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Pages of History
“Beautiful winter weather ushered in the month of June,” said the Laurel Advocate. Furnaces had to be fired up and emerging garden plants had to be covered. “We are beginning to wonder if we are living in Nebraska or Siberia,“ remarked Editor Allison. Many Laurel people kept the home fires burning until the middle of June when seasonal weather finally arrived.
“You ought to see the sit and spitters coming out of their holes now that things are getting thawed out. Every bench is filled with them, all armed with chewing tobaccy and words of wisdom. Their favorite topic so far as we are able to learn is women’s clothes — or the lack of them,“ said Allison.
The legendary couple in the Black Ford had not been mentioned for some time as Allison had been using part of his column to write about his grandkids. Allison said he had a hot tip but couldn’t pursue it because his car couldn’t negotiate the muddy country roads. He asked to borrow Harry Johnson’s car because it had good mud tires but Johnson said “no.”
But a week later the roads had dried up and the Black Ford was back in action – at least in Allison’s column. “Romance is once more in bloom and there will be more if the weather and road conditions continue to improve,“ he said.
Not everyone cruising the back roads at night was looking for romance. At least one presumably young person was looking for trouble. “Some yellow-bellied polecat has been breaking into rural school houses and wrecking the property,“ reported the June 6 issue of the Advocate. “It has become so bad rewards are being offered for the culprit dead or alive. We hope the guilty party is apprehended and made an example of.” Today such acts of vandalism might be considered peaceful protests.
The Seventh War Loan campaign was still underway. The drive began on May 14 and ran through June 30. This was the largest fund drive thus far in the war. While the fighting in Europe was over, a lot of money was needed to support the war in Japan. Laurel‘s assigned quota of $36,000 was reached by the middle of June but people were urged to buy more. By the time the drive ended the people of Laurel had exceeded their quota by more than $10,000. Cedar County and the State of Nebraska also went over the top.
No one knew how much longer Japan would continue fighting. “It depends largely on our attitude toward Emperor Hirohito,“ said national news correspondent Walter A. Shead in the Advocate of June 13. It was feared that the Japanese would fight to the death for their emperor, who many believed to be divine.
“Shall the emperor be eliminated or shall he continued to hold sacrosanct in his palace close to the center of Tokyo?” Shead asked. He noted that while incendiary bombs from American B-29s were incinerating the homes of thousands of the emperor‘s loyal subjects within sight of the Imperial Palace, none were dropped on the palace itself. Unlike Hitler and Mussolini, Hirohito survived the war and was allowed to remain in power until his death in 1989.
Not all casualties were human. First Lt. James S. Head was the commanding officer of the 26th Infantry Scout Dog Platoon which was being used to sniff out the enemy on Luzon. According to Head, war dogs could be trained to detect enemy soldiers from a distance of 800 yards if the wind was right.
Head brought 31 dogs to the Pacific in June 1944. A year later only 12 were left. Several had been killed in action but most had to be retired due to shell shock from artillery fire. Some of the shell-shocked dogs were assigned to army hospitals as pets and mascots for recuperating soldiers. If a patient became especially attached to an individual dog, he could ask to take it home when he recovered. Whether wounded war dogs were eligible for free medical care from the VA (Veterinarians Administration) was not reported.
With the war in Europe over, idle GIs had more time for scavenging souvenirs. Chris Dahl received a large package from his son, Victor, who had been fighting in Europe. The package contained an ornate French-made shotgun. Roy Lathrop, Laurel‘s resident jeweler, said it was the finest piece of work he had ever seen. Included in the package was a German officer’s dagger decorated with a swastika.
Mrs. Roland (Dorothy) Huetig received a box from her husband who was somewhere in the Pacific. It contained a Japanese flying suit, some foreign money, and a fancy fountain pen. According to Postmaster George O’Gara, the Laurel post office was advanced from third class to second class. When annual receipts exceed $8,000, the office goes to second class, said O’Gara. Total receipts of the Laurel office reached $10,000 in fiscal 1944-1945.
Roger Tryon is a Laurel High School graduate and a former employee of the Laurel Advocate. He is now retired and living in Sioux City after a long teaching career. He has been writing a weekly history column for the Cedar County News and Laurel Advocate newspapers for over 30 years.
