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Anthony John Gerbic

October 21, 1918 - September 13, 1989

This is my father Tony Gerbic, and the reason for the Gerbic web site. He was always talking about his family and his life before I met him. He knew so little about his family and his older siblings, but he wished for me to find them. He was 42 when I was born so I did not know him as a young man. He died when he was 69 and I was 25. I didn't know him well but he left quite of an impression on me. About 1983 or so he started writing his memoirs for us. He did this on an old word processor that my brother had built, computers weren't what we have today. It was extremely unsophisticated, thusly leaving me with a lot of editing to do before it could go on this site. The following are excerpts from his memoirs which I have placed here and on his parents sites.

My Foot

"I the summer months of 1928 it was so hot everyone, especially the kids went barefooted. On Sunday we wore shoes but they came off as soon as we got out of church. Everyone had bruises and cuts on their feet which was a good topic for conversation. Everyone was concerned for the first few days of a barefoot summer, our feet were very tender and by summers end would be calloused. One day we were all playing King of the Hill, on a large sand pile that was near a new building site. After being pushed down the hill a few times I felt a sharp sting on the bottom of my foot. Looking down I noticed I had stepped on a small tack which was sticking out near my toes. I pulled the tack out and kept on playing, now and then rubbing my foot in the cool sand. The next day I noticed my foot had swollen and was hurting. I told my mother what had taken place and called the doctor. He cleaned the infected area and told me to stay off it. I did what he said and by weeks end it had swelled to twice its size with a few blue lines through it.

The doctor was called immediately, who took some sort of cutting item out of his bag and a ooze came out. The doctor again cleaned and bandaged the foot. By the way when the doctor worked on my foot my mother and brother held me down so that I didn't move and the doctor could shove the tool into my foot. I yelled so loud they heard me in France. All the dogs in town stopped their barking to listen. Well the leg didn't get any better but the swelling went down a little. The doctor came again and looked at my foot and said, 'Mrs. Gerbic, I'm afraid we will have to take his leg off for he might die'. After debating with the doctor my mother said that she will take care of her son, she really did take good care of me just like I was a baby, cleaning and feeding me, she tried a remedy that she remembered from Yugoslavia. She made a poultice of heated flax seed and milk which according to her would draw the poison out.

This poultice was used twice a week after a week of this application the pain went away but I couldn't put any weight on it. I forced myself to put pressure on my leg and finally the pain stopped. I found a fox fur my mother had which I wrapped around my foot making a cushion, I forced myself to walk progressing every day (remember they didn't have sponge rubber like today) slowly walking farther and farther, finally I would stand for long periods and later I would try to beat cars going down the street. My leg got stronger and stronger and I ran all over the place, boy was I happy. I guess people that saw me running figured that there was something wrong with me. I was so good in running that I never had any trouble getting in any sports."

Elgin pocket watch

"Talking about running, I remember one time I found a sold gold Elgin pocket watch in front of a store, after waiting around to see if anyone would claim it it went home with me. This watch went with me everywhere, like this particular time we went swimming to the Blue Stone Quarry which was about 5 miles away through a city park, when I noticed the watch was missing. So I told the guys to go on home and I would run back to the swimming hole to look for the watch. There it was right where I had put my clothes, picking it up I hurried on home before they closed the park. I still have that watch."

Hit and Run

"In 1924 when I was 7 years old we used to go to the store with a five dollar bill and get a wagon full of food and still have to carry some food in our arms. The food was cheapest at the local A&P, and we would go there. My brother and a friend and I made the weekly trip meeting my mother at the store. She would pick out all the food that would be needed through out the week, sometimes she had a little left over for some ice cream or some sort of pastry. I being the smallest had to pull the loaded wagon home. As we were crossing this wide intersection, looking both ways and thinking about the ice cream that my mother put on top of the load I failed to notice a Model T coming around the corner right for me, in fact it looked like it was following me. Trying to get out of its way was difficult because the wagon was so heavy. I jumped up landing on the car's front bumper, stiffly, causing my head to strike against the radiator ornament. The man brought the car to a skidding halt pulling it to the opposite curb. I was still hanging on for dear life, as the man climbed out to see what had happened. His lips turned into a smile as he noticed that I was all right, his first reaction was to help me down. Hurriedly asking me how I was, I answered that I was a little scared and shaken up. He stuck his hand into his pocket and brought out a new 50 cent coin. He gave it to me and said, 'go home little boy and tell your mother this is what we call a "Hit and Run". This was the first time I had my own money. I used it to buy my first Tip Top pocket watch."

