Childhood Memories ... ( Archived) (25)

ooby_dooby: Early memories
I can honestly say that when I really needed a hero I didn't have one. This was during World War 2, my dad was never in my life, it was just mom, my 6 years older sister and 3 years older brother and much older brother Bobby who was off someplace overseas. He enlisted in the Army on December 8th 1941 and signed up with the paratroopers (101st airborne). During the war I had seen posters of Japanese soldiers throwing babies up in the air and skewering them on their swords as they fell back down. I was 4 years old at the time so I identified with those babies because I was one of them and I was sure that this would happen to me if we lost the war. I realize now that these posters were meant to make people hate the Japanese and for the most part they worked. I find it ironic that today I drive a Japanese car and it's not the first having had a Datsun PU several years ago.
Then, I was 5 years old and I was on the corner of 86th street and 2nd ave when all of a sudden people went crazy. I'd never seen “grown ups” act like that before. They were jumping around and dancing and laughing and hugging and kissing each other. It was almost like somebody rang a bell and the place went nuts. I hurried home to tell my mother and she was acting all happy too. That's when I found out the the war was over. As far as I knew there was only 1 war but we were fighting 2 countries Germany and Japan.

A year or so later, my mother got me and Freddy a brand new suit and a Fedora hat. One night we got all dressed up in our suits and a friend of hers drove us down to the Staten Island Ferry. The ferry ride was awesome. Me and Freddy went out to the front of the ferry while it was going across the water and the wind from the bow was intense. My hat got whipped off my head and I watched it get folded over by the bow wave. Never saw it again. My mother was gonna kill me I thought. We got to this little house somewhere not too far from the ferry and went inside. I thought we were just visiting. There was a man and his wife and they had a boy about 1 year older than me. After a few minutes visiting my mother said now you be good boys for these nice people and left. The woman showed me & my brother Freddy where we would be sleeping. It was a double bed and we were going to share it. The only thing I remember about that bed was there was a little piece of embedded glow in the dark plastic in the headboard and I use to try to look through it wondering where the light was coming from. We spent several months there. I later found out it was a foster home. One day the lady went food shopping and took me with her. She had to use ration stamps which were still being used after the war. While we were living there, Winter came and it snowed and we went sledding down a big hill that was in a park across the street. It was a great time.
Freddy was always kinda wild and one day he did something bad and the man slapped him in the face. He probably deserved it but the next time my mother called to talk to us, he told her the man slapped him and my mother came and took us home right away.

Bearwoman: My father died in a car wreck 9 days after my 9th birthday and my mother passed away from a brain tumor when I was in my early late twenties.

This song would relate to both of them.