Maverick Veterans’ Voices: Interview with Janet Abell

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Interviewee: Ms. Janet (Roe) Abell

Interviewer:Heather Scalf

Date of Interview: June 29, 2015

Location of Interview: Arlington,Texas

Transcriber:Matthew Hail

Special Collections UTA Libraries

SCALF: This is Heather Scalf, today is June29th, 2015 and I aminterviewing Janet Abell, the daughter of William P. Roe, for the first time. Thisinterviewis taking place at the University of Texas at Arlington's Central Library in Arlington Texas. Thisinterviewis sponsoredby the College of Liberal Arts and is part of the Maverick Veterans'Voices Project.

SCALF: So, you were born the same year your father was commissioned?

ABELL: I was.

SCALF: So you had the lifetime experience of being in the military.

ABELL: I did. I once saw a picture of my mom, very pregnant with me, pinning on 00:01:00my dad's little butter bars, his Lieutenantbars.So,I was truly born into the Army way of life.

SCALF: So, can you recall what your first impression or your strongest impressions as a child were of growing up in the military?

ABELL: My strongest impressions were that it was--it seemed very normal tome to move. It's a lot of upheaval, but it seemed like a natural progressionalmostevery year. I grew up in many different school systems and several different countries, and I realizedearly on that that was going to be my way of life, that I had to accept it.

SCALF: So, as you look back on that as an adult, what are the things that you look at differently, or realize differently now that you aregrown.

ABELL: I associate time with places where I lived, memories. IfI'mthinking 00:02:00about a particularyear, thenthe pictures that come into my mind are where I wasliving thatyear. So, what's easy for me to remember my childhood in a sequence of where we lived, and that was in a lot of different places. I went to twelve different schools, I split my first-grade year at two different places and my twelfth grade year at two different places, and so the perspective I got was very much of a worldwide perspective, not just a localized upbringing.

SCALF: So, can you describe how your father's military service shaped your family?

ABELL: I feel that it instilled a great deal of respect for our country, and for our military in general. It was a very-- I have an endearing feeling towards the 00:03:00military and towards that way of life. I certainly can empathize with children in the military who have to frequently move and reorient themselves to new cultures, new places, new people, but also I find that the world isn't so big,that you don't sometimes runinto people in odd places that you have seen at prior duty stations. So, it's very interesting that way, there's usually a little surprise here and there where you will run into somebody at an airport.

As a matter of fact, I ran into my mother once, unknowingly at an airport. I had been living in Germany, and she had been living in Taiwan, and for some reason, we were both flying in the states and happen to pass each other in the airport, and I saw her and said "Mom," and she surprisingly turned around, and of course communication was much slower then, there weren't computers or email, and we really weren't on top of each other's travel plans at the time, but it was an 00:04:00interesting-- Probably my most interesting, unexpected surprise on a trip.(laughs)

SCALF: Definitely, so you mentioned you were in Germany at the time, what were you doing in Germany?

ABELL: I grew up as an Army brat, and my first marriage was with the Air Force, dependent wife in the Air Force for fourteen years. And at that time I was young and inmy twenties and stationed over inWest Berlin at the time.

SCALF: Okay, so traveling while your family was serving, what are some of yourfondest memories of the places you went as a child?

ABELL: Oh, I think I can easily pick my very favorite tour of duty as a child was West Point, New York. The safety and security of that post is phenomenal. TheCollege/Universityatmosphere was areally healthyincentive, made me 00:05:00want to continue on in my schooling when I was older and go to college and get a degree. Traditions were really formed at West Point, and as a child, it was a very freeing experience because I could go all over the fort,all over the post freely as a tentothirteen-year-oldstationed there at the time. It was a wonderful experience. Riding my bike on the trails of Stony Lonesome down to Michie Stadium, going tothefootball games, sitting in the peanut gallery, and cheering on, you know,Army.

And just really-- we sponsored a cadet there, so we would have the cadet over, for holiday meals, and that was a very nice experience because I think it gave that cadet a taste of family, and that gave us a future perspective of college life. So, I was really thrilled with that and my current husband's oldest son 00:06:00attended West Point and it was nice to have that in common, we could talk about those similarities, and he has servedin theArmy as a physician, as an orthopedic doctor, so the tradition carries on in the family in one way or another.

SCALF: When did he graduate?

ABELL: It was June of'98.

SCALF: Okay, do you recall any events in your father's career that you look back now and realizethat'ssignificant for him, not just for the family, but something that you thought was a significantthingfor him?

ABELL: I think about the significance of his tour of duty in Seoul, South Korea atYongsanArmy post. He was with the J2 TNT, which is a tunnel neutralization team, and during his tour of duty there they found a significant tunnel that the North had built into the South and I was really, as an older teenager I 00:07:00wasaboutsixteen or seventeen, Iwas really impressedby that. That put into perspective his civil engineering background along with his intelligence background and I thoughtthat came together verynicely.