Music in the neighborhood

"When we lived on 216th street there was this family called Barron. The oldest boy called Frollie and his brothers played mandolins and guitars, even the old man. We would listen to them for they were good and they played on the Cleveland Radio Station, most of the music was old Yugoslavian (Croatian) ballads, folksongs, and sometimes they would play some new American song. Each Sunday they put on a program and we would listen to them at their house which was across the street. The porch was always full of people, even some days when it rained people still came. These Barron boys played a lot on the radio station on Sunday and their program lasted an hour. The rest of Sunday was taken up by other nationalities. I noticed when the Second World War was in progress they knocked off the Italian and German programs."

The Ivansics

"There was another family that lived across from us by the name of Ivansic, they had 5 boys sometimes they would line up by height. The oldest was 14 to the youngest at 7. Joe, the oldest stuck around with me before I met Franich. We would play and sing cowboy songs, I had a guitar, and Joe played on a washboard. He got so he would keep a good rhythm. We would play out in front of a saloon, we would sing some sad song and the drunks would throw us some coins. This is how we made our spending money. Joe's father was a short fat man who operated a grocery store. One thing that I noticed the first time that I went into the store was that it was poorly lighted, he had an expression that he would repeat regardless what the situation, 'one ounce to much' he would always take something off everything he weighed. One thing about this family the kids all had their own cat. And with all the kids and cats the house was always full, always something to do like stepping on a cat or kid. One time I saw Joe take a cat and throw it out of the second floor window. The cat got up and ran, I thought that the fall would kill it. The Ivansics had a lot of boards stored out back of the house, Joe asked his father if we would build a club house. He said okay and we worked cutting the wood and made a nice cozy house with some benches and a table. Inside the dimensions were about 10 x 10. One afternoon he came to see how we were coming along, after he looked around he started to bring in cases of food to the hut finally putting a lock on the door. He never said one word about the hut he just moved into, It was the end of our shack."

Our Christmas

"My mother would put out on the table a large mixing bowl filled with nuts and some fruit. The company that came around would put their pocket money into it which was the custom then, sometimes someone would put a dollar into it and whoever got to the bowl first Christmas morning could have it. The bowl would have at least 10 dollars in it. It was fun to walk around with a 5 dollar bill in change in your pocket. A couple of weeks before Christmas my mother would save enough money to buy a small ham or a fat chicken for our Christmas feast. She would also make a potesa, a bread with a flavoring of nuts, raisins, and cinnamon. The grownups would have a red wine to drink with ham and potesa. We would have coffee or milk. It sure was tough in those days for money was hard to come by. No one had any money for presents for this was during the Depression and no one was working, still it was a wonderful time every one was happy and greeted everyone we would sit around and stay up to all hours of the night especially on New Years."

"We always stayed up to hear the factories blowing their whistles and also the train whistles. A sad feeling would come over you especially when the whistles were moaning in a low pitch. Off in the distance of the city, car horns, and people were banging on platters making all kinds of weird noises. Looking at the newly fallen snow for it always snowed on New Years day, the snow covered the landscape making every thing look like the far north. We would go around the neighborhood to see what our friends got for xmas. My first stop would be the Eichornes house for they always got a lot of games. They let us go down to the basement where they had a large furnace and some benches around a large table. We would make ourselves at home and get out of the bitter cold. Mr. Eichorne was just like a kid even though he was in his late 50's. He would get all kinds of games, some days we would play Pinochle, Canasta, and Rummy. Other times we would have ping-pong tournaments. Our mothers always knew where we were, all she had to do was to holler out and we could hear her."

