Donny Wolfe, a retired physical education instructor and former Director of Physical Plant at Prince George's Community College, moved to Greenbelt shortly before the advent of World War II. On April 3, 1996, some University of Maryland American Studies students interviewed Wolfe recently about his experiences growing up in Greenbelt.

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Wolfe: My wife and I went here (The University of Maryland) and she graduated here in 1944 and I graduated here in 1948, and I graduated from high school in 1944 and then I went in the service o-kay?

I taught in Greenbelt, I taught in the elementary school and in the high school and I taught and I went over to the Junior High and I retired. From there I went to P.G. Community College, and I was director of the Physical Plant over there and I held a full professorship in Physical Education from P.G Community College. And I retired from there in 1980, so that pretty well brings me up to date, o-kay?

Now back to Greenbelt in 1938 which was the start of Greenbelt. Now lets jump up to the years around WWII, o-kay. Well when I was on the farm my mother and father was. . . Well, to give you a little. My mother's maiden name was Smith and she was born in a town named Wolfsville, and my father's name was Wolf and he was born in a town named Smithsville.And I don't know if you want to send that in to Ripley's. . . That's right up here above Fredrick in the mountains between Frederick and Hagerstown, o-kay.

And we were up there visiting in 1941, and we didn't have any electricity, and one of my uncles came over and brought us the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.And I hadn't even heard of Pearl Harbor, o-kay. And we came back home and at that time I was 14 years old, o-kay, and it was very exciting, and I was 14 years old and the war was going on, and of course you know the only news we ever got was when we went to the movies and the RKO had news things prior to the movie and that was the only way we knew about the war other than things we heard on the radio and that was very exciting.

What I remember more than anything else was the black outs, o-kay. The siren would sound and you would have to run to the nearest building, no matter where you were, and inside you had to pull all the blinds, o-kay, and stay there till the sirens gave out, o-kay. Well I loved that 'cause I'd always be at my girlfriends and we'd run into the apartment and we'd have a good time. It was the greatest.

And like I said, everything was great to me during that war. And i didn't realize how dangerous the war was because everything was so exciting to me.

And Greenbelt is the highest elevation between Baltimore and Washington and when that siren would blow, we'd run up in some cedar trees and we'd climb up top of these cedar trees. And you could see Washington behind you, and see the Washington Monument and see the Capitol. O-kay and we'd watch them black out Washington. And PEPCO the Potomac Power Company would cut out the electricity and it went just completely black, o-kay.

I volunteered to spot airplanes. I really didn't know what we were doing but my girlfriend and I went up there at midnight and we spotted these air planes on top of the highest building in Greenbelt. And so what happened was when an air plane went over you got on the phone and you were gonna tell them one or two engines and which way it was going, and they had a map up there showing North, East, South, and West, and o-kay, and uh, that was one part. The other part was we used to gather scrap from under the wagons and we piled it up, in fact Bob Sommers has got pictures of the Jeep that we actually bought in high school from collecting all this stuff and it added up and we actually purchased a Jeep in the class of 1944.

I went into the service in 1944 1 April,. I went down with my father to join the Navy. I wanted to go in the Air Force, they had what they called a V5, and a V12, and a V6 program. The V6 was for enlisted persons, V5 was for the officer pilot program, and the V12 was the naval reserve. So I wanted to go into the V5 program and I wanted to be a pilot. So I took the exam, I passed the exam . . . of course I think it was automatically If you went down there automatically you went. They didn't wash you out until after you got to college. They sent me up to Yale University for two weeks and when I got shipped out I still thought I was going to be a pilot. I went down to Memphis, Tenn. and they had a big need for Combat Air Crewmen. And that was telling me something right there, and the pilots never got killed, and they had a big shortage of Combat Air Crewmen. And you knew what was going on so I became what they called a Radio Hand Gun Man and I was assigned to submarine Patrol from Corpus Christi Texas to Bar Harbor Maine. And we made 5 stops, the Keys, the bottom of the Keys, Key West was the nearest station, and then we went to Jacksonville where we fueled, and then we went to Jacksonville... some place I never knew where, it was in North Carolina, and went down to Annacostia down here. And when we came into Annacostia my girlfriend would meet me, and it was good. We had ten minutes in the time we refueled and everything, from there we went to Rhode Island, and from there we went to Bar Harbor Maine, and from there we did the same routine back again.

