class members' stories

Why it's conceivable we were conceived

Linda: In my father's case it was because the government gave draft deferments to farmers because farm workers were rapidly disappearing to take jobs in manufacturing or they were already drafted or enlisted.  My father worked  in a CCC camp (Civilian Conservation Corps). These camps were to familiarize young men with military practices (as well as internment for pow's). Deferment must have come along before he might have had to go into the military.

Cecile: My dad was a farmer and mom said he had too many kids.  I was number six; he was 34 when I was born.  He had rheumatic fever when he was young.  He had flat feet and a heart murmur.   Maybe all of these reasons were why he did not go to war.  Most men  I know in King City were in the war.  They are at least 10-15 years younger than my dad.  Dad said he was refused life insurance in his 20's because of his health.  He lived to be 96.

MaryAnn: My father enlisted in the Army Air Corps. An airplane mechanic, he never served overseas. He was stationed at Scott Field in Belleville, IL. then transferred to Rosecrans Field near St. Joseph. My parents met and married in Detroit, and my mom moved to Missouri to be near him and lived on the farm near Orchid Christian Church with my dad's foster mother. I don't know why he was not sent overseas, but I think it had to do with his age.  He was in his early 40's at that time.  I was born on our farm, at home, and Dr. Reynolds of Union Star was the attending physician.

I started first grade at Orchid School, a one-room schoolhouse about a mile south of Orchid Christian Church. It was the same school my father attended for all eight years. The walk from our house was two miles each way, and one teacher taught all eight grades. In 1952 we consolidated with Union Star, and after that I rode the bus to school and attended grades 2 through 12 at Union Star. 
 
Yvonne: My dad tried to sign up to serve in the war but was rejected with 4F status because of his flat feet is what I've been told.  Both his brothers served in the service and Kert just found out this winter from someone down here that my Uncle Hilton was awarded the  Silver Cross and was quite the war hero from Fort Scott.  We were not told of this when we were children.

Mom and Dad met and graduated from Baker University, Baldwin City, KS.  My mom was from Fairport-Cameron communities.  My dad studied to be a Methodist Minister and was attending seminary at Drew University, in Madison, NJ during the war.  Mom joined him there where there more than seven years.  My brother and his twin were born out there and the family later came back to the Fort Scott area where Dad served various Methodist churches in Kansas.  Mom taught in rural schools in Kansas, and I had her for my teacher for three years.  In July 1956 my dad went to a doctor about headaches; he died of a brain tumor two weeks later in Topeka.  My grandfather came to Blue Rapids that next week and said we were moving to the farm at Fairport - no questions were to be asked!  Carolea and Phil Hayes (our cousin) came over to the Fairport farm and said they needed a teacher for third grade at Union Star. Mom took the job and I enrolled in the 8th grade with Mrs. Foster. We drove back and forth for three years until Mom decided living with parents was too much. Phil Hayes built her house in Union Star in 1959.  She lived there until she couldn't take care of herself, and we moved her into our home in Baldwin in 1993.

Donald:  My father did not serve in the military.  He was notified of his draft when my twin brother and I were just months old.  My mother told him on the day he was to go take his physical that she hoped and prayed that he would fail.  He did.  He had malaria as a teenager and was told he did not qualify medically and to go home and farm and raise meat and crops to support the war effort.  He carried the “unqualified 4F” stigma-self-imposed guilt trip to the grave. It did not help that his only brother was career army and retired as a major, after serving in both WWII and Korea.  Also my mother's only sister’s husband was in WWII and was killed just five days after arriving in Korea. That background probably had more influence on my staying in the military than I think.
 
Ronnie and I were born in St. Joseph, and our family moved back to the farm at Blue Mound* after our birth, but prior to dad’s selective service notification.  We had moved back to St. Joseph just outside the city limits south end in the Seitz addition; I went to Lake station grade school through the 6th grade.  We moved to Mason Avenue still in St Joseph, and I went to the 7th grade at Hyde grade school.  On 2 June 1956 we moved to the farm homesteaded by my great uncle (too small to really call a farm, but dad did so) a mile and a half south of Ward Bowen Hatchery. He could not afford a farm large enough to support the family, often calling himself a hobby farmer, since he had to keep his day job at Dugdale Packing Plant on South 11th street (about two blocks from Quaker Oats).  Jack Holt did the row crops that year, and Lawrence Shores (Wayne's dad) farmed the row crops for 1957 & 1958. I attended Union Star starting in the 8th grade with Ruby Foster as teacher. 

