Homefront (Reel 3, 1985)

in the first days of June all across the country there is a powerful sense of anticipation the Allied invasion of Western Europe is about to begin of all the exploits in American military history this will be the grandest every year and it's been a lot of years now since 1944 along about the end of May I start having nightmares and Awakening in the night perspiring heavily and I would have terrible terrible dreams it's went on for years until finally my wife pinpointed it and said you've got a Time clock in your mind and it relates to World War II and D-Day and you're landing on the beach of Normandy this is supreme headquarters Allied expeditionary Force Under the command of General Eisenhower Alli Naval forces began Landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France I was working at Boeing and turned my little radio on and uh all of a sudden uh I heard them saying uh D-Day has begun and all all you could hear were these tremendous bombers roaring and the girl on our switchboard said I've got permission from the plant to have you up that radio and we're going to play it uh across the field and that's the way a lot of Boeing people learned that it was D day almighty God our sons pride of our nation this day have set Upon A Mighty Endeavor a struggle to bra preserve our Republic our religion and our civilization lead them St and cruel give strength to their arms stoutness to their hearts steadfastness in their faith their Road will be long and hard some will never return Embrace these father and receive them thy heroic servants into thy kingdom so the doorbell rang in A Very Old Man delivered the telegram and on the outside of the telegram were two or three stars I can't remember and I saw those stars and my blood turned cold I knew immediately that my brother had been killed and we ripped open the telegram and I can't remember the wording it was something that the Adon general or somebody I'd never heard of some someone I never heard of in my whole life regrets to tell me that my beloved brother had been killed it was one of the most horrible moments of my life despite heavy casualties the nation is buoyant over the successful Invasion optimism Ms at the war in Europe will be over by Christmas [Music] for 13 million black Americans the struggle against fascism is having unforeseen consequences here at home the war against Hitler and his racist policies is forcing the nation to confront its own racism under continuing pressure from civil rights groups the federal government now begins to take strong action against racial discrimination the most dramatic example occurs in Philadelphia in August 1944 the Philadelphia Transit company hired blacks as laborers only with no hope of promotion after repeated warnings the president's committee on Fair Employment ordered the company to promote blacks to driver positions at that particular time it was announced over the news at night that they had accepted eight trolley op eight blacks to be trolley operators that far morning I gets up to report to my location it wasn't any vehicles running in the city everybody went on strike they said they definitely did not want no blacks on the trolley car and the buses at that particular time rapid fire developments in the Philadelphia Transit strike there is open Defiance of the United States government in Philadelphia tonight more than 5,000 of the city's Transit workers had refused to go back to work their say there will be no back to work unless the government gives them a written agreement that Negroes will not be trained and used as operators and the eight Negroes are sticking to their guns so that was until Revel sended troops in once they reported for work every vehicle that left that garage had two soldiers on it one in the front one in the back car Bean Raffles with clip on the belt and I've had people to get on and made an attempt to pay their fair and look up and they saw that I was actually a black man they step back said they don't ride with no [ __ ] just like that I'll have to use the Expression just same what they said said I don't ride with no [ __ ] that's the biggest reason that I contined and I figur I would prove to the people that I actually could do the job and by me doing that it would make a better opportunity for the blacks to continue it being hard the American public was forced to experience integration in the workplace people learned that it was possible for blacks and whites to work together today we see that as a fairly ordinary things but uh in those days uh it was a re evolutionary kind of thing and uh it took a certain amount of guts to move into it blacks have entered the mainstream of American industry as never before they are gaining not only jobs but valuable skills that will be useful when the war ends for millions of black Americans decent work now raises the possibility of a decent standard of living when I've got my first paycheck I it was more it was I had never seen that much money go I never seen that much money in the bank because I'd never been in a bank too much so when I first got my first paycheck I bought everything that I thought I had ever wanted but the most thing that I that attracted me was shoes and and the reason I I wanted these shoes because I had worked for this this white lady who had a lot of money in SAA and and she bought beautiful shoes and I and I would say to myself one day I would be able to buy these shoes people from all levels of society now have greater income 3 years of Full Employment High wages and lots of overtime have filled the pockets of the average worker when I went into the Navy Yard I went as a third class machinist then I worked up to a second class I worked up to a first class machinist and then into progressman at third class machinist making a dollar an hour as I worked up into the progressman I made 275 an hour uh which was seemed like more money and i' never heard [Music] of despite wartime restrictions Americans are embarked on a spending spree after the the lean years of the depression the luxury of cash to spend at will seems almost miraculous one Philadelphia Jeweler says people are crazy with money they don't care what they buy they purchase things just for the fun of spending where consumer goods are not available Americans are spending their money on entertainment and Recreation race track attendance climbs to the highest levels ever recorded Americans are also streaming to Resort spots like Miami and Virginia Beach as one reporter notes Americans are finding fun and lots of people are not only spending but also saving and record amounts by 1944 Americans have put away 140 billion in savings accounts and bonds the working class is becoming middle class we had $1,000 in silver dollars as a door stop in our house where 5 years before we were completely impoverished was