Tag / WWII

by schrackert

Dear DeLores : 12/15/1942

There is one other incredibly special box that has been handed down to me. It’s the box of letters my grandparents wrote to each other during World War II. My grandpa was stationed in the South Pacific, and theirs is a beautiful story of high school sweethearts who were destined to be together, despite some pretty challenging circumstances. My grandma was a German Lutheran and my grandpa was an Eastern European Jew. Needless to say their families were not thrilled.

_DSC0569

_DSC0576

I’ve had these letters for as long as I’ve had the recipes, and I’ve only gone through them at random. I owe it to my wonderful family to share these letters and their story. So… what better place than alongside grandma’s recipes?! I will try and add context where I know it. And I likely will not share every single one… these letters span YEARS. But they give a pretty fascinating glimpse into an interesting time in our country’s history.

_DSC0578

_DSC0583

Tuesday, December 15, 1942

Hello Future WIfe,

I just received your letter today and boy was I glad to hear from you. I can’t really put it into words what that letter meant to me. It put a spark of new life in my heart. Darling, please try and keep writing every day even if I don’t write every night.

Our company is on K.P. duty in the kitchen this week and it is pretty tough. I didn’t write you last night because I work all day in the kitchen in charge of a crew of 8 men washing pans. I got back to my barracks at 7:15 and had to wash and shave and take a watch from 8 to 10. In the end there was a mix up on watches and I had to stay on until a quarter to 1. You have to walk all the time and I sure was tired. I only got 4 hours sleep last night and I put in from 6 this morning until 7 tonight in the kitchen. I can hardly sit up.

I know that you have been a very good girlfriend. I love you very much, dear. It is very tough to be nearly 1,500 miles away from you. I’m suppose to be a man now, dear, so I must be very strong, but it gets pretty tough at times. I miss you being close in my arms very much. You know that I love you more than anything else in the world. It’s the thought that you are waiting patiently at home for me that keeps me going. Please stick with me all the time. I don’t know when I’ll get home, but when I do we’ll be married. Keep up praying and things probably will come our way.

I haven’t bought a razor out here as they want too much money for a cheap one. I get along alright as I use my buddy’s. He rode out in my compartment on the train with me and we are in the same Co.

I was very sorry to hear that Jerry’s grand dad passed away. Give him my sincere sympathy. That sure was swell about Bernice. Yes! He does look happy. Thanks for sending it to me. I guess I’ll have to close for now as I have a washing that must be done. I want to get it done and shave and go to bed. Say hello to every every body for me. I’ll write everyone as I get time.

The biggest amount of love in the world to my future wife.

Love from your sailor sweetheart,

Joe

by schrackert

Grandma’s Recipe Box

My grandma was a child of the Great Depression. She was a World War II newlywed. She worked outside of the home and raised three children with my grandpa in an era when most women chose to stay home to raise their kids. She was a feisty, strong-willed, smart, and kind woman. She loved generously.

149848_495521876186_6676416_n

Ten years ago my grandparents moved into assisted living and gave away a lot of their things. I was home on a visit from Chicago, where I was living at the time, and saw a box full of recipes tucked off to the side — forgotten about. No one else wanted it and I remember thinking, “One day  I’ll go through that and find grandma’s old bakalva recipe.” So I took it, packed it away in my parents’ basement and returned to Chicago.

I have since moved back to Minnesota. I am married and have two sons — almost two years and three months. Today, I stumbled across that old recipe box in a Rubbermaid bin my dad sent over to my house as he was cleaning out his basement.

Recipe Box

As I sat at the kitchen table reading through all of the recipes in my grandma’s handwriting, I was overcome with emotion. She died almost two years ago, right after my first son was born. She’d lived a long and wonderful life and was ready to join my grandpa, her husband of 66 years, who had passed away the year prior.

In these recipes for jello salad, and hot spam sandwiches, and chicken casserole I saw my grandmother as a young working mother of three in a post war era trying to get food on the table for three fussy kids after a long workday. I thought about my husband and I who both work in non profit jobs. We passionately love to cook and yet find that a grilled cheese sandwich and frozen peas have become a common dinner around our house. I see myself in my grandma when I look through these recipes.  And it makes me want to be feisty and strong-willed and smart and kind just as she was… and to build a legacy of love and good food.

I want to cook these recipes! The good ones and the (let’s be honest) downright gross-sounding ones. I want to see which ones my toddler will eat and which ones I can improve upon. I want to work a job that I love outside of the home and still work with my husband to put dinner on the table to eat as a family.  My grandma might not be here to give me advice on raising my young family, but perhaps her recipe box can give me a little insight into how she managed it so well.

Katie and Grandma