Binder3GeneralExcellence by Jeff Wick

friday, August 14, 2015

THE FAYETTE COUNTY La Grange, Texas 78945

INSIDE

Unanimous Vote to Enact Burn Ban By ANDY BEHLEN The Fayette County Record

Fayette County Commissioners Court issued an order declaring a burn ban for Fayette County at their meeting on Monday, August 10. Fayette County Judge Ed Janecka recommended the ban due to the continuing dry conditions. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to get any substantial rainfall in the next three or four

Volleyball Action

Volleyball season is officially here. See how Fayette County teams did in their season openers. Pages A6, A8

Volume 93, Number 81

weeks, and it’s pretty dry out there as it is,” Janecka said. The Judge noted that Fayette County’s Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), a measure of ground moisture used to determine fire potential, broke above 600 on Monday. It stood at 627 on Tuesday. Abraham Pace of the Fayette County Firefighters Association said his group supported the Judge’s recommendation. Commissioners voted unanimously

The Answer is Yes (Finally) in Fayetteville and Round Top-Carmine

One of the most important special sections we’ve ever produced ...

is included free in today’s newspaper. The 72-page “Veterans Voices” is a collection of emotional first-person recollections from 40 different Fayette County WWII veterans as told to Elaine Thomas. Some of these men have died since they were interviewed, but their stories, their Voices, live on. The timing of this publication is no accident. Friday marks the 70th anniversary of the official end of WWII. Another beautiful aspect of this publication is advertising intended to look like ads from the 1940s. Additional copies are available for sale at the Fayette County Record, with half of the proceeds from those sales split evenly among all Fayette County VFW and American Legion Posts. Read these men’s stories to understand why they truly are part of “The Greatest Generation” and gain a better appreciation of the freedom we enjoy. – Jeff Wick

St. Paul Lutheran Church in Shelby, located at 6814 Skull Creek Road, will hold a rummage sale on Friday, Aug. 14 and Saturday, Aug. 15 from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Mobile Food Truck

Join St. Paul Lutheran Church in La Grange for food and fellowship at their annual Celebration Sunday on Aug. 16 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in La Grange. A meal of barbecue chicken will be served beginning at 10:45 a.m. for $9 per ticket. Dine in or drive through. Events include praise worship at 9 a.m., live and silent auction, cake wheel, and games for all ages. Contact Peggy Johnson at (979) 966-9311 or Hayley Saunders at (979) 966-9091 for tickets or information.

Fayetteville and Round Top-Carmine have never had high school football teams before. But kids from both schools have joined forces to play six-man football on a private association team that debuts this fall – the Fayette County Panthers. They’ve been practicing for over a week in Fayetteville preparing for their first game Aug. 28 against Cedar Park Summit. Here the Panthers do a cheer during practice Monday. For more about the Panthers, and the La Grange Leps, Schulenburg Shorthorns and Flatonia Bulldogs check out our special football section coming out Aug. 25 in the Record. Photo by Jeff Wick

Flatonia Looks at Plan to Fund Fire Dept. By ANDY BEHLEN

The Fayette County Record

It’s a problem that comes up almost every year at budget time for the incorporated cities in Fayette County – the cities provide the bulk of the funding for their volunteer fire departments, yet the departments make most

of their calls outside the city limits. A task force formed of fire officials and city leaders in Flatonia is looking at one possible solution to the funding problem – a new taxing entity. Members of the task force announced a proposal to form

an emergency service district (ESD) at the Flatonia City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 11. Such a district would require an election and approval from voters within the proposed district. Voters would elect five See Flatonia, back page

There’s more For the Record on Page A2 & A11

WEATHER WATCH This Week’s Forecast High Low Friday: 101 75 Partly cloudy Saturday: 100 73 Clear Sunday: 96 73 40% chance of rain Monday: 96 73 Wild Bunch Brewing general manager Craig Hunter, left, and Tony Gallo enjoy some of the La Grangebrewed “Wild Black” beer during a recent interview. Gallo was a security consultant, making sure Wild 30% chance of rain Bunch’s Reynolds Street brewing facility was safe and secure. Photo by Jeff Wick

Burn Ban In Effect

INSIDE TODAY Opinion........................ Page A4 Crossword................... Page A5 Society......................... Page A9 Sports.......................... Page A6 Obituaries.................. Page A10 Weekend...................... Page B1 Classifieds................Page B2-5

INSIDE TODAY

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Rummage Sale

St. Paul Celebration

One Dollar per Copy

in favor of the ban. Surrounding counties have also enacted burn bans recently, including Bastrop County as of August 6, Lee County as of August 7, and Austin and Colorado counties as of August 10, Gonzales, Lavaca and Washington counties have not yet enacted a burn ban. The burn ban order remains in effect for 90 days, unless the court decides to terminate it earlier.

For The Record

A mobile food pantry truck will be at Waldeck Lutheran Church on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The church is located at the corner of FM 1291 and FM 2145. There’s no complicated paperwork to fill in, just a simple sign in. Bring a box, bag or other container to carry your food.

RECORD

Cheers to Local Beer

LG-Brewed Beer Now Sold Here By JEFF WICK The Fayette County Record

When Heinrich Kreische was brewing beer up on the bluff in the mid to late 1800s, La Grange was home to one of the earliest, and eventually largest, breweries in Texas. More than a century later, locally-brewed beer is flowing in La Grange again. A project years in the making, Wild Bunch Brewing is finally producing beer from its Reynolds Street facility in La Grange, and it’s now being enjoyed by the public. According to Craig Hunter, the general manager of the

brewery, they are brewing three kinds of beer right now – a Black and IPA and a Golden Koelsch, which exactly duplicates the recipe Kreische used. They also have plans to add three new types, possibly with additional tie-ins to local history. “We chose La Grange because it’s the perfect place to brew beer. There’s great water here, a strong German and Czech population and it’s a perfect distribution point between Houston, Austin and San Antonio.” The type of beer they are making here is of the top-fermenting variety (ale) which brews quicker than bottom fermenting lager. See Beer, back page

One City Water Well Goes Dry Conservation Urged

The City of La Grange is enacting Phase One of its Drought Contingency Plan. The decision comes after one of the seven ground water wells recently decreased in production requiring the city to engage in services to restore the well. After a lengthy rehabilitation process, during pump testing the well started to produce large

amounts of sand and had to be shut down. With one well out of service, the other six wells are running longer to keep up the current water demand during this dry period. Lengthy run time can cause additional wear and possibly shorten the life of the other wells. In order to conserve water to decrease demand, the city is enacting Phase One of their “Drought Contingency Plan.” See Water Well, back page

Slow Down, Pay Attention In School Zones Chief Says With the start of a new school year just days away, (Sacred Heart begins Monday, while most local public schools begin Aug. 24) La Grange police Chief Jackie Skelton wants to remind drivers to be extra careful near school zones. He reminds drivers that there is no texting or cell phone use in school zones (and plenty of signs around the campuses state that). Additionally Skelton wants people to be mindful of the speed limits around schools. On Travis St. the speed limit is 25 when lights are flashing at the beginning at the end of the school days. On Jackson, Milam and Vail Streets the speed limit is 15 miles per hour the entire school day. On Eblin St. the

Pay extra attention to the signs around school campuses, as students head back this fall. Photo by H.H. Howze

speed limit is 20 miles per hour from 7:30-8:30 in the morning and again from 3-4 in the afternoon. Also watch for school busses loading and unloading, Skelton said.

LGISD Open Houses Wednesday

Wild Bunch Black on tap at Vin 114 in La Grange, currently the only place in Fayette County you can buy the beer.

All La Grange ISD school campuses will hold Open Houses on Wednesday, Aug. 19. PTO representatives will be available at the K-6 cafeteria with membership forms to recruit parent volunteers. Health and transportation personnel will also be available with immunization and bussing information. Students in grades Pk-6 will pick up their schedules

and school information in front of the LGISD Auditorium from 4 -6 p.m. The gym behind the auditorium will be used in inclement weather. Students will then go to their classrooms to meet their teachers. The LG Middle and High School Open House will also be Wednesday, Aug. 19 from 4-6 p.m. for students to locate classrooms and pick up textbooks.

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

For The Record

Leward Anders & Sons, Inc.

LG Noon Lions Travel to Kerrville

5904 Daniels Rd. La Grange, Texas 78945 (979) 247-4360

FUMC Wholeness/Healing Conference

The First United Methodist Church of La Grange will be hosting a conference on Wholeness and Healing with the guest speaker Dr. Terry Teykl. The Conference will be held at the church fellowship hall located at 1215 N. Von Minden. Interested persons may go to www.lgfumc.org to register or print off a registration form. Admission prices are listed on the website as well. Early bird registration ends Aug. 14. For more information, call FUMC office at (979) 968-8323.

Gary Anders (979) 481-3610

Wayne Anders (979) 481-3614

Sacred Heart Car Wash

Sacred Heart Catholic Church is having a car wash on Saturday, Aug. 15 at the Sacred Heart Center from 8 a.m. to noon. for a free will donation. The proceeds support the youth and young adults from our parish who are going to World Youth Day in Poland in July 2016.

4-H Shooting Sports Club Meeting

The Fayette County 4-H Shooting Sports Club will have their first meeting of the new 4-H year on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 4 p.m at the Fayette County Gun Club. Through the 4-H Shooting Sports project, youth learn marksmanship, the safe and responsible use of firearms, the principles of hunting, and much more. The activities of the program and the support of caring adult leaders provide young people with opportunities to develop life skills, self-worth, and conservation ethics. For additional questions, contact the Fayette County Extension Office at (979) 968-5831.

Fayette Water Supply Board Meeting

Fayette Water Supply Corporation will be conducting a meeting of the board of directors on Monday, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. at the FWSC office located at 200 Bordovsky Road in La Grange.

Fayette County Republican Women

The Fayette County Republican Women will hold its general membership meeting Monday, Aug. 17, at La Grange City Hall in the City Council Chambers located at 155 E. Colorado St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for light refreshments and fellowship. Meeting begins at 7 p.m. Featured speaker is State Representative Leighton Schubert. Program begins a 7:15 p.m. Topic to be discussed is: “What’s happening in the House of Representatives.” All meetings are open to the public at no charge. Come with your questions and bring a friend.

VFW Ladies Auxiliary

The VFW Ladies Auxiliary No. 5254 will honor six Junior Girl Scouts at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18 who have earned their Silver Award in Scouting. The Ladies will furnish food for all members and guests at 6 p.m. at the Post Home. Meetings of the Auxiliary and Post will begin at 7 p.m. Fayette County Fair tickets will be available at this meeting from the Fair Queen candidate, Jasmine Ramirez, who is sponsored by the Post and Auxiliary.

St. Marks Ladies Auxiliary Fund Raiser

Stop by the dining room at St. Mark’s Medical Center and shop for jewelry and accessories on Monday Aug. 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Tuesday, Aug. 18 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to help support the St. Mark’s Ladies Auxiliary.

Swiss Alp Farm Bureau

The next Swiss Alp Farm Bureau meeting will be Tuesday, Aug. 18 at the Swiss Alp Hall on U.S. Hwy. 77 between La Grange and Schulenburg. The program will be an official from the Fayette County Habitat For Humanity Board. The social will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a pot luck dinner at 7 p.m. and program to follow. Members are asked to bring a dessert or food dish. Guests are welcome.

Tuesday Night Mixed Bowling

The Tuesday Night Mixed Bowling League will hold its organizational meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 7:30 p.m. at La Grange Lanes. All current teams are asked to have a representative at this meeting. Anyone interested in forming a new team or individuals interested in bowling in the league are invited to attend. If unable to attend or for more information, you may contact Nancy Pietsch at (979) 242-3324 or Becky Munsch at (979) 968-3268.

La Grange ISD Open House Schedule

La Grange Indpendent School District will hold open houses for each of the campus. Open house for Hermes/Intermediate School, La Grange Middle School and High School will be held Wednesday, Aug. 19 from 4 to 6 p.m. for each campus.

Wednesday Night Ladies League

The meeting for the Wednesday Nite Ladies League will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 19 at La Grange Lanes. Anyone interested in bowling should attend. If you are unable to attend, call Margie Konvicka at (979)968-3232 or La Grange Lanes at (979) 968-3211.

Round Top Family Library

The Amazing World of Birds by Betsy Harwood returns to the Round Top Family Library with facts and fascinating bird lore beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20. Admission is free. Round Top Family Library is located at 206 W. Mill St. Call (979) 249-2700 or visit www.ilovetoread.org for more information.

Monday, August 17:

cHicken spaGHetti

La Grange Noon Lions traveled to the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville to serve an evening meal to parents and siblings coming to pick up their camper after a fun-filled week at camp. The Texas Lions Camp supported by Lions all over Texas and donations, provides summer camp to kids with every imaginable disability including those you cannot see, such as diabetes. One week is devoted to Down Syndrome children. The camp is free to the kids. Lions doing what they do, “serve.”

Volleyball Home Friday in Fayetteville High school volleyball season has begun for the 2015-16 school year. The JV/Varsity teams will see action Friday, Aug. 14 at home against Hempstead with play beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18 the Lionettes will be hosting the Navasota team at 5 p.m. On Thursday, Aug. 20 and Saturday, Aug. 22 the Lionettes will travel to Hempstead and participate in the tournament there. School To Start Fayetteville I.S.D. will be starting the new school year for 2015-16 on Monday, Aug. 24. Everyone should be especially cautious for traveling school busses and for children around the school area. Worship Services Shared Lutheran Ministry churches will have a different worship schedule for Sunday, Aug. 16. St. John, Warrenton will be worshipping with St. John, Ellinger at 8 a.m. St. John, Rutersville will have worship at their usual 10 a.m. St. Paul, Fayetteville will have a lay-led service with no communion at 10:30 a.m. with Jerry Brown having the sermon. SLM Council To Meet The Shared Lutheran Ministry council will meet Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at St. Paul in Fayetteville. All church councils will meet at 6:30 p.m. Lizbeth Johnson from Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest will present a program on legacy giving and endowment which will be helpful for all council people. Collecting Supplies The Fayetteville Brethren Church is collecting supplies to be sent to the military. Among the items being collected are non-aerosol deodorant, non-aerosol bug spray, flea collars, baby

Fayetteville News

By ALICE SCHMITT

Fayetteville News Correspondent

wipes, razors, Visine, hand sanitizer, sinus/allergy medicine, Advil, Tylenol, lip balm and foot care products. Snacks are always good--no candy or snacks that will melt in the heat. Personal size disposable cameras, batteries sizes AA, AAA, C and D and letters/cards of encouragement. Smaller sizes are easier to ship and for individuals to carry.

Tuesday, August 18:

roast beef

Wednesday, August 19:

liver & onions or HamburGer steak Thursday, August 20:

Please put your donations in the box in the church entryway or you may contact Pauline Ott. Fellowship Potluck Sunday, Aug. 30 will be fifth Sunday singing at the Fayetteville Brethren Church with a fellowship potluck lunch after worship service. August Birthdays August birthday celebrants include: Betty Kovar-8; Joan Malota-10; Misty Dominey-15; Shane Dominey-16. August Anniversary August anniversary celebrants include: Kenny and Christine Wied-7.

cHicken fried steak Friday, August 21:

fried fisH W/ HusHpuppies or salmon croquettes Saturday, August 22: CLOSED Sunday, August 23:

beef tips or fried cHicken

Breakfast: M-f 5-9 am Lunch: M-f 10:30 am - 2 pm evenings: M-f 5-8 pm w/ grill Grill includes HamburGers & sucH sunday: 11 am - 2 pm

Round Top Carmine Young Farmers

RT-C Young Farmers meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 20 with social at 7 p.m. and meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Round Top Rifle Hall on FM 1457. Program will be “Identity Theft” by Darlene Wieghat and Jennifer Beaudet. The meeting is open to the public. Dues are $25 per year if anyone is interested in becoming a member.

1958

Serving Fayette And Surrounding Counties Since 1958

www.LindemannRealEstate.com • 979.968.5803 HOMES Brick 3BD/2BA on 1.71 Ac.: 1,630 sq. ft. Wood floors. Composition roof (2012). Fenced horse pasture. Large live oaks & pecan trees. 2301 Hwy. 71 East. $133,000 #91194

Amazing Views! 3BD/2.5BA: Austin Stone with metal roof. Stone fireplace, arches and columns inside. Granite countertops. Open floorplan. 403 Valley View Dr, Frisch Auf! $365,000 #91161 Beautiful & Ready to Move In 3BD/1BA Renovated: 1,102

sq. ft. on 1/3 ac. lot. New hardi exterior, central AC/H, bamboo wood floors, complete kitchen & bathroom remodel. 840 Mocassin Trail. $105,000 #91021

3BD/2BA on .6 Ac.: 1,662 sq. ft. Recently renovated & beautiful!

fence, black wrought iron fence & decorative wooden fence. Tree shaded corner lot. 504 S. Franklin. $349,000 #90608

Brick 3BD/2.5BA w/ Sunroom: 2,053 sq. ft. Minarcik built

home, attached 2 car garage & storage shed. Beautiful 1/3 ac. lot w/ large live oak. 520 S. Washington. $189,900 #90556

3BD/1.5BA Brick Home: Open floor plan, large kitchen, carport,

fenced yard, storage buildings. 1166 E. Camp. $142,500 #90285

102.35 Ac w/ VIEWS: 2 story farmhouse w/ 4 bd, 2 ba 2,628

3BD/2BA Plus Bonus Room Completely Renovated & Like New!: 2,065 sq. ft. wood floors, granite countertops, new

LAND/LOTS

3BD/1BA.: 1,324 sq. ft. Large corner lot w/ beautiful live oaks.

2BD/1BA on .49 Ac. Lot: 1,056 sq. ft. Central A/H. Large en-

4BD/2BA w/ Sunroon. Refinished wood floors, crown moulding & plantation shutters throughout. New metal roof, plumbing, interior/ exterior paint, fixtures, ceiling fans w/ chandelier lights. Kitchen & bathroom remodels. New Kenmore Elite appliances. 384 sq. ft. renovated guest quarters w/ full kitchen, 1 bedroom & 1 bath. Oversized 664 sq. ft. garage. Inground swimming pool w/ new equipment & Polaris vacuum. Gorgeous landscaping, irrigation, gazebo, invisible

home, 1,234 sq. ft. guest home, 30’x30’ metal building plus 3 other barns! Scattered trees, open pastures, stocked pond, partial and heavy woods. Blacktop road & concrete driveways. 8400 Gray Ln. $1,300,000 #90903 sq. ft., 40+ live oaks, rolling hills, two ponds, fenced, cross fenced, outbuildings, windmill, two water wells, county water. 1811 East Radhost School Road $749,000 #86358

cabinets, fixtures, paint, etc. .49 Ac. lot with nice surrounding homes. 115 Burford, Columbus. $179,900 #90354

Fully Restored Circa 1917 Main Home: 2,592 sq. ft.

66.12 Ac. with Gorgeous Custom Home: 3,925 sq. ft.

Recently Remodeled 3BA/2BA: 1,518 sq. ft. laminate wood flooring, huge laundry room, workshop, 2 storage buildings, barn & 3 car carport. 140 W. Fannin. $140,000 #90240

Large master suite, 28’x32’ garage w/ attached oversized carport. 220 Elect. & RV connection. 9108 FM 153. $174,500 #90758 Great starter home or investment property. 799 E. Upperline. $64,900 #90846

HOMES with LAND

7.191 GORGEOUS ACRES within City Limits of LG w/ City Water, Sewage & Electricity: Large mature live oaks &

pecan trees. Commercial or residential with several beautiful building sites. Hwy. 159 Frontage. $37,500/Ac. #91290

closed front porch. Open floorplan. Complete bath remodel (2014). Garage, carport, 2 bonus rooms (one w/ window unit) & detached garden shed w/ lien to. Huge fenced backyard to store boat, rv or build additional building! 602 W. Lafayette. $94,000 #90209

8.59 Ac w/ Views of the Countryside!: Mostly cleared with

3BD/2BA (2 Additional Bonus Rooms & Sun Room):

98.39 Ac: Completely cleared farmland w/ creek. Easement off FM

1,416 sq. ft. within walking distance to local schools & library. Gorgeous landscaping w/ sprinkler system & 2 custom water features. 180 sq. ft. detached storage bldg. w/ concrete floor & electricity. Newer roof, leveling, insulation, bathroom renovation, fencing, French drain & exterior painting. 555 E. Eblin. $132,500 #89861

scattered trees. Great pond site and several great building sites! Ag exempt. 50% minerals. Bruno Rd., High Hill Area, Schulenburg. $12,000/Ac. #91289

Daniels Rd. $99,900 #87143

42.76 Ac w/ Scattered Live Oaks: Several beautiful building sites, 2 ponds, 2 water wells & creek. Rolling w/ gorgeous trees. Halsted Rd. $275,000 #84578 5 Ac: Partially wooded. Minutes from town. Halsted Road. $8,500/ Ac. #81928

Waterfront 1.065 Ac Lot: Hilltop building site w/ frontage on

Lake Tonkawa. Red Fox Rd. $19,900 #73306

6.5 Ac: Heavily wooded, road frontage, pond, fenced, electricity. Cistern area. $42,250 #55668

COMMERCIAL 1,680 sq. ft. Comm. Bldg. on .24 Ac Lot: Metal roof, stained

concrete floors, vent hood, coolers, office & storage, 20’X26’ garage. 120 E. St. Loop 543, West Point. $150,000 #88480

Versatile Commercial Property: 1.98 ac. high visibility along

155. $4,500/Ac. #89245

Bus. 71 in LG. 3 dwellings, 1,410 sq. ft., 3BD/1BA completely renovated home or retail location. Another 420 sq. ft. 1BD/1BA completely renovated home/retail location/office. 624 sq. ft. building currently used as Taqueria/Small Restaurant. Minerals negotiable. 1428 W. St. Hw.y 71. $349,900 #87715

2.53 Ac ALL OR PART: All city utilities in place. Residential or

Income Producing Investment Property: .919 Ac. within the

Commercial. Ellinger Road, La Grange $185,000 #88469

22.47 Ac: Mostly open w/ scattered trees. Restricted. Anders

city limits of LG. 7 rental units. Gross rental income approx: $56,800. Seller would entertain property trade. La Grange. $339,500 #87135

Serving Fayette and Surrounding Counties with Honesty, Integrity and Professionalism!

— Katy Michalke —

Voted Best Real Estate Agent In Fayette County - 2012, 2013 & 2014

821 E. Travis La Grange, Texas 78945 sales@lindemannrealestate.com

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

for a chance to win a

Here’s a look at the nominees! BEST FOOD AND DRINK Appetizer

Bistro 108 La Marina The Oaks Rstaurant Las Fuentes Sealand Murphy’s Steakhouse Robert’s Steakhouse Guadalajara The Garden Company

Barbecue Peter’s BBQ Prause’s Meat Market Joel’s BBQ Texas One Stop Legal Tender Brisket and Brew Back Porch BBQ Kort’s Korner City Market-Schulenburg

Breakfast

Taqueria Rio Verde (Taco Shack) Riverside Café La Marina Weikel’s Bakery Texas One Stop McDonald’s Subway Whataburger Sergio’s Lukas Bakery Hank’s Express Latte on the Square The Original Kountry Bakery

Burger

Gold ‘N Crisp Hruska’s Hank’s Express Dairy Queen Murphy’s Steakhouse Kasper’s Steakhouse The Oaks Restaurant Sealand Whataburger Bistro 108 Texas One Stop La Marina Riverside Café Carol’s Café-Sch. Auction Barn McDonald’s Jamie’s Café-Flat. Auction Barn

Cakes/Cupcakes

Weikel’s Bakery Texas One Stop HEB The Oaks Restaurant Best Little Cake Shop in Texas Walmart

Chicken

Gold’N Crisp Golden Chick Hank’s Express Oakridge Smokehouse Robert’s Steakhouse Orsak’s Café

Chicken Fried Steak Joe’s Place Murphy’s Steakhouse Orsak’s Café Bistro 108 Robert’s Steakhouse Kasper’s Steakhouse Frank’s Restaurant Oakridge Smokehouse La Marina JW’s Steakhouse Sealand Hank’s Express Riverside Café Holman Valley Steakhouse

Coffee

Latte on the Square Whataburger-La Grange Riverside Café Connie’s Weikel’s Bakery McDonald’s Your C Store Robert’s Steakhouse Dairy Queen

Desserts

Latte on the Square Hank’s Express Weikel’s Bakery Murphy’s Steakhouse Hruska’s The Oaks Restaurant Bistro 108 Robert’s Steakhouse Royers Back Porch BBQ Sealand The Original Kountry Bakery

Donuts

Lukas Bakery Hruska’s Super Donuts Weikel’s Bakery Flatonia Dairy Queen HEB The Original Kountry Bakery

French Fries

Sealand Bistro 108 Dairy Queen The Oaks Restaurant McDonald’s Murphy’s Steakhouse Whataburger Gold ‘N Crisp Jamie’s Café

Hole in the Wall

Riverside Café Hank’s Express Saigon Pho Murphy’s Steakhouse Taqueria Rio Verde (Taco Shack) Star of Texas Bar Post Oak La Marina Hobo Inn Sergio’s Broken Drum Provisions

Home Style Cooking Riverside Café Hank’s Express Peter’s BBQ Frank’s Restaurant Murphy’s Steakhouse The Oaks Restaurant JW’s Steakhouse La Marina Sealand Bistro 108 Orsak’s Café

Kolaches

Weikel’s Bakery Hruska’s Lukas Bakery The Original Kountry Bakery

Liquor/Wine Shop

LG Spirits Riverside Package Store Bodega Pop-a-Top Bottle Shop Vin 114 Schulenburg Liquor Store C & M Liquor

Lunch Specials La Marina Hank’s Express Reba’s

Orsak’s Café Jamie’s Café-Fla.Auction Barn Saigon Pho Joe’s Place St. Mark’s Hospital Cafeteria Las Fuentes City Market-Sch. Carol’s Café-Sch. Auction Barn

Margarita

Las Fuentes Guadalajara-LG Lucy Tequilas Guadalajara-Sch.

Mexican Food

Taqueria Rio Verde (Taco Shack) Las Fuentes San Jose Guadalajara-LG La Marina Los Patrones Lucy Tequilas Guadalajara-Sch. Acapulco Mexican Restaurant

Onion Rings

Dairy Queen Murphy’s Steakhouse Whataburger The Oaks Restaurant JW’s Steakhouse Bistro 108 Sonic Drive-In Kasper’s Steakhouse Jamie’s Café Orsak’s Café Sealand Riverside Café

Pies

Weikel’s Bakery Hank’s Express The Original Kountry Bakery Frank’s Restaurant Royer’s HEB

Pig in the Blanket

Weikel’s Bakery Hruska’s The Original Kountry Bakery Lukas Bakery Hank’s Express

Pizza

Reba’s Pizza Hut The Stone Cellar The Oaks Restaurant Korts Korner Fayetteville Store The Garden Company Senglemann Hall

Restaurant

La Marina Murphy’s Steakhouse The Oaks Restaurant Kasper’s Steakhouse Las Fuentes Bistro 108 Saigon Pho Robert’s Steakhouse Sealand Los Patrones Back Porch BBQ JW’s Steakhouse Hank’s Express Orsak’s Café Riverside Café

Salad/Salad Bar

La Marina Murphy’s Steakhouse Riverside Café Robert’s Steakhouse Frisch Auf! Valley Country Club The Oaks Restaurant Bistro 108 Orsak’s Café Reba’s Pizza Hut Sealand

Salsa

Taqueria Rio Verde (Taco Shack) Las Fuentes Guadalajara La Marina Sergio’s

Sandwich

Reba’s Hruska’s Subway Orsak’s Café Weikel’s Bakery The Oaks Restaurant Village Market Latte on the Square Bodega Back Porch BBQ Round Top Mercantile Broken Drum Provisions

Soup

Reba’s Bistro 108 The Oak’s Restaurant Hank’s Express Weikel’s Bakery Subway Saigon Pho Texas One Stop Bodega

Seafood

Sealand Bistro 108 JW’s Steakhouse Murphy’s Steakhouse

Steak/Steakhouse Murphy’s Steakhouse Robert’s Steakhouse JW’s Steakhouse Kasper’s Steakhouse Sealand

Taco/Breakfast Taco

Taqueria Rio Verde (Taco Shack) Weikel’s Bakery Sergio’s San Jose Sonic Mi Casita

Winery/Meadery/Brewery Rosemary’s Vineyard Rohan Meadery

Wine Bar/Bar Vin 114 Bodega Stone Cellar Hobo Inn Bar Post Oak Inn Celebrations

BEST RESTAURANTS In La Grange Bistro 108 Sealand Guadalajara Reba’s Las Fuentes

In Fayetteville Joe’s Place Orsak’s Café

In Flatonia

Joel’s BBQ Robert’s Steakhouse San Jose Red Vault Bistro

Acapulco Mexican Restaurant

In Round Top

The Oaks Restaurant Royer’s Café Los Patrones The Stone Cellar

In Schulenburg

Frank’s Restaurant The Garden Co. Marketplace & Cafe Lucy Tequilas Oakridge Guadalajara Sengelmann Hall

Worth the Drive

JW’s Steakhouse Murphy’s Steakhouse Holman Valley Steakhouse Peter’s BBQ

BEST PEOPLE Accountant

Brett Wolff Sandra Kana Vincent Matocha Stacie Sims Trish Pechal Jerry Willrich

Attorney

Bill Schovajsa Ben Schovajsa Karen Woods Mike Klesel

Auto Salesperson Ricky Dunk Joe Marshall Peter Leighton Chip Wied Johnny Oviedo Jr. John Oviedo John Bartek

Banker

Duke Hengst Kenneth Zapalac Tony Dooley Dave Weishuhn Sherry Callis Sarah Bertsch Lyndsey Vasek Kelly Stork Mike “Bubba” Olle

Bank Teller

Amanda Preszbendowski Jennifer Henneke Charlene Harbers Erryn Von Minden Mark Novak Katherina Henneke Casey Harbers Curt Harbers

Barber

Ken Jurecka Leo Corn Chris Jouragen Leonard Johnson Buster Woodard

Carpenter

Jack Smith Hank Holub Rick Denton Ivan Riggin Travis Hall Jeff Cook Mark Shimek

Chiropractor

Cody Burton Cody Doyle Tim Long Mike Fitzpatrick

Computer Tech Seth Dalton Michael Mach

Dentist

Kari Brawley Jared Parkinson Larry Hatfield Karen Roberts David Zatopek

Doctor

Bill Nolen Shannon Juno Thomas Borgstedte Wes Blackwell Mike McBroom Anant Praba

Electrician

James Kallus Ray Pietsch Chris Graeter Jimmy Carter

Financial Planner Reece Cernoch Mark Meservy Craig Sims Cliff Gage Chuck Mazac

Hair Stylist

Tina Jecmenek Gail Henneke April Hensel Doris Cernosek Jessica Davis Chrystal Richter Mary Janca Donna Rohde Janis Johnson Crystal Dahse Mica Klesel

Insurance Agent Holly Morrill Jennifer Tarnowsky Nelda Daricek Jody Supak Jerry Rohde Tony Jones Ken Kram Lad Trojacek

Landscaper

Andy Berger Dusty Walcik Louis Bargas Nathan Hess Garden Company Brian Lux

Nail Tech

Tina Jecmenek Tina Bretting Ella @ Q Nails Vi Thuong

Massage Therapist Glynnis Porter Pauline Ott April Krhovjak

Mechanic

Larry Adamcik Freddy Adamcik Rusty Freedman Mike (Ron’s Auto Keith Weishuhn Danny Matthews Rufino Saucedo Chris Voelkel

Photographer Bobby Bedient

Diane Mueller Joe Dybala Amie Finch Joely Rodgers Katie Shearer Brittany Dawson

Physical Therapist Mignone Rauch Gil Henderson Jeff Cowen Mark Jones

Plumber

Daniel Cernoch Ted Harbers Ed Taylor Gene Pavlick

Real Estate Agent Deborah Behringer Nancy Diggs Michael Corker Jerri Ann Taylor Katy Michalke Michelle Bubela Bryan Roberts

Veterinarian

Doug Stribling Dan Welch Jim Sladek Matthew Sodek Clint Kainer James Tiemann Jeremy Finch

BEST BUSINESS & SERVICE Appliance Store D&D Ace Hardware Adamcik’s Appliance Sears

Antique Store

Ice Plant Antiques Flair & Co. Junk Gypsy Mantiques

Art Store

The Gallery at Round Top Copper Shade Tree D Little Gallery Maxwell Gallery Texas Quilt Museum Ice Plant Antiques ARTS in Fayetteville Green Door Red & White Gallery

Auto Accessories/Parts Brasher-Gunn NAPA O’Reilley’s R&D Oviedo Dodge A-Line H & H Auto Lebeda Auto Supply Flatonia General Store (NAPA)

Auto Repair Shop

Adamcik’s Service Station Ron’s Auto Bergers Auto Repair Oviedo Dodge Danny’s Auto Repair La Grange Ford Brasher-Gunn A & R Automotive Schulenburg Tire & Automotive

Bank

Round Top State Bank Fayetteville Bank National Bank and Trust Fayette Savings Capital One Prosperity Bank Flatonia National Bank Pioneer Bank

Book Shop

Copper Shade Tree Walmart The Fayette County Record

Boutique

Flair & Co. The Mustard Seed Tara’s Boutique Paradise Tanning Rhinestone Angel

Car Dealership La Grange Ford Oviedo Dodge Chuck Brown Ford Brasher Gunn

Carpet/Flooring Store Lincke Floors Decorator’s Supply Decorator’s Source Farmers Lumber Sutherland’s

Construction Company Minarcik Construction Highsmith Construction Signature Builders Shroyer Construction

Convenience Store Texas One Stop Round Top Mercantile Fayetteville Store Weikel’s Bakery Kort’s Korner Stripes Westside Rattlers Hruska’s Riverside Your C Store Hitching Post Shorthorn Express Timewise-Fla.

