Shotguns and Write-In Votes, Part 3

By Charles Pederson

Part 1 and Part 2 of this article presented the often-overlooked political lives of Cora McQuestion and Elizabeth Ries, two strong Scott County women who blazed a trail in the local political world. This final chapter, Part 3, reflects on the two women’s rise in the context of women’s rights generally.

The Limits of Feminism

On March 11, 1926, shortly after the election of Cora McQuestion and Elizabeth Ries, the Jordan Independent remarked, “Scott County . . . is becoming quite the feminist stronghold.” The article’s favorable tone contrasted with the prevailing opposition to the 19th Amendment just a few years before. A typical letter to the editor in the Baltimore Sun, for example, had been titled, “Don’t Get So Excited, Dear Miss. Maybe We’ll Let You Vote Some Time or Other, If You Are Good Little Girls.”

The encouraging “feminist” sentiments, however, were short-lived. After McQuestion’s and Ries’s elections in the mid-1920s, no other woman for many years was elected mayor of a Minnesota town. In Shakopee, for example, Isla Lindmeyer was elected in 1952—27 years after Ries’s election. Delores Lebens was elected Shakopee mayor for a 1-year term in 1988—another 36 years. And since Lebens’s election until the date of this writing, not another woman has served in Shakopee’s highest office.

It’s hard to quantify why McQuestion and Ries were elected. It must be true that both women were favorably viewed as viable political figures. McQuestion’s actions in foiling a bank robbery, overseeing an uptick in arrests for Prohibition-related infractions, and being one of the few female mayors all brought positive publicity to Prior Lake. In Shakopee Ries leaned into her role as mayor, as well, chalking up notable accomplishments.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about McQuestion’s and Ries’s political lives is not that they were elected, but that their elections came so soon after nationwide female suffrage was instituted.

Dreams Deferred

It might be argued that women made further strides during World Wars I and II, entering farming and manufacturing fields that men had traditionally dominated. But when men returned from those conflicts, they resumed their previous positions, further demonstrating that women’s gains were short-lived. Until startlingly recently, women could not do the following:

1. Serve on a jury. Only in 1973 could women finally serve in all 50 states.

2. Get a credit card in their own name. A 1974 law allowed women to get a card without a husband or other male relative as cosignatory.

3. Be guaranteed that they would not be fired for getting pregnant. A 1978 law made it illegal to fire a woman for being pregnant.

4. Decide to refuse sexual relations with their husband. In 1993, spousal rape finally became illegal in all 50 states.

5. Get an Ivy League education. The last Ivies to allow “co-eds” were Yale and Princeton, in 1969; Harvard, 1977; and Columbia, 1981.

6. Pay the same rate as men to obtain health insurance. A 2010 federal law forced insurers to charge the same rate for males and females.

7. Fight on the front lines. In 2013 a combat ban was lifted.

Looked at Another Way

“[The struggle for female suffrage] is so often described in a way that makes it seem kind of dowdy and dour. . . It is not a boring history of nagging spinsters; it is a badass history of a revolution staged by political geniuses.” —Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator of the National Portrait Gallery.

Learn More!

Bennett, Jessica, & Chambers, Veronica. (2020, August 19). Suffrage Isn’t “Boring History.” It’s a Story of Political Geniuses. New York Times.

Coller, Julius. (1976). The Shakopee Story. North Star Pictures.

Drexler, Ken, & Champagne, Mary. (2019, September 13). 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary Documents in American History. Library of Congress Research Guide.

Evon, Dan. (2019, September 3). Could Women Not Do These 9 Things in 1971? A Viral List Recounts Some of the Bumps on the Road to Gender Equality. Snopes.

Jones, Hannah. (2016, March 18). Women of Courage: Pioneers of Scott County. SWnewsmedia.

Kennedy, Audrey. (2021, March 18). Explore Women’s Art, History and Culture This March. SWnewsmedia.

La Opinión [Los Angeles]. (1927, April 3). Alcalde que fundara un restaurant [Mayor who started a restaurant]. In Library of Congress.

Minnesota Historical Society Library. (n.d.). Women’s Suffrage in Minnesota: Overview.

Minnesota NOW. (2021, April 10). Trailblazers Come in Many Colors.

National Register of Historic Places. (2010). Minnesota MPS Holmes Street Bridge. National Archives Catalog.

