T R I B U T E
COUNCIL ON AGING & HUMAN SERVICES
PAYS TRIBUTE TO
THE MEN AND WOMEN OF
WHO LIVED AND TOLD THESE STORIES
AND TO
THE STUDENTS WHO LISTENED AND WROTE THEM
Published by
COUGAR
GRAPHICS
OCTOBER, 2001
WEB Site
Interpretation Designed and Created by
Basant
Dhillon
Devin
Stanton
Shawn
Welch
Under the
direction of
Terry M.
Pittman, Technology Director
April,
2002
If you wish to print out any part of this book,
by any means you choose,
for family, friends,
or your own personal use,
please feel free to do so.
Copies of TRIBUTE are available at
Council on Aging & Human Services
One copy - $15
For more information contact
Diane Yettick
(509) 397-4305
or
coavol@stjohncable.com
or
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I acknowledge and offer heart-felt thanks to all the people
who helped put TRIBUTE together.
First, the people of the time, the World War II generation people who sat still for interviews, edited their stories, and were most kind and patient
while we worked to get their stories right.
Second, the students who leaped into what was for most of them an unknown arena and listened, heard, learned, and wrote.
And third, the teachers who contributed their time and effort to the
creation of the text and the logistics of this book,
worked with me to link students with people who were interviewed,
taught the students what to do, and graded their papers:
Mike Jones, Craig McCormick, Marie Meserve,
Terry Pittman, and Alice Rockhill.
I also thank the people who offered resources and stories
besides their own and all the men and women who loaned me
books, photos, videos, articles, papers, and valuable documents
which helped create this collection of stories.
Many thanks to all who donated funds to publish our manuscript.
Thanks to Cougar Graphics, Dean DuBois, and Cara Vandenbark
for advice and work done on publishing TRIBUTE.
Thank you Merle Merry for your pictures that add so much to the voice of this book, as well as all those who sent in the wonderful World War II time photos of themselves and gave us permission to publish them.
Thanks to the members of the Council's Board of Directors for giving the go-ahead and encouraging me throughout the entire project.
A major thanks to Tricia Grantham, Kathy Makus, and Deb McKay
for doing the final proof-read for me.
My special thanks to Karl Johanson, Executive Director of COA&HS
and again to Tricia Grantham who had the idea in the first place.
My hearty thanks also to all the Council staff who not only searched out people we might interview, but also put up with my breathless retelling of each new story and my sharing each new photograph I came across.
Highest regards to
Allison Agnew, a teacher from
Tom Brokaw.
His work opened up the floodgates of telling and writing that finally has given our country a real history of World War II.
My heart-felt thanks to one and all!
Diane Yettick
Project Editor
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE
Introduction to
