Thanks Jurretta,
I think you have a very good idea. I think I am going to do something about
what both my wife and I remember. For example, she lived at Ft. Jackson SC
during most of the war, and tells that the lifeguards at the swimming pool
were German POWs!!!! Nice young men. I bet most people do not know things
like that.
Randy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jurretta Heckscher" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 3:54 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Dec 7, lest we forget
> These are wonderful and important memories, Randy--thank you for sharing
> them. They really deserve to be recorded in some way and archived,
> either on paper or as an audio (or video) file. We've rightly made much
> over the passing of the generation that fought World War II and the need
> to preserve its history (see http:// www.loc.gov/vets/), but it's also
> important to record the memories of those who lived through it as
> civilians, including children. I hope you have done or will do that;
> perhaps we can brainstorm some possible resources for that purpose on
> this list.
>
> I'm too young to have such memories personally, but in my bedroom is a
> cedar chest that belonged to my grandmother (1890-1973). I cherish it in
> part because of my mother's vivid memory of coming home from school (in
> Massachusetts) on December 8, 1941, to find her mother sitting on the
> chest, in tears. When my mother (age 10) asked her why she was crying,
> she explained, "Because now we are going to have another world war."
> And, of course, we she was right.
>
> --Jurretta Heckscher
>
>
> On Dec 7, 2007, at 7:47 AM, Randy Cabell wrote:
>
>> As I listened to WETA this morning, the music was interspersed with good
>> words about the holiday season and Hanakuah and shopping. Nothing about
>> the "Day that will live in Infamy." I was 9 years old living 307
>> Raleigh Drive (2 blocks down from The Cavalier) at Virginia Beach that
>> week. The next day, all us kids talked about "The War" not having any
>> idea what it really meant. The coolest thing was that troops from Ft.
>> Story built sandbagged machine gun nests on the beach at the end of our
>> road, dug into the sand and covered with wooden roofs with sand on top.
>> I guess they expected the hun or those sneaky Japs to storm ashore and
>> capture the Cavalier Beach Club. Searchlight drills at night were neat
>> too. The next day after they packed up and left, us kids found a lot of
>> black carbon pieces which generated the bright light, and those things
>> were great to write on sidewalks with. "My Weekly Reader" (is it
>> still around?) the next week had drawings of the Japanese aircraft.
>> With the exception of the dreaded "Zero" (by Mitsubishi as I
>> recall...hm.... wonder what every happened to that company) the aircraft
>> had fixed landing gear and looked pretty outdated, at least to a nine
>> year old. The week after Pearl Harbor, my father was promoted to Lt.
>> Col. and transferred from Ft. Story and assigned as Army Liason Officer
>> to the 5th Naval District in Norfolk. He and several other men formed a
>> car pool, and the question arose as to whether the former movie star
>> Richard Barthelmes, now on active duty as a naval officer, who lived
>> down the street would like to join, but all were afraid to ask. I
>> recall my father saying, "I've been insulted by experts." He called
>> Richard who was very happy to join -- a regular guy. The Cavalier Hotel
>> was taken over by the FBI or some intelligence group. They sawed off
>> the cupolas on top to make it more difficult for German submarines to
>> use it as a reference point. I road the "Rail Bus" to school.... a mass
>> transit idea ahead of its time which ran along Atlantic (I think) Avenue
>> into downtown Virginia Beach. I was in Mrs. Wood's third grade at WT
>> Hailey Elementary School which had to meet in the library because of the
>> influx of service families. I remember air raid drills where he got on
>> the floor under our desks and put our arms over our heads.
>>
>> Sorry for the stroll down memory lane, and probably mangling of some
>> facts to fit things as I remember them. We are now seeing Ken Burns
>> wonderful series, and WETA TV has one on Washington during the war.
>> Maybe somebody out there will put together "WWII from the eyes of
>> Virginia Children."
>>
>> Randy Cabell
>>
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