Constance Negrotto was born on 8 August 1924 to Ralph and Inez Hinkel. When she was five years old, the family moved to another house in the Lakeview area of New Orleans. She always lived in New Orleans. Additions would be made to the family home over the years. All the surrounding homes were spaced far apart. It was rural and like living in the country. The Hinkel home was two blocks from school. She and her brother could walk home for lunch. Her father was from New Orleans. Her mother originated in the community of Amelia to the south of New Orleans. Negrotto’s maternal grandparents had a large plantation in Amelia. There were grand parties with all the participants dressing very nicely. It was nothing like the picnics of today. Her dad made trips to Amelia to visit because the plantation home was spacious with ten bedrooms upstairs. Negrotto’s parents met there and were married in 1922. The family would continue to tend family graves there for years on All Saints Day. The family lineage was from Alsace-Lorraine, France. Her great grandfather built the huge home in Amelia. A wall was knocked down after the home was built in order to make a larger dance room where they could enjoy the phonograph. There was a cemetery and Catholic church nearby. After putting flowers on the graves, there would be a picnic in front of the graveyard. It was near the water and cousins would join them for a gathering. While living in Lakeview, Negrotto’s close friend Murial MacHauer lived about a mile away. Negrotto would travel by bicycle to visit her. The roads were mainly oyster shell. Paved roads were rare. Her other friend, Audrey Maduell, lived further away so she did not visit her as much. Murial had a playhouse and it was fun to visit her. Negrotto learned to fry an egg on Murial’s stove while visiting her. Negrotto had a huge oak tree in her backyard. It was nice because it cooled their play area during the hot season. They had a great time playing marbles, jacks, jump rope, tisket and tasket, and so forth. Her brothers would climb the China ball tree and shoot the green balls at the girls with their sling shots. They were just being boys. The Great Depression was difficult. It was hard to keep food on the table. Her dad worked on the Huey Long Bridge [Annotator’s Note: built during the Great Depression, the Huey Long Bridge was the first bridge to span the Mississippi River in order to provide access to New Orleans over the river.] for ten days. He worked on painting the structure. Men were falling off the bridge and the work was obviously dangerous so he moved on. Her father had been an engineer in World War One. With that knowledge, he became an engineer on a cargo ship. He was away from home for varying durations but his job paid well. That was fortunate because when the banks closed due to the Depression, they took all of the family’s money with them. They had to start from scratch. Negrotto did not have jobs while she grew up. Her brother entered the Navy right after high school. He traveled to China and other places. He brought her pearl earrings that she wore for her wedding day. Her father traveled the Red Sea on a cargo ship. The ship was about to be torpedoed by a German submarine. A Greek airplane got to the enemy before it had the opportunity to sink her father’s ship. While he was in Egypt, he bought his daughter a ring. She still wears the ring. Leaving Egypt, the ship entered the Mediterranean while fighting in Sicily was still going on. The ships in the front and back of his ship were bombed. The family was lucky that he returned to them. While war was brewing, the radio was the link to the world events. Family discussions would center on the events to some extent. It was evident that the United States would eventually enter the war. In reviewing, her dictionary from 1940 to 1941, she could see the call up of men for the draft in America for one year duty. On 7 December 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked and none of the boys would return home after that year. Her boyfriend at the time, Elmo Hahn [Annotator’s Note: surname spelling was not confirmed], went to the CBI—China Burma India. It was very hot there. Negrotto wrote letters to him, family, friends and relatives. She was a very busy girl during those times. When her dad was gone and her brother was old enough, her sibling cut the lawn. Negrotto had certain duties to take care of, too. The family just tightened their belts and went on and did what needed to be done.

