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Memories of World War II
by Jean Loesch Krauklin

Looking back over 75 years of life, it seems to me that the most influential event that I can remember (aside from family events) was World War II. I thought I'd like to write down some of my memories of 1941-1945 for my children and their children. In the past few years there have been many memoirs, many 50-year anniversary reunions and recollections of people who experienced it one way or another--and there can be only admiration and gratitude for the heroics and deprivations and extraordinary experiences of the American men who served in that war.
Aside from the nurses, many of whom in difficult conditions overseas gave outstanding services, and the WAAC, WAVES, and other support personnel, American women mostly stayed in their own country, mostly at home. "Rosie the Riveter" types did take their place on the assembly lines to keep them moving; some wives kept their husbands' businesses going, but I didn't know much about them. What I'd like to record here for my family is just my memories of that important period of my life; I was 18 when war was declared after Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Previous to America's entry into the war, we Haskells in Berlin, N.H., had been reading articles in Readers Digest about atrocities in Europe and the Far East. We had Current Events class in high school and reported items from the Boston papers about Hitler's taking over Germany's neighboring countries. But we still felt safe, with an ocean on each side, and almost everyone agreed we should stay out of it. The draft of some young men only meant that we were prepared. Maybe we needed a way to export materials to England; the war in Europe seemed to be getting us out of the very recent Depression.
When the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, was shockingly reported on the radio that Sunday afternoon, I was in my room at the Student House on the Fenway in Boston. I was doing my homework from the Katharine Gibbs School and listening to the regular concert of the New York Philharmonic. I think everyone remembers where they were, and the awful sinking feeling of "what are we in for now?" People my age didn't remember World War I, but we had certainly heard terrible things about it and seen the effects on our elders.
Next day at school our class of 60 young women was interrupted when the principal brought in a radio so we could hear the announcement by President Roosevelt. We listened solemnly as he gave his reasons for our entry into the war. We heard the urgency in his voice and sensed that this momentous decision was going to affect every one of us profoundly. I'm sure I wasn't the only girl in that class who was thinking, "What about my brothers?" or "All our boyfriends will be leaving!"
During the following year, 1942, a convulsion of activity seized the entire country. It was Join up, Produce, Contribute, Do what you can. Buy war bonds. Help the Red Cross, forget about luxuries. Make sacrifices. And don't complain: "DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?" Quotas were announced for every town and city to buy bonds to support the war effort. My father personally subscribed Deer Isle's entire quota of bonds at once, I recall reading in the Deer Isle paper. Of course, many other residents contributed as well. My mother, a registered nurse, with two children still at home, found time to supervise bandage making at the Red Cross. Thousands of young men left high school, college and jobs to volunteer in the service, including many of my high school classmates, of course.
As it came time for my secretarial school class to graduate, the entire class was given a Civil Service exam. This was in preparation for serving as staff at one of the many government agencies that were springing up: the War Production Board, Rent Control Board and the Office of Price Administration were some of the biggest. A lot of secretaries were going to be needed, in Washington, in our own city, and in Army, Navy and Marines headquarters everywhere. Long before computers and photocopiers, we learned how to make ten copies of forms with carbon paper, and to use a messy dictograph machine.
Of course we knew then, and everyone knows now, that in America we were spared the real horrors of invasion, destruction, and violence that affected those in Europe and Asia. However, mothers and fathers of servicemen were in throes of anxiety daily as they thought of their sons. The government gave them cards to place in their front windows-blue starred if their son or sons were in service, or gold starred if the son or sons had died.
(Continued on page 2)

Any comments or questions? Contact
louise@loesch.net
S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r

Home Family History Family Tree Photo Album Reminiscing Reunion Info Family News Address Book From Our Kitchen		Memories of World War II by Jean Loesch Krauklin Looking back over 75 years of life, it seems to me that the most influential event that I can remember (aside from family events) was World War II. I thought I'd like to write down some of my memories of 1941-1945 for my children and their children. In the past few years there have been many memoirs, many 50-year anniversary reunions and recollections of people who experienced it one way or another--and there can be only admiration and gratitude for the heroics and deprivations and extraordinary experiences of the American men who served in that war. Aside from the nurses, many of whom in difficult conditions overseas gave outstanding services, and the WAAC, WAVES, and other support personnel, American women mostly stayed in their own country, mostly at home. "Rosie the Riveter" types did take their place on the assembly lines to keep them moving; some wives kept their husbands' businesses going, but I didn't know much about them. What I'd like to record here for my family is just my memories of that important period of my life; I was 18 when war was declared after Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Previous to America's entry into the war, we Haskells in Berlin, N.H., had been reading articles in Readers Digest about atrocities in Europe and the Far East. We had Current Events class in high school and reported items from the Boston papers about Hitler's taking over Germany's neighboring countries. But we still felt safe, with an ocean on each side, and almost everyone agreed we should stay out of it. The draft of some young men only meant that we were prepared. Maybe we needed a way to export materials to England; the war in Europe seemed to be getting us out of the very recent Depression. When the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, was shockingly reported on the radio that Sunday afternoon, I was in my room at the Student House on the Fenway in Boston. I was doing my homework from the Katharine Gibbs School and listening to the regular concert of the New York Philharmonic. I think everyone remembers where they were, and the awful sinking feeling of "what are we in for now?" People my age didn't remember World War I, but we had certainly heard terrible things about it and seen the effects on our elders. Next day at school our class of 60 young women was interrupted when the principal brought in a radio so we could hear the announcement by President Roosevelt. We listened solemnly as he gave his reasons for our entry into the war. We heard the urgency in his voice and sensed that this momentous decision was going to affect every one of us profoundly. I'm sure I wasn't the only girl in that class who was thinking, "What about my brothers?" or "All our boyfriends will be leaving!" During the following year, 1942, a convulsion of activity seized the entire country. It was Join up, Produce, Contribute, Do what you can. Buy war bonds. Help the Red Cross, forget about luxuries. Make sacrifices. And don't complain: "DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?" Quotas were announced for every town and city to buy bonds to support the war effort. My father personally subscribed Deer Isle's entire quota of bonds at once, I recall reading in the Deer Isle paper. Of course, many other residents contributed as well. My mother, a registered nurse, with two children still at home, found time to supervise bandage making at the Red Cross. Thousands of young men left high school, college and jobs to volunteer in the service, including many of my high school classmates, of course. As it came time for my secretarial school class to graduate, the entire class was given a Civil Service exam. This was in preparation for serving as staff at one of the many government agencies that were springing up: the War Production Board, Rent Control Board and the Office of Price Administration were some of the biggest. A lot of secretaries were going to be needed, in Washington, in our own city, and in Army, Navy and Marines headquarters everywhere. Long before computers and photocopiers, we learned how to make ten copies of forms with carbon paper, and to use a messy dictograph machine. Of course we knew then, and everyone knows now, that in America we were spared the real horrors of invasion, destruction, and violence that affected those in Europe and Asia. However, mothers and fathers of servicemen were in throes of anxiety daily as they thought of their sons. The government gave them cards to place in their front windows-blue starred if their son or sons were in service, or gold starred if the son or sons had died. (Continued on page 2)
		Any comments or questions? Contact louise@loesch.net S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r