Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Below you will find Buddy's account of how he remembers that infamous day's impact on his life and the lives of those around him.
~Claire
I was getting grown during the time of World War II. That started in 1941, so I was only a teenager. But it impacted my life for a long time, and everyone else’s too. It changed everything.
Adolf Hitler was making speeches in Germany when he was trying to start the war in 1939. Then they started invading France and took France over overnight. It didn't take them long to capture France and Belgium and Czechoslovakia, and just on and on and on. It affected everybody. So they started to ration everything: sugar, shoes, gasoline, tires; unless you were a preacher or a farmer you couldn't buy tires.
When the Japanese got into it and bombed Pearl Harbor, we declared war immediately almost. We heard about Pearl Harbor on the radio and Dixie [my sister]and one of her girlfriends took me, I don't know why, to Temple. I was three years younger than them, so I don't know that it affected me at that moment the way that it did them. They were right at the age where all of their boy friends were drafted immediately.
There were some who were trying to find a job and joined the National Guard just to eat, or the CCC (the Civilian Conservation Corps). They sent one of my friends to Oregon, to cut trees down in the forest. It was hard to find a job then because there was a deep depression from 1937-1939. Those were bad times. So if men didn't have jobs, they joined the National Guard, or the CCC, or they were drafted into the Army right quick. And the women at that age either went to work at all these Army camps they were building or they went to the shipyards and worked building ships, tanks, and all that. That raised us out of the depression because it gave everybody a job of one kind or another, all for the war effort.
-an excerpt from Buddy B's Interview
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Faye B - Texas
The secret to a lasting successful marriage? One that can stand the test of life and time? I think that Buddy and Faye know that secret.
~Claire
Buddy and I met on a blind date. A mutual friend who was going with one my friends set us up. She got on my case saying that he was cute. She said that they couldn't go to the movies unless we came with because Buddy was the one with the car.
I said, "I don't want to go on a blind date!"
She said, "Oh, you can go just one time. It won't hurt you."
That was the way that started.
That first blind date that we went on, we were supposed to go to a traveling circus. When we got there, they were sold out, we couldn't get a ticket. So, we didn't take that. They had a Ferris wheel and things like that down on the ground. So we went out there and rode some of those things.
At the park or driving along, Buddy never said two words unless I would initiate a question or something and he would answer it. And that would be it. He wouldn't say anything else until I said something else. I kept trying to talk and got nothing from him.
When I got back, I told my girlfriend, "Well, that's the last time I go with him!"
Then, I don't know how, we heard that Buddy was sick. I'm sure it was my girlfriend that told me that because she was still going with his friend. She said, "We ought to go see him." Well, we did. We went on the bus out to his house. And he was sick on the bed and could hardly move because of his back. His mom was very gracious and invited us in. Here we trooped in there with no warning, no nothing. We stayed a little while and then we said we needed to go.
Buddy said, "Well, you're not going to ride that bus back." He gets up, put his clothes on and gets in his car even though he's been flat on his back. He drove us back down to the apartment. After that, he called me.
My friends and I lived in an apartment at that time. He would come over there and we would sit on the porch swing a lot. I had three other roommates. Well, four sometimes during that time. The girls and I made a bet of who would get married first out of the group. I said, "Well, it certainly won't be me." We were all betting on this one girl, that she would get married first. It turned out that I was the first one out of the group that got married.
We went on a honeymoon, but it was 10 years after we got married. We went to New Orleans.
We went down to Pat O'Brien's, a famous bar in New Orleans on Bourbon Street. We sat there and ordered a big hurricane for both of us to share and listened to the piano play "I Can't Stop Loving You". We would sit there until two o'clock in the morning. I loved every minute of it! I just loved listening to that woman play that piano. She could really played that piano. She was so good. I had never got a chance before to just go out and listen to music.
Then the next day we went down and got beignets. There was powdered sugar all the way from the shop to our room.
