Impressions of World War II

Editor's Note: Longtime Waitsburg resident Laura Jean Hevel was recently re- quested to share her memo- ries of the Pearl Harbor attack and World War II by her daughter Claudia, who belongs to a book club that was studying the FDR administration. Mrs. Hevel shared her reflections with The Times.

I t was Sunday; Mom and

I had driven to town for worship service. When we returned to the ranch, Dad met us at the front gate and told us about the devastating, brutal attack. From that date, everything changed.

My brother Bob, who had graduated that June from (then) Oregon State College, and was a re- serve officer in the US Army from his ROTC col- lege training program, was called to active duty with- in the week, and he was shipped overseas from New York within the month. He was 22 years old. Where he was headed was hush, hush, but after a few weeks, we received a letter from a South African preacher, stating that someone from our household had recently attended his church in Cape Town. Of course, it had to be Bob; even then we didn't know where he was headed, but it turned out he landed in India, where he was with the 45th Engineers, build- ing and extending the Ledo (Burma) Road to China for 2 ½ yrs before returning to duty stateside.

My brother Dick, 19, had graduated from Pendleton High in '4l, and was now a student at OSC. An- ticipating his being called up, he joined the Army ASTP program which first sent recruits to college classes, then shifted them to basic training, preparatory to joining the ranks overseas in the European theater. His unit, the 13th Armored Division, was the first to arrive in France directly from the States after the first landings from England in Normandy. He also embarked at New York City.

On the home front, there was rationing of various foodstuffs - sugar being the most noticed by me - and other items as well. Gas and tires were rationed. No nylons anymore, and the speed limit was reduced drastically to 35 mph across the country to conserve our resources. Women worked in the factories to build air- planes and tanks. (Think: Rosie the Riveter.) No au- tos were built for private use during the war, as the factories were all working on military needs. You just patched up the old cars and tires as best you could. You had to turn in your old empty tube of toothpaste to buy a new tube.

I drove tractor and/or truck in the summer wheatharvest as did many of my fellow farm girlfriends, with the young men all gone to fight for our coun- try. Some of the young women also joined the WACS or WAVES. I had several friends join the Nursing Corps.

There was a great feeling of solidarity and patriotism in the county. People bought war bonds to help fund the war.

"Eighteen, seventy-five, was not the year we started to jive!

"It was the price of a bond, to help the country we're fond of . . ," was part of the jingle we sang as we high school kids helped sell Victory Bonds and stamps at parades and gatherings, as part of our "war effort."

Because of the gas ra- tioning, I lived in town with one of my girlfriends during the week, instead of driving daily the twelve miles to and from our home at the ranch to school. (No school busses yet in our area at that time.) We were organized in our neighbor- hoods for air raid warnings, and we put up camouflage curtains at night, even though there was never any attack in our area, nor indeed anywhere in the states so far as we knew then. Later we were told of a few isolated efforts of parachuted-bomb attacks; but in general we weren't much worried about that.

The war went on and on. I thought I might for- get what my brother Bob looked like. He was gone so long. Dick, too. Letters from the front were precious and prized above ev- erything, and it was terribly lonesome to be separated from a loved one for so long. My sweetheart, anticipating the draft, joined the Navy before he was 18. The night he left for Boot Camp, when I was back at my girlfriend's house, we heard that lonesome train whistle. I thought that wail- ing whistle was the saddest sound I'd ever heard.

The European war was over first. Dick's unit was returned stateside; he was given a month's furlough. We'd saved up gas ration- ing stamps so we could all go to the lake when he got home, his girlfriend, too. It was wonderful to have him come home, even though we knew his unit would be heading to the Japanese front as soon as he got back to camp. But miracles of miracles! Across the lake, we suddenly started to hear horns honking, bells ringing, and people shouting and singing! Suddenly the Asian war was over, too, as a result of the dropping of the A-bonds on Hiro- shima and Nagasaki. We were thrilled and elated to have the war end and know peace again. We had prayed so long for that.

We believed that thou- sands if not millions of lives were saved of both Japanese and Allied forces, by the decision of dropping the A-bombs, even as we realized it was very sad for civilian lives lost that week in Japan.