My mom e-mailed me about the picture of her and her brother Bob below. Here’s what she had to say:

“After the Japanese invaided Pearl Harbor, my father enlisted in the Army, though he was over 30, and had two children. He was sent to officers’ candidate school (OCS), after which he went to the South Pacific. Before he was sent overseas, my mother packed us up and we went wherever he did, but the housing situation was often desperate. At this particular time, we were living near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and the only place my folks could find was one of Ball’s Cabins, a little group of log cabins in the woods of northern Michigan. We had no electricity or running water — it was paradise for kids aged six and nine! As my dad noted on the back of the photo, mother ‘sensibly dressed [us] in denims.’”