Through the Eyes of a Child

By Barbara Murray

When I was seven years old in 1941, my family sat in the living room to listen to President Roosevelt speak on the radio. He was announcing the invasion of Pearl Harbor by Japan. He spoke of the losses the United States had suffered. The numbers had not yet been determined of the dead, but the President spoke very grimly of the event. My recollection of that evening was watching the reactions of the men in our family. I was scared because I could tell this was very serious. The President had declared war against Japan.

Of course a lot of the men in our country began enlisting to serve in the military. Dad had told Mother he wanted to enlist with one of his friends. They proceeded to go to Ft. Olgethorpe to enlist. Daddy's friend was accepted. They sent Daddy home to gain some weight. He ate bananas until he hated them. He went back after a month and he lacked a very few pounds and still could not get accepted.

The women began filling the jobs the men had vacated. Just about all women, if they did not work, joined in making things to send the soldiers, such as first aid kits, sweaters, sox etc. Two women rented the house next door to us about that time. They each had one child. One of the women went to work and the other kept the children. Both of their husbands had been sent overseas.

Our uncle C. L. came by our house one day from work and said that the Peerless Woolen Mill was making wool blankets to send over seas to the soldiers. I am sure these were sent to the soldiers in places like Germany and other very cold countries.

The railroad at the foot of our hill stayed busy delivering and taking soldiers from Ft. Oglethorpe. I remember when we would hear a train coming, my sister Ruth and I would run down to the crossing and watch the train pass. We would wave to the soldiers and were very happy when they waved back at us. We did this until Mother found out what we were doing and we had to stop our greetings.

This was the time Polio had become an epidemic. While attending Bible School at our church I had become acquainted with one of the sweetest girls. We played together for two or three days and on the fourth day she did not attend. The next day we learned she had polio. She died within the week. The asfitity bags we had to wear around our neck like a necklace was what my parents said saved me from the disease. The odor alone would of should kill germs.

Our knowledge of what was going on during the war was kept up by our family radio times every evening. At times we would hear how many ships the U. S. had sunk. Sometime the news would not be good on our side. We seldom got to go to the movies, but I remember the newsreels and how terrible they were. That's when I realized how bad it was for our soldiers.

In 1943 Daddy got a job in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He had informed us they would be making buttons for the soldiers’ uniforms. Little did we know what would take place after that. He found us a house to rent, which was government housing. We were enrolled in school, me in the fourth grade and Ruth in the second. I did like my school and was delighted because we had a gym. On Saturdays, Mother would let us go to our school and swing by ourselves. This was a treat because on the way home we would stop in where Charles was working in a drug store and he would make us an ice cream cone. We would make our way home, enjoying our treat.

One day we came home from school to find out that Daddy was in the clinic at the plant where he worked. He had gone to the area where he was to work that day and found two men there who were sick. He called for help and they were all three put to bed in the clinic. I don't know if they were sent to the hospital from there, I just know Daddy did not get to come home until the next day. It seems somehow they had a leak of radiation and one of the men died, and the other was alive when we moved. Dad had survived because he did not stay in the room long enough to be affected. He announced immediately that we were moving back to Georgia.

While in Oak Ridge, Charles became acquainted with a friend of his boss at the drug store where he had worked. He came home one day and mentioned this friend of his boss had a camera and enlarger he would sell him or give him. I not sure about the transaction but Charles did get both of them. After the war was over, the Chattanooga News Free Press had a picture on the front page of a man and his wife who had been arrested in Atlanta for spying for the enemy. The man was Al Slack, the same man who had befriended Charles with his camera and enlarger. He had worked for the Kodak Company.

We continued to keep up with what was happening either by radio or listening to the men in our family. The war had become very wide spread by now, the bombings by Hitler and his army and it looked as if there would never be an end. I remember hearing about the atom bomb being dropped on Japan. After some time we realized the deaths and ruins it had caused. It did stop the Japanese but I hope is never is used again.

The happiest of days was the day the war ended. I am not sure what time of day we heard it but it was good news. The lady who lived alone further up the hill from us had three sons in the Army. She ran down the hill crying and shouting, "the war is over!" Everyone was outside, including the two women next door to us and everyone was crying and yelling. The war was over.




Barbara Murray grew up as Barbara Jean Rice in Rossville, Georgia, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.. She now lives in Bradenton, Florida. Her brother Charles is the author of The View from My Ridge (Canopic Publishing 2003)