Close Encounters of the Flash Flood Kind

[Image Removed By Request Of Copyright Owner]

Back in the summer of 1972 our family went on a camping trip out west to the Black Hills of South Dakota and also to Wyoming. We drove I-90 all the way with stops at Mitchell's Corn Palace, the Badlands, Wall Drug Store, Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower. There were four people, a dog and a sick rat in a rat cage in a 1966 Mustang pulling a small trailer. How we did that must have amazed my parents.

Back then our people's sensitivities towards Native Americans (or Indians as we still called them) were just emerging.  I learned only later that the Black Hills were sacred to the Sioux and that my people had effectively desecrated their land by carving up Mt. Rushmore. At the time, Crazy Horse Monument wasn't much to look at yet.

We camped at a campground near Keystone, SD very near Mt. Rushmore. After that we moved on to Wyoming and spent a couple days at Devil's Tower National Monument. On the return trip, we passed back through the Black Hills and then spent the night outside of Rapid City so as to be poised for the interstate sprint across the plains back east along I-90. My dad was always a big proponent of splurging on a motel before heading back home on his road trips. It rained that night and we awoke early, probably catching a bite to eat before hitting the road--I really don't recall.  What I do remember is tuning into the AM radio as as we drove back east to Wisconsin. Cracking AM radio reports of flash flood destruction struck us dumb, especially as the local news described how places and campsites that we had just visited had literally been swept away during the night. I don't think that any of us had ever come so close to harm's way before or since.

Here's a description of the flash flood: Link

Mountainside, CA 92060

I hope everybody had a wonderful first holiday weekend of the summer. We visited Palomar Mountain State Park, camping overnight. We used to go there more often when the kids were little and when my wife wasn't so busy becoming supernurse.  We have the art of tent camping down to a science and we can set up and take down very quickly.

Palomar Mountain, which we affectionately call Mountainside, is a special place in southern California.  Too distant from both San Diego and Los Angeles to be convenient for them, we have it to ourselves.  Palomar Mountain is a real community, comprising 5th and 6th generation homesteaders, bikers, ex-hippies in exile, egghead scientists (associated with Caltech's iconic 200 inch Hale telescope and Observatory), and an ever so-slowly creeping influx of retiring boomers. The town comes alive on weekends in the summer months, and curiously, also in the winter months after frequent snowstorms when the gawkers drive up 5,000 ft to experience snow.

"Mountainside" is about 45 miles east and a mile up from Oceanside. In the 1930's, San Diego County built a road to Palomar Observatory which was then called the "Highway to the Stars." The highway was marked with the following road sign:

Over the years, the road signs became so popular with thieves that they were all stolen.  Today the road is known and marked as County S-6.  The best part is 7 miles of winding road with an ascent of a few thousand feet. There are turnouts with breathtaking views all the way to the Pacific on clear days. This time of year, there tends to be haze. It's a popular (and dangerous) route with the bikers in the summer.  There's a popular watering hole at the summit (the mountain is also famous for its spring water).

[added] More iconic imagery:

If This Tree Fell In A Forest...

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it really fall?

When that tree fell in the forest at Palomar Mountain State Park I don't care if no one heard it--I believe it fell because its carcass is so big!

Lesson Learned

(Adapted from conversation around the campfire last night). As we're all staring into the fire, suddenly a part of the log flares up:

Me:   Did you see that?  Where does that energy come from?

Son:   Hydrogen?

Me:    You think there's hydrogen inside the log?

Son:    No

Me:    What's in the log that burns?

Son:    Wood

Me:     Where does the wood come from?

Son:    The tree makes it

Me:     Where does the tree get energy?

Daughter:  From the sun!

Me:     Yes!

Son:     But isn't the sun hydrogen?

Letters Home: "Does the clock run all right?" Yes it Does!

Nearly a month passed between my father's last letter home and the one here which is dated May 18, 1952. Apparently what used to be a weekly habit had now more or less become a once-a-month letter home. What happened? I think two things: first, he began telephoning home.  Phoning interstate was still considered unusual in the early 1950's (especially in the Midwest) and it was relatively expensive. Wisconsin Bell was then part of the monopoly AT&T which owned everything: the lines, the switchboards, even the phones themselves.

A second factor was that he was home on leave for part of the time in April and May of 1952. When he returned to camp he found it easier to just phone home instead of writing. That situation changed when he finally left for Europe and this will become evident in upcoming posts in this series.  Trans-Atlantic telephoning was still prohibitively costly and so his letters became more frequent again.

May 18, 1952
Fort Campbell

Dear Mom and Dad and All,


I got the money OK.
Sure glad to hear Jr. made it home. How many days does he get off?
We get a 3 day pass next weekend but I doubt if I can make it home. I might try because some of the other guys will pay to ride to Chicago. Does the clock run all right? [1]
It rained awful hard last night. We had an Army Day parade today. [2]
The camp was full of visitors. It looked like rain all day.
I got K.P. tomorrow, so it won’t stop my 3 day pass. I’m due for guard sometime this week.
I owe R. a letter so will send him one tomorrow night.  Has Cub came back yet? [3] He might be up in the north end of town.
If Jr. wants his money you can give it to him. $290 I guess. I must have about $350 in the bank. Maybe I can save some more when I get overseas.
I can’t think of much to write about this time.


