package went to this.
He was a marine at the time,
and then, when Desert Storm
started like that.
I think that was like 99,
I believe was Desert Storm.
I sent care packages to soldiers
and at that time I sent nothing but homemade
cookies, which I made.
And I did that all the time
they were deployed.
And then when Iraq started,
I was sending care
packages again,
primarily homemade cookies.
But then we started sending in additional snacks,
and I did it as a lone thing for a long time.
But then there was a the lady
named Judy Dye,
who became a partner,
and she also helped me
do everything about
the only thing I did that
Judy didn't do was I solocited money
for the care packages.
But I have been involved
in care packages regularly since 2004.
Thank you for joining us
for this episode of the Veterans Podcast
featuring Ms. Vivian “Milly” Bailey.
We hope it was as profound for you
as it was for us.
Until next time,
I'm your host, Ranger Tom Engberg.
Stay healthy, stay safe.