HASKELL Family Reunion

Home
Family History
Family Tree
Photo Album
Reminiscing
Reunion Info
Family News
Address Book
From Our Kitchen
Memories of World War II
by Jean Loesch Krauklin
(Continued from page 2)

Some dear friends of mine, after basic training and maybe some advanced training, were starting to be sent overseas to England, Italy, islands in the Pacific or Indonesia, and letters were arriving from them. They were censored; there could be no information about where they were or what they were doing. Certain words were blacked out, or even scissored out. Because the mail was so voluminous back and forth, a lot of mail was written in V-mail form without envelopes. There was no effort to curtail the mail service, as it was too important to what was called "morale." Morale also accounted for the fact that we young women could keep on wearing our bright red lipstick inspite of shortage of dye!
The newspapers began to report the names of the dead, the wounded, and the missing in 1942. I got word of those I knew via the Boston, Berlin and Deer Isle papers, and was saddened many times. Alec Pendo, the quiet boy who played bass in the Berlin Symphony, died in a mental hospital after what was called battle fatigue. Howard Peterson, the wonderful flutist in the Deer Isle band, died on a battleship in the far Pacific. Many of my classmates died at 19 or 20 years of age, so far from home. Charlie Perkins, the violinist from Gorham with whom I had climbed Mt. Madison the year before, died early in the war.
My brother Dave was in high school and joined the Navy around 1944. After his naval training as an electrical technician out in California, the war was almost over. He got to sea in a minesweeper (I believe), but it broke down mid-ocean and was towed all the way to Eniwietok Island. There it was supposedly repaired but failed again and was towed across the Pacific back to California in time for the war's end in 1945.
Buck's cousin Greg died early in the war; I believe he was in the Air Corps, and Buck's brother "Dix" did some heroic flying in Alaska in what he wrote was "the worst kind of non-flying weather." He came home safely, and after his marriage to a Seattle girl. Peg Hilen, settled into an important job as Chief Test Pilot at Boeing; he did a lot of testing on the early jet plane known as the 707.
My sister Ruth attended the Gibbs Secretarial School the year after I did, and when she came out in June '43 she got a job working for MIT at the Harbor Building on Boston's waterfront. She did secretarial work for the early radar experts; radar was very secret then. She met many young engineers there, including Buck Loesch. He had been kept out of the armed services because of his important work teaching radar to officers, but in 1944 he got word he would be drafted, so Buck enlisted in the Navy as an ensign. He continued the same work while in the Navy.
In the spring of 1944 Buck quit his MIT job and I also quit my OPA job (it wasn't frozen; staff could move around somewhat). Buck had an ancient Lincoln car, and since he was allowed enough gas coupons to drive it to his home before going into service, we decided to take a trip to Colorado so I could meet his folks. The car broke down in Ohio; we packed our stuff into boxes on the street in Elyria, sent it to Colorado, and continued by train and bus. We were engaged now; I was 20, he was 23. We spent about 6 weeks visiting his parents and seeing the sights. Then word arrived that his commission had come through and it was time to buy officer uniforms and start Navy life in Boston.
I got my job back at the OPA, and after our wartime wedding in Berlin we had an apartment in Cambridge on Kirkland Street. Buck, who wanted to see some action in the war, got a change of orders, but it was to Philadelphia, not Pago Pago. Off we went, but that city was so packed with service people that it was impossible to find an apartment for some time. We lived in the YMCA while Buck worked at the Navy Yard and I searched for a place. I finally found a sublet from a woman who spent the winter in Florida; it was next to Fairmount Park, and pretty nice for a one-room affair with a Murphy bed in a closet.
In April of 1945, President Roosevelt died. He had gotten us through the Depression and now the war; the country mourned his loss. Victory over Germany came in May of 1945, but there was still Japan left to fight.
(Continued on page 4)

Any comments or questions? Contact
louise@loesch.net
S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r

Home Family History Family Tree Photo Album Reminiscing Reunion Info Family News Address Book From Our Kitchen		Memories of World War II by Jean Loesch Krauklin (Continued from page 2) Some dear friends of mine, after basic training and maybe some advanced training, were starting to be sent overseas to England, Italy, islands in the Pacific or Indonesia, and letters were arriving from them. They were censored; there could be no information about where they were or what they were doing. Certain words were blacked out, or even scissored out. Because the mail was so voluminous back and forth, a lot of mail was written in V-mail form without envelopes. There was no effort to curtail the mail service, as it was too important to what was called "morale." Morale also accounted for the fact that we young women could keep on wearing our bright red lipstick inspite of shortage of dye! The newspapers began to report the names of the dead, the wounded, and the missing in 1942. I got word of those I knew via the Boston, Berlin and Deer Isle papers, and was saddened many times. Alec Pendo, the quiet boy who played bass in the Berlin Symphony, died in a mental hospital after what was called battle fatigue. Howard Peterson, the wonderful flutist in the Deer Isle band, died on a battleship in the far Pacific. Many of my classmates died at 19 or 20 years of age, so far from home. Charlie Perkins, the violinist from Gorham with whom I had climbed Mt. Madison the year before, died early in the war. My brother Dave was in high school and joined the Navy around 1944. After his naval training as an electrical technician out in California, the war was almost over. He got to sea in a minesweeper (I believe), but it broke down mid-ocean and was towed all the way to Eniwietok Island. There it was supposedly repaired but failed again and was towed across the Pacific back to California in time for the war's end in 1945. Buck's cousin Greg died early in the war; I believe he was in the Air Corps, and Buck's brother "Dix" did some heroic flying in Alaska in what he wrote was "the worst kind of non-flying weather." He came home safely, and after his marriage to a Seattle girl. Peg Hilen, settled into an important job as Chief Test Pilot at Boeing; he did a lot of testing on the early jet plane known as the 707. My sister Ruth attended the Gibbs Secretarial School the year after I did, and when she came out in June '43 she got a job working for MIT at the Harbor Building on Boston's waterfront. She did secretarial work for the early radar experts; radar was very secret then. She met many young engineers there, including Buck Loesch. He had been kept out of the armed services because of his important work teaching radar to officers, but in 1944 he got word he would be drafted, so Buck enlisted in the Navy as an ensign. He continued the same work while in the Navy. In the spring of 1944 Buck quit his MIT job and I also quit my OPA job (it wasn't frozen; staff could move around somewhat). Buck had an ancient Lincoln car, and since he was allowed enough gas coupons to drive it to his home before going into service, we decided to take a trip to Colorado so I could meet his folks. The car broke down in Ohio; we packed our stuff into boxes on the street in Elyria, sent it to Colorado, and continued by train and bus. We were engaged now; I was 20, he was 23. We spent about 6 weeks visiting his parents and seeing the sights. Then word arrived that his commission had come through and it was time to buy officer uniforms and start Navy life in Boston. I got my job back at the OPA, and after our wartime wedding in Berlin we had an apartment in Cambridge on Kirkland Street. Buck, who wanted to see some action in the war, got a change of orders, but it was to Philadelphia, not Pago Pago. Off we went, but that city was so packed with service people that it was impossible to find an apartment for some time. We lived in the YMCA while Buck worked at the Navy Yard and I searched for a place. I finally found a sublet from a woman who spent the winter in Florida; it was next to Fairmount Park, and pretty nice for a one-room affair with a Murphy bed in a closet. In April of 1945, President Roosevelt died. He had gotten us through the Depression and now the war; the country mourned his loss. Victory over Germany came in May of 1945, but there was still Japan left to fight. (Continued on page 4)
		Any comments or questions? Contact louise@loesch.net S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r