Bye for now
V.

_____________________

[1] I am fairly certain that he is referring to a Kit-Cat Klock that he bought somewhere down in Kentucky or Tennessee and brought home to Wisconsin on leave.  At least, that's the story I heard.

That same clock hung for many years in my grandmother's kitchen after my dad gave it to her.  Many years later it stopped working and my dad took it back, ostensibly to fix it.  But there it sat for several years in my parent's basement. Around 1995 or so, shortly after my father passed away, I appropriated it and had a new motor put in, at a cost of more than the clock is probably worth. The clock itself is only of sentimental value, but it runs great now. 

Unlike the newer ones, the clock body seems to be made out of a brittle black plastic. I don't think that it's Bakelite which has that sickly brownish look and which doesn't smooth or polish well. I suspect that it's made of relatively rigid polystyrene. Common soft plastics were still relatively uncommon in the early 1950s, mainly because their raw materials and production methods were still expensive.  This all changed when Karl Ziegler and co-workers discovered what became known as Ziegler-Natta olefin polymerization (coincidentally around 1952).

Another interesting feature of this clock is that the eyes glow in the dark--something which I never realized until just a few years ago during a nighttime power outage. I still haven't figured out how that worked in those days and whether the eyes are painted with a luminescent radioactive paint.

[2] Armed Forces Day.

[3] The family dog had run away.

Happy Mother's Day

My mother was born in small unincorporated township in Richland County, Wisconsin. Some of her ancestors were good Anglo-Saxon peasant stock, farmers mostly, and some were property holders. There’s a famous geographical feature named after my grandmother's family north of Madison.

Born in 1937, she wasn't a depression child and yet wasn't a boomer.  She had older siblings: two sisters and a brother. I heard stories of others who died tragically: an older sister near her age who accidentally burned to death; two others died in infancy. For quite a time my mother was the youngest in a poor but relatively happy family. But something happened.

I never knew what my grandfather did for a living-itinerant may best describe him. He was a talented gunsmith is all I knew. He left or was kicked-out by my grandmother when my mother was young. The family moved to the small town of Richland Center. She has memories of him meeting her after school and of him carrying her piggyback and giving her treats, and of her mother then taking away those treats.  A reconciliation was attempted around the time that my mother must have been 7 or 8 and two more siblings--twins (a boy and a girl) resulted, but the marriage ultimately failed.

My mom was raised by a single mother in the 1940's and 50's in the days before being a single mother was commonplace.  She babysat her younger siblings while my grandmother worked nights in a restaurant, eventually working herself to any early death. My mother claims that she raised herself, watched over occasionally by older siblings and by a neighbor woman, who was also either divorced or widowed. These women, my grandmother and the neighbor, were key to developing her character. But the misfortunes of others played a role too. As an adolescent, she watched her eldest sister marry, have kids, and then descend into single motherhood by the fault of an abusive and alcoholic husband. She became determined to escape the cycle.

She was fairly good-looking and met my father while still in high school. They dated for a year or two and then married a month after she graduated from high school. She had my brother and me and raised us and then returned to school when I was 8, getting an AA degree in dental assisting (just like Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower my dad teased her). She eventually ditched the dental assisting.

She outlived my father who died in 1995. She was utterly miserable for a few years but then, five years later, met a wonderful man who became my stepfather.  He's been a wonderful companion for her and he's a millionaire (on paper). My wife says that my mom will now live forever.

Here she is front and center with some diving friends when she was 28 or so. The photo was taken by my dad.  That's me and my older brother looking on (was my head really that big?).  The photo was taken at Devil's Lake circa 1964.

I'm eternally grateful to her for raising me. She made all those untold sacrifices that many women did in her era as a homemaker before the term became somehow pejorative. Of my two parents, she alone was the one who encouraged me to go on to school after high school and she made sure that my father was on board too (he preferred that we boys learn a trade).  She had seen the lasting damages that wrong choices had on individuals and families and was determined not to pass these things on whether by nature or by nurture.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Together (Again) and R.I.P. Uncle J

My uncle J died today--he was 81.  I wrote about him in my "Letters Home" series here.  He was in Korea while my dad went through basic training and did his Army service in Germany. Uncle J lived a good long time and died suddenly at home this morning. He had a wife (they were married 58 years), four children, and four grandchildren.

There he is together with my father in a photo dated 1960 (the year I was born) at a place named Long Lake, WI.  I don't recognize those yellow wetsuits (they look too baggy to be wetsuits).  My mother always teased my dad that he was "the best dressed man underwater"; this was meant to (ahem) compensate for a certain nonchalance on land shall we say?  Anyway, those wetsuits might be early Dunlop suits which appeared in the early '60's before every wet suit became--to paraphrase Henry Ford--available in every color so long as it was black.  I can tell them apart by the stances. Uncle J was always heavier set than my dad.

To be the oldest in a family, especially a larger family, must be akin to being a parent (but what would I know: I'm the youngest in a very small family).  I looked up some family history tonight: Uncle J. was the oldest in a family of eight. My father was third-born and the second boy out of five. I think that older siblings make a lot of mistakes which the younger ones can avoid just by observing. I know my dad looked up to him his whole life and maybe now they are both together again, looking down at me--at least I hope so.  R.I.P Uncle J.

