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Interviewer: Daniel Cooper
Interviewee: Emma Ballard
Date: June 28, 2002
DC: We’re in the Lucy Somerville Howorth Seminar room at the Delta State University Archives and I’m interviewing Mrs. Ballard and today is June the 28th 2002. Alright, well at first could you just tell me a little bit about where you were born and how you ended up in this area?
EB: Okay, I was born in Siden, Mississippi and that’s right outside of Greenwood.
DC: Okay.
EB: Okay, and my daddy was a farmer, he was a sharecropper in those days. And uh…then we progressed, then he raised some land, then he bought land in Drew. And that’s how I wound up in Drew. I came up there when I, we moved there when I was eleven…I think … (not audible). Okay, so I lived there for years, me and my husband and then we moved. We’ve been over here in Cleveland. Like I said, about forty years in that house I’ve had that address there. And we retired and my daddy was a farmer.
DC: So, how did you meet your husband? Was he in the area too?
EB: He was in the area, but he’s a little older than I and so I don’t usually…(laugh)…but in those days Daniel, one didn’t have to be as careful, well you need to be careful all the time. But my sister’s husband to be knew him and he saw me and said I’d like to have a date with that girl. So, it’s not like I went off with this person, so we double dated. So, that’s how I met him. And he’s a welder and machinist that’s his occupation. I didn’t work outside the home very much, his choice was that I not. Then when our son was a sophomore in high school, I decided I wanted to go back to school. My sister had gone to cosmetology school and she had bought a beauty shop. So, went there and uh…my career was short, I started having blood clots a lot in the legs so the doctor said you’ve got to give that up. And then I thought okay coming home from Memphis from the specialist tears kind of trickled down my cheeks and then I thought okay Lord, I’m a Christian, and I know all purposes he’s in charge and I said okay Lord it’s not meant for me to do that. And so, then I thought well I might have been so tired of hairdressing; it’s a tiring business that I may not have given him any time. And I’ve taught youth Sunday school, been involved in all of that. So, it’s been good. The disappointment was just for a little while.
DC: Yeah.
EB: And had one son. We had one grandson, three great grandchildren.
DC: Wow that’s great.
EB: So, we’ve extended off…(laugh).
DC: (Laugh)
EB: So, anyway, that’s… but my husband loved his work. Right now, that’s why he couldn’t come he’s working. I explained to you that our brother in law had surgery and he owns Chevron service station up the highway, you might know where that is.
DC: Yeah.
EB: So, he’s working there part time. And he does little things, and he loves to work with ironwork and things like that. So we stay real busy, we’re not bored.
DC: Yeah.
EB: So, don’t even think one that retires, and you never stop learning. Life is a see of learning and knowledge and if you use it, it’s wonderful. Don’t gather knowledge down just for knowledge sake. And that’s my servant in me.
DC: That’s great. Well, what did your husbands parents do?
EB: They were farmers also. And he managed uh… see I’m not positive about this, I think their name was Gritman, over in Drew. And he was a overseer or, I don’t know what you call it, manager of a farm. And so therefore he would get the young men from, they were all young, as far as I know they were from the prison camp. And what they’d do, Daniel, is you’d go and sign then when it came your time then you could, you could bring then out to the fields. But like I told you, explained to you, I don’t think they were ever slave driven and it was good for them to get out. Of course, they were out in the yard all the time. The best I remember the place it had wire on it, you know, they had to have it. It wasn’t like they were shut in, in dungeons and solitary confinement all this. I didn’t see any of that, of course I was young, you know.
DC: Where did they go, the farmers, where did they go to sign in to the…?
EB: There at the camp itself. They didn’t have to, I guess to the government allowed you know that had certain, I’m sure, procedures to follow. But that’s where they go, up there and sign up for them. Of course, daddy being a small farmer, we didn’t get them very often. And of course the young men were gone off to war. And my daddy had two girls and then we called ourselves grown and my mama surprised us with a little baby brother. But the men were gone, and uh…and like I said, I think it was good for them, you know to get out. Like you see people, this is off the subject, but you see people the ones who have minor in prison, out picking up the roads, that’s good for them to get out and do that. So, with the camp you could go over and look and they’d take a picture if you’d like. It’s A.W. James elementary. That’s where it was. Right outside of Drew there. You could find out, you’d like it too, it’s a small town.
DC: How close were you to the camps?
EB: The camps? I’d say two miles.
DC: Really.
EB: My daddy’s little place, you know where the country club is there?
DC: (Not audible)…. just right outside.
EB: His land adjoined that and he sold some of his land there to…I think the tennis club, part of the country club there now.