Papers, Articles, Class Interview
PART TWO
Women and Men at Home and Abroad
People From Both Near and Far
PART THREE
Bomb Defuser, Coast Guard, Engineer, Farmer, Gunner,
Infantryman, Mechanic, Sailor, Tank Driver, Topographer, Wife
PART FOUR
On Land and Sea and in the Air
Warriors, Support, Supply, Civilians
PART FIVE
Colfax
Military and Civilians
Working Together to Win the War
PART SIX
Born and Raised in Wheat Country
Scattered Abroad in Foreign Lands
PART SEVEN
Collected From the
Histories, Documents, a Diary, Some Newspapers
THE AUTHORS AND PEOPLE THEY WROTE ABOUT
AKINS, MICHAEL
AUDET,
AYERS-STAMPER, DANIELLE
BARSTOW, MARY
BERTHOLF, NICOLE
BISHOP, LESTER
BON, NAOMI
BOONE, MOSES
BRODERICK,
BROECKEL, DANIEL
BROECKEL, MICHAEL
BROWELEIT, INEZ
BRYAN, STEPHANIE
BURDA, NICOLE
CAMP, DON
CAMP, NONA
CARTER, GAVIN
CARTER, TRAVIS
CHEN, LIYANG
CHESNUT, ANDY
CIESIELSKI, DANIEL
CLEGG, BOB
CONVERSE, KATHLEEN
COWAN, DON
CURTIS, CECIL
CURTIS, EDITH
DARNOLD, ZENNIE
DEONIER, DARON
DING, ALBERT
DORMAN, DON
DORMAN, JACK
DORMAN, RUTH
DRUFFEL, ALMA
ELLIS JOHN
ELLITHORPE, EUGENE
ELWOOD, LEWIS
ELWOOD, WIN
EMTMAN, BRIAN
ENZWEILER, YVONNE
EVANS, AMANDA
EVANS, DELLA
EWING, AMBER
FLEENER, FRAN
FLEENER, SAM
Fockler, CELIA
FREEMAN, TED
FRIES, HARRY
GELHAUS, DON
GIESE, LYNDEE
GLADHILL, SYLVIA
GOLDSWORTHY, BOB
GOLL, CODY
GOOLSBY, TRISHA
GORDON, JOHN
GUPTILL, LEONARD
HANSON, CRISTINA
HARGIS, MELISSA
HART, BETTY
HART, DON
HATLEY, NORM
HEINEMANN, CARI
HEMPHILL, BOB
HENGEN, HELEN
HENLEY, DREW
HENNING, SARA
HILL,
HOFFMAN, LENHART
HOFFMAN, YVONNE
HOLLOWAY, STANLEY
HOPKINS, TONI
HUTCHENS, MERLE
HUTCHINSON, KATE
JOHNSON, AILEEN
JOHNSON, DALE
JOVANOVICH, VOYO
Kahn, David
Kastrinos, Kathryn
Keeney, fraNK
KELLEY, JOSH
KIMBLE, LINDSEY
KIRKPATRICK HAROLD
KITE, NATHAN
KOHLER, CLAIRE
KRIEBEL, DICK
LANE-ZEHM, JESSICA
LARSEN STEFANY
LEAVENWORTH, RYAN
LOCKHART, CLARENCE
LOUDEN, LAURA
LOVRICH, NICHOLE
LOW, GIL
LUFT, AUGUST
MABE, JOHN
MARTIN, GLADYS
MATSON, DOROTHY
MAYS, KERRI
McCAIN, JESSICA
McELWAIN, KATE
McSWEENEY, ALLEN
MEINERT, KIM
MERRY, MERLE
MESSINGER, DON
MITCHAM, JOHN
MOERS, EMILY
MOODY, JOHN
MORGAN, RACHEL
MORRISON, WILLIE
MOTTERAM, BECKY
NEALEY, DARWIN
NEIL, JACK
NORRIS, BILL
NUNAMAKER, MATT
OHNEMUS, ROBERT
OSMAN, MORWAN
PARKER, CHARLES
PARKER DOREEN
PEARCE, KENNY
PETERSON, ESTHER
POTTER, MELANIE
RAMEY, MAXINE
RAMEY
REDLIN, MARY
REED, DOROTHY
ROOT, JAMESON
RUFF, CATLIN
SCHEELE, BILL
SCHNEIDER, JAKE
SCHOLZ, HOWARD
SCOTT, GEORGE
SHOEMAKER, HAILEY
SLONAKER, GREG
SMICK, BRYANT
SMICK, KEN
SPENCER, ROGER
STAMPER, JESSY
STANKE, DOROTHY
STRAVENS, RICHARD
SWINNEY, DOUG
TELFORD, HORACE
THOMPSON, BRIAN
TOBIN, CHARLES
UTKE, LeROY
VAN DYKE, LEVI
von BAEYER, JAIME
WAGONER, ANNA
WALKER, ED
WEBER, SARAH
WEST, BOB
WISE, OPAL
WISE, TOLLIE
WOOD, SUNI
WORKMAN, CLIF
WORMAN, RAMSEY
WRIDE, DON
WRIDE, JIM
WRIGHT, JESSICA
YETTICK, DIANE
ZHANG, JOSH
ZORB, NORMAN
INTRODUCTION
Greetings! My name is
Diane Yettick and I will be your guide through TRIBUTE. On the
Acknowledgment page I said I am Project Editor.
