Tue, May 29, 1945: tractor

"Today I took the culaviator [sic] down to Brown's so he could plow his potatoes.  I did not have to work very much and played with the twins and their two little kittens most of the time.

"Last Saturday I drove Brown's tractor home from our place all by my self."

-- Letter from my uncle, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Boulder, Colo., Tuesday, May 29, 1945.  This letter was written on my uncle's twelfth birthday.  At that age, he was already driving the tractor down the road by himself.  Brown King was my father's cousin, and about fifteen years older than him.  I believe he lived about a mile or two from my grandparents.

Sun, May 27, 1945: P.W.'s

"Dearest DeVere: It is Sunday again and the day has been full as usual as well as the entire preceding week.

"Last Monday (being the first since my school was out) I did a 4-week's washing.  Tuesday was the Senior's assembly as Evelyn Myers went with me to hear the will, prophecy and history of the Senior Class.  Barbara played 'Chloe' and 'Rag Picker' which sort of harmonized with the rest of the program.  Several girls also sang songs 'Sentimental Journey' and such.  We were unable to hear all of it but it was pretty funny.

"Wednesday I got the said 4-week's ironing completed then Thurs., Fri. and Saturday I spent almost the entire time cooking and washing dishes.  Daddy was putting up hay and got a load of P.W.'s [prisoners of war] to help him each day.  They were all pretty good workers.  They put some of it in the hay barn and baled the rest and put in the barn.  Then Sat. the prisoners helped clean out the barn.  It was a pretty big job since it had been collecting all winter and you almost had to use a step-ladder to enter the stables."

--Letter from my grandmother, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Boulder, Colo., May 27, 1945. My father’s sister, Barbara, was finishing her senior year of high school.  The prisoners were presumably Germans, like those my grandfather had gotten earlier (see August 1944).

Sun, May 20, 1945: wars in the Pacific

"Aunt Frances thinks it possible that Dale might be home in a few months.  Surely hope so.  He has had a rough deal for a long time.

"Wish the wars in the Pacific would soon be over but as hard as it seems for them to make any headway, it may be a long time yet."

-- Letter from my grandmother, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Boulder, Colo., Sunday, May 20, 1945.  Dale was my father's cousin. In May 1945, Allied forces were fighting the Japanese for control of Okinawa, 340 miles from the main Japanese islands.

Wed, May 16, 1945: essential industry

"S.C. [Southwestern College] was the only school in Winfield that remained open on V-E Day.  The boys on the campus were rather disgusted & proceeded to put various bits of propaganda on the bulletin board the day following as: telegram to Truman, asking that SCers not be drafted because it was an essential industry (working on V-E day...."

-- Letter from Norma Harrold, Winfield, Kans., to my father, Boulder, Colo., Wednesday, May 16, 1945. 

Thu, May 10, 1945: V-E Day

"On V-E Day we had what was probably a typical celebration.  Pres. Guftafson made a few appropriate remarks to open the all-school convocation.  Then Prof. Reynolds of the Eng. Dept. read some up-to-date chapters from Isaiah, and Capt. Cheadle closed with a warming that 'There's a Job Yet to be Done.'  There was no celebration here - except that a few flags were hung out downtown and all business establishments closed.  After the many false alarms it was almost an anti-climax and, when, someone brought the report to school Monday morning, we could only believe it after hearing confirmation later in the day."

--Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., May 10, 1945.  The allies accepted the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945. 

Sun, Apr 22, 1945: freak day

"Grandma and Grandpa are intending to move to Douglass as soon as they can get a house.  So far they haven't found anything they liked very well and are still living on the place.  It rained really hard the evening before their sale and there wasn't a very large crowd.  However everything went very well but did not bring as much as papa would have liked to have them bring. He really hated to have to give up his sorrel horses. Uncle Everett bought the farm.  He intends to rent it out if he can....

"The Seniors had their freak day last Tues.  On Monday, the rivers were up so badly they couldn't get to school but the most of the freaks got there Tues.  They were all supposed to be Dog Patchers.  Bill Kennedy was Little Abner and Lotus Noll was Daisy Mae.  All the girls carried cob pipes and I guess they were a mess.  Barbara had on a dress made out of various colored rags and had freckles painted on.  She went bare-footed all day in the school house.  After school they had a picnic in the park and in the evening a party.  They were really tired when it was all over."

