"WHAT IS THERE....ABOUT A '41 CHEVROLET?"

"WHAT IS THERE....ABOUT A '41 CHEVROLET?"

A WORLD WAR II MEMORY

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What is there

    about

         an old '41

             two-door

                  dark blue

                      Master Deluxe

                          CHEVROLET

                               Sedan?

With a top speed

   of maybe

        seventy 

            mph?

I'll tell you what there is

    but you won't understand...

Because you weren't there.

No one can understand those awful

    WWII TIMES...

Who wasn't there.

For you didn't gather

    old tires, old papers and magazines,

          pots and pans, rusty iron,

               and bacon grease 

                     to help win the war!

You didn't know

     Gold Star Mothers, wounded GI's.

          like from "The Bulge..."

You didn't hear the twenty-four hour

     sounds, bumping and clanging---

          of troop trains, trains loaded

               with tanks and ammo,

                   passing thru the 

                      Clovis Train 

                         Depot....

You never knew the wonder and excitement

    small boys felt, for four years, seeing

         B-24 Liberator Bombers, and 

             later B-29's constantly droning

                 around the outskirts

                         of town...

You didn't build model airplanes of P-40's,

    P-38's, Corsairs, Thunderbolts,

        or B-17's...or mow lawns to 

             buy ten cent War Stamps.

Maybe you've never heard of or know of...

    ---food rationing---coffee, sugar, meat...

         ---shoes, clothing, gasoline, tires...

Ah, but THAT CAR---the old '41 Chevrolet

    remembers---it lived through it all,

        right with us...a faithful servant.

It likely remembers all the short trips...

    all that there were gasoline for---

        trips to Grandma's and 

            fishing trips to the 

                 Pecos!

It remembers what "shortage of parts"

     and the term "recaps" meant.

It was used to being "tromped" on by the

   kids in the back seat...

"Are we there yet?"

The kids, in turn, had that car memorized...

    The fuzzy neutral gray/brown 

        upholstery---the dash, the gauges,

             the speedometer, the clock (it

                 never worked), the heater 

                    knob, the glove 

                         compartment!

It even had a starter...on the FLOOR!

Yes! We kids remember that good old wartime

    car, and its faithfulness--- wherever it is...

         today.

It, and cars like it, non-descript and perhaps

   drab by today's standards----blue, black,

       tan, maroon, or green--- got the nation

            and the people through a 

                 GREAT TRIAL.

I hope that old Chevy, wherever it is, has been 

    collected, restored inside, repainted, 

        and maybe remembers us!

And maybe it finally got a carburetor...

that works.

*************

BY MIL

4/06/15