7. Corvallis

Royal G. Jackson: What were some of the other kinds of classes a person could take?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Oh, you could take anything you wanted to.

Royal G. Jackson: Were there regular college students in class with you, or were there just 3-C boys in the class?

Edward Sekermestrovich: It was just 3-C boys, and we had an instructor.

Royal G. Jackson: There were classes just for you guys?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, just for us fellows. Now whoever signed this certificate here -- Don Malley.

Royal G. Jackson: So you took auto mechanics, and welding, and archery?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, that's right.

Royal G. Jackson: What would be some of the other kind of things that would be offered? Other type of classes?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, you see that sign up there? You could go out and rout signs like that. We made signs for the Forest Service, too.

Royal G. Jackson: Wood routing?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes.

Royal G. Jackson: You did that on campus, or out at camp?

Edward Sekermestrovich: We did that out there at the Arboretum.

Royal G. Jackson: How did you get to town? The camp was quite a ways out of town, wasn't it?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, you hitchhiked, or else like me -- now I knew the lady who ran the taxi cab company in Corvallis; she'd take me home once in a while for nothing. [Laughter] And then a lot of times we'd all put in a bunch of money and call a cab; and at that time it didn't cost as much, a dollar and a half, two dollars lots of times to come into town.

7. Corvallis

Royal G. Jackson: What do you remember about Corvallis, what was it like then?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I'd say it was a pretty nice town. But most of the fellows, I thought, was going to Monmouth or Salem.

Royal G. Jackson: You mean for recreation?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, for recreation. Most of them would go there.

Royal G. Jackson: What did they do there?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I really don't know.

Royal G. Jackson: Did they have girl friends over there or something?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, they might have. [Laughter] Quite a few of them went to Albany, too. They like Albany real well.

Royal G. Jackson: Would they go to a roller skating rink, or something like that?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Roller skating rink, yes. Ice rink here in Corvallis, they came here, too.

Royal G. Jackson: There was an ice skating rink here?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Oh yes, we had an ice skating rink right over here, where Woodstock's Pizza is located.

Royal G. Jackson: A lot of 3-C boys go there?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, lots of them. And then we had a roller rink downtown on Third Street. What's that one between where they used to be the Ford Garage? Jackson.

Royal G. Jackson: Oh, that's where you went to go roller skating?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes. Third and Jackson.

Royal G. Jackson: Would a bunch of you get together and go down?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, the company would say: "If a bunch of you want to go tonight, just sign up, and you can go. We'll have a truck for you."

Royal G. Jackson: And you'd drive in there?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I would drive it in, yes. And if it had more than one truckload, somebody else would drive in; one of the Forest Service drivers would.

Royal G. Jackson: What was it like when you came to town? Did the boys your age that were here in Corvallis resent you in any way?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Never did, that I knew of. We were all friendly with each other.

Royal G. Jackson: Do you remember any examples of fights that broke out?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Once in a while. But they weren't bad, for the size of the camp.

Royal G. Jackson: What would the fights occur over?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, one of them would occur quite often, but nobody would get hurt. We had one colored fellow in Corvallis at that time. They kind of didn't think it was right for him to skate with a white woman or something like that, and they might pick a fight with him or something. Then it would get out of hand, you know.

Royal G. Jackson: What was his name, do you remember?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Bud Smith was his name.

Royal G. Jackson: And he was from Corvallis?

Edward Sekermestrovich: He was from Corvallis, and he's still here. And then after that it got a lot better -- in this camp we'll say every six months somebody came in new or left; the older fellows knew him, and fights wouldn't happen like it used to.

Royal G. Jackson: You mean you didn't all come in and leave at the same time?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Oh, no. Going all the time, one way or the other. Some had different jobs to do, see.

Royal G. Jackson: Their jobs would end?

Edward Sekermestrovich: That's right, then we'd come in. They'd say: "You want to go to town tonight? Put your name on the board here." And if we get enough to go to town or some church meeting, or something like that, they would take a truck load in, and the truck driver would wait on you. It didn't matter what he did after he took you there, just as long as he was back. Or if you went to the skating rink, you could wait when it closed, but we never waited that long. They'd just say, "Be back at 10:00 p.m.," and you're back at 10:00 p.m.

Royal G. Jackson: Was there a curfew? You had to be back by what time?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, there used to be. We'd say 10:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m.

Royal G. Jackson: And that was during the week?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, at the end of the week you could stay out all weekend if you wanted to. But you had to have a pass.

Royal G. Jackson: If you had a friend here in town you could come in and stay all night if you wanted to?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Sometimes. They wouldn't let you do it all the time.

Royal G. Jackson: So they were pretty liberal as far as coming and going?

Edward Sekermestrovich: They were nice about that, yes; I thought very much so.

Royal G. Jackson: What other things did you do in town? You mentioned skating rinks and going to church.

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes.

Royal G. Jackson: What other kind of things did you do in Corvallis?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, you do your shopping and everything here sometimes. Got to buy clothes. After the day shift was over, you could dress up in your civvies if you wanted to; they didn't care.