Daycare

The Remnant Academy Mt. Calvary Lutheran Preschool Sacred Heart Preschool ABC Daycare Dig It! Preschool & Childcare

Day Spa

All for You Wellness Revitalize Day Spa & Wellness Reve

Department Store Beall’s Walmart

Door/Window Company Farmer’s Lumber Company Schulenburg Glass La Grange Overhead Door Cross Door Co. La Grange Glass

Dozer Service

KJK Dozer Joe Rogers Dozer Service

Electronics Store Walmart Break Away Audio Video Plus

Engraving/Printing Services Hengst Printing and Supplies

D&G Office Supplies Schulenburg Printing

Feed/Farm Supply

La Grange Farm & Ranch Round Top Farm & Ranch Carmine Feed & Fertilizer Mueller Feed D&D Ace Hardware Tractor Supply Farmers Co-op Balzer Feed Mill Texas One Stop Circle W Feed & Supply

Florist/Flower Shop

Bloomin’ Junction Frogs and Flamingos Florist Plants to Go Floy Farm Flower Box HEB

Garden Center/Nursery The Garden Company Hostyn Nursery Walmart Treeland Nursery M-G Farm

Gift Shop/Card Shop Heritage Hallmark Busy B Rhinestone Angel Honey Bunny’s Le Petite Texas One Stop

Grocery Store

HEB Round Top Mercantile Chovanec General Store Arlan’s Migl’s Walmart

Gym/Workout Facility Anytime Fitness La Grange Gym Schulenburg Fitness

Hair Salon

XS Hair Salon Reve The Hair Venture The Hair Shop Salon Envy Doris’s Hair Salon Hair Studio Kristen’s Full Service Salon

Home Accessories Store D&D Ace Hardware Rhinestone Angel Urban Nest Flair & Co B@Home Aaron’s Walmart La Grange Antique Mall Le Petite Grahmann’s True Value

Home Health Care

Hill Country Home Healthcare Girling Home Healthcare Compassionate Provider Services of Texas

Home Improvement Store Farmer’s Lumber Company D&D Ace Hardware Sutherland’s

Hospital/Clinic

St. Mark’s (Flatonia) St. Mark’s (La Grange) La Grange Family Health Tejas Healthcare Office of Dr. Shannon Juno & Dr. Russell Juno

Hotel/Motel/B&B Hampton Inn-LG Best Western-LG Holiday Inn-Sch.

Insurance Agency

Daricek Insurance Insurance Network of Texas Jones Insurance Farm Bureau Ken Kram-State Farm Farmers Insurance-Sch. Chromcak Insurance-Sch.

Jewelry Shop

Schmidt Jewelry Rhinestone Angel Beall’s Walmart Flair & Co. Busy B

Kitchen/Bath Store Le Petite Walmart Sears

Library

Fayette Public Library Round Top Library Schulenburg Library

Live Music Venue Bugle Boy Fayette County Opry Hobo Bar Sengelmann Hall

Nail Salon

La Grange Nails Q Nails

Nursing Center

Monument Hill Nursing & Rehabilitation Care Inn of La Grange Schulenburg Regency

Pet Boarding/Grooming Flatonia Veterinary Clinic Fayette County Veterinary Clinic Welch Veterinary Clinic Bows & Bones

Pharmacy

Lifechek Drug Main Street Pharmacy (Flatonia) HEB Pharmacy Walmart Pharmacy The Apothecary

Physical Therapy Clinic

Schulenburg Therapy and Rehab St. Mark’s Rehabilitation Services Jones & Cowen Physical Therapy

Real Estate Agency

Diggs Real Estate Hartland Real Estate Round Top Real Estate Lindemann Real Estate Heritage Texas Country Properties Town Square Realty

Resale/Thrift Shop

Second Chance Emporium 4 Peas Resale Ice Plant Antiques The Swap Memarie Lane

Roofing/Metal BuildingCompany

Vincent’s Roofing Haworth Roofing FLP Roofing Supak’s Building Supply

Texas BRS

Storage Facility

Round Top Self Storage Weeren Storage A-Prime Storage La Grange Mini Storage 155 Storage Park

Tire Shop

La Grange Tire Vogt Tire Schulenburg Tire and Automotive Adamcik’s Service Center Hrncir Oil Fietsam Shell

Tractor/Farm Equipment Kleiber Tractor & Equipment Elk Tractor & Equipment Tractor Supply

Veterinary Clinic

Fayette County Veterinary Clinic Welch Veterinary Clinic Flatonia Veterinary Clinic Schulenburg Veterinary Hospital

BEST COMMUNITY SERVANT Elected Official

Peggy Supak Keith Korenek Janet Moerbe Scott Parker Ed Janecka Roger Moellenberndt Tommy Tipton Dan Mueller

Firefigher

Jeff Rost Ray Goehring Frank Menefee Todd Johnson Frankie Srubar Dennis Lebeda

Law Enforcement Officer Jeff Schulze Joseph Gates Troy Stevens Steve Moore David Gilbreath Ron Naumann Jackie Skelton Randy Noviskie Lobos Darrell Kolek

BEST SCHOOL PERSONNEL La Grange: Best Teacher/Coach Matt Kates Diana Fitzpatrick Shelly Landreth Sherry Schmidt Cheryl Supak Rita Sulik April Kuck Ashley Nelius Sheila Kolek

Fayetteville: Best Teacher/Coach Lisa Dyer Cindy Bertsch Kerri Wick

Flatonia: Best Teacher/Coach Chris Sodek Shawn Bruns Shawna Bruns

RT-Carmine: Best Teacher/Coach Chris Westall Linda Wischnewsky Blake Goehring

Schulenburg: Best Teacher/Coach Donald Zapalac Audrey Kristynik Brad Lux

BEST PLACES/ ENTERTAINMENT Community La Grange Muldoon Ellinger Holman Winchester Schulenburg Waldeck Fayetteville Praha Round Top Flatonia Hostyn

Downtown La Grange Round Top Schulenburg Fayetteville Flatonia

Bowling Alley/Pool Hall La Grange Lanes Tenth Frame Post Oak Inn

Camp Site/RV Park Oak Thicket Colorado Landing RV Park Schulenburg RV Park Flatonia RV Ranch Dillard’s RV Park Suncatcher

Community Fair

Fayette County Fair Lickskillet Festival Schulenburg Festival Round Top 4th of July Flatonia Czhilispiel

Church Picnic

Queen of the Holy Rosary-Hostyn Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary-Praha Sts. Cyril & Methodius-Dubina St. Mary’s-High Hill St. John the Baptist-Ammannsville St. Michael’s-Winchester Sts. Peter & Paul-Plum St. John the Baptist in St. John-4th of July St. Wenceslaus-Holman Sacred Heart Flatonia

Museum

Fayetteville Museum Texas Czech Heritage Center Stanzel Museum Texas Quilt Museum EA Arnim Museum Round Top Area Historical Society Fayette Heritage Museum

Parade

Round Top 4th of July Fayette County Fair Czilispiel

Wedding Venue

KC Hall La Grange Festival Hill Las Brisas Ellinger C of C Hall Bistro 108 Monument Hill State Park

Friday, August 14, 2015

Just a Thought

OPINIONS

The Fayette County Record

Letter to the Editor

Acquiring the Taste for “Real” Wine – or Not

On Average

By Regina Keilers

To the Editor:

The Fayette County Record

Fredericksburg is known for being a center of German heritage, a great shopping destination, and now its abundance of wineries. I recently spent a weekend in Fredericksburg and, while there, someone twisted my arm to take a wine tour. Now, I’m no stranger to drinking wine, but I do have my preferences – and my preferences do not include red wines of any variety, but especially the dry reds. When I first started drinking wine, (not the Boones Farm we used to sneak in high school, but real wine with a cork) I was told that drinking red wine was an acquired taste. So, I have tried to acquire it. I have been to many wine tastings. I have let the wine breathe, I have eaten crackers to cleanse my palate, I have swirled the wine to soften the tannins – all to no avail. I have tried many times over the last thirty years and the only way I can get red wine down without making a face, is to be so intoxicated that I don’t taste it (or just don’t care.) I have since determined that there is something in red wines that I have an adverse reaction to. Some people have told me that it might be the tannins in the red wines. Others have told me it might be an allergic reaction to the histamines in the grapes. Whatever the reason, I found myself very sick the next day sporting a severe headache to boot. Now, before you all say that it was just a bad hangover, please understand that I get the same headache whether I have had 2 or 10 glasses of red wine, it just lasts longer if I drink more, and I don’t get one if I drink any amount of white wine. But, back to my wine tour in Fredericksburg. We got to go into the barrel room where they proceeded to give us a taste of the same wine that had been aged in different types of barrels to compare the differences in the taste. This was not good for me because it was a red wine in each of the barrels. Well, I didn’t want to cause a problem on the tour, so I followed all the instructions they gave me to make the taste of the wine improve, I took a very tiny sip (I still didn’t like it) and then handed it off to one of the others in our group. The tour was great, just not the red wine. I have heard all the reasons to drink red wine – it reportedly has heart health benefits, and there are some indications that drinking red wine may help prevent some types of cancer. There are those who say it can help in fighting weight gain and one study stated that it may kill dangerous bacteria in your mouth that can lead to gum disease. I have even heard the argument that red wine enhances the taste of red meat. Well I say, why ruin a good steak? After going to multiple wineries, taking part in multiple tastings, (not all on the same day) I have come to the conclusion that I just don’t like red wine. But, I do like sweet white wine. Now I know my wine connoisseur friends will tell me that I’m not drinking “real” wine. Well, according to all the people at every winery I have visited, the making of wine is the process of fermenting the grapes (or whatever fruit is being used to make the wine.) I may not be a sophisticated wine connoisseur, but I know what I like, and the folks at the wineries are willing to bottle it and sell it. – and they tell me they sell a lot of it. Apparently there is a big market for those of us who don’t drink “real” wine.

Community Meetings La Grange City Council

Second and Fourth Mondays of the month 6 p.m. city council chambers • 155 E. Colorado Street • La Grange

Commissioners Court

Second and Fourth Monday of each month 9 a.m. • Room 303 • Fayette County Courthouse 230 W. Colorado Street • La Grange

Flatonia City Council

Second Tuesday of the month 6 p.m. • 125 E. South Main Street • Flatonia

Fayetteville City Council Second Wednesday of the month 7 p.m. • City Hall • Fayetteville

Schulenburg City Council

First and Third Monday of the month 7 p.m. • Council Chambers • 607 Upton Avenue • Schulenburg

Round Top City Council First Monday of the month 8 a.m. • Courthouse • Round Top

Carmine City Council 2nd Monday of the month 7 p.m. • City Hall • Carmine

THE FAYETTE COUNTY

RECORD

Published every Tuesday and Friday, except the publication immediately following Christmas, by Fayette County Record, Inc. Serving Fayette County since 1922. Locally owned by the Barton family since 1976. (USPS 188-440) 127 S. Washington, P.O. Box 400, La Grange, Texas 78945. Telephone: 979-968-3155; Fax: 979-968-6767 Email: editor@fayettecountyrecord.com; www.fayettecountyrecord.com

Publisher

Regina Barton Keilers Editor Jeff Wick News and Office H.H. Howze Andy Behlen Lou Ann Adcox Hertha Kruse Accounting Nonnie Barton Joy Skelton

Advertising Director Becky Weise Classified Advertising Jackie Daniels Graphic Design John Castaneda Bobby Bedient

Circulation Theresia Karstedt Jo Ann Mueller Bennie Vasek George Kana Leigh Ann Bedient Flor Merlos

POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to The Fayette County Record, P.O. Box 400, La Grange, Texas 78945 Periodicals Postage Paid at La Grange, TX SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Fayette County: Year $47.00; Elsewhere in Texas $55.00; Out of State $60.00. Special Rates for Senior Citizens: In county, $42; in Texas $50; US $55. For digital subscriptions via internet, go to www.fayettecountyrecord.com Retail & Classified Deadline: Tuesday paper - Friday 10 a.m. Friday paper - Tuesday 10 a.m. It is the goal of The Fayette County Record to provide fair and accurate information regarding events and issue in the public interest. Should we make an error, we ask you to call us at (979) 968-3155. It is our policy to make corrections as quickly as possible. The Fayette County Record is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of any advertisement. It is the advertiser’s responsibility to check his or her ad the first day of publication and to report any errors to the Classified or Retail Ad Department the same day for subsequent correction.

Fifth Circuit Delivers Opinion Concerning Voter ID Law

By ED STERLING

Texas Press Association

AUSTIN — Even if the Texas Legislature did not intentionally pass a voter identification law that illegally discriminates against voters who are black, Hispanic or poor, the practical effect of the law is discriminatory and in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. A 49-page opinion of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals was released on Aug. 5. The panel ordered that much of the case be remanded to a federal district court in Texas for further consideration. When the Legislature passed Senate Bill 14 in May 2011, plaintiffs led by then-state Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth filed suit, naming then-Gov. Rick Perry, the secretary of state and the chief of the Texas Department of Public Safety as defendants. Plaintiffs argued that the intent of the law was to suppress the minority vote and the law’s requirement that a voter, to cast a ballot in person, must first present one of several forms of photo identification in addition to their voter registration certificate, amounts to an illegal poll tax. The U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, agreed and top state officials, acting on behalf of the state, appealed. In its multi-part ruling, the Fifth Circuit panel: — Vacated plaintiffs’ claim that the law is discriminatory in purpose and remanded that issue to the district court for further consideration. — Affirmed the district court’s finding that the law does have a discriminatory effect and thus is in violation of Section 2 of the Voting

Rights Act, but also remanded that issue to the district court “for consideration of the proper remedy.” — Vacated the district court’s holding that SB 14 is a poll tax and rendered judgment in the State’s favor. — Dismissed plaintiffs’ claims that SB 14 violates the First Amendment (freedom of speech) and Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection). Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 5 said: “In light of ongoing voter fraud, it is imperative that Texas has a voter ID law that prevents cheating at the ballot box. Texas will continue to fight for its voter ID requirement to ensure the integrity of elections in the Lone Star State.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said: “Today’s ruling was a victory on the fundamental question of Texas’ right to protect the integrity of our elections and the state’s common sense Voter ID law remains in effect.” The Texas Democratic Party issued a statement saying, “On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Texas’ discriminatory voter ID law — passed by Republican lawmakers and signed by Governor Rick Perry — violates Section 2 of Voting Rights Act.” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said: “Texas Democrats believe that our nation and democracy is stronger when everyone is invited to participate in our electoral process. … We remain confident that the courts will find justice for Texas voters and ultimately strike down this racist and discriminatory law.” Turn to State, Page A5

As folks gather at their local farm and ranch and other establishments to ponder the weather, the topic of averages comes up. Interested readers of the FCR can read and consider the weekly La Grange Weather Report that may be as much mystery as enlightenment. One problem, among others, is what’s the meaning of “average”? The rainfall so far for this year is 32.48 inches, compared to 13.86 (2014), 15.14 (2013), and 23.91 (2012). The average annual rainfall is 38.61. So, how are we doing this year? If the average rainfall is 38.61, and we have received 32.48, are we likely to get only 6.18 for the rest of the year? A lot of rain fell before July 1, and virtually none has come since. This May was the wettest ever, “on average,” with 11.5 near where I live. Some thought that was super, but others worried that much of the rain ran off. July was one of the driest, on average. What’s the prospect for August? If we average rainfall for May and July, we get 5.75 inches. Not bad. If we cut May in half because of runoff, May and July now average 2.87, still not terrible. If we include a very dry August, that abundance of May rain now, on average, is 3.83, or after deducting runoff, 1.92. If we assume that half of the rain we received before July ran off, that 32.48 becomes 16.22, which on average is about the same as 2014 and 2013. As the farmers and gardeners look at the yawning cracks in the ground and observe the damage the heat (about average) is causing, they wonder what’s next. They got abundant hay crops (but, on average, lower food value), now pasture is going brown. Will the cattle be eating the “abundant” hay earlier than “on average”? So, on average what is likely to be the production for 2015? We have most of five months to go. If temperatures stay high, on average, how much damage with occur in a year when the spring saw way above average rainfall? So, do averages predict the future or only tell us about how well off we are? So, we ponder averages (and realities) noting that 10 is the average of 11 and 9, but also 2 and 18. Go figure! Bob Heath Carmine

Polio Survivor Starred in Big-Screen Musicals By BARTEE HAILE

During a tour of Europe with a ballet company, 17 year old Tula Ellice Finklea of Amarillo married her instructor Nico Charisse, 32, in Paris on Aug. 12, 1939. If the name on her birth certificate fails to ring a bell, how about Cyd Charisse, the beautiful brunette who danced her way to stardom in the classic Hollywood musicals of the 1940’s and 1950’s? She had gone by “Sid” since childhood because that was how her baby brother mispronounced “Sis” and probably because anything was better than Tula. To overcome the effects of a mild case of polio, Sid Finklea’s mother and father enrolled their sickly six year old in a dance class. By the age of 12, the gifted girl had learned everything the hired tutors could teach her, so her folks sent her to Los Angeles to study ballet. After only two more years of advanced instruction, the Panhandle prodigy was accepted by the prestigious Ballet Ruse de Monte Carlo and began performing under the name “Felia Siderova.” In August 1939, the month after the teenaged Texan’s surprise marriage, Germany invaded Poland in the opening act of the Second World War. The tour was cancelled, the company dissolved and the newlyweds rushed back to the safety of the United States. A young woman with Sid’s looks and talent did not go with-

out work for long in Hollywood. A dancing part in the 1943 movie Something To Shout About was followed by similar roles in two other forgettable films that same year. But don’t look for Sid in the credits. She appeared in all three under the stage alias “Lily Norwood.” But those early efforts did not go unnoticed. Sid caught the eye of the studio scouts at MGM, reigning monarch of Hollywood musicals, and was soon signed to a long-term contract. MGM started their fresh face off with minor parts in three movies: The Harvey Girls, a Judy Garland vehicle that featured Sid’s first spoken words, Till the Clouds Roll By and Ziegfeld Follies, which opened with the newcomer tripping the light fantastic with none other than Fred Astaire. Prior to its release, Ziegfeld Follies producer Arthur Freed changed Sid’s name one last time. He took her married name, tinkered with the spelling of her moniker and came up with Cyd Charisse. That was in 1946. Cyd made ten run-of-the-mill musicals for

MGM over the next six years, but her career seemed to be stalled in second gear. All that changed with an historic casting choice for Singin’ in the Rain. The movie was already in the can, when producer Freed decided it needed a dream sequence ballet for the finale. Leading man Gene Kelly pushed for his assistant to get the female part, but Freed went with the studio’s resident ballerina – Cyd Charisse. Co-director Stanley Donen later reminisced about the iconic scene: “We needed someone who could stop a man by just sticking up her leg. Cyd was stunning. We stuck a hat on the end of her foot and handed her a cigarette holder. I had to cue her to exhale the cigarette smoke for when Gene (Kelly) first runs into her, because she couldn’t handle the smoke.” That turned out to be the big break Cyd had been waiting for. A year later, she was cast as the female lead opposite Fred Astaire for The Band Wagon. During the filming, Astaire amused the crew by obsessively comparing his slight stature to Cyd’s height. Although she was just five-footsix in her stocking feet, high heels and unusually long legs made her look much taller. However, his fragile ego aside, Astaire had nothing but high praise for Cyd in his 1959 autobiography Steps in Time. He fondly referred to his former partner as “beautiful dynamite” and

added, “That Cyd! When you’ve danced with her, you stayed danced with.” She returned the compliment in the joint memoir The Two of Us written in 1976 with her husband of 60 years, Tony Martin. “Fred moved like glass,” she said simply. Cyd made three more movies with her famous partners. She teamed up twice with Gene Kelly for Brigadoon in 1954 and It’s Always Fair Weather two years later and with Astaire for Silk Stockings in 1957. Then the final curtain came down on the Hollywood musical. Cyd told an interviewer in 2002 that her husband could always tell with which of the two she had been dancing. “If I was black and blue, it was Gene. And if it was Fred, I didn’t have a mark on me.” Cyd did not shy away from a critical evaluation of Astaire and Kelly. “As one of the handful of girls who worked with both of those dance geniuses, I think I can give an honest comparison. In my opinion, Kelly is the more inventive choreographer of the two. Astaire…creates fabulous numbers for himself and his partner. But Kelly can create an entire number for somebody else. To sum it up, I’d say they were the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on screen.” But Cyd Charisse, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 86, certainly ranks a close third.

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

that little voice By MARGO JOHNSON

Someone asked me recently about ‘growth stimulant’. I stood there looking confused, trying to figure out if he thought I was too short, or if my hair was thinning, or my feet weren’t long enough. What exactly kind of growth stimulant was he talking about? He said he needed someone to help unload the stimulant, and I’m thinking, my gosh, he must be selling boxes of bottles filled with this magic formula. I didn’t know he was in that business. I asked if he wanted someone who could handle heavy items, and were they going to put it in storage. He replied that they would need to have a strong back, but the stimulant was not going to be put in storage, just unloaded. So how much was he going to pay? And how long a job would it be? Would they need gloves? He would like not to pay much (of course), and he wasn’t certain how long it would take (depending on how fast the person would work), and gloves and boots would be needed, since they would be outside. I mentioned he might want to run an ad in the local paper, but being a frugal person, he thought perhaps I could do it for little or no money. I looked at him skeptically, thinking, “He must be nuts if he thinks I’m going to lift boxes off a trailer or out of a truck.” He assured me the stimulant wasn’t in boxes or bottles. Is it in barrels? Finally it dawned on me: this would-be farmer had manure to unload. And he hoped I’d shoulder a pitchfork or shovel or whatever one uses to spread ‘growth stimulate’ in a garden. Needless to say, I did not volunteer, and I asked him to just use country terms for products…manure is manure, it may stimulate growth, but I don’t think we should confuse simple folks with fancy names for basic items. I do not want to put growth stimulant on my hair! Nor do I want to shovel cow manure as a sideline to my otherwise unproductive day!

Auxiliary to Begin Accepting Males The National Veterans of Foreign Wars organization has passed a Resolution to amend Article XI, Section 1101-1104 of their National Bylaws at their 116th National Convention in Pittsburg on July 20, allowing male spouses and family members to join the VFW Auxiliary, effective Aug. 21. This changes the name of the Ladies Auxiliary VFW to VFW Auxiliary and allows spouses and eligible male relatives to join the VFW Auxiliary. Males who wish to join

Write to Us

The Fayette County Record welcomes your letter. Write us at Letters, The Record, P.O. Box 400, La Grange, Texas 78945, or by email to regina@fayettecountyrecord.com. Letters must be received by 10 a.m. on Tuesday to be considered for Friday’s edition. Keep criticism constructive and respectful. Please limit the length of your letters. We reserve the right to edit all letters for length, content, and good taste.

ACROSS

1 prefix meaning opposed to 5 most of this TX crop is used to feed livestock 6 replacing your AC ____ is expensive 7 TX Nolan pitched seven __-hitters 8 TX singer Angela whose stage name is “Cortez” 9 TX Ryan Lee had a part in 2012 film “____ __ 40” 15 TXism: “he’d be unarmed in a battle of ____” (dumb) 16 TXism: “we ______ ___ our differences” (agreement) 19 across the river from McAllen 21 beautiful Norway fishing village 22 TX is bigger than both these states 27 good 2003 western: “____ Range” 28 TX birth town of actor McConaughey 29 Beach Boys tune: “Let ___ ___ Wild” 30 TXism: “he’d arm _______ King Kong” 32 Rangers announcer, Nadel (init.) 33 we trust TX lawmen are _____ __ __ the book 36 TXism: “big frog in the ____” (VIP)

News

By Carolyn Bartosh

Ellinger News Correspondent

SLM Worship Opportunity The four churches of the Shared Lutheran Ministry of Fayette County will have a special worship opportunity on Aug. 16—Warrenton will worship with Ellinger at 8 a.m. and Fayetteville will have a lay-led service; regular worship in Ellinger and Rutersville. Ellinger Sewer and Water The Ellinger Sewer and Water Corporation held its regular monthly meeting on Monday, Aug. 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the Ellinger Fire Station. Greg Hunger presided at the meeting with all Board members in attendance. The minutes and treasurer’s reports were reviewed and approved. Jason Tyler presented the manager’s report. He noted that several customers have made repairs as a result of the smoke testing. Customers that have not taken care of this should do so in the near future. There were several leaks that needed repair also. Please be alert to standing water and report the possibility of water leaks. Customers are reminded to conserve water on a voluntary basis. The Fayette County Groundwater Conservation District has collected water samples from the Ellinger well. This was approved by the Board at a previous meeting. There was nothing new to report in regards to the median income survey. Corporation members should be completing and returning the surveys as soon as possible. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Sept. 14. Recycle Trailer The recycle trailer will make a stop at the Ellinger Community Center on Wednesday, Aug. 26. LGISD Begins for 2015-16 Teachers in the La Grange ISD will be returning to school for in service training/workdays Aug. 13-21. An open house is planned for all campuses on Wednesday, Aug. 19. The 201516 school year gets underway Monday, Aug. 24. The theme for this school year is “Engage: Call to Action”. Research shows that engaged minds lead to successful students. Vacation in Colorado Some Ellinger residents headed to Colorado Aug. 1 to enjoy the cooler mountain scenery and spend the week trout fishing in the Rio Grande National Forest south of South Fork, Colorado. Making the annual fishing/camping trip were Larry and Carolyn Bartosh,

TEA releases 2015 ratings Texas Education Agency on Aug. 7 released the 2015 state accountability ratings for more than 1,200 school districts and charters, as well as the more than 8,600 campuses statewide and said the ratings reveal that 94 percent of school districts and charters across Texas have achieved the rating of Met Standard. Districts, campuses and charters receive one of three ratings: Met Standard, Met Alternative Standard or Improvement Required. Districts, charters and campuses can appeal the rating and final ratings based on the outcomes of appeals will be released in late October or early November, said Education Commissioner Michael Williams. Ratings can be accessed at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2015/index.html.

group enjoyed fishing in the Rio Chama, Elk Creek, Platoro Reservoir, and the Conejos River. Every day was a new adventure – a different waterway to explore and fish. Rheagan caught more fish than her granny; she was persistent, fishing many hours. It was great to wear jackets and enjoy a cup of hot tea by a campfire. The group returned to Texas and triple digit temperatures – 107 in Llano on Aug. 9. August Birthdays Special Birthday wishes are extended to the following August celebrants: Tommy Horndt and Mary Ann Hatfield-17; Clayton Fritsch-20;Ryan Polasek and Margaret Michalsky-22; Laura Mae Heintschel, Casey Marshall and Luci Hruska-23; Mike Braswell-24; Madison Krenek-25; Douglas Minar, Patsy Hess, and Clarence Schmid-27; Matt Karisch and Pastor Marcia Kifer-29; Bradley Klesel-30; and Emily Dollar-31.

