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Margaret E. Burnham Oral History Part 1
Publication date: 17 July 2024
File metadata
Dublin Core Metadata
title:
Margaret E. Burnham Oral History Part 1
creator:
Burnham, Margaret "Peggy" E. (1903 June 29 - )
subject:
American Red Cross
description:
Side 1 of 2. This s the original, unedited audio of the interview. Margaret Burnham was born on June 29, 1903 in Falmouth Foreside, Maine. Her father had been a member of an architectural firm in New York City until he became ill, returning to Maine and settling down in Portland. She graduated from Madiera School in 1921 and from Smith College in 1925. When World War II was declared, she immediately joined hundreds of others to volunteer with Civil Defense, which kicked off her time with the Red Cross. She filled a variety of roles, helping transport people to and from the airport and hospital, serving breakfasts to the Civil Air Patrol, organizing the Falmouth Motor Pool, and guiding motor corps people from the Portland Headquarters for the Red Cross. Training involved first aid courses, and she also remembers a Russian man training them to deal with land mines and tear gas, as well as warning them they may need to be ready to handle a riot. She also remembers a ton of Marines coming to give blood, seeing her officers bars, and falling in to march to the blood bank at her lead. They also took classes on how to read geodetic survey maps so, if there was a bombing, they knew where to send people and what to do to make the city as safe as possible. Burnham and her mother would also volunteer to man an information station in the basement of a church together on special holidays since those were the hardest days to convince people to work on. Her Red Cross unit was disbanded after the war, and she mostly stayed in touch with coworkers she had known before the war. After the war ended, she volunteered at the Maine Medical Center for years. She also continued writing poetry, hoping to put her English degree to good use. No transcript of this interview is currently available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Kayser, Cornelia Mary
date:
1989-05-11
type:
Audio
format:
Cassette
identifier:
127; 1989.127
source:
NSCD | CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
541592
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1942-45
rights:
Unrestricted