Kalynn+K.+&+Vanessa+B.+-+Audrey+Gillhooley

__A Few Biographical Details__
 * 1) When and where were you born?
 * 2) During your childhood years what were your parents’ occupations?
 * 3) In general, what was your childhood like?
 * 4) Did you have siblings, and if so how many, and what were their names?
 * 5) Please explain what you did before entering service.
 * 6) Did you have any family members who served in the military as well?

__Early Days of Service__
 * 1) How did you enter the service?
 * 2) Why did you decide to join the Women’s Army Corps?
 * 3) Please describe your early days of training at training camp.
 * 4) How did you adapt to your new responsibilities and work at your training camp?
 * 5) Did you go through specialized training?
 * 6) What was your specialized training, and where did you go for it?
 * 7) Tell me about your experience in how you adapted to your general military life.

__Wartime Service__
 * 1) What were your locations of service?
 * 2) What were your main jobs in the Army?
 * 3) What did your headquarter assignments require you to do in general?
 * 4) What did you do in Fort Belvoir, Virginia?
 * 5) At the 79th Arcom in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, what was your job there?
 * 6) In the Military District of Washington D.C., what were you assigned to do?
 * 7) What were you involved in during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
 * 8) Were there any specific deeds you had to do to help America in the crisis?
 * 9) When you had to go to another country to serve, what was your trip like?
 * 10) Please describe your duties in Germany.
 * 11) How did the Vietnam War seem different from the Germans’ perspective compared to the Americans’ perspective?
 * 12) What were your main responsibilities in the Army Reserves during the war?
 * 13) What did you have to go through to reach Master Sergeant level?
 * 14) Being a Master Sergeant, what was expected from you?
 * 15) If applicable, did you witness any casualties or destruction during the Vietnam War?
 * 16) Please explain any friendships that you might have formed during your wartime service and how they influenced you.
 * 17) How did you stay in touch with your family and friends who were back at home?
 * 18) What were your recreation or off-duty pursuits?
 * 19) How did you get six Good Conduct Medals?
 * 20) What did you have to pass to receive three Marksmanship Badges?
 * 21) Why did you get two awards from the National Defense service?
 * 22) Please describe what got you the Army Commendation Medal and three oak leaf clusters.
 * 23) What ribbons did you get awarded with and why?
 * 24) How did you earn the Meritorious Medal and Armed Forces Reserve Medal?

__War’s End, Coming Home__
 * 1) Where were you when the Vietnam War ended?
 * 2) How did you return home?
 * 3) Please describe what it was like when you met with your family and friends when you finally came home.
 * 4) What was your readjustment to civilian life like?
 * 5) Did you still keep your fellow veterans you served with in contact over the years after war?

__Reflections__
 * 1) How did your wartime experiences affect your life?
 * 2) If you have any additional stories or memories to tell that happened during your service, what are they?
 * 3) What were some of the life lessons you learned from your military service?

Interview Transcript - Audrey Gillhoolley

By: Vanessa Buzey and Kaylynn Keppley

Vanessa: This interview is about Audrey Gillhoolley who was born on October 29, 1952. She served during the Vietnam War in the Women’s Army Corps, reaching the Master Sergeant level. This interview is being recorded on January 27, 2015 in Richland, Pennsylvania by Vanessa Buzey and Kaylynn Keppley. The interview is being conducted for the Veteran’s History Project at the Library of Congress. Hello Audrey!

Gillhoolley: Hello!

Buzey: So, when and where were you born?

Gillhoolley: I was born October 29, 1952 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Buzey: During your childhood years, what were your parents’ occupations?

Gillhoolley: Uhm, my mother I think worked in a shoe factory in Richland, and my father he worked for a grocery store.

Buzey: Mhmm… In general, what was your childhood like?

Gillhoolley: I say it was pretty good. Uhm, I think back in the fifties and sixties. Those were pretty good times here in America. Uhm, I had good parents. You know, we weren’t rich or anything, but we had a good family, had a good church background. It was a nice, small community here in this area. And, living out in the country, that’s pretty good.

Buzey: Do you think it was a lot better than what it would be now, for children?

Gillhoolley: I think things were better back then, because it seemed like it was a lot safer. You know we could go out and play all day and not have to worry so much like parents do now a days and ugh, things were a little bit slower at that time, and the neighbors all got along so everybody sort of looked out for everybody, too.

Buzey: Did you have siblings? And if so, how many, and what were their names?

