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January 17, 1944

UP AND DOWN THE AVENUE. Newly elected president of Kiwanis, is Myron Olson, principal of Junior High .. . The Charity Ball raised $140 for tonsil clinics. Money goes to the Community Nursing Service. Thinking of how some of the celebrants felt the day after, we call that poetic benevolence . . . Congress is getting ready to argue again about whether you ought to vote. You probably haven’t much time to think about that. But if you want to write and say what you think about it, we'll see what we can do about writing to your congressman . . . Donald Bloomquist of Lehigh, injured at the L. S. P. and.T., is recovering in Mercy Hospital . . . Skating on the river has been the best in years. No snow and the weather just cold enough to keep the ice in good condition . . . We are still having lovely weather and no snow. It’s been a little colder lately some nights, down around zero. But no winds and beautiful moonlight and simply elegant sunshine .. . Rationing is easing up on some things. Housewives can now buy pressure canners without authorization of the ration board. Gillette says it will have some razors for sale soon. None in Fort Dodge stores for several months . . . Mrs. W. B. Swaney died this, week after an illness of several weeks .. . Commissioned Lt. (j. g-) Wallace Rogers. He leaves for service this week . . . Mrs. Guy Rankin died this week . . . Vinchincio Vandi of Lehigh died this week following a short illness . . . Last year Bill Terry made $40,000 out of the silly old game of baseball. Now he’s mad and isn’t going to play. He says it’s too cheap. And he is going into the cotton business . . . So Hugh Fullerton rhymes: “‘Baseball’s too cheap,” says William Terry, whose absence won’t make the fans less merry. ‘The hours are tough and the pay is rotten’-—You’d think Bill sold Nylons ‘instead of cotton.” If you haven't heard nylons are a black market item and sell, if you can find the guy that has them, for five or six dollars a pair . . . If you are worried about ever again seeing a fresh egg maybe it will be some consolation to you to know that here: in Iowa-last year the obliging hens laid down four billion, eleven million eggs. That’s quite a lot of eggs anyway you order them .’.. Steve Jackowell has been elect- ed head of the Italian Mutual society . . . Peter Piltingsrud of Callender died this week. He was 74.

OVER HERE. Lt. James Tucker is at Oklahoma City . . . Pvt. Irene Miller is now at Camp Upton, N. Y. . . . Getting ready for Wings . . . Dale Sperry at Bakersfield, Calif, Norman C. Wiche at Wickenburg, Ariz., Don Collins at Kirtland Field, N. M. . . . Lt. Herb Smith is instructing now at Lockbourne Army. Air base, Columbus, Ohio . . . Promoted to 1st Lt. Tommy Mann, now instructing at Hamilton Air Field, Calif. His wife, the former June Pray, is with him . . . Pvt. Steve Kudron, Jr., is dead. He died as the result of a plane crash at Las Vegas, Nev. Several on the plane. parachuted to safety. but Steve didn’t make it . . . Capt. William McCauley is now at. Miami Beach, Fla. He’s been in India, North Africa, China and has done two hundred missions. He has the air medal and the distinguished flying cross .. . 2nd Lt. Earl Shostrom of Dayton has been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated at Ames . . .They had dinner together in New Orleans. . . Wave Alice and Lt. and Mrs, Hugh Smith. Mrs. Smith was formerly Rachel Ainsworth . . . Bruno Sestine is at the army air center at Nashville, Tenn. . . . Sprouting wings. Robt. Marsh at Greenwood Army Air Field . . . Sgt. Cliff McCarty is back from the South Pacific where he has been the tail gunner on a Liberator. He spent over three hundred hours on combat missions, downed three Zeros and is dripping with medals. And a very modest guy. He'll be in this country at least six months.

OVER THERE. In the hospital is S/Sgt. Milo Kline, nursing a broken shoulder that has troubled him ever since last May. He’s in North Africa .. . Cited for bravery at Tarawa, Cpl. Clyde Legg of Duncombe . . . The outfit Pfc. Newell Porter is with in England entertained 117 orphans Christmas Day. Each moppet got candy and cookies. Porter got a stripe for Christmas making everything very happy . . . S/Sgt. Merrill Saunders is stationed at Tarawa, Gilbert Islands . . . No Mother Hubbard he. For when he got back the letters were there. Forty of them for Allen E. Johnson somewhere in the South Pacific. If you are going for a barge ride in that neighborhood; look around for Johnson. That’s what he does when he isn’t reading a letter. He’s coxswain on a barge . . . Lt. Robert Baughman has been wounded for a second time on the Italian front. He was wounded first on November 27th, released from the hospital on December 7th and wounded again on

