Gordon Melin

Gordon Melin

Veteran

An oral history interview with Easton resident Gordon Melin. Gordon discusses what the town was like in the 1950s and after he returned from service in the army.

Melin, Gordon

300 Years, 300 Stories

01/20/2022

Almquist-Olsen, Priscilla

Creative Commons

MPEG Video

English

Audio and Visual Recording

MPEG Video

0:16:55

Priscilla Almquist-Olsen: And what is your name?

Gordon Melin: Gordon Melin.

Almquist-Olsen: Thank you, Gordon. Okay, welcome and tell us what branch of the service you served in?

Melin: I was in the army from 1957 to 1964.

Almquist-Olsen: And what did you do in the military?

Melin: I was in the 105 Howitzers, field artillery.

Almquist-Olsen: Okay, oh. So you had those big guns?

Melin: That’s right, yeah.

Almquist-Olsen: What made you want to join the military?

Melin: I don’t know why. I just signed up. I signed up in June and I went on my active duty in September 1957.

Almquist-Olsen: Okay.

Melin: That’s a long time ago.

Almquist-Olsen: Yes it is, but you served for seven years?

Melin: That’s right, to 1964.

Almquist-Olsen: Right, so-

Melin: But three of those-

Almquist-Olsen: Was there something about Easton that inspired you to go into the service?

Melin: Well my father was in World War I. His name is down on the tablet down on Main Street where the old North Easton Grammar School is right on the Main Street. And my two brothers. John was in the army- I’ll start with my oldest. Bob was in the army in 1948-55 and John was in 1953-1955. So I guess that’s what got me to join the army too.

Almquist-Olsen: Okay, and so after your service, what was it like coming home to Easton?

Melin: Well when I come home, I bought a brand new car from Mitrano’s Chevrolet. At that time, he was a nice guy to all the veterans. He would give you a big discount on a car, because, I didn’t have any car to trade in. And I got a nice car then and every- every two years I would get another car because, I was- I don’t know. My parents used to get mad at me for doing that. “[inaudible].” I don’t know, I just did that. And then- And then, I don’t know if people know, that Mitrano’s was on Main Street between the North Easton Grammar School and where the Mitrano building is, where the Bill’s Pizza Place and that parking lot was Mitrano’s Chevrolet Company. That was a long time ago too.

Almquist-Olsen: And he was pretty wonderful to the children in Easton.

Melin: Oh he was, yes. He was a nice- That was Paul Mitrano. Then there was a Danny. And then there was one other Mitrano. One owned a liquor store where the insurance company is. And then where Bill’s Pizza Place was a Mitrano’s Market. And then I remember Brown’s, I think it was Brown’s, Taxi Cab he had that little place next to Bill’s a little store where he had his place doing [inaudible]. That was way back in the 50s.

Almquist-Olsen: Well you really remember the way it was.

Melin: Yeah

Almquist-Olsen: And how is Easton supportive of Veterans?

Melin: Well they do good. Yeah. This Cory. He’s a nice nice nice guy.

Almquist-Olsen: Who’s Cory?

Melin: Cory… I don’t know his last - the Veteran’s Administrator.

Almquist-Olsen: Ahonen?

Melin: Yeah, the Veteran Administrator. I know his last name but I don’t know if I can pronounce it right.

Almquist-Olsen: Ahonen.

Melin: Aco- Acon?

Almquist-Olsen: No, Ahonen.

Melin: Ahonen.

Almquist-Olsen: Right, Ahonen.

Melin: Yeah, yeah he’s been nice.

Almquist-Olsen: It’s Finnish.

Melin: Oh, is he Finnish? Yeah, and we’re Swedish.

Almquist-Olsen: I know.

Melin: Svenska.

Almquist-Olsen: So, besides the Veterans’ Agent, are there any other services in town that support Veterans and support you?

Melin: Well we have the VFW. We meet up there. And then, yeah there’s, I don’t know so much, but the commander is Theresa. And she’s a nice, she’s a good commander there. She’s nice. Oh yeah, we get a lot of stuff from different businesses and everything to help us to keep surviving I would say. I don’t know the exact, you know, how many or who they are. That’s why I say this Theresa, she’s the commander of the league and if anybody wanted to know they could call up the league and she can give a list of the different ones that help us out.

Almquist-Olsen: Now tell me-

Melin: We have the POW - B Drive that’s right. We have the Pawpee Drive down the Dunkin’ Donuts, down Roche plaza. Then the one up at Five Corners, that supports us. And then we used to go over to Market Basket in West Bridgewater, but with this virus and everything that kind of stopped all of that, though.

Almquist-Olsen: Okay so you live on Reynolds Street and it was the house that your grandparents built, I believe.

Melin: Right.

Almquist-Olsen: And your parents lived there and your dad and Alfonse and his wife, Eva.

Melin: Right.

