“Women Remember the War” is a fascinating collection of oral histories of 25 Wisconsin women who lived through World War II. It consists of edited versions of interviews done in the early 1990s.

The chapters are organized by the women’s experience with some women appearing in multiple sections. The factory worker, the single employed, the mothers, those who wore uniforms and they who waited for their men to return all have their tales to tell.

This is not polished writing, but neither is it disorganized facts. The subjects narrate their stories in their own words. Editor Michael E. Stevens selects the passages and organizes them so as to maintain the reader’s interest throughout this 157 page tome.

What I like best about this work is the way insights jump off the page. You are reading along normally when suddenly something hits you. It may trigger a memory, reveal an aspect of which you had never thought or incite an “I didn’t know that” moment.

Jane Heinemann’s recollection of how her rendition of “Begin The Beguine” gave a wounded soldier the will to live reminds me of the spell it had over a woman of World War II age whom I knew. The inconvenience of rationing comes up again and again. Rose Kaminski’s practice of taking her main meal at lunch in the factory cafeteria to save the coupons for the family was a clever way of coping while Marjorie Miley’s comment that they had to save up their sugar coupons for a wedding cake, particularly one with icing, reduces the war to the very practical. I have heard of about conflicts between different ethnic groups and Emily Koplin’s description of the Polish, German and Italian neighborhoods rings true while her comments about the Germans speaking of what Hitler was trying to accomplish and the reluctance to bring up certain topics in some neighborhoods emphasizes the importance ethnic loyalties still played. To me at least, Gene Gutkowski’s father’s opinion that “Irish are fine” is personally reassuring. WAAC Frieda Schurch’s reminiscences of being stationed in an area where the mosquitoes were too bad for the POWs still stings, but there are also the downright humorous. You have to chuckle at WAC Julie Davenport’s recitation of her response to “Well, you know, I’d like more potatoes” with “You know the rules, get going” before looking up to see that she was talking to Eleanor Roosevelt.

The subjects are all Wisconsin women but their experiences are common to American women from coast to coast. Whether you remember World War II, or just heard your mothers and grandmothers speak of it, “”Women Remember the War” will be an enjoyable and rewarding read. We are fortunate that the Wisconsin Historical Society has preserved these tales for us.

I did receive a free copy of this book for reading and review. ( )