My grandparents took in two teenage German-Jewish girls from Berlin, one of whom grew up to be an architect, and whose architect husband designed my grandparents' new house in the 1950s. Shelter for shelter.
My friend works in a nursing home. One of her favorite patients is Anna, a former "Rosie the Riveter".
Anna told her about the first day on the job at the plant during WW2, someone had ordered all the doors on the women's bathroom stalls removed.
In the meeting with the newly hired ladies, the commander asked if they had any issues, Anna stood up and said, "we would like the doors put back on the restroom stalls"
He said, "why would that bother you"
Without missing a beat, she said, "It is very hard to change your kotex without in a bathroom without a door.
The commander turned all shades of red, and the next day, the doors were put back on.
My sister was one of the first paratroopers at Fort Bragg and had a small write up in Newsweek. She was promoted and received a commendation for sneaking into enemy's territory and stealing parts for her company jeep. She retired over a decade ago as a decorated officer.
My family comes from a whole lineage of military people, both male and female, and I'm extremely proud of all of them.
@clearsight: I have a book about the women who did her job here, and also about women spies, and I think they did parachute. Seems to have taken the authorities a while to realise that the gilrs could handle it. They did, however, send them out without some navigational equipment, which made their job insanely hazardous.
This is totally like in 3rd grade P.E. when they said we were going to do "Parachute" and I got SO excited thinking I'd get to jump off the side of the gym, but they really just meant stand in a circle and wave a parachute to make waves. LAME.
This article is obviously made up. Because if this were true, why on earth would people still be debating women's (in)ability to serve in the military? That'd be crazy.
@HeatherNumber1: I don't think anyone really debates womens ability to be in the military...they debate in what capacity they should serve, and if the tradeoffs of allowing them to serve in some roles (most notably those where there is a high chance of capture->gang rape->babies) are worth it to the overall mission.
@LaFemme: I don't think its the enemy the women have to worry about. After hearing all the stories about rape and murder in the military I am more worried about hyper aggressive men on our side taking it out on fellow female soldiers.
@HeatherNumber1: Really? Pretty much every conversation I have had people will agree on a co-ed draft where everyone has to serve in some capacity, be it care-giving for soldiers, spending time on construction for the war effort, volunteering to help with single family households, learning to guard public places, or being trained to go into combat. The point of contention is usually the "should women be in combat" part, not "should they be involved in the military."
Has anyone here read Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise? The first book, about the mass exodus out of Paris when the Germans invaded, was one of the most poignant portraits of flawed humanity I have ever read. Nemirovsky writes these characters that are sometimes compassionate, often massively flawed but always utterly human. It is such a shame she was never able to finish that book.
My grandma was evacuated during the war. When I think of how long ago it was, it makes me feel so lucky to be able to talk about it with her still.
By the by: if anyone is looking for book recommendations for older children, "Goodnight Mister Tom" (about a boy evacuated to the countryside) is a good one, in my opinion.
The children were moved to rural areas where they generally discovered portals to magical lands in old armoires or flew around the countryside on a large brass bed before fighting off the Nazis with a platoon of enchanted armor. Don't tell me I don't know history.
My grandparent's were pen pals during WWII. They never met but there was a "pen friend" program at my grandmother's school. He proposed before they met.
They were 16 and 19 and were together 60 years. They died within months of each other. My grandmother died first, after a long and protracted illness. My grandfather was perfectly healthy and had a heart attack out of the blue. I have all of their letters and they are beautiful -my favorite is the letter he sent when my grandmother's house was bombed. It's so sad but it's when you can first tell how much they loved each other. When I find a guy who can express himself like that...
We found them under my grandfather's bed when he died, along with their wedding album, a pressed flower (from her bouquet, we think) and the first picture she ever sent him.
My father is one of five children (now four, my aunt died in the late 1970s). When he and his siblings went off to college and started to have lives of their own, my grandfather decided to find a way to keep all of them in touch. So when he retired he bought himself a typewriter and every week wrote a letter detailing the week's events, be it what he and my grandmother had done or what he'd heard from one of his kids. All of us got it and it was our way of staying in touch despite the distance (I grew up in MD, I had an uncle in the foreign service, an uncle in the midwest, another in upstate NY and my grandparents lived in Eastern CT) He started them before all of the grandkids are born and we have several binders full of correspondences from nearly two decades. I used to love reading the ones from around the time I was born.
After he died in 2000, I took the typewriter and my uncle migrated the letters to a website and now a blog. I like reading it when it's updated, but I still this day miss reading those letters and seeing my grandfather's note at the bottom of every one: "Have a great week! Love!!!"
09/24/09
[www.amazon.com]
09/02/09
09/01/09
Anna told her about the first day on the job at the plant during WW2, someone had ordered all the doors on the women's bathroom stalls removed.
In the meeting with the newly hired ladies, the commander asked if they had any issues, Anna stood up and said, "we would like the doors put back on the restroom stalls"
He said, "why would that bother you"
Without missing a beat, she said, "It is very hard to change your kotex without in a bathroom without a door.
The commander turned all shades of red, and the next day, the doors were put back on.
I love these early feminists.
09/01/09
My family comes from a whole lineage of military people, both male and female, and I'm extremely proud of all of them.
09/01/09
If you are in good health and can lift your legs on your own, it's not too late.
Love,
A proud female parachutist.
09/01/09
In the article, she says she didn't just want to parachute, but parachute behind enemy lines.
I assume there had to have been several female women trained to parachute since there apparently were several female pilots.
09/02/09
Spitfire Women by Giles Whittell.
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
That tag is sooooo Paddington Bear it breaks my heart.
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By the by: if anyone is looking for book recommendations for older children, "Goodnight Mister Tom" (about a boy evacuated to the countryside) is a good one, in my opinion.
09/01/09
09/01/09
It's one of my favourite books of all time.
09/01/09
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09/01/09
They were 16 and 19 and were together 60 years. They died within months of each other. My grandmother died first, after a long and protracted illness. My grandfather was perfectly healthy and had a heart attack out of the blue. I have all of their letters and they are beautiful -my favorite is the letter he sent when my grandmother's house was bombed. It's so sad but it's when you can first tell how much they loved each other. When I find a guy who can express himself like that...
We found them under my grandfather's bed when he died, along with their wedding album, a pressed flower (from her bouquet, we think) and the first picture she ever sent him.
09/01/09
After he died in 2000, I took the typewriter and my uncle migrated the letters to a website and now a blog. I like reading it when it's updated, but I still this day miss reading those letters and seeing my grandfather's note at the bottom of every one: "Have a great week! Love!!!"