By Ruth Rolnick, April 14, 2019 — When my brothers went into service, they were called into the war. It was a sad day when my brothers went overseas to Europe. The best part is when they met together in London and they came back to American soil. We celebrated that everyone was back in one piece. We were so overjoyed. My favorite memory was the summer they came back and we went to Rockaway [Beach]. We used to go to Rockaway as kids. We took the rooming house and shared it with everybody. The kids slept in the first room facing the water and they had the worst storms one night. My aunt was next to us and slept right through the hurricane. The next day there was no beach — the water washed off the sand. You saw the poles in the water. We stayed a while. We went to the beach and that is where I learned how to swim. The waves would knock you over and the water was rough. I brought my kids there when I was older.
