MORE WARTIME MEMORIES

I did forget to mention that when we kids were at school, we were taught to duck under our desks if the sirens went off during school hours.

Some families, if they could afford it, built, or had someone build for them, bomb shelters. These were underground rooms dug fairly deep, and I believe, since I never actually saw one,

except in the newsreels, that they were encased with thick layers of concrete, floor, ceiling and walls. They were big enough for all the members of that family to sit and eat, or whatever, and had sleeping quarters for all. they had to have a good supply of non-perishable food and lots of bottles, big ones, full of water, and some bathroom accommodations, at least a toilet of some kind, if nothing else. And, a radio, 2-way, if possible. and flashlights, in case their power went off. first-aid supplies were laid-in, too.

The door that led down into this room had to be reinforced concrete, also, to withstand the explosions of any bombs, and also, to prevent anyone from trying to get in there with that family. It was speculated that during a bombing, people would panic and try to seek safety with the neighbors who had one of the shelters, and might storm the shelter in their panicked state. It was also thought that if people weren't prepared and had no food, that might be another reason that the 'sheltered' families would be sort of 'under seige' by their neighbors.

We, personally, didn't know of anyone with one of those.

I'm not sure whether any of our cities built shelters for city dwellers. I do know that other countries did. Even in some of the movies, especially those made after the war, the bomb shelters were depicted .

Anyway, the war had everyone on edge.

Some of the parents of the soldiers and sailors who got killed, had a 'GOLD STAR' in their windows. We had at least one on our street, probably more farther up the street. These 'stars' were a square piece of fabric, I think, either dark blue or purple, and a gold star was in the middle. It had a frame around the edge, with a little gold fringe, I think, along the bottom, and they were hung with a golden cord with which to display it in their front-room windows.

It was so sad to see that, to know that those folks had lost a son to war .

There was a young woman on our side of the street who joined the Marines. I don't know if women Marines had any kind of 'auxiliary, but the Army had WACS, which stood for Womens' Army Corps. the Navy had WAVES, but don't remember if that was an acronym or not. There were women in all branches of our Military. Some saw combat, but, generally, they were given comparatively 'safer' positions in their respective units. Many served as nurses.

Yes, wartime is a frightening thing, but, as a child, until I saw a 'Gold Star', or heard FDR on the radio, giving us encouragement, much like Winston Churchill did in England, I still had

fun, doing all the things I already mentioned . We kids played our games with a ball, or hide and seek, or tag, or Mother, may I ? or some of us liked to play a game of marbles, or Aggies, as we in our neighborhood called them, or a game of 'jacks' , or we jump-roped. I was pretty good at that, plain jump-roping or 'double-dutch' jumprope . Had good coordination.

Of course, our parents gave us encouragement, not so much with words, but by just being there, helping all of us to live our lives as normally as we could. Daddy went to work, except for when he got sick during wintertime with pneumonia. Then Mamma would have to stop the alarm from going off, in order for him to stay home, where she could take care of him. they couldn't afford hospital care, so he would be home, after waking up later than usual and finding out that Mamma tricked him into staying home, and fussing with her. He DID need to work, so he could support his family, but she figured a couple of days, where she fed him good, nourishing food, and gave him a tonic, which was either port or muscatel wine, with a raw egg in it, would help him to get well, and get his strength back. It did help some, but Daddy was so determined to take care of his family, that he got upset with Mamma. and went right back to work, after those days off, and he wasn't always much better .

We kids went to school, Mamma would go out for food, or other stuff, and life was as normal as they could make it. the whole neighborhood was like that.

Every night, we would gather around the old radio in the living room, and listen to the different programs that were broadcast. We especially loved the funny ones that made all of us laugh. Some of those were Fibber McGee and Molly, who had a closet so crammed full, that every time Fibber opened it, all kinds of stuff would come tumbling out. He would laugh, and she would say, "'Tain't funny, McGee' ! That was like their 'tag line'. Another one was Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy . Charlie was a ventriloquist dummy, and his 'tag line' was ,

"I'll mow ya down" ! Abbott and Costello was another funny one, and Jack Benny. There were so many of them. some of the mystery programs were, "I Love a Mystery" . with 3 guys, buddies, named Jack, Doc, and Reggie. I loved their adventures. "The Shadow" was another

really good show, where the good guy, 'Lamont Cranston, wealthy man about town' was one of my favorites also. He was a rich, debonair society guy, who, under cover of darkness, fought crime. He was invisible to those he pursued . He always got his man, and solved every case ! 'Inner Sanctum' was one of the scary shows...a huge door would creak open and a voice would say something creepy. The voice belonged to a character named, Rigor Mortis . that was a little too scary for me. think I didn't stay around to hear that one. There were lots of musical shows, with some really great bands playing, Glen Miller being my personal favorite, although I loved to hear all of them...Artie Shaw, brothers Jimmy and tommy Dorsey, each with their own band, and style, Woody Herman, Harry James, who was married to THE pin-up girl during WWII. A picture or poster of her and her 'million dollar legs' hung in so many servicemen's lockers. Betty Grable actually had her legs insured for that amount by Lloyds

of London, a very prestigious insurance company . Too many great bands to list.

Detective type shows were, 'Mr. Keene, Tracer of Lost Persons' , and yet another, 'Sam Spade, another, Philip Marlowe. Many good shows, too many to list all of them here.

So, that's what our family, parents included, did most evenings. It only took our imagination to 'SEE' each show. They made us forget, for a little while, that our country was at war.

The war lasted from 1941 until 1945 . Many lives lost, many sacrifices made, many tears shed over the loss of so many fathers, sons, husbands, brothers . Some of the losses were women, but it was mostly the boys and men who gave up their lives on the battlefield .

That was indeed, a war that started with 'A Day that will Live in INFAMY ', as then President,

Franklin D. roosevelt put it. That day was December 7, 1941 .

We now, also have experienced another 'Day that will Live in INFAMY , September 11, 2001 .

Let us pray that the war that has been raging on since then, will end soon, please God, and that all nations will put down their weapons and wage war no more . Let love for our fellow man come into all hearts, so we can act like decent human beings once again.

I leave you with this thought.

D