37 TX Annette O’Toole 1982 film: “48 ___” 38 Bill & Hillary’s daughter 39 a formal speech 41 this Ariri once kicked for the hated Redskins 42 TX Tim Brown won Heisman at _____ Dame 45 quote at Austin’s death: “The father of Texas __ __ more” 46 “neither’s” sidekick 22

Abbott reacts to president President Obama on Aug. 3 announced the finalization of “America’s Clean Power Plan” which he called “the biggest step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change” and said, “This plan sets the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants while providing states and utilities with the flexibility they need to meet those standards.” Gov. Abbott on Aug. 3 reacted to the announcement, calling it “an environmental rule imposing steep cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.” “Not only will this rule result in higher energy prices for consumers, it will cost thousands of jobs,” Abbott said. “As we have in the past, Texas will lead the fight against an overreaching federal government that seems hell-bent on threatening the freemarket principles this country was founded on.”

Continued from Page A4

VFW Auxiliary will be required to fill out a membership application, provide proof of eligibility, and their application will be voted on just as females who wish to join. Eligibility is limited to husbands, fathers, foster and stepfathers, grandfathers, sons, grandsons, foster and stepsons, brothers, half-brothers, foster and stepbrothers of persons who were or are eligible for membership in the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the Unites States. Members must be citizens of the United States and not less than 16 years old. Males interested in joining their local VFW Auxiliaries must contact any officer of the VFW Auxiliary for more information and application forms. Locally they can call 968-3001.

St. Mary’s Bazaar Aug. 23 in Ellinger Brandon, Carissa, Rheagan, and St. Mary’s Catholic Church Rilan Karisch, Madisyn Horndt, of Ellinger will be celebrating its Ellinger and Patsy and Jerry Hess. The 65th Annual Bazaar and Feast on Sunday, Aug. 23. The celebration will begin with a Mass at 8 a.m. at the church located two miles east of Ellinger off of FM 2503. At 11 a.m. a meal consisting of fried chicken and sausage with all the trimmings will be served at the Ellinger Community Center. Adult plates will be $10 and children eat for $4. Drive through plates will also be available. The Holub Polka Band will provide musical entertainment from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Other highlights of the day include a drawing, cake /plant wheel, country store, and an auction which will get underway at 1 p.m. Income Surveys The Ellinger Sewer and Water Corporation Board have contracted with Communities Unlimited to conduct a median income survey. Members should be completing the surveys and returning them in the provided stamped envelope. The Corporation is paying for this service. 72% of the membership must return the surveys in order for the community to receive federal monies in the form of grants and low interest loans. It is beneficial to the community since these additional funds will help keep the monthly billing rates down. These funds are necessary to finance the new water well. The well project must be completed by Oct. 1, 2016 per an EPA mandate. Ellinger VFD The Ellinger Volunteer Fire Department responded to a grass fire on Kitchen Lane, and mutual aided Fayetteville with another grass fire. The Ellinger VFD also responded to a first responder call on Zapalac Road. The Department was busy the week of Aug. 3-8. Brittany Brune, a junior at Fayetteville High School, is representing the Ellinger Chamber of Commerce in this year’s Fayette County Fair Queen Pageant. SLM Council to Meet The Shared Lutheran Ministry Council will meet at St. Paul Lutheran in Fayetteville on Aug. 18 at 5:30 p.m. The Congregation of Councils will meet at 6:30 p.m. AMEN Summer Food List The WELCA of St. John Lutheran in Rutersville has organized the following summer food list for AMEN. They are inviting the members of the Shared Lutheran Ministry to help with this project. For more information you may contact Lorali Schulze at (979) 249-3958. Take the following grocery list with you when you plan a trip to the market: August—cereal, boxed or canned milk, canned vegetables or fruits, toothpaste, bars of bath soap, and laundry soap.

State Capital Highlights

TEXAS CROSSWORD

5 6

by Charley & Guy Orbison

DOWN

1 Abilene univ. 2 East TX has ___biting midges 3 Groveton is the seat of this co. 4 TXism: “he couldn’t drive a nail ____ _ ____ ____” (inept) 8 competes

47 “tie the ____” (marry) 41 48 Larry, Curly, & ___ 46 49 TX town, across from Reynosa, Mex. 52 “Big Texan” will not charge for 72-oz. steak if you can ___ __ all 53 TXism: “guilty as ___” 54 TX sobriety test: heel-to-___ walk 55 Cut ___ Shoot, TX

48 49

9 2nd “T” of “TxDOT” 52 10 TX Fess Parker ‘56 film: “Westward __ the Wagons!” 11 TX Willie’s “Blue Eyes Crying __ the Rain” 12 TX Billie Sol Estes did this in prison (2 wds.) 13 “it seemed like a good ____ at the time” 22 14 dirt 15 horse handler 23 16 album by TX-born 24 Tracy Lawrence: “_ ___ It Now” 25 17 “_____ __ circumstances will I do that” 26 18 “teen idol” creators 20 Grand Ole ____ 28

53 54 55

this Astro bats for the pitcher (abbr.) assistance Christian FM in Wichita Falls between a “scroll” and a “codex” early name for U’wa people forearm bones

P-1232-A

31 TXism: “he ____ out of here!” 34 a TX sch. region 35 Cowboy Witten pos. 37 whetstone sharpen 40 TX George Jones’ “The Race __ __” 43 TX Mac Davis’ “Baby Don’t Get Hooked __ __” 44 TXism: “she’d have to stand up twice __ ____ _ shadow” (skinny) 50 legal tablets, e.g. 51 TCU & SD Charger star LaDainian (init.)

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Friday, August 14, 2015

Sports

The Fayette County Record

Lady Leps Sweep Weimar In Volleyball Season Opener By JEFF WICK

Texas Live Oak Group 979-206-2001

Phil Oestreich • Erich Lehmann

The Fayette County Record

New La Grange volleyball coach Rhonda Bloodworth got her first win as a Lady Lep Tuesday against the Weimar program she got her coaching start with 21 years ago. The La Grange girls struggled a little in the first set, but bounced back in a big way and ended up sweeping Weimar 28-26, 25-5, 25-15 in front of a large home crowd. “I thought it went well,” said Bloodworth of her first official match leading the Lady Leps. “I think we were a little nervous to start. Big crowd, home game. There were those first game jitters. How’s it going to go? Luckily that first game turned in our favor. Then we started playing like we’ve been practicing.” La Grange’s University of Texas commit Riley Fisbeck looked dominant here in the first match of her senior season, leading the Lady Leps in kills with 15 and also adding 14 assists, three blocks and two aces. “I think we played pretty well together,” Fisbeck said. “We’re meshing as a team really great. That’s a key. We just need to talk a little more, but I’m really proud of us.” Destiny Psencik led the team in digs with 17. BlakeAnn Fritsch has eight kills and seven digs. Kyla Pietsch had six kills and Hatti Moore had five. La Grange newcomer Emily Magness, the head coach’s daughter, also shined in her Lady Leps debut with a teamhigh 18 assists and eight digs. The Lady Leps will have to continue to get a lot of production up and down the lineup because they only have nine varsity players – counting one who is injured. “I don’t like to pull kids up just to sit on the bench especially when we don’t have the num-

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27193 R3-14

La Grange’s Kyla Pietsch leaps high to tip this ball over against Photo by Ella Wick Weimar Tuesday.

Emily Magness prepare to set the ball in Tuesday’s match. Photo by Ella Wick

bers and right now we don’t have big numbers,” Bloodworth said. “This is the smallest group I’ve had on a varsity in a while, but I can’t ask any more of them right now.” The Lady Leps will try to keep their momentum going as they head to the Columbus Tournament this weekend in a venue Bloodworth knows well. She was the head volleyball coach at Columbus for the last nine years.

We A re All About Kids...Of All

8/11/15

La Grange def. Weimar 28-26, 25-5, 25-15

La Grange leaders: Blake-Ann Fritsch 8 kills, 7 digs; Shelby Dixon 1 kill, 2 aces; Hatti Moore 5 kills; Kyla Pietsch 6 kills; Riley Fisbeck 15 kills, 14 assists, 2 aces, 3 blocks; Destiny Psencik 17 digs, 4 assists; Emily Magness 8 digs, 18 assists; Kaylie Seitter 1 kill.

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La Grange’s Riley Fisbeck sets this ball Tuesday. Photo by Ella Wick

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Leps to Scrimmage El Campo La Grange High School football teams will host El Campo in scrimmages this Friday at Leopard Stadium. The freshman start at 5 p.m. followed by the JV at 6 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m. The El Campo varsity should provide a good test after going 11-2 last season. Right: Varsity quarterback Colter Siptak throws a pass during Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage. Below: La Grange’s Logan Naiser (in the white jersey) breaks up a pass attempt. Photos by Jeff Wick

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The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

A Wild Sunday at the Rodeo

From Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana to You!

hile the first two nights of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo consist of a normal schedule of various rodeo events, the final night is different – filled with extra bull riding and the bikini barrel racing competition. Here are several shots from the variety of action Sunday. Photos by Tom Wood

Pioneer Bank is a proud sponsor of the Fayette County Fair

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The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

2015 Fayette County Volleyball Schedules La Grange Lady Leps

Flatonia Lady Bulldogs Record 1-1 Date Opponent Site Time Teams August 11 Flatonia def. Rice 3-1 11 Sealy def. Flatonia 3-0 13-14 Shiner Tourney Shiner TBA V 18 Open 20-22 Schulenburg Tourney TBA V 25 St. Paul Flatonia 5:00 F,JV,V 27,29 Rice Tourney Altair TBA V 28 Open September 1 Hallettsville Hallettsville 5 p.m. F,JV,V 3,5 Flatonia JV/F Tourney TBA F,JV Flatonia 4:30 V,JV 4 Sacred Heart 8 Prairie Lea* Prairie Lea 6:00 V 11 Open 15 Ganado* Flatonia 5:00 F,JV,V Shiner 10:00 F,JV,V 19 Shiner* Weimar 5:00 F,JV,V 22 Weimar* Louise 4:00 V,JV 25 Louise* 29 Schulenburg* Flatonia 5:00 F,JV,V October 2 Waedler*(Homecoming) Flatonia 4 p.m. V Flatonia 6:00 V 6 Prairie Lea* 9 Ganado* Ganado 4:30 V,JV,F 13 Shiner*(Parents’ Night) Flatonia 5 p.m. F,JV,V Flatonia 4:30 V,JV,F 16 Weimar* 20 Louise* Flatonia 5:00 JV,V 23 Schulenburg* Schul. 4:30 V,JV,F 27 Waelder* Waelder 6:00 V * Denotes district match

Schulenburg Lady Horns

Record 1-0 Date Opponent Location Time Teams La Grange def. Weimar 3-0 8/13-15 Columbus V Tourney Columbus TBA WHS 1 5:00 V 8/18 Waller 8/18 Waller WHS 2 5:00 F/JV 8/20-22 Schulenburg Tourney Schulenburg TBA V BHS 1 5:00 JV/V 8/25 Bryan 8/25 Bryan BHS 2 5:00 F 8/27, 29 Rice Cons. F/JV Tourney Rice Cons. TBA LGHS 5:00 JV/V 9/1 Rice Cons. 9/1 Rice Cons. LGMS 5:00 F 9/3, 5 Hays Cons. V Tourney Hays TBA 9/8 RTC/Canyon Lake LGHS 4:30 V/V JV/F/JV 9/8 RTC/Canyon Lake LGMS 4:30 9/10, 12 Columbus JV Tourney Columbus TBA LaVernia 1 4:30 JV/V 9/11 La Vernia 9/11 La Vernia LaVernia 2 4:30 F 9/15 Sealy Sealy 5:00 F/JV/V 9/18 Columbus LGHS 4:30 V LGMS 4:30 JV/F 9/18 Columbus 9/22 *Caldwell CHS 5:00 F/JV/V 9/29 *Giddings LGHS 5:00 F/JV/V 10/2 *Smithville SHS 4:30 JV/V/F 10/6 *Navasota NHS 5:00 F/JV/V 10/9 *Bellville LGHS 4:30 JV/V 10/9 *Bellville LGMS 4:30 F 10/13 *Caldwell LGHS 5:00 F/JV/V 10/16 *Giddings GHS 1 4:30 JV/V 10/16 *Giddings GHS 2 4:30 F 10/20 *Smithville LGHS 5:00 F/JV/V 10/23 *Navasota LGHS 4:30 JV/V 10/23 *Navasota LGMS 4:30 F 10/27 *Bellville BHS 5:00 F/JV/V * Denotes District match

Record 0-1 Date Opponent

Location

Round Top-Carmine

Cubettes

Location Time Teams

Date Opponent Time Teams

Aug. 11 Caldwell&Leon Tri-Match Leon JV, V 4:00

Aug. 11 Columbus def. Schulenburg 3-0

Aug. 14 Alumni Games Home

JV, V

4:30

Aug. 10,12 Schulenburg 9th & JV Tournament TBA

Aug. 18 Brazos

JV, V

5:00

Aug. 13-15 Columbus Varsity Tournament

Aug. 20 – 22 Schulenburg Tournament V

TBA

Aug. 25 Hallettsville

5:00

Aug. 18 Hallettsville

TBA

Hallettsville 4:30 F, JV, V

There Home

JV, V

Aug. 20-22 Schulenburg Varsity Tournament TBA

Aug. 27 & 29 Rice Consol. Tourney There JV, V TBA

Aug. 25 Sealy

Aug. 28 Open Date

Sealy

4:30 F, JV, V

Aug. 27-29 Texas Showdown, Smithson Valley TBA

Sept. 1 Luling

Sept. 1 Giddings

Sept. 4 Open Date

Giddings

4:30 F, JV, V

Sept. 3 & 5 Flatonia 9th & JV Tournament

TBA

There

Sept. 8 La Grange

There

JV, V JV, V

5:00 4:30

Sept. 4 East Bernard Schulenburg 4:00 F, JV, V

Sept. 10 & 12 Columbus Tournament TBA

Sept. 8 Ganado

Ganado

5:00 F, JV, V

Sept. 11 Burton

Home

JV, V

5:00

Sept. 11 Brazos

Brazos

4:30 JV, V, F

Sept. 15 Snook

There

JV, V

5:00

Sept. 12 Schulenburg Junior High Tournament

Sept. 18 Anderson

Home

JV, V

5:00

Sept. 15 Weimar

Sept. 22 Fayetteville

There

JV, V

5:00

Schulenburg 5:00 F, JV, V

Sept. 18 Louise

Schulenburg 4:00 V, JV

Sept. 25 Richards

Home

5:00

Sept. 22 Prairie Lea Schulenburg 6:00 V

Sept. 29 Dime Box

Home

5:00

Sept. 25 Waelder

Waelder

4:30 V

Oct. 2

Somerville

There

JV, V

5:00

Sept. 29 Flatonia

Flatonia

5:00 F, JV, V

Oct. 6

Burton

There

JV, V

5:00

Oct. 3 Shiner

Schulenburg 9:00 F, JV, V

Oct. 9

Snook

Home

JV, V

5:00

Oct. 6 Ganado

Schulenburg 5:00 F, JV, V

Oct. 13 Anderson

There

JV, V

5:00

Oct. 9 Weimar

Weimar

4:00 F, JV, V

Oct. 16

Home

JV, V

5:00

Oct. 13 Louise

Louise

5:00 F, JV, V

Oct. 20 Richards

There

5:00

Oct. 16 Prairie Lea

Prairie Lea 4:00 V

Oct. 23 Dime Box

There

5:00

Oct. 20 Waelder

Schulenburg 6:00 V

Oct. 27 Somerville

Home

JV,V

5:00

Oct. 23 Flatonia

Schulenburg 4:30 V, JV, F

Oct. 27 Shiner

Shiner

Fayetteville

Fayetteville Lady Lions

Record 1-0 Date Opponent Time Teams Location August 11 Fayetteville def. Mumford 3-0 14 (Fri) Hempstead 5:00 JV/V HOME 18 (Tues) @Navasota 5:00/6:00 JV/V Away 20-22 (Th-Sat) @Hempstead Tourney TBA 25 (Tues) @Faith Academy 5:30/6:30 JV/V Away 28 (Fri) Waelder 5:00/6:00 JV/V HOME September 1 (Tues) @Shiner St Paul 5:00/6:00 JV/V Away 3-5 (Th-Sat) @Snook Tournament TBA Away 8 (Tues) Smithville 5:00/6:00 JV/V HOME 11 (Fri) Anderson-Shiro* 5:00 JV/V HOME 15 (Tues) @Dime Box * 5:00 Away 18 (Fri) @Richards* 5:00 Away 22 (Tues) Round Top-C * 5:00 JV/V HOME 25 (Fri) Somerville * 5:00 JV/V HOME 29 (Tues) @Burton * 5:00 JV/V Away October 2 (Fri) @Snook * 5:00 JV/V Away 6 (Tues) @Anderson-Shiro * 5:00 JV/V Away 9 (Fri) Dime Box * PINK OUT NIGHT 5:00 HOME 13 (Tues) Richards * 5:00 HOME 16 (Fri) @Round Top-C * 5:00 JV/V Away 20 (Tues) @Somerville * 5:00 JV/V Away 23 (Fri) Burton * 5:00 JV/V HOME 27 (Tues) Snook * PARENTS NIGHT 5:00 JV/V HOME * Denotes district match

5:00 F, JV, V

Mixed Results on Opening Night for County Volleyball Teams 8/11/15

Fayetteville def. Mumford 25-4, 23-25, 25-17, 25-14

Fayetteville leaders: Brittany Brune 10 kills, 3 aces; Haley Bertsch 6 kills, 4 aces, 5 digs; Taylor Schneider 6 kills, 6 digs, 7 aces; Emily Polasek 9 assists, 5 aces; Emma Lapeyre 11 assists, 2 kills; Jade Wessels 3 digs. Record: Fayetteville is 1-0. 8/11/15

Columbus def. Schulenburg 25-23, 25-15, 25-16

Schulenburg leaders: Bay Guentert 12 kills, 3 blocks, 17 digs; Kendall Beter 7 kills; Juls Machac 5 kills; Hannah Lewis 8 digs, 21 assists. 8/11/15

Flatonia def. Rice Consolidated 24-26, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20

Flatonia leaders: Fernanda Torres 14 kills; Savannah Flood 9 kills, 3 aces; Brittany Ochs 4 kills; Erin Miksch 20 assists, 8 kills, 4 aces; Amy Koncaba 9 digs; Riley Beck 5 digs; 8/11/15

Sealy def. Flatonia 25-20, 25-16, 25-17 No stats available

P.O. Drawer B Flatonia, Texas 78941 (361) 865-3544 FAX (361) 865-3666

Savannah Flood working back row for the Lady Bulldogs in win over Rice on Tuesday. Photos by Stephanie Steinhauser

Senior Rachel Steinhauser served 10 consecutive points for the Lady Bulldogs to tie the score Tuesday against Rice.

These Local Businesses Support Fayette County Volleyball and Urge You to Get to the Gym Soon to Cheer on These Great Athletes

Good Luck

to all Fayette County Volleyball Teams!

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ce in s ty

CELEBRATIONS The Fayette County Record

Horak to Wed Eckert

& SUCH

Friday, August 14, 2015

Meysembourg to Wed Kozel

Join us from 10 a.m. to closing - see our website for more information! 226 W. Colorado, La Grange • 979-968-4000 • Open 7 Days a Week

W W W. L e p e t i t e G O u r m e t s h O p p e . C O m

Terry and Marla Moon of Burton and Allen Horak of Caldwell announce the engagement of their daughter, Lindsey Brooke Horak of Burton to Joshua Wade Eckert of Burton. He is the son of Ronnie and Debbie Eckert of Carmine. A wedding is planned for 4 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2015 at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Burton. Lindsey is the granddaughter of Mary Dien Neutzler and the late Lee Dell Neutzler of Burton and the late Ladis and Ella Horak of Caldwell. Joshua is the grandson of J.C. and Avalda Pohl of Carmine.

Mark and Lisa Meysembourg of Weimar announce the engagement and upcoming marriage of their son, Logan Wayne to Elizabeth Ludmila Kozel, daughter of Albert and Rita Pokluda Kozel of Swiss Alp/Hostyn. Logan is the grandson of James and Carolyn Prihoda of High Hill and Virgil Meysembourg and Arletta Meysembourg of Iron Mountain, Mich. Elizabeth is the granddaughter of the late Paul and Ludmila Pokluda and Charles and Mary Kozel. The couple will be married on Oct. 10, 2015 at the Queen of the Holy Rosary Church in Hostyn.

CDA Holds Summer Membership Event Court Annunciation No. 1962, Catholic Daughters of the Americas (CDA) enjoyed a summer evening get together and a reception of new members at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, at the Msgr. Harry Mazurkiewicz Center in La Grange. The event began with a Prayer and a Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Also remembered in prayer were two deceased members, Alice Chernosky who died in May and Lucille Rideout who died in June. A welcome was given by Stacy Ryza, membership chairman, after which regent Susie Kalmus facilitated the reception of new members where five ladies recited the membership pledge. Recognized were the other membership committee members, Leticia Solorzano, Debbie Greene, and Beatrice Ortiz. Ryza gave a brief history of Court Annunciation No. 1962 and the CDA. The Court was instituted in March of 1966 with 36 charter members of which there are eight living charter members who are still active in the Court’s various activities

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CDA Court No. 1962 Regent Susie Kalmus (left) and membership chairman Stacy Ryza (right) welcome new members Peggy Sulik, Cindy Michalsky, Delores Janak, Crystal Ramirez, and Maria Carrillo.

and projects. She explained that the CDA is a national charitable organization founded by the Knights of Columbus in 1903. Under the Motto of Unity and Charity, the organization has flourished with members being dedicated to prayer, good works, helping others less fortunate, and serving God, Church and Country. A Circle of Love Program followed, which includes

the facets of Leadership, Spiritual Enhancement, Quality of Life, Youth, Education, Legislation, and National Projects. Recognized were the Officers of Court Annunciation No. 1962: regent Kalmus, vice-regent Becky Munsch, recording secretary Jolene Byrd, financial secretary Sharon Belota, treasurer Anna Boyd, District Deputy No. 11 Terri Wagner, and

Spiritual Advisor Deacon Mike Meismer. The Co-Chairmen of the event were Cynthia Novak and Munsch. Attending were Deacon Mike and Father Matthew Kinney, pastor of Sacred Heart Church. Father Matthew delivered a brief message to the members and led the closing prayer. Following the meal, fellowship and games were enjoyed.

T H E D IGGS’ T E A M . “ GE T T IN G T H IN GS D O N E .”

K.J.Z.T. Society No. 31 Meets Aug. 6 Members of Society No. 31 of La Grange, St. Frances of Rome, Catholic Family Fraternal of Texas – K.J.Z.T. met for their third quarterly meeting on Thursday, Aug. 6, in the Msgr. Harry Mazurkiewicz Center. President Elizabeth Kallus called the meeting to order at 4 p.m. and led members in opening prayers for living and deceased members, especially remembering deceased member Alice Chernosky; and Deacon Mike Meismer added prayerful insights about the Blessed Mother Mary. Pledges of Allegiance to the U.S. and Texas flags were recited. Secretary Marilyn Kothmann read the May meeting minutes and five thank you notes, treasurer Barbara Eilert filed her report, and bills were presented for payment. Kothmann read news from Loretta Stahl, State President. The State office awarded 65 scholarships totaling $32,600.00 in April to members who graduated from high school and to those continuing their educations in colleges, universities and trade schools. The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the patroness of our Fraternal, is August 15th. Jim Wiest, Sales and Marketing Manager, had an informative letter about gaining membership. Committee reports: Kallus gave Vice President Joy Kovar’s report for K.J.Z.T. Clerical Endowment Fund (C.E.F.) enrollments, memorials, and greeting

cards. Enrolled in the C.E.F. for special birthdays were Delphine Rohan, Mary Louise Hernandez, and Ann Kallus; those who passed away, Alice Chernosky, mother of Lisa Schlemmer, and Johnny Kollaja, brother of Daniel and Nancy Kollaja; and Emily and Sydney Cernoch for their 60th wedding anniversary. There were thirteen enrollments by members. One get well card and one wedding card were sent. She also arranged for a Mass to be said for the intention of recently deceased member Chernosky. Publicity Report was given by chairman Kallus.

Unfinished Business: The People Helping People parish project donation to Sacred Heart School was completed. Several members attended the District V meeting on Aug. 9. New Business: In the spirit of Fraternalism, the Society will make a donation to the recent flood victims that will be matched by the State office through the People Helping People Disaster program. The Society will take part in the K.J.Z.T. Feeding Families Across Texas program with the State office matching funds. The donation will be made to the AMEN food pantry in La

Grange. The next quarterly meeting will be the annual meeting and social to be held Thursday, Nov. 5, at 4:30 p.m. Election of officers will take place at this meeting. Director Grace Vinklarek spoke about the District V meeting to be hosted by Society #20 of Cistern. She also updated the Society on their progress on the graph towards obtaining the platinum status for 2015. Meeting attendance prize was won by Dorothy Janacek. The meeting closed with the Memorare prayer. Members enjoyed light refreshments.

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The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

Obituaries

Jacob

Mark Jacob, 57 of Carmine, died Monday, Aug. 10, 2015 at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Viewing began at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12. The family received visitors at Brenham Memorial Chapel on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 4 p.m. A prayer service led by Rev. Laurinda Kwiatkowski began at 6 p.m. Rosary was recited at 7 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday, Aug. 14 at 10 a.m. in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Brenham, with Rev. James Olnhausen as celebrant, assisted by Deacon Steve Medina. Interment will follow in Calvary Catholic Cemetery. Mark Allen Jacob was born Aug. 11, 1957 in Brenham to E.P. Jacob, Jr. and Jocie (Mueller) Jacob. He was baptized Oct. 20, 1957 by Rev. A.M. Hannemann and confirmed May 21, 1972 by Rev. Ronald Dybvig at Martin Luther Lutheran. Mark was a 1975 graduate of Round Top-Carmine High School where he enjoyed playing basketball and baseball and made lifelong friends. On May 6, 1978, he was joined in marriage to Deborah Kmiec at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Brenham. Mark felt privileged to convert to Catholicism on April 11, 1998, and remained a faithful member of St. Mary’s until his death. He and Debbie enjoyed doing all things together, traveling, spending time with their grandchildren and just being at home in what Mark referred to as his “little piece of Heaven.” From a very early age, Mark worked alongside his grandfather, father and uncles in the family business, Jacob’s Store, Inc./Jake’s Eggs. He stayed loyal

to family tradition by dedicating more than 40 years, many of which he managed, in the operation of the family’s egg production business. Mark was a fun, playful, selfless father and grandfather who brought laughter to those around him. His grandchildren each held a special place in his heart. He was a proud supporter of his family’s sporting events, often traveling to cheer them on. Mark made many memories while hunting and fishing with friends and family and was a gifted handyman, often helping others with mechanical troubles. Surviving family include: his loving wife of 37 years, Debbie Jacob; daughter, Jami Koehl and husband Wade of Cypress; son, Chase Jacob and wife Christy of Waller; grandchildren, Kylan, Lainey and Quinn Koehl, Porter and Presley Jacob; mother, Jocie Jacob Braun and husband Floyd of Round Top; sisters and brothers-in-law, Cindy Hinze of Carmine, Tina and Eldon Mikeska, Jr. of Brenham, Jane and Darrell Marek of Industry; brothers-in-law and sisters-inlaw, Louise and Fred Kessel of Brenham, Barbara and Walter Thane, Jr. of Navasota, Richard Kmiec of Brenham, Esther and Calvin Landry of Brenham and many loved relatives. He was preceded in death by infant son Samuel Paul Jacob, father E.P. Jacob, Jr., father-inlaw and mother-in-law Willie and Stella Kmiec, brothersin-law Elvis Hinze, Michael Kmiec, great-nephew Bryson Hinze. Pallbearers are Lane Jacob, Alan Jacob, Ronnie Zwernemann, Ronnie Melton, Billie Koehl, Stuart Markwardt, Freddie Behnke, and Ricky Russell. Honorary pallbearers will be grandson Porter Jacob, Jerry Jacob, Ronald Mueller, Garry Sanders, Johnny Dunham, Ricky Wellbrock, Keith Korth, Jody Pohl, Calvin Coufal, the Carmine State Bank Board of Directors, and all of his Godchildren. Memorials may be given to St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Condolences may be sent to www.BrenhamMemorialChapel.com. Brenham Memorial Chapel in Brenham was in charge of arrangements.

For The Record Rural Life Mass

The 26th rural life mass will be held on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. at St. Ann Catholic Church in Somerville, located at 333 Thornberry Drive. Mass will be held in the St. Ann’s Parish Hall and a dinner will follow for all attendees.

Thursday Night Industrial League

The meeting for the Thursday Nite Industrial League will be held Thursday, Aug. 20 at La Grange Lanes. Anyone interested in bowling should attend. If you are unable to attend, call Louis Konvicka at (979) 968-3232 or La Grange Lanes at (979) 968-3211.

Mt. Calvary Preschool Open House

Mt. Calvary Lutheran Preschool will have their open house on Friday, Aug. 21 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Please bring your child’s updated admission packet. The children may meet their teachers and receive new Mt. Calvary Lutheran preschool shirt to be worn on Mondays for chapel. Contact Janice Teinert, Preschool Director, at (979) 968-5913 with any questions.

4-H Shooting Sports Club Fun Shoot

The Fayette County 4-H Shootings Sports Club will hold a 100 Bird Sporting Clay Fun Shoot on Saturday, Aug. 22 starting at 10 a.m at the Fayette County Gun Club. Four man team is $140 or individual is $35, and mulligans are $10. Eye and ear protection are required. For registration forms and questions, call Craig Oltmann at (979) 966-2504. Proceeds to benefit the Ronald McDonald House.

Winchester 4-H Club Dinner

The Winchester 4-h club will host their annual chicken spaghetti dinner on Sunday, Aug 23 from 11 a.m to 1 p.m at Zilss Hall in Winchester. There will be dinners to go and also eat in. Meal will consist of chicken spaghetti, bread, salad, and corn. for those choosing to eat in, iced tea and water will be available along with dessert. The drawing for the raffle will take place during this time frame.

La Grange ISD Student Registration

Students new to La Grange ISD who have not previously registered are asked to register with the school principal before school starts on Monday, Aug. 24 Students not registered prior to Aug. 24 will register on Tuesday, Aug. 25. No student registration will occur on the first day of school. Call (979) 968-7000 for campus information.

