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With the recent 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I thought I would share an interview my grandmother gave to one of her great grandchildren for a school assignment about living through WWII. She passed away in 2019 at the age of 99. LIVING THROUGH WWIIEven though she did not fight in the war, Jeanne Becnel Gregoire was an important person in her neighborhood during World War II.Born in Vacherie, Louisiana in 1919, Jeanne Becnel was nineteen years old at the start of World War II. She was a young woman at the beginning of a bloody war that affected everyone. “At the time, there was an element of fear and fierce patriotism in my neighborhood. We didn’t know what was going to happen during the war. After Pearl Harbor had been bombed, we all felt a little unsteady because we had never really been attacked before,” she said. Her eyes water slightly as she recalls the difficult memories from a brutal war. “But even though we were scared, I knew we had God on our side. Church was very important during this time in our lives. We had to remain strong and God was our rock and our foundation even though it was hard at times.”She smiles when asked about entertainment. “Entertainment?” she says. “Well, I did just about anything I could to entertain myself when I wasn’t asleep. I loved going to the movies, but there was always a patriotic twist to everything. I remember that everything was rationed out. The U.S. was still in recovery from the Great Depression; you only bought the bare necessities in part because things cost more than they used to.” Jeanne walks over to a large, red cedar chest. She opens the chest, pulls out a thin, yellowed piece of paper and a few photographs and hands them to me. “Be gentle,” she instructs. “They’re very old.” It is an old letter from her brother Elmo Becnel, who at the time had just joined the army. “My brother and I wrote to each other quite often. I missed him terribly and I constantly worried about him. I prayed that God would protect him and bring my brother home if it was in His will.” One old photograph is a picture of her and her uncle who everyone called ‘Corky’ (Lawrence Stein). He had also joined the army. Corky was born a month after her.Jeanne then vividly explains all about the United States’ patriotism. “Everybody was fiercely patriotic. We all wanted to show our support for the U.S. Many men joined the army. Children collected scrap metal for ships and planes. The women began to work in factories or joined the WAC (Women’s Army Corp). I was put on an air raid watch. At night, I would sit outside on my post and I watched for planes. We didn’t have the radar technology like the British did, so we had to be on the lookout for enemy planes. If we spotted an enemy plane, or any plane period, we reported it immediately. We had to tell if it was a two engine or a four engine plane and what direction it was going in. It was exciting and frightening all at the same time. I was proud that I did my part to help out the Allied cause. The one thing I remember most about World War II is the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I don’t think that’s something that anyone can truly forget. When I heard about what had happened, I felt unsafe, unsure, and I didn’t feel secure. Like at any moment my home would blow up. It was awful. It felt like war was everywhere I looked. I saw it in my grandmother’s eyes and in the collection plate at church. I heard it in the songs of musicians and in the murmur of people’s gossip. But it wasn’t all bad. Somewhere in all the despair and fear was hope. It was hope that drove us to work hard to support our men overseas.” She points to a picture of her Uncle Corky and her brother. “I believe my brother, Elmo, was a sergeant and my Uncle Corky was a pilot. During WWII, Elmo was captured by Nazis and placed in a concentration camp where all they fed him was water and cold potato skins. When he came home, I couldn’t recognize him. My dear Elmo was skin and bones. He was sick with tuberculosis and was infested with fleas and lice. Elmo couldn’t eat, smell, or even look at a potato for decades after the war. I don’t know how he survived that awful place. My Uncle Corky’s plane was shot down by the Germans. A French family found him among the remains of his destroyed plane. They hid him in the wine cellar of their home for about a year until he was found by American soldiers. I was so grateful that God had allowed them to come home. Both of them lived to be eighty-six years old. I couldn’t have been happier when I heard that the war in Europe and the Pacific had ended. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. All of my friends were excited beyond belief. My grandmother praised God with tears in her eyes. That night we all celebrated. Every house was lit up and everyone I knew was filled with joy. I still think that war is a waste of time. War doesn’t ever have a real victor. Both sides lose. If there’s anything you take away from my story, let it be this: don’t ever use war as a first option. There are better, more peaceful, and more productive ways to solve problems than shooting and bombing each other. It gets you nowhere. If you fight fire with fire, you’ll get burned.” Jeanne turns around and says softly, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready for mass. God bless you.”