After our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, was attacked, the United States was not equipped for a war, but soon was at war with the Japanese and the German Nazis. Manufacturers switched from cars and refrigerators and farm machinery to war production. (One of the armaments on Danny Wilson’s fighter plane had been produced by Frigidaire.)

Dad on the landlord’s horse, with his slow children. I’m at the left and Gloria is with Dad on the horse.

Toward the end of the war, the “Veteran’s Preference for New Farm Machinery and Equipment” was initiated by the Materials and Equipment Branch, Production and Marketing Administration, of the Department of Agriculture. County committees could issue veterans’ preference certificates for new farm machinery to World War II veterans who wanted to farm. Holders of the certificates with priority over prior contracts and commitments.

After Dad was discharged from the Army Air Force, he started tenant farming for Donald Shaw–with horses. I just barely remember the horses. One died while we were there and I learned about the rendering works at a tender age.

The only time we had a horse to ride was at the Shaw place, although I don’t even remember being around it. The barn was across the road from the house, where we were the only children at the top of the hill. I wonder who painted the sign.

Dad was given a certificate for new farm equipment but he couldn’t afford to buy a new tractor. His uncle, M.M. Neal, offered to trade his old Farmall F-20 tractor for Dad’s certificate. The F-20 was Dad’s first tractor when he and Mom bought a farm south of Dexter in the early 1950s.

I wish we’d thought to take photos of farm equipment in those days, but they were just part of our regular lives. I wish I had nostalgic photos of Mom wearing her apron in the garden or hanging the wash on the clothesline.