|
Webster County
IAGenWeb
|
|
|
|
DEAR JOE: This was a great week. Your letters made it that way.
There were a lot of grand letters and two of them contained special requests. You
remember when we said we'd take care of Christmas things—last minute deals? Well,
we did a few of them. And now we're taking care of birthdays and such. One order
was for an orchid, to be delivered on a certain birthday. And Brother, it will be!
And the other was for a very special present, a bouquet of flowers with an unusual
dedication, to be delivered when a certain blessed event shall come io pass in a
hospital in a nearby county. We're going to deliver that in person . . . Joe, we'd
like to start a collection of pictures of Webster County guys and gals in the service.
Would it be too much to ask you to ask Mother or Dad or your wife or someone to
send or bring us one of your pictures? Ask them, if you do, to put your name on
it and their name and address, telephone number, too, if they will. Thanks, fellows!
THE POLITICAL POT. C. V. Findlay, oldest member
four years ago of the Iowa Senate, is running again . . . Jim Dolliver
wants to go to Congress, is out to beat seventy-six year old Fred Gilchrist
. . . Bert Hickenlooper of the mellifluous name will be the first
governor since 1894 not to run for a second term. He wans to go to the United States
Senate . . . Richard Mitchell, former judge of the Iowa Supreme
Court, seems headed for the appointment to the federal judgeship in this district
. . . Lots of Republicans are running everywhere in Iowa. Few Democrats. Jake
More, Democratic state chairman, is thinking of calling upon State
Selective Service to draft a slate of Democrats for the state ticket.
O. M. Oleson is dead. He was ninety-four and a half years old.
Born
in Norway, his life became a part of that American dream that men fight for. A poor
immigrant boy, he found in America, riches, honor and happiness. He gave in as great
a measure as he received. He gave in public service. He was senator from this district
years and years ago. He founded Grieg Mandskor over fifty years
ago. For his work in music he was knighted by King Haakon of Norway.
He gave in money and in time. No charity went unaided. Lutheran Hospital is largely
a monument to his aid. Oleson Park was one of his gifts to Fort Dodge. He amassed
a fortune in the drug and telephone business. He loved people, he loved music, he
loved the aris. He had a pleasant word for everyone. He was a great American.
SGT. TED RULE sends us the Fort McArthur Alert from San Pedro,
a
very handsome twelve-page service paper featuring, of all things, a very handsome
pin-up of Bette Herron. Gosh, and I’d never even heard of her before.
These papers are swell. Come on guys, give. We'll make a collection and you can
see ’em all when you come home.
HERE AND THERE. When Cpl. Harold Carl is hungry,
he does something about it. Foraging around Foggia the other day, he traded a native
out of a dozen eggs, had ’em scrambled. Thanksgiving Day he roasted his own duck.
What a help he’s going to be around home . . . Verlyn Langerman
is somewhere in the Southwest Pacific . . . Pfc. Grant Schwendemann,
writing from Rocky Point in the Aleutians, says, “This is a land of darkness in
the winter and about all we do is sleep.” Not much like our winter in Iowa, the
snow drifts up there have heen twenty and thirty feet deep . . . He’s in New Guinea
salvaging parts of wrecked planes, Sgt. Verne Aeling of Otho .
. . The Howard Johnson’s, Lt. and the Missus, have been transferred
from Alberquerque to Tonapah and they are staying at the Mizpah Hotel. No wonder
Stephen Vincent Benet wrote, “I love American names.” . . .
Joe McMahon, Jr. , left last week to enter the merchant marine at Sheepshead
Bay, Brooklyn, N. Y. . . . He is now at Albert Lea, A/C John Byrne
of Moorland . . . Harold Lindquist of Gowrie, is in a hospital
in Italy . . . Al Breen, through with basic training at Camp Callan,
is now at Loyola University in Los Angeles ... Pfc. Bob Bowers,
with a communications outfit in Italy, became separated from his unit somewhere
in the mountains. A couple of Jerries found him, took him prisoner. An hour and
a half later, a French patrol overtook them, released Bob, and took the Jerries
prisoner . . . Beaver! Bob Stewart, flying a pursuit ship in the
South Pacific, has grown a beard, Johnny Schaupp met him and didn’t
recognize him until they had talked for several minutes . . . Earl Jackson,
of Lehigh, is in the hospital in New Guinea . . . Lt. Roeland V. Crouse,
formerly of Lehigh, has been in charge of a tank unit in the fighting around Cassino,
in Italy . . . Jimmy got a Zero. Yep, 1st Lt. Jim Lizer knocked
off his first somewhere in the South Pacific . . . Paul Skelton
is at radio operator’s school at the University of Idaho. . .
|
They both moved. John Dowd to Drake University, his brother,
Tom, to Sheppard Field, Tex. . . . He’s in England now, Pfc. Robert
Steyer, after spending about two years in Northern Ireland . .