DC: Well, what did he think about getting these Germans to work on his farm? Was he happy about it? ‘Cause these were the enemy, you know. How did he feel about that?
EB: See he had uh…you know never expressed himself well about that. See, he had brothers serving in the (not audible). And then my husband’s brother drove a tank in the war. And uh…daddy was a kind man and I thank he realized they weren’t Nazi’s, they were our enemies. We had, you know, we fought them, they fought us and they thought us but most of them, like I told you, were young men being made to go serve and I never heard inmate called a terrible remark about them or anything like that. Like I told my mama fed them watermelon.
DC: Yeah.
EB: (Laugh). And anything else and my mama feed hobos. We called them hobos, transients is a proper name now. We’d come around and she say I have no money and she would go and cook the best meals your ever saw. And I’m sure she cooked food I don’t remember but I remember the watermelon because she offered them salt and they her like leave. I guess they knew what watermelon was I really don’t know.
DC: So this was when they were working on the farm?
EB: Right, at our house. They came to the back. And of course they always had some kind of, I don’t remember the guards but I’m sure they had some guards. One sad thing that happened uh… while they were there, someone and I don’t know who it was but they were riding in a jeep with out men?
DC: In the U.S.
EB: Yes. And they were going back at that time it was gravel, there were gravel roads.
DC: Yeah.
EB: And it flipped, the jeep flipped and one of them was killed. And so, I don’t know his name or anything but it was right up. Well, going toward town, about a half a mile where it happened. Of course, we didn’t go. But they came to the house and gave them water and all of that. And I’m sure mama gave them other things too.
DC: So, they were just hanging around the house during their breaks?
EB: During their breaks, uh huh. But of course, I’m sure they were watched.
DC: Yeah.
EB: But if they decided to go, where they going to go?
DC: Right.
EB: And I told you that, and that (not audible)…my great grandfather stayed away on a boat from Germany and came over to the USA. (Not audible)… (Laugh).
DC: (Laugh).
EB: Uh… they were clean cut looking. Most of them were blonde. It seems like I remember the blonde hair. And uh…but I’m sure they had guards around somewhere. But like I said where could they go. They would come up in the shade. Like I’m sure mom served them food. As I told you, my mom said, I remember her saying this quite well. She’d say, if I had a son old enough to serve I pray someone would be kind to my son. My mom was like that. And daddy was always kind…(not audible). He’d get mama to cook for them. So, it wasn’t only the prisoners they were good to, they were good to all the help that came to help on the farm. And my sister and I had to help ‘cause I remember we … (not audible). We rode a hay bailer; do you know what that is? It’s not like…
DC: Oh yeah, I know what it’s like… (Laugh).
EB: It’s not like the new ones. You pull behind a tractor and then something to pick up this hay. You know what hay is?
DC: Uh huh, yeah.
EB: Straw, okay. And my sister and I would ride that and I don’t know…. daddy drove it carefully. He was very careful about his farm. And you would have to wire end and it that thing would automatically shoot it tie but you had to feed the wire to tie that. And he’d be coming we would had straw all over us… (Laugh). But we had to help on the farm, there was nobody there. Mama had to help too. We all just had to help.
DC: What kind of crops did ya’ll grow?
EB: We grew cotton, corn, wheat, soybeans then, they don’t many soybeans now.
DC: Okay.
EB: I thought of one thing I didn’t share with you, I told you about James Donald Cooper’s dad having a store.
DC: Yeah.
EB: On the corner there. As you go on in…the “S” curve, it was right there. Well, as I told you, everything was rationed, everything.
DC: Uh huh.
EB: We went barefoot a lot of the time. They didn’t have a shoe. You had coupons, and you had present that coupon to go get your shoes, sugar, coffee, everything was rationed to the … (not audible). And uh…one time daddy and he had, we had pigs. And they called it shorts; it’s a combination of grains that they feed the pigs. So, daddy went up to get some shorts to feed the pigs. When he got home he realized he had a hundred pounds of sugar and it was rationed. Oh it was like… (not audible) (laugh). Of course, daddy was always an honest man. His word was his bond. I wish it was that way now. But he took back to Mr. Cooper, (not audible). That was probably his rationed, ‘cause they were rationed see. So, he had to ration it. But I remember instance about the shorts and the pigs and it was a trying time. And my sister was really rough on shoes. And we didn’t have like … (not audible). And we didn’t have, do you know what I’m talking about when I say saddle loafers?
