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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton 
May 7, 1993 
Cassette 4, Side 2 
 
 
Barbara Wright  00:02 
Side two of the second part of the interview on April 7, 1993. So how often would you visit this 
family?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:11 
Whenever we could. I can't [?read any different from?], I think we never had the time. But we 
stop by. 
 
Barbara Wright  00:20 
How was the-- how did they meet the chaplain? Do you know how that-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:25 
No. He just met them likely in the road, in the street. I didn't know [inaudible]. And also we help 
them out. We'd get things from the mess hall, like coffee, sugar. So it was benefit them too, yeah. 
And then they like the gum, they aways like gum, and chocolate because you have that when you 
ration and you could get a little bar of chocolate. They could always get little something to 
[inaudible], and they were so grateful for it. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:00 
Can you tell, like, by their house, if they were affluent before the war, or if they were middle 
class? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:06 
I would imagine what you'd call middle class. It was a-- well, they'd been hit too. I mean, they 
had fixed it up, though. They fixed it up real-- they had a nice garden, and they'd fixed that up 
and started growing vegetables and stuff already. They were a older group-- a older couple. They 
weren't young. There was very few young people. They were all in the army. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:39 
You mentioned that the Germans had sort of destroyed a lot. Did they-- because, like, when it 
comes to grapevines, you know they, like, they have to be old, and all this, so did they destroy, 
like, burn the fields?  
 
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Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:01 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:56 
Also too, kind of going back, doing a quantum back, why wasn't your father in the war? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:02 
Too old. He tried to. Yep. He was all very upset that he couldn't get the-- he wanted to get back 
into the Canadians. Too old. We tried to tell him that before he ever went down, but... 
 
Barbara Wright  02:24 
You were-- why were you invited to that sub to [?beginner?]? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:31 
Well, they knew that there was some-- well, the chaplain from the base there had been talking to-
- had been being visiting, because they had to report too, and I had been talking about some men 
there, and I said, Would they like some of us to come down and talk to them? And he said, Boy, 
but that would be great. So, he must have gone back and mentioned it, and we got word for me to 
find some other of the girl-- I'm going to call them girls because that's what we were. So we got 
about seven of us, and they sent-- they even sent a truck for us. We went down and they had-- 
oh, it was a delicious meal, because the Navy could even get better food than what we could. 
Don't ask me why, I don't know. They still can. They still can. You go any Navy base and you 
get better. Well, used to, I don't know what it is now. Maybe it's not so good now. But they really 
did us some good. They have turkey and all the trimmings. And I think I said how-- that going 
down into the thing, I thought I'd never breathe again. It was just, oh, just going down under 
there just gave you a funny feeling. So they gave us some-- they had some wine there. We all 
had a little drink of that and we started feeling better. And then after, we got talking, and singing, 
and laughing. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:21 
And then as you were leaving, what happened? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:25 
Well, when we were coming-- driving along the coastline, all of a sudden they had this big ball 
of fire and a big explosion, and it kind of scared us, because we didn't know-- have any idea what 
it was. We knew there was no plane overhead to be bombing. There's no planes around. And 
then we got a little further along, and the driver looked over and he says, That's hospital ship. He 
could tell by the signals on it. I didn't know, you know, they have the flags, they have signals 
anyway. And he says, You know, I think maybe we should go down there and see if there's 
something we could do. So I don't know what's going on. So we all jumped out and went down 
[inaudible]. They had hit a hospital ship. It was waiting for the tide to set off, and it was all lit up, 
and there was a sign on it. They still torpedoed it. I haven't heard-- I've heard one nurse that kind 
of has a vague idea about it, [inaudible] upset about it. I'm sure it was known, you know, but it 
wasn't talked about. Of course, you didn't talk about those things anyway. You couldn't say what 
ship it was or anything like that. 
 
