|
|
       |
Soldiers in World War II were not allowed to keep diaries. The reason was simple: to prevent information about military strategies, even information as simple as day-to-day activities, from ending up in the hands of the enemy. As a result, most of what we know about the daily lives of the WWII Soldiers and the Greatest Generation comes from their own stories. These preciouse memories are the cornerstone of WFSU’s documentary: Florida War Diaries: World War II Remembered.
Stories of the Home Front…
“We always just knew we’d look out and see German subs, all the time. We looked for them, but we didn’t see any.” --Vivian Matthews Hess, daughter of the Post Master for Camp Gordon Johnston.
Eight-year-old Vivian Matthews Hess and her
parents. Her father was the Post Master at Camp
Gordon Johnston throughout the war. Vivian had a
unique experience as a child on the base. Soldiers gave
her rides home from school in their Amphibious Jeeps,
German POWs made her birthday cakes, and General
Omar Bradley gave her a patch off his own uniform.
|
Stories of Love…
“ I was with six other Navy Nurses and he came and asked me to dance and six months later I married him.”—Mary Britz, Ensign, Nurse, Navy
Mary Britz, currently of Carrabelle, was in nursing school when the war began and couldn’t wait to finish so that she could help wounded soldiers returning home. She became an ensign with the Navy Nurse Corp.
|
George "Buddy" Scala and his future brother-in-law, John Bailey, in front
of the barracks at Camp Gordon Johnston in Carrabelle during their training in
1943. Buddy took John to visit his family after the war and John ended up mar-
ried to Buddy’s sister, Betty.
|
Each story is unique. Each story is special. Florida War Diaries: World War II Remembered presents the stories of several of the men and women who trained, worked and lived in the North Florida area during the war. |
|
|
|
