This is Angela Odell and you are listening to real cool history for kids.

A podcast show featuring history told from a distinctly biblical world view perspective.

Welcome to an adventure.

Welcome to episode 60 of Real Cool History for Kids.

This episode is for Eli Kim in honor of his ninth birthday on October 8th.

Happy birthday Eli. Here is your special episode.

In this episode, we are going to explore several topics centered around what it was like to be

an American child during World War II. Let's begin the first part of our story

by painting a historical and cultural backdrop. Back in episode 40, I told you the story of the Japanese

attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. That event is what

officially brought the United States into the Second World War. When on December 8th, the U.S.

declared war on the Empire of Japan. Three days later, Japan's ally, Germany, who was being

led by Adolf Hitler, declared war on the United States. In less than one week, the United States

had gone from watching the war happen on the other side of the world to being heavily affected

and involved. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans were angry. They were also really scared.

If a foreign country could bring such devastation by attacking the United States,

what would keep them from doing it again? This time on the mainland of our country. Was

anyone safe anywhere? Children had these fears too. They could see and understand the images

and the newspapers and hear the reports on the radio. They could sense their parents fear and

although they continued to go to school and play and do their usual things, their lives were

really affected in almost every way. Patriotism was high because people had to come together to

help the country get through this hard time and win the war. When the United States joined the war,

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