To the editor:

My story takes you back to the WWII era. I’ll be 97 soon, and all my friends are gone.

At the time of the war, I was living with my sister in Chicago. I was hired by the U.S. Navy, with offices on busy State Street in downtown Chicago. Three years of great work.

My desk was by a glass window near the entryway, and the door was locked.

Rare that anyone entered that way. One day, a man entered and knocked on the door.

I noticed his officers’ Navy uniform, so I pushed the buzzer and opened the door for him.

He entered and stood right by my desk.

All the men working at their huge drawing boards looked up at him. These men had been so busy drawing ship parts for the Navy, but this man got their attention with his loud voice. “If you have a purse, a jacket, or any personal item. get all of it because I am locking the doors,” he said.

Then he shouted louder and louder with a smile – “The war is over! The war is over!”

Vi Gill

Fort Dodge