Today, we have Part 2 of Wanda's interesting memoir. She was frail physically but so very sharp mentally and kept writing well into her 90's. Today's post reveals what life was like during the WWII years. Please share with others who might find this memoir piece of interest.
Part 2:
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars...For nation shall rise
against nation, & kingdom against kingdom." (Matthew 24:6,7)
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS--Part 2--WWII
There have been many books written and stories told about World War II. It is a temptation to write of fascinating stories I have heard, but for this post I will limit my writing to memories of some of my own experiences during the war years. I was teaching school in Jefferson, IA, at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 and was engaged to be married to Herbert Bates, a doctoral candidate in Chemical Engineering at Iowa State University in Ames. After his graduation we married in l942 and moved to Cleveland, OH, where he was an instructor in the Navy V 12 program at Case School of Applied Science.
Women were urged to find jobs and I volunteered at a nursery school and was soon employed there. I rode a streetcar at 5:30 AM to a church where the school was held. We opened at 6:00 AM so the mothers could bring their children to us and get to a 7:00 AM job. Many women were working in wartime industries. We cared for children as young as two years old. They seemed like babies, and many of them cried bitterly as their mothers departed, but in almost all cases the tears would stop instantly, once the door closed behind the mother. One little girl was extremely upset and sometimes threw up after she arrived, but her mother’s comment was that she just had to adjust since the mother had to have a job. The children were given breakfasts of cereal, fruit, and milk at around 8:00 o’clock and lunch at noon. In the afternoon they lay down on cots for naps and later had afternoon snacks. We stayed open until 6:00 PM to accommodate the working mothers. Two very kind black ladies, Hallie and Lottie, prepared the food and did cleaning chores and sometimes gave some TLC to troubled little folks. When I first started working at the nursery I would often fall asleep at night with visions of milk coursing along a table, for nearly every day some child would spill his milk. We had to be aware of food allergies. We weren’t always sure whether the allergies were real but we couldn’t argue with a child who shouted, “I’m ‘lergic to green beans.”
New children needed special attention. I remember a little boy who held onto my pinkie finger and walked around with me for awhile each morning until he decided he was interested in the toys and could let go of my finger.
One father, a policeman, would sometimes phone early in the morning and ask us to tell his wife when she arrived to drop off a child that he was home safe from a night patrol. We later left the church and moved to a school building where space was available for the daycare we were providing.
There were many scarcities during the war. We tried to follow the motto “Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Do without.” Food was often hard to find. I remember trying to buy meat and finding only liver available but observing a large package which looked like meat being brought out of a back room and handed to a customer. On one occasion at a grocery store I asked if there were any chocolate chips available and was told “No.” Later, as I was checking out my groceries the clerk quietly slipped a package of chocolate chips into my bag and said, “Next time don’t ask so loud.” People were quick to grab things when they were available and, in spite of pleas to the contrary, there was lots of hoarding. I was able to use a washing machine in the basement of a friend and I was surprised to see many boxes of soap on cupboard shelves there. We had ration books for such items as sugar and gasoline. We often stood in lines to get the ration books or to buy various items. We bought war bonds when we could afford them.
Clothing was also hard to find. I made a suit for myself out of a discarded suit of my husband’s which still had enough unworn area that a woman’s suit could be made from it. Men’s suits came with two pairs of pants in those days and the leg pieces made panels for a skirt. Skirts were short but the jackets which were made from the men’s coats were fairly long. Following the war, when the styles changed and skirts became longer, women added pieces of fabric at the waistline to make the skirt longer. This trick could be hidden by the long jacket.
On one occasion a friend was delighted to buy a banana as they were rarely found in the stores. She planned to feed it to her baby. However, she had an unexpected dinner guest so she hastily put some fruits, including the banana, in a basket and used that as a centerpiece on her table. The guest, seeing the banana, cried out as he reached for it, “Oh, a banana. Wonderful! I haven’t had a banana for a long time,” as he promptly peeled it and ate it. A story was told of a man carrying a couple of eggs in his shirt pocket while riding a streetcar and meeting with disaster in the crowded car.
Many people rode the streetcars as gas was very scarce. Since my husband’s car had completely given out, we were among the riders. On some weekend mornings we rode a streetcar at 5:00 AM to a farmers’ market to buy lugs of peaches or pears for home canning.
After I became pregnant it was necessary for me to give up the job at the nursery school. When it was time for our son to be born, a friend who still had a working car, drove us to the hospital at 3:00 AM.
Trains were very crowded as they were often used for transporting service men, but my husband’s mother was able to find space to come to Cleveland to help out with the care of the new baby.
Of course there was great sadness and worry during the war. We grieved as we heard of casualties and said many prayers for the safety of relatives and friends who were on active duty and for all the troops everywhere. A funeral service for a young service man was held in the church where we had formerly had the nursery. He was buried on the day when he was to have been married. One news story told of the death of a soldier at Omaha Beach and the subsequent premature births and the deaths of twins which his wife had been carrying. The news man added the comment, “There’s a girl to remember in your prayers.”
People tried to be in good spirits and to endure the inconveniences without complaint “for the duration.” (A common expression during the war years.) Some popular songs of the era were “Don’t Sit under the Apple Tree (with anyone else but me),” “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.” A memorable movie was “The Best Years of Our Lives.”
When the conflicts finally ended, great joy and relief were felt on VE day (Victory in Europe) in May and VJ day (Victory in Japan) in August, 1945. Crowds lined the streets in jubilation. I took our 6-month-old baby out in his carriage on VJ day and we joined the crowd, with him adding to the celebration by shaking his rattle.
(To be continued)
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