The "Willard Radio". On this radio, a 1941 Montgomery-Ward Airline table model, the Smatlas listened to President Roosevelt announce the bombing of Pearl Harbor and our entry into World War II on December 8th, 1941 (the attack was on the 7th).. Uncles Hank & Ben were already in the Navy. Ben gradulated from Boot Camp in August of that year, and Hank had already seen action in the North Atlantic escorting Allied convoys and fighting German U Boats.
I remember listening to to this radio when I was a very little boy (late 1944 - 1946) in Willard, and after 1951, North of Rossville. Typically, it was turned on only TWICE a day for the Morning weather, and at Noon, for the farm reports and again, the weather. Mom told me that MUCH LATER on, Aunts Alice, Marie, and Mom would sometimes sneak a listen to radio shows like The Great Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee & Molly, Our Miss Brooks, and others. In those early days, it was ALWAYS tuned to 580 kilocycles – WIBW in Topeka.
Now, electronically restored, it sings of times gone past and a history of our family and our nation.
By former Rossvillian Tom Dailey.
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