The Pittsburgh Press (June 27, 1942)
Fathers face war problem
Volunteering hard decision for family men
By Ruth Millett
There is probably no group of young men in America today faced with a tougher personal problem than young men who have wives and one or more small children to whom they feel an obligation but who, because they are young and able-bodied, also feel that they should be in this fight.
Many of them know that their wives could get good jobs if they went into the Army – which would take care of the financial problem. But that would mean that the children would either have to be left all day with a hired girl – perhaps none too intelligent in her handling of children – or sent away to live with grandparents, to whom their care is almost sure to be something of a burden.
Also, there is the ever-present concern that if they go into the Army, they might not return or might come back unable to support a family, which would mean that their wives would be left to provide for the children.
Yet, if they are thoughtful men, they are bound to know that whether their children grow up in a democratic world where they will have a chance or whether they have to live menaced by injustice, hardship, and terror depends on the outcome of this year.
Realizing that, it is hard for their fathers to know that they are doing nothing much to help win the war, spending their time as many of them are on jobs that look pretty unimportant and could either go undone for the duration or be taken over by a woman, an older man, or one not physically fit for military service.
No one can advise these men what to do. Each has to make his own decision. Neither decision, to stay at home or volunteer for service, will seem wholly right.
All that these men can do is choose the way that seems to them to be the better way. Even their wives can’t help them, except by saying:
Whatever you decide is all right with me.