Janet Abell - Growing Up in a Military Family

2015-06-29T14:00:00 (Creation date: 2015-06-29T14:00:00)

Describes being the daughter in a military family. Ms. Abell attended 12 schools in 12 years. Talks about how growing up in the military gives her an extra degree of patriotism and appreciation for those serving in the military. She also recounts special family moments while living abroad.

Ms. Abell was raised the daughter of William P. Roe, a career military man. She traveled extensively growing up, living in several countries, including West Berlin, West Germany, South Korea and West Point, New York.

Maverick Veterans' Voices

Special Collections

Transcript

Interviewee: Ms. Janet Abell
Interviewer: Heather Scalf
Date of Interview: June 29, 2015
Location of Interview: University of Texas at Arlington Central Library,
Arlington Texas
Transcriber: Matthew Hail

Scalf: This is Heather Scalf, today is June 29th, 2015 and I am interviewing Janet Abell, the daughter of
William P. Rowe, for the first time. This interview is taking place at the University of Texas at Arlington’s
Central Library in Arlington Texas. This interview is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, and is part of
the Maverick Veterans’ Voices Project.
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 my dad’s little butter
bars, his Lieutenant bars. 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 to me to move. It’s a lot of
upheaval, but it seemed like a natural progression almost every year. I grew up in many different school
systems and several different countries, and I realized early 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 are old.
Abell: I associate time with places where I lived, memories. If I’m thinking about a particular year, then
the pictures that come into my mind are where I was year. 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 military, 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 run 
into 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 interesting… 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 in my twenties and stationed over in West
Berlin at the time.
Scalf: Okay, so travelling while your family was serving, what are some of your fondest 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. The College/University atmosphere was a really healthy
incentive, made me want 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 ten to thirteen-year-old stationed there at
the time. It was a wonderful experience. Riding my bike on the trails of Stony Lonesome down to Michie
Stadium, going to the football 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
attended West Point and it was nice to have that in common, we could talk about those similarities, and
he has serves in the Army 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 realize that’s
significant for him, not just for the family, but something that you thought was significant thing for him?
Abell: I think about the significance of his tour of duty in Seoul, South Korea at Yongsan Army 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 there that the North had built into the South and I was really, as an older teenager I was
about sixteen or seventeen, I was really impressed by that. That put into perspective his civil engineering
background along with his intelligence background and I thought that came together very nicely.
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 528th engineering command, that’s one
thing you learn growing up, a lot of the titles of the units. You get to learn that military jargon, that
language pretty readily, I still know his Social Security Number, and its 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 a toll physically getting 6 or 8 shots to prepare
for those exotic possibilities. And getting 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 know a lot of people said that if the military
wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you 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 person that you could meet. So, I’m very proud of that. I’m proud that that’s my heritage
and that’s what I gained from him.
Scalf: It’s a great heritage. So, his transition from military to 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 winter time when 
we went to Hawaii so it was very nice and warm, tropical. And I begged every assignment, please let’s go
to Hawaii, please let’s go to Hawaii. And he waited until I was fully grown, that was his last military
assignment. So, selfishly, I was a little annoyed at that. I did not get to go, because we were so far away,
to his military 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’s a big transition to go from a military way of life to not having an active military way of life. And
he 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 he was
done working, retired, and started, you know enjoyed his time. And I don’t think he looked back and
regretted anything, I think he fulfilled a lot of the dreams 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 influence your views on
today’s military and things that are going on now, what’re your 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 they enable us to have. Because
having lived in Seoul, South Korea, outside of the Army post, we lived 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 for 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. Truly the best place on the planet to be.
Scalf: So, is there anything that you would like to contribute that I didn’t ask?
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 troop ship, but it was part of the Cunard Line, which is a famous 
English, European cruise line and we helped out some friends and brought their big Dalmatian dog back
and there are memories from being only three and a half years old.
I have going into downtown Seoul and exploring places and fishing at West Point. He taught me
how to thread a worm on a hook, you know, and there’s a lot of basic that 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 I just appreciate the life that he gave
me with the world wide perspective that I gained from the military experience as a dependent child. That’s
about it.
Scalf: It has been a pleasure talking to you today and I appreciate you spending the time, and I
appreciate your service, I know growing up as a dependent is not always easy. There are rewards, but
there are also difficulties as well. I appreciate the support of your father’s service and your support of this
project.
Abell: Thank you for having me.