Arzelle Leighton

Interviewed by Hayden Yeomans.

Born March 5, 1915

Age at the start of the war: 25

Current age: 94

My great grandmother was living in Seattle when the war in Europe began. She was a stay at home mom for her two daughters while her husband Fred was a ferry boat captain. She had been reading about the rise of Fascism in Germany and Italy through the newspaper. She was very scared of Mussolini and Hitler, fearing what they could bring upon the rest of the world. When pearl harbor was attacked my great grandmother was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes and became shocked from what she was hearing on the radio. When the United States declared war, Arzelle was very happy and believed it was the right choice to make despite the consequences that may occur in the coming years. After the war started everything was rationed. She explained to me how lucky I am right now to be able to get what you want when you want it. You could only get what was rationed and nothing more. Making everything from meat to sugar to rubber very hard to find. I asked her what her opinion was about the Russians becoming our allies. “We were glad they became our allies but we never trusted them because Stalin was such a crook and horrible person to his own people." At the time she added that Communism was, and still is, a complete fairy tale.

Although she thought it was horrible, Arzelle believed dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the right thing to do. She believed that we were racing to build the atomic bomb before the Axis powers did and to end the war swiftly. Through the newspaper she gradually found out about the holocaust. She believed it was utterly awful and despicable what they did to the Jewish people. When the war was officially over the victory to Arzelle was bittersweet. “We had won the war but at a very high cost for us and our allies”. Her most lasting memory is the Death of F.D.R. She can still remember watching people crying when he died and how sad she felt. Despite horrible things that occurred during WWII Arzelle felt some positive things came from the war. She believed that it made the U.S. a world leader and it created an upward trend for women in the nation.