Joy Neal Kidney's Blog, page 89

A cow for her watch

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A watch was a must for a school teacher, so Laura Jordan bought one–a gold Elgin with flowers engraved in the case, front and back.

The oldest daughter of a rural businessman and preacher (Church of Jesus Called Sharon of Regular Predestinarian Baptists, according to his obituary), she began teaching country school in Guthrie County, Iowa, about 1887.

But a photograph of her with her mother and three younger sisters, Laura is the only sister not wearing a watch. Cora has hers on a chain. Lottie and Floy wear watches pinned to their bodices. Emelia Ann, their mother has a long chain. Does it hold a reading glass, or Laura’s watch?

You see, when Laura married Sherd Goff in 1890, she could no longer teach school. And she needed a cow more than she needed a watch. Laura’s father made a deal with his oldest child: a cow for the watch.

By 1905, when the photo was taken, after fifteen years of marriage, Laura already lived in twelve different places, including three states, and had nine children. And because of the deaths of the children born right after Laura, her sisters are much younger.

When Laura’s mother died in 1914, her father gave the gold watch back to his oldest daughter.

Forty-eight years later, when Laura died, the watch was left her her oldest daughter, Leora.

Leora gave the watch to her oldest daughter, Doris. My mother.

As the fourth generation in this line of oldest daughters, I would enjoy caring for the gold watch my great grandmother traded over a hundred years ago for a cow.

But that’s another story. Mom made me choose. I chose her baby locket. My younger sister owns the precious watch.

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Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth

The Book

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Winner of 20 national book awards, Shot Down is set within the framework of World War II in Europe and recounts the dramatic experiences of each member of a ten man B-17 bomber crew after their plane, piloted by the author’s father, was knocked out of the sky by German fighters over the French/Belgian border on February 8, 1944.

Some men died. Some were captured and became prisoners of war. Some men evaded capture and were missing in action for months before making it back to England. Their individual stories and those of the courageous Belgian people who risked their lives to help them are all different and are all remarkable.

Even before the dramatic battle in the air and the subsequent harrowing events on the ground, the story is informative, insightful, and captivating. Prior to the fateful event, the book covers the crew’s training, their journey to England, what life was like on base as well as in London and the English countryside, and the perils of flying combat missions over occupied Europe and Germany.

Through personal letters, oral and written accounts, declassified military documents, and interviews – all from people who took part in the events that happened over 70 years ago (even the German Luftwaffe pilot who shot down the Susan Ruth) – the stories come alive. Adding to the feeling of “being there,” are more than 200 time period photographs interspersed throughout the book.

To add background and context, many historical facts and anecdotes about and surrounding World War II are entwined throughout the book so that the reader has a feel for and understanding of what was occurring on a broader scale. Shot Down is an account about brave individuals, featuring pilot Howard Snyder, set within the compelling events of the greatest conflict in world history.

The Author

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Steve Snyder graduated from UCLA with a B.A. degree in Economics and has lived in Seal Beach, California since 1972. After 36 years in national sales and sales management, he retired from Vision Service Plan (VSP) in 2009.

Soon after retirement, Steve began his quest to learn about the World War II experiences of his father, pilot Howard Snyder, and his crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth, named after his older sister. It became his passion, and after 4 1/2 years of dedicated research, resulted in his book, Shot Down, which has received over 20 national book awards.

One result of his new career as a World War II historian is that he is a member of numerous World War II organizations and President of the 306th Bomb Group Historical Association.

My Thoughts

Steve Snyder is the son of B-17 pilot Howard Snyder who was shot down in February of 1944 on the French/Belgium border. Two members of the crew of 10 were killed in the plane, some rescued and in hiding, some captured.

The author not only did research to learn what happened to his father, but also the rest of the crew. He contacted a German man who was one of the pilots who shot down the Susan Ruth (which was named for the Lt. Snyder’s daughter). Howard Snyder was part of the 369th Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, stationed in England.

I learned about their living conditions there, and also an explanation of the amazing combat formations for the hundreds of bombers sent on each mission. Snyder was kept hidden by brave Belgians. Paul Delahaye was a child in Belgium when the Nazis overran that nation. He was 13 when the Americans forced out the Germans and he met the Americans who freed them. He made it his mission to make sure the Americans are never forgotten, building memorials and starting museums.

Howard Snyder kept in touch with his rescuers and even visited there, also meeting Paul Delahaye. A remarkable and complete history.

