Stories tagged "1940-1945": 9
Stories
Rationing during World War II
"Yes, rationing started early. People who owned cars would get a ration stamp for five gallons of gas per week. Of course, there was a black market too, with counterfeit stamps just like today. But for the most part, there was quite a bit of…
A New Home
“My mom was still in high school, and she was enrolled in George Washington High School. They lived in Washington Heights, eventually they got an apartment on 181st street, it was a one-bedroom apartment. Apparently, my mother and my aunt slept in…
America via England
"When they were in England – my grandfather couldn’t work. I know he was really disturbed that he wasn’t able to work so I think they just lived in the country house of their relatives until they were able to get passage to the United States. "He…
Home Front
"After my dad’s father died from a measles epidemic, his large family of five siblings and his now single mother Frederica lost her farm during the Depression. During the war, Dad’s sisters went to work. The older sister married…
Drafted into the Army
"My dad entered the war in President Roosevelt’s first peacetime military draft. The family appealed to the draft board because he was the breadwinner of a family he cared for since age ten, but he shipped out. Dan was gone for…
Life in Occupation
“I remember things gradually getting worse. The rules and regulations they became harsher and harsher. And there were all kinds of things you really had to watch out for. And they were starting to take things. There were no more cars. They were even…
School During War
“During the war, we only had part-time school. I remember having to go quite a distance to go to a school that was still available, but it had to be shared by other schools that had also been taken over by the Germans. And I believe I went to…
His One and Only Defeat
“I thought I did such a helluva good job that I didn’t need to campaign, but that’s not right. You’ve got to fight every time. You could pave the streets with gold, reduce taxes to a nickel a year and scent the sewers with Chanel No. 5 – and they…
Joining the Resistance
"Being a Boy Scout in Copenhagen where all that information was brewing probably got them involved fairly early on because one of their leaders was, you know, very influenced and could get British BBC radio’s information and so forth. And they…