Oral history interview with Ruth White, 1999

• Main Author: White, Ruth Matthews
• Other Authors: Elliott, Eric
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Greensboro, N.C. : The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. University Libraries 1999
• Subjects: World War; 1939-1945;American Red Cross; World War II era (1940-1946); Red Cross; Orleans; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/cdm/ref/collection/WVHP/id/4254

Primarily documents Ruth Matthews White's experiences at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro); her service in the Philippines and Japan with the Red Cross during World War II; and her life after resigning from the Red Cross. Pre-war topics include working at Belk's Department Store in Greensboro; involvement in campus activities at the Woman's College (WC); political awareness at WC; dances at WC for men from the nearby Overseas Replacement Depot; rationing; starting a marching group at WC; and hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She also talks about her living arrangements, teaching duties, and social life in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the early 1940s. " White recalls joining the Red Cross with her roommate; her admiration for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt; Red Cross training; and the social life on the USS Marine Shark. Topics related to her service in the Philippines include being housed with recently-released female prisoners of war, including nuns and Eskimos; rudimentary showers and toilets; club entertainment; volunteering to go to Okinawa; and collaboration between the military and the Red Cross. " Topics related to Okinawa include camping out until Quonset huts were built; the desolation of the island; security precautions; nutritional deficiencies; geography and landscape of Okinawa; club entertainment, including United Service Organization shows and bingo; visiting Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan; and almost dying from pneumonia. " Other topics include starting Camp Awaniko with a friend after leaving the Red Cross and White's opinion of women in military combat positions.