Peggy Rosoff and Walter Pancoe

00:02 Hi, my name is petty panco. Ross off. I am 70 years old. Today's date is Wednesday, September 29th, 2021. I am in Wilmington, North Carolina and the name of my interview partner is Walter pancoe. Who is my father.

00:23 My name is Walter pancoe, 97 years old.

00:30 Today is September 29th.

00:34 1921.

00:36 We're located, Wilmington, North Carolina.

00:41 He was brought here to this interview by my daughter. Peggy panco Rosso.

00:48 And I want to tell my story.

00:53 And a very complete is Passover away. Big 97 years old. I cannot rely totally about my memory, but I have a pretty good.

01:07 Long memory. My short memory is very short.

01:13 Okay, I graduated from New Trier, High School in Winnetka, Illinois.

01:20 In the class of 1941.

01:25 And I was in the upper third of my class.

01:30 From there. I went to the University of, Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin.

01:38 And had.

01:39 Very busy life from that location.

01:45 Early upon arriving in Madison. I joined Omega chapter of Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity, as a pledge.

01:58 And served in various offices, and it's Trinity.

02:07 End.

02:09 I became a member of this, Wisconsin Student Union.

02:15 I'm laying in the street.

02:18 Shortly after joining the Union.

02:21 Hey, became head of the music committee, which is a committee that selected presentations in the theater and promoted them.

02:35 Shirley.

02:37 After I was there.

02:40 War was declared.

02:43 And everyone in my fraternity left for military service.

02:51 One year, we had 130 members.

02:56 The next year.

02:58 The only members and campus were about a dozen of us who are on campus for some specific reason, all the rest have gone into military service.

03:13 Very, very concerned about wanting to get in the military service since that's her my entire fraternity and all my friends were acting.

03:27 I was called in and told since I was an engineering school. I would have to stay in school cuz they needed graduate engineers in service and that I would be going to school all year around. I would have Christmas day off.

03:48 And that was it.

03:50 We went to school.

03:53 Every day of the week.

03:56 And had a very intensive program. So this was in the military or you stayed in Wisconsin to do that.

04:05 But I was anxious to get out of it.

04:08 Hey University system and get into the military because that's where all of my fraternity, brothers and Friends. Where.

04:20 So, I found

04:23 That I was locked into school and I couldn't get into the military or go anywhere with stay in school.

04:34 Then one day they call us all in and said they had all the engineers they needed in the military and that we should report back to her.

04:49 Bored.

04:51 And get assigned to military duty.

04:56 I was anxious to get into prompt action. So I found out about a school.

05:04 King's Point.

05:06 Which was?

05:09 Possible to get into and get into action immediately.

05:17 However, you had to have an appointment from a senator or Congressman. My father arranged for my congressman to recommend me for a appointment. Do you know who that was? At that time? Who is the congressman? Are? You don't remember? I have no idea. Is 1940.

05:39 344 s.

05:43 So, I reported to

05:47 Yes, Hardee's.

05:50 Eras told I will go to.

05:54 California.

05:56 Basic training and that I would be in basic training for 3 months, and then I would be going to Sea and the ship for additional training.

06:09 I would then.

06:11 Spend.

06:14 Six months at sea.

06:17 At the end of that period of time, I should report to my

06:23 Port Authority, and they would take me off the ship and send me back to the school.

06:31 Where did the ship go? What was the name of the ship?

06:35 I'll tell your dad when you get there. Okay?

06:41 I reported.

06:43 2.

06:45 California. And went into basic training.

06:51 And it was very intense Pendleton. Now wasn't it or not? In San Diego?

07:03 San Mateo, California College.

07:07 And I reported there and was immediately put in the uniform and put in the service.

07:16 And I was in my 3 months, basic training.

07:21 During the time I was in basic training you weren't allowed to leave the base.

07:27 Start leaving at overnight. You had a certain amount of Liberty, which was a couple of hours.

07:35 But I have found that by providing these services and other activities, I could get more Liberty.

07:48 So, I went to the band director.