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Barbara Wright  06:03 
Describe the scene for me the best you can? And if you'd rather not? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  06:10 
Well, it wasn't very pleasant. We had some guys that had part of their face, arms are off, legs 
were off. Then we just saw them, we went and kind of pulled them out of the water and helped 
them. They're screaming. There's nothing you could do but just hold them. And then all of a 
sudden, the medics came down, and they kind of took over, because we had to help them a while, 
and then-- none of us had been in medical field, so we didn't, and we didn't have many shots. 
One-- some of the girls were putting morphine into them. I don't remember doing that. I don't 
know, because it was all done in the days-- I mean, we just-- I think we just did-- I don't know, 
automatically, because sometimes I think, Now did that really happen? Is that true? And then I-- 
although some of our girls, I think, I have met since, they don't remember it either. But I don't-- I 
haven't gotten in contact with the girls that was riding in that truck. They should be the answers. 
No, we didn't talk about it. 
 
Barbara Wright  06:12 
When you said that you helped the medics, how did you help the medics? Or can you not 
remember that? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:25 
Just they'd be cutting their shirts so they could get into it. They'd give us towels to wrap around 
so we had to tie a tourniquet. Some of us had had first aid, you know, so... It was very little 
though, that we could do, but we did get a good accommodation after it, although none of us-- as 
I said, it was just such a daze that I think we just really didn't know what we were doing, but we 
must have been doing something right. 
 
Barbara Wright  08:26 
How long were you there at the scene? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  08:30 
Oh, we weren't long. After they got there, after the medics got there, there wasn't... Though I 
guess we didn't stay there long enough to see how many came ashore. I don't know, but it was 
only-- well, it seemed like hours we were there, but I don't think it is, maybe 45 minutes in total, 
and they told us to better leave, because I think we were finally getting at it. We weren't needed 
anymore. I could have been longer than that. I said, I don't know. 
 
Barbara Wright  09:12 
Again in the article, you mentioned that, you know, you promised to come back and visit the sub.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  09:16 
Yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  09:18 
So this kind of brings up, also too, like-- versus like, you promised to write Dr. Poling? 
 
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Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  09:23 
Dr. Poling. 
 
Barbara Wright  09:24 
Right, but you never did. So were-- was wartime really sort of a time of when a lot of promises 
were made, and what do you think all these promises meant, and why they weren't fulfilled? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  09:37 
Because there was a lot of people. Well, like that sub you're talking about, they were shipped out 
by way to get that sub, and they never came back. So that was things like that. You know, really, 
you couldn't promise anything, and nobody-- just made you feel good. I think that's what it was. 
But Dr. Poling, I did write to him. 
 
Barbara Wright  10:04 
Oh, okay. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  10:05 
Yeah, the only thing I didn't do that I promised to do, he wanted me to get in touch with the 
Philharmonic in Philadelphia, I think it was. Because he wanted me to join-- get my voice on 
radio or something. Yeah, he wanted me to keep my music up. But then I didn't, because at the 
time I got-- well, we've been all over the-- I mean, we went from there to Brussels, to Germany, 
and then I went home. And, I mean, there was so much going on that there was no way that I 
could do that. And then when I did settle [inaudible], then I tired, and he wasn't interested in 
music. 
 
Barbara Wright  11:03 
So Dr. Poling was actually a professor at Vassar, correct? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  11:08 
No, that's Don Pearson. He was the organist. He took over the organ while I was in-- when he 
came, he was assigned to us in Cherbourg, just before we left Cherbourg to go to Deauville. He 
was assigned to-- and he'd been a professor, a organist, organ professor in Vassar, and his wife 
too, and he still-- he's just retired, I heard from him last year, and he finally retired two years 
before. He went back, he was given his position back as a professor. 
 
Barbara Wright  11:51 
Wow, he's taught there all these years. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  11:52 
Yeah, and that's where I was supposed to come and continue my career in music-- 
 
Barbara Wright  11:58 
And you didn't because-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  11:59 
And I didn't. No, because I got married! 
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Barbara Wright  12:01 
Do you have any regrets about that? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  12:04 
Some, yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  12:06 
Do you ever wonder maybe what could have been?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  12:09 
Oh, yes. Not particularly the-- I don't-- I'd had so many years of training, I don't really think I 
wanted to do that again. But, I mean, you don't have a life of your own at all. It's just-- oh, 
somebody else is doing and sitting and thinking and using your brain-- well, you have to use 
your brain for the-- without [?meaningless?] college work. And I just don't think I really wanted 
that. The only time-- sometimes I get upset, but, oh, really not though. When I got a chance to 
join Lawrence Welk, I had to turn it down.  
 
