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Feb 11, 1944

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


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