I am sending this to the list and would also like to find out if any one might have high school year books like 1938 Stamford High School and they could look for my mom and her brothers and sisters.Also does anyone know of Mrs.Rutz "Rusty " she is probably decased but her family might still have tapes of my mother,Mrs Rutz always taped my mom singing God bless you Flora Newby 3243 Old Chapel Spring Texas 77373 I came from a poor family. However, if you resided in the country, you could raise your own food from a garden. President Hoover tried to put a plan together that would have solved the proglems from the Great Depression but it was too little, and too late. The government applied the money to the War Debt and it caused our country to go bankrupt. We went to bed and got up the next morning hungry, but we knew why. Stamford Connecticutt was a small town, and the neighbourhoods held Polish, Irish, and italians. Everyone was hungry. The Baste system was quite evident and the north side of town was made up of the very wealthy. God gave me a rare talent - the gift of Voice. Going to High School and coming home, Rhoda, my sister, and rodney, my brother, all sang on the radio. My teacher in high school, Mrs Rutz ("Rusty") fell in love with my voice. I was a coloratura soprano. Every night while me and rhoda did the dishes, she washed and I stood on a chair and dried. We would sing, the neighbours would come over and listen or they stood in the hallway, just outside our door. In 1941 I was awarded a Scholarship to Carnegie Hall in New York City. that was in October 1941, and I was also working after school in an office, sorting out the mail and delivering it around the building. My life was sort of habit and things started looking up and soon I would be in New York and someday I would perform on the great stages and make my way in the world. Remembering December 7th 1941, President Roosevelt came across the radiio and the news crushed me. He said "A day that will live in infamy," The Japanese had taken a terrible toll on our Navy and the boys butchered that day, most while still sleeping. I knew immediately what would happen. I saw my brother, Rodney, walk to my bedroom door and tapping it lightly. Sitting down in the easy chair, we listened to the news. "Well, Jeanne, you know what this means. We are at war with Japan and it means that I will be enlisting today. My country needs me". Jeanne sunk deep down into the bed numb from the news and feeling desperate she made up her mind. "Rodney, I am going to enlist also". The very next day, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, Germany and Italty. I remembered that Congress had stripped the defense for so long that the men were training with broomsticks for guns and the uniforms, well there were not enough. However, it didn't take America long for the factories and the industry to get going in full swing. For the first time women came into a predominately male world and tasted what the men had experienced but the roles were reversed. Even the schoolchildren became involved. It was a sight. But out on the streets men had taken up arms and we thought about air raids and blackouts. I had two brothers Austin (sonny), and Rodney. And my father, already a seasoned veteran from WW1 and now me. My brother was in a Signal Intelligence Unit and Sonny was assigned as a Unitility Repairman with ther 391st Engineers and dad Hq Co124 Armed Eng Bn CE USA Engineers. When Omaha Beach was hit, I felt myself praying "Please, not Rodney". Me, I was stationed in Germany 7700 Headquarters Battalion and I was there for D-Day. Germany, Hitler and the Axis Armies, I walked through the country after the Liberation. the horrors I will carry with me to my grave. The faces of those people. The quote "fortunate Jewish - a liberated race". I cry as i think about their bravery and the despair. their eyes are glazed. the American Soldier. War hardened veterans, some are in complete dismay, totally unprepared for some of the things they will become witnesses to. You could not feed them. Some are like skeletons. Some have no one left. Some just want to die, after it is over. It was shortly after this I received an injury - a blow to the head,. I never saw it coming and I find myself wondering what happened. They just found me unconscious. And I would be on my way home on a hospital ship. My life was changed. it would never be the same. War, a horrible three lettered word. Unless you have lived it and seen it you cannot understand it. WW2, I am proud to have been a part of it, glad I was able to give to my country, America.