Interview with Robert C. Tucker [Undated]

Robert C. Tucker:

Robert C. Tucker.

Louis Abbott:

"Robert"?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

How do you spell your last name, Robert?

Robert C. Tucker:

T-U-C-K-E-R. After everybody died I dropped the "Junior."

Louis Abbott:

You said "C," right?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. Stands for "Colburn."

Louis Abbott:

I'll just put "C." Okay. When were you born, Robert?

Robert C. Tucker:

May 8th, '32.

Louis Abbott:

I had a sister born two days before you were.

Robert C. Tucker:

Okay.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. Where were you born?

Robert C. Tucker:

Noblesville, Indiana.

Louis Abbott:

Noblesville. One of those towns that's really changed.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. I left there it was real small and when I came back from California from 32 years it was grown up.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, yeah. What branch of service were you in?

Robert C. Tucker:

U.S.M.C.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, a jarhead. Okay. Battalion, Division, Regiment?

Robert C. Tucker:

First Division.

Louis Abbott:

First. Highest rank?

Robert C. Tucker:

Staff sergeant or an E-4.

Louis Abbott:

When did you enlist or were you drafted?

Robert C. Tucker:

No. I enlisted. It was August -- when I went in the service it was August 27th, 1950.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. And you came out?

Robert C. Tucker:

August 27th, 1953.

Louis Abbott:

Well, so you did the Korea thing, then, right?

Robert C. Tucker:

Right.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. If you were in the First Division -- did you go to Korea?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yes.

Louis Abbott:

Then you --

Robert C. Tucker:

I left here on the -- about the 10th of January 1951.

Louis Abbott:

Yeah.

Robert C. Tucker:

I was going to give you when I got to Korea.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, we went about the same time.

Robert C. Tucker:

All right.

Louis Abbott:

Only I was in the Army.

Robert C. Tucker:

I got there, I think it was, on the 14th or 15th of January in '52.

Louis Abbott:

Did you go over in a boat or fly?

Robert C. Tucker:

We sailed over in a troop carrier.

Louis Abbott:

Oh. See, I was in the Medical Corps so they flew us. We didn't have to do that.

Robert C. Tucker:

Which is an interesting --

Louis Abbott:

We'll talk about that in just a couple minutes. Okay? Were you injured?

Robert C. Tucker:

No.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. How about service awards, medals, anything?

Robert C. Tucker:

No. Just --

Louis Abbott:

The usual?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah, just the _________+?

Louis Abbott:

Okay. We can start. And this is Louis Abbott and I'm taping Robert here at the Indiana Veterans Home. Okay. You enlisted?

Robert C. Tucker:

Uh-huh.

Louis Abbott:

And it would seem like you were about 18 when you enlisted?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yes.

Louis Abbott:

Just out of school?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. Got out the end of July of '50, and I was living with an aunt and uncle at the time. So my uncle, which is my mother's brother said, well, what am I going to do with my life. "What are you going to do? What kind of job are you going to get and so on?" I said, "Well, I don't know. I haven't looked around." So he says, "Well, joining the service isn't bad." I said, "I don't think it's bad because I've always wanted to be a Marine." And so I said, "I'll go down to the enlistment office and see what the story is." So when I came back I was enlisted in the Marines.

Louis Abbott:

You were a Marine. Okay. So then where did you go for Basic?

Robert C. Tucker:

San Diego.

Louis Abbott:

You went to San Diego. Okay. That was kind of interesting for a kid from Indiana that had --

Robert C. Tucker:

I come in as a kid.

Louis Abbott:

-- that you were -- yeah.

Robert C. Tucker:

Because I lived on a farm out in the middle of Indiana; so it was all new to me.

Louis Abbott:

Yeah. So how long were you at San Diego?

Robert C. Tucker:

Let's see. I think it was a 12-week course for Basic Training -- for Boot Camp.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

Then I had three months on weapons and learned how to fight.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. And you did that at San Diego, too?