Buddy is the most sensitive, patient, loving man. He's a wonderful parent. He's just an all-around wonderful person. He's never been ugly to me. I could not have ever picked a better choice for a husband. He’s still the most patient person I know. And that takes a lot living with me. It takes a lot of patience.
I think one of the keys to a successful marriage is honesty. You need to trust one another, love one another, respect one another and be friends.
~Claire
Buddy and I met on a blind date. A mutual friend who was going with one my friends set us up. She got on my case saying that he was cute. She said that they couldn't go to the movies unless we came with because Buddy was the one with the car.
I said, "I don't want to go on a blind date!"
She said, "Oh, you can go just one time. It won't hurt you."
That was the way that started.
That first blind date that we went on, we were supposed to go to a traveling circus. When we got there, they were sold out, we couldn't get a ticket. So, we didn't take that. They had a Ferris wheel and things like that down on the ground. So we went out there and rode some of those things.
At the park or driving along, Buddy never said two words unless I would initiate a question or something and he would answer it. And that would be it. He wouldn't say anything else until I said something else. I kept trying to talk and got nothing from him.
When I got back, I told my girlfriend, "Well, that's the last time I go with him!"
Then, I don't know how, we heard that Buddy was sick. I'm sure it was my girlfriend that told me that because she was still going with his friend. She said, "We ought to go see him." Well, we did. We went on the bus out to his house. And he was sick on the bed and could hardly move because of his back. His mom was very gracious and invited us in. Here we trooped in there with no warning, no nothing. We stayed a little while and then we said we needed to go.
Buddy said, "Well, you're not going to ride that bus back." He gets up, put his clothes on and gets in his car even though he's been flat on his back. He drove us back down to the apartment. After that, he called me.
My friends and I lived in an apartment at that time. He would come over there and we would sit on the porch swing a lot. I had three other roommates. Well, four sometimes during that time. The girls and I made a bet of who would get married first out of the group. I said, "Well, it certainly won't be me." We were all betting on this one girl, that she would get married first. It turned out that I was the first one out of the group that got married.
We went down to Pat O'Brien's, a famous bar in New Orleans on Bourbon Street. We sat there and ordered a big hurricane for both of us to share and listened to the piano play "I Can't Stop Loving You". We would sit there until two o'clock in the morning. I loved every minute of it! I just loved listening to that woman play that piano. She could really played that piano. She was so good. I had never got a chance before to just go out and listen to music.
Then the next day we went down and got beignets. There was powdered sugar all the way from the shop to our room.
I think one of the keys to a successful marriage is honesty. You need to trust one another, love one another, respect one another and be friends.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Thomas B - Texas
Below, you'll find a beautiful story of a lifelong friendship of two young boys who grew into two wonderful men. Their loyalty over decades is inspiring. One can only hope for a friendship as strong and lasting as theirs.
Claire
My best friend the whole time we were growing up lived beside us. We played together all the time: cars, marbles, tops, you name it, sliding in the mud, anything. His name was Billy and we were the same age.
Because of the month of his birthday, they had made arrangements for him to start school the year before I did. I didn't like that because I had to wait all day long for him to get home from school. I couldn't wait until he got home from school.
The house he lived in and the house I lived in both had big, nice porches on the front. We would play and we would fuss sometimes. He would run up on his porch and I would run up on my porch and we would look at each other. We would look at one other and think about it for a good, long while. He would come back over to my house or I would go back to his house and we would start playing again. We did that several times. We played outside every afternoon and all the other kids too, there were four or five or six of us.
Late one afternoon, this big German Shepherd dog showed up from somewhere and he was playing with us. We were hugging his neck and all that. Real early the next morning, we heard this big commotion in the backyard. We got up and this German Shepherd dog was attacking Billy and was biting him real bad on the face and the ears, all over. It almost killed him. Then the dog took off.