Gillhoolley: I had a younger brother, ugh and his name was Roger. That was the only one.

(Both Laugh)

Buzey: Uhm, please explain what you did before entering service, like any jobs or just, anything...services.

Gillhoolley: Well actually I started out working any kind of jobs or things I could pick up from about the time I was twelve years old. Uhm, always out there trying to do something whether it’d be selling flowers for a man who used to make artificial arrangements at Easter time. We used to pick strawberries and things like that for the farmers in the summer. Then as I got older, and got sort of a “real” job, uhm I worked in a shirt factory in Myerstown. And then, just before going into service I worked in a grocery store uhm, nearby.

Buzey: Did you have any family members who served in the military as well?

Gillhoolley: I had some uncles that served in the military. Uhm, two went in the Air Force, and one was in the Army and then later transferred into the Army National Guard.

Buzey: Did that in any way affect what influenced you to join?

Gillhoolley: I think it did, especially my uncle who had been in the Army. He influenced me a lot.

Buzey: So, how did you enter the service?

Gillhoolley: Ugh, first uhm, we had a recruiter come to our high school. And we had a couple different ones come, like one from the Navy… like there was one from the Air Force. And, just listening to them, and actually the one guy kind of had me hooked and sinker. Ugh, he said that the military was one of the biggest welfare organizations of the world, because you’d get free clothes and free food. And when he said free food, well, I was kind of there.

Buzey: Why did you decide to join the Women’s Army Corps?

Gillhoolley: Well, of all the different branches, I best liked the Army, because as I said, you know, my uncle had kind of influenced me with the stories he would tell. Because I felt, that was more familiar to me, the terminology and what they did. Ugh, having heard him talk about what he did… it just felt like it was something, you know a lot more familiar. And I have to say, uhm, I had taken a trip to Washington D.C. with my parents ugh, I guess back by the time I was in eleventh grade. And I saw a lady standing there right next to the Washington Monument, and she was standing there in her Class A uniform. And I remember thinking to myself, “Wow! That is what I really want to do, that’s what I want to… what I want to be. I want to be like her.” And I think that was when I kind of made my, my final decision to join the actual Women’s Army Corps.

Buzey: Please describe your early days of training at training camp.

Gillhoolley: Ugh, well when you first enter basic training, ugh back then it was a lot different from the way they do now, because it was the Women’s Army Corps. Ugh, we didn’t have quite as much field training as what they do now, now a days. It was, uhm, scary in some ways you know, because it’s the first time that, you know, you leave home at lot of people’s cases. Uhm, they run you from ugh early morning until late night. You know and after they say it’s bed time, a lot of times it’s not. You’re still sitting up polishing shoes and brass and stuff like that. Ugh, you’re kept on the move constantly all day long between class work. You get a lot of class work. Then you get a lot of drills and ceremonies. You have ugh cleaning, and more cleaning, and more cleaning to do. Uhm… you know you spend hours a day doing that, and you just got to kind of constantly watch your back at that time, because any time you did anything wrong the drill sergeants were right on you. So it was a, ha, it was a fast couple of weeks!

Buzey: Can you give an example of your daily routine, during training camp?

Gillhoolley: Okay. Well, we would get up, ugh I think around five o’clock it was. Uhm, and when you first get up you know, you’d have to, do your normal things you know. Then, as soon as you're dressed into your duty uniform, ugh you’d have to clean what they called the latrine, you know the bathroom...and that had to be spotless. They had to make sure your own living area was, uhm clean. Like the bed had to be made perfect. Uhm, your locker had to be in perfect order. They tell you exactly how everything should be hung. It all had to be spaced out just perfectly. The foot locker that you have at the foot of your bed, that had to be in exact order. You know, everything had to be laid out exactly the way they say, and folded the way they say. So, you know, you get all that done and then you got to hurry up and fall out into formation, and then they march you of to the mess hall where you stood in in line, and they would make you sing or count cadence or whatever while you waited. Ugh, you finally got to eat, and you had to hurry to eat like in about, I guess fifteen minutes. Then you, they would march you, ugh out again, normally had inspection. Hopefully, you didn’t have anything wrong with your uniform. After that you would go to class for about, you know four hours or whatever… all kinds of different courses. Uhm, then you’d have your lunch. Then, you might have like physical training, which back then, most women only did calisthenics. We didn’t do the, ugh, heavy P.T. that they do now. And somewhere I don’t know, right about after supper, then you went back and you cleaned some more, and more cleaning. And then you had to get you uniform ready for the next day, and we spent a lot of time soaking uniforms in liquid starch and then you’d spend about three hours trying to iron everything and mop the floor and all of that. So, around about nine o’clock you’d finally get done, cleaning yeah.

