William G. Wohlfarth
Six Word Memoir
San Antonio, Texas
January 27, 2010
George J. Wohlfarth
History 1302 - Spring 2010
INTRODUCTION
William George Wohlfarth was born 7:30 AM, February 7, 1931 in San Antonio, Texas at his maternal grandmothers house. With a broad range of interests including pistol and rifle shooting, gourmet cooking, reading and not to leave out his family. Personally he considers himself “Middle Class and struggling” jokingly but at the same time with a serious undertone. A well read man and keeping in touch with events in world Mr. Wohlfarth aligns himself as a Republican, stating that “the last Democrat I voted for was John F. Kennedy.” During the Cold War Era Mr. Wohlfarth was serving in the United States Coast Guard (USCG) aboard a variety of ships on many different assignments across the globe. He joined the Coast Guard before his 17th and completed boot camp November 1947. From their he began a life which would eventually become near 30+ years of adventure.
TRANSCRIPTION
What are your earliest childhood memories?
Setting a house on fire and 204 East Drexel Avenue at the age of 2-2 1/2. His father was working as an electrician and he dropped a lit match in a hole in a wall his father was working on.
How was your childhood?
Pleasant. It was the depression and my father had lost his regular job but I didn’t know that until a little later.
Your father was an electrician before the depression but lost his job. What did he do for work after losing his job?
He worked pick and shovel on the River Walk Project for about 2 years and then he got his job back as an electrician.
When did you first enter Elementary School and did you enjoy your time in elementary? Anything interesting happen during your time in elementary?
Yes. The women who was the principal of the school, Mrs. Lacey was also the first grade English teacher and was also my mothers first grade English teacher. I found an Indian fire ring and spear shards, arrow heads, ax heads, skinning tools, and I donated them to the school.
What were things going on around you that you were aware of in the world?
The war in Europe, relatives in Germany, mail back and forth. My dads younger brother. He enlisted in the Air Force the day after Pearl harbor.
When did you first hear of the war? Did you understand what was going on?
December 7, 1941. In the morning we where out collecting fall foliage for decorating the house for Christmas. We heard it on the car radio.
What was the publics view of Nazi Germany and Japan in San Antonio? How old were you when the war ended?
Some absolutely despised Japan; but mainly due to government propaganda. And hated Nazi Germany, not the German people but Nazi Germany. It was 1945 so I was…almost 15 years old at the time.
What was your reason for enlisting?
My betrothed broke up with me.*laughs*
So how was boot? And when did you graduate boot camp?
I gained weight. Boot camp was a piece of cake except for lack of sleep. It was 16 weeks so November 1947. I don’t remember the exact date.
What was your first duty station?
Ah. Ok. Coast Guard moorings pier nine, New York city, CG64306. Harbor Patrols in New York harbor.
How was your first time seeing a city that big?
Your not even seventeen and your seeing a city this big it was WOW. And the girls were friendly too *laughs*. And later that same year I was transferred to the Coast guard cutter CGC Hawthorne. Home port New London, Connecticut.
How was the Cold War for you? How did most average Americans take it?
Tension all the time, not knowing when of if their was going to be a nuclear attack on the United States. Especially with the military all the time. Encounters with USSR “fishing trawlers”. Encounters with unidentified submarines all the time, sometimes on SONAR sometimes on RADAR. Average Americans didn’t really understand it. Military people did. I was a military person, I understood it.
What did you do during the Cold War?
Well I was returned to active duty in the coast guard. Was assigned to CGC Chatauqua, search and rescue, weather, station, aerial beacon for commercial and military aircraft, plus weather reporting. We didn’t have satellites then. And medical evacuation flights coming out of Japan and Korea, during the Korean war. Along with surveying 10,000ft long airstrips in every country in Central America for “Coast Guard LORAN Stations.” Funded by the DOD. The Coast Guard only flew C130’s that could takeoff and land in 1000ft.
Did you ever see combat?
Not in Korea. Not in the aspect of land combat but we had shore batteries fire at us.
What was your experience in Vietnam and the 1960’s and ‘70s in general?
My primary assignment was engine officer of Coast guard squadron 3. Which supported Operation Market Time. My in country experience were with various units of CTF 115, CTF 117, and two occasions of USMC 3 MAF (Marine amphibious force). When I went back to America was called a baby killer, had a used pad thrown at me by a women in San Francisco in 1969. Ah. In my opinion the United States went to shit in the 1960’s and ‘70s and were still paying for it.
This was all taking place during the civil rights movement? You grew up in the segregated south so how did you see the movement and what did it all men to you at the time?
To me the civil rights movement was, as advocated by Martin Luther king was a great thing. The Civil rights movement as espoused by Hewey Newton, Black Panthers, etc. was a perversion of the civil rights movement. I was ambivalent of it at first but then I came to see it as a just movement as espoused by Martin Luther King.
What else did you do during the Cold War? Anything memorable or an event that sticks out.
Ah. I was Engineer Officer of the CGC Willow and we were detailed on a special mission where three guys in dark suits and dark sunglass; accompanying a crate that was to be ferried off shore and sunk just off of the Farallon Islands. The three men in dark suits turned out to be Secret Service agents. During discussion with the agents I identified that the crate held a counterfeit plates which surprised them. The crates had some old machinery for weight so the plates would sink. But when dumped over board it wouldn’t. I eventually sunk the plates in about 600ft of water with an M1.