07:54 Was Orrin Tucker and he and then his entire band has joined the military and he said that he had a position open in the band, playing, the Glockenspiel. What is that? That's like a harp, isn't it?

08:13 No, it's a device like a

08:16 Hey.

08:21 Where is strike?

08:23 With the mail it okay to know it's in your marriage with it. Okay, and I couldn't read that music but by using my sound ability and I was able to

08:41 Rick you that I was able to.

08:44 Play that instrument.

08:49 The marching band song for The Merchant Marine Academy.

08:56 I was in service.

08:58 As a Cadet midshipman

09:01 In this service, I was in midshipman in the Navy.

09:06 And the cadets in the Merchant Marine, so I had a category of Cadet midshipman when you're finished your entire training which took about four years. You had a choice now becoming an Ensign in the Navy or becoming a Merchant Marine.

09:28 Lieutenant.

09:32 I served my pre.

09:36 Saline.

09:39 Service and was told at that time that they had no shifts available to assign me to and that I just had to stay on in basic training, in Philly at a ship.

09:55 And I was,

09:57 In there for 6 months, instead of three months, which was very distressing to me, cuz I was anxious to see action impatient, like, just like me.

10:10 So,

10:12 Finally, at the end of six months. I was sent to ship early. SS American Press.

10:23 I'm sorry AMS, American press, the m, s study for motor, shifter American press, this ship was powered by two. Huge Bush cells are diesel engines and being an engineer. I was assigned to the engine room.

10:47 The noise from those engines with so great. It was not possible to talk in the engine room. You would have to go out next seven and yell in their ear. There was no understanding at that time, that the noise was killing food and it was there, I would end up losing that earring. That was my gift of World War 2.

11:17 If you ask for hearing aids, or muffins to put over your ears, and probably throw you overboard, because they had no ability to supply those things. No air plugs and nose.

11:35 General Drivers at all.

11:38 Which, of course is no longer the case. Now, they have very strict, your coverings to protect your hearing.

11:51 Is the Veterans Administration help you with any of the hearing loss?

11:57 That's a lot further down the line, okay.

12:06 Shortly after boarding the ship.

12:10 It was discovered that were there. We were overhauling, one of the two engines and they had it completely dismantled and it was not a furtive.

12:21 We had instructions to move from.

12:27 Los Angeles side of

12:29 To Oakdale.

12:32 Cross the bay.

12:35 These engines are connected, electrically to the

12:42 Drive shaft of the ship and I was assigned the job in the entry room as being in charge of the telegraph. That was the means to selecting.

12:58 Instructions.

13:00 From the engine from the bridge from the captain of the ship and transmitting that information to the chief engineer who was operating the engine.

13:13 Do the fact that one engine was out of service? They normally, when they were maneuvering like that, they would have one engine running Full Speed Ahead and the other engine running full speed reverse and by just switching, this to the electronic controls, I can change from forward to reverse.

13:40 As we started over to Oakland and the deck.

13:46 I got a new instruction on the telegraph.

13:51 To go in reverse and I passed that information on to the engineer and he threw the switches that should have changed the engine running ahead to the engine, running a Stern, but there was no engine running a Stern.

14:11 And the next thing that came down with another request to run full speed astern, which I passed on to the chief engineer was operating the ship.

14:24 Then things got very frantic, and I had a telephone call from the bridge that we were going Full Speed Ahead into the dock, and that they have dropped the anchor. And there wasn't at all, what the hell is going on in the engine room. Then the engineers suddenly realized throwing the switch has, which he normally switch from one end to the other. He couldn't do that because there was only one engine running.

14:58 He immediately threw that when engine into full reverse, that's like going down the highway at full speed and then throwing your gear shift into reverse, why they're going full speed ahead with flash, every kind of safety. Device on the ship, blew off tremendous noise when it was thrown from Full Speed Ahead to full speed astern.

15:31 And since I have no experience, I was quite terrified by what was going on.

15:41 We were however, able to stop the ship.

15:46 Before running into the deck or Intel and of course the next day the engineer was no longer or signs of that. He was dismissed.

