Recalling The Past

Lauren Herbert
English 1001
10/8/2007
Profile

Think of how it would be like to walk around with cardboard in the soles of your shoes instead of going to the store and buying a brand new pair. Imagine having to ration the food you eat everyday with coupons so you and your family won’t run out later in the month, or having a birthday with no cake on your special day. Now I want you to picture having a loved one, an uncle, a brother, or a father, leave you to fight in a war and you will most likely not hear about them for months at a time. As millennials, those born in the 1980’s, our generation has yet to experience a war that has completely altered our way of life. With this in mind, it was enlightening to talk with Mrs. Dorthey Modeen and listen to her experience of a teenage girl’s life during World War II.
Mrs. Modeen has lived in my neighborhood for over 26 years and has known my family and me for 19 of those years. She is a sweet, eighty-one year old lady who always has a healthy appetite for conversation, whether it be a concern for a fellow neighbor’s health, what kind of weather to expect that week, what kind of recipes would be interesting to try, or simply to enjoy having company to share time with. Since Mrs. Modeen lives a lone, my mom and her will occasionally run errands together and when Mrs. Modeen goes out of town to visit family, she will ask me to watch her cat, Rudy. At eighty-one Mrs. Modeen is real trooper, she is a breast and colon cancer survivor for the past five years, just gone through knee replacement surgery, and still finds the energy to walk through her yard with her cane, picking up fallen branches from the past storm. When I called Mrs. Modeen on the phone and asked her if it was possible for me to interview her for my English 1001 class, she said she was more than happy to be interviewed and for me to come on over. She seemed really pleased at the opportunity of having a guest over at her house.
Twelve seconds later I knocked on my neighbor’s door and was greeted by Mrs. Modeen where she proceeded to usher me into the living room and have a seat. It was a cozy setting; a fireplace was in the middle of the wall, next to the back door I had just come through. The fireplace mantel was completely decorated with photographs ranging from the old black and white pictures of Mrs. Modeen’s late husband to the digital photos of her grandchildren. In the middle of the room was a small coffee table with magazines such as Better Home and Gardens and Time on it. Flanking the table were two chairs, an antique wine colored wingback, and an adjustable Lay-Z-Boy recliner. The third wall was lined with a small library of mystery and suspense books, a large collection of movies by Alfred Hitchcock, and an old fashion radio from the 50’s.
I took a seat in the antique wingback while Mrs. Modeen shuffled over the recliner; she picked up a remote and the chair rose up to meet her halfway so she wouldn’t strain her knee. When she was finally situated, I asked her if she could tell me a little bit about her life during the 1940’s. She immediately dove into a brief history of the war, going into events such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Her left hand would twist and flick on her wrist as she lectured me on significant events of the war. It was a good ten minutes until I could ask her about her life personally during that time.
Mrs. Modeen’s teenage years were during a time of national uproar with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and careful management with ration coupons. Mrs. Modeen and her younger brother lived with her aunt at the time, while her mother worked. The three would give their weekly food coupons to Mrs. Modeen’s mother, so she would pick up their rations. She explained that items such as gas, tires, sugar, meat, butter, shoes all were strictly rationed or unattainable because they were going to the war effort. Even luxury items such as nylon were impossibly hard to come by, “They would use the nylon to make parachutes for the paratroopers.” I asked her if she and her friends just went without stockings at the time; she shook her head, “Ohh no,” she softly cooed with a small chuckle. She went on to say that even though they were in ration, the stockings were still in style, so instead of going out in public with no stockings, Mrs. Modeen and her friends would paint their legs with make-up. It would work for a little while; until the make-up started to rub off on the skirts the girls would wear.
I asked Mrs. Modeen what school life was like, especially with a draft in effect. She told me that many of her schoolmates were either drafted or volunteered. When I asked her if this bothered her seeing her friends leave and maybe not return, she said no. She went on to say she felt proud of what her friends were doing for their country and thought it was the right thing for young men to do at the time. There was one thing about school at the time she was upset about, and it involved her math teacher. The teacher was in charge of not only teaching senior math, but also in the training of the young men in the signal corps. While in the math class, the teacher would purposely ignore the female students and only call on the male students. When I asked Mrs. Modeen what the purpose of that was, she said she wasn’t positive, but it must have been because the math teacher wanted his boys properly prepared for when they left to go fight in the war.
Mrs. Modeen also participated in the war effort during that time. She was a member of what she called the Senior Girl Scouts, basically Girl Scouts for older members. She and her troop would volunteer at the hospitals; this included visiting the patients and carrying trays of food to different patients, this way they would relieve the nurses. Saving things like newspapers became routine for Mrs. Modeen and her family; all the cans from the canned food that they bought would be saved, cleaned out, the ends cut out, and then flattened. All these materials would be recycled and put to use in the war effort.
Mrs. Modeen’s older brother was stationed in the navy at Okinawa a few months after Pearl Harbor. When I asked her if it was a difficult time for her then, her eyes widened, “Ohh yes.” She went on to say that even though radio had come a long way, the news still didn’t travel fast enough. All she and her family could do was wait on letters, which were not that reliable, or on news reports. The combination of the fear for her brother, along with the constant tension of not knowing, was something she said she never wanted to relive.
Another subject that was brought up was politics, mostly Mrs. Modeen’s opinion of the actions of the government during World War II and the present day government. She felt that even though the government in 1944 went to extreme measures to end the war, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it had to be done. “It was the lesser of two evils,” she said. I asked what she meant by that comment, she explained that it was better that the United States bomb the two cities, than have the world powers continue fighting the war, which she believed would have stretched on far longer than it originally did. I asked her what she thought of the administration during the Hurricane Katrina disaster compared to the administration under President Roosevelt and President Truman, she replied she believed the political parties present during her teenage years were much more competent than the present administration. “Political parties back then [in the 1940’s] could have a different opinion and argue about it, then go out that same night and have dinner together.” The point she was trying to make was that even though the politicians had their own opinions and ideas, the different parties had a common goal back then, and that was what was in the best interest for the people of the United States. Mrs. Modeen went on to explain that the current politicians now are too involved with their own political careers and party affiliation to have the people’s best interest at heart. She pointed out the disaster of hurricane Katrina for an example, she believed that the Louisiana community didn’t receive help right away because its governor at the time was of a different political party than the president. I had to agree with her that there did seem to be more political corruption now than there was fifty years ago, but when I asked Mrs. Modeen if she had lost all faith in the current government, she said she was somewhat content with it. Even though there was much corruption in her opinion, she believed there were still a few politicians out there that did not cater to lobbyist.
When we were done with the student interview I got up from old wingback and Mrs. Modeen pressed the remote again and her recliner began to tip forward so she could get up. She walked me to the door and I thanked her for her time, she smiled, said it was a pleasure and to call her if I had any more questions. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with my neighbor; it was interesting to find out Mrs. Modeen’s personal prospective on her life during that time. I find it fascinating how different generations all go through the same phases of aging, but we take such different routes along the way. In Mrs. Modeen’s generation, the majority were contributing to the war in anyway they could; the generation that would come soon after would be know for their passionate protests against the war in Vietnam. One comment that really stood out from the whole interview was Mrs. Modeen’s opinion when said she felt very proud of they way the U.S. government handle World War II. She admired the way the government worked hard to unify the country in a common goal and inspire patriotism in its people.