Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

The Depression and the End of WWII
 
I don’t remember a lot about the Depression and the War. Mama and Daddy must have done a good job in shielding us from the problems of the world at that time. We had a battery- operated radio in the living room where we heard the news. The radio stood on a small walnut chest beside the front door. The top drawer contained the battery which was larger than a car battery of today.
 
 I remember my mother had red and blue rationing tokens to buy sugar and butter. That generation became hoarders because of the rationing of food items. My mother was one of them. After she died and we cleaned out her house, we went upstairs to find a large lard can full of something heavy. Upon removing the lid, we discovered it was bags of sugar.
 
In recent years, I saw one of the most thrilling sights of my lifetime on TV when the Americans arrived to rescue people in WWII prison camps. The prisoners yelled, “The Americans are coming, the Americans are coming.” I have never been a war hawk but that statement alone makes me proud to be an American and gives me goose bumps. We stand up for what we believe. It is who we are….
 
Our family has a friend from Holland whose mother is my age. She had to eat tulip bulbs during the war to survive. A whole generation of Hollanders are shorter due to the lack of food during that time. On VE Day (Victory in Europe), she stood in Amsterdam Square shouting and celebrating just like I did when the war was over in 1945.
 
My mother gave me a pan lid and a big spoon. I went out on the sidewalk in front of the house and banged on the lid. I was seven years old.

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2020
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck