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Robert
Heide spend his childhood in Irvington, New Jersey, which is near
New York City, during World War II.
For
a boy living through the unsteady times of World War II in a
small town in the United States, I remember the intense family
togetherness mixed with feelings of sweet sadness, a hopeful
yearning for a peaceful future, and the directive that permeated
everything: WE HAD TO WIN THE WAR! As a youngster, I sought
to emulate the fantasy comic book heroes I idolized like Captain
Marvel, Superman, or Robin (Batman's sidekick), who were on
the side of right and might and who had to destroy the putrid
and evil common enemy. Idealistic to the extreme, that was the
way we were; and as All American kids we saw ourselves as good
guys who were united against the bad and who fought for victory
at all cost. To a child like myself much of the home front idea
of combat seemed to be more akin to play. Since no real bombs
ever fell on my hometown, it all appeared to my vivid imagination
to be happening around me in some make believe land of war that
was offered up by the movies, the radio, the comics, or as some
item you could buy at the Woolworth's toy counter for a dime
....
Robert
Heide recalling his childhood in Irvington, New Jersey, 1941-45,
in Robert Heide and John Gilman, Home Front America,
p. 23.
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