Memoirs of Norbert E. Gnadinger, Sr. Volume 1

1943

For some reason I had to work on New Years Day. Helen and I had gone to a New Year’s Eve dance in the basement of St. Vincent de Paul School with members of my family and some friends. Our last dance before the new baby would be born. Helen’s pregnancy was pretty obvious but she still needed to get out and away from the kids for a short time. Grandma Buchter was our baby-sitter, as usual. All through my early life I always had to learn everything the hard way but, once I was bitten, I hardly ever repeated the same dumb mistake. This mistake was a “hangover”. I didn’t get drunk but I drank enough to give me the miseries the next day. The dance lasted until Two AM and by the time we picked up the kids and put them and ourselves into bed it was after three. I had to get up at six in order to get to work on time at seven. This was undoubtedly the hardest lesson I ever had to learn. At work, I thought I would die. After I had gotten all my work lined up and shipping orders given out to the crew, I found a soft bale of clothing at the back of the warehouse and lay down in order to stop my head from spinning. I slept a few hours while one of the other men covered for me. I didn’t think quitting time would ever arrive. I learned from this experience that the fun of a dance or other activity is not how much alcohol you can drink but when to stop that and begin drinking straight “soft-drinks” and still have fun. Why am I telling you this sad story? I don’t want to pretend that I am something that I am not. Maybe you will sympathize with me because you may have had a similar experience.(Mary Catherine’s daughter, Eileen[Wantland]Nold, born, April 13, 1943)

I am aware that I have discussed the electric streetcars earlier but I think this may be interesting to some of you. The streetcar was not designed so that you could put them in reverse and back up in order to turn around at the “end of the line”. Instead, the “loop” turnaround was used, The Portland-Shelby streetcar had the largest loop. It completely encircled most of Schnitzelburg. Beginning at Shelby and Goss the tracks continued south on Shelby to a left turn onto Burnett, continued East on Burnett, made a left on Texas St. to a major pick up stop on the corner of Texas St. and Goss Ave. After a sufficient wait, the car made a left turn on to Goss Ave. and proceeded down Goss to Shelby St. where it made a right turn and thus completed the loop. Since the Portland-Shelby line was the most important one in our neighborhood, I’ll continue it to the opposite loop in the West end. We are now on Shelby St. heading North to Market where it made a left turn, proceeding West until it made a right turn on to eighteenth St. Heading North, it made a left turn on to Portland Ave and you continued on Portland to the small loop at Northwestern Pkwy. near the library. This loop was probably contained within a square about two hundred by two hundred feet which would be a normal loop size. While you were thus riding the Portland-Shelby line, you had access to about eight(?)other lines where you could use your free transfer to travel even farther.

I am mostly familiar with the loops in the East end of town. The Broadway line looped at Shawnee Park, ran the entire length of Broadway, turned on Baxter Ave. and then continued out Bardstown Road to the “Loop”. Yes, some loops retained this name long after the streetcars were discontinued. This loop at Bardstown Road, Dundee Road and Douglas Blvd. has now been completely built up with various specialty shops. The Oak St. line had a small car similar to the “Toonerville trolley”. I don’t know where it looped in the West end. In our part of town, there was no bridge over Beargrass Creek on Oak St. The car traveled to Shiller, turned left to Kentucky, turned right and across that bridge to Barrett, turned right to Winter, turned left on Winter to Bardstown Road, turned right to Longest Ave., turned left on Longest and looped just at the edge of Cherokee Park. I once fell asleep while riding home on the Oak St. line, woke up when we were on Bardstown Road, had to get off and walk home from there. I had no money for another fare.(Sue Wantland’s husband, P. Stephen Hughes, born, May 25, 1943)

The Fourth and Sixth Street lines made their loop downtown by just traveling around one of the city blocks. The Fourth St. line hauled a lot of passengers in a car and trailer and traveled, eventually, all the way out Southern Parkway to Iroquois Park. The Sixth St. line also ended up close to Iroquois Park but traveled out Taylor Blvd.. Both of these cars, once they were out in the “country”, would speed up and then you had a real “joy” ride. If you are interested in some of the history of the streetcar lines, history you can actually touch, you must take the time to stop along any city street where they have to dig up the street for some reason. If you are lucky, you will see the real tracks and wooden ties still buried under the surface. I most recently saw this while they were widening second street(1998). The tracks showing brought back a lot of memories.

