MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS

You may wonder why I have so many pieces about soldiers and the war in my blog. It probably stems from my childhood, growing up during WW II and listening to all my family's daily discussions of the war. It was prime news at our dinner table. Several relatives of my family were involved in that war. Many in our town were serving. Some came home; some did not. Some came home ill or injured. It took its toll on everyone in my hometown. And I will never forget it.

Many windows in the homes proudly displayed stars depicting they had a member of their family in service, dead, missing or wounded. Every day, we kids made our trip to check the Honor Roll next to our Post Office to see if there were any new stars by the names of our boys, meaning they were dead, missing or wounded. People laid flowers under the Honor Roll. The church bell tolled when bad news was reported. We children took our turns at school scouting the sky for suspicious aircraft ... usually a younger child [K-5] paired with one of the upperclassmen [6-8]. My father served as a blackout warden. My mother worked with the Red Cross.

A favorite teacher, Mrs. Blue, with her perfectly groomed upsweep hairdo with a faint blue tint, sat proudly pumping out patriotic songs on the old oak organ every school morning and again when the kids paraded through our room on the way to the lunchroom. Mrs. Blue didn't believe in wasting a minute ... having to teach four grades in one room, she had not a minute to waste. We had our music class while singing to the students as they passed back and forth for hot lunches. We all sang at the top of our voices, showing off, thinking it was great fun.

We had a small country school ... only three rooms for K-8 but we had everything we needed, including a great hot lunch program with great cooks who catered to the students ... even bringing in mid afternoon snacks such as peanut butter and honey balls rolled in cornflakes or apples ... sometimes milk or orange juice. Not all schools as small as ours had a hot lunch program. If we had all our work done, we were allowed to go to the kitchen for an hour and help the cooks prepare for the following day, by peeling potatoes, buttering bread, etc. Our parents took good care of us to see that we were well fed. Our town was not wealthy financially. For some of the children, this was the only hot meal they received all day.

The hot lunch program was a wonderful addition to the school but the addition I remember the most was when I came to school and found we had inside bathrooms with flush toilets and running water in sinks and drinking fountains in each room. The year before, when in Kindergarden, we had to use an out house, which was a scary place to me, as when using it one day, a mouse ran across the floor.

The boys favored wearing leather air helmets with chin straps, high top boots with a pocket for a jackknife, knickers, camouflaged shirts and pants, the metal hats worn by the infantry marching in combat; everyone pledged the Allegiance with respect. The boys played war, the girls played Army nurses.

We went to the store with our coupons and tokens and bought what we could during the rationing. Chocolate and bubble gum were at a premium, as was coffee, sugar and butter. Victory gardens were everywhere, some sharing gardens with neighbors. We were allowed only two pairs of shoes a year ... and for growing children, that is tough. When our shoes got too small, my father would cut out the toes ... when they got holes in the soles, he cut out cardboard innersoles and lined them to try and keep out the dampness. No one complained about the shortages ... they shared what they had and were thankful for what they did have knowing many throughout Europe and Asia and other countries were without. We saved our paper and tied it in bundles and my brother wheeled it to school in our red wagon. We saved our tin cans, squashing them flat ... any iron or rubber ... it all went to storage. I still have my certificate for all the paper I saved during the war in my scrapbook.

WW II music was special, some of the best music of my lifetime ... romantic and wonderful ... the big bands played; the movies depicted what was going on during the war. Every movie had a newsreel, unlike today, there was no television news. We saw Hitler, Tito and Mussolini on the newsreels. I was petrified seeing Hitler raging his 'Heil Hitler' .. his looks frightened me. I had nightmares as a child picturing the Germans or the Japanese breaking into our house and taking my family away ... or worse.

One boy from our town, Donald Friedinger, died on the beaches of Normandy. When I visited there, I saw his name engraved on the American Memorial and have a video of it. My brother and I, who remember D-Day, looked over the clifts and wept, wondering how our men had the courage to climb those trecherous clifts, know when they reached the top they would be facing the German guns aiming directly at them. One man I knew when living in Pennsylvania lost his eye during the Normandy invasion. A boy from my home town was shot down over the Baltic Sea during the Korean War and was never found. One of my cousins was shot down in France early in the war and was a prisoner of the Germans throughout the war. He went in the army with dark hair and came home totally white. Two of my cousins who served in the islands occupied by the Japanese came home with malaria that surfaced on and off throughout their lives. Another was thrown overboard in a naval attack and spent several long hours in the ocean before being rescued. Yes, ... that is just a few of the soldiers, sailors, marines, coastguardsmen and national guardsmen from our hometown who were affected during the wars. Our town paid a tremendous debt for their courage in battle and we are all very proud of them.

One of the nice things that came out of that era was the patriotism of the people everywhere. We were all in this together and we all pulled together to win the war. That is why America is so great ... it is the people who love her and fight for her that made our country the greatest country in the world. I wish our people today would follow the same message the people exhibited during the big war ... WW II. I will never forget those days. They made an indelible impression on me. It instilled in me my great love and admiration for our country. Our teachers instilled in their students the feelings of patriotism. My father flew the American flag over our store every day of the week and took it down every evening. When I think of my dad, that is one way I remember him best ... raising and lowering his flag and shoveling the great amounts of snow we had as a kid ... and always working so hard. And my mother, too. She loved the kids in our home town and they loved her. When they went away and came home from school or the service, they all came to see 'Aunt Anne'. When the Mexicans came in the summer to pick the pickles and sugar beets, they traded at our store remembering the kindness and fairness my parents showed them. My mother stood for more than one little Mexican baby's baptism.

When I see a serviceman, I thank him for his service. If it weren't for men like him, I would not be here in this great country living the free life I enjoy ... and neither would you. When you see one, let him know he is appreciated. That is the least we can do for the sacrifices they have made for us. The family erected a flagpole in the Memorial Park by the bay to honor our brave men; a memorial donated in memorandum of my brother, who had great respect for our armed services and served in the National Guard and taught in the Guard for the duration of his duty.

I love my country. GOD BLESS AMERICA! GOD BLESS US ALL! GOD BRING PEACE THROUGHOUT OUR WORLD.