You senior seniors remember

AZ Jim

AZ Jim

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
SURPRISE, ARIZONA
listening to the war in Europe new on the radio with Gabrial Heatter, Edward R Murrow? When the news was on my Grandpa would not tolerate loud kid talk. Heatter always forewarned if the news was good or bad by opening the show with "Aw there's bad/good news today folks". Murrow was reporting directly from London much of the time and you could hear bombs or antiaircraft firing in the background. Just thinkin about those days.
 

I've been re-watching the PBS series on the Roosevelts. I do remember seeing Eleanor on TV in my childhood during the 50s. Do you remember FDR's Fireside Chats?
 
We always listened to the fireside chats during the war. The day FDR died, our school in Los Angeles sent us all home early.
 
Only ever heard Morrow as a historical recording, but I can remember William Joyce's (Lord Haw Haw) "Germany Calling, Germany Calling" as clear as a bell on a frosty morning.

(I van also remember running and hiding when the church bells rang after El Alamein because nobody had thought to tell me that it no longer meant a German paratrooper was coming to disembowel me.)
 
Parents wouldn't allow us to listen but I do remember there was an air raid warden. How they expected the German bombers available at the time to get to the East Coast is a puzzlement...:confused:
 
Ameriscot said:
Glinda, I bought the DVD set and loved that series. I'm a big fan of Eleanor!
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Annie, I truly admire Eleanor too. I've read biographies of both Eleanor and Franklin and am currently reading FDR by Jean Edward Smith. It's very good except for one area where Roosevelt biographers often seem to fail IMO. I find that Lucy Mercer, FDR's mistress, is often described as beautiful, charming and admirable in every way, especially by male biographers. Well, this is a woman who indulged in an affair with a married man with five children. She was Eleanor's secretary. When Eleanor found out and fired her, she decided to take a job where Franklin worked. This went on until Franklin's boss fired her. Of course, FDR was complicit in this but Lucy Mercer's lack of moral character is ignored and she is portrayed is as some elegant, refined, adorable southern belle and Eleanor is a humorless wife who somehow deserved it. Sorry that this is slightly off topic.
 
Glinda said:
Annie, I truly admire Eleanor too. I've read biographies of both Eleanor and Franklin and am currently reading FDR by Jean Edward Smith. It's very good except for one area where Roosevelt biographers often seem to fail IMO. I find that Lucy Mercer, FDR's mistress, is often described as beautiful, charming and admirable in every way, especially by male biographers. Well, this is a woman who indulged in an affair with a married man with five children. She was Eleanor's secretary. When Eleanor found out and fired her, she decided to take a job where Franklin worked. This went on until Franklin's boss fired her. Of course, FDR was complicit in this but Lucy Mercer's lack of moral character is ignored and she is portrayed is as some elegant, refined, adorable southern belle and Eleanor is a humorless wife who somehow deserved it. Sorry that this is slightly off topic.
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Eleanor put up with it and she and FDR were great partners otherwise. But I believe she made him promise not to see Lucy any more and he did promise. So she was devastated to discover Lucy had been with him when he died.

Did you read the biographies of Eleanor by Blanche Wiesen Cook? She did two volumes but the last one ended before FDR even died. There needs to be a third one! I've read some other books about her.
 
Ralphy1 said:
Parents wouldn't allow us to listen but I do remember there was an air raid warden. How they expected the German bombers available at the time to get to the East Coast is a puzzlement...:confused:
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I'm too lazy to look it up, but I seem to remember a story about at least one German plane flying over New York, but unable to do it with a bomb load. I do remember that there were numerous ships torpedoed, that could be seen burning up and down the East coast. For some reason, I was always more worried about the Japanese. Was I a racist?
 
I remember all of that stuff. I was 9 at the start, and 13 at the end. Just the right age to enjoy playing at war with my friends. It wasn't all fun though. Everyone had someone at risk overseas. Gold stars hanging in the windows. You learned how cruel life can be. Roosevelt was a God to my grandfather. Listened to all of the chats. I distinctly remember being glued to the radio on D Day. Murrow and Heater. They would never get on any "news" shows today. Now its all about the interaction of the personalities on the staff. "You know what happened at breakfast this morning?" "Later we will hear the latest chart buster, "Why Life Stinks" by "The Louds".
O.K. My rant is done. Had to get that out.

Yes, Glinda. I watched 'The Roosevelts". Eleanor deserves much more recognition. A remarkable individual in every way.
 
QuickSilver said:
I think it depended what Theater your dad fought in. Mine was in the Pacific.. so I was terrified of the Japanese because of his war stories.
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In those days, the Japanese were something to be terrified of. Tells you something about the influence of culture. Those were the grandparents of the smiling people that you see everywhere, taking pictures of flowers.
 
WW2 I was 5 when it started for us and about 10 when it ended. Kids games were always war games in those days it seems. We were all in it together though.
 

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