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The month of July began with an Allied offensive in the South Pacific. At the same time, the Soviets and the Germans were engaged in what was said to be the world’s largest tank battle. More than 1000 Soviet tanks engaged 1000 German tanks near the Russian city of Kursk. The result was a stunning German defeat and a major turning point in the war.
Later in the month, Allied forces landed on Sicily and captured the city of Palermo. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was deposed on July 25. At the end of the month, US and British planes fire bombed the German city of Hamburg, killing at least 30,000 people and injuring more than 180,000. Hamburg was the first of many bombing raids that would destroy dozens of German cities. Dresden would be the last.
At least one American B-17 was shot down over the English Channel after attacking Hamburg. The 10-member crew was rescued after two days on life rafts. All had trained at the Sioux City airbase. The pilot, Thomas Jefferson Estes, died in 2002 and is buried in Aurelia, Iowa.
The majority of Laurel servicemen still were in training and had not yet seen action. This is what some of them were doing in July 1943: Ben Ebmeier was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps at Freeman Field, Seymour, IN. Palmer Root of Belden was transferred from Fort Robinson, NE, to Fort Salmon, TX. Cpl. Don Hogelin was an instructor at Fort Sill, OK. Pfc. Robert Sullivan was stationed at Great Falls, MT. Dallas Darland joined the Merchant Marines.Pfc.
Douglas Ankeny was a member of the Signal Corps stationed in England.
Pfc. Bernard Jones was at Camp Hale, CO. He had just been released from the hospital after recovering from scarlet fever. He then came down with the mumps and later contracted malaria. “If Bernard can catch Japs as fast as he catches diseases, he will come out a champion yet,“ said the Advocate.
Pvt. E.E. Thatcher was somewhere in North Africa. “We arrived here OK,“ he wrote. “Right now all we can see is sand and more sand. This is a really good place to get a tan.” Pvt. Eldon Murray of Dixon was stationed at Camp Haan,CA. Everett Purcell was taking basic training at Camp Abbott,OR.
Naomi Yost of Belden was in the WAVES. She was in charge of musical activities at a Stillwater,OK camp. Army Air Corps aviation cadet Thomas Abts, Randolph, was killed in a plane crash in Oklahoma.
Wilma Tolles was training to be a WAVE at Hunter College, NY. Leslie Paulsen was discharged from the army due to a bad leg. Lt. Martin Steenbock was supervising the unloading of army trucks hauling supplies across Iran to the Russian border. Paul Ross was with the army in Algeria. Cpl. Frank Curtis was stationed at Camp Roberts,CA.
In other news of July 1943: An Advocate editorial noted that Congress had recessed until September. “There are too many members of Congress as well as members of the Administration who have forgotten about the boys in the front lines, and have shoved the war effort into second place because of personal political ambitions. Our boys are out there fighting, and we have a right to insist that our representatives show as much concern for their lives as we are showing. Until this war is won not many of us care about politicians or their political parties.”
Before adjourning, Congress passed a $71 billion bill to carry on the war for another year. This was the largest appropriation bill ever passed up to that time.
Meat of all kinds was becoming scarce and the number of cattle going to packing houses had fallen off 50 percent, according to Congressman Karl Stefan. An unidentified New York congressman proposed to solve the problem by seizing 7 million cattle from farmers and slaughtering them.
A coal shortage was looming due to strikes. President Roosevelt warned striking coal miners that they would be drafted unless they went back to work.Older miners up to the age of 65 would be drafted for non-combatant service.
Motorists were advised to take care of their 1942 license plates because they would have to be used again in 1944.The plates would be updated with a small metal tab similar to the date stickers issued today. In those days motorists generally received new plates every year.
The Laurel Creamery and Lockers announced a new plan for handling produce. Henceforth, farmers were asked to deliver their cream, eggs, and poultry through the front door on Main Street instead of the back door in the alley. The creamery was located in the part of the garage formerly occupied by the bowling alley. The building now houses the Hometown Market.
F.J. Hopkins sold his elevator in Dixon to the A.P. Meyers company of Sioux City. Hopkins had been in business 42 years.
The Mittelstadt Brothers marked their 50th anniversary in Laurel. In 1893 they started a lumber yard on the northeast corner of Main and Cedar. The lumber sheds and the brick building they built in 1906 was torn down to make room for the new community center.
Clarence O. Ericson was appointed mail carrier for rural route one. Ericson was then working for J.V. Harper and previously had managed the Fairmont Creamery.
A couple of corrections: In a recent article I wrote that Charles Ebmeier’s gas station was located on Main Street where the new community center now stands.It was actually located west of Cedar Street where the new medical office was built.
Correction No. 2: A line was dropped from last week’s article about Dale Iler and other servicemen.It should have read “Although Clyde Jewel has a marker in the Concord Cemetery, his body is buried in the Florence American Cemetery in Toscana, Italy.”
