Memaw's WWII Memories

My oldest sister V got married. My next oldest sister I went off to college. My brother R went to the CCC camp and later to war. My brother W and I got to be pretty good buddies. We had some good times together. Then he had to go to war. It was hard to say goodbye that cold winter morning. I cried all the way to school that day. Now I was the oldest kid left at home.

Everybody tried to do his or her bit for the war. We had a drive going on to collect all the scrap iron that we could find. The school turned out for the day, and we gathered scrap iron. Daddy hauled the iron in the old wagon. He worked all day helping to gather the iron. We piled it in a huge pile by the railroad track so the train could pick it up. We had a great time that day.

Then my sister I finished college and went to Biggers to teach school. She met R and fell in love. That summer she wanted me (or I wanted) to go visit her. Now to get to Biggers without an automobile was really a trip. And WWII was in full swing. I packed my bag. Probably a paper bag and took my big purse stuffed full of letters so it looked like I had something in it. I had my ticket and maybe a couple of dollars, and I caught the little dinky train that came through town on its way to Searcy. From Searcy I’d catch a Trailways bus to Biggers. I arrived in Searcy okay, but when the bus came through, the driver said he couldn’t take more passengers. He had people standing in the aisles. What was I to do? I couldn’t call my sister I. She didn’t have a phone. And I couldn’t get another bus until the next morning. The lady at the bus station took me to a rooming house to spend the night. I paid $.50 (yes 50 cents!) to stay there. I was scared to death all night. I heard noises all night. The next morning I got up, got dressed but didn’t have a comb or brush in my big purse to comb my hair. I did the best I could do with my fingers. I walked around the corner to the bus stop. Got my bus and was on my way to Biggers. I sure was glad to see my sister I when I got there.

This is the end of Memaw's Memories on my PC. I will look through papers for further memories. Tomorrow I will include Memaw's record of her family tree information. And we will get back to the recipes next week. Have a good weekend.