Page 1 of 15 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton 
May 7, 1993 
Cassette 3, Side 1 
 
 
Barbara Wright  00:02 
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing, testing. This is April-- it is May 7, 1993, Friday. We're at Olive Carlton's 
home. I just thought that we would start by clearing up a couple of things from the last time. You 
mentioned that when you moved to the house in Cregagh, that there were two houses together, is 
that correct? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:27 
No. They were semi-detached, I guess is the way to call them. 
 
Barbara Wright  00:27 
And describe semi-detached for me?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:34 
Well, they're two houses. 
 
Barbara Wright  00:36 
Okay. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:37 
Together. 
 
Barbara Wright  00:41 
Okay. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:43 
They're just-- like there's one right here, one right there, and this wall is for both sides. 
 
Barbara Wright  00:49 
Okay, I see. All right.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:51 
So you had two story house-- three story house. 
 
Page 2 of 15 
 
Barbara Wright  00:54 
I see, and you just lived in one of them, then? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:56 
Yes, we lived this side.  
 
Barbara Wright  00:57 
Okay-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:57 
And our neighbor here.  
 
Barbara Wright  00:58 
I understand completely now. Okay. You also, too-- you mentioned that your father was in the 
news a lot, like in the newspaper. So I'm wondering why he was in the news a lot? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:11 
Well, he was a professional singer. That was mostly he was in the news-- well, he was in Ireland 
too, I suppose, but mostly when he lived in the States is when he got a lot of write-ups, because 
he did do a lot of singing, choir directing. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:30 
So then he was sort of a local celebrity then? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:32 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:38 
Why did your mother not believe in dancing? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:41 
The way she was brought up. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:42 
Okay.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:43 
It was strict Methodist. And in those years, they didn't believe in dancing and [inaudible]... And 
makeup, of course, they didn't wear too much makeup-- well, I guess some of them did. So, they 
didn't believe in that either. That was just the Methodist, a very strict Methodist, like the Baptist 
or Southern Baptist, you know. They're like that. 
 
Barbara Wright  02:14 
Also, too, why wouldn't your professor let you perform, like, with some of the big bands that you 
sung with when you snuck out? 
 
Page 3 of 15 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:21 
Because they wanted me to sing classical music and opera. 
 
Barbara Wright  02:28 
Did they-- was it sort of-- was it a question of you might damage your vocal cords, or? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:34 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Barbara Wright  02:34 
Ah, okay. Was there any concern back then about, like, with cigarette smoke in the air, or just 
simply? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:42 
Well, you never-- didn't take any notice of it. It bothered you, especially if you were singing. But 
then I was smoking at 14 too. 
 
Barbara Wright  02:53 
Oh, okay. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:56 
But it never damaged my voice. As far as I know. 
 
Barbara Wright  03:01 
Did your parents know that you smoked?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  03:05 
No, as far as I know, because you never know parents really. They see things or not. 
 
Barbara Wright  03:08 
Was that considered a risqué thing, to smoke?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  03:11 
Well, I started when I was 14 to kind of relieve tension, kind of ease me a little bit. Kind of 
slowed me down a little bit. I'd sit and smoke-- not very much. I didn't smoke that much at that 
time, until the war started, and then I started smoking quite a bit. But then that's nerves. 
Everybody did then. 
 
Barbara Wright  03:41 
Okay last time we left off, you were kind of a little foggy on the age-- at the age that you were 
working at the dress shop in Belfast. Approximately, what were the ages that-- well, when did 
you start there? Was it 16?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  03:55 
About 16, yes. 
 
