"No longer could it cultivate the old American illusion of withdrawing safely behind the Atlantic and Pacific while the rest of the corrupt world went about its dirty business. The shock was galvanic. It forged a superpower."

With the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was catapulted into the global horrors of World War II. From "sea to shining sea," America drew upon her natural resources, her spirit of patriotism and unity, and the resiliency of her people to ultimately claim victory.

Men and women from every state were called to serve, some in Europe, some in the Pacific, and some at home. This was a united American cause, individual people contributing to the strength and success of the war effort. Everyone-man, woman, or child-who lived the war years was irrevocably altered by those experiences.

Judy Busk, an educator and writer, was a child of five when the war ended. Though very young during the war years, her life was impacted by the emotional and temporal implications of war within her family setting.

In an article written for the November 22, 1989, issue of the Daily Spectrum she recalls, "Everything was in short supply: sugar, meat, gas. . .and nylon stockings. I remember my aunts smoothing on leg make-up when they couldn't get stockings. Somehow my father had managed to get a pair of nylon stockings for my mother. I can remember her hands' excited trembling as she pulled them on her long, slender legs.

"We went to The Pike, an amusement park that fronted the beach, and boasted the 'World's Largest Roller Coaster.' Daddy teased us into a ride."

She goes on to describe the roller coaster ride and relates how, during the wild descent down the steep track, her mother's knees slammed against the front of the car.

"When the ride finally stopped, we got dizzily out. Then my mother looked down at the holes in the knees of her stockings and started crying. I can still remember her there in the colored lights crying."

Wishing to capture World War II memories of others, Judy Busk engaged her students in the interviewing of local residents. Perceptions and experiences on a very personal and very intimate level were shared.

Student interviewers were touched by the vividness of the emotions and the clarity of the memories that flooded into the minds, faces, and voices of interviewees as they recalled and relived an epoch period in their lives. They sometimes laughed and frequently wept as each told his or her story.

Journalist, Eric Sevareid, in the foreword to the Time-Life Book, WW II writes," . . . the faces, the scenes and sounds, and some of the feelings come back again and again. There is no human experience like war, especially great and extended war, a war that involves whole nations and whole families. World War II was a total war. . . ."

With this introduction, we present a compilation of histories from Sevier County residents who share their war experiences. This then, is a journal of what they saw, what they lived, and what they learned.

The accounts are transcriptions of taped interviews with residents or former residents of Sevier conducted in December of 1991 and January and March of 1992 by Richfield High School Honors English students.

This ongoing project forms a new addition to the Sevier County Oral History Project under the direction of English instructor, Judy Busk.