OVER THERE. In the hospital is S/Sgt. Milo Kline, nursing a broken shoulder that has troubled him ever since last May. He’s in North Africa .. . Cited for bravery at Tarawa, Cpl. Clyde Legg of Duncombe . . . The outfit Pfc. Newell Porter is with in England entertained 117 orphans Christmas Day. Each moppet got candy and cookies. Porter got a stripe for Christmas making everything very happy . . . S/Sgt. Merrill Saunders is stationed at Tarawa, Gilbert Islands . . . No Mother Hubbard he. For when he got back the letters were there. Forty of them for Allen E. Johnson somewhere in the South Pacific. If you are going for a barge ride in that neighborhood; look around for Johnson. That’s what he does when he isn’t reading a letter. He’s coxswain on a barge . . . Lt. Robert Baughman has been wounded for a second time on the Italian front. He was wounded first on November 27th, released from the hospital on December 7th and wounded again on

the 16th. His injury was not serious. He has been awarded the purple heart. Fun is fun but we hope this doesn’t get to be a habit . . . Prisoner in Germany is 2nd Lt. C. B. Hanson. He went down with a bomber on Oct. 1st from North Africa. He writes that his wound was not serious and that it is healing nicely .. . Pvt. Harold Worrell, who was wounded in Italy, is recovering and says he'll be as good as ever in a couple of weeks . . . Pvt. Joseph Belka is now in England with the army engineers after having served in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy . .. He was a courier at Teheran, Capt. Kenyon Bradt. He saw the historic meeting of Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill . . . Robt. Fitzgerald, F 1/c of Duncombe is missing in action. He was on a ship that was sunk doing convoy duty . . . Pvt. Palmer Haroldson of Gowrie was killed in action on an island in the South Pacific . . . They met in Tara wa. Duane Bonnell and Bob Ashford. Bonnell is a radio man. Ashford in a navy air pilot. Result, a bull session .. . Pvt. Ted Maier celebrated his birthday on Christmas on a lonely island in the South Pacific—Christmas in New Guinea. S/Sgt. Richard Johnson says they had wonderful food. And as a special treat they had candy life savers.

SHAKING HANDS WITH THE HOME FOLKS. John Prokop, S 2/c from Camp Endicott, R. I. . . . Corp. Walter J. Anderson from Fort Crockett, Texas . . . Merle J. Reichenbert, petty officer third class, from the naval air station at Hutchinson, Kansas .. . Pvt. John Kelly of Vincent, from Camp Sumner, N. M. . . . Pvt. Ed Calahan from Camp Crowder, Mo. . . . T/Set. Verle T. Smith from Camp Campbell, Ky . . . Lt. Dave Porter and bride from Brooks Field, Tex. He’s wearing wings.now . . . S/Sgt. Stanley Anderson of the army air corps from Eagle Pass, Tex . . . Pvt. Wm. Hutchinson from ASTP at Columbia, Mo. . . . 2nd Lt. John Foley from Tallahassee, Fla., where he is with the amphibians . . . Pfc. Francis Stoddard from Camp Mackall, N. C. . . . Merlin R. Enburg, radio-man 2/c from the South Atlantic . . . Adam Reis from boot training at Farragut . . . Ensign Bob Sinkey of Dayton from Camp Peary, Va . . . Pfc. Leonard Mickelson of Dayton from Columbia, Mo. . .-. Pfc. Charles Umsted of Dayton from Maxton Air Base in N. C. . . . Pfc. Robt. Ryno, from Drew Field, Tampa, Fla. He’s in radio. . . Ivan Laska, G M 2/e back from the south Pacific . . . Cpl. LeRoy Nelson from Camp Barkley, Tex. . . . Pvt. Karl Jones from Camp Edward, Mass. . . . Pvt. and Mrs. Howard Merryman from: Camp Roberts, Calif. . . .S/Sgt. Clem Rist from Alva, Okla. . . . Pvt. Richard Glendening from ASTP at the Citadel . . . Pfc. Mearl Armstrong from Roswell, N. M . . . Fred Campidilli of Lehigh, S 1/c, from his ship at New York . . . William J. Kruse, Ph. M. 3/c of Callender from the South Pacific, where he saw action in four major battles . . . Sgt. Earl Larson and wife of Callender from Bogue Field, N. C . . . Pfc. Dwayne Essig from Camp Young, Calif. . . . Pvt. Robert Brooks from Camp Atterbury, Ind. .. . Pfc. Don Willis from the marine sea school at San Diego . . . James Williams, S 2/c from the Navy Air Base at Corpus Christi, Tex. . . . Pvt. John Martin from ASTP at Charleston, S, C. . . . Pfc. Willard Carlson from ASTP at Michigan .. . T/Sgt. Charles Crimmins from Camp Maxie, Tex. . . . Pfc. Carl Johnson from Camp Campbell, Ky.