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Fuchs

Ida Christine Beherend Fuchs, 86, of San Antonio, went peacefullly to be with the Lord on Aug. 7, 2015 after a short illness. She was born to Arthur and Ida Behrend on Dec. 4, 1928 in McDade. Christine is preceded in death by her husband of 50 years, Durwood L. Fuchs. She graduated from Elgin High School in 1945, and earned her Bachelors of Science from the University of Texas in 1949. Christine also attended TexasA&M. She went on to earn a Masters in Education from the University of Houston in 1952. From 1949 to 1960 she taught at Round Top-Carmine High School. A firm teacher for her young age, the students still continue to speak so highly of her at the many high school reunions that she had attended. On July 31, 1960 she married Durwood L. Fuchs of Carmine. After teaching for two years in La Grange, they moved to San Antonio where Durwood taught graphic arts and printing for 30 years at Fox Tech High School. While in San Antonio, Christine taught at Woodlawn Hills Elementary for four years. She retired from teaching at age 38 with 17 years of service to raise her two children. From 1972 until 1996, the family used their travel trailer to see the scenic and historical sites throughout the U.S. and Canada. She was a member of Friends of Hospice of San Antonio. A former member of Concordia Lutheran Church and current member of Shepard of the Hills Lutheran Church. She enjoyed reading, vegetable gardening, family history and sending greeting cards to her family and friends. She prided herself with keeping up with local and national events and news, always had interesting newspaper articles to share. She always enjoyed visiting in person and on the phone with her two local San Antonio based cousins Ruth Jank and Iva Galindo. Christine is survived by her son Henry Fuchs and his wife Melissa, her daughter Lisa Allison and her husband Matthew and her grandchildren she was so proud of Dale, Benjamin and Jackson Allison. She is also survived by her brother James Behrend of McDade and his wife Myrtle, numerous nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews and many cousins. Funeral services were held at Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015 at 10 a.m. Burial followed at Siloah Cemetery in McDade. Providence-Jones Family Funeral Home in Elgin was in charge of arrangements.

Daricek

Brandon Lee Daricek, born Oct. 5,1981, went to be with the Lord on July 27, 2015. He was 33 years old. Brandon is survived by his loving parents, Bennie and Nelda Daricek; brothers, Tim Tarnowski and wife Jennifer; his niece Kaitlyn (Godchild) and nephew Ethan, brother Paul Daricek and his wife Ronda; uncle Lynn Ray Spicer and wife aunt Brenda; Uncle Russell Carter and wife aunt Glenda; and Uncle John Brewer and wife aunt Sandra. Brandon was born and raised in New Ulm. He was a charter member of West End Baptist Church and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior at the age of nine, followed by Baptism. Brandon graduated from Bellville High School in 2000 and he received an Associates degree from San Jacinto Junior College in 2004. Brandon had many close friends that he considered family. He was a talented artist and was well known in Houston and Austin as DJ Brandon Lee. He DJ’d at multiple clubs in the Houston and Austin markets. He had a great passion for Techno music, DJing, composing and producing. He was an artist that spent many hours creating his art. Brandon will always be remembered by his family and friends for his large heart and compassion. Funeral services were held on Aug. 3, 2015 at 10 a.m. at West End Baptist Church in Industry. Pastor Dennis Keen officiated. Burial followed at the New Ulm Cemetery in New Ulm. Pallbearers were Chance Weige, Brandon Weige, Byron Dusek, Jake Sims, Dustin Tompkins and Steve Schroeder. In Lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the “DJ Brandon Lee” Daricek Memorial and Scholarship Fund, Industry State Bank, P.O. Box 155, New Ulm, Texas 78950, West End Baptist Church in Industry, or a charity of your choice. Knesek Funeral Chapel in Bellville was in charge of arrangements.

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Obituaries

The Fayette County Record appreciates the many families who entrust this newspaper with obituaries for their loved ones. For complete information on publishing obituaries, call the Record office at (979) 968-3155 or email john@ fayettecountyrecord.com.

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The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

A11

K.J.Z.T. Society No. 31 Makes Donation

The Remix Group prepares to depart the Remnant Church in La Grange on July 18 for their mission trip to Baja Mexico: (front, from left) Ethan Hill, Frank Haynie, Desiree Yanis, Faith Highberg, (second row) Alexis Ellis, Trey Yanis, Amanda Mccarty, Shrita Holmes, (third row) Sterling Hopkins, Sincerity Holmes, Jazmine Holman, Emily Gonzalez, Howard Holmes (back row) Pastor Kolbe Hill, Noah Hopkins, Tyler Hopkins and Quenten Gonzalez.

As a Fraternal Organization, the members of Society No. 31 of La Grange, Catholic Family Fraternal of Texas – K.J.Z.T., promote various projects for their church and community. They helped sponsor the plant booth at the Sacred Heart Spring Festival as their People Helping People parish project and the State Office matched 50% of the profit. Presenting the monetary donation to Sacred Heart School in La Grange on August 3 were, from left, Secretary Marilyn Kothmann, School Principal Mary Lou Anderle, and President Elizabeth Kallus.

KJZT Members Attend District Meeting

Seven members of Society 31 La Grange attended the District V meeting of the Catholic Family Fraternal of Texas – KJZT that was hosted by Society 20 Cistern at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish Hall on Sunday, Aug. 9. Registration began at 11:30 a.m. followed by a noon meal and then the meeting. Two members of Society 31 were 50-year membership pin recipients, Bernice Guettler and Sandra Blaha (who was unable to attend). Pictured seated from left are Delphine Rohan, Bernice Guettler, Rose Recek; standing from left are Barbara Brauner, treasurer Barbara Eilert, secretary Marilyn Kothmann, and president Elizabeth Kallus holding the certificate presented to Society 31 in recognition of achieving Platinum Status in 2014.

Mt. Calvary Youth Participate in Service Project

Mt. Calvary Lutheran Youth Fellowship (LYF) recently attended Glorybound in San Marcos. Glorybound is a high school youth gathering for the LCMS-Texas District. During this event each group was sent out to serve the community. Mt. Calvary LYF prepared and distributed meals to the homeless in downtown Austin. During the service project the LYF donated funds to support LINC Austin.

VFW Post, Auxiliary Bring Home District Awards

VFW Post No. 5254 Quartermaster Joe Kruppa, VFW Ladies Auxiliary President Carolyn Easton, Junior Vice-president Barbara Brauner and Treasurer Beverly Gray brought home awards for their respective organizations from the Department of Texas and District 28 during the District 28 meeting held in Elgin at Post 6115 on Sunday, Aug. 2. The local Post won citations for Outstanding Community Service Programs, Outstanding Post Youth Activities Program and Outstanding Citizenship Education (Americanism) Activities. The local Ladies Auxiliary won citations for Patriot’s Pen Award, Voice of Democracy Award, Healthy Ladies Auxiliary and a plaque for Student Nurses Program, Best Honor Nurses Program-1st place-Division 3. Pictured in the photo is Auxiliary President of 5254 holding one of the citations she received from District 28 President Robin Swain of Elgin and Department of Texas Auxiliary President Jayne McCormick of Harlingen.

Remnant Youth Travel to Mexico for Mission Twelve students and five leaders from Remix, the Remnant Church youth ministry, in La Grangeflew to San Diego, California, on July 18 to begin a week of mission work. They crossed the border by bus and drove to a remote mountain village in Mexico between Tijuana and Tecate. There they met up with 130 other youth, all under Global Expeditions, an organization which provides evangelism and service opportunities for preteens, teens, and adult leaders on six continents. They spent the week conducting door to door ministry and teaching Vacation Bible School in the mornings. Many Mexican children, youth, and adults dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ through these outreaches. In the afternoons, the students teamed up with another team to build a house for a family in the community. The family was selected by Baja Christian Ministries, an organization that is committed to building affordable housing in the region and giving families a clean environment in which to grow. Two other houses were built by the other students that week. It was a blessing to see people of

The Remix Group poses in front of one of the houses they helped build for the villagers.

different racial, cultural, and denominational backgrounds come together to serve the povery stricken community. The Remnant team did not let a hurricane (which blew through California and Baja on the first night there) dampen their spirits, even though the rain flattened all of the boys’ tents and leaked into the cement floor building where the girls stayed. Lives were changed, not only lives of the people in Mexico, but also the students and leaders of Remix, who had an eye-opening experience. They learned

many lessons about gratitude, kindness, and the love of God on this trip, and they will never be the same.

Three youth from the Remnant Church and two Global Expedition leaders walked door-todoor speaking with the villagers.

A12

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

Flatonia Considers ESD to Fund Firefighting Two Fires Sparked This Week “If they choose to pay fireContinued from front property owners to serve on the ESD governing body, known as a commission. Once formed, the district could impose an additional property tax to support Flatonia Fire and Rescue. “By talking with a lot of our community members, some have relatives in the county or themselves have farms and ranches in the county. They’ve expressed the willingness to support an ESD,” said Flatonia City Manager Scott Dixon after Tuesday night’s meeting. “We’re far from knowing whether they are a majority, but we know there’s support out there,” he added. Dixon said the City funds Flatonia Fire and Rescue to the tune of $100,000 to $200,000 annually. Flatonia Fire Chief John Burleson said his department’s budget stands at about $350,000 annually. Burleson said the City provides about 45 to 48 percent of the department’s annual budget, with the county picking up about 5 to 10 percent. The remainder comes from grants, fundraising and bills for service. The Chief added that about 60 percent of his department’s calls come from outside the Flatonia City Limits. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, assistant fire chief Mike Whitten gave a timeline for the creation of the proposed district:

September and October 2015: ESD task force to meet with Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff and Fayette County Judge Ed Janecka. March 2016: Task force to hold town hall meeting in Flatonia and begin canvassing election petition for the required 100 signatures. April 2016: Continue canvassing petition. May 2016: Task force to submit the election petition to the County Judge for review. July 2016: Earliest possible date for Commissioners Court to hold a public hearing on the election and make a decision to approve or disapprove the petition.

September 2016: If the petition is approved, task force to hold a second town hall meeting. April 2017: Task force to hold a third town hall meeting May 2017: Earliest date for election. October 2017: If election is successful, ESD commissioners to be sworn-in; Flatonia Fire and Rescue to submit budget to the ESD commissioners. January 2018: Earliest possible date for new funding to the fire department.

Whitten said he expects some pushback on the new taxing entity. “Our success is directly linked to building citizen support,” Whitten told the Council on Tuesday. “New people that are (moving here) have expectations about emergency services and what they should be. We’ll also have to build the support of those who have been here for generations and who will say ‘What do we need an ESD for? We already have fire and rescue services.’ Those people will be critical.” In an interview on Wednesday morning, County Judge Ed Janecka expressed skepticism about the proposal. “I’m not crazy about ESDs because they’re another taxing entity and another bureaucracy” Janecka said. “We’ve got enough taxing entities and enough taxes in the state and county already.” State law stipulates that ESDs may collect a property tax of $0.03 to $0.10 per $100 of property value. If an ESD were formed for the Flatonia area, the commissioners of that district would set the tax rate. Tax revenue could be used to purchase equipment for the department. Burleson said new fire equipment could improve the City’s fire insurance rating, leading to lower insurance costs for residents and businesses. Burleson added that the ESD would come with some administrative costs, such as accounting and legal services. The ESD could also decide to provide firefighters with pay or additional benefits.

fighters, it would have to be approved by the ESD commissioners in an open meeting,” Burleson said. “But that’s not something we’re advising right now.” None of the Flatonia officials could provide an estimate of how much revenue the ESD could generate, as the district’s boundary lines have not yet been drawn.

By H.H. HOWZE

The Fayette County Record

Dry conditions may have contributed to two fires early this week. On Monday afternoon, a shed on fire was reported near the Carmine Y on SH 237. Carmine volunteer fire fighters extinguished the blaze, but the

shed was a total loss. Fayette County Sheriff’s deputy Steve Nelson also responded to the scene. Then on Tuesday about 6:30 p.m. three area fire departments responded to a large grass fire on the eastbound side of SH 71 near the Colorado County line, according to the Fayette County

Sheriff’s Department. Columbus fire fighters battling the blaze requested mutual aid from the Ellinger and Fayetteville fire departments. The fire was extinguished after burning about five acres of grass. No structures were involved and there were no injuries.

Beer is Brewing Again in LG Water Well Continued from front “Every two weeks we’re getting a new batch,” Hunter said. They are averaging about 20 barrels of beer a month right now “but we’re looking to expand and hire a couple of new people” as they try to ink a new

distribution deal over a 17-county area. One barrel of beer is equivalent to 31.5 gallons. Locally, the only place you can buy Wild Bunch beer is at Vin 114, the new bar adjacent to Bistro 108. “Everyone that tries it loves it,” said owner Mike McCathern. “I’m almost out, again.”

Vin 114 serves the beer on tap, as do a couple of bars in San Antonio. Hunter said part of the brewery’s expansion plans include bottling a greater portion of their beer (they are bottling on a small scale now) and even canning their beer. “Hopefully we can get into HEB,” Hunter said.

Citizen Interrupts Commissioners Meeting To Protest Raises for County Employees By ANDY BEHLEN The Fayette County Record

One Fayette County resident loudly objected to plans by Commissioners Court to give all county employees and elected officials a three percent pay raise next year. Shelby Ingram of the Muldoon area spoke earlier in the meeting, during the public comment period, inquiring about the county’s policy regarding meeting notices. Later, when Commissioners were discussing the proposed property tax rate for 2015, assistant county auditor Ruth Ann Wessels reported to the commissioners that the proposed tax rate would provide enough revenue to cover all planned expenses for next year, including a proposed three percent raise for all county employees. (The Re-

cord reported on the proposed raises in our July 31 issue.) At that point, Ingram interrupted the meeting to speak against the salary increases. “Are the rest of the people out there getting a pay raise? I know our soldiers on the battlefield, and I’ve lost a lot of good friends, they’re only getting a one percent raise this year,” Ingram said. (The National Defense Authorization Act of 2016 includes a 1.3 percent pay raise for the military. It passed the U. S. Senate but President Obama has not yet signed the bill into law.) “Three percent is way too much for this government body and y’all know it,” Ingram said. “I’ve looked at every one of your salaries. They’re way above the norm, way above. I

would agree with one percent, the same as our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are getting. “That’s why I’m coming forward and I do not plan on stopping,” Ingram added. “I’m letting you know right now, that three percent, y’all need to reconsider that and think about what the rest of the populous is getting … Are the people at Wal-Mart or Taco Bell getting a three percent pay raise?” After Ingram spoke, commissioners voted unanimously to propose the effective tax rate of $0.4202 per $100 of property value. That rate will bring the county the same amount of property tax revenue as last year. Commissioners will vote next month on final approval of the budget, which includes the proposed raises.

Goes Out Continued from front

Phase One is defined as a “Mild” drought condition. Although Actions/Restrictions under this condition are all voluntary, we do stress their importance and highly encourage all La Grange Utilities water customers to participate by complying with the following guidelines: • If you are currently watering city officials ask that you water no more than every fourth day. Additionally, when you water every fourth day, water only between the hours of 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. If you have an automatic sprinkler system, adjust it to fit within this schedule. Major commercial water users are being contacted and are requested to reduce water consumption if at all possible. Additionally, any way locals can voluntarily reduce water usage is encouraged. In a press release from La Grange Utility manager Frank Menefee he says, “We are in Phase One-Mild Drought Conditions at this time and if we all work together I believe we can avoid going to the next phase, which is defined as Moderate, under which the Actions/ Restrictions would become more severe and they would all become mandatory. We thank everyone in advance for their attention to this matter.”

Friday, August 14, 2015

WEEKEND

The Fayette County Record

I Was a Sucker for Having to Pull ‘Suckers’ Record-Setting Rains Long Forgotten By FLORIAN KANA Special to the Record

I was 12 years old in 1955, the year dad had a great corn crop. In the following year of 1956 we had a very bad drought and no corn crop was made. My dad always prided himself in having his corn field in great shape. The bottom, as he called it, consisted of around 40-45 acres. That creek bottom was very flat – no terraces, hills or

gullies in this patch. The rows of corn were very long and straight. We, as kids, made many trips up and down those rows from the time the corn was planted till harvest time. Here is one example: When the corn was all tasseled out and had a pair of ears on each stalk, there also would be at the bottom of each stalk a pair of smaller stalks called suckers. These suckers would grow from the root system of the

main stalk and would not produce any corn so they were useless. Dad said all they did was suck moisture from the main stalk. This deprived the main stem of precious water needed by the developing ears of corn. So after school we had to go to the corn patch and pull suckers. Once the suckers got too big to pull by hand he gave each one of us a sharp butcher knife. He also lectured us as to how to use this knife. We had to always cut away from the stalk so as not to See Florian, back page

Sacred Heart School’s 85th Anniversary

By H.H. HOWZE

The Fayette County Record

Hot enough for you? Heat advisories and “feels like” temps well over 100 F. are the order of the day recently. Making it worse is the lack of moisture. To put it in perspective, the 100-year average rainfall in La Grange for July and August is 2.34 inches and 2.48 inches respectively – a total of 4.82 inches. Through August 11, the total for those two months is 0.19. After record-setting rains in May and June which filled tanks and ponds, the droughty conditions since have caused large cracks to appear in local clay soils, endangering sub-surface pipes in wells and septic lines. A burn ban just went back into effect in the county this week reflecting the perceived fire danger. The U.S. Drought Monitor now lists most of eastern Texas including Fayette County as “abnormally dry.” Historically, September and October offer some relief with gradually cooling temperatures and the outlook for increased precipitation. The 100-year

precip average for September is 3.66 inches; October is 3.84 inches. Long term forecasts call

for a strong El Nino in the last months of this year bringing cold and wet conditions into early 2016. Hang in there.

Cracks in the ground at the author’s home dwarf this yard-stick. Photo by H.H. Howze

La Grange Weather Report Week Ending August 8 Week’s high August 7,8..........................................................101 Degrees Week’s min. high August 3......................................................96 Degrees Week’s low August 2...............................................................70 Degrees Year’s low Jan. 8......................................................................26 Degrees Year’s high July 30.................................................................104 Degrees Rainfall for week.....................................................................0.00 Inches Rainfall for year....................................................................32.43 Inches Rainfall to date-2014............................................................13.86 Inches Rainfall to date-2013............................................................16.04 Inches Rainfall to date-2012............................................................25.50 Inches Average annual rainfall.........................................................38.61 Inches

Good Way to Beat the Heat Sacred Heart Catholic School was recognized Monday at their Diocesan School Teacher Retreat in recognition of their 85th Anniversary. Sacred Heart will celebrate throughout the year with various events beginning with a balloon release on Monday with the students. Through the Marketing/ Development office one of the main goals of this year is to complete a contact base with all of the Alumni of Sacred Heart Catholic School. Any alumni who have not already filled out Alumni cards may do so by going to the Sacred Heart Catholic School web page sacredheartschoollg.com and select the Alumni Link or by Facebook or you may contact the Marketing/Development Director Pam Keilers @keilersp@sacredheartschoollg.com. The Sacred Heart teachers are shown with Supt. of Catholic Schools Dr. Ned Vanders. From left to right (with their years of service in Catholic schools in parenthesis are: Margaret Roscher (4 years), Missy Halamacik (7), Denise Kubena (5) Amy Foster (23), Angie Hellums (2), Linda Vasek (25), Tenielle Adamcik (3), Cathy Zingelmann, holding plaque (38), Jo Ann Divin (6), Nina Ostrander (9), Don Kirby (4), Melody McKee (1st year teacher at SHS) , Jessica Burgess (2), Pam Keilers (15), Amanda Keilers (2), Mary Weiman (9) and Dr. Vanders Not pictured is Lee Burleson. Sacred Heart will begin school on Monday morning. Sacred Heart Catholic School is still accepting new students for the 2015-2016 school year.

The Schulenburg Athletic Booster Club provided some watermelon for the Shorthorns after football practice last Friday. You think it’s hot? Try practicing football in pads in triple digit weather. Photo by Andy Behlen

800.242.5981 • www.OviedoDodge.com 1980 W. STATE HWY. 71 BYPASS • LA GRANGE, TX 78945

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

THE FAYETTE COUNTY

RECORD

Classified Word Rates: 15 words or less $7.50 for the first run, each additional word is 50¢. Display rates: 1x2-$16.70, 1x3-$25.05, 2x2-33.40

Classified Deadlines: Tuesday paper - Friday at 10 a.m. Friday paper - Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Call To Place An Advertisement

FOR RENT/LEASE FOR RENT/LEASE PREMIUM OFFICE space for rent on the square- La Grange. (512) 773-5163. (74-tfc) SMALL PRIVATE offices, upstairs, on the Square. $400 mo. includes all utilities. (979) 966-2880 (64-tfc)(72-tfc) Fully furnished studio apartment in the heart of the La Grange historical neighborhood. Attractive homelike surroundings, private, safe, perfect for weekend commuter, monthly lease, utilities, weekly maid service, Wifi, Direct TV - all amenities of a motel. No smoking, pets $700 mo. $350 SD. (979) 968-6154 (78-3p)(81-3p) SECLUDED, SHADY 2/1 large garage apartment, walking distance to square/ HEB. Move-in ready. Kitchen appliances, w/d hookup, AC, mowing provided. $850 + deposit. Credit check. No smoking or pets. (979)743-5746 (80-2c) 1BD/1BA APT. in town. Nice neighborhood. $500 mo./ $500 dep. No pets, no smoking. (979) 250-3515 (81-2c) BUILDING FOR Lease - Great location on the square in La Grange. Corner of Business 71 and N. Washington St. Approx. 2,310 sq. ft. For Details please call (210) 413-6044. Serious inquiries only please. (81-5p) BRAND NEW apt. completely furnished with upscale furnishings to lease now. Min. 1 yr. All bills paid, La Grange, $875 mo. Call Broker Christine Rayburn (713) 542-3835 (81-tfc) 6339 WYNNE LANE, Round Top - 2bd/1ba furnished, renovated farmhouse/bungalow, 1,800 sq. ft. on six acres in beautiful sought after Round Top includes three porches. For lease min. 1 yr or more, $1,895 mo. Call Broker Christine Rayburn (713) 5423835 (81-tfc)

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. To complain of discrimination call HUD toll-free at 1-800-669-9777. The toll-free telephone number for the hearing impaired is 1-800-927-9275.

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FOR RENT in La Grange. Large 4 br/2ba, 3 living areas, recently updated, fenced in yard, close to schools. $1550/ month plus deposit. 1 yr lease. Call (979)966-2574. (81-tfc) STORAGE SPACES For Rent! 155 Storage Park, 320 FM 155, La Grange, TX (979) 242-5146 or (979) 968-6151 (80-wc) VENDOR SPACE Available - Lexington Antique Show & Sale Sept 18-20. Vintage. Antique. Craft. Food. (979) 5407026. (77-4wc)

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OPERATIONS OFFICER position available. $20K year + incentives - La Grange Area Chamber of Commerce. Drop off resumes at The Fayette County Record, 127 S. Washington St., La Grange, TX 78945 or mail in to P.O. Box 400, Box C (63-tfc)

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Equal Housing Opportunity

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EMPLOYMENT BABYSITTER NEEDED - Hours: 3AM-7:30AM & 3:30PM-10PM. 7 days a week/ must have transportation, references & over 21. (979) 525-6967 (76-3p)(80-3p) ROBERT'S STEAK House - needing kitchen staff & busboys. Please apply in person - 1241 Hwy. 95 W, Flatonia, TX 78941 (2-tfc)

Kenmar Residential Services is now hiring

Full & Part time Direct Care Staff to manage the needs of developmentally disabled adults in a group home setting. Please come by 750 W. Travis in La Grange to complete an application.

REAL ESTATE

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in the La Grange, Texas market. Please apply in person in the Kingsville Texas market. Please visit at 840 E. Travis or

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MONUMENT HILL REHABILITATION & NURSING CENTER

Seeking dedicated compassionate individuals who want to work with our elderly. Positions Available: R.N. Assistant D.O.N. Contact Yomba Von Seggern, D.O.N. __________ C.N.A. Positions Available SIGN ON BONUS Apply online @ www.genesishcc.com (979) 968-3145

E.O.E.

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FLATONIA OAK MANOR

AD SIZE: 2X1.75 TOTAL: $15.75 per issue Now owned by Genesis Healthcare a 5 star Rated GRAND TOTAL: $126.00 Nursing Facility is now hiring. POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

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REAL ESTATE

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...come home to your heritage

HOMES WITH ACREAGE Fayetteville~Treybig Loop: Vintage farmhouse, 3bd, 3ba, 54.98±*ac., 2 ponds, seasonal creek. Giddings~CR 116: Country estate, 4bd, 4.5ba. 5075 sq.ft. on 36±*ac. rolling terrain, ponds, wooded areas. LaGrange~Hwy 159: Sabra Ranch,Texas ranch style high on bluff, views, oaks, pond, gourmet kit, pool, 72±*ac. La Grange~Konetzke Ln: Fabulous retreat, 5bd, 5.5ba, stocked pond, pier, pool, waterfall, outdoor kitch., 5.5±*ac. REDUCED La Grange~S Main St: Vintage 1900 home, 3bd, 2ba, upstrs. bonus room, barn, art studio, ofﬁce, pecan trees, 1.14±*ac. La Grange~Pineridge Rd: Secluded, 3bd, 2.5ba, 1.36±*ac., pool, outdoor kitchen, 1/1 pool house. Ledbetter~Lee County: Country estate, 7bd, 6ba, 200±*ac., high-game fenced, pool, waterslide, ponds, creeks. Schulenburg~Dittrich Rd: 3bd, 2.5ba, hill-top views, pasture land, antique barn, covered horse stall, 6.92±*ac. Round Top~FM 2714:1880’s farmhouse, 3bd, 1ba, and 2/1 gst. house, pastures, barn, pond, 98±*ac. LAND Fayetteville~CH Allen Rd: Ag Exmpt, partially wooded, pond, close access to Fayetteville Lake, on 63±*acs. Fayetteville~FM 1291 N @ Roznov: Great parcel, 40±*ac., pastures, ponds, mature trees, ag exmpt. La Grange~FM 155 : Beautiful and rare, 2330 ft. river frontage, large pecan orchard, on 138±*ac. La Grange~FM 2145: Ag Exempt, barn, seasonal creek, Live Oaks/Post Oaks, 22±*ac. La Grange~Mueller Rd: Ag Exempt, live creek with sand rock formations, pond, 10±*ac. La Grange~Sand Rock: 15±*ac. loaded with Live Oaks and various hardwoods, rolling terrain, public water at the road. La Grange~Rogers Trail: Partially wooded, rolling terrain, improved pasture, water & elec. in place, 26±*ac. COMMERCIAL Burton~Hwy 237: On Antiques Trail, huge metal show barn, RV hookups, two houses, 33±*ac. Round Top~Huenefeld Rd: Heart of Antiques Dist., 2bd, 2.5ba. 3200 sq.ft.10±*ac.

$769,500 $729,000 $1,295,000 $890,000 $209,000 $369,000 $7,100,000 $325,000 $1,390,000 $617,400 $500,000 $1,388,500 $225,000 $190,000 $270,000 $299,900 $790,000 $575,000

Contact one of our agents today La Grange 979.968.5300 Round Top 979.249.5767

LaGrange~Country Club Dr: Frisch Auf Subdv.. View of golf course! 3bd, 2ba, recent renovations, back deck. $139,900

Round Top~FM 954: 3bd, 2.5ba,restored farmhouse, 2bd, 2ba guest house, pool, barn, covered spa. 12±*ac. $1,200,000

Giddings~CR 109: Ramblin’ Rose Ranch, 4bd, 5ba. 95±*ac. rolling terrain, 2 ponds, wooded, barn. $1,350,000

OFFICES IN BELLVILLE, LA GRANGE, BRENHAM & ROUND TOP

w w w. H e r i t a g e Te x a s C o u n t r y. c o m

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

EMPLOYMENT

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Get involved with the La Grange Area Chamber of Commerce and become an ambassador for La Grange. The La Grange area Chamber of Commerce is looking for a volunteer to share your knowledge of La Grange with visitors in our store front on the square Tuesday - Friday, 1pm to 4pm. Activities include: gift shop sales, greeting visitors and answering phones. Call (979) 968-5756 (73-tfc)

LOOKING FOR Production Receiver for our Giddings location. Forklift and warehouse experience preferred. Must be able to work as a team player. Please apply at 1180 PR 2906, Giddings, TX 78942 (80-4p)

EMPLOYMENT

HOLLIE’S HOMEMAKING is now hiring a Part Time Helper. Must be trustworthy and a hard worker. Good pay, good environment. Call (979) 530-3174 (71-tfc) JANITOR WANTED. - Part time. Apply in Person, Frisch Auf! Valley Country Club, 575 Country Club Drive, La Grange, TX (77-4c)(81-4c) PART TIME NIGHTS kitchen help & bussers. Oaks Restaurant - Call 979249-5909 (79-tfc)

La Grange location

Pharmacy Clerk needed Part Time - Full Time Turn in applications to pharmacist

(979) 968-5835

HANDYMAN NEEDED once a week. Applications available at Tejas Health Care, 753 E. Travis or online www. tejashealthcare.org. (80-2c)

Title insurance company closer trainee needed in Bastrop County. The right person must be willing to learn company procedures, follow strict guidelines and must be able to work independently. Closing experience preferred. E-mail resume and salary expectations to Samantha@texascountrytitle.com or fax to 254-605-0200.

Mechanic Needed

experience required, health insurance, 401(k) and uniforms available. Contact Patrick Mackey at 979-725-8515 or visit www.brashermotors.com/ employment

EMPLOYMENT

Contact: bob34004@yahoo.com.mx www.showdaily.us General Transportation Tech II Job Opening #102954 (La Grange, Texas) https://careers.txdot.gov

HELP WANTED

A/C Service Technicians A/C Service Techs (Experience Required) and A/C Installers & Helpers Journeyman Electricians Electricians Paid Vacation, Holidays, &

To apply for this position, please visit the website above to view job posting requirements.

Paid Health Vacation & Holidays Insurance

Performs routine work related to transportation activities such as routine and contract maintenance inspection; skilled roadway maintenance and repair; light and heavy equipment operation; preventive and minor maintenance on equipment; traffic control; and helping the public during emergency situations. Work requires contact with private entities. Job requirements include one year experience in engineering support, maintenance, construction, transportation-related or roadway maintenance work.

