Name/Title
TranscriptEntry/Object ID
R2022.20.16Scope and Content
Transcript of interview with Marilyn Parker about her WWII memories.
Brief Summary/A Few Direct Quotes:
I had just turned 6 in September. When December 7th happened, I knew something tragic was going on because mother, father, brother 13 years old and my sister 9 years older were all gathered around the radio. I got shushed and sent out of the room. I found out later that my brother had gone downtown to enlist in the Army. He was turned down because of a heart murmur. The following year 1942, he received his draft notice and went into the Army. I remember the day he left. We were standing downtown in front of the old Moose Hall. There were strange colored buses and when they said get on the bus we hugged. When he hugged me goodbye, he told me to keep mother's sugar pounded free of lumps. No one told me where my brother was going. At school one day the teacher asked if anyone had a relative or family member who had gone into the service and several raised their hands and when I went home at lunch I said, "Did Stan go into the Army?' She said yes, where did you think he was? I said I didn't know as nobody would tell me where he went. About that time mom and I and dad would go to Camp Perry and pull up by the curb alongside another car by a great big driveway back in with the gates closed. Soldiers on the inside and family on the outside. When the other car pulled away, here comes Stanley in his uniform.
We did a lot of things even though we were kids because it was the war effort. It was my job to take the tin cans down the basement and mother would flatten them. We pulled our wagons around and collected tin cans and papers. I remember coffee cans filled with drippings. Girl Scouts made a lot of things for Red Cross like placemats and scrapbooks that were sent to veteran's hospitals. My sister graduated high school and became a cadet nurse. My mother in missionaries did a lot of things for the Red Cross. My father was an air raid warden. Our family like all families were very active in the missionaries work through the church, my father with the air raid warden, we did anything we could for the war effort, collecting everything. I don't remember any of my friends talking about the war or going overseas, about the war in the Pacific or the war over in Europe. I only remember one possible air raid drill in school where we all went out and sat on the floor with our knees bent and our arms around our knees. We had them at home where I was always supposed to underneath the dining room table for safety and the drapes were drawn shut. I think the scariest time was when they heard on the radio that the U.S. Army hospital ship, the John Jay Newman had been torpedoed. They were supposed to be neutral and had the great big Red Cross on top of it. My father contacted the Red Cross, and they did not know anything. One night the doorbell rang, my father went and there was Stanley. He came into the house and everyone rejoiced. The next day the Red Cross called and said so sorry we still have not been able to find out anything. My father said, don't worry my son is sitting in my living room right now. My sister's hospital was then wounded in WWII over in Germany and it touched all our lives. My parents rejoiced when WWII ended, and we thought the war to end all wars.
When I married my husband, we married in the United Methodist Church. The first Memorial Day all those ladies in the white uniform and the white hat and the white coat walked in, and they were the gold star mothers. I think there had to be at least 6 of these ladies who had received the telegram that their sons had been killed in action during WWII. We had the star in our window, just one star for one sone in the service. I can remember seeing homes that had the gold star for someone who had died in service of our country.
We had a victory garden behind our home that had all the things in there that you want, but the garden I really remember was my grandfathers down in Marion. It was huge and it I think he kept the whole family fed with lots and lots of vegetables. Mother was one of five children in the family. I don't remember a lot of meat. I remember going to the grocery store and you had to take the tokens for meat and vegetables. We ate good with all those vegetables and lots of soup. My father hunted rabbit and he fished in the summer and that wonderful Lake Erie Perch. I don't ever remember being hungry. We had two cherry trees in our yard, so we always had cherry pie and preserves.
My father was an air raid warden where we lived, and he patrolled it during all three air raid drills. The lights would go off, the drapes drawn, and dad would put his hat one, his arm band and get his flashlight which was covered with red cellophane over the light and begin patrolling to make sure that no one was out walking around, no cars driving, and all homes were dark and secure. We had the steel plant, the shipyards and figured Lorain to be a prime target. The wardens would walk their areas until all clear came through. The Coast Guard patrolled the lake shore.
Likely for the WWII Homefront Oral Histories project.Acquisition
Accession
2022.20Source or Donor
Found in CollectionAcquisition Method
Found in Collection