“Don’t run in the house Danny”, Yelled my mom. I think she says that to me every day at 4:15 p.m. My name is Danny and I am eight years old. I live in a tiny town in Kansas. I am in the third grade. MY mom stays home and does not work. She is always there for me and I love her very much. I am really close to my dad though. He is a police officer in our town and I am very proud of him. He comes home every day at 4:15. That’s why I run to the window every day. He walks up the sidewalk and looks at the window for me. He waves and smiles really big. On December 7, 1941, when he walked up the sidewalk he was not looking at the window or smiling. When he came in the door he looked very sad. My dad wanted to know if we heard the news. My mom said “Yes, but I did not tell Danny.” “That night during dinner everything was so quiet it was a little scary. My dad informed us that the Japanese had bombed Perl Harbor in Hawaii and we were now part of WW II. My dad had decided to join the Marine Corps and help fight in the war. I did not really understand what that meant. When he said he would be away and not sure how long I was angry and don’t think I spoke to either of them for a couple of days. The next week we took my dad to the train station to send him off. He told me to be a good boy and to help mom that doing that would help him. We hugged and then he was gone.

We had to move to the big city where mom could find work. She got a job in the factory helping to make plane parts. Many women were working now. All of the men were off fighting. I did not realize how hard my mom worked. Like always though she made time for me. We would listen to Bing Crosby on the radio, and on Saturdays she would take me to the picture show to see Gary Cooper. During this time they stopped making TV’s. They needed to use the ray tubes for radar and other high tech stuff for war use. I helped by collecting scrap metals, paper and rubber. I also had a paper route to help buy food. There was a food ration starting in 1943. We also sold war bonds. We were busy and it helped us from missing dad so much. It was a very hard time, but mom got us through. I was so proud of her. I hope she was proud of herself.

Then on August 6, 1945 we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. People thought this might be the end of the war. However it took 8days for the Japanese to surrender. August 14, 1945 the war was over. The men and women were coming home. When they did, the recession was over and life was very good again.

I am now 12 years old and as I sit here writing my story I notice it is almost 4:15 p.m. Yes, we moved back to my small town and my dad is a police officer again. I run to the window to see my hero come up the side walk and yes I hear “Don’t run in the house Danny.” The war did not destroy us it made us love each other more and stronger.