I am not entirely sure what that means, but it sounds pretty good. At least it sounds pretty good until you
start reading the stories of the people we interviewed for this book, people
who did incredible things in terrible circumstances. Be that as it may, I will be leading you
through a journey that happened about sixty years ago, and along the way share
a few things that happened as we put TRIBUTE together. I am probably the best one to do that,
having read all these stories and keyed them into my computer. I wish you could sit and listen to every one
of these people yourself, but this is the best we can do, and actually, it's
not too bad!
You may want to read this a little bit at a time. First you could find people you know in the
list of names of authors and people interviewed. Click on Authors and Subjects at the top of
the TRIBUTE home page, then scroll down the list and click on a name you know and you can
read his or her story. Then return to
the home page and click on Part One and just start through each Part. Read a bit and think a bit as you go. You may want to plan a few moments to shed a
few tears. You will find it very compelling
and thought provoking the way all these stories together present a picture of
As I sorted through all the documents put together here,
several themes emerged, kind of disassociated in a way, but interesting themes
nonetheless. I'd like to share them with
you before we head out into this seven part volume. Here are some themes you too may notice as
you read through TRIBUTE.
© Heroes. These are stories about heroes. The sound you just heard is every one of the
people interviewed shouting in unison, "We are NOT heroes!" Yes, yes, I know. They all told either me or the person who
interviewed them, "Don't call me a hero!" I tried to edit out all those kinds of
remarks, but I just couldn't do it. The
problem is, it's about sixty years too late to determine the hero quality of
the people we are going to read about here.
It's been established. It is the
truth. These people were all willing to
lay down whatever kind of life they had or hoped for in order to defend all of
us and our right to freedom. So, you
will be reading about heroes, and if there are any complaints about that from
the heroes… the buck stops here.
© Trains.
Lots of trains run through these stories. A World War II veteran friend of mine once
said he believed the main reason for the demise of passenger train service in
this country had to do with the war. He
said he and every guy he knew got off the train in his home town and said,
"I am NEVER getting on another train as long as I live!" He was joking, kind of. At the same time, I am convinced we could not
have won the war without trains. And imagine
what it would be like now if we had to suddenly move people all over the
country. Everyone would want to drive
his own car. Picture the gridlock that
would bring about near every military base in
© Military bases. That brings us to military bases, yet another
pervasive theme. It seemed to me as I
read through or heard stories from different people each one had a list of new
names of bases and towns where he or she received training. It is amazing how quickly all the branches of
military service were able to put together instructors, set up camps, and go to
work training all kinds of productive people.
No two people in our stories followed exactly the same path.
© Flying formation. I began to notice as the book came together
that a surprisingly high number of young men from
© Variety.
The people in TRIBUTE filled an amazing variety of jobs
and also served on various war fronts that have faded from public memory and
certainly out of history text books. Men
and women rushed to fill the demands of the war machine, both in military
positions and on the home front, some of them doing what they knew how to do,
many more not. And they served all over
the earth.
©
© Loyalty.
Bonds between men and women in the various branches of military service
survive at least sixty years. The week
we conducted interviews at three high schools I heard all kinds of good natured
ribbing between guys in different branches.
I had to be careful not to find myself in the line of fire on that one!
© Only a few.
Someone told me there are about 2000 World War II veterans in
© Just kids.
Finally, here is something I found strangely haunting. World War II was fought and won by teenagers,
men and women between the ages of seventeen and their early twenties. Right after
Well, those are a few things I noticed while I was being
instructed in the history of World War II by experts in the field. Incidentally, if you have always said you
hate history, you are in for a real surprise.
It is amazing what a difference it makes when you are thinking of
history in terms of people from your county instead of dates and wars! After reading this you just may think some
better thoughts about the subject of history.
Before we take off through Part One, I'd like to tell you a
bit about how this project started and developed. If that doesn't interest you, just return to
the TRIBUTE home page and click on Part One and jump in.