My grandpa didn't know what the commotion was, so we told him. He said, "Let me get my gun." Then he took off on foot in the direction that the dog went. There's no telling how many miles he walked tracking this dog until he got close enough to shoot him. He shot the dog and cut the dog's head off, carried it back to town and mailed it to the health department down in Austin. They notified him that the dog had rabies and that anyone who had been bitten would have to take the rabies shot. So they had to take Billy to Temple, I don't remember how often, to get the rabies vaccine in his stomach. But it saved his life and he lived to be 80 years old.
Billy had graduated high school and I was still a senior. He said, "Let's join the Navy." I said okay. I was only 16, so we had to get our parents’ permission. My daddy wasn't in favor of it, but I kept after him and aggravated him and decided I wasn't going to quit. So, he signed permission. I wrote to Billy and told him that I had permission. He and I got together in Austin and went to the Navy recruiting office. We took that eye test and I was having trouble calling out the numbers and colored dots. They told me I was colorblind and they couldn't take me in the Navy because I was colorblind. I said, "I'm not colorblind! I'll show you any color out the window there!” The officer said, "I don't care. That's not what we go by." Billy didn't have any trouble. So that was a big disappointment for me because we had been so close and I wanted to go into the Navy with him.
Before I turned 18, my dad and some of his friends from Troy took me fishing. When I got home, I had a letter waiting for me. It said, "Greetings from the United States government…" It notified me that I needed to report to a courthouse in Austin on a certain day. So I did. While we were there, they told me that they were taking me to San Antonio for an Army physical. They told me to go and stay home until I was notified to report, and that was one option. The other option was that you could volunteer for immediate induction. I volunteered along with two or three others.
Anyway, time went on, and Billy and I kind of lost track of one another. Last I heard he was in Washington DC when I was in basic training. After basic training, I got to go home for two or three days before I went to West Virginia. It was December, and I left on Christmas Day. From West Virginia, I was in deportation training, and got on a ship to Germany. The war was just over. They deactivated the third division and sent them to the States. And, of course, since my group was the largest group and we had just gotten there, they transferred us into the 19th division. And that's where we stayed until we got out. After the occupation in Germany and our tour was up, we came back and we were discharged in New Jersey.
I don't know if Billy ever had to leave the States or not. I had another close friend who was in the Navy, and didn't. So I don't know if Billy did or not. I saw more water than they did and they were in the Navy and I was in the Army. But Billy never let me forget that I didn't pass that test and that he did, that he had to leave and go by himself. Good-naturedly, of course.
Billy and I stayed in touch. He called me every now and then. One day, his wife called me and told me he had died of a heart attack. That was awful news. I had known her since high school, even though she was about three grades behind us. I went to the funeral and to the cemetery. I went to see her, and talk to her, and hug her neck. Billy had two or three boys. I shook hands with the first one and he said, "So, you're the one who joined the Navy with my daddy and didn't pass the eye test." I said, "Yeah, I'm the one!"
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Sue B - Texas
Sue is a very sweet lady from my church. She's like a Southern Belle and a Tomboy all mixed together into one little lady.
Below, you'll find the story of how she and her husband of 55 years met while they were in high school. It's quite entertaining. I think Sue's self-assured-ness really shines through this story. And that's why we all love her. : )
If you like this story and want to keep up with more to come, please click "Follow" on the right side of the page and "Like" us on Facebook.
Claire
My friends and I were called The Filthy Five, which I hated. It was me, Deanne, Jan, Norma and Elizabeth. We had been friends since the seventh grade and they decided we needed a name. They kept trying to think of something, like The Flirty Five. I said "Oh no! The guys will think we're crazy." I was always a little more mature than the rest of them. My friends finally kept pushing to be called The Filthy Five. My mother hated it.
Larry lived up the street from my friend Deanne, who was one of The Filthy Five. Deanne saw Larry come by on his Harley a couple of times. She made herself available to meet him. They started talking a lot and dating. She could get boys really quick. She wanted the rest of us to meet him, about two weeks before school started.
I didn't live that far from them; we walked everywhere. We did walk a mile one way to school, but it wasn't all uphill. Some of it was downhill. It was usually not in the snow. It was a couple of times, but it was usually in the ice and the wind and the rain.
