In the Dark

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“They put us on the midnight shift and you had, it was at the shipyard and we weren’t close to the shipyard and we had to ride one bus and change buses in the middle of town and everything was blacked out. There was not a sight of light anywhere and we would have to stop at the downtown, get off and change buses and go to the shipyard where we worked all night. We were still young so we went to the beach a lot on the day and we didn’t sleep much and then we were tired the next night. But it was a difficult time because they were talking about having submarines off from the coast and Jacksonville is right on the coast and everything was blacked out at night. We were staying in a place that was right on the river and it was a beautiful place and a beautiful river but everything was blacked out at night. There was not a light anywhere.”

Editor's Note: Shortly after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1943, Edith took a job working at the Jacksonville Shipyard. Because of its proximity to the coast, Jacksonville was one of the many coastal areas that complied with blackout rules. In this quote, Edith describes taking the bus to her night shift in complete darkness.