In September of 2000 some of the staff from Council on Aging
& Human Services, including me, went to
Over the next few weeks we at Council on Aging discussed the
possibility of producing such a volume in
The first couple of schools I contacted were unable to find
time or a friendly curriculum slot to include such a project. Then I made an appointment with Craig
McCormick at
I said, "Good.
How many kids do you think you can have work on the project?" I was thinking four, maybe five.
He said, "Well, all of them."
I said, "How many is that?"
He said, "Twenty-seven."
Suddenly my neat and tidy concept took total flight. I looked at him and tried to keep my voice
even. "Fine," I said. "That will be fine."
I walked out of the building wondering where and how I would
find that many people in all of the county, let alone
We were off and running.
We scheduled an interview session only to have the school
library catch fire early in the morning the day of our interviews, closing the
school for the day. Undaunted, we
rescheduled a couple weeks later. One of
the volunteers, Roger Spencer, was unable to come on that second date, so I
asked him if he would be willing to come in to the school the week before and
let the student assigned to him interview him in front of the class. I described it as kind of a training session
to give the kids an idea of what to expect.
He graciously said yes.
He was to meet me at the school office at
Seems that class was also expecting someone that
morning and had gotten Mr. Spencer by mistake. Roger said with a big grin, "I was well
into my spiel before Craig showed up."
Again, undaunted, we pressed on. David Kahn did indeed show the class how it
should be done, and the next Monday the students had the opportunity to meet
and interview people of their own, and to forge some friendships they had not
anticipated.
The same week we held interview sessions at LaCrosse and
Some people were unable to make it to one of the interview
sessions, but wanted to participate, so I volunteered to interview them and add
their stories to our growing list. Also,
we were unable to arrange to have a Colfax or
After the interviews, we collected the stories and sent them
to each person who was interviewed for editing and approval. Then we entered them into a computer, sorted
them out into these several Parts, and presented them to Cougar Graphics for
publication.
One other thing. There were a few people we approached who,
because of illness or other valid reasons, were not able to be involved in our
project. But they were all kind,
generous, and helpful, some even referring me to other people we might
interview. A special thanks to all of
them for that courtesy.
Pulling these stories together has been one of the most
engaging, exciting, educational, and emotionally challenging things I have ever
done. I hope you find reading them
equally engaging, exciting, educational, and emotionally challenging. You should, because after all, this book is
about people we live with, people who laid down their lives for us, people who are well deserving of our tribute.
One little clue that will help you wind your way through all
these stories: When you see print that looks like this, not indented, in
Lucinda Calligraphy font Size 11, that will be me, Diane, talking to you,
introducing the material just ahead of you, maybe sharing something that will
make the last story or the next thing you read more clear, interesting, or
entertaining.
When you see print that looks like this, indented, in Lucinda Sans, font
size 12, that will be the real stuff, stories written either by the students,
the people themselves, or by me.
If you didn't skip to Part One before, you are about there
now and have a better understanding of how TRIBUTE came into existence.
Check the list of names for stories you may want to click on
and read first, or if you are ready to jump in, let's GO!
PART ONE
Introduction to
Papers, Articles, Class Interview
When I talked to Alice Rockhill about how her students might
be involved in this project, she was already well into a unit on Whitman County
History. She invited me to come to her
class and listen to some oral presentations, which I did. I was delighted to realize I had found the
piece that had eluded me: "Where and how do we start this story?" I
had wondered. Well, here it is.
Part One starts off with a series of essays that define
THE
By Gavin Carter
The
Two of the reasons people started
coming to the Palouse region were the large amount of timber in the
In 1875, the first saw mill was
established on the Palouse and was powered by steam. Logs could be floated down the river to the
saw mill and stored behind a low dam.