Paranick, Amber. (2020, November 3). “Women Have the Vote!” [Blog post]. Library of Congress.

Roessner, L. Amber. (2020). The Voices of Public Opinion: Lingering Structures of Feeling About Women's Suffrage in 1917 U.S. Newspaper Letters to the Editor. Journalism History, 46(2), 124–144.

Scott County Historical Society. (n.d.) Rock Spring Café. In Yesterday and Today in Shakopee.

Scott County SCENE. (2020, June/July). In 1920s, Women Served as Local Mayors: Shakopee, Prior Lake Elected First Female Mayors in State Following Suffrage.

Shakopee Heritage Society. (2018, August 9.) Throwback Thursday: 75 Years Ago, County Board Agrees a New Courthouse Is Needed [Photo]. SWnewsmedia.

Shakopee, City of. (n.d.). History of Shakopee.

Shakopee, MN. (2020, March 31). A Look Back: Shakopee’s First Female Mayor.

Newspapers (may be viewable online)

Jordan Independent. (1926, March 11). Prior Lake’s New Mayor Is Woman of Courage: Has Record of Routing Bank Bandits Out of the Village.

Jordan Independent. (1942, December 17). Mrs. McQuestion, Former Mayor: Prior Lake Lady Departed This Life, Friday, Funeral Services Here, Monday.

Minneapolis Journal. (1926, March 10). Woman Who Routed Bandits at Prior Lake With Shotgun Elected Mayor of Village.

Minneapolis Star. (1926, March 10). Prior Lake Woman Who Routed Holdup Men Elected Mayor.

Minneapolis Sunday Tribune. (1926, January 17). Elizabeth Ries, Shakopee Mayor, on Radio Program.

Minneapolis Sunday Tribune (1927, November 27). Shakopee Woman Mayor Bruised by Hit and Run Driver.

Shakopee Argus. (1949, May 12). E. K. Ries Passes at Home Here.

Shotguns and Write-In Votes, Part 2

By Charles Pederson

Welcome! Happily, you have landed on Part 2 of three parts, this time about the unusual election of Elizabeth Ries and her action-filled career as Shakopee mayor. If you missed Part 1, about Prior Lake mayor Cora McQuestion, you can still read it by clicking the link.

Elizabeth Ries

Cora McQuestion accumulated accomplishments as mayor of Prior Lake. But the mayoral role really came to fruition with the long political life and strange election of Elizabeth Ries of Shakopee.

Born 1874, Elizabeth Ries was one of 13 children of a prominent Shakopee family. Her father had founded Jacob Ries Bottling Works, a successful beverage company. Ries became interested in politics at an early age, being involved in parish business at Saint Mark’s parochial school, Shakopee. An obituary in the Shakopee Argus stated that she was a fund-raiser for and contributor to various church causes. She led many activities in support of the troops during World War I.

As a young woman, Ries received training as a nurse in order to take care of her ailing mother. “It was in 1918 that her previous training as a nurse became invaluable,” reported Shakopee chronicler Julius Coller. “When the influenza scourge came, only a few nurses were available, and she gave her services and was in demand night and day.”

Elizabeth Ries, Shakopee mayor, was influential in Shakopee political and social life. Courtesy of Scott County Historical Society.

Ries’s father, Jacob, had served as mayor in the late 1890s. It might have been expected that Ries would follow in his footsteps. She did win the election of April 1925, though not through any effort of her own. By the last day of filing, Ries still had not registered her candidacy. It was widely, and reasonably, assumed that the only registered candidate, John Ring, would be the unchallenged winner.

During the week between the filing deadline and election day itself, however, “a number of [Ries’s] friends decided at the eleventh hour to endeavor to elect her by having stickers with her name printed thereon, placed in the hands of the voters,” reported the Shakopee Argus. As Coller noted, “almost without knowing about it,” Ries won the election, defeating Ring by a total of 29 votes out of 609 cast. It’s unknown how many of those voters might have been women, but it's heartwarming to think that a number voted for her, not as a novelty but as companions in the struggle for women to be recognized as persons in their own right.