But what I remember more about that was Christmas 1945 prior to the end of the war they broke radio silence. It was Christmas Eve and I was in rear gun, I was the rear gunner which meant I always saw everything going backwards, and they broke radio silence and they played, "I'll Be Home For Christmas", and let me tell you the tears were coming out of my eyes. And the ordinance man above me I called up to him, and he said,"Donny I can't talk to you", and he was crying and the pilot was crying, and it was the first time they broke radio silence.

Back to growing up in Greenbelt, like I said it really wasn't hard, it was fun, it was exciting. We had everything we needed. Well, there wasn't any gas, you couldn't buy this and you couldn't buy that. You couldn't buy bar candy. I never smoked but there wasn't any cigarettes and that didn't matter. Everything was rationed, we would ration. Milk was rationed, and everybody had ration coupons. We had coupons for this and coupons for that.

I told you a story upstairs. . . I took my girlfriend out. . . and I don't know why I keep talking about my girlfriend because she dumped me a long time ago. She was smart.

So anyhow, I took my girlfriend to the movies. I got my dad's car which in that time we couldn't go, because we didn't have any coupons. But my friend he worked in a filling station, he actually stole some A coupons, which gave me a few gallons of gas. So I got in my dad's car which was an old '27 Studabaker and we went down to the RKO and went to the movies and come out and here's the routine we used to do all the time. We used to ride the street car, take a girl out, and go up to Netticks which was right beside the White House. We'd have some orange Juice, and catch a street car back. Well we took the car down there, and we parked the car. We were right across the street from where President Lincoln went to church. It was a Methodist Church down there, to give you an idea of where we were. And when we came out of the movies we went to Netticks, got the orange juice, and got on the street car and rode out there to Mt. Rainer, which is right there at the start of the District Line. And I remembered that we didn't bring the car. I reached in my pocket and I didn't have any more money, so I asked my girlfriend. Do you have any money? And she says a little. So I had enough to get back here and I didn't know how I was going to get the car, o-kay. So I talked to the man and he said well you have to talk to the manager. He was a pretty good gut so I talked to the manager. I told him the truth, I didn't lie about anything. And he says no problem. I went up there got the car and brought it down, and he gave me a dollar. But everybody helped everybody during the war. But that was strictly the routine you had when you rode the street car, and you never had a car.

When you went to the basket ball game and you got to the game the best way you could get there. Most times it was by the street car. You'd ride the street car down there to Hyattsville, down there then we'd have to walk from the street car to Hyattsville High School. That's maybe 3 or 4 miles. No matter where you went you had to go by street car.

And you all pop some questions to me now.

Question: If you didn't have a car what kind of things were you able to do

Answer: Greenbelt is a very unique town o-kay. There were three towns built, I guess you know about all of this. But there were three towns built during the depression. All right there was a great Depression of the thirties, o-kay, they were built strictly to give people work. And I found out that there was one other that I never knew. The government built another town. None of us knew about this until about six months ago, of African Americans, down in Miss. which I never knew of. So actually it was 4 towns, Government towns, and there were quotas, o kay. It was something like. . . I don't want to give you percentages because I may be wrong with the percentage. 65% protestant, 20% Catholic, and the percentage that was left was Jewish or whatever it may be okay.

You had to be on the rocks, like my dad, one day a week he was a mechanic repairing typewriters. So you can imagine we came from Baltimore and he moved over here in Washington because he thought he could get more work with the federal government over here. And that 's how we got into Greenbelt. FHA was the federal housing and he had a job there and that's how he found out about Greenbelt.