Barbara Wright  13:02 
Well, let's go on about-- so tell me about how that opportunity arose?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  13:22 
Well, that was-- I did sing a bit at the clubs in [inaudible] and [inaudible]. We got married. We 
went to live with this couple, just outside [inaudible] and Clara had gotten here by Lawrence 
Welk's agents being around, looking for soloists. And he was on the post for some reason or 
other, so they got in touch with me, to come for an interview. So I went and sang for them. Oh, 
yeah, we'd be interested. So I had to tell Chuck, no way. 
 
Barbara Wright  14:29 
Really? Why'd he say no?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  14:30 
Oh, he just-- well, it would be me leaving quite a bit. It's a busy life, it's a hard life, and it's hard 
to keep if you've got a marriage, hard to keep it going. He just wasn't that interested and 
[whispers] Chuck would have been [inaudible]. He was very jealous. So, I didn't do that. I've 
often wondered how far I would have gone, you know, but I don't really regret it. I've been able 
to sing at other things and [inaudible] and stuff. It's just the last few years, my voice is gone-- 
going, and it's steadily going because I don't sing as much, I don't practice. 
 
Barbara Wright  14:57 
How does that make you feel, that you're-- you know you're-- you know you used to be at a 
certain level and-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  15:02 
Frustrated. Really frustrated. 
 
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Barbara Wright  15:05 
Um, let's see. Can't read my own handwriting, that's scary. When you were in France, what were 
considered luxuries? And I realize I'm being very vague, but you know, if you got something in 
the mail, or if you had gotten a gift from someone in the country? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  15:41 
Luxuries didn't arrive in the mail. You were lucky to get the letters, let alone anything else. Not 
like it is nice. 
 
Barbara Wright  15:52 
What about cigarettes? Were-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  15:53 
They were rationed. Yeah. 
 
Barbara Wright  15:55 
Okay, what would-- how many were you rationed? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  15:58 
A pack. 
 
Barbara Wright  15:59 
Pack a week or day? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  16:00 
A month, if we were lucky to get-- if they were lucky to get any over to us. So they were a 
luxury too, some time, especially-- until we got to-- our rations started getting better when we 
got to Brussels, Belgium. Then we got quite a bit there, which came in handy, because we were 
able to do a lot of things by just giving them a pack of cigarettes, buying stuff. I think, when we 
got there, we could get as many as two cartons. I know we got more than what we did when we 
were in Cherbourg and France. 
 
Barbara Wright  16:47 
So you get these two cartons, and then you do, like, what with the extra cigarettes? You would 
trade them? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  16:51 
Well, I had very good chaplains who spoiled me rotten. And if I decided-- if they said, Well, 
would you like to take the Jeep, go sightseeing? And get one of the drivers to come along, and I'd 
invite my friend, Jean, and maybe Marie, the other girl, would join me-- with me, and we take 
off, like we went to Amsterdam one time, and we got a room-- a suite in the Royal Hotel. I saw it 
not long ago. It was on the TV, it was the exact same hotel that we stayed in for two packs of 
cigarettes. The whole suite-- well, each one of us paid two packs, so six. And then to eat, 
sometimes, all we did was give them a pack of cigarettes. 
 
Barbara Wright  17:46 
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Like when you were-- the very few times where you had a few moments off an hour, you know, 
before you went to sleep, you know, would you guys sit around and go, Man, I would kill for, 
you know-- I miss so much, like for me, it'd be like, chocolate or potato chips. So what were 
some things you'd be going like, Man, I want Mom's pot roast or something? What would be sort 
of the things you really missed and craved? Would it be a hot bath?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  18:19 
Now, I think you're asking the wrong one where that's concerned, because we had done so much 
with so little before I got into the service. In the service, I got a lot more than I'd have-- than we-- 
you know, our rationing was real bad in Belfast and England, so I really didn't miss-- even with 
the stuff that these cooks had to use, everything tasted good to me. I don't ever remember me 
craving anything. If I did, I'd-- I've forgotten it completely. Now, I have heard some of the other 
women saying, Oh, they'd love to have a hot dog, or a hamburger, you know? Well, I've never 
had those because we didn't have those over there. And I've heard them say that-- or maybe a 
cherry pie, or-- I've heard others saying that, but I never did. Although I always loved my 
mother's pies, but I don't-- if I did, I don't remember. 
 
