Audio
William R. Bennett
Transcript
Haller:
[00:00:30]
My name is Steven Haller, and I'm here in Mountain View, California, at the home of William R. Bennett. And he lived on the Presidio and at Fort Mason in his youth during the 1920s and '30s. And I want to thank you very much for having me here today, Bill. We are making the tape for the archives of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for use in research and education about the history of our park. Now, I understand that the Park Service has your permission to make this tape and to retain all literary and property rights to this interview for the purposes I just mentioned, is that correct?
Bill:
That is fine.
Haller:
[00:01:00]
Good. Well, thanks again for having me here. And why don't you tell... Why don't we start by asking you to tell me a little bit about your father. And since he's I guess the reason for your association with the Presidio. Now, who was your father?
Bill:
My father was Colonel C.R. Bennett, and we were stationed at the Presidio in 1918 when I first appeared on the scene.
Haller:
So were you born at Letterman Hospital?
[00:01:30]
Bill:
I was born at the old Letterman Hospital in the Presidio. And it interests me now because the quarters are still standing and in fine condition.
Haller:
The quarters that you lived in at the time?
Bill:
Quarters that I lived in at the time in 1918 when I was a baby.
Haller:
For the record, that's building 58, which is the nice sort of Victorian frame house at Funston Avenue, isn't it? Is that correct?
Bill:
No. Funston Avenue, right. That's what you said?
Haller:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
[00:02:00]
Bill:
Okay. Now our father at the time was a lieutenant colonel of infantry. And he was there, we were only there temporarily up through say 1920 when we left to go to Hawaii to Fort Kamehameha.
Haller:
Do you remember what his assignment was when he was at the Presidio at that time?
[00:02:30]
Bill:
[00:03:00]
Well as I say, he was the lieutenant colonel of infantry. And he went overseas to Europe, into Germany, and then came back. Now what his official's assignment was in reference to the proceeding itself, I cannot say. I'm sorry, I can't do that. But I do know that we were living in those quarters at that time. Now, after we left Presidio, then we went to Fort Kamehameha. Now, is there anything further that I can elaborate for you on that?
Haller:
Well, you left then the Presidio about 1920 you said.
Bill:
Give or take, give or take. Around 1920. But we were there say from 1918 until 1920.
Haller:
[00:03:30]
And your father was in Hawaii then. And what did he do? Just trace his career briefly until we got back to the Presidio. So bring us back.
Bill:
Until we came back again?
Haller:
Yeah.
Bill:
[00:04:00]
Well, let's see. In Hawaii, we went into Fort Kamehameha and my father was still an infantry officer at that time. And he was command of the high school ROTC units in Hawaii, which there were several, a commander's school and also a military academy was in existence at that time, Honolulu Military Academy. And he was the regular army senior instructor for that school. My two older brothers both went to Honolulu Military Academy. I was still a youngster living at Fort Kamehameha. And my memories then were of my grandmother coming down and the swings and the beach at Fort Kamehameha and things of this sort.
[00:04:30]
[00:05:00]
[00:05:30]
But my father, he was stationed then at Fort Shafter also during that period of time. Shortly afterwards, he transferred from the infantry to the corps master corps. And then we returned from Hawaii and our next assignment, he was sent to Pennsylvania where he assumed command of the New Cumberland Army Depot. And during that time, we were at Cumberland maybe for a year, year and a half, down on into Washington, DC. In Washington, DC, he went then to the Army War College and to the Army Industrial College, and then he was with, as I say, the corps master corps activities at that time. I was a youngster in school in Washington, DC. He was in the old munitions building in Washington, DC.
Haller:
Was it from there that you got back to the Presidio then from that assignment, that led you to the Presidio?
Bill:
[00:06:00]
[00:06:30]
We were there until early 1928. Then we left 1928 and he was assigned, ordered to Fort Mason. And we went through Panama Canal on the [inaudible 00:06:08]. That was my first time through the Panama Canal, which was quite an experience for a 10-year-old youngster at that time. Then after going through the canal, working our way on up to San Francisco, we had to await a period of time before acquiring quarters at the post.
Haller:
Quarters at Fort Mason?
Bill:
At Fort Mason and Presidio. So first my father accepted quarters at the Presidio, and that's when we were up on the old East Cantonment where I went with you not too long ago.
Haller:
[00:07:00]
That's interesting that you referred to that area as the East Cantonment and that was the general usage at the time, huh?
Bill:
Well, that was the terminology as I recall as a youngster. I'm sure that's out now and you refer to it in another manner, but that's the way I remember it. And there, sir, my early vivid memories of the Presidio came into being.
[00:07:30]
Haller:
Now we had visited that building and we established that it's quarters. It's 540A I think, and it's on Funston Avenue. It's one of the substantial field grade officers duplexes on, excuse me, on Presidio Boulevard rather, quarters.
Bill:
Well, those were the quarters where I was born. There were where I lived in when we were born.
Haller:
Well, I misspoke. You were born at Funston Avenue in building 58. And when you came back to the Presidio as a 10-year-old boy-
[00:08:00]
Bill:
Then we went up to East Cantonment.
Haller:
To East Cantonment, building 540, which is Presidio Boulevard. And that's where your sort of vivid memories-
Bill:
[00:08:30]
[00:09:00]
Those were, I was old enough then to recall as I am doing now memories of the Presidio where I was another, using the expression, Army brat. That's where I met other youngsters, boys, girls in my age bracket. And we participated in activities as you would on an Army post. And the Presidio brought the Army home to me then. So I knew what it was all about and where I could come in along the Lombard Street gate, which is still in existence today. And as I've said before, the street car came in there right to the left of that gate and terminating its run across the street from the Old [inaudible 00:09:07] and made a U-turn and back out it went. Now the quarters where I lived were right around the corner. East Cantonment was right around the corner from the end of that street car line.
Haller:
That's right.
Bill:
[00:09:30]
[00:10:00]
[00:10:30]
And I recall as a youngster having a newspaper route, we delivered the San Francisco Chronicle. Three of us kids with the Model A Ford standing on the running board, throwing papers. You'd circle around to the quarters, then went on over to the barracks where you people have your headquarters now at Presidio. And those were at one time occupied by the 30th Infantry. And we'd go down and drop papers in the various day rooms as we went down to the barracks. Headquarters for the ninth corps area were right across the playground at that time. And I recall going in and out of there, visiting my father from time to time. All memories of the post then, watching [inaudible 00:10:23] parades, and also things very vividly in mind were the raising and lowering of the flag, revelry in the morning, retreat at night, having a retreat gun go off, which I am sorry to say, I hear is no longer the situation in Presidio now, but something that I'll always remember.
[00:11:00]
Haller:
Well, go ahead though. You were saying about the retreat ceremonies.
Bill:
[00:11:30]
[00:12:00]
The retreat ceremony and the retreat gun was an important cog in my life at that time as a youngster, because my father had strict instructions, at 5:00 at firing of that gun and the lowering of the colors, then I had an hour to get myself home and be cleaned up and ready to sit down to eat at 6:00. We could be in the middle of a ball game somewhere or [inaudible 00:11:36] no matter what it might be. But whoops, I had to always realize, that was something. Nowadays, some people look upon that and frown upon it as being pretty regimental, that sort of thing. But I look upon it in a different light. I'm glad in a way, because it gave us a sense of training, responsibility. And I think it was part of the overall upbringing, which I treasure, which I think was pretty good.
Haller:
So being in a military family then really influenced your upbringing in a number of ways, didn't it?
Bill:
[00:12:30]
[00:13:00]
[00:13:30]
Yes, it did. And I think there's a lot. There's good and bad. That was one of the good features I felt. That and the respect, respect for the family, and the neatness, the tidiness. My dad would inspect my room like he was inspecting barracks. And he'd only do this on a Saturday morning, but things had to be lined up baseball gloves, clothing couldn't be littered about, had to be picked up. And later on when raising my own family that came into view, which was a standing joke with my daughter. She used to take anything that was loose, just throw it under the bed. I come along and look and I just pull this out from under the bed and leave it in the middle of the floor. When she came home, then I expected her to get these things hung up in the right manner. It's a throwback to my time. And my daughter gets a kick out of that when she recalls that early bringing up, how I stressed that.
Haller:
Now your mother also had a military background, wasn't it? Wasn't she a daughter of an Army officer?
Bill:
[00:14:00]
No, my mother wasn't. My mother was from Seattle, Washington, and that's where she and my dad met. And he had his received his commission in 1901. But they were married a few years before, a few years before. But no, she was not military connected prior to my father.
Haller:
Did she adjust well to the various moves and the other kind of formalities of military life?
Bill:
[00:14:30]
[00:15:00]
Yes, she did. Yes, she did. It was accepted as going into the military life then, there was a certain protocol and a certain formality that people maintained. And I had to respect that, respect that. It's an entirely different situation today, that you well know. But the only thing that I regretted at the time is the breaking up of school, your schooling. You would form friends in school, or you'd form even military or service friends, and you're no longer than four years in one place. Or if you go to foreign service, which was Hawaii, Panama, Philippines in those days, two years.
[00:15:30]
[00:16:00]
But you're in school during that time, all of a sudden you'd have to part company with your schoolmates and go into a brand new school in another area. The only time that really was noticeable or affected me to any degree was in high school where I couldn't graduate with my high school class. I had to go back to Washington, DC, where my father was sent, and that's where I had my senior year of school there. But my friends were all in Hawaii, still there, my civilian friends I had formed. And my love for the islands were so great I felt that's where I wanted to get back to, so I did. But from the standpoint of the military, you can see, so many years here, so many years there. And that situation still exists to some extent today. It's not entirely out of the picture.
Haller:
Well, where did you go to school when you lived at the Presidio?
Bill:
Presidio, I was in grammar school on Union Street at the Sherman School, which is just off of Van Nuys Avenue. My brother was going to Galileo High School. He graduated from Galileo High School.
