Today could have been rough going - John & Elsa were away from noon and into the early evening. Happily, longtime sidekick Diane Alden Coffin stopped by with her daughter, Linda. Linda - who with her husband, Tom, manages one of Ted Turner's ranches out west - is visiting for a couple weeks. It was so lovely to have a visit from a dear gal I have known since she was born.
Being alone for quite a spell gave me some
time to think over tonight's posting
on World War II, which is now referred to as the last "good " war, or
the last war that America entered because our national interests were directly
attacked.
It is hard in this age of online news and
24-hour all-news stations to imagine
how we heard about the "day that will live in infamy." Pete and I were getting ready to go out. The radio was on. The broadcast was interrupted for a
one-sentence announcement. Pete came in
from the other room. "Did you hear
what I heard?" I looked at him and
nodded.
He
repeated that simple announcement: "Japanese warplanes have attacked the naval
station at Pearl Harbor." Strange
as it seems today, that was the only announcement I remember hearing until
President Roosevelt spoke that night.
England, of course, had been at war since
1939 Because the USA was technically
neutral, there was little we could do, at least until they came up with the
lend-lease idea.
I
believe that sometimes we can clearly glimpse in history the hand of God. WW II had two instances of that - the Battle
of Britain and Hitler's nutty decision to open a second front. Both defied any reason.
The British and their Commonwealth allies were
nothing short of miraculous. Alone, they really did keep the vastly superior
Nazi war machine at bay.
They
certainly had the right man at the right time - actually, two men and one
peerless woman. Winston Churchill (1/2
American!) and King George – and his amazing consort, Queen Elizabeth.
Everyone
knows how incredible Churchill was, but the King & Queen were every inch as
powerful an image as that bull dog of a man.
In spite of pleas from the government and their own people, they would
not budge from London. Queen Elizabeth
told people who criticized their decision to sit tight, “I could never look the
East Enders in the eye” if they left London.
Between
the two of them and Churchill - and the British people - Hitler did not have a
chance.
Imagine how different
things might have been if King George's brother, "David," who rather
liked Hitler and was a far different sort of man than his brother, had not
renounced his crown for the "woman he loved." "Bertie" did not even want to be
king – he dreaded the thought. Thank goodness he was. There's that Hand again!
Pete
was 30 when the war was declared, so he wasn't called up at that time. He was called up in 1944, when the Allies
were getting ready for what would be the Battle of the Bulge and needed
"cannon fodder" for infantry
The day that Pete went to the enlistment office, I gave him a copy of Heaven and Hell ; today, I took that slim volume of the
Writings out of my bookcase, its spine papers falling apart with age, and
opened it up. There, between the end
pages, was the little note I had included 56 years ago ~ "Dearest, Whether we use this 'here' or you use it
over 'there,' I hope it will be a source of help and encouragement. With all my love, Kay"
Imagine my response when he came back later,
looking strange, a combination of dejection and relief. When he took the physical, the army doctor's discovered
he had a rheumatic heart which would not cause him any problems in civilian life
but which would land him in a hospital within a month if he became a soldier.
If you know the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, then
you will know what I mean when I say that Pete was pretty much like George
Bailey in the movie - kept busy with all sorts of war-related activities,
including air raid warden.
Air raid alerts - they were an
experience. One time, I was visiting my
best friend, Ellen Lear, in Philadelphia (it was Ellen's southern mother who so
scandalized her proper Philadelphia in-laws around 1910 by sitting by the river). I was just putting on my coat when the red
alert sounded. I looked at Ellen and she
looked at me and I took off my coat. No
trains would be running for some time and even if they were, there would be no
way for me to get to the station during a blackout. Pete had to take care of Peter and Mike that
night all by himself. I was hoping &
praying there would not be an air alert in Bryn Athyn - Mike was two at the
time and Peter was six.
I was pregnant with Mim when Pete was called
up. In fact, there was an air raid drill
the night I started my labor pains. The
hospital was in black out. The hospital staff were making rounds with
flashlights! The staff was terrified to
learn it was my 3rd pregancy. The nurse
said, "My God! The lights are out
and you will probably be delivering any minute!!" I assured her that I take a long time and she
did not need to worry. Sure enough, the lights
were on long before our little missy made her debut.
Parents, wives, sweethearts, siblings and
friends held their breath and prayed
for safe returns. One young Bryn Athyn wife was
bitterly complaining to an older woman because her husband had been away so
long. The older woman could bear it no
longer and snapped at her, "At least you KNOW where he is – plenty of
these women have no idea where their men are serving and are not allowed to get
letters from them."
Our little community of Bryn Athyn had its
share of loss. Richard Walter and Justin
Davis stand out and I am sure there are others I will remember later. The pall that laid across the community with
news of each injury or death is impossible to describe and I hope none of you
ever have to understand what I mean.
How
do the words to "Taps" go? I
only remember - "Fading light dims the sight, from the lakes, from the
hills, from the sky. Day is done, gone
the sun..." Can't remember the rest.
The
media recently labeled my generation the "greatest generation" for
how we faced the depression and served in the war. I don't know that I would call us that. We did what had to be done, it was that
simple. History runs in cycles. It will happen again, we will be called to
arms once more. There better be another
"greatest generation" ready to shoulder the fight or that might turn
out to be the last war, period.
Now,
I remember the rest of the words, or I think I do - "God is nigh" If those
aren't the last words, they should be.
Love to you all ~ Grammie Kay
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