So, Deanne called me up and one of our other girlfriends that lived pretty close. She said, "I want you to meet Larry. Come over here on Saturday and I'll find some reason to get him over here so you can meet him."
So, we came over at the time that she told us. She told us to go into the house. She called Larry and asked him to come over on his motorcycle. He came over and she told us to stay in the house.
We asked, "I thought you wanted us to meet him?"
She said, "No! I want you to stay in the house and look at him through the glass."
When we asked why, she said that she was afraid that we might take him away from her. But we told her that we were going to meet him in a few weeks when school started anyway. She insisted that we stay inside, so we did.
Two weeks later, when school started, I met Larry. Deanne was crazy about Larry. I thought, "Oh, brother!" I mean, he was cute. He had beautiful, curly, wavy hair. It was really soft, dark brown. He had beautiful, long eyelashes and blue eyes. But I was going with a college guy at the time who was a family friend and had a car. We would go places. He was a little too highbrow for me, though, he was into classical music and I thought it was boring. I went with him for about seven months.
So, Deanne and Larry were madly in love. Deanne, Norma and Jan decided that none of us should ever date anyone that one of the rest of us had dated.
I said, "What?! That's dumb. Once you've broken up with somebody, what would it matter?"
Well, they just didn't think that we should. They said, "Sue! You never go along with our plans!"
I thought it was dumb. Well, who do you think broke it?
One day, in the lunchroom, all of us girls were sitting together and Deanne was saying that she was getting tired of Larry. She said she wanted to figure out a way to break up with him. Then Norma piped up and said that she would like to date him. Deanne said that she would like to date Buddy, who Norma was dating.
She said, "You would?! Let's swap boyfriends!"
So they plotted that at the teen dance, that was the next weekend, they were going to swap boyfriends. I was sitting there thinking that they were crazy and it was never going to happen. Boy, was I wrong! I didn't go to the teen dance because I had something going on that weekend. I just figured the swap was never going to happen.
But on Monday, here was Deanne and Buddy, and Norma and Larry.
I thought, "These guys are dumb!"
Norma and Larry had only been going together for a little over two weeks, but she was making all these plans with him.
One Sunday, one of my friends came by and picked me up to go to church, and Larry was with him. They had a teen thing on Sunday evenings after church. We went to the church and sat outside because we were a little early. Norma and Deanne sang in the choir. We were waiting until their practice was over and we were sitting out there talking to each other. Larry asked me if I wanted to go to a skating party that the seniors were having. He was a senior at the time, and I was a junior.
I said, "No thank you."
He asked me why not.
And I asked, "Well, how much are the tickets?"
He said, "No, I'm not trying to sell you a ticket. I want to know if you want to go to the skating party with me."
I said, "Oh no, no, no! Norma is madly in love with you. No."
He said he really didn't want to go with her anymore. I just kept saying no, but my friend told me that Larry and Norma weren't going to be dating anymore. He said Larry wasn't asking for anything except a date, so why didn't I just go with him? He thought it would be fun.
I got to thinking about it and thought, "Okay, well…"
When the news got out, Norma hated me and her mother hated me. Norma told Deanne later on, that she was going to name her first baby Larry. Her mother would not speak to me and said all kinds of ugly things about Larry. He would give a girl the line; Larry had already told Norma that he loved her.
I dated him for a couple of weeks and he started telling me that he loved me. I said, "No, you don't. Besides that, when I told you that I go out with you, didn't I say that we were going to be just friends. Just friends. Okay? Just friends."
He said, "But I love you. Don't you love me?"
I said, "No. I like you. We're just friends."
We played this game for a long, long time.
I finally did fall in love with him, and I told him.
But I said we were too young to get married.
Below, you'll find the story of how she and her husband of 55 years met while they were in high school. It's quite entertaining. I think Sue's self-assured-ness really shines through this story. And that's why we all love her. : )
If you like this story and want to keep up with more to come, please click "Follow" on the right side of the page and "Like" us on Facebook.