Haller:
And did you take the street car then to Sherman School?
[00:16:30]
Bill:
[00:17:00]
[00:17:30]
I used to take the street car. I had the little newspaper route, and on such mornings my father had to leave earlier to go to Fort Mason or something of the sort then he'd go and then I'd take the street car. As I recall, it was the old hitch car going down Union Street. And it was fine. I enjoyed that, no trouble at all. When I lived to Fort Mason, then I used to walk over there. And Fort Mason now is another part of the era. And Fort Mason now has changed tremendously since I lived there at that time. The out in front of the headquarters building at Fort Mason was just an empty field. And I could walk across that empty field to Bay Street, which paralleled. And I can remember the fog in the morning sometimes being so great that I'd have to keep my eye on a path going across. If not, I could wind up clear down the far corner at Funston Field, which doesn't exist, and doubled back. But I just go across and that was how I got to Sherman School in those days.
Haller:
Well, at Sherman School, were your circle of friends mostly the army kids from Fort Mason or the Presidio? Or did you have a wider circle of friends?
[00:18:00]
Bill:
[00:18:30]
Well, there was a group from the Presidio, yes. I wouldn't say it was any large sum number, but there were a group of us that used to go back and forth to Sherman and other schools. But the friends, the people I really got friendly with there was the kids that I couldn't see normally. Those were Italian boys and girls primarily from the North Beach area. And in those days, at the time it was North Beach. Not as the situation exists today. But I enjoyed my time at Sherman School very much.
Haller:
Were the non-Army kids welcome to visit you at the post?
Bill:
[00:19:00]
They could. I had to try to handpick some. You just wouldn't take anybody in, because my father and mother might frown on somebody that didn't conduct themselves in the proper manner. What I mean by that is proper presentation, language spoken, and that sort of thing. And we kept it balanced out quite well. There was never any problems whatsoever.
Haller:
So what kind of leisure time kid stuff did you do at the Presidio to keep yourself occupied? I know you had your paper route.
[00:19:30]
Bill:
[00:20:00]
[00:20:30]
Well, paper route, yes. But I was beginning to become more and more interested in athletics at that time. I enjoyed my time at the old YMCA, which was right across the street from the old Letterman Hospital. So I can remember going down there on Saturday mornings with the kids and we'd all skinny dip, and that's where I learned to swim and where I started learning what a basketball was, things of this sort. And my brother later on became the swimming coach there and ran for [inaudible 00:20:04]. So those were things I remember in the Y. In fact, I even went to Sunday school in that same Y. But I learned to play different games, different sports. We even had competitions. And it got so where the officers' kids would play the NCO, non-commission officers' kids. We'd play against each other in teams. Then we formed a post team and we'd play against kids from Fort Scott and things of this sort. It's just a little, just kid games, but taken seriously. Playing baseball and basketball and a little football, things of this sort. And a lot of swimming.
[00:21:00]
Haller:
Were the officers' kids, you mentioned the officers' kids playing on teams and the NCOs' kids playing on teams. Did they stay together as groups socially? Or did you guys circulate without regard to rank? Or your parents rank that is?
Bill:
[00:21:30]
Well, when it came to socially, no, they had their group, but we had ours. And the Army had a protocol and you kind of had to abide by it. And it was understood by everyone. There was never any animosity, one towards the other. And it was just understood. And down the line a little further, I had some experiences where that came into play, but that was out in Hawaii in the '30s.
[00:22:00]
Haller:
Well, if it's sort of the illustrative of the kind of social situation that was in the Army at the time, why don't you tell me a little bit about it?
Bill:
[00:22:30]
Well, we were in... I was a youngster starting high school then. And we were youngsters of the NCOs, but also be classmates in school, we were all in same grade. Well then the social activities, there'd be dances held for the youngsters, NCOs' youngsters, and for the officers' youngsters.
Haller:
Separate dances though.
Bill:
[00:23:00]
[00:23:30]
[00:24:00]
These were separate dances and separate clubs. But there was a daughter of an NCO. In fact, he was a sergeant major. And I was attracted to his daughter and the feelings were mutual, but we had to maintain protocol once again. But I still went to one of her dances and I learned to be tactful at an early age. So I went over and introduced myself and they had to accept me as well as me accept them. See, the idea of a colonel's son coming in to them. And right away the wives and people knew who I was. But I was accepted because I guess I was forming a personality then. And I made some of the right moves, I asked the mother to dance, things of this sort. And the father, we were all smiling and all. And they thought I was just a regular kid.
[00:24:30]
My mother, she kind of backed off a little bit, but my dad thought it was great. He thought it was just great. He congratulated me for doing it, but he also congratulated me for being up front and not trying to do anything behind somebody's back. Because it would've gotten back and then would've been brought up at a dinner table and it'd have been unpleasant. I brought it right out in front. But that was the beginning of that. And nowadays it's probably looked upon entirely different. But there were distinctions, but I wouldn't call it class distinctions, but everyone knew their place and it was accepted, there was never ever any trouble that I can think of.
[00:25:00]
Haller:
And that's pretty typical then, even though this story took place in Hawaii, you feel that was sort of pretty typical of the social atmosphere?
Bill:
This would be typical anywhere, any place during that era. And I'm sure there are many, many, many other stories in some respects similar to mine.
Haller:
[00:25:30]
Was your family able to, or did your family have help, servants in their quarters during this era?
Bill:
Yes, we did. Yes, we did.
Haller:
And were those local people?
Bill:
Local people were hired. My mother had a maid, yes. My father had what is known as a striker.
Haller:
Tell me about that.
Bill:
[00:26:00]
Now, a striker was someone in service from one of his units. And this chap, particular chap would be recommended by his commanding officer to my father. And what he did, he did jobs for my father or he'd drive the car, service the car and things of this sort. But those are jobs that I acquired myself later on, things that I was expected to do, get out and get the car gassed, and this, and go down to a post commissary. And I'd be given a list to do the shopping, but the striker would do some of these things before.
[00:26:30]
Haller:
That was a fairly common practice for officers like your father, colonels and-
Bill:
Yes, yes they could. Yes, they could. They could do that.
Haller:
What was in it for the striker? What did he get? Did he get some extra pay?
Bill:
[00:27:00]
He would be given something. He would be given something. No, he wouldn't call for a raise in grade or anything in the military, no. But he'd be given something for his services, oh yes. And of course being realistic, it would probably relieve him from certain functions that did take place with his unit, or he'd be with me father driving him somewhere even. But that was all part of the routine also. But there was nothing that wasn't correct. I don't know how else to elaborate on that.
[00:27:30]
Haller:
Well, that's fine. I was just trying, you're helping me get an insight into sort of the social structure of what kinds of things went on, how your family lived, and how it related to the other people on the post at the time.
Bill:
[00:28:00]
Well, the military, the officers' family, there was a lot of sociability, a lot of sociability. And there was a lot of playing of bridge and going to each other's homes. And the military had a protocol where an officer would come onto post to see my father and they'd call and had calling cards.
Haller:
Tell us a little about that too.
Bill:
[00:28:30]
And he would call my mother, he went on a Sunday afternoon, they'd call on the commanding general, his wife, they'd go to the courts and have a little social visit. And as they'd go out the door, they'd leave their cards on the little tray. That was protocol to go to the commanding officer first, then you'd to other people. And my father went up in rank, then the junior officers would come to him [inaudible 00:28:45]. I remember that. And it was just something that was a merry go round, something that went on all the time.
Haller:
So in essence, you had a little, what civilians might call an open house hours.
[00:29:00]
Bill:
Yeah. There's a time, the time for calling, time for calling. They expected maybe. And you'd call between certain hours. If they weren't there, you could either leave your card or return a call later.
Haller:
Were you as a youngster expected to be there at this sort of the social circle or this is strictly for your father?
Bill:
No, this was strictly for the adults.
Haller:
For the adults.
[00:29:30]
Bill:
No, as kids, we didn't do that. But we did have our own little social dances just for the kids. And [inaudible 00:29:34]. But no, we didn't have that. We go around calling each other, no.
Haller:
No, I didn't mean that, but I thought were you expected to sort of be there and be polite, be there and small talk during visiting hours, during calling hours?
Bill:
[00:30:00]
No. Now as time goes on, after a youngster gets up in school, high school, college age, something like that, then he might expect to be around when this was done.
Haller:
I see.
Bill:
[00:30:30]
But at my age level at that time, no, I don't ever recall it. But I do remember that I couldn't come busting in the front door while there was somebody calling. I'd go around the back door, I'd come in and then go up to my room. I wouldn't want to interfere with any conversation, anything going on out there. I had to learn to judge that for myself.
Haller:
Okay, Bill. You lived on the Presidio starting in '28. You said you had two other brothers, is that correct? Tell me that your family was your mother and your father, and you had an older brother.
[00:00:30]
Bill:
[00:01:00]
I had a brother, Jack, and a brother, Bob. My brother, Jack, I never got to know. He passed on when I was still a baby, at Fort Command Air. He's buried at Schofield Barracks. He contacted pneumonia early age, so I never got to know Jack. He was born army post in Governor's Island in New York when my father was stationed there. My brother, Bob, was nine years older than I. Bob was at the Presidio. I wish he was present at this moment. He could relate other stories of the Presidio, which I know would be humorous and of interest to you. Same thing at Mason. Bob was born in Fort McPherson, Georgia, but he was an army brat. He was an army brat.
[00:01:30]
Haller:
I remember you telling me that you guys got together sometimes and pulled off some pranks and the like. Do you remember?