Robert C. Tucker:

No. I did that at San Diego recruit --

Louis Abbott:

Okay. So that took about -- the first one you said took how long?

Robert C. Tucker:

I think it was 12 weeks.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. And then the next part take about the same?

Robert C. Tucker:

About two-and-a-half months for weapons training, and I learned how to die.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. So then you were a Marine.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. And a private.

Louis Abbott:

And a private. Yeah, but you were a Marine. When you got out of that -- that's what I've been told anyway. When you got finished training you were a Marine.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yes.

Louis Abbott:

Whether you wanted to be or not, you were a Marine.

Robert C. Tucker:

My whole life really changed from farm boy and --

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

And but I sort of blended in well and did what I was supposed to do.

Louis Abbott:

And you were comfortable with what you were asked to do.

Robert C. Tucker:

That's what I wanted so.

Louis Abbott:

Okay, yeah.

Robert C. Tucker:

Whenever I do what I want, I'm very comfortable doing it because that's what I wanted. And so I have that phrase in my life because that if I want something it's all right and I'm satisfied. And I'll tell you where that came from. My mother was killed when I was four-and-a-half, automobile accident; and so then I became everybody's child, and my mother was one of seven sisters and I had five of those -- she was from that size a family. And it was a mixed up raising. In other words, I stayed with one aunt until she got tired of me and then I went to another aunt's and another aunt's and finally high school age why then I went to a foster home.

Louis Abbott:

Did you have any brothers or sisters?

Robert C. Tucker:

No.

Louis Abbott:

You were an only child?

Robert C. Tucker:

I was an only child, My mother was sixteen-and-a-half when I was born, and she was killed after she was twenty-one.

Louis Abbott:

So you were a little guy.

Robert C. Tucker:

Right. And she ______________+ as long as they wanted to be there.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

Which helped a little was -- because my mother was getting a divorce at the time, so when my mother was killed I became the ward of the court. So then there was money involved and I got everybody wanted me then.

Louis Abbott:

Yeah, Yeah. So you were actually raised by family but by different members of the family.

Robert C. Tucker:

Right. And I ran through the whole family. Then I went to a foster home for a year and then I ran away.

Louis Abbott:

Now this was when you were in high school?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. I was 15 or 16.

Louis Abbott:

So did the system pick you back up and put you back?

Robert C. Tucker:

No. Then I came to California and lived with my uncle, and I finished high school with him. He more or less told me that, well, it's time to move on because I'm 18 so.

Louis Abbott:

So that's why you did your Basic at San Diego, then, I suppose --

Robert C. Tucker:

Right.

Louis Abbott:

-- was that you came in in California.

Robert C. Tucker:

Right.

Louis Abbott:

Where did you go after Basic then?

Robert C. Tucker:

Out to Korea.

Louis Abbott:

Then you went down in the boat --

Robert C. Tucker:

I went to Basic, I'm sorry, and then to weapons training.

Louis Abbott:

But after that then you went to -- got on the boat and went to Korea.

Robert C. Tucker:

Korea, right. I think it was the 1th or 12th of January when I arrived there.

Louis Abbott:

Where did you land in Korea?

Robert C. Tucker:

Pusan.

Louis Abbott:

Pusan. Okay. Of course, I supposed the bunch of guys you went over with on the boat were basically the same guys you had been with since Basic?

Robert C. Tucker:

No.

Louis Abbott:

Oh.

Robert C. Tucker:

It was all guys that I -- the thing was that there was eight of us from California that enlisted and all the rest of them are from Texas.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

And so that was interesting, too.

Louis Abbott:

Yeah, it had to be. How did you get along with them --

Robert C. Tucker:

I got along fine.

Louis Abbott:

-- people from Texas.

