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Back in 1956, I worked for a long-defunct weekly newspaper in Florence, Ky. One day I picked up a copy of the Cincinnati Post (Florence is just minutes from the Queen City, across the Ohio River). I spotted a classified ad seeking a reporter for a daily paper in Maysville, Ky.
I recalled those glorious times when I started to read a wondrous new memoir by Kentuckian Frank F. Mathias. His just-published book, The GI Generation: A Memoir (University Press of Kentucky, $25) tells the fascinating story of Mathias's life from his birth at Hayswood Hospital in 1925 to his volunteering for the armed services at the beginning of World War II. Frank's parents lived in Carlisle, a town of 1,500 souls located about 45 miles to the southeast of Maysville. His father was a traveling salesman, calling on grocery stores in the area. (My dad worked as a candy salesman not long before the War, probably covering some of the same territory.) The book provides details of growing up in the late '30s, when things were so different than now. The Depression had arrived full blast, causing a huge amount of unemployment, and forcing breadwinners to be creative in earning enough money to provide for their families. To a boy growing up in these times, life seemed terrific. Frank Mathias didn't worry about what he and his family didn't have. He chose to live life to the fullest, no matter this vexing problem with money. Reading The GI Generation is like sitting on the front porch with Mathias, listening to him recount story after story of his family, his neighbors, and the kids in school. Growing up without TV (which didn't make it to market until after World War II), youngsters were forced to rely on imagination instead of Game Boys, Sega Dreamcasts or other gadgets of today's electronic age. During the summer, Mr. Mathias would take Frank and his brother "Speck" on trips to call on customers. Riding in a Model-T Ford, the Mathias gang enjoyed their days along primitive country roads. Dad often would find time during his long day to indulge for a few moments in his favorite hobby of fishing. He often would return home with a catch destined to become that night's supper. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Memoir Tells of Depression, Coming of War in Contemporary Fiction is owned by . Permission to republish Memoir Tells of Depression, Coming of War in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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