This could be The Fighter times ten.
My mom grew up in Pennsylvania. She and her brothers and sisters (appx 10) were parents of Chechoslovakian immigrants. My 85ish year old aunt wrote a book about their childhood and growing up before and during WWII. This book would be good reference.
My mother and Uncle had a great relationship. When war broke out he was eager to do his part. These were proud immigrant Americans and they would do anything for their new country. Everyone thought that Uncle Dan would be an excellent soldier. He was physically and mentally tough. Everyone expected him to return. When news came home that he was killed in action, it shook my mom up.
She decided that she wanted to do her part for the cause. She was nearly 20 and anxious to join the effort and convinced her sister to join her and move to Pittsburgh to do their part (she probably would have preferred to go fight). Her first job was inspecting bombs on an assembly line. Somewhere during her early days in Pittsburgh she was introduced to the USO and saw both the compassionate side of “taking care” of our soldiers and the potential business opportunity in doing so. She liked men a lot more than inspecting bombs. When she heard of a big “soldier entertainment” club she was intrigued. She told my aunt (her roommate) she wanted to go there and work. Everyone in the family that was told of her plan said she was crazy. Especially when she said she was going to drive there. A 20 year old woman driving was unheard of in the 1940’s. Driving alone to Texas, insane.
She made it to Texas and found the work rewarding in many ways. She met nice guys, and some not so nice, and started to make some real money. I am not sure how long she stayed in Texas, but understand she stayed until she heard of a bigger and better “club” in Alaska.
Well you guessed it. She packed up and drove to Alaska alone! She worked Alaska until the day she got bored. She had lots of money, a black book list of well to do clients. She was, though, tired of the cold weather and wanted to go south. She ended up driving to Argentina, again alone!
We have many pictures from her travels and witnesses of her many crazy adventures. Lots of pictures on her drive to south America with different latin men. Two of my aunts know all about this part of her life. They are both in their 80’s and my aunt who wrote the book is starting to battle dementia. My father who is now 87 lives with me and he is the one where I have received most of my information from other than from the photos and bits and pieces I heard from my mom.
Towards the end of the war my mom took her last job at a Navy base in Guam. (realize that this trip was made on one of the original airliners and that’s a damn long flight). She worked in Guam until the end of the war.
When the war did end she was ready to travel. We have photos of her at the Pyramids in Egypt, Indonesia, Europe, and finally Japan where she met my dad.
Dad says that she decided it was time to settle down and told him that they were to be married, and so they were. They moved to Florida, where he was stationed, she sold her “little black book” and she bought a duplex in Miami Beach. She was the family boss and my dad did as he was told.
Her life continued to be full of travel and adventure. On her last trip back to her hometown in Pennsylvania (before getting on a cruise to Europe)she had a stroke and was never really the same. She died in a nursing home at the age of 79.
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Last update: 01-10-2011 15:19 |
| Published in : Adventure |
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