Were you a child during WW2 or early post-war years? [View all]

[grasswire]

I've been re-reading my great grandfather's diary from 1942. Every day's entry starts with the weather and the breakfast, and details the work he did that day and the goings-on in the large extended family. Then comes what he had for supper.

Then comes the significant war news. My uncle, his grandson, was a prisoner of the Japanese for almost three years -- he was captured when Corregidor fell, in the Philippines. Gramps notes the communication that came when the family got the telegram that Uncle Bob had been wounded in battle. (No one was informed at that time that he had lost his leg to gangrene and an Army surgeon had sawed it off in a tunnel on Corregidor)

So many tidbits in the diary relate to life on the "home front". Going for sugar coupons so the peaches could be canned. Driving at night in town during blackout. Going to see the ship yards. My grandmother christening a Liberty ship with champagne.

And then there are brief notes about the victory at Midway and other milestones.

I was born while my uncle was a P.O.W. Our family life (15 cousins, Grandmother's big old stone house, Uncle Bob's hero status, post-war weddings) was so very American and Norman Rockwell-like. One other uncle was a fireman in the navy, and another was a soldier from Normandy to Battle of the Bulge to Africa -- almost five years of fighting.

I don't personally remember the war years. But I do remember the aftermath, and I remember how different life was then. So different. Much less materialistic. Much more emphasis on thrift, and honor, and family strength and civic community.

Anyone have any memories of that time?