K09, Asami Taguchi ‘02, Matthew Ehmke, Chaplain, 1939, United States
This interview took place on November 6, 2000. I interviewed Father Matthew Ehmke. He is a Catholic priest who works at Saint Maur. He was born in 1939 and is 61 years old.
Q: Where were you during World War II, and whom were you living with?
A: I lived in Minnesota with my parents. We weren’t in any danger because our town wasn’t a big city.
Q: How old were you? What are your memories of life during the war?
A: I was six years old when the war ended. Even though I was young, I remember that we had to turn off our lights after a certain time, and if we didn’t turn them off, we had to cover our windows with black cloth, so the light wouldn’t be seen.
Q: What and how were the rations supplied?
A: We got sugar, meat, gasoline, shoes and so on. These supplies were limited. Every month, we got a book of coupons that had stamps inside. We used these stamps to buy all those limited supplies. My mom always kept some coupons so that she could give them as birthday presents.
Q: I’ve heard that you needed a lot of tin for the war.
A: Yes, so we recycled the tin cans, which had contained food inside. We flattened them and tightened them. This was for the war effort. I liked the poster at the supermarket. It said to save cans, and it showed how bullets were made from the cans.
Q: What was your attitude toward the Japanese?
A: We had some neighbors who were Japanese, but I didn’t like them because their attitude wasn’t polite. I ate everything on my plate so that I could fight against the Japanese. My cousin drew General Tōjō Hideki (who was the leader of Japan) on a magic lantern and scared me at night. My family was also against the Japanese, but not against the Germans, because my family was from Germany.
Q: Did anyone in your family fight in the war?
A: My uncle did, but not my father, because his eyes were bad.
Q: Were there any signs when someone died?
A: Families hung a red, black, and blue colored flag with gold stars on it in front of the house when their son died. They hung one for each son.
Q: What happened on the day the war ended?
A: On August 15, 1945, the war ended. All the people made noise, like the factory whistle, church bells, and car horns, and they shot the guns because they were happy. But I was very scared, because I didn’t know what happened, and I thought it was still wartime, so I went home quickly.
Q: What do you think now about wars?
A: I think war is meaningless.