Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 17:52:57 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Recollections of a small boy.
A few days ago my grandson, Justin Nolan (Denis, our middle son is his
dad) turned seven years old. I started to think about the year 1943 when
I turned seven...perhaps in second grade at SS Joachim &Anne. WWII was
on big time; times were serious: there were air raid wardens, sirens and
drills. Blackout window shades were drawn at night; the few cars
authorized to be on the road (due to gas rationing) had their headlights
blackened except for a tiny cat's eye center glow that would allow the
car to be seen by another car or a pedestrian but did not cast a beam
visible from the sky...by a potential enemy 'spy' plane!
Mostly our family's concerns during that time seemed focused on the eldest
children, Jim, Marie and Bob. Jim was either already in the Navy or
about to go. Marie's graduation from high school(Our Lady of Wisdom
Academy in Ozone Park...now closed) and her entry into the labor market
automatically changed Jim's draft status. He was no longer 'exempt' from
service as the "sole support of the family." The entire family was, I
recall, gathered by the living room fireplace in QV on the snowy day
that soon-to-be 'Ensign Jim' anxiously awaited an overdue taxi to the
LIRR station, as he headed off to Great Lakes Naval Station...which Bob
was later to do in late '44 or early '45.
Don't recall just when Joe Koch entered Marie's life, but when he did and was
later stationed in Lordsburg, N.M. (guarding German POW's?), I was the proud recipient of a
"hand-beaded" Indian leather belt which made me feel important...in the
same way that, earlier, Kay Connally (Jim's fiance) stole my heart by
presenting me a beach pail and shovel wrapped in purple cellophane! (I
wonder: do younger kids in today's families experience such indelible
moments that "connected" them forever to the future spouses of their
elder siblings?). I was later to shine Joe's Koch's 'civilian' shoes for
35 cents a week as he went to work, post war, for the Metropolitan
Insurance Company on 23rd(?) Street...did I press his suit trousers too?
Yes...all good preparation for attending Xavier's ROTC and a twenty year
military career! Mostly, during the war, I remember the atmosphere
surrounding long distance calls that we were expecting from Joe Koch or
brother Jim. How we came to know to expect them, I can't
recall...(Warren: did an operator alert us in advance?). The requirement
was that we boys be still and silent (as if in church) because "Marie
was waiting for a long distance call from Joe" in the radio room just
off the dining room. The sound quality of such "patched" calls was
clearly not digital!
I especially loved the calls from Jim when we all lined up proudly to talk to our big brother serving on the USS Biloxi,And who in retrospect was clearly my surrogate father given the nineteen years difference in our ages. Funny how it is for the little kids in a family: I almost don't remember a time in my life when my eldest siblings' spouses, Joe, Kay and Shirley were not already part of the family!
Finally, during the war families proudly displayed in their
front windows 'service banners' (perhaps 10"x14" flags with a two inch
red border and a large white field with a large blue star in the center,
with gold fringe on the bottom and on the upper
dowel from which the flag draped. We had such flags displayed for Jim,
Bob and Joe.
The Stork family down the street had five sons in service and five blue
stars. My best friend, Jackie Cavanaugh's house, had a flag with a gold
star on it...did you ever see the women dressed in white suits on
Memorial Day on TV from Arlington Cemetary? They are the "Gold Star
Mothers" whose sons and daughters died in the war. Jackie's brother
'Jimmy' died in the war; if the war memorial is still at the Queens
Village Plaza by the LIRR station, Jimmy's name is there. The practice
of displaying the service banner ceased after the war and only
reappeared after "911." I presented one to my new neighbor, Linda
Trevino, who son is an Air Force officer in Dubai; another blue star
banner other hangs proudly in my own front window, an old soldier's
tribute to his Air Force Captain son and a daily reminder to pray for
him, our troops and our Country!
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