Paperboys

"We went to the corner drug store to pick up the newspaper the delivery truck dropped off every afternoon, the gang used to help us fold and deliver them. It was a good job for a young person after our routes were peddled we always had some papers left so we sold them by walking down the middle of the street and hollering 'extra, extra read all about it'. We would have every one out in the street looking for the article we picked out to tell. We didn't make much money doing this, the Sunday edition was the one were we made the most money on, but the problem was that the paper was so heavy, and we had to make several trips to get them delivered. When it snowed it was the hardest to deliver because some people lived someway from the main road. I remember one customer, living a long way off the road down in a gully near Euclid creek, I would be struggling with the bag of papers through the deep snow and the lady would ask me to come in to get warmed up by the large round barreled wood stove which would be red hot. The flicker of the fire light dancing off the dark walls make an eerie view. On Thursday afternoon we would go to our local printing company to see if they needed anyone to deliver handbills, They were always enlarging the many routes for they needed more carriers. the routes were numbered, they paid different amounts, some routes paid $1- $3 for a thousand bills. the owner would take us out to the different areas of town and come back later to pick us up. We had to fold all these circulars and one of these large routes would soon tire you out. Some places had the house along way from the road and we would stick the paper in the hedges, the printer wanted us to take them up to the house, but no way."

Saturday Baths

"Saturday, was bath day when my brother and I would gather in the kitchen warming up many pans of water that we would use to take a bath in a galvanized tub. The tub was put on some newspapers in the center of the kitchen floor. We flipped a coin to see who got in the water first, and who carried the water. Whoever would get the water first would ease himself into the tub scrubbing as he got used to the very hot water. It was always to hot to sit down in but as you got used to it you went in all the way, we scrubbed each other laughing and giggling till we both looked nice and pink."

"In the summer months we would wear our bathing suits when going swimming in Lake Erie but once it got dark we would swim in the nude. All along the lake people would park their cars up on high shore maybe 100 feet from the water for it was beautiful site to see the lake in the evening. Large pleasure boats would pass in the distance and lovers would smooch some time they would shine their cars spotlight on us, Boy you would see some fast foot work getting into the water. In the winter we did all our bathing in our kitchen carrying all the water in and out for we didn't have indoor plumbing. When summer came we bathed in the lake taking a towel and a bar of soap to the water. I guess everyone did this that lived near the lake."

Ice Box

"We had an icebox to store food in, it used a 50 lb piece of ice. On the bottom of the box was a large shallow pan that had to be emptied constantly, the ice box didn't keep food to good but it kept the milk cool. The ice man came around almost every day, his horse that pulled the wagon was trained to stop while he went into the houses. They also had storage ice houses situated on some corner of the town. These houses were heavily insulated sides and bottom were made of heavy timbers and between the side wall was filled with saw dust, sometimes when your ice box ran out of ice you could go to one of these ice houses and get your ice."

" Later when refrigerators were common they abandoned these storages places, we made a hut out of one of these and on cold days we would go into it to play cards and shoot the bull. This one had two doors and the back one was open and the front was kept locked, so that it looked suspicious. Someone always brought a candle, after being inside a while the place became filled with candle smell so the back door was left open. This ice house was situated across the street where we lived. We kept an eye to see if anyone was there, one time someone locked the boor on the back and we had a hard time getting out. We figured that it must have been the man who lived next door, so when Halloween come around someone dumped a barrel of trash on his upstairs porch, I wonder who?"

Carpet Beaters

"I wonder if you knew that houses didn't have carpets like today. We had a carpet that covered the middle of the room, it must have been about 10 x 10 and was the pride and joy of the family. Mother would have us take it outside and hang it on the clothes line and we would take turns beating it with a wire contraption with a wooded handle. We would swing it like a bat, hitting the rug or carpet till all the dust and dirt was out. I don't think today's carpets could take this punishment, all the carpet beating was done on a Saturday and if for some reason you were not there it was there waiting for you when you got home."

"The kitchen floor was another thing that was different then than today, my mother washed the floor with a brush and soapy water, I remember when we lived in one house the floors were newly varnished and after a while my mother had all the varnish rubbed off and the floor a clean light brown look. On Saturdays mother would start early in the morning getting the table and chairs moved so that she could get the floors washed about noon. She would put newspapers on the floor to soak up the water, it would be cool in the house for all the windows would be open."