Looking back. How would you summarize your life, experiences, etc?
Adventurous. Challenging. Heartbreak. Sometimes terrifying. But all in all interesting.
Is their anything else that you would like to tack on here?
I am basically happy with my life. I have a great wife, two fine sons, *pause* and I hope they have as good a life as I had.
ANALYSIS
I didn't learn much from this project. Growing up hearing my fathers stories and past deeds are some fond memories. Though I did come to the realization that I should be keeping a record so I can pass them on to my kids someday. I can't really pick one point that was ever really important but I like the last bit about the MIB guys and the runways in South America. The topic itself spanned a lifetime. I originally set out to interview him about life in Texas during the Great Depression but about a quarter of the way through I didn't have enough information. So I switched to the Cold War which took up most of my dads lifetime. But during the interview I noticed something that I can say looked like fondness and/or pride. My dad seemed to recall his experiences (even his hardships) with a little smirk and how he was proud of what he lived through and saw. In the end though I couldn't really find a way to verify much. Some years back I tried to look up my father and couldn't really find squat. His name on one PDF document by the United States Coast Guard but that was pretty much it. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places but from what I've heard from both my father and a couple of his life long friends. He didn't make many friends with some of his superiors and that much of the work he did another, higher ranking officer took credit for. He was pretty low on the totem poll at that time so their wasn't much he could do. From the experience though I’ll have to say that it was an interesting way to learn.
TIMELINE
- February 7, 1931, 7:30 am - William George Wohlfarth is born.
- August 1943 - William enters Harlandale High School. Leaves Harlandale the following year due to fathers work.
- 1945 - William enters and leaves Luther Burbank after an altercation with the Football Coach.
- 1945 - Goes to work for Wright Brothers and then Builders Electric.
- September 1947 - William joins the United States Coast Guard at age 16. Completes his Coast guard training at Mayport, Florida that November.
- November 1947 - Mr. Wohlfarth is assigned his first duty station at Coast Guard Moorings Pier 9, New York City, New York on Harbor Patrol Ship CG64306.
- 1952 to 1953 - Mr. Wohlfarth goes to Korea aboard the CGC Chatauqua to perform search and rescue, support of naval operations in Korea, along with other duties.
- 1968 - Transferred to Coast Guard Squadron 3 (COGARD RON 3) as Engineer Officer of the squadron; Sent to Vietnam. Also assigned to Assistant Material Officer CTU (Commander Task Unit) 70.8.5.
- 1969 - Assumed duties as Materials Officer 70.8.5. Commander Cruiser/Destroyer Task Group Southeast Asia. Doing a Navy job.
- December 1969 - Transferred to Coast Guard Marine Inspection Office San Francisco, California. Got married in the Philippines to Edenilia Jamili Flores and took 60 days leave upon returning to the United States.
- October 1972 - Transferred to United States Coast Guard Institute Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to establish U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Research, Testing, and Development or Merchant Marine Officer Licensing as head of Engineer Department.
- 1978 - Retired from active duty after many years of service at rank of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR).
- October 1987 - Edenilia Jamili Flores Wohlfarth dies of cancer. No children.
- June 1988 - Married Maria Flores Palatolon, age 21.
- November 5, 1989 - Mr. and Mrs. Wohlfarth have their first child, a son; George Jacob Wohlfarth.
- June or July 1991 - Alerted for possible return to active duty at the outbreak of Desert Storm (1st Gulf War). Same year; August 9, 1991. Mr. and Mrs. Wohlfarth have their second child, a son; William Gustaf Wohlfarth.
- Interviewed by George J. Wohlfarth on the Cold War.
- 2010 (Present) - Still alive. Saw off youngest son to the United States Marine Corp. Oldest currently attending college. Currently busy with helping wife’s family and paying bills.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
List a minimum of FIVE sources. There must be links to each of the sources within the transcription. Consult Citing Web Sources MLA Style for further help. Not sure how to cite a reference, utilize EasyBib: Free Bibliography Maker
.
Utilize a minimum of three sources from U.S. History Matters: A Student Guide to U.S. History Online.
Here are five examples of annotated sources plus a source for photos/documents.
- The Handbook of Texas Online
is a multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history, geography, and culture sponsored by the
Texas State Historical Association and the General Libraries at UT-Austin. It was produced
in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and the General Libraries at the University of
Texas at Austin. Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association.
- Texas Escapes Online Magazine: Travel and History has an extensive collection of annotated photographs of twentieth century Texas. Included in the collection are historical images of courthouses, churches, schoolhouses, banks, jails, cemeteries, gas stations, and water towers. Website Content Copyright ©1998-2008. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
- Small Town Texas Projects. Palo Alto College student/s ___________________ project on the town of ____________________________, Texas. This Small Town Project was completed in the _____________ semester of 200_ as a requirement for Assistant Professor of Robert Hines's History 1302 class.
- Cost-of-Living Calculator. The calculator uses the Consumer Price Index to do the conversions between 1913 and the present. The source for the data is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index reflects the cost of items relative to a specific year. The American Institute for Economic Research. P.O. Box 1000. Great Barrington, Massachusetts. 01230.
- Photographs and/or documents on this website were provided by William G. Wohlfarth and the United States Coast Guard.
Return to Oral History Projects
Last updated on: 12/04/2012 17:02:09