Military Memories: Women in the War, the mothers who waited

I'm following the GeneaBloggers writing prompt for the month of May with short posts now and again on the topic of Military Memories, from Jennifer Holik. Must admit that I'm enjoying it and thinking about my own impressions of the time in history just before I was born at the start of the Baby Boom. Mom and I have talked a lot about the war years and I never tire of hearing her stories and descriptions of people and places. This time we are interested in women and their role in war, or at least as it was for Mom and Dad's families. The place is that small mountain town in Western Maryland called Frostburg.

Just to drive around Frostburg during the war years, assuming that you had a car and enough gas coupons which were both all but impossible to get because of rationing, and you'd notice the stars in windows indicating how many young people in the family were serving their country. Grandma Kelly had two stars in her window, one for Bernie and the other for Delbert.

Here are the Kelly women in the backyard posing before the boys went off to WWII. Grandma Kelly is second from the left and in no mood to smile.

Dad with Delbert on the left and Bernie on the right.

Grandma Kelly had three sons and three daughters and two of her three sons were going to war. Now I know Grandma and that top photo tells the story. She was real worried. Who wouldn't be? And I think that for the women at home in Frostburg the big burden was worry, just plain boldfaced worry. Would she ever see her two boys again?

My Mom was a young newlywed and happy because Dad was exempt from service due to an old injury. I'm kind of thinking that the fullness of fresh love drove out the ghosts that haunted Grandma Kelly and Grandmother Williams' dreams. And Mom's son wasn't born yet.

So what did the women contribute during the war? There will be stories posted to blogs that feature WACs of the US Army and WAVES of the US Navy, and the SPARS of the Coast Guard. And stories about women's sacrifices at home. But my thought today is of the mothers who waited.

Let me tell you a little story. One day I was at Grandma Kelly's house on West Main Street, and we came in from enjoying one of our favorite activities, sitting on the front porch swing watching traffic go by and waving to neighbors. On the left wall of the front hall was a beautiful fan from Asia displayed in a glass case. It was, and still is, the most lovely and ornately decorated fan I've ever seen. It held a sort of magic for me and I always paused to enjoy it. One day Grandma was talking about what I could have when she was gone. Now you had to know Grandma to understand how deeply she loved talking about a maudlin topic such as who would get what after she died or how so-and-so died. She had seen me admire the fan and warned me that Delbert would get that after she was gone. Delbert had given it to her.

Now that I think about this it all makes sense. Delbert had served in Europe in WWII and then served in Korea. Uncle Delbert told me how much he enjoyed that time in his life and entertained me well with stories about it. A young boy who came for food daily, a painting village people gave him, and each story filled with love and compassion for the Korean people in their war torn country. Of course he would bring his mother a treasure from a place he loved. I can imagine Delbert giving the fan to her when he got back from Korea. They laughed, they cried, Grandma loved it! The shadow of the heartache of having sons in the war was lifted. Her boys were back.

Oh, it was a beautiful fan and when Grandma Kelly passed on, Delbert came and took it. I remember noticing the place where it had been now marked by a bright spot on a field of floral wallpaper. Just like Grandma, my bright spot missing.

I think my cousin Kevin has the fan now, probably on a wall in his living room, given a place of honor. At least I hope so and that, as so many family treasures are, it's not in the attic catching dust.

Grandma surely wasn't alone in worrying about her boys. The mothers of Frostburg all bore the burden of that heartache. Mothers everywhere did. They waited and they worried.


If you'd like some idea of how beautiful that fan is, just click here. Pick the most elaborate then imagine it completely covered in landscape drawings. Now look at the price. Cousin Kevin, is a visit to Antiques Roadshow in your future?

Beautiful fans at: http://www.antiquealive.com/masters/Hand_Fans/Decorative_Folding_Fans.html

The URL for this post is:
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/05/military-memories-women-in-war-mothers.html

Uncle Delbert: VE Day!

I've been calling Uncle Delbert and he's been telling me stories. He's 91 so he remembers what he remembers... don't we all?! Mostly he likes to talk about his military service and I'm happy to hear all of what he has to say. The other day he told me about the day the war ended in Europe, VE Day.

He was in Marseilles, France when peace broke out. Everyone took to the streets and loved to love on our boys in uniform. Just like in the movies. He somehow got his brother, also in the Army, on the phone and they made plans to meet on the beach in Normandy. Uncle Delbert got a jeep and drove all day to meet Bernie. And it happened: they met on the beach at Normandy after the war. Just like in the movies:)

Now I don't know how accurate this story is and I really don't care. It's precious to me. The thought of my two uncles meeting up on the beach at Normandy in close to proximity to when the war ended in Europe is spectacular drama. I don't care if it took Delbert a week to get there by train and foot, or how he truly contacted his brother and how he knew where Bernie was. Somehow in some crazy way they ended up on that beach after VE Day. And that's pretty cool when it comes to my family story archive. Thus it was told to me by Uncle Delbert and thus it is recorded.

Photos from my Archive. You've seen these before:

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/05/uncle-delbert-ve-day.html

Uncle Delbert: The Boys Go To War

Was talking to Uncle Delbert yesterday about going off to WWII. What was the mood, I asked? Looking at the photos taken before the boys in his family went off to war, they show a group of people smiling (perhaps bravely) hugging each other for dear life, together and not knowing what the future held. Here's what Uncle Delbert said about that.

