Weekends aren't all that great or are they?, Grandpa's sick and she's got to look good. . .

By LA-jan - April 30, 2013

Well, her birthday is just around the corner and as always,
Mom is looking forward to the weekend!


At least, she is feeling better.


Can you imagine? Taking out Life magazine at the dance! 
Came in two's, so as not to cause a commotion! LOL!
Did they go home in Mickey's Army truck loaded with soldiers? 


Exhausted, so glad there is no work or school, but a enough energy left to
look forward to another big weekend! Oh, Jayne, I remember they didn't count
you among their "good" friends.

President Roosevelt was giving his "fireside chat", when that bombing happened.
You can imagine the newspaper headlines, well, here is the story on the front page that day:
 
ELLWOOD, Calif. — J.J. Hollister III was a 10-year-old boy listening to President Franklin D. Roosevelt begin a radio "fireside chat" when he was startled by the thunder of a distant cannon.
"In a moment or two we heard a whistling noise and a thump as a projectile hit near the house," Hollister recalled.
The family scrambled outside their home in coastal Winchester Canyon and peered out at the dusk-shrouded Pacific of Feb. 23, 1942. Bright flashes could be seen near an oil field on the shore. A few were followed by "an eerie whistling and caterwauling," Hollister said. "It was a sickening sound."
In an adjacent canyon on this rural stretch of coastline about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, Ruth Pratt was tending to her garden. Her husband, John, was on Home Guard duty 10 miles away in Santa Barbara. She, too, heard the explosions.
"I thought something was going wrong at the refinery. Then there was something like a whizzing sound coming right at me," Mrs. Pratt said.
It wasn't until early the next morning that the Pratt and Hollister families heard the radio bulletin: A Japanese submarine had shelled the Ellwood oil field, the first enemy attack on the U.S. mainland since the War of 1812.

And the Headline:


1942 Shelling of California Coastline Stirred Conspiracy Fears : History: Submarine's attack did little damage. But it whipped up support for Japanese-American internment.

When did Japanese internment begin?

It had just begun:

"On February 19, 1942, soon after the beginning of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. The evacuation order commenced the round-up of 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage to one of 10 internment camps—officially called "relocation centers"—in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas."

Helen's (now my MIL's) family doctor was Japanese and lived a few doors down from me until a few
years ago. When her family was interned, however, she was in medical school.
The US allowed her to finish school as they would need Japanese
doctors. She finished her schooling as the War ended. She
practiced medicine until she was 90, in heels, no less! 

But, I digress. . .

Back to mom's life:




It was reported in the papers that there was an air raid and shots were fired, sirens
blaring and searchlights scanning. Blackouts, frayed nerves, but all just nervous
reporters and nervous residents. After all was said and done,
 the military blamed a wayward meteorological balloon.
Must have been something!
But, more importantly, mom's" got to look her best", so shopping was
in order! And that is also not lost on the best song of the day
that is stealing mom's heart!

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1 comments

  1. What a world. Wonder what that shorthand on her birthday meant??

    ReplyDelete