[Annotator's Note: The interview starts mid-conversation.] Rosemary Ramsey was born in Levington, Michigan [Annotator's Note: Clare County, Michigan]. Her father was a musician and had a band. They traveled. The Great Depression hit and they moved quite a bit. She went to 12 different schools in 12 years. She attended the first grade in two different states. They always had food on the table. It was hard but they did not know anything else. Her father's family lived in Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] and they went there once. The children slept at night while the grown-ups played cards. When the children got up, the grown-ups slept in shifts. Her grandmother could not speak English. She was Italian. Her grandfather could speak English and would teach Ramsey Italian. School was so crowded, two sat at each desk. She listened to the radio a lot. She had been in ninth grade in three different states when they moved to Charleston, West Virginia. She was allowed to graduate even though she had only been there two days. She met Frank [Annotator's Note: Frank Ramsey, her husband], who took her to the junior prom. [Annotator's Note: Frank Ramsey speaks from off-camera.] They did not date again for five years, until he came back from overseas. Ramsey was at the movies with her sister when the newspaper boy came through saying, "Extra!, Extra!" The movie was ended, and they were sent home. She asked her father what was going on. He said, "Pearl Harbor" [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941].

[Annotator's Note: Rosemary Ramsey learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941 from her father.] They were Italians and it was rough. Germans lived across the street and were arrested as spies. They had equipment in their basement in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After the war began, Ramsey was working after school. You could not get nylon hose, people would stand in line for it, as well as for cigarettes. Everything was rationed. It was war and all the boys were going. They did what they had to do. She had cousins and classmates who went to war, either volunteered or drafted. Rationing affected food preparation and they learned to substitute. Her mother was Irish but learned to cook very good Italian food. They had a Victory Garden because it was hard to get food. Ramsey sold War Bonds in 11th and 12th grades. She was proud of it. She corresponded with people who had gone overseas. Her grandmother, grandfather, and five of their children were born in Italy. Her father was born in Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]. They never heard from their relatives in Italy. So many of them were in the United States. You had to speak English to get a job in the United States then. You had to be a citizen too.

At times, it was rough for Rosemary Ramsey as an Italian in America. The worst was Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She and her sister would be called bad names. They listened to the radio on Sunday night for Roosevelt's Fireside Chats [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, held weekly evening radio addresses]. They would also go to the movies to see the news clips. Not much was in the papers. The newsreel footage was very hard to take. The rationing was rough. She lived in Greensboro [Annotator's Note: Greensboro, North Carolina] and they had food stamps. She missed butter the most. Then her husband got a job and sold butter. They had friends coming out of the woodwork then. The thing they wondered while listening to the news was when would it ever end. They prayed a lot. Ramsey was on a Greyhound bus going through towns where everybody was celebrating. Finally, someone told them what was going on [Annotator's Note: the war had ended]. She got to her parent's home and at the bus station, the place was jammed. Nothing was running and there were no cabs. She took off walking, carrying her luggage. She walked five miles to get home. She was so thankful the war was over.

Rosemary Ramsey says the boys returning from the war had changed a lot. They were all grown-up. [Annotator's Note: Ramsey gets emotional.] Most of them had changed for the better. She had worked at different stores. She had worked for her father in a music store. They needed the money. Everybody worked back then. The war was part of everybody's life every day. They went to church a lot. Unless someone was killed or maimed that hit home, it was not talked about much. The war made Ramsey grow up. It was terrible and it was a blessing when it was over. [Annotator's Note: Ramsey gets emotional.] Her husband [Annotator's Note: Frank Ramsey] had nightmares every night when he got back. It was rough, a lot of it came back fast. It lasted a year or two. Her husband got called back in. The war was something that had to be done and she is glad it was fought and that we won. She feels for young men today who are going through duty after duty [Annotator's Note: War in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001 to 2014; Operation Freedom's Sentinel, 2015 to present]. We are fighting for nothing. All of these soldiers are maimed. We have to get out of a war that is unwinnable. It is too political.

Rosemary Ramsey feels that there should be institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana], and the war should be taught. It is not taught in schools and someone has to do it. They tell their grandchildren. So many do not fathom what it is all about. The sacrifices at home were important. The country came through. Her husband [Annotator's Note: Frank Ramsey] had all the stories, she just backed him. Ramsey used to go see the big bands, like Tommy Dorsey [Annotator's Note: Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr.; American jazz musician]. She got up and led the band once. She lived in Washington, D.C. and would walk to the movies. She was in a two-room school room and the grades sat in rows.