Bill:
[00:02:00]
[00:02:30]
Well, you got to realize now there's this nine year difference in age. He had his group and I had mine. But the story that I always remembered as far as Presidio was concerned with him, I don't know how many youngsters were involved, it had to be two or three. They picked up some cannon balls in the Card House area and took those in the car up the infantry terrace. This was on a Halloween evening. They turned these things loose at the top of infantry terrace. Then of course they disappeared. They get out of the way. Of course, when the MPs were made aware of this, then there was H to pay. Who did everything? Of course complete silence. My dad said, "You boys know anything about this?". "Oh, no. No sir. No nothing about this". But he was pulling stunts of that type. I was off doing other things.
Haller:
Of a more innocent nature?
Bill:
[00:03:00]
[00:03:30]
Innocent nature. One thing that we used to pull, even there in Schofield, which we thought was funny as a crutch, but didn't mean anything, we would stick an officer sign out in front of his quarters. In those days, the quarters and signs were put in the lung instead of tacked up on the building. You'd go over say to the commanding general sign, pull that out, and take it up the far end of the post, and put it up in front of Master Sergeant Smith's house. Take Master Sergeant Smith, bring it down. You'd disconcert a sentry temporarily, make a little noise somewhere, while the sentry's off looking, kids will run in, change signs. We'd do that all over the post. All over the place. Of course, after a period of time, people knew this. In fact, they undoubtedly in my mind, as I think back, we must have been seen from time to time, people looking out the windows. But they knew what was going on. It was no big thing, but the phones would be ringing. People have to drive down, exchange.
[00:04:00]
[00:04:30]
[00:05:00]
But those were just little kid, or, we used to think it was great to go by and swipe somebody's ice cream. In those days, they had the homemade ice cream, the hand cream. They'd have it on the back porch. We kids, we'd come by, steal it. Little things like that, but nothing really destructive as you might see today. No really intent meant to ruffle too many feathers, but we did in our own way. But there was comical, we thought. One thing that Schofield, I know that we try and take a pair of girls panties and run them up the post flag pole. And that was a trick too, and kept that really discreet. But if they roll them up, then once that was in there, disappeared. Nobody knew whoever ever did that. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. So those are just some of the little stunts, as I recall.
Haller:
Was most of your social, your time, and your life revolved around activities on the post except for school? Or did you get out and did you and your family, the rest of the kids, get out into the city a lot? Or was it mostly on the post?
Bill:
No, no. It was on the post and off the post.
Haller:
Okay.
[00:05:30]
Bill:
[00:06:00]
[00:06:30]
[00:07:00]
My family had, due to the number of times my father was in Hawaii, had a great many civilian friends in Honolulu. They were in it in San Francisco the same way. He had a great many friends in the shipping side of the picture. Being water, Marine transportation officer there, Schofield. The Embarcadero was going in full steam ahead in those days. All your major shipping lines were utilizing the piers along the yard. So my father knew people in those various shipping lines and they'd social calls, back and forth. The transports themselves would go into dry dock at Bethany. He knew those people. So there's a lot of sociability there. Whereas myself, in San Francisco, not too much at that early age, but once I got to Hawaii, that was another story. Then my friends in school, I'd see on the weekends and away from school. In Hawaii, we'd socialize with the youngsters from sugar plantations, not too far from school. We'd go to their social functions. We'd invite them up to ours, with our kids at school. And we'd inter-date.
Haller:
One interesting memory that you related to me was those about the polo matches on the Presidio. Do you remember seeing polo matches in the Presidio?
Bill:
[00:07:30]
[00:08:00]
[00:08:30]
Yes. Now we're coming back to another era again. That's true. Now, there were polo matches at the Presidio and there were two of us kids. Our job was to keep score. These polo matches were held on Crissy Field. I guess you'd call it the Southern end of Crissy field, not too far from the Palace of Fine Arts. The polo matches were held between what is then known as a Ninth Corps area. The Ninth Corps area was the army headquarters. One of the polo players was an aid of the commanding general, lived right next door to us in Fort Mason. The polo matches were played against the Presidio of Monterey, which was in an active army post in Monterey. The 11th Cavalry was there. In fact, another little bit of history, the Commanding General at that time, the Commanding Officer at that time, was a Colonel Wainright.
Haller:
The CEO of the 11th Cavalry.
Bill:
[00:09:00]
The 11th Cavalry. As time was on, he was the general [inaudible 00:08:46], general Wainright who had to surrender to the Japanese. But harking back to the polo where this all started, it was a great thing for us to watch those polo games, interchange, these teams playing back and forth. The big thing for us kids was to get to be able to ride a polo pony back to the stables. And we'd ride a polo pony back to the stables. Now when the teams would play down in Monterey, we'd go down and watch the games, but we didn't participate or anything like that. We just go down, see the games. I had a weekend in Monterey.
Haller:
Now these ponies were kept at the brick stables on the Presidio?
[00:09:30]
Bill:
On the Presidio. Right.
Haller:
Right. Do you have any idea, were these horses, these ponies had some regular military function or were they,
Bill:
I don't think so.
Haller:
Or were they just simply recreational?
Bill:
[00:10:00]
No, I don't think there was a military function. At the stadium for the animals kept there. 11th cavalry, that's another story. In Pedro Monterey, of course, it was a Cavalry unit. But as far as Presidio, no, I don't think there's anything of military significance there.
Haller:
I was just asking about the polo ponies. They were strictly polo ponies?
Bill:
[00:10:30]
Yeah. The polo ponies were there, and now how else they were utilized I don't know. No, I know, you'd begin to scratch your head and wonder, polo ponies on the military post? And why and when they use further. Now Scofield Barracks in Hawaii, we had a pack train, and there were you, that's a different story altogether.
Haller:
Well, the army had a lot of horses and mules at that time. I was just trying to see,
Bill:
[00:11:00]
The cavalry was a big part of the army. My father loved to ride. It was typical among all army brats to learn to ride when you're a kid. Go out and ride and used to have our own horse shows and things like that. The Presidio they don't recall doing that, but those horses were utilized. The officers were using rides out in the Golden Gate Park. Things of this.
Haller:
Did you get into the stables a fair amount? Do you remember them well?
Bill:
[00:11:30]
Well, I remember going down to the stables. Yes. Or taking a handful, have a pocket full of sugar, feeding the horses sugar cubes, and things like that. I didn't get to the point to where there was any one particular horse, favorite or not. My riding then was done with a group, close, nothing where we didn't start galloping off on our own or anything like it. This came later, Schofield, where I had my experience.
[00:12:00]
[00:12:30]
One of the disappointments my father had with me is that I didn't really be enthusiastic about getting up on a Sunday morning and going for a horseback ride. I had reached the age where I wanted to get to the beach. I was just a youngster, filling out, learning how to handle a surfboard. But from the standpoint of horses, we'd go off from time to time at Schofield and we'd start galloping, one thing or another. Well, I had the experience of a great many people or a horse galloping, there's a small hurdle where the horse comes to a stop. I started taking the jump, and the horse stopped but I kept going, head over heels. So of course, everybody ribbed me about that. That just about ended my horseback riding times.
Haller:
Yeah. I can understand that.
[00:13:00]
Bill:
Harking back further, there were times I did enjoy, down in Presidio Monterey. We'd go down there on the weekend. We'd be with a whole group, but we'd go out for a ride on the beach down there in Monterey. We used to love to do that, but that's no gallop. Just going along, turn around, riding back.
Haller:
But you really didn't do any of that at the Presidio you said.
Bill:
No. At the Presidio, going back that far, no, I didn't participate then.
[00:13:30]
Haller:
Now you'd mentioned Crissy field in the context of these polo matches, but Crissy field, the time when you were at the Presidio was an active air corps air base.
Bill:
Yes, it was.
Haller:
Do you recall some of the flight operations or any incidents that occurred at Crissy field in terms of airplanes?
Bill:
[00:14:00]
[00:14:30]
Well, I don't recall the type of aircraft. I can't think, the ones that came in there, but they were the smaller planes. They weren't the fast jets as we have today. They were all propeller planes. And this was years before the bridges came into existence. So Crissy was active in that standpoint. I do remember one incident, and I'm trying to locate pictures now of two gentlemen, and they made the first flight. Their names were Maitland and Hegenberger. There's a Hegenberger Road across the bay, where Oakland's named after him.
Haller:
Right. And their first flight, this was the first successful flight,
Bill:
This was the first one.
Haller:
From the mainland to Hawaii.
Bill:
[00:15:00]
Correct. And they flew in what it's called an army Fokker plane. I think one of them later on became a general officer in the air force. I think it was Maitland. They flew from Wheeler and this is where they took off. And I think they flew from,
Haller:
From Crissy?
Bill:
Yeah. From Crissy, right. From Crissy into what had known as Wheeler field and all way.
Haller:
Did you witness their departure?
Bill:
No, I didn't. No, I didn't. I didn't witness their departure.
[00:15:30]
Haller:
Yeah. They got their flight ready at Crissy field and I think they hopped it over to the Oakland field, Oakland airport, to load up with gas and departed.
Bill:
This very well could be, Steve. See, I don't recall all those things, but this is something that could have been. I do know the planes were kept at Crissy and you say they were serviced there and that sort of thing.
Haller:
Were you able to have any access to the field? Did that interest you at all?
Bill:
Yes I did.
Haller:
Did you go into the hangers? Look around?
[00:16:00]
Bill:
We used to go down to the hangers, and the people there knew who we were. They knew we were army brats from the post. So we didn't get in there. We knew where to stay out of their way, but we just observed. Now and then there'd be an individual who would take it upon himself to explain what they were doing to a plane, this and that, but I didn't get into it that much.
[00:16:30]
[00:17:00]
I do know that I was interested in flying a little bit. My father, no, he wouldn't leave the ground. It would take an act of Congress to get him up in the air. But whereas my brother and I, yes. Now it brings back an industry flying element at that time, right by Fort Mason. They had these float planes, two or three that come in there, and for such and such a fee, they'd give you for a flight, take a flight around the bay. Just circle around and you'd land right by the pier and Fort Mason. My brother and I sneaked down and we both did that one time, took a flight around.
