Life during World War II: Anderson depicts his parents’ life, struggles being apart during World War II

Dave Anderson and Karen Pielin’s digging into their parents’ scrapbooks and photos provided them an in-depth look at what life was like for a young couple during World War II – and now, they’re working on a book of their own.

Their parents’ names were Vernon and Leona Muriel Anderson, although their mom went by Muriel and their dad’s friends all knew him as Poochie. Vernon and Muriel graduated from Seneca High School in 1935. Vernon lived in Seneca, and Muriel lived on a farm north of Seneca, although she moved to Aurora to live with a cousin after high school. They dated since high school and got married April 4, 1941, in Clinton, Iowa.

Vernon served in World War II and was an avid record keeper, sending postcards and notes home with lists of where he’d been, what he’d seen and whom he’d met. His family back home kept all of them to the point that Dave was able to create a map of where his father was based on exact dates.

He’s been doing this with the help of Carter Corsello and the Veterans Legacy Center. Dave brought in his boxes of documents and photos, and Corsello helped him digitize them.

“Dad and Mom got married before Dad got drafted, before World War II broke out for the United States,” Dave said. “He was already in the service when the war broke out.”

Dave’s original idea was to document his father’s journey, but Karen reminded him of all the letters their mother had written during the same time frame. Muriel quit her job during the war, moving from camp to camp within the U.S. to wherever Vernon was stationed.

Muriel and her mother wrote many letters back and forth, a habit she kept up with Vernon when he was stationed overseas.

“There are so many pictures of them together, and now it’s a book about my parents’ time instead of just my dad’s time into the service,” Anderson said.

His work now is to put something together for the family – something the kids and grandkids can look at to relate with their grandparents. Dave said he isn’t describing battles. He’s describing the way of life required during wartime so he can tell his parents’ personal story.

“It’s really a lot of fun,” Dave said. “There’s so many discoveries, so to speak, and I work so long to figure out one little thing.”

In a way, Dave said, it’s a lot like putting together a puzzle. So far, he has scanned 40 letters, 15 postcards and three telegrams. This all includes his dad’s diary, six postcards from others and several of his dad’s military documents. There were more than 750 photographs taken and two scrapbooks of newspaper articles.