13 - 18 Dec 1941, Laura B Ziegler's wartime memories

I would go to town every other day to buy food, and Reverend Buuck would go the other days. Each family had a ration card, but we could only buy for our own family, so when I went down I could only buy for the 7 in our family and Reverend Buuck could only buy for five. In this way we had enough of the rationed foods for 7 one day and 5 the next. This was made to last the 12 of us. We would leave the house in the morning with a prayer for our own safety and also for the loved ones left behind. There would always be heavy shelling or a bombing or two while being gone. The children were always excited to see what was in the basket.

The bombs and shells fell within 100 feet of all sides of us, plaster fell and glass broke in every room of the house. We also found pieces of shrapnel and bullets in the house but none of us were hurt. During a heavy shelling or an air raid we all had our certain places to sit, so that there would be no confusion. Our family sat in one corner of the basement and the Buucks in the other so we would not be in direct line with a window or door. Here we sat and prayed for the lord’s protection. We are certain that if we had not been protected by the Lord during these air raids and the bombardments we would not be here today.