TRANSCRIPTION
I know you were a child when the Great Depression was going on, but do you remember anything from that time period?
It was called the relief. They would give you a little bag of flour, sugar, coffee, and all that. That was when the depression was. That was like food stamps today.
That was instead of food stamps?
Yeah, instead of food stamps they would give you a little bags. But they didn't give you enough, they just gave a little bit to everybody. Just like you see on T.V. where they go overseas to the poor people and give sacks of this and sacks of that.
Like the reserves?
Yeah. Because there was no work, no money. It was bad. I'm in heaven right now.
So, can you tell me what home life was like as a child? Like going to school, what your daily routine was?
It was bad. I used to walk from where San Pedro is all the way to West Avenue. It was kinda bad.
And that was just going to school?
That was just going to school.
And when you'd get home, what would you do? Homework and chores?
Homework. You see I dropped out at ninth and Mrs. Moore was the principal at Edison. When I dropped out she looked for me. I went with my daddy to Arizona to pick cotton. It was in '49. When I came back she said, "You're gonna graduate." So, I graduated. I think it was in '49.
![Trinidad's Graduation Picture](pic5.jpg)
Yeah, you told me in July of 1949.
Yeah, in summer or something like that. She issued me books from 9, 10, 11, and 12. So I studied and studied
and I graduated. I was 21 years old. Then when I drafted, I think I was 22 when I was drafted.
Drafted? Oh, you were drafted? You didn't voluntarily go?
No, I didn't want to cause I had already seem my brother when he went, he was drafted too, and the way they treated him there. So I went to, what is that place called?
![Trinidad Macias, 1950](pic4.jpg)
Boot camp?
No, after that. I went to boot camp in California. And I graduated. First I went through all the training. After
that, they assign you to a certain job. First they said I was gonna be a tank driver, then they changed that. Then they
finally I was in the wire section where they took all the bayonets, all the bombs and booby traps. Another words, I was
clearing grounds for my other people behind me so they don't step on them and get killed.
Oh, okay.
After that, I was going to the last one, they put them in rows, and I was just getting to the end to finish my training
and when I stepped on it, it exploded and got me all black. I went straight to my sergeant and said, "I don't like this job no
more." (laughs) I was scared. So I got out. They put me on radio section.
Radio?
I was the radio operator. I was in between two squat teams. Machine guns. It was too hard on my ears. So they put me on the
dot and dashes, what do you call that?
Telegraph?
Yeah, that telegraph. But since my ears were already hurting me, I said I don't like this. So they sent me to school for
message sender. Send messages and receive messages. I had my own driver, my own jeep, and my own office.
![Trinidad Macias](pic3.jpg)
Sweet deal.
Yes, it was. I never had it so good. I stayed there until they sent us to Korea. That's were everything stopped.
So when you were drafted in, you said it was October 6, 1950. That's when you enlisted. The Korean War had already started.
Oh, yeah.
Did you ever think you were gonna go to Korea?
No, never think that they were gonna put me there. Never. And when they took us over there to Korea, first we rode on bus,
then it was train. Then they put us on these Army trucks. I don't even remember the place that we landed on. We landed there and
you couldn't see your hands in front of your face cause it was that dark. We finally got to this place where there was only tents. And I used to see these helicopters. I said, "What the hell is this?" I went over there and asked one of these guys, "Hey, what are these planes coming and going?" He said, "You don't know?" I said, "I just got here, I don't know what's going on." He said "I'm gonna tell you what it is. You're here on the fighting zone. And these planes bring people. They're dead. And go get more."
So, you didn't know you were on the front line until you got there?
No. So, me and another guy, we got our little tents...and that's where we sleep. Then it got so hard that I couldn't keep my
message sender job. They said, "No, we need you on the line." So they put me on the wire section. They put me in charge of 10 other guys. So they put us in a fox hole
. It was 11 guys in that fox hole. We had that little wire for the phones all around us, except the fox hole gate. And every morning go out and fix the wires they busted with the bombs, they shoot at them. So I stayed in wire section. And I volunteered to the real front line over there.