Barbara Wright  19:33 
Okay. When your parents or family members wrote letters to you, what would usually be in the 
letters? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  19:45 
Oh, what they were doing, a lot of the church work, and a lot of places I used to sing at, different 
friends.  
 
Barbara Wright  19:57 
Did you ever receive any sort of bad news in the letters, or were they always kept upbeat? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  20:02 
Upbeat. 
 
Barbara Wright  20:20 
When you went to Saint-Lô, France, to take pictures of some of the graves that were made for 
the soldiers, you said that bikes were confiscated. How would you go about confiscating bikes? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  20:31 
We'd just take them. The army would just take them. 
 
Barbara Wright  20:39 
Hmm, okay. How did the army people feel about taking these bikes, and how did the villagers 
feel about? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  20:45 
They gave it to us. Oh, yeah, they were so thankful to see us. 
 
Barbara Wright  20:54 
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You mentioned in the article that the thoughtlessness in the midst of so much hardship. What do 
you mean, like-- that thoughtlessness, in regards to what? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  21:04 
What was that? Oh, I know what you-- you're talking about, the thoughtfulness. Yes, what it was, 
the thoughtfulness. They put little flowers on the graves. 
 
Barbara Wright  21:26 
Oh, okay. Right. Okay, right. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  21:27 
Yeah. When I first went, I just-- I stood in wonder. I thought I got the wrong place. There was all 
these little posies. There wasn't many, but every grave had a little posy on it, and all fresh 
flowers. And as I said, I thought I got the wrong-- I just couldn't believe that something like that, 
with all the devastation around, that people would do that. And I thought was wonderful, and I 
didn't have no camera to even take of it, but it just-- and it was a beautiful day, I remember that. 
The sun was shining beautiful, and-- well... No. No, I didn't have any camera like that, no. Now, 
I think the next time I went, we had a photographer from the Signal Corps, and he took some 
pictures, for me [?at first?] to send their parents. [?But I didn't get them either?]. 
 
Barbara Wright  22:45 
You mentioned that the lot of the children were very thin and their stomachs were swollen from 
malnutrition, what did you do to help these children? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  23:00 
Well, there's nothing much we could do. We were just driving through the villages, the little 
towns. They'd come out from all these ramshackle places, they were just living in rubble. And 
they'd just come in when they'd hear the trucks, because of the whole line of trucks coming 
through, and they'd all come out-- where they come-- you don't know where they come from but 
they were both sides lying down and yelling at-- [?gum, gum?]. They all knew that word. So the 
leaders stopped, and we got out, and some of us had chocolate, and some had had cookies sent to 
them. I guess some of them more than that, you know, from the States, they had packages. I 
never did because-- I don't think my parents sent any. And I didn't really want anymore, but 
some of them did, and they shared that with them. And we had our rations too, so some of us 
open bags and gave it to them or gave them the whole thing, some of them. I think I did. 
 
Barbara Wright  24:31 
Did you ever go hungry to help some of these other people? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  24:42 
[Inaudible]. I don't think we ever thought about it. Oh, there's [?some time?] to do about hungry. 
 
Barbara Wright  24:45 
All right, how long after Saint-Lô, did you go back to Belfast for that one day, RNR? Sort of a 
timeline are we looking at? 
 
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Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  25:07 
I'm [?terrible?] with dates. I have no idea. That Saint-Lô was done when we were in Deauville. I 
don't know. Or Brussels. Must have been Brussels, and we got... I can't remember if in Brussels, 
when we got leave, finally told us we could have it [inaudible]. I think it was there. Oh, I can't 
remember. 
 
Barbara Wright  26:17 
Oh, okay. Well, just put in back your mind, I'm sure next week, it'll pop up, and write down. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  26:23 
Maybe I can think of something. Can't remember. That's when the three of us went to Belfast, 
right? And I'm trying to remember when the war ended, because when we were coming home 
from that, is when the war ended. I can't remember if I was in Deauville or Brussels. We did so 
much within that period of time, you know, it's hard just to pinpoint the date. 
 
Barbara Wright  26:55 
Okay. We have probably about five minutes left. So do you just-- how about if we pack it up for 
this week, and then we can kind of clean up, and I can kind of think of some things and do some 
more research. 