16:00 And that was my first experience.

16:04 We loaded the ship up.

16:07 Heading to Oakland for Palawan in the Philippines, which was our destination.

16:17 We had a lot of very exciting experiences. I was assigned to a 2020 gun on Deck.

16:27 Because of my experience in basic training, in Port Hueneme.

16:36 And so we were crossing the Pacific Ocean in a convoy and that Convoy could only communicate by flashing signals from one ship to another like Morse code. Do you use any radio communication?

16:57 How many beds is exactly across the ocean?

17:00 And as far as you could see in every direction, it was a convoy of hundreds and hundreds of shifts, and then one day.

17:16 When I was able to lock, I hooked on Deck.

17:21 I'm a ship's forgotten and we were all alone going to Pilot, LOL.

17:29 Fortunately, we were able to get there.

17:32 Without any further difficulty.

17:36 And did you have any communication with any of the other who was out there as to what's going on in the war or

17:44 We could hear the radio and knew what was going on in the war and we were headed for Palawan.

17:53 And we got there. There was no room to dock in the store. So we were tied up in the harbor. We were more there with the anchor down.

18:06 And I like to believe.

18:09 Who is one of the few people that was involved in a gas War because our entire deck was filled with canisters as head?

18:22 Gas in them.

18:24 Which was for treating water?

18:29 And because of the Heat,

18:32 Have the scent out of there. They started to leak and everybody had the dad in the face mask and we had a crew on board from the Army and they were assigned to the what to do with it material that they advised not to do anything, till I get instructions, from sure, what was causing them to leak, all of a sudden.

19:07 Gas.

19:12 And finally, the instruction came to re-anchor and go out to sea and when we get to assert location for enough to dump some overboard, and that's what we did, but we were

19:32 Face with chlorine gas.

19:35 The number of days.

19:38 Well, we were maneuvering around.

19:41 So that we had to work. Yes, mask. So that was quite an experience. Did you didn't have to use your 2020 gun? Yes, we did. Because when we were bent over here, run Japanese came over and they were bombing in the ships.

20:02 And they were headed for the airport at Palawan and they were able to get there and bomb the airport and stepdad on fire. And in the whole of our ships has all of the equipment for fighting fires. So the next day they started unloading the ship. Contents immediately to the airport, which is why we were there.

20:38 What if if I wanted to go to Palawan today? Where is it set of islands? What's it near? The Philip Philippines? I have not been there, but it's a very

21:02 Five star resort. Now.

21:06 After the war.

21:08 I went back to the University of Wisconsin, to finish my education.

21:17 The girl I have been dating.

21:20 Who had started when I was a junior?

21:23 Had gotten to a point of finishing school.

21:28 And I had.

21:31 A year to go and I joined her.

21:35 And finished my education and got my degree in mechanical engineering and we both graduated together.

21:45 Same time.

21:48 I have to go back now to the University, Wisconsin.

21:53 Hey, was that my mother? I was head of the music committee. Right? And the chairman of the Union was a woman. Her name was Kayo.

22:08 And the University of Wisconsin Student, Union was a men's Union. They did not allow any women to come into the Union except into one room, which was set aside for women.

22:27 Ennis.

22:28 At that time, she was the first woman who's ever president of the Union.

22:36 They invited me to become president of the Union to follow KO Hall.

22:43 And that I did.

22:46 And that was a very challenging thing to be the president and to run meetings of one sort or another. And you're still involved with that today. We have that okay.

23:02 What happened was I was president.

23:06 And was put in that position.

23:10 Has an appointment.

23:13 Until I graduated and left school.

23:18 It was a very first time at the university cuz the Korean War.

23:28 At the Vietnam or I should say.

23:31 Was that now underway?

23:34 And again, a fraternity was abandoned. We had 130 members and it went down to about 10.

23:47 And a couple of those four people, one of them is Mike Ness friend who is an actor and he was assigned to the University of Wisconsin for his basic training. So he was in uniform.

24:05 And it was very interesting situation there because they're I was locked in the School of Engineering and had to go all the way around.