Coal Bin

"The coal bin was usually found at one end of the basement, it had a window at the top of the wall where a coal shoot was paved to bring in the ton of black coal you would buy, the soft kind for it was cheaper. As the pile of coal diminished, ties and hard wood logs were brought in, every one kept busy all year getting in a supply of heating fuel. If you wanted to be alone and not be disturbed the coal bin was a good place to hide. It was dark there and no one wanted to go near it for it was dirty and a lot of coal dust was in the air. Coal was used to heat up house, if you had a furnace or a large heating stove. We had a heating stove and a coal cooking range so we had lots of work and coal in the bin which we would bring up to the top floor near the stove. To carry this coal we had a coal bucket and a coal shovel to put the coal into the stove and dig out the ashes that would always accumulate and had to be taken outside to be scattered on the sidewalk for they got slippery as winter progressed."

" When we got a little money ahead we would buy a ton of coal, anytime of the year usually about a month before winter set in for about $25 a ton. As the winter came on the price would jump to about $60 a ton. When we lived on 216th street we had a wood stove in the living room and a coal range in the kitchen. All year we would go around the neighborhood looking for wood, we would get a lot of wood behind stores like A&P and Krogers. We were especially looking for apple boxes and orange crates, before winter set in we would have a nice supply of kindling wood ready. We also got coal from the rail road tracks as the train was passing the fireman was filling the fire box on the boiler and sometimes he would miss the door and out would come a shovel full which we picked up. Sometimes the fireman would see us, and give us a couple of shovels full, we would wave it made us happy. When we lived on 200th street we shared the furnace with the landlord, we would buy a tone and he would the same.

Button Hook Shoes

"When I started to go to school my mother put button hole shoes on my feet. They seemed to go on quickly with a hook contraption. It was grasped in the hand like a screw driver. After you got the tight shoe on you noticed that the shoe had one row of 6 hooks and a row of 6 holes on the other flap. The shoe hook was inserted into the hole to grasp a hook on the other side in line with the hole and pulled thru, with a twist motion, then on to another hook till all 6 hooks were buttoned. The shoes had a heavy sole and seemed very stiff, these shoes were always kept polished, but just as soon as you came home from school the shoes came off."

Washing Clothes

"I would like to tell you a little about the way my mother washed clothes. All the clothes were washed in a large galvanized tub that was set on a low table about 21" high and into the tub of hot water was placed a scrubber for rubbing the clothes clean. As you rubbed a strong smelling bar of soap was rubbed on the clothes, this was repeated, till you felt that they were clean. Sometimes you used a lot of bleach, this scrubber was a flat corrugated ribbed board that was put in the water away from you, on the bottom and the top of the board toward you, clothes was rubbed across the ribbing and every once in a while the clothes was dipped into the water, then dipped and rubbed till they looked clean. Sometimes the clothes didn't get clean this way so they boiled them, my mother had a large copper tub for this she placed this copper tub on the coal oil stove she had, as the water began to boil it looked like we were cooking or canning something, for all her pans were steaming. After this boiling, the clothes were run through a squeezer roller that was mounted on the galvanized tub, as you turned the rollers the clothes end was placed on the bottom roller and it got pulled through the roller."

"Monday, was wash day for you could tell for every where you looked on this day you would see clothes hanging outside homes in the early morning sun. On days when it looked like rain you would see people scrambling to take in their clothes. They were hung out to dry on a clothes line and even in the winter time they hung the clothes outside and you see someone bringing in some clothes that was froze. If you were lucky and had a house that had a basement that's were you would hang your clothes, next to the furnace."

Radio

"We take radio for granted, but when I lived on 216th Street we used to go to the local fire station to hear championship fights, important speeches like a Mayors run for office, and events were being broadcast. The signal came through very weak, the firemen would put the radio on a stool in an upstairs window turning the volume full blast. People came from all over the neighborhood bringing their chairs and benches, with them young people would sit on the concrete drive way in front of the station. Sometimes during one of these sessions a fire would interrupt the fight or special event, the front of the station would be cleared away and people would get into their car to go to the fire. This might seem like very rural America. But one thing I can say, people were friendlier than today, they seemed to enjoy each others company. When a championship fight was broadcasted people would swarm to the building to grasp every word coming over the radio, sometimes the announcer would get carried away, his voice would get high with a colorful broadcasting lingo telling the fight as he was seeing it. At this time every thing was so still that you could hear the person next to you breathing hard with excitement. The kids that were out on the lawn playing and jumping came to listen to the fight. They would hang on to their fathers, cheering and applauding as one fighter was getting the best of the other. I heard Dempsey vs. Tunney, Dempsey vs. Sharky, and the Dempsey vs. Conn fight. Sometimes the fire station would let the people know about some important broadcast that would be coming up. In all there were too few radios, you might find two or three on a block, before we got one we made crystal sets."