Page 4 of 15 
 
Barbara Wright  03:57 
And you kept through... 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  03:59 
There until I-- well, until I joined the army, which was August, '44. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:11 
And then you got into the military when you were 21? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:14 
I was 23. Yeah, 23. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:29 
And then up until you were 23, you can-- you continue to sort of sing on the side with big bands, 
and-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:41 
Well, they not big bands. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:42 
Oh, okay. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:43 
They were kind of-- well, since-- there'd be traveling bands and a local band that we had mostly, 
but you didn't have big bands in those days. Everybody was in the service, so they kind of just a 
local band. The one that I sang with the most, it was about-- they would be like your seniors in 
high school age. 18. Well, they hadn't gotten to the service in other words, they were too young 
to be in the service yet. So that's the kind of bands they were. 
 
Barbara Wright  05:13 
Approximately how many people, like-- how many band members would be in one? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  05:26 
The one I sang with the most, there was about 10. I think it was 10. 
 
Barbara Wright  05:35 
Okay, and so you kind of sang with them on the sly, and then on the weekends, that's when 
you're-- you would do these singing engagements that your father arranged? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  05:44 
No, sometimes I'd be during the week.  
 
Barbara Wright  05:46 
Okay. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  05:46 
Page 5 of 15 
 
Concerts, recitals. Recitals, mostly. Some of them were in the afternoons. 
 
Barbara Wright  05:52 
You mentioned that you sang one time doing Madame Butterfly, when-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  05:58 
That was when I was training. 
 
Barbara Wright  06:00 
Oh, okay. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  06:01 
And you did-- like for your parents, you know, kind of just a light part of it. We didn't do the 
whole thing, but I did mostly Madame Butterfly singing. 
 
Barbara Wright  06:12 
Okay. And when did you go to the London University School of-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  06:22 
We didn't go, as I tried to explain, you don't go to the university. There is like a teacher from that 
university that takes students, pupils. Okay? 
 
Barbara Wright  06:37 
I see. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  06:38 
I think they've got more around here, too. They're associated with the colleges. And one was 
Trinity. And my organ was London College, I see, but they were-- you don't have to go to the 
actual college. Kind of almost like a private tutor, I guess, but, you know, they have other 
students too. 
 
Barbara Wright  07:06 
You mentioned that you had sort of a nervous breakdown, how old were you when this 
happened? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:12 
15. 
 
Barbara Wright  07:20 
When-- you mentioned, also too, that it-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:23 
Might be not that old. Was either 14 or 15, and it was just a matter-- I had been doing-- 
cramming too much for my tests, they kind of push on me, because I was the youngest to do all 
these things, and they were trying to keep going, you know, just got too much for me. 
 
Page 6 of 15 
 
Barbara Wright  07:48 
Define for me a nervous breakdown. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:51 
Well, I would go blank. I would shake. I do quite-- lots of weird things, I guess. I don't 
remember. This is just all I'm told. I don't remember it because I just went blank for about a year. 
 
Barbara Wright  08:07 
Interesting. So you really don't remember anything too much-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  08:11 
I had to stay away-- I had to stay away from all my music, all my schooling. Just completely 
stopped, I guess, from what my mother told me. [?Mom and Dad too?]. 
 
Barbara Wright  08:51 
So you have no recollection of-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  08:53 
I don't have any recollection, only what I've been told, yeah.  
 
Barbara Wright  08:58 
Do you know if they gave you any sort of medications during that time?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  09:03 
Oh yes, I was under strict-- yeah, but I don't kn-- 
 
Barbara Wright  09:05 
Do you remember any of the names? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  08:35 
No. We didn't talk about things. It just happened. But I got better, and I came back, and I 
snapped out of it just as quick as I snapped into it. I snapped out, took about a year and a half. 
And then I was right back in it again, but I was too late to go in from the letters that I was-- for 
my music, you get letters for going through a [?different exam?]. 
 