Constance Negrotto worked at the huge facility built by Andrew Jackson Higgins at Michoud [Annotator’s Note: near New Orleans, Louisiana]. It was used to assemble C-46 Cargo planes [Annotator’s Note: Curtiss C-46 Commando]. Her aunts and cousins worked there, also. Negrotto’s job was in the front building that housed all the professional people such as the engineers and Mr. Higgins. She was a member of the technical crew in that front building. Her crew did charts for the plant, as well as, Higgins’ conference room. There was no air conditioning so the office had big fans to circulate the air. Water fountains were available to quench the worker’s thirst. Higgins would call a plant meeting to discuss with the workers the latest updated information. It was a bit of a trip for Negrotto to get to work each day. She did not have enough gasoline ration stamps to allow for a daily trip to work in her car. She would catch a street car to Canal Street [Annotator’s Note: in New Orleans] for seven cents. From there, she would ride to the Michoud plant in a horse trailer. It was fun for the year she worked at Michoud. She was 17 and then 18 years old. There was no cafeteria facility at Michoud so she carried her lunch every day. She heard about the Michoud job while attending an art course after her graduation from high school. The art study was a disappointment because it just seemed to be an extension of high school. It was a two year course and Negrotto and her friend, Marion [Annotator’s Note: name spelling not certain and no last name was provided], were the only graduates out of the eight students who entered the class together. The principal told the girls about an opportunity with Michoud toward the end of their studies. She was working for the telephone company at the time, but her employer did not want to release her to try for the job. The girls were aggravated because the prospective job paid three times their existing salary. They took their case to the Court of Appeals and were told that they could apply for the job because it was in their field. Negrotto showed a sample of her work by drawing a big poster with a C-46 airplane on it. Marion also got the job. Later, Negrotto would get a job with the PBYs [Annotator’s Note: Consolidated-Vultee PBY Catalinas were search/rescue aircraft built at a different location nearer to the city of New Orleans.]. To reach the Michoud facility to begin her workday, Negrotto had to begin early in the morning. She had to catch the streetcar and then the horse trailer. She drew charts and posters for the plant and Mr. Higgins during the day. It kept her busy. When the Higgins contract to build the C-46 aircraft was completed, her job was finished. Everyone was dismissed in sequence with her crew being amongst the last. It was hard at that time because the crew was supposed to look busy, but there was nothing left to do. Building those planes was a huge undertaking and helped the war effort. The planes are still in existence and the C-31 is still flying. It carries troops and mechanized machinery. The workers were allowed to tour the plane. That was exciting to Negrotto. It was roomy with seats on each side and clear space in the middle. After the C-46 contract ended, Higgins put his energy into building the landing craft boats with the ramp in the front [Annotator’s Note: the LCVP—Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel]. From her work at Michoud, Negrotto left Higgins and went to work on the PBYs on the lake front [Annotator’s Note: Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans]. Although Mr. Higgins knew his workers, he was so busy that there was little personal interaction. He was always busy with people coming in to see him about the landing craft boats being built at City Park. Over 20,000 of them were built. There were other types of boats that were built by Higgins. The discussions with the workers usually involved what was going on and his congratulations of their efforts. The workforce was pleased to stop work momentarily to have a chance to listen to his thoughts. It made a big difference. The plant was on 46 acres of land. There was a workforce largely of both white and black women. Everyone was busy. The plant was later a NASA [Annotator’s Note: NASA—National Aeronautic and Space Administration] facility that made fuel tanks for Cape Canaveral. The huge facility worked well with the very large fuel tanks. NASA is still there [Annotator’s Note: Michoud built the fuel tanks for the Space Shuttle program and continues efforts today on the large vehicles for next generation of space travel].

