The United States entered into combat in World War II late in 1941 after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, with its resulting losses of American lives, ships and aircraft. At the time, I would have been just a month short of being 2 years old, so I don't have any memories of the real happening. When my memories really began a year or two later, in 1943 and 1944, the war effort was fully on. So much about of our lives was affected by the war.
Although the war time was well before television began appearing in our community, we had the radio and the newspapers. Much of the time, our battery-powered radio would be on in the house. We didn't have electricity on the farm until about the time the war was over in 1945. Most of the time, our radio was tuned to KWTO, "Keep Watching the Ozarks," a Springfield, Mo., radio station, AM 55 on the dial. So we often had the news on, as well as hearing C.C. Williford doing the weather forecast, and May Kennedy McCord doing her humorous show. The only other radio station close to us was the station at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, which was largely a student-run station, with a not-so-strong signal. Radio back then tended to have a lot of static, especially in bad weather.
One of my memories is of the close at hand reality of the war on all of us. Most of us were acquainted with a number of the "soldier boys" who were off to war. Several of our Pea Ridge soldiers were killed in battle, and our local VFW unit is named the Wood-Hall VFW in their memory. Some of our surviving World War II soldiers are now in their 90s. We just recently said our goodbyes to Russell Walker and to Bob Prophet. I think at least five brothers in the Walker family were involved in WW II.
Some of our Pea Ridge soldiers were involved in very important battles in Germany, Africa and Italy. Jack Lasater was a tank mechanic and deeply involved in the Battle of the Bulge. Russell Walker was a tank driver, and participated in the battles with Rommel in the African deserts, and later in the conflict in Italy. I don't know the details of the service by such Pea Ridge soldiers as Charles Hardy, Joe Lasater, Harold Webb, Glen Walker, Floyd Walker, Al Koenke and others.
Another way in which the war came close to all of us was in the scarcity of some ordinary goods. For example some of our foods were rationed because of scarcity. There were nationally promoted efforts to maximize food production, first to provide for the needs of the troops, to meet the needs of the folks at home, and to hold down the expense of foodstuffs as the country paid the cost of the war. Such items as sugar, gasoline and tires were scarce and rationed. We had to use ration stamps when buying these things, and you could only buy so much. You couldn't just go to the gas station and fill-er up. At times we couldn't get sugar at all. My mother recalled a time when we were going to a church dinner, and she didn't have sugar to make a cake. So she used Karo syrup to sweeten her cake. Evidently it worked. I have some memories myself of using Karo to sweeten my Post Toasties for breakfast.
I think one of the reasons that our families cultivated large gardens and had such emphasis on raising as much of our own food as possible was because of the war effort. In the U.S., Britain and in other Allied countries, Victory Gardens were promoted. It was considered to be patriotic to help produce food for the country, for one's family, and for the troops. Food producers were recognized as very important to the war effort.
Another memory I have is of the efforts to pay for the expenses of the war effort. Manufacturing industries, like car and truck makers, were refocused to build tanks and Jeeps and trucks and other equipment for the armed services. There was basically a gap in our new civilian car and truck models from 1941 until 1946. Since many of the men were away from home, serving as soldiers, many women began taking jobs in factories, including manufacturing aircraft, giving rise to popular references to Rosie the Riveter, and so on. I also recall campaigns to encourage people to buy war bonds, as they were called. Nobody had any thought of expecting China to finance the war for us. It was considered patriotic to help pay for the war effort by paying our taxes and investing in U.S. Savings Bonds.
Of course, our country today has veterans from the Korean War, the Vietnam War and very recently, Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems very fitting that we have Veterans Day to remember and honor those who have served, and who have sought in many ways to uphold the ideals which we treasure in a democratic society.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Editorial on 11/12/2014