I interviewed Dwight Moody, a technical sergeant during World War II, on March 13th, 2002. I had talked to Mr. Moody a few times on the phone and he seemed like an extremely nice person, but I still didn’t know what to expect when I actually interviewed him. I was apprehensive at first, but this apprehension was assuaged as soon as the interview began. Very few questions had to be asked; Mr. Moody was more than willing to explain his experience in great detail. Though his contribution to the war was different than that of many of his peers, Mr. Moody managed to teach me a great deal about what it was to be part of the World War II generation. What follows is an excerpt from the interview.
GB: Had you gone to college
before you…?
DM: Yes, oh yes. I had three years of college at that time.
GB: What were you majoring in?
DM: I was majoring in…well, actually I began majoring in agricultural…
GB: Yeah.
DM: …engineering then I changed over to straight engineering.
GB: Yeah.
DM: So then I took my masters in engineering at Cornell.
GB: Uh huh.
DM: So… remember this is the overall view I’m trying to tell you. I’m not trying to get credit for anything because I’m not… (DM laughs)… too many other people in the war did so much. Now can I help you?
DM: I feel I contributed in saving lives…
GB: Yeah.
DM: …by developing how they got into airports.
GB: Yeah.
DM: This is really what it amounts to… so they could get in the middle of the runway and come down; land regardless of the weather.
GB: yeah.
DM: And that’s what it
amounts to.
GB: Did you maintain military
discipline or was this separate from…?
DM: It was the air force… well there was no discipline from my standpoint.
GB: Yeah.
DM: I was a teacher or an instructor, I was… a researcher, whatever you want to call it, but from the standpoint of… other people were under me…
GB: Yeah.
DM: …but you’ve gotta understand… it’s different from “you do this, you do that”. You do it up here (DM motions to head and laughs). You see what I’m getting at?
GB: Yeah.
DM: It was a mental discipline not a physical discipline, that’s what I’m trying to get at.
GB: Yeah.
DM: My occupation was different than… well other people were doing it too, but this particular one was a mental obligation as to the service, and it did save a lot of lives what we did.
GB: Yeah.
DM: Because in England it was so foggy, and so, well, at times they didn’t, couldn’t make any landings.
GB: Uh huh.
DM: In fact, some went to France before they could get in.
GB: OK.
DM: So, it was a thing that I think contributed quite a bit, not with the physical type of thing you could do for a war… so this is probably what I’d say.
GB: When you got to Atlantic City, did they just lay out this problem for you and say “go at it and try to…?”
DM: Well, Atlantic City is basic training and what it amounts to is you go up like everything. You get interviewed and everything and they’ll find if you’ve got a good background in engineering and they’d say “well, we notice you’re here on limited service…” you can only do certain things and so he came and said “I want to go and give you some training in electronics”.
GB: Yeah.
DM: And I said “sure, might as well”. And that’s how it comes about.
GB: Yeah.
DM: So it’s a process of finding out where they could put you in and where you’d feel comfortable. And this is really what took place.
GB: Yeah.
DM: And I found a place I liked very much…
GB: Yeah.
DM: …and helped develop. This is what it amounts to.
DM: Well, a basic day… I went through Atlantic City and found out I was gonna go to Madison, Wisconsin for this special training because I was with… I was engaged to a girl so we got married.
GB: Yeah.
DM: … went out there and we… so we found an apartment. So I didn’t live on base.
DM: I really didn’t live on base; because of my ability I was able to do what I was doing. I was… yeah. I was never an officer because of my eyes… I became a tech sergeant and I remained that way all through the service. So I went from corporal to sergeant to staff sergeant to tech sergeant in three months because… my, really my ability.
DM: …and I stayed there so this is primarily… and basically I feel I served my country the way I could.
GB: Yeah.
DM: And, well, I was happy to do it, but I don’t want… the thing is, many other servicemen did their lives differently, and well… I just feel that I’m not… I didn’t have the risk. You see what I mean? So my feeling has always been: Yes, I served, but I did not serve like a lot of other people and…
GB: Yeah.
DM: … men did. I contributed as much, but there’s a difference between out there on the front lines, being shot at and everything and being back here doing something.
GB: Yeah.
DM: (DM laughs) See what I’m getting at? You carry this with you all your life… you just don’t know.
GB: You said you enlisted. What prompted you to enlist, do you remember at all what you were thinking when you decided you wanted to become part of the…
DM: I was at the University of Maine and everyone was going and I said, “Well…” I Thought I’d be taken in, I probably would have been, ‘cause they drafted, and I said “well, I want to get into the air force.” I didn’t want to go into the infantry or anything. I wanted to go into something where I could use my brain.
GB: Yeah.
DM: So I, when I went down I tried to enlist he says no limited service. But it came to a point where they needed people. The war was getting so bad the number of men they could get in was limited.
GB: Yeah.
DM: Really, and this is true… so I volunteered and they told me… so I really volunteered, it’s not as if I was drafted or anything like that. I don’t know what to say, this is what took place.
GB: Yeah.
DM: So it’s not an easy question to answer what you…it’s not embarrassing, but I’d rather tell you the truth…
GB: Yeah.
DM: …than put in something that … (DM laughs) you know?
GB: I see what you’re saying.
DM: So any other questions?
DM: Society as from the standpoint of the United States?
GB: Yeah.
DM: Well, every one was out to win that war, there was no doubt about it. Anyone who could volunteer or go, went. They did not want Germany, or any… they just hated Germany! And what they did, and you don’t understand, but what they did before.
GB: Yeah.
DM: They went into countries and things all around them… they slaughtered people!
GB: Yeah.
DM: Until you understand that… until they built up this idea of the only human race.
GB: Yeah.
DM: You know… and that’s what they did, they… there was a whole German “we can do anything”, and during the war everyone in the U.S. said “you’re not gonna do that to us!” (DM laughs).