Nothing Is Cooler Than Ice Diving

A favorite old family photo of mine.  My wife had it framed and gave it to me several years ago. That is my late father (seated) and a dive buddy of his getting ready to go under the ice in Lake Monona in Madison sometime during the '60s.

I remember the guy standing. My dad taught him how to dive. He was deaf and mute and he worked as a printer with my dad at the newspaper. He'd come over to hang out and they'd communicate using sign language. That guy might had been deaf and mute but he sure wasn't dumb. And sign language was obviously handy underwater.

Wish I knew who took the photo and what year it was from but there it is.

On Bivouac; Going Up The Country

March 1, 1952
Fort Knox, KY


Dear Mom and Dad and All,


Here it is March 1st and I am 15 miles south of Knox on Bivouac. [1]  We left about 6:00 Monday morning and our first camp was 8 miles out. It sure was cold that first night and I thought I would freeze. I know water froze ice in our canteens that night. [2]  Two of us sleep in a tent. We have sleeping bags, 3 blankets and a poncho. We put leaves on the ground and then a poncho to keep dry from the damp ground.

Today is Sat. and we all went in for 2 hrs, for a shower. We also got candy bars and flashlight batteries, or any thing we needed. We got most of our field clothes with us so we can change when some get dirty. It gets real warm around noon so that’s when I shave and brush my teeth.

We can only have fires on weekends. I had 3 cans of heat I burnt the first 3 nights. [3] It rained yesterday afternoon, but we was off for the weekend so I wasn’t out in it. Stayed in the tent. We got 5 days left so I guess I will make it. After the first night most of us were used to the cold.

Billie won’t get home for 18 weeks, maybe 20. I haven’t seen Lowell for quite a while. He must be done training by now.

I still weigh about the same. 175 lbs. The pictures were good. Has dad said any more about coming down April 1st. I might call home before I come.

We traded our old horse blanket overcoats in today for a $60.00 dress overcoat. Are they ever sharp. I will have it next time home. I won’t get to go to church this Sunday. It is getting late in the afternoon so will sign off for now.


Love,
V.


P.S. Starting today we get a 9 dollar raise. For being in the Army 4 mo.

____________________
[1] Bivouac sounds so French. I don't recall ever hearing my father utter the word. Actually, the word bivouac comes from a gallification of a Swiss German term beiwacht, and refers to night watch at an army encampment.
[2] The expression "water froze ice" is utter vernacular, frozen in time.
[2]  Heat is Sterno.  The iconic '60's band Canned Heat took their name from this product.

Letters Home: "Well, I shot him"

This letter was tucked into a letter sent home by my father. It was from his older brother J who was then deployed to Korea.

February 19, 1952
South Korea


Hi “Short Timer”
Well I am sitting close to the stove and trying to keep warm. We are way down in South K. now but its still sort of cold.
I have been out on an Out Post for about 5 days guarding a Coal mine. They were 9 of us all together and we were about 5 mi from the rest of the Company so you can just about picture what we did. All I did was see that there was a guard list made out and there was plenty of wood cut.
I would have the last man in guard wake me up at 6:00 o’clock so I could go hunting. I never got any thing so far except Crows and Hawks. I have seen Fox and Tracks that I think were Wolf.  Also Deer. There are Wild Boars also. I use a M1 and carbine. I suppose I have shot up about 800 rounds in the last weeks just shooting at different things. I am No.2 on the ration list so I should be on my way home in about two weeks.
I finally made Sgt. at last and I sure hope you can do better than that before you get out of the Army. Well I must close for now and get some sleep.


By for now
Be good

J

P.S. Don’t write me until you get my new address

________________________
I have no clue what the terrain looks like in South Korea but from his description of the types of animals it sounds like southwestern Wisconsin. The area where my dad and his brothers grew up is rich farmland interspersed with densely wooded bluffs known for their spectacular fall colors. Growing up just outside of city limits, they were used to hunting and tracking small game and deer in the bluffs surrounding Richland Center.

Uncle J was the oldest in a family of 8 siblings and in fact, J stands for Jr. because his first name is the same as my grandfather's. A few years ago my brother was visiting him and they were looking over his gun collection which spans a couple three generations. My brother, somewhat of an expert on weaponry, was intrigued by a curious-looking handgun that stood out as a foreign make. Completely unaware of the possible circumstances of his possession, and forgetting that uncle J was a Korean War vet, he asked him about it. According to my brother, their brief conversation went something like this:

Where you get it?

Off a soldier

Was he dead?

Yeah

How’d you know?

[a brief pause ensued]

Well, I shot him.
__________________
My brother told me that at that moment he felt about 2 inches tall, as if he'd bumbled upon an old man's secret.

They say that guys with combat experience rarely talk about it and I have found that to be true.  My backyard neighbor, a marine with two Iraq tours still doesn't talk much about his experience.

It's also not unusual for soldiers to bring back souvenirs from war.  I used to date someone whose father had a Nazi flag that he got in Europe during WW II. But back in '50s it was no doubt easier to bring a gun back than it would be today.

