Introduction: 17 sec
"My name is John Mannoia. When World War II broke out, December 7, 1941, I was just 12 years old. When the war ended in August of 1945 I was only 16 years old. I was a little too young to be in the service, but we did our share at home."What were some of the things you did to help the War Effort?
- Junior Air Raid Warden: 33 sec
"Some of the things we did as a youth is: I became a Junior Air Raid Warden. Now, what we did as an Air Raid Warden, was every time they had an alert, one of these practice alerts, it was our job to look around at all the different apartments that had lights showing & caution the people that having lights showing could be very dangerous in the event there was an air attack. And we cautioned them and taught them and trained them to make sure that every time we had one of these alerts they had to turn their lights out. That was one of the things we did."- Scrap Metal Drives: 30 sec
"Another thing we did to help in the War effort, we used to have these "Scrap Metal Drives". All the youths in those days would go around pickin' up all the old pots and pans, anything made of metal, and we would turn them into a depot to help the war effort. As a matter of fact, some of the local movie theaters, to encourage the young boys and girls to do the same thing would offer them free entry into the movies if they brought in scrap metal. And that's what we did."- War Bonds/Stamps: 40 sec
"For those of us who worked after school, and a lot of us did in those days-we had no television-and to have some extra spending money...You must remember that the depression was just about 'till the war, made it pretty difficult for the young children in those days. So wherever we could, we'd try to make a few extra cents. We would work in grocery stores [etc] we would take the money that we'd earned, and they would encourage us to buy savings stamps. You would put them in a book, and when you'd accumulated enough savings stamps, you were able to buy a savings bond. And the object with the savings bond, obviously, was to help finance the war-and we were encouraged to do that!- Victory Garden? 40 sec
"When food was in short supply-because everything was rationed, and a good part of our food was going over seas to our American troops and allies to try and help them out-the youths of America were encouraged to plant Victory Gardens. Those that had a home, with a little parcel of land, were encouraged to plant vegetables there, for themselves. Those that lived in the tenanted houses, as we did, were encouraged to get flower pots and to plant vegetables in them: Radishes, carrots, tomatoes. Because every little bit, that we were able to grow ourselves, left that much more food that was available to send to our soldiers and allies."
What was the rationing like? 15 sec
"We were, obviously, inconvenienced with the rationing. Everything was rationed, from canned goods, to butter, to gasoline, to meat-we just had to learn to live with it! Because what we were doing was for the boys in the service, and we wanted them to come home as soon as they could."What sort of things did you see happen to New York during the War? 30 sec
"Prior to World War II, the 9th Ave "L" (which was an elevated line that worked from Downtown Manhattan to up into the Bronx) was taken down and the scrap metal was sent to Japan. Japan had no natural resources, and they were at the time, prior to the war, friendly competitors. They bought the scrap metal from America, and this is what they used to bomb us at Pearl Harbor."Did you ever see any enemy crafts? 35 sec
"We went to youth camp out in Jamesport Long Island with the Boys Club of New York. And this was on [the] high cliffs on the Long Island Sounds. Now we used to, during the war years, look out at the Long Island Sound in the evenings and we were able to see submarines on the surface. Whether they were enemy or American, we never really knew. But I do know at one time, the Germans did land some saboteurs on the beaches of Long Island. They were captured, fortunately, but what we had seen could very well have been one of their submarines, looking for a place to land their saboteurs."Did they ever land successfully? 10 sec
"No. They were captured before they could do any damage. During those years there were patrols on the beach, with dogs. The Army patrolled the beaches just to avoid an incident like this."Did you lose many friends to the War?
"Oh, quite a few friends that went off to war, and relatives that went off to war. Everyone in those days who had any kinda'...everyone in the family [knew] someone who went off to war. And some of them never came back."How did you monitor the War?
"We very anxiously watched the newspapers for any headlines, we listened to the radios-we had no TV in those days. And we did all we could to support our boys and girls that were serving in the armed forces. Because we were...concerned! We had, as I said, many relatives and friends that were there and we just wanted to see them come back safely. We wanted the war to be over. We did whatever what was asked of us...we tried our best."How did you feel about the War? 50 sec
"Obviously, we wanted the war to be over with as soon as we could. But, many of the stories of the atrocities we didn't know about until the war was almost at an end. [Your] well aware of the concentration camps, and the many, many people that died in those concentration camps: gypsies, Jews, political dissidents... These were things we really didn't know about until the Americans went into Germany and liberated these concentration camps. That's when the American public was first really made aware of the atrocities that were being performed on these people, and it really came as a shock to all of us! I think had we been more aware of this, we may have put in a stronger effort to get the war over with, because a lot of those people really did suffer!"Were there any major worries that you had?
"We were very concerned that someday there might be an air raid in the cities that we lived in, because we lived on the coast. And some of the things that we were required to do to prevent any major catastrophes was in the tenement houses that we lived in, on each floor, we kept several buckets of sand-not water! Because we were concerned that if the incendiary bombs were dropped on us-as the Germans dropped throughout Europe-the bombs being made of magnesium would only flare and burn hotter if you put water on them. It wouldn't put them out. The only way you could put those flames out was with sand."Were any of your friends shot down?
"We have some friends of ours, one of which was a navigator: flew many missions over Germany. And on one of his missions, was shot down, had to parachute from his plane-three of the crew escaped, the rest died-landed in Germany, it was just around Christmas time, and I believe he broke his leg when he fell. [He] was hobbling along when some German troops came upon him. What was he supposed to do? He did what he thought was the proper thing to do to, at the time, save his life-he yelled at them "Merry Christmas!"What happened to him?
"They captured him, they put him in a prison camp; and eventually, when the war was over he was released and sent home."Conclusion: 68 sec
"War is a terrible, terrible thing! People die, people get hurt. During these different wars, that we've had, they don't show you enough of the people who never came back, the people who were badly wounded-have lost a leg, two legs, and arm, two arms, or in some cases even all four limbs-who have had half their faces blown away, people who have lost their minds from the shell-shock... It looks to a lot of young children as a very exciting and adventurous thing-to go to war and to shoot at each other. It is not a game! It doesn't start and then end, like a movie does. The consequences of the war and the damages that it does last for the rest of your life! You younger boys of this day-and-age, should learn that, again, war is not a game! And if you hear friends of yours who talk of armed intervention, try to convince them-war is terrible! It's not something you want to encourage, you want to avoid it at all costs!