[00:17:30]
[00:18:00]
But Crissy, one incidence I do recall at Crissy with poor planes were involved. I used to like to go out every year and watch the Pacific fleet, the Navy, come in through the Golden Gate. I'd go out to Fort Point. Me and my little brownie camera. Two or three of us kids, we'd all go out there. It would be early morning, we had to start watching the Navy come through. We watched the fleet came through, they came through, but victors. We turned around, we walked back to the post. On the way back to the post, we're going by Crissy Field, and we noticed that a plane had turned over in the water right by the field. So we walked over, had my little brownie camera, and I snapped a couple pictures of this plane. I hadn't gone a few yards on the way back home again and I got the tap on the shoulder and I looked back and here's this something.
[00:18:30]
[00:19:00]
He said, "Did you take a picture of that plane out in the water?". All the kids started laughing. I said, "Yes, I did". He said, "Well, I'm going to have to take your film". And I said, "Oh, wait a minute now. I've been taking pictures all morning of these ships coming in the bay. I just happened to see that there". "Oh, but you can't take picture of a plane that's had an accident like that". I said, "Whoa. Can I speak to someone else? Can I speak to Sergeant, the guard, about this or the officer today?". Then I told, "I'm Colonel Bennett's son and I live right on Presidio. All these boys, Colonel Cassidy's son right here. We're all together". And the guard got a little funny, but he was still stern. So he went over and we saw the Sergeant Duggar.
[00:19:30]
[00:20:00]
Sergeant Duggar, looked at you much more of a fatherly figure. He looked at me, "Son, you know what you did?". And I said, "Well, just take picture of the plane, Sergeant. I didn't know there was anything wrong it". He said, "Well, there's regulations, and you cannot take pictures of planes that have been in accidents like that". But he said, "I'll tell you what I'll do. Keep it under your hat. Don't tell anybody I say you could. You kids scoot on home now, but do me a favor. Do not show that picture. It's among your own group". "Thank you very much. Sergeant". And off we went. But that was the incident from where the flying picture came in. That's something we wouldn't have done it if we known it was against regulation. Goodness knows, I learned about regulations myself later on.
Haller:
I can imagine. Now, just for the sake of interest of someone who might be listening later to this tape, that you have kept those varied photographs.
Bill:
I've got two photographs here.
Haller:
And you're kind enough to offer them,
Bill:
Which I'd be more than happy to loan to you.
[00:20:30]
Haller:
Great. Good. Thanks. That's great. How about the coast artillery batteries around Fort Winfield Scott and the Headlands at the Presidio, was there access to those places?
Bill:
Yes.
Haller:
Were you allowed to get in there? Were you interested in them?
Bill:
[00:21:00]
We used to go up there because we knew youngsters whose fathers were stationed at Fort Scott. Fort Scott was active then, and we'd go up there for social functions, and they'd come down and see him. We were all in school together, they would just happened to live up there. We'd walk around up there in the barn, the batteries, yes. But I can't remember anything that's significant that stands out in my mind. I do remember driving along up there in the old Model A Ford, and then walking in there and seeing those. We never saw them fire.
Haller:
No?
[00:21:30]
Bill:
Never saw them fire, so I don't know. Same thing at Fort Mason. There were gun replacements at Fort Mason, but the guns were even been removed then. The guns weren't in there in '28.
Haller:
Right. No, they had been locked up by then.
Bill:
[00:22:00]
But we took a gun replacement at Ford Mason, right near the quarters, and made a miniature golf course out of it. We all got together, half a dozen of us kids, run and got some sand and model of the miniature golf course, were the thing in those days coming in.
Haller:
At Fort Mason?
Bill:
This was at Fort Mason. We constructed this little thing right by one of these gun batteries.
Haller:
[00:22:30]
Interesting. What was distinctive or special about the Presidio? You lived as a kid in a number of military posts. That's typical of army life at the time. But what was distinctive about the Presidio? What stands out?
Bill:
[00:23:00]
[00:23:30]
[00:24:00]
Well, what stood out, I guess, what was the feeling of an army post? As I say, from reveille to retreat, and hearing that cannon go off in the morning, and getting myself up to deliver those papers and get to school. But then the saluting that went on between listed personnel and officer personnel, the respect, the understanding, going in and out of the officer's club at that time as a kid with my family for meals. Pershing Hall was then active. The BLQ was then active. There were people in all the quarters, and so many people, they all knew each other. The one thing I always remember enjoying, is when I really took interest in my first retreat parades. Seeing the retreat parades out there in the old 30th. And well, the climate. Hearing those foghorns out there, then the fog, and coolness. And totally different, the army wore the old days, keep warm. Go to Hawaii, you see them in khaki, and different climate altogether.
[00:24:30]
[00:25:00]
But from a military standpoint, it kind of got a grip on me there. Strange as it sounds, and people wonder about it. I've been asked about it many, many times. Did you have a desire for the military as a career yourself? As time went on, no, I didn't. My dad, my goodness, thank goodness, he never pressured my brother and I about the military. He left it up to us. He loved us. He probably wanted the two of us to go to the point, but no, we didn't have the desire for it. I guess one thing was the changing of stations, not being in one place, and just where one minute you were at a place where you're fully enjoyed, the next time you could be sent somewhere out in the boondock somewhere.
[00:25:30]
[00:26:00]
Whereas in civilian life, different story. You didn't like your job in civilian life, you could leave. Military, no. So there's all kinds of different aspects too. But as far as, harking back to your question now, with the military and Presidio, that was where I had some of my early indoctrination. Memories there, you don't forget. I can go in Presidio now, and memories will pop out of nowhere, just driving, from the time I drive through that Lombard Street gate. So and so lived here. The old Litterman used to go down there and see where the Y was located and what we did there. Street car coming in, going down the end of the street car line, picking up our papers that came in on the early street car and rolling, going off, and then going to school. This is all part of it. All part of it. And I hope it makes sense, see.
[00:26:30]
But you can see a feeling there and my feelings, how they've been. Now, if you talk to someone else in a similar spot, someone else who had lived there, or some other youngster boy or girl who grew up in that time, I'm sure their feelings would be the same. It's a little different aspect all together. I don't know how else to explain it.
Haller:
I think you've explained it very well. Very vividly. And not only that, but I think your evident feelings about the post, and the fact of your formative years being there, and all that feeling, really comes through, Bill.
[00:27:00]
Bill:
[00:27:30]
[00:28:00]
Well, this little thing, going down to the commissary with my mother, going to the post exchange, or going to the theaters, or taking part in activities with other youngsters, as I related before, there's a life about a military post that you don't have on the outside. There's two different atmospheres. Life by the youngster off a post, civilian life, and military people on post. A lot of that is gone by the boards nowadays, but Presidio was a post that was near a larger major city. One thing I will always say about Presidio, I heard my dad many more many times is, there's not a career officer who spent his career life in the army, but one time or another did not desire a duty station at the city. It was one of the most desirable posts in the service.
[00:28:30]
[00:29:00]
As I've told other people, now that things have changed and people have taken over, I know there's so much real estate in Presidio, location of quarters, where retired people would've loved to be in a position to have purchased that property. The views of the bay, the whole thing, the atmosphere of San Francisco. But Presidio has so much to offer, and I'm so glad a few people have taken over, and I hope that you can preserve it in a good, proper manner, keep it up. Cause I'd hate to see it go the other way. I know there's a lot of work involved, a lot of people involved. You've had people out there who a bit active in the Presidio for years, and I know they'd all feel the same way. There are many, many youngsters who lived on the post as I did, who would feel the same way.
[00:29:30]
[00:30:00]
But I like to go in there and think, well, here's where I was born, they look over to the Presidio. It amazes me that the quarters are still standing, that they're still there. I look over at that club. Now, as time goes on later, as we may get in your talk here, your interview, I was married Presidio. So this expands upon it even more so, where my wife and I were married there. We had a reception in the club. The chapel is there. My father-in-law, Colonel Burbank, is buried there and the plaque in the chapel for him. These things all have an effect and they all add to the overall picture.
[00:30:30]
[00:31:00]
The golf course, my goodness. I learned to play golf at the Presidio golf club. I used to go up there and caddy. In fact, if you go in the club today, I'm sure you see trophies, pictures of a chap called Lawson Little. His father was a Colonel in there. Lawson Little became California state amateur champion. He was a nice caddy from time to time. And I used to love, that's where I learned, used to love to go up there. Caddy from my dad, play. The Presidio, the fog comes in there in late afternoon. It gets cool. I used to enjoy that golf course. I know I'm glad to see it's being maintained. It doesn't have the military control that it once did. It was strictly a military course here practically at one time. Now I'm glad to see it opened up to the general program and handled the way it is. I was told that the army Palmer group had come in and were taking over that course. And that's great at that time. So that's from a golfing stand.
Haller:
This is a interview with William R. Bennett. It is December 14th, 1995. This is tape two, side one.
[00:00:30]
Okay, Bill, let's switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about Fort Mason. Your father was still the quartermaster officer at Fort Mason for the San Francisco Depot?
Bill:
The Army Transport Service.
Haller:
Service, right. And he was a quartermaster officer-
Bill:
He was-
Haller:
... for Fort Mason.
Bill:
Fort Mason. Correct. He was what you would call the Commanding Officer at Fort Mason.
[00:01:00]
Haller:
Okay. And then you lived at the Presidio for a while and then quarters opened up at Fort Mason and you must have been about 12 or so when you moved to Fort Mason?
Bill:
That's right. That was 1930. That was about 12. 12, 13. 12, 13.
Haller:
So, tell us a little about Fort Mason. Where did you live at Fort Mason?
Bill:
[00:01:30]
Fort Mason, we lived on a set of quarters facing what is now Aquatic Park [inaudible 00:01:31] and as you came in to the post from Van Ness Avenue and Bay Street and drove in.
