Depression Parents Part II

Last week I waxed somewhat nostalgic about my parents who experienced the depression of the 1930s in their teen years. As they began their 20s, they experienced World War II. When the war ended, my dad was 24 and my mother was almost 23. When my dad came home from the war in Europe in December of 1945, their firstborn was 16 months old. My dad had not been home for nearly two years. Already at that young age, they were forever changed by the challenges and the horrors they had seen. The war had terrible and sometimes hidden effects on everyone who lived through it as adults. Even here in this country, far from the battles, the death toll grew with every passing week. Eventually, everyone knew someone who didn’t come back, and very often that person was a close friend or relative. From just their small town and county, more than 200 soldiers, sailors, and marines lost their lives. The trauma stayed with people. They didn’t talk about it much, but it was never far from their thoughts. They reacted to it in different ways, to be sure.