INTERVIEW LOG Name of person(s) interviewed: Mat Duchek
Other people present: N/A
Researcher: Macey Tullis
Date of interview: May 2016
Location of interview: 524 NW 5th St. Pendleton Oregon
Special conditions (noise, interruptions, etc.): Couple of cars drive by
General description of contents: How he joined the U.S. Navy and why, what some of his experiences were, and what it was like when he returned home.
Length of interview: 22:07
TOPIC SUMMARY Time and Contents
00:05 Introduction: Who I am interviewing and what part of the military he was in.
00:16 When were you first drafted or enlisted? Why he enlisted and who he enlisted with.
00:30 Where were you living at the time? Talked about living in Pendleton his whole life.
00:40 What was your main reason for going into the Navy? Reason he wanted to have a choice to what he was going to do.
01:00 What do you remember about your first days in the service? Took a plan to San Diego and the Navy took over from there.
01:22 Why did you pick your branch? So he could be safer from combat.
01:39 Do you remember your boot camp experience? He was hungry the whole time, but he gained weighted very quickly.
02:06 Do you remember any of your instructors?
02:19 How did you get through boot camp? By doing the job and staying out of trouble.
02:30 Where exactly did you go? Went to San Diego for boot camp.
02:37 Do you remember arriving and what it was like to get there? Got there in the middle of the night and it became one blur from there.
02:58 What was your job or assignment? Learning in boot camp and after boot camp became a signalmen.
03:20 Did you see combat? No but was given a combat badge because they were shot at once.
03:50 Tel me about a couple of your most memorable experiences? Didn't have a lot of really memorable experiences.
04:18 Were you awarded ay medals? From just be at the right places at the right time.
04:42 How did you stay in touch with your family? Mostly wrote letters and eventually talked to his family on the phone through the Elks Lodge.
05:22 What was the food that you ate like? It was really good. Story was told about mash potatoes.
06:16 What kind of food was served? Basic three meals a day. Usually sandwiches for lunch.
06:45 Did you have plenty of supplies? Yes, one of the ships was a supply ship.
07:28 How many ships were you on total? Served on two different ships.
07:36 Did you have a lot of stress or pressure put on you? Not a whole lot.
07:55 Was there something you had for good luck? Not really, didn't feel that it was needed.
08:19 Did you know of anyone that had a good luck charm? No, couldn't think of anything.
08:28 What did you do for entertainment? Mostly watched movies.
08:58 Do you remember any of the specific movies you watched? Not really but a lot of them were really old movies.
09:12 Did you meet any entertainers when you were in the military? Bob Hope came at one point.
09:42 What did you do when you were on leave?
10:03 What was it like being home? Things were different when returning home.
10:26 Did you have any family traditions when you came home? Eating favorite meals and seeing everyone.
10:46 Where did you go? Many places all over the world.
11:40 What was your favorite place?
11:49 What was it like being on Pearl Harbor? Very unusual especially on December 11th
13:11 Did anyone pull any pranks on you? Fire alarm was pulled and made it look like it was his fault.
14:43 What did you think of your fellow peers? Pretty good people.
15:04 What was your favorite thing to do with your buddies? Mostly basketball.
15:25 Do you remember the day you returned home?
16:46 What did you do when you got home?
17:37 What did you study?
17:44 Did you benefit anything from the G.I. Bills?
18:01 Did you make any close friends while serving?
18:30 Do you still have contact with them?
18:49 Did you talk about any of your memories?
19:07 Do you belong to any military organizations?
19:51 Did being in the Navy change you in any way?
20:21 Did you have any other family in the military?
20:45 What did your parents think about you joining?
21:08 Was your career when you got back what you always wanted to do?
21:39 Did the military influence your opinion on war?
Mr. Mat Duchek Interviewed by Macey Tullis, 2016
I was able to interview Mat Duchek for the Oral History Project. He is a long time family friend and I asked him to come to my house so I could talk to him about why he joined the service and what some of his experiences were. Before we started the interview, he gave me a brief overview of what he did and why he served in the military. Once the interview began, he went into more details about his experiences and stories. At the beginning of the interview, I asked him some basic questions such as if he was enlisted or drafted. He responded saying that he enlisted into the Navy with some of his friends because he was getting higher on the list of being drafted. If he enlisted, he was given the choice about which branch he would be in and what he would do. He said he would rather join on his own knowing that he would be able to keep himself safe, rather than being drafted and not knowing where he would go or do. Overall, he had a very safe experience and was only fired upon once, but was not injured. We began to talk about what boot camp was like for him. He and another new member of the Navy boarded a plane from Portland to San Diego, from there they boarded a bus and were taken to the military camp. He said that boot camp became one big blur and doesn't remember much of it. One memory that he clearly had was being hungry the whole time, but he actually gained 25 pounds in the first four weeks. After boot camp, he worked to become a signalmen. He was then sent to Pearl Harbor where he served a lot of his time. With his birthday falling on December 7th, being on Pearl Harbor was a different type of experience. Everyone was honoring what had happened on Pearl Harbor and the people who died on that day. This was something that took getting used to, especially on his birthday. Keeping in touch with his family was something that was always fun for him. They mailed letters back and forth for a long time. Eventually, the Elks Lodge in Pendleton helped the men serving to be able to call their families from their bases. At one point, he remembered calling home from Hong Kong and being able to talk to everyone at home through the Elks Lodges’ assistance. As we began to talk more about what they did for entertainment, he told me a story about how he met Bob Hope during his service. Bob Hope had visited their base and gave a concert on a football field, which was a very memorable experience for him.
Movies were the main source of entertainment for them. Most of the movies they watched were sent in the mail, because of this it was very important that the mail was collected everyday so they could receive the new movies sent to them. A lot of the movies that they watched were old movies from the 50’s and 60’s, but he said they were entertaining nonetheless. Eventually, when he retired from his job in the Navy, he returned home and was able to pay for a bit of schooling with the GI Bill. He decided that he wanted to take a different career path and go into construction, which is what he still does today. He said that being in the military taught him a lot about life and he doesn't regret joining. He was glad he was able to serve his country when he had the chance.