Almquist-Olsen: And I can remember going there as a little girl bringing my mother’s dues for the SFFA because your mother was the treasurer, okay.

Melin: Right.

Almquist-Olsen: Also on that street lived Bob Haglund. And there is at the corner of Reynolds and Williams now, the veterans have put up a sign that says the Robert Haglund Square and he died during World War II.

Melin: Right.

Almquist-Olsen: Did you know him?

Melin: I didn’t know him. Because he was much older than me. Because, he had to be because he was World War II. And I was only about 10 years old, 11 years, 12 years old. No, 10 years old. I was born in 1935, that’s right. I didn’t know him that much. But I knew his - I knew David Hall.

Almquist-Olsen: And who was David?

Melin: David Hall, that was his uncle that got killed in World War II. Haglund.

Almquist-Olsen: Oh okay. Well Robert Haglund was the one that was killed in World War II.

Melin: Yes.

Almquist-Olsen: And the square was named… But there was another David Haglund who was-

Melin: No, David Hall.

Almquist-Olsen: Oh, David Hall?

Melin: Yeah, David Hall, yeah.

Almquist-Olsen: That was Gathry’s son?

Melin: That’s right, yes.

Almquist-Olsen: No, but he would be just, you know, maybe six years younger than you.

Melin: Yeah, about five. Yeah, about five.

Almquist-Olsen: But Gathry was Robert Haglund’s sister.

Melin: That’s right, yes.

Almquist-Olsen: And she was your neighbor forever.

Melin: Oh forever, yeah. She would be at the town meetings checking off everybody as they come in the door. She was active in the town.

Almquist-Olsen: She was, right. And she was a member of our church.

Melin: That’s right.

Almquist-Olsen: Holy Trinity Lutheran.

Melin: Right.

Almquist-Olsen: And what was the name of it originally?

Melin: It was down on Williams Street and Jenny Lind’s Street and it was-

Almquist-Olsen: And what was its name?

Melin: Swedish Lebanon Lutheran Church.

Almquist-Olsen: Right, Swedish Evangelical Lebanon Lutheran Church.

Melin: Yeah, that’s right.

Almquist-Olsen: Right, and we were both members, weren’t we?

Melin: Right and the Luther League. And I got confirmed in there in 1949.

Almquist-Olsen: Did you participate in the church basketball league?

Melin: No, no I did not. I don’t think-

Almquist-Olsen: That came after you?

Melin: Yeah, I think that was after me. Yeah, that was after me.

Almquist-Olsen: Okay, so what do you remember most when you came home? What was Easton like, when you returned from the military?

Melin: Well, when I came home, I just said- Well, I didn’t come home too much for Thanksgiving, because I always held off on my leave [inaudible] ground in the country then I come home for Christmas instead because you had a longer leave because you’d have Christmas off and then you didn’t have to come back until after New Years’ holiday. So sometimes I would spend 2-3 times away from things [inaudible].

Almquist-Olsen: But in 1964 when you left the service-

Melin: Right.

Almquist-Olsen: What was it like coming home to Easton?

Melin: Well, I was happy.

Almquist-Olsen: But what was the town like at that time? Do you remember?

Melin: Oh, oh- I can go back to the- want me to go back to the 50s when we only had three police on the force?

Almquist-Olsen: Sure.

