Childhood Memories of World War II
Daniel Swann
April, 2002
What are some of the things that you most remember that you believe was
a result of the war or it’s effect on your life? Did it change things for you in any way?
Oh yes. Everything changed and in a hurry, too. Until
the war started, I didn’t think much about my situation. Things were
each day the way they had been the day before, on back as far as I could remember. My Dad was a
career soldier. We had lived in North Carolina all my life where
he was stationed at
Fort Bragg but had moved to Oklahoma sometime, probably in 1940 when
he was transferred to Fort Sill. Then in ’41 when Pearl Harbor happened,
he was immediately shipped out. I remember the night before he left; the Christmas tree was
still up. I remember us all sitting on the sofa together. No one said anything about his
leaving or goodbye or anything, but I remember it being a different time for us.
And then the next day he was gone. Everything from that time on was different.
How? In what way? I know your dad was gone. But, what else changed?
First of all, we moved back to Carolina where all our family lived. I went to live with
my mother’s sister, my sister and I. She was about eighteen months old. I was eight years old.
My brother joined the navy. He was only fifteen. And my mother went to Ohio to work in some
kind of war plant. That was about it for our family. My mother and father divorced sometime
later. My sister and I just stayed on there with my aunt’s family.
Didn’t you ever hear from your parents?
Oh sure, they wrote from time to time. My mother and father did. We never heard from my
brother until after the war was over and he just showed up one day. I guess we all just
figured he’d been killed, or at least I did. Maybe the others knew better. I don’t remember
them ever saying that they knew anything about him.
Were you ever afraid because of the war?
Sure. I wasn’t afraid that the Germans or Japs were going to kill me or anything, not that
I remember. But I was afraid that something might happen to my dad or brother. Mostly
I was worried about our family getting back together. I wanted my dad to come on home and go
and get my mom and get us all back together like before.
Your dad did come home though. He wasn’t killed or anything.
That’s true. He came home after the war was over. But just for a few weeks and then he went
back to serve with the occupying forces in Germany. But as far as our family was concerned,
that all was over the night he left for the war.
It seems like that would cause you to be bitter toward war and the military, but
I know you’re not. Why not?
I don’t like the idea of war. But, I don’t know what else you can do if some guy like
Hitler wants to make war. I guess you could just refuse to fight. But, that doesn’t seem
like much of a way to stop a Hitler. Maybe we could have let the other countries do all
the fighting for us. But, I don’t think they could have stopped him. Then what?
I was a kid then and didn’t know much about such things. But, today and for all my adult life,
I have believed it was a thing that had to be done. And I guess there are all kinds of
casualties in a war. Our family wasn’t the only one affected. It all worked out all right.
It certainly wasn’t what any sane person would want, I suppose.
But, you think it was all worth it?
Yes I
think so. Of course, no one can know what would have happened if we had just stayed out of
the war. We can only guess. And I am pretty sure it would have been a lot worse in the
long run if we had just waited and hoped that Hitler would decide to let us live in peace.
He didn’t show much mercy for the Jews and it’s not likely that he would have treated anybody
else any better if they didn’t fit into his scheme of things. I’m pretty sure black Americans
would have faired very poorly under a Nazi outfit.
One last thing. If you had had to go to war, would you have been afraid?
Of course I would have been afraid. But, I don’t think that would have had anything to do
with it. I suppose most of those who went were afraid. But, I’m glad they went, even
my dad.
