Re: world warII question

Grace E. Aspinall (Grace.E.Aspinall@WILLIAMS.EDU)
Mon, 16 Dec 1996 16:41:51 -0500 

At 10:54 AM 12/4/96 -1000, you wrote:
>My name is Supardek Sasomsub.  I am a student at Kaimuki High School in
>Honululu, Hawaii.  I am doing The World WarII Project as library work
>study.

I am Grace Aspinall from Williamstown, Massachusetts.  My father was a tail
gunner and maintenance crew member with the Eighth Air Force in England,
more specifically he worked with B-24's.  My mother was a native of London
and they meet during the war and married on May 12, 1945, a mere 5 days
after VE day, their wedding reception lasted a week.

I can't answer firsthand all of your questions, but since I grew up in a
household with two parents who lived through the war, the subject was
discussed often and I have a better knowledge of war and WWII than most
people my age (which, by the way, is 43).  Both my parents are dead, but I
can give you some of their tales.

So I can give you answers from several perspectives, if that is any help.


>1. How did the war affect your life?

        personally I wouldn't have been born if it wasn't for the war.
        My mother in wartime England left school at 15. She did not enter
the service but had many jobs within London including clothing manufacturing
manager and executive secretary.  She came to American at the age of 22;
when she left England, she didn't know that she would be able to return to
visit her parents or her family.  I don't know how she left them because
they were very close.
        My father probably would have never left Berkshire County
Massachusetts if not for the war.  He certainly learned a lot of plane
repair.  He also made some wonderful friends.  He left American in 1942 and
would not return until 1945.  That was not unusual in wartime, but certainly
would be for peace time.
        My English uncle was sent 'to the country' when the war broke out so
he was away from his family and quite lonely.  Then, when he was older, he
was drafted into the war.  The English army often didn't pay it's soliders
enough to live on so my grandparent's had to send him money when he was in
the army.

>2. Did you get hurt?

        neither of my parents or any of our immediate family were physically
injured (Thank God)

>3. Where did you live during that time?

        My father lived in army barracks, my mother in two houses in London.
Neither of my mother's home were bombed or damaged beyond repair but there
were many broken windows and several unexploded bombs which required the
family to leave home.
        We do have friends who were bombed out in London.  One women had a
cat and the cat suddenly started going crazy and running all around.  The
woman opened the door to let it out and followed it down into the basement.
The house had a direct hit and when they dug her out of the rubble, she was
told she would never have lived if she hadn't been in the basement.

>4. Were there many people killed and how did you feel?

        We didn't talk about death much, but there are two stories which
come to mind.  My father, as a tail gunner on a b-24, once flipped a coin
with another solider to determine who went on a mission.  The other fella
won the toss but never returned.  My father said he stopped flipping coins
to determine who got what after that.
        My mother's mother worked for a while in a restaurant near London
Bridge.  They worked in shifts so everyone arrived and left together, then
another group came on to work.  One afternoon my grandmother was late
leaving.  Almost everyone she worked with was waiting for the same bus.  A
bomb made a direct hit on the bus stopped, none of her co-workers lived.
        So moments before everyone was saying, 'bye, see you tomorrow,' and
then suddenly virtually everyone she worked with was gone.

>5. What was rationing of food during that time?

        The English had almost everything rationed.  One egg per person per
week and one ounce of meat per person per month, if I remember correctly.
no fresh fruit of any kind.  Potatoes were available.  And powder eggs were
available.

>Thank you for your support and help with these questions.
>
You're welcome.  I'd be interested in seeing your final project.
>