When the new year of 1943 began, the country was beginning to operate like a well-oiled machine. War bonds would be issued. Women went to war officially. Besides the WACs, Waves, and Spars, there were WASPs--Women's Air Service Pilots. These would not be sent into combat but performed countless valuable services at home. OSS (Office of Strategic Services} was created. This was the forerunner of the CIA and worked with the FBI on various espionage cases. (Patrick was invited to join this group as, I suppose, were many other agents but chose to stay in the FBI.) The general public was on the watch for spies and the office had frequent calls from eager beavers who thought they had spotted Nazi agents. If there seemed to be any validity, these cases were carefully investigated.
The war in Europe was far away so we west coast civilians were more concerned with battles in the Pacific. We did hear, however, along with news of fighting, some very disturbing rumors about what was happening to Jews in Germany and Poland. In England, refugees from these countries told stories, often in whispers for fear of retribution on families left at home, which were too horrible for belief. Some of them reached the U.S. where, on the whole, they were received with doubt. Older people remembered that during the last war, the "Boches" had been said to eat Belgian babies. This was the same sort of thing. They simply shrugged off the stories. Human beings stripped and shoved into gas ovens? Lampshades made of human skin? No, these tales had to be wild exaggerations. In the twentieth century such ghastly things didn't happen. They did though. It wasn't until after D-Day, a year later, that it was proved that they were tragically, terribly true. The persecution had been going on for years. Now, in 1943, began Hitler's deliberate, systematic attempt to eliminate an entire race of people. It was far worse than the Inquisition.
At home there were rumors of a different kind. It was said that scientists were working on a secret weapon. These rumors had naturally reached the ears of foreign agents who were intent on finding out more about it. In Los Angeles there was a certain man who had been snooping around where he had no right to be. He was being watched closely and obviously knew that he was being tailed. He was planning a trip to San Francisco by train. The FBI knew the car he would be on and even the number of his berth. It was necessary to find out his contact up north. An agent he hadn't seen before must follow him. Patrick was chosen and the children and I came into the picture to provide cover for him. On an April afternoon a family party boarded the Southern Pacific train bound for San Francisco. The father was carrying a sleepy eight month old baby, the mother held the hand of an excited two-and-half year old. The group was ostensibly off to visit grandparents. It had a compartment down the aisle from the suspect's berth. When we reached San Francisco in the morning, Patrick's father was there to greet us and so was an agent, ready to to take up the trail. The case wasn't big time but it was important because it was found that this suspect knew things he shouldn't have known about the weapon and was prepared to tell them to the enemy.
The war in the Pacific absorbed much of our attention. We read avidly of battles raging on islands where the Japanese had entrenched themselves. They held the Philippines after the fall of Corregidor and the infamous Bataan death march. Reports of the heartless cruelty of this had made us shudder but we could have no idea how appallingly bad it really was. Only survivors, like those of the Holocaust, could put it into words.
As we read, we became acquainted with the names of the commanders of the armed forces. One of these was Douglas MacArthur who, after the surrender of Corregidor, had been ordered to Australia where he would make plans to oust the Japanese from their positions. He was an intrepid general, able to inspire his troops. He was also photogenic, often pictured in his slightly tilted cap, a pipe in his mouth. I admired his courage but he was a bit too theatrical for my taste.
Far off in north Africa where the Allies battled the Axis, was another colorful figure who caught everyone's attention although he was very much an enemy. This was Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox", reputed to be the only Nazi who, in defiance of Hitler's orders to show no mercy to POWs, treated them fairly as fellow soldiers. Der Fuhrer frowned on this but Rommel was a hero to the Germans and he didn't dare chastise him.
We at home did some grousing about more shortages but mostly were able to laugh them off. Hamburger meat, when we could get it, was stretched to its limits in different recipes. In those days women wore skirts, not slacks, and nylon stockings. Nylons were no longer available--the valuable fabric was wanted for parachutes and other was necessities. Leg makeup was the answer and an effective one although it came off on bed sheets. We were warned to wash fresh vegetables carefully because inexperienced gardeners (unlike the interned Japanese) were using many powerful insecticides and there were cases of food poisoning. We heard about Tokyo Rose whose broadcasts from Japan were designed to make GIs homesick and worried about what their wives and sweethearts were doing while they were at war. Many of these little talks were so garbled that they only made the listeners laugh. In Germany there was Axis Sally who tried to discourage the Allied fighting men. We read Ernie Pyle's dispatches from the front and were introduced to Bill Mauldin's wonderful cartoon characters, GIs Willie and Joe.
In Europe, although battles would continue to rage, the tide was beginning to turn. Stalin had come in on our side so the Nazis now had an eastern front to defend. Mussolini's Italy had become a battlefield and Il Duce was no longer in power. De Gaulle had organized the French resistance. At year's end in 1943, General Dwight Eisenhower was named Supreme Commander of the Allied forces which were now truly united.
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