A Local Life

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the authors. As such, this writing reflects their perspective alone; historical errors or discrepancies are also their own. Names have been shortened or changed to protect individual privacy where necessary. 

Mrs. W was our interviewee and she was born in 1943. She currently lives -------, where she also works. She currently works in the ------ Library and is the village Historian.

She was born during World War II. During World War II, women were heavily involved in the workforce and men were drafted to enlist in the army.

The U.S. was part of the Allied forces, which consisted of Britain, the USSR and France. The enemy forces, called the Axis Powers,  consisted of Germany, Italy and Japan. The U.S. got involved after being attacked by waves of Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Japanese surrendered to the Allied forces after two atomic bombs were dropped on two major cities in Japan.

Korean War

The Korean War was familiar to Mrs. W because her babysitter suddenly disappeared one day. Years later she learned that he was actually in Korea, participating in the war. The Korean War was a fight to ensure that Communism wouldn't prevail.  The United States and South Korea fought North Korea until a truce was signed in 1953.

Vietnam War

After a long period of economic involvement, U.S. military involvement began when U.S. Destroyer ships were attacked by North Vietnamese forces. President Johnson ordered the U.S. to attack back. The U.S. wanted to prevent South Korea from taking over North Korea. This war was very controversial and many people felt that America had no right to be there. 

From this experience we learned that this era was marked by tension and confrontation. Mrs. W was hearing about all of these events in the news and she told us that she was unsure of what the future of America would be. Democracy wasn’t present everywhere and America wanted to show its dominance. America showed its dominance whenever necessary and the US won every way except for the Vietnam War. The American citizens had no choice but to hope and pray that their country would remain a democracy and that America would remain a powerhouse. Mrs. W made it throughout hard times and she developed a strong sense of pride in our country.