Innehållsförteckning för March 2020 från Reminisce Extra

ROADSIDE MOTELS Roadside motels were often one-of-a-kind, mom-and-pop shops. Guests could expect an open-air pool, colorful decor and an array of postcards near the register book. Did your family have a memorable stay at one of these places during a trip? Label your story and pictures “Roadside Motels.” HOW WE PLAYED The jungle gym turns 100 this year. To celebrate, we’re collecting stories about the playgrounds of the past. Tell us about your favorite place to play in the neighborhood and what made it special. Label your story and pictures “Playground.” FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL We’re looking for snapshots of kids on the first day of school for a future picture package. Label your submission “First Day of School.” IN FASHION We had poodle skirts and bobby socks in the…

“ The shock of combat is ... like the shock after a wound. You don’t feel the pain right away. ” In 1942, baby-faced Texan Audie Murphy was eager to join the military. The Marines took one look at the 120-pound, 5-foot-6-inch runt and said no way. Murphy, who turned 17 that June, falsified his birth record and tried the Army. With Company B, 15th Regiment, Third Infantry Division, Murphy became one of the most decorated combat soldiers in American history. After the war, he appeared in more than 40 movies, including the 1955 film version of his autobiography, To Hell and Back. He held off a few hundred Nazis by himself for nearly an hour. In January 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, B Company was under attack by panzer tanks…

Many families came to the U.S. with the help of relatives who arrived earlier. Often the father of a family came first, with the goal of earning money and finding a residence before sending for his wife and children. For Scandinavians, the Upper Midwest was the primary destination, but Washington state also received many. They brought their language, culture, recipes and religion. Ancestors were proud to share a bit of their homeland with the next generations. Contributor Ardean Anvik evokes a common theme when he says his Norwegian grandparents died before he could appreciate them. We who are grandparents should introduce descendants to our heritage. On the FamilySearch Wiki, you may learn more about where some ethnic groups settled. Sign into familysearch.org (free). Click on “Search,” then on “Research Wiki.”…

After Pearl Harbor, Japan forced U.S. and Filipino defenders up the Bataan Peninsula and into retreat from Manila. • Retaking Luzon would cut off Japan’s oil supply, and provide bases for Allied operations. • As the end of the war was in sight in Europe, U.S. troops were positioning to invade the island. • By early July, Allies controlled the island, but resistance continued until Japan surrendered Aug. 15. • Casualties were very high, with 8,310 U.S. soldiers killed.…

New York’s Polo Grounds had a homer-resistant 483-yard center field, and the Astrodome in Houston had bone-hard AstroTurf, which made for speedy grounders. Both stadiums are now long gone, but there are plenty of existing parks with notable quirks. Consider these oddities: CHICAGO’S IVY The greenery at Wrigley Field was planted by the Cubs’ Bill Veeck in 1937 to promote baseball as a pleasing respite from the bustle of the city. A rule has grown out of the ivy: Any baseball trapped in the vines is officially a ground-rule double. BOSTON’S MONSTER Originally built to keep fans who hadn’t paid for a ticket from watching games from tall buildings outside the stadium, the 37-foot Green Monster along the left-field line in the 108-year-old Fenway Park is the bane of all…

The diamond and the outfield stay the same, but how fans watched at the ballpark changed. Three parks, dismantled now, show the evolution of the game of baseball. POLO GROUNDS 1891-1964 The stadium (shown) built below a bluff over the Harlem River in Manhattan took its name from an earlier field in Central Park. Fans were treated to the rivalry among New York’s Giants, Yankees and Dodgers teams. Today, a reminder of the ballfield is the iron staircase overlooking the river. GREENLEE FIELD 1932-’38 The Pittsburgh Crawfords played at Greenlee, the first African American-owned park. Five Crawfords players eventually were named to the Hall of Fame—including Josh Gibson and Leroy “Satchel” Paige. The park was torn down to make room for public housing. CANDLESTICK PARK 1960-2015 Set in windy San…