Laura’s Periwinkle Quilt

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I didn’t know about the quilt top until several years after Laura Goff had died. But my great grandmother and I–the first and last of our family strand of oldest daughters–ended up sewing by hand on this same quilt.

At the same time I was allured deeper into my family’s history.

Born shortly after the Civil War, in a Guthrie County log cabin west of Monteith, Laura Jordan was already a fourth-generation Iowan, but the first born in the state of Iowa. When she grew up and became a country school teacher, Laura bought a gold watch so she could ring the school bell to call the children to class on time.

When Great Grandmother Laura died in 1962 (I was a freshman in college), the Periwinkle quilt top lay folded in a closet in the little house on N. 4th Street in Guthrie Center. It was still there when her daughter, my grandmother, died in 1987.

In 1890, when she married Milton Sheridan “Sherd” Goff, Laura had to retire from teaching and no longer needed the gold watch. She traded it to her father for something she needed more–a cow.

No one wanted the quilt top of colorful pointy patches, set together with ecru octagons, with raw seams underneath. Well, the angle of the diamond-shaped pieces wasn’t quite right. The thing would not lie flat. As the quilter in the family, I was offered the curiously lumpy thing.

Laura bore 11 children in 21 years, while Sherd moved his family at least 13 times (out-of-state twice), seeking greener pastures. Laura agreed to move anywhere in the United States, but wanted to live where her children would be educated. During that time, five years was the longest they lived in any one place.

[image error]July 4, 1907, Audubon, Iowa. The only family portrait of all of the M.S. Goff family. Back: Jennings (11), Georgia (13), Merl (15), Leora (16), Wayne (14), Rolla (almost 9). Front: Ruby (almost 7), Milton Sheridan “Sherd,” Perry (almost 4), Clarence (almost 2), Laura (pregnant with Virgil), Willis (5).

I knew that if I adopted the quilt, it would haunt me until I took the entire thing apart. But for the next four years, it lay folded in a box in West Des Moines. I finally disassembled it, thread by thread, my tiny stork-shaped scissors pulling out Great Grandmother’s neat little stitches. The fabric of the octagons was really too heavy to quilt through, so I discarded them and carefully washed the rest.

When three of Laura’s sons were drafted during World War I, she knitted socks and mittens for the Red Cross in Guthrie Center and helped roll bandages. She assisted with the births of the 10 children of her oldest daughter, who had two sets of twins. When infant twins died of whooping cough in 1929, Laura made their lace and satin burial gowns.

Not until a year later did I cut out new octagons and recut the multicolored diamond shapes. Slowly I repieced the whole top, which turned out larger than the original. That meant that the red border, which really enhanced the rest of it, was too short.

Laura Goff worked hard, knew how to do without, could make a good meal from almost nothing, and–according to her daughter–could get more writing on a postcard than anyone. Probably the first woman in our family to vote, she wrote her daughter on Oct. 19, 1920, “Miss Grissel speaks at the Christian Church at 2:30 tomorrow and tells the women how to vote. Think I will learn how it’s done.”

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There were a half-dozen remnants of fabric from Grandma’s closet in the basement. Mercy, one was that very piece of red. There was just barely enough of it. “Meant to be,” Great Grandma would have said.

Laura was widowed in 1930. When World War II broke out, two more sons served in the military, as did six grandsons. Three of those grandsons lost their lives.

I stitched by hand through fabrics my great grandmother had chosen, cut out and sewn–with fingers that had learned to sew not that long after the Civil War, fingers that were already 75 years old when I was born. There was lovely feeling of timelessness.

[image error]Laura Arminta (Jordan) Goff, taken by her grandson, photographer Merrill J. Goff, in Omaha, 1948.

Over the next two years, I hand-quilted a spider web in each octagon and a chorus of singing birds around that cheerful red border. I presented the Periwinkle quilt to the third generation in this mother-line of oldest daughters–my mother.

We agreed that Laura would have approved.

Great Grandmother Goff and I both worked on another small quilt, a Nine Patch with red centers.

 

What Eventually Happened to America’s First Aircraft Carriers

Even though some of our eight aircraft carriers were based at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, not one of them was there that day.

I’ve wondered whether that was one of the reasons that we didn’t lose the Pacific war during that first year.

In researching those early ships, I was amazed to learn that one was scuttled during World War II and that three of them survived the war.

