Mrs. Gunn's Diary: Jan. 8, 1942

She frets about danger to school children but relaxes at the beauty parlor

“Today I learned they have had been maintaining a 24 hr vigil at all schools,” Mrs. Gunn wrote. An aquaintance had told her “they had learned through the State department that the Japs have planned to burn all of our schools and churches. They have burned all the schools in China.”

As a mother with three boys in schools, it’s no wonder she was worried. But she did find a respite from her anxiety.

“Had my hair washed today and it certainly rests me,” she concluded.

Neither the Germans nor the Japanese ever bombed an American school, but they were important centers for building patriotism in children. Paid subscribers can read on about the how children were taught they had a part to play in the war too.

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The 1940s cartoon above, apparently a valentine, is being offered by a dealer on eBay.