So Greenbelt, so we moved into greenbelt. Number one we had radiators for heat, we had running water in the house. I lived in Baltimore outside of Baltimore City, there wasn't electricity. The only heat you had was from coal, and you had a furnace with a register and that took care of the whole house,. Or you had a potbellied stove. So not only that there were playgrounds close by. Never saw playground equiptment in the city, you threw a rope in a tree and swung from that rope. So as a kid, I was ten years old when i moved into Greenbelt and my eyes were just that big I couldn't believe all the recreation equiptment, I'd never had anything like that before. We had three professional recreation people. They were college graduates. Two men and a lady. One of the men was an All American Basketball Player. He played in what is actually now the NBA in Washington, what we called the Capitals at that time. Now they're the Bullets. He was a basketball coach in high school and he used to take us to the games when he played. So no matter what you did in Greenbelt there was so much excitement that you felt, o kay.

They had what you'd call a Cando club and they'd put on dances for you. I learned how to dance through this lady in high school at the gym and that's where I learned how to do the Fox Trot, and you name it. There's only one that I can't do to this day, . . . and my son in law is a 'Ukie' is Ukranian, and they do a lot of Polka, and I don't know why but for some reason I can't do the Polka. My wife says you jump to much. Well, to make a long story short. Greenbelt had a lot, there were so many things to do, really. We swam in the lake, we had the only swimming pool in the whole Washington Area. We had lighted baseball fields, no one else had it. We had horse shoe courts that were lit up at night, you could pitch horse shoes. We had ice skating all winter long. And the Federal Government that had a barrel out there, that kept heat in there for us o kay and I threw logs in them. E actually skated all winter. I don't know why we didn't skate this winter. We had a record winter but that Greenbelt Lake never froze all winter long. It snowed so much it was a deterant to get down there and freeze. Then they had a toboggan slide and the same thing. The government lit the bottom of the hill and the top of the hill. They had a barrel and they kept heat in there. O kay. So We'd sleigh ride,Let me tell youthat was the greatest thing in the world. I'd get my girlfriend.I'dget on the bottomand she'd usually jump on top of me and down you'd go,that was a lot of fun. So I guess that pretty well answers it. We were occupied all of the time,they never gave us a chance to really get into trouble, to be a juvinile delinquent. 'Cause we had so much to do.

Question: So, if I catch you correctlty you said that Greenbelt was built by the Federal Government for government workers?

Answer: No,not necessarily. When the war broke, yes you're right,it was housing.They built these defense homes. Now,they're those wooden houses that you see in Greenbelt. They were supposed to be torn down when the war was over you see, and rebuilt, like the original Greenbelt homes. You could have put a square over there in the corner of thatwall in Greenbelt and a square is still a square today. And you won't do that in any other house built. That's how good they were built,the Breenbelt houses. So a temporary home becomes a permanent deal. And so no matter where you go a temporary thing becomes permanent. You see those houses were built in 1940 for service training personeland government workers. You're right, but prior to that, no. It was strictly to give people who were down on the rocks,so to speak. Allright,so you made a salary, they moved you out once you got on your feet. You were moved out of Greenbelt, allright.

Question: How long were you in the service, and can you embellish on that?

Answer: Well I went in the service, was in there for two years. And I went in on April 1st and I gat discharged on August 25th. And I got the GI Bill, that's the best thing in the world. And I went to the University of Maryland, and the Gi bill payed $65 a month. It paid for all my room and board and my books. In fact you had what they call a "c" number, they gave you a "c" number. I got a medical book that's never been opened and I guarantee you that it's this big, and if I remember right. Why I got it I know, only because I had this "c" note. O kay. And the reason I did that. . . I was a MD resident all of my life and they charged every veteran you see, out of state fees, that was $75. And you take that time my wife was going here and it was about 15 hundred students.

That Armory you see down there, you've been in that Armory? That Armory had three stack beds and it was filled, o kay. Maryland, when I went here, there was one professor for three classes. English classes were across the way in the old girls gym, allright? That was the girls gym originally. It was up there at Prinkert, uh, Prinkert. And the basement of there was english. They taught English there.