Barbara Wright  09:22 
Okay, what do you-- when Belfast was hit, what do you remember-- yeah, what do you 
remember doing when they-- yeah, when the air strike happened, the first one in Belfast? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  09:27 
Well, the first one was '37, I think it is. Easter. Easter night. I think it was 1937, I'm pretty sure. 
And we would just sit in bed, and I can remember hearing the funniest noise. This-- we had our 
own planes flying over. I mean, the British planes. Not too much, because the fighting wasn't 
over there. They-- as they thought they would never reach Belfast. I mean, it was quite far away 
from Germans and all, we thought. So, we'd just gone to bed, and I was just-- I remember I had 
started dreaming, and I heard-- I had a funniest feeling, and all of a sudden, I sat up in bed, and 
Page 7 of 15 
 
there was the weirdest noise outside: a plane which sounded nothing like ours, nothing like I had 
heard before. So I rushed out and got my dad. He'd been sleeping, he hadn't heard it, they slept 
sound. So we got-- all of us got up and he said, That's a German plane. So we rushed downstairs 
and we got under the half-dining room table. And I can remember going underneath that, 
because we had got instructions in case they came over and started bombing, what to do. So 
that's the first thing we did. We went and got under this big dining room table, and then all of a 
sudden, we heard the explosions. And my dad, he had been trained as what they call air raid 
warden. They had been training for all this, they were prepared that way. And my sister had 
been-- had started training, so the both of them went out, they said, We better go out and see 
what's going on. And they came running back, and they said, Just stay under that table. If it gets 
any worse, we had, in the hallway, under the stairway, we had a little cubicle. So he said, Get 
under there if it gets any worse, if part of the house gets hit. And they were coming down fire 
bombs. So he went out. And it lasted for-- we stayed there for about two hours, I guess, and there 
was-- we only heard one gun going off, and that's only guns we had. There was a ship in the 
shipyard getting repaired, and it had a few guns on, and there was a gun up on the hill that was 
just above our place. It was training place for the British, and they had some guns, and that's all 
we had. So the next-- if I say-- think it was about two-- It seemed like eternity it lasted. But after 
it stopped and the air raid ward-- air raid sirens stopped-- they didn't even have time to put air 
raids for the-- them coming over, but they did put it on for the all clear. So when it stopped, we 
all came out, and then we went to bed. Next morning, I thought, Well, I'll go down and see if this 
shop is still, and I went down, and it was terrible. You could smell the burning bodies that people 
had been caught in. Half of the-- more than half of the city had gone completely flat.  
 
Barbara Wright  13:33 
What was the-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  13:35 
Now, the shop that I worked at was okay, except for a few broken windows. But it had tried-- 
what it tried to do was to get the shipyard, and there was a cloud that covered the shipyard, so 
instead [?they look at?] all the people, all the homes down by the river-- down by the ocean. 
 
Barbara Wright  14:00 
Interesting. You mentioned the first shop, was that your father's shop? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  14:03 
No, that's where I did my designing.  
 
Barbara Wright  14:28 
Oh, okay, okay.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  14:28 
[Inaudible]. When I was 17. Yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  14:29 
You're born in '21?  
 
Page 8 of 15 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  14:31 
'21. 
 
Barbara Wright  14:31 
You're 16.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  14:32 
Yeah, that's right.  
 
Barbara Wright  14:33 
Define fire bombs for me. What are fire bombs? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  14:35 
That's hard. These are bombs that, when they hit, they just explode into fire, that's all that I 
know. And that's what they were throwing at us at the time.  
 
Barbara Wright  14:49 
And how long did the air raid last? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  14:52 
About two hours, I think. They didn't-- they had quite a few planes come up, because as I said, 
they didn't think they'd ever get over there, because it's quite a long distance. So, we got that for 
two nights running, Easter Sunday, and the next night, they came over, and then they stopped. 
And they came back, I think it was about three weeks later, I think. But they still didn't get-- they 
really didn't get the shipyards, I think they had mostly been military places. 
 
Barbara Wright  15:32 
What did Belfast do to like, help the families that had been bombed out? Was there any sort of 
relief effort going on, and any... 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  15:41 
No, because a lot of the-- see, most of the men were gone, they were already in the war or had 
been called by the draft. I really don't know, because I wasn't in anything like this. I really don't 
know, but we all helped each other, I do know that. And people are funny when things like that-- 
you go about your business, you do what you can for everybody, for each other, and you just go 
about your business. You live to learn to live with it. Because England had been having it, you 
know, for long time before it ever got to Belfast. 
 
