ANNE GREENE here. HOORAY, hooray, hooray! We launched our brand new web site! To CELEBRATE we have a series of GIVEAWAYS by our fantastic authors. MANY books will be given away by the end of the month. YOUR PART: Leave a comment every day on every post. The more comments you leave, the greater your chances to win!
I’m giving an autographed copy of my latest Scottish
historical romance, MARRIAGE BY
ARRANGEMENT. So be certain to comment at the end of this post for your
chance to win! And I’ll chat with you as well.
I’m writing today about events during World War II.
You’ll discover so much more in my book Angel With Steel Wings which will
release soon. Angel is the first in my Women
of Courage series. Angel is about women test pilots.
You didn’t know America had women test pilots in 1944? You’re not alone, most
people didn’t. But those were exciting, innovative years.
During World War II the American people kept their
spirits and hopes high with the many new songs
that blossomed during the first dark years of the war when America was losing
the battle to Hitler’s Germany and Japan’s Hirohito.
World War II
was the first conflict to take place in the age when almost ninety percent of
American households had radio. Never before had it been possible for songs to
be so widely available to the population. Never before had the number of
listeners been so high.
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And overseas,
American troops had regular access to radio in all but the most difficult
combat situations. American troops listened to popular music between bouts of
combat on Armed Forces Radio.
The song, They’re Either Too Young or Too Old took
a light-hearted look at the men left for the women on the home front while
American Troops were off fighting the war.
Popular songs
like Sentimental Journey, I’ll be Seeing You, Moonlight Serenade, and I’ll
be Home for Christmas, all spoke of women’s longings for loved ones
overseas and the troops longing to be home. Those songs gave society’s blessing
that it was okay to miss your man because he was fighting for the good of
Americans everywhere. And the many patriotic songs brought smiles to faces and
pride to the hearts of Americans on the home front and abroad.
Earlier in the
century big band music had become wildly popular and still was in the 1940s.
Some of the more popular songs were:
There’ll Be Bluebirds Over The White
Cliffs of Dover by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra.
Be Careful It’s My Heart by Irving
Berlin. 1942
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by the Andrews
Sisters 1941
Comin’ In On A Wing and A Prayer by The Song
Spinners
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore by Duke
Ellington & His Orchestra
Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree With
Anyone Else But Me by 1942 by Stept, Brown, and Tobias.
Every Time We Say Goodbye by Cole Porter
1944
GI Jive by Johnny Mercer
I Don’t Want To Walk Without You by Harry James
& His Orchestra 1942
I’ll Be Seeing You by Bing Crosby
It’s Been A Long Long Time by Harry James
I’ll Get By As Long As I Have You by Harry James
& His Orchestra
Kiss The Boys Goodbye by Frank
Loesser 1941
Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition by Frank
Loesser 1942. I understand many people sang this song during church services.
People in the USA held the same desires as their leaders,
and the government counted on popular music to reflect the same war aims that
Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted. Everyone hoped for a quick final victory over
the Axis, and the songs about a world after the war with the boys coming home
met those wishes.
This unity gave
the USA an enormous energy that allowed the nation to accomplish far more at
less human cost than the other major powers in the war. So in the driving rain of war where almost every citizen
lost a loved one, music kept spirits
high.
Have you heard
any of these popular songs, and if so, which is your favorite?
COMMENT: Leave a comment and one lucky winner
will win an autographed copy of my book, Marriage
By Arrangement. Please leave your email address so I can contact you for
your address. Don't forget to comment on all posts for more chances to win.
BIO:
ANNE GREENE delights in writing about wounded heroes and gutsy heroines. Her second
novel, a Scottish historical, Masquerade Marriage, won the New
England Reader Choice award, the Laurel Wreath Award, and the Heart of
Excellence Award. The sequel Marriage By
Arrangement recently released. A Texas Christmas Mystery also won
several awards. Her World War II novel, Angel With Steel Wings, about WASPs,
women test pilots releases soon. Be sure to look for it on Amazon. Anne makes
her home in McKinney, Texas. She graduated summa
cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Literary Studies from the University
of Texas. Tim LaHaye led her to the Lord when she was twenty-one, and Chuck
Swindoll is her Pastor. View Anne’s other books, her blog, travel pictures, and
art work at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com.
Her highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new
world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord
Jesus. Buy Anne’s books at http://www.PelicanBookGroup.com.
Or at http://www.Amazon.com.
Learn to write award-winning books by visiting Anne’s blog at http://www.anneswritingupdates.blogspot.com.
Don’t
forget to leave a comment. Anne loves to talk with her fans.