Buzey: So after hearing all of this, how did you adapt to your new responsibilities and working at your training camp?

Gillhoolley: I didn’t have too much time, ugh you know, to think about it. I mean, you just sort of, go right along with it. You know, they had this way of training people that, that you kind of… most people say fall into it. And I was kind of lucky, because I was brought up in a family where, everything had to be clean for my mother. So, you know I didn’t have any trouble with, you know, keeping my area neat and, you know, that sort of thing. Uhm, and as far as being, you know, the drill sergeants on you… if you did what they told you to do and listened, you don’t have any problem with it you know. You, you just got to learn to listen, and if they are, you know, bearing down on you hard you just got to think to yourself, “This is for my own good.” Because that’s the way it is. They’re doing that, they’re being hard on you, because they want you to learn to be able to take orders and do what needs to be done. Because if you’re in a combat or war zone type of situation, you know you got to be able to suck it up and deal with it you know. So that’s why they do that, and you just sort of keep that in the back of your mind, and you get through it.

Buzey: Did you go through specialized training?

Gillhoolley: Yes I did. Right after basic training, unfortunately I had to stay at Fort McClellan for my ugh advanced individual, training ugh, because I was assigned to the clerical training center. So I had to have about another eight weeks of that, and that was more class work and more cleaning and more drill. (Laughs)

Buzey: So, just generally uhm, tell me about your experience in how you adapted to your general military life, just all of it together.

Gillhoolley: Uhm… I think ugh, mostly you know sometimes it was a little hard to adapt, especially every time, if you had to transfer or move you know, it’s a little hard to get used to that part you know. You make friends, you get used to doing a job and knowing kind of where everything is. And, sort of like you’re starting to settle down routes and then you have to transfer. That part is a little bit hard, but uhm, one of the things that I guess sort of helped me out is that I had gotten married earlier in my career. And my husband was also in the service, so we sort of held each other up through a lot of the turmoil we had to go through and, you know, did it that way.

Buzey: So now, ugh, when you had, when you did your wartime service, what were your locations of service?

Gillhoolley: After I got out of the clerical training center at Fort McClellan, my first assignment was to the Presidio of San Francisco, which was Headquarters Sixth U.S. Army at that time. It seemed to start the transfer for the rest of my career, because all of my assignments then were in headquarters areas. I had asked them I had told them I wanted to be somewhere near a beach. At first, they wanted to send me to Alaska, and I said, “No! That’s too cold!” And she said, “Well, that is a beach.” And I said, “Well, not that kind of beach. I want the kind where, you know, you can like swim or whatever.” Well, I think she sort of hit a happy medium in between there, because you really couldn’t swim much in the beach in San Francisco. There’s too much of an undertow there, but you know that was uhm, that was my first assignment, you know. Have any, others?

(Both Laugh)

Buzey: What about your other locations of service?

Gillhoolley: Oh you want all of them? (Laughs)

Buzey: Yes!

Gillhoolley: Well, after San Francisco, we got assigned over to Germany. And again, like I said that was another headquarters area. That was the Seventh Army Headquarters. It was in Heidelberg, and uhm as in a couple different offices there uhm, they kept moving the locations. And then, after Heidelberg, we came back here to the states, and I was assigned to the Military District of Washington. And there, I worked first for the actual personnel office. I took care of general officer records. While I was there I also had the personal exchange program. And then later, I was assigned to the PAU Pentagon and did in and up processing for all the Army personnel that came in to the Military District of Washington. Finally, at the end of that tour, I decided to get off of active duty with the regular Army, and I transferred into the Reserve units at that time. They had a reserve unit at Fort Belvoir. That was the 310th TAACOM. I worked there as a reservist and pulling additional duty for about, I guess about a year and a half. And they had a new program that was starting at that time called ASTS, ugh and they asked if I wanted to go back on active duty again and I said, “Well, why not?” So, again I started, kind of started my career over. I, I kind of… it was all right being a reservist you know, but I just sort of decided that I wanted to just stick with it, get my time in and you know get back on duty full time. So that was a whole new program that they had started back then. So I was one of the first few people that they had brought in uhm, as a full timer. They called those people AGR’s, Active Guard Reserve. So I stayed there. I guess I was in the D.C. area for almost ten years, and then later got transferred up to the Willow Grove Naval Air Station. Ugh, and I got assigned to the 79th Arcom. Pretty much did the same kind of work there, except I was a personnel and CO for all of the AGR’s that were assigned to the 79th Arcom, and they had units all over Pennsylvania. So that was all of my assignments. I stayed there until I retired in 1993.