. James
Harrington and Tom Nash are in radio school now
at Casco Bay, Me. . . . Pvt. Harold Campbell is in Porto Rico.
About the first person he met upon arrival was S/Sgt. John B. Suer,
of Otho . . . Gordon Larsen and Richard Whitcombe
are in naval flight training at Pensacola, Fla. . . . Somewhere overseas, Flight
Officer E. R. Rosen . . . Minard Stout, formerly principal
at Junior High, is now a Lt. (j. g.) at Tucson, Ariz. . . . Gene Person, Don
Martin and Bill Quade are all aviation cadets at Amarillo
Air Field, Amarillo, Tex. They are hoping to be moved on, to college soon . . .
Pvt. Fred Englebart has moved on from rugged Ft. Leonard Wood to
effete Broadway, N. Y. where he is attending the army’s electrical trade school.
GOOD FELLOWS GET TOGETHER. They met in North Africa, Pvt.
Peter Hinch and Pvt. Moe. Had quite a talk about home
. . . They got together somewhere in the Pacific, Chuck Mattice
and Bob Durian. Chuck is with the Coast Guard on the U.S. S. Hermes
. . . They met in Denver, Bob Reinartson and Jim Larkin.
Bob is at Buckley Field, Denver, and Jim is in Navy V-12 at Colorado Springs . .
. They met in Denver, just like those other fellows, Eugene Brown
and Morris K. Sigurdson of Gowrie. Gene is a Pvt. at Buckley Field
and Morris is now off at college. Morrie gave Gene all of the Letters from Home
that he had gotten up to date. Now that we have Gene’s address, he'll get his own...
Brothers, they met in North Africa, Leonard and Clarence Albright
. . . They got together in the Aleutians, cousins Harris Renquist, Arden Liljegren
and Claudia Liljegren. Harris is a Pfc. in the army, Arden is a
S 1/c
and Clandia is an Ensign, a navy nurse . . . They met in England, Cpl. Dean
Wilcox and Cpl. Geo. Haire. Wileox is with a tank
destroyer unit . . . They met in Tarawa, Don Spillman with the
Seabees and Sgt. Merrill Saunders.
ON FURLOUGH. From Farragut, Raymond Douglas .
. . These are home with the folks in Lehigh; Sgt. Deno Gardini,
from Camp Phillips, Kansas: Pfc. Arthur Axen, from Chanute Field,
Ulinois: Quento Vandi, S 2/c, from San Diego. He’s on his way to
Notre Dame for officer’s candidates school, Donald Uladeff, CM
3/c and Pfc. Paul Bloomquist. Bloomquist is at Camp Hollis, Tex.
. . . From Saint Thomas Island, MM 3/c Maurice Bjoranson, of Dayton
... From California, Sgt. Verne Kramer . . . They came home to
see Dad who has been ill, Sam and Jim Cannon.
Sam is in the navy at Little Creek, Va. Jim is in the army at Sheppard Field, Tex.
. . . From Washington and Lee University, Cadet Joe Donahoe . .
. From the University of Pennsylvania, Cadet Paul Tempel . . .
From Santa Maria, Calif., Cpl. Lewis V. Seamanda . . . From Florida,
Pfc. Orlo Humphrey of Badger . . . From Buckley Field, Denver,
Colo., Gerald Olsen of Badger, on his way to Pratt, Kans. . . .
From Farragut, Norman Dickerson. His brother Dick
is at the army air base at Chico, Calif. The oldest
brother, Clyde, is a first Lt. with the paratroopers in Italy.
He’s been sent recently to a pilot’s school in Sicily . . . From Maneuvers in Tenn.,
Cpl. Basil DeVilbiss . . . From Jefferson Barracks, Bob Williams,
former KVFD program director. Bob's in the air corps and expects to be a pilot some
day . . . Bob Armstrong is home wearing those wings we told you
he was going to get. Bob is only nineteen and one of the youngest commissioned officers
in the air corps . . . From the Pacific, Lt. Bob Ashford. Bob has
been flying a fighter . . . From Sun Valley, Idaho, R. E. Shostrom,
of Dayton. He was in the South Pacific for nine months . . . From Farragut,
Duane R . . . From Camp Bradford, Va., Sgt. Luther Peterson,
of Gowrie . . . From Virginia Military Institute, Cadet Vernon Swanson
of Gowrie ... From Baylor University, Cadet Robert Newbrough ... From the University
of Minnesota, Robert Natlund, S 2/c... From Ft. Leonard Wood, M/Sgt. Ray McBride
. . . From Syracuse, Pvt. Jack Deck . . . From Sioux Falls, S.