Barbara Wright  16:26 
For instance, can you think of any examples of how, you know, say, your family helped another 
or? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  16:33 
Well, we did have-- they opened up the church, the big hall, and they brought in people that 
needed-- yeah, we made beds for them, fed them. Yeah, we did that. Oh, it's been so long, 
forgetting all this. You're bringing it back. Yeah, hadn't even thought about that. Yeah, we did. 
Page 9 of 15 
 
And our church was just on-- the house was here, and the church was right there, about four 
houses down. And that was the church hall. So my mother did a lot there, and I did as much as I 
could. 
 
Barbara Wright  17:13 
What would you do?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  17:14 
Go over and cook-- because the church hadn't been hurt. There had been a bomb come down in 
front of it, and it buried itself. It didn't go off. So, the day after, there was a bomb squad came to 
see if they could explode it, but it was so far in, so they left alone, and within two hours, the 
thing went off, but it didn't hurt anything. Even to find that is just-- strange things happen. We 
didn't even have a cracked window, but our chimney-- one of the chimneys got loose, but we 
don't know if that was a bomb that came down-- and bounced off somewhere else, you know, we 
don't know. But I think it was when the bomb went off, it just hit that. Maybe it had been loose, I 
don't know. Strange things happened there. 
 
Barbara Wright  18:19 
And all during the time-- oh yes, you worked in the shop all the way until you're part of service. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  18:28 
Yeah, I was 16. 
 
Barbara Wright  18:32 
Did people in Belfast have like, say, Victory Gardens? I know Americans, like, started because 
produce here in the States was really saved for the army and so on, people start growing their 
own food. Was that? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  18:48 
Well, people did anyway. That's their way-- that was their way of living. They all-- mostly-- 
every-- all of us had vegetable gardens. We didn't have the store like you have now [laughs]. 
 
Barbara Wright  19:04 
What sort of things did you grow? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  19:05 
Your lettuce, radishes, any kind of vegetable. 
 
Barbara Wright  19:13 
What sort of-- were there ration cards during this time? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  19:17 
Oh, yes. 
 
Barbara Wright  19:18 
What was being rationed?  
Page 10 of 15 
 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  19:20 
Well, we never saw butter. When I got into-- when I got introduced into the-- when I was called 
up, we had to go to get physical and everything. And they fed us, and they had this great big slab 
of something on the table. And this girl and I, there's two of us from Belfast, and we looked at 
that and wondered what it was. And Marie says, You know, I think that's butter. So we taste, and 
we couldn't believe it. It was so delicious. We hadn't seen that in years. And that-- well, meat too. 
We didn't get meat, mostly rabbit is what you got. People in the country kill those and then put 
them in the stores. Chicken. We had chicken occasionally, but beef was very, very scarce. Pork 
was unheard of. 
 
Barbara Wright  20:17 
Was chicken very expensive? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  20:19 
[?They might?]. I don't-- because in those days I didn't mess-- didn't do any shopping. My 
mother did. I never heard her complain. I guess we were just thankful to get what we got. 
 
Barbara Wright  20:36 
What-- did you have any concerns about your family back in Little Gladsden?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  20:43 
Oh, yes, yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  20:44 
Did they-- were-- was there any bombing close proximity? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  20:47 
No, not close to them. No, no. They were out in the country, it was real country, though, they 
don't-- the bombing was mostly London, around close to that.  
 
Barbara Wright  20:53 
Did you send them any sort of packages during this time?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  21:03 
Mm-mm. No, they had plenty [?day?]-- just have for themselves, because my grandfather had all 
that kind of stuff. So they were all right that way.  
 
Barbara Wright  21:04 
There were also too, like, shelters during this time, correct? Like sort of underground shelters? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  21:21 
No, they were above ground. 
 