The original pattern was created by Thomas Turner and Thomas Minton at the Caughley factory in England in the late 18th century, based on imported Chinese porcelains. Blue Willow has been in constant circulation ever since. There have been more than 500 makers of the china worldwide. There are several variations of the Blue Willow myth, but all were made up by British potters to lend their wares authenticity. Blue is the most common hue, but the pattern comes in other colors, including green, pink, mustard and gold. Pieces marked by respected makers, including Spode, Royal Worcester and Wedgwood, are the most valuable, along with unusual items, such as soup tureens or milk pails. Blue Willow pops up in unexpected places. There is a reference to it in Anne of…

THE EVANSVILLE College Purple Aces, a perennial small college powerhouse, often made it to the NCAA Division II Final Four. In 1965, I was one of the Hoosier kids closely tracking their advance as I got ready to attend a service at the church where my father was the pastor. So I could listen to roundball while I worshipped, I hid a transistor radio under my sport coat. During an especially exciting play, my earpiece slipped. Trying to put it back in my ear, I accidentally turned up the volume, and suddenly everyone in the sanctuary knew of my deceit—including my father, whose scowl from the chancel let me know I was in a heap of trouble! As I sat with my devilish plan exposed, the boys sitting near me…

TELL US HOW TO FIND YOU Whether you send your submission via mail or email or post it online, include your full name, daytime phone number, email address and mailing address. If you have a post office box, tell us your street address too. HELP US SORT THINGS OUT Include the name of the department your submission is for (Motoring Memories, Growing Up, etc.) on the first page of your submission or in the email subject line. For any photos you submit, please identify the people, city, state and year the photo was taken. We reserve the right to use submissions in any section of our magazine, or elsewhere. We do not return unsolicited materials. Send quality photo reprints or email high-resolution JPEG files (300 dpi at 8x10) so you…

When I was growing up in the Toronto suburbs, there had been talk for years about bringing major league baseball to the city, but it didn’t happen until the Blue Jays joined the American League roster in 1977. And even then, it took another 12 years for the team to get its own stadium—SkyDome, now Rogers Centre. Before that, ballplayers and fans had to make do with a cordoned-off section of Exhibition Stadium, home of the Toronto Argonauts football team. It was a venue laughably ill-suited for watching baseball. Imagine seats perched high above Toronto Harbor, where winds off Lake Ontario threatened to knock you out of the park like an unsightly homer. Imagine the ballgame suspended as groundskeepers shooed baffled gulls out of center field. Imagine a scoreboard behind…

James Cagney was Hollywood’s premier tough guy. He was best known as the star of a string of gangster films during the 1930s, including a genre-defining role as psychotic hoodlum Tom Powers in The Public Enemy (1931). So in 1942, many moviegoers must have been surprised to see him singing and dancing in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy, about veteran entertainer and songwriter George M. Cohan. But as Cagney later explained, the role was not out of character for him. He’d cut his teeth as a musical performer in the 1920s. “I didn’t have to pretend to be a song-and-dance man,” he said. “I was one.” At 43, the 5-foot-4-inch Cagney brought his legendary charisma to this iconic biopic. It opens with Cohan being summoned to the White House, thus…

1955 CLEAR WINNER To celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1955, Anchor Hocking created Golden Anniversary dinnerware in the Swirl pattern trimmed in 22K gold (foreground). Today’s collectors love Anchor Hocking’s sturdy Fire-King and Jade-ite glassware. 1955 GOURMET SELECTION Homer Laughlin’s curvy Epicure debuted in 1955. Created by the company’s design director Don Schreckengost, Epicure was similar to Russel Wright’s china from rival Steubenville Pottery. But Epicure didn’t sell well and was soon discontinued. 1954 SHAPED FOR SUCCESS California’s Gladding, McBean & Co.’s reputation for innovation grew after Mary Grant, former art director at Macy’s, joined the firm in the late 1930s. Her Encanto line, introduced in 1948, was selected for the Museum of Modern Art’s “Good Design” exhibit in 1951. This ad shows Encanto in an array of pearly colors—an…