24:17 And there are a lot of military on campus, which I wished I could join them.

24:26 Finally.

24:28 Is that a determined before?

24:32 I was commissioned to go to Kings Point.

24:37 And I left the university and the vice president of the Union became president.

24:45 And I had to resign my position as president.

24:51 Subsequently.

24:55 When I return to the university.

24:58 I was invited to be a member of the trustees University trustees.

25:05 Which is a group of 75 trustees.

25:10 Can the union trustees met?

25:15 Apple time is here so that I had to return to Wisconsin to attend as trustee meetings.

25:25 I said a record Being a trustee for 50 years.

25:33 And then,

25:36 After 50 years has a union trustee.

25:41 I was at an age where I no longer was convenient for me to travel and to continue. So I resigned as a trustee and I was appointed.

25:56 Hey.

25:59 Graduate trustee.

26:03 And became.

26:15 Every member that made of what they call Emeritus.

26:19 Watch recipe for Emeritus, right?

26:31 So that was my school experience.

26:35 Now, I'd like to go into another category of activity. Okay?

26:44 Was a member of their family was a member of the North Shore congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois.

26:56 Traditional reform congregation.

27:00 They had no Hebrew hot in their school, which is very unusual.

27:08 And they have no services on Friday night or Saturday, their services on Sunday morning.

27:17 And it was much like a church.

27:30 But the head,

27:34 A school.

27:37 Acting.

27:41 And,

27:43 I was asked to be king asked, you Eros.

27:51 In the children's play.

27:54 I think I was in.

27:57 Third grade.

27:59 So, I played a part in that and I got caught.

28:05 By the smell of the greasepaint and the Roar of the crowd and I was then hooked into theater.

28:14 From that point on?

28:16 I'm third grade on, okay.

28:20 The Purim play.

28:25 I went to various playgroups.

28:31 They were in the suburbs of Chicago.

28:36 I lived in Hubbard Woods.

28:39 At the time, which is on the borderline of Winnetka.

28:46 And Hubbard Woods.

28:48 Her front yard was at 117 Euclid, Avenue in Hubbard Woods in our backyard was in.

28:59 Winnetka.

29:01 So, it's very interesting.

29:05 I went to a play.

29:07 The musical original play.

29:11 A group called The Ground Incorporated.

29:16 And I was so impressed.

29:19 At at group and what they had produced.

29:24 Hey, ask to be made a member and was invited to join the ground Incorporated. This is a group.

29:34 Of 20 couples who wrote and produced an original musical comedy.

29:42 Every year, for the benefit of another one, or another charity.

29:49 In the course of the 20 years, I was involved with that organization. We raised over $300,000 which in today's money would be millions of dollars.

30:05 All of which went to the charity.

30:08 Particular charity. That was selected to sponsor the show that year.

30:16 As a member of us, the ground Incorporated.

30:20 I will end up directing those shows. I directed over 20 shows.

30:28 And these shows,

30:30 We're written by competition.

30:34 We did one show.

30:37 Which was an Elmer rice?

30:41 Broadway show which we had requested the right to do it as Musical.

30:49 And use it for a the basis of her musical comedy.

30:55 End.

30:57 Purple in the group was appointed to make

31:02 Musical comedy.

31:05 It was a very competitive group and a lot of the music that was written was written by members of the organization members of off the ground Incorporated. The music was presented to them without voting who without their knowing, who had written the songs, and they voted and selected the music to be used in the show with a very unusual organization and a very unusual way to put a show together. Okay. I have a remembrance that I could share year that when I was growing up it would be meetings downstairs in our house and we would sit at the top of the stairs and listen to all the meetings that were going on for writing music, for discussing the script and so forth. And we are Tan on her house, which I took piano lessons, as did my sisters, and I went out on one day and I saw that you had written in pencil.

32:04 1 2 3 on the piano keys, and then one of the members of off the ground, which was Lynn cook would come and see what that melody was. And you'd write the one, two, three, four, one, something, and she would make a song out of it, merely for that. You can write on piano keys while you did. Let me cook. Wizard had a master's degree in music.

