Cora Lee Johnson, Springville, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, March 6, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 433 and 434

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CORA LEE JOHNSON MARCH 6, 2002 office. Our audit wasn't the same but I knew what it was, only I didn't know what he was bringing over to you." Short time later, he was sent to sea. But he said to me, "Johnson, you know more about it than I do." I said, "But you didn't have to prove it." So anyway, they made me postmaster. All three of the men-the one man I'd never met and then the one from up in Los Angeles and then Ray-went to sea. I had another obligation then. I was never asked to stand a watch because I was on call twenty-four hours a day. Because they had to be so secretive, when these ships came in, there was a big radar base there. I'd get a call maybe at midnight and they would way, "Do you have a bag of mail that has eight letters in it that starts with a 'B'?" I'd say, "Yes sir." "You'll be picked up." So someone from the base in a jeep would come to the hotel-that was when we was in San Diego-and that's where I was the postmaster. And they'd take me back and I was the only one that had that key. And I always wore a .38, with a lanyard on here, a .38 pistol, and I kept it locked in the safe. I was the only one that was in there. And these would stand guard until they came in; I was in there by myself, until they picked up the mail. BEC: Really? COR: It was that secretive. They'd bring me back. 'Course they didn't want me standing any watches or anything like that. The watches was the telephone, the little telephone booths they had in that beautiful hotel so people could go out and use them in the hall. That's where we had the watches. But I had to learn a lot. When I became the postmaster, they took me to the rifle range and it was Sporati was his name, and he was the chief warrant. Took me out there to teach me how to use that pistol. And when they put up the target he showed me and, of course, I could target practice. I had a .22 rifle when I was ten years old. We used to shoot eggshells off currant bushes when we'd go 38