No matter how strange her election, Ries reveled in her new role. Some of her activity was ceremonial, such as opening the 1926 annual Scott County Farm Bureau/Independence Day picnic on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Some activities were political, such as procuring funding to construct the elegant iron Holmes Street Bridge across the Minnesota River, opening a direct route to the north side of the river and the Twin Cities. Some activities combined the ceremonial and political, such as “obtain[ing] the routing of several important highways through this city, and [arranging] for the installation of a new ‘white way’ [electric street lighting] in this city next spring,” according to the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune.

The Holmes Street bridge, built 1927 (under construction, above), was an important achievement for Ries. It opened a direct roadway to the Twin Cities. Courtesy of the Scott County Historical Society.

The rare deck-truss span was closed to traffic in 2005. The structure is on the National Register of Historic Places. Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Perhaps the apex of Ries’s time in office was in 1927. A determined bloc of Jordan business and civic leaders had organized to move the county seat from Shakopee to Jordan. A second group was agitating to move the seat to Lydia. To keep the county seat in Shakopee, Ries built a large coalition of Shakopee business leaders. They hoped to preserve the economic benefits accruing to a county seat. Ries and her faction were successful, and Shakopee retained the courthouse and other county functions. (See “Hey, That’s My [County] Seat,” Part 1 and Part 2, for a lively account of the decades-long attempt to wrest the center of county power away from Shakopee.)

In 1926 Ries even appeared on Minnesota radio broadcaster WCCO with the “Lady Mayor’s Trio,” a Shakopee singing group. She went on air to describe her fiscal agenda, which she dubbed the “Kitchen Economy.” She appealed to women by describing “how she has been trying to conduct the affairs of her municipality in the same manner in which she believes a good wife should operate her kitchen,” said the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune.

Proving that she was not just a flash in the proverbial pan, Ries was reelected as mayor in 1927. And in mid-1928 she was appointed postmaster, resigning as mayor to take the post, in which she served for 8 years.

Ries was tough not only politically but also physically. In one incident, she was shaken up and hurt in a three-car accident. On the road one day, her car was hit by another vehicle, which sped off. A third car, coming down the hill, also crashed into Ries’s vehicle. The first driver was sought, but it’s unclear whether they were found. Ries, though bruised, was still able to function as mayor.

Interior of Rock Springs Café. Elizabeth Ries is at right. Courtesy of Scott County Historical Society.

Ries’s vigor made her a celebrity locally and as far afield as Minneapolis. She was even mentioned in the Los Angeles Spanish-language newspaper La Opinión. The article commented on a female winning an election, although with a touch of condescension: “Members of the Shakopee, Minnesota, city council can pass all the regulations they want, but Mrs. Elizabeth K. Ries, mayor of the city, will put on the coffee. Mrs. Ries, considering how little she has to do in her position, has planned to open a restaurant near the mayor's office.”*

The restaurant in question was the Rock Spring Café, which Ries took over from her father in 1927. Turtle’s Bar and Grill, at the corner of First Avenue East and Lewis Street, today occupies the site of the cafe.

Elizabeth Ries was a local celebrity whose fame spread far beyond Shakopee. Spanish-language newspaper La Opinión, in Los Angeles, carried a blurb about her mayoral victory. Courtesy of La Opinión.

After leaving political life, Ries continued as a respected community figure. She was known as an excellent hostess and as a friend to those in need. At the end of her life, an Argus article reported that Ries, “former mayor, postmaster, and philanthropist,” died at home on May 6, 1949, of apparent heart disease. The article further declared that Ries “was held in high regard in all walks of life[, . . .] attested to by the vast numbers who came to her home and the church to pay their last respects.”

We hope you’re enjoying this fascinating article about local female political life in the 1920s. The final chapter, Part 3, returns next week with the thought-provoking conclusion of the story, and the meaning behind it all.

If you’re interested in writing for the SCHS blog, email info@scottcountyhistory.org or call 952-445-0378.

Shotguns and Write-In Votes, Part 1

By Charles Pederson

Welcome to Part 1 of a three-part story about two remarkable county women, Cora McQuestion and Elizabeth Ries. They won high municipal office only a few short years after women could legally vote in the United States.

The story of two female Scott County politicians is in some ways unremarkable; many women take part in politics. But in other ways, Prior Lake mayor Cora McQuestion and Shakopee mayor Elizabeth Ries, both elected in the mid-1920s, were trailblazing outliers, given that they were among a handful of female U.S. mayors elected only a few years after women fought for and, in 1920, won the right to vote in national elections.

