Back in May of 1942, after Dad had left
for overseas, Mom had returned home to Madison, moved in with Dad’s parents
and stayed in Dad’s room for about a year. But she needed something else to
do, so she took a job in Milwaukee at the Hanson Glove Factory. She had
Dad’s car, his 1941 Convertible (which had cost him $833 on the payment
plan) to get around in.
After about a year
in Milwaukee, she decided to go into the Service too. First, Basic Training
at Fort Ogelthorpe, Georgia, then she was transferred to Selfridge Field in
Michigan and finally she was stationed in Presque Isle, Maine. My Mom had
joined the WACs (Women’s Air Corp) and was working in Communications. She
was always proud of the fact that she handled the message when Germany
surrendered. She was meeting Dad in Chicago for Christmas after getting a
17-day furlough from "prison" as Dad called it.
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After their time together in Madison, Mom went back to Presque Isle, Maine and Dad drove his convertible back down to Florida for a one month rest camp, R and R. This was a mandatory camp that all personnel were required to attend to decompress from their overseas experiences. Dad thought this was a little unwarranted given his War experiences, but he took full advantage of it, staying in a Hotel on the beach, cruising the strip with a carload of soldiers in "idle", since gas rationing was in full swing. There were a lot of guys there that he knew from Kunming. They came from all over China and India. While he was down there, his parents came down to be with Dad and stayed for a week on the beach. And finally he got orders to go to Greensboro, North Carolina. His orders didn’t have a specific time he was supposed to report there, so he just took his time, enjoying the fact that he was finally back. He drove his convertible, slowly making his way up north and then spent the rest of his time till VJ day, stationed in Greensboro, North Carolina. First he was assigned to Dental Supply, then in the Hospital Rehabilitation Center teaching woodworking to the patients and finally typing enlistment papers full time for all the soldiers who swamped the Center. Name, Rank, Serial Number.
He had a furlough from Greensboro in August, 1945 and
came back to Madison for a visit. The second day he went out to the cottage
just to be alone and "see what it was like." Took a nap in the hammock, it
started getting dark so he got up to go to bed and slept through
August 14, the day Japan Surrendered and the unofficial VJ Day. He didn’t
find out until he turned the radio on the next morning about 9. He missed
all the celebrating, all the fun. He slept through it. They started
discharging guys in September and they got around to letting Dad go sometime
in early October. He got home October 13, 1945. Guess who was born October
12, 1946.
His #1 daughter,
Bobbe Ellen
As told to me by my Poppo in the year 2001