I believe on December 7, 1941 when we were attacked by the Japanese Air Force at Pearl Harbor, I was at home in Denver. I can still hear Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech on the radio when he said, "Today is a day of infamy. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor. We will declare war on Japan." Not many people had television in their homes then. I don't know how long it was before the United States actually fought Japan, but we were fighting against Germany first. It seemed to me it was quite a long time. My brother Ray was stationed at Goosebay, Labrador and in Italy, but I don't know what part he played in the war.

During the war while I was in Denver with my parents, we lived in a three story house. Later that house was sold and we moved to a lovely little cottage with a basement which had glass bricks for windows. I loved that basement.

At first I worked in the office at Gated Rubber Company on South Broadway. Later I worked for Remington Arms Co. There I ran a weigh and gage machine which inspected machine gun bullets. First I ran the bullets through my hands, feeling for extremely bad defects, and then through the machine. While I worked there, one girl ran a defective bullet through the machine and it exploded. It scared her to death!

The people I knew at the time approved of declaring war. As far as they were concerned, we were already at war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, their hearts ached having to send their sons, daughters, and fathers off to war. Americans were extremely patriotic. One fellow I knew joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was killed in a fighter plane at the beginning of the conflict. I think he was serving under Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.

Film stars appeared everywhere to urge people to buy war bonds. Now, It makes my heart sick to hear of the bombings by felons and those people who don't stand by their country.

Even while the war was in progress, Americans were fortunate enough to be able to escape with entertainment. We had movies and a playhouse at Elitch Gardens. Some of today's aged movie stars, played on stage there at that time. There was also a beautiful dance floor at Elitch's and a lake place called Lakeside. Both were in north Denver. It was there we danced to the tunes of the traveling big bands such as Glenn Miller's. Later he was killed in an airplane crash as he was flying overseas to entertain the U.S. troops. We also danced to the Dorcey Band, Guy Lombardo, the Ink Spots, and Fred Waring all summer long.

Elitch Gardens was a reputable place. They had floor walkers who made you leave the dance floor if you were kissing, dancing suggestively, or showed any sign of drunkenness. It was a wonderful place. We also had roller rinks with music to skate to, and ice skating on the large Washington Park Lake in the winter.

Everyone celebrated with 4th of July fireworks. This was before they were outlawed. Many children and adults were injured by them. The first "Frito" I ever tasted was in Denver. We had the operetta "The Desert Song." We sat on blankets on the grass in a park downtown.

My brother Lyle--who had spent 4 years before the war on the first airplane carrier named the U.S.S. Enterprise--was drafted for six months into the Army. He was released after a law was passed preventing the drafting of men who had already served. Lyle's next job was supervising 25 women who worked in an electrical shop repairing airplanes at Lowry Air Force Base. I believe this time during the war was the beginning of women in the work force.

After the Pearl Harbor bombing, your Grandpa John Bott, applied and was accepted as a U.S. Army Air Force cadet. After training, he was named Bombardier/Navigator of a Martin Marauder B-26 and left with his squadron for England where he was stationed near London. He performed over 40 bomb runs--sortiesÑbefore he was critically injured the day before D-day from flack over the Polesti oil fields and was returned to Nichols General Hospital in London four days later for recuperation. He was awarded a Purple Heart medal.

During John's rehabilitation back in the United States, we went to the horse races in Kentucky and attended officer's parties and dances in both Kentucky and Ohio. I played bridge with the Women's Club members and attended teas. John worked as a Liaison Officer for the fellows coming out of the service at that time.

The wives were never allowed to know where the boys were stationed. We wrote and received what was called V-mail. The wives tried not to dwell on our husband's fate. There wasn't anything we could do about it except be true to them, write to them, and send packages. I was active in the Officer's Wives Club.

It was after John's recuperation that he was stationed in Japan during the Occupation after World War II ended. I joined him about a year and a half later. The Americans were there to oversee the Japanese and enforce the peace. The Japanese were very hospitable toward the Americans while we lived there. They had a pretty good knowledge of the English language. We had a house servant, Fukuko, who sewed, laundered, and cooked for us. She lived in a room in our home. Assami-san came a couple of times a week to work on outdoor yard and garden things. He built us a bar out of bamboo.

Thanks for asking me about my experience. Actually it did me a service to recall it all.