A Long Struggle

Some individual states had already introduced women’s suffrage, or the right to vote. For example, Wyoming had introduced female suffrage in 1869 and allowed women to vote for president in 1892.

Locally, the first steps toward female suffrage in Minnesota occurred in 1875. That year the Minnesota constitution was amended to allow women to vote in school board elections. In 1881 and the decades that followed, women’s suffrage groups tried but failed numerous times to amend the Minnesota constitution to allow women to vote in a presidential election.

As a federal matter, though, women began seriously to advocate for the vote long before the U.S. Civil War, as early as the 1840s. However, the first U.S. Constitutional amendment was not introduced in Congress until 1878. Another 40 years passed before Congress in August 1920 passed, and the states ratified, the 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage), making it part of the Constitution. About 26 million adult women became eligible to vote in the presidential election of November 1920.

The 19th Amendment emboldened women in Minnesota to enter political life themselves. Moreover, the 1920s were a good decade generally for female mayors in Minnesota. Lillian Cox Gault, of Saint Peter, became the state’s first female mayor, elected in 1921, the very next year after women’s suffrage was legal. She boldly stated, “I see no reason any woman should not enter politics.” Cora McQuestion and Elizabeth Ries soon followed Gault’s path.

Cora McQuestion

Among other things, the 1920s were known for bank robbers. (See the dramatic article, “35-Day Crime Spree,” Part 1 and Part 2, in the Scott County Historical Society blog.) On a summer night in 1922, Cora McQuestion, age 40, was thrust into the limelight. Bank robbers tried to break into a Prior Lake bank that night. Unfortunately for them, McQuestion lived across the street and happened to see the men. “She got the [family] shotgun and fired a volley with the result that the criminals fled,” stated the Jordan Independent. McQuestion was recognized with a citation and “substantial reward from the [Minnesota] Bankers Protective Association.”

McQuestion was born and raised in rural Prior Lake, where she “grew to charming womanhood in the community of her birth,” according to the Independent. She married and raised a daughter. She apparently had few ambitions beyond that. Yet the political bug bit McQuestion, just in time for the 1926 election.

Cora McQuestion and daughter, Cecelia. Courtesy of Scott County Historical Society.

In her first taste of politics, McQuestion ran against local man Ed Muelkam. The Independent reported that “the vote was very large, probably the heaviest the village ever had.” She soundly defeated her male opponent, in this case by 29 votes. The Minneapolis Journal reported that “her victory was quite as decisive as the affray with the bandits.”

Despite the gains women had made with the vote, as proven by McQuestion’s election, change was not universal. An article in the Jordan Independent from March 11, 1926, for example, omitted McQuestion’s first name, Cora, in favor of her husband’s, James, as was the custom: “The vote on mayor . . . Tuesday was, Mrs. James McQueseion [sic] 82, Ed Muelken [sic] 53.”

Unsurprisingly, given her penchant to use weaponry, McQuestion’s political platform endorsed stronger law enforcement. And having run on law and order, McQuestion oversaw the hiring of Prior Lake’s first police officer.

McQuestion’s life after she left office is full of mystery. Obviously, however, she continued in her community’s respect. The Jordan Independent ran an obituary in mid-December 1942. It extolled McQuestion as “a woman of strong mind and forthrightness” who took a “deep interest in public affairs, was for a term some years ago elected as Mayor of Prior Lake Village, one of the few women-mayors in the history of the state.”

This concludes Part 1 of our three-part article, focusing on Cora McQuestion and her political trajectory. Next week, Part 2 picks up the thread by following the rise of Elizabeth Ries, a Shakopee resident who broke the glass ceiling at about the same time as McQuestion.

If you are interested in writing for the SCHS blog, email info@scottcounthistory.org or call 952-445-0378.

Never Forgotten: Gerald Anderson, Part 4

Please Note: This blog post is an account of World War II, including violence, illness, death, and other themes that may not be suitable for younger readers.  While these stories are an integral part of history, some of the following content may be slightly graphic in nature.

This is the fourth and final part of Gerald Anderson’s story. Use the links below to catch up on Parts 1-3.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

The following is an excerpt from “Never Forgotten: Stories by Scott County, Minnesota, WWII Veterans” by Tom Melchior. This is the story of Navy veteran Gerald Anderson, who earned a Baker Third Class ranking. As part of the Commissary Branch, bakers were responsible for all kinds of baking, operating ovens and other baking equipment, and setting up field ovens when ashore.