Barbara Wright  21:22 
Oh, above ground. 
Page 11 of 15 
 
 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  21:22 
You couldn't go underground in Belfast, you took-- the water was too high or something. No, 
after the Easter Sunday, you'd be amazed how quickly they went up. Within a week, there was 
air raid shelters scattered all over the place, so we'd go every night, and we'd set up our-- we 
have the [inaudible], use our side, and we put those and took our blankets, pillows, and we'd 
sleep in the shelters. 
 
Barbara Wright  21:55 
Was this considered a tremendous inconvenience, or was it just something-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  22:06 
Just something you lived with. Yeah, you did-- you did everything you could to save your-- save 
yourself.  
 
Barbara Wright  22:09 
Because when I was kind of thinking about this myself, that, if I had to go in one of these things, 
it would drive me nuts, because I'm sure the neighbor, Larry, would, like, be snoring or 
something, so-- or was that just simply-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  22:09 
Just an-- you just lived with it. Get used to it. Whatever you got to do, you do it. 
 
Barbara Wright  22:27 
Did the shelters increase neighborhood or a sense of community, or was it always there? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  22:34 
Oh yes, oh yes. Everybody was everybody's friend and helper. That's what I used to go to the 
different shelters and sing. When I was there... 
 
Barbara Wright  22:53 
Would you get-- would you go in your full costumes?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  22:56 
No, oh no, no, no. You just put on oldest thing you had. 
 
Barbara Wright  23:04 
Now why-- because women in America weren't called into service, so why was it that European-
Americans were called up? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  23:14 
Because-- well, at the time, they didn't-- they couldn't send our girls from here, from home, over 
there. They didn't have the ships. We were over there. We were stuck over there. None of the 
governments could touch us because we were American. So I guess the bigwigs decided, Well, 
why not use us? Which we were thankful about, because we couldn't get into the British. We 
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could get in, but we'd lose our citizenship. So they decided to send us a letter, saying that we 
should get in and help our country, and most of us did, as far as I know. I don't think there was 
anybody that didn't go but that's how I got here. Because you see, when you turn 21, you have to 
choose what country you want to belong to. In other words, you're a dual citizenship. And so, my 
father was determined I'd stay American no matter what, and as soon as I became 21, then I went 
down to the embassy in Belfast and took my oaths. So from then on, I was kind of an ally, and I 
was-- couldn't do this, couldn't do that. If I wanted to go anywhere outside a 10-mile radius, I 
have to get permission from the police department.  
 
Barbara Wright  24:48 
That's one thing. You mentioned there were some other things that you could and couldn't do. 
Could you enumerate those for me? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  24:54 
I don't know. I just couldn't travel. Not as freely as I-- because when I-- if I was going over to 
England, we'd-- you'd have to go over the ocean there, and I'd have somebody put me on the ship 
in Belfast, and there'd be somebody on the other side to collect me and put me on the train, 
because I had to use a train to go from there to London, where I was going on business. 
 
Barbara Wright  25:28 
Did you-- okay. Did you travel a lot during this time?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  25:32 
Oh, yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  25:33 
Okay. And that didn't-- with the war going on, that didn't-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  25:37 
No, no. I thought it was exciting. One time I went over, and the ship stopped halfway, and I 
couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I went out on deck, and they told me to get below. And I 
said, What's happening? Said, Well, we detect-- detected a German sub not far away from us, so 
we're keeping quiet. Nobody could go out on the decks and light a cigarette, no lights could be 
shown. So we sat there for about three hours, and then, I guess, disappeared, or something. 
Disappeared, and they'd start [?over?]. 
 
Barbara Wright  26:16 
And would you travel alone?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  26:16 
Oh, yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  26:16 
Okay, it was this-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  26:16 
Page 13 of 15 
 
I like traveling a lot. I still do. 
 
Barbara Wright  26:17 
And was this considered unusual at all? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  26:17 
[?No, it was not?]. 
 