quite a trip from one thing to the other if the worker has benefited so has big business corporate profits have more than doubled since 1941 as long as the war continues business has a guaranteed custom customer and Uncle Sam but business is also looking forward to the post-war era and the paint up demands for consumer goods even before the war ends magazine ads are wetting the consumer's appetite I thought after the war it'll be like paradise everybody will have jobs everybody can buy a house new cars will be made even I might buy a new car new new refrigerators will be made washing machines and who knows what else and we'll be able to buy them but the war rages on into 1945 and becomes even more costly in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe in the space of 1 month America suffers 55,000 casualties in the Pacific the battle for tiny iima claims 1500 American lives of first day America will suffer more casualties in the last year of the war than during the entire preceding 3 [Music] years well death was all around you came in constantly you were so afraid um when someone would show up with a telegram and I saw people get Telegram GRS it wouldn't even open them they knew what was in them it came in bunches this was the shocking thing they came as many as five or six in a day but the war in Europe is almost over on the Eastern Front the Russian armies have crossed the German border and are heading for Berlin from the West American and British troops are racing through France and will soon cross the Ry [Music] River with victory in Europe close at hand Roosevelt Churchill and Stalin meet in Yalta in February 1945 as the world eagerly watches the big three make plans for post-war Europe but the American commander-in-chief will not live to see the final victory 2 months later on April 12th Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage the president's death comes as a shock that people will recall for the rest of their lives when I heard about President revelt death I had a hand you up to my face wiping Tails from my eye CU I realized he was dead well I figur he one of the greatest presidents we ever had but the president's death is only one event in what is perhaps the most cataclysmic year in [Music] history as Allied troops break into German territory the full extent of Nazi war crimes becomes known in the long bloodstained history of mankind there has been nothing to compare with the horrors of places like aitz banal DHA now the war seems more Justified than ever on May 8th Germany surrenders the war is over for Europe but the suffering is not much of Europe's population is now homeless and starving to Aid the devastated Millions the United States sends food medicine clothing some American troops will remain in Europe to Aid in the relief effort and to serve as an occupying Force for others the war is not yet over when the uh combat was over in the European theater our division was sent back to the United States and we were all given 30 days convalescent leave that meant a chance to go home and see our loved ones be re reunited and have some some rest and then we went back to our signed station after the 30 days we were immediately loaded into a train the train left and we were then told that we were combat loaded for an invasion of the coast of Japan and we would debark from Seattle and I knew I knew that if I went over into combat in Japan that I would never come back now don't ask me how I knew it but I just felt there was one with my name in on it because I've been through a lot of combat by this time although facing defeat Japan refuses to agree to America's terms for unconditional surrender it is estimated that the invasion of Japan will cost a quarter of a million American lives we traveled for about a half a day and then the train stopped in the middle of a large Prairie and we stayed there for 3 days and did nothing but play baseball and it was dull it was especially dull cuz we were apprehensive because we knew something was going on and they allowed us then to listen on a radio and they had dropped this horrible bomb on Hiroshima and killed thousands and thousands of people and we were in shock when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima this boy was in our kitchen and he said said ha haa the they dropped a bomb on Japan and all the babies are dead and that really upset me I guess the way he said it you know I didn't think I had that much feeling for Japan but that I really broke down that hearing that the Japanese have accepted our terms fully that's the word we've just received from the White House in Washington this ladies and gentlemen is the end of the second world [Applause] war New York and Main Street everywhere who's out the stops and let's go [Music] yes from coast to coast Victory gets a spontaneous welcome we brought several dozen condoms and filled them with water and dropped them out the windows on the people below on the street below we couldn't find any balloons was all we could use filled them with water and water bombed everybody people started drinking and to me this simply was not the response that I felt I felt that I wanted to go to church and my husband and I went to church and said a prayer of Thanksgiving that the killing was over and then we went back to the hotel and joined the party the biggest noisiest celebration in New York's [Applause] [Music] history the news that we received was in about 7:00 in the evening we decided to really have a party and I stood on a chair with a sheet wrapped around me and a flashlight in my hand and I was a Statue of Liberty and all the family danced around me it was a great celebration of all the hopes and desires that follow Victory the strongest is Bring the Boys [Music] Home never thought that you would standing here so close to me there's so much I feel that I should say but work can wait until some other [Music] day kiss me once and kiss me twice and kiss me once again it's been a long long time haven't felt like this my dear since can't remember when it's been a long long time you'll never know how many dreams I dream about you or just how empty they all seem without you so once and kiss me twice and kiss me once again it's been a long long [Music] time the Readjustment to peace will be difficult for many Americans soldiers and civilian alike nearly 600,000 GIS will return wounded or crippled many with severe psychological problems for some the reunion of Veteran and wife will be traumatic in the year following the war the divorce rate is the highest in American history we're so glad to have them home we didn't want to cause any antagonism but deep down inside we were fighting a terrific battle because all of a sudden everything's taken out of our hands the checkbook oh you don't know how to balance a checkbook you've been doing it for four years I feel I am