Margaret Brewer Henry is from Atlanta, Georgia. She double majored in Spanish and Journalism when she was in college. The top journalists came out to talk to the students, but there were not very many women in the field yet. She was told to visit John Henry [Annotator's Note: John R. Henry, war correspondent for International News Service, now United Press International] who worked in a newsroom. Henry was so impressed that she stood up and listened to her plan to be a foreign correspondent. One of her friends told her to keep asking John Henry for a job, but she did not have experience in the field yet, so he would not hire her. While working for a small paper, she kept visiting John Henry, who eventually gave her a position. Henry was the only woman in the Southeastern Division of International News Service. She was treated like the men in the company and given the same schedules and stories. Henry specialized in feature stories. She enjoyed human interest stories, but mainly she interviewed celebrities. When Henry was given the opportunity to work in Washington, D.C., she jumped on it. She got there the day the Supreme Court finished their court case on the integration of schools [Annotator's Note: Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954], but Henry did not cover that story. She remained in the office for nine months covering stories like a munitions explosion in Maryland and she interviewed Eisenhower's [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] daughter. Henry attended a party thrown by a Texas heiress. She met Nixon [Annotator's Note: Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of the United States of America] at the party as well as other people she did not get to know. The party was upscale and had lavish food and drinks. The White House had aides who were young, single, military men who would escort the single women. John Jacob Astor [Annotator's Note: John Jacob Astor, VI] was at the party as well. Henry's mother was sick in Atlanta [Annotator's Note: Atlanta, Georgia], so she returned home to take care of her. Afterwards, Henry started writing copy for a funeral home. She then got a job in Jackson, Mississippi as the first woman editor. Henry got married in 1955. Her husband was scheduled to work in Chicago, Illinois and Henry decided to be a housewife. Her husband became president of a bank in Mississippi that he owned stock in. They moved and her husband died in 1978. When Henry moved into the house, three generations of family history was in the attic. Her husband brought home two duffle bags from his time in World War 2 and told her never to touch them. She followed his directions until he died. A family member was doing their master's thesis about World War 2 correspondents, so she let him look at the materials. Henry kept the materials in the room for a few years and then started looking through them. John Henry was in his 20s when he was covering the war. She was happy to give the collection to The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana]. She is grateful to be able to donate the collection and hopes it goes to good use.

Margaret Brewer Henry was born in Miami, Florida, but she grew up in Atlanta [Annotator's Note: Atlanta, Georgia]. She turned 14 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. The family was living in Atlanta. Henry and her mother were napping, and her dad was listening to the radio when the announcement came. He yelled about war, waking the two women up. Henry did not understand what that meant. Both her parents were civil servants attached to the 3rd Army. They were transferred to West Palm Beach, Florida at Morrison Field. It was an Army Air Corps base that ferried B-25 bombers [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] via the southern route to Europe. The town was very small, and it was hard to find a place to live. The Army had places for civilians to live on base. One day, a bomber had an accident on the air strip and Henry's mother decided they would move into town. The family remained there from 1942 through 1946. It was a patriotic time, and everyone knew they would win the war. Everyone trusted each other and people worked six days a week. When German submarines sank American ships, Henry could see smoke on the horizon. Wounded sailors would be brought into town and set up in nice hotels turned into hospitals. Henry and the other civilians would help servicemen carry their belongings when they came into town. The USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] set up in a building, but Henry was not allowed to go to the parties because she was too young. There would be blackouts and cars would creep down the highway at night. All the merchants in town put pictures of President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] in their windows with black cloth when he died [Annotator's Note: 12 April 1945]. There was security around Morrison Field and people were careful about talking about military secrets. Morrison Field is now an airport and Henry has gone to some reunions there. One of her school friends joined the Marines and survived the war. He was a corpsman and did not say much. Henry believes the leadership of the country gave the civilians a sense of security, trust, and patriotism. There was rationing in the country, which was irritating. Henry graduated high school in June 1944. She went outside and found a single red rose that bloomed in a dead garden. She did not know about the D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] invasion, but took the rose as a sign. Because of the manpower shortage, Henry was able to get a part time job in the postal service. She had another job at a department store as well. To get the job at the post office, Henry had to recite the "Pledge of Allegiance," which she thought was very good. Henry did not see military letters, only business letters. There would be two deliveries a day and occasionally she would see letters from Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands]. Henry did not read the newspapers about the war and did not have time to listen to the radio. She knew the war's end was coming because things were getting better. When it did, there was relief, but does not remember any demonstrations. She thinks people were tired. Blue stars [Annotator's Note: a blue star is a symbol of a family member in military service] and gold stars [Annotator's Note: a gold star is a symbol of a family member who died in military service] were in windows around town. West Palm Beach depended on northern vacationers that did not come to town in the war. After the war, the vacationers returned. Everything in the area has changed so much.