But half of those first eight carriers were sunk in battle, one of them only a year old.

CV-1: USS Langley

1922-1942. Scuttled and sunk in 1942.

CV-2: USS Lexington

1927-1942. Sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

CV-3: USS Saratoga

1927-1946. Sunk as a target for a nuclear test near Bikini Atoll.

CV-4: USS Ranger

1934-1946. Survived the war, scrapped in 1947.

CV-5: USS Yorktown

1937-1942. Sunk at the Battle of Midway, not quite 5 years old.

CV-6: USS Enterprise

1938-1947. Survived the war, scrapped in 1960. The USS Enterprise (CV-6) was the most decorated US ship in World War II, receiving a Presidential Unit Citation, a Navy Unit Commendation, and 20 Battle Stars.

CV-7: USS Wasp

1940-1942. Sunk in the Battle of Guadalcanal, just over 2 years old.

CV-8: USS Hornet

1941-1942. Sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, 1 year old.

Unknown Valor by Martha MacCallum

A Story of  Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima

With Ronald J. Drez

The Book

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In honor of the 75th Anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything at Iwo Jima to defeat the Armed Forces of Emperor Hirohito—among them, a member of her own family, Harry Gray.

Admiral Chester Nimitz spoke of the “uncommon valor” of the men who fought on Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most brutal battles of World War II. In thirty-six grueling days, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed and 22,000 were wounded.

Martha MacCallum takes us from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima through the lives of these men of valor, among them Harry Gray, a member of her own family.

In Unknown Valor, she weaves their stories—from Boston, Massachusetts, to Gulfport, Mississippi, as told through letters and recollections—into the larger history of what American military leaders rightly saw as an eventual showdown in the Pacific with Japan. In a relentless push through the jungles of Guadalcanal, over the coral reefs of Tarawa, past the bloody ridge of Peleliu, against the banzai charges of Guam, and to the cliffs of Saipan, these men were on a path that ultimately led to the black sands of Iwo Jima, the doorstep of the Japanese Empire.

Meticulously researched, heart-wrenching, and illuminating, Unknown Valor reveals the sacrifices of ordinary Marines who saved the world from tyranny and left indelible marks on those back home who loved them.

The Author

[image error]Martha MacCallum and my cousin Judy Neal Johannesen, who got me an autographed copy of the book, and also gave Martha a copy of my Leora’s Letters, also a family story of loss during the war.

Martha MacCallum is anchor and executive editor of The Story with Martha MacCallum, seen Monday through Friday on Fox News. She is also co-anchor of Fox News Election coverage, moderating town halls and debates with the presidential candidates, alongside Bret Baier and Chris Wallace. Prior to becoming anchor of The Story, MacCallum anchored, “The First 100 Days,” reporting nightly on the first months of the Trump administration and interviewing the President on his 100th Day. She has covered presidential and mid-term elections for Fox News since 2004, as well as extensive reporting from the field on the primary races across the country. MacCallum has reported from Normandy, France during the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, and from Iwo Jima’s “Reunion of Honor.” Prior to Fox News, MacCallum was an award winning reporter for CNBC, covering homeland security and the US economy, and a reporter/producer for Wall Street Journal Television.

My Thoughts

Mainly a history of World War II, battle after battle, from Africa to Europe and especially the Pacific. These sections were written by historian Ron Drez, a Marine captain and a decorated combat veteran of Vietnam–who, with a team at Ambrose Military History Tours, takes veterans of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam back to the battlefields where they fought.

The book opens with an examination of the history and mindset of the Japanese leadership, from earlier centuries, as the war wouldn’t end until the Americans had to endure their savagery, based on their “code of bushido,” on island after island in the Pacific, leading to the loss of thousands on both sides.

After being introduced to Harry Gray, a member of MacCallum’s own family, and a few other men who would end up with Gray in the brutal battle to take Iwo Jima. Recently Martha was able to visit with a man who was there when Gray and another man were killed, and he was wounded at the same time. He still carries shrapnel in his chest, and cried when he related what had happened to young Harry Gray.

Especially compelling is the scene where a delivery boy brings the telegram to the house, where Gray’s grandmother is the first to learn of his death.

I was especially taken by the Epilogue, which includes fascinating backstory, and the Acknowledgments, where we learn about Martha’s trip to Iwo Jima to see where her relative had fought and died. There are also extensive notes.

