World War II Woman

Where Were You December 7, 1941?

November 10, 2008 – 4:16 pm

Beginning today and going into the next few weeks, I will be focusing on Pearl Harbor day. I will share memories that have already been passed on to me, and I hope that you will participate in this exercise.

To do so, please press the “No Comment” button at the bottom of this post, or email me your memories at margaretgeorge@verizon.net. Also, to receive this blog twice a week in your email, go to subscribe and fill in the necessary information.

To begin I will share memories from some of the women in my book We Knew We Were at War: Women Remember World War II.

• Joan was a freshman at Emerson College and had just been to Quaker meeting in Cambridge. While returning to her dormitory on a bus, she heard excited conversation about bombs and Pearl Harbor. She soon learned that her sorority sister’s home was in Honolulu, and there was much concern about the safety of her Japanese father and her English mother. It was many weeks before it was learned that her friend’s house had not been bombed and that her parents were safe. Within a week of the bombing, Joan was learning, along with several hundred other students, how to identify aircraft that might possibly do harm to us.
• Mary, along with her sister Margaret and brother Rick, were making fudge in her home near Pittsburgh. The fudge hardened in the pan as they pulled it off the stove to run into the living room to listen to the radio. As the news came over, her mother had a worried look and her father said, “I had a feeling we would be drawn into this conflict.” As was the family’s custom, they prepared for evening church service.
• Kathy was a thirteen years old holding the hand of her twenty-five year old brother as they joined friends and neighbors who had gathered to discuss with fear and awe the catastrophic attack on Pearl Harbor. As Kathy and her brother wandered from group to group, there was the common feeling that this meant war. Kathy recalls her brother looking down at her from his six foot two inches of height and saying, “This is a day both you and I will remember because it will change our country’s history forever.”

 

More memories to come. For World War II stories, go to www.peggeorge.com.