Memories from a small town
August 21, 2008 – 8:15 pmJanet was a high school student in a small town in central Pennsylvania during World War II. On a high hill outside of town, the Civilian Air Patrol (CAP) had a station set up to detect possible enemy airplanes.
Her dad was a carpenter and tended the family victory garden. Her mother tried to make the family like oleo, or margarine as we say today. She remembers her mother saying, “It’s really good.”
Janet recalls making mischief during air raid blackouts. She and a neighbor girl would go out and hide behind cars, scampering from one to another as in a game of hide ‘n seek, making noises to tease the air raid warden. They were never caught. She’s lucky she lived in a relatively rural area where these blackouts may not have had the importance that they had in more industrialized places.
One of her neighbors quit school to join the Navy. It wasn’t long afterwards that he was reported killed in action. Another friend, a returning soldier whom she dated, had a severe physical reaction when the newsreel appeared on the screen showing scenes of the war. He became terribly agitated. His ears were sensitive to the sounds of bombs, having been injured in the war.
Janet had five uncles who went off to war. Her mother was one of eleven children. The oldest brother was in World War I and was said to have been “gassed.” Another uncle joined the Seabees and another was in the Army tank corps. When he came home on leave, she recalls how upset she was when he showed her how he had learned to use a bayonet. She couldn’t believe her beloved uncle would ever use that weapon to kill someone.
On the way home from school one day in April of 1945, Janet was greatly saddened to hear of the death of our president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She felt as though a great loss had appeared in her life. Her family members were great admirers of FDR.
For more World War II stories, go to www.peggeorge.com
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