Roads

"All along Euclid Ave almost to Mentor, Ohio the highways had tall elm trees grown between the wide lawns and highway. The highway was built by the WPA, my brother worked on it and they did a good job, after they paved the road a layer of large red bricks was added on. When the road was new it was nice and smooth but after the high trucks use it and the winter sets in, this road was the worst road in the USA. The bricks were specially heat treated and they were fastened to the road with tar. In the summer months the sun melted the tar and it caused the brick to be different heights giving cars a rough ride. In the winter months water got under the bricks and froze, by spring the road would have deep holes where the bricks were. This road, according to Life Magazine, the worse road in the US. County roads were so bad that horses were used to pull cars up little hills, especially in the rainy season it was no use going anywhere in a car."

Rumble Seat

"Many cars like the Ford Coupe had a hinged cover on the back deck, when opened revealed an opening and a tight seat for two slim people. Any girl that was fortunate in getting in a rumble seat was hugged and kissed. I once had the unfortunate pleasure of riding in my cousin John's rumble seat from Painesville to Euclid about 30 miles in a driving rain, outside it was raining cats and dogs but in the sat with the hinged cover it was nice and cozy. Due to the excessive gas and carbon monoxide I almost passed out, I learned never to try that again. I had to ride in the back because John had brought his girlfriend with him."

Soap Saver

"The saver was a little wire cage that held what ever bits of soap that were too small to hold in your hand, you would whip it around in the kitchen sink dish pan. In a few minutes you have soap suds, today they have all kinds of detergent soap. We had to cut the bar of soap with a knife and make soap chips. When washing clothes you used a bar of strong soap and as the clothes were being rubbed on a scrub board, you would rub some soap on the clothes then emerge it in the hot water. Monday was wash day and as you were hanging the clothes out you would spend a few minutes shooting the breeze with you neighbor."

1923 Hoboes

"When we lived on 216th street parallel to the New York Central railroad we had trouble with the hoboes that used to come around, asking for handouts and things sometimes mother would give them the leftovers in the ice box. They would always say that they were looking for work, maybe, but you look at a train passing and you would see hundreds of men riding. Some boxcars would have as many as ten people in it. It looked like they were in different gangs. I remember this one guy who said that he was in all the states just bumming around since there was no work to be had. About a mile from home there was one of these hobo jungles were the bums would sleep and rest. Another fellow that lived near us would take off every once in a while and he told us about this life. Some days they wouldn't have anything to eat and they would make a raid on a farm picking up some chickens and ducks sometimes vegetables were taken and apples. People in those days didn't have anything. People would have a few chickens in the backyard and all of a sudden they were gone, in these hobo jungles they had everything arranged in it."

"The reason I am telling you about the hobos is that my father would go to the local Pub for a cold beer and my mother took this day to go to the stores. Vic and I were left at home. The bums must have been watching the house for just as they left there was a rap on the door. At this time I was pulling myself under the big wood range we had in the kitchen, peering out from under the stove were two sets of enlarged eyes that were as bright and shinny as a new coat pearl button. As we looked the door opened and in came this hobo who didn't take much time filling up the cardboard box he was carrying. He knew exactly where to look and my heart was pounding like a pile driver, and releasing as I noticed that he was leaving. He was in the house only a few minutes but to me it seemed a lifetime. I could hardly wait to tell my parents and show them how brave I was, after we got older we used to go to the hobo jungle sneaking near, Indian style, watching every thing that was going on for they did keep us in line. If we weren't good my mother used to day that she was going to give us to the hobos. A bunch of us would sneak near the jungle and stay awhile then at a given signal we would holler causing the bums to scatter. They didn't know what was taking place and some are still running. The local police tried to stop them from camping so close to town. It was a wooded area but every time you would go near it was full of bums they finally cut the trees down and that stopped them. This is where we got out wood for our stoves. When I was still young and afraid of the bums Frenchy and I saw a large fire out in the distance south of Euclid. We decided to go see it and we were to pass through the hobo jungle there seemed to no body so we climbed a tall tree and proceeded to talk and joke, seeing how far we had climbed. I looked down after hearing some voices and there was a large body of hobos sitting around a fire below us. At the same time I started down slipping and missing branches falling the 10 feet with Frenchy straddled on my back."