DC: I heard people…
EB: Here would be the white and hear would be the brown and then it laced up. Then we had what they called penny loafers. But anyway we didn’t have church shoes, or this or this shoe. We had one pair of shoes and that had to do us for school, church, everything. My sister would be growing out of hers and my daddy please you’ve to get another coupon. Or I guess that’s what you call it, I call it a coupon. That’s what you had to pay, you paid for it but you had to show that. And they’d take it and say okay you bought a pair of shoes. And so I remember him doing that for my sister. She lives here on College , Maple bird. And so we grew up together, and she, her husbands in the air force. So, they moved away a while, but she’s back now, about a mile apart. It’s good to have a sister here. And my brother is from Louisiana. He was a in blood plasma, but if you ever go up to Chevron he just got burned out. He said sissy, I am so burned out. So, he is selling shrimp. And that his little old white truck with a little tent up there and he goes to the coast and gets fresh seafood. Not just shrimp, I said shrimp because that’s what I like. Like oysters and crocodile and all that kind of stuff. So, we three get to see each other real often. My husband left in his family. He has some nephews. So, that’s about all, I mean we have extended family. But I can’t think of… (not audible).
DC: Well, how did your family communicate with the prisoners? Did some of them speak English?
EB: Uh huh. One of them had broken.
DC: Okay, so just spoke kina of through him?
EB: Uh huh…and I think, your body language?
DC: Yeah.
EB: I think most of us would go somewhere foreign, and we would know what they were saying by the look of their body language. And we could understand a lot that was going on. You would know hostility for friendship. There’s a lot of things in body language, in your voice, your eyes, the countenance on the face. But there was one of them, no no no, when my mama asked if they wanted salt. No no no no no... (Laugh). So, I guess to him it was foreign about putting salt on fruit.
DC: Yeah.
EB: Anyway, so one could interpret what we were saying, maybe perhaps more than one. I just remember the one that said no no no, he looked at mama no no no no no no. So, that’s how you communicated with them. And of course, I feel that maybe one of the guards maybe taught, I really don’t know, but I just remember that one. You know how one will stand out to you?
DC: Yeah, sticks out.
EB: He was, maybe he was the only one who could speak or understand our language. But that’s how he communicated.
DC: So, was anybody really scared of these Germans being so close and kind of working the fields? They didn’t think one of them would try to…
EB: No.
DC: That’s what I’ve heard from a lot of people.
EB: Well, let me rephrase this. We felt no fear. No fear whatsoever. We weren’t afraid of them at all. Like I said it was just like, I realized what they were, why they were there and I realized. But like I said we had people serving in the war, it wasn’t that. But we had no fear of them. Isn’t that strange?
DC: That is. That’s kind of uh…
EB: But they didn’t give us a feeling of uh…fully observed….they didn’t give us a feeling of “I hate you” uh…you “I going to do something drastic to you” you know we didn’t have that kind of feeling. So, it was kind of a relaxed feeling if that makes any sense.
DC: Yeah, okay. Well, did you ever hear of anybody trying to escape or anything like that?
EB: Now, I did not. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but we did not. We did not.
DC: Did you ever go to the camp and just kind of look just for the novelty of it being there?
EB: No, I don’t think we would be allowed to do that. We saw it from the road.
DC: Okay.
EB: And it was…if you go over there if you want to take a picture or whatever I don’t know what’s your assignment…uh it’s not very far. It was, you know, here’s the gravel road at that time now it’s black top. But there was and you could them out milling around in the yard. They weren’t, like I said they weren’t shut up in cages.
DC: Right.
EB: I did not hear myself that any tried to escape. And like I said, where could they go?
DC: Right.
EB: Unless they had an outside prison, you know, where could they go? So, I think they felt like they were better off there.
DC: Yeah.
EB: I guess they were fed and I guess they had hopes that the war would end like we all did.
DC: Yeah. Well, how big was the camp, like an acre or a football field something like that?
EB: Yeah, yes. I think you’ve sized it up real well. Um…maybe a little bigger than a football field.
DC: Okay.
EB: I would say approximately a football…so, see it wasn’t that huge.
DC: Right.
EB: Now, had it been huge, huge they might had would to put more force. But since a smaller man, you know you can be more lenient and now I’d like to know this if you find out why they had smaller ones setup into prisons.
DC: Yeah.
EB: I’d like to know that question.
DC: I do not know….
EB: Do you know, they do have one here; they had one at Drew and one in Merigold. Unless they though they could assign and be in better control and maybe do things better for them. I don’t really know, I’d like to know that question. Why’d didn’t they have one huge one somewhere.
DC: Right, that might just be for those reasons that you were saying.
EB: Uh hum…well you know, the fewer you have the less problem, you know that yourself.