Send resume to: PO Box 9 Schulenburg, Texas 78956 Or call 979-743-9098 ----TECL15645

MONUMENT HILL REHABILITATION & NURSING CENTER

Dairy Farmers of America is a food manufacturing facility, which produces shelf stable dips and sauces. We are taking applications for the following positions: •

• •

•

Production Operators: o Evening and night shift openings Building Maintenance Technician: o Strong background in construction, plumbing, basic electrical and general facilities maintenance necessaryC PLC Electrical Technician: o Strong background in electrical with experience in PLC operation, maintenance and troubleshooting Inventory Control Specialist: o Looking for candidate with maintenance or parts background, computer literate, good communication skills, organized and self-‐driven

All applicants must meet the following required qualifications:

• Must be able to follow directions/ instructions/ both written and verbal High School Diploma, GED or equivalent Able to pass drug and alcohol screening • Must be able to perform basic computer functions Able to pass fitness evaluations and physical exam • Must be able to perform basic math functions Able to lift, carry, pull push at least 50 pounds • Must be able to write legibly Able to lift, carry, pull push at least 50 pounds Must be able to work weekends, holidays and overtime as required Dairy Farmers of America offers above average wages and excellent benefits, which include: Paid holidays, vacation, sick leave, pension, as well as, medical, dental, vision, and life insurance. • • • • • •

Applications are being accepted now, online only, at: www.dfamilk.com/careers DFA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

REAL ESTATE

LAND BROKERS INC.

Join our growing team!

Risk/QA Manager, Licensed Nurse: Plans, develop, organizes and directs the Risk Management and Quality program of Tejas Health Care in accordance with current applicable federal, state and local guidelines. PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN QUALITY ASSURANCE, EDUCATION/RISK MANAGEMENT PREFERRED. Tejas application forms are available at

www.TejasHealthCare.org or at

Apply online @ www.genesishcc.com (979) 968-3145

753 E. Travis St. La Grange, Texas 78945

Subscribe Today! Call 979-968-3155.

REAL ESTATE

Considering Selling?? Call us today for a free evaluation of your HOME or LAND!

FEATURED PROPERTY

★

Jerri Ann Taylor/Broker ★ Nancy Diggs/Owner ★ ★ NEW LISTINGS ★

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SOLD

★

240 acres Mach Rd.- great location, lush grass, 2 lakes, tons of live creek frontage, 2 homes, hill top views, rolling terrain, rural water, water well HOMES

3 bd/2ba on 5 Ac. , HWY 71. Well-built home with over 2000 sqft. of living space, attached garage, wooded 5 acs., pond, hwy frontage, commercial potential. 3bd/2 ½ ba on 3 Ac. South of La Grange. Over 2200 sq.ft., large living room, kitchen, dining room, pantry, laundry room, craft room, walk in closets, large master Suite, SOLD Australian Cypress hardwood floors, large covered back porch, attached double garage, masonry front, hardi-plank, composition roof, 1544 Guenther Rd. $315,000 2 Ac., Hwy 77 north. Commercial location w/ frame house. Call for details. - $325,000 3bd/3ba on 3.43 Ac. Large living & dining areas, built-ins, fp, CA/H, decks. Huge Live Oaks, pond, barns & pens. Close in on Huelsebusch Rd. CONTRACT

ACREAGE

Approx. .5 Ac. lot Cedar Creek. Wooded, city water and sewer available, Hrbacek Ave. - $35,000 17 Ac. West of La Grange. Live creekCONTRACT frontage, paved road frontage, located just off of hwy 71, priced to sell $5,250/AC 17 Ac. North of La Grange. Rolling terrain, heavily wooded, building sites, wildlife $8,000/AC 24 Ac. Wooded, paved county rd frontage, wildlife, close to La Grange. $7,950/AC 32 Ac. Paved county rd frontage, large pond, good cattle grazing. $7,950/AC 35 Ac. West of La Grange. Wooded, hunter’s paradise, creeks, pond site, nice building sites, rural water available, rolling terrain, wildlife, $8,500/AC OWNER FINANCING AVAILABLE 10% down!! 37.877 Ac., Baumbach Rd. frontage. Heavily wooded tract, pond, large lake possibilities, wildlife, excellent hunting tract. $9,500/AC 40.74 acs Old Lockhart Rd. Mix of wooded/open areas, pond, road frontage on two sides, several building spots, lots of wildlife $8,500/AC 50 Ac., West of La Grange. Nice pond, good fences, great for cattle grazing, lots of wildlife. $5,500/AC 50 Ac., w/ Home FM 154. Large lake, additional ponds, improved pastures, grazing areas, wildlife, rural water, septic, home site with 4 bedroom modular home. $8,750/AC. 50 Ac., FM 154. & Reiss Rd. Paved frontage, pond, water well, barn & pen, good grazing. $5,950/AC 50.399 Ac., Justice Rd. Bunkhouse, barn, equipment shed, county water, water well, 2 ponds, scattered trees. $7,500/AC 54 Ac., North of La Grange. Rolling terrain, wooded, creek lots of wildlife, may be divided call for details $6,000AC 56.546 Ac., Old Lockhart Rd. Some heavily wooded, some partly wooded, pond & elec. $7,950/AC 62.77 acs West of La Grange. Kirtley area, hill topSOLD view, large live oaks, pond, lots of wildlife, live creek $6,995/AC 64.62 Ac., Hwy 71 frontage and Hattermann Rd. frontage. Rolling terrain, numerous live oaks, selectively cleared, creek, pond. May be divided. $9,500/AC 74 Ac., West of La Grange. Wooded, rolling terrain, nice pond, several building spots, lots of wildlife, $7,500/AC 85 Ac., FM 154. Rolling and wooded terrain, two creeks, tons of wildlife, rural water access, several nice building spots, Lake site $7,950/AC 107.977 Ac. FM 1115. 3600 sq.ft. Trend Maker home, 3bd/3.5ba, 2 story, wood floors, study, large back porch, game room, large custom kitchen with numerous upgrades, heavily wooded, creek, CONTRACT wildlife, pond $775,000 150.270 Ac. Bastrop County- two ponds, wooded, coastal, gravel, lake site, road frontage on two sides, wildlife. $4,750/AC 185 Ac., FM 154 West Point. Working ranch, tons of water, improved pastures, densely wded areas, 2 homes, rural water, hil top views, rolling terrain, lots of wildlife $7,950/AC. 240.025 Ac. Mach Rd.- great location, lush grass, 2 lakes, thousands of feet of creek frontage, two rock bottom live creeks, lots of mature live oaks, wildlife heaven, hilltop views, 2 camp houses , water well, rural water meter, a mustSOLD see. Has frontage on Mach Rd. and also has an access from O’Quinn Branch Rd. $6,900/AC 395 Ac. Winchester Colorado River Frontage. Lots of wildlife, river frontage, cattle grazing, lots of pecan trees, fertile soil, small cabin, electricity, $6,900/AC 227 Madison St. Great commercial location, set up perfect for office or medical office, 1,272 sq.ft, close to downtown, paved parking areas, room for expansion. $164,500 Commercial mechanic shop in Smithville. 701 NE 1st street, located on over ½ acre lot, office building, mechanic bays $89,500

REAL ESTATE

★

REAL ESTATE

Robert Ruckert Ray Streger Terrell Newton (979) 968-3106 www.landbrokersrealestate.com

COMMERCIAL

Tejas Health Care Opportunities

Seeking dedicated compassionate individuals who want to work with our elderly. Positions Available: L.V.N. or R.N. Charge Nurse SIGN ON BONUS

E.O.E.

EMPLOYMENT

RETAIL MANAGER, new store: antiques and accesories establishment Take charge person to run and grow new business in La Grange. Must be experienced and highly motivated. Activities include hands-on four days a week inventory, pricing and advertising. A saavy individual at posting on-line and promotion through the several social media outlets. Attractive compensation package and profit sharing for the right person.

PRODUCTION WORKERS needed for a wholesale company. Duties include but not limited to pruning, spacing, pinching, watering, and cleaning plants. Must be able to lift at least 25 lbs and work in changing conditions. If interested please apply at 1180 PR 2906, Giddings, TX (80-4p)

TACLB019232C

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

303 BUCKEYE TRAIL, FRISCH AUF: sub div, brick, 3 bd, 2 ba, 2 car gar, 2,000 sq ft, form din, cov back patio, fireplace, high ceilings, wood floors, privacy fence, restricted, NEW PRICE $255,000. 116 BUCKEYE TRAIL: beautifully remodeled; wood & travertine floors, granite countertops, metal roof, stainless appl, new doors, alarm, sprinkler sys, etc… 1800+ sq ft, 3 bd, 2 ba, formals, 2 car gar, corner lot w/extra parking, REDUCED $235,000

space & stg bldg. Call for more details. 634 SWISS ALP HILLS: country home, 2 AC, views, 3/2/2, 1854 sq ft, open floor plan, $275,000 SOLD 1725 BITTNER, MULDOON: 38 AC, 2208 sq ft country home, 3 bd, 2 ½ ba, tiled countertops, stone FP, workshop/det gar, greenhouse, barn, partial woods, $575,000 1360 KALLUS RD., HOSTYN: TX Farm & Ranch Style Home, new in 2012, 2/2, 1560sf, Hardi siding, metal roof, porches, wd wals, flrs & ceilings, 20+ AC, rolling, views, rural water, pond, new fence, barns, $525,000 1140 WARDA CHURCH RD., FAYETTE CO: 10 wooded AC w/cabin. 1929 sf, 2 story, 3 bd/2 ba, unfinished, but livable. Porch, wood walls, floors, rural water, septic, LGISD, $169,000. 1329 CR 221, GIDDINGS: 66+ ACRES, Beautifully manicured & move in ready, lots of trees, 3 ponds, fishing piers, fenced & cross fenced, lush pastures. 2250 sf home, 3bd/2ba, guest cottage, barn.

★ ACREAGE/LOTS ★

917 JACKSON: blt 1940’s w/lots of character; 3 bd,SOLD 2 ba, 2 car gar, 1731 sq ft, newer roof & CA/H, formals, den, fireplace. ½ ACRE corner lot w/barn. $189,000 555 MEYER: 1763 sq ft, 3/2 Completely updated with all new; insulation, windows, CA/H, wiring, plumbing, interior doors, Hickory floors, all new kitchen with applPENDING iances, Silestone & tile, custom blinds, interior & exterior paint, all new bathrms, 2 car gar w/opener, corner lot w/beautiful Oak, privacy fence, close to everything! REDUCED $215,000 244 E CEDAR: beautifully renovated, stucco, metal roof, 3 bd, 2 ba, 1 car gar, 1 car carport, pergola, SOLD deck, privacy fence, $189,000 464 W COLORADO: Next to city pool, 3 bd, 1 ba, lg living & dining, some original wood floors, tree shded lot w/outbuildings, priced for your updates $89,000 206 FORDTRANDT, ELLINGER; 3 bd, 2 ba, 1700 sq ft, 4/10 AC, tree shaded lot, shop w/ 1/2 bath, 15 minutes to LG & in LGISD. NEW CARPET & APPLIANCES & ONLY $114,500!! 860 N MADISON: brick, 3/2/2, 2065 sq ft, ofc, utility rm, blt-ins, cov back patio, 30’x40’ shop, corner lot, $165,000 ★ COUNTRY PROPERTIES ★ 3411 CREAMER CREEK RD., LG: Colonial on 1 ACRE in prestigious area, 4 bd, 3 ba, gar, 2700 sq ft, 726 S JEFFERSON: Refurbished, historic home on highly traveled Jefferson (Hwy 77). Tastefully reno2 story, meticulously maintained & updated. Outdoor oasis w/cov patio, pool, outdoor kitchen, garden vated, 14’ ceilings, lg rooms, original hardwood floors, bead board, hwy frontage. Call for details. $189,000

★ HOMES ★

811 N ECKEL: 3 bd, 2 ba, 2 car gar, 1586 sq ft, corner lot, workshop, priced for updates, $150,000 784 ROITSCH: 2011 Oak Creek Mfg Home, 3 bd, 2 ba, 1500 sq ft, excellent condition w/appliances & furnishings. Factory warranty remains. Move in ready, $98,400 111 ROLLING HILL: brick in Frisch Auf, 3/PENDING 2/2, 1721 sq ft, big corner lot, priced for updates, $165,000 655 S MADISON: SHOWPLACE, CIRCA 1890. 2 story, 2900+ sq ft, 3 bd, 3 ba, formals, fireplace, CA/H, wood floors, high ceilings, crown molding, foyer, updated & storage, private back yard w/pool, 2 car gar w/stg, corner lot, within walking distance to schools, library & shopping. NEW PRICE $299,000 ★

FEATURE OF THE WEEK

★

★ HOMES Cont. ★

235 W TRAVIS, ON THE SQUARE IN DOWN TOWN LA GRANGE: Formerly Café Dobre, and existing Ken’s Barber Shop. 2400 sf, store front, $275,000 503 ROLLING HILL DR./FRISCH AUF: Custom home, stucco, 3 bd, 3 1/2BA, 3541 sf, 2 story, study (or 4th bd), formals, views, outdoor living with kitchen, fireplace, pool, 1 AC, landscaped. 2+ ACRES, FOREST HILLS EAST DR: Wonderful country living in residential sub div. Rolling, partial y wooded with creek. Rural Water available. Beautiful building site. $62,500 129 E CROCKETT: 3 BD, 2 BA, 1725 sq ft, wood floors, large kitchen, formal dining opens to living, oversized laundry room, all in good condition, waiting for your updates. Workshop/Garage. Residential or Commercial: $132,500 2348 JANSSEN LN, LA GRANGE: Cust home on 13+ AC, close to town. 3 bd, 2 ba, 2,000+ sq ft, open floor plan, remodeled, private master, pond, creek, fire pit, private setting, Live Oaks, rolling views, REDUCED $399,000 6978 SKULL CREEK RD., SHELBY: 3/2/2, brick, good condition, beautiful park like setting on 6/10 AC. Man cave & workshop, $225,000 3031 CEDAR CREEK: 4 BD/3 BA, 2 ACRES, rural sub div, 2300 sq ft, 2 living areas, updated appliances, roof, septic, light fixtures, interior paint, flooring, bathrooms, etc. . 2 car gar, stg bldg, 1200 sf metal shop, sprinkler sys, etc. . REDUCED $264,000. 1031 CARROLL/BUS 71, LA GRANGE: 1+ ACRES in the city limits, COMMERCIAL OR RESIDENTIAL. Arts & Craft style, wood frame home in need of repairs & updating. Stg bldg, $190,000

★

Jean Heger/ Sales Associate

1031 CARROLL (BUSINESS 71), LA GRANGE: Potential commercial spot on 1+ ACRE inside the city limits of La Grange just off Business 71, East of Riverside Cafe. Arts & Craft style, wood frame home in need of repairs & updating. Currently rented as a residence. 2046 square feet, 1 bath, front & side porches. Extra storage building on the property. Room for expansion behindthe house. $190,000

100 DELORES/THE VIEW: Corner lot withSOLD spectacular views, gated community with restrictions. $84,500 FOREST HILLS EAST, LOT 2: 2+ ACRES, wooded, creek frontage, only a couple of miles from town, light restrictions, rural water in front of the lot, Live Oaks. $48,000 6 ¾ AC, MCCORMICK RD. & FM 2981, FAYETTEVILLE : wooded w/some clearing, water well, old bldg. Live Oaks, $97,500 7 ACRES, FM 1291, WARRRENTON: open pasture with rolling views, restricted, $9,000/AC SOLD 10 ACRES, FM 191, WARRENTON: Live Oaks, pond, rolling, restricted, $14,5000/AC LOT ON MOCASSIN TRAIL, CLEAR LAKE PINES SUB DIV.: .62 Acre, wooded, restricted. $5,500 THE VIEW; Restricted lots in a gated community “atop” the bluff in La Grange with views of the countryside & Colorado River. Live Oaks, paved streets, curbs & utilities. Just off Hwy 77 on Spur 92. Lots vary from Garden Home sizes: .14 to 1 Acre. ★ INVESTMENT PROPERTIES ★

3544 W ST HWY 71, LG: 5.89 ACRES, Great commercial location with highway 71 frontage-just outside the city limits, no structures. LOCAL DOMINO HALL @ 7040 N HWY 77 & POST OAK RD. : Hall has old bar, numerous tables & chairs. Kitchen w/ drink coolers. Rent house w/ 3 bd, 1 ba, rents for $475/mo. ALL ON 1.2 ACRES. Great investment property! Reduced Price $125,000 13+ ACRES, with pond, good hwy frontage, along antique alley, 2155 ST HWY 237, ROUND TOP, TRACT #3: $271,200 10 ACRES, 1920 ST HWY 237, ROUND TOP, TRACT #1: open & ready for antique venue, across from Blue Hil s Antiques, $260,000 10 ACRES WITH VINTAGE FARM HOUSE,TRACT #2: livableSOLD house, barns, across from Blue Hil s Antiques, 2110 ST HWY 237, ROUND TOP, $300,000 1910 E HWY 237, ROUND TOP: Antiques venue, 15+ AC, 5200 sf building w/6 overhead doors, fifth wheel trailer, 1 BD/1 BA camphouse, 12 RV hookups, customer bathroom facilities & storage building. 2 ACRES ON HWY 290 IN GIDDINGS: Great Commercial spot with high visibility. $300,000 7 COMMERCIAL ACRES, GIDDINGS: off Hwy 290 on Turner Lane. $210,000 PRAUSE MEAT MARKET: located on the square in La Grange, this 4th generation full service meat market and BBQ restaurant has been in operation since 1904 and stil going strong. The historic building is over 4000 sf and includes parking in the rear. Call for details. 475 E LAFAYETTE: 5 ACRES, COMMERCIAL PROPERTY: road frontage on 3 sides. New Price

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

★ 1824 E. State Hwy. 159, La Grange, TX 78945 ★ www.diggsrealestate.com ★ sales@diggsrealestate.com ★

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

EMPLOYMENT

SERVICES

FOUND

Construction workers needed for a wholesale company. Construction experience is preferred. Must be able to lift up to 50 lbs and work in changing conditions. If interested please apply at 1180 PR 2906 ,Giddings, TX (80-4p

IMMEDIATE OPENING for kennel help but will also be required to do outside maintenance work. This is a full time position. Must be able to work weekends and holidays. Apply in person to Welch Veterinary Hospital, 806 E.Lafayette, La Grange, TX 78945 (81-2c)

TOPSOIL, MUSHROOM compost, box blade & dump truck services. We build roads and house & barn pads. Tommy Price Trucking (979) 242-5203 or (979) 966-8158 (cell). (20-tfc)

WE DO septic pumping. Lee County Ace Hardware. (979) 542-2413. (14-wc)

HOMES. BUILDINGS. Remodels. Cabinets. Electrical. Concrete. Barns. Shops. Garage. Sheds. Living. Thomas Faldyn (979) 702-1486. (84-wc)

WE HAVE several sets of keys looking for their owners. You can come in to identify them at The Fayette County Record. (41-tfnc)

★ R E C YC L E ★

RV'S/MOBILE HOMES

NEED TACK welder able to travel twice a month out of state. Must have current driver license. Call (281) 787-1132 (81-1p)

PART- TIME SALES position available at Old World Antieks, La Grange, TX. We are looking to fill an immediate Retail/ Sales position, to work in a fast past environment. Call (832) 509-0022 for more information. (81-tfc)

Care Inn of La Grange

SHIMMERING WATERS Pool Service, Inc. is now hiring Full Time swimming pool service tech. No experience needed. Call (979) 743-3355 (81-tfc)

457 N. Main, Make a difference La Grange, TX 78945 in someone's life! If you’re motivated, caring and

hardworking come be apart CARE INN OF LA GRANGE of our team. is now accepting applications for:

CNA’s

FIXIN’ THINGS: Carpentry, painting, repairs, maintenance. Experienced, reliable, reasonable. (979) 247-4200. (73-tfc)(35-tfc)

10pm to 6am

Please stop $375 by to fill outon an Bonus application. Sign

457 N. Main,CMA La Grange 2pm to968-5865 10pm or Call (979)

If you would like to join our team of excellence apply in person M-F, 9am-4pm. EOE

ANTIQUE FURNITURE Restoration. Saving family heirlooms since 1979. Restore, Don't Replace. Free estimates. (361) 865-9326. (98-tfc)(17-tfc)

HOLLIE'S HOMEMAKING, let me help your home or business sparkle! General & deep cleaning available. Call (979) 530-3174 (61-tfc)(29-tfnc)

NOW HIRING: CDL drivers needed for quad-axle dump trucks in the Fayette County area.

NOW HIRING

G AND C Fences - Custom Barbed Wire and Fill Fence Work. Free Estimates. Call (979) 250-1594 (39-56p)

Preferably at least 25 years old, must have 2 years’ experience & clean driving record. Pay by the hour. Benefits after 90 days.

Permanent Part Time/Full Time Position Available NOW. Good Pay Different Shifts Apply in person ONLY

Please call Madi at (832) 600-0019.

WANT RESULTS? It all starts with a phone call

License No. M-16951 Plumbing 424 S. Main La Grange, Tx. 78945

979-968-3155

REAL ESTATE

JULIO'S LANDSCAPING - Mow, lawn maintenance, flower bed clean up, mulch, Tree Trimming & removal. Call (979) 451-9162 or (979) 203-7382 - Julio Mendoza (76-8p)

-TAYLOR PLUMBING-

CLASSIFIEDS DELIVER

Joel’s BBQ I-10 & FM 609 Flatonia, TX

979/968-6647

REAL ESTATE

FOR SALE

CLOCK REPAIR - Experienced clockmaker for all kinds of clocks. Free est., pick-up & delivery. (979) 249-4013. (91-tfc)

COMPUTER SERVICE - Round Top, La Grange. Anti-virus, troubleshooting. Your home or remotely. Call John, (832) 660-3856. (68-tfc)(38-tfc)

RNs, LVNs, CNAs 6am to 2pm, & 2pm to 10pm,

LIGHT DOZER & Fence Work. All types of fence. Fence clearing, brush work & clean up. Wallace Meiners, (979) 2495317. (87-wc)(57-wc)

REAL ESTATE

• Pier & Beam • Slabs • Senior Discounts • Lifetime Guarantee

Just Listed!

General Carpentry, Framing, Wood Fence, Porches, Trim, Siding, Leveling, Hardwood Flooring, Tile, Vinyl, Painting, Sheetrock and Concrete

“Free Estimates”

BERNINA 830 SEWING, embroidery & quilting machine. Used very little, $6,500. (979) 247-4098 (79-2wc)(83-1nc)

Daniel and Juan 979-702-8200 214-364-4743

Manuel’s

Landscaping Services

I DO It all!

Tree Trimming Lawn Mowing & WEed Eating Garden & Yard Work Fencing • Painting

& Much More!

Call me, manuel at

979-966-3035!

AUCTIONS

ROUND TOP, Marburger Lane—35.538 acres, part wooded, views, pond. 90356F $410,000 240 Augsburg, Carmine LA GRANGE, 106 Camp Lone Star Rd.—13.992 gorgeous Charming antique cottage , 3bd/1.5ba. Separate cozy acres with VIEWS! Wooded, bluffs, ravines. 3/2 house in guest house with 1/bd1ba. 9l056F $219,000 need of work. 90312F $815,000 ROUND TOP, 2111 Hwy 237—41 rolling acres, pond, part LA GRANGE, Bus.71 W—4.568 acres, mostly open, wooded, good road frontage. 90330F $649,000 ROUND TOP, 2336 Hwy 237—4/1.5 hse, 3000 s.f. pavilion commercial area. 86036F $470,000 NEW ULM, 333 Walnut St.—2/2 home, 1,644 sq.ft. on on 3.86 acres between Marburger Farm & The Comlarge lot in town.. 85209 $149,000 pound. 90550F $895,000 NEW ULM, FM 1094—95+ acres, rolling, pond, windmill & ROUND TOP, Krause Rd.—28.59 acres, rolling, good water well. 82347F $799,500 building sites.Revival/Neo-Classical 90066F $525,000 Greek home—5,600 sq.Marburger ft., 4/3Lane—21.25 and a 3rd ROUND TOP, ac, floor woods, elec. FAYETTEVILLE, 109 N Scott—3bd/2.5ba remodeled bonus room, formals, library/study, line kitchen updated with top-of-theon property. 85926F $275,000 house on .33 acre. 90039F 299,999 lineTOP, appliances, counters andincabinets in 2008. Original CARMINE, N Hinze—Two 5-acre long-leaf tracts, mostly pine open, ROUND Days End Lane—Lot 12, 4.19 acres floors, 12-ft. ceilings. Beautiful landscaping on corner lot. near Hwy 237. 82626F $107,500 each Round Top Oaks. 89531F $329,000 LA GRANGE, ByPass & Oakridge Rd.—1.623 ac, comTxLS #56484 HAR # 86894478 FAYETTEVILLE, Roznov Rd.—8.33 acres with a small$695,000 mercial location. 64926F $195,000 shed. Good building sites. 89939F $141,600 ROUND TOP, 149 Sadie Lane—4/3 farmhouse, 2,820 s.f., CARMINE, 301 Hauptstrasse—4/2 brick home on 1.25 acres in city limits. #79833F $169,000 high ceilings, wood floors. 89041F $799,000 SCHULENBURG, 7024 N US Hwy 77—Swiss Alp, historic FAYETTEVILLE, 109 N. Scott—3/2.5 remodeled house dance hall, 4/2 house, enclosed pool, & restaurant buildon .67acre. 89001F $340,000 ROUND TOP, 130 Sadie Ln.—3/2 farmhouse style home ing on 24+ac. 85935F $849,000 on 5+ wooded acres in a subdivision. 89002F $549,000 Improvements on 5 acres. 88049F $645,900 ROUND TOP, 2250 Hartfield—3/2.5 modern farmhouse, LEDBETTER, 2089 FM 180—3bd/2ba house, 2750 s.f. Barn w/4 stalls, 11.98 ac., pond. 88717F $359,000 1860’s log cabin on 4+ acres. 88993F $875,000 INDUSTRY, 8482 Bermuda—Historic 4/3.5 house on 1.7 ROUND TOP, 1238 Schmidt—Remodeled 3/2.5 farmhouse, guest house on 53 +/- acres with Cummins & acres. 88397F $299,000 CARMINE, U.S.Hwy 290 W—10.3 heavily wooded acres, Shaw Creek frontage. 88908F $1,675,000 NEW ULM, 315 Walnut—2,952 sq. ft. 2-story home, 3 bd/2 highway frontage. 87838F $134,000 full ba/2 half ba, formals, completely updated on large ROUND TOP, 7310 FM 954—28.83 ac, 3-story glass house, 4-ac. lake, guest hse., skeet range, game fencing. corner lot. 87829F $299,000 GIDDINGS, 1047 CR 229—4bd.5ba, 2 living area, game 83456F $4,800,000 room , pool on 1.31 ac lot. 84638F $399,000 ROUND TOP, 7831 Waldeck Cemetery Rd.—3bd/2ba hse, ROUND TOP, 3789 N. Nassau, 3/bd2.5ba completely garage, barn, 24.75 acres with a pond. 88244F $399,000 renovated farmhouse, woods floors, high ceilings on BELLVILLE, 4519 Glaeser Rd.—6,244 s.f. house, 4.75 acres. 89168F $725,000 4bd/4.5ba, guest house, barn on 40 acres with large CARMINE, 210 E U.S. Hwy 290—2bd/1ba garage apartpond, creek. 89665F $1,800,000 ment on .08 acre. 90275F $74,900 BURTON, Great Oaks Ranch, Tr. 7—10 ac, live oaks, BURTON, 5202 Grapevine Ln.— 76.003 acres, partially seasonal creek, & pond. 87456F $210,000 wooded, antique house and barns on the property. CARMINE, 825 Carmine Cemetery Rd.—4/2 house on 27 89931F $907,500 acres w/rental house , barn, pond. 86923F $850,000

Frede Home

CONTRACT

SOLD

Country Property—an investment to enjoy!

GOT A Car To Sell?

The RECORD CLASSIFIEDS can help! (979) 968-3155

AUCTIONS

Farm, Ranch, & Construction Equipment

Saturday, August 22

9 am

1036 S FM 331 Sealy, Texas

Accepting Consignments Now! Hauling Available! Call Today! 10% BP on Items $1000 or Less

979-885-2400 TXS #7342

www.switzerauction.net

LIVESTOCK / HAY

ESTATE SALES

FOR SALE - 2-3/8", 2-7/8", 4-1/2", & 5" pipe. Also sucker rods. (979) 966-3447. (11-tfc)

ESTATE/GARAGE SALE of Dr. James R. Ballinger

BULLS FOR Sale - Young Black Angus Bulls 9 to 17 months old. Full Blooded but not Registered. Also, Available 3 Black Brangus - Angus Cross Bred Bulls. Contact Joe 1(713) 253-2981 (81-8c)

405 West South St. Weimar, TX Sat., Aug. 15 - 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

HAY FOR Sale - large round bales of mixed native grass, some blue stem & coastal, Freyburg area, recent cutting. (979) 561-8220 (81-2wp)

979-335-4025

I PAY Top Dollar For USED Mobile Homes! Clear title or small payoff is ok. Must be '85 model or newer! Call Chris at 979-743-0551. (4-tfc)

EQUIPMENT AUCTION

BULLS FOR Sale - Black Angus and Black Limousin - Breeding ages, gentle, fertility tested & locally raised. Established breeder since 1975. (979) 263-5829

ADDITIONAL LISTINGS

SOLD

2015 - 37' WILDWOOD TRAVEL Trailer, 2BD, $30,000. (979) 966-8471 or (979) 249-6591 (57-tfnc)

HOME RESTORATION

NEW LISTING

ROUND TOP, 2161 Hartfield Rd.—3bd/2.5ba home on 10 acres. Also 1bd/1ba garage apartment over a 3-car garage. 91175F $729,000 ROUND TOP, 1419 S. Hwy 237—Bunk House retreat center, 3/2 house, barn on 39+ acres with a pond. 91121F $1,450,000 Fayetteville, 3316 Brushy Rd.—112 acres, woods, pastures, large pond & creek. 3bd/1.5ba restored farmhouse. 90794F $1,850,000

GOOD WOOD Pallets for sale - $2 each. You pick them out. (979) 2474592. (57-tfnc))

361.573.4301

(979) 249-5732 Your Country Connection (877) 249-5732 Email: rtre@cvctx.com RoundTopRealEstate.com

NEW LISTINGS

AIR COMPRESSORS in stock Ingersol-Rand. Also, Victor torches & Miller welders & supplies. See @ Electric Motor Service. 840 N. Jefferson, La Grange. (97-tfc)

HUGE SELECTION of new and used single wides and double wides in stock!! Our competitors hate our low prices! Come see the difference! Reliable Homes of Sealy * 390 Gebhardt Rd * 979-885-6767* RBI33813 (4-tfc)

(67-8wc)(83-6wc)

* Musical instruments (like-new 1966 Fender guitar and amplifier, antique German accordions, organs) * Numerous dental Items (antique and vintage dental cabinets, tools, etc.) * Medical equipment and supplies (electric hospital beds, walkers, wheelchairs, commodes, etc. * Furniture (many antique items) * Glassware and dishes * Household items * Wide variety of collectibles and vintage treasures

Something for everyone!!!

