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Transportation in World War II: Hazel Dickerson recalls service as a United States Marine
It's been well over six decades since United States Marine Corps recruit Hazel Dickerson began boot camp at Camp LeJeune, N.C. She downplays the part she played in the historic effort of the "Greatest Generation," but she can still remember how she felt as she carried her suitcase into the training facility. "There were girls hanging out the windows yelling 'you'll be sorry.' I was ready to go home," Dickerson said. But she didn't go home. She stuck it out through boot camp and motor transport training and became a United States marine.
That day at Camp LeJeune was in February 1944. Dickerson remembered that she was just over 21 years old. She had to be -- otherwise, her mother wouldn't have let her join. After six months of training at Camp LeJeune, Dickerson was sent to San Diego, Calif., for a permanent duty station. It was a far cry from the eastern Bates County farm near Ballard, Mo., where she grew up with six brothers and a sister and graduated from high school in 1940.
After high school, Dickerson knew there wasn't much going to happen in Ballard; "there was just old people out there," she said, so she moved to the Kansas City, Mo., area and was working at the Lake City army ammunition plant as a final inspector of .30 caliber carbine ammunition when a friend showed her a pamphlet for the newly formed Marine Corps Women's Reserve. She said it looked "like something I would like to do," so she and a friend enlisted.
Dickerson, now 89, lives in Butler, Mo., and remembers those days well. Boot camp was "really hard," she said, even though she never had to fire a gun. She didn't want to, still doesn't like guns. And motor transport training had its own difficulties. Not only did she have to learn to drive several military vehicles, she also had to learn to do pre-trip inspections on them. She said that once she got to California she loved her new job. Dickerson said that bringing the women into the Marine Corps allowed the men that were doing those jobs to be sent overseas to join in the fighting.
"I worked out of motor transport," she said "I was a driver."
She drove Jeeps, and cars and carry-alls and several kinds of trucks, just about every kind of wheeled transport vehicle in service at that time. For the most part, her job was a regular eight -hour day.
"We waited in a lounge" she said, and "they'd call us from there for our trips." Dickerson recounted her first night-time trip. "It was the first time I had night duty."
She had to take the base band out to Coronado Island off the San Diego coast. "I had to drive onto the barge, but I had never even seen one," It was a bit scary she said. "It's just things like that that I can't believe I had the nerve to do," she said that made her the strong independent woman she became.
Dickerson did a lot of different things in her position as a driver. "Just whatever was needed," she said. "We learned to drive in convoy."
Any time someone was gone on leave or had to miss their job, Dickerson took their place. She drove everybody's vehicle. "I drove the trash truck, the paper run, hauled the band and pumped gas," she said, Her normal vehicle was a dump truck and she said, "it was my truck, and nobody else ever drove it."
Dickerson said it was hard to be away from home like that, but she had an aunt and uncle who lived nearby and she spent her weekends with them playing cards and having fun.
"They liked me coming around," she said. I could get a carton of cigarettes a week and since she only smoked about a pack a week, she kept her aunt and uncle supplied. Cigarettes were only one of many items that were rationed in those days. Dickerson finally gave up smoking altogether.
During her three years in the Marines, most of Dickerson's off time was spent in San Diego. She and her friends spent free time playing cards, bowling and visiting night clubs. She said they would go from club to club throughout the evening and she would always order a shot and a Coke. One of her friends always drank the shot and then set the glass back in front of her. She didn't like alcohol, but that made it appear as though she was drinking and saved her a lot of ribbing she said.
While on the Marine base in San Diego, all of the women were separated. Much of their clothing, like shirts, jackets and trousers were a regular marine's clothing. The barracks they lived in were old men's barracks and Dickerson said she had a hard time getting used to showering in an open room with the showerheads arrayed around a central point like spokes from a wheel. And the toilets were all open and sitting right next to each other, she said. Even so, she said, the food was good and they were very well treated.
They interacted with the men of the base and the community on a regular basis. Dances were popular and they would always dance with the men, but leave and return to base as a group. "We were protected and respected," she said. And there was never any funny business between the men and women. Dickerson could only remember one incident in the three years she spent on the base.
Finally, the war ended and Dickerson's time as a marine came to an end. "I could have stayed in," she said, "but I wanted to get back to Missouri."
When Dickerson was honorably discharged in 1946 she had attained the rank of Corporal, earned a good conduct medal and was making a total of $66 per month. The United States Marine Corps paid her travel pay from San Diego back to Missouri at the rate of 5 cents per mile.
Dickerson returned to the Kansas City area and began work in retail establishments like JC Penney and Matco. She met Don Dickerson, a veteran of World War II and the south Pacific battle on the island of Okinawa, and they were married in 1947. The couple lived in the city for a while and then moved to Appleton City, Mo., in Henry County. The Dickersons had three children and in 1963 moved to the house where Dickerson still lives and where she "stayed home to take care of the kids."
Of the two boys and one daughter they had, one son, Dennis, went on to join the United States Army and served in Europe. Those children have given her three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She still spends a lot of time with her kids and they get together regularly to play pinochle. Dickerson is very active at the Bates County Senior Center, used to volunteer for OATS, served several years on the election board, is a member of the Bates County Democrats, American Legion and V.F.W. auxiliaries.
She enjoys good health and is scheduled, as she has been for several years, to speak during the Veteran's Assembly at the Ballard High School on Veterans' Day. Like many of her generation. Dickerson is humble when it comes to her service. She said her part was small and she would much rather see credit go to men like her late husband and the other men and women who truly sacrificed during those trying years.