Constance Negrotto attended USO dances after work. The girls would eat dinner and then hop into their formal gowns. They would meet at their chaperone’s place and then were transported by Army or Navy trucks to the dances. Sometimes it would be in Algiers with its naval facilities or Harahan were there was a large complex [Annotator’s Note: both locations are near New Orleans]. They would dance with all kinds of servicemen. The girls had a great time. There was also a dance place with a band on Canal Street on the second floor of a building. A military man would pick out a girl and then dance with her. Other fellows would cut in. It was fun even though there was not much extra time between working and going to the USO dances. Negrotto had beautiful evening gowns that her mother made for her. She wore sandal dancing shoes. Her mother got her fabric at Krauss [Annotator’s Note: a famous large department store in downtown New Orleans during the war]. She did a wonderful job as a dressmaker. One night, at an officer’s club dance, someone stepped on her ruffle on her dress. She just pinned it to her waistline and went on dancing. Silk stockings were not available. The mesh stockings were horrible. There were rayon stockings, but they were a mess because they would pick. The silk went into parachutes and was rationed during the war. The girls would tell each other about events that were happening such as the upcoming dances. Some of the guys could really cut a rug and dance the jitterbug. The girls were not supposed to date the men but occasionally the rule was broken. There was one sailor who wanted to see where the Red Light district was. Negrotto took him to Canal Street but no closer to the district. She pointed the location in the distance. She took her friend to City Park. He was intending to graduate from William and Mary after he was discharged. Surely, he did so [Annotator’s Note: no name was given for the friend]. There was a Marine from Dodge City. He did not look the type to be a macho Marine, but he was. He dressed in khaki rather than his Marine dress blues. Negrotto would invite some of the men over to her mother’s Sunday dinner. They always appreciated the good home cooked meal. Murial [Annotator’s Note: Murial MacHauer was a childhood friend of Negrotto.] was living uptown at the time attending Newcomb College [Annotator’s Note: in New Orleans]. Negrotto did not want to attend college because she was not interested in the type of classes that were offered. That was why she went to Rabouin [Annotator’s Note: L E Rabouin Career Magnet School was located in central New Orleans and offered trades and vocational training] which was a mistake, but there were no real art classes or schools available to her. She did well salary wise with her training. She liked her jobs because they were in her field of interest.

Constance Negrotto heard about the PBY job from the high school principal at Rabouin [Annotator’s Note: the PBY Catalina rescue/search floating aircraft were built by the Consolidated-Vultee Company on the New Orleans lake front. Rabouin is the L E Rabouin Career Magnet School which was located in central New Orleans and offered trades and vocational training]. The PBY job was great. She worked in a building on the second floor with painted blue windows due to German prisoners being in a compound across the street. There were to be chances taken for the enemy to spy on what was going on in the office. Negrotto’s job was as a technical illustrator. There were a couple of famous artists working with them. They would pencil in a picture of the airplane with every part indicated. That would be given to Negrotto or one of her colleagues to figure the size and dimensions involved in the drawing. She would then have to calculate the reduction in order to fit the pages in the E and M manual and the pilot handbook [Annotator’s Note: E and M manual refers to the PBY’s erection and maintenance manual]. Negrotto would use black India ink to draw over the pencil sketch. She had to confirm the correct scale to be used. If the drawing was reduced too much, the markings would be blacked out. She also did some of the hand lettering on the drawing. It was a tedious job but she liked it. Some of those books are in the archives now. The PBYs are still in action. There were both men and women working in the crew. Her boss was Mr. Smith [Annotator’s Note: no surname provided]. When he and his wife had twins, they were known as “little cough drops” [Annotator’s Note: referring to Smith Brothers Cough Drops]. Work was a serious affair. The building is still there at the lake front. There was a slip from the building for the aircraft to immediately roll out into the water. There were 5,000 planes built. She was not in the assembly area but in an adjacent building. She had friends, John and Jules Kelley, who did the wiring on the planes. She never got into the area where the planes were being built. She enjoyed working for Higgins and at the PBY facility. As things progressed, she felt working on the PBY was more fun and important. During the war, Negrotto had a friend who was on the Indianapolis [Annotator’s Note: USS Indianapolis (CA-35)] when it was sunk. He was rescued by a PBY after being in the water for five days. He was barely conscious. He was brought to a hospital in England with serious physical problems. He survived but would never talk to his wife about it. One night at the American Legion meeting he opened up and talked about it. Her friend is still alive in Arkansas.