Buzey: What were your main jobs in the Army, just in general… your duties?

Gillhoolley: Uhm, my main job was being in personnel, taking care. Most of the time I took care of personnel records, but I had other jobs in between there. I did MLS testing for a while. I worked in ID card processing at one time. Uhm, let’s see, I had officer records and enlisted records. I did, some time, processing orders. When you’re in personnel you kind of get around almost all the fields, because when you go to school you do learn how to do all of those different things. With the reserve units, ugh when I first started with them, I took care of what they called their 1379, which was their pay record. Back then it was all done manually. Now a days, I think they do it by like a credit card type system, but doing it manually took a whole lot more work. And we only had three days to get it all done with, and 310th happened to be one of the largest reserve units and all the first U.S. Army. So, we had like about five hundred and some people that we processed each drill period, and we did it all by hand with electric typewriters… no computers (Laughs). So, you know it was a, that was a little bit of a challenge. And I’d say that was, for the main part, the main duties that I took care of.

Buzey: How about your headquarter assignments… like in Heidelberg?

Gillhoolley: Well over in Heidelberg, yeah there I pretty much was working on records, and I was in charge of a team of people. Uhm, mostly did enlisted records over there. I think we had something like five thousand and some records there at that place. So I had a whole team of people that I was in charge of, because I was a “knee six” by that time. We, you know, when we were working in that type of job, there was a lot of things that you do have to take care of, because you are looking out for a soldier’s career. You know by taking care of their records you got to watch out and make sure that they’re ready for their promotions, that they are up for their re-enlistments some time. If it is time for them to get out of the service, you start processing you know all that kind of paperwork. You also make sure that they what they call their emergency data card up to date that’s in case something would happen to them. Then we know how to notify their family member. We have insurance forms that we take care of. There’s just hundreds of forms that actually get involved in maintaining that soldier’s records. And, so when you work that kind of job you got to know how to do all of that.

Buzey: What did you do in Fort Belvoir, Virginia?

Gillhoolley: Fort Belvoir was when I was with the 310th TAACOM, and like I said, there I most handled their 1379. I also did records while I was there. The different thing too dealing with personnel records with reserve units is at that time, I don’t know if they still do, but at that time there you also took care of medical records and their dental records. So, like in the 310th when we were at full strength, we had like about 530 soldiers assigned to that unit. So you had 530 personnel records plus you had 530 medical records and 530 records to keep track of. And, that involved a variety of things. I mean, just for instance like their dental records, at that time they just started doing panographic x rays. So we had to make sure that the whole unit had panographic x rays done. Uhm, they also started at that time, deciding to get the reserve unit ready for mobilization. So we developed the mobilization packet, making sure that they had everything they needed so that they would be ready to go at any moment’s notice. They only had like you know 90 days notice before they would have to ship out if that came, came up. Which, it did during Desert Storm. That’s mostly what, what we did there. Uhm, you were also responsible though for like handling weapons, firing, arms room. You’d get a lot of varieties of additional duties, even though you have a main job.

Buzey: How about at the 79th Arcom in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania?

Gillhoolley: Well my duties was a little bit different there, because instead of handling reserves, I was a Senior NCO, personnel NCO for all the other active guard reserves soldiers that were assigned to the 79th Arcom. In other words, there was an active guard reserve sergeant out there in each one of their units that they had. So, I handled all of them, and I guess there might of been like 60 of them. And I mainly just took care of all of their personnel actions that they needed to get done, because their records are actually main-, where at that time maintained in Saint Louis. So, it wasn’t actually taking care of the original personnel file but maintaining everything that needed to go into those files in communicating back and forth between there and Saint Louis and also first Army.

Buzey: In the Military District of Washington D.C., what were you assigned to do?