Haller:
Right. Which is not today's entrance, but that's where the iron gates-
Bill:
That's where the original gates were.
Haller:
Got it.
Bill:
The General's quarters were the first ones on your right.
Haller:
Right.
[00:02:00]
Bill:
And the Commanding General was General Craig. The Commander was then Malan Craig.
Haller:
Malan...
Bill:
Malan Craig.
Haller:
Malan Craig.
Bill:
His headquarters were at the Presidio, but he was quartered at Fort Mason. Next to him as you faced Fisherman's Wharf were the quarters of the Chief of Staff. I don't recall the name of the Chief of Staff at that time, but that can easily be checked on if you care to get into that.
Haller:
So, that's quarters two.
[00:02:30]
Bill:
Quarter two, then my father Colonel Bennett, we had the next set of quarters.
Haller:
Okay.
Bill:
Next quarter over.
Haller:
Okay. Quarters three.
Bill:
Then there was a fourth double set of quarters on our left. And that's where the two generals' aids were located.
Haller:
I see.
Bill:
[00:03:00]
[00:03:30]
Now the set of quarters were beautiful. The two double set of quarters. And I know my mother loved those set of quarters because the rose gardens around there and the view, the whole thing, San Francisco. The whole family loved San Francisco. And you couldn't ask for a more beautiful place, military speaking, to live there. And my memories of Fort Mason are great. And I still went to the old Sherman school, elementary school over on Union Street. And I remember walking back and forth to that school.
Haller:
Sure. That would've been easy walking distance.
Bill:
That was just a few minutes. Just a few minutes walking over there. And headquarters of Fort Mason are the headquarters for your people right now.
Haller:
That's correct. And your dad had his office in his building.
Bill:
His office is right in that building.
Haller:
Do you remember?
[00:04:00]
Bill:
To the left or the main entrance, going in there many times. As you go in that main entrance of your headquarters building-
Haller:
Describe it a little. What was it like? Can you describe his office?
Bill:
[00:04:30]
Well, the typical headquarters, there were pictures of predecessors along the wall, which is typical. And what all those officers were, now, I can't recall what each function was, but I remember my dad's office was just to the left of the main entrance they came in. And I remember going out the rear entrance to that very same building. He walked up to what was known as the hostess house. Now the hostess house was very active in those days. As the transports would come and go from the piers, families would stay there.
[00:05:00]
[00:05:30]
Families coming in or were going out would stay in there, foreign families coming in, and there was a continual shuffle. They had all the facilities there for people. Had beauty parlor, barber shop, cafeteria, and everything that you'd want there. If an officer or anybody for that matter chose to stay in town, they could. In those days, the two main hotels were the Clift and the Steward on Gary Street downtown and a good many of the officer personnel would stay there. My father, his preference was the Bellevue Hotel, which has now all been remodeled under a new name. But Fort Mason, that was primarily fun. Big function then was transporting the people back and forth.
Haller:
People and supplies.
Bill:
[00:06:00]
People and supplies, animals. They had any number of army transports, the transports, as I recall, I used to go aboard all those ships-
Haller:
Back up for a second here. I know you've had some very good memories about the transports, which I want to talk to you about and forgive me for interrupting, but you walked us through Fort Mason headquarters there, in the front door and out the back door pretty quickly there.
Bill:
All right. Okay. So I will slow it down.
Haller:
[00:06:30]
Well, your father's office. How was it? Do you recall what it looked like and how it was furnished? Did he have a nice desk or...?
Bill:
Oh yes.
Haller:
Sort of GI?
Bill:
[00:07:00]
Oh no, no, no, no, no. It was a beautiful desk, set of flags in rear in the corners. Pictures, as I say, around the wall of predecessors and things of this sort. But his job was the handling of those transports in and out and everything that went on down there on the transport piers, he was involved with. And when people would come in and request transportation aboard a transport a certain time, he would do what he could. And he had to work with the personnel down there on the piers. You had a Marine superintendent and their officers were right in the center pier. I forgot, they were number one, two, and three.
Haller:
Correct.
[00:07:30]
Bill:
[00:08:00]
So I'm sure this must have been number two. To the right of the end pairs is where the shops were. And they had a carpenter shop, a sheet metal shop and they made things all through there. The warehouses were right across from the actual docks themselves. That's where supplies were brought in and where furniture came, incoming furniture, outgoing furniture and they had people that did that burlap [inaudible 00:07:59]. And coordination was also active in all the transports. They had a tug, army tug named the Slocum.
Haller:
Yes.
Bill:
Which I was very active with the standpoint of riding on and knowing the people and personnel involved.
Haller:
You were?
Bill:
And they had two water boats, El Acuario and El Aguador.
Haller:
Yes, that's right.
[00:08:30]
Bill:
[00:09:00]
These two water boats, plus the Slocum, their major function, the two water boats was to go to Alcatraz and Angel Island and they'd take water out there. Water, couldn't pipe it out there. It had to be taken out by these boats. I remember as a youngster riding on these boats back and forth out there and that was another function. But the transports, a good many of them were named after military campaigns in World War I, but the larger transports in my time, were the Republic, the General Grant. Then they came down to smaller sister ships, Shadow Theory, Psalm, and the Cambre.
[00:09:30]
[00:10:00]
[00:10:30]
They had two freight ships, the Megs and the Canoas. Those freight ships handled just furniture and also from time to time transporting animals, mules. And an amusing incident was when it came time for loading of those mules aboard one of those freight. We'd go down on a Saturday, kids from school would stand, get out of the way, stand at the pier there and watch these mules come in. It was interesting. The mules, as you know, stubborn. So they'd have to guide the mule into a stall and then swing it up aboard on ship. And they had set spots for them right on the deck. Used to feel so sorry for them because they'd get out there and rough with it. But the amusing incidents, these darn mules time to time just wouldn't want to move so they take a broom and they'd smack the mule on the tail and it'd bolt in there then they'd close it up.
[00:11:00]
One time while we were there, a mule bolted and got away from the handler. Or if it didn't go over the side, anyway. So they got busy slipped the sling under its belly, right? Quick light, got it back up. But it was interesting to watch that sort of thing. But I used to go board all those transports. And of course in those days I was known as the Colonel's son.
Haller:
Sure.
Bill:
[00:11:30]
And the civilian people who operated those transports, they know me as Colonel Benison. But another thing I did considering myself a Foxy kid and I had my little Saturday evening post I used to sell, I had a Saturday evening post. So these people are going, coming in on the ships. I sell them the latest coffee, the serving post, or I deliver them around the piers down there.
[00:12:00]
Some range superintendent was a chaplain named Stinson, whom I recall as a kid, he liked to get me in his office and set me down and tell me sea stories. He went way back and he had these big model ships in the glass keys in his office. And he would sit and talk about, I remember that very vividly. And, but the transports, one thing I used to do, I used to get myself in trouble on the home front.
Haller:
How was that?
Bill:
Well, because they would, I'd go down to the gales, and they, some of the cooks, one of the chief stewards two, or see me come going by, "Hey bro. How about a knife? How about a sandwich?" So they fix me up some beautiful roast beef sandwich. Here it is, four o'clock, 4:30 in the afternoon. Say here I am eating a big roast beef sandwich, and a big glass, some milk.
[00:12:30]
Then I'd go home for my six o'clock dinner. And I kind of... My mother didn't catch on for a little while, all of a sudden it dawned on her what was happening.
Haller:
Got it.
Bill:
My dad, once again, got a big kick out of it, because I'm down there talking to the ships personnel, see, and they're showing me all around, but that was something else that went on. But I loved going aboard all those transports in and on.
[00:13:00]
Haller:
You said that there really were quite a number of memorable characters who worked on the tugs or the transports.
Bill:
Oh yes. Yes. There all kinds of, and I used to know some of them by name and the stevedore and...
Haller:
Al Berry, was that what you mentioned?
Bill:
Al Berry, he was the skipper of the tug of the Slocum.
Haller:
I see.
Bill:
[00:13:30]
And later on, he was a captain Naval Reserve, World War II, very, very active and right on up to the end with Al Berry, his wife was a San Francisco school teacher.
[00:14:00]
[00:14:30]
And when I came back from Hawaii, after being out there a number of years after World War II, decided to move to California, just come up for a year and try out. Al Berry was still living in Millbrook. Al Berry had been on the Governor's Commission for Veteran Affairs. And he told me, he asked me, he said, "Bill, do you plan to purchase a home here, California?" I said, "Yeah, no problem. I'm going to sit tight. I don't go back to Hawaii. I will." He said, "Well, I have one bit of advice for you, is to get involved with the California vets program." The greatest thing that California has done for the returning veterans, these California vet loans. You can get a home and your fees are so small. You just can't imagine on the outside, the home we're in today was originally financed on Cal vet loan.
Haller:
Is that right? Good.
Bill:
Up to 10,000, you can see what this place is worth today. So that was all through Al Berry. If I hadn't known Al Berry, but that's where it started. But Al and I hit it off right away.
Haller:
You get out on stuff.
Bill:
[00:15:00]
I behave myself. I didn't do anything foolish on the tug. "Hey, Benny, take the time. The chief engineer won't [inaudible 00:15:01] down in at all. Of course I didn't like to... For a while, because the smells will begin to get to there a little choppy in the bay. "Whoops, I want to get out of there."
Haller:
Yep.
Bill:
[00:15:30]
But I learned the operation of the tug and what it did, how it helped the transports into the piers and then going out from time to time on a Saturday to Alcatraz with a water and we'd be a group of kids. We get kids from Fort Scott proceeding, a bunch of us and we'd all go out on the town together. We come out to Alcatraz and believe it or not. As I tell people this story today, they all look at me and shake my head. We'd play softball while the wildest water is being pumped into their tanks there.