1925 Krocker's Farm

"The Krockers farm was situated between the New York Central railroad and St. Clair Ave. It took up one whole section bordering on 216th to 200 street. Most of the farm was lain out in a large concord grape vineyard and near the house that had the N.Y.C. railroad. It was a very productive truck farm with a large field of horse corn at least that is what we called it, it used to feed the live stock mostly the horses for they had a lot of them. In the center of the farm was a large concrete wine cellar sitting on a knoll which was covered with dirt, finally grass grew and in the center of this building was a 4x4 hole, now covered with a wooden frame door weathered by the constant water soaking and drying process. This is very common in this mid Eastern climate of Ohio. This hole when opened was used to drop wine grapes onto a conveyor belt bringing the lush grapes to the press to be crushed and squeezed of its sweet juice into the making of red Slovenian wine that every family used for special occasions. Such as weddings, christening and holidays, as you enter the two wooden doors on one end of the building which was dug out so a wagon could back down you smell the strong familiar odor of last years wine for the sides were lined with large hogshead wooden barrels that were rolled to their resting place on a heavy oak frame that held at least 500 gallons of wine each."

"Mr. Krocker used to press and sell barrels of this red gold, I never saw this operation but from the accumulation of tools and machines that were hanging all over it must have been some operation. One time Frenchie and I used this building as a hang out, we picked out a nice dry hog-head barrel for a hideout cutting a door in one end facing the middle of the room. Here the ceiling was about 12' high due to the darkness of the interior. We got some candles for light which was placed on a box we brought in to serve as a table and with the eerie glow and the sweet smell on the dry wine interior we were soon in a state of intoxication as we struggled to get outside into the fresh air, what an experience. In the winter time this same building was used as a hill for it stood up above the rest of the landscape at least about 25 feet. It was a good place to slide down on, later someone used some of the barrel staves for skis by nailing a strap in the middle, sort of how skis are slide down on. Later some one used some of the barrel staves for skis. By nailing a strap in the middle, sort of how skis are today. The Krocker boy was a friend of my cousin John Samson a horse killed the Krocker boy."

Dorothy (Eichhorn) Dacar & husband Frank Dacar with their oldest child. At home in Euclid, OH

1926 216th St. Movie Theaters

"I don't know if you ever heard that movies didn't have sound. All you saw was the picture and in the background an organ played with sound effects if you could read, a caption was shown under the picture to be read. A lot of people leaned how to read by going to the movies. I got to see a lot of old movies, and I saw the beginning of the Talkies. Like Buck Rogers in the 21st Century, Tarzan movie with John Weissmuller, then later Buster Crabbe, as Tarzan still later as Buck Rodgers in a run of serials."

1928 Easter time

"All that I remember about Easter is that we celebrated it just like today by going to church and going on egg hunts. We had the usual egg hunt only the rest of the custom was a little different. When a boy or girl found an egg they hurried home with it to their parents or some grown up person and let him take chances breaking the egg shell with a coin. The larger the coin the more chances. Holding the coin sometimes a half dollar between the index and thumb the man threw the coin down with force sometimes hitting the egg. You gave them the egg but if he missed he got so many chances. During Easter there was a lot of visiting and a lot of wine was consumed as the hours went by the kids would run around the neighborhood, even outside many saloons to get as many grownups to participate. They could look for someone that was intoxicated because they knew that he couldn't hit anything and each egg was worth chances and it was another way to get money. If the man stuck or broke the egg he could eat it, many did. It was a wonderful day to remember besides all the eggs we ate we also had cakes, pies and chocolate Easter rabbits, and of course the familiar jelly beans."