Gillhoolley: When I first got there I was first assigned to the officer record section, and I was in charge of being the custodian, maintaining all of the personnel records for all of the general officers that were assigned to the Military District of Washington. I also was in charge of being custodian for the records for what they had called the personal exchange program. That’s the program where we send one of our military people over to a foreign country, and they send one of their people back to do duty here in the United States. And while they’re there, their records were maintained there at our Mail-PO. Uhm, after doing that for a while, later they decided to set up an in and out processing branch right in the Pentagon, so that these people in processing won’t have to come where we were being in the Pentagon house, most of the people anyway. So we set up an in and out processing unit there in a basement basically of the Pentagon, and we brought all of the new people in, processed their records, screened it entirely, made sure everything was up to date. If they needed anything done like a, for instance, like a panographic x ray or if they needed an award that was missing or something like that, we screened everything and we brought it all up to date for them. We took care of all the mail and correspondence that came in for all of the agencies that were in the Pentagon. There was a lot of agencies there. I don’t recall exactly how many, but I think it was something like a hundred and thirty-six or so that we maintained. So we did the mail distribution that came in for them, and ugh same thing with the out processing. We also got set up for their ID cards and things like that, so.

Buzey: What were you involved in during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Gillhoolley: I actually wasn’t involved in anything during that time. I think I was out in San Francisco at that time. Uhm, we were alerted you know. Everyone was put on alert because you never know for sure you know, what’s going to happen. And uhm, but actual direct involvement, no I didn’t have anything to do with that.

Buzey: Did you have to do anything to help America for the crisis, like anything?

Gillhoolley: You mean for the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Buzey: Mhmm.

Gillhoolley: No. We were just told you know to stay on alert in case something would happen, and that was basically it.

Buzey: When you had to go to another country to serve, what was your trip like?

Gillhoolley: It was a long flight (Laughs)! Ugh, packing up to move is, is probably the hardest thing. You have a weight allowance, so you’re only allowed to take so much with you, depending on where you’re going to go. Like at the time when we went to Germany, you’re going to have to deal with the difference in the electricity. That’s number one. So, all of your electrical appliances you might as well, pretty much, leave them at home. You can take, you can take them with but uhm, it’s different because like when you go to a foreign country too, you also have to learn all of their driving rules and get like a new foreign or international driver’s license. So you have that to learn when you get there. And then of course you have the language problem. If you don’t already speak the language you’re already kind of in trouble. They send us through like a head start program for a week, trying to learn like German as quick as we could. Which, I know for us, we were just about getting German down, they took us on a field trip on a bus to see how we would do. And I sit down next to a lady, and she starts talking to me, and I’m thinking, “I can’t understand a word she’s saying!” And also I realize this woman is speaking Spanish! (Both Laugh) And, I had a whole week trying to learn German, and all of a sudden have a lady speaking Spanish to me you know so you’re kind of like...yeah it’s a, it’s different! You have to learn all about, you know, their customs in those countries. Uhm, it’s different, but it’s exciting, too. You know, it makes it kind of worthwhile.

Buzey: Please describe your duties in Germany.

Gillhoolley: Well, over there, like everywhere else, pretty much just handled the records the whole time I was over there. That was sort of, pretty much, ugh about the only thing I did… process orders for a while, because they you know. One thing, you know like if they have a person that’s maybe transferred out and they didn’t get a replacement in, they’ll just take you out of what you’re doing. They can spare somebody from one department, same as you know a civilian job is like. You just go over there and start working because they tell you to help out, so that’s what you got to do. But I just mostly did the ugh, the records over there. We had additional duties that, that we always had to do no matter where we went. One of the odd kind of duties additionally we had over there was doing inventory at the commissary, which had nothing to do with personnel but again, they needed people. So, you know in the Army you can’t tell them, “No, I’m not gonna.” What they tell you to do you pretty much got to do.

Buzey: How did the Vietnam War seem different from the Germans’ perspective compared to the Americans’ perspective in your view?

Gillhoolley: Do you mean how the German people thought about the Vietnam War?

Buzey: Mhmm.

Gillhoolley: When we were at, they didn’t really talk about the Vietnam War. It was like they didn’t care or they didn’t consider it. They were still kind of, at the time when we were in Germany which was back what around 1975 or so, they were still kind of stuck on World War II yet. In fact, it didn’t make things a little bit bad while we were over there, because a lot of the Germans didn’t even like the Americans yet, especially in the town where, where we were located. Uhm, they were still kind of pro-Hitler at the time we were there, so they weren’t really thinking much about Vietnam. So, I don’t even recall having any discussions with them about it.

Keppley: What were your main responsibilities in the Army Reserve during the war?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Well during the… during Vietnam War I wasn’t in the Army Reserves. I was on active duty with the regular army. So did you mean the Vietnam War or Desert Storm?