Nothing really interesting was happening at the Q.M. Depot. Everything had become routine. With the war continuing, more and more people were hired. Before this, I was beginning to recognize most of the employees but this soon became impossible. With the increase in new people there was also an increase in pilfering. It must have become bad enough that there were surprise searches of outgoing automobiles instituted. I don’t know if they ever caught anyone in this net. In all the time that I worked at the Quartermaster Depot, there was never an inventory taken of goods on hand. If there had been, I would have been involved in it. Money was flowing freely during that period of, “ship it out fast”, so no one wanted to be bothered about it(?).(7-01-2001)

Once more we are approaching what, to me, was always the most hectic time in my life. Our third baby was about to be born and I remembered what had happened to me when Rosie was born. We had just visited with Dr. Foreman in the West end and his educated guess was that the baby was due any day now. The fact that Helen was in her ninth month must have figured in his estimation. Helen was enormous with this baby and the doctor thought it would be a large one. He was correct. At Home on Stoll Avenue, we started making preparations. I moved our bed into the living room where there was no furniture. We entertained in the kitchen. Mom said she was going to be with Helen when this baby was born and Mary Jane said she would come across the street to help at the right time.

The morning of March 5th was just a little cool and it was damp. During the night, as usual, Helen was having “light” pains which were enough to wake her, but, being an old hand at this by now, she didn’t think it was “time”. Just about the time I would usually get up to go to work, she awoke with a “hard” pain and they began on a more regular basis. Mom was already staying with us so I let her know and then went across the street to Stanley’s to call the doctor and get Mary Jane. Stanley was to let my boss know that I wouldn’t be in to work. This time there was no problem with the doctor for he arrived in plenty of time. In the meantime, I had built a good coal fire in the fireplace in the living room. I then made myself scarce because I had to dress and feed Nibby and Rosie and my job during the birth was to babysit for them and Patsy and Judy. I checked on Helen quite often but Mom and Mary Jane continued to chase me out of the room. What a relief it was to finally hear that loud cry from the newborn baby. Helen had really gone “through the wringer” with this twelve pound baby and she was soaking wet from the perspiration. Mom was constantly carrying water back and forth and cleaning up the mess. I was finally allowed in the room to see Helen and the baby. Helen was still quite groggy but had a smile on her face. The baby looked big enough to begin walking. All was good again. Even today, Helen likes to tell the story of the one thing she remembers during the birth besides the extreme pain-Mom and Mary Jane hanging sheets over the living room windows so that no one could see into the room. She always thought this was very odd. Dr. W.B. Foreman presented us with a bill of $35.00 for his services.

It was Helen’s turn to name the new baby. I had run out of names of favorite Aunts. She finally settled on Nancy Lee which I agreed with for it is a pretty name. There was only one problem with this combination of names. Neither was a Christian name and we didn’t know what to do when we appeared before the priest at St. Vincent de Paul for the Christening a couple of weeks later. The priest had evidently gone through this one before because he suggested the name, Leo. So, the girl you always thought was Nancy Lee is actually and legally, according to the church, Nancy Leo.

While tracing my and Helen’s ancestors back through time just in the Louisville area, I find that the Buchter’s were settled in and taking an active part in the community before any of the other ancestors. There was a Jacob Buchler working as a shoemaker at second and Market Sts. in 1841. This could have been Helen’s Great-great-grandfather. The different spelling of the name was a fairly common occurrence in those days. A definite match was her Great-grandfather, Henry H. Buchter, who was already in business manufacturing chairs in 1855 on Jefferson St. The Buchter Chair Mfg. Co. later moved to Green(Liberty)St. between Shelby and Campbell Sts. until 1882 when Henry sold his business to a John A. Armstrong and Allan P. Houston and retired. Helen’s Grandfather, Joseph, joined the Buchter Co. in 1878 as a book-keeper and after the sale of the business, he remained with the new owners for several years as a machinist. You may be, even now, rocking your grandbaby in an antique “Buchter” chair. Working with wood never seemed to become part of Helen’s father’s and Unkie’s life. Both were plumbers in their early days which is a far cry from woodworking.(7-02-2001)