Haller:
Right.
Bill:
[00:16:00]
We were told what time to get back to the tug, what time we back to Mason, we can go. But all the military families all around the bay area, we used to send our laundry after every week, we're strictly a military prison. I went through a time or two with my dad in those days, he took us on around Alcatraz.
Haller:
He did.
Bill:
But I'm going, this is 1930 now, 1931. And it was interesting to go out there.
Haller:
So you'd play some ball games, but the Alcatraz kids-
Bill:
[00:16:30]
The Alcatraz kids, and anyway, we just all get together and just, go make up pick games. Same thing over in Fort McDowell, we'd go to Fort McDowell the same way. And Fort McDowell, bring back memories. Because later on, after going into service myself, I came back out of Hawaii.
Haller:
Yes.
Bill:
As a young Sergeant, where do I go? Fort McDowell, where we're waiting to change. But I'll never forget coming into Fort Mason as a youngster in service myself, seeing the stevedores out there, And here's Al Berry, he's Marine Superintendent then, the little play.
Haller:
Okay.
[00:17:00]
Bill:
But the most amusing incident on the transport docks for me, where my father comes into play, which I'll never forget. One of his job was to go out. He'd go out on the Slocum and greet and meet a transport while it was still out in the bay.
[00:17:30]
He'd come back in, but the Slocum would take him out with a party, be three or four officers. They'd all go out, turn around, come back. Well they'd have to be checked. They'd make sure the flags were flying on the transports and the quarantine flags, things of the sort, but he'd go out and he'd be dressed in uniform and everything. Everything with my father being all military had to be spick and span. Boots, shine, everything just perfect. That was one of my jobs too. Shine boots.
Haller:
Shine his boots.
Bill:
Oh, shine those boots. Yeah. I used to keep his boots shined.
Haller:
Okay.
[00:18:00]
Bill:
[00:18:30]
[00:19:00]
But here we are. Long story short Saturday morning, I'm home from school. I'm just sitting around there playing with my old crystal set, doing something about the house, up comes the car and the old man comes storming in the house. You could hear him. Three blocks away, starts hollering for me, holler out my name, "Get me a clean shirt right away and get everything on there." I had to get a set of his collar on it. Put the Eagles up on here, the whole thing and what had happened, which brought down the house. He was down on the pier, getting ready to aboard the Slocum, a squadron of San Francisco's own flying eagles came by. One of them, bombs day must have been open, flat right on the shirt.
Haller:
Right on the shirt.
Bill:
[00:19:30]
Right on the shirt splat. So right away. So, and they say everybody on the pier, they had to turn the other way, because they didn't want to see, they could see the old man being left. Couldn't happen in front of the colonel. So he turned the other way, he jumped back, got in this first car and the driver brought him right up the house, put him on a shirt, back he went again. But Al Barry told me it was one of the most funniest things that happened when I was told him.
He said, "Your old man turned the color for, he was, "This happened? It happened to anybody anytime. It's happened many, many times." Just as he was getting ready to go out there. So we had to move fast and got him out here, held up the tug, held up the Slocum until we got back.
Haller:
Nice.
Bill:
[00:20:00]
But it was all work. There was just one of those little amusing incidents over the time. But even years and years later, I'm up in Millbury talking to Al Berry in his home. He says, "You remember that time when your dad came down the ground?"
But those are just little things that the things, stories of that type or in all families, all families have little incidents and stories like it. But this had a little military twist to it also, with the uniform and all that.
[00:20:30]
Haller:
Fort Mason is of course close to Fisherman's Wharf. Did that have any attractions for you guys at the time? I guess Fisherman's Wharf is sort of a different place than it is now though.
Bill:
Oh yes. Very, very much so. In fact, fog horns around the bay, I used to pick up on the fog horn from the piers on the transport docks, the Sausalito ferry slippers at the end of Van Ness Avenue, then.
Haller:
End of high street.
[00:21:00]
Bill:
And they had a foreign person [inaudible 00:21:04]. Alcatraz, I used to know these different tones.
Haller:
I can't imagine that must have been quite as simple.
Bill:
[00:21:30]
I'd been in bed before I get up in the morning, I hear "Oh, oh." The fogs in again. You hear the fog horn start up. So, "Oh, boy." But the one down at Mason had kind of a shrill sound. Each one had its own little distinctive sound. But I remember another thing with the boats, which I'm sorry to say today, it's a shame. In those days, fishing boats would come out of Fisherman's Wharf and they'd go out. Took, tag along with me out to the Farallon.
[00:22:00]
Haller:
We're talking about, you've had something to say about the fishing boats at Fisherman's Wharf while you were at Fort Mason?
Bill:
[00:22:30]
The fishing boats would come out of the war or something, in those days, and there'd be anywhere up to oh 10, 15 boats. And they'd go out Indian style, one behind the other, go out along the Marina Green, clear out to the Farallon Islands, turn around and they'd get fresh crab and whatever else then come back. Well, as was the case many times with me, I'd be down Marina Green, sailing a kite, playing softball or doing something. Boats are chugging back in the afternoon. When I'd say those boats go by. I knew it was about time for me to start thinking about, I can back up to the quarters at Ford Mason.
[00:23:00]
[00:23:30]
[00:24:00]
Many times I'd get up home. My dad would come along and he'd say, "Get your bike. I want you to go down, get some fresh crab." So off I'd go. And there was more or less a protocol or something that I'd do. He'd always have me leave some crap at General Craig's quarters, then beautiful fresh Dungeness crab. Today people ask me, "Well Bill, what are you paying for the crabs?" That must be a third of what they pay today and so plentiful, whereas nowadays you go up there. My understanding is, there may one or two boats that will go up. Maybe fisherman brought on number nine, may have a boat or something like that. That's it. And the, I guess it's a shame to see the America picking the crabs, go by the board and the environment, things that happened today, I guess, contribute to that. But those are memories I have about the fishing loops. It was interesting.
Haller:
There was a change of command ceremony while you lived at Fort Mason for General Craig, that you mentioned. Do you recall what that was about? Was he coming or going?
[00:24:30]
Bill:
To be honest with you. I don't know how that came into our original talk, Steve.
Haller:
That's okay.
Bill:
I actually don't recall the change of command.
Haller:
Not a problem.
Bill:
[00:25:00]
I know. I remember General Craig though, as a very likable... He looked upon me as a kid and I remember we used to play tennis right next door to the quarters and tennis courts there. I go over there and play tennis with my dad, and the general would come out and watch.
Haller:
You describe when you first talked about moving to Fort Mason, you describe the, how much you liked that, those quarters and the grounds and the landscaping. You said that there were roses in the gardens. Was that something that-
Bill:
That was something that my mother fully enjoyed.
Haller:
Did you?
[00:25:30]
Bill:
[00:26:00]
We had some beautiful rose gardens and it wasn't just our quarter. All of us, General Craig's quarters, all portions, a quarter, there all have these roses and they were all kept up beautiful. And that's something that just added to the overall atmosphere there. And the, it was just a, it was cool, but it was nice, enjoyed.
Haller:
Fort Mason?
Bill:
Fort Mason.
Haller:
So what-
Bill:
Everything was going full swing then. The chair deli was, the country factory was going, but we used to, as kids, we'd get over there, get a little sample every now and then after school. But Galileo was where my brother was going to school and we'd settle on that big wall up there, come down off the infinite. We'd sit on top of one, look out on the football field.
Haller:
Oh sure.
[00:26:30]
Bill:
And we could see the games going on right across the street. You know, we were kids. Another funny stunt I pulled, which wasn't funny. This time the old man didn't blow me out, was a railway tunnel.
Haller:
Yes.
Bill:
[00:27:00]
[00:27:30]
There's a railway tunnel right under there, but we're always told not to go walking through that tunnel. So on a Saturday, three or four of us, start on the transport side. Transport dock side to cross. Well, lo and behold, naturally, here comes someone, get out there, by then we couldn't turn back. So we had to freeze up against the walls and let this baby go by and we're just... But we glad to get out alive and get out of there. My dad would own me for that stuff. He said, "Don't let hear you doing that." Because we were, we could slip, but those are just only little things I remember right in there at Mason.
[00:28:00]
[00:28:30]
I remember high school cadets from Galileo, ROTC parading around the streets there, right around Bay Street there. And as far as the transport docks themselves, I'll never forget. I can't go to San Francisco today and go by there or eat, if I'm out on the bay, I take people out on one of those bay cruises or something like that. I look back and see those docks, like the wife and I have gone out. We had our honeymoon out on the Laurel, usually we said going back, they looked like the docks. And we took a princess line cruise to Alaska two years ago and we see a lot, we're embarking. And I looked back at those transport docks and I could still, and even if we go down to Fisherman's Wharf today for a meal, I can be Bond number nine and look up at Fort Mason. And I can still see those quarters, same quarters sitting up there. So that kind of things makes the mind twirl a little bit, because I'm not going back just a couple years ago, I'm going back quite a few years ago.
[00:29:00]
Haller:
Was there a difference in the atmosphere that, or the difference between Fort Mason and the Presidio in any substantial way?
Bill:
[00:29:30]
Well, yes. Yes. Presidio was what I had called an out of army post. There were troops there and they had the formality, as I say, of the revel and the retreat and this and that. Fort Mason had the retreat. Yeah. But they didn't have the firing of a can or the blowing of the bugles and things like that. The bugle calls and things like that. No, they didn't, they didn't do that. But the, it's one thing I neglected to mention, were bugle calls on military post and not so much at Mason City where the bugle calls first got to me as a teenager.
[00:01:30]
Haller:
At night at bed, go to bed, you'd hear Taps.
