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Linda's Refections January 16, 2025

Dad's Ice -Cream Bowl

I wrote a little story about Dad's ice cream bowl and his yearning for the freedom while he was a POW during WWII. The story was written for The Keepthings, where people share stories about lost loved ones, inspired by the objects they left behind.
 

My husband once tried to scoop chili into this bowl and put it in the microwave. In my panic to stop him, I nearly knocked the bowl to the floor. I bathed it, gently dried it, then clutched it under my sweater, all the while repeating “sorry, so sorry.” I was apologizing to the little melamine dish but also to my late father. For him, the bowl had held the taste of freedom.

In World War II, Dad was a lieutenant in the 100th Bomb Group, flying from a base in England over the North Sea to bomb targets in Germany and France. On July 25, 1943, he was on his eighth mission when the B-17 he was co-piloting, Duration + 6, crash-landed in the sea. Six members of the 10-man crew died. Dad and the three other survivors were rescued by heroic Danish fishermen, but Denmark was under Nazi occupation, and when they got to port, German soldiers took the Americans prisoner.

He was a POW for nearly two years, and for nearly two years he was hungry all the time. Ice cream was one of the foods he most craved.

The POW camp was liberated by General Patton’s Army on April 29, 1945, and the former prisoners were moved to a transition camp in France. Dad had lost 35 pounds. His intestines couldn’t handle anything rich—certainly not ice cream. That would have to wait until he got back to America. He arrived on June 15, 1945, called my mom at 3 a.m. to ask her to marry him and later that day had a steak and, at last, his special treat.

I have vivid memories of eating ice cream with him on Sunday afternoons. He never wanted a cone. He’d give me a dollar and send me next door to Helen’s Grocery Store for a hand-packed pint of chocolate or coffee, and then he’d serve himself in one of these little black bowls. We had a set of four, and maybe they were part of the celebration; the speckles do look like confetti. The bowls were durable and fun, just like Dad. He would carry his to the couch as if it held diamonds.

After the war he’d wanted to stay in the Army Air Corps as a full-time flight instructor, but as a POW he’d missed so much flight time, and the Corps had its pick of airmen with more. He accepted the disappointment, joined the family funeral home instead and whistled while he worked, even while embalming. He played cards with his buddies from the cemetery and was the king of backyard parties. At Christmas, he got the biggest tree he could find and tossed on silver tinsel by the boxful. At night, rather than tell bedtime stories, he’d sit at the piano and sing. Every night, he lifted us to the ceiling and told us to touch the sky.

When Dad died, in 1975, my mom saved his POW journal for me, and several years ago the son of one of the Danish fishermen gave me one of two maps my father had given his: detailed escape maps American airmen were issued in case they were shot down over enemy territory, made of silk so they wouldn’t rustle and give the soldier away. I treasure both these artifacts, but it’s the little black ice cream bowl—the lone survivor of the set—I treasure most. It time-travels me back to happy days with my beaming father, who never got over the amazing good fortune of being alive to share something delicious with the people he loved.

—Linda Styles Berkery

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Prayers for Bill Sanvidge

Please add one of our veteran classmates Bill Sanvidge to your daily prayer list. Bill was recentlly diagnosed with a new form of cancer and has started treatment. Bill lives in Florida and has some of his family nearby. I am hoping our prayers will be heard and help to lift some of the crosses Bill and his family are experiencing. Bill is on our web site and you can always send him your private message. If you have forgotten how here is a reminder. On our home page hit Classmate Profiles, then find William Sandvidge, under Bill's name hit - send William a private message. For get well cards of encouragment Bill's address is below. 

Bill Sanvidge 4073 Longwood Circle  Gulf Breeze, FL 32563

Let Us Pray

A few of my friends are sick, Lord:  give them (and me) the grace to accept what illness brings even as we pray for healing. Give us the courage we need to live through these uncertain days.  Give us the strength we need to take it all, one day at a time.  Give us the love we need to trust you're with us night and day.  Some friends of mine are sick, Lord:  hear our prayers for healing, for courage and for strength, and for love to share day by day, in caring for each other.  We ask this through Christ our Lord, AMEN.

Thank You Classmate

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