Full Transcript: Joan Barrios on Being a Woman in the Navy
Joan: I couldn’t find a job so I decided— I went downtown one day and I said, “I think I’m going to go join the service,” and I walked in, I ended up joining the Navy so I was in the Navy for three years. So like for seven years I was home in the summer but away for the rest of the year basically. I didn't know what I was going to do I just said I’m, I’m gonna go try— I, I must have read something in the paper about joining the service, you know, and you went to the Federal Building downtown and I just thought, “Well, let me go try this out.” Actually I, I just remember this so well, you know, I was walking in the hallway and the one sailor said to me, you know, “Can I help you out?” because I guess I looked a little bewildered, you know? And I says, “Well I just thought you know maybe I’d join the service,” and he says, “Well, come on in and join the Navy.” And so I talked to this, this female recruiter and took a test and before long I was in Maryland going to bootcamp. [Laughs] And then I went to Tennessee and I spent the rest— like two and a half years in Tennessee and I just worked at an office and ever then— ever since then, you know, I’ve been in Hamtramck. Made a lot of friends in the Navy. I still keep in touch with two of the people I was in Tennessee with. The work was interesting and when I first started I worked in the personnel office and I was taking finger prints and typing up personal histories of guys who were gonna be going to the technical schools because I was on the technical part of the base. And, and then I moved into the transfers section where I typed up orders. And then I moved into where they came and picked up their orders to get out and that was like during Vietnam so they were all going aboard ship for the most part. I remember one boy he was leaving and he came in on a Friday and he was going aboard one of the aircraft carriers and, and he had said to me he says, “What, what are you doing?” kind of, you know— “What are you doing tomorrow?” he says. And I says, “Well I was gonna go downtown to Memphis and shop,” and that was by bus and he said, “Well can I go along with you?” and I just, “Yeah, if you want to” you know? So we spent the day and we ate lunch down there. We went to go see a movie, Hatari!, John Wayne movie, I remember that. [Laughs] You’re bringing back all my memories. [Laughs] Oh my goodness.
There were a few people said, “Oh, you don’t want to go, you don’t want to join the Navy. You know the only reason they want women is because you know, the men want the women there,” and, you know, alluding to they only wanted them there for sex basically, you know? And I says, “I don’t think so.” And I went there and I, I didn’t have any problem with that. I was just friends with everybody you know, we just mostly hung out in groups. Although I have to say that when I was getting discharged one of the sailors in the office where I worked he says to me, he says, “Hey, whats the matter with you?” I say, “What are you talking about?” He says, “You’re getting discharged and you're not pregnant.” And I says, “Oh I guess I’m just smart, huh?” because there were two other girls who were getting discharged same time, round the same time I was and they were both pregnant and at that time if you were pregnant you had to leave.
I learned to drive on a stick shift car, which I didn't do very well and I thought oh my god I’m never going to pass the driving test. This was in the service and so I think— and back in the 60s and so this thing it had double easiness to it because you're in the service and it was that long ago. And the morning, the, the day before I was supposed to take my road test, this guy tells me he smashed his car and I thought okay, and then by chance this guy came and picked us— a few of us up at the barracks and I was telling them my story and he says, “Well you can use my car.” A ’62 convertible Chevy Malibu— I think it was a Malibu— anyway, and automatic, drove like a dream and I just took the road test on the base and the speed limit on the base is like 10 of 15 miles an hour. I mean, you know, and I, I managed to get my license but the guy who gave it— took the road test with me he says, “I wouldn't go out and drive too much yet,” you know, “Get some practice on base,” and so I thought well okay. [Laughs] Little did he know thats where I was learning to drive was off the base.
People say, “Oh you went from the convent to the Navy” and I says, “Well in a way it was the same because I had to wear a uniform and we had our rooms inspected,” [laughs] So, and we’d eat in the chow hall, you know. And there, the nuns cooked and we ate what they gave us and then over there, we ate whatever they gave us, whatever was on the menu or else you could go off base and you could eat in a restaurant or whatever. And you know they had clubs around there and bars around there too but basically we just basically stayed around the base and stuff or went to movies downtown in Memphis and shopping and whatever. You came home and Hamtramck was still here, it didn't change that, that much except for the, the stores and the stores just became something else.
When I go to meetings, when I joined the Veterans Club, it was the Polish Legion of American Veterans, which is the first P.L.A.V. that was formed in the states by World War I veterans and I was the only female veteran there and— although there were a couple women that came in that I found out that they were veterans but they never joined anything so.
There were a few people said, “Oh, you don’t want to go, you don’t want to join the Navy. You know the only reason they want women is because you know, the men want the women there,” and, you know, alluding to they only wanted them there for sex basically, you know? And I says, “I don’t think so.” And I went there and I, I didn’t have any problem with that. I was just friends with everybody you know, we just mostly hung out in groups. Although I have to say that when I was getting discharged one of the sailors in the office where I worked he says to me, he says, “Hey, whats the matter with you?” I say, “What are you talking about?” He says, “You’re getting discharged and you're not pregnant.” And I says, “Oh I guess I’m just smart, huh?” because there were two other girls who were getting discharged same time, round the same time I was and they were both pregnant and at that time if you were pregnant you had to leave.
I learned to drive on a stick shift car, which I didn't do very well and I thought oh my god I’m never going to pass the driving test. This was in the service and so I think— and back in the 60s and so this thing it had double easiness to it because you're in the service and it was that long ago. And the morning, the, the day before I was supposed to take my road test, this guy tells me he smashed his car and I thought okay, and then by chance this guy came and picked us— a few of us up at the barracks and I was telling them my story and he says, “Well you can use my car.” A ’62 convertible Chevy Malibu— I think it was a Malibu— anyway, and automatic, drove like a dream and I just took the road test on the base and the speed limit on the base is like 10 of 15 miles an hour. I mean, you know, and I, I managed to get my license but the guy who gave it— took the road test with me he says, “I wouldn't go out and drive too much yet,” you know, “Get some practice on base,” and so I thought well okay. [Laughs] Little did he know thats where I was learning to drive was off the base.
People say, “Oh you went from the convent to the Navy” and I says, “Well in a way it was the same because I had to wear a uniform and we had our rooms inspected,” [laughs] So, and we’d eat in the chow hall, you know. And there, the nuns cooked and we ate what they gave us and then over there, we ate whatever they gave us, whatever was on the menu or else you could go off base and you could eat in a restaurant or whatever. And you know they had clubs around there and bars around there too but basically we just basically stayed around the base and stuff or went to movies downtown in Memphis and shopping and whatever. You came home and Hamtramck was still here, it didn't change that, that much except for the, the stores and the stores just became something else.
When I go to meetings, when I joined the Veterans Club, it was the Polish Legion of American Veterans, which is the first P.L.A.V. that was formed in the states by World War I veterans and I was the only female veteran there and— although there were a couple women that came in that I found out that they were veterans but they never joined anything so.