I was so proud of his commanding abilities at West Point. A few times we would walk down from Stony Lonesome to his job at the bottom of the hill and go to the 528thengineering command, that's one thing you learn growing up, a lot of the titles of the units. You get to knowthat military jargon, that language pretty readily, I still know his Social Security Number, and it's ingrained, it's something that is really ingrained.

I remember preparing for our trip, family tour, to Seoul, South Korea, getting all the different, you know, inoculations you have to get, which sometimes take 00:08:00a toll physically getting6or 8 shots to prepare for those exotic possibilities.Andgetting dog tags for myself, you know, it really made me feel as part of the military family and as an important part of the family. I knowa lot ofpeople said that if the military wanted you to have a family, they wouldhaveissuedyou one,at the time,now things are a lot different, but I always felt he incorporated us into his military life.

He took us to his jobs, he introduced us to his coworkers, he sometimes hosted unit parties at the house, and it was exciting helping my mom prepare for those parties, you know, which weren't every day, it was a once a year, maybe, activity, but it was very exciting to see that part of his life, and he carried himself at home as he did at work, in a very level headed, straight forward, no-nonsense, highest level of integrity kind of personthatyou could 00:09:00meet.So, I'm very proud of that.I'mproud that that's my heritage and that's what I gained from him.

SCALF: It'sa great heritage.So, his transition from militaryto civilian life, you were grown.

ABELL: Right.

SCALF: So, do you have any thoughts or ideas about that?

ABELL: I was, on a selfish level, going backwards a little bit when I was seven years old, he was in Vietnam, we were eligible for an R&R in Hawaii, and took a trip over in the middle, I think it was wintertime whenwe went to Hawaii so it was very nice and warm, tropical.AndI begged every assignment, please let's go to Hawaii, please let's go to Hawaii.Andhe waited until I was fully grown, thatwas his last military assignment.So, selfishly, I was a little annoyed at that. I did not get to go, because we were s far away, to his 00:10:00military retirement. I would have given anything to go, to go back and go to that because I think it was such a proud moment. He trooped right through it.

It'sa big transition to go from a military way of life to not having an active military way of life.Andhe went right on through, picked up his work at Taiwan, with the state department, I was very proud about that. Very proud of my mom for her contributions and he kept on rolling, he worked until hewas doneworking, retired, and started, you know enjoyed his time.AndI don't think he looked back and regretted anything, I think he fulfilleda lotof thedreams and desires he had, and he had a lot more to do as well, but I think he was needed. God needed him at the time he took him.

SCALF: So, did your military experience growing up as the dependent daughter 00:11:00influence your views on today's military and things that are going on now,what'reyour thoughts?

ABELL: Absolutely, for those soldiers,airmen, and sailors that are serving overseas, whether they are deployed in a combat zone or deployed in a hot zone or in a dangerous, it's all dangerous. I am so proud of their service and I really, every day I am thankful for the way of life that theyhaveenabledus to have.Becausehaving livedinSeoul, South Korea, outside of theArmy post,welived on the economy, and I had firsthand experience of the freedom and rights that we don't get to enjoy in Korea, that are protected in the United States.

Any other country in the world we wouldn't get the rights, even westernized countries in Europe, you don't have the same rights that the military has fought 00:12:00for us and preserved for us and protected in the future for us here in our country. So, even though there were times when I was an expatriate living overseas with the military, I always felt so grateful to have that experience, but even more grateful to get home to the United States of America.Trulythe best place on the planet to be.

SCALF: So, is there anything that you would like to contribute that Ididn'task?

ABELL: About my dad? My fondest memories were playful memories. When I was three years old in Kaiserslautern, Germany, he and my brother were shaking a pine tree where I was standing and all the snow fell on me and they ran out and it was quite funny. They, I remember that. I remember taking a cruise ship back from Germany, it was a troopship, but it was part of the Cunard Line, which is a famous English, European cruiselineand we helped out some friends and 00:13:00brought their big Dalmatian dog back and there are memories fromthat,being only three and a half years old.

I have goinginto downtown Seoul and exploring places andfishing at West Point. He taught me how to thread a worm on a hook, you know, and there's a lot of basicsthat he taught me that will live with me forever and that I apply in life with my children and myself, but I'm just very proud of his service and his accomplishments and he was... he didn't brag about those things, he was very humble and very well-read and very intelligent, very smart man, but also very humble and Ijustappreciate the life that he gave me with the worldwide perspective that I gained from the military experience as a dependent 00:14:00child.That'sabout it.

SCALF: It has been a pleasure talking to you today and I appreciate you spending the time, and I appreciate yourservice, I know growing up as a dependent is not always easy. There are rewards, but there are also difficultiesaswell.I appreciate the support of your father's service and your support of this project.

ABELL: Thank you for having me.