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H istory
Shortage of men causes problems for farmers, and area women
After a lengthy detour to cover the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the beginning of the Normandy invasion, this week’s column returns to the events of July 1943.
The first summer concert was held in the park on Sunday,July 11. It was decided to start the music at 9 p.m. instead of 8 as had been done in the past.
The change was made because many farmers were still running on standard time instead of the new government-imposed daylight savings time, also known as “war time.”
Apparently the new time wasn’t popular because the following week the starting time was moved back to 8 p.m. so the closing time wouldn’t be so late. The conductor that evening was 15-year-old Marion Bebee. The program also featured 7-year-old Charles Fleer who tap danced to a couple of numbers.
The summer also brought the official declaration of Duane Phillips’ death. He had been listed as missing in action. At the time of his death, Phillips had been 19 years old and serving aboard the destroyer, “Sims,” which was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. Phillips, the first Laurel boy to die in World War II, was a 1941 graduate of Laurel High School and a classmate of Carroll Lipp, who passed earlier this year.
According to the Advocate, Charles Ebmeier walked all the way from Arlington, Nebraska, to a farm south of Laurel in 1890 driving a herd of cattle ahead of him. Fifty-three years later Ebmeier was still one of the biggest cattle feeders in the area. In April 1926, he started a full service gas station on Main Street where the new event center now stands.
Ebmeier also built the Home Cafe and Service Station on the west edge of town and operated a fleet of tank trucks to serve area farmers.
The small grain crop was ready to harvest but there was a shortage of workers due to the war. In the days before mechanical combines became popular, wheat, oats and barley needed to be tied into shocks and fed by hand into a threshing machine. Some of the men, women and older children from town volunteered to help farmers with the work.
“The way the kids are taking hold of the shocking proves what we have always claimed,” said Editor Allison. “Give them something constructive to do and they will keep out of mischief.”
Well, maybe not everyone: “Some ornery skunk stole Alf Mittelstadt’s garden hose — and you can’t get them anymore.Then someone tore up Ed Steenbock’s pretty flowers. Chicken houses are being looted and other acts of vandalism are coming to light. The only way to cure this wave of terror is to fill the seat of some pants so full of bird shot that the wearer will be eating breakfast off the clock shelf for the next few weeks,” said Editor Allison.
The shortage of workers was so severe that state officials requested more prisoners of war be sent to Nebraska to work in the fields, and on irrigation and construction projects. Fort Robinson was one of largest POW camps in the state.
The shortage of young men also was being felt by the local girls. “Lucky was the fair damsel who had a boyfriend to cart her around on the Fourth of July,” said Editor Allison. “One sweet young thing who managed to grab onto two guys was almost mobbed before they were divided up.”
Congressman Karl Stefan reported that the cost of living in February 1943 was more than 21 percent higher than the same period in 1939. He added that the average weeky earnings of factory workers had increased from $24.53 to $41. 12 during the same period in 1939.
Stefan also noted blood donations from persons of African descent were kept separate from the blood of white donors. Stefan added that the race of the donor made no difference in the plasma derived from the blood.
Father Marcel Kelleher, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church from 1936 to 1939, was appointed Chaplain of the Nebraska State Guard.
After leaving Laurel, he served as a priest in a Catholic Church in Omaha and also edited and managed the “True Voice,” a Catholic newspaper published from 1903-2018.
Larry, the 7-year-old son of Earl and Leona Bass, packed a suitcase and walked all the way to Coleridge to visit a friend. “To say that he got a real thrill out of his first trip on his own is expressing it mildly,” said the Advocate.
A 160-acre farm with a six-room house, a large barn, a corn crib, a grain bin, and a hog house was advertised for sale in Knox County. The price was $5000 or about $31.25 an acre.
More than 200 area 4-H Club members attended a “Victory Camp” at Homewood Park on the Bow Creek near Wynot. Activities included swimming, roller skating, volleyball and baseball. Checkerboards were made to send to soldiers. Homewood Park was operated by Mr. and Mrs. Louie Larsen and their daughters. Daughter Ella Larsen later taught high school in Laurel.
At a meeting of the Board of Education, George Berglund was elected president; Clarence O. Ericson, secretary; and Dr. R.L. Herse, treasurer. Richard Carlson was hired to replace Ray Bartling as school janitor.
LaRoyce Johnsen (LHS 1939) was promoted to Storekeeper 2nd Class in the Womens Coast Guard Auxiliary (SPARS). She was reported to be only the ninth SPAR to achieve that rating. The acronym SPAR stood for the Coast Guard motto “Semper Paratus - Always Ready.” LaRoyce Johnsen Fair died in 1971 and is buried in the National Cemetery at Santa Fe, NM.
On a personal historic note: This writer and wife Lucinda marked 50 years of marriage on June 28.
During the past half century we have raised four generations of pug dogs - Mandy, Harry, the twins Peggy and Willie, and our two current rescue pugs Mickey and Guess that makes us great, great, grand pug parents.
I tried on my wedding suit but could not button either the jacket or the pants. I did not realize polyester could shrink like that.