Melin: Do you? Yeah. Because I remember that because then I was in the high school, you know, so, that was when I was 16. A lot of people don’t believe that. We always- My father used to tell me when he was a kid they didn’t have any midnight shift to like 8 o’clock in the morning. And then another thing, I wasn’t in that group, but in the 50s we used to walk down to the library when it was open at nine o’clock at night. Because there was nothing to do in the 50s. We didn’t have a place to hang around but now you can hang around now you can hang around McDonalds and stuff like that. So we’d go by- there was always a group, because in the 50s, we didn’t have TV too much. There would be a group down Main Street that were hanging around Lounge, Jackie Lounge. He’d have his car down there and there was Sammy. And all the ones that lived up Main Street there. They would sit in their cars. And then on the corner, I told our people about this, on the corner of Center and Main Street the telephone poll there, they had a light on. There was only one police officer. Well there was two on at night. But most of the time he would hang around, not hang around, but stand in front of O’Connor’s news store and when that light comes on he would run in the back store, back around, answer the phone. And then all the ones that were sitting in cars, they would just sit in the cars and talk and hang out in front of the place. As soon as he come out of the store they would say “What is it?” Mostly it was Josh Pearson was on that shift. And he would say “accident down by the cemetery” or I’m just [inaudible]. But there used to be a lot of accidents in front of the cemetery. After that, anybody would take off, and there would be about three or four cars following the cruiser down there because he would be just by himself. I learned from my brother. You know, a lot of people would go to the accident and they would want to go right up front and see what it was like. He would go and point, he would say “you, you, and you. You help”. Because he was all by himself. At that time they would just put them on the stretcher. They didn’t work on them. And shwoomp. They had to go to the Brockton Hospital because the Goddard hospital didn’t have emergency, they just, you know, had the maternity ward like. And they would just take them over like that. A lot of people don’t know how much we’ve advanced in that medical stuff, you know, with the ambulance and fire department. And I was on call too. I was on call for the fire department too. My two brothers were on call for the fire department. And boy, it was cold hanging on, you didn’t sit inside of the cab on the truck. You hung on the back there. When you get to a fire, your fingers were so cold you couldn’t start laying out hoses, if you had to do that for about five or ten minutes. It was fun, not fun, but, you know, it was a good experience. Then the whistles would blow. I think you would remember the whistles. You remember the fire whistles? We had 18. They would blow one and then eight, that was for the North Easton. Then the South Easton had 4-2-1 they would blow four, then two, and then one. And if it blew 4-2-1 we wouldn’t have to go up, the North Easton, unless it was bad then they’d call the North Easton department to go down there. The two little towns like, North Easton and South Easton at that time. But we got along good. We got along good, yeah. That was before, that was before I went into the service. That was in the 60s, I guess- no it would have to be in the 50s. No I don’t think I- I was on the axillary fire department before that. That was in ‘54, because I remember we had that hurricane in ‘54. Down by Damps on Union Street, that pond overflowed. And we had to stand - my brother had to stand like on one side for the cars coming from Brockton and I had to stand on the other side coming down from Boylston Street and tell them that the road was blocked like. At that time, we had a lot of axillary police and axillary fire department. But it was a big town to cover and we didn’t have the communication like we do now. You just talk “Hello, yeah, I’m down here” or something. Once they leave you off there you are there until they come back to pick you up again. Sometimes we be there 3 or 4 hours standing, making sure nobody gets, you know, stuck in the water. No, it was fine. You learn a lot back then I think. And things, I always tell everybody, things were much better then, too, back then.

Almquist-Olsen: What was that?

Melin: Things were much better back then, too. You know. I don’t know. Somehow the people were more closely knitted together like.

Almquist-Olsen: Yes, it was like a big family, wasn’t it?

Melin: It was, yes. Yeah, no, yeah. It was like a big family, yeah. Going back to the house, you know, I’ve got the original deed for that house. There was no Reynolds Street then when the house was built there. And my grandfather built the house five lots down. I got all the, if anybody ever wants to look at the old deeds and how they made them out. Hymen Williams owned all that land. Williams Street, Jenny Lind’s Street, Reynolds Street, it was all Hymen, or Herman. It was Williams Street. That’s why Willian’s Street’s named after him. On the deed it says five lots down. The old townies, they were pretty smart. Because when my grandfather started the house, I’m pretty sure it was the first house built on Reynolds Street. That was just like a little driveway coming down from Williams Street. He did it where it was leveled off. The first four houses, well you know too because you lived in that area, are always up in the hill and then with my house, he did it, when the land got flat there. My father would tell me between Reynolds Street and Jenny Lind’s Street they used to go- there was a pond there in between the two streets and they used to go skating. I have some old pictures of him skating. The orange cows that used to live across the street back in those old days and they used to go skating there. That’s why the houses on, what’s it, the south side of Reynolds Street are older, been there longer, than the houses on the north side because that was all lowland, it was almost wetland like that then.

Almquist-Olsen: Yes, now, tell me, what year did your grandfather build the house?

Melin: 1890, but it didn’t get completed until 1892.

Almquist-Olsen: Okay.

Melin: Back then, everything had to be done by hand. They didn’t have the things they have now. And you wonder, how did they ever dig out the cellars on those and move those big stones? Because then it wasn’t cement. They’d build a house on big stones, big stones like that.

Almquist-Olsen: They form the foundation.

Melin: Yeah, the foundation.

Almquist-Olsen: Listen, Gordon, we could talk and talk and you’ve got so many stories. But I want to thank you so much for all the information you gave. Especially about those in the 40s and 50s and even beyond. So, thank you so much.

Melin: One other thing. I got a job through the [inaudible] at the Oliver Ames high school to work over all the parts, that was the electronics. We had facsimile receipts back in the late 50s and 60s. But people didn’t know what they were. They weren’t like now, those little small things. They were made out of - They were clumsy things. But I worked there 39 years.

Almquist-Olsen: Really?

Melin: Yeah.

Almquist-Olsen: Wow, okay. And now you’re retired and you’re still living on Reynolds Street in the house your grandfather built?

Melin: Yeap, that’s right. I hope to keep it in the same name, but I don’t know. I got nephews and nieces, but they might have a different idea when I’m gone, I guess. I hope they don’t. I hope they keep it in the same name.

Almquist-Olsen: Thank you Gordon Melin, for your wonderful stories. We appreciate it. And thank you for your service in the army.

Melin: Well, thank you.

Almquist-Olsen, Priscilla

Melin, Gordon