PART THREE

LaCrosse High School

Southwest County

Bomb Defuser, Coast Guard, Engineer, Farmer, Gunner,

Infantryman, Mechanic, Sailor, Tank Driver, Topographer, Wife

Moving along to another part of Whitman County, we have stories from LaCrosse, Hooper, Hay, and Endicott, plus a couple from Colfax that made it to our LaCrosse High School interview session.  At this point we were attempting to keep our record of losing at least ONE person per interview session intact, but stumbled at the last moment.  One candidate almost didn't make it… somehow Gene Ellithorpe ended up in Hay before finally showing up in Endicott.  I told him that's what he got for flying without a wingman.  Well, you had to be there. 

Anyway, what emerges in this group of stories - some long, some short, all true - is a wonderful set of experiences set in the context of many different occupations our greatest generation people engaged in during those war years.  Part Three presents a number of people in TRIBUTE  who served over the Hump in the China-India-Burma Theater of War, and also touches on the Aleutian Islands front, two areas of the war heard about much less frequently than the Pacific or European fronts. 

We had a really nice day at LaCrosse High School.  The students posted two kids at the doors to welcome people as they came in and we had a little chat session before breaking off into groups for the interviews.  They served cinnamon rolls and coffee mid-session and we were all invited for lunch when we finished.

A week or so before our scheduled interview session at LaCrosse High School, our contact teacher there, Mike Jones, told me a speaker was to do a presentation at the school.  She was a Jewish woman named Naomi Bon, a survivor of a German Concentration Camp.  I went to hear her speak, drawn by her connection to our tribute to World War II era Whitman County residents.  Her story resonated with memories, feelings, and experiences of prejudice, bigotry, hatred, and curtailment of personal freedom, some of the reasons America got into the war in Europe and responded to attack in the Pacific.

As  I listened to Naomi Bon I turned and watched the High School students who had gathered in the gym bleachers for her lecture.   They sat mesmerized by the tale she told, one likely they had only heard before as fiction.  Before them was the living truth, and they heard her. 

 I only was able to hear the first half of her presentation, but her words painted a clear context for the stories that follow.  Here is part of Naomi Bon's story.
Naomi Bon

That moral obligation was played out in lives all over America, both in those who went to war and those who manned the home front, and also in the lives of children.  Della Evans was one of those people interviewed at the LaCrosse session who did her bit to win the war when she was a school child.
Della Evans

At Pullman High School when two or three students interviewed one person they did one paper.  At LaCrosse they chose to do differently, so some of the people in this Part Three section had two papers written about them.  We chose to print both stories.  One such interview was done with Charles Tobin.  Chuck could not make it on the big interview day, but came in the next day, so I got to be there when two students interviewed him.  We all three heard a story made more compelling by the gentle tone of Chuck's voice.  Here are two versions of that interview.
Charles "Chuck" Tobin

I want to add to the story you just read that at one point early in the interview Charles Tobin had just answered the question "What did you do in the war?" by saying "I drove a tank."  Jessica, looking a little disappointed politely asked, "Is that all you did, just drive a tank?"  He quietly nodded, "Yes, that's all I did." 

One thing became quite clear as we began to pile up a stack of stories about what people did during WWII:  it took many people doing many, many different jobs to win the war.  Here we have two students who both interviewed a Flight Engineer who now makes his home in Hay.
Cecil "Tyke" Curtis

The following is the story of one of three Dormans interviewed for TRIBUTE.  Jack was one of those people who ended up in a very dangerous job:  defusing bombs.  The years since the war have not taken the edge off of Jack's ability to express himself, as he did to Mike Broeckel.  Also, when I asked him for a picture of himself  for this book, one from the 1940s period of his life, maybe one of him in his uniform, he answered, "I don't have any of just me.  They all have girls in them and I don't remember any of their names."  Somehow, I had no trouble believing him.
John R. Dorman

