A Brother Returns
March 27, 2008 – 6:00 amMany families had two, three, and even more sons in the service during World War II. Joyce’s had two brothers in the war. This entry is about her brother – ten years older than Joyce – who served in the Navy.
His name was Fred and he served as an airplane radio gunner on the aircraft carrier USS Wasp in the Pacific theater of war. Fred was shot down three times and managed to return safely two of the times. The third time he was captured and taken to a Prisoner of War camp where he was severely beaten and even tortured. At one point in his interrogation he attempted to mislead his captors by saying he was attached to the Willow Grove Air Base, but his story was not believed. He was beaten again and returned to the POW camp.
At first, his parents were notified that he was missing in action, but as time passed, word came that he was recorded as having been killed. The family could do nothing but grieve and accept this latest word. All except Joyce. She refused to believe Fred was dead, and insisted he was alive and would come home. Her parents were seriously concerned about her mental health and feared that she could not accept reality. They did not know what to do about Joyce.
And then, around two o’clock one summer night when the windows were wide open, Joyce awoke suddenly. She heard whistling. Fred was a whistler. She called to her sister who slept in the same room with her.
“He’s home. Fred’s home,” she hollered. And then she woke up the entire family with the words that Fred was home.
Sure enough, in the front door came Fred with the words, “I’m home!”
The family learned that he had come home on the USS Benevolence, along with other evacuees from POW camps. Fred was indeed home.
Interestingly enough, the Wasp was built by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company in Massachusetts where one of the women in my book worked, and the Benevolence was built at the Sun Ship Company in Chester, Pennsylvania where some of my friends worked.
For more on World War II, go to http://www.peggeorge.com
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