On this episode of Our American Stories, Doris Wilson was working as a waitress in Perry, Iowa, when news of the attack on Pearl Harbor interrupted the music playing in the restaurant. Before long, all five of her brothers were serving in the military, and the young Iowa woman found herself headed to Texas after marrying Warren Neal, a farmer turned Army Air Forces pilot and flight instructor.
Their new life at the Marfa Army Air Base brought crowded wartime housing, officers’ luncheons, long hours, and one aqua formal gown that made Doris feel like Cinderella at the opening of the Officers Club. But behind the dances and letters home was a family paying an enormous price for the war. Our regular contributor Joy Neal Kidney shares her mother’s story. Joy is the author of Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II.
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