SERVICES Why “hassle” with your cleaning when “LMB” can clean for you?

We are a commercial and residential cleaning business.

“ We clean while you enjoy your coffee.” Mary A. Braxton LMB Cleaning Business (979) 702-9096

Cash Only - No Early Sales All Sales Final

GARAGE SALES SALE! ESTATE Liquidation. Boelsche House/Wildflowers Bed and BreakfastSat., August 15, 9-4, 8482 Bermuda Street, Industry. Air Conditioned. Antiques, Household goods. No clothing or children’s items (81-1c) MOVING SALE - Sat., Aug. 15, 8-2, 4846 Guettermann - Ehler Rd., Muldoon. Household items, storage cabinets, furniture, outside tables, clothes, baby girls clothes, weights and much more. (81-1p) GARAGE SALE - Sat., Aug. 15, 7-until, 124 S. Franklin - Iglesia Vida Abundante. Also selling PUPUSAS! (81-1c)

See Garage Sales, Page B5

SERVICES

MARESH DRILLING CO. Water Well Drilling, Pump & Well Repairs, Septic Systems Contact Dwayne Simper (361) 596-4845 or (cell) (361) 772-5652 Moulton

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

GARAGE SALES --Garage Sales--

Continued from Page B4 MULTI-FAMILY GARAGE Sale - Fri., Aug. 14 & Sat., Aug. 15, 8-3, 929 N. Horton. Lots of items including furniture. (80-2c) FAMILY GARAGE Sale - Fri., Aug. 14, 7-1 & Sat., Aug. 15, 7-noon, 4404 FM 155, La Grange. Lots of everything! (80-2p)

Subscribe Today!

LEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING AUGUST 24, 2015 at 9:00 A.M. FAYETTE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, ROOM 303 LA GRANGE, TEXAS Notice is hereby given that the Commissioners Court of Fayette County, Texas, at its meeting at the above-stated date, time, and location, will conduct a Public Hearing concerning adopting an appropriate speed limit for PRAIRIE VALLEY ROAD (Precinct 1) and issuing a traffic regulation concerning the speed limit. (81-1c) NOTICE TO DEBTORS AND CREDITORS OF THE ESTATE OF NELDA K, BARTON Notice is hereby given that original Letters Testamentary upon the Estate of Nelda K. Barton, Deceased, were granted to me, the undersigned, on the 5th day of August, 2015, in Probate Docket No. 12071, by the Probate Court of Fayette County, Texas. All persons indebted to said estate are hereby required to come forward and make settlement with me and all persons having claims against said estate are hereby required to present the same to me within the time prescribed by law. My post office address is as follows: 1241 East State Highway 237, Fayetteville, Texas 78940 where I receive my mail on this the 5th day of August, 2015. S/S Regina B. Keilers Regina B. Keilers, Independent Executrix of the Estate of Nelda K. Barton, Deceased (81-1c)

LEGAL NOTICES NOTICE

NOTICE TO OWNERS, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, OF CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF LA GRANGE, TEXAS, AS THE INTENT OF THE CITY OF LA GRANGE TO DEMOLISH OR REMOVE BUILDING ON SUCH PROPERTIES THAT HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO PRESENT AN IMMEDIATE DANGER OR INJURY TO THE PUBLIC IN THE ASSESSMENT OF THE COST THEREOF AGAINST THE OFFENDING PROPERTIES. Notice is hereby given by the City of La Grange, Texas, of its intent to demolish and remove buildings on certain real properties within the City that have been determined to present an immediate danger or injury to the occupants of the premises or to an adjoining property or persons or to the public. The City will demolish and remove such building or buildings, as the case may be, or cause the same to be done and charging the expenses incurred in doing such work or having the same done, to the owner of said property. If such work is done at the expense of the City, then such expense shall be assessed against any salvage resulting from the demolition of the building or buildings and against the lot, tract or parcel of land or to the premises upon which such expense was incurred. The enabling ordinance of the City of La Grange, Texas, providing for the action of demolition also provides that the City Council or the Building Inspector of the City shall file such statement of expenses incurred in the demolition or removal of the building, giving the amount of such expense, the date on which such work was done or improvements made, with the County Clerk of Fayette County, Texas, the City shall have a privilege lien on such lot, lots or other premises or real estate upon which said building was located to secure the expenditure so made, which said lien shall be second only to tax liens and liens for street improvements; and said amount shall bear 10% interest from the

La Grange ISD Student Open Houses All campuses will hold an Open House on Wednesday, August 19, 2015. PTO representatives will be available at the K-6 cafeteria on August 19 with membership forms to recruit parent volunteers. Health and transportation personnel will also be available with immunization and bussing information. Hermes/Intermediate School students in grades Pk-6 will pick up their schedules and school information in front of the LGISD Auditorium from 4 - 6 p.m. Gym C, behind the auditorium, will be used in inclement weather. Students will then go to their classrooms to meet their teachers. The La Grange Middle and High School Open House will be held on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 from 4 - 6 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to locate classrooms and pick up textbooks. Schedules and first day information for pre-registered and returning students will be mailed the week of August 10.

Campus

Hermes/Intermediate School, Grades PK-3 Hermes/Intermediate School, Grades 4-6 La Grange Middle School, Grades 7-8 La Grange High School,

Phone Principal

School Day

968-4100

Mrs. Stacy Eilers

8:05 - 3:20

968-4700

Mrs. Stacy Eilers

8:05 - 3:25

968-4747

Mr. Cliff Kinder

8:10 - 3:30

968-4800

Mr. John Pineda

8:20 - 3:20

La Grange ISD Student Registration Students new to La Grange ISD are asked to register with the school principal before school starts on Monday, August 24, 2015. Students not registered prior to August 24th will register on Tuesday, August 25, 2015. No student registration will be done on the first day of school, Monday, August 24, 2015. Students new to the district who have not previously registered are asked to bring their immunization record, Social Security card, birth certificate, report card/transcript from the last school they attended and proof of residency. The individual enrolling the student will need a photo ID. On the first day of school, students are to report to their homerooms, their first period class, or as instructed by Campus Administration. *Note School Day

(79-2wc)

LEGAL NOTICES

date such statement was filed. It is further provided that for any such expenditure and interest as aforesaid, suit may be instituted and recovered and foreclosure of said lien may be made in the name of the City; and the statement of expenses so made, as aforesaid, or a certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie proof of the amount expended for such work or expense. The buildings to be demolished and the properties upon which same are situated, also referred to by the owners thereof are as follows: Tom Est & Lottie Langreen and/or their heirs at law and their heirs, and any and all other persons including adverse claimants owing, having or claiming any legal or equitable interest in that part of Hwy 77 N Annex 4.112 acres, 2 houses (One no value) according to the W.H. Carson League, City of La Grange, Texas, and being the same land as described in that deed from E. T. Moore to Tom & Lottie Langreen, dated December 21, 1950 as recorded in Volume 247, Pages 293 & 294, Deed Records, Fayette County, Texas. The demolition and removal of buildings as contemplated by this notice shall commence on or after the expiration of thirty (30) days from August 11, 2015. Witness my hand by direction of the City Council and the Building Inspector of the City of La Grange, Texas on this the 11th day of August, 2015. (Seal) S/S Lisa Oltmann Lisa Oltmann City Secretary City of La Grange, Texas (81-1c) NOTICE NOTICE TO OWNERS, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, OF CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF LA GRANGE, TEXAS, IT IS THE INTENT OF THE CITY OF LA GRANGE, TEXAS, TO ABATE SUCH NUISANCE BY GRUBBING AND OTHERWISE REMOVING SUCH WEEDS, BRUSH, RUBBISH, DEBRIS OR OTHER OBJECTIONABLE, UNSIGHTLY OR UNSANITARY MATTER OF WHATEVER NATURE, AS THE CASE MAY BE, OR BY FILLING IN, DRAINING, LEVELING OR OTHERWISE REGULATING SUCH LOTS OR PARCELS OF REAL ESTATE SO AS TO PREVENT STAGNANT WATER STANDING THEREIN, ON SUCH PROPERTIES THAT HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO PRESENT AN IMMEDIATE DANGER OR INJURY TO THE PUBLIC AND THE ASSESSMENT OF THE COST THEREOF AGAINST THE OFFENDING PROPERTIES. Notice is hereby given by the City of La Grange, Texas, of its intent to abate such nuisance on certain real properties within the City that have been determined to present an immediate danger or injury to the owners of the property or to adjoining property or persons or to the public. The City will abate and remove such nuisance or nuisances, as the case may be, or cause the same to be done and charging the expenses incurred in doing such work or having the same done, to the owner of said property. If such work is done at the expense of the City, then such work shall be assessed against the lot, tract or parcel of land or to the premises upon which such expense was incurred.

LEGAL NOTICES

The enabling ordinance of the City of La Grange, Texas, providing for the action of abatement also provides that the City Council or the Building Inspector of the City shall file such statement of expenses incurred in the abatement or removal of such nuisance, giving the amount of such expense, the date on which such work was done or improvements made, with the County Clerk of Fayette County, Texas, the City shall have a privilege lien on such lot, lots or other premises or real estate upon which said nuisance was located to secure the expenditure so made, which said lien shall be second only to tax liens and liens for street improvements; and said amount shall bear 10% interest from the date such statement was filed. It is further provided that for any such expenditure and interest as aforesaid, suit may be instituted and recovered and foreclosure of said lien may be made in the name of the City; and the statement of expense so made, as aforesaid, or a certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie proof of the amount expended for such work or expense. The nuisances to be abated and the properties upon which same are situated, also referred to by the owners thereof are as follows: Sven & Lori Mesecke and/ or their heirs at law and their heirs, and any and all other persons including adverse claimants owing, having or claiming any legal or equitable interest in that part MOORE JOHN H (445) LOT 11-14 BLK6 .636 162 X 171 = 27,702 SFT, HSE according to the City of La Grange, Texas, and being the same land as described in that deed from DR THOMAS MUELLER to SVEN & LORI MESECKE dated SEPTEMBER 13, 2013, as recorded in

LEGAL NOTICES

Volume 1661, Page 960, Deed Records, Fayette County, Texas. Abatement and removal of nuisance as contemplated by this notice shall commence on or after the expiration of thirty (30) days from August 3, 2015. Witness my hand by direction of the City Council and the Building Inspector of the City of La Grange, Texas on this the 3rd day of August, 2015. (Seal) S/S Lisa Oltmann Lisa Oltmann City Secretary City of La Grange, Texas (80-2c) NOTICE NOTICE TO OWNERS, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, OF CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF LA GRANGE, TEXAS, IT IS THE INTENT OF THE CITY OF LA GRANGE, TEXAS, TO ABATE SUCH NUISANCE BY GRUBBING AND OTHERWISE REMOVING SUCH WEEDS, BRUSH, RUBBISH, DEBRIS OR OTHER OBJECTIONABLE, UNSIGHTLY OR UNSANITARY MATTER OF WHATEVER NATURE, AS THE CASE MAY BE, OR BY FILLING IN, DRAINING, LEVELING OR OTHERWISE REGULATING SUCH LOTS OR PARCELS OF REAL ESTATE SO AS TO PREVENT STAGNANT WATER STANDING THEREIN, ON SUCH PROPERTIES THAT HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO PRESENT AN

LEGAL NOTICES

IMMEDIATE DANGER OR INJURY TO THE PUBLIC AND THE ASSESSMENT OF THE COST THEREOF AGAINST THE OFFENDING PROPERTIES. Notice is hereby given by the City of La Grange, Texas, of its intent to abate such nuisance on certain real properties within the City that have been determined to present an immediate danger or injury to the owners of the property or to adjoining property or persons or to the public. The City will abate and remove such nuisance or nuisances, as the case may be, or cause the same to be done and charging the expenses incurred in doing such work or having the same done, to the owner of said property. If such work is done at the expense of the City, then such work shall be assessed against the lot, tract or parcel of land or to the premises upon which such expense was incurred. The enabling ordinance of the City of La Grange, Texas, providing for the action of abatement also provides that the City Council or the Building Inspector of the City shall file such statement of expenses incurred in the abatement or removal of such nuisance, giving the amount of such expense, the date on which such work was done or improvements made, with the County Clerk of Fayette County, Texas, the City shall have a privilege lien on such lot, lots or other premises or real estate upon which said nuisance was located to secure the expenditure so made, which said lien shall be second only to tax liens and liens for street improvements; and said amount shall bear 10% interest from the date such statement was filed. It

See Legals, Page B6

NOTICE OF 2015 TAX YEAR PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX RATE FOR CITY OF LA GRANGE A tax rate of $0.2157 per $100 valuation has been proposed for adoption by the governing body of City of La Grange. This rate exceeds the lower of the effective or rollback tax rate, and state law requires that two public hearings be held by the governing body before adopting the proposed tax rate. PROPOSED TAX RATE PRECEDING YEAR'S TAX RATE EFFECTIVE TAX RATE ROLLBACK TAX RATE

$0.2157 per $100 $0.2157 per $100 $0.2067 per $100 $0.2219 per $100

The effective tax rate is the total tax rate needed to raise the same amount of property tax revenue for City of La Grange from the same properties in both the 2014 tax year and the 2015 tax year. The rollback tax rate is the highest tax rate that City of La Grange may adopt before voters are entitled to petition for an election to limit the rate that may be approved to the rollback rate. YOUR TAXES OWED UNDER ANY OF THE ABOVE RATES CAN BE CALCULATED AS FOLLOWS: property tax amount= (rate) x (taxable value of your property)/100 For assistance or detailed information about tax calculations, please contact: Richard Moring, Chief Appraiser Fayette County Appraisal District 111 South College La Grange, TX 78945 979-968-8383 Inquires@fayettecad.org http://www.fayettecad.org You are urged to attend and express your views at the following public hearings on the proposed tax rate: First Hearing: August 24, 2015 at 6:00 pm at La Grange City Hall, 155 E Colorado, La Grange, TX. Second Hearing: September 14, 2015 at 6:00 pm at La Grange City Hall, 155 E Colorado, La Grange, TX

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

La Grange Police Get Calls of Animals Suffering in Hot Weather La Grange Police Chief Jackie Skelton reports on the following incidents his department responded to during Aug. 3-9. Alarm

Aug 6 - Patrolman Joseph Gates was dispatched to the 600 block of S. Jefferson in reference to an alarm. Gates spoke with employees upon arrival and all was o.k. Aug. 7 - Patrolman Brian Adams was dispatched to the 300 block of N. Jefferson in reference to a front door alarm. Adams found the door unsecured. The interior was checked and nothing appeared to be out of order. There was no evidence of forced entry. Dispatch was unable to contact the key holder to secure the location. Aug. 9 - Patrolman Adams was dispatched to the 200 block of Ellinger Road for a front door audible alarm. Doors were found to be secure. Animal Complaint

Aug. 7 - Sgt. Travis Anderson received a call from a complainant that advised she has numerous complaints of a white dog that is chained 24/7 in the 100 block of E. Milam. The dog has no shelter, food or water. The complainant went by the location this morning and found the dog chained with no water and was very thin. She would like to talk with animal control but has been unable to due to her work schedule. Anderson relayed the information to animal control. The complainant just wants the dog to have water and food. Aug. 9 - Adams was dispatched to the 1900 block of W. State Highway 71 Business in reference to a dog locked inside of a black pick up with the windows up. The truck was not running. Adams was unable to locate the vehicle. Accident

Aug. 5 - Sgt. Troy Stevens was dispatched to the 400 block of S. Monroe at the 300 block of

ries.

Civil Matter

By JAckie Skelton La Grange Police Chief

E. Walnut for a minor accident. A subject driving a 2005 tan Honda Pilot failed to yield the right of way at a yield sign and collided broad side into a subject driving a 2012 tan Toyota Camry. No injuries were reported. Aug. 6 - Gates responded to the 1200 block of E. Eblin for a three vehicle major accident. Two vehicles were towed due to damage and one person was transported to St. Mark’s Medical Center. Agency Assist

Aug. 6 - Stevens was dispatched to the intersection of E. Travis and Jackson for an officer involved collision. The officer was transported to the hospital. The accident was worked by DPS. Aug. 8 - Sgt. Steve Pohorelsky was dispatched to the 400 block of E. Travis and met with a complainant at HEB in reference to someone hitting her parked vehicle. A note was left on the windshield with a name and phone number. The complainant state she would call the telephone number. Aug. 9 - Pohorelsky received a call from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office in reference to a vehicle striking a pole in the HEB parking lot. Pohorelsky made the location and spoke to the party involved. The vehicle was towed due to damage. Aug. 9 - Patrolman David Mohr received a call of a major accident at intersection State Highway 71 North feeder and State Highway 159 with inju-

Continued from Page B5

Disturbance

Aug. 3 - Adams responded to the 400 block of S. Ellinger Road for a report of one male and two female subjects fighting in the front yard. All subjects were located and interviewed. The argument and fight started

Suspicious person/vehicle

Aug. 4 - Patrolman Justin Koehne was dispatched to the 800 block of N. Jefferson in reference to a suspicious vehicle parked in their parking lot. When Koehne arrived the complainant stated they thought the vehicle belongs to a customer. Koehne opened the door and found a bill and it did belong to a customer. The call was cleared. Aug. 5 - Anderson responded to the 400 block of E. Cedar in reference to a white male with curly blond hair who dropped a girl’s bike in the middle of the street and left it and took off walking. Aug. 5 - Adams responded to the 900 block of N. Horton where he had been advised two subjects had ducked off of the roadway and tried to hide when the newspaper deliveryman

Welfare Check

Aug. 7 - Adams was dispatched to the 1000 block of Sunset Lane where he was advised of a subject walking down the street yelling. The subject

was an MHMR patient and known to the officer. The subject was located and found to be o .k. Miscellaneous

Aug. 4 - Koehne was dispatched to the 1100 block of Carroll Lane where a complainant advised she smelled gas and had smoke inside her house. Koehne and the fire department checked the location. There was no sign of gas or smoke. Aug. 5 - Anderson responded to the 100 block of E. Colorado for a loud music call and upon arrival Anderson located the source of the loud music and had it turned down. The call was cleared. Aug. 6 - Anderson received a call of a water main break at the intersection of E. Walnut and S. Monroe. Anderson located the leak, which had caused a large sinkhole. Anderson contacted city services and remained on scene until their arrival. Aug. 7 - Adams responded to the 300 block of S. Franklin for loud music coming from a residence. He checked the area and the music had already been turned down prior to his arrival. Aug.7 - While out on a follow up in Country Way Village Investigator Gonzalo Anguiano was flagged down by a complainant in the 400 block of S. Main who wanted to report her missing black and white border collie. Anguiano contacted animal control and gave him the information. Aug. 8 - Adams responded to the 500 block of Cindy Lane in reference to several juveniles riding skateboards down Cindy Lane onto S. Ellinger Road. Adams checked the area and did not observe any activity. Aug. 8 - Pohorelsky responded to the 1900 block of W. State Highway 71 Business and met with a store manager in reference to an employee finding a bag of marijuana in the women’s restroom. The store manager flushed the substance with the officer witnessing. Aug. 9 - Pohorelsky received phone message from Fayette County Sheriff’s Office in reference to a complainant losing some money at a local business and wanted an officer to call him.

Fayette County Adoptable

Goldie, left, is a 2-year-old orange and white female manx. Burt, right, is a 7-year-old male boxer. To adopt any of these pets, or others: • Call the Gardenia E. Janssen Animal Shelter at 966-0021 Hours: • Visit the shelter at 240 Svoboda Lane and adopt animals on Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The shelter is closed on Monday. The animal shelter will not accept surrendered animals on Saturdays. CONTACT INFORMATION • Check the web site at www.janssenanimalshelter.org • Email: info@janssenanimalshelter.org • Niki Powell, Director - fcasnpowell@verizon.net The animal shelter is in need of puppy chow, kitten chow, dog and cat food, paper towels, candles, Pine Sol, and Lysol. All animals for adoption can be viewed online at petango.com.

Sponsored by:

E T T E CO AY

ST OF

Anonymous Donor

•

S/S Lisa Oltmann Lisa Oltmann City Secretary City of La Grange, Texas (80-2c)

Drunk & Disorderly

Aug. 8 - Adams was dispatched to the 1800 block of E. State Highway 71 Bypass in reference to a subject passed out in a vehicle. The subject was located and found to be intoxicated. The subject was arrested.

Harassment

Aug. 8 - Adams was dispatched to the 1900 block of W. State Highway 71 Business where a complainant advised she and another female engaged in a verbal altercation inside of Walmart. The second female was asked to leave by management. The individual stated before she left she threatened to be waiting across the street or near her house. This incident stems from issues arising from a previous altercation between the individual and the second subject’s son and daughter. The complainant was advised to cease all communication with the subject and if she came to her house to call the police. Adams located the other subject and advised her to stay away from the individual’s residence. The subject advised she knew the code and she wouldn’t go to her house but wouldn’t back down from the trouble either. Adams felt that nothing was accomplished with speaking with the second subject and warned her of criminal charges if activity did not cease.

went by. The subjects were located and identified. During the interview Adams became suspicious about answers to questions they were asked. Adams discovered a pill bottle containing a small amount of marijuana in the pocket of a subject as well as rolling papers. The subject advised he found the bottle on the street and didn’t know what was in it. The items were seized and the subject was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. Aug. 5 - Anderson received call in regards to a black male standing in the roadway in the 1200 block of W. State Highway 71 Business. Anderson located the male in the 500 block of W. Travis and the male was skateboarding on the shoulder of the roadway. The male was not intoxicated and stated he was on the shoulder because there are no sidewalks in place. The male was instructed to remain out of the roadway and the call was cleared. Aug. 6 - Gates was dispatched to the 200 block of N. Franklin to a survey crew on the train tracks. Gates spoke with city employees and the survey crew. They were surveying a busted city pipeline. Aug. 7 - Pohorelsky took a report from a walk in at the station where an individual came to the department to report finding a backpack lying by a vacant garage on their property. Pohorelsky wen to the location, found a blue backpack and plastic bag containing clean clothes. It appeared as if someone left the item their as if they were going to return and retrieve at a later time. The items were lying on the ground next to the vacant garage. Aug. 7 - Anderson was dispatched to the 71 Bypass and Hrbacek Street for an old green van driven by a black male driving up and down the street numerous times. Anderson was unable to locate the vehicle and spoke with the complainant who stated it drove off just before he arrived.

Rotary Holds Program on Youth in Civics

TY •

Witness my hand by direction of the City Council and the Building Inspector of the City of La Grange, Texas on this the 3rd day of August, 2015. (Seal)

Criminal Mischief

Aug. 6 - Gates received a a complaint from an individual who advised her back window was shattered sometime the previous evening.

because of a child custody matter. There was conflicting information received from all parties involved. No injuries were observed and no one involved wanted to file charges. Parties separated and advised not to return to each other’s residences. Advised to obtain proper custody paper work for children.

Reprinting to correct an error in names ...

Abatement and removal of nuisance as contemplated by this notice shall commence on or after the expiration of thirty (30) days from August 03, 2015.

Aug. 5 - Patrolman Jeff Schultz received call from a complainant about a custody matter between herself and her ex-husband. Schultz talked with her ex-husband via phone and advised him that the child is safe and with a friend. Schultz advised both parents that if they were unhappy with the custody arrangements to take the matter to court. Aug. 4 - Pohorelsky received a call from the Fayette County Sheriff’s office in reference to a civil matter in the 600 block of E. Pearl. Aug. 7 - Adams was dispatched to the 1500 block of N. Jefferson for a child custody transfer decreed by court documents. The complainant advised the child was not going to be at the location and realized it was a civil matter but requested the police document the incident.

Adopt Me

--LEGALS--

James C Jr/Pearline Jackson Est and/or their heirs at law and their heirs, and any and all other persons including adverse claimants owing, having or claiming any legal or equitable interest in that part MOORE FARM BLOCKS (446) BLK 29 05863 113 x 226 = 25,538 SFT, HSE, C/PORT, STGS according to the City of La Grange, Texas, and being the same land as described in that deed from M G SHERMACK to JAMES C JR/PEARLINE JACKSON EST dated OCT 18, 1925, as recorded in Volume 130, Page 411 & 412, Deed Records, Fayette County, Texas.

Aug. 7 - Anderson and Pohorelsky received call from a complainant in reference to her vehicle being broken into. The complainant advised that someone went into the trunk of her vehicle and took several items.

Police Report

LEGAL NOTICES filed. It is further provided that for any such expenditure and interest as aforesaid, suit may be instituted and recovered and foreclosure of said lien may be made in the name of the City; and the statement of expense so made, as aforesaid, or a certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie proof of the amount expended for such work or expense. The nuisances to be abated and the properties upon which same are situated, also referred to by the owners thereof are as follows:

Motor Vehicle Break In

Voted Best swimming Pool serVice in Fayette county by the Readers of the Fayette County Record!

The importance of getting young people involved in civic life was the focus of the La Grange Rotary Club’s program July 28. Speakers included, from left, Loretta Brugger of the American Legion Auxiliary, sponsor of the Texas Bluebonnet Girls State program; Mayor Janet Moerbe; and Alyssa Vaclavik, who Rotary sponsored as a delegate to this year’s Girls State. With them is Rotary president Stacey Norris. The club meets at noon each Wednesday at the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center. Guests are welcome.

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

Is There Something You Want?

Rotary Club Contributes to Backpack Program

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The Rotary Club of La Grange contributed over $1,300 to the Church of Christ’s Backpack Program. In addition to the monetary donations, assorted back-to-school items were collected by local Rotarians along with a donation of bottled water made by Ozarka. On hand to accept the donations was Pastor Scott Elliott.

979.366.2500 | 2156 CR 217 | Giddings, Texas 78942

Sunday-Friday 10 am - Midnight; Saturday 10 am - 1 am HAPPY HOUR DAILY • 3 PM - 7 PM

UNDERFIRE BAND Will Be Performing

FRIDAY, Aug. 14TH Beginning @ 8:30 p.m.

Scott Bonasso and Darrell Parrish

Free Jazz Concert Aug. 15 Texas Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (TEAFCS) held their annual state conference in Brenham on July 28-31. Sally Garrett and Jenifer Boening represented Fayette County at the conference.

Texas Extension Conference Held in Brenham July 28-31 The Texas Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (TEAFCS) held their annual state conference in Brenham on July 28-31. TEAFCS is an organization that provides professional development opportunities for its members who are in Extension Education. The conference recognizes achievements of members, encourages research and participates in public policy education. TEAFCS is a member of the National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences – NEAFCS. The conference was hosted this year by District 11 TEAFCS which is comprised of the following counties and agents: Kirsten Corda (Aransas), Michelle Allen (Austin), Leticia Guerrero (Bee), Tina Trevino (Calhoun), Janis Pfeffer (Colorado), Denise Goebel (DeWitt), Sally Garrett (Fayette), Jenifer Boening, program assistant (Fayette), Hannah Glaeser (Jackson), Meagan Dennison (Karnes), Gayle Bludau (Lavaca), Chinatu Gladrich (Matagorda), Norma Davila (Nueces), Yvette Jacinto (Nueces), Stephanie Salinas (Nueces), Kathy Farrow (San Patricio), Erika Bochat (Victoria), Tanya McGonagill (Washington), Mary Sanders (Washington),

and Bethany Jackson (Wharton). Donnie Montemayor serves as the District 11 Extension Administrator and Advisor. Dr. Elaine Fries serves as the Regional Program Leader and Advisor. The conference took place at the Washington County Fairgrounds and Blinn Junior College Student Center. Members were able to tour several places in the area including: Windy Winery, Del Sol Foods-Maker of Briannas Fine Salad Dressing, Festival Hill Herb Gardens at Round Top & Junk Gypsy, Bluebonnet Electric Eco Home, and Ace Hardware Store. One of the sessions centered on the 4-H Clothing & Textile. Participants went on a scavenger hunt to find an outfit under $25. They found their outfits by going to Higgins Branch Resale Shop, Brazos Valley Hospice Boutique, and Forever Young Resale Shop. Members enjoyed vendors in the area during the Taste of Texas Hospitality. They were also able to enjoy dinning at the Ant Street Inn. All meals were catered by Design II. Refreshments were provided by TEEA-Washington County, TEEA-Austin County, TEEA-

Fayette County, TEEA-Calhoun County, Austin County Grape Growers Association, Texas Independence Wine Trail, Double D Wine, Chappell Hill Chocolates, Lazy Bee Honey Company, Mike Hopkins Distributing, and Stykly Texas Cheese, Inc. Other sponsors included: Dairy Max, Fuel Up to Play 60, V.G. Young Institute of County Government, Ag Workers Insurance, Le Petite Gourmet Shoppe, Texas Beef Council, Brentex Mills, Texas Rural Leadership Program, A Special Stitch, Books Are Fun, Discount Trees of Brenham, Juice Plus, Learning ZoneXpress, Ryan’s Flowers on Main, Partner’s for Parenting – Fayette County, Washington County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Pampered Chef, Food and Health Communications, Inc., NASCO Family & Consumer Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – 4-H Military, Tupperware, “Just for You” – Designs by Estella, Quanna Gourmet, LLC, Bonnie Hoffmann, Ginger B’s of Cuero, Janice Ohrt, Lydia Fenley, Sue Doehrman, and Multi-County New Landowners Educational Program of Austin, Colorado, Fayette and Washington Counties.

Record Goes to the Grand Canyon

Jean McHenry and daughter Allison traveled to the Grand Canyon with the Record to celebrate Jean’s 80th birthday and her 25th anniversary as organist at the First Presbyterian Church in La Grange.

The St. John’s Jazz Trio will be performing a free concert at First Presbyterian Church in La Grange Donald Doucet on Saturday, Aug 15. The concert will be in the church’s Fellowship Hall and will begin at 6:30 p.m. The trio will also be a major part of the worship service at First Presbyterian Church on Aug. 16. The worship service begins at 10:30 a.m. The trio, Scott Bonasso, Darrell Parrish and Donald Doucet, are all on the faculty of the St. John’s School located in the River Oaks section of Houston. This concert is the first in what is scheduled to be an annual musical event made possible by the Linda Smalley Memorial Concert Series fund. There will be a simple reception following the performance to give you a chance to speak with the artists. First Presbyterian Church is located at 205 South Franklin Street. Call (979) 968-9424 for more informaiton.