Robert C. Tucker:

I was kind of _____ and I was a little shy and I took a lot of kidding and so on because at that time I had a southern accent --

Louis Abbott:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

-- from Indiana and they razzed me about that. But we did all the basic training, nothing extraordinary, except some of the incidents of like we'd first march and then we would have to march up the side and down the hill and, of course, the dust was that thick. So we became dusty. The trip over was interesting because I had never been on a boat before.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

So I was fascinated by -- we had the stand up tables where we stood around it and --

Louis Abbott:

Ate.

Robert C. Tucker:

-- ate. And so my number and all that came, mine was at the end of the 14 or 15 guys. I think it was 14. And which was interesting because I was fascinated when we came into rough seas because all the trays from that end of the table came this way. Then all of the trays from this end --

Louis Abbott:

Went that way.

Robert C. Tucker:

-- went that way. But the thing was when it went that-a-way everybody got sick and vomited in the trays. With a whiff of that then I got sick.

Louis Abbott:

I was going to ask you if you had any problem with being sick on the boat.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yes. Just that incident and I felt nauseated and that most of the trip but that was the only incident I can recall.

Louis Abbott:

Now you guys did, they did have you do a little training or a little movement, calisthenics and such as that on the boat?

Robert C. Tucker:

Oh, yeah.

Louis Abbott:

Tried to keep you in shape as best you could.

Robert C. Tucker:

Oh, sure. Laying around too long you lose the tone.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. You got to Pusan.

Robert C. Tucker:

Uh-huh.

Louis Abbott:

What did you do then?

Robert C. Tucker:

Well, then we unloaded on the boat -- from the boat.

Louis Abbott:

You were awful glad to see land, weren't you?

Robert C. Tucker:

Right, I was. So they started assigning all the guys and they went A through T; and when they came to me, why, they said what can I do and I said, "Well, I'm a country boy. That's all I know; so I'm open to anything." So they started naming guys to do this, this, this and this and they came to my name and they ____ , "Okay. We'll put you in the infantry." Which I expected anyway.

Louis Abbott:

Well, weren't most of the guys that came in with you were --

Robert C. Tucker:

Oh, yeah, but, I mean, I figured by the T they'll be --

Louis Abbott:

Yeah, the other jobs are all gone.

Robert C. Tucker:

Right. But I figured with the T's I would be able to do something else. So I became the infantry and we had to backpack all of our food up and down the hills from the headquarters to supply. Then we would march whatever it took to get the food up there, and I became familiar with that process which -- and I made friends with some Koreans.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

So then -- you know, well, that was interesting and so on and so I stepped into it and really became effective as a non-farm boy. Anyway, I was in supply and I was working with a sergeant -- staff sergeant and a buck sergeant and by that time I made corporal when I became a PFC then. So it was a sergeant -- staff sergeant, regular sergeant and then I was the flunkie. But anything after I -- I learned what are we supposed to do and so on. The only thing I didn't like about it when we had to transport supplies up on the hill I got the same ______ I had before, marched or walked up, see your food supplies and ammunition. So I didn't gain anything. I thought, "Boy, this is a lost cause." So then the sergeant he was World War II. So it came that they were going to send him home since he had been in for about a year. Because he spent some time in China before he came to Korea, and his year was up. So I thought, "What's going to happen to me now?" Because I figured they'd transfer another buck sergeant in. So the supply sergeant in charge he said, "Well, you've done very well, Robbie." Robert or Robbie. My nickname is "Robbie." And he says, "You've done pretty well and caught onto it." He says, "How would you like to work here?" "Well, I think it would be great." I said, "You can take the marches for supplies on somebody else's shoulders, but I wouldn't mind that." So then I became supply personnel and that made me corporal.

Louis Abbott:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

And that was the only thing I ever did make because the Marines aren't too quick. So I thought, "Oh, well that's great." So I had the duties that the normal supply people had. So anyway, all at once, the sergeant, staff sergeant asked if I liked it and so on and so on. I said, "Well, not bad. I think it could be a lifetime job." And ____+ then I made sergeant. Then I became the second-in-command under him, and then we had the duties and so on and so forth of supply sergeant. Of course, there is little side deals that -- once they had a bunch of fresh bread come in that they had home baked. And another sergeant and myself went over and stole one whole pan of bread and a can of mayonnaise. By God, everybody came in for a mayonnaise sandwich.

