Our Family Stories

This is a letter Helen wrote to her granddaughter Annie Halonen, who had a school assignment to ask someone what it was like to live during the war.

 

Sunday – 3-13-05

Dear Annie –

Received your nice letter yesterday and I’m happy you are doing so well in school and enjoy it so much.

It makes me feel so old that the war I remember so well is now in your history books! When I was in high school we studied the war of 1812 and the civil war, etc. World War I was the war my Dad fought in. He was stationed in France. I guess we’ll never be without a war someplace in the world. All we can do is hope and pray for a better world to come.

I was in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. I’ll never forget that Sunday as long as I live. My brother (4 yrs older) and his future wife were at home with us when President Roosevelt announced to the world (on the radio-no TV then) that we were at war! His famous line was “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”

My brother and his friends were going down and enlisting. My sister’s husband, Bob, was already in the Navy so he was shipped off immediately. She was expecting their 1^st baby and the day after he left, her baby girl was born and her Dad didn’t see her for 2 ½ years! My mother went out to California and brought her and her baby home. They lived at home with us until Bob came back.

My brother, Tom and Vera wanted to get married before he had to leave for the South Pacific, so she flew to South Carolina and stayed with him until he had to leave.

Every house that had a service man in the war hung a placard (don’t know if that’s the right word) on the window and if he or she died it was a different color.

Because of the shortage of men, the women took over the factory jobs (perhaps you’ve heard of “Rosie the Riveter”).

Everything was rationed! I worked in Mpls and my Dad said if you see a line get in because it’ll be something we need. Gasoline-sugar-meat-silk stockings (nylon came a lot later) we’d get coupons for everything-there was a lot of trading going on.

It was really scary because there would be long periods of time when we would hear nothing. My Mom and Dad would bring out maps and try to figure out where our boys would be. Communication was nothing like it is today.

Annie you’re probably interested in Hitler’s war in Germany. I’m not sure that we really knew too much about the concentration camps until later when Hitler was captured. We were more focused on the South Pacific where Tom and Bob were fighting. When we heard about the Holocaust, it was sickening to hear what the Nazi’s could be capable of doing to the Jewish people. Ann Frank’s diary tells it all.

When Tom finally came home on leave he looked like death warmed over, skinny and pale, but we were so happy to see him alive! He had a month’s leave and then return to duty. But he really lucked out! A week before he was ready to return, the war ended!

The whole country went wild-celebrations everywhere. Of course there was the other side-the ones that didn’t make it or the ones that came home wounded for life or shell shocked-the war left its mark on us all.

Annie, I hope you can read this-my penmanship is horrible.

Love you-Grandma

P.S. Grandpa was in the war in the Aleutian Islands close to Russia, but I hadn’t met him yet.