Ration Books, Service, and Resilience: Our Neighbors’ Stories of World War II
This edition of Montclair Stories, highlights from Radio Free Montclair, focuses on World War 2 experiences of Montclair’s elders. What was it like watching the war, growing up during it, and participating in it? Find out below, or check out some highlights here!
Lorena Tyson, remembers the news of Pearl Harbor breaking during her 8th birthday party. “All of a sudden everybody was getting up…They had to go home.”
Sam Debnam noticed segregation in the Air Force. “I always wondered how much money this country could have saved had they integrated the services. There were two mess halls, two gyms…”
Elizabeth Burke Del Tufo wondered if her father was drafted because of his Irish-American immigrant status and their impoverished living standards, even though he was older than average.“The draft board had a quota to keep. I think it is because we were outliers in the high-rent district that Papa went to war.” and “The newsreels were horrifying. I remember very distinctly the first newsreel of the opening of the doors of the concentration camps. It was just so horrible. You couldn't comprehend that those things had been occurring.”
Danny DiGeronimo served, and reflected on the usage of the atomic bomb. “I was not scared, but I was very upset that they [Japan] did this [Pearl Harbor] to us… I was very glad to come home…otherwise we’d have lost a half a million people going to invade Japan.”
Robert Purdue shares his army experience. “At first, we were ‘invited’ in. We were supposed to spend a year and a day.” His mother said, “You’re in the Army now for good.”
David Conrad -“We had an ‘A’ sticker on the car’s windshield which was the least amount of gas you were allowed to buy… We ate an awful lot of spam!”
Bill Treene remembers kneading yellow die into margarine to resemble real butter. “It was like lard…in a plastic bag…you’d break the capsule and knead it until the color was even. Oh, it was disgusting!”
The Monaco sisters remember food stamps for “…certain things like butter, sugar, coffee, tea. You had to present the stamps when you went to the supermarket,” and how their father served as a “blackout warden,” ensuring lights were off and shades were drawn at nighttime to prevent potential attack.
Stuart Keil’s family owned Keil’s Pharmacy, and he remembers that “Things were hard to get, like paper goods. The stuff came to people the wholesalers liked, and my dad was a very nice guy. In the 1940s during the war, you could sell whatever you could get.”
Elizabeth Burke Del Tufo remembers the NYC skyline at night. “There would not be a light to be seen because of the blackouts.”
Adele Buck’s mother took nutritional, food-stretching classes and learned some healthy dishes, which she only tried one! “Lois, if you ever serve these [radish greens] again…I’ll take the children to Bonds.”
Bill and C.Y. Treene recall saving scraps and contributing pennies and nickels to Red Cross collections at school.“We all did SOMEthing to help the war effort.” C.Y also remembers maintaining friendship with evacuated Holocaust refugees and how Montclair became the first post-war “sister city” with Graz.
Connie Du Hamel remembers hosting foreign soldiers.“When their ships were in New York City…they would come out by bus…and two or three people would host them for dinner. That was fun!”
Read the full transcript online here, or listen at the bottom of the page below!
Stay tuned for more radio episodes based on our oral history series!
Explore more oral histories from the Montclair History Center, which were recorded in 2018 to commemorate Montclair’s 150th anniversary.