as big a war casualty as anyone who was wounded uh maimed crippled during the war had it not been for the War I would never have married a man I didn't know the first thing about I wasn't even sure this man knew my middle name after we were married for the overwhelming majority of Americans the war has not meant personal tragedy or loss the coming of peace is a blessing and a new [Music] beginning what Americans have dreamed about for 4 years the brave new post-war world is finally here the problems that had plagued Americans before the war the unemployment the loss of confidence the lack of opportunity are gone everywhere it seems a new America is in the making now the country stand as if on a mountain of power $26 billion worth of new factories have been built an enormous increase in industrial capacity very soon the nation will reach a level of prosperity and abundance never before experienced in American Life In the words of one journalist America has inherited the Earth the war made me really love this country more than ever during depression you got ha in your country because you were so poor had nothing and then come along and this country fought the War won the war showed what people could turn out and do so it it made you think you were living in the right country but the legacy of World War II was not simply greater wealth or power the American way of life itself had begun to change of the millions who had migrated to the cities from farms and small towns many did not return America was now a more urban industrial society Society became much larger much more impersonal the mom and pop store which my mother had uh no longer could compete with these supermarkets and the big chains that moved in people began to go outside the neighborhood it changed the the lifestyle to a great extent by 1946 the grocery store was gone the Warriors took people away from their familiar patterns away from their friends away from their families away from their Church uh away from their place of work and when the war was over they didn't all go right back to those same places the war has also brought changes that many Americans fear and mistrust although many women lost their jobs at War's end many many others remained in the workforce by 1946 there are 5 million more women employed than before the war and their numbers are steadily growing I felt that a women had a place in the world and I was I was part of it and that I was never going ever to go back to uh uh being what I had been I could never go back to playing bridge uh being a club woman uh listening to a lot of inanities when there were things that you could use your mind for a few years before that I would have been afraid with a small child to have ever struck out on my own but by this time I knew that I could make a living and I knew that I did not need anyone to make a living for me but the reason that I knew it is because I had done it already I had been there as with women the wartime progress of black Americans will not disappear with the coming of peace the fight for racial equality has turned into something large and Powerful on the American scene the modern civil rights movement has begun as black people began to to to experience some of the the niceties of Life uh they they they you could see that uh the natives were going to get Restless they would never be satisfied with uh the way they had lived before and the expectation uh began to to to change they began to expect more for many Americans the memories of the second world war will remain as the most Vivid in their lives for each the meaning is unique and personal when the war was finally over and we got our orders to go home at long last we were all very excited and eager to get home before he went home they had to have one more parade and we all had to get into our uniforms and line up for a dismissal and separation from service parade when it was over we all threw our hats up in the air and screamed and yelled and cheered because we didn't want to do that ever again and I recall very well one of the captains standing and looking at us without cheering and he's saying you don't understand how big a part of your life this has been when you hear a marching band sometime in the future you'll pick up the beat and you'll be back right here on the parade ground marching again and he was right that's the way it's turned out the ghost our mothers have a bond we are a unique [Music] organization because we have lost our dear ones for our country's sake you felt that you knew what it was to die and to be to have to go somewhere where you couldn't take anything but what you had inside of you and so that it strengthened you I think that from then on we were very strong I don't think anything could get us down now we could go through anything I I think that the war changed all of us particularly probably those in my age group after the war was over with I wanted to block it out I didn't want to see war movies I didn't want to read books about the war I felt that um it was just something I wanted to put behind me and and forget about it the best that I could and try to get back to having a a normal family life that was my my main concern Saturday night is the Loneliest Night of the week for that's the night that my baby and I used to dance cheek to cheek I don't mind Sunday nights at all so that's the night friends come to call and Monday through Friday go pass and another week is pass I'll never smile again until I smile at you I'll Never Love Again what good would it do the tears will fill my eyes my heart will realize our romance was through we had lots of romances and Boeing lots of girls met lots of boys drinking beer in a cabaret and was I having fun until one night shot out the light now we're on the Run no lay that pistol down babe lay that pistol down pistol packing Mama lay that pistol down that's a song we used to sing every time the fellows came home we'd gather around the piano and songs like that came out praise the Lord and pass the ammunition praise the Lord and pass the ammunition praise the Lord and pass the ammunition and we'll all stay free I'll walk alone because to tell you the truth I'll be lonely I don't mind being lonely when my heart tells me you are lonely too I'm sorry hi I'll Be Home for Christmas You Can Count On Me lets have snow and mistl toone and presence on the tree in December 1941 we were in a war that we had not begun now we are in it we'll surely win it the good American Way by STS by bonds help our boys to fight across the sea by STS by bonds keep supplies a coming is our plea our aviators soldiers Coast Guard sailers and Marines all can be dependent on if we give them machines by stand by bonds and shall be for victory well my neighbor canning stock and Tom Scott wrote the [Music] lyrics godess BL America that's all I know I never was a singer