Bumper In 1839, the buffer of a train car was called a bumper, a meaning that transferred readily to the fender on automobiles. Doubleheader Before it meant baseball teams playing two games in one day, the term referred to two locomotives attached to twice the normal amount of cars, a railroad practice used to cut costs by saving on the number of crew needed. Jerkwater When steam engines were in use, this meant minor or rural towns that didn’t have water tanks, forcing the railroad crew to haul or “jerk” water for the boilers from a nearby well or natural source, like a stream. It now means unimportant. Nonstop Now used for airline flights, nonstop used to apply to train routes that didn’t have intermediate stops. Sidetrack A section of…

Long-Ago Friend Our November 2019 Reminisce Extra featured the return of Roll Call, which encourages reconnections among former service members and civilians. Nancy Paris of Coupeville, WA, believes she knows one of the men, above, who was pictured on the cover: “It could be Eugene Entriken of Burlington, Washington,” she writes. “He was my first date when we were freshmen at Washington State College (now University) in Pullman.” Known as Gene or Hank, he joined the Army in December 1945 and later served in Korea. After the war, he went back to college and became a teacher in Burlington, at his former high school. “I can’t be sure, but he looked very much like this,” Nancy adds. Do you know Gene or recognize another soldier? Let us know. IN THE…

Words inspire as well as inform, especially during times of war. Do you know which man or woman is associated with each of these famous quotes from 1942? 1 “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But perhaps it is the end of the beginning.” 2 “We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used.” 3 “I’ll come back as soon as I can with as much as I can. In the meantime, you’ve got to hold!” 4 “The fruits of victory are tumbling into our mouths too quickly.” 5 “We shall attack and attack and attack until we…

WHEN I WAS 5, MY boyfriend lived two houses down from me. David had red hair and freckles. We’d spend all day playing. Unlike a lot of boys, David never minded playing house. He’d dash home to get a snack to share with me and we’d walk to the theater with my sisters every Saturday to see the latest movie. We told everyone we were going to get married when we grew up. We even had a pretend wedding once in my backyard. David was in my first grade class, but I soon fell in love with another little boy. Eventually, David moved away and we lost touch. Years later, I ran into his mother, who told me he’d married and had a son. I married, too, and had children…

The U.S. and Japan were deadlocked over a U.S.-led oil embargo intended to curb Japanese expansion in the Pacific. By hitting the U.S. fleet hard, Japan sought to neutralize America and force it to recognize Japanese sovereignty in the East. • The two-wave attack—at 7:55 and 8:54 a.m.—ruined or disabled 19 U.S. vessels, including eight battleships, and 328 U.S. Navy and Army aircraft. • Spared were three aircraft carriers and oil reserves near Hickam Field. All were crucial to the U.S. recovery. • More than 2,400 Americans died and almost 1,200 were wounded. The attack hardened U.S. resolve to fight in WWII, which made it a strategic failure for the Japanese, despite the mission’s apparent success.…

MY PARENTS HAD FOUR SONS. Our dad was the sole provider, while Mom stayed at home taking care of the family. Money was tight, but on a special occasion in 1966, my dad took me, the oldest, and my brother Mike, who is 11 months younger than me, to a Chicago Cubs ballgame at Wrigley Field. Our brother Tom was too young and little Bill hadn’t been born yet. Dad got the only seats he could afford—in the cheapest area, known as the nosebleed section. Concessions were a luxury, so Mike and I split a hot dog and small Coke between us. But we had a blast watching the Cubs and just being at Wrigley. Fast forward to 1980: I was 23, single, and had just started my sales career.…

FEW PEOPLE HAD CARS when I was growing up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and the streets had plenty of room for ballgames: There was stoopball, triangle ball, handball and stickball. And baseball. I loved going to Ebbets Field, home of the Dodgers since 1913. The Dodgers were a team of great, lovable players, and when I could scrape the money together, off to Ebbets Field I would go. It was a simple ballpark—some would call it a bandbox—but memorable things happened there in the early ’50s. Usually I went with friends, but sometimes with my father, or even alone. My idol was Gil Hodges. Gil had a reputation for not saying much, never arguing with umpires, and being an all-around gentleman. When he went into a hitting slump, prayers were solicited…