Wilson Brothers Items donated to the museum at Washington Township School, Dallas County, Iowa

Daniel S. Wilson, Class of 1941

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Junior  Wilson, Class of 1942

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They had a good crowd for last month’s breakfast and reported that the book about the Wilson family during the war made about $300 towards upkeep of the school.

[image error]Junior Brewer went to school with Dan and Junior Wilson. Also rode the bus with them.

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Junior Wilson: Cadet Training and Wings

Junior Wilson was accepted as a cadet in the Army Air Force, but they had so many in the pipeline, they were given more time in each section of training. He began at Sheppard Field, Wichita, Texas, then was sent to Stillwater,  Oklahoma, for College Detachment studies, then San Antonio for Preflight.

Primary

Curtis Field, Brady, Texas

Junior’s first flying was in the PT-19, 66 hours. He was stationed at Curtis Field from June to September 1944.

[image error]Junior Wilson, July 1944, Brady, Texas.

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Basic

Majors Field, Greenville, and Waco, Texas

Junior Wilson added up to 120 hours total in the BT-13, from September to November, 1944. Both of his older brothers, Dale and Danny, had trained in the BT-13.

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[image error]C. Junior Wilson, October 10, 1944, taken in Dallas, Texas.

Advanced

Aloe Air Force Base, Victoria, Texas

His Advanced training was done in an AT-6. Dale and Danny Wilson had also trained in the AT-6. Junior had over 271 hours of flight by the time he received his wings, Class 45-A at Aloe on March 11, 1945.

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So by the time Junior Wilson arrived in Iowa March 13 to celebrate his new pilot’s wings, his parents had gotten the telegram that Danny was MIA in Austria.

Two brothers Missing in Action, Danny in Europe, Dale in New Guinea. And Donald was in the thick of combat near Japan on the crew of the USS Hancock.

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Junior’s photo was taken at Edmondsons Studio in Perry, March 24, 1945.

Snapshots taken the next day at the Perry acreage, one with his nephew Richard Scar, just before Junior left for Des Moines to catch a train to Aloe Field, Victoria, Texas.

Favorite Books Challenge

Last year I was challenged to post covers of favorite books, one a day for seven days without comment.

No surprise that they are all nonfiction. When did I become such a history fan?

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Danny Wilson: MIA

The target for the February 19, 1945, for the 14th Fighter Group was Vienna, but the bombers the two dozen fighters were escorting decided to attack the alternate target of Bruk, southwest of Vienna. A dozen of them, including Dan Wilson, have an additional mission near Graz—providing cover for an experimental skip bombing. This is similar to the skip bombing over water Dale did in New Guinea except that this done against a sixteen-car train.

After a strafing run, Number 4 of the flight dropped back to take photos of the damage. When he pulled up over the train, the left engine was smoking. When he didn’t return to his formation, two P-38s returned to the area but find no trace of Danny’s plane.

His plane had hit a pole and crashed about two kilometers south of the railroad station at Schwanberg, Austria, in a forest along Sulm Creek in the snowy forested foothills of the Alps. According to his casualty records, the dead American “Flying Lieutenant” found in the wreck was identified by his tags as Daniel S. Wilson. Wehrmacht soldiers kept the tags but turn the body over to village officials.

The next day, a grave was dug at the edge of the Schwanberg cemetery. Daniel S. Wilson was buried in a pine box provided by the village. A service was held secretly by the local Roman Catholic priest. Attending were the bergermeister, the chief of police, and the grave digger.

Someone made a wooden cross for the new grave–in the uppermost lines, entrance on the left side–marked “Daniel S. Wilson  19.2.1945.”

At Schwanberg his death certificate, in German, was registered. And at his base at Foggia, a Missing Aircraft Report (MACR) was filled out for P-38 L1LO #44-24123, which carried weapons manufactured by Colt, Frigidaire, and International Harvester—companies that had retooled for war.

Two days later at their headquarters in Graz, the Wehrmacht reported the death of a member of an enemy air force, recording the place, date, serial number, name, and that two ID tags had been found on the American flyer.

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This information would be how Dan Wilson’s remains would be located over a year later. They wouldn’t learn the details of his loss and burial for four more decades.

At Triolo field, Lt. Richard Tomlinson had typed up a report on the loss of the plane. His belongings were inventoried by a squadron Personal Effects Officer. 

[image error]Pilots Dan Wilson and Richard Tomlinson

And the Flight surgeon filled out another form on Dan, adding, “Good man—good pilot.”