32:34 She was a wonderful pianist and she could take my scribblings and my humming to her ear and translated into real music.

32:48 That was very interesting and very.

32:52 Education for me.

32:56 Everybody that was in the show and the cast is usually over 100 people.

33:03 Was it an amateur?

33:05 Any of the number. Very, very, very talented and had two other jobs.

33:13 At which they are in the living.

33:16 One of our people was a senior member of Merrill Lynch and he was a broker.

33:25 And yes, he was a wonderful singer, but you did all the costumes and all the sets as well.

33:35 York the station.

33:37 Let's put together with 100 people on stage, and another hundred people working offstage, building sets, and designing of scenery. And this is a very ambitious undertaking. We worked at at all year long.

33:58 And and then you had auditions, which I remember open auditions for members of the cast.

34:09 And you were in some of those before you directed all of them. I mean you were or did you direct and become when I cast members at the same time?

34:23 It happens that I was an understudy of the lead in one of the shows and I had gone off to Florida.

34:34 Anna vacation. And I got a phone call telling me that the lead had a sickness and that, I would, as understudy have to be the lead in the show. I told him that was impossible. There's no way. I could learn all those lines and being so, but they insisted that they would work with me and see that I was able to.

35:07 Perform the show.

35:10 As a matter of fact, it was very interesting because

35:16 Second act of the show opened with two men, discussing their product.

35:25 And then, as the leads got into the show at that point.

35:31 And when the curtain went up, they were nowhere to be found. They had.

35:39 Been a stage and didn't realize the show is going on. And there, I was on stage with the lead in the show and I had these other people supposedly talking and working up to the point where I would start walking.

36:02 So, what I did was I

36:06 Spoke their lines.

36:09 And walked up to the point where I was able to speak my lines.

36:14 And, of course, the audience didn't know the difference cuz they didn't know what was going on. These were musical comedies. You all start off with very accomplished musician, group on stage with the show was an orchestra.

36:36 Which was?

36:40 Probably the finest Orchestra group in the United States is made up of Studio musicians who were involved in producing most of the commercials.

36:58 Elite Orchestra.

37:01 Man.

37:05 Was the one who had written the commercial for Pepsi-Cola?

37:12 And he received.

37:17 Royalties, every time that commercial paid played and it was the one that won Pepsi-Cola hits the spot 12. Oz. That's twice as much nickel to Pepsi. Cola is the drink for you and that was on the radio 1000 times introducing Pepsi-Cola.

37:43 And at that time, the Pepsi Cola drink was $0.05.

37:49 Look at what it is now.

37:53 Dollar something, right? And you have that music going all the time.

38:01 Evanston James, James. James, and James rice beating?

38:16 Weathers.

38:18 And then they could improvise if they needed to if I didn't have the charge but he wrote all the charts, I think for them or however, they knew what it was.

38:32 End for dress rehearsal.

38:36 We have been trying to do all of the members of the family.

38:41 And I remember Peggy, when I appeared on stage. She came running down the aisle. Me yelling, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Stop the rehearsal to get her off the stage to get me off this stage. I have two sisters. That was just me. Okay, cuz my daughter Peggy was very aggressive.

39:07 And still is,

39:11 Anyway.

39:13 That was a tremendous experience in my life. Directing, those Musical shows.

39:21 Am raising money for those Charities? And then, when my ship my younger sister Polly got married, you had a reunions and saying at her wedding, with some of the guys from the show cuz I have a picture of that in your office.

39:35 Someone that succeeded.

39:41 Music director of the orchestra for off the ground. And he knew all the songs from the show.

39:50 And we convinced him to play some of the music at her wedding, right? And he had a great little Orchestra could play anything.

40:02 Several top musicians.

40:05 One of them became.

40:09 One of the head musicians on The Tonight Show.

40:16 Play.

40:19 Bass, fiddle and a violin.