SCOREBOARD. Burnside 54, Callender 35. Swalla got 26 points, Manchester 14 for Burnside. Top man for Callender, Anshutz with 11. In a curtain raiser the Callender girls took the lassies from Burnside, 35 to 26 .. . Gowrie 25, Callender 21. The same evening the Gowrie girls dropped their match to the Des Moines Pepsi Cola team 46 to 21, There were two former all state players on the Pepsi Cola team . . . The Dodgers are click- ing. Friday night it was East Waterloo that found it out. Dodgers 39, East 21. Pray ran wild. Got himself 13 points. The next evening the Dodgers entertained the boys from the other side of the river. Dodgers 32, West Waterloo 25. Merle Davidson got nine points . . . Corpus Christi dropped another to Pocahontas 21 to 17. Hood of C. C. was high scorer with 8 points . . . They wrestle for keeps this year at West Waterloo. They did last year too. They were state champions and seem to be getting ideas this year. Dick Woodard took his match and so did Bernie Hayden. Other- wise it was all West Waterloo. A fine evening of country wrest- ling.. Score: West 32, Dodgers 6. . . Barnum dropped a close. one to Pomeroy, 37 to 35. Harcourt beat Corpus Christi, 44 to 26.

CRIME. He brought his twenty two rifle to the barn, planning to shoot a rabbit he had seen in the yard. He had been working

hard all day and he didn’t feel too good. When his step-father came into the barn and started jawing him about giving the calves too much straw, he grabbed his gun and started shooting. When he quit his step father was lying on the ground dead with eleven bullets in him. It happened in Renwick last Saturday evening. The boy, fifteen, is Dorm Machovec. His step father was Paul Voss. Dorn is in jail at Humboldt charged with murder . . . Robbery. Two guys, a tall guy and a short guy, stepped into the A. & P. produce store and took over three hundred dollars away from Van J. Ault. It all happened so fast he thinks it must have been done with the aid of mirrors. No trace of the robbers so far . . . Murder. Wm. Jarrett of Gowrie, 52 year old farm hand, went out to the Ev. Warden farm home four miles south of Gowrie, He lay in wait for Warden, When Warden came home about ten o'clock, he sprang upon him, beat him to death with an iron bar. Left him dying. He went in to the house and seized Mrs. Warden, threw her to the floor. She pleaded with him and he let her up. She escaped through the window, ran across fields to the Plant Brothers farm. Warden is dead, Jarrett is under arrest charged with murder. It happened Tuesday night of this week.

CONGRATULATIONS. From Sgt. to S/Sgt., Oscar J. Olson in North Africa with the 8th American Air Force Bomber Command . . . To Sgt. with the army air force in Puerto Rico, Melvin J. Walrod . . . From ist Lt. to Capt. James M. Hubesch with the army air force in Italy . . . From Cpl. to Sgt. Lester Chaliberg, Jackson, Miss. . . . 2nd Lt. in the Army Air Forces, John E. Morrow at Turner Field, Albany, Ga. . . . From Capt. to Major, Walter G. Arnold at Reading, Pa. . . . They are Lts. now, Ruth and Cecilia Russell, both nurses and daughters of Dr. E. D. Russell and stationed at Camp McCoy, Sparta, Wis. . . . From 2nd to Ist Lt. Kenneth Leffler somewhere in Italy . . . To Pfc. Maxine Ruth Vicki Langer in the marines at Camp Elliott, San Diego . . . To Pfc. LeRoy Hull with a bomber unit somewhere in England . . . To Lt. s. g., Dr. N. W. Runge. He is also the proud father of a baby born last Sunday. Doc. is at Lambert Field, St. Louis . . . From 2nd to 1st. Lt., Howard W. Green. He’s doing aerial photography at Lakeland, Fla. . . . To Lt. j. g. Roy S. Smith of Harcourt. He's at Miami, Fla.

HAPPY LANDING. Pvt. Joe Rutledge somewhere in North Africa . . . Pvt. Don Peterson of Badger somewhere in England.