WASHINGTON DC VIA MINBURN IOWA CLABE D WILSON MAR 10 THE SECRETARY OF WAR DESIRES ME TO EXPRESS HIS DEEP REGRET THAT YOUR SON SECOND LIEUTENANT DANIEL S WILSON HAS BEEN REPORTED MISSING IN ACTION SINCE NINETEENTH FEBRUARY OVER AUSTRIA IF FURTHER DETAILS OR OTHER INFORMATION ARE RECEIVED YOU WILL BE PROMPTLY NOTIFIED J A ULIO THE ADJUTANT GENERAL

Writing them the same day, Major General Twining, Commanding General of the Fifteenth Air Force, wrote,

“My dear Mrs. Wilson:

“I am certain that the news that your son, Second Lieutenant Daniel S. Wilson, is missing in action must have been a great shock to you, and that you have been eagerly awaiting further data. Although I can give you no definite information as to Daniel’s fate, the following facts may be of some help.

“On February 19, 1945, your son took his P-38 on a mission to escort a formation of bombers to Bruck, Austria. After reaching the target, the fighter escort set out to destroy enemy communications in the vicinity of Graz, Austria. When the flight reassembled after attacking a train, Daniel was missing. Two planes returned to the area but could find no trace of your son or his ship. Should there be a change in his status at any time in the future, you will be notified immediately by the War Department.

“Daniel’s personal possessions have been carefully packed for shipment to the Effects Quartermaster, Army Effects Bureau, Kansas City, Missouri, who will forward them to the designated beneficiary.

“For the courageous manner in which he carried out his hazardous duties during the course of frequent combat operations, your son has been awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. I share your pride in his achievements and your hopes for his safe return.”

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Breakfast with Wilson Brothers at Washington Township School

By

The Perry News,  February 22, 2020

Joy Neal Kidney, left, author of “Leora’s Letters,” was joined by Harry “Junior” Brewer of Adel, seated right, at Saturday’s Washington Township Consolidated Schhol fundraising breakfast.




Monuments to Dale, Daniel and Claiborne “Junior” Wilson stand in Violet Hill Cemetery in Perry.




Joy Neal Kidney, standing left, spoke about her uncles, the five Wilson brothers depicted on the Dallas County Freedom Rock, at the Oct. 19, 2019, dedication in Minburn.

Saturday’s fundraising breakfast at the Washington Township Consolidated School, originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18 but cancelled for bad weather, must have caused some pent up demand because by 7:15 a.m. there was a long line of folks hungry for pancakes and eggs, biscuits and gravy, hash browns and sausage.

The crowd was also turning out in support of local favorite Joy Neal Kidney, author of the recently published “Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family in World War II,” which recounts the history of the five Wilson brothers from Minburn who served in World War II and the three who never returned.

Neal Kidney, who was recovering from shoulder surgery, signed books and chatted with local supporters in the lunchroom of the old school. She donated all sales of her book to the Washington Township Consolidated School Preservation Committee.

Harry “Junior” Brewer of Adel told Neal Kidney that he used to ride the schoolbus with two of her uncles, Danny Wilson and Junior Wilson. Daniel S. Wilson, later a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force at 21, was killed in action in Austria in February 1945 while flying a P-38 [fighter plane]. Claiborne Junior Wilson, 20, was a flight officer in the U.S. [Army] Air Force when he was killed in formation training in Texas in 1945 while flying in [formation in a] P-40 Warhawk.

The third Wilson brother to die in service to America was Dale R. Wilson, a 22-year-old second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force declared missing in action Nov. 27, 1943, near Wewak, Papua New Guinea.

Neal Kidney’s mother, Doris Wilson Neal, was a sister to the fallen airmen. The two eldest Wilson brothers, Delbert and Donald, joined the U.S. Navy and survived the war. Doris Wilson’s younger sister, Darlene, was Dale’s twin.

The image of the five Wilson brothers was dedicated on the Dallas County Freedom Rock in an Oct. 19, 2019, ceremony.

The Wilson family in November 1941 in Perry, seated from left, Claiborne “Clabe” Wilson and Leora Wilson; standing from left, Daniel Wilson, Darlene Wilson Scar, Donald Wilson, Claiborne Junior Wilson, Delbert Wilson, Doris Wilson and Dale Wilson. Photo courtesy Joy Neal Kidney