History of Sorts

This is my interview with Maida Purdy, who wrote a book about her father, Robert Purdy.

Robert Purdy was born in 1919 in Wisconsin and raised in Detroit, Michigan. After completing two years of college, he began working as a machinist and tool-and-die maker in Ford and Chrysler auto plants. During this time, he became active in the labor movement and joined the Communist Party.

Outraged by Adolf Hitler’s aggression in Europe, Purdy and two of his brothers enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1942. He served as a B-24 pilot, flying 17 missions before being shot down over Vicenza, Italy. Captured by German forces, he spent 18 months in a prison camp until its liberation in May 1945. His brother Harry, also a pilot, was killed in action over Germany.

After the war, Purdy returned to Detroit and resumed his work as a tool-and-die maker in the auto industry. He married and had a daughter, Laura. When the marriage ended in 1952, he moved to California, where he worked for the Schlage Lock Company in San Francisco. In 1961, shortly after the Bay of Pigs invasion, he and a friend traveled to Cuba.
While in Cuba, Mr. Purdy taught the tool-and-die trade, sharing his technical skills to help train local workers. During his time there, he met Hilda Giraldez, whom he later married. Together, they had a daughter, Maida.
Maida wrote te book about his time during WW2.