This Is How Families Used To Communicate

Check out the cool stationary my dad was writing on in 1952 during his Basic Training at Fort Knox, KY: This is a letter to my great grandmother, who I do not remember:

The floods he mentions were in the news that year and were bad enough to warrant an Air Force One flyover from President Truman.

Letters Home: "So They Got R's Number"

original photo here

February 11, 1952 

Fort Knox, KY

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

I just got in from the tank range and thought I would answer your letter. I was going to call you last night about 9:00 but they said it would take an hour and a half to get it through so I didn’t bother to call. We got up at 4:30 this morning and got back at 3:30 this afternoon.

We go on a night problem from 6:00 till 10:00 tonight so it will be a long day. It isn’t so bad because the weather is dry and warm. It’s a compass reading problem tonight. I suppose a lot of us will get lost. This is our set ups for the week: Monday: shoot 30 cal. machine gun from inside the tank. Tracer bullets. Tuesday: same thing. Wed: 75 m.m. gun from inside tank. Also 50 cal. machine gun with tracer. Thur: same as Wed. Fri 75 m.m. and shoot 50 cal. at balloons.[1]

I got K.P. Wed. so I won’t get any shooting that day. I think its my last time for K.P. Has Billy S. wrote yet as to where he is stationed?  A new bunch is moving in here the 13th and maybe he will be one of them.

So they got R_’s number. [2]  I hope he don’t get into combat, though the training don’t hurt anyone. I got 5 weeks after this one so be looking for me in April. Did R_ ever get my fender skirt taken off and painted? If he hasn’t tell him to do it right away.

Has Dad ever said anything about coming down and getting me?  I know my car would never make it. Tires are bad and I think it needs a new master cylinder.  Have R_ ask what it would cost me for a new master cylinder. I think about $12.00.

Sure has been nice weather here lately. I hope it's that way when we camp out for two weeks. Has R_ got a car yet?

We saw a big Jet Bomber go over today. It sure was up in the air. 2 big trails of vapor was left in the air for about 5 min.[3]

love,

V.

P.S. Send $5.00.  I spent all my money in Nashville.

________________________________________
[1] That .50 cal machine gun was no doubt an infamous Browning M2 (nicknamed "Ma Deuce"). Browning M2's have been in continuous production since the end of WW I.  If you've never seen a .50 caliber round, you should: they're about 5 1/2 wicked inches long.  My grandfather collected ammunition and arranged them according to caliber on a wall-mounted collection. Growing up, we never asked where he got them, but I think I figured it out. He worked at Badger Ordnance during WW II and I suppose that he managed to slip a few things out in his lunchbox, much like that GM plant worker who built himself a Cadillac from pilfered pieces (OT, but that Johnny Cash song is called One Piece at a Time and you can hear it here.  LOL, I just bought that song from iTunes in memory of my dad and grandad). Coincidentally, Johnny Cash was serving in Germany around the same time as my father, though in the Air Force, and he was stationed further south at Landsberg.

[2] R was his younger brother, who just turned 18 and received a draft number from the Selective Service.  At first I thought that my dad might have deployed to Germany and not to Korea because his older brother was already in Korea. Not true. Same family members may be deployed to the same combat zone, however, in the event of the death of one family member, the other(s) is/are given the option of voluntary transfer out.  I believe these rules date back to the Civil War and for good reason: Link.

[3] That jet bomber was probably not a B-52 which was only first tested in April of that year (1952), unless it was an early prototype. B-52's had four jet engines and probably would have left a characteristic vapor trail, although it's possible that the four trails would have been unresolved to the naked eye and would have looked like two. The jet he saw was probably a B-47.

Letters Home: Give Blood

1/31/52  Fort Knox KY

Dear Mom Dad and all.

I haven’t heard from you for a few days so I thought maybe I owed you a letter. I got a letter from J_ two  days ago. He sent some pictures, so I am sending them on to you. [1]  I got some made and am sending them. Today is payday so in a couple of weeks a check will be coming.

It snowed Tue. About a inch and was down to zero. Today it's warm again.[2]

I got a chance to go to Nashville this weekend so I think I will go.

I broke my watch jumping off tanks so I will have to get it fixed soon. I started to write this before mail call and got your letter.

I didn’t send J__ a picture of him with a pack on his back so you can send him one.

Its too bad about Aunt Bertha.

We won’t have any training tomorrow. In order to get out of it you have to give a pint of blood. [3]  Only about 10 out of 200 aren’t giving any. Our Captain said it is best to start a blood bank now, because someday we might need it. I think I can afford a pint.

Did R_ ever get the fender skirt taken off my car?  I might sell my car if I can get enough out of it this spring.

I had two more teeth filled today. I am all done with them now for at least a year.

Its time to sign off for now. I will write the first of the week after I get back from my trip.

Love

V.

________________________________

[1] The photos are long lost I'm afraid.
[2] Flood waters building.
[3] Current Army regulations regarding blood donations: link. I have tried on several occasions to give blood to the Red Cross but have been disqualified because of my residence time in Switzerland and then Germany in the early '90's.  Apparently, I am at risk for developing Mad cow disease (and just from consuming over-priced meat in Switzerland). I've always protested that I could barely afford to eat meat in those days but they never listen. It all seems a little unfair, rather like the Koreans refusing to eat American beef last year for the same reason.
My brain has always soaked up knowledge like a sponge. But my brain is not spongiform like those afflicted with Mad Cow are, as confirmed by a recent MRI.

