"I remember [when Pearl Harbor was bombed]. Lina and I had gone to the store, my cousin Lina, then somebody was going into the church, they had heard that it had been bombed. So we followed them and we went in there too and everybody was crying.

He [my husband] was drafted. (laughs) [He was registered with] the draftboard. [He got] a greeting from Uncle Sam. [My cousin] Chilo was in high school but they got him out. He hadn't finished high school. Our anniversary, July the 18th, 1944, he [my husband] left for the service. It was our second anniversary. Do you remember you followed him into the bus? You wanted to go with him. You were a baby. I think you were a year old, a year and three months. [He was sent to] Camp Roberts, California [for training]. He never mentioned anything like that [about his basic training]. He can tell you himself later on. I think he went to Camp McArthur and from there they shipped him off to the Pacific. He earned a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart cause he was wounded. [He got out in] 1946. He earned points, he had enough points to get out. They gave them points. [When he was wounded] they kept him in Saipan and put him to work taking care of prisoners, Japanese.

Things got better for us [as a result of the war]. He [my husband] was earning more money at war. We were able to get more stuff. We had rations [during the war], sugar, meat, and clothes, and shoes. I remember the sugar mostly. I never wore make-up. I used to wear socks. [I bought my groceries at] PD. When they [the men] went to war, no [there were no coupon books]. We had what they called the book, el libro de la tienda and we'd take it with us and they marked what we bought, whatever we bought, groceries, shoes, clothes. They took it out of their check.

After they started with the coupons, they marked them, quarters, nickels, and dimes. The cashiers cut them off [so there was never anything left]. We didn't sell our books. Daddy bought some. [Some people would sell theirs] pay $20 for them and sell them for $18. They [PD] found out and they cut it off. There was a lot [that used to sell]. In fact, Amy's dad, Montoya and there was another one I don't remember what they called him. Amy's dad still worked, but this little old man didn't. They called him the tamaleros because his wife used to make tamales. They called him the tamalero. I think Margie Oñate used to buy then she sold them off to somebody else. Daddy bought from Doña Jacinta Martinez, she was Dominga's neighbor. Her sons were always so demanding she had to sell the coupons. Your daddy would go help her out like that.

[During the war I] just went to the movies with my mother, Mexican movies, matinee at ten o'clock in the morning. I used to go [to the American movies]. [The thing I remember the most about being in Morenci during the war was] just being at home taking care of my children. All we knew was that he [my husband] was fighting in Saipan but he never wrote anything about what he was doing. But we knew that the war was there and he was in the midst of it. Sure I worried, I did. I had two babies.

Every night she (my mother) would go outside to the porch and do blessings to all the corners. I would tell her, "¿Qué estas haciendo, Mamá?" (What are you doing, Mama?) "Estoy bendiciendo mis hijos." (I'm blessing my sons.) She didn't know which corner each one was so she blessed all the corners. [Chelino was] in Germany and Chelado was in the Pacific. He was on a boat at sea. Chilo was in the Aleutians. Tago was in the European Theater. He was in the army. Lol was in the Marines. Chilo was in the Army. Chelino was in the engineer corps. [He joined before the war] and he helped build that Al-Can Highway with the engineer corps. He volunteered from California. He'd gone to work in the shipyards. [Chelino did the Normandy landing]. Nope, [we didn't know he was there.] We knew that he was in Europe. We knew he was in England and France but we didn't know exactly where he was because they used to censor the letters. They photographed them and turn them into those [photostats]. Whatever they didn't like, they cut it out. Our Lord protected all of them.

During the war, they rationed us. I was staying with my parents during the war. Then I was back to being a sister to my sisters back again, one of the unmarrieds. You used to call me Nati and Daddy had a hard time making you say Mama. [There I was with my mom and dad] being protected again. Daddy protected me but in a different way."