Barbara Wright  26:17 
Okay. Why would you travel to England, to visit relatives, or? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  26:31 
Visit relatives, or go over to see the fashions. 
 
Barbara Wright  26:35 
Okay.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  26:35 
The best styles were [?in?].  
 
Barbara Wright  26:36 
And, like, if you're going to go see the fashions, is that when you'd go to London? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  26:37 
Mm-hmm. It was, generally, a couple of fashion places like Dior was-- would be over there, 
because they were still in business, and you'd go and see what kind of fashions were going on.  
 
Barbara Wright  26:44 
Did you see any sort of the devastation that had hit London? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  27:00 
Oh yes.  
 
Barbara Wright  27:01 
What was that like? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  27:02 
Terrible. One time, I went over-- in fact, it was the time I went over, I tried to get into the 
Canadian Army because I was tired being there by myself, with all my friends had gone, even 
the women over there had been drafted. So all my friends were gone, and I didn't know very 
many-- many people that I could go out with, so I decided I'd try and see if the Canadians would 
take me. I went over, and they put me up in this hotel, and I wasn't in there 30 minutes 'till the 
sirens went. It was a air raid. So we went down to a cellar in the building, and we stayed there. 
And -- then the all-clear went, and I came out, and all around us was flattened. The building we 
were in, was the same [inaudible]. That's why I say the good Lord's watched over me for years 
and years. And just was flat as-- I don't know where my luggage got to, but it-- I never did find 
Page 14 of 15 
 
my luggage. But I think somebody helped themselves to them. Here, I was in London doing 
business with no clothes, no nothing.  
 
Barbara Wright  28:19 
Did you lose your money as well? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  28:24 
Yeah-- well, no, I fortunately had that in my handbag, and I always took that because I had 
passports I had to use. 
 
Barbara Wright  28:34 
You mentioned, you know, the good Lord has always watched over you. So I take you have a 
very strong and deep religious? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  28:39 
Oh, yes, where that's concerned. 
 
Barbara Wright  28:42 
Okay, so with all of these sort of incidents, did it really strengthen your faith in God, or was it 
there to begin? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  28:50 
It was there. I grew up in it, and found it [inaudible]. 
 
Barbara Wright  28:57 
Did you have any sort of nightmares during this time with all the air raids and sirens? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  29:03 
Not that I remember, no. The English people were wonderful-- well, the Irish too. They just after 
what-- they just took it. Well, it's another day occurrence. If the warning goes off, you know 
what to do. We go get shelter as best we can, and we go about our business. And they did, and 
they smiled. They weren't-- you didn't see really unhappy people. They knew they had to live 
with it. It's for a good cause. We sure didn't want Germans come and taking over. So you try to... 
 
Barbara Wright  29:39 
I'm glad you brought that up. Propaganda both ways, whatever side of the blind you're on, is a 
very infamous tactic to use. Like, for instance, like, if you look at the old Warner Brother 
cartoons from World War Two, you know, they'll have, like, the old gizmo and, well, you know, 
they'll have the little, like, Kaiser and so on, like, sort of to, kind of, you know, stir up the hate 
for the enemy. Was there any sort of-- yeah, so what sort of things did you hear about Nazi 
Germany in England-- in Ireland? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  30:15 
Just like everybody else did. Because Belfast, Northern Ireland is under the British. It's all one. 
So we got the same news as the British did. Oh yeah. I mean, he was terrible, barbaric. 
 
Page 15 of 15 
 
Barbara Wright  30:32 
Right. So when you-- how did you hear about the news?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  30:39 
Well, like everybody, we had a radio. There's no TV, but we had radios. 
 
Barbara Wright  30:47 
What about in the United States? I can't exactly remember what they call them, but during, like, 
the intermission between movies, or at the beginning of movies, they have newsreels, 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  30:59 
Right. 
 
Barbara Wright  30:59 
So, did they-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  31:00 
Yeah, they did. Yes, they did that. Yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  31:02 
How long were these newsreels and were they called-- [tape cuts off]. 