Ernest and Harriet: The World War II Era

The year was 1942.

Mom and Dad married on February 7th.

Three months earlier, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The United States was at war.

In Columbus, Ohio, Ernest and Harriet were in love. Harriet was a Senior at South High School. She used to tell stories about a teacher who always gave her a hard time. One day she had enough and she just up and quit school. She just quit - her senior year! She told the powers that be she wanted to get married anyway. She walked out and never looked back. She married her Ernest, and that was that!

Mom and Dad eloped, and were married in Greenup, Kentucky, at the home of the Justice of the Peace. I think they were married in the evening. Mom was only 17, but the marriage announcement in the paper says she was 21, and Dad 23. Dad's age is correct. I seem to remember Mom telling me that she told her mother they were going to elope.

At the time Mom and Dad were married, Dad worked at Curtis Wright Corporation in Columbus, Ohio. He was a tool and die maker. Curtis Wright designed and built aircraft for military, commercial, and private use.

Note: Dad's notice of separation form the Navy states that he worked at Curtis Wright from 01/10/41 - 10/05/42.

Curtis Helldiver - U.S. Navy Dive Bomber

The Curtis Helldiver pictured above, was manufactured at the Columbus plant where dad, and later on mom, worked. The postcard was sent to Dad by a friend named Daily. I am assuming they worked together at Curtis Wright.

Within a few months of their marriage dad would join the Navy, but first they had the summer.

I'm not sure where Mom and Dad lived when they first got married. One of the first postcards he sent her when he left has the address 1466 1/2 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio, When Dad was discharged from the Navy, they lived at 480 Reinhard Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43206. It is a part of Merion Village. Ernie told me tonight on the phone that he thought Mom and Dad both grew up in or around German Village. The home on Reinhard in still there, and is near German Villiage. Trulia website estimates its present worth at $226,000. The home was built in 1925.

On October 5, 1942, Dad joined the Navy. This was three days after Mom's 18th birthday. It was after that she went to work at Curtis-Wright.

I had no idea until I started working on the scrapbook that Mom was one of the many women who took over a man's job in the factories during WWII. I remember she talked about being in charge of a crib and several older men. All the healthy, young men had joined the military. Mom told these stories all my life, but even sitting in history class in school, I never made the connection until I was in a college US History class, which wasn't all that many years ago.

My brother, Craig, described Dad's job in the Navy as an "Aviation Smelter." He worked on the warplanes. His specialty was the propellers, from what Craig remembers. Dad stayed state-side the entire time he was in the Navy. Three places he was stationed are Midland, Texas; Quonset Point, Rhode Island; and Lewiston, Maine.

Mom joined Dad in Midland, Texas for a few months in March of 1944. Details to follow in "The World War II Era - Part 2."