Help from the Home Front, WWII contrasted with today
Submitted by Clearsky on September 25, 2007 - 7:21am.
Firsthand Accounts
WWII - Help from on the home front
Submitted by Clearsky on September 25, 2007 - 7:06am.
Interesting reading in the General Discussion yesterday
some of the many things done by those Clarksters who were children on the Home Front in WWII.
I was a child then and your words on that time brought many memories.
Though I was born in New Orleans, We lived in the New Orleans suburbs then ---still called "the Northshore" --- where my fathers's direct ancestors had settled many years ago, on the Louisiana Gulf Coast,on the northshore of Lake Pontrchatrain, 20 minutes from the French Quarter and right next to the Mississippi state line and coast.
Because of the fact that the eyesight of the human is at the height of its best in childhood, two or more of us children would accompany the men who were too old for the draftso were up in the towers as civilians, and we went out to and up into these Towers that were built along that area of the Gulf Coast,very close to Lake Pontchatrain, for looking out over the Gulf.
We helped these older men civilians watch out onto the Gulf for signs of Japanese planes, especailly, but for ships and, especially, signs of Japanese submarines too.
Planes were always flying over New Orleans, and the Mississipi coast had many military bases. You can imagine how essential this was as the Port of New Orleans was the door to moving into the whole continenf on up the Mississippi River.
Navy, Army Air Force and Army.
I really do remember well the posters of silouhetted Japanese planes, and the constrasted American planes being posted on the walls inside of the towers, as guides for the men civilians and us to identify the planes flying overhead.
A few weeks ago, the media brought the news that a WW II Japanese submarine had been found at the bottom of the Gulf. So, perhaps our efforts were more valuable than we knew !!
The news articles went on to say that there were many, many Japanese subs in the Gulf during WWII. (funny, our parents and their friends worried more about German subs than Japanese subs. It was the Japanese planes they worried about..
I actually would have nightmares about some Nazi soldiers walking up off of the beach of the Gulf and into our town.
In addition to the sugar,gasoliine, etc. that you mentioned being rationed in WWII, I emember especially the stockings, except for the miserable rayon ones.
As I was so looking forward to eventually being old enough to wear stockings, I was some disappointed that "silk (and then), mylon) have gone to war."
The silk and nylon were especially needed for parachutes, but for other things too, and women were left with rayon stockings, which were almost impossible to keep from sagging, and too, weren't very sheer.
From Kindergarten forward, we also all belonged to the Junior Red Cross and we participated in events to raise money for the Red Cross. Especially the girls. The boys helped out with more physical tasks - "men's work." All were expected to "help the war effort", even the youngest saved the silver paper from their candy, etc.
and/or enclosed notes or drawings in the notes to the soldiers.
Many of us had parents who allowed us to correspond with a soldier or two that we knew well. Correspond as little sisters only. Because these were older brothers of our close friends and they and their parents knew us this way, we were allowed to correspond with them and receive (reviewed) letters from them.
We sent cookies too, etc.
I remember our little group having a fee-charged chorus and sing-along event for the parents during which we all dressed in our little white dress and had the lights out and held cnadles and sang, "Angels of Mercy "
... "Angels of mercy
We're calling to you
You march with your crosses of red
... March where the darkness
Shuts out the light
March where there is no dawn
And, Angels of Mercy
The world's covered with light
As your mercy goes marching on..."
We also saved silver paper from the wrappings of candy, etc. and made it into big balls that we took to the collection center.
And sat with our parents listening together to the war news on the radio (pre-tv), every night, asking them questions, having them explain etc.
Our parents counted on us for doing that for THEM :)
Clearsky
So many memories, tho I was very young.
Due to the ship-yards and war industry,
there were many air-raids (black-outs) with
sirens and search-lights sweeping the night-skies.
Dad was a block warden and had to go out and patrol the neighborhood wearing a helmet and armband and carrying an enormous flash-light. (I was proud, frightened and not quite certain what it was all about - I only knew that Hitler was a vicious tyrant. I did actually hear, with my family, Roosevelt's famous fire-side-chats.)