Gerald shipped out to the South Pacific, namely the Solomon Islands and what is now Papua New Guinea, aboard the USS Perida.

Assigned to the USS Kent

I went back to Bremerton.  I feared I would be assigned to the Bunker Hill.  Instead, I was assigned to the USS New Kent, a troop ship. It held 175 men as ship’s company and took on 2500 troops at any one time. This life was so different than the islands. I was finally NAVY! By comparison, it was paradise!

We had hammocks to sleep in. They rolled with the ocean swells and I loved it. The ship had a real bakery with electric ovens. The bakery measured about four feet to walk in and the length was about 18 feet. It was fully equipped. We could bake bread and stay ahead and feed 2500 men.  We made one pound loaves of bread. We could not make things like cake when the water was a little rough. The batter would spill out of the tins before it was baked. We tried cobblers, bear claws, cinnamon rolls, etc. The bakery was made of stainless steel and was always clean. We always had supplies to work with. The only time we used C-rations was in really rough water.

The war was still going on. The Japanese suicide planes were dive bombing our ships. We could see the “dog fights.” None of the Japanese planes dove for our ship. They seemed to be trying to sink the aircraft carriers, destroyers, and cruisers. 

On board ship we ate standing up with trays at a narrow counter. They fit into a grove to keep them from sliding away. The sleeping quarters were hammocks. Clothing and all personals were kept in a sea bag that was at one end of the hammock. At the other end was a pillow. I took my hammock out, when we were below the equator and hung it under the gun turrets. It was beautiful at night. The ocean just glistened and sparkled like millions of diamonds. The ship rocked easy and steady. I loved it!

Life on board ship was good. I was given a Baking I class rating as soon as I was on board my ship. I was the only Baking I class, but there were always two shifts. The chief commissary steward’s name was Jenson. He was a thorn in my side until they put him off the ship. He was not a creative person and was jealous of my ability to come up with new ways of baking and serving food, which the ship’s company always enjoyed. Finally, Lieutenant Davis, a supply officer, had Jenson transferred and did not replace him.

The Islands

The only time I remember getting off the ship was at Manila. That was because after a certain length of time at sea, they had to let you walk on land to get your legs adjusted again. It was here that the natives climbed the trees and got bananas for us. We think they may have been green or something because we all got severe cramps and really sick. We also drank the two warm beers we were given. To this day I cannot stand the smell of bananas. 

We stopped at American Samoa at Pago Pago, Tonga, Iwo Jima, Enivetok, and Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, Guam in the Marianna Islands, Bora Bora, New Caledonia, Truk (this island was an area just full of sunken ships – a real graveyard), New Zealand, and Australia. 

On one of the islands where we picked up supplies, there were little weevils in the flour. They ate the glutton in the flour so the flour would raise up but then fall flat. It looked like we had poppy seeds in the bread. The men complained but we told them we didn’t know what happened even though we did.

Typhoon

I will never forget is the typhoon we went through. We had gotten word that it was in our path. We were as well prepared as possible. The ship had become my home, so I felt safe, but it really moaned and groaned. The waves were so high that you could look up and see water. The ship was in the low of a swell. The typhoon lasted for a couple of days. We dropped all anchors and kept the engines going, heading the ship into the swells. Several ships did not make it. If they were too small, they rolled over or capsized. This was the area where the convoy of ships that were to be used to invade Japan was forming. We were near the Philippines at the time. The convoy had so many ships that as far as you could see, you saw only ships. They were like stepping stones all over the ocean. It was massive! This convoy is where I was on August 14, 1945, the day the war ended. The peace treaty was signed on board the USS Missouri, which was in the convoy.

End of the War

I am sure if that invasion had taken place, I would never have made it back alive. When we would have sailed into Japan, we were scheduled to land at Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. The gun emplacements dug into the hills were innumerable. The Japanese were prepared to “fight to the last man.” I have heard the estimates of over a million lives would have been lost if the invasion had taken place. I am so thankful that this war ended and that horrible event never happened.   I realize the loss of lives when we dropped those atom bombs in Japan. I don’t think their lives were any less valuable, but war is without sanity.