40:22 Well, I have to say something because this is a conversation between us and you've been talking most of the time I get to also say that I moved to Wilmington in 2006. After 30 years living in Los Angeles and I was one of three daughters, and middle daughter. Older daughter younger. I was in the middle and I was my two. Kids had graduated their secondary high school education. And I moved here to learn the family business, for my dad, which is real estate development. What I did not anticipate was upon moving here. That I would hear some of the stories that you've told today, which I would never have heard, if I was still living in Los Angeles, cuz I wasn't here to hear them and one one that comes to mind was your stint. It may have been too far off the ground with Adlai Stevenson, which was quite interesting to me as as in the days of the event coordinator, I think for his house.

41:25 Covered that at all, and I know I remember you told me the balloons were all set for him to win the election in Illinois, and there were no cell phones or anything in those days. So when he lost, I think you did, you say you had to release the balloons? Anyways.

41:44 I was special events director for Adlai Stevenson.

41:51 And typically, I would get a call from mayor Daley's office.

41:57 That was the Richard. Daley was the real politician in Illinois. They would say good morning at 9 a.m. And we want a crowd at the airport.

42:15 And well, I've had no contact with how to get a crowd. Mayor Daley organized.

42:26 Politicians to come out there. So they had a big crowd.

42:32 And of course, that was my responsibility.

42:37 That was a wonderful experience working on his campaign, everything Sunrise, the third, right? It was interesting because we had a lot of security people, and they had a little lapel pin in their pocket in the coat, lapel used to every day. So, we had to be up to date on what that was. And for those members of The Campaign Committee.

43:11 We had.

43:12 Cold shoe.

43:17 That we wore on our lapel, that identified The Campaign Committee, which of course, I was a member of it. We would meet with Stevenson regularly and discuss the campaign and his speech that he was going to make.

43:37 So very, very interesting.

43:40 And all consuming were you disappointed that he lost your cell phone?

43:48 But you were all prepared for the at the headquarters of the winning candidate I suppose, right.

44:00 I read a number of things but I forgot to cover. How I got out of the military. Oh, well, we were at Sea Word came that the atomic bombs have been dropped in the Japan.

44:17 Was signing a peace treaty.

44:21 And so I also learned that with my three years of college.

44:29 In the engineering school.

44:32 I could get my degree.

44:36 In the Navy.

44:38 Are in the Merchant Marine without going to any additional schooling. So when I get back to the United States, finally.

44:49 Hey, resigned my commission to Kings Point.

44:54 And got a commission.

44:57 As a lieutenant, in the

45:02 Merchant Marine.

45:06 And of course that involved going to see if I was interested, but I was interested in going back to Wisconsin, which I did it, by Jay graduate degree as a mechanical engineer.

45:24 Has mechanical engineer?

45:27 I never determined to practice engineering because I was going into the family business, which is a Office Supply & Equipment business. However, I did. You realize my engineering ability to invent paper clip making machine.

45:48 We had we made paper clips.

45:52 And we had what we call a four, slide machine ahead.

45:59 16 of them. They produced 150 paper clips a minute.

46:09 Hyundai loan.

46:11 And I am very little machine.

46:16 That made paper clips at the rate of 625 a minute.

46:23 And was without the size of a small suitcase, set on the table and spit these clips out. They came out looking like water coming out of a faucet.

46:37 And we box from 100 to a box night at some of those boxes. Now. I found in the office General. Fasteners.

46:51 That's pretty outstanding. I've learned some stuff that I didn't know. I wasn't.

46:57 Privy to all the military stuff that you went into except that it cost you your hearing, which is difficult and frustrating. So we all have to be very patient with that.

47:10 And I wanted to know if it's the woman that you went back to graduate with was my mother.

47:16 When you graduate University of Wisconsin, you said you were dating a woman and you went back. That was my mom, right? Okay, just curious. Okay.

47:27 Thank you for my Akron. Ohio. That's right. And that's rude. We were married.

47:34 I thought that was a Jewish wedding where the pant, the guys were doing the music, or playing Ave Maria.

47:41 Are you were coming down the stairs in a Jewish wedding. In my grandfather? My mother's father, was what?

47:48 So I remember some of that. Thank you.