But that Armory down there was three deep, and we were in there. And you can imagine how much studying went on there.

I'll give you a little humor, this is really true. When Angie brought me out here, I said, "Stop. I took Human Anatomy and Physiology here." When I was here this (Taliefero) was the Education Building. I majored in Education. O kay, there was a ball player who played for Ohio state for three years, and he came here to Maryland. Jim Delt got him into Maryland, Lou Gambino. Did you ever hear of Lou Gambino? Anf my wife's last name was Forrester. Now this is the thing, Forrester, Gambino, they sat alphabetically. Zimmerman, I sat up top. So whateverer my wife made on the exam, Lou Gambino made the same grade. So I remember the professor, Dr.???, he went to the professor and said, you gotta mave me that girl's too darn dumb. And I kid my wife to this day about that.

Where my wife taught, which was Bladensburg high school, you see. Lou Gambine came over there and did his practice teaching over there. Lou graduated from the University as an honors student, and honors student. That's the gospel truth. Not only that, at Bladensburg, those kids were so faascinatedwith Lou Gambino, he could do anything.

We're getting off of the subject of WWII.

Question: One,about your servive. You said you were a radio gunner?

Answer: -Yeah a radio gunner-

Question: Now I wasn't to sure where you served during WWII?

Answer: I was on submarine patrol on the east coast.There were submarines. My parents took me to Ocean City. Now you know where Ocean City is. The beach down there from Delaware all the way down to Chinquatigue was covered with oil. Because the German U Boat waited. There wasn't any protection for subs, o kay. They came out of New Jersey,out of the refinery, and they'd come as close as they could,and the U boat would wait to hit 'em. And people would go up there as closeas they could to watch them. It was like fireworks atnight to see them explode. Then they finally put up barbed wire. The Coast Guard came in on horse back and by jeep.And you'd see them at Ocean City and at Bethany Beach. And you see those stone towers there now, thatwas WWII, o kay.

Lakehurst NJ was where the blimp was, and that's wher we got all our orders. The blimp would go out from Lakehurst and direct us if there was a sub near. And we'd get the abort and needless to say the beads (of sweat) would come. I'm a coward. I don't mind telling you. I was scared to death. I only got one abort while I was in the service. They were all pushing out. But Japan was still there to be occupied. That's when we dropped the A Bomb. When it was over there we were shipped to the Pacific.

People criticize dropping the A Bomb. But I praised Harry S. Truman, because I figured he'd probably saved my life. And, uh, I hate to see all these people get killed but they estimated at that time there'd be over one million American casualties. So I didn't think it was a bad decision.

Question: So did you have any close friends that went to Europe to fight?

Answer: Sommers over there dropped in. He was a paratrooper, o kay. My brother in law came into D Day he was in the Navy. Bob dropped in, he was a paratrooper on D Day, into France. In fact I was an athletic director in the 50's and I went to Nam. And everywhere the Brittish landed and the Canadians landed. And everywhere I went, jumpers were still there. There were tanks the war ships bombed with. And I'm talking 1953, 1954. And I haven't been nack there since then. I saw Hitler's bunker where he was supposed to have been killedin East Berlin at that time. And at that time there wasn't a wall.And what the Russsians did was build a Garden of Rememberance, for the Germans, it was a mather statue up there she was supposed to be holding up her children. okay. That's where allthe Russians were supposed to have been burried that were killed in Berlin. And right before that was Hitler's bunker. And the head quaters were in Normany. I rememberin Neuenberg the Nazi's operated Munich, they ahd tunnels there the gunners never knew of. But I had to get down in there and I had a good friend who was a colonel, and we went down there and some of the swastikas were still there. I hada friend Ray Bell that was killed.

Everybody wanted to go in the service. Now I wouldn't want to go into any service program right now. But back then if you didn't go into the service you were lost. If you were a 4F, and I don't think there be a 4F, becuase I think there's a place for everybody during the time of war. I think even if you don't have any legs you could do something. Sit at a desk and type.