Margaret Brewer Henry attended college from 1945 through 1949. She felt like she was well prepared because her professors were practicing journalists. She worked as an intern for local newspaper companies. Henry had always wanted to work for print media, so she did not expect to work for a wire service. Her work gave her experience to work for John Henry [Annotator's Note: John R. Henry, war correspondent for International News Service, now United Press International]. The most exciting thing she covered, other than Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.], was when General Douglas MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] visited Murfreesboro, Tennessee after President Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] recalled him. Tempers were hot at the time, and she was sent to cover the story. It was nerve racking to get a big story like that. When Henry arrived, the locals told her that MacArthur's wife Jean was a lovely southern lady and had a prized recipe for chocolate brownies. She was given the recipe and sent it back to the food editor. After she arrived home, people started calling saying the recipe did not work. Henry was told to snoop on MacArthur's conversations. When the General landed, Henry ran to the gangplank with her questions. She made it to the plane first and tried to shake the general's hand. The General refused to talk politics. Henry tried to listen to his conversation, but eventually gave up. When the General left, Henry had to hitch a ride back to Nashville [Annotator's Note: Nashville, Tennessee]. When she left, Henry saw all the American flags that had been planted laying in the dust. That took place after Truman recalled the General from Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, June 1950 through July 1953]. Henry does not think he wanted to talk to anyone about anything. Henry interviewed the last French nurse to leave Vietnam [Annotator's Note: French Air Force Lieutenant Geneviève de Galard]. Neither spoke the other's language. Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] honored the nurse in Washington, so Henry spent time with her. After showing the nurse the city, they ended up in the rose garden of the White House [Annotator's Note: White House Rose Garden, 29 July 1954]. President Eisenhower was supposed to pin a medal [Annotator's Note: the Medal of Freedom; award that honors civilians who aid the war efforts of the United States] to her chest, but got embarrassed and could not, so an aide had to. Henry thought that was very endearing. Henry thinks Eisenhower was a hero. In retrospect, she does not know if he was one of the best presidents, but thinks he was a good General. Henry's family only voted Democrat, but Henry had only voted one time for that party, which upset her father. Her husband persuaded her to join the Republican Party. Eisenhower's administration started the beautification of America. Henry always saw him as a hero and never had a complaint about him. Henry believes that was a good time in the United States.

Margaret Brewer Henry's husband, John [Annotator's Note: John R. Henry, war correspondent for International News Service, now United Press International], loved the Navy and he was given the rank of Captain so he could mix with the officers. He enjoyed the ships and water. John Henry was on the USS Missouri [Annotator's Note: USS Missouri BB-63] for the peace signing [Annotator's Note: Surrender ceremony; 2 September 1945 aboard USS Missouri (BB-63), Tokyo Bay, Japan]. He sat on a turret. When the Missouri was dry-docked in Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington], Henry tried to retrace her husband's steps. John Henry covered the invasions of North Africa [Annotator's Note: Operation Torch, 8 November through 16 November 1942] at Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco], Saipan [Annotator's Note: Battle of Saipan, 15 June to 9 July 1944, Saipan, Mariana Islands], and Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. He told her that the language of the soldiers was vile. He wondered if they would be able to clean up their language when they returned home. John Henry went into Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] during the invasion. Young girls would hang around the train station because they were starving. That left an impression on John. After one battle, John Henry saw a woman giving birth on the battlefield. Henry believes a corpsman helped her. John Henry was the first person to interview the pilot [Annotator's Note: then US Army Air Forces Colonel, later US Air Force Brigadier General Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr.] of the Enola Gay [Annotator's Note: B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" over Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945]. Henry visited Hiroshima and saw the devastation. It is something not to be repeated. John Henry met Ernie Pyle [Annotator's Note: Ernest Taylor Pyle; American journalist and war correspondent]. He was also friends with Walter Cronkite [Annotator's Note: Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr.; American broadcast journalist]. John Henry did not like flying but did fly with Navy bombers and fighter jets. In college, John Henry yachted and took the kids out on a boat. John Henry loved the water. He did not talk about his experiences in the war very often. He would talk about being in Scotland and England. He was a reflective and introspective man. His father had been a physician, but John did not like chemistry, so he became a writer. Henry thinks the war made him an understanding man. He said that reporting made people good judges of character. John understood weaknesses in human nature. He was a Catholic. They visited New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] and took a cruise out of the city. People still tell her how much John helped them get started in business. He was understanding of his kids they raised in the 1960s. He never understood the rock music and long hair.

Margaret Brewer Henry remembers prosperity after the war. There were more jobs and people had money for cars and other things. That lifestyle remained until the 1960s. She does not remember any crime and felt free to go anywhere she wanted in Atlanta, Georgia. There was no fear like there is today. As people got married and had more responsibility, there was still money. There were no party's during the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], but when she moved to Columbus, Mississippi, there were always parties. Henry believes the drug culture is what changed everything. She does not remember hearing about drugs after the war. Some young men got married before the war and when they returned, they had babies waiting for them. Henry believes that people just want to have fun and not worry about parenting their kids, which she believes started with her generation's children. When Henry remembers her childhood, she does not think the Depression days were as scary as they are today. People would help each other if needed. Henry does not go to downtown Atlanta anymore. One time, she got on the highway on Halloween, and she was so scared that she refused to go back. Henry does not think World War 2 means anything to the current generation. She does not know what is being taught in the schools. Kids do not want to hear about the war or journalism. Her grandchildren do not want to hear her stories. Henry thinks there is a lack of patriotism but does not think other countries should be put down. She thinks America is the greatest country but wishes there were leaders like when she was younger that could help the country through its problems. Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] and FDR [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] are examples. Henry sees patriotic symbols being wiped out. She used to say the "Pledge of Allegiance" every day at school. She hopes another war is not needed to bring back patriotism. She agreed with Obama [Annotator's Note: Barrack H. Obama, 44th President of the United States] that we should be trying to talk out problems with other countries, but also knows war is sometimes necessary. Some people think FDR knew an attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was coming. America was attacked and that unleashed righteousness in the country. She wishes Germany had been dealt with earlier. She is worried about current groups not being taken care of. Henry wishes patriotism would return and Americans would become one people. She prays for the country and the people in the world being targeted and killed. She does not think the United Nations is doing anything.