D., Robert Palmer . . . From McDill Field, Tampa, Fla., T/Sgt.
Charles Donahoe. For twenty-two months, he was radio operator on a
Martin Marauder in the Aleutians. His older brother, Jim, is now
a lieutenant in the infantry at New Orleans ... From Wold- Chamberlain Field,
A/C Duane Tepfer. He is on his way to Pensacola ... From the George
W. Ingram, Tom Timmons S F 2/c of Lehigh. If he had gotten home
a week earlier, he’d have seen his brother, Gerald, RM 3/c. As
it is, they haven't seen each other sinee they enlisted in 1942 . . . Home because
of their father’s death are Pvt. Paul McDonnell and Lt. Bob
McDonnell. Paul is at Camp McCoy, Wis., Bob is at Breckenbridge, Ky.
Their brother Cpl. Leo, is on his way overseas . . . From Camp
Pickett, Va., Sgt. Vieter L. Smith.
|
|
HOME TOWN NEWS. Paul Demos’ and family are visiting
Ted in Denver . . . Joe Kautzky and J. A. Brechwald,
the Ducks Unlimited enthusiasts, are having a dinner at the Warden on tho 16th .
. . She picked a lemon, Mrs. A. T. Ellinger of Fort Dodge. It grew
on her own little lemon tree in her house and weighed a pound and a quarter . .
. Just between you and me, the little woman wants either a gardenia bush or a lemon
tree for a Valentine. What a woman! . . . Bill Jarrett has been
sentenced to die. The killer of Everett Warden of Gowrie heard
his fate pronounced by Judge D. G. Rider last Saturday. His only
comment was that that was the way he had hoped it would be. He will die in February
of 1945 . . . We've got some new buses on the street now, a couple of them black
and gray, very sleek and handsome . . . Met Mr. and Mrs. Vevle
in Omaha last Saturday. They were on their way to Marfa, Tex. Lloyd got his wings
there Tuesday. Floyd is about two months behind them. He’s being transferred to
Marfa. And they all expected to meet there . . . The Dodge Theatre closed the other
day. It had been having trouble getting pictures . . . Kids are still playing tricks.
The fire departmeni answered two false alarms the other night. The calls came within
ten minutes of each other and after midnight . . . We are battling a paper shortage
now. In January the county collected 273 tons of scrap paper . . . It must be the
war. Going wage for waitresses in Fort Dodge is now eighteen dollars a week . .
. When interviewed today, J. E. Decker of the Fort Dodge Garden
Club said the time to start planning your garden is now. You ought to see my catalogs.
The crops I got this year is even better than last . . . The Webster County Red
Crass is mailing out 576 kits this week. The kits look pretty swell, books, toilet
articles, stationery, etc. Hope you get yours.
SCOREBOARD: Corpus Christi defeats Barnum 29 to 19 . . . Looking
more and more like champions. The Dodgers went to Waterloo last week end. The first
night they polished off East, 33 to 19. The next evening, Saturday, they met and
conquered West, 33 to 22.
WEDDING BELLS. Ella Teyen to Richard Wareheim,
of Manson, Jan. 28th in Fort Dodge . . . Bonnie Sampson and
Lt. William Pace of Chicago, January 5th, at Drew Field, Tampa, Fla.
. . . Elna Mae Nordbloom, of Dayton, and Pvt. Glen Nordstrom,
of Harcourt, at Dayton, February 2 . . . Lorene Carlson and
A/C Shirley “Bud” Patton, both of Gowrie, in Gowrie, Feb. 5.
PROMOTED. To S 1/c, Carlo Brighi, somewhere in
the South Pacific . . . To PM 3/c, Fred “Bud” Cooper. He finished
the hospital training course at Farragut right up at the top of his class of 430
and was sent to the base hospital at Santa Margerita Rancho. Oceanside, Cal. . .
. To Sgt. Deon Castignoli at Belmont, California . . . Coincidence.
