| Show THEY DIDNBELIEVE ME Elizabeth Story Senior Honorable Mention Personal Recollection Sometimes life is stranger than fiction Things happen by happenstance it seems for no reason at all and it happened to me one day and no one would believe me It happened like this It was 1944 and we were in the throes of World War I1 We could not drive our automobile because of the gas shortage so living in Cheyenne Wyoming was easy to travel on the train My husband Worth told me thatshould take our two little girls Mary and Leah on the Union Pacific train to Salt Lake City and on to Mt Pleasant Utah to visit my parents sisters friends and Worthparents in Moroni as well My parents wrote inletter that they would meet me in Salt Lake They had saved up their gas ration forwhile to be able to drive the car to Salt Lake to take us all to Sanpete The day arrived and Worth took my daughters and me to the depot and we boarded the train Our seats were incar with some families but most of the car was occupied by US Service men or boys should say They were being sent to the Pacific Coast to be sent to Asia to fight It was not unusual to find most of the passenger coaches filled with these boys There were many thousands of them transported by rail to board the ships and airplanes to the Pacific war was getting my two girls and myself settled for the trip One young man seated among many of those in uniform looked at us and said Your little girls are going to be very tired by the time we get to California replied think they will be fine We are only going as far as Salt Lake City Utah His face lit up and he asked me if that was my home told him that my husband andlived in Cheyenne but our parents lived in Utah also told him my parents would be in Salt Lake City to meet us and then we would 31 |