Guns and Newspapers

January 13, 1952

Fort Knox KY


Dear Mom, Dad and all,


If that check don’t come soon I will have to see the Capt. to see why it hasn’t been sent out. [1] Did you find any use for that apron like bag I sent?
It was my turn for K.P. I didn’t get out because I was late. One of the other boys folks sent the Dem.[2]  I see that show was on today in Center. Can you send the picture out of the Capital Times?[3]
According to my figures I owe J__ $290.00 that’s what you had figured too.
We won’t be driving tanks this week. We will be shooting .30 cal. machine guns and M1 rifles.[4] We have classes tomorrow and shooting 4 days. Next week we will be shooting 75 mm tank guns for 2 weeks. Our last 2 weeks will be out in the woods. We will have our full field packs that weigh about 50 lbs. I think we go out 28 miles and then each day come back so many miles till we are back.
Tell R__ as far as I am concerned he can use the pickup. Its kind of cold with one window gone and no heater. It needs 2 brake rods. Ask R___ if he knows how to take that fender skirt off that is bent. I might have him take it down to Wilson’s and have it ground it out and painted moonstone grey. You won’t have to put it back in till I get there. Loosen the two back bolts. Take out the middle one and slide that arm one way or the other. Think you can do it?

love
V.

---------------------------------------------------

[1] Many servicemen sent part or most of their monthly earnings to designated bank accounts back home. Here he seems to be complaining about the slowness of his allotment account being set up. For a while it must have seemed that his money was disappearing into black hole. He must have thought it was a real SNAFU.

[2] The Richland Democrat, now defunct, was one of two newspapers serving the local Richland Center newspaper market. 

[3] The Capital Times was a Madison daily founded in 1917. The paper only ceased daily publication in April, 2008 and becoming an internet-based news entity. My dad worked for the Cap Times in the '60's and '70s, begining as a printer and then moving into graphic arts as a paste-up artist, assembling the pages, e.g. cutting the columns, getting all the news and ads to fit and flow correctly on deadline.  He actually worked for Madison Newpaper Inc., a jointly-owned entity which printed both the Wisconsin State Journal (the morning daily) and The Capital Times (the afternoon daily). When I was a kid, both newspapers were located in the same building just off the Capitol Square on 113 S. Carroll Street. I have fond memories of visiting the "composing room" which seemed one of those very busy, very grown-up places.

[4] The .30 cal machine gun was no doubt a Browning M1919, then the infantry standard; the M1 semi-automatic rifle was the standard infantry weapon of WW II and Korea. M16's replaced M1's during Vietnam and became the standard issue carbine.

Browning M1919 .30 caliber Machine Gun

Next to the bomb, the machine gun is perhaps the most wicked device ever invented.  Leonardo da Vinci, that celebrated renaissance man, gets the credit.

Familial Ties That Bind

A letter received from home prompted my father to send a second letter back home within a week.  Here he responds to news about the birth of a nephew (my cousin).  He avoids the topic at first, but then reacts with a mixture of mild derision and scolding:

January 9, 1952
Fort Knox, KY


Dear Mom, Dad and all,
I got your letter yesterday and couldn’t answer it that night because we was out on the tank range from 8:00 tue. morning till 8:00 that night. It takes about an hour to drive out. We went on a hike today and will be going out to drive again in about two hours. We won’t be back until midnight.
I am sending the income tax statement they gave us today. I suppose you will have to add it into my ’51 earnings. I hope I don’t have to pay any extra money. I shouldn’t have to.  It’s going to be a bad night because it’s raining now. I got all kinds of clothes so we don’t get to wet.

Sure was surprised to hear A__ had her baby.  J__’s tied down now. Ha! Ha! I don’t care for the name either.[1]  

I got my fatigues so now you can patch those ones in my trunk. I am going to use them instead of new ones they gave us. We have to turn them in at the end of training. That way I can bring a good pair home. I already got them put away. Send them next week if you can.  We have to turn in a lot of our clothes and get new ones. Wish I had an old field jacket so I could do the same thing.

11:00 Tues night


We just got back and I am going to get ready to go to bed. The mud out there was about 2 ft. deep.  We have been using 150 gallons of gas a day and about 5 gallons of oil. Part of the time we had to drive without lights. I will sign off for now. 

love,
V.


P.S. It didn’t rain but it is getting colder.

----------------------------------------

[1] "A" is his sister-in law and the wife of his older brother "J" who was then serving in combat in Korea. I think he's expressing his version of disapproval because J and A had been married just 3 months when their first child was born.  Premarital sex was still highly taboo in the 1950's, even more so if a child resulted. I mean, the innocence of Beach Boy's "Wouldn't It Be Nice" was still in place 15 years later.  I don't know the detailed circumstances of my aunt and uncle's marriage, i.e., whether it was delayed to so close to the birth of their first child because of his active deployment to Korea. But I do know that they eventually had 3 more children and that they both remain alive, well, and happily married 58 years later!