Ladies Night - Wednesdays Only

979.366.2500 | 2156 CR 217 | Giddings, Texas 78942

Happy Hour prices all nigHt long for tHe ladies including wine by tHe glass!

Join us for Lunch or Dinner! grill open daily 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. daily luncH specials 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. www.bullpenbargiddings.com

Sat., August 15

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9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Rain or Shine

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COMFORTABLE SHOPPING Mix of indoor, covered pavilion and tree-lined shopping Wood, metal, and glass art  Specialty food items Barbecue tools and knives  Live plants Furniture and home décor  Jewelry and purses

Hallettsville K of C Hall  321 Us HWY 77 soUtH WWW.HallettsvilleMarKetDaYs.CoM

Good food and fast service at great prices! Reservations Not Needed.

361-865-3099

1241 Hwy. 95 North • Flatonia, Texas

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

‘Much Ado About Nothing’ Performances Next Weekend Shakespeare at Winedale Shakespeare at Winedale is proud to host two special performances by 39 members of the Shakespeare classes (from 1970 until 2000) who will return for these performances on Friday, Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Winedale Theatre Barn for Much Ado About Nothing and on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 3 p.m. for a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Friday’s performance will be at the Winedale Theatre Barn and tickets are $10 at the door. Saturday’s performance will be at Henkel Hall in Round Top and tickets are $25 at the door. These former students will be traveling from across the U.S. and even overseas and represent an extraordinary range of professions: doctors, lawyers, educators, journalists, tech gurus, even an Oscar-winning film producer. For reservations email jayres@cvctx.com. Round Top Family Library The Round Top Family Library is open for business with their “Every Hero Has A Story” summer program to keep the kiddos reading and entertained. The FYI programs continue and the library has scheduled another great event: “The Amazing World of Birds” presented by Betsy Harwood. She returns with great stories, facts and fascinating bird lore. Join her on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. Admission is free. Adult programs include Yoga every Monday at the Education Building at Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 5:30 p.m. The Round Top Family Library’s automation system requires patrons to update and renew their membership. Drop in to update your file. When you are there, check out the new selections in books and DVDs. Remember that the

Round Top News

By JEANETTE BURGER

Round Top News Correspondent

Round Top Family Library has WiFi available to everyone 24 hours a day and that we have ebooks and other library materials also available free to everyone. Library hours are Monday through Saturday from 1:30 to5:30 p.m. For more information, please call (979) 249-2700 or visit www.ilovetoread.org or email Barbara@ilovetoread. org. Festival Hill in Round Top The 2015 Summer session of Festival Hill at Round top has ended another successful concert season and from all indications it was a banner year! But the music and events continue with their August-to-April series with a concert scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22 “Split Second Piano Duo” with works by Poulenc, Sierra, Ziegler, Schubert, Thomson and Gershwin. Performing on piano are Roberto Hidalgo and Marc Peloguin. Tickets are $25 for adults and students/children $10. Lunch will be available for an additional charge at 12:45 p.m. prior to the concert by reservation only. For more information on this program or on any programs at Festival Hill contact them at (979) 249-3129 or at www.festivalhill.org. Winedale Preservation Gala It’s a busy weekend for Windale as they host the “Friends of Winedale-Preserving Miss Ima’s

Dream” Gala as they honor the 50th anniversary of the gift of Winedale to the University of Texas. Friends of Winedale are dedicated to the preservation, restoration and maintenance of Winedale’s historic properties, collections, buildings and grounds. This is a non-profit organization that would appreciate your participation as we celebrate with cocktails, dinner and live and silent auction for our fundraising. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 22 at Henkel Hall at 6 p.m. For reservations and information contact them at (979) 278-3530. Bybee Square Round Top Things are changing at Bybee Square in Round Top. With the recent sale of this property, businesses are playing musical chairs. Wild Women Wise Women is moving to the charming, historic building just two doors down from its old location. Cache Chic opens on Sept. 3 in the blue building facing The Gallery. Cache Chic offers a store full of delightful items. Sandy Reed Country Properties has a new home in Bybee Square. Her real estate office will occupy the west corner building of Bybee Square. For the most part, the rest of the other businesses will remain the same. Round Top C of C The Round Top Chamber of Commerce is your source for all events that are happening in Round Top and the surrounding area. Go to www.roundtop.org and take a peek at the events calendar to see what entertainment you wish to participate in this weekend. Junk Gypsies are premiering their third season on Great American Country on Friday nights at 9 p.m. Catch these local favorites if you can. Every second Saturday and

Sunday of the month The Lone Star Gallery in Warrenton has the Trade Days offering bargains, antiques and treasures. Admission and parking is free; indoor air condition shopping. Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Karen Vernon from The Gallery in Round Top is hosting a painting workshop for everyone from beginners to intermediate level to join in the classes being offered now until October 26. Classes are $50 per week and if you do not have your own supplies then supplies will be provided for a $12 additional charge. Register by calling (979) 249-4119. If you like to surround yourself with truly creative people, consider volunteering for Unity Theatre as they host their Volunteer Open House day on Tuesday, Aug. 25 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Unity Theatre in Brenham. The staff will discuss various openings for volunteers including ushers, concession workers, receptionists, stitching and costuming, carpenters, set builders, painters or publicity distributors. This informal gathering will introduce you to Unity Theatre and where you may fit in this organization. For more information contact them at (979) 830-1460. Round Top Historical Society The Round Top Area Historical Society encourages everyone to take a look at their updated website at www.rtahs.com to view interesting articles and upcoming events. The pavilion is available for your next gathering whether it is a party, family reunion, meeting, celebration, etc. Call (979) 2495850 for more information. August Lunch Bunch Lunch bunch will be held on Monday, Aug. 24 at noon at the Menking building at Fes-

tival Hill in Round Top. Directions will be sent out by email. As usual bring a dish to share and spend a relaxed lunch with friends. Round Top Carmine Schools The Round Top-Carmine students are off for summer break until school resumes again on Aug. 24. Kindergarten Round-up is for all kids that will be in Kindergarten for August 2015. Contact the elementary campus at (979) 249-3200 for information about registering your child. Sons of Hermann No. 151 Next meeting for the Sons of Hermann Lodge No.151 is set for Thursday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. The committee will serve a hot meal and members are requested to bring a dessert item. Round Top Town Council The next meeting of the Round Top Town Council will be held Monday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 a.m. at the Round Top Court House. The Architectural Review Board meeting will be held on Monday, Aug. 17 at 5:30 p.m. also at the court house. Regular hours for town office are Tuesday-Thursday from 1-5 p.m. The Round Top Town office homepage address is www. townofroundtoptexas.org and the email address is info@ townofroundtoptexas.org. Bethlehem Lutheran Church Historic Bethlehem Lutheran Church will be celebrating their 150th anniversary in 2016. Services are now 9:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings with Rev. John David Nedbalek. We invite you to come and find bargains galore at their garage sale at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Shelby at 6814 Skull Creek Rd inside the education building on Friday, Aug. 14 and Saturday, Aug. 15 from 7:30

a.m. to 2 p.m. The annual convention of the Texas Louisiana Gulf Coast Women of the ELCA will be at St. Paul Lutheran Church in La Grange on Sept 19. Since a registration form is required for each participant it will be publish in the next church newsletter. Anyone planning to attend can send in their own registration fee and registration form. Cathy Gau will be in charge of the silent auction items. Each person attending will be asked to bring items for the Lutheran World Relief Personal Care Kits. Visit http://twr.org/personalcarekits for a list of items to be included. Ruth Circle Bible Study is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on the first Thursday of the month. Sewing Circle is scheduled for the second Tuesday of the month at 9 a.m. RT Christian Fellowship Rev. Matthew Diehl is the pastor. Sunday School begins at 9 a.m. with Sunday worship following at10:30 a.m. Monday Morning Men’s Breakfast is 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. Concord Baptist Church Rev. Herbert Shelby is the pastor. Sunday Worship begins at 11:30 a.m. every second Sunday of the month. August Birthdays August birthday celebrants include: Aug. 8-Jean Raymond; 14-Emil Sodolack; 15-LaDonna Neumann; 17-Cindy Gregor; 21-Gesine Koether. August Anniversaries August anniversary celebrants include: August 18-Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Levien, Jr.; 19-Mr. and Mrs. Chad Tiemann. Have News? Send any news or notices you wish to have announced in the Round Top News column to Jeannette Burger at jburger@ cvctx.com or call (979) 2493977.

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The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

Ron and Cyndy Zoch Report on Mission Trip Report on Poland Trip Ron and Cyndy Zoch traveled from Frankfurt, Germany to Poland in July with another Lutheran Church Missouri Synod team from California. This team was made up of 12 people, 10 students under the age of 20 and two sponsors. Both groups spent the first three days in Poland undergoing training on the Polish language, culture, religion, etc. After training was complete, one group left for camps about 60 miles south and the other group of four stayed in Glicice to lead a camp at a Lutheran school associated with the church that was hosting them. For five days they taught approximately 20 children, between ages of 4 and 10, stories of the Bible, including David and Goliath, Solomon, Sharach, Meschach and Abednago and the fiery furnace; and Jesus the Good Shepherd. They also did crafts and played and taught them some English. If anyone would like to learn more about the trip, Ron and Cyndy will be doing a slide presentation on Sunday, Aug. 23 during Bible Class. Holy Cross Lutheran Church Worship Service begins at 9 a.m. each Sunday. Holy Communion is held every first and third Sunday of the month. Bible Class and Sunday School begin at 10:15 a.m. Rev. Dennis Tegtmeier is the Pastor. The Holy Cross website is www.holycrosswarda.com. Video, DVD, and audio tapes are available from the church office. Men’s Club Family Night The Holy Cross Men’s Club will hold their bi-monthly meeting and family night Sunday, Aug. 16 at 5 p.m. Promotion Sunday Promotion for the Holy Cross Sunday School youngsters has been set for Sunday, Aug. 23. All Sunday School children are asked to be present

Warda News

By Gladys Giese

Warda News Correspondent

to be recognized for their participation during the past year. School Supplies Collection The Holy Cross Ladies Aid has completed their School Supplies collection. Packing and getting ready for distribution was scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 11. Bible Study Group The Bible Study Group is continuing their study on parables through the summer on Wednesday evenings. The group meets every Wednesday in the new library at 6:30 p.m. New members are welcome any time. Game Days All seniors, spouses, and friends (members and nonmembers) are invited to attend the Senior Citizens Game Days, every first and third Tuesday of the month. Game time 2-5 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Sewing Circle The Sewing Circles meets every Thursday from 9 a.m.noon in the old Parish Hall to sew, cut and tie quilts for Lutheran World Relief. No experience is necessary and you do not need to be a member of Holy Cross to help. Come join the group for fun, fellowship and service to the Lord. Refreshments are always available. The Sewing Circle is no longer in need of sheets and fabric at this time. They appreciate all the donations that have come in to keep them busy for a good while. Save Your Stamps The Holy Cross Ladies asks everyone to help them save the

cancelled postage stamps that come on your daily mail. These stamps are sold to collectors with the proceeds going to Project Comfort to help pay for the shipping of items for Lutheran World Relief. There is a box in the Narthex or can be brought to the church office. With post cards the buyer will buy the whole postcard. Please do not remove stamps from postcards. Amen Food Pantry The Amen Food Pantry in La Grange is always in need of canned vegetables, canned meat products and dry staples. Items can be placed in the gray basket in the hallway of Holy Cross Lutheran Church. Your donations are helpful at any time. Recycle Trailer A recycle trailer is based at Gnipp’s Storage Units, for the convenience of the residents of the Warda area. Collecting Cans The Warda 4-H Club is currently collecting aluminum cans as a fund raiser. Individuals are welcome to drop off bags of cans in the can cage behind the Holy Cross Picnic Grounds. Prayer Request Among those currently on the prayer list are: Arnold Kasper, Clarence (Champ) Richter, Billy and JoAnn Lang, Helen Pietsch, Nellie McBride, Lorine Bamsch, Dee Tegtmeier, Lisa Brugger, Judy Wagner, Roy Lehmann, Carol Walther, Helen Kaiser, Karen Schubert, Ruby Bohot, Bernell Teinert, Jeanette Schramm, Brent Hill, John and Mary Fenzlein, George and Eunice Dunk, Ted Tonn, Kenneth and Diane Moore, Adeline Pietsch, Collin Pietsch, Jimmy Zoch. The following are relatives and/or friends of Holy Cross members: Brady Scott Jurk, Arline Watson, Bernice Guettler, Ron and Victoria Tegtmeier, Ernest Kirschke, Peggy Noles, Jessica Pietsch, Charles Pohorelsky and Charles Schmidt.

Betty Wolfram request prayers for her two sisters and sister-inlaw in California who are suffering form various forms of serious illnesses. August Birthdays Upcoming August birthdays include: Casey Van Hale15; Ralph Bamsch, Dennis Pietsch, Cyndy Zoch-16; Janet Schramm, Amber Schulze, Jim Matheson-18; Karen Roberts-20, Franklin Walther-21. College Graduate Kelsey Weishuhn graduated with honors from Texas A&M university in College Station on May 15. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a major in Animal Science and a minor in Business. Kelsey is the daughter of David and Ingrid Weishuhn. Personals J.C. and Wilma Kaiser enjoyed a visit from their granddaughter, Jennifer McCormick and great-grandchildren, Victory, Thorn and Seren of Pearland last week Monday. They enjoyed visiting with other relatives in the area. On Sunday, Aug. 9, the Kaisers traveled to Georgetown where they enjoyed lunch with their friends, Brad and Linda McClain. In the evening they attended a meeting and ice cream social with members of the Antique Auto Club. Visiting with Mildred Lorenz on Saturday of last weekend were granddaughter, Kimberly and Mike Stockton, Kate, Reese and Bailey of Tomball. Spending the weekend with Carolyn Lehmann were daughter, Rhonda and Dennis Iselt of Katy. John Kaiser and Dawn Vandekamp of Houston spent the weekend with their mother Helen Kaiser. Robin Wedgeworth spent Thursday through Saturday morning in Houston visiting with daughter. Lesley Svreck, Rile and Brisa and Miranda Blackmon.

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B10

The Fayette County Record, Friday, August 14, 2015

Drug Bust at Flatonia Grumpy’s By H.H. HOWZE

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The Fayette County Record

They say a new broom sweeps clean and that seems to have been the case when new management at Grumpy’s Motor Inn in Flatonia alerted local police to suspicious activity by a resident last weekend. The manager, on the job about a month, called the cops after a housekeeper saw drugs in plain sight in a customer’s room last weekend. Police chief Mike Noak told the city council Thursday that after the call “we constructed a plan to send in one of our part time officers undercover to attempt to make physical contact with the individual.” Noak said the undercover effort was successful about 12:20 a.m. on Sunday, August 2. Once in the suspect’s room, the officer observed, “what appeared to be marijuana, ICE(meth) and a sizable amount of pills in open view,” the chief said. Flatonia officers moved in and arrested Joey Perez III and seized the drugs and what the suspect admitted was money from previous transactions. “Officers involved in this rather quick response to illegal drug activity were Cpl. Liz Krieg, Reserve Sgt. Fred Salas and myself,” Noak reported. He also gave recognition to the new management at Grumpy’s for their assistance.

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Continued from B1 harm the root systems of that main stalk bearing the ears of corn. This was one tedious job for us kids. There were hundreds and hundreds of suckers to be cut on each row and there were hundreds of rows. The corn was taller than us kids and as we slowly made our way from end to end we had to bend down each time we cut. No need to go to a gym in those days to “work out”. We also had to wear long sleeve shirts cause the long leaves on the corn had a cutting effect on the skin as they dragged by. But our face and neck still felt the “paper cut” effect! Dad also didn’t care for all that extra grass growing in the furrow. So he harnessed up the mule and had my older brother George, plow the furrows. I was too young to handle a mule yet so George, being five years older, had to do this all alone. As I mentioned, walking along these corn stalks all day would cut one’s skin to ribbons so George had to wear long sleeved shirts and gloves on his hands. To protect his face dad made him wear a bee keeper’s head mask. This was a cylinder-like hat placed over his head that draped to the shoulders. There was only a 2x2 inch opening to look thru and this was covered by a screen wire. I was surprised to see he didn’t spook that mule cause he looked like some alien from Mars in that get up. It was in the hot summer time and I am sure he wasn’t too comfortable wearing all of that equipment and trying to hold that plow straight. Florian Kana writes occasional columns about his memories of growing up in Fayette County. You can contact him at ckana@cvctx.com

Correction In the special section “Veterand Voices” included in today’s newspaper an incorrect subheadline was placed on the story about Arnold (Spike) Kramr on Page 53. He was in the U.S. Navy, not the U.S. Army. His Naval service was correctly detailed in his story.

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Former U.S. President Harry S. Truman wrote, “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” He was describing Fayette County’s World War II veterans. As we mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, we remember the hundreds and hundreds of locals who defended our country on the battlefront or behind the lines. Each did his or her part in helping to win the war and preserve the freedom we take for granted today. This publication features 40 firsthand accounts of men with Fayette County ties whose experiences are representative of the much larger group of veterans from this area. It is an honor to have been entrusted to retell their stories of faith, courage, endurance and resilience. The wives of the

2 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

veterans whom I met offered wonderful encouragement and assistance. In addition, the following family members and friends couldn’t have been more helpful: Bob Roberts, Joe Gajdos, Daniel Vyvjala, Otto and Helen Steinhauser, Judy Pate, Robert Heinrich, Florence Farek, Darlene Quiring, Ralph Hackemack, Linda Ephraim Dalchau, Gregg Pennington, Linda Giese Oltmann, Vi and Dan Mueller, Rox Ann Johnson, Liz Treybig, Lestell Villanueva, Viola Weiss, Dick and Jerri Frenzel, Judge Ed Janecka, Carolyn Lehmann, Kathy Kitchen, Kathy and Charles Weishuhn, Marcy Heller Huntsinger, Joe and Joyce Hanzelka, Marie Watts, Carolyn Heinsohn, Bobbie Nash, Theresa Mazoch Phinney, Darlene Bramblett, Daniel Muras, Susan and George Frondorf, Polly Cisneros, Starr Shillington, Connie Reiss Petty, Joseph Muras Jr., Charlene Meinen, Lee and Phyllis Fritsch, Mike Maxwell, Rick

Veterans’ Voices

Knape, Chuck Mazoch and Betty Sacks. Thank you. If I have left anyone out, I apologize for the oversight. My sincere appreciation to the entire staff of The Fayette County Record, especially Publisher Regina Keilers, Editor Jeff Wick and Advertising Coordinator Bobby Bedient, as well as the paper’s advertisers. Also, thank you to two terrific listeners: my husband, Emil, who worked wonders on old photos, and my sister, Shirley, who proofread every story. The Fayette County World War II veterans to whom I have spoken are very modest. Looking back on their service, they shrug their shoulders, smile and say they only did what they were expected to do. I consider them my personal heroes. Please join me in telling all our veterans, “Thank you for your service.” -Elaine Thomas

The Fayette County Record

* Veterans Listed in Alphabetical Order Joe Bargas, Holman.................................66 Bennie Beale, Flatonia............................67 Frank Brauner, La Grange......................70 Bob Clements, Warda.............................16 Lonnie Daniels, La Grange.....................52 James Ephraim, Winchester....................4 Dr. E.L. Fitzpatrick, La Grange..............48 Cleve Friddell, Fayetteville.....................18 Otto Fuchs, Carmine...............................68 Richard Gabler, High Hill.......................34 Pete Glaiser, La Grange.........................30 Joe Hild, La Grange.................................20 Joe Hlavinka, La Grange.........................26 Eugene Hollas, Schulenburg...................42 Eddie Hulsey, Flatonia............................13 Elton Jochen, La Grange.........................14 Edward Jurek, Flatonia.............................9 John Kobersky, Holman..........................56 Milton Koenning, Winchester................24 Arnold Kramr, Fayetteville.....................58

Alvin Langhamer, Schulenburg............40 Charlie Mazoch, Ammannsville............59 Tom McLean, O’Quinn...........................28 Leland Miller, Fayetteville......................25 Gene Muzny, Plum.................................62 Walter Noll, Fayetteville..........................32 Warren Pennington, La Grange..............8 Leon Reeder, La Grange........................10 Henry Reiss, West Point..........................67 Charlie Ripper, La Grange......................6 Laddie Ripple, Fayetteville......................54 Elvas Roensch, La Grange.....................60 Dennis Rudloff, Fayetteville....................46 Frank Stastny, Fayetteville......................44 Victor Sternadel, Round Top..................50 Edgar Tiedt, Swiss Alp...........................12 Clarence Weishuhn, La Grange............64 Roy Wilks, Flatonia.................................22 Ted Wolfram, La Grange........................36 Alford Zoch, Winchester.........................38

On the cover: Center, Roy Wilks’ Army buddies; Clockwise from top right: Victor Sternadel, Otto Fuchs driving tank, Edgar Tiedt and buddy, John and Hazel Kobersky, Alford Zoch in back of trio.

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Veterans’ Voices

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I’m looking at the winch I made to load 300 and 500-pound bombs four at a time and 1,000- pound bombs two at a time. The 2,000-pound bombs had to be unloaded one at a time.

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, I was going on a hunting trip to South Texas with my uncle, Monroe Harris, and some other men, when we heard the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. After President Roosevelt declared war, I knew I would eventually be called up, so I didn’t tell anyone at home, but went to La Grange and volunteered. I figured that way I would have a better chance of picking where I would serve. I didn’t want to be “cannon fodder” on the front lines. I’ve heard it said that it took 10 men behind the lines to put one man on the front line. I was inducted at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio on January 12, 1942, and trained at Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; Alamogordo, New Mexico; and Richmond, Virginia. After basic training, I was assigned to the 283rd Army Air Corps and we shipped out of New York on an American vessel. I was 20 years old.

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I was assigned to the ordnance department at a 100-acre bomb dump in Shipdham, Norfolk, England, where I was responsible for bombs and ammunition used by American heavy bombers such as the B17s and B24 Liberators stationed nearby. A B17 had a capacity of 5,000 pounds of bombs and the B24 could carry up to 8,000 pounds. That’s a lot of bombs when missions were being flown constantly. There were 65 planes to four squadrons. I remember once counting more than 800 B17s and B24s flying over our barracks returning from a single mission. Our work involved lots of lifting. The bombs and ammunition would arrive on convoys of 125 to 150 trucks that needed to be unloaded right away. We would stack the bombs and then other ordnance crews would load the bombers. Each man in our 36-member crew could stack 300-pound See Ephraim, next page

I was born in 1921 and attended Winchester Public School until the 10th grade when the principal and coach from Smithville recruited me to play football there. I’d never played football in my life, but I was a husky farm boy, which is what they must have been looking for.

Veterans’ Voices

“Over there, over there… we won’t come home until it’s over - over there.” Those words from a World War I song also were true for World War II. We figured we’d be in it until all the fighting was over and the Allies had won the war.

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Continued from previous page bombs by hand, although it took two of us to move a 500-pound bomb, which was the same weight as a bale of cotton on our farm at home. We also handled 100-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound bombs. The 16-inch guns off damaged Navy ships were made into 1,600-pound bombs. Early on in the war, we had to hand-link 50-calibre shells for the Air Force’s machine guns, but later the ammunition arrived ready to use. I invented a mechanical winch that we took off an old disabled truck to move the bombs around more easily and stack them. That helped. The bombs had to be handled carefully. At another nearby base, an impatient driver got careless with a load of composition bombs that had a low ignition rate. When he slammed his truck in reverse and jolted the load, the bombs ignited. Seventy-two hours later, bombs were still exploding at that base. It sounds gruesome, but they never even found the driver’s dog tags. That’s how

bad the damage was. We also filled practice bombs with sand for new aircrews, so they could learn how to accurately drop their loads. American bombers were stationed at bases about six miles apart in rural Norfolk, England, in a checkerboard pattern. Just as our planes were bombing German targets such as aircraft factories at Weiner Neustadt and oil supplies at Ploesti, German planes were bombing England. Although our bomb dump was only a very, very minor target, we had nowhere to hide if a bomb had been dropped on or near us. Our area had revetment walls made of sandbags to contain the bomb dump, but it did not provide any real protection. I had a phone in the Quonset hut where we lived beside my bed. If I got a call at night announcing a red or black alert, I’d run out and throw covers over the windshields of any trucks to ensure the glare of the glass didn’t show up in a German bomber’s searchlight. Of course, windows

had to be covered at night so no lights were visible. We dreaded the thought of buzz bombs, those small pilotless aircraft powered by a jet engine carrying explosives that the Germans used to pound London repeatedly. We also were wary of the Germans’ butterfly bombs, which were containers filled with multiple incendiary devices. When those containers were dropped from an aircraft, the fuses opened them with such force that the bombs scattered far and wide. Some of them didn’t go off for hours afterward, another hazard. The coldest I’ve ever been was the day an American bomber ran out of fuel and crashed nose down in a pond covered in ice about two miles from our bomb dump. We rushed over to get the pilot and co-pilot out of the icy water to save their lives, but we were all frozen stiff by the time we got them on stretchers. I had been up to my waist in that cold water. I served 24 and one half months over-

seas and got out of the service on October 15, 1945. My family told me that after I left for the service in 1942 my dog walked the rock fence and went to live nearby with my great-aunts, twin sisters Eda and Augusta Haschke, whose nicknames were Edie and Dido. Through some strange intuition, that dog knew when there would be a letter from me in the mailbox and he would be there waiting. The week before I returned to Winchester, my dog, Texas, appeared back at my mother’s house. When I arrived home, he was waiting for me, wagging his tail. He never went back to live with my great-aunts after that. Before we shipped out for England in 1942, I got a day pass in Richmond, Virginia, and went to a jewelry store and bought a very nice ring that I mailed home to my girlfriend, Lera Evelyn Karisch. She told me again recently how surprised she was to get it and wondered what it meant. I hadn’t wanted to propose before I left for the service, but after I got home, we got married on June 9, 1946.

Our ordnance crew is pictured with several different sizes of bombs that we routinely handled at our base in England.

