Today is the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, the end of World War II in Europe. Three memories come to mind.
Rationing: Even though I was only five when the war ended, I was aware of rationing. I still remember having a good time skipping up and down the concrete stepping stones in our front yard. I knew that some things were hard to buy and felt grateful that our stones hadn’t been affected, so as I skipped I starting singing,
You can’t buy
stepping stones
in wartime.
I was surprised when my mother said that wasn’t true, they weren’t affected by the war. Concrete seemed so important to me that I couldn’t understand why that would be true. We moved from that house when I was about four and half years old, so that must have been 81 years ago, and I still remember it.
War Movies: I remember watching The March of Time newsreels about the war and world events around that time, and also watching a ton of war movies afterwards. For years when I was playing outside and a plane flew overhead I would partially duck and check to make sure no bombs were being dropped.
The Attitude of Europeans: This was in 1960 when I was in Stanford in Germany from January though June and spent another six weeks hitchhiking with a friend before flying back home. A lot of the people we met went out of their way to be hospitable, mainly because of America’s part in the liberation.
That was a long time ago and things have changed, are changing, a lot.
Most of you are a lot younger than I am, but do you have any feelings/memories connected to the war?
May 8, 2025
Not personal, as in my being.
Rather my father from WW1 losing part of his leg (I think left) shot in the foot, antibiotic not available. Living a vastly different life when he returned home.
In recent months I’ve read a lot of novels based on WW2 … mostly about the people left at home but also about spies, both men and women. A number of interesting wartime gals who both served in the forces, became factory hands, land girls, children evacuated ti tge countryside. Books loosly based on British Isles, Europe and the USA.
Rationing in the UK lasted well into the 1950s.
God bless.
I remember you telling me stories, and it seems so strange that it has been 80 years.
…back then, we weren’t the Ugly Americans!
I was born long after WW II ended. About the only thing I can think of was my dad was in the Army Air Corp and his training ended just as the war was ending so he never saw action.