Grampa Buchter was famous for his “turtle-soup” and he celebrated the fourth of July, each year, with a big pot of it. He often said the recipe was handed down from generation to generation. If so, Helen still owns the original recipe. This was the only cooking chore that I ever saw him perform and it was not an easy one. Even though Grandma bought and assembled all the ingredients, Grampa was the main cook and the boss from there on. All of the vegetables had to be ground up with a hand grinder. The turtle meat and other meats were cooked and shredded and all of these items including the juices were put in a very large pot and the cooking began over a low fire to maintain a simmer. Grampa would actually stay up all night keeping an eye on his project and adding salt and pepper as he thought it was needed. The final taste had to please him. After a lot of the moisture had been cooked away and the taste was set, the final ingredient added was a pint of cooking-sherry or other dry wine you might prefer. This was ambrosia. I was taught how to eat this special dish. I admit that you had to acquire a taste for it but once you did, there was nothing better. To eat turtle soup, you filled a good size bowl and selected a spoon, saltine crackers, real butter, a knife and last but not least, a “slick” of cold beer. Do not crumble the crackers in the soup. Now it is up to you to satisfy your appetite. Two bowls full and two slicks may be your limit.

I had been working as assistant Shipping Supervisor in Whse. 61 for about a year. The job was really simple and a little boring. While going back and forth to work I had been noticing billboard signs stating, “Tube Turns-A Good Place to Work”. I knew several people who worked there and they were happy with their job. I kept thinking about asking for a release from my job at the Quartermaster Corp and apply at Tube Turns. During the war you could not just quit your job, you had to apply for a release and have a good reason for wanting it. Everything came to a head on July 1st when I was promoted to Shipping Supervisor but with no increase in pay. I may already have been overpaid in my job but I assumed a promotion should include a money increase. Shortly after this I filled out the forms needed for a job transfer with the justification being that I could use my training in machine shop work to further help the war effort. I turned in these forms to the Lieutenant in personnel who interviewed me. Several weeks later I was granted my release and my last day of work was July 31th. Now, I became a little nervous for this was a big step for me to take.(Pop’s sister, Elizabeth[Gnadinger]Klein, died, May 19, 1943)

I had never applied for a job on my own before. This time I had no help from family or friends. I was learning to control my own destiny. Tube Turns, at that time, had an employment office on Fifth St. close to Broadway. Naturally, I had applied for a job with them weeks before my final day at the Q.M. Depot. I applied for a job in the machine shop(Tool & Die Shop) based on my schooling at Ahrens Trade High School. I was hired as a machinist helper and my pay would be eighty cents an hour. This amount was slightly below what I was making before but there would be plenty of overtime pay and there was a good chance for promotions.

After I was assured that I would have a job with Tube Turns, Inc., I was required to take their physical examination. The company had a full time doctor on duty at the plant on 28th St. where I was sent next. He found that I was in good health except for my tonsils. I could not report for work until I had the tonsils cut out. The company doctor recommended a friend who happened to have his office near the corner of Clarks Lane and Preston Hwy., close enough so that I could walk there from Phillips Ave. An appointment was set up for me for the next day for in-office surgery. I showed up by myself at the appointed time. The doctor, alone, deadened my throat and cut out my tonsils, I can still hear the sound of the scissors cutting away the tonsils. There was not much bleeding and it soon stopped. I don’t know if he used stitches or not. I still felt no pain when the doctor sent me walking home. He said that if I had any pain, I should take a couple aspirin and try not to aggravate the wound. By the time I arrived home I was in severe pain every time I swallowed. Aspirin did not help much but cold ice cream did soothe the pain. As the week-end progressed, the pain lessened and on Aug. 3, 1943, I reported for work, not quite cured but ready for the new experience. The in-office surgeon had notified the personnel dept. that my tonsils had been removed. I soon forgot the painful experience.

I was assigned to the eleven PM to seven AM shift. I didn’t like that too much but I was assured that once the new building for the Tool & Die Shop was completed, everyone working there would be on day work. I was given a Shaper to operate for the next two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, I was given a notice to report to the personnel office at the end of my shift. I was informed that the Machinist Helper program had been discontinued and I was to be transferred to the Receiving Department. I was really disappointed but I couldn’t return to the Q.M.Depot. I accepted with a whole lot of reservations on my part but knowing I had a family to support. I was taken to the Receiving Office and met my future boss, Mr. Harry Kannapel. He was a fine old gentleman and I liked him immediately. First impressions are sometimes good ones and I never regretted my decision to work for Mr. Kannapel. My pay scale was not cut because of this job change. Instead, I found that I was “rolling” in money. The Receiving Dept. was on a ten hour day, six days a week and I was earning twenty, time-and-a-half hours a week. It’s surprising the type of job you will accept if money is the important issue.

