Why They Joined the Project
Frances Koral
— I felt I could contribute to the War effort by going on this Farm Project. And it tickled me also, the idea of going away from home and being a farmer. And you had a straw hat.
Elliot Levine
— I had nothing to do for the summer. And they were advertising this thing very strongly and I asked a buddy of mine what I ought to do about it, and he said, "Do it!" he said, "You'll come back and you'll be so strong you'll be able to pick me up and spin me around," 'cause he was the athlete and I was the Yeshiva boucher.
Marion Greenstone
— The War was on and they needed people to do this work. And it seemed like a great opportunity to get out of New York, to get away from the family and be in the country. And so we went on to Morrisville in upstate. I'd never been there, never lived like that.
Marjorie Brockman
— Well, I think from the background that I've conveyed to you and the fact that I was totally immersed in rural America, that this was an opportunity to get out of the city in the summer, that there were friends of mine who were going. Marion and Fran and a lot of other people that I liked.
Elliot Levine
— So many of the boys were in the service and there was a labor shortage. And I was lucky enough to be 4-F. I had a thing called a pilenidal cyst— you can look that up— a minor ailment that they didn't want in the Army.
Phyllis LeShaw
— We were all very socially conscious, and there may have been some part of this that crept in. But the basic idea is that was a lot of fun, you take one course and you have a good time. I have to confess that it was for personal reasons rather than sociological or political reasons that we did this. I think that's what motivated us. It could be because the War effort was a part of us, a part of our lives, and this was another part of it. There was a consciousness, let's put it that way. A consciousness, but I don't know if there was a motivation.
Marjorie Brockman
— I knew from my experience at Holcut that they were having a hard time harvesting crops, and this was an organized effort for which you could take an English course, and seemed like absolutely the perfect thing to do. It seemed like a wonderful idea. I was really very excited. And of course, we were patriotic and we wanted to make a contribution to our side in the War and this seemed like a good way.