World War II Woman

              While spending time last week with high school friends, our conversation turned to life  along       the  New Jersey shore during the World War II years. Their family had a vacation home in Avalon, New Jersey and I was privileged to visit them frequently.

The most obvious intrusion into normal life was the almost total blackout. Heavy dark curtains were to be used all the time. If it was necessary to drive at night, headlights were not to be turned on except in an emergency. However, even then, the top half of the headlights were painted black to minimize the amount of light showing.  We all remembered the occasion when their mother almost drove the car onto the curb on the left side of the road.

My friends also recalled seeing large convoys of our ships not far from the beach. Additionally, the Avalon Beach Patrol acquired dogs to help protect the shoreline from possible spies, who could have been dropped off by enemy submarines or ships at sea.

Other stories about the New Jersey beaches appear in my We Knew We Were at War: Women Remember World War II. Liz tells about her experience in Ocean City where the light standards along the boardwalk were blackened so as to lessen the amount of light showing. She also recalls seeing convoys of ships on their way to active duty. One of the side effects of so many ships at sea was large globs of tar and oil that washed up on the beach leaving bathers with the problem of removing these objects from their feet, hands and bathing suits. She found that Crisco did the best job.

Shurley tells of visiting relatives in Surf City, where soldiers from a nearby Army post patrolled the beach, always in pairs. Her aunt felt compassion for these lonely soldiers, and would make sandwiches and other goodies for them, which she and her female cousins would deliver. Also, one of her cousins was the object of affection from a dirigible pilot who would fly low over the water and call out to her using the megaphone that he would see her that night.

Spies off the coast appear to have been a real threat and the reason for the a strong patrol program all along the eastern shoreline.