Five Des Moines Red Cross workers have arrived safely in England. They are Mary E. Breese, Eva R. Johnson, Margaret M. Hippee, Alice H. Gould and Harry F. Kastrup.
Mary Breese, staff aide is a former art and English instructor at Roosevelt High school. Eva Johnson, assistant program director, is a graduate of Drake university. Margaret Hippee, daughter of Mrs R.E. Hippee, 3225 John Lynde road, is a staff assistant. She is a graduate of Drake university and was formerly copywriter for Collidge Advertising Co., and travel editor for the Register and Tribune Co.
Alice Gould, staff assistant, is the daughter of Col. John H. Gould, 431 Twenty-eighth st., Harry F. Kastrup, formerly of 570 Fifteenth st, is a field director. For 10 years he practiced law in Des Moines. He was attorney for the poor and director of relief and administration in Des Moines.
Source: The DesMoines Tribune, March 15, 1944 (individual photos included with this news article)
RADIOTELEPHOTO . . . . . RADIOTELEPHOTO
RW 730858 . . . . . . . . . . NEW YORK BUREAU
MOVIES FOR YANKS IN FRANCE
FRANCE—Enthusiastic Yanks greet the first American Red Cross Cinemobile to be landed somewhere in France GI’s helped set up a piano on the stage and the movie screen with the aid of the ARC Girls. Lassies are (left to right): Kay Bonner, Minneapolis, Minn.; Eva (Joni) Johnson, Waterloo, Iowa; Irma Lappay, Detroit, Mich.; and Odette Stoddard, at the piano, of Mason City, Iowa. 7/19/44
Credit (Signal Corps RadioTelePhotos from ACME)
Thanks to researcher volunteer, Fano from Spain, for sharing these photos & and the RADIOTELEPHOTO with the following detail. “Her name was Eva R. “Johni or Joni or Johnnie” Johnson, born March 3, 1909, in Kanawha, Ia. She was assigned to the Clubmobile Division, Group B, where she was one of the Cinemobilers with Kay Evangeline Bonner Nee. I attached some clippings and a picture where she is singing with Kay and the Cinemobilers of Group A. One of them is Odette Stoddard, the woman playing the piano. When that pic was taken a footage was also recorded, I included a couple of stills."
Lassies are (left to right): Kay Bonner, Minneapolis, Minn.; Eva (Joni) Johnson, Waterloo, Iowa; Irma Lappay, Detroit, Mich.; and Odette Stoddard, at the piano, of Mason City, Iowa. 7/19/44
IOWAN WITH RED CROSS IN FRANCE
Miss Eva (Joni) Johnson (standing in the center behind the piano) is among Red Cross girls and Yankee soldiers exchanging mutual grins of appreciation upon the arrival of the first American Red Cross cinemobile in France. Miss Johnson, who is the daughter of Mrs. C. E. Johnson, Parkersburg, Ia., previous to her appointment as American Red Cross assistant program director was recreational hostess and director of the service club at Camp Hale, Colo. She was also former music supervisor and band director in Gilmore City and Blairsburg, Ia. She is a graduate of Drake university, Des Moines and took post-graduate work at Iowa State Teachers college, Cedar Falls.
Source: Water Daily Courier, Waterloo IA – July 27, 1944 (one photo included with the news article; all 3 photos & the RADIOTELEPHOTO provided by researcher, Fano of Spain)
Notes About N. E. Iowans in the Service.
Parkersburg—Eva “Joni” Johnson of Parkersburg has been driving an American Red Cross clubmobile in France carrying coffee and doughnuts to U.S. troops. She hit France July 15, 1944, in the first cinemobile to come the continent. A piano player with a sizeable GI following, she was in the Paris the day after it was liberated, spent the winter in the mud in Belgium, and was in Pilsen when the war ended.
Source: The Courier, Waterloo IA – Monday, October 8, 1945 (photo included)