Constance Negrotto had cousins and friends who were all over the place during the war. They kept her informed of what was going on in their locations. Her boyfriend at the time would send her jewelry and gifts from his duty station in India. It was a wonderful experience to go through although it was occasionally sad. The letters were censured at the time. Every letter she sent to her boyfriend had a stick of gum attached to it. The gum never got to him. The servicemen were never allowed to say what they were doing. Her dad and brother were both at sea. He sent a cable to his mother with a code in it when he reached Alexandria, Egypt. He referred to her as “Dear Pal Alex” to indicate his location. Since her named was not Alex, the family knew he was in Alexandria, Egypt. Different codes surreptitiously got the message across to those back home. Marion [Annotator’s Note: no surname was provided] and Negrotto both wanted to join the Navy, but they were too young. They wanted to be in the Navy because Negrotto’s father and brother were in that branch. Additionally, her father served in the Navy in World War One. He was an experienced engineer already but he would continue to educate himself while on voyages. He took the test until he passed. He became a Chief Engineer—Steam, Diesel and Refrigeration. He was smart and could hold any job.

While Constance Negrotto worked at the PBY plant [Annotator’s Note: Negrotto was a technical illustrator at the PBY Catalina plant that assembled the floating rescue/search aircraft. The planes were built by the Consolidated-Vultee Company on the New Orleans lake front.], there was a German prisoner compound across the street. When the five o’clock whistle blew at the end of the work day, the women would pass the young German prisoners who were behind their compound fence. The prisoners would howl and whistle and make other sounds to draw the attention of the young American women. The exiting females workers thought it was just fun. They would wave or smile. That was all the prisoners wanted. The women did not talk or communicate with the Germans because they were the enemy. She never harbored any bad feelings toward them or the Japanese. Negrotto had German ancestry. Her maiden name was Hinkel. Negrotto never saw any Japanese internment camps. She only saw the Germans prisoners being held.

Constance Negrotto and her friend Dorothy Toups worked at a hospital after her shift at the PBY plant [Annotator’s Note: Negrotto was a technical illustrator at the PBY Catalina plant which assembled the floating rescue/search aircraft. The planes were built by the Consolidated-Vultee Company on the New Orleans lake front.]. Toups did the same job that Negrotto did. Every Monday after the shift at the PBY plant, they would take a bus to Robert E. Lee Boulevard and then walk a few blocks [Annotator’s Note: the Boulevard is near Lake Pontchartrain where the PBY plant was located.]. On the way to the hospital, the girls would get a good dinner of fried chicken. There is a John Jay business located where the restaurant was during the war. It was the best fried chicken. The memory of it makes Negrotto hungry. After getting the chicken, the girls would walk to Camp LaGarde where the hospital was located [Annotator’s Note: the nearly 1,700 bed LaGarde General Hospital was on the Army base near Lake Pontchartrain.]. The girls would talk with patients who wanted to communicate. They also wrote letters to friends or relatives for them. It was a small thing that they could do every Monday to help the patients. That was a day they would not go dancing [Annotator’s Note: Negrotto enjoyed dancing with servicemen after her work shifts at Higgins Michoud or the Consolidated-Vultee airplane plants.]. Negrotto’s inspiration for helping with the injured came from writing letters to her father who would be at sea starting when she was just five years old. He might be on a long or short voyage to any place in the world. When he returned home, he obtained a local job for his stay at home. Because he made good money at those jobs and at sea, the family was able to add on to their home. Writing to her father while he was away was her inspiration to her in helping the hospitalized servicemen. She also wrote to friends and relatives. She was a busy girl.

