It was roll call and I got a V-mail letter from a lady from church. I was always very glad to get mail from home and hear all the news around my hometown. Mail call was everyday but I didn't get mail everyday. This day was a day that I wished I hadn't heard about news from home.
The letter stated that they were sorry about my dad's death. This was the first I had heard about him dying. He had died 2-3 weeks earlier from the news I had just received. Normally you receive word from the Red Cross in a few days after something happens like this. I received word from the Red Cross about six weeks after his death. The last time I saw my dad as I was leaving to go overseas, I thought I would not see him again alive. I felt really bad and the guys in my Quonset hut decided to leave me so I could grieve. I did not go to work for a few days after that. This is not the kind of news one wants to hear about when you are 4 to 5 thousand miles away from home. My dad was 64 years of age and died in February 1944. My mother was widowed at the age of 51. I thought my mother had a level head about her and knew she would be OK, but I wished I had been able to be home during that sad time in our lives.
My address was Headquarters & Headquarters Squadron of 3rd Air Division. This division was directing the day to day operation of their part of the Air Corp part of the war.
When V-E Day came, I wondered whether I would be transferred to another part of the war effort.
On V-J day, I thought we were finally going to get to go home!!!! I was one of the first to get to go home, since I had quite a few points scored up due to our squadron and length of time I was overseas.
When I saw the Lady in the Harbor, it was a happy day!
Thought for the day--It was rather hard for my husband to recall all of this (emotionally), but this was played out in many a home during these days. Mostly it was news from the war that mothers learned about their sons, but sometimes the reverse was true. Oh Happy Day that World War II was finally over!!!!
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1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your story, Dad-----I never have heard about how you learned about Grandpa's death. It must have been so hard for you to have found out like that.
Mary
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