Keppley: Either one. I guess you can do the Desert Storm one.

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Well, I was with the Army Reserves, with the 79 th Arcom when we were in Desert Storm, and like I said again, since I was Personnel NCO in charge of the Active Guard soldiers. We had to make sure they were ready to mobilize, because a lot of our units here in Pennsylvania did mobilize at that time. In fact, we did almost, almost all of our units, not quite all of them. If the war wouldn’t have ended as soon as it did, then we would have mobilized all of them and then even the headquarters would have been disbanded, and we would have been broken up and sent to various units you know over in Iraq. Uh, mainly, we did a lot of road trips at that time, going out to all the different units that were assigned to the 79 th, making sure that people had their emergency data cards up to date, and uh again making sure they had there panoramic x-rays were in there, and their uh just generally going over their records making sure they had everything they need. There was a home mobilization packet that we had to go over at that time to make sure that these guys could actually get on a plane and go. Uh not everyone is a mobilization asset, you know they can’t have medical problems uh, coming up. You can’t have severe dental problems, you know otherwise we would have to get them off the mobilization. So, we did uh there was just a lot of work, hundreds of messages coming down all the time, and you know with different requirements to get these people ready to ship out. Uh so we did a lot of road work at that time, you know traveling around just making sure these units were ready to mobilize, and then when they were over there a lot of times they didn’t have contact with anybody, but our headquarters back there, and we would still assist them with problems they were having, like their pay, uh sometimes they were having family problems, so we would try to you know help their independents, you know they didn’t have nobody to go to, so we were there to assist them also. We had to also be ready for any casualties notification that sort of thing.

Keppley: What did you have to go through to reach Master Sergeant level?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Well basically uh, number one you have to stay out of trouble. Uh you don’t get promoted if you have a string of Article 15’s on your record, or letters of reprimand things like that. So the number one thing is uh you know to stay out of trouble, you have to get good scores on uh you take a MOS test that is a test in your duty assignment and you have to get a good score on that. You have to stay in the weight requirement always. You have to pass your physical fitness tests, uh you various school levels you have to go through throughout your career. One thing about the military is that if you don’t like show integrity and leadership skills you are not going to get promoted. You have be able to step in and show those leadership skills so that is one of the big things that you have to do in order to keep moving up and get promoted. You have to always be out taking correspondence courses, uh any letter of appreciation or previous awards you get add on to your promotion ability, and uh you got to keep your uniform in immaculate conditions all the time, because when you want to get promoted at higher ranks they require you have to submit a full length photo, which they scrutinize close you know to make sure that everything is right and your weight is still good, and all that so, it’s a constant upkeep.

Keppley: If applicable, did you witness any casualties or destruction during the Vietnam War?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Uh no. I didn’t because I wasn’t assigned over in Vietnam?

Keppley: Please explain any friendships you might have formed during your wartime service and have they influenced you.

Mrs. Gillhoolley: I had quite a few friends during the 23 years I was in the service. I think a lot of people you meet on the way they do influence your life sometimes good, sometimes bad. You learn something from every person that you meet along the way, and is always some that sticks with you throughout the rest of your life, maybe things they said, or things they did. Uh normally in the military you do form very strong friendships in some cases, because you're in a close knit type of thing. It’s like you're in your own special community for one thing so, well that helps form tighter friendships right there.

Keppley: How did you stay in touch with your friends and family at home?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Well, we didn’t have computers and Twitter and email and all that stuff back then so mainly it was done by a thing called a pen and a piece of paper, uh phone calling like when you were overseas, uh we didn’t have a phone where we were at, we didn’t have a TV either or anything like that so you couldn’t make a phone call in an emergency case unless you drive so many miles just to get to a place where you can use a phone. So everything was pretty much done a pen and a paper. Uh here in the states naturally then you could make phone calls but back then they didn’t have such a thing as unlimited calling either, and you had to pay so much money per minute so you know it got pretty expensive to make those long distance phone calls too, so we didn’t have quite the communication you do now.

Keppley: What were, what were your recreation or off -duty pursuits?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Uh we used to go to the rifle range and uh keep up on weapons firing you know we liked to do that, bow and arrow sort of thing, bicycling riding, hiking, uh when we had a chance we went swimming, uh you know we did anything in the sports area, but my main recreation was martial arts.

Keppley: How did you get six Good-Conduct Medals?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: By being good. Uh normally every three years uh you know you come up for qualifications for that and as long as you did have a good record that you didn’t have any letters or repremantory or anything like that, test scores were all good. Then you got your Good Conduct Medal. You had to be recommended by your Sergeant.