Louis Abbott:

Hey.

Robert C. Tucker:

And so, anyway, it was interesting and the staff sergeant and I became pretty good friends. He would confide what things that had happened to him. He had been, you know like in China and he had a Japanese wife. So he was more planned to be over there full time.

Louis Abbott:

Yeah. Didn't have much of a choice.

Robert C. Tucker:

No. So it looked pretty good and that, and so all at once the staff sergeant came in and he says, "I'm going home in a week." I says, "Well, you're not supposed to do that." He says, "Well, it's over a year's duty." He says, "It's my time to go home." And that happened in about the end of March. So I said, "Well, I'll miss you and all that but what am I going to do?" He says, "You're going to be a supply sergeant."

Louis Abbott:

So you got to be the boss.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. He says, "There's a lot of guys around there," which my tent and next door was, oh, like newspaper people and that. So I would keep friends with them, and the staff sergeants _____ introduced me and all that. Then they decided they liked me and so on, and so I became a member of the correspondence group.

Louis Abbott:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

So then came along and because I had moved up to sergeant very fast and this is what the staff sergeant did before he left. He says, "Well," he says, "You need a little more power." I said, "For what?" He says, "Well, these guys will walk all over you otherwise." I said, "Well, I'm for that." And that's -- the corporal, then sergeant and then I had a temporary assignment then as staff sergeant or an E-4. And I went along working with that and so on. You forget about extra pay and so and so forth like that. As far as I was concerned, a sergeant makes so much and --

Louis Abbott:

Then you were the supply sergeant then.

Robert C. Tucker:

Right. And very young. 19.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, my, yeah.

Robert C. Tucker:

And so I worked with that for the year and two months that I stayed over.

Louis Abbott:

Then you were there another year and two months.

Robert C. Tucker:

The year and two months I got pneumonia and I had to go in the back off the front line and so on. And it took about six weeks before I felt like doing anything. And then that's when they named me a full time staff sergeant. And so I didn't realize the difference between a staff sergeant and a buck sergeant until I came back from Korea to Pendleton. I mean, it's like two different worlds.

Louis Abbott:

Yep. All of a sudden you're up with the big boys.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. And I sort of gloated _____ because I was welcome to the staff NCO club and I played pool with the big guys, you know.

Louis Abbott:

The rest of the time you were in Korea did you still do the same thing?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

I mean, still was a supply sergeant?

Robert C. Tucker:

Right.

Louis Abbott:

And you basically hauled supplies up to the troops?

Robert C. Tucker:

Right. And later somebody else hauled them up and I just saw to it.

Louis Abbott:

Well, yeah, I mean, you --

Robert C. Tucker:

It was good duty.

Louis Abbott:

Did you use America -- you said you hauled them on their backs?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

So these were Koreans --

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

-- or Americans?

Robert C. Tucker:

No. Koreans.

Louis Abbott:

Civilians?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. Most of the stuff we took was C-rations. And the Koreans they used they could only take one case of C-rations so sometimes when we went up the hill I had 20, 25 Koreans. So they would talk about it. And my hobby is cooking and that; so the guys would talk about what they had, and I was curious about the food they ate.

Louis Abbott:

Now, the G.I.'s or the Koreans?

Robert C. Tucker:

No, the Koreans.

Louis Abbott:

What did they eat?

Robert C. Tucker:

Peas, like split peas and then they would put sweet meat, meat and they would make rice balls with it and form them and then they had two little bowls that fit over them and a string that tied around them.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

And they would just hang it on their belt back so they had their food with them and __________+ curious about the --

Louis Abbott:

Was the rice cooked?

Robert C. Tucker:

Oh, yeah.

