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My father
loved what he did for our living; working on various parts
of the railroad; the highlight of his employment being the
time spent working the passenger train during WW2 on the
Norfolk & Western Railway's Second 16; sporting his well
deserved brakeman's uniform; visiting with the passengers as
well as doting on the service men onboard. He would leave
Cincinnati, Ohio from the Union Station terminal for
Williamston, W. Va. and return back to Cincinnati during
those war years. This was a new experience for him.
Since Dad was employed by the railroad,
my Mother and my siblings and I were afforded free railway
travel. During my teen years, my Mother was fighting a
battle to keep her vision to no avail but during this
battle, she and I would travel from our hometown of
Portsmouth, Ohio to Cincinnati, Ohio by train; leaving our
hometown for the city at a very early hour. It was my
responsibility to see us from the Union terminal to the main
part of Cincinnati where Mother would visit her eye
practitioner for her treatments. This had to be a very
trying time for her but as a young girl of 15, I was not
aware of the complete trauma so I readily accepted her gifts
of a new dress, special eateries and movies; not realizing
the burden that was placed on her.
Once our commitments were fulfilled in
the city, we would head back to the terminal to await the
long afternoon/evening to board the train for home. It made
for a long tiring day but the memory of those days linger
on.
As the years came and went, my daughter
came to pick me up to take me for a day's outing. To my
surprise, we ended up at the same Union terminal with my
daughter not being aware of what had transpired with Mother
in my youth. As we walked toward the building, I stopped
and said; "Hi Dad, I'm back!" This frustrated and alarmed
my daughter because my father had been gone for many years
plus she had not had the advantage of every knowing him.
Naturally, I explained to her what a delight it was to come
back to one of the places that I had visited in my youth.
Being a teenager during WW2, I well
remember the ration books, the shortage of coffee, sugar,
nylon hose and etc. There was an area within the museum
which featured the artifacts of those days; homes with gold
or silver stars displayed in their living room windows,
mannequins dressed as red cross workers, soldiers in
uniform, and the music from those days was playing. It was
a very nostalgic visit; one that I will always remember as a
story worth being told.
Norma Liles ?©
hoopla214 @ yahoo.com |
