蜜桃传媒

The National Home Front Project is a major grassroots initiative under the leadership of historians at 蜜桃传媒. Our innovative oral history program partners with individuals, communities, and organizations across the United States to record, preserve, and share audio interviews with civilians who experienced World War II. By pulling together in the spirit of wartime Americans, we can ensure that future generations hear their voices, and that our country never forgets its past.

For this short entry, we鈥檇 like to share the story of Michael Conway, specifically the goat he met on the Gal谩pagos Islands.

Michael F. Conway was a yeoman in the Navy during WWII. He performed administrative and clerical work for a receiving station in Staten Island and was then transferred to work on a rescue tugboat called the ATR-64 in the South Pacific. He tells about his experiences working as a yeoman and talks about his experiences during recruitment, boot camp, and yeoman's school. He also talks about his experience as the ship鈥檚 mail carrier.

Here鈥檚 the transcript of his story about the goat he met on the Gal谩pagos Islands:

No one鈥檚 in there but a bartender -- I called him the bartender, but he was probably the bartender, manager, everything. I come in, I got my mailbag -- brand new mailbag, nothing's ever been in it because we never got any mail! He says, 鈥淲hatcha you got the mailbag for?鈥� I said to pick up some mail, he said 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 even know we鈥檙e here.鈥� He says, 鈥淗ow 鈥榖out a beer?鈥� I didn鈥檛 drink ... but he said, 鈥淚 got a soda. You want a soda?鈥� Soda was harder to get than liquor over there, so I had a soda.

So, I鈥檓 drinking my soda, and another sailor comes in. And he鈥檚 got a goat with him -- a big goat. The bartender says to him, 鈥淗ey, are you gonna keep him control today?鈥� He [the sailor] said, 鈥淵eah, he鈥檒l be alright.鈥� The bartender finally says, 鈥淲ell, I鈥檓 not gonna let him drink today. I鈥檒l tell ya that ... He wrecked the place the other day.鈥� [The sailor responded,] 鈥淲ell, yeah, but we took care of that.鈥� 鈥淎lright, I鈥檒l let him have one. Come on, Billy.鈥� So, he walks up there and puts his paws up on top of the bar. I鈥檓 going, 鈥淲hat the hell is this?鈥� So, the bartender poured him a beer into ... a bowl thing and he galloped that thing down ... Five minutes later, the guy said, 鈥淐are for another one, Bill?鈥� Feet go back up on the bar, the bartender says, 鈥淣o. No more.鈥� The guy said, 鈥淟ook, one more and we鈥檙e leaving.鈥� So, he gave him another one and said 鈥淲ell, I鈥檒l see you. Nice meeting you, yeoman!鈥� And he heads out, and the goat was, like, staggering, and out the door they go. ... I don鈥檛 tell that story to many because who鈥檚 going to believe it?鈥�

Listen to Michael Conway himself telling the story here:

The Goat Story

 

Goat Photo by on