Letters Home: "I can pick up a lot of hillbilly and western that comes in from Nashville"

The Army used to have four heavy armor divisions, viz., the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Armored Divisions (ADs).  Of these, only the 1st AD remains active.  The 3rd AD was established during WW II and saw a lot action in the European Theatre. More info here.  After WW II, the 3rd Armored Division (The "Third Herd") was reestablished at Fort Knox KY, which had been a fortified encampment since the Civil War. My father was in the 3rd AD during the Cold War between the years 1951 to 1953. In this letter home he describes additional training as well as off-duty diversions. Footnotes are mine:

January 6th, 1952

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

Today is Sunday and I haven’t got anything to do so I thought I would drop you a line. I am listening to a program from Chicago.[1]  That’s the nearest home radio station. I can pick up a lot of hillbilly and western that comes in from Nashville.[2]

We had to go out Sat. morning and clear some land. They are making a new training course. It will be too muddy this winter for us to use it. We might have to in the spring if the weather dries up. Did you get that box? I got the socks and pants Sat.

It snowed about a hour here this morning, but it all melted off in 2 hrs. I think it will clear up for Monday. I went to the show last night. The Sell Out was the name of it.  Has that show about tanks come to R.C. yet? [3]

We start our 6th week training tomorrow. I guess we have to make up the two weeks during leave, in the spring. I heard we would be through training March 27, but I don’t know how true it is. Anyway it won’t be so cold here that time of year.

Have you heard that new song out Shrimp Boats is a Coming? [4] I think it’s a old song revised.

Did F____ make it back to camp alright? Some of the boys around here are still AWOL. Absent without leave.

I had two teeth filled Sat. afternoon. It was a couple that E___ was supposed to fix but I never got around to getting a appointment. I have to go again the 15th. I don’t think I need anymore fillings. I suppose he is going to clean them. As long as it don’t cost me anything, I am going to let them fix um up.[5] Some of the guys need work in their teeth worse than I do but we are going ABC and so on down the line. I wrote J__ a letter last week so should be hearing from him next week or the week after. [6] We have been having nice weather except yesterday it rained. Its getting along towards chow time so will sign off for now.

love, 

V.

___________________________
[1] WLS (890 AM), I presume. WLS has been around forever and had the strongest signal out of Chicago.
[2] In the early 1950's, "Hillbilly and Western" was synonymous with "Country and Western". The term "Country" later replaced "Hillbilly" because the latter term was considered degrading Link.  Nashville, home base for the Grand Ole Opry, was slowly being challenged by Memphis, which was then birthing the musical fusion only later called Rock n Roll.
[3] "Show" is short for "picture show" which was then a common term in rural Wisconsin. The show he's referring to coming to Richland Center is "The Tanks Are Coming".
[4] The song is actually called "Shrimp Boats" and was recorded by Jo Stafford.
[5] This is the healthcare public option in a nutshell: I want healthcare, but I want it to be free. :)
[6] J__ was his older brother, and was then stationed in Korea.

"I am listening to some Kentucky hillbilly music now"

This is the fourth post in a series.  Previous posts are here, here, and here. Or just click on the tag "Letters Home".
Having spent Christmas back home in Richland Center, my father hopped a train back to Fort Knox from Madison via Chicago and Louisville.  Here he tells of his brief layover at Chicago's Union Station and admits to his parents that he listens to "Kentucky hillbilly music."  Can you guess whose photo that is?

December 29, 1951

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

I got to camp at 9:00 this morning. It sure was a tiresome ride from Chicago. We was supposed to be in Chicago at 1:00 fri. afternoon and I didn’t get there till 3:00 so I had to wait till 11:00 that night to catch the next train. I walked up to State St. Sure is a lot bigger than the one in Madison. I saw a helicopter land on a big building.

I forgot and brought my car keys so I am sending them and some other things home the first of the week. R’s $5 will be in it to. Did you get the check yet? It should be coming. I got paid as soon as I got here.

I had to open the big casing bag again because my train ticket was in it. Ha! Ha! It didn’t tear out too much. I will either sew it or get the shoe cobbler to sew it next Sat.  I am going to take a hot shower and go to bed tonight. I forgot and left my other necktie. You can send it sometime. Among some of the mail that was waiting for me was a Christmas card from Mr. and Mrs. H__ D__.

I am listening to some Kentucky hillbilly music now. My radio works good. It rained here Christmas but that was all the bad weather they had here for the last week. It looks cloudy out now and like rain.

There sure was a lot of snow in Chicago. Some of the streets were blocked off. When we left Chicago I had 85¢. It cost 75¢ by Greyhound from Louisville to Knox, 32 miles and 10¢ from the main post to my barracks so I just broke even. It’s a good thing we got paid today. I still got some of the hard candy I got over to grandma’s. [1]

I didn’t get to buy the kids much but I will bring something home in the spring. There is a lot of things at the PX I could get if I had the money that D__ and B__ would like. I might be able to save a little besides the $50 I send home a month.

I didn’t know I had seen the loop [2] till I got back to camp and was telling a boy some of the places I saw on State and Madison Str’s.

I got K.P. tomorrow so I doubt if I will get to go to church tomorrow. I won’t mail this till Mon.

I carried that light plug all the way down here. I washed out 2 pair of socks tonight. I didn’t get much sleep on the train last night so am going to bed about 8:00 tonight. I will have to get up early for K.P. 6:30 I think on Sunday.

Sun night.

