The United States entered World War II when I was 7 years old, and V-J Day happened when I was 11, so I remember those days pretty well.  My Uncle Bob joined the Marines, and our long-time family friend Edward Kennedy was a war correspondent in Europe for the Associated Press.  One of our best women friends joined the WAVEs.  My father was one of the air-raid wardens at Gallaudet, and when we had an air raid, he went out on foot, using his flashlight, to make sure all blackout restrictions were being obeyed on campus.  So the war was very real to me, with constant reminders in day-to-day living.

Washington, as the nation's capital, was considered a prime target for bombing by the Germans, or for rocket attacks from German submarines.  Although this never happened, the city was on high alert throughout the war until V-E Day in 1944.  Every home had to be equipped with blackout window shades.  In those days we used shades, rather than venetian blinds, under our curtains.  Blackout shades were black on the outside, and I think made of a heavier material, so as not to allow light to shine through at all from the inside of the house.  There were air raid sirens put in all over town so that we could hear them easily, and when they sounded, we had to come inside our homes or take shelter in designated air raid shelters.  If it was night time, we had to turn off all outside lights and pull down our blackout shades.

Over near Bolgiano's on the hill visible from my bedroom, there was a gun and searchlight installation, and the rays from the searchlight played across the skies every night.  Wheaties cereal boxes came with silhouettes of friendly and enemy planes, so that we would be able to identify military planes that flew overhead.  My radio show Jack Armstrong had a special offer, requiring Wheaties boxtops and money to be sent in, in return for which I received a kit to build a replica of a fighter cabin with controls so that I could play fighter pilot.  Have I mentioned that I was a tomboy?  I loved my cardboard cockpit!

Gas rationing was very severe, and we rarely used the car.  Luckily the streetcar and bus system in Washington was very extensive, and we could get just about anywhere using public transportation.  We had ration coupons for certain food items -- sugar, meat, and coffee.  You had to plan ahead, since when your coupons for the month were used up, that was it. Butter was totally out of the question.  To replace butter, we began using margarine.  It came in a one-pound white hunk enclosed in plastic envelope, with a small, dark orange capsule visible on one side.  You pressed on this capsule through the plastic until it broke, then started kneading.  It took about 5 minutes to get the entire pound of oleo to an even yellow color.  I hated doing this, and tried to be gone from the kitchen when the oleo had to be colored! 

To help conserve food, homeowners were encouraged to have Victory Gardens.  We already had flower gardens out back, but dug up another large piece of lawn to make a vegetable garden.  I remember tending the standard carrots, lettuce, radishes, string beans, chard, and tomatoes.  For some reason, I preferred working in the flower gardens -- maybe the influence of my grandmothers.

Nylon was parachute material, so nylon stockings were only available through the Black Market.  Women colored their legs to make it look as if they were wearing hose.  And since way back then all stockings had seams up the back, women became adept at drawing straight lines up the backs of their stocking-colored legs!  Maybe they used eyebrow pencils??

Each night we listened to Lowell Thomas give his 15-minute broadcast, which focused mostly on war news, and whenever we went to the movies we always saw newsreels as part of the program.  Black and white, with lots of shooting and explosions -- they were very frightening.  We learned the geography of Europe and North Africa by following the military campaigns.  Life Magazine was a great source for good maps and photos of the campaigns.   Of course we tuned in to periodic broadcasts made by President Roosevelt, and hung on his every word.  We all supported the war effort by buying U.S. Savings Bonds, and at school we had a Savings Stamp program.  You brought in a quarter and got a Savings Stamp, and when you had your stamp book filled, it could be exchanged for a bond.  The bond cost $18.75, and would be worth $25 at maturity.

There was a lot of anti-German and anti-Japanese propaganda.  I was convinced that all Nazis were terribly cruel, and that the Japanese were into fiendish torture.  We were taught to hate Hitler and Hirohito.  By the same token, we were encouraged to support our troops and our Allies, and positive propaganda was everywhere.  Movies, posters, parades, books, and magazines were filled with the message that our boys were fighting hard for us, and needed our support.  Uncle Sam in his patriotic clothing was on most posters.  That odd name was chosen because of his initials!  There were some wonderful patriotic songs that we knew all the words to:  "The Caissons Go Rollin' Along", "Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder", "We're the Seabees of the Navy" "Anchors Aweigh", the Marine Hymn, and others.  We knew all the words, and sang them often.

We lived close to Union Station, and had friends and relatives who came via train to visit.  We would go pick them up at the station, and it was quite a sight to see the huge concourse filled mostly with military personnel, many of them carrying large bags on their way to an assignment.  I liked the summer sailors' uniforms best, but an officer in any service was always impressive-looking as well.  We got to know the rank insignia, so that we could spot an admiral or a colonel with ease.

One huge contrast between those days and today was  communication with the troops abroad.  Letters could take weeks or months, and there was severe censorship -- any parts of letters which could reveal critical dates or troop movements were blacked out, or even cut out of letters, by the censors.  Mail went out from bases abroad in batches, so wives went for a long time without hearing anything from their husbands, then might get a packet of letters delivered all at once.  Fathers-to-be over in Europe or in the Pacific had no way to find out about the new baby.  What a difference now, with cell phones, e-mail, and web cams!

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