Joseph E. Broughton Jr. oral history interview, 2003 March 2

Description

Joseph E. Broughton shares what it was like to grow up in Massachusetts during the Great Depression and why he joined World War II. Mr. Broughton was ten years old when the stock market crashed and he got his first job at an ice house to help support his family. He worked for Mrs. Lovett, who advised him to stay at school; advice he took when his father suggested he drop out at sixteen. Mr. Broughton also worked for the Jepsons who paid for him to go to a vocational school and gave him a job once he finished. He explains what it was like during the Great Depression in a small town compared to a city. Mr. Broughton also discusses being drafted into the Army in World War II in 1941 and serving in the Philippines, then joining the Army Reserves after the war.