In my very old age (I am getting close to a hundred now), when I
look back at those turbulent years it's like looking at a vast
panoramic jigsaw puzzle. The main picture is clear but almost all of the background pieces are missing. Did we listen to Guy Lombardo playing "Auld Lang Syne" on New Year's Eve, 1943? Probably, but the memory is lost in the mists of time. The nation was totally absorbed in the war effort. Patriotic signs were to be seen everywhere: "Uncle Sam Wants YOU". "Buy War Bonds". Artist Norman Rockwell did a series of covers for the Saturday Evening Post, the first depicting American warriors from George Washington down to GI Joe. Another showed a proud Rosie the Riveter flexing her muscles. There were signs warning about "The Enemy Within" . There was reason for this. Foreign agents were working to find out about America's secret weapon. In November there was to be a presidential election but it caused little excitement. The war eclipsed everything else.
While the battles went on in the Pacific and Europe--now American and British armies were in Italy where Mussolini was no longer in power--we civilians at home were enthusiastically collecting scrap metal, tin foil, and aluminum. "Victory gardens" sprouted up everywhere. In the tiny space of semi-arable land behind our garage I planted Romaine lettuce and in the course of time a dozen anemic heads came up. The leaves were edible. That's the best I can say for them. We were eating lots of eggs. Baked potatoes with grated cheese were tasty and nourishing. Butter cost too many rations stamps so we used margarine instead. This came in pound packages like butter, each with a packet of yellow powder attached. It was snow white and looked like Crisco. With the powder blended in, it look quite buttery but to me it always tasted the way Crisco looks. I was pregnant, expecting the baby in late summer. With the typical craving for a certain food,I had settled on tomatoes and ate them constantly. Oddly though, I wasn't feeling at all well -- in fact I felt terrible. When I consulted my doctor, he asked about my diet and gave me a quick answer. Those juicy red tomatoes were the problem. Inexperienced market-gardeners were spraying dangerous insecticides lavishly. With each tomato that I ate, I got another dose of arsenic. It was in the skin and washing didn't remove it.
Such mundane matters were trivia. We heard the glorious news of D-Day, June sixth. The whole country rejoiced over the successful landing of Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy. The end of the Third Reich was assured. Involved in this action, led by Eisenhower, was "Blood and Guts" General George Patton whose language was as colorful as the man himself. He had fought in the African and Italian campaigns and was noted for his inspired leadership. With European victory in sight, eyes were now turned toward the Pacific where the Japanese were being slowly and painfully dug out of their positions from Singapore to Burma, Indonesia, and islands no one had heard of before. In China, General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell was trying to get more cooperation from Chiang Kai-shek but the Chinese leader, settled in Chonking high above the Yangtze River, was taking care of himself and his own army, letting others fight the Japanese. The Communist leader Mao was far more effective (Barbara Tuchman's "Stilwell and the American Experience in China" is a brilliant picture of the situation). "Vinegar Joe" had no use for Chiang and had a hard time being polite to him.
The political conventions of 1944 were lackluster affairs. FDR was nominated for a fourth term. His choice of Senator Harry Truman as running mate caused the only excitement. Many Democrats were annoyed because he didn't stick with Henry Wallace, then vice president. All I remember about the election is casting my vote for FDR who defeated Thomas Dewey. When the new year of 1945 began, we had the same president but the war was changing and changing in favor of the Allies. (In a corner of the jigsaw puzzle a small piece was put in. Our first son was born on September third while the Allies were freeing France and Belgium.]