[00:02:00]
The troops were in four inventory regimens, one [inaudible 00:01:50] following the other. They had different buglers each night, but the one bugler, I'll say the 35th infantry, the first quandrangle would start Taps. Next thing you know, you'd hear a second bugler, a third, and a fourth, all blowing Taps at the same time. Then you got the ... all four, and just, that was something that I'll never forget hearing those calls. Then other calls that you'd hear, you'd hear Reveille in the morning. First Sergeants call, officers call, and different ... pay call, you know. You had a bugler for payday, mail calls, things like that, but those bugle calls were all part of it.
[00:02:30]
Bill:
They would use those bugle calls at the Presidio as well as at [inaudible 00:02:35]? Still to-
Haller:
At the Presidio, yes, but the Presidio was just for the one unit. Those calls were more or less just for the 30th.
Bill:
I see.
Haller:
Whereas for Scofield, there were four [inaudible 00:02:46].
Bill:
Four mentions? Got it.
Haller:
Plus other units too.
Bill:
[00:03:00]
One detail I want to make sure we don't neglect, because it's of some interest to our information regarding the pet cemetery, and we're back on the Presidio now here, so excuse me for jumping around, but you were living there in '28, '29, '30 or so. Now you said that one of your friends' dog was buried at the pet cemetery at the time?
Haller:
Right, right.
Bill:
Could you tell me about that?
[00:03:30]
Haller:
This was a youngster named Charlie Rockwood. His father was a major, the Major Rockwood. He lived just two sets of quarters from me on East Canton.
Bill:
Okay.
Haller:
[00:04:00]
Well, they had a pup. The pup got loose and ran out in the street in front of the quarters and was hit. Then of course the kids, we were all ... everybody was sad about that, but I knew the daughter, and the young daughter and Charlie, they wanted to have a little ceremony, so there was an area on the post that been designated for a pet cemetery.
Bill:
Where was that?
Haller:
That wasn't too far. Oh, from the barracks, from 30 down to the barracks, down by the bay. I can't name the name of the street there, and there was a road that wound up around to this main cemetery itself, but this was on a little curve.
[00:04:30]
Bill:
It was ... The present pet cemetery is sort of behind the stables, between the stables and the backside of Chrissy Field. Is that what we're talking about?
Haller:
Not ... That's in the immediate area.
Bill:
That's the same area.
Haller:
That's in the same area, mm-hmm.
Bill:
Okay.
Haller:
In the immediate area.
Bill:
Okay.
Haller:
To geographically put it right on the button for you, I can't do. My memory is not that good, but that's the approximate area.
[00:05:00]
Bill:
Okay. It was near the stables.
Haller:
Right, and this wasn't anything of any large size. It was small.
Bill:
It was small. What did it ... there were other burials there?
Haller:
There were others there, now, not two numerous, but there were a few. There was just some little spot that somebody had designated that could be used for that purpose.
Bill:
Okay.
Haller:
[00:05:30]
Whether it was one of the commanding officers of the 30th that the kids, the families do this, but I guess they all get together. Just ... We all went over there. I guess a dozen of the kids, we all went over, just a little ceremony, [inaudible 00:05:34] so on our own, and that was it. There was a ... but it was something that I do remember because it struck me later when I went back to the Presidio, when I'm driving around there, pet cemetery. Bingo, the light goes on and ...
[00:06:00]
Now I didn't go in and walk. I just ... I've never had one. I've just driven by a time or two, but it was just a little interesting, just one of those things that you didn't normally see. I didn't see that anywhere else. I never saw it at any other army post where I visited, but just something that the Presidio had. It's interesting that you say that they still have it there today.
Bill:
[00:06:30]
Well, they still have it and lots of our visitors ask questions about it, and since we don't really have a lot of information in the written record about it, your story's interesting to us.
Haller:
No, I wouldn't think you would, but unless there's something really significant.
Bill:
[00:07:00]
Yeah. Well, the Presidio and Fort Mason, well, the Presidio in particular has some other associations for you, even after you moved away. Perhaps I'm jumping around a little here now, but you got married on the post. I know you mentioned that, isn't it-
Haller:
That is quite true. Well, when-
Bill:
How did you meet your wife?
Haller:
Well, I met my wife in Washington, DC.
Bill:
Washington. She from a military family too?
Haller:
[00:07:30]
Yes. Sure. Her father was Colonel Goldberg. He was quartermaster, [inaudible 00:07:18]. He and my father were very good friends, and my father remarried in Washington DC, and the wedding ceremony, everything was held at Colonel Goldberg's quarters in Washington. A short time following, I was up for vacation time. The bank I was with in Honolulu, I was like, "Well, I'm going to take a spin back to Washington and meet my new mother-in-law and see my dad and everybody," so back I drove to Washington.
[00:08:00]
My father at the time was Secretary of the Treasury in the United States Soldier's Home in Washington, DC, so they had a set of quarters on the grounds there. He said, "Well, now I want you to come on this afternoon. I want you to come over and meet the Goldbergs, and you can also see where Laura here and I were married." Fine.
[00:08:30]
[00:09:00]
[00:09:30]
Prior to leaving the quarters, he looked me up and down just like he was inspecting the troops again, shoes shined, tie, [inaudible 00:08:23]. As I met his inspection, off we go. I did not know what to expect, but I figured, well, I'd head over to the Goldbergs, so we walked in, and I've never met nicer people. [inaudible 00:08:47] Of course, in those days, here I was, a bachelor in Honolulu, and meals at this operator club I belonged to [inaudible 00:08:55] play, but here in the home cooked meals, then the family atmosphere and all that, so ... but what started the ... struck by lightning, what started things going is when I walked out into the garden in their home, and here and lo and behold there's a young lady with another young woman too. The other young girl lived next door to my dad at Soldier's Home in Washington. Her father was General Walsh, and see, the two girls were both in from school. My wife-to- be had just graduated from teachers' college in Boston. The other girl was going to go a girls' college.
[00:10:00]
[00:10:30]
Long story short, we started up the acquaintanceship. I had to watch my P's and Q's because I was a little older. I was in the awkward stage there. I couldn't sit down as we're doing now in the living room and talk with the older people. They were all talking about colonel news or this and that, and I go out and here's the two girls out there. They're younger, but we're talking and joking and kidding. Another thing I don't remember, I always prided myself on using my head for something besides a hat rack. There was a bar all set up, but instead of dodging over there and start making drinks, I'd just have a drink, one and then sit down, because I knew we were being watched from time to time by the older folks inside.
[00:11:00]
But this conversation progressed and the young lady was most attractive to me, so it was protocol going way back in the early part of the interview, army protocols ... You go back and you thank them, you call upon somebody whom you've met. Here are the two girls. Got to take them both, both have entertained me. Both, both of them had been over there, both tied to their court, their homes.
[00:11:30]
I called up the first girl, General Walsh's daughter. She was there. Whoops. They [inaudible 00:11:15] later when she left. Why'd you call her? Had to take her to a nightclub in Washington, you know, but then I dated her and I had many friends around the Washington area, so that started the ball rolling. Then I go up to New York with this fellow I was living with in Hawaii. He was an insurance broker. We went up and saw the play South Pacific. I couldn't take her with me. Her folks wouldn't even want to turn her loose with me at that time. They didn't know me, but back to Washington I came for my dad's birthday, and I spent as much time as I possibly could right there in Washington.
[00:12:00]
[00:12:30]
Got back to Hawaii. We wrote back and forth over the course of a year, and then I proposed to her on the phone. "How would you like to come and live in Hawaii?" Then is a case, her friends were there, my friends and all, "You want to go to Washington to get married? You want to come to out to Hawaii?" Hit a happy medium. "Let's get married in San Francisco," and the families are all in full agreement. Great, so my dad comes up, and we stayed up at Fort Scott by the way, met part of the way, and the [inaudible 00:12:42] come out and we're married right there in Presidio.
Bill:
At the main post chapel?
Haller:
At the main post chapel in Presidio, and ...
Bill:
When was that?
Haller:
This is July 24th, 1950. I hope she's listening.
Bill:
Yeah, that's good. You remembered, because I know your wife's around.
[00:13:00]
Haller:
I hope you [inaudible 00:13:03]-
Bill:
Sorry I put you on the spot there.
Haller:
You had me in the corner that time. I figured you might do that, so I was prepared.
Bill:
You brushed up.
Haller:
I was prepared.
Bill:
That's good. Okay. Good.
Haller:
[00:13:30]
[00:14:00]
Plus that's ... I wasn't really sure what ... and the interesting thing, the chaplain who married us, great, great, very likable, jolly sort of fellow, and he later became Chief of Chaplains for General Walsh here, and no source of embarrassment to her when he had our pre-marriage talk. I'd been all up the night before on the plane. Boys were entertaining me on the plane once they knew I was coming to up to be married, so I got off, I had to ... and I kept falling asleep in the office downstairs there in the post, in the chapel right today where I showed you.
[00:14:30]
He was giving us this pre marital talk, opened the window and door ... embarrassing, really, and he teased me about that at the reception later on. You know, [inaudible 00:14:11], partner ... but that was Chaplain Brown, and great, but that was the wedding ceremony. We had our reception there at the officers club, which was just great. Then I remember we formed two or three cars, highballed it to the Embarcadero, and they took us down to the [inaudible 00:14:32], and that was where we had our honeymoon right back on [inaudible 00:14:35] back to Honolulu.
Bill:
Great.
Haller:
So that was ...
Bill:
[00:15:00]
Well, between ... we've sort of skipped a few years in here between leaving Fort Mason and San Francisco. I know you spent some time, which, which we've described in Hawaii at Scofield Barracks and also at Fort Chapter, but although you didn't make a career out of the army, you were in the service during World War II, weren't you?
Haller:
That is correct.
Bill:
You want to give us sort of just a little brief ...
Haller:
Well, the ...
Bill:
Discussion of what you did during the war?
Haller:
The only lottery I've ever won.
Bill:
I've heard that one before, you know.
Haller:
First draft.
Bill:
Yeah. You were the first draft?
