By JIM BOOTH
Morning News staff writer
Not all the medals
awarded during World War II were earned on the battlefield.
While soldiers and sailors were fighting the Germans and the Japanese to raise the American flag over captured or recaptured countries and islands, Eric
Paulson, 82, 2031 Dutch Road, Fairview, was raising money to support their efforts.
He is proud of an award ""for patriotic service'' he received at war's end from the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Just the
same, he would have preferred to help in the fighting. ""I was called,'' he said. ""I took my physical and was acceptable for the Navy, Coast Guard or Marines but the War Finance Committee would not
release me.''
Because he was so successful in the war bond effort, the government allowed Paulson to continue his part in the war at home.
""I was chairman of the committee raising money in Fairview
borough and township,'' he said. ""It was my job to organize the people who went out and sold war bonds. We did quite well.
""All you could get were the older fellas who couldn't be drafted,''
Paulson recalled.
Still, he felt he should be in the military. ""I had three brothers in the war. George was in the Army Air Force, Kenneth was in a railroad battalion and Donald was a medic. They all
survived the war.''
One friend, Howard Merriman, didn't. He died on D-Day.
Life on the home front was not always easy. Gasoline and tires were scarce and were rationed as were many food items. Men were scarce, too.
An insurance salesman, Paulson said many companies were begging for workers. ""One fella tried to get me to go to work as a welder. There was a real shortage of manpower.''
There was plenty to keep Paulson busy.
Often, after midnight, he and other men would spend many hours spotting airplanes, reporting those that could not be identified.
""The guys who were left were awfully
busy doing everything,'' he said. ""I was also very active in the fire department.''
Paulson retired in 1976 after serving as justice of the peace in Fairview for 18 years.