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Veterans’ Voices

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I was drafted on July 27, 1943, when know they had lost their lives. We sailors would sit around and have I was 18 years old. My oldest brother, Alfred was already serving in the U.S. Air our little bull sessions. There was a good Force and my older brother, Bennie, had deal of comradery, although there was aljoined the Navy. I wanted to be a Marine, ways work, something for us to do. We but the recruiter said I wasn’t big enough, didn’t have much time to sit and talk. It really bothered me when women so I joined the Navy. My dad wanted to try to get a deferment for me so I could stay would send “Dear John” letters saying, “I home and help him with the farm work, but don’t want anything more to do with you.” I wanted to go to war. Believe it or not, I How could they do that when these boys had always worn hand-me-downs, so I was were out in the middle of nowhere in an excited at the prospect of getting my first ocean fighting for their country? So many boys got that kind of letter from their girlset of new clothes. After being seasick all the way from friends and even wives. It almost made you San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, I asked to want to hate women. One sailor’s wife sent a letter demandbe assigned to the biggest ship in the Navy. The officer obliged and I joined the crew of ing a divorce and enclosed her wedding rings. We had to watch him the USS Colorado. after he got that news beIt didn’t take me long cause he was so distraught to get my feet wet in the we thought he might jump South Pacific. Less than overboard. four months later, NoAt first, he was going vember 1943, our ship to throw the rings away, but saw action at Tarawa. We we told him, “No, no, you also sortied at Kwajalein, paid $250 for them. Don’t Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam, do that.” So he held a rafTinian, Leyte, Mendon, fle, selling tickets for 25¢ Luzon, Okinawa and Jaapiece. I bought one ticket, pan. I was assigned to 1st but I didn’t win the rings, Division, Deck Division in which was fine with me. turret #1, operating big 16We did a lot of letter inch guns. I was born on a farm in I was onboard the USS the Holman area and had writing on Sundays. You’d Colorado for 27 months. 10 brothers and sisters. write a letter and mail it onMost of my days were There was a lot of disci- board, but you didn’t know routine, filled with main- pline in our home, so be- when our ship would meet ing told what to do and livtenance duties and training. ing with many rules wasn’t a mail ship that would pick When they occurred, the a hardship to me. Some it up. Although the mail battles were unbelievably of the sailors had a tough we sent home was heavily horrific. At the harbor at Ti- time with that. I felt sorry censored, I wrote our ship’s location in the upper right nian, an island purportedly for those boys. hand corner of each enveunder U.S. control, shells started whistling overhead when we were lope and covered it with a stamp. When my waiting to drop the anchor. My friend, Ben- family got my letters, the first thing my sisjamin Matthews from Odessa, Texas, and ters did was steam off the stamp to find out I raced to turbine #1 to get away from the our location. My mother sent me some cookies for barrage. I made it, but Benjamin was killed. Christmas, but it was about March before I’ll always wonder why. When we were onboard the ship, it was I got them. By then, they were just a bag an entirely different world for farm boys like of weevils. For something to do, I went onme. The saddest things I ever saw were the board one of those mail barges when they burials at sea. It would get me to thinking needed help. We sorted the bags by the that the parents of these boys whose bodies names of the ships. From there, they’d be were being dropped overboard didn’t even put on small boats to take them out to the

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When I was home on leave in 1944, my picture was taken with my brother, Erwin, on the banks of the Colorado River near Bastrop.

ships. The mail was stacked up and weevils were flying around. The smell was so bad that when we got back aboard the Colorado, we had to shower. It reminded me of the corncrib at home. From a vantage point as a lookout on the USS Colorado, I had the opportunity to witness history when the Japanese signed the Instruments of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. That ceremony marked the official end of World War II. I didn’t realize the significance of the ceremony at the time. After the war was over, our ship landed in Yokohama, Japan, which had been badly fire bombed. There were hardly any buildings standing. I went ashore in the third wave of sailors because my name started with “R.” I was standing on a street corner with two other sailors when a young Japanese soldier, who was probably in his early 20s, walked up to us and started talking in English. At the same time, young Japanese people began gathering nearby at a little hut made out of old rusted tin. There must have been about 50 to 60 of them. They would not make eye contact with us. If you looked at them, they looked the other way. Then an elderly man rode up on a rickety bicycle that looked like it was going to fall apart at any minute. On each side of the rear wheel, he had a little cage-type of attachment that carried a five-gallon tin can. He stopped and talked to the soldier who was visiting with us before opening the building. He then took those cans inside and banged the lids off. That’s when the smell of sardines hit me. There was rice in one can and sardines in the other. Out of nowhere it seemed, they all had little tin plates in their hands. Even the young Japanese soldier boy had one. The old man put a spoonful of rice on each plate and then added three or four sardines. Everyone would squash the mixture together. This appeared to be the equivalent of a Japanese

Veterans’ Voices

On the island of Ie, a soldier said, “If you want to see where the famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed in combat, walk down that trail.” When we did, we saw a barbed wire fence very much like those we have in Fayette County with some steps over it. There was no marker yet.

soup kitchen. Suddenly, the Japanese soldier boy grabbed me, jerking me away from where I was standing. It startled me, but then I felt something roar past. It was a streetcar. He had pulled me out of the path of the streetcar. The sailors with me said, “You were lucky. That streetcar was really going fast.” When we got back onboard the ship, I told my two friends, “Don’t tell anybody that a Japanese soldier saved me from being hit by that Japanese streetcar. They’ll make a fool out of me.” I never heard about the incident again, but it has always stuck in my memory because a month earlier, that young Japanese and I had been trying to kill one another. Since we were no longer at war, his first instinct was to try to save my life when I faced possible death. After I got out of the service, I met a girl named Irene Fisher at a dance at Ammannsville, Texas, in 1947. We were married on Flag Day, June 14, 1948. Our daughter, Carol Ann, married Richard Peters and they have one son, Ryan. They live in Austin, Texas. The USS Colorado was scrapped more than 50 years ago, but we members of its alumni association, which was comprised of sailors and marines, continued to meet until April 2014. Only 15 of us attended the final reunion at Bremerton, Washington. I was glad to go and say goodbye.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday,

August

14,

2015

My “military” experience started when I was 15 years old. I joined the Texas Home Guard in my hometown of Woodville, Texas. It was comprised of some young boys like me and old men who wouldn’t be going off to war because of their ages. We were each issued a 12-gauge shotgun. We went on maneuvers and marched, so if the enemy had attacked our East Texas town, we were prepared to protect its inhabitants. At the age of 16, I went off to Texas A&M University, but I didn’t do well because I was immature and had poor study skills. When I was 17½, I volunteered for the Navy before I flunked out of college. I had hoped to become a pilot, but World War II was almost over and the Navy had all the pilots it needed. I was offered two options: go to officers’ school to become a deck officer or enter the fleet as a seaman. I later learned that at Guadalcanal, three sailors died in combat for every marine who died on the ground. Fortunately, I had chosen to enter officers’ school. I was sent to Midshipman School at Northwestern University in downtown Chicago. My marching experience with the Texas Home Guard, combined with what seemed like a miracle, enabled me to be commissioned as an ensign at the age of 18. The captain of the Midshipman’s School wanted to graduate more reserve ensigns as had ever graduated as regular ensigns at Annapolis. To accomplish this goal, he could only flunk 12 men in our class of 300. Usually, at least a third of a class washed out. Ours was the last, his 25th class. We were informed that class number 24, which had graduated immediately before us, suffered nearly 50 percent casualties serving as small boat officers at Salerno, Italy. Most of the members of my class became officers of small boats or ships that transported soldiers or marines onto the beaches in the South Pacific. I was saved from this duty because the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. I served as a line officer, possibly the youngest and the lowest ranking, on the USS Shoshone (AKA 65). It was an armed cargo carrier and troop transport which had a crew of 40 officers and 200 sailors. I vividly recall one incident. After the USS Shoshone had unloaded cargo in the Bay of Armory, a port on the northern tip of

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Honshu on the island of Japan, a huge storm hit from the northwest. The force of the gale was so intense that the anchor began to slip and our ship was in imminent danger of going aground on the beach. When the skipper ordered the ship underway, the anchor chain was released with a buoy to mark it so it could be retrieved later. (Anchors and chains were costly items.) For 10 days, the storm literally pushed our ship toward Seattle, Washington, which was our destination. Two of the landing craft chained to the deck were lost over the side when their tiedown lines snapped from the constant abuse. Another landing craft was left dangling over the starboard side of the ship. This extra weight caused the ship to be off balance. When the winds hit the ship from the port side, it would shake and tremble as it rolled to the starboard side before beginning to right itself by rolling back to the port side. When our ship came back and reached center, it would list only a few degrees to port before beginning to again roll to starboard and go to shaking. With the “help” of the storm, we made our trip back to the U.S. in record time for a ship of our class. It was a very stressful trip. When I was honorably discharged in the summer of 1946 after more than two years of active duty, I decided I had better go back to college under the GI Bill. This was a federal law passed in 1944 that provided veterans with cash payments for tuition and living expenses to attend university, high school or vocational education. This dyed-in-thewool Aggie entered the University of Texas to study business and law. By that time I was mature enough to make the most of the opportunity. My dad could not have afforded to educate all of us boys, so the GI Bill was a tremendous benefit. Housing in Austin was scarce because of the number of veterans getting educated under the GI Bill. My dad bought a little house for about $4,700 where my two brothers and their wives and I all lived there until I got tired of sleeping on the couch and found other accommodation. Looking back, I realize that God followed me around the world and blessed me time and time again. He has worked miracles in my life and I have been richly blessed.

Looking back, I am amazed that World War II was fought by a bunch of ordinary kids whose courage and patriotism were truly extraordinary.

I’ve witnessed God’s grace throughout my life. I was born September 1, 1926, the third of five boys. We were raised in Woodville, Texas. My brothers and I all served our country in World War II.

Veterans’ Voices

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I went to Houston in 1941 and worked in a shipyard for a little while until I joined the Army Air Corps on October 14, 1942, when I was 20 years old. I applied for gunnery school, but because I had worn glasses since I was a kid, they wouldn’t even talk to me. I was assigned to the 68th Two-Engine Flying Training Group at Ellington Field near Houston, a training base for pilots. A lot of cadets went through there. Sometimes the field was full of airplanes. I didn’t work on airplanes. I was in Supply. The mechanics who worked on the line would bring us the parts they needed replaced in order to fix the airplanes. We’d make out the paperwork and take the requisitions over to the big Supply group. That’s where my future wife worked and that’s how we met. Some of the parts were rebuilt and some of them were new. We’d bring back the parts to our station and notify the mechanics they could pick them up. We kept records on every piece. The mechanics were in a hurry a lot of the time. Three of us worked in Supply – a Staff Sergeant, a Corporal and I - a Private. On the weekends, I worked in Clothing Supply. We issued and exchanged clothing – new shoes, whatever they needed. I got three-day passes pretty regularly while I was in the service. I hitchhiked

home because I didn’t have the money to ride a train. You would be surprised, but in those days, people picked you up right away. You’d barely walk out to the highway in the direction you were going and you’d be picked up right away. At the end of the war, I was transferred to Fort Worth. I worked with a lieutenant taking in all the clothing that guys returning from overseas turned in. We issued completely new uniforms, etc. Most of what they brought back to us was worn out and they were happy with their new clothes. Sometimes we’d have a pile of discarded clothes six feet tall. At the end of the week, we’d take it down to the big Supply group and turn it in. I stayed there until December 1945 when I was discharged from Randolph Field in San Antonio. I went back to school at Fort Sam Houston at night under the GI Bill of Rights. I worked at several jobs, spending 22 years with McGuffie Co., of Cleveland, Ohio, which manufactured products such as putty and calking compounds, and 14 years with the U.S. Post Office. We lived in the Spring Branch area on the west side of Houston until 2003 and then retired in Flatonia. My parents had a farm near Praha, so we’d come down to the farm with the kids, Carol (Barta) and Stephen and knew this is where we wanted to live.

I was just a country boy, so going into the service was a valuable experience. I learned a lot of lessons about discipline, fairness and honesty that have stayed with me throughout my life. I was proud to serve my country and in the process, I learned to be a better person.

I was born in September 1922 and raised in Lavaca County between Flatonia and Moulton. I had one older brother, Fred, and one sister, Mary. We attended a one-room school about two miles from home called Cedar Spring through the seventh grade. I didn’t finish high school until after I got out of the service.

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I met my future wife, Merlene Guidry, from Tucson, Arizona, when she worked at Air Corps Supply at Ellington Field near Houston where I was stationed. We were married at the base on June 17, 1944 – another of those wartime weddings. My mother was able to come to the service. We celebrated our 70th anniversary last year.

Veterans’ Voices

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I remember too well the long trip my ing instrument training just for the experifamily made to Halsted in Fayette County in ence. We had to check out a parachute eve1933 during the Depression. I was 13 years ry time we went up. I would put it on but I old when we piled everything we owned on didn’t know how to use it! Thank goodness, a wagon pulled by a team of mules. Anoth- I didn’t need to. On one flight, the instructor told a er team of mules was tied to the back of the wagon. We spent the night camping on a lot young pilot to slow the engines, but when at a dipping vat near Ledbetter. The second he did, the aircraft started falling. It scared day, we made it to the farm my parents had the daylights out of me! When he put the aircraft back on the normal speed, though, rented at Halsted. I went to work for August Gau right it just took off again. Once you got used across the road. He had a lot of cows and to it, it was normal. It was really exciting the cotton gin. I milked 12 cows in the when we flew over Alabama and Georgia at morning and 12 cows at night, seven days a 13,000 to 20,000 feet. The pilots who were training had to week. It amazed me that the cows knew in be careful not to get lost. I which stall they were supremember once the young posed to stand. I made $20 pilot looked at his instrua month. ments and said, “Well, it’s I married Bessie Baca about lunchtime. I wonder in 1941. I was drafted in where we are?” He checked July 1943 when I was 23 his radio compass and right years old and inducted at away got a signal. It didn’t Fort Sam Houston in San take 20 minutes before we Antonio before taking bawere coming into the landsic training in Salt Lake ing strip at Gulfport. City, Utah. I took techniBessie came to Gulfcal training at Amarillo in port and got a place off airplane maintenance. I base. I got permission to was stationed at Gulfport, live off base with her. It was Miss., at Gulfport Army all right for them and me, Air Field where I worked I was born in Coupland, on B-17 bombers for the Williamson County, Texas, too. I got to come home to Air Corps Flying Training in 1920. I couldn’t speak Texas on leave a couple of Command. Our job was to any English until I was five times. We had ration stamps keep 72 bombers ready and years old. German is what for tires and gasoline. We available for flight 24 hours we spoke at home. I went had a 1934 Chevrolet and a day, seven days a week for to the school at Coupland coming home once we had the last phase of training until I finished the sev- a flat out in the swamp. The for pilots who were being enth grade. I liked going highway patrol came by to school and was always and helped us jack up the shipped overseas for their ready to study. car in the dark and change tours of duty. We were told the tire with the light from our work was just as important as those pilots who would be on the a flashlight. On another trip, I had a pass that didn’t front lines. The B-17 was a very good aircraft, allow me to go beyond Houston. My wife among the best, in fact. It was well designed took the MKT train to La Grange, but I and very efficient at dropping bombs on the had to be careful that the Military Police enemy. I crawled all over it from the tail to didn’t pick me up, so I got out on the highthe nose just to see how it was put together. way and thumbed my way to La Grange. I It fascinated me when I crawled up in the caught a ride with a fellow I knew by the nose and laid there on my belly just taking name of Havemann from West Point. Besin the sights. I’ve always liked things like sie couldn’t believe her eyes when she got off the train at the station in La Grange and that. I went up several times with pilots tak- I was there to meet her.

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Throughout my life, when I was determined to do something, I did it! I made up my mind early on to find ways to better myself. Don’t let life get the better of you.

After the war ended, I was transferred to Portland, Oregon, and Bessie came home to La Grange to wait for me. To go up there, I boarded an old, slow moving train in Houston that was so cold the pipes froze up on it. It was warmer in Portland than it was on that train in the South. We were just laying around in Portland waiting to get out of the service, so they gave us permission to start up the AT-7s on the strip for something to do. They were small, two-seaters. We had to be careful, though, when we put the chocks under the wheels and made sure the tail section was in order. The discharge from the engine would force so much air that it would raise the tail up and make the front go down and there

Veterans’ Voices

you’d go - chopping a hole in the runway. I was discharged at Tyler, Texas, in February 1946. I thumbed my way to Waco and then caught the train home to La Grange. By that time, my parents were living in Houston. I have enjoyed spending the rest of my life in La Grange. I had the thrill of starting my own business, Reeders Air Conditioning, after working for Adamcik’s for 22 years. I wouldn’t have had it any better. The two great losses in my life have been the death of my wife, Bessie, and our only child, Kenneth Wayne, who died on May 25, 2014. Cancer took his life at only 67 years of age. Mr. Reeder died on March 1, 2015.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

There were 11 kids in my family. I was the second youngest. When I was 16 years old, I had to get out and make my own living, so I went to work on a dairy at Addicks, Texas, near Houston, for two years. Then I got work at another dairy near Cypress for two years. It wasn’t easy. We got up at 4 o’clock in the morning and worked about 14 hours seven day a week for $4 a week. I got room and board, though. I came back to La Grange because I knew it was only a matter of time until I was drafted. I went to work for the Austin Bridge Co., which was rebuilding the bridge over the Colorado River that goes from downtown to the Riverside Addition. There’s an interesting story that goes with that. I was in the last car that went over the bridge before it collapsed in a flood. I also worked as a carpenter for Otto Pohl Construction. I was 21 years old when I got my draft orders in 1941 before war was declared. I was supposed to serve for one year. The Army sent me to Wyoming where it was 30 degrees below zero in the winter. I got the mumps there. When the war broke out, a sergeant came in and asked me if I was well enough to go to California. I knew it was about 70 degrees in California, so I was happy. I got on the train, but the deal turned sour because I came down with rheumatic fever. I didn’t know anybody for something like 42 days. The Army contacted my sister to make arrangements for my funeral, that’s how bad off I was. But I made it. I worked as a quartermaster providing clothing and supplies for the troops going overseas. We had big warehouses that were full. The Army didn’t send me overseas because I’d had rheumatic fever, but my three brothers, Loydie, Callie and Buck, all served in Europe. The Army decided it needed a quartermaster in Tooele, Utah, at a German prisoner of war camp. For

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some reason, they thought I spoke German. My parents came from Germany, but they tried to speak English as much as possible at home. That’s why I only knew a few words of German. So when that didn’t work out, they sent my butt back to California. That didn’t hurt my feelings. While I was in Utah, I bought a 1929 Chevrolet from a lieutenant. He put some new tires on it, so I drove it back to California. That was about 1,000 miles, a lot of it through the mountains. Sometimes I had to back up those roads – no, really. I swear that’s true. I was stationed at an Army base called Camp Stoneman at Pittsburg, Calif., as an Assistant Supply Sergeant T4 when President Roosevelt died. That was bad news. When I came home on leave, I took my niece, Mable (Tiedt) Nichols, to a dance at Swiss Alp. There, I met a girl named Lillian Janak from Holman. She was working at Reiker’s Café in La Grange. She was such a nice girl that I fell in love with her and we decided to get married. She was Catholic and I was Lutheran, but her parents didn’t say too much. We got off the train in Temple, Texas, and found a judge who married us. The next day, we got back on the train and went back to Pittsburg, Calif. She got a job at a 5¢ and 10¢ store and I moved off base to be with her. There was big excitement when the war ended. I was happy, but I had it so good there in California. My wife was with me and then Edgar Jr. was born. My sergeant wanted me to stay in the Army. He offered me a big promotion, but I decided not to. I bought a 1936 Chevrolet from a farmer out in the country and fixed it up until it ran real good. When I was discharged, we put our son, Edgar Jr., in the back seat on a blanket and took off for Texas – a 2,000-mile drive. We made it home to La Grange on December 24, 1945. I served in the U.S. Army for a total of four years and two months.

While I was stationed in Utah, I bought a 1929 Chevrolet with a rumble seat in the back for $100 that I fixed up. The building in the background is the barracks where we lived. The huts were built fast and each housed eight men. Do you notice I don’t have any stripes on my coat in this picture? I was a private first class at the time.

They sometimes call us boys who served in World War II “The Greatest Generation.” We appreciated everything that America stood for. I do know that.

I was born April 17, 1919, on a farm in Rutersville. I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church there and went through the fifth grade at Rutersville School. Then our family moved to a farm at Halsted for two years. I’m pictured with my new wife, Lillian, whom I married while I was in the service.

Veterans’ Voices

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I graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in Houston when I was barely 16 years old. Since I was too young to do anything else, I went to Southwestern Bible School Institute in Waxahachie, Texas. When I came home to Houston, I went to work for Hughes Tool Company. All my friends had already left to go in the service so in June 1945, another kid and I went down and joined the Navy. I was 17 years old, but all I needed to get in was my birth certificate. Ten of us left Houston going to San Diego, California. They put me in charge of a bunch of guys a whole lot older than me, so I handled all their papers and meal tickets. After we got through boot camp, we were sitting outside the barracks when a lieutenant walked out and said, “When I call your name, fall out over here.” There were 12 of us. “You boys have been transferred to the Navy Seabees. You are no longer Navy.” They sent us to Camp Parks near Oakland, California, where we went through

three months of commando training. It seemed as if the Marines were trying to kill us because we were sailors, but we survived. After we got out of school there, they put us on a train to eventually ship out to the Aleutian Islands. About an hour or an hour and a half out of Oakland, the train pulled off on a side track where we sat for three days. Finally, a lieutenant told us, “Your orders have been changed. You are going to Fort Hueneme, California, to take over a Marine base and make a Seabee training school out of it.” We had to completely rebuild the base. They had a little canister and when you walked by, you picked out a number. Whatever number you picked was the piece of heavy equipment you were assigned to operate. I picked “dump truck.” When I went over to where 13 dump trucks were lined up, each one of them was numbered. The lieutenant said, “All you boys go

On account of my last name, my nickname in the service was “Little Admiral.”

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pick a dump truck.” I just stood there because I knew no one was going to pick number 13. The lieutenant said, “It looks like you’re going to have to drive that number 13.” I told him, “It’s just another number.” He said, “I don’t suppose you’re afraid of black cats walking under your ladder either.” “No, sir,” I said. “I am not superstitious.” “I think I’ll put you in charge of all the dump trucks,” he replied. I drove a dump truck for two weeks until at muster one morning, the lieutenant said, “Can anyone here type?” I had taken typing in high school and could type about 60 words a minute, which was pretty fast. Another kid also knew how to type, so we were both sent for a test, which I won. I was transferred to the port director’s office and that’s where I spent the rest of the war. We were stationed right out of San Diego, California, and when the announcement was made that the war had ended, all the

servicemen were turned loose for the day. It was pandemonium: people running and hollering and celebrating. When we enlisted, we signed up for two years or the duration of the war. They said they would discharge us early if we signed up for four years in the Naval Reserves, so that’s what I did. After I was placed on inactive duty, I came back to my hometown of Houston in August 1946. Korea came along and they froze my time, so I ended up spending five years in the Reserves. I worked for Hughes Tool Company for 41 years before I retired. In 1969, I went to work part time for the Harris County Sheriff’s Department and later full time after I retired from Hughes Tool. Then I went to the Precinct 4 Constable’s Office in North Harris County, before coming to Flatonia as police chief in 1987. I retired in 1994 and since have served several terms on city council, including one term as mayor.

I’m a native Houstonian, raised in North Harris County. Back then, you could start school if you lacked just a few days of the cut-off date. Since my birthday was in November, they let me start school two months before I was six years old. We moved around a lot and I ended up being two years younger than everybody in my graduating class.

Veterans’ Voices

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

We dug in on the top of the hill when On the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, I was gassing up my 1936 Chevro- the rains started. It poured day and night. let at George Adamcik’s Service Station on Our foxhole was like a funnel. Every eventhe Bluff, getting ready to go back to Hou- ing before we could get a little rest, we’d ston where I was attending a sheet metal take our steel helmets off and use them to school. The news came over the radio that dump out the water and mud so we could Pearl Harbor had been bombed and war squat down to lean against the bank. There were three soldiers in our foxhole and we was declared. When I finished that school, I went out took turns keeping watch. Every day, we had to go out on patrol. to San Diego to work at a factory called Consolidated Aircraft for two and a half About a squad of soldiers would go back years. Every time I would get a draft notice, behind the line, a good mile or so, to get the company would get me a deferment be- rations and ammunition. A jeep or a halftrack couldn’t get through the mud. cause I was doing necessary war work. Partway up the hill was the shell of a By the summer of 1944, the war was getting more and more iffy. They needed truck that had taken a direct hit. All that was men badly, so I told my bosses to turn me left was some sheet metal scattered around. loose. I reported to the draft board in La The Japanese were probably about 100 Grange in July 1944. I was inducted on yards ahead of us. There were some dead September 20, 1944, at Fort Sam Houston bodies filled with maggots that smelled. It in San Antonio. From there, we were sent to was awful. Sometimes when we looked off in the Camp Hood at Killeen, Texas, for 17 weeks of infantry training. We got a 30-day leave distance, we could see what the Japanese before we shipped out to Fort Ord in Cali- were doing, but we were told, “Hold your fornia and later Fort Lewis, Washington. In fire, hold your fire.” Even though the JapaFebruary 1945, we had 30 days of jungle nese knew we were up there, we didn’t want survival training at Oahu, Hawaii because to give away our position. Our Navy did a good job of keeping we were going to the South Pacific. They sent us to Saipan before we left for Ok- flares above us all night long. The flares would float down very slowly on a parainawa in mid-April 1945. On May 7th or 8th, our regiment moved up on the frontline to fill a gap on a designated hill that was occupied by the Japanese. I think it was number 86; they didn’t have names at that time. The 27th Army Division was on our left and the 1st Marine Division was on our right. When Alfred Harbers John Muras we got within about 100 yards, we started to Two Friends Didn’t Make it Home get Japanese sniper and When I was stationed in Camp Hood at Killeen, Texas, for machine gun fire. They infantry training in the fall of 1944, I’d give five boys from called in our artillery and Fayette County rides home on the weekend in my 1937 the first rounds fell short, Chevrolet. They were: Clarence Stanzel of Schulenburg; landing among us. EarOtto Steinhauser of Flatonia; John Muras of Mullins Prailier shelling had knocked rie; Edward Kallus of Swiss Alp; and Alfred Harbers of Plum. At about the same time I was wounded John Muout craters about two feet ras and Alfred Harbers both were killed in action in the deep, so we curled up in Asia/Pacific war. They were so young; those boys had a those shell holes until lot of living to do. I still think about them and wonder why our artillery got word to I came home and they didn’t. correct its range.

14 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

During the Depression, I worked for a year and a half for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), at Humble, Texas. The last eight or 10 months, when I was an assistant cook, they brought out a chef from the Rice Hotel in Houston to teach us. I remember him telling us, “We’re going to get in a war.”

I was born in November 1922 and raised on a farm in the Cedar community, eight miles west of La Grange. We lived with my grandparents, Julius and Mary Nollkamper. I attended Cedar School for all seven grades. My grandfather raised a lot of sheep and we milked cows to sell milk and cream. When I was old enough, I helped him run the farm.

chute. It wasn’t daylight, but it was the next best thing. If they were close enough, we could see the Japanese lying on their bellies, waiting until it was dark enough to sneak up to us with hand grenades, but we could always hear them. Their grenades were not like ours where you pulled a pin. Ours were spring loaded like the hammer on a rifle. The hammer would fly up and hit the detonating pin. Then you had about five seconds to get rid of it. A Japanese grenade, which had an exposed detonating cap right on top, would usually go off in three seconds. The Japanese would hit the grenades on their helmets and when you’d hear that clink, clink, sound you knew what was coming. On the night of May 26, 1945, the Japanese were really shelling us. I was on watch and my squad leader and another boy were taking a nap in our foxhole. At 2 o’clock in the morning when it was time for me to get some rest, I woke up our squad leader. We held a poncho over our heads to shield us from the rain and smoked a cigarette before he took over the watch. I was dead tired, so I scooped some water and mud out of our foxhole, crouched down, leaned back and just passed out. The next thing I knew, I was lying face down in the mud among old pieces of sheet metal from the skeleton of the burned out Japanese truck about 25 or 30 feet from my foxhole. A piece of the metal was hurting my eye. My leg was broken and my back hurt. It was 5 o’clock in the morning on May 27, 1945. The Japanese had dropped an artillery shell in our foxhole, blowing us clear out of

it. I started calling for help. The aids found me and gave me a shot of morphine. They got some guys to carry me out, very nearly a mile, before they could come with a jeep. I was treated at an aid station on Okinawa behind the front lines for three days and four nights before I was flown to a field hospital in Guam. I didn’t get to see the plane because it was dark. I think it was a C-48. They patched us up there and did some surgery on me. I was there almost four months with my left leg broken between the knee and the ankle, as well as a back injury. My leg bone was shattered. They took all the loose bone out and put traction on it, trying to get the parts of my leg to knit back together. They also drilled a hole through my heel to pull my leg straight. My eye wasn’t damaged. My squad leader was as lucky as I had been. He also had a broken left leg. We never found out what happened to the other boy that was in our foxhole. It was just as if he vaporized. He might have gotten scared and run, or he may have taken a direct hit from the shell. I was in that Guam field hospital when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and the war ended. There was a lot of shouting going on even though we were all bedridden. Over the years, I had many grafting operations and have had to deal with the effects of my injury every day since May 27, 1945. I received a Purple Heart, which reflects that I was injured while serving my country. I married Ruby Byler of Muldoon on September 12, 1949. We’ll celebrate our 66th wedding anniversary this fall.

Veterans’ Voices

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

We young men were all very patriotic and wanted to get into the service. I was scared to death the war would be over before I had a chance to put in my two cents worth. I was 17 years and one month old and had just graduated from high school when I enlisted in the Navy in May 1943. My dad signed for me because I was underage. After I was inducted in Abilene, the Navy sent me to San Francisco. I was placed in a receiving pool and sent to the Coast Guard, where I served during the war. From San Francisco, I went to radar school. In fact, I like to say that I saw the war from a radar screen. Because we were assigned to a ship that was not yet commissioned, we had to wait a couple of months before we went to sea on a troop transport in the Pacific that had 4,000 beds. (Later, I also was on a gunboat the size of a destroyer, for a very short while.) Onboard ship, the group of men in my division included radarmen, radiomen, signalmen and quartermasters. I was a radarman, which might sound like a complicated job, but it wasn’t. Back then, relatively little was known about radar and the Navy tried to keep it secret but couldn’t. We took turns operating an air search radar machine and a surface search radar machine looking for airplanes in the sky and ships on the water. Four men were on duty at a time. We would switch off from the radar machine to the plot table and back again. On the surface search, we could see

out to about 12 miles. At that point, the curvature of the earth put ships out of sight. We had a system called IFF – Identification Friend or Foe. By turning a switch on your radar machine, you could pick up a signal from another ship. It would put a little break in the time baseline showing it was a friend. If you didn’t get that little break in the time baseline, then you knew it was enemy. At times, we would have a goodly number of ships around us, some were friends and some were foes. We kept track and reported range, bearing and speed of the airplanes and ships to the bridge. However, most enemy operations were in the air. If a Japanese observation plane came into our space it was usually just plotting information about who we were. Our ship seldom fired its guns because we weren’t there to fight. We were there to move troops, although we didn’t actually have much contact with them. When the war was over in Europe in May 1945, we were sent over to bring troops back to the Pacific. On one trip, we went through the Pacific and the Atlantic to England where we picked up 8,000 engineers and carried them to the Pacific. The troops slept in shifts, so half of them were below deck at all times. They had breakfast about 9 or 9:30 and then they’d line up for supper. The line would go around the ship several times. We got two meals a day, but that was not a problem. If I recall correctly, it took about 90 days from the port of Bristol-Avonmouth, England, to reach Manila in the Philippines.

I’m at the far left on the back row in this group of the sailors in my group onboard ship.

16 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I was born in Abilene, Texas, in April 1926, and went to school there. I was just a 15-year-old kid when Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941. Being from West Texas, I’d never seen a bay or an ocean before I joined the Navy.

When I hear that we’re celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, I say to myself, “I hate to think I’m that old.” Other times, I’ll hear a discussion about World War II and it will hit me, “I was part of that.”

We got into a really big typhoon in the North Pacific right at the end of the war. It was a harrowing experience because the waves were huge. It hit Okinawa head-on, carrying huge ships up on the beach. I’ve always said that the wind speed was 225 mph. That seems awfully strong compared to the hurricanes we have in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific, a longer stretch of open warm water allows a storm to pick up air speed. We were out of the high wind in less than two days, but the clouds and rain lasted for 17 days in the storm area where we were. I had one leave in early 1945. When I returned home to Abilene, my father, James Clements, took me to join VFW Post #2012 in Abilene. We were the first father-son members. My dad had been a member of that post since returning from serving in the Infantry in France and Germany during World War I.

Although we didn’t see it, the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, took off from a little island called Tinian not far from our ship. We got the news about the bomb and the Japanese surrender in little bits and pieces from our guys in the radio shack. There was no big announcement that I remember. After the war ended, almost immediately we started bringing troops back from the Philippine Islands to the U.S., a 17-day trip to San Francisco. Although I had enough points to get out of the service when the armistice was declared, they kept me on because troop transports still had a lot of work to do. Finally, I was mustered out in 1945 at the old naval destroyer base at Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. After the war, I went to college under the GI Bill and graduated from HardinSimmons University in Abilene with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.

I spent most of my time in the service on a troop transport ship, the USS General A. W. Brewster (AP-155).

Veterans’ Voices

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

In October 1942, I volunteered for the U.S. Navy Air Corps and spent the next two years overhauling Pratt & Whitney airplane engines at Alameda Naval Air Station across the bay from San Francisco, California. I’d spent the previous two years working on the same 1,250-horsepower engines at Precision Aeromotive in Houston, after I graduated from Milby High School. In 1944, I transferred to Fleet Air. I was sent to gunnery schools in California before deployment to the South Pacific where I was assigned to the VPB-23 Patrol Squadron, nicknamed the Black Cat Squadron. The nickname was chosen because many missions were flown at night, so our planes were painted a flat black color. We flew the Consolidated PBY Catalina. These amphibious aircraft could set down on land or water. There were 15 planes and 12 crews in the Black Cat Squadron. Each flight had a nine-man crew: patrol plane commander pilot and first pilot, navigator, two radiomen, two ordnancemen and two machinist’s mates. As plane captain, I was responsible for the physical airplane and its enlisted men. The PBY wasn’t sleek, shiny or fast, but it saved the lives of many airmen in Navy air/sea rescues nicknamed “Dumbo” missions. A PBY pilot would bring his seaplane in low and slow to land