During high water periods, the logs would be floated to Colfax and on
down the river. It is hard to believe
that the river could float as many as 30,000,000 feet of
When there was a log jam, the dam workers would use a tool called the peavey. A peavey is a strong stick with an iron or steel tip. It also has a hinged hook near the end. The hook would grab the log and the dam workers would push the logs away. If the peavey did not work and there was no other way to get the logs apart, they would use a type of explosive, mainly dynamite.
The
During the winter, the backwater
from downstream extended through the town of
The main attraction on the
The nature of the river changed
drastically after the old growth timber was logged off the
FLOUR MILLS
By Josh Kelly
When early settlers found out they
could harvest the bunchgrass that covered the hills, it wasn't long before
grain was the primary crop of the Palouse Region. That was when they realized the need for a
nearby flour mill. The flour mill ground
the grain into flour and if they had one in their town, they wouldn't have to
go further away to find a town to take their grain. A flour mill can be either
water, steam, electricity, or diesel fuel powered. The powering system turns buhrs that grind
the grain into flour. Buhrs are large
stone wheels that were shipped from as far as
The mill was a very important part of the town and a large part of the income was from selling flour made in the mill. When the harvest was poor, the whole town would be in trouble, which made farming and working in the mill risky of going bankrupt. Most mills started becoming popular in every town right at the turn of the century. They were most often built by one man then sold three or four times before they were closed. That shows how hard life was if harvest was bad. The mill owner could lose everything he had.
Most mills when they were first
built were next to a river or stream and the water was used to turn a wheel
that turned the buhrs. Then as time went
on, the town's people would move the mills closer to railroads and either power them with electricity or diesel fuel. The mills like the Almota mill had an
advantage over some others because the Almota mill was built next to the
To gauge how productive mills were,
they were measured by how many barrels of flour could be made in one day. Most of the mills in
BARNS
By Doug Swinney
Barns are one of the most common structures on the Palouse. They are some of the few surviving structures of the past. A barn is defined in agriculture as a farm building for sheltering animals, their feed, and other supplies. Barns were named according to their purpose, as hog barns, dairy barns, tobacco barns, tractor barns, or general use barns. The most common barn in this area was the general use barn, used for housing mules, cows, calves, and sheep, and for storing hay and grain. This is what barns were built for, but as time went on tractors were invented and these uses for the barn declined. Today barns are mainly used for storage of grain and machinery.
The traditional color of barns was red. Why red? There are several theories to answer this question. One person said ferrous oxide, a primary component of red paint, was inexpensive and this appealed to thrifty farmers. Another said they used red to simulate brick and wealth. Others say it was a supply and demand tradition. Farmers, when asked why they painted their barns red, replied that red paint was available and cheap. If paint producers were asked why they produced so much red paint they said it was because farmers wanted it.
Wood is the traditional barn material, but sheet steel and aluminum have increasingly been used since World War II, particularly on large farms. Barns usually consisted of two stories, the first to shelter animals or machines and the second to store hay or grain, though one-story barns gained popularity in the late 20th century. The main difference between barns was their shape. The most common was the square barn, but there were also round barns and octagonal barns.
One type of barn was a late bank barn. These were also called dairy barns. This type of barn was built from the 1870s to the 1900s. It was built by farmers specializing in dairying. It was a large multi-storied barn built for plenty of space for dairy cows, and an upstairs for hay and feed storage. This style went out in the 1910s and was replaced by the ground stable barn. These have a gambrel roof for a hay loft and the downstairs for dairy cows.
Today many barns have been abandoned. In the winter the old rickety roofs can't take the weight of the snow and this is usually when they collapse after rotting for years. Also, many barns fall victim to violent wind storms. The old structures can only handle so much.
TECHNOLOGY
Excerpts from an Essay
By Kenny Pearce
Our modern world is filled with
technology. Everywhere we look we can
easily see how it affects our lives.
However, technology also has indirect effects on groups of people, which
can be harder to see. While we could go
back several hundred years examining the use of technology by the Indians and
the early settlers of the area, for the purpose of this paper we will be
concentrating on the technological advances made after the founding of the city
of
The first railroad company to reach
this area was the Northern Pacific which was given land to build a railroad to
the