GC post office now bears the name of local WWII veteran

By Cara L. Dempski

GLENWOOD CITY — The Glenwood City post office has now been officially renamed the Second Lt. Ellen Ainsworth Memorial Post Office.

The ceremony took place in a tent outside the post office at the corner of Second and Oak Street on August 31.

Sally Berkholder, a former Glenwood City resident and currently of New Richmond, who was the catalyst for the event, said she was pleased with the ceremony and surprised by the size of the crowd.

“I was worried we wouldn’t have anyone come, but so many did and we had such beautiful weather for it,” Berkholder said.

All of the speakers credited Berkholder with bringing Ainsworth’s story to the attention of Congressman Sean Duffy and Senator Ron Johnson. In 2014, Berkholder and her husband visited Ainsworth’s grave at the Sicily-Rome American Memorial Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy. While there, she spoke with cemetery director, Tina Young.

Later that year Young sent a letter to the Tribune Press Reporter informing residents of the opening of the new visitor’s center. Berkholder contacted the offices of Johnson and Duffy, as well as the office of Senator Tammy Baldwin, asking for letters commemorating the occasion.

Representative Duffy said he first heard about Ellen Ainsworth when Berkholder contacted his office. After a story about Ainsworth was published in the Memorial Day 2014 edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Duffy thought about ways to memorialize the young woman who had given her life in service to her country.

Ainsworth served as a nurse in the U.S. Army at the 56th Evacuation Hospital in Anzio, Italy, during World War II. She earned a Silver Star for gallantry in battle from an incident in 1944 where she and three other nurses safely evacuated 42 patients from a hospital tent under heavy artillery fire from German troops.

Ellen Ainsworth is the only woman from Wisconsin to have died as a direct result of hostile action during the war. She was hit by shrapnel in February 1944 and succumbed to her wounds several days later.

Tracy Franseen, a manager of post office operations for the U.S. Postal Service, served as emcee for the ceremony. Members of the Curry-Ainsworth American Legion Post 168 served as color guards. Franseen is a resident of Boyceville and grew up in the area surrounding Boyceville and Glenwood City.

After Franseen led the Pledge of Allegiance, a musical number highlighting military songs was presented by members of the Glenwood City School District’s music department, and an invocation was given by Pastor Jan Beutin of Glenwood City United Methodist Church.

The post office’s Northland District Manager, Anthony Williams, led off the prepared remarks for the ceremony. He detailed Ainsworth’s story and service, and commented on her bravery and cool head in times of crisis.

Ainsworth’s leadership skills and level head were things her cousin, Linda Hafdahl, also spoke to during her remarks.

“She calmly led the nurses in her ward in placing 42 wounded or injured men on the floor for safety before evacuating everyone from the tent,” Hafdahl told the crowd of the events leading to Ainsworth receiving the Silver Star for gallantry. “She saved 42 lives that night with her actions.”

Hafdahl later said her parents, aunts and uncles, all cousins of Ainsworth’s, told many funny stories about Ainsworth’s exploits as a child. One such story involved the possibility Ainsworth and two of her cousins – known in Glenwood at the time as the “Terrible Trio” – were scared one particular afternoon because they believed they might have inadvertently set fire to the elementary school they attended.

Hafdahl and her cousins laughed as she told another story about Ainsworth.

“Lyda (Ainsworth’s sister) told me that one night she had to answer the front door for Ellen’s boyfriend, because Ellen was ushering the young man she’d been on a date with earlier in the evening out the back door,” Hafdahl said.

Senator Johnson followed Hafdahl’s remarks, sharing the first time he heard the name Ellen Ainsworth was when Berkholder sent him a request for a letter commemorating the opening of the cemetery in Italy.

“I think 2nd Lt. Ainsworth exemplifies the best of Wisconsin,” Johnson said during an interview. “She is a woman girls in this state can look up to. She needs to be remembered.”

Johnson called the ceremony “quintessentially Wisconsin,” saying it was fun to see a group of strangers talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company while honoring the memory of a young woman like Ainsworth. He said it was a great honor to be present, and said the event left him with a good feeling about the people he represents as a senator from Wisconsin.

The senator credits Congressman Sean Duffy with proposing the bill and working to have it passed in the house. He also said the bill moved very quickly through the Senate.

“It was passed within 24 hours of coming out of committee,” Johnson stated.

Duffy told the assembled crowd the teamwork of the congressional delegation representing Wisconsin should be praised for not just their swift action, but also for the unilateral party support they provided for the bill.

“We can, in fact, work together on things,” Duffy joked after the ceremony.

Fransee took over the microphone one more time, as Williams, Berkholder, Johnson and Duffy approached a tripod covered in a cloth and announced the post office was now the Second Lt. Ellen Ainsworth Memorial Post Office. The group removed the cloth covering a black plaque containing the new name and the date of the dedication before posing for several photographs.

Duffy and Johnson approached the speaker’s podium one more time to make a surprise announcement. Duffy told the crowd he and Johnson had brought a framed copy of the bill signed in June by President Barack Obama to be placed in the post office. Duffy expressed his hope that the post office will hang it in a place where it can be seen and read.