Donald H. Mabey, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, July 19, 2004: Saving the Legacy tape no. 687

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DONALD H. MABEY J L 19 2004 Navy. My three brothers were working in the plant. They were making parts[! r radar equipment and other things. So we stayed there and when Pearl Harbor happen d .... BEC: This was in San Francisco? DON: This was in Salt Lake City. BEC: It was called San Francisco Ordinance ... DON: No, it was Christensen Machine Company. We were doing contract work for the San Francisco Naval Ordinance Division and also some US Army work. BEC: I see. So before that, where were you working? DON: I was in the printing business and my twin brother was in the printing business. My older brother was working for the Bridge Drug Store. So we all quit our jobs and went to the defense plant. BEC: I didn't ask where you fit in you family, age wise. DON: I have an older brother, Leo, two years older and then, myself and my twin, Doug, and then I have a younger brother, Grant, who's six years younger. When Pearl Harbor came along, my older brother, within two weeks went down and enlisted in the Navy Air Corps. Really, nothing had been organized at the time. He was sent up to Logan. They moved a lot of students out of the dormitories (at what was then the Utah State Agricultural College) and moved these young Naval trainees in there. They were learning the bookwork part of flight instruction on the college campus, eating in the cafeteria and taking their flight training out at Logan Airport in Piper Cubs. They weren't in uniform and they weren't being paid. Nothing was established or set up. Pearl Harbor had happened too quickly. BEC: Yes. 6