An Unsettled Year – 1941-1942

There is a year of my father’s life that I am slowly piecing together: 1941.  He is twenty years old, and his life looks unsettled and scattered across a map.  Through my grandmother’s letters, I can trace him from Concord, NH in December of 1940, to Martinsburg, WV in the summer of 1941 and then to Saginaw, MI by the end of 1941.

The United States is not yet at war but already preparing.  The draft had begun, and young men like my father were registered and classified but not yet called.   

My grandmother’s letters reflect tension.  She is concerned if he is working, stable and moving toward something.  She supports his move to Michigan, where opportunity might be greater and yet there is an undercurrent in her words. There is an urgency and a hope that he will find his footing before the world changes.

By December 1941, as the country entered the war, he was living at St. Vincent’s in Saginaw.  It is not a permanent home, but a place to land.  He remains there into 1942, until that too ends, and he finds himself again in transition.   He is considering marrying a woman in Michigan and his mother steps in with firm guidance – come home to Martinsburg.

By August 1942, he was back in Martinsburg.   There is this letter that he is writing about his army physical.  He has been labeled 1-A, fully fit for service, but he believes it should be 1-B.   It is a small detail that carries weight.   It suggests hesitation, and a young man trying to hold onto a little more time.

By September 1942, he was in the service and stationed in Washington State.

There is still more about this year that I would like to uncover.  The year between 1941 into 1942 reads like a year of lack of direction.  My father seems to be searching before everything becomes defined for him.