December 7 reminds me of world war two.
I was born the year that Guernica was bombed in Spain and Picasso produce his huge painting in response to that event.
http://arts.anu.edu.au/polsci/courses/pols1005/2007/Images/Picasso.Guernica2.jpg
Look at the anguish in the people and the animals at that attack.
I remember very little except the fear that some one would be looking in my window from one of those countries. Now we do not even use the words we used to describe them then.
I had two uncles who served in the military. The others were the wrong age. One was a machinist mate on a submarine, the other a medic in the army. I was not told much about either one’s service, though a few pictures survive of the medic uncle.
He was in the Philippines during the heaviest fighting, as I remember the story. As a medic he choose to be unarmed and carried out his life saving work. The pictures show him with some of his buddies near a wrecked airplane. They were smiling, but I am sure it terrible. He never talked about any of it.
Both my father and my step father were born the same year and were “too old” to be drafted. However by 1945, near the end of the war, every one who was remotely able was called up and my step father was drafted.
He went to boot camp and then to cooks and bakers school (Interestingly his family had been bakers and had run a family bakery), but the armistice was signed about the time he finished his training and he was discharged early.
I remember rationing. We did not have a car, and neither did my grandparents who lived in the same town. We walked or hitched rides. I remember mom putting Joyce and I to bed and she sat, in the dark, listening to the radio.
The whole country was superbly paranoid (for good reason, by the way), about attacks from all sides, and there were frequent and total black outs. That is my early memory of the war.
I remember the day it was over and the joy we all felt. Even for a 7 year old, it had been a very traumatic time.
All of this comes into my mind early in December, each year.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
2 comments:
You remember and remembered but this is the first time I remember your talking about it. (bad memory? :) )
At any rate, I enjoy the reading and feel for that little boy in you who lives it all again each Dec.
BIG HUGS!
My mother had vivid memories of this time in our history. My grandfather and uncle were in the war (my uncle also a medic), while my mother and grandmother ran the family store. Their stories always fascinated me.
I think this was a time in our history when people pulled together for the good of the country as a whole. Though terrifying to those living it, I think it showed the true resolve of Americans.
Thanks for sharing.
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