Tube Turns, Inc., at that time, had patent rights for a method of forming pipe fittings(elbows)which took short sections of pipe, placed them on a long, heavy, rod, applied pressure and heat and forced the pipes over a shaped mandrel thereby producing a one hundred and eighty degree elbow. This elbow could be cut into smaller degrees of length and each end machined(beveled) so that it could be welded into a pipe line where a bend was needed. Before this, all pipe connections were the threaded type. Welded joints were stronger and superior. These fittings, as they were called, were being used in piping installations all over the world, especially in Oil Refineries and aboard Cargo Ships. The next time you see a picture of a refinery, notice the multitude of piping shown. Tube Turns also manufactured a complete line of pipe fittings such as tees, reducers, flanges and etc., etc. With all of the refineries, manufacturing plants and ships being built for the war effort, you can see why we were working overtime. There was also a forging shop where shafts for airplane and tank engines were forged. Seventy-five millimeter cannon shells were forged and partly machined and aluminum airplane-engine cylinder heads were forged.

Now I had to learn again what hard work really was. Our main job was unloading trucks. Every item which was used in the plant had to be physically man-handled to the unloading dock and moved throughout the plant or to the store rooms. Our equipment to do this was, two, two wheel hand trucks. One truck had no bearings in the wheels. You applied a lot of grease. If a truck load of tubing(pipe)was received it had to be unloaded in the tubing yard using a truck equipped with a winch which looked quite similar to todays wrecker trucks. Remember, this was the time before fork trucks and heavy cranes. Drums of oil and carboys of acid had to carefully wrestled off the trucks and hauled by two wheel truck to maintenance or the acid cleaning area. Later, we were able to purchase, one, flat bed, electric dolly which was used all over the plant. Most of the plant had been built under emergency conditions and the aisles were mostly, packed dirt saturated with oil. Heat in the plant was mostly furnished through the use of old oil drums spaced around the plant. Anything that would burn was thrown into the drum for heat. We would, literally, freeze in winter and sweat ourselves skinny in the summer. At the same time, each winter, it seemed, the far end of the plant walls would be torn out so that the manufacturing area could be expanded. We learned to wear lots of clothing to help keep warm.

I worked with three of the hardest working men I had known up to that time. Horace Broyles was our “working” supervisor. Charles Reisert, Bart Johnson and I worked together on an equal footing. They were very good with my training. The faster I learned everything which they knew, the easier their job would become. I not only had to learn the paper-work controls but while doing this I had to absorb everything in the fittings catalogue and the individual part number of each fitting. After a few months of ten hour days, I became very comfortable with the system.

I don’t know how Helen was able to hold up from the pressure of raising three babies mostly on her own. I never got home from work before six in the evening and left the house before six-thirty in the morning. It seemed that all we did was eat and sleep. When my one off day finally rolled around, we took full advantage of it. This was the only bonding together that we could enjoy. It’s no wonder Helen had the nick-name of Skinny. I very seldom saw her when she was not working. Helen never complained. Part of what kept us going was the knowledge that there was a war in progress and friends and family were being wounded and killed defending us.(7-03-2001)

During this early fall period, I received an emergency phone call from Helen. She was really in tears. It seems that she was washing and wringing out the clothes while Rosie was trying to help. Suddenly, the wringer caught Rosie’s fingers and began pulling her arm through the wringer. Helen had enough presence of mind to stop the wringer and release the mechanism which held the rollers together. I rushed home in Bernie’s car, which I still had, and we soon had Rosie in Dr. Abraham’s office for an examination. The doctor checked her over carefully(no X-rays) and determined there were no broken bones or torn ligaments. Rosie had cried very hard right at first because she was scared but she had calmed down by the time I arrived home. Evidently, the clothing going through the wringer at the same time as Rosie’s arm, spread the rolls enough so that the full pressure of the two rolls were not exerted against her arm. She had a sore arm for about a week and finally forgot about it. Helen and I had been scared to death and we never forgot it.

I’m not exactly sure how this next experience came about. I do know that brother Bernie and I joined the Catholic Theater Guild. Bernie was still not back to work after his accident and he was bored to death. He wasn’t able to drive his car yet either and I would pick him up quite often for social visits. I couldn’t imagine my being involved with such a glamorous undertaking as the Theater Guild. With the drafting of young men into the various services, there was a definite shortage of men needed for the male roles in the plays the Guild sponsored each winter. This season the Guild was to put on five plays. It was too late for me to get involved in the first play but they asked me to try out for the second one which was to be, Charlie’s Aunt. The plays were rehearsed in the house next to the Cathedral of the Assumption on Fifth St. and the first reading was also to be held there. The Director was to be an old friend and teacher from Ahrens Trade High School, Fred Karem, who was also a lawyer temporarily without clients as a result of the depression. Fred and his wife later became well known lawyers in Louisville. The reading was held and Fred thought I could fill the roll of “Charlie” very well. As I said, the real talent had mostly been drafted into the service. Rehearsals began immediately and I must say that I had quite a time memorizing my lines. All the other “actors” breezed through this without any trouble at all. At least, it seemed so.