Well see that hand? I figured that would keep me out of the service.I grabbed a pulley when I was a kid and it ground up my hand. But in the navy they looked at your hands. But I guess they didn't have me turn them over. Lucky. Because, they'd have turned me down and thatwould have killed me. Now I'd show them. Times have changed a lot since then.

I always said my country right or wrong, my country. I have a son who works right here. He's a civil engineer over at the telecommunications building, over here, whatever you call it.

And Vietnam, like I said, my country right or wrong, well I still back up that. And I think today if the way they fought that warin Vietnam, I'd have taken him to Canada,and that's a terrible thing for me to say. That Vietnam warwarbad bad news. I was at that time, I was in charge of the physical plant at P G Community college. Not physically in charge of it, o kay, Johnson and Sons actually did the building. And I was down there in a trailer, but any how. When Vietnam came, they loweredthe flags, the students, o kay. And the predident of the college at that time was Dr. Pinndell. And he said,Donny I don't want you to bring in your poliec, but Iwant to see you right up here right away. We've got some problems, something on our hands. I came up and the students were all . . . at that time we had about 10,000 students when I left there there was 20 some. Of course you've got that many here outside in a half an hour. So any way to make a long story short, I went over to the flags and there were four flags. We has the State of Maryland Flag, all right, the Prince Georges Flag, and we had a fourth flag. Now MD was one of the 13 original colonies and we were permitted by an act of Congress to fly the flag with 13 stars, o kay. So, there was 4 flags . . . (tape break sorry) . . . and he said, "hey coach, having any problems," and I said, "Do I know you?", and he said, "Of course. You were the football coach up here at Laurel High School, Ben McDonnel." And I said, "where've you been?", and he says, "Vietnam", And he says, "Are you having a problem?", and I says, "Yeah, look at that flag it's the problem." And he took the flag and ran it up. And I was the hero. But I told them I don't care what you do with the other three, you can do anything youwant with them. But that flag (The American Flag) goes to the top.

But look I said, I've changed, but Vietnam, I don't know why I keep on Vietnam. That was a stupid political warand we sacraficed a lot of boys lives over there. And my son might have been one of them.

At the beginning I would have done it.I would have told him, you go into the service, but now I'd say you get your education. You're all smart all of you, I found out thatwhen I was in the servive. And where I went the officer's quaters,they had everything, all right. I knew that if I didn't get any education I was going to be an enlisted man all of my life.

And I finished college,and I got my master's degree, and like a dummy I ahd 60 hrs.after my master's degree, but I didn't get my doctorate. And my kids, I've got two children, the want me to sta and get my doctorate, just so I can say I have it. But I never went.

So any other questions? You haven't said a word.

Question: When you were in highschool, did the Jewish Community react differently to the warthan the rest of the community?

Answer: Well we had three Jewish boys in our class. A boy named Richard and a boy named, uh, I forgot the other two. All of them went into the service, and one of them was killed. They werejust as excited about the war as everybody else, o kay. Now I was more moderate and they were more liberal, but thatwas the onlydifference, o kay, the only difference. Everybody was one community. We all worked together.

Question: So, you mentioned at first,when the war started, it was kind of exciting, you talked about climbing trees when the sirens went off. Where there any times when there was real fear?

Answer: Any time the siren went off you didn't know if you were going to get bombed or not. We didn't know whether the troops came the Germans or the Japanese, you never knew. You didn't know if there was going to be another Pearl Harbor. And it was still exciting no matter what. But it could have easily happened. Luckily Hitler made some mistakes, because he didn't listen to his General, but I didn't know that.

As a kid 14, 15, 16, 17, I couldn't wait to getinto the service and everybody was the same way I was everybody was excited about that war.

Question: What did you expect the service to be like before you went in?

Answer: Well I had so many friends, like Bob came home and told about the good time he was having in the service and everybody liked discipline, I don't know why. But even in the classroom if somebody was horsing around we'd stop them, because we wanted discipline.