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March 1945 came in like a lion. On Friday, March 2, Old Man Winter decided to have a practice blizzard. About 6 inches of snow fell but there was little wind to blow it around.
Sunday evening brought a real March blizzard. The wind howled all night. By Monday morning drifts were piled high and the roads were blocked. It was the worst storm of the season. A few days later the weather warmed up, the snow melted, and the country roads turned to mud.
Laurel Advocate Editor Allison received a letter from a soldier in New Guinea wanting to know what happened to the couple in the Black Ford. “Last time we saw it, it was being hauled out of the mud by a tractor,“ said Allison. “This is no time for side road necking parties unless you carry a pair of hip boots or enjoy mud oozing up between your toes.”
The same issue of the Advocate had an interesting story about three soldiers pulling a fast one on the Germans in Belgium. The soldiers were Sgt. Harold A. Hansen of Laurel, Tech Sgt. Lester H. McMann of Hartington, and Pfc. Eugene LeNeue of Atwater, Minn.
The men, all members of the 134th Infantry Division, noticed an American truck loaded with arms, ammunition, and other equipment that had been abandoned by the side of a road. At that time, German soldiers were sometimes captured or killed wearing American uniforms and using American weapons. Under enemy fire, Hansen, McMann, and LeNeue crawled up to the abandoned vehicle, salvaged what they could carry, and then removed two wheels to prevent the truck from being comandeered by the Germans.
While removing one of the wheels, the truck dropped down on McMann’s hands pinning him to the ground. Using only their bodily strength, Hansen and LeNeue managed to lift the 3/4 ton truck just high enough for McMann to free his injured hands. The men then withdrew, leaving the truck unusable by the enemy. For his action, Hansen was awarded a bronze star. After the war, he farmed for about 10 years and later ran a bar in Coleridge. He died in 2000 and is buried in the Coleridge cemetery. McMann died in 2001 and is buried in Simi Valley, Cal.
At least one canine deserved a bronze dog tag – or at least a bowl of good dog food. Andrew Gavin was captain of the freighter Alcoa Pioneer. “Skippy,” a Boston Terrier, was his pet. While unloading cargo off the coast of Leyte, the ship’s bridge was struck by a Japanese kamikaze and Captain Gavin was knocked unconscious. Although wounded by shrapnel, Skippy revived his master by licking his face.
The war in Europe was entering its final phase. On March 8, American soldiers crossed the Rhine River at Remagen and were advancing toward Berlin. Soviet forces had crossed the Oder River and were knocking on Berlin‘s back door. In a controversial decision, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ordered allied forces to halt at the Elbe River and allow the Red Army to take Berlin. Meanwhile, U.S. and British bombers were pounding German cities to rubble one by one.
In the Pacific, U.S. Marines had raised the American flag on Iwo Jima and were using flamethrowers to root out remnants of Japanese forces hiding in caves on the island.
American troops had liberated the Philippine capital of Manila and were clearing enemy forces from the rest of Luzon. But despite losing more than 225,000 men on the Philippines and Iwo Jima, Japanese soldiers continued to fight ferociously. On March 10, B-29 bombers dropped 2000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo causing an estimated 100,000 civilian casualties.
Incidentally, Elmont Waite, a cousin of Evard Waite of Laurel, was an Associated Press correspondent on Admiral Marc A. Mitscher’s aircraft carrier. Mitscher was commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force during the last two years of the war.
For the young men of Cedar County, the war was far from over. One hundred fifty were ordered to report for draft physicals in March. This was the largest number of Cedar County men called up at one time thus far in the war.
Draftees from Laurel included Harold Dirks, Donald Hesse, Ernest Vanderheiden, Elmer Leapley, Nels Graverholt, Walter Urwiler, William Peter “Billy Pete” O’Gara, Melvin Smith, Elmer, Schreiber, Robert Wickett, Harold Burns, Harry Olson, Marvin Wickett, Floyd Miller, Lloyd Wendell, and Earl Ulrich.
Like the Dahls, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Tuttle had three sons in the service. Pfc. Robert Tuttle was in the Philippines, Pvt. Darrell Tuttle was in France with General Patton’s 7th Army, and Staff Sgt. Donald Tuttle was a radar technician in Boca Raton, Fla.
The House of Representatives proposed a “work or fight“ bill that would have compelled all men between the ages of 18 and 45 to accept any job considered essential to the war. Anyone who refused faced a fine, a jail sentence, or induction into the army. Providing food apparently was no longer considered an essential occupation. An increasing number of sale bills appearing in the Advocate started with “I have decided to quit farming because my son has entered the service.”
Another bill proposed to draft 20,000 nurses to care for the increasing number of battle casualties. Under the terms of the legislation, the nurses would receive an officer’s commission and benefits under the new G.I. Bill.
Although not exactly war related, the Advocate noted that Queen Wilhelmina of Holland had purchased a 1000-unit apartment complex in Washington DC.
Warren Buffett, the 15-year-old son of Congressman Howard Buffett of Omaha, was earning about $150 a month delivering newspapers to the Queen’s not-so-palatial complex. You may have heard of Warren Buffett. Now 94 years old, Buffett still lives in Omaha, makes a bit more money, and doesn’t have to peddle papers to get it.
