Veterans Day Monday!
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
With Veterans Day being Monday, November 11th, the Tribune would like to print a couple of stories that appeared in this newspaper during World War Two. These are from 1943.
Writing from Sicily, Pfc. Victor Goveronski stated, “By the time you receive this letter things will be over here. You may even hear of bigger things happening.” The letter, which was dated August 16 and came via airmail, was written from a hospital where the young man, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Goveronski, was recovering from wounds received in the Sicilian campaign. A shrapnel wound in his upper left arm took Vic from his active participation in the fighting on that island for the present.
This is the first letter the Tribune has had from a soldier in the Sicilian campaign, however, it is not the first letter received from this young man. He is attached to the infantry and will no doubt be in on many more skirmishes that will prove interesting and adventurous for this former athlete.
McCabe Missing
Word was received in Glenwood City this last week that Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. McCabe were informed by the war department that Sgt. Robert McCabe, a bombardier with the U. S. Air Force, was reported missing in the New Guinea zone.
The message stated that he had been missing since September 2,
Robert McCabe assisted his brother Chris in the farm implement business here during a couple summers.
From: S-Sgt. James F. Obermueller,
Received the Tribune today and each time there are letters from some of the boys from Glenwood in the service. Well this letter doesn’t come from an island in the Pacific or the Desert in Africa. However, it comes from a lonely spot somewhere on the desert in California.
When I was called in the Service I had no idea where I’d go or what my duties would be. In my 20 months of service I’ve seen quite a bit of the United States. I’ve been in three different camps and two different companies. At last I am settled for a while. None of the boys here care much for this desert. Here are a few reasons why. It gets pretty hot out here at times, mostly during the summer months. I’ve seen it 140 degrees in the shade. Also when man sees nothing but sand and cactus all day long and day after day after day it’s sorta tiresome. Now speaking for myself, and the boys at this camp, if we can help win a war here we surely will do our part. This is commonly called The Desert Training Center and really one can drive for a few hundred miles and see small camps and units all over this vast area.
I’m in a car company, my job is Platoon Sgt. I have 38 men and 29 vehicles under my care. The most important of all is to keep these vehicles rolling and the men assigned to the different types of which they are best suited to drive. The Co. drives for the officers in higher headquarters. Some of the boys have it much harder than others, mostly depends on day or night trips. The blackout trips are where it takes a well-trained driver and a pair of cat eyes. With the cars of today and good roads 150 miles isn’t far to travel, but just turn out the lights and on a narrow road it’s really no fun. We have people ask us if we will ever ago overseas. Now that’s a question none of us know much about. Although if this company is ever picked I’m sure we will all do the very best to end this mess in a hurry.
It’s a great pleasure to read the various letters that are in the good old Tribune. And now I’ll close and hope that the boys at home keep things rolling and we’ll do the same for Uncle Sam. When it’s over and the gang gets together we’ll all celebrate.
James F. Obermueller
A letter from Sgt. E. Van Ranst from his station in North Africa. He has asked that we send his paper to a new address so that he won’t be missing any of them. He stated that the weather (September 1943) was still hot and when he was writing us his V-mail letter it was then 118 in the shade. He has a beautiful tan and only one case of malaria so far in their group. His job may take him from North Africa soon and he hopes he’ll be seeing some Glenwood boys at his new post, Not long ago he expected to return to the states but with the continued change in the war he will be in foreign service for sometime.
From Fred Jeske:
In the Tribune I saw where one more of my brothers was leaving for army service. There is one more to go and he is thinking of enlisting. There are three of us in service now. Bill is in North Africa and as yet I haven’t found out where Alvin is located.
I enjoy getting the Tribune and wish some of the boys would put their address in the paper so I could look them up on a day pass.
S/Sgt. Frederick A. Jeske.
Dear Mr. Rich:
As an old pupil of yours, I am writing you on more to tell you of my whereabouts. All I can tell you is that I am somewhere in Sicily.
I have been getting quite a few letters lately. That is what makes a person feel good. When you see a soldier over here, sad and blue, you can always tell it is because he hasn’t received that long waited for and welcomed letter from home.
Some people at home think that they would like to be over here. They think they are doing more for their country if they were a soldier over here. If they were in my position or could stand along side of me and see some of the positions I have been in, their hearts would be racked with pain and a one hard feeling of getting even. They may also say, well he is over there seeing the world through rose-colored glasses and at our expense. But did they also ever stop to think that we are over here to fight a war for peace and liberty. A world that you can be proud to live in and a country that is fit to live in, not overrun by murderers and fortune seekers. All any of us soldiers want is to get home to our families and friends and lead the kind of life we were used to before the war.
Yours Truly, Wayne Johnson
Award of the Air Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster to Captain William W. Weinzirl of Glenwood City, son of Mrs. Mary Koberstein, for meritorious achievement while flying anti-submarine patrols in the Caribbean theater with the possibility of encountering fire from enemy ships has just been announced at Antilles Air command headquarters.
Please remember Stephen Curry of Glenwood City, killed at the Battle of the Argonne in WWI.