Chapter 13 - The War Years

Shortly after Evelyn and family made the move to the 313 East 43rd Street building, Mother wanted to live closer to the pinafore action. There was a third floor apartment available at 311 East 43rd Street on the other side of the same building. So we moved again and this time the piano would not bend itself around the turns in the stairs to the third floor. The movers had to rope the piano up and over the third floor porch railing.

We lived in that apartment from 1942 to 1952. During that time things began to get better for my parents. Mother stayed with the Pinafore business for a while until she got a Civil Service job. Daddy was still with the Marlene Dress Company. With a better income they could begin to purchase things that they had been without for many years and could now afford. Mother bought new dining room and living room furniture. Cecil bought a new Philco console radio that had a turntable in the lower part of the cabinet.

The radio was nicknamed “No Squat, No Stoop, No Squint”.

Daddy used the radio for news. I used the turntable for the Big Band recordings.

While we were living in 43rd Street apartment, there were changes in the world that would affect our lives. In those days we got all our information from the radio, the newspapers, magazines, books and movie news reels. The Internet has helped my memory with dates and names, but my own recollection of where I was or what I was doing when some of these events occurred will always remain in my memory.

1939: Hitler invaded Poland. In September of that year, England declared war on Germany. There were newspaper boys out on the city streets shouting,”England declares war on Germany. Read all about it.” That was certainly an event that made the message stand out! At home we were unprepared for war and had no plans to go to war.

1940: Secret messages originating from the Germans regarding movement of troops were coded to keep the enemies from knowing their plans. The Germans believed in the absolute security of their coding machine, the Enigma. However British code breakers managed to exploit weaknesses in the machine and were able to break the code. This gave the Allies a key advantage.

London was besieged nightly with bombing by the German Luftwaffe. This was called the London Blitz.

It was so dangerous for children living in London that parents were encouraged to evacuate their children to villages in northern England. Millions of children were bundled, tagged and escorted by teachers to homes and to schools in safer places.

1941: On December 7, the phone rang at our house. It was a Sunday evening and I was doing homework. My Uncle Bob informed us that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. On December 8, Roosevelt declared war on Japan and also declared war on Germany.

1942: In February, Roosevelt issued an executive order to move all Japanese living in the USA with dual citizenships to be placed in concentration camps.

Rationing began because certain commodities were now in short supply. Among these were sugar, rubber and gasoline for cars. Meat was another thing in short supply. We were asked to have “Meatless Tuesdays”. We were now in the days of wartime production. America produced 48,000 planes, 56,000 tanks and enlisted 7,000,000 troops.

In 1942 the Allied forces were battling the Germans in Africa. After a series of defeats from Dunkirk to Singapore, finally there was a turning point. Churchill could tell the House of Commons that we have a “new experience. We have a victory – a remarkable and definite victory. Alexander and Montgomery have turned back Rommel’s forces thus winning the ‘Battle of Egypt’”. “Up to now” and in Churchill’s words, “I have never promised anything but blood, tears, toil and sweat”. Then paraphrasing his words, “But this is not the beginning of the end. This is end of the beginning.”

1943: The Conference in Casa Blanca between Roosevelt and Churchill was held in January. The purpose was to do strategic planning against the Axis Powers and to adopt a policy of unconditional surrender.

1944: June 6 of this year was D-Day. The code name for the landing at Omaha Beach at Normandy was Operation Neptune. Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces was Dwight Eisenhower and commander of the ground forces was General Montgomery. An airborne assault flew over the beach at midnight. To deceive Hitler there was an air assault over another beach north of Normandy. The inclement weather also helped achieve the surprise.

This was the largest amphibian invasion in world history executed by land, sea and air. It required 160,000 soldiers. Amongst these soldiers was a Captain Dale D. Bunch who landed on Omaha beach on D-Day plus 6. We did not know him yet.

Dulcie and I wanted to be involved so we applied for a summer job at the Pratt Whitney Plant where airplane engines were being built. We did get hired and were assigned to the Swing Shift. We were to report at 4 PM and would get off at Midnight. What a lark! Luckily we found a group of people that were on the same shift and they offered to transport us from home and back. It was not hard work but it was amazing to be a part of this effort. I earned $200 that summer and spent the money on my wardrobe for the fall semester at the University of Missouri at Columbia at Missouri.

1945: Malta Conference occurred in February. The purpose was to plan the final campaign against the Germans. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin were there.

At the Potsdam Conference on July 16th it was determined that only unilateral surrender of Germany would be accepted.

On the 6th of August the United States, under the direction of President Harry Truman, dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Nagasaki. (On this day we were seated at the breakfast table when the news came over the radio.) Japan refused to surrender. On the 9th of August the United States dropped the atomic bomb “Fat Man” on Hiroshima. Japan surrendered unconditionally. August 15, 1945 was V J Day.

1946: I graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor’s Degree. The speaker at our commencement was General Omar Bradley. A reception for General Bradley was held in the Student Union. My Calculus professor, Dr. Blumenthal, introduced me to General Bradley. The General and I shook hands but I do not remember what we said to each other. Years later I read his book, “A Soldier’s Story”.

While Jean and I were in college, Mother rented our bedroom to Army Captain Dale Bunch. We met him when we came home from college but we needed to have our bedroom back so he rented a room at Aunt Gertrude’s house.