GREENFIELD — Eileen McClarnon sparkles.
It was what her mother always told her to do. “If you can’t sparkle, just stay home,” she’d say. So, Eileen McClarnon sparkles.
She sparkles on a rainy afternoon, at the age of 92, sitting at her dining room table, laughing and joking as she tells stories about her service in World War II, just as Veterans Day approaches.
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She’d sparkled back then, too, she says. She took her sparkle with her on a tour to Europe with the Women’s Army Corps, and her sparkle attracted the admiration of an airman she met by chance overseas.
That’s why, years later looking back at it all, the story of her service in World War II is as much a love story as it is a story of American and European triumph over Nazi evil, she said. She saw destruction, sadness and fear during her time overseas some 70 years ago; but she also met the love of her life, George, on that base in Wales where she was stationed, and they came home to build a beautiful life together in Greenfield, married for more than 60 years.
Her memories of those times are a mixture of patriotic reminiscences and tender recollections. She hasn’t kept much except a few pictures as mementos of that time — “I’m not a hoarder,” she joked — and she and George didn’t talk much about the war once it was behind them.
But she carries images of that time in her mind’s eye, never forgetting what life was like in those times. The same dedication and determination that drove them back in the 1940s stayed with them throughout their lives, and stays with her today, she said. She wishes more Americans would keep such things in mind.
The beginning
McClarnon — then she was Eileen Jones — grew up in Memphis.
Her favorite subject in school was history; she was so curious about it, so naturally interested, she said.
She was barely a teenager when the second war in Europe began, but it all made her feel uneasy, she recalls.
She remembers the news reports that men called Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were starting to take over. She read headlines in the newspapers and occasionally saw video news reels. Even then, she was worried history was repeating itself, she said.
She was about 15 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She admits that, prior to the bombing, she’d never heard of the place; couldn’t have found it on a map is she’d tried. That was a Sunday.
On Monday morning, her principal called an assembly and had the students file into the school’s gymnasium to listen to Franklin Roosevelt give his impassioned speech to Congress.
“… A date which will live in infamy …” — she remembers those words echoing through the quiet hall, she said.
A few senior boys got up and walked out, left to enlist right then, she said.
Some of them never came home.
War stories
Before she was old enough to serve, McClarnon took a job at the air transport command base in Memphis, where she was tasked with recording the pilots’ take-off and landing times.
When she was 17, she joined the Women’s Army Corps. The women who joined were supposed to be 18, but she’s sure she stretched the truth a bit to be accepted.
More than 150,000 American women served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. They were among the first women to join the Army’s ranks to do work other than nursing, according to a history of the program posted on the Army’s website.
Some members of the public and the military bristled at the idea of a woman in uniform. But political leaders of the time saw the great support women could lend to their cause, the website states.
“… Political and military leaders, faced with fighting a two-front war and supplying men and materiel for that war while continuing to send lend-lease material to the Allies, realized that women could supply the additional resources so desperately needed in the military and industrial sectors,” the website states. “Given the opportunity to make a major contribution to the national war effort, women seized it. By the end of the war, their contributions would be widely heralded.”
She can’t remember what her parents thought of this idea, but they didn’t try to stop her. Service was important in their family, she said. After all, her older brothers had joined the Navy years before.
The Army kept her in Memphis a bit longer, working on a ferry base. But eventually, she heard some the girls in the corps were going overseas, and she told her supervisors that she wanted to go, too.
It wasn’t long after that she was boarding a ship in New York to head for Europe.
The Welsh countryside that surrounded the air base where she was stationed and spent most of her time was simply breathtaking.
Deep green grass. Stone fences. Herds of animals roaming freely.
“And I told them, ‘don’t ever make me leave,’” she said.
In Europe, she worked as transport specialist on a Royal Air Force base. It was her job to deliver messages and mail around the base, and drive soldiers and airmen around. She was a favorite driver for a few of the top-ranking colonels and majors, and they’d request she be the one to shuttle them around Wales.
One day, in a nondescript office building where she was delivering mail, she met her future husband.
George McClarnon — he died in 2011 at the age of 90 — was a member of the Army Air Corps. He was cute and cheeky, and the romance that sparked between them, thousands of miles from home, never ended.
Eileen McClarnon visited Liverpool and London and many British cities during her time overseas. All had seen hardship; their beauty was marred by death and destruction.
But she carries a deep respect for the people there, she said. It wasn’t until years later, when she had children of her own, that she truly appreciated the terror Brits must have felt during the German bombings, she said. It must have been horrible to have to pull babies from their beds and run for cover.
end of the war
She was 19 when Roosevelt died and Truman took over, and there were whispers that a German surrender was coming. When it finally did — May 8, 1945 — she remembers celebrating with her fellows until the wee hours of the morning.
Some rebuilding began while the war in the Pacific continued. In a matter of weeks, they learned of the atomic bombs being dropped in Japan, and victory was eventually declared there as well. They celebrated again, but with a slight veil of sadness for the lives lost and friendships that would soon be stretched by miles, she said.
Eileen McClarnon boarded a ship bound for America a few weeks before her future husband did, but they made plans to find each other once they were back in the states.
Fate — and Mother Nature — tried to get in their way.
Eileen McClarnon’s ship, the Athos II, was caught in a hurricane during its voyage. It was the only time during her service that she remembers being truly scared, as the ship lost its rudder and was buffeted by 70-foot waves for hours, she said. They spent several days floundering before they were rescued by another ship and continued home.
Reports back in the states were that the Athos II had sunk in the storm and none of its passengers survived. So, George was surely surprised when the phone rang one afternoon and it was Eileen wanting to know where and when she could meet him again.
They were married within months, she said.
Life back home
Following their wedding, George was accepted into the School of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University. Eileen joined him in East Lansing, where she studied philosophy and world religions and earned degrees in both.
After they returned to Greenfield — George’s hometown — to build a life together, Eileen McClarnon joked that she “thought loftily” about the subjects while clearing the dog cages and horse stables of her husband’s practice.
They were so happy together. They had three children — Melanie, Jeff, and Laura — and now nine grandchildren.
Service was always — always — part of their lives. They worked hard to make themselves established members of the community. As George dedicated himself, Eileen sparkling by his side, to helping animals, his younger brother, Keith, became one of the city’s most impactful mayors.
They didn’t talk about the war very often, Eileen McClarnon said. People were glad it was over, glad to put it behind them and move on with their lives.
But in a way, those years now serve as an example.
During World War II, there was a sense of togetherness. Everyone saved their bacon grease, rationed their gasoline, and never complained about it because they knew it was for a greater cause.
“We were unified,” she said, “and now we’re not. We were (the greatest generation) because we were not divided.”
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HANCOCK COUNTY — A number of events are planned to mark Veterans Day.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2693 will offer a free lunch to veterans in the community at noon Monday at the post, 529 Apple St., Greenfield. The menu includes soup, sandwiches and refreshments. The meal is available to all veterans, regardless of VFW membership, and their guests. More information is available by calling (317) 462-1095.
The Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard will visit schools, nursing homes and other entities Monday in honor of Veterans Day, which is Sunday.
The schedule of events includes:
8:30 a.m.: Maxwell Intermediate School, 102 N. Main St., Maxwell
9:30 a.m.: Eden Elementary School, 8185 N. State Road 9
10:30 a.m.: Golden Living Center, 745 N. Swope St., Greenfield
1 p.m.: Greenfield Intermediate School, 204 W. Park Ave., Greenfield
2 p.m.: Greenfield Health Care, 200 W. Green Meadows Drive, Greenfield
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