Claire
My friends and I were called The Filthy Five, which I hated. It was me, Deanne, Jan, Norma and Elizabeth. We had been friends since the seventh grade and they decided we needed a name. They kept trying to think of something, like The Flirty Five. I said "Oh no! The guys will think we're crazy." I was always a little more mature than the rest of them. My friends finally kept pushing to be called The Filthy Five. My mother hated it.
Larry lived up the street from my friend Deanne, who was one of The Filthy Five. Deanne saw Larry come by on his Harley a couple of times. She made herself available to meet him. They started talking a lot and dating. She could get boys really quick. She wanted the rest of us to meet him, about two weeks before school started.
I didn't live that far from them; we walked everywhere. We did walk a mile one way to school, but it wasn't all uphill. Some of it was downhill. It was usually not in the snow. It was a couple of times, but it was usually in the ice and the wind and the rain.
So, Deanne called me up and one of our other girlfriends that lived pretty close. She said, "I want you to meet Larry. Come over here on Saturday and I'll find some reason to get him over here so you can meet him."
So, we came over at the time that she told us. She told us to go into the house. She called Larry and asked him to come over on his motorcycle. He came over and she told us to stay in the house.
We asked, "I thought you wanted us to meet him?"
She said, "No! I want you to stay in the house and look at him through the glass."
When we asked why, she said that she was afraid that we might take him away from her. But we told her that we were going to meet him in a few weeks when school started anyway. She insisted that we stay inside, so we did.
Two weeks later, when school started, I met Larry. Deanne was crazy about Larry. I thought, "Oh, brother!" I mean, he was cute. He had beautiful, curly, wavy hair. It was really soft, dark brown. He had beautiful, long eyelashes and blue eyes. But I was going with a college guy at the time who was a family friend and had a car. We would go places. He was a little too highbrow for me, though, he was into classical music and I thought it was boring. I went with him for about seven months.
So, Deanne and Larry were madly in love. Deanne, Norma and Jan decided that none of us should ever date anyone that one of the rest of us had dated.
I said, "What?! That's dumb. Once you've broken up with somebody, what would it matter?"
Well, they just didn't think that we should. They said, "Sue! You never go along with our plans!"
I thought it was dumb. Well, who do you think broke it?
One day, in the lunchroom, all of us girls were sitting together and Deanne was saying that she was getting tired of Larry. She said she wanted to figure out a way to break up with him. Then Norma piped up and said that she would like to date him. Deanne said that she would like to date Buddy, who Norma was dating.
She said, "You would?! Let's swap boyfriends!"
So they plotted that at the teen dance, that was the next weekend, they were going to swap boyfriends. I was sitting there thinking that they were crazy and it was never going to happen. Boy, was I wrong! I didn't go to the teen dance because I had something going on that weekend. I just figured the swap was never going to happen.
But on Monday, here was Deanne and Buddy, and Norma and Larry.
I thought, "These guys are dumb!"
Norma and Larry had only been going together for a little over two weeks, but she was making all these plans with him.
One Sunday, one of my friends came by and picked me up to go to church, and Larry was with him. They had a teen thing on Sunday evenings after church. We went to the church and sat outside because we were a little early. Norma and Deanne sang in the choir. We were waiting until their practice was over and we were sitting out there talking to each other. Larry asked me if I wanted to go to a skating party that the seniors were having. He was a senior at the time, and I was a junior.
I said, "No thank you."
He asked me why not.
And I asked, "Well, how much are the tickets?"
He said, "No, I'm not trying to sell you a ticket. I want to know if you want to go to the skating party with me."
I said, "Oh no, no, no! Norma is madly in love with you. No."
He said he really didn't want to go with her anymore. I just kept saying no, but my friend told me that Larry and Norma weren't going to be dating anymore. He said Larry wasn't asking for anything except a date, so why didn't I just go with him? He thought it would be fun.
