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Because my
elderly relatives are deceased or live
abroad, I contacted a long time family
friend, James Banister Holloway Junior,
or simply “Bud”, to help me
understand the effects of certain significant
events in American History.
When I first talked to
Bud, I was astounded by his readiness
and willingness to share his past with
me. After this initial conversation, I
knew I was to learn more important information
in this single interview than in years
of reading about history in textbooks.
I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing my subject,
and now realize that history is a collection
of real events that people actually felt
the affects of, and not just material
I must memorize to get good grades at
school.
Mr. Holloway was born
on March 17, 1929 in a small town called
Itasca Texas. He lived there with his
family until he was seven, when they moved
to the nearby town of Hillsboro. In 1938,
due to his father’s career at Ford
Motor Company, Bud and his family moved
to Dallas and into their new home at 5255
Goodwin Street. Here, he attended elementary
school at James B. Bonham Elementary,
secondary school at Spence Junior High,
and high school at North Dallas High School.
Right before his final year of High School,
he and his family packed up their belongings
and moved to Lakewood.
At the age of sixteen
(he told his employer he was eighteen),
Bud took his first job at the Ford Plant
at 5200 East Grand Road where he unloaded
freight cars at a wage of $1.00 per hour.
In 1948, at the age of nineteen, Bud moved
north to Boston, Massachusetts to take
a job as an office manager at a Ford Plant.
A few years later, while Bud was happy
at work, he received a draft notice from
the United States Army, saying that he
was so join the military. Out of fear
of being put in a dangerous front line
position, Bud went to the Naval office
so that he could at least choose which
department of the military he would be
fighting for. Discovering that the Naval
officer in charge of enlistment was not
there that day, Bud then went to the Air
Force recruiter and enlisted into the
United States Air Force.
After 27 months and 1
day of active service, in the air as a
reconnaissance officer and on the ground
as a cryptologist, Bud was sent home.
He remained in the military at Barksdale
Air Force Base near Dallas until he decided
to drive to Kansas to attend the University
of Kansas. While attending college, he
met his Austrian wife Elisabeth with whom
he still is married to today. After a
few years of working for Ford in Detroit,
Mr. Holloway moved back to Dallas to work
for Gates Rubber Company. He retired from
his last job at Allied Automation in 1997
to take car of his sick mother and wife,
and still lives in Dallas today.
The memorable events
in Mr. Holloway’s life were exactly
what I hoped for. All of the topics marked
great changes in American government,
society, and leadership, and are considered
vital pieces of American history. The
first events Bud wanted to discuss were
occurrences in World War II. The first,
Pearl Harbor, which occurred on December
07, 1941, was the attack on a Hawaiian
naval base that brought the United States
into World War II. The next war event
discussed was D-Day. This crucial day
of World War II was when the American
forces stormed onto Normandy Beach and
began the allied forces invasion of France.
The final World War II topic discussed
was the dropping of the atomic bombs in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was the
first military use of a nuclear weapon.
The Korean War was the
occurrence that we discussed next, which
was the event that Bud was most active
in. This major conflict of the 1950’s
was began with an invasion by North Korea
of South Korea. It eventually turned into
a United States battle against the communist
countries. The next topic we conversed
about was one that was felt all around
the world, the Kennedy assassination.
This controversial incident was one of
the events that made the sixties a significant
decade, along with the American moon landing,
which was naturally what we discussed
next. The 1960’s also were times
for new pop culture, such as the introduction
of Elvis into America, and the Beatles
performing of the Ed Sullivan Show. Both
of these new artists helped bring in a
new form of pop culture that is still
prevalent today. The final event discussed
was one of recent times, the 911 attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Even though these terrorist acts occurred
so recently, they will always be known
as a major part of American History.
When World War two spread
to the United States in 1941, Bud was
only twelve years old. Even though he
was barely a teen during the war, Bud
still has maintained vivid pictures of
where he was when important war news was
transmitted over the radio. When Pearl
Harbor was struck by the Japanese forces
on December 07, 1941, Bud was living with
his family in a house at 5255 Goodwin
Street in what was North Dallas at the
time. He recalls playing a game of sandlot
football with some neighborhood children
on a beautiful Sunday afternoon when the
news reached Dallas. The adults began
to switch on all of their radios, and
the peace in the neighborhood began to
break. The civil defense sirens began
to sound as the confusion rose, and the
kids scampered back to their houses. Bud
remembers the radio personality losing
his composure and poise with the news
of the attack, and he remembers the look
of anger in his father’s eyes.
