Upper Arlington Home Front During World War II - The Armstrong Family
When Warren C. Armstrong left for Officers Training in 1944, the Armstrong family was living at 2756 Edgewood Road. At the time this was part of Perry Township, as Upper Arlington’s northern border was still a few miles south of their home. Warren had grown up in UA, and by 1954, the family would again become UA residents via land annexation.
Carefully saved letters between Warren (“Army”) and his wife Virginia (“Ginny”), dotted with endearments of “sweetheart” and “darling,” tell a story of years of perserverance, loss and hope. These excerpts from Ginny’s correspondence provide a glimpse of what wartime was like for those left behind. At the end of this page, daughter Ann Armstrong Knodt adds her remembrances of this time in a recorded audio clip.
Lieutenant Warren C. Armstrong in 1944 in his naval uniform.
While Warren C. was serving in WWII, his family remained in their home just northeast of today’s Fishinger Road and Riverside Drive. Pictured above (L-R) are Susan, Virginia, and Ann.
“I was glad I went to the meeting of the service men’s wives last nite at the church. Dr. Burkhart [First Community Church] gave us all autographed copies of his book “The Church and the Returning Soldier”...He started out by saying he was weary and discouraged after spending the day talking to couples considering divorce and said he had begun to believe that maybe we were the lucky ones after all. He expressed it better than I can but just what we have said - that our life together will be forever enriched by this separation and all it means. That something fine can come out of it that may never have been otherwise.”
“I am so glad I got to meet the officers on the Wiley. Knowing who you are associating with makes it easier when I think of you away “out there” someplace. It makes me feel better just to think of Stew in all his calmness - accepting things as they come. You can tell him I’m glad he’s there with you.
”
This is a letter from Ginny to daughter, Ann, as she headed to see Warren on The Wiley:
Life Continues Without Warren
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Life Continues Without Warren |
April 9, 1944 - Easter Sunday a few days after husband and father, Warren C. Armstrong LT (JG), left home on March 24, 1944 for Officers Training at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ. Pictured L to R: Susan, Virginia and Ann.
Another Easter in April 1945 at Ann’s grandparents, Susan C. and Warren A. Armstrong’s home at 1761 Roxbury Road along with sister, Susan. Ann’s father, Warren C., Armstrong was still away in service for WWII. Note the girls’ fancy Easter bonnets.
Ann (with the cake in center of photo) celebrating her sixth birthday in May 1945 while her father is in the service. The party is in her backyard with neighborhood children attending.
“Last evening after supper we drove out to Bay Village to see a couple friends of Dave and Kate’s. The kids didn’t get to bed until after 10. They had a big time sitting drinking cokes with cherries in them while we had manhattans. They were too cute. You know how that pleases Ann to be included in the grown-ups “goins on” and she acts very grown up herself. Yesterday morning and this afternoon they played up the street with the same little girls - sisters aged 7 and 2.5. We took the older one riding with us tonight.
It’s now 4th of July morning - I had to stop last nite to get in on some of Dave’s good bourbon. Well are you “celebrating” the 4th by shooting off some big noises? How is the morale on the Wiley these days? Is everyone pretty glum or do you have your happier moments?”
And the Hard Work Remains, Too
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And the Hard Work Remains, Too |
Summer of 1945 brought the Armstrong grandparents to Ann’s home to help them in many ways. Here Warren A. Armstrong is plowing the garden. He shared the responsibility for garden planning with Ann’s mother, Virginia. While her grandparents were at the house, Ann’s mother would go to Ben Blinn farm’s community gardens (now Fancyburg Park) to harvest whatever vegetables were ready.
“They hadn’t brought the coal or the salt that you had ordered so I called today and Mr. Russel didn’t seem to know anything about it. He said it would be next week before he would have the coal in and to call him if I ran out and he’d send a little over as an emergency. I doubt whether it will last but it is so hard to get it all out. I have gotten in there and shoveled it up twice and I have it all up to the door now.
Since you asked I’ll tell you what has been written on the bank account since you left - it stood at $214 after your fare to Philadelphia and the $25 you wrote over there - since then -
25.00 Cash
2.94 Dispatch
13.78 Electric
38.11 Loan
20.00 Cash
21.66 Telephone
9.25 Fashion (Blouse)
10.91 Penn Mutual (my pol.)
12.00 Dr Alspaugh
13.34 Milk
18.77 Tire, Gas, Oil
20.00 Cash (10.00 for meat)
31.67 Lazarus
237.43 [Total]
So you see - you are right when say you can’t save any of the $200 it just about takes it all to run this place. I have been spending.”
“I spent most of all day gathering up old clothes for the old clothes drive for Europe. I will take it all down to the church in the morning. I have a huge box of stuff and probably have a lot more I should throw away - you know me — how I hate to throw anything away. I also brought out a lot of things for mending and Helen and I have started in with a vengeance mending.”
Visits Away from Home
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Visits Away from Home |
While Warren C. was in training at NTS-TR in Hollywood Beach, FL, the family stayed with him in a rental apartment in August 1944.
Ann’s parents were together in Washington, D.C. (here at Mount Vernon) in December of 1945 while Warren C. was stationed in Norfolk, VA. That Christmas was celebrated at home without her father.
Homecoming
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Homecoming |
“Needless to say I’ll be thinking about the possibility of your being back here every minute until I hear for sure. Oh darling it would be so wonderful to see you again — even with a mustache! That I can’t imagine. Can’t you get a picture of yourself before you shave it off?
I need you so - it still seems so far away that I haven’t let myself think too much about your being home for good. The future is still something rather unreal to me and unsure - I just go from day to day — plugging away.”
On February 3, 1946, Lieutenant Warren C. Armstrong comes home after two years in the service. He is officially discharged from the Navy in March of 1946.
Ann with a cake to welcome her father home from WWII service. Her family is the “Welcome Army.”
Ann and sister, Susan, under the table with their father’s feet finally where they belong - at home!
Ann in March of 2024, still living in her childhood home surrounded by scrapbooks of her family’s history.