I got to thinking about it and thought, "Okay, well…"
When the news got out, Norma hated me and her mother hated me. Norma told Deanne later on, that she was going to name her first baby Larry. Her mother would not speak to me and said all kinds of ugly things about Larry. He would give a girl the line; Larry had already told Norma that he loved her.
I dated him for a couple of weeks and he started telling me that he loved me. I said, "No, you don't. Besides that, when I told you that I go out with you, didn't I say that we were going to be just friends. Just friends. Okay? Just friends."
He said, "But I love you. Don't you love me?"
I said, "No. I like you. We're just friends."
We played this game for a long, long time.
I finally did fall in love with him, and I told him.
But I said we were too young to get married.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Carolyn J - Texas
This is the very first Featured Story from my very first August Anthology Interview. It is special because it is my mother's story. I love to listen to stories from her childhood and wish I could have been there to know them all when they were younger.
I love you, mom.
Claire
PS Please be sure to click "Follow Us" on the right sidebar to keep up with all of the Featured Stories.
My dad taught himself how to play the accordion. There weren't too many instruments around when he was growing up and that was just one instrument he stumbled across. So therefore, we children learned to play the accordion. Saturday morning was music lesson day. He would put us in the car with the accordions and we went to the music store, go downstairs and have our music lessons. Dad had an adult-sized accordion and when Sheri [my oldest sister] started playing they bought a youth-sized accordion, which we all shared and had to learn with. I think it was Schmidt Music in Minneapolis, where we had our lessons. I enjoyed playing the accordion. I couldn't master the left hand very well, but it was fun.
Auggie [my older brother] saw a guitar and wanted to start playing that. So he had guitar lessons while us girls had accordion lessons. He had to learn to play it from right-handed to left-handed because he cut two of his fingers off not once but twice in wood shop in junior high. The fingers were reattached but the doctors had to cut them off one time because as they were starting to mend the tendons twisted the finger around so was growing the wrong way. So he had to retrain himself how to play the guitar the other way. Dad could also play the mouth organ, which is also called the harmonica.
When we were older, Mom and Dad were given an upright piano from one of the churches. So that sat in the living room and a neighbor lady gave Pam, Sheri and me piano lessons. We did that once a week. Dad got tired of the piano taking up room, so he chopped it up and used as firewood. That ended the piano lessons.
Dad could also play the spoons. If you gave him a couple of metal spoons, he could play them. He was very entertaining.
I love you, mom.
Claire
PS Please be sure to click "Follow Us" on the right sidebar to keep up with all of the Featured Stories.
My dad taught himself how to play the accordion. There weren't too many instruments around when he was growing up and that was just one instrument he stumbled across. So therefore, we children learned to play the accordion. Saturday morning was music lesson day. He would put us in the car with the accordions and we went to the music store, go downstairs and have our music lessons. Dad had an adult-sized accordion and when Sheri [my oldest sister] started playing they bought a youth-sized accordion, which we all shared and had to learn with. I think it was Schmidt Music in Minneapolis, where we had our lessons. I enjoyed playing the accordion. I couldn't master the left hand very well, but it was fun.
Auggie [my older brother] saw a guitar and wanted to start playing that. So he had guitar lessons while us girls had accordion lessons. He had to learn to play it from right-handed to left-handed because he cut two of his fingers off not once but twice in wood shop in junior high. The fingers were reattached but the doctors had to cut them off one time because as they were starting to mend the tendons twisted the finger around so was growing the wrong way. So he had to retrain himself how to play the guitar the other way. Dad could also play the mouth organ, which is also called the harmonica.
When we were older, Mom and Dad were given an upright piano from one of the churches. So that sat in the living room and a neighbor lady gave Pam, Sheri and me piano lessons. We did that once a week. Dad got tired of the piano taking up room, so he chopped it up and used as firewood. That ended the piano lessons.
Dad could also play the spoons. If you gave him a couple of metal spoons, he could play them. He was very entertaining.
