Remembering Mom and Dad

Remembering and honoring my mother and father on this Veterans Day for their service in WWII.   My mother, Mollie Weinstein Schaffer, served in Europe and my dad, Jack Schaffer, in the CBI (China-Burma-India).   We thank you and all Veterans who have served and are still serving to make it possible for all of us to live our lives in freedom.

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Victory over Japan on August 14, 1945

On this day, 68 years ago, World War II ended when Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.   Just sharing a few comments from “Mollie’s War” when my mother was stationed in Versailles as the announcement came through….. On August 9, Mollie wrote to her sister:  “Must say, though that one spectacular thing did occur and that was the announcement of Russia’s declaring war on Japan, which …was announced on the dance floor by the band leader.  I am wondering how that announcement and the certain (I hope) early defeat of Japan will affect us individually.” Then just a few days later, she wrote again:  “Yes, I heard about Japan’s defeat but it won’t affect our stay here—that’s what they tell us.  However, it is great news, Beck.” Even one of her friends wrote:  “I wrote you before that reception on the phone here is very bad.  That’s why I couldn’t understand you yesterday when you were trying to tell me about the peace rumors.   Then just after I finished talking to you our signal message center received the teleprint about the offer of surrender.  We quit work for the rest of the afternoon.  I was busy, too, but said the hell with it.”

On Mollie’s 97th birthday

I spent the morning of Friday, July 19th talking about “Mollie’s War” and her service in the military to the Arlington Heights Senior Center.   This would have been Mollie’s 97th birthday.   It gives me a good feeling to keep her memory alive…. Mollie passed away in April 2012.

5 Star Review on Amazon.com

Please read the latest review of Mollie’s War.  Thank you, Anastasia for a wonderful review:

A tale well told, May 22, 2013   By Anastasia

Countless books have been written about World War II. Myriad movies have covered any and all aspects of the war from The Longest Day to Schindler’s List. Some give us the grand picture while others focus on one aspect or issue. Mollie’s War, a personal collection of letters written during World War II, gives the reader insight into a little-known yet essential branch of the army, the Women’s Army Corps. But even more than that, this collection of sisterly correspondence transports us to a stressful yet somehow more innocent time. Through her letters, Mollie emerges as a real person, a young Jewish girl from Detroit who surprisingly enlists as a WAC and recounts her experiences in boot camp and in the European theater. The phrasing and slang of the times makes the reader experience every detail right along with Mollie.

I had four uncles in World War II, one in Europe, three in the Pacific. Thankfully, they all came home and lived good, long lives. They wrote letters but we could seldom get them to talk about the war. Since I wasn’t born until after the war, I have no personal frame of reference. Reading Mollie’s book changed all that. A real person emerged: a person full of life, and spunk, and dedication and patriotism. How grateful I am that she and her sister saved all their letters, and that she and her daughter compiled them into this amazing memoir.