SOLDIERS

It’s interesting how we classify our Grandparents as inferior in knowledge about the ways of the world simply because they can’t work a remote or set up a voicemail. Do these things constitute knowledge? Does the fact that they can’t work e-mail, Facebook, or smart phones imply that they don’t know how to make it through life successfully? No.

The posing question that I have chosen to research is, “How did the WWII draft affect families?”

Ramon Floid Warner

Mr. Ramon Floid Warner,

You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States and to report at Fort Douglas, Utah at 12:30 on August 7, 1944.

My Grandpa, out of High School was inducted into the US Army through the draft. After returning home at the end of the war, years later, in January 1949, he wrote about his feelings for my Grandma Eloise, “I never felt about a girl as I felt about her a very peaceful and comforting feeling. Sure seems good to be living close to God and trying to live his commandments, I don’t know when I’ve been happier. The more I’m with Eloise the more I’m sure she’s the one for me. I hope and pray some day we will be happily married. I would like to spend the rest of my life trying to make her happy.”

They were married in the Manti Temple on June 19, 1950. Shortly after, in January 1952, my Grandpa enlisted in the Army. He wrote:

“Eloise and I both found it very difficult to be separated while I was training at Ft. Benning Ga. Tawnya was just a year old and it was our first real long separation. The following is something I wrote to Eloise from Ft. Benning on February 23, 1953. ‘I think of all the fun we’ve had together, up in Salt Lake City and Pacific Grove. How restricted we were when Tawnya little, but we still had fun. We will really be able to enjoy ourselves in the future. We will have everything a young couple could ask for. Enough money to be comfortable on, a nice car, a sweet little girl, and especially one another. Faith in the Lord, the Church, and the love and faith we have for each other.’ ”

He sent this poem to Eloise dated February 29, 1960. “Each night I take my pen in hand to write a page of two, but what’s the use of writing when I’d rather be with you. I say the weather is fine these days, cool, but nice and clear, And in between the lines I mean, I wish that you were here. I tell you I’ve been busy, but nothing else is new, And all the time I’m thinking how much I’m missing you. So when you get my letters, just skip the writing part and read between the lines instead, I wrote them with my heart.”

Today, there is a similar draft where God calls His soldiers.

Tena Fitzgerald

Sister Tena Fitzgerald,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Houston, Texas mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You will report to the Mexico Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, June 18, 2014. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.

Having decades of experience, my Grandpa should be one my most valuable resources of information, support, and confidentiality because he knows exactly what it feels like. Don’t be like me and wait until your teacher asks you to write a research paper on your ancestors, because it might be too late to ask.