I had to get up at 6:45 this morning and I was through at 7:00 tonight. It wasn’t too bad this time. L__ was over a while. This coming week won’t be too bad, because some of the boys are home for New Years. The weather has been hot lately. I hope it can stay that way for a while.

love, 

V.

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[1] "I got over to grandma's" is pure Wisconsin dialect wherein "over to" substitutes for "at". I recall my father saying "over to" such and such a place meaning "at" such and such a place. Interestingly, German has a similar construction: cf. zu Hause which literally recites "to home" but means "at home".

[2] The loop: Link

Army Life: In The Tank(s)!

As a young man of 19, and already used to owning and maintaining his own car, my father quickly become familiar with the mechanized aspect of warfare. Here he describes Christmas leave plans as well as his first impressions of tank training at Fort Knox [footnotes are of course mine]:

December 16, 1951 [post marked 12/17/51]

Fort Knox, KY

Dear Mom, Dad, and all,

There is a train out of Louisville at 8:00 o’clock Fri. night. If I can get off I will be home Sat. morning. We was told we were off at 12:00 Fri. night, but I am going to talk to the Captain tomorrow night. If I have to wait till 12:00 don’t look for me till Sat. night or Sun. morning. As soon as I find out when I can leave I can write and tell you about what time I will be in Madison. Once I get there I won’t have any trouble getting home.[1] It costs $17.70 round trip by train. I got my ticket last Sat 9th. Tell dad he won’t have to bother to take my car to L's because I can fix it when I get there. There isn’t enough wrong with it to bother him. Just so you get the Batt. charged up. Tell R. I got my Nov. pay.  It was $69.00. $6.00 in income tax. I spent most of it already. I bought a few things, a present for P.[2] and something for all of you to look at.[3] We will be driving tanks 4 days this week. Fri. we will be in classrooms. It was 7 above here this morning. No snow yet. Its cold enough to though.

The tanks we drive have 500 HP V8 motors, 5 speeds ahead and one in reverse. They weight 34 tons. [4]  Its not as big as the ones they are using in Korea.[5] Its what they had in the last war, and are good only for training. The big ones have 810 HP motors and have 90mm and 105mm guns. These have 75mm guns. I can tell you more about tanks when I get home. Its too much to explain. The motor in one of these tanks weighs 2,300 lbs. As much as a car. They have two 12 Volt batt. or 4 car batt. 24 Volts altogether. One track weighs 3,500 lbs. 5 men make up the crew. Driver, gunner, loader, bag gunner, commander. The loader has the worst job in combat because he has to load the guns.

I got K.P. again Tue.  Hope to see you Sat.

Love,

V.

____________________
[1] Home was Richland Center and the closest rail station was Madison, about 50 miles east.
[2] His younger sister and my aunt (the same one who gave me these letters :).
[3] Possibly he's referring to a Kit-Kat Clock which hung in my grandmother's kitchen for many years thereafter. The same clock now hangs in my kitchen.
[4] Probably Sherman M4 tanks, which were used extensively during the Second World War. Around 50,000 of them were produced and only a fraction of them destroyed. Sherman M4's were armed with a 75 mm canon and each tank weighed around 32 tons, slightly less than my father's quote of 34 tons, however many Shermans were reinforced with more armor after WW II and or got motor upgrades. Sherman M4's also carried a crew of 5, and its motor used a five-speed forward transmission with one reverse gear.
[5] From the specs he is clearly referring here to the new and more powerful Patton class of tank which was first introduced into combat in Korea.  

Army Life: Basic Training at Fort Knox

I've decided to keep publishing my father's letters (not all of them) but cherry-picking the ones that report something interesting.
To continue, I'm not sure how long his induction at Fort Sheridan, IL lasted, but by mid-November, 1951, he was already writing from Fort Knox KY. Here he describes his routine:

November 18, 1951 [post marked 11/19/51]

Fort Knox, KY

morning

Dear Mom and Dad and all,

I just got back from church. We don‘t have to get up till 7:30 Sun morning and church is at 9:00, till 10:30. I would have to have L’s address in order to find him because this camp is so big. Tomorrow we start our first 8 week’s cycle of basic training, mostly marching. The last 8 weeks is tank training. Driver, gunner, mechanic, etc. I don’t remember having any navy blue pants. As for bringing my car down I don’t think the back tires would hold up. I should have had them recapped like I did the front ones in Madison. Maybe I can do when I get home. We have no snow but its kind of chilly in the early mornings. It don’t take long to warm up...

afternoon

...when you are marching. I am sending a couple of pictures of myself, one was taken in Sheridan, the other in Knox. I went to the show last night with Jim and Leslie M. Send that Ike jacket as soon as you can. You know the one J. gave me. Big top pockets. They only issue one because they cost $24.00 apiece. They gave us 6 patches to sew on our shirts. You can buy them extra at the PX for 15¢ so I’m sending one. One of the kids* can have it but I don’t think you can wear them. Something to look at. I think I will go down to the P.X. now and listen to the Juke box.

Love,

V.

-----------------------------------------------------

*by "kids" he was referring to his younger siblings.

