WWII diary
Little is more humbling than seeing major would events through the eyes of a teenage girl.
I picked up this diary at an estate sale, belonging to Maruth Gloeckler, who writes in it from 1939 to 1942. Short entries of her days living on a farm in Schafter California: going to school, sewing clothes, road trips, lots and lots of studying.
Here are her entries starting the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the following as the US enters WWII. Much of the time these events are a few words tucked into her daily recordings, yes a war started, but there's still tests to study for and friends to see, and now you just work air-raid practice into it all.
December 7th 1941
“Went to church + stayed till 4:30. Julia & me sang. Japan declared war on us today!! Awful. Studied history + Marshall came over.”
December 8th 1941
“Listened to Presidents + Churchills speeches today - certainly is depressing. Nothing outside as being unusual. Studied stuff - got a B in botany class - whoopee!!”
December 9th 1941
“Went in swimming today - darn!! Got a 96 in lab test - highest - whoopee - Worked for 3 1/2 hours in lab + wasn't tired. Daisy + I visited the fellows in the meds block. There was an air-raid warning!”
December 10th 1941
“Same war talk all day today - depressing. Seems unreal to me. Same grind. Marshall + I went to the dance in W’s after school - had more fun.”
December 11th 1941
“Germany + Italy declared war on us!! Instead of going swimming - went to M’s gym + got instructions of what to do in case of air raids, etc. Surely seems funny. Got out of lab at 4:00 so Imogen + I went up town - studied.”
You can read Maruth’s obituary here.