1933 Money Economy

"Laborers - $3.50 a day. Head Gardeners got $2,000 a year. A late twenties house - about $4,000. An economical house - built for $1,200 to $3,400 with gas range the most expensive item in the house was was $865 for walls and exterior doors, kitchen cabinets were about $40. The total bill ran to $3,500, one room now costs $3,500 added rooms cost $500. In 1933 a house sold for $29,600 had ten rooms, natural pond, large swimming pool, tennis court, and greenhouse. The houses had a porch swing which was made out of hard wood suspended from the porch ceiling by chains. It was a perfect place for young lovers to say goodnight. the house also had an outdoor swing which was a glider, where the kids would swing all day back and forth. All the milk came in breakable bottles and in the winter time the just delivered milk after being out on the porch would freeze and cream would rise out of the bottle forming a cone at least 3" up with a paper cap on it. The neighborhood cats would get their breakfast, for all the bottles had this condition if left outside for very long. It seems like there was less junk around the streets in these days, people used every thing and if it was no good you could throw it away. You had the local rag man that came around every week to pick up clothes you couldn't use, all metals were picked up by the local junk man and he would give you a little money for copper and brass. These two items sold like hot cakes, we used to go to the dump and salvage all the copper and brass we could find and sell it, we made a lot of pocket money."

High School

"I can still recall some of my teachers Miss Surrarer, who taught English, had the most influence on me. she could sure act out Shakespeare, and at the same time she had to keep patting her hair as her hairpiece kept slipping. Mr. Keay my science teacher always wore gray, even his hair and eyes were gray. He was sort of mean and his voice was loud and he demanded excellence. Mr. Keay would call on me when he knew that I didn't have the answer. this was hard of me as English wasn't my first language. After high school Mr. Keay told me that he kept the pressure on me because he knew that I would excel if pushed. Boy was he right!"

"I also remember a time when Johnny Franich and I found a nest of garter snakes. We put some in the teachers desk and some in the clothes closets (boy, what screaming), I don't think they ever found out who did it. Our attitude towards school seemed to be different then, when we went to school you didn't walk in like a bum, you had to wear a tie and look presentable, hair combed, shoes polished. The teachers that I had made you feel good, and took pride in teaching you."

"I was a sports lover not a scholarly type. I did keep up my grades so I could play in sports. I got school letters, football, wresting, track and gymnastics. The whole back of the school was taken up by the football field and the oval of the running track. I spent a lot of my High School years in these fields. During the football season the middle of the football field was all dug up by frequent use, grass had a poor chance of growing and the ground froze so your elbows and knees were rubbed raw. Many of our games were played in the snow, I am very proud of this school and won't ever forget the good times I had here."

Victor and Anthony off to WWII

On Bougainville Island South Pacific

Anthony is at the top of the stack

I remember my father talking about life during this time. He said they went in just after the Marines had secured the island, the Seabee's job was to make the place habitable for living and activities, building airstrips and quarters were part of their daily life. Many years later when we would play cards as a family (at least once a week) when it came time for my dad to deal out the cards he would deal them 2-3 or even 5 cards at a time to each person. It drove my brother-in-law Roger nuts. He would tell my dad, "are you nuts why do you do that". My dad explained one day telling him, "when we were oversees we played a lot of cards during down time, we always dealt like that cause you didn't know if you were going to finish dealing out the hand before you had to take cover for some reason", then he laughed and it shut Roger up.

Thinking about it now, I think that my dad was trying to tell his son-in-law something, mainly that Roger had no clue about what war was really like and that he shouldn't disrespect his elders especially Veterans from WWII. Today I saw a book on, "The Greatest Generation", I pointed it out to my son Caspian and he said that every generation thinks they were the best one, but I don't think so, my fathers generation did so much more. It wasn't the "me" group that we have now, during the 40's people really pulled together and went above and beyond their expectations. They really gave their lives and freedoms for their children and grandchildren to have better lives, I respect that and hope that I can make sure that my children someday understand as I do now.

AJG served on the following islands with the 75th Seabees...

New Caledonia

Numea

Guadalcanal

New Guinea-Papuan

Bougainville

Russell Island-Banika

Philippines

Leyete

Samar

Parents Page (Frank & Mary)

Susan Gerbic-Forsyth's Page (author)