Ration Books, Service, and Resilience: Our Neighbors’ Stories of World War II
This edition of Montclair Stories, which shares highlights of one of the Montclair History Center’s recent Radio Free Montclair episode, weaves together personal memories of World War II from longtime Montclair residents. Their recollections help us understand how the global conflict reshaped daily life. Interviewees describe the military experience of their own or of relatives and the sacrifice and uncertainties of wartime Montclair—with a few humorous recollections, too.
We encourage you to click the link at the end of this piece to hear all the stories!
Remembering Pearl Harbor
Lorena Tyson, born on December 7, 1933, remembers the moment the war entered her childhood consciousness. Her 8th birthday party, held on December 7, 1941, abruptly ended as relatives and friends rushed home after hearing the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor that day: “All of a sudden everybody was getting up…They had to go home.”
Those Who Served
Many interviewees served in the military or had family members who did.
Sam Debnam’s story includes both service and segregation. He explains that after training with the Signal Corps, he was transferred to the Air Force, where he was a propeller and instrument specialist. He also reflects on the cost of the segregation he experienced in the Army: “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 wonders if her family’s status and lack of influence contribute to her father, a 30-year-old Irish immigrant with two small children, being drafted. Both of her parents were domestics living and working in a grand home in Montclair’s estate section. “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.”
Danny DiGeronimo shared his feelings about being drafted: “I was not scared, but I was very upset that they [Japan] did this [Pearl Harbor] to us.”
Danny served overseas and was frank about the relief he felt when the atomic bomb ended the war: “I was very glad to come home…otherwise we’d have lost a half a million people going to invade Japan.” Like many others, he was anxious to get home quickly and safely to his young family.
He also shares a humorous family story: his younger brother brought a bust of Mussolini, a relic from before Italy sided with Hitler and which had been long-discarded in the family’s coal bin, to kindergarten for show‑and‑tell—prompting his mother to smash and bury it to avoid anyone getting the wrong idea which side the family supported in the conflict.
Robert Purdue seemed to have almost inadvertently found himself in the Army. “At first, we were ‘invited’ in. We were supposed to spend a year and a day.” But Robert’s mom knew better, and told him plainly, “You’re in the Army now for good.”
Life on the Home Front: Rationing, Blackouts, and Community Effort
Nearly every interviewee recalls rationing, shortages, and the creativity required to cope.
Rationing & Food Substitutes
David Conrad, a young teen during the war, speaks of gasoline rationing. “We had an ‘A’ sticker on the car’s windshield which was the least amount of gas you were allowed to buy.” As for food rations, he recalls with a laugh, “We ate an awful lot of spam!”
Bill Treene describe a task that was often given to youngsters during the war: kneading yellow dye capsules into white margarine to make it look like 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 recall the food ration stamps for “…certain things like butter, sugar, coffee, tea. You had to present the stamps when you went to the supermarket.”
Stuart Keil’s father owned Keil’s Pharmacy and gives us a retailer’s insight into the supply chain at that time. “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.”
Civil Defense – Everyone on Watch
Several interviewees, including Joanne Bello‑Stivale, the Monaco sisters, and Ann Perdue von Hoffman spoke of their fathers serving as blackout wardens, patrolling neighborhoods in the evening to ensure that shades were drawn to avoid interior light escaping that might have been seen by the enemy.
Elizabeth Burke Del Tufo recalls the eerie darkness over New York City, “There would not be a light to be seen because of the blackouts.”
Doing Your Part to Help
Adele Buck remembers her mother’s Red Cross nutrition classes and one – and only one – dinner that featured budget-stretching radish greens from the family’s Victory Garden. Eliciting laughter from Adele and the interviewers, she recalled that her father’s reaction was: “Lois, if you ever serve these [radish greens] again…I’ll take the children to Bonds.”
Bill and C.Y. Treene recall saving fat, tin, and newspapers for the war effort, assembling Red Cross boxes at their elementary school, and contributing nickels and dimes for war bond savings. “We all did SOMEthing to help the war effort,” Bill said.
Montclair’s Global Connections
The war forged international ties, some that lasted decades.
C.Y. Treene maintained a lifelong friendship with one of approximately 50 children who were evacuated from London to Montclair to escape the Nazi’s intense bombing of the city.
She also explains how Montclair became the first U.S. “sister city,” partnering with Graz, Austria after the war to support European recovery.
Connie Du Hamel and Adele Buck both spoke of their families hosting foreign service men. Connie explained, “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!”
Emotional Impact
Fear, bravery, sadness, anger, and horror are among the wide range of emotions triggered during wartime.
Marilyn Monaco remembers getting under her school desk during air‑raid drills, blacked‑out car headlights, and the horrific newsreels shown at the theater, yet says, “I was not afraid.”
Shirley Saunders Lovejoy recalls the joy of VJ Day (Victory in Japan Day): it was celebrated with the first high school dance after years of wartime restrictions.
William McElroy remembers discovering, several years after the war, that his friend’s father had earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star—reminders of the sacrifices of the heroes in our own neighborhoods.
Bill Treene speaks of “the first time I ever saw my father cry.” His dad’s best friend’s son, a bomber pilot, was lost and presumed dead. The sight gave young Bill an inkling of the war’s real impact.
News of the Day – Horrors Come to Light in the Newsreel
Many of the interviewees were very young during the war years and realized that they were shielded from much of the worst day-to-day news. “You didn’t have all the photojournalism and communication you have today,” as Bill Treene notes.
But one medium that left a searing impression was the newsreels shown prior to movies in the theaters. Outings to the town’s theaters, nearly day-long distractions, were affordable to most and common in the 1940s.
Elizabeth Burke Del Tufo learned of the Holocaust atrocities in a newsreel. “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.”
Closing Reflection
Across these stories, a portrait emerges of a time shaped by sacrifice, service, resilience, and patriotism. These memories preserve a vital chapter of local and national history.
This blog is an edited summary of an episode of the Montclair History Center’s oral history series, prepared for Radio Free Montclair. 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.