I did witness the effects of those bombs because I was with a group allowed to tour the damage at Hiroshima. I can’t begin to try to put into words what I saw there. Devastation was as far as you could see. On one of the trips to Japan, we pulled into another seaport. We saw sunken, half submerged Japanese ships. We took our small landing craft and went from ship to ship. From the parts above water we took souvenirs. When we got back to our own ship, all the souvenirs were taken from us. I’m sure the officers kept them for their collections.

On one of the trips out of Japan, we were loaded with confiscated Japanese rifles. We brought them out into the ocean and dumped them. I kept one of the rifles and sent it home. It is hanging on the wall at the cabin. Anyone in ships company could keep a rifle. My key ring with the bakery tag that also hangs on the cabin wall is from the USS New Kent.

Coming Home

            Gerry docked in San Francisco in March of 1946. He and Ione planned to be married, but the ship was given orders to head for Norfolk, where the ship would be put in the mothball fleet.  However, the ship had boiler problems and had to be towed back.  

When we transferred to the landing craft that took us to shore, we all looked back at our ship. I know I had feelings of “it’s over.” The ship had become my home and I really loved her. I had earned enough points and so it was goodbye to the USS New Kent.

The only plan I had in my mind as I began my journey home was to marry Ione, my constant companion who was to help me for the 50 plus years to untangle and soothe the hurts, the fears, the confusion and the loyalties that were me.

Reflections

I don’t know how these horrors affected the way I lived my life. I only know that they were always “right there.” I had nightmares of them over and over again and would wake up drenched in sweat. Sometimes the dream was an actual event, and sometimes a new twist, but always horrible and frightening. I still can’t explain how fear feels. There are some things that happened that I still can’t talk about now and maybe never will be able to talk about. They are personal and horrible beyond belief. I have had such a wonderful life since then, that I believe those memories should stay buried in my mind. They don’t cause the terrifying dreams/nightmares anymore like they did for over 50 years. Ione and I have talked about this so much lately. It seems like when the war was “50 years ago,” then I was finally able to start talking about my experiences. It is still just as real and just as horrible, but it seems more distant and not quite as threatening. I feel very good about being able to finally allow my mind to spill it out, much like the volcanoes on Bougainville.

Our sons were never allowed to whistle or scream, and they didn’t know why. I told them why after 50 years. I reminded me of the bombing. Tom Brokow’s book, The Greatest Generation, freed me to talk about it. This is the last dream/nightmare I remember having: I was on a sinking ship.  It seemed black everywhere, like it was all burned out. I crawled to safety and the ship sunk. I had this dream only about one year ago. I have no regrets, no bitterness, no anger and I am proud of my part in what was called World War II.

Gerry Anderson was awarded 4 battle ribbons with 4 gold stars. He finished his Navy career as a First Class Baker.

Never Forgotten: Gerald Anderson, Part 3

Please Note: This blog post is an account of World War II, including violence, illness, death, and other themes that may not be suitable for younger readers.  While these stories are an integral part of history, some of the following content may be slightly graphic in nature.

Part 1 Part 2

The following is an excerpt from “Never Forgotten: Stories by Scott County, Minnesota, WWII Veterans” by Tom Melchior. This is the story of Navy veteran Gerald Anderson, who earned a Baker Third Class ranking. As part of the Commissary Branch, bakers were responsible for all kinds of baking, operating ovens and other baking equipment, and setting up field ovens when ashore.

Gerald shipped out to the South Pacific, namely the Solomon Islands and what is now Papua New Guinea, aboard the USS Perida.

The temperatures were always over 100 Fahrenheit with about 85 Fahrenheit at night. At first, we slept on the ground, but later we got cots and even blankets. We burned a big pile of navy blankets because we had no use for them. Our tents would get ripped apart by shrapnel. Mostly we would put a new one right on top of the old one. Our bathroom was a tent with two sides, with seats, and a trough dug in the middle. We each carried our own paper.

We had earthquakes caused by the volcanoes. They rolled you out of your cot. Often our planes could not take off because of the violent shaking and rolling of the ground.

All doctoring and dentistry was done out in the open. The bread mixer flew apart and hit me in the face. The dentist put pegs in my front teeth. I had an awfully sore mouth for awhile. Our dentist, Dr. Mayerle of Chaska, just marvels that those pegs are still in place and are a very good fit. If you ever have watched MASH on television, that’s a pretty good example of what our hospital was like. I gave a direct blood transfusion one day to a man who had both legs amputated. I lay on a table with only a sheet between us. I never knew his name or if he survived.  