*Blue Mound, Missouri is between Chillicothe and Carrollton. There was the Blue Mound farm, a grocery store, a church, a grade school and a cemetery.  There was I think also a road house there which was what they called a tavern and dance hall in those days. It is about 80 miles east of St .Joseph and 25 miles or so to the south on US Highway 65.

Don Carrel: Dad didn't serve because he was a farmer.  I was born east of Union Star and in 1944 moved to where my mom lives now. Wilma is 94 and still lives at home by herself.

Ron Young: The James K. Young family lived in King City  at the  time the  Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor naval base in the  Hawaiian Islands. The  United States declared war on the  Japanese and  soon dad was  in  basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood.

He was  assigned to the  532 Engineer Brigade and was transported by troop train from Ft. Leonard to Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland, then on to San Francisco. On  June 12, 1945 Private Young sailed out of San Francisco bay...destination: the  Hawaiian islands. From Hawaii he went to the  Marshall Islands. On July 12, 1945,  it was on  to Leyte, Philippines, where his  duties were to offload Infantry troops from ships to the  beach.

The  military had  a point  system for the  purpose of  discharging military personnel. Seventy-five would qualify you for discharge. Dad had  48.

On Nov. 9, 1945  Dad was  stationed in Inchon, Korea (South Korea today ). Some of his duties were to make and  maintain  roads. On Dec. 21, 1945  they started loading the  U.S.S. Admiral Mayo, then went to Nagoya, Japan to finish loading the ship. Dad then went  from Japan to Camp Stontmon, CA and was discharged  at Ft. Leavenworth, KS  Jan. 17, 1946.

I  was  about  one and a half years old when he  left for the  military and  when he  returned  home I did  not  know him  and  would ask my mother, "Who is that Big Boy?"

Gary: My father was a farmer and not in the military during WWII. I was born on a farm east of Union Star. After my mother died when I was not quite two I went to St. Louis to live with relatives and started first grade there, moving back to Union Star for 2nd grade through senior year.

Fran: My father did not serve in WWII; however, my beloved Uncle Vernon Bonham served in the European conflict with the U.S. Army Air Corps, receiving a Bronze Star and Good Conduct Medal.  He was a welder and worked primarily on gliders.  He reminisced often during his later years how he received the news of my birth.  My aunt wrote him a letter and merely mentioned..."Thelma and baby are doing just fine."  My mother's letter with the details of my birth came a week or so later.  So he knew I had been born but did not know if the baby was a girl or boy, or the name.  I loved my Uncle Vernon.

I was born at home near Ford City  northeast of King City.  My dad was a farmer and worked hard at most anything that was offered to earn another dollar and to help put food on our dinner table.  During the summer of 1949 we moved to the farm my parents bought west of Union Star.

Pat: My dad died when I was two so therefore, no military service.

My mom had a beauty shop and was introduced to my step-dad-to-be by a client who worked with him. He was from Union Star originally. They got married when I was 11, and we moved to Union Star between my freshman and sophomore years. Coming from Casper, WY with a population of about 70,000 and 500 kids in my class to Union Star, population 400 and 16 classmates and living on a farm seven miles from town was quite a different world, but I enjoyed my three years at USHS.

Patty: My father was a WWI veteran. He was young, but fibbed about his age so he could join the military. My older brother, Bob O'Neal, was a Korean war veteran.

I was born late in my parents' lives, a "woops." Our family lived in Kansas City when I was little. I had rheumatic fever and was in very serious condition. Doctors told my parents to get me out of the city, so they moved to Union Star. They chose the area because we had relatives nearby. I went to first grade at Pleasant Hill and started at Union Star in the second grade.

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