Minnie Marcella Oleskey Shimp was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania [Annotator's Note: in November 1923], but grew up in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Her father liked to fish. There was a huge park and, in the summers, the whole family of five children and their parents would go sit on blankets for hours to escape the heat. When it would cool off at night, her father would take them home to bed. His father worked for Westinghouse [Annotator's Note: Westinghouse Electric Corporation] as an electrician. He worked five days a week. They lived in a duplex. Her mother's brother lived there too and was also an electrician. Shimp's father would work only three of his five days and give the other two to the uncle so he could have money for his family. Growing up was different [Annotator's Note: back then]. All of the families on the street had a garden. They would switch food around and can food together in the Fall. It was like one big family. Today, everybody shuts up their houses and do not talk to their neighbors. Everybody then took care of everybody else's children. Her brothers could go fishing all day long and no one would worry about them. Today, you cannot leave your children out in your yard [Annotator's Note: alone]. She did not even know there was a Depression [Annotator 's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] because everyone was in the same boat. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Shimp about what the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941 meant to her and how she found out about it]. She heard it on the radio was scared to death. Her father said they would get through it. They were not allowed to be afraid. Everybody just did what they had to do. Her mother went to work in a steel mill. Life changed overnight. Her father still worked for Westinghouse and was in on the testing of bombs.

Minnie Marcella Oleskey Shimp went into nurse training in Washington, D.C. They had a bomb scare and a friend told her they should join the service. They took their tests and Shimp thought they would not take her. She got called up and they went together to be sworn in. Her mother was upset but her dad gave her the thumbs up. She went to Hunter College [Annotator's Note: in New York, New York]. They had to learn how to square bunks and get along with each other. They learned to march. She went into the hospital corps [Annotator's Note: United States Navy Nurse Corps] and went to Bethesda [Annotator's Note: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, formerly National Naval Medical Center, colloquially referred to as Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland]. In training, they got up at six o'clock, had breakfast, and did a lot of marching. She really liked playing Bridge [Annotator's Note: a playing card game] with the girls. It was altogether different, and she was very naive. They were six people to a room with only one screen [Annotator's Note: to change clothes behind]. Shimp would always go behind the screen and some of the girls would make fun of her. Even with six children at home, they never undressed with each other. The service was different. They learned to salute, the different ranks, and many things. At the end of training, they came to see who could go on liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. Her hair grows on her neck, and she got stuck scrubbing the apartments all morning. She got liberty in the afternoon. She and another went to the Empire State Building [Annotator's Note: in New York, New York] and toured around New York. After Hunter College, she went to Bethesda and had classes. After that training, Shimp was sent to Mare Island, California [Annotator 's Note: Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California] submarine base. She had a three-day layover [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] at home and then took a train to California by the northern route.

Minnie Marcella Oleskey Shimp [Annotator's Note: a Pharmacist 's Mate in the United States Navy Nurse Corps] thought California was busy and had a lot of cars when she arrived. She took a ferry from San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] to Mare Island [Annotator 's Note: Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California]. She had a bottom bunk and a little cupboard to put her clothes in. A lot of her memories are fading now. Her first duty was tending to people coming back from the South Pacific. The married ones could have their wives come for a three day visit. She had to find out if the men were really married or just having their girlfriends come. She was easily embarrassed, and the fellows were terrible with her. [Annotator's Note: Shimp laughs.] Another duty was with the sailors who came back as amputees. They had what were called "dates." They would take her to get a coffee or beer and talk. If there was a movie, she would be their date and they would have to open the door for her so that when they went home, they would be comfortable. She "dated" one fellow for nearly a month and then he spilled what was bothering him. It was all the deaths and what he went through. Shimp called the office to tell them that he was ready for them to take over [Annotator's Note: with his treatment]. She feels really good about that work. They also had three girls from Hawaii. One was very nervous and finally told Shimp that she had been in Hawaii and her "customer" happened to be her brother. The way he talked to her and the way she felt made her lose it [Annotator's Note: slang for breaking down]. She was taken to Bethesda, Maryland [Annotator's Note: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, formerly National Naval Medical Center, colloquially referred to as Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland].

Minnie Marcella Oleskey Shimp [Annotator's Note: a Pharmacist's Mate in the United States Navy Nurse Corps] was on a train. The boys had one section and the girls had another section. The girls had a corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps] with them for protection. They were crossing the Mississippi River and a sailor jumped up and told Shimp that God told him to kill her. He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up. The corpsman knocked him out and put him in restraints. She was scared to death. The girls had to go through the men's car in order to get to where they had to eat. One evening, they were told not to leave their car because they disrupted the whole train. She thought San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] was huge and different. The girls took her to Chinatown [Annotator's Note: in San Francisco]. She made friends and they wrote after the war but never got a chance to visit. All of her friends are now gone. She had two brothers who served in the war. Her oldest brother went to Panama, but she does not know much about his service. Her younger brother was in California and the man who would become her boyfriend and later husband were there together. Both brothers made it back from the war. They were born 14 months apart and they died 14 months apart. The five girls are still living [Annotator's Note: at the time of this interview]. Shimp was at Mare Island [Annotator 's Note: Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California] when the war ended. They were not allowed to leave the base. Mare Island went berserk when the war ended. Shimp was happy and wanted to go home. She was discharged on 4 July [Annotator's Note: 4 July 1945]. She flew home on a military plane. She then took a train to Sharon [Annotator's Note: Sharon, Pennsylvania].

Minnie Marcella Oleskey Shimp [Annotator's Note: a Pharmacist's Mate in the United States Navy Nurse Corps] returned home after the war. Her future husband came to visit her brothers on 4 July [Annotator's Note: 4 July 1945]. They got married in February [Annotator's Note: February 1946]. She does not remember much of her service anymore. She grew up during the war. She was the oldest child but had been sheltered. She did not do anything after the war. The Navy sent a notice that she could reenlist, and she thought where they wanted to send her was too far away. She met Bill [Annotator's Note: her husband, William R. Shimp], they dated every night, and then married. They had two boys. Bill got called back for the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. She moved back home with their two-year-old boy and had war all over again. They wanted Bill to become a pilot. He asked her about it, and she said she would divorce him. He came home. Shimp does not feel people understand what World War 2 was all about, nor could the people today do it. The young people do not know what it is like to go hungry or to be scared. They throw their freedom away. People today are selfish. Her generation gave and did so because they wanted to, not because they had to. Today you could fall, and people would walk past you. She does not understand it.