There was nothing built when we got to Bougainville, so we started from nothing. Supplies came in on our ships, and we built everything with canvas and stakes. The galley had center pole and a roof, but no sides. The ovens were heated with a diesel generator. The galley was bombed away many times and rebuilt. We were all on C rations until we got it built again. The ovens in the pilot’s galley were electric. Sometimes supply ships were hesitant to come in because of the constant shelling from the hills. We would often not get the provisions when we needed them. I remember even being rationed on ammunition.

One morning when I was on my way to the bakery, the shells started coming in. I ran back, grabbed Frank, and dove into our foxhole right outside our tent, and saw our tent blown away. He would have been killed. Frank always said I saved his life.

The Japanese also came down to watch our movies when we had them, but the movies had to end because they made too easy a target.

I spent two Christmases on Bougainville and they were much like any other day. We did have a church service, although not regularly. A young Catholic priest led all the services for everyone. All attended, no matter what faith they were. That young priest was killed on Bougainville. Prayer was an important part of my daily life. I had then and still have a firm bond with my Lord.

During the entire time I was overseas, I saw only three women. One was a nurse, who came to pick up the wounded. I believe one of the wounded she came for was the man I gave blood to because I saw her there. The other two were with Bob Hope, who came to Bougainville around Christmas time to give us a show. I remember the protection he and his group were given. I guess it makes sense now, but at the time it made me angry. Machine guns were all around the stage pointing at our men!  I never got to see the show, but we did feed them in the pilots’ galley.

Men reacted differently under fire and the continued stress. Many walked into the ocean or disappeared into the jungle. I saw them. It was hard to see. I carry those pictures in my mind. The officers tried to stop the suicides or spot the ones who were showing signs of snapping, but they didn’t always catch it.

There were quite a few little Koala bears. They were cute, lived in trees, and came down to steal food. There were also coconut rats everywhere. We hated them!  There were coral snakes that lived in and around the coral. They were poisonous. Before we could swim in the ocean, they would spray the beach with fuel and ignite it to clear the beach of snakes. There were many mosquitoes. At first, we had nothing, only the ground to sleep on and no covering. Later, we did have netting to put over our cots. There were also many kinds of lizards. They did not bite, so we ignored them.

We swam sometimes on Sunday afternoons. We also had ball games on the strip. The other entertainment was Tokyo Rose over the loud speaker once that was in place. She told us what we were missing.

The pilots had a better diet than we did, more fresh fruit. They could sit down and eat. Whatever time they came in we fed them. We got to eat the same food they did. One of the pilots was gonna have a birthday and he wanted apple pie. He brought apples in from Australia. I did ride in the planes with the pilots many times. The pilots were not supposed to take me along, but they knew I could bake apple pies. I went with him over the island of Rabaul while he dropped his load of bombs. There was a seat in the back where I sat. This was a thrill I will not forget. I went with them on practice runs over our ships. We’d go up really high, so high you could barely see the ship, and then dive at it. The ship got bigger and bigger, and then the pilot pulled the plane straight up. I did get sick a couple of times when we got back, but I would do it again if asked.

We did get time off, and during that time we wrote letters and washed clothes. Letters were our lifeblood. Sometimes, it would be days and even weeks before we got mail. The letters we wrote were all censored before they left the island. When people got my letters, they would be cut up – a word here and there, or entire paragraphs. I always read all my other mail first and saved Ione’s till last.  Her letters were so important!

Gerry got a 30 day rehab leave, his first in two years and four months, after serving 18 months on the islands. 

When we were finally ready to make the trip home by train, I wore my dress blues. I was thinking I wanted the folks to see me as a sailor and accept me. I was always proud of the fact that I was in the U.S. Navy. 

The feeling of “being home” was just as soon as I stepped onto American soil. My folks and Ione met me at the train depot. I remember sitting by Ione on the way home. It was, in a way, difficult to be home. I could not share any of my last two years. I did ask Ione to marry me, and we bought an engagement ring in downtown Minneapolis. When my 30 days were up, I was afraid to go back. I was sobbing like a baby when I walked away from the folks and Ione. I dared not look back.