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There was a cloud of fear in the air or, if not outright fear, at least a sense of ruffled caution. Bars on the windows, blackout shades, some closed even during the day, streets lacking pedestrian traffic, and THE rule - never play outside, or even go outside. We lived in the cellar “apartment” of a row house with multiple tenants. Each having a separate entrance for safety created an atmosphere of social distancing.
World War II started 9/30/1939 although the United States did their best to avoid direct involvement.
Pearl Harbor sneak attack was 12/7/1941. On 12/8/1941, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the City of Seattle imposed a blackout. Reports of Japanese Navy aircraft carriers off the coast had the entire West Coast anxious. In response, the blackout designed to make Seattle go dark so as not to be visible to attacking aircraft.
The US formally entered the European Theater of World War II on 12/11/1941, only days after the events of Pearl Harbor, when Germany declared war on the United States. World War II ended 3/14/1945. Potsdam Conference, often referred to as “Terminal” held 7/17/1945 - 8/2/1945. The formal surrender of Japan, 9/2/1945, to the United States, when documents signed officially ending years of bloody fighting in a ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. It's known as V-J Day in some countries.
For centuries before 1945, Korea had been a unified political entity. The origins of the modern division of Korea trace to the period of Japan's colonial rule over Korea. During World War II, the Allied leaders fighting Japan considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders understood Korea would be liberated from Japan, then placed under an international trusteeship until they deemed Koreans ready for self-rule. Beyond this rather vague agreement, much about the future of Korea remained uncertain.
On 8/14/1945 Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel, with the aid of a National Geographic Wall map, determine Korean would be cut at the 38th parallel even though some suggested the 40th parallel.
Allow me to intertwine a few more connected dates. My parents were married 4/2/1948, and I was born 5/3/1949 my sister was born 2/16/1955. Kathy was born at Arnot Odgen Hospital in Elmira, New York. Korean war dates 6/25/1950 and ended, although South Korea never signed the agreement, 7/27/1953.
Source - Korean War Timeline | Britannica
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