His day job was installing the then-new radar technology on ships and on the tug-boats that criss-crossed
S.F. Bay. (He took me out on one of the tug-boats one night and I got a glimpse of the lights on both bridges from below...I'll never forget that)
Mom was a volunteer at the Red Cross, at the newly founded Well-Baby Clinic and also a substitute teacher in the local district's elementary schools even tho she did not have a teaching credential - the Bay Area was growing with the influx of families of those seeking jobs in the war industry so rapidly that schools went on double shifts (they talked about this phenomena in Mobile on last night's episode)
saving stamps to buy war bonds (called Victory Bonds if not mistaken), wearing half-soled shoes, everything rationed...so much more
But most importantly and sadly missing, a heart-felt pride in America, in our military, and even in each other...
thanks for your diary Clearsky
for making this into a separate blog. How 'bout if I move the rest of last night's discussion about "The War" from the dead thread over here to this one in case there are others who want to add their memories?
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(from last night's thread)
Showing here, too (The War)
Submitted by NCGram on September 24, 2007 - 8:06pm.
Watched last night and it sure brought back memories. Convoys formed up off our RI shores to cross the Atlantic and some of the ships were torpedoed there. My Dad, and others from the Yacht Club who had power boats were part of civilian Coast Guard who patrolled looking for periscopes of U-boats as they surfaced to look for ships to torpedo. Oil slicks and flotsam were common on south county beaches. There were submarine nets across the mouth of Narragansett Bay, we had blackout curtains on all windows after dark, and blacked out top half of auto headlights. There was strict r ationing of gas, and we stood in line for butter, sugar, etc.
Many volunteered as aircraft spotters and even we young teenagers drilled with flashcards of enemy planes so we would know one if we saw it. Our mothers spent many hours rolling bandages, knitting mittens, socks for troops. Everyone was expected to contribute somehow, and did, without grumbling. WE bought war bonds and saved tin cans to help make munitions. Many neighbors and relatives fought either in Europe or the Pacific, and those that are left can only rarely, if at all, mention things they saw and went through.
So, compared to what we haven't been asked to do in this conflict, it sure points out how the administration has sanitized the whole thing. What will young people today remember of it when they are grown? Not the slaughter, fire bombings, forced marches, POW camps, etc. that we grew up seeing pictures of and hearing about in v-mails from those in the service. There is so little sense of sacrifice today - only by the friends and families who have lost someone or had them grievously injured. A sad commentary on society today.
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Amen NCGram
Submitted by justcallmeOHIO on September 24, 2007 - 8:38pm.
Amen.
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100% recall, NCGram
Submitted by Sybil Liberty on September 24, 2007 - 9:44pm.
very nice
Not too very long ago they unearthed a Japanese torpedo in Mendocino county...must have been a dud. Near Caspar actually, not too far from the wreck.
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Your post
Submitted by ms in la on September 24, 2007 - 10:48pm.
really touched me NCGram...
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You have hit the nail on the head NC.
Submitted by PAforClark on September 25, 2007 - 5:12am.
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My GenDiscuss message moved to my blog
Submitted by Clearsky on September 25, 2007 - 7:41am.
You can see it by clicking on my name above and then on "view blog entries".
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Yes, amazing how sharp
Submitted by NCGram on September 25, 2007 - 7:50am.
those memories are when something triggers them. It seems to come as we age and short term memory starts to slip a bit - things that took place 65+ years ago pop up very clearly, sometimes complete with sound, scent.
Listening to the bombers and fighter last night made me recall the whistle of a F4U Corsair with it's inverted gull wings, the deep throbbing rumble of TBF Grumman Avengers, and the lazy put put of Catalina PBY flying boats as they came in from submarine patrol. We spent our summers in Wickford, well down Narragansett Bay and right across from Quonset Point NAS, so saw, heard and lived with them daily. Some of the pilots lived off base and we sat on their porches of an off-duty evening and drilled with them on enemy aircraft recognition.
One thing I can't seem to dredge up is the name of the stamps we school children used to buy and paste in books. When we had a full book they were converted to War Bonds. Do you remember them, Clearsky?
Another vivid memory is of a woman from our neighborhood whose son was a Navy pilot who was shot down and captured by the Japanese, and killed. LIFE magazine always had pretty graphic photos of the war and one memorable one was of a Japanese officer with his sword raised, about to behead an American flyer. She always said she was positive the airman in the picture was her Bobby. I sat a row or so away from her in church and always wondered how she could bear such a thing. In cold weather months she always wore a close fitting cloche made of pheasant feathers and to see that feathered head bowed in prayer was beyond sadness for this 13 year old to contemplate as I wondered if some of the pilots we had known as they trained met the same fate.
