Ashley T.

Ashley T.

Part of her grandparents and family fought in World War II; while the other side of her family perished in the Holocaust.

Ashley T.

Ashley *

Due to the draft, almost all families, including mine were involved and affected by World
War II in some way, shape or form. My grandparents on my father’s side are not alive
today, but I do know my grandmother was at Pearl Harbor the day it was bombed and
had to evacuate at the age of 12 and her father was in the Navy. My Jewish
grandparents on my mother’s side is where I accumulated most of my information about
the country’s state after the War and how did it personally affect them.
During World War II my grandfather, who was a Sergeant in the Army-Air Force and
served until he was separated from the military a year after the War had ended. He then
traveled to Florida to live out his dream as being a Meteorologist and was hired by the
weather bureau. A year later he met my grandmother who was greatly affected by the
War.
During the War my grandmother worked at a Buick war plant manufacturing buses for
the army in Chicago. She had four brothers who were all drafted into the military at that
time. The oldest died in 1944 in Italy. The others survived and after the war, left the
military and all were involved in the family’s used car business, which did not have
much business after the war due to a lack of inventory.
My great great-grandmother and 7 of her children (6 brothers the youngest was a two
week old, and one sister) to include all their families who lived on a farm in Lithuania
were killed during the Holocaust. They were marched out of their houses early morning,

stripped of all their clothes and belongings, were told to dig a mass graves and shot to
death.
Basically, my great great-grandmother’s entire family except for her was killed that day.
This was very devastating, but my grandmother did not receive verification until 1960
after contacting the Red Cross because their letters kept getting returned. My family,
since then have tried to recover all the land in Lithuanian that my great great-randfather
owned, but they stated that unless my grandmother became a resident they could not
receive the land. Even then, their records were not that accurate so I do not even know
if she would receive all that was owed to her.
After the War there was a lot of racism towards the Jews in America for a long time. My
grandparents live in Montgomery County in Maryland and when they first moved there
in 1950 there would be signs stating No Jews allowed in some places and parks. My
grandfather states that the unemployment rate for the veterans after World War II were
very high, the government introduced the GI Bill so soldiers were able to go back to
school and get their degree, which a lot of veterans utilized.
In conclusion, my entire family was involved in War World II and was affected by the
aftermath just like millions of other families. It was a sad and desperate time for a lot of
people trying to digest what was left over from War World II and all the missing people
and deaths. Though, World War II greatly impacted our country and brought on social,
cultural, and economic movements that would change history and lead us in the right
direction.