I talked to Great Grandma Mary about her life during WWII many, many times over the course of my life. She was 15 when the war started, and her father, uncle, and two brothers were sent to various places overseas, most of them being highly top secret. She always shivered when I asked about Pearl Harbor, and the news that began to fly. She was told by her dad right after breakfast, because he was due to ship out days later. Our entire family was petrified, because after the bombing there, the Japanese, to civilians, seemed like an unstoppable force. Most families around them had men leaving to fight, and many of the women were frustrated, because they had no idea where they were going, or when they'd be back.
After the men departed, life was rough, because of all the normal uncertainies of wartime life, along with many women going off to work in order to support their families. My Great-Great-Grandma was a nurse for the Red Cross. My Great-Grandma used to say all the time "After the depression, it was a strange feeling to be suddenly dropped into another World War...my father always spoke of how he was so proud to be a part of such a great country, that can band together so rapidly adter so long of being almost ripped apart."
She didn't remember much about the 20s, so I always felt kind bad, that so much of her early life was in the midst of depression and war.
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