World War II "Good-byes" --- February, 1944

I made this video from a movie taken in February, 1944, at Camp Croft, in Spartanburg, SC. It was taken by my father’s Army buddy. It shows my mother (who is pregnant with me) with the other wives posing for the camera as my father and a second buddy take pictures of them. Then it shows part of the trip back home to Indiana by my mother and the wife of my father’s Army buddy. Finally, it shows my mother, having arrived home, with my grandmother and a neighbor in front of their home in Indianapolis.

The music is a song which was popular in February, 1944, as large numbers of men shipped out to Europe. The title is “No Love, No Nothin," sung by Ella Mae Morse. (Think about the lyrics below, as they prepare to be separated by the war.)

The men shipped out for the war on 3/01/44, staging first in Ireland, then in England. They landed on Omaha Beach. My father and the one who took the video survived the war and left England for home on 11/19/45. They arrived home 11/29/45 and were discharged 12/04/45.

Personal notes:
I was born in April, 1944, two months after my father left and weeks before he landed on Omaha Beach.
My sister was born September, 1946, 9 months after he arrived home.
The family always said that I was his ‘Good-bye,” and my sister was his “Hello.”

Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the daughter and son-in-law of my father’s Army buddy. When my mother died in 2009, they sent this movie to me, because our parents had remained friends since 1942, when they enlisted in the Army.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

No love, no nothin'
Until my baby comes home.
No sir, no nothin',
As long as baby must roam.

I promised him I’d wait for him
Till even Hades froze.
I'm lonesome, heaven knows,
But what I said still goes.

No love, no nothin',
And that's a promise I'll keep.
No fun with no one,
I'm getting plenty of sleep.

My heart's on strike,
And though it's like
An empty honeycomb,
No love, no sir,
No nothin' till my baby comes home.

No love, no nothin',
And that's a promise I'll keep.
No fun with no one,
I'm getting plenty of sleep.

My heart's on strike,
And though it's like
An empty honeycomb,
No sir, no love,
No nothin' till my baby comes home.