In his own words, decades later.
27 June 1998. Leonard at 80
Stace and I sat with Dad in the kitchen in Dodge Center, Minnesota. Storms had knocked out the electricity in all of this small town. For that reason we were sitting in the dark around the big round table, flashlights at the ready in case we needed to make our way to the bathroom. It was in this setting that Dad related his recollections regarding his time following high school.
"I went to college at Iowa State but I really wasn't that interested. I got a call from a friend who said 'Len, can you come up and help me on Friday?' and of course I said 'sure'. But I didn't let the professors know that I was going. So they talked to my folks and suggested that maybe I'd do better if I went to a different school. I thought maybe I would go to Northern Iowa University which was near the house. That way I could help out at home and still go to school. Pa had an answer for that. In fact, it seemed like he had rehearsed it, probably because he had gotten a letter from the school which suggested that I might do better somewhere else."
Stacey asked, "And what was the answer?"
"He said two things; first he said that he thought you got most of your learning after leaving home. And second, he figured there was only enough income on the farm to support one of us. And he had gotten there first. Pa had things figured out."
"So I called up my friend and said ' I'm out of school'. And he said 'good, why don't you come up here because I could use you'".
"So I went and worked on his farms. He showed me a little calf called King Bessie Senator and told me to watch after it. Which I did. That cow never lost in a competition. He was a Grand Champion and later sold for $8,000" (this was in the late 1930s, about $155,000 in 2022).
"So I left school and went to work for my friend. I was buying and selling cattle around the country. It was really a good job. I had a place to stay and I got a car and I was working near Chicago so I could go there and see my girlfriend."
"In 1941 the war was going on in Europe and I enlisted and went to training in Detroit. The first weekend came up and, well, we didn't have anything scheduled, so I went up to Chicago to visit my girlfriend. When I got back on Monday I found out that I was AWOL. I didn't even know what that was. You know I wasn't used to asking permission to leave for a weekend. That's what I told the C.O. But he just gave me KP duty (Kitchen Police). But I kind of liked it."
"Then I met a guy who showed me how to fold my socks and clothes and taught me about 'army life' (he had been in the CCC). He convinced me to see the Air Corps Recruiters. At first I said "why would I want to do that? I just want to serve my year and get out. He said 'what makes you think we'll only be in for a year?' So we joined the Air Corps together."
"I went to Cook and Bakers School and was assigned to a base as the chef. That's where I met Jim Berline who was there on KP. I remember our first project making tapioca. I was mixing it up and trying to get the consistency right and I just kept yelling to Jim; "Bring more tapioca. Bring more water. Bring more tapioca. Bring more water.'"
"But I got along very well with the Commanding Officer and I was able to arrange for some time off. I hitchhiked to Chicago (from Arkansas) to visit my girlfriend. That was in early December of 1941. Of course Pearl Harbour happened on that weekend so I thought it might be best if I got back to my base. I drove my car back to St. Louis where Charles took the car and took me back to the base. I didn't get into trouble because I was a good chef!" Dad's eyes twinkled and he laughed.
"We went through some training but we really didn't have any idea what we were doing. We didn't even have guns. We just marched a lot. I went back to Chicago and broke up with my girlfriend. We decided that we weren't meant for each other. Well, actually, she mainly decided that. On my way back I stopped in a bar in Chicago on December 26th. We saw some girls there and started talking with them. I told Janet that I would see her again on New Years Day. She said 'sure', like she had heard that before. When I got back to Iowa, my sister Margie said, 'What happened, did you break up with your girlfriend?' I said 'yup'. Margie said 'well what are you going to do?'. And I said 'I've met the girl I'm going to marry'."
"Then my unit got ready to ship out. We all thought that we were going to the islands off Alaska, and so we packed all of our warmest clothes. We got to San Francisco and were the first unit to be processed through the "Cow Palace'".
The lights came back on in the house, but we didn't want to quit talking. Dad said "you guys don't want to hear me ramble on all night". "Yes we do" Stace and I both said.
"So, when we got to Christmas Island I was in charge of making the first meal. They must have liked it because they asked me to make breakfast the next morning."
I went out to the ship with an Englishman who I couldn't understand. We took a small boat out to the ship and we were bouncing around in the sea because it was pretty rough. He brought the boat around the ship and yelled to me, but I really didn't understand what he was saying. But I figured that I had better get on the ship somehow. He came around again and I jumped out of the boat and caught the ships rope ladder and climbed on".
"In September 1942 we took a little merchant marine boat back to Hawaii. Then we transferred onto a cruise ship that had been converted into a troop carrier. We went back to San Francisco and stayed on Alcatraz. There was a guy in the next bunk who ground his teeth all night. Oooooo. It was really irritating."
"When I got back I went to OCS (Officers Candidate School) and graduated a Second Lieutenant. I was sent to Italy. We were the first into Rome on June 5th, 1944. Then we went to France. That's where I was hit."
Stacey asked Dad what he did when he was wounded.
Dad thought about it for a couple of seconds and smiled, "I did three things: First I reached into my pants and checked to see if I still had my dick and that life would be worth living. Then I radioed my unit and told them to shoot the bastards who shot me. And then I gave myself a shot of morphine".
"I was taken to a M.A.S.H. unit. I woke up and my driver and aide were standing beside my bed crying. I was shipped back to a hospital here (in the US) in 1944 and was retired with a officers pension."
It was getting pretty late by now and Dad again apologised "You kids don't want to listen to me going on about this stuff".
I had never heard Dad talk about his time in the Army, at least not in such detail. It was fascinating. It seemed like he really needed to tell someone about that time. But the mood wasn't dark or gloomy, but like it always was with him, mixed with laughs and little jokes and his twinkling blue eyes. We all said 'goodnight', exchanged hugs and went to bed.
I asked Dad if people expected the Japanese to invade the US at that time.
"Hell yes! So everyone was very friendly to the troops then. Just a few months earlier they had been very hostile. You could have seen signs saying 'no animals or soldiers allowed'. But now they were all scared and welcomed the troops."
"Before we left, the Commander told me 'you better steal as much as you can from here, because I don't think they will have much where we are going to end up'."
"We got on an old, pre-WWI ship. But we didn't head to Alaska, but to Christmas Island (Kiritimati, near the Equator, southwest of Hawaii). I was lucky because I had a bunk with an air pipe to the top of the ship. So I got fresh air right down to my bed. Of course, I didn't see any reason to tell anybody about it. They gave me a revolver and one day the officer said 'have you cleaned your piece today?' I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but I assumed he meant my gun. I said 'no sir'. He said 'why?' and I said 'I'm scared of that bastard'. That guy showed me how to take apart and clean the gun and we became friends."
1942
1998
The next morning I sensed that I should write down some of the things that Dad said the night before. I made notes on my computer. We left the next day. It was the last time we saw Dad. I'm very thankful that he recalled his memories that night. I know that night will stay with me for the rest of my life.