Constance Negrotto worked on the PBY Catalina flying patrol bomber [Annotator’s Note: Negrotto was a technical illustrator at the PBY Catalina plant which assembled the floating search and rescue aircraft. The planes were built by the Consolidated-Vultee Company on the New Orleans Lake Pontchartrain lake front.]. There was no free time at the plant. There was only a short lunch time allowed for the workforce. Negrotto would bring her lunch each day. At the Michoud facility [Annotator’s Note: Negrotto was a drafter at the Andrew Jackson Higgins plant near New Orleans in Michoud. The huge plant assembled the Consolidated C-46 Commando transport aircraft.], there was also very little free time. When some time was available, Negrotto would take a line and bait it with a piece of bread and go to the adjacent swampy area and catch crawfish. After catching them, the crawfish would be thrown back. They were fishing for them just to have something to do. On weekends when not working, Negrotto sold War Bonds. She would go downtown with an active former teacher. She sold the E Bonds at the time and Negrotto assisted her. Many people bought them. Negrotto also went to the airport with the lady to pick up celebrities. One was Rudy Vallée [Annotator’s Note: Rudy Vallée was a popular screen, stage and radio personality of the era]. He was an entertainer. She also helped with some of the actresses that came in for the Bond drives. Negrotto was also busy with church organizations. She was president of the Sodality for four years [Annotator’s Note: Sodality Union was an international Catholic organization focused on the worship of Jesus through the Virgin Mary] which may not exist any longer. Her mother and brother would accompany her on the eight block walk to and from church each Sunday. She would ride her bicycle to church and also to see her friend Murial in Lakeview [Annotator’s Note: Murial MacHauer lived in a suburb of New Orleans called Lakeview near Lake Pontchartrain.]. There were oyster shell streets. Mildred Muller lived close by. They were good friends and played together. The family backyard had shade trees but also China berry trees where the boys found ammunition for their sling shots. Negrotto surprised everyone when she married the boy who lived across the street. She had been promised to Elmo [Annotator’s Note: Elmo Hahn —surname spelling was not confirmed]. It all turned out for the best. Her husband was nine years older than her but he was very athletic and played ball with his buddies. The children learned to play with what they had. They had limited toys. When she and her brother went to the grocery store for their mother, they had one cent each to buy candy. They would get a whole bag of candy. It was lagniappe [Annotator’s Note: a Cajun term for something extra or more than expected]. When her father returned from the war, she remembered the clothes that she was wearing as he walked her to school. She was so proud of her daddy. He made huge strides while her small legs had to work hard to keep up. That stuck it her mind. After the war, her brother attended Tulane University and then LSU. He had a very interesting job. He became an engineer with Keysbee Madison [Annotator’s Note: firm name not certain] in New Orleans. Later, he was transferred to Philadelphia with Georgia-Pacific as a Senior Engineer. He would subsequently move to Portland, Oregon and then to Atlanta where he retired. He passed away while there. Negrotto drove to visit him while he was in hospital. She was a widow at the time, but she drove the distance. Her brother would go to Pensacola for preflight school. During the war, there was an Italian man who grew a garden. He would come around in a horse and wagon to sell the produce to others. The Negrotto family grew a victory garden for their own use. Houses were being built around their home during the war years.

