<p>Brownie (younger Girl Scout) meetings after school at the leader’s house. We had to pay 10 cents for dues every week. Earning badges to put on our sashes. I liked the drama badge and the rainbow bridge badge when you moved from Brownies to Junior Girl Scouts.</p>
<p>NJTheatreMOM, the subject of World War II was still pretty much universal even in the mid-1960’s, as I mentioned. In fact, I remember that in one of my elementary school years – 3rd or 4th grade – every single child in the class had a father who was in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. And I also remember, a couple of years before that, when I was 6 or so, being embarrassed to tell people that my mother was born and grew up in Germany because I was afraid what they would think; at that young age, I wasn’t yet entirely clear on the difference it made that my mother was not simply “German” but a German Jewish refugee. I just knew that Germans = the enemy in the War = bad, because that was something children still were absorbing from the culture around them in the early 1960’s.</p>
<p>Qdogpa – “More Parks sausages, mom…pleease!”</p>
<p>You sank my _________!!!</p>
<p>Battleship!</p>
<p>The last two are “Prince Spaghetti” and “Chevrolet”.</p>
<p>I think the first one is “Tiparillo”, but I’m not sure about that one.</p>
<p>I had several friends whose parents were either refugees from Nazi Germany or concentration camp survivors, who would tell us what their parents told them about living through Nazi Germany. My own parents, who were born here, told us what it was like to lose touch with relatives left behind in Europe during that era, and then reconnect with a very few who had been through all manner of horror. </p>
<p>And, of course, there were all the fathers who had served in the military during the war, but they seemed to talk about their military experiences mostly when we got together for Memorial Day. Some never liked to talk about their military experiences at all.</p>
<p>It seemed pretty immediate to me, and I went through my childhood having nightmares about being pursued by Nazis. I suppose I was in my late teens or early twenties when the nightmares dwindled and then stopped.</p>
<p>My father knew an Army officer who was one of the survivors of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines.</p>
<p>If anybody mentioned the war, that officer would quietly turn and leave the room.</p>
<p>Walking into a business and filling out a job application. Being interviewed almost immediately. At the end of the interview you are asked when you would like to start. Encouraged to tell all your friends to come on down and apply as there were more openings. </p>
<p>The whole process took maybe 60 minutes.</p>
<p>The first time I realized the Wizard of Oz turned to color when Dorothy landed in Oz! Wow, what a moment! And you had to wait until March every year to see it.</p>
<p>Sally Star, Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room, Speed Racer, Kimba.
The HBO salesman at the door telling my mom that they showed lots of family movies. The box was brown with buttons to push and a wire strung across the room to the TV. She cancelled it after about a month, but we still had free service for another year.</p>