Tea Time
Prior to World War II I learned about how important tea time is in the British Isles. It was probably from seeing movies or reading books. Recovering from a war wound I was in a small army hospital in the small town of Axminster in County Devon on the south shore of England. After two months – January and February 1945 – I was being prepared to go...
Thank You, Harry Truman
This is one of six stories that David T. Daniel has added from his time in the Army during World War II Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 5. BACK TO ACTION Around the beginning of March, I got into a small van along with 3 or 4 and drove away from the hospital in Axminster. I wasn’t really cured. We drove to a processing center in...
The Smells of the Past
In the books people write they continue to exist, tho' they may have passed. It's peculiar what you remember. I thought it would be pictures that would jar my recollections. Oh, they help as does the music of the period. It all helps. But peculiarly it seems to be the smells that color my mind with myriads of thoughts. The good thoughts begin with...
Tom Julian
Tom lived in Salisbury, North Carolina before serving in World War II. He remembers being on the Queen Mary ready to ship out to Europe, and thinking that he wanted to live in New York City. After the war, he spent a year in Washington, DC before settling in New York. FoldUnfold Table of Contents Ghost Stories World War II Draftee Ghost...
Veronica Berrill
My mom told me that while she was nearing the end of her labor, the doctor went over to the window, opened it and said, “It feels like snow.” A few minutes later, I was born at home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, on January 9, 1926. I had one sibling, my dear sister Anne, who was three years older than I. A few years later, we moved to...
Veteran's Day
FoldUnfold Table of Contents Veteran's Day Arms Limitation Veteran's Day I spend my summers in Maine. My father’s family was from the Portland area, and in nineteen hundred and five they built a little summer cottage on a nearby lake. From the time I started working at Taft in the Fall of 1969 I spent my summers at the cottage in Maine, and...
War Bonds
Since my grandfather was head of the New York State War Bond drive during WWII, I was expected to contribute to it. My weekly allowance was 25 cents – a goodly sum in those days – I thought maybe 5 cents would be a reasonable amount. No, my parents thought I should allocate at least 10 cents to the war effort. That would leave me 15 cents to spend...
Wartime Wedding
Once upon a time, back in March 1944, I was rather suddenly, to be married on 10 days notice. It was wartime. My navy husband-to-be was between assignments and uncertain of his next orders – so – no time for that big church wedding, or any bridal showers. No time to send out invitations or gather bridesmaids. My only sister was with her husband and...
World Changing Events in MY Childhood
I was nine that December day in 1941. I had been playing in the yard at 11 Gates Avenue in Waterbury, and had come inside for some reason-probably to get warm. It was a Sunday, so, many of the aunts and uncles were at our house which seems to have been the Mecca for social events. The quiet was palpable, which was unusual for that gathering, and...
World War II Memories
This is one of six stories that David T. Daniel has added from his time in the Army during World War II Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 1. BASIC TRAINING A SNAKEY ENDING I began my second year of college in September 1942. With mandatory infantry ROTC in place my first semester was shortened with a complete transfer of our class to an...
Wounded in Combat
This is one of six stories that David T. Daniel has added from his time in the Army during World War II Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 3. MY COMBAT EXPERIENCE It was December 15, 1944 (I figured out this date many years later) when a mortar shell blast sent me into a wall where my neck and right shoulder took the blunt force. Having been...
Comment on this Story