The telephone rang.
“Will you get that, Mary?”
Mary lifted the receiver. “Yes? Right now? Thanks, Marge.”
“Will, tune the radio to WGN.”
Will knelt by the Crosley and tuned through the static until he heard, “Just one moment and the President will speak—The President of the United States.”
Will and Mary leaned toward the radio’s speakers. Will shivered as he heard Roosevelt say, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
“I knew it,” Will said, after the president’s address. “I never thought we could keep out. But Japan? Pearl Harbor? The world will never be the same.”
The telephone rang again. This time Will answered. “James?” His excited friend relayed the President’s ominous message. “Yes, I heard. There’ll be heck to pay now.” Will had wondered, too, how soon there’d be a call for a draft. “We’re lucky we don’t have sons.” Will agreed that Willow’s little Methodist Church would be full this evening. “Better get there early. There’ll be no empty pews.”
Will reached for Mary and held her close. “We can’t keep out of Europe either, not now. It’ll be bad for our boys.”
The call went out for a draft, but American boys volunteered in droves. Bobby McPherson. Snell’s two sons. Ron Tyler’s son. Jake McGried. Earl Robert’s boy. Will was surprised when he heard that Jack Hornking joined the Navy. “Maybe he’ll get some discipline there,” he said. “But the price may be high.” He hoped he wasn’t being prophetic.
New and exotic names became commonplace in American conversation: El Alamein, Coral Sea, Savo Island, Kasserine Pass, Guadalcanal. Americans were enthusiastic about defending the nation, but the mood began to change when the casualty reports poured in. The first neighbor to go down was George Snell’s oldest son, Franklin, in February, 1942 at the battle for Bataan.
Mary took her Bible and spent the evening with Lydia Snell. The next day, Mary had Catherine take a meat loaf and apple pie to the Snell’s. When she got home, Catherine said, “It’s so sad for George and Lydia, but they’re thankful for their neighbors’ kindness. Why, their tables were covered with food.”
After the valley’s first wave of patriotic volunteers, farmers entering the services slowed. The government recognized that someone had to produce food for the troops, country, and a dependent world, so draft boards were instructed to give deferments. Food prices skyrocketed, and Will began to see his small savings grow for the first time since the Depression began. All of America was at work.
Although rationing made life difficult, few complained. It was the least they could do to help those who risked their lives every day. Will told Mary that driving horses meant they didn’t have to restrict their non-harvesting activities like the farmers who depended on fuel. “Aren’t you glad that I stuck with Fanny Too? We don’t have to show ration cards to keep her going, and she doesn’t need rubber tires.”
Will wasn’t so sanguine about his sweet tooth. With sugar rationing, he learned to tolerate molasses cookies and fruit desserts instead of his favorite cakes and pies.