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Yes, NC, I remember the stamps from WWII
Submitted by Clearsky on September 25, 2007 - 8:28am.
Yes, NC, I well remember the stamps that we children used to collect and paste in books til we filled them, and then they were traded in for War Bonds.
They were called, "Savings Stamps"
(such a nice title, hm?)
That whole thing of having War Bonds and Saving Stamps was a happy thing,while also being a (mildly) profitable thing for individual Americans to invest in and save with, and with a meme filled with pride as Americans, a patriotic thing---
A view that was an eternity removed from the yucky, miserable memes of our current government's approach to the public on fiancing our government, adn, especially this war:
Cold blooded greedy and constantly reminding us of the ever-increading debt with all the constant talk of raising taxes/not reaising taxes, graft, etc.
No calls for high values of character toward our country. Now, this administration empahsizes that everything to do with financing our country is something bad, nothing good to it.
A sure reflection of the leaders and the leadership of our times. Money talks.
Nice that you brought up the Savings Stamps --- we all felt to good about contributing our little parts by buying our little Savings Stamps and pasting them in our little books,and then, eventually turning them in in exchange for a War Bond ("See? I'm helping too" Big smile.)
One of my first events having to do with War Bonds was a giant event in New Orleans where families atteneded, and we saw and heard famous stars perform at a "War Bond Rally" in New Orleans City Park.
Clearsky
p.s There are "Savings Stamps" for sale on ebay. If you have some tucked away somewhere (I don't), they bring a very good price: *ebay.com)"
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Submitted by NCGram on September 25, 2007 - 9:06am.
Now I remember. Thanks. Weren't we proud when a book was filled and we had a new bond? Imagine something like that in today's schools! --
good idea. This way we can referencethe stories from us, WWII little kids, at leisure. and it will be around for awhile after the Gen Discuss has long scrolled off.
Clearsky
The smell of the gas mask. Ugh
The terror when a plane flew over.....aunt and uncle were bombed out of their flat....a stray, as they were headed for Clydeside where they built the ships.(THG they weren't home at the time.)
Rationing......and the day candy went off rationing. :)
Blackout curtains. My Mum used hers to iron on for the rest of her life. They were very thick and downright indestructible.
At 4 years of age ...being terrified of the unshaven, disheveled man who came to our house....took my Mum in his arms and kissed her. Dad had come home from the war.
People want leadership......and in the absence of leadership, they will listen to anyone who walks up to the microphone.
Lewis Rothschild, in "American President"
I have a friend in East Anglia who has the same memories from when he was a boy and planes flew over - sometime way too low. At first there was the terror they were German, and there were a number of American Air bases in the area as well. Often bombers or fighters returning from their runs across the channel, and badly damaged by flak or in dogfights, came sputtering in just over the treeetops and occasionally crashed before they made it to landing field. He says kids used to hang around the airfield hoping to talk to the young American pilots, who they all but worshipped. One of his most vivid memories of those war years is the pilots handing out Hershey bars to the kids. The sweets were treasured!
He remembers the posh countryhouses turned in to hospitals for injured troops and the constant comings and goings of ambulances.
You children in the UK certainly had a much closer look at those turbulent years than we did. Many British children were sent to US to live with relatives or friends to get them away from the danger. Two of them lived in our neighborhood and were quite a source of education for us in our relatively protected lives.
...too young ...born in '43. But what I do remember is pretty vivid.....and the fear of planes stayed with me for a few years after the war.
Have you seen the movie Hope and Glory? One of my all time favorites.
People want leadership......and in the absence of leadership, they will listen to anyone who walks up to the microphone.
Lewis Rothschild, in "American President"
Thank you so much for these memories. My late mother used to tell me stories of the Homefront during her teenage war years in Elkhart, Indiana. I was always riveted by them. She was very proud to have done what little a teenager could do then.
Never let us forget, the ordinary man, woman and child, who, on the Homefront helped lead this nation through sacrifice, determination and courage, to victory in the Second World War.
Don't Blame Me for the last 25 years, I voted for John Anderson in 1980 and Wes Clark in 2004. :-)