Meanwhile Back Home: Childhood Experiences during World War II

by Gabrielle Meeker, Patricia Larenas (Illustrator)

Overview

Despite being safe at home as war raged over much of the world during World War II, American children experienced life-changing events that elicited both specific and various responses. Children, having parents involved in the war campaign, had to deal with new family dynamics and new responsibilities, even though the war was fought on foreign ground. Certainly, the impact of World War II on children in the United States deserves recognition. This oral history project seeks to retrieve information concerning the experiences of children in the Second World War, whose impressions were strong enough to be seared in their memories, even at very young ages. With few exceptions, children were aware of the threat that faced the country and responded to the call. They played their part in winning the war. They walked to school listening for air raid sirens, carried scrap metal to school for collection, offered their dimes to buy War Bonds, and sent caring packages to children in Europe. Some children missed one or both parents, who were either away at war or in factories making war materiel or transporting equipment. The mechanics of life changed. Each family had ration books assigned to them, one for each member of the household, including infants. Butter, sugar, tires, gasoline, and other materials were rationed. No cars, bicycles, tractors or other domestic products were built. Factories were converted to war-time needs: planes, ships, tanks, ballistics. Life, as the children knew it, had changed. Fifty interviewees answered ten questions that were designed to focus their memories of the war and provide a uniform basis for the study. Some recollections were common, others quite unique. Very few children were so protected by their families that they had no idea a war was raging. Fifty elders of various backgrounds and locations were interviewed. The goal was finding how children reacted to the events that changed their lives. It was an era of unity and patriotism. Almost all interviewees expressed life-changing experiences due to the war. Only one was so protected that she didn't know there was a war on. A few more thought they were unaffected by the war, although that was not always clear. One boy in military school talked in a matter-of-fact way of his fellow older cadets who were killed in the war. He was rapidly growing into an age group eligible to serve. Though claiming to be unaffected, one has to wonder. Children who were sent to relocation camps expressed the most reticence to interview. One of them did not want to interview but agreed to submit written answers to the questions and answered all of them, except for short-term and long-term effects. The other internment camp interviewee consented to an interview only after a mutual friend vouched for the interviewer. Some of the children were quite young at the start of the war. Children missed their parents not only for reasons of physical separation but also due to emotional distancing. Post-war housing shortages brought additional disruption to their lives. Universal cohesion of the nation stood out with the interviewees expressing strong patriotic themes, along with sadness over the divisions that have since occurred. Everyone, including children, were pressed in support of the war effort through rationing, converting manufacturing to war goods production, altering career paths, producing food in home gardens, restricting driving to save gas, financing the war through "War Bonds", collecting fats for explosives, collecting metal scraps, and otherwise changing life-styles. Almost everyone lived through the war with common experiences, which created a sense of unity. The war was fought as one people, and most took pride in it, despite difficulties and stresses. Children living on both coasts provided more animated responses to questions than those who lived inland. The coastal populations were aware of enemy submarines and surface ships near them. Damages were inflicted in their regions. Children living inland believed they were safe from enemy reach, but still suffered from the other aspects of the war. Those on farms tended to have both parents at home since farming was critical to the war effort. City children, who had one or both parents away at war or at work, were farmed out to others for care. Some had to work out issues with parents expressing dislike or hatred of the enemy populations, while others had parents who expressed forgiveness after the war. Asian children of non-Japanese ancestry suffered harassment as the general population did not differentiate them from Japanese-Americans. One Italian-American interviewee also suffered harassment but family cohesion helped ameliorate the effect. Family cohesion also helped an African American with the effects of racism. Several children cited family support as helping them after four years of war-time stress. The study also unexpectedly revealed quite a different American culture the 1940s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798823127035
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	10/05/2022
Edition description:	Original, Unpublished Work ed.
Pages:	186
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Gabrielle's long interest in history led to earning an M.A. in History from the University of Illinois and eventually an M.A. in Counseling at Santa Clara University. A writing group prompt on fear, led the author to express deeply-held memories regarding World War II, despite having been born late in the war. She set out to find others with war experiences, interviewing many people who were children at that time, eager to discuss their vivid memories. Work experience varied among Community College teaching, Biotechnology, and government contracting. Gabrielle is married, has two children and two grandchildren. She and her husband reside in the San Francisco area.

Editorial Reviews

5 STAR. I would encourage everyone to read this book. The accounts are heartbreaking, even if brief. They tell us of the impact of war on children and how mistakes can be avoided in the future. It's hope is in the fact that many children survived, though scathed with feelings of animosity towards warring factions. Interviews with people who were children during that era revealed how they dealt with absent and distracted parents, rationing, and being asked to support the war effort.

Reedsy Discovery - Kareen Hewitt