New Berlin, WI
Veterans Memorial
3 October 2009
Page 3
Jack Chiovatero New Berlin Mayor, opens the first Veteran's Family Day activities.
Mayor Jack Chiovatero proclaims October 3, 2009 "The First Annual New Berlin Veteran's Family Day."
Click HERE!
Rush Wilkens Citizen Member, talks about how the Veteran's Memorial came about.
Melissa Schneider Deputy Library Director, New Berlin Library, introduces speakers on the platform.
Zach Szaniawki Eisenhower High School, explains how his school friends helped raise funds for the Memorial.
In the following 5 pictures, these ladies are talking about life and its problems at home
while their loved ones are deployed with the military overseas.
Audrey Wickert talks about life during WWII.
On December 7, 1941, My husband and I were seniors in high school. After Pearl Harbor, all the normal activities of a senior class were put aside and the class started
organizing paper drives and can collections for the war effort. We also started buying 10 cent stamps to fill booklets which when complete resulted in the purchase of a war bond.
Some of the boys enlisted before graduation and returned at the end of the war to complete their education with the help of the GI Bill. Others never saw home again.
In that period of time, the only means of communication was via the telephone, listening to the radio, sending a telegraph or the mail compared to the instant messaging available today.
While men were in the U. S., it was possible to call home via telephone. Once shipped overseas, correspondence was usually by V-mail which was a single sheet which when folded formed its own envelope. Censorship was very strict and radio news of the war allowed reporters to tell only what censors believed was safe to be revealed.
The entire country plunged into supporting our troops and was united in a way we have not experienced since that time. Car production stopped and those factories retooled to produce whatever the troops needed. Gas was rationed and those people directly in war goods production were issued an “A” card which allowed them a few more gallons of gas per week than the rest of the population who had “B” cards.
Food was also rationed. Each person in a household had a ration card to be used to buy necessities like sugar, flour and meat. When my mother went to the grocery store, even though she had money to buy whatever she saw in the store, she could purchase only as much as her ration coupons allowed.
Everyone had a vegetable garden which were called “Victory” gardens and helped people to eat well when ration coupons ran low.
If we went to a movie, it would be preceded by a newsreel showing war news of the week or at least what news censorship allowed.
Giant factories started producing airplanes on assembly lines and because of a manpower shortage, women were recruited and became “Rosie Riveters”. Women also enlisted in the various services, WAC in the Army and WAVES in the Navy, freeing men from desk jobs. Some also served as nurses and in the Red Cross. Civilians at home volunteered in the United Service Organization known as the USO which were set up in cities near training bases to furnish food and entertainment for troops on a weekend leave.
The end of World War II led to the production of many things which were an outgrowth of products created for the war effort, among them nylon and plastics.
It was a time of sacrifice and achievement by the entire country.
Mary Gundrum
Corrine Davis
Kathy Quigley
Sue Gourdoux.
President, Blue Star Mothers of Southeastern, WI Chapter #2,
Ed Davis. Gold Star Father.
Milessa Schneider interviews Gold Star Family members.
Gold Star Families
John Vogel reads the Community service award to be presented to the Al Stigler family.
New Berlin VFW member, John Hopkins, reads the names and organizations of major contributions to the Veterans Memorial.