thedrifter
09-24-07, 07:49 AM
World War II's women vets get their turn to share
Monday, September 24, 2007
By KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
All Frances Cuccia wanted was an education, but her family thought she should focus her energies on housework and earning a paycheck as a seamstress.
Desperate to escape the family tension, she enlisted in the Marines during World War II. She ended up working as a cook at Parris Island in South Carolina.
"It was my first time away from home, and I loved every minute of it," recalled Cuccia, of Lodi. "The Marine Corps gave you a backbone. I always said I wished I had more education, but that was what life handed me, so I had to take it."
Cuccia's story was one of four shared Sunday in a tribute to the women of World War II at the Elmwood Park Veterans of Foreign Wars. The tribute was organized by Judy Fraser, a creative writing teacher at Saddle Brook Community School, who assigned four students to tell the stories of North Jersey women who served during the war.
Fraser said she was motivated by the realization that the World War II generation was dying off, and that their stories had to be captured soon. (Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, whose series on the war began Sunday night, had the same thought.)
"Much has been written about the men, and rightly so of course, because of being in battle," said Fraser, of Garfield. "The books that I've read have been very general about women. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have personal stories about their experiences. ... It was such an amazing time in their lives."
Four of Fraser's students, Pat Gonzalez and Jacque Salomon of Lodi and Mary Langerlaan and Marsha Nardella of Elmwood Park, wrote the stories, based on interviews this year. They read their stories to an audience of about 50. The Garfield Senior Center Chorus performed poignant 1940s songs, including "The White Cliffs of Dover."
Only one of the women they profiled -- Cuccia, now 90 -- was able to attend Sunday's event. Two others, Dolores Brazo of Elmwood Park and Jean Archer Rothermel of Pompton Plains, could not make it. The fourth, Millie Jaskot Dudas of Clifton, who worked in military transport, died early this year.
Among the experiences shared Sunday:
The shock of open shower rooms. "I had to face my fear of showering in front of a room full of naked strangers and get over it," Cuccia recalled.
Meeting boyfriends. Dolores Brazo, who worked as an airplane mechanic on a naval base in Florida, met Eddie Brazo when he asked her friend on a date. The friend shot him down, but Dolores piped up, "I'll go with you." They married after the war.
Making lifelong friends from around the country -- people they would never have met otherwise. Cuccia recalled working with girls who were friendly and down-to-earth, despite wealthy backgrounds.
Hearing the heartbreaking news that a loved one had been killed in battle. Rothermel, a teacher, was working with the Red Cross in Hawaii when she learned her brother had perished.
"We cried a lot of tears," Cuccio recalled. "Someone was always leaving because a loved one had been killed somewhere in the world."
The writers said hearing about the older women's experiences was gratifying.
"I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do that person justice, to explain her life in a respectful way without overdramatizing it," said Salomon, who told the story of the late Millie Dudas, based on interviews with Dudas' sisters and best friend.
She praised the World War II women's "sense of responsibility and instinct to serve."
"They had no second thoughts – 'This is what we do. Our country needs us,' " she said.
E-mail: lynn@northjersey.com
Ellie
Monday, September 24, 2007
By KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
All Frances Cuccia wanted was an education, but her family thought she should focus her energies on housework and earning a paycheck as a seamstress.
Desperate to escape the family tension, she enlisted in the Marines during World War II. She ended up working as a cook at Parris Island in South Carolina.
"It was my first time away from home, and I loved every minute of it," recalled Cuccia, of Lodi. "The Marine Corps gave you a backbone. I always said I wished I had more education, but that was what life handed me, so I had to take it."
Cuccia's story was one of four shared Sunday in a tribute to the women of World War II at the Elmwood Park Veterans of Foreign Wars. The tribute was organized by Judy Fraser, a creative writing teacher at Saddle Brook Community School, who assigned four students to tell the stories of North Jersey women who served during the war.
Fraser said she was motivated by the realization that the World War II generation was dying off, and that their stories had to be captured soon. (Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, whose series on the war began Sunday night, had the same thought.)
"Much has been written about the men, and rightly so of course, because of being in battle," said Fraser, of Garfield. "The books that I've read have been very general about women. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have personal stories about their experiences. ... It was such an amazing time in their lives."
Four of Fraser's students, Pat Gonzalez and Jacque Salomon of Lodi and Mary Langerlaan and Marsha Nardella of Elmwood Park, wrote the stories, based on interviews this year. They read their stories to an audience of about 50. The Garfield Senior Center Chorus performed poignant 1940s songs, including "The White Cliffs of Dover."
Only one of the women they profiled -- Cuccia, now 90 -- was able to attend Sunday's event. Two others, Dolores Brazo of Elmwood Park and Jean Archer Rothermel of Pompton Plains, could not make it. The fourth, Millie Jaskot Dudas of Clifton, who worked in military transport, died early this year.
Among the experiences shared Sunday:
The shock of open shower rooms. "I had to face my fear of showering in front of a room full of naked strangers and get over it," Cuccia recalled.
Meeting boyfriends. Dolores Brazo, who worked as an airplane mechanic on a naval base in Florida, met Eddie Brazo when he asked her friend on a date. The friend shot him down, but Dolores piped up, "I'll go with you." They married after the war.
Making lifelong friends from around the country -- people they would never have met otherwise. Cuccia recalled working with girls who were friendly and down-to-earth, despite wealthy backgrounds.
Hearing the heartbreaking news that a loved one had been killed in battle. Rothermel, a teacher, was working with the Red Cross in Hawaii when she learned her brother had perished.
"We cried a lot of tears," Cuccio recalled. "Someone was always leaving because a loved one had been killed somewhere in the world."
The writers said hearing about the older women's experiences was gratifying.
"I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do that person justice, to explain her life in a respectful way without overdramatizing it," said Salomon, who told the story of the late Millie Dudas, based on interviews with Dudas' sisters and best friend.
She praised the World War II women's "sense of responsibility and instinct to serve."
"They had no second thoughts – 'This is what we do. Our country needs us,' " she said.
E-mail: lynn@northjersey.com
Ellie