Remembering Those who Fought "Over Here"

A young boy in 1944 using his Mom's Ration Card to buy a Can of V-8

There are only about 600,000 U.S. World War II veterans still living as of Veterans Day, 2016 But there are many millions of others still living, who fought and survived the war - those who battled on the home-front. 

Though I was a toddler, I still remember my Mom shepherding my brother and me into a tiny room where we had to stay in total darkness during the nightly air raid drills in a Massachusetts seaside city. Mom would give us milk and cookies that she somehow was able to manage even though all food and even gasoline was rationed. We sat in that room for what seemed like hours until "Nick", the Air Raid Warden knocked on the door of our tiny third floor apartment next to the railroad tracks and said, "Hey Russo family - It's all clear. Turn on your lights"

The volunteer air raid people, the people who willingly accepted less food and gasoline so their would be more for the soldiers: these people were heroes too. On this solemn Veterans Day, I thank all those who fought "over there" as well as those who fought "over here".