After working at the PBY facility [Annotator’s Note: Constance Negrotto was a technical illustrator at the PBY Catalina plant which assembled the floating search and rescue aircraft. The planes were built by the Consolidated-Vultee Company on the New Orleans Lake Pontchartrain lake front.], Constance Negrotto went to work with the California Company which is now Chevron. She was a draftsman there for four years until she took maternity leave. She did not work for 11 years until her husband lost his job. She had to pick up her pen again and go to work. She worked for Western Geophysical. The men would travel the world to drop depth charges to obtain seismograph readings on long strips of paper. Negrotto would work on maps for that company for a couple of years. For the last 37 years, she worked at home on photographic art work. She worked for many photographers. She supported 15 photographers at one time. It was a mad rush during certain holidays. She had to make the money because she was a widow. Her husband died in 1987. She thanks the Lord that she did fine. Her memories of the war are not so much about the end of the war as they are about the beginning. The 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor was announced to her while she was laying on the sofa studying for a history test. It was a gloomy day. The family was planning on attending a conference downtown but received a phone call to tell them not to do so. There was a Japanese consulate there and there might have been trouble. In contrast, it was a joyous day when the war ended. Negrotto hated that the Japanese were the enemy. She also hated what they did in taking so many lives. She did not harbor any ill feelings to them otherwise. She liked President Roosevelt [Annotator’s Note: President Franklin Roosevelt served four consecutive terms in the 1930s and 1940s. He guided the country into and through the war almost to the unconditional surrender of Germany.]. He got the country into the war but it was coming no matter what. It started in the late 1930s. She remembered the day he died in April [Annotator’s Note: President Roosevelt died suddenly on 12 April 1945.]. She was walking to the drug store when Mr. Everett [Annotator’s Note: no give name was provided] told her. It made her sad.

Constance Negrotto saw a lot during the war that she had never expected to see. She helped the war effort by working for Michoud and PBY [Annotator’s Note: Negrotto was a drafter at the Andrew Jackson Higgins plant near New Orleans in Michoud. The huge plant assembled the Consolidated C-46 Commando transport aircraft. After that work, Negrotto was a technical illustrator at the PBY Catalina plant which assembled floating search and rescue aircraft. The planes were built by the Consolidated-Vultee Company on the New Orleans Lake Pontchartrain lake front.]. She met a lot of servicemen at the USO dances. It was a lot of fun. She dated men from New Orleans who were about to leave. She always had someone it seemed. It was sad to say goodbye to loved ones leaving. She prayed hard that they would return. She always seemed to be praying. She knew some guys who did not make it. It was a horrific time with all that was going on. Everyone tightened their belt and just kept going. The rationing cut back on meat, sugar, butter and other things but her mother was a good cook. Her Sunday meals were the best. She would invite servicemen over for the meal. After the war, her husband was in the reserves and would occasionally be called back to duty. Once they ended up in Florida and that was wonderful. Her little girl, Diane, was a year and a half when they went there. They were lucky because four of the guys in the same squadron went to Guam. The Negrottos bought a small home so they had a lot of visitors. Most guys lived in a boarding house with limited space. They would bring their children over to play. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, her husband was going to be called up. He asked for an excused discharge. It was fortunate he obtained one. It was truly a gift from the Lord that he did not go on the aircraft that had been planned for him. The plane crashed. All aboard were killed. She attended a funeral for a friend lost on that airplane. It was so sad because they were so young. World War Two was an eye opener for the country. It was terrible to see so many people killed all over the world. Events like the Bataan Death March [Annotator’s Note: after the surrender of the American and Filipino forces on the Bataan peninsula in April 1942, the captives were forced marched by their Japanese captors under deprived and extremely cruel conditions. Many died during the harsh treatment.] kept the population disturbed. It was terrible. That is why it is called “the greatest generation.” Negrotto’s war efforts were just something that came along and had to be done. People had to tightened their belts and move forward. She will never forget those events that brought everyone together. The National WWII Museum is great. She attended the dedication and the big parade with all the heroes riding through the streets. It was good to see Tom Hanks support. She enjoyed the day. It brought tears to her eyes. Young people today do not understand what people in the country had to go through. The Museum is good for them to see including the planes like the B-17 and the other paraphernalia shown there. Negrotto’s father served in both World War One and Two. He was patriotic and a good daddy who died when he was 63 years of age. Higgins [Annotator’s Note: Andrew Jackson Higgins] died in 1952. Eisenhower [Annotator’s Note: General and later President Dwight D. Eisenhower] said that Higgins was the man who won the war. That was because of all the boats his firm built. When some of the troops stepped off the landing craft boats at Normandy, they were in water over their head. They carried a heavy load with their backpack and even artillery. Many drowned as a result. That was horrible. As they were going on to the beach, they were slaughtered.