The Sailor and His Pin-Up Train
A letter which any railroad might well regard as just about the ultimate in fan mail was received recently from Mrs. Leo Geesaman, now of Cedar Rapids, Ia. It reads:
For the past six years we have lived at Louisa (first station west of Marion, Ia) and have watched the Milwaukee trains whiz past our home, but none of us has been as interested as our son, John Geesaman. He moved from his bedroom to the attic so that he might watch the Arrow go by in the night, and very seldom did he fail to awaken in time to see the train. He has the attic covered with pictures of trains, his favorite being the Midwest Hiawatha. On the day of the trial run of the Hiawatha he skipped school. He bought a camera with his earnings from a newspaper route so he could take pictures of the trains.
Just after his eighteenth birthday, two years ago this fall, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy, and after going to radio school at Madison, Wis., he is on duty as a radioman on a destroyer, leaving the States in April, 1943, and hasn’t been back since. His first duty was in the Aleutians, and for more than a year he has been in the Southwest Pacific. While in the Aleutians he wrote me a letter containing the enclosed paragraph:
“How is my pet Hiawatha coming along? Don’t tell me—I know. Right on the dot, every night its muffled air horn suddenly changes to a clear sharp blast as it rushes under the famous Louisa viaduct, and the many onlookers, lined up from Chicago to Omaha, thrill at the sight of this brilliant splash of orange, gray and maroon as it flies down the main line to far surpass any performance of its less famous rivals, which rumble into Cedar Rapids to take aboard the less fortunate travelers who could not get seats on the crack speedliner on the Milwaukee rails.”
Then this week the following was contained in a letter from the Marianas:
“Perhaps you are wondering why I am writing this to you: well, I wonder myself, but I thought it quite interesting that a fan would be so loyal to the Milwaukee Road that even over those many, many miles of sea and land, the picture of the Hiawatha brings comfort to him, and I thought it might be interesting to you also.”
By now John as received a package of railroad pictures, together with the promise that as soon as he returns to the States, the Milwaukee Road will have a treat waiting him—perhaps a ride in the cab of the Midwest Hiawatha.
Source: Milwaukee Road Magazine, September 1944 (photo included)
Betty Hupton Marries John Geesaman in N.Y.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hupton, 1324 D Avenue NE, announce the marriage of their daughter, Betty, to John Geesaman, radioman (1/c), son of Mr. and Mrs. Leo Geesaman, Center Point road NE. The ceremony took place Dec. 13 in New York City, with the bride’s parents attending.
The bride wore a soldier blue suit with black accessories and her corsage was of pink and white carnations. Mr. and Mrs. Geesaman will make their home temporarily in New York, while Mr. Geesaman is awaiting his discharge.
Source: The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Monday, Dec. 17, 1945
John Douglas Geesaman
Born: 16 Sep 1924, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Died: Feb 1978
Source: ancestry.com
