Just finished reading: The First Lady of World War II
Through my project, I’ve had the opportunity to “meet” many of the authors whose books I’ve doodled my way through. This usually just means exchanging messages or maybe collaborating on something fun. But in this case, through some delightful serendipity (love that!), I met Shannon McKenna Schmidt in real life. (At FDR’s place, no less!) It was such a treat to hear Shannon speak about The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back before I even cracked it open.
It wasn’t easy, but I managed to cull through my sketchbook to narrow this down to 10 things that jumped out at me.
1 Eleanor carried a gun
The Secret Service wasn’t happy with Eleanor wanting to drive around in the U.S. without their protection. She didn’t enjoy being treated “like a frail flower.” She finally won. They allowed her out on her own if she carried a gun.
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2 Traveled on an “evil bastard contraption”
A pilot flying a B-24 bomber conversion called it “a ground-loving bitch.” Turning these guys into transport planes resulted in significant safety issues.
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3 Jeeps could be shipped IKEA-style
They could be shipped flat and assembled upon arrival. Or shipped fully assembled and conveniently stacked. They were also “reminiscent of Teddy Roosevelt” because “it’s a rough rider.”
4 The censors were funny sometimes
One woman received a cut-up letter from her boyfriend and a note from the censor: “Your soldier still loves you, but he talks too much.”
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4 Their four sons fought in World War II
I can’t wrap my head around this. Of their five living children, four were sons. ALL of them fought in he war. Two in the Navy. One in the Air Force. One in the Marines. And their parents (including the President of the United States!) were kept in the dark about their whereabouts. (Side note: FDR brought their daughter Anna to the Yalta Conference.)
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6 The young shouldn’t be expendable
Eleanor wrote that “If we are ever again guilty of leaving people without the best possible equipment in adequate amounts, in a world which requires such equipment, then somehow we should make it a prerequisite that the older people who are responsible are promptly sent out to die in these frontier battles. Why should the young always be expendable for the mistakes of the old?”
Well, this idea hasn’t caught on yet.
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7 Mosquitos were deadlier than the enemy
Lt. General Eichelberger said that “disease was a surer and more deadly peril to us than enemy marksmanship. We had to whip the Japanese before the malarial mosquito whipped us.”
60-65% of Americans in the Pacific suffered from Malaria (including James Roosevelt). And get this — the length of treatment and observation was 120 days. Four months!!
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8 In America, we’d call it a Congress Pool
Rangitiaria Dennan joked to Eleanor about the mud pools, with big blobs boiling all over and lots of hot air: “In America you would call it Congress Pool, uh?”
9 “Why curse Hitler and support Jim Crow?”
Eleanor pointed out the hypocrisy. On top of that, the racism undermined our effort in the war and allowed Nazis to capitalize on it. They dropped millions of leaflets to entice Black troops to desert: “Uncle Sam’s colored soldiers are just cannon fodder.”
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10 Pants! For God’s sake, PANTS!
In Buna, the men were promised steaks or whatever they wanted if they held their position. One soldier, with rotted pants, did a handstand and answered “Pants. For God’s sake, General, pants!”
If I allotted myself 11 facts, I’d throw in that there were former Disney artists overseas. One illustrated posters for the hospital camp with things like “Lil Mayo Clinic” (doctors’ quarters), “Snafu Department” (hospital office), and “Butcher Shop” (surgery). But I already hit my quota, so I guess you’ll just have to read The First Lady of World War II to learn this yourself.
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Let’s close with a quote about Eleanor from a sergeant in Australia…
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