DOWN THE CENTER AISLE. Ellen F. Brennan and Sgt William Lingreen on December 31st at Fort Dodge . . . Onnolee Greenlee to Pvt. Glenwood Crow, sometime in the future. . . Bonnie McGuire to Pfc. Reger Howard, January 6th at Fort Dodge. Howard is stationed at Camp Luis Obispa, Calif. Mrs. Alma Davis and Doran McGuire, both of Lehigh, December 28th.

FROM THE FIVE CORNERS OF THE WORLD. Mary Dolliver, APO, New York, “It’s a grand idea—you can’t imagine how it seems when you're 4 or 5 or 6,000 miles away from home to hear about pheasant season and football games and autumn leaves and the soy bean crop.” Harry James Lansman, S 1/c, somewhere in the New Hebrides, “We've been here about ten months and we're all getting pretty anxious for the old country as we call the good ole U. 5. A. Rodney Black S$ 1/c is here in another company.” Pvt.

Joe Ritts, Camp Rucker, Ala: “I have traveled through many states since my entrance into the service, but this “condition” as we call Alabama, is the worst one by far. There is not one man, without exception, that would not go to any corner of the earth to rid himself of his place.”

Tom Kelley, Sicily, “Had the good fortune on Thanksgiving to eat a part of a Cavanaugh turkey. I was really surprised. I have seen Tobin pork (fresh) both in Oran and here in Sicily. The old home town is really the “metropolis of the midwest.” Talk about it being a small world, Wendell Reed and I succeeded in hooking up. Louie Mortillore’s mother and sisters here.”

Dean Campbell S 2/c, Great Lakes, DL, “The Notre Dame team might be the best of the year but the Great Lakes sailors sure beat them up here. I know because I saw the game.”

Fritz Schrandt, somewhere in Italy, “This over here is by far the worst we have ever run in to, and although our progress is not fast we are pushing ahead. I have never seen ing like this country for rain, mud, and mountains. Speaking of seeing and using Fort Dodge products, I have run across both here and in Africa products from the Fort Dodge Grocery Co. and the Fort Dodge Creamery Co. Don’t think that I don’t let the boys around me know about it.”

Nellie V. Rehr, Tacoma, Wash., “Service boys and girls aren’t the only ones who enjoy your letters. My husband in service gets the letter and sends it on to me and I enjoy it very much.”

Sgt. C. L. Brown, FPO, San Francisco; Calif., “The next place we hit was Tarawa. I'd seen enough to know what to expect, but that place outdoes the most vivid imagination. I landed in the afternoon about 60 yards to the right of the pier. We all climbed over the side and sought protection among it up. We surveyed the beach situation and headed in using the pier for protection from the left. Ours was the first bn. radio to get in in working condition, so we held down the regt. net until relieved the next afternoon. That place was the smelliest, dirtiest, bloodiest, most unpleasant, unhealthy, tiring, nerve racking, uncertain, drawn out nightmare anyone could imagine. We secured it and moved off it after the fifth day.”

Pfc. Vaughn Rogers, San Diego, Calif., “I ran into Keith Johnson the other day. He is in his 4th week of boot camp. He formerly worked at Henderson’s in Fort Dodge.”

Lt. Howard W. Green, Lakeland, Fla. “There is another Fort Dodger in the 468rd, Lt. Edward E. Weiss, co-pilot in a combat crew. Our group commander is Lt. Col. Frank Kurtz of Queens Die Proudly. The enclosed photo shows my happy smile at receiving both my Letter From Home and my promotion to Ist. Lt. on the day before Christmas.” (Ed. Note, Thanks for the picture. Very handsome.)

S/Sgt. Stephanos Valaissiades, Somewhere in Italy, “I have just received three copies of Your Letter From Home and it so overwhelms me that I can’t find words to thank you. It was more than a Christmas gift to me because here so far away from the land we love, there is nothing that raises the spirit more than news from home.”

Capt. W. C. Thatcher, APO 464, New York, “It is apparent to me why the Garganos left this place. Sunny. Italy is a misnomer. We thought Africa was bad and Sicily was worse but this part of Italy is the cloaca of the universe. It rains most of the time and the mud is quite bad.”

Cpl. Francis DeHart, Somewhere in the South Pacific, “I am stationed on an island which the Japs tried to get but didn’t and never will”

Set. Merlew Olofson, Italy, “I am in a trucking outfit and we haul everything imaginable, including horses and mules. Mules are about the meanest thing we ever tried to haul. We had about 10 truck loads one night and every time we put on our brakes we thought sure they were going to land on the back of our necks. They kept sticking their noses into the cab windows, like they were trying to kiss us. One of them jumped out and we wasted about 2 hours trying to get him back. Boy! What a night. Nobody dared mention mules for over a week for fear of being shot.”