Looking back, Mr. Holloway
relates his feelings of shock he had at
Pearl Harbor with those he had when President
Kennedy was shot. After the dreaded news
had been announced, the city began to
prepare themselves for the war to come.
Food was rationed, gas was limited, and
mail began to arrive in mailboxes with
sections cut or blacked out. In his young
age, Bud was not yet able to comprehend
the significance of the happenings of
that Sunday afternoon.
The next events that
came to Bud’s mind were similar
in that they were both turning points
in World War II. The first, D-Day, which
occurred on June 06, 1944, was the first
conflict of Bud’s life in which
he had close family involved in. His two
uncles were both part of this invasion,
and thankfully both left the beach alive.
When the news was announced over the radio
(which was the dominant form of communication
at the time), Bud was sitting on his couch
listening to a boxing match when an announcer
interrupted the fight with the breaking
news. Mr. Holloway recollects his parents
explaining the news to him in detail,
and he remembers the relief that he got
when his uncles called after the battle
was over.
Not very long after D-Day,
President Truman gave the orders to drop
atomic bombs on the two Japanese locations,
Nagasaki and Hiroshima. As he was at the
previous event, Bud was listening to a
fight over the radio when President Truman
interrupted. Due to the limited knowledge
of atomic weapons, and Bud’s young
age, the news did not seem to be out of
the ordinary that bombs had been dropped.
It was not until the amounts of death
and damage had been reported when Bud
was able to comprehend the power of the
attack.
The Korean War came to
mind next, which was a conflict in which
Bud fought in. At the time, Bud was working
in Boston at a Ford plant, had a girlfriend,
and had just bought a new car. Finally
beginning to find a lifestyle he enjoyed,
his happiness was brought to a halt when
a draft notice arrived in his mail box
on January 2nd,1951. Out of fear of being
sent in as a front line ground troop,
Bud went straight to the Naval recruitment
desk only to find that the recruiter was
out for the day. With joining the Navy
being out of the question, he then went
to the Air Force to explore his options
there. With the draft notice deadline
the next day, Bud had no choice but to
join the Air Force so that he had some
say in where he would be serving.
Mr. Holloway studied cryptology
and the Russian language for a few months,
and was then sent off into active service.
His journey included stops in San Francisco,
Honolulu, Midway, and Japan. Most of his
time in the military was spent at an antenna/radio
communication base located in Misawa,
Japan. He flew as a radio listener in
secret reconnaissance flights near the
coastlines of Korea and USSR. His days
were often filled with gunfire from enemy
“MIG” planes, and he recalled
times when radio operators alongside him
on the planes were shot and killed by
stray bullets.
After 27 months and 1
day of flying missions in the reconnaissance
plane RB-50, Bud was sent home from the
Far East and was no longer in active service.
He returned to Barksdale Air Force based
where he remained until his time in the
armed forces was up, at which time he
decided to drive to Kansas. When Bud returned
to the U.S, he was upset by the indifferent
attitudes of the people towards the war.
He remembers today how he was thinking
about his friends that were killed, as
he heard a negative comments about the
war effort. Bud also feels a bit of anger
towards the government for not declassifying
his missions until the mid 1990’s,
and not allowing him the respect one deserves
after serving for a worthy cause. Bud
keeps newspapers and magazines that highlight
his doings in Korean War to remind himself
of the worthiness of his service, and
of his friends that he watched die next
to him.
The event that we discussed
next was truly something felt heavily
around the world. I have not met an adult
yet who does not remember exactly where
he or she was on November 22nd, 1963 when
President Kennedy was shot, and Bud was
no exception. At the time, Bud was working
in Industrial Boulevard, but was on lunch
break when it occurred. Still not a huge
watcher of television, Mr. Holloway heard
the announcement over the radio as it
was happening. He recalls the announcer
repeating over and over “he is dead,
President Kennedy is dead.” Bud
also remembers hearing screams and cries
in the background as the radio personality
announced the news. Mr. Holloway felt
sick as he witnessed the images on the
television on the nightly news.
After the Kennedy assassination,
Bud felt that the whole world had a very
negative attitude towards Dallas, and
many threats on the city followed. The
Sunday after the assassination, Bud’s
church congregation was rushed out of
the chapel by the minister who said their
was a bomb threat on the building. Bud
claims the world had a negative attitude
towards Dallas until the Cowboys started
winning a lot. The Kennedy assassination
was the most shocking news Mr. Holloway
had heard since he was twelve, and Pearl
Harbor had been attacked. |