I sat at the school desk; my feet barely reaching the floor.  The same size desks were used for all grades.  For a nine year old child, the desk was too high, hard and uncomfortable.  December 8, 1941.  I don't know why I remember the desk, but I think it is because that was where I was when the fear came.  The teacher was explaining that U.S.A. ships had been taken by surprise and bombed and that many lives had been lost.  She said we were mostly surely going to war.

War I did not comprehend.  I knew it was something very bad .  Daddies were called to fight and they might be killed.  The thought of my daddy dying was the worst of my fears.

1941 was before television.  Children spent their time in simple pursuits.  We were far less worldly-wise than kids of today.  Even so, I knew something big was happening.  That afternoon, as I walked home alone from school, I worried as a child worries.  Daddy walked to and from work, as did most of the mill workers.  Few persons had cars.  We lived in a so-called "factory row" house.  Before 1941, most common folk in central North Carolina worked in mills or factories.  The company owned the factory, the house one lived in, and usually the only grocery store in town.   By payday on Friday, most families owed, if not their souls; their paychecks to the company store.  The country was just awakening from the Great Depression, and most of the men were glad to have a job of any kind.  Life, though simple, was good . Neighbors were truly neighbors and children played without fear. 

That fateful afternoon, Daddy came home from work shortly after I got home from school.  His voice and Mama's were higher pitched than usual and louder.  Few of our neighbors had radios but we did.  So later that night many of our neighbors came to our house to hear the president speak.  No one gave the children any attention.  Mostly ignored in the confusion, we dealt with our thoughts and fears alone.

I sat in the corner on the floor and listened.  If grownups were this excited, I thought, something very important must be happening.  Neighborhood gatherings were commonplace when there was big news.  Everyone became quiet as they  gathered around the cathedral-shaped radio to listen to President Roosevelt give his "Day of Infamy" speech.  When the speech was over, they all agreed that this meant war.

Things changed after that.  Life was never again to be as simple as it had been before the war!!