All of the Theater Guild plays were presented at the Women’s Club of Louisville Auditorium on Fourth St near Ormsby. Before the grand opening, there was a dress rehearsal. For this play, it was held in the auditorium of Mercy Academy on East Broadway. There were two reasons for this choice. It was entertainment for the teaching Nuns and the Nuns were very good with their criticism of our efforts which made for a better performance by all of us. We still continued to fine-tune our efforts through more rehearsal.

I must break into this discussion about my life as a thespian to announce a much more important event. Helen was happy to let me know that she was once again pregnant. She and I had never discussed just how many children we would have, and, thank goodness the “pill” was not available then. Mom had given successful birth to seven babies and perhaps that was our goal. I know we would have accepted and loved them all. With this birth, Helen had decided to have it in a hospital. Everyone she talked to encouraged her to do that. Because of this decision, she was able to have the family doctor, Dr. Abraham, act as the baby doctor. He made a very thorough examination and had her visit him once a month. Again we chose St. Joseph Infirmary on Eastern Parkway as our choice of hospital. St. Joseph’s and St. Anthony’s probably delivered half of the babies in the city between them at that time.

The great day had arrived-November 21, 1943. Helen and Bernie were to serve as ushers for the play. I thought I would be extremely nervous on stage but, with the bright stage lights, I could not see the audience and I ended up feeling very comfortable there with my friends. Charlie’s Aunt was a popular comedy of the day. Even the radio comedian, Jack Benny, had appeared in a movie version of the play. The only line from the play that I remember today is, “Brazil!, that is where the nuts come from”. The critic from the Courier-Journal stated in his column about the play that my interpretation of the “Charlie” part was adequate. So there you are. I am adequate and I had a lot of fun. I do know that Helen and Bernie did an excellent job as ushers and in the audience was Catherine and Aunt Dene Steinmetz. The Guild shut down for a week before having readings for their next presentation. It was to be an Irish romantic comedy titled, Smilin’ Through. This play was to be directed by Frank Ryan and he eventually chose me to play the part of Willie Ainley, a country bumpkin sort of guy. Now that is what I call good casting. Rehearsals were sort of spotty because of the approaching Christmas season but after the holidays things would be more hectic.(7-04-2001)

Our country was now completely mobilized and we were definitely on a war footing. We were supplying airplanes and other materials to the Russians for their part of the war with the Germans and Italians. Half of our forces were being stationed in England along with a tremendous amount of supplies for our use and for use by the English. Brother Carl was part of a group which had invaded North Africa as we started our fight against Hitler’s armies. I’m not sure if Frank was stationed in Oklahoma or Texas at this time but he was still doing his part by training young men to be pilots. In the Pacific, after we had lost the Philippines to the Japanese, we concentrated our forces and supplies in Australia to protect it and to use it as a jumping off point for fighting the Japanese. We began what was called, “island hopping”. We had to start somewhere, so the strategy involved the invading of small islands which the Japanese had captured, retaking them as we worked our way across the Pacific Ocean to the Island of Japan. While this was going on, there were tremendous battles being fought on the open sea between our naval forces. The aircraft carriers and their planes became the deciding force in most of these battles. Fortunately, we were sinking more of their ships than we were losing. There was still great fear among the people at home about the eventual outcome of the war but we were definitely improving our chances of ultimately winning this conflict.

Christmas time was joyful only because we could plan things for the kids. Most of the usual items which you would consider for use as Christmas presents were very scarce. So the presents you chose were plentiful and cheap. About all you could do with your “hard earned cash” was to save it in the bank or buy “War Bonds”. Our Christmas, this year, was hum-drum at best. What helped make it special in spite of the shortages was that we had plenty to eat and we had three babies who didn’t know what they were doing without and they thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that the Tube Turns Board of Directors had voted to give each employee a Christmas Bonus. Even with my short seniority, I received over a hundred dollars. It appeared that Tube Turns was indeed “a good place to work”.