Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "HNLMS Java - Guide 028 (Human Voice)" video.

When I was 14 years old, my uncle, who worked for the Cleveland Plain Dealer during the war, presented me with a complete bound volume of all the 1942 editions of the paper. I was bound with some sort of wooden or very heavy cardboard covers, had over 1,000 pages of the various editions, including the color Sunday funnies, and weighed about 25 pounds. I devoured those papers from then right up until today. The poor thing is pretty dogeared now, but the one thing that really struck me was how dark the first five months of the war was. All of Europe was under Nazi control and the Japanese were running rampant in the Pacific. There was real doubt that we could win the war, with some commentators saying we;d end up being the last remnants of democracy once Britain fell. That civilians were able to maintain morale by throwing themselves into their work of producing more war material was really a miracle itself.
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