-- Letter from my grandmother, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Boulder, Colo., Sunday, April 22, 1945.

Sat, Apr 21, 1945: chattering

"This afternoon we plan to bike ride down to Eldorado Springs -- 9 miles south....It'll be good relaxation to get away from the Navy Japanese Language School, ‘which sets men to chattering Japanese in three months,’ even for a few days.  The above quotation if from a quote posted on the bulletin board by some jokester.  Apparently it was clipped from a magazine.  Anyhow it ran like this ‘It used to be thought that Japanese couldn't be learned in 4 years of intensive study; but the Navy Language School at Boulder, Colo., sets you to chattering it in 3 months.’  Well -- I haven't noticed myself chattering it yet."

-- Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo.,  to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Saturday, April 21, 1945.

Thu, Apr 19, 1945: the hell knocked out of it

[language warning] “Well Son, I finally made it. I am now in ‘Der Fatherland.’ I knew I should have taken more interest in that year of College German we took....

“We arrived in Le Havre France not too long ago and from there went to a camp called 'Lucky Strik'  We then came through Belgium and now here in Germany.  We came through Aachen and brother they really knocked the living hell out of that time for that matter about every town over here has had the hell knocked out of it.  We have been in action here in Germany, have been fixing the guns at the Krauts.”

--Letter from Everett “Sammy” Samuelson, Germany, to my father, Boulder, Colo., April 19, 1945.  “Lucky Strike” was one of the “cigarette camps” established by allied forces near Le Havre in northwestern France, across the channel from England.  Aachen is a German town near Belgium and the Netherlands.   Samuelson was my father’s classmate and a member of his pep club and singing quartet at Southwestern College.  He was an army corporal, leading a mobile gun team in the field artillery. 

Sun, Apr 15, 1945: new President

"we finally got through combining kaffir finished the last job last Monday, have'nt got much farming done yet, sowed about forty acres of Oats I am not quite through assessing yet, have about a dozen to see yet and one a them is in Wichita one in El Dorado & one in Douglass  I have gotten along pretty well with the job.  The biggest holler is the roads everybody wants their roads fixed, and nobody wants that kind of a job.

"Seems like we have a new President of the United States.  Certainly was surprised at Pres. Roosevelt death, his late pictures have shown that he didn't look to good.”

-- Letter from my grandfather, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Boulder, Colo., April 15, 1945.   In his memoir, my father noted, “Although Leonard was a Republican, and did not agree with many of FDR's policies, he conceded that the jaunty, confident political leader had ‘a good radio voice.'" Leonard did participate in New Deal programs like the Agricultural Adjustment Act, saying “If they’re going to do this, then we ought to get in there and run it.”

Sat, Apr 14, 1945: President Roosevelt's death

"Dear Folks:

"The shock of President Roosevelt's death has certainly left it's mark on the routine of our school.

"Although classes and tests have continued as usual, a much soberer note has been lent to the dormitory. Everyday seems like Sunday afternoon with radios broadcasting only organ music.  And even the blatant jazz of the chow room loud speaker has been replaced by music of a more stately nature.

"Last Friday in accordance with the 'Rocks and Shoals', all men put on 3" black mourning crepe bands.  However by noon an AlNav (rule applying the entire Navy) had come through abolishing this provision of the Articles for Govt. of the U.S. Navy.  Otherwise we would have worn them for 29 days.

"A number of services have been held in his memory.  Yesterday the entire University gathered in Macky Auditorium to hear Pres. Gustafson speak and tomorrow evening at 8 P.M. a more formal memorial service will be held.

"Pres. Truman doesn't appear to be a spectacular man, but apparently he's honest and determined.  There seems to be a tendency to ridicule the man here; and, true he didn't have a statesmanlike appearance in Life's recent Picture of the Week which showed him playing a piano upon which Lauren Bacall was roosted.

"But I think we should give the man a chance to show what he's made of before writing him off as another Johnson."

-- Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Saturday, April 14, 1945.  Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Ga., on April 12, 1945, at age 63, less than three months after having been sworn in for his fourth term as president.  He died of a massive stroke, after months of declining health. Harry S. Truman was sworn in as president at the White House within three hours of Roosevelt’s death.