He framed the mood: he was born in 1920 and grew up mostly in the Great Depression. His Dad, my Grandfather, was a coal miner. Dad, he said, came home from the mines with his week's pay of a 50-cent piece. That was it. Groceries were bought on credit at the store a couple of houses away and each week the tab would be paid off. His Dad made extra income by cutting the other miner's hair in a tiny barbershop in back of the house for 25 cents a cut. His Dad, I know, had learned to cut hair from his father-in-law, Gus Zeller, the notorious barber (and Drinking Man) often mentioned here. They really "lived on that extra income" he said.

Uncle Delbert described home life with six kids as fun, and happy with a solid sense of home justice which kept the boys in check. They never thought of themselves as being "poor" even though times were tight. (Mom has said almost the exact same thing of her home life growing up.) It's a wonderful thing that none of the three boys ended up in trouble with the law, he mused. They could be full of bedevilment, I know, from the storied my Dad told about growing up with three rascal brothers! Boys will be boys.

He had never been out of Frostburg when the attack at Pearl Harbor took place changing all of their lives. He was called up for duty, passed the physical and off he went on possibly the adventure of his life. His brother Bernie went too. Dad was called up, as I've mentioned here, but couldn't pass the physical due to severe burns to both hands when he was but two years old. Instead, he served by working in Allegany Ballistics Laboratory nearby. The brothers wrote as often as they could. The war years passed and fortunately they were all reunited after the war.

Uncle Delbert has told me three stories so far about his service years and I hope that there will be more to come. The next to come will be about him meeting up with his brother on VE Day. It brought a tear to my eye.

Photos from the archive:

Uncle Delbert in uniform.
Looks like a photo booth picture to me.

Uncle Delbert, 1942

Uncle Bernie, in uniform, about 1942.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/05/uncle-delbert-boys-go-to-war.html

Uncle Delbert's Stories

You know how it goes: you lose direct contact with a couple of relatives over time. People have busy lives and move all over the place and it's hard to keep up. Their name comes up in conversations and you hear news of them and their extended family but direct contact is kinda' missing. You might feel like you're in touch but you really aren't.

And so it was with my Uncle Delbert, my Dad's brother and one of Grandma's six kids. He's 91 and I always get news about him and his son Kevin but I just didn't think to pick up the phone and call him. Until just last week. I asked myself: What am I waiting for??!!

Well, first off I had to explain to him who I was!! He got me confused with my sister, which I realized when he asked about my 3 kids. Oh crap, it's been so long that I'm off his family radar! But then we got that situated and on to memories. Actually I was prompted to call him because Mom had seen him at Cousin Cynthia's Cinco de Mayo party Derby Fest... so many drinks, so little time;)

Anywho, Uncle Delbert remembered that Mom is the family genealogist and archivist and asked for copies of old photos she might have, "and whatever else you have on the history of the family." Now you don't have to ask Mom twice for stuff like that! She told me about it and was wondering how to get the pictures to Uncle Delbert and I piped up and said, "I'll do it!"

Next thing I know I have a stack of picture album pages done up in Word weighing in at 40 pages, along with a chart and ancestor report, the former almost 30 pages and the later almost 40 pages. I'm thinking that if I send this to Uncle Delbert and a strong winds blows up he'll never make heads or tails out of it! So off to the local UPS store to see what they could do for me in the way of binding it all together.

It was beautiful, if I do say so my own self:) There was the entire known history of the family in one document.

Uncle Delbert phoned me when he got it and said that he'd been looking at it for the last three hours straight. The next day he called Mom and Mom told me that it was the first time he'd ever called her in the entire time they've known each other! "How did you do this?" he wanted to know. He was blasted away by Mom's research prowess. He knew Mom all those years but never stopped to inquire about her genealogical research. But he will now!!

And I'll be calling Uncle Delbert to listen and write down his stories. I have two really good ones already!

Mom and Uncle Delbert, June 1942

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/05/uncle-delberts-stories.html

Some Shared Family Photos

You know how it goes: cousins can drift apart over the years. Until quite recently I'd been out of close touch with the first cousins but this family history thing has brought us back together again. I'm thankful for that.

Cousin Linda and I met last time I was in to visit Mom. She and I met up for breakfast at the Princess Restaurant in Frostburg, Maryland on a rainy Monday morning. It was a warm get-together on a cold morning and we laughed a lot. Poodle skirts got us chuckling. Then the memories flowed!

After a bit she brought out some family photos and I want to share them here in no particular order. I just now re sized them and adjusted the contrast so they are ready for their debut here on the blog:)

Here's hoping that you get a kick out of your family photos too!! Send us a link in the comments section if you like.

Grandma Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly has a happy birthday! She loved pink!!

It was 1942 and the boys were off to WWII. Here are the ladies.

Grandma Kelly and Aunt Chris Kelly Fraley.

Grandpop John Lee Kelly (everyone called him Lee) loved the front porch. Heck, we all did!

Grandma Kelly loved the front porch... and pink!

Grandpop Kelly and a young Aunt Louise Kelly Chaney, Cousin Linda's Mom.

My Dad in the middle of his brothers. Delbert on the left ... but I have to check with Mom as to who that is on the right. Think it's Uncle Bernie.

Grandpop Kelly and his kids in the 1920s. The oldest boy is my Dad, second from the right.

Grandpop and Grandma Kelly with Aunt Louise in the grand's kitchen, 1965. Grandma would not be pleased with this picture as it's not her best... but I like all of the pictures of my family!

My grandparents were always in love. Can you tell?