When I sent Darwin Nealey's story to him, it inspired him to sit down and write a greatly extended version of Melissa Hargis' story written from her interview with him.  After doing a bit of thinking about it  I decided to use his lengthier rendition because it deals with an area of World War II that is spoken of infrequently in histories of that era.  Our thanks to Mr. Nealey for educating us with his war time memories and thanks to Melissa for getting him seated and writing.
Darwin R. Nealy

Just to make things a little more complicated, we now have two people interviewing two people.  The Camps edited both versions, so we can believe the four of them came to agreement on what the Camps did during the war.
Don and Nona Camp

The following is another collaboration between the "teller of" and the "listener to" a story.  Don Dorman's experiences were complex and varied including time spent in a Prisoner of War camp in Germany.  While his stories could easily fill a book, we have presented an abridged version that we hope will encourage him to commit his entire story to print.
Don Dorman

The mayor's wife, Ruth Dorman,  has a story to tell too.  It is one of life in the throes of rationing and shortages, and also speaks of what it was like to be a young college woman and a USO girl. 
Ruth Dorman

I'm not picking favorite stories, that would be tantamount to impossible,  but I have to say I really appreciated the innovativeness of Cyndi Berthold.  She listened to Opal Wise share her story, then wrote it in first person so we have what sounds like Opal telling her story in her own words.  Opal liked it too, so for your enjoyment, here’s the life of a young Army wife from her own thoughts and heart.
Opal Wise

Opal's husband, Tollie Wise has continued his interests in serving his fellow man, and in things that run, well into his retirement years.  He has long been a driver of clients for Council on Aging & Human Services, people who need rides to medical appointments, grocery shopping, hair appointments, whatever.  Tolly drives his own vehicle to help people who need transportation.  He was well-prepared for that volunteer work and his life career by the training he got during the war.
Tollie Wise

Now, this next group of  stories came out of Endicott, this first one being a born-and-raised-in-Endicott man, Bud Smick.  Besides being the only veteran in the book on record as having been kissed by Lana Turner, he is one of the few who served in both the European and Pacific Theaters of War.  Again, one man, two interviewers.
Ken "Bud" Smick

This next story tells of a unique venue and an unusual occupation.  This is the story of a man who joined the Coast Guard and saw action in the Aleutian Islands.  Melanie Potter very appropriately titled her story "A Path Less Traveled."
John Mitcham

Clif Workman was interviewed by two people who both seemed to catch the part about the Buzz-Bomb with no trouble at all.  He was one of many interviewed who had passage on the Queen Mary, along with about a thousand times more men than she was built to hold, a detail all servicemen who rode the magic carpet seem to remember.
Clif Workman

The two following stories are about a couple in Endicott who both served in the military, one in the Army Air Corps and the other in the Marines.  At our meeting before the interviews in LaCrosse, Dale introduced his wife not by name but by her rank in the Marine Corps.  Aileen expressed feelings held by many women who served in the military in World War II.  It was an opportunity of a lifetime for them to travel and work out of the home, unlike women in any country had ever done before.
Dale and Aileen Johnson

This man's story shows the determination Americans had to get into the service and help win the war.  It also speaks of  appreciation for the support services that made it possible to fight the battle on all fronts.
Ramsey Worman

These last two interviews in Part Three are about a fighter pilot and a bomber engineer, both now living in Colfax.  Like all the people we interviewed, they keep active and busy, and are still serving others and showing a continued interest in local history and events.  Gene wrote us a note saying, "Jake did a fine job and the whole visit was enjoyable for me.  Please accept my thanks for the time and effort you folks are giving to this project."  You are welcome, Gene, and thank you for putting your life on the line for all of us.
Eugene Ellithorpe and August Luft

It really was gratifying to hear all the students respond so well to this project.  It may be an idea for the schools in Whitman County to more thoroughly  mine the rich deposits of knowledge and understanding that lie within our senior citizen population.  It is true: the more years you've lived the more stories you have to tell.  And the young people seem to have loved listening and writing. 

Well, that's it for the Lacrosse High School interview day.  Next we moved to the Northwest part of the county where we had our third interview session in that one week, this one conducted at Rosalia High School.