Stories from Uncle Larry

December 7, 1941 at approximately 11 am on a clear Sunday morning, Dad, mom and I were at Mount Wilson observatory  in the San Gabriel mountains in view of our newly built Sunland California home. I do not recall where Bryce and Alan were at the time but it's possible Alan was in McWilly Oklahoma where he spent almost the entire WWII years.

I was only three and a half and I clearly remember our car was the only vehicle in the Mount Wilson parking lot  that day as the observatory was closed. Mother was fast walking back to the car with me in her arms. Dad was on the drivers side of our 1940 Ford car with the door open, one arm up on the top of the door and the other on the roof with his head inside listing to the radio which was blaring rather loudly.

I had no idea what was happening but I knew something very bad was going on. Mother opened the passenger side door and stood in silence listening to the radio.I don’t remember the drive out of there and probably glad I didn’t.Mom and dad were soon at work at Lockheed aircraft plant in Burbank California.

Monday, August 6 1945, Sunland California sometime in the afternoon.

Mother was working in the kitchen and a man was talking rather somberly on the radio, I listened a few moments and said “that man should be our president.” Mom asked why I said that and I stated “because, he sounds like he knows what he is talking about.”  Mom then announced the man was Harry S Truman and he was announcing the A Bombing of Hiroshima Japan, a difficult thing for me to forget as each year it falls on my birthday, that one was my seventh.

Of the 85,000 defense plants in the US during WWII only 5% received the Army Navy E for excellence award. Lockheed Vega plant was one that mother and employees received the “E” pin award.

Pictured is mother and crew that received the P-38 safety award pin.

Also of interest is this card contains in a cigar box of mothers things showing the different schools she attended.