Posted on 11/06/2001 5:42:32 PM PST by illstillbe
... but do it we must. I left what money I could under my sock drawer ... saving it, I was, for our trip ...but use it as you need it.
Neal, down at the pharmacy, will see that you have what you need. I talked to him. Keep your rations safe. I know you will take care of the children."
So begins the very first letter written to my Mother-in-law from her husband at the beginning of his involvement in the Pacific theater during WWII.
What follows is a tapestry of courage and commitment and fortitude which should bring us to our knees ... as each tried to buck up the other ...
"Dear Tillie ... I've not had much sleep ... but what I had brought me home to the great USA! I hope you get this ... packages are going out badly. Bobby ... did he make the cut?"
He wasn't getting much sleep because his ship was under attack ... and later sunk .... but I digress ...
Meanwhile ... Bobby made the cut for football ... but Madeline contracted polio ....
"Tillie, got your letter ....finally! .... Bobby made the cut! The guys gave a cheer! The season is long over, I know ... but it was cheered news. I am worried about our Maddy ...sounds like a nasty cold ... hope she is feeling better. Wish I could be there to give you a hug ... I miss you more than you know ... we are off again ... do not know if I will be able to write for a while ..."
He wasn't able to because the Helena sunk like a rock and he was lost at sea for 5 days ....
"Till ... I am so tired, but happy to get your letter. I have read it over and over again! Uncle Boliver would tell me to put it down... I have read it so many times. Our Maddy ...how's she feeling?!"
Maddy had died .... but my Mother-in-law never told him until he came home.
Instead ..."Till ... what's my Maddie-Girl up to?!"
"She's happier than can be, my heart. Rest easy ... hope you get this ..."
So.
The war should be over by now?!
Our sights are short?
We've no patience ... as the remains of the World Trade Center still smoulder....
We are all so very honored, I think ... to be living in these times ... we're a part, we are, of an elite group ~~~~ Citizen Soldiers ... each of us ...
Our President:
"Every American is a soldier ... Every Citizen is in this fight."
Shortly before 9/11, I had a conversation with a client who was a young wife during WWII.
She said her husband farmed all day, then worked in a bomber factory in the evenings. She talked about ration tickets for BOOTS. I commented on how decadent we have become - now, we have BOOTS to match every oufit, and eat WAY TOO MUCH!
I hope you will post some more of these (if cleared by m-i-l of course).
8^)
Thanks for the flag kayak.
5.56mm
Carolyn
Tears are streaming down my face. I can't begin to imagine the pain of losing a daughter while your husband was away at the front and then not being able to share your grief in order to shield him from the additional pain and helplessness he would feel.
"She's happier than can be, my heart. Rest easy ... hope you get this ..."
This line just breaks my heart. Your mother-in-law is a remarkable woman.
Are we going to be as good, now that it's our turn?
I think we will be. We're growing up more and more each day.
I exist because of World War 2. My father married my mother three days before he shipped out as a 17-year-old senior in high school who was graduated by virtue of enlisting. He told me that he would not have married when he did if it had not been for the war. (I wasn't born till several years after his return.) So WW 2 IS one of the biggest factors of my family's heritage.
illstillbe, thanks for posting this .. voices from a much saner era than surrounds us now.
The history we can all share! We come from strong stock, we do. Here's a little bit more;
"Happy Anniversary honey!! By the time you get this it will be long gone but I hope you are thinking, as I am, about the happiest day in my life. You looked so pretty and I was so proud. I love you even more today. It's hard to believe that we are so far apart. I know that you're lonely, but when I come home you'll put on your dancing shoes and we will celebrate then!! Stay as strong as you are. Thinking about you, my Till, keeps me going."
I wish that all of Tillie's letters survived. But many of them were lost when my F-i-l's ship sunk. But on this anniversary, Tillie was tending to her F-i-l who had moved in with her and the children. He was in his early 70's and worked for the Public Works department cleaning the streets in winter to bring in some extra income. One night was so cold his hands became frostbitten and my M-i-l remembers changing the bandages on his poor hands ... the skin blackened ... as she remembered her wedding day.
Humbling, it is.
Please tell us more!
LOL! No, sir. She calls one of her sons to come over to change the bulb in the "ice box".
Courage, obviously, comes in all shapes and sizes. *smiles*
I did ask her though, if I could share some of this with you all ... as I have told her all about y'alls and all about y'alls' alls. She is fine with it ... though she wondered, "why would anybody be interested in this stuff so long ago?!"
Ordinary people ... rising to the cause. Amazing.
Along with letters, my M-i-l saved other interesting items as well ... like this from an article in Life magazine:
In a hospital for the war wounded;
"Hope and company had worked and gradually they got the leaden eyes to sparkling, had planted and nurtured and coaxed laughter to life ... Finally it came time for Frances Langford to sing.
The men asked for 'As Time Goes By' ... she got through eight bars and was into the bridge, when a boy with a head wound began to cry. She stopped, and then went on, but her voice wouldn't work anymore ... and she finished the song whispering and then she walked out, so no one could see her, and broke down.
The ward was quiet and no one applauded. And then Hope walked into the aisle between the beds and he said seriously, 'Fellows, the folks at home are having a terrible time with eggs. They can't get any powdered eggs at all!! They've got to use the old-fashioned kind that you break open.'
There's a man for you --- there really is a man."
Methinks she is not ordinary.
T'is a great generation that was/is.
5.56mm
Thanks for the ping, One :)
I had not saved this ... so your link on ATRW brings it back ....
Tillie ...
Tillie ... well ~~~ she passed away on the 23rd of December ... off to join her soul mate, she was ...
The two of them next to each other again ... their souls never so far apart anyway ... now joined forever ....
May it be so ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.