Corp. Frank Zenor, Somewhere in Italy, “We were privileged to visit Pompeii and “The Isle of Capri.” While in Scotland a little over a year ago I visited Loch Lomond many times, listened to Sir Harry Lauder and in fact did “lift a couple” at Sir Harry’s Bar in Glasgow. We had pork chops for dinner today. You guessed it. They came from Tobin’s at Fort Dodge. Might fine they were it. They came from Tobin at Fort Dodge. Might fine they were too.”

Lt. A. R. Ricke, Roswell, N. M., “New Mexico is spoken of as the “Land of Enchantment,” but I’ll take good old Iowa for mine. We've had two blizzards in the short while I’ve been here—and the natives are screaming, “unusual, weather.” We've heard that phrase from California to Texas—and here it pops up again. Oh me—at least I can dream of Iowa where weather is just plain “weather.”

Sgt. Wm. L. Pray, North Africa, “I think you would be interested to know that recently a friend of mine, a cook, served President Roosevelt, Prime Minister. Churchill, and General Eisenhower a very tasty meal of Tobin Canned Pork Loin—and he said they commented on it too.”

There they are. Letters from everywhere, from every climate and every battle front. “Thanks,” as Jack Armstrong used to say, “thanks a million.” And we had other fine letters and cards from Raymond T. Wilcox, S 1/c, Key West, Fla., Pvi. Otto Balduf in England .. . Lt. Martha Swanson at Clinton, Iowa . . . N. H. Chase, PhM 3/c, Great Lakes . . . S/Sgt. Richard Barlett, Victoria, Kans . . . Pvt. Chas. E. Walker, Alaska . . . Cpl. E. C. Flickinger, Childress, Texas. (Glad you like it. We'll put Bob’s name on the list as soon as we have his address) . . . A/S D. W. Cook, Superior, Wis., (Swell letter. Very informative. Wish we could print it in full) . . . Pfc. Richard Culver, Camp Phillips, Kans . . . Cpl. Raymond Ricke, Italy . . . Cpl. Vic McLoughlin, Guadalcanal . . . Mrs. Amzie Yoder, Chester, Pa . . . Pfc. August Kastendieck, North Africa . . . R. R. Anderson, APO, New York . . . Pvt. L. M. Magson, island south of equator . . . W. M. Skophammer, AA2/c, Somewhere in Pacific. . . Lt. (j. g.) Mack Bruce, Glenview, Il. . . Cpl. Thos. Merrill, England . . . Pvt. Harold Campbell, Jefferson Brrks . . . Pvt. Cecil Markley, Santa Monica . . . Pic. Floyd Zeka, Pyoie, Tex . . . Lt. R. H. Heinze, Drew Field, Fla . . . Lt. (j. g.) Robt. Weaver, U. S. S. Pennsylvania, enclosing a Christmas menu. Reads mighty good. . . S/Sgt. Wayne Porter, U.S. M. C. South Pacific . . . Lt. Delbert E. Williamson, APO New York . . . Pvt. Robt. Zeka, Greenville, Pa . . . S/Set. E. W. Maly, Muroe, Calif . . . S/Sgt. Geo. W. Armstrong, Camp Pickett, Va . . . Pat Darby S 1/c, South Pacific . . . Pfc. Merton J. Sweet, Fort Dix, N. J . . . Pvt. Vernon Johnston, Camp Crowder, Mo. . . S/Sgt. F. J. Schwendemann, Italy . . . Pfc. Frederick Miller, Fort Dix, N. J. . . . Lawrence L. Doyle RM 3/c, Pacific . . . Pvt. Duane Dehart, Fort Dix, N. J. . . . H. G. Flippen E M 1/c, South Pacific . . . Cpl Lenus Wieberg, Corona, Calif. . . Major W. G. Arnold, Reading, Pa. . . . Clifford Chantland, A/5, Farragut, Idaho . . . Cpl. V. L. Anderson, Australia . . . Pvt. Carl A. Rumme, Ft. Knox, Ky. . . . Milan C. Macek, South Pacific . . . T/4 Francis Weideman, Italy . . . and Clarence A. Will G M 2/c, Washington D, C.

Twenty four hundred and eighteen of “Your Letters From Home” go out tomorrow, to the five corners of the world. That fifth corner is the odd one, and they go to many odd ones. And with them goes every good wish for your safety and your happiness. Good luck and keep on writing.

Your Home Town Correspondent, ED EREEN


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