Keppley: What did you have to pass to receive three Marksmanship Badges?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Mainly you have to go to the firing range to do your weapons qualification and they set up the targets uh at so many yards. You had to fire at different positions like kneeling and laying and it helps to hit as close to the bulls eye as what you possibly can, and you know not drop the weapon while doing it.

Keppley: Why did you get two awards from the National Defense Service?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Uh let me see if I can remember how that went. They had the first one initially back in 1970. That was the first award you get right out of basic training. It's basically an award you get for being in the service. They came up with a second one I don't remember exactly what year that was uh, for some reason they uh the military decided the second. I don't remember why any more I uh don't remember.

Keppley: Please explain what got you the Army Commendation Medal and three oak leaf clusters.

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Army Commendation Medal is usually awarded for a high achievement in the area like in my case what I was working in, working in records all of our records were subjected to be inspected each year, uh we would have inspectors some in from various sources, some from our own inspector general, some from in house, inspectors within our own unit. Then we also had inspectors that in from, say like for instance when I was in the three ten they would come all the way from 1st Army, and they would go over all our records with a fine tooth comb make sure that everything was done accordingly to regulation. So if we passed that inspection with the commendable normally then you would get an accommodation for that so I got most of them for doing outstanding work in my line of duty.

Keppley: What ribbons did you get awarded with and why?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: As far as ribbons go I have the NCL Special Development ribbon. Those are given each time you go to a certain level school, uh you go to a primary leadership school, NCL level school then the senior level school. So when you finish them schools that gives you a different level on your ribbon. They also have the Army Service ribbon that basically is sort of another one basically for serving for a certain time period. Uh let's see I have another one, ugh I do have the Overseas ribbon too and that's for having been over in Germany so.

Keppley: How did you earn the Meritorious Medal and Army Forces Reserve Medal?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Well the Meritorious Service medal was one of the higher awards you can receive and again that's usually given to someone who has done outstanding work and an outstanding commendation field like again for instance the way I maintained the office staff took care of care of that sort of thing and uh the Armed Forces Reserve medal is basically an award to people who are affiliated with the Army Reserves.

Keppley: Where were you when the Vietnam War ended?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: I think I was over in Germany at that time.

Keppley: How did you return home?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Home from where Germany or...

Keppley: Yeah.

Mrs. Gillhoolley: By plane, we took a flight from Germany over to McGuire Air Force Base and then later we went down to Washington D.C.

Keppley: Please describe what it was like when you met with you family and friends when you finally came home.

Mrs. Gillhoolley: I think uh a lot people forgotten who I was because I was gone for so many years ugh my family was glad to see me home and uh it took a little while to get resettled; in fact, you uh don't ever really resettle after being gone that long. You come back and everyone has moves on with their own life and you've gone through and had your life so basically it's like coming into another place to live that's it.

Keppley: Did you still keep your fellow veterans you served with in contact over the years after war?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Not really I know a couple of them still around. You recently contacted a few of them. Basically pretty much everyone splits up and goes their separate ways. Eventually you keep up with them for a while it seems but then you get busy with life and the next thing you know you lose contact again.

Keppley: How did your wartime experiences affect your life?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Well for me, I didn't really have any wartime experience I didn't serve in combat or anything like that so I can't say it really affected me that much.

Keppley: If you have any additional stories or memories to tell that happened during your service, what are they?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: Offhand I can't really think of any you know, ugh you know there were a lot of just different things along the way. My best experiences were serving down in Washington DC, yeah I really enjoyed that assignment I find that to be one of the best places I served and I think it has a pretty effect on my life.

Keppley: What were some of the life lessons you learned from you military service?

Mrs. Gillhoolley: I think one of the best experiences that you learn is being able to hang in there anything that has to be done. It gives you a solid background. You pay more attention in doing by things right, to pay attention to detail. You learn to work with people all kinds of people. It uh kind of gives little more confidence I think in what you set out to do. You usually have good work ethics that sort of thing. I think it sets a good background and morals there and you also think you are more concerned about taking care of health and physical ability because that's what you are used to doing and it gives you a good background.

