Day One

What is your day one? I look at my day one as the first day of my life that I can recall. And, for me, it was the same answer when I asked the question whether I was 20 or 80. 

My Day One is December 7, 1941. At about 7 p.m. I was on the dining room floor playing with some toys. My mother and sisters had cleaned up after supper. I’d be going to bed in an hour or so. It was a Sunday. The radio was on. And you know what the radio said.

So, what did I do for the next 3 years and 9 months? I learned to read, as the Boston Post and all other newspapers told the story of the war every day and I needed to know the story. I learned to write, as my mother saw to it that I regularly sent letters to my brothers, one in Europe (and the Battle of the Bulge) and one (luckily) in New Zealand. 

But, there are a lot more memories: 

Going to the store with my sisters holding the ration book 

Looking at windows and seeing a symbol (Gold Star Mother) that one of the sons who lived in the house had been killed in battle 

My sisters knitting things for the soldiers 

My saving ??? for the good of the country (I wish I could remember what ??? was)

Experiencing air raid drills 

Knowing my father was a member of the Draft Board

Playing war games with my friends

Listening to Fulton J. Sheen 

Helping assemble several huge packages of food and clothing for my father’s family in Italy (after Italy had dropped out of the war) 

Hearing the names of Conscientious Objectors