"Four
years ago today Germany invaded Poland -- it seems like an age since I heard
Vernon Hayes discuss and analyze the early phases of the war in Constitution
class. And then amid ominous predictions
of the leaders of boys state, France fell.
Bert Hedges, director, made the speculation that it might not be
possible to hold such meetings as Boys State in 1941.
On
Dec. 7, 1941 I can remember as plain as can be George Reynolds bringing the
news that Pearl Harbor had been bombed to the group of Kappa Rho fellows
practicing basketball that Sunday afternoon in Stewart Field House. Then, the possibility that I might be
involved seemed faraway and unlikely.
Lowering the draft age to 18 resulted in my enlisting in the Navy on
Nov. 19, 1942, and here I am -- 10 months later -- still an apprentice seaman
at Cape Girardeau. I wouldn't be mad if
they kept me here for the rest of the war.
It's a real setup -- free college instruction, $50 a month, and regular
sleep -- the temptation to stay up until long past midnight to cram for the
next day's exam is eliminated."
--Letter
from my father, Sidney DeVere Brown, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to my aunt,
Barbara Brown, Bloomington, Kans., Wednesday, September 1, 1943. My father was in high school when Germany
invaded Poland and France. He was in
college (and a month and a half from turning 17) when Japan bombed Pearl
Harbor.
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