Social+Adjustments+and+the+development+of+new+wartime+families2

Tim Ennis 10-24-07 Block 2 Lesson 5-__The Home Front__
 * Name:** My name is Sally Smith.
 * Age:** I am 44 years old.
 * Hometown:** My hometown is Los Angeles, California.
 * School:** I attended Notre Dame University.
 * Relationships:** I have a son and a daughter. Both are at my mom’s house because of the threat of the war. I also have a husband, but he is fighting in the war. The rest of my family has enough money in order to get by.
 * Ethnicity:** I am 30% Hungarian, 30% Italian, and 40% Irish
 * Birthday:** I was born on March 26, 1900.
 * Occupation:** I work in a steel factory.

Life is definitely harder because of World War II. Since the war has occurred, I have lost my two children, Tim and Courtney, and my husband, Tom. I sent my two children off to my mom’s because the federal government advised us that all children that were in school, mothers that had children under the age of five, and people with disabilities, should live in houses in rural areas until the war was over. The government feared that large cities such as the city I am living in right now, Los Angeles would be bombed by Germans because of the high population (“World War 2 The Home Front” 1). My brave husband Tom went off to war overseas. I admire him so much for fighting in this wonderful country. However, he has made my life a lot more difficult. For example, now I have to work in a steel factory in order to get enough money to support myself. World War II has made a huge impact on the U.S. citizens. I noticed that many families either got destroyed or created because of World War 2(Danzer et al. 592). Teenagers had a very difficult time during this period. Since there were numerous amounts of times when they would have the house for themselves, they would often get in trouble. As a result, juvenile delinquency was very high for teenagers during World War 2. I also noticed that when fathers did come home from the war, there was a very difficult time for families because members of the family had to catch each other up with what happened over the past months or even years. As a result, this sometimes played a role as to why a family that was very united before the war, had to break up (Danzer et al. 592). Food rationing was another event that resulted because of World War 2 (“World War II: The Impact at Home” 1). Food rationing made sure that every citizen of America had a good amount of food. In order to achieve this, a ration book for food was handed to every man, women, and child. Citizens then registered at a grocery store. The grocery stores would only contain enough food for the people who registered. http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Museum%20Large%20pictures/Food-Ration-front.jpg

A grocer would put a sticker in a person’s ration book in order to give proof that the week’s ration had been bought (“World War Two The Home Front” 1). Although this concept was fair, it was also very frustrating. Here we are with actual money to spend, but now the government is telling us that we must cut back our spending. I suffered through years during the Great Depression! Well, anyway, I and many others have to deal with this new policy that the government has created (“World War II: The Impact at Home 1). Families have also been created because of World War 2 (Danzer et al. 592). People who were longtime sweethearts, or couples who did not really know each other, hurried to marry before the soldier or sailor had to leave in order to fight in WWII. The amount of families created during the beginning war was so high that the number of marriage licenses distributed grew by almost 300 percent in Seattle and other towns (Danzer et al. 592). I talked to one New Yorker in 1943 who said, “On Fridays and Saturdays, the City Hall area is blurred with running soldiers, sailors, and girls hunting the license bureau, floral shops, ministers, blood-testing laboratories, and the Legal Aid Society.” This showed me how many people were looking to marry each other during this time. There were many social adjustments and creations of new wartime families in America during World War 2. Many of us, Women, had to send our children away and say good-bye to our husbands. Families also separated forever because of the war while the food ration rule that the government created made some people happy and others sad. In the end, there are going to be people who liked the effects of World War 2 on America while others, like me, who give it thumbs down. I just hope that my husband and my children will come back home in one peace.

__Works Cited__

Danzer, Gerald, et al. __The Americans__. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell Inc., 2003.

__World War Two The Home Front__. Historyonthenet, 2000. __History on the Net__. 2000. 24 Oct. 2007 (indent)<[|http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/home_front.htm>.]

__World War II: The Impact at Home__. Wisconsin: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin (indent)System, 1999. __American History 102 Civil War to the Present__. 24 Oct. 2007 (indent)<[|http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture21.html>.]