Louis Abbott:

It was already cooked?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

They just made it into a ball with peas and sauce.

Robert C. Tucker:

I was curious about it and so on. So I talked one of the Koreans into letting me try it. And he sort of frowned and said, "Okay." But what I taste of it was very good because they use a sweetener in the meat like we would use sugar. So it didn't taste bad at all and that's about the rest of my time in Korea was the supply sergeant and duties of.

Louis Abbott:

Did you get to spend any time with the Koreans as such? Did you get to know them?

Robert C. Tucker:

Only the guys up -- well, yeah. Only the -- my wagon train, I call it and then I became friends with the interpreter and he was Korean, and he was a college graduate. So he was interesting to talk to, and he was very curious and that. So we became close friends, and I learned to cook from him. Like I know how to make rice and how the balls are made and so on. Of course, I changed the balls from just sweet meat to garlic because that grows wild over there.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

So _______+ it wasn't bad.

Louis Abbott:

Did they have any kind of vegetables?

Robert C. Tucker:

Well, they had some growing in gardens and so on.

Louis Abbott:

But not like any produce markets or such as that?

Robert C. Tucker:

No. Like in the winter you wouldn't have -- when the spring started you started getting more. But it was -- believe it or not it was stuff like celery but not the straight stalks we had. It was kind of like bunched up.

Louis Abbott:

Yeah. I see that in the stores.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

My wife -- celery cabbage I think she calls it or something like that.

Robert C. Tucker:

Anyway, I got used to using that. Then later I found out that their meatballs with the rice and so it had chopped celery and stuff in it and you would have a few greens but not like you would there. So I was talking to the interpreter guy and he said, "Well," he said, "I'll show you how to make it." So he invited me over for supper and it was all ready and put in balls and so on. So I said it tasted very good. I said, "I'm curious, though." Because people had cattle and stuff like that but I never saw them butcher it or anything.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

So I said, "Pok Tong Su" (ph) I said, "What kind of meat is this?" He says, "Dog." I said, "Well, I've never tasted dog before but," I said, "I know that it is something you use because somebody would get a puppy or a dog in camp and then all at once it would disappear."

Louis Abbott:

So the meat that they were putting in it was dog meat?

Robert C. Tucker:

Right.

Louis Abbott:

And you didn't -- it wasn't --

Robert C. Tucker:

I didn't know at first.

Louis Abbott:

And as you say, it tasted sweet because of sugar that was there or something was put in it.

Robert C. Tucker:

So I didn't mind the dog meat.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

In other words, it didn't turn my stomach because they were dog meat. Now if he had said it was rat or something like that, I was ______ on that. So, anyway, I learned to cook rice with Pok (ph) and little hors d'oeuvres type thing that he mixed with rice and lentil. They had a lot of lentil. So it was interesting to learn that because my hobby was to learn cooking. So that was sort of interesting to me.

Louis Abbott:

You gained your chance to do that.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. So then you came back to the U.S.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yes. I took my boat back and we landed in San Diego again, and then I was transferred to Camp Pendleton to their Weapons Training Corps and I became a supply sergeant at the weapon training.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, oh, so you were still a supply sergeant.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

And basically I stayed until I got out, supply. And so it was -- I thank Donald. He was the staff sergeant for all the good training and all that he give. I think he gave me the gold mine as far as I was concerned.

Louis Abbott:

Yeah. What did you do then -- Okay. So then you got out and you were still -- they discharged you then in California?

Robert C. Tucker:

Right.

Louis Abbott:

What did you do then?

Robert C. Tucker:

Well, the first thing I did, I thought, "Well, I got to go to work" because being an orphan I don't have a family to rely on. So it's -- I started looking for jobs and there wasn't any in '51. So I looked and looked and looked and finally I thought, "Well, I'll go back to Indiana." So I got a train there in San Diego and went up the coast and hit Los Angeles and then the train came to --

Louis Abbott:

Came east. Across the country.

