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Memories WW2

Ice man, put in front window sign with 25 lbs, 50 lbs, 75 lbs, 100 lbs

He would bring that amount to back porch ,put it in “ice boxâ€

Milk on porch, in winter cream would freeze and push up over top of bottle

Coke for fuel, or coal , Ford employees could buy coke from foundry. Delivered like

You now get top soil

Coke ,you put down wood boards on lawn , push wheelbarrows full of coke to basement

Coal window and dump it through the window

Waffle man in wagon pulled by a horse, selling waffles

Make push cart with 4 foot 2x4 board, an old skate, empty orange crate, empty can with

Candle for a head light

Rubber band gun using two pieces short wood and inner tube cut up into rubber bands

Burn potato in camp fire too long and get little white potato in middle

Empty cans, step on two and they clamp on your shoes and you walk making noise

Film projector, Mickey mouse, in your garage. Charge to see it was pin,bottle top, paper

Clip,stone or any thing

Pumpkin seeds 5 cents for a cup full

Awrey bakery man came door to door with basket of baked goods. If you were near

Tireman and Ironwood you could buy them from the home of Awrey

Good Humor man in his truck selling Good Humor ice cream on stick. If you lived near

Martin Street and Willette Street you could go to their factory

Theater Friday night gives dishes, always hear one break during show

Doctor comes out to your house if you are sick

Stores closed on Sunday, but the butcher lives in back of store, and he answers door bell

Men wear spats on their shoes

School is a mile away and you walk to school

Jewel Tea Company sales man comes to your house

Elephant rides on Belle Isle

Oh, don't the memories come flooding back. Yes, I remember so many of the ones you wrote

about, Art. A few more..... remember the "Sheenies" that would come thru the alleys with

horse and cart, the hollyhocks and morning glories on the back fence, stoking the coal

furnace, having to go down and light the hot water heater and wait for it to get hot to take a

bath, daddy bringing home a bag of Hershey Kisses or English Toffee was a real treat, Stella

Dallas, listening to the Lone Ranger and The Shadow and Gangbusters while laying under

the upright radio, rushing outside after dinner to play Hide and Seek, Hopscotch or Jump Rope,

playing dress up, paper dolls, cowboys and Indians, jumping off the roof of the garage,

banking up the snow and flooding the yard for an ice rink and getting frostbitten

fingers and toes, upright player pianos that you would pump with your feet, and music

lessons, and beating the rugs with a rug beater, rubbing down the wallpaper with Climax.,

P&G bluing, wringer washers, the old Ironrite, pulling curtains over the pins on a curtain

stretcher, Rumble seats, burying your dear pets in the back yard, Mustard plasters,

being rubbed down with Wintergreen for a fever (Scarlet Fever!), the smell of sheets dried

outdoors on the clotheslines. sodas at the corner drugstore, the iceman tossing chips of ice

to you in the summer, the horse drawn vendors calling "Straaaawberriees", Rosie the

Riveter, Blue & Silver &Gold Stars in the windows and everyone's unabashed patriotism,

the Sunday morning that lived in infamy, FDR's fireside chats, Sunday School, Big Brothers

(home on leave) letting Little Sisters stand on their toes to dance to 'Sentimental Journey',

'My Devotion', 'Ole Buttermilk Sky' and hundreds more of the most beautiful "MUSIC" ever

to be, the 12 th Floor at Hudsons at Christmas, the red carpet and brass handrails going up

the staircase at the Michigan theatre, the stars on the ceiling of the Riviera theatre, the

Bob-lo boat, Sanders ice cream, watching them bottle Vernor's ginger ale down on

Woodward (or was that Griswald?) near the river, meeting under the clock at Kerns... the

Grande Ballroom, Jefferson Beach and Edgewater Amusement parks, the Walled Lake

Casino, remember Crystal Pool?, the family going on picnics in the summer, horseshoes,

burning leaves at the curb.....and on and on and on. There really was a time when one could

ask "Who needs a TV set?" No wonder Norman Rockwell's paintings are so beloved.

Whew, that was some trip.....better say Bye Bye for now and God Bless, Dee

This is also true story

Army Air Corps, 3 Things Not To Do

I had my pilot’s license before I enlisted in 1943 and found 3 things not to do.

1. On take off, do not drop the flaps and think your instructor did not see it.

2. Do not put your instructor's flight suit on, take his car key's, drive to the post office and mail a Christmas package for his wife to his mother-in-law.

3. On landing do not shut your radio off, do not watch the tower, do not land on the black top runway when they want you to land on cement runway.

Art

Well, it's still early in the morning and this day just keeps getting better. As you probably know, I search for info on an almost daily basis. Some days are frustrating and other days I'm literally dancing around with joy. Well today is another one of the dancing days! Of course this function will work better when I make and drink some coffee.

I just received an email from a gentleman named Rod O'Barr. His website is listed on our links page, 85th Engineer Heavy Ponton Battalion. He went to our site and read the History Page and said the the 85th, 36th and 540th have a lot in common. Oh heck, just read the some of the text I copied from his email. It explains it all:

"Hello Marion,

I have had some time to read the "history" portion of your web site. I've discovered that our two sites have quite a bit in common as relates to not only the River Crossing School on the Rhone River, but also the Rhine River Crossing. I have included below all the paragraphs from the original WWII 85th Engineer documents that mention involvement with the 36th or 540th. As you can see, the 85th trained your dad's unit in bridge building on the Rhone River, and later on the Meurthe River, and then the two units were joined in the efforts to bridge the Rhine River at both Worms and Mannheim, Germany. This means that the pictures you see on my web site that are of bridges on the Rhone, Meurthe, and Rhine Rivers, are bridges that the 540th and 36th also built. As your history points out, the 540th was made up of two regiments, the 2832 and the 2833, and so you'll find references to these two regiments in the paragraphs related to the Rhine Crossings that follow.

Feel free to use any of the following text, and to attach to your site any of the photos from my site that relate to your web site. As I previously stated, the following paragraphs are transcribed directly from the original documents of the 85th, and as such they use the unusual military syntax. Anytime it mentions "the Battalion" or "this Battalion" reference is to the 85th. I hope you find the info informative as it relates to the 36th and 540th.

Regards,

Rod O'Barr

Fantastic huh? Can't wait to upload the info for everyone to see. It's just great when I can see actual pieces of history and know that my dad, the 540th and the 36th were there.

Essayons!

I've had the wonderful opportunity to exchange email with Art Morneweck on an almost a daily basis and we have become steadfast friends in a short amount of time. I first saw his posting on a WWII vets forum and saw that he was from the Detroit area. He had written a very touching story about his WWII bride and I was quite taken by it and decided to write to him.

He has agreed to share his memories and photographs along with those of his younger brother and brother-in-law, all of whom served during WWII. I am going to add these to our site beginning this week and you'll be able to find them on the STORIES & LETTERS PAGE under the heading, "Stories from other WWII Vets".