In Memories: Resident Recalls WWII

Wartime Memories

By Phyllis Johnson

Phyllis Johnson, who was born and raised in Illinois during WWII

Early 1930s

The somber tone of their voices grabbed my attention. I was playing on the sunroom floor, not yet five. Grandma Anna Max was talking to a friend who had recently returned from a visit to Germany. Grandma had on the usual long sleeved, lightweight cotton, flowered dress and dark cotton stockings. Not yet adapted to the American custom of wearing a bra, her breasts were formless under her dress.

 "It is terrible, Anna," the visitor said. "Carl and his son, they fight all the time and shout at each other."  With their serious faces, they now had my complete attention. Many years later I realized the son had joined the Nazi party and it was creating a schism in the family that was having an effect even on family across the Atlantic.