Robert C. Tucker:

To Chicago. And that's where I went on down to Indiana. And jobs were sort of scarce so I -- I was a semi-carpenter and I didn't know what to do. Not that I could plan anything but "If you want that built, I'll be able to do it." So a couple of friends -- well, a couple of people I became friends with because they lived in the same apartment building; and so I said, "Well," more or less said, "Well, I got to go because I got to get a better job." And so they started talking and all that and then I went to work for the same company. And it was because of the two guys' influence I got that which when I started work for Goldstein, Incorporated, Indianapolis --

Louis Abbott:

What did they (make)?

Robert C. Tucker:

Furniture and light fixtures. Sort of a decorator job.

Louis Abbott:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

Draperies, upholstery. I did everything and there is five brothers that sort of over one job or that. So I sort of floated between the brothers. One did all the draperies and another designed the light fixtures and another one did furniture, oh, like love seats and stuff like that. I think that was all there was at that time.

Louis Abbott:

And you were making these?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. Made them and installed them.

Louis Abbott:

Okay. How long did you do that?

Robert C. Tucker:

Almost two years.

Louis Abbott:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

Then I got an itchy foot. I said, "Well, I'm going to quit because I'm going to go back to California."

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

So I did. I forget what year it was. It was either '53 or '54.

Louis Abbott:

So what did you do in California?

Robert C. Tucker:

Well, I went to work for my uncle. He had a scaffolding company and he needed help to put the scaffolding up and take it down and so on and so forth. So I became a manual laborer, and it took me a little while to get used to it. And at that time after I came back to California and that, why, I was too thin and my uncle was a little worried about me. I weighed about 140-150 pounds. My normal weight is 225. So they were a little worried about it and they decided to fatten me up and build me up a little. So I started eating more and working out pretty good and I became the 225 person I ended up with. I don't know. Everything seemed to fall in place for me when I made an effort to do so. In other words, I wasn't happy with the job for two years at Goldstein's. I got to get out of this.

Louis Abbott:

Uh-huh.

Robert C. Tucker:

When I went to work for my ________ it didn't mean a lot of money but it meant I could live and eat. So I didn't mind that at all. I worked, let's see, I think I worked four years there and the main reason I left that is two of the brothers died so they quit making some of the stuff. So it was time for me to move on I figured out. So that's what happened. And I did a lot of odd jobs and so on. I learned to cook. I did catering and anything to do with food I did. So I was going along pretty good. So during that time I decided to buy a house in Cicero. That's where I came, Cicero, Indiana.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, yeah, okay. So you came back to Indiana then.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. So there was one of the old houses on South Bend. It was 3048 or something like that on Pennsylvania which is pretty close up _________. I think it was going to slum later on. So I bought it on a contract. I couldn't afford a downpayment. And I started fixing it up and painting the walls and hand scrubbing the ________ off because all of it was dried and flaking off. So I just put some Chore Girls and --

Louis Abbott:

Took it off.

Robert C. Tucker:

Took it off. So this was an English Tudor house it was, and it had three floors and it had four extra bedrooms; so I rented out four rooms.

Louis Abbott:

I was going to say that's a big house.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. So I furnished it -- well, I don't know, it's just sort of --

Louis Abbott:

So you were a landlord?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

Big time.

Robert C. Tucker:

Then the thing was -- I couldn't clean that whole house. So I found a Black girl that went to work for me. She, like, washed the dishes, the laundry, did the ironing, just kept it straightened out because beside the main house it had a maid's quarters and so there was another bedroom. It had a sink in it and it was kind of the maid_________+ is here and a little ________ she went through and there is a back stair. And at the head of that stairway was the maid's quarters. And so a Black girl lived there. Well, she did everything that most ________ would do. It made it very easy to rent the place and have the guys. Then I learned to cook more and more because I had to feed the guys. And so which started learning more to cook and what to do and so on. Everything was just going beautiful. One day the maid dropped a bottle of ammonia in the sink or down on the floor, top floor. I told her_________ + came out and shut the door and just stay out of it. She went in there and cleaned it and two days later she was dead.