To Sgt. the same day, Earl Grannon in Yuma and his brother
Harry in England... Pfc. Gerald Schmoker of Duncombe
has graduated from Scott Field Radio School . . . To Sgt. Mehring L. Hottman
at MacDill Field, Tampa, Fla. . . . To Pfc. Richard T. Clark, APO
New York . . . To MMM 2/c, Ray G. Thorsness, of Vincent. He’s been
in sub service in the Pacific for over a year . . . To Warrant Officer, Lowell
J. Thorsness of Vincent at Ft. Richard, Anchorage, Alaska . . . To
S/Sgt. Leo Simmons, somewhere in the Pacific . . . To S/Sgt.
Harold S. Strong, APO New York . . . A/C C. E. “Red” Moreland
is Lt. C. E. Moreland. He got his wings and commissicn at Luke
Field, Arizona, February 8.
THE WEATHER. I take it all back. It’s still beautiful—but different.
Last night, the 9th of February, we had the most wonderful snow fall. No wind, no
flurry, no cold, just the silent hush-hush falling of big white flakes. Six inches
of them. And today it's winter in lowa—white winter—and the weatherman says tomorrow
it will be down to zero.
FROM THE FIVE CORNERS OF THE WORLD. Pvt. Paul Mc- Donnell,
Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, “I just received letters No. 5, 6, and 7 of ‘Your Letter
From Home. I have heard so much about them, and up until now I never laid eyes on
a single one. You are probably wondering why it took them so long to reach me. It's
a long story, so here goes. They were sent to my old outfit, good old Company ‘G’,
from Ft. Dodge, which I recently left to return to the States: then to Port of Embarkation,
New York, then Fort Hamilton, New York, then Fort Sheridan, ILL, and finally reaching
me here at Camp McCoy, Wis. So you see those ‘Letters From Home have really been
around, and thus all the more appreciated. The envelope was marked up, almost beyond
recognition, and among the numerous postmarks was a greeting from James Cahill
of Fort Dodge, now somewhere in North Africa.”
A/C James Dolliver, Iowa City, Iowa, “The emphasis seems to be
on
cross-country running instead of skill in soccer. They've had us out for the last
couple of mornings running all over the campus kicking a soccer ball.”
Cpl. George C. Robeson, New River, No. Carolina, “I see in the
last
letter from home where one of the army boys is worried about the army drafting ‘Superman.’
They still won't have anything on the Marines. We have ‘Wonder Woman’ in the women
Marines.”
Sgt. N. C. Habenicht, APO New York, “P. S. Some of the female Arabs
here, Ed, are pretty smooth articles.” (Yeh! They looked all right in “Algiers”
even along side Hedy LaMarr.)
A/C Donald E. Anderson, Cucro, Texas, “Boy, you should see this
town of Cuero. It reminds me of Toonerville. I was going to send a telegram home.
I saw a sign “telegraph office.” I said, ‘Sow long will it be before this gets off?”
He answered, “As soon as the Pony Express comes in to take it to Yokum.” I was sort
of set back by that, but I went on to explore the unknown. I came across a fellow
on a street corner, I mean THE street corner,
|
and asked him what there was to do here. He told me they had a domino parlor down
the street. These fellows play this game all the time. I don’t know, but I guess
I was misled. I always thought these fellows would be playing poker with pistols
on the table. All in all, though, it’s a nice town, and who am I to talk about a
small town, being a native of Harcourt?”
Pfc, Jack BR. Skophammer, APO New York, “It was interesting to
learn
from old time Londoners that a lot of them have never visited St. Paul’s Cathedral
or have never been inside the House of Parliament. The English and the Americans
get along all right over here. Of course, there are the usual arguments between
the members of the two countrys, concerning the monetory system, driving on the
right hand side of the road, the “8th” army, and about a thousand others. Something
that is very picturesque and will be long remembered was one raid with those big
guns giving tremendous flashes and roars. I stayed outside to see what was going
on. Incidentally, it was Iowa night at the Red Cross where I met some Iowa boys.
Those huge searchlights picked out the raiders and they received a tremendous barrage
of fire. You could hear bombs dropping in the distance. Soon flak started tingling
down. I picked up several pieecs for souvenirs. I saw at least three planes shot
down. There was quite a bit of cheering as each one fell. The raid lasted three
hours. It is something I'll surely never forget.”
Pvt. BR. C. Remartson, Buckley Field, Colo., “A Fort Dodge girl,
Delores Holmquist, is working here in the headquarters building.
I relay my copy of “Your Letter From Home” to her as soon as I finish it. She says
that it is wonderful, so there is one copy of the letter that satisfies two Dodgers.”
(If Delores will send her address, we'll send her one of her own.)