Audrey Gillhoolley’s Collections - Part 2

Gillhoolley: I went through quite a few during the time I was in, since I first enlisted in 1970, and I was in until 1993. We went through several uniform changes, especially the women since we have gone from a Women’s Army Corps and then later on got fully integrated with the regular Army with the men, so. So in the beginning, we started out with the Class A uniform that looked like this. Pretty much the same style as what they’re wearing now a days. Uhm, this was the Class A that you wore with dress shoes. But we started out with the tan shirt to go with it. Later on, they decided to integrate with the white shirt. I guess they wanted to dress it up a little bit more. And, then for, for summer uniforms, they came out with this type later on. And with was a summer wear, short sleeved top and skirt. Somewhere along the way, somebody got the bright idea to come along with this green one, which seemed like none of the women liked at all. So this one didn’t last too long, and this was again a summer type of uniform, uhm had a skirt to it. At that time we were still wearing just tops and skirts. Slacks weren’t allowed to be worn yet at that time. And then, they started to get a little bit more updated, and they came up with something a little bit more classier, which was a turtleneck sweater. And then this is what they called a pantsuit, and this was the first time we were allowed to wear pants with our jackets, and we wore the tunic with that. For a, later on they came up with the dress uniform and is what I wore until I got out at 1993… with the full attire on there all of the awards on and stuff before. And with that uniform, you could wear either a skirt or pants, and you could either wear dress shoes the pump types, or you could wear the low quarters. For a shirt, we had both a long sleeve shirt for cooler weather, and you could wear this uniform either with the pants and just the shirt, or you could the jacket with it also. It depended on what the occasion was. They also had a short sleeve shirt that went with that for summer wear. And each shirt had a little neck tab that went with it, and that is removeable. So, you could wear the shirt either with or without the neck tab, depending on what, you know your organization required. If we were doing field duty, then in the beginning, we wore the old fatigues, which was more kind of more of an olive green type of wear. And then they went into the darker fatigues, which was a lighter material not quite as hot. And, actually you had the combat boots that went with those. And then in later years, they came along with what a lot of people know now a days as the battle dress uniform. And this was the darker one they were wearing. Now they are wearing lighter ones. But this was your battle dress uniform. There’s a lot of wither parts to the uniform that soldiers have to maintain, because you have your jackets and uhm, you have sweaters and so forth like that. We had a pullover sweater that was nice that came along with the Class A uniform. If you didn’t want to wear the jacket with all of the medals and things like that and it was kind of chilly out, you could wear the pullover sweater like this. And this was authorized even to be worn outdoors. So you would put this on overtop of your shirt right, like that. And, then you didn’t have to wear the heavy jacket with all of the awards and things like that. Plus you even had an outer coat to put on with it if you needed it. Ugh, just for office wear, in the older days we would first have the green sweater like this. And this was not authorized to wear out of doors or anything like that. You only could wear this if you were like indoors. And later on, they had to change it again, they were always changing the uniforms, they came out with same style sweater and everything, but they went to black instead of to green. I’m not sure why, but they liked to change things up a little but, which was nice I guess. Uhm, with the meaty hues, you actually have to wear your t-shirt in the beginning, in the earlier year with the fatigues. We wore white t-shirts with the fatigues. And then, later on with the meaty hues we had to wear the brown ones. Of course, every outfit had their own headgear. This was the headgear that the women had when we were in the Women’s Army Corps. And then later on they decided Wilbert Bailey was general, she liked bray, so she came out with the bray. Now this was mostly worn if you were with your Class A’s, dressed up to go somewhere. Same thing if you were with your Class A’s, you had your purse. This is an actual issued purse. You weren’t allowed to carry any other type of purse, only these. Uhm, for special ceremonies you wore white gloves, white scarf. Just for regular occasions, you had your tan gloves, tan scarf. Later on they went to black. And of course we had matching hats naturally. Same thing, the the old garrison. Then later they just changed up the style just a little bit into the new one. With your battle dress uniforms you naturally had the baseball caps, which go with the fatigues. And later they had the one that went with the BDU’s. And that was pretty much all of the uniform. You had heavy gloves with inserts, roll inserts that went with your fatigues and your BDU’s. And before when I had mentioned that they told exactly how to fold your clothes and so forth, this actually is a pair of nylons. And this is how we had to fold our nylons for basic training. You actually had to stretch these out in their younger days, ugh you would be able to bounce them off a wall like a rubber ball. And if they didn’t bounce, they didn’t pass inspection. You had to write your name on every single thing you owned then. So everything had to be marked and folded their way. And that pretty much covers most of the uniform attire that I wore on a regular basis. Uhm, we had raincoats, overcoats and things like that go with it you know. But, that took care of that.