Louis Abbott:

From the fumes?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. Right. So that ended the -- Oh, I tried to get a couple other girls and they were the type of girls that would steal you blind and eat all your food and drink all your booze. So that didn't work out. So two of the guys were moving out and I thought, "Well, what am I going to do with this house?" So what I did, I didn't sell it. I just gave it back to the people that I had a contract with. So with that then I finished that and I came back to California.

Louis Abbott:

Back to California.

Robert C. Tucker:

Yeah. I got to California -- there was a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard and I got a job with that restaurant.

Louis Abbott:

As a cook? A Yeah.

Louis Abbott:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

I was with them two years. Then I went to work for a -- let's see. I'm trying to think of the name of it. Anyway, a clothing store. I mean, they were the main furnisher. They weren't a store but and where I was thin enough and I wasn't a too-bad-a-looking guy. Anyway, I became very interested in that __________ so and so when I started work with them they decided to use me as the model of the new clothes and I had to lose a little weight. So I was down to where 32 waist and legs was a perfect fit for me. And that's what they always made when they did something was the 32-32. So I could wear those. And -- well, I'll tell you. So after four months with them I got fired. So I had to know why because I didn't feel I had done anything. And the guy that I worked for he said, "Well, you want to know the truth," he says, because meaning me, "he turned down the boss' son and he wanted to have sex."

Louis Abbott:

Oh.

Robert C. Tucker:

And I said, "Well," -- I heard of that and so on which I hadn't lived with it. But, I said, "I'm not available for that type of thing." And so I left there.

Louis Abbott:

Carolyn is going to come in. She's going to take your picture. We're going to --

Robert C. Tucker:

Oh, brother.

Louis Abbott:

We decided that we -- if we could, we're going to try to get everybody's picture to go along with the tape.

Robert C. Tucker:

Because I have no photos left. Private.

Louis Abbott:

Hello.

Carolyn Johnson:

Hi.

Louis Abbott:

Robert and I are in California.

Carolyn Johnson:

Great. That's where I'm from. That's my home.

Louis Abbott:

Oh. Well, Robert has been in and between California and Indiana any number of times in the course of this.

Robert C. Tucker:

Back and forth.

Carolyn Johnson:

Really. Were you stationed out there?

Robert C. Tucker:

First I went in the Marine Corps out there in San Diego.

Carolyn Johnson:

Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

When I came back from Korea I had some more time to do with the Marines. When I got out of the Marines then it was back to Indiana, just, you know --

Carolyn Johnson:

Back home again.

Robert C. Tucker:

Back home again more or less.

Louis Abbott:

But he's been back and forth several times since then.

Carolyn Johnson:

I grew up in San Francisco, northern. Well, I Carolyn Johnson. I'm the volunteer coordinator and I don't think we've met yet.

Robert C. Tucker:

No. I'll even take my hat off.

Carolyn Johnson:

Well, do you want your picture with or without the hat?

Robert C. Tucker:

Without it.

Carolyn Johnson:

Do you mind us taking your picture?

Robert C. Tucker:

I don't know.

Carolyn Johnson:

You know, actually he is supposed to sign a consent. (interview interrupted for photo session)

Louis Abbott:

Okay. So you're in California?

Robert C. Tucker:

Right.

Louis Abbott:

And you must be looking for a job?

Robert C. Tucker:

Yes, because -- so I looked around. Oh, first I went to work for the clothing manufacturer.

Louis Abbott:

Oh, for the manufacturer. Okay.

Robert C. Tucker:

And one day cooking I splashed the hot oil up on my hand and burned this whole hand. So I had to get away from heat and from that and so they give me a leave of absence until that healed so on and so forth. So while I was out I thought, "Well, there is no future in cooking as such because it's long hours and low pay and I should look..."

[END OF INTERVIEW]