Glada N. Strode, Service Club, Casper, Wyoming, “My congratulations
to you, the sponsors, and KVFD for “Your Letter From Home.” Having worked with and
in the midst of soldiers for twenty-nine months, I know well what such a compilation
of news from home means to them. Yours is a worthy project, well done, and a factor
for morale probably above your own expectations.”
T/4 Robert Johnston, APO New York, “We have been in action against
the Germans with the Fifth army in the mountains of Italy but we aren't allowed
to write much about it. It wasn’t much like I expected though.”
Lt. Lyle V. Jensen, APO New York, “I was one of the lucky guys
who
got through a combat tour over Europe and now I have an office job with the 4th
combat wing and am still doing my best to help get the bombs on the target for tonight.”
A/C Taylor Richard, Union City, Tenn., “I am in Primary School
now,
still trying to be a “Wild blue yonder boy.” At last I have got my feet off the
ground.”
Pfc. Bob Bowers, Somewhere in Italy, “I'm writing this letter in
the mountains and at present I’m on a ledge and below me is a small stream and brother
it’s really cold. This morning I woke up and my bed was covered with frost and somehow
during the nite I kicked my shoes out of bed and they were also covered with “Jack
Frost”? Sounds funny to you of a guy taking his shoes to bed, but they make a nice
pillow. Try it tonight.” (We'll take care of those dedications, fellow.)
Col. Dick O’Connor, Somewhere in Newfoundland, “Best of every-
thing
to each and everyone responsible for this swell letter, and let’s hope not too many
issues more have to be published. I wanna go home!”
Sgt. Joe O’Hern, Italy, “We have several Iowa men here in the base
so Iowa mail has a high priority when we're handling it. It does make one look twice
when working mail from all over the world to see a piece either going to or coming
from an Iowa address, I've recognized many names from surrounding towns and once
in a while one for my own route in Barnum. In those cases, I’m handling the European
end while my wife takes care of the U. S. end, as she is performing my duties as
rural carrier while I'm away.”
And here are other grand letters that we read over the air but just can’t squeeze
on this sheet. They came from Sgt. L. E. Johnsen, Camp Sibert,
Alabama ... (We'd like to have a copy of that paper) . . . Pvt. Darrill D. Peterson,
Camp Roberts, Calif. . . . Sgt. Clyde J. Thorndike, Miami Beach,
Florida . . . Nancy Sittig, 2nd Lt, England . . . A/C C. E.
Moreland, Phoenix, Arizona . . . Pvt. F. A. Engelbart,
New York . . . A C. Eugene Person, Amarillo, Texas . . . Pvt.
BR. E. Johnson, Buckley Field, Colo. . . . Pvt Marvin Bowers,
England . . . Sgt. M. H. Van Hassen, Camp Dodge, Iowa . . .
Pvt. Peter F. Hinsch, North Africa . . . Sgt. Enfrid V. Johnson,
APO 475, Minneapolis, Minn. . . . Pfc. Grant Schwendemann, Aleutian
Islands . . . Mrs. Vern E. Aeling, San Diego, Calif. . . .
Lt. Howard B. Johnson, Tonapah, Nevada . . . S/Sgt. Clarence J. Bunda,
Boise, Idaho . . . Sgt. M. R. Smith, McKinney, Texas . . .
Pvt. Herman Helper, Fort Clark, Texas . . . C. B. Mattice, Cox,
FPO San Francisco, Calif. . . . Arnold A. Hagge, SK 2/c, FPO, New
York
. . . Pfc. Arnold Black, APO Shreveport, La. . . .
1st Lt.
Willard W. James, APO 813, New York . . . Ensign Charles A. Davis,
St. Augustine, Fla. . . . A/C Richard A. Morandi, Seymore Johnson
Field, North Carolina . . . Lt. (j. g.) Wallace A. Rogers, Princeton,
N. J. . . . Pvt. Robert G. Wickwire, Camp Fannin, Texas . . .
Pvt. Floyd Derrig, Island of Kanai, T. H. . . . Lt. Richard O. Sternitzke,
APO 9581, San Francisco, Calif. . . . Pvt. Eugene Brown, Buckley
Field, Colo. . . . A/C Dorence Freed, Corpus Christi, Texas . .
. Lt. Harold G. Powell, San Pedro, Calif. . . . Pvt. Herb Saboe,
Camp Gruber, Okla. . . . and Sgt. Ted R. Rule,
San Pedro, Calif.
Thanks so much for all your letters. They are just as important to us as ours are
to you. So long and good luck. We'll be seeing you again down in this corner, come
Friday p. m. of next week.
Your Home Town Correspondent,
Ed Breen
|
|