[00:15:30]
Haller:
I was in the very first draft in December of 1940. As you well know, what happened a year later, but it was ... in my time, it was "Goodbye, dear. I'll be back in a year."
[00:16:00]
I was a teller in the downtown Honolulu Bank, and off we go to Scofield. I was on the spot from the time I moved, because a reporter got ahold of me and we were having our farewell speech by the governor and the president of the chamber of commerce in downtown Honolulu, [inaudible 00:16:07]. I stood out like a sore thumb being a big tall [inaudible 00:16:11] big Caucasian. Morning newspaper man comes up to interview me. Come to find out I'm the son of Colonel Sierra Bennett in Washington, DC. I'm a teller in the bank. The president of the bank is the president of the Chamber of Congress. He shakes my hands.
[00:16:30]
[00:17:00]
[00:17:30]
I listen to all this. I go out to Scofield on the train, go through all my swearing-in ceremonies, issuing of all the clothing and everything, getting the truck to go up to this area for a basic clean. One of the first things I had to do was walk in and report to my company commander to get my personal belongings, so I walked in and I made him laugh. No, I made him smile, but I did it ... Private Bennett. Private Bennett reporting, sir, as directed," which is the terminology, you see. He looked up at me and says, "You're an army brat," and he said, "by the way, have you seen the evening paper?" No I hadn't. "No sir." Right smack on the front page of the Honolulu Star post, here's my picture, shaking hands with the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Joey Waterhouse, Sam King our delegate to Congress standing there. They got a Colonel's son, Colonel's son inducted at Scofield there.
Young Bennett, 22, giving up a year of his life for service, and that's it. Well then ...
Bill:
Turned out to be more than a year though.
Haller:
[00:18:00]
[00:18:30]
Said a "goodbye dear and a year." Bingo, November of '45, but the cadre gave me a bad fact. They used the heck me out there when I took my basic, but we got through that. It was awful, because everything was second nature coming out there, but I ... whether I was with ... after being inducted, which is an involved story. I know you're going to run out of tape ... involved the local boys. I had my choice of two regiments when I finished my basic training for my year of service. One was with this 298th Hawaii National Drug Regiment in Honolulu, or 299th on one of the outside islands. I naturally chose to stay on the world, so I was with them for that whole year, at least, before the attack. We had the December 7th attack of the Japanese.
[00:19:00]
[00:19:30]
At that time I was near Wheeler Field, my brother, and I had to get to Scofield right away, get back, and our unit was made up of a good many Japanese boys. We didn't know that [inaudible 00:19:17] but they were [inaudible 00:19:20] which later formed, under the time, 442nd Regimental Combat team, the most highly decorated, and I did everything for those kids I could. Kids I'd been in school with, athletics with, worked with, anyway, and many, many friends. I saw them then. I saw them later in Italy when I went over to Italy later on.
Bill:
But you didn't follow the hundredth battalion to Italy though?
Haller:
[00:20:00]
[00:20:30]
No, no, no, no, of course note. The odds of me sitting here today wouldn't be in my favor if I'd remained with them, but I left then and I went and I was assigned to other divisions in the country, 72nd division, but then I was ... they broke us all up and they were shooting noncoms and everything overseas then in various units, replacement units, and I was at Fort Mead, Maryland. All of a sudden we get word that's breaking us up and we're to ship over as individuals, as a group, and I went up to Fort Hamilton, New York, went aboard a carrier, then we went to Casablanca.
[00:21:00]
[00:21:30]
We didn't know where we were going. Had no idea. We were at the pier at Staten Island for two days. No one would say where. We had a hundred E51 planes on this carrier taking over to the 12th Air Force, but we didn't know where we were going, if Merrill's Moradas out in Birmingham, nobody'd seen ... but once again, we used our ingenuity. There were two or three of us from Hawaii, started talking to a couple of the old Navy chiefs, and we started talking about the Lexington and Saratoga, the old carriers, how they used to come out to Hawaii and this and that. Oh, they got friendly with us. Finally, as we're pulling up, they said, "Fellows, we'll tell you now where you're going, now that we're leaving. You're headed for Casablanca."
[00:22:00]
[00:22:30]
Still didn't know what unit I was going to be with. I was assigned to fifth army, fifth army [inaudible 00:21:42]. Got into Casablanca, was there with the British people. Oh, with the British commanders for a time, worked with them and shipped 40 and eight train from Casablanca to Iran and on over to Italy. Fifth army headquarters, spent my time there with them, all the way through up ... all the way up until things were over. But thankful to say I was not with a combat unit. I was a combination situation where I worked with a special service unit and with counter intelligence, and there was good and bad in each situation, but I was there. I wasn't subject to anything that could happen at any time, as you would be in a company. There were incidents where landmines, things blew up in front of us, could just well been our Jeep as the next, but those were incidental, in comparison, but that was all part of the military then. Special service standpoint later on, and tied in with CIC. I met a chap named Burt Lancaster.
Bill:
Did you?
[00:23:00]
Haller:
Burt was a great, he was the nicest guy you could ever want to meet. My wife went into orbit when we introduced her to him later on. He came to Hawaii. They filmed the movie From Here to Eternity.
Bill:
Yes.
Haller:
[00:23:30]
[00:24:00]
He invited us down. This is a story she should tell. He invited us down to filming of the beach scene and all this and that, but he was one I met in Italy. We saw him in San Francisco a time or two after that, when he was out. Now, I'm sorry to say Burt passed on a few years ago, but he was just one of the people I ran into over there. Another coincidental thing, which boggled my mind for a minute when I first thought about it. After we were married, my brother-in-law hands me this Howitzer, a a West Pointier brother, class of '17, '18. I'm thumbing through that, finding my father-in-law, but who do I find in there as his classmate? General Mark Clark, commanding officer of the fifth army, also, which is of interest to you, a former commanding officer of the Presidio.
Bill:
That's right, and he was both your boss during World War II and the commanding officer at the Presidio.
Haller:
It tied in, made me think a little bit about that.
Bill:
[00:24:30]
Nice tie-in. Well, why don't you just briefly tell me, what was your career? What'd you do after the war in your civilian career?
Haller:
After the war, instead of staying in service as I could have done, even with General Clark in Indiana, I chose to go back to Hawaii. Coming back, I had a month on the east coast, month on the west coast, went back there, and I returned to the bank I was with.
Bill:
And has that been your career, a banker?
Haller:
[00:25:00]
[00:25:30]
No. I stayed with the bank and I was with the bank for 16 years, which included military service. Then my wife and I decided, let's come up to the coast, take a look. Her family had moved to Palo Alto there, and we said we'd come up and just look things, with the understanding I'd go back, come back to banking, whatever, but my [inaudible 00:25:16] cook, Dole, the pineapple company, had moved up then and it had a cadre in San Jose, out on Fifth and Virginia near the college. I had many friends. They said, "Bill, come on down." They said, "Bill, if you need [inaudible 00:25:35] come on down, working with us," just the chap in charge of personnel said, "I've got just the spot for you." He said, "Now, it's your choice," so we thought about it a little bit and decided to make the move up here, so I went back and came home back here.
[00:26:00]
Then I was with Castleman Cook, affiliated with Dole Pineapple Company, for 25 years retiring from San Jose. My work was military. I was in charge of military contracts and everything pertaining to the military as far as food operations and filing everything with the company. I was a very busy chap during the Vietnam War, meeting government contracts, shipping out of open, things with the service.
Bill:
I see.
[00:26:30]
Haller:
I worked with commissaries throughout the country, all military, so it all tied in to my background.
Bill:
Mm-hmm. I see.
Haller:
The powers that be at Dole knew this, you see, so ... and I had a contact here, a contact there, and I spoke the language, and so also I tied in. Working with them with military and foreign exports, so I enjoyed that very much. In and out of the islands a few times. Hawaii will always be a soft spot for me.
[00:27:00]
[00:27:30]
Hawaii will always be a soft spot for me, and the music, the people, are part of me in Hawaii. That'll never leave me. Just like my memories of the Presidio and Mason as we [inaudible 00:27:20] before. My memories as a boy. People thought that when I retired from Dole, I'd go back to Hawaii. My grandchildren live in nearby Vaceville. My daughter is a teacher there. We can watch those kids grow, which I would be unable to do before, so that's basically in a nutshell, my story now.
Bill:
That's good.
Haller:
But my wife and I do like to get off on trips from time to time. My wife is a retired school teacher and we've enjoyed 45 years together.
Bill:
That's great.
Haller:
I'm hoping to hang in there for the 50.
[00:28:00]
Bill:
Hope so too. I certainly enjoyed sharing the memories that you have of your life and of your life in Presidio in particular. You've had some really great stories to tell and some vivid descriptions. Before we wrap it up, do you think, is there anything we've missed? Is there any other things you'd like to talk about relating to the Presidio or Fort Mason, or do you think we have covered it pretty well?
[00:28:30]
Haller:
[00:29:00]
Steve, to be honest with you, I'd be searching if I was looking for something else now, but I think we've hit a lot of highlights and a lot of things that have stayed with me all these years and I don't regret a minute of it. Being an army brat, coming from an army family, I experienced things that many other youngsters wouldn't, and the travel and just the atmosphere, but east coast, west coast, north, south, east, west, I always said if I was to leave Hawaii, California and particularly this part of California is where I'd want to be.
Bill:
I'm glad you were able to fulfill that wish. Thanks a lot for having me down here today.
Haller:
Oh, my pleasure, Steve, and I appreciate your time and them taking time to come down and do this, and I hope I've been of help to you and the park service in relating things that can be useful to you.
[00:29:30]
Bill:
You certainly have been. Thanks again, Bill.
Haller:
Hm.
Description
Interview with William R. Bennett about his life in the Presidio and Fort Mason in the 1920's and 1930's with National Park Service Historian Steven Haller
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