Research Process
Essential Question:
What ways have international events influenced individuals and/or families and groups narratives?
Going about it:
In order to complete research answering the essential question, information was needed and to do this, I interviewed my grandmother, Marcia, about World War 2 and her life growing up. With this, the questions asked included:
1. How old were you during World War 2, where were you living, and with who?
2. Your dad Edmond served as a member of Civil Defense for World War 2, can you discuss exactly what he did?
3. As a 5 year old, did you understand anything that was happening?
4. After the war was over, how did you as a family get back to your daily lives?
5. How was life different after the war was over?
6. Do you think that the war had an impact on your life today?
What ways have international events influenced individuals and/or families and groups narratives?
Going about it:
In order to complete research answering the essential question, information was needed and to do this, I interviewed my grandmother, Marcia, about World War 2 and her life growing up. With this, the questions asked included:
1. How old were you during World War 2, where were you living, and with who?
2. Your dad Edmond served as a member of Civil Defense for World War 2, can you discuss exactly what he did?
3. As a 5 year old, did you understand anything that was happening?
4. After the war was over, how did you as a family get back to your daily lives?
5. How was life different after the war was over?
6. Do you think that the war had an impact on your life today?
Interview:Subject: Marcia DiVenere
Interviewer: Mia Brandfon Date/time: December 7, 2019 at 9:38 am Location: Living room Topi: my grandmother talking about what life was like as a 5 year old growing up during a war with a father who worked in the Civil Defense unit File: https://soundcloud.com/user-892897168/sounds-from-sunday-afternoon |
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Transcript:
1. I was 5.5 half years old, living in west haven, with my mom, my dad, and y sister, who was 2.5 years old and my cocker spaniel, Buffy
2. Dad was a, when the siren, during the war, it was necessary that we live in darkness at night, that we did not show any light. So what happened was when the siren that was very very loud blew, my dad had to put on his civil defense helmet, and had a flashlight and he had to go through our street, and make sure all the homes were in darkness. To provide darkness, we had shades that were blackened, we had, the headlights on our cars were half black and half regular glass, before we turned on any lights in the house, we had to pull out shades down. His job was to go along, make sure everyone was in darkness, because the drill, was if we ever were bombed, we wouldn't show any activity or ant life there in that particular area
3. As a 5 year old I knew it wasn't a normal life during these drills, I also knew there was a war going on, however, my parents never really put the real fear of war into us. It probably brought us closer as a family because we couldn't go too far away from each other
4. It was a relief to all of us, we were very happy, the day the war was over was in September, 19 i believe it was sept 21 1945, it was on new year's day, no it had to be jan if it was New Year's Day, and we all gathered outside in the streets with pot pans spoon anything and just clobbered them to make a lot of noise of rejoicing that now we could live differently and our soldiers would come home.
5. Life was much different i could remember because when the war was on, we had food stamps that the government gave us some families had more than others I don't know how that was determined, I do know we had green ones for gasoline, we had um, and food (idk what she said), butter, for meat we had red stamps and we were aloud just so many every so often so we had to really space these stamps out when we went to the store we had to produced these stamps. We no longer had to do that when the war was over. my mother could wear nylon stockings instead of rayon stockings because during the war the nylon that was used was produced for the parachute that the soldiers used in WW2. I know that I was able to eat a hamburger fried in butter which I could not have had during the war because there was no meat, we ate spam out of a can. I didn’t have to worry about drawing our shades at night and being in darkness and waiting for that siren to come on when we had the drills. Life was much more peaceful and relaxed.
6. When I remember the war and the hardships my family had and we had together i appreciate a hamburger fried in butter, I appreciate so many more things, material things. But how it impacted me in my adult years was I had a friend who was in Germany, was raised in Germany, and communist Germany bombed where she was living and she had to go with the communists and one day she escaped at 15 years old and she went to salvation army who was hiding, she was hiding from the time she was 15 until the time she as 18 years old. they could not release her until she was 18 she wanted to go to America and live in America. At 18 years sold she was sent to another salvation army in New York and she studied as soon as she could to become a United States citizen. She was my friend for 25, 30 years and i lost her 4 ½ year sago and doctors feel I lost her to they type of cancer that they felt was caused by the chemicals her body absorbed during the war.
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2. Dad was a, when the siren, during the war, it was necessary that we live in darkness at night, that we did not show any light. So what happened was when the siren that was very very loud blew, my dad had to put on his civil defense helmet, and had a flashlight and he had to go through our street, and make sure all the homes were in darkness. To provide darkness, we had shades that were blackened, we had, the headlights on our cars were half black and half regular glass, before we turned on any lights in the house, we had to pull out shades down. His job was to go along, make sure everyone was in darkness, because the drill, was if we ever were bombed, we wouldn't show any activity or ant life there in that particular area
3. As a 5 year old I knew it wasn't a normal life during these drills, I also knew there was a war going on, however, my parents never really put the real fear of war into us. It probably brought us closer as a family because we couldn't go too far away from each other
4. It was a relief to all of us, we were very happy, the day the war was over was in September, 19 i believe it was sept 21 1945, it was on new year's day, no it had to be jan if it was New Year's Day, and we all gathered outside in the streets with pot pans spoon anything and just clobbered them to make a lot of noise of rejoicing that now we could live differently and our soldiers would come home.
5. Life was much different i could remember because when the war was on, we had food stamps that the government gave us some families had more than others I don't know how that was determined, I do know we had green ones for gasoline, we had um, and food (idk what she said), butter, for meat we had red stamps and we were aloud just so many every so often so we had to really space these stamps out when we went to the store we had to produced these stamps. We no longer had to do that when the war was over. my mother could wear nylon stockings instead of rayon stockings because during the war the nylon that was used was produced for the parachute that the soldiers used in WW2. I know that I was able to eat a hamburger fried in butter which I could not have had during the war because there was no meat, we ate spam out of a can. I didn’t have to worry about drawing our shades at night and being in darkness and waiting for that siren to come on when we had the drills. Life was much more peaceful and relaxed.
6. When I remember the war and the hardships my family had and we had together i appreciate a hamburger fried in butter, I appreciate so many more things, material things. But how it impacted me in my adult years was I had a friend who was in Germany, was raised in Germany, and communist Germany bombed where she was living and she had to go with the communists and one day she escaped at 15 years old and she went to salvation army who was hiding, she was hiding from the time she was 15 until the time she as 18 years old. they could not release her until she was 18 she wanted to go to America and live in America. At 18 years sold she was sent to another salvation army in New York and she studied as soon as she could to become a United States citizen. She was my friend for 25, 30 years and i lost her 4 ½ year sago and doctors feel I lost her to they type of cancer that they felt was caused by the chemicals her body absorbed during the war.
[timestamp]
1. (0:02-0:22)
2. (0:36-1:49)
3. (1:56-2:22)
4. (2:46-3:30)
5. (3:35-5:17)
6. (5:24-7:07)