Tomorrow is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Eighty-two years ago, December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Hawaii, thrusting the United States into World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s War Address broadcast on the radio termed the action “a date which will live in infamy.” Men from every family enlisted or were drafted into the armed forces. Some ladies joined the auxiliaries. A total of 16 million served.
The women, children and older fellows left behind on the home front sacrificed. Similar to World War I, the females took the places of the males who went to fight. “Rosie, the Riveters” worked in the factories, which converted to making war materials instead of assembling cars.
Many items were rationed. A national speed limit of 35 miles per hour was enacted to reduce gas and rubber consumption.
Mom took our coupon books along to shop for meat and sugar at Hopkins’ Grocery, operated by a father and his two sons in the town of Rockton, near our farm. As a substitute, she bought small, wooden boxes filled with dried cod fish, creamed the seafood and served it over mashed potatoes for dinner. She also found recipes for cookies that used honey instead of sugar.
Cigarettes were a scarce commodity for civilians because 30 percent of the production was allotted for servicemen. Although, Dad wasn’t a smoker, he joined lines to buy the tobacco for Uncle Hookie.
Qualified educators were in short supply. Young ladies with little more than a high school education were granted emergency certificates to teach. Students began each day standing beside their desks, facing the flag and placing their right hands over their hearts while reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance.”
Instead of using their coins to buy candy and gum, kids purchased savings stamps and pasted them in a booklet. When it was full, they traded it at a bank for a war bond costing $18.75. In ten years, the certificate could be cashed in for $25.00.
The Allies victory in 1945 ended the conflict and people celebrated in the streets. Although my generation were children, the war instilled in us a deep love and loyal support of our country. In the words of former Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson, “Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
The U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs estimates there are about 119,000 veterans of the Big War still living–every day, an average of 131 die. When the Greatest Generation is gone, will the American people continue to “remember Pearl Harbor” so that it never happens again?