Last time you were talking about how World War 2 affected life at home.
Right. Today I’d like to recall the effect it had on us at school.
Okay.
First, in elementary school. I was in 6th grade when it started. You may have heard that this country was unprepared for the war. Well, that was true, not just militarily, but also in the hospitals.
How was that?
When the injured servicemen came back for treatment, the hospitals were short on supplies. We helped out in two areas.
They were … ?
First, there was a shortage of slippers. So somebody showed us kids how to make a kind of slipper out of newspapers. We would fold them in a certain way to form a kind of skuff.
I looked around for a picture showing newspaper. Couldn’t find one. Only plain paper. But you get the idea. Can’t remember just how we folded them.
They worked out?
Well, at least they were better than going barefoot. Second, the hospitals were short of blankets. So we weaved some.
How?
With donated yarn and with — I guess you would call them looms. Four strips of metal that had comb-like teeth along one edge. They were bolted together into a square maybe 7 or 8 inches on a side. With the teeth facing up.
You put the yarn on that?
Yep. First we’d wind a long strand of yarn back and forth in, say, the east-west direction. Advancing one tooth at a time. Then we’d attach another long strand to a kind of knitting needle with a curved tip. And we’d pull the yarn through in the north-south direction. With our fingers we’d rotate the curved tip up and down, over and under, from one end to the other. And we’d advance that way one tooth at a time. The over and under of one strand would be just the opposite of the adjacent one. And we’d keep going that way until the loom was filled.
That took some effort.
Yeah, but it was worth it. We felt we were contributing to the war effort. When we finished a square, it looked something like this. This picture is actually of a pot-holder, not part of a blanket, but you get the idea.
Then we’d turn in the squares and somebody — I don’t know who — would stitch them together into a blanket. Definitely homemade, but I guess they kept some soldier warm while he recovered from his wounds.
I’m sure.
Well, that was how the war affected us in elementary school. The other effect was at the high school. Remember I said our 8th grade class was in the high-school building. When we got there we found that they had put in an obstacle course in addition to the usual gymnastics equipment.
They called it a Commando Course. Named after that elite British military unit. There were things to jump over, climb over, run around. Gave us a workout, that’s for sure.
I guess.
Next time I’ll talk about the war’s effect at home.
Okay.