Evening star., 1943-01-21
So Your Husbands Gone to War!
BY ETHEL G0RHAM.

you are proud even as you are
hurt, as women must always be
hurt when the men they love go
off to war.
John x avoided the draft, you
think. Why didn't George try?
What do I care about this old war
and this business of bravery2 John
will come out of the war safe,
sound and lot richer-and in five
years everybody will forget he
lodged the draft by getting fake
deferment. But George-something
might happen to him and I'll be
the only one left to remember.
That's what you think at one
minute. Like most women in love,
you prefer living coward to a
dead hero. You're no frantic, pub
licity crazy, umbrella banging, SEX
starved female left over from the
last war. And the game of pin-the-
white-feather went out with the
false armistice.
IT the whole matter had been left
TO you, you would have preferred
some way your husband could have
stayed at home.
George didn't try to dodge the
draft. Mark volunteered. However
your husband got in 1t, you know
1t was the only way for him.
But that may not be true of your
friends husband. His eyes are bad,
you know, and he couldn't see a
German If he were standing smack
on top Of him.
Take the young man next door
VINO Is serving on the special COM
mittee that gets blanket deferment.
Naturally his mother is happier that
her son is doing something removed
from danger. The son didn't seek
out the job to save his neck. He
preferred going into active service.
But the job was given him by rea-
son OF training and background.
Undoubtedly in the early days
there was a great hustle and rushing
of to Washington to seek the cushy
desk jobs that keep a man from
harm. But remember the next time
you want to ask man why he isn't
In uniform that the the young man
working on the special committee
happens, for obvious reasons, not to
be in khaki, while the man with the
soft desk job might be sporting two
stripes because he's the son of a
Senator who knows q general who
knows the ropes.
Consider the factories working day
and night. This is a war of pro-
duction as we'll as combat. And
the non-uniformed men on the pro-
duction lines are some of the best
young fighters in the country. If
your husband were on one of the
gigantic conveyor belts going full
blast these days he'd be doing his
duty as surely and rightly as he is
now.
incidentally, he would certainly
be making more money than the
Army or Navy chooses to pay. If
you find yourself getting angry
about it, stop and think. Isn't it
true that holding on to hard
lought wage scales is protection
for your husband when he re-
turns?
1t Is true that there are many
draftable young men who have
gone into defense jobs for more
money than they ever made in
their lives before in order to in
sure their deferred status. They
very often are SNUG and patriotic
| about the work they are doing
and act as If dollars and draft
lodging played no part in their
choice at all. But they are in the
minority.
| Ihe man you see in the restau-.
rant in civilian clothes NAV be
a school teacher. He may be doc
tor assigned to remain behind by
the military medical board. He
may be a minister, laboratory
technician, a Congressman or an
idiot. 1t would be laughable for
| you to bang each one over the
head and say, "Why aren't you in
khaki, my man2"
They're all in civilian clothes,
exactly where they belong. So is
the 3-A husband who simply can
not leave his family of his own
free will. Nothing is more con-
temptible than the man who de-
velops a completely dependent wife
overnight. The clinging vines that
have come to light since December
7! Also the passion for the family
that has suddenly blossomed where
only sterility reigned before.
But the man with children and
dependent wife belongs at home
maintaining that family until
called. 1t may be cold comfort to
you on lonely nights, but most
such men are eating away at
themselves and their wives because
they can't go.
You'll rage against the people
who say Smugly, as If they were
proud Of their bravery, There's
just as much danger for civilians
today as for the men at the 'front.'"
They seem to feel that as long as
they remain in the CITY, carrying
on business as usual" all will be
forgiven in the heaven of Mars.
You know there Is more danger |
for civilians in this war than ever
before, but the men in the combat |
zone have a bit more tricky time
of 1t than the stroller down Mich
igan boulevard.
You'll have your RACES; you'll
have your peeves. When emotions
are as deeply stirred as a wife's
by the loss of her husband, you
can't go along like blooming Pol
lyanna. just remember that this
Is total war, new product of this
wonderful century, and one way or
another there are an awful lot of