In 1939, Europe was preparing for war in different ways. Germany had been moving for years. England had young men in military training, Bobby Sheedy being one of them. And ordinary citizens, with uncertainty ahead of them, prepared for the last summer of fun before the war.
Cynthia, her mother, and a young cousin, Peggy, were going to visit their family in New York and see the World’s Fair in the summer holidays. Other family members were coming from St Vincent, there were new family members to meet because the Hazell descendants were marrying and a new generation had started. So the Ewings made preparations, Cynthia getting a passport, her father booking them tickets on the R.M.S Mauretania to New York and the Queen Mary home again, and after the school year ended, packing began. Cynthia bought a sturdy blank book to be her travel diary.
A Family History in Letters 