AFTER PEARL HARBOR

                                     NORMAN  V.  KELLY

 

“Let’s remember Pearl Harbor,” most Americans at least 78 remember where they were when Pearl Harbor was hit. That song about Pearl Harbor was heard in very early 1942. 

 

“This Is The Army Mr. Jones,” also a song of 1942. As many as 23,200 men from this area went off to War and hundreds and hundreds of women volunteered for everything from the WAVES to WACS. At least 662 men from this area lost their lives in WW 11. Of course many came back wounded.  It Might surprise you to know that hundreds of divorces were granted in 1946 here in Peoria after the war.  That is a sad statistic I have never heard any so-called historian talk about.  Some other songs we sang during the war were these ditties:

 

“Bell Bottom Trousers,” (Coat of Navy blue )

“Keep ‘Em  Flying.”

“From The Halls Of Montezuma To The Shores Of Tripoli.”

“Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition.”

 

WW 11 here in Peoria brought thousands into this area to take the jobs that were here in our factories. Rosie The Riveter…Peoria house wives, did a remarkable job helping our war effort…and got paid less than men to do the same job. There was a song about them that was extremely popular called “Pistol Packin’ Mama.” Now thousands of folks were pouring into Peoria and the draft was on. Songs like “Mom I Miss your apple pie” were among the big hits.

 

Artie Shaw enlisted with his entire band and a lot of famous movies stars went off to war.  Another song sang by the Andrews sisters was “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company C.”  Here is a song we loved to sing on hayrack rides.   “Good Night Irene,” and Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me.” For dancers the big song was “I Don’t Want To Walk Without You”.  Of course my age group was a bit too young to get too ‘smoochie,’ but we caught on later. 1942 also brought us “Right In The Fuhrer’s Face.”  It was a silly novelty song that we all got a kick out of singing.

 

“Lilli Marlene,” never really caught on here, but the GI’s liked it while they were in England.  This song was written in the 30’s, and I think it was a German song. We had five USO places operating here in Peoria and one of them was designated’ For Coloreds.’ Sad, but that was who we were here in Peoria.

“I Left My Heart At The Stage Door Canteen” was a major song in 1943. The Stage Door was Huge in New York, but we had things like this in every major city in the United States.  All the live acts that played Peoria featured this song and many other patriotic songs that kept our morale up during those scary times.

 

“Marriages were UP…Morals were Down.”  That was a phrase we heard here in town.  Many young men about to go overseas married their high school sweet hearts. Sadly as I mentioned when they came back home to Peoria that high school girl had grown up and simply changed her mind about her ‘man.’  ‘Dear John’ letters were popular…or should I say unpopular during the war.

All of the critical Peoria war factories worked three shifts and most of our 242 taverns stayed open twenty to twenty-two hours a day.

A large portion of our army and air force was stationed in England preparing for ‘The Big Push.’  Brits were quoted as saying this:  The Yanks are over sexed, over paid and over here.” Good thing they were there…not only for them but the entire World.

 

Here is a song we liked: “They’re Either Too Young Or Too Old.” A sad lament from the ladies…most of the men 18-35 were long gone. As for the guys back here in Peoria there were some that the gals would not look at twice at one time…now they were ‘Kings.’

 

By 1943 there was some good war news but by the then casualties were mounting.  I remember the little flags in the windows. There were three at my house and sadly we saw some of them turn from blue to gold. In fact 662 were lost from this area in that war. Penicillin, a product of Peoria, Illinois was in mass production and saved countless lives.

 

Iwo Jima was ghastly and here in Peoria I think every household cut out that picture of the American Flag being raised on a mountain top there and put it on the front window.

 

After D-Day, June 6, 1945 a few new songs were popular. I remember them all.  “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To.” And one the ladies loved:  “Wonder When My Baby’s Comin’ Home?”

 

There were a quite a few songs about Hitler…and at the carnivals we threw baseballs at Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini stuffed targets. We rejoiced in 1945 when we heard Hitler was dead.  Truman announced that Japan had been hit with two Atomic Bombs and we knew that the war was finally going to be over.  My three brothers were going to come home and Peoria let loose with a great parade and party downtown on V. J. Day. I was there for all of it. The World was safe for the moment.

 

Editor’s Note:  Norm is a Peoria historian.  norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net