The Army routinely sent letters to the parents of draftees urging them to be mindful of their son's mood and moral.  Here's the letter my grandparents received:

By all accounts, my father's CO was a decent man; strict to be sure, but a man aware of the young men in his charge.
Here's my father's next letter which shows his desire to return back home; he was still wavering between home life and army life: ( I love how he boasts about being a good shot on the rifle range-so reminds me of my son-his grandson-whom he would have adored, had he lived to know him):

December 5, 1951 [post marked 12/06/51]

Fort Knox, KY

Dear Mom and Dad and all,

I should be home Sat. night Dec 22. 70% of the 200 boys in this platoon are coming home for Christmas and 30% for New Years. I had my name picked out of a hat and had only 32 chances out of 50 to come. I could have traded my pass for one for New Years and got $10.00 to boot, some wanted to come at Christmas that bad. Several sold there’s so I guess everyone is happy. I am on leave at 12:00 Midnight Dec. 21 till midnight Dec 28. I won’t get too much time at home. I am sending a extra note for dad and R. to do. I haven’t got the Dem.* yet you sent.  You can give this picture to P., she wanted one. We was inside part of the time today because it was raining. I made out pretty good on the Rifle Range Tues. Tomorrow (Thurs) we go out again. I don’t think I will have any trouble hitting the bulls eye most every shot at 200 yds. I have a couple of 30 carbine shells I am bringing home to show you. Next week we go on tank driving and maintenance of tanks. Today it was tank radios. $80,000 tanks. They sure got a lot of them. A movie picture was filmed here at Knox that had 150 tanks from here. “The Tanks are Coming.” Some of the movies are supposed to be here 6 mo. before the public sees them. Will sign off for now.

Love,

V.

[extra note]

Dad and R.,

1. I forgot to put the new fuel pump gasket in when I put the new one on (its in the trunk) so you can put it on if it isn’t to cold up there. Martin B. helped me put it on and he knows we forgot it.

2. Get the battery charged. I hope it will start even if it is a small one. I don’t think any gas leaks around it but you can smell it inside. I won’t get any antifreeze until I get there. If I had better tires on behind I would have one of you bring it down.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

*The Richland Democrat, a local newspaper in Richland Center, WI.

Happy Veteran's Day Dad

In January of 1999, I unexpectedly received a packet of letters from an aunt. A brief note inside explained that they had been written by my late father to his family while he was stationed overseas. My grandmother had kept the letters which ultimately survived both his death in 1995 and her own in 1997.  My aunt (my grandmother's executor) wrote me that she thought the letters would interest me, as I had lived in Germany for a while in the early 90’s.

The Army drafted my father in 1951 at age 19, under the Universal Military Training and Service Act, in which all men 19-26 were subject to 24 months service in the US Army. After induction at Ft. Sheridan, Il, and basic training at Ft. Knox KY, and even more specialized training at Fort Campbell KY,  he was sent overseas and stationed in Germany until the end of 1953, serving with the 141st Tank Battalion in the 3rd Armored Division of the US Army. His insignia:

The Army was involved in the Korean war at the time, and President Truman believed that the war might be a ploy to concentrate all American resources on the Korean peninsula, thus leaving western Europe open to invasion by the Soviet Bloc. The Berlin Airlift had already occurred in 1948, along with the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1948. NATO was created in 1949 because of the perceived Soviet threat towards Western Europe. After the start of the Korean war, the United States deployed 4 divisions to Europe, culminating in the creation of the USAREUR in 1952. By this time, the US role in Germany had officially changed from an occupying force into an allied defender of the newly-formed German Federal Republic (West Germany). The 141st’s major task was to ferry US tanks to the Czech border to offset the Russian maneuvers occurring there. According to other soldiers in the battalion, the tanks were always fully armed and loaded, ready for war.
When my father's unit arrived in Germany in August of 1952, the barracks had not yet been built. Because of the rapid deployment of all these units and their associated personnel, there was a serious lack of adequate facilities at Fliegerhorst and they were initially posted to an old Luftwaffe barracks at Nellingen for a month [see the map below for locations].

The cities in red are places he was stationed or visited while in the service in Germany 1952-53:

And here is how Germany was carved up at the time:

I'm thinking about posting letters from his entire time. They trace the mind of a young man serving his country, albeit as a draftee of the times.  He saw no direct combat heroism,  though his older brother, then serving in Korea, did. There are many names of living people here to protect, and I'm going to edit these letters a bit. Here is what he wrote after arriving at Fort Sheridan for basic training:

October 31, 1951 [post marked 11/01/51]
Fort Sheridan, IL

Dear Mom and Dad,

I left Mil. At 4:00 o'clock Tue. afternoon for Fort Sheridan Ill. It took 2 hrs. They gave us about $200.00 worth of clothes today. Army life hasn't been to rough but they tell us it will be later. We are going to stay here about 7 days. There was 41 of us when we left Mil. Most of the guys we are with are 21 and over. We have been having good eats. Feel like I am already gaining weight. We are going to have tests all day tomorrow, shots Friday and maybe shipped out Mon.

P.S. a G.I. party Fri night Scrub the Barracks. The weather down here has been cool but no snow yet. When my check comes for the last 3 days work at C. take it and the 20 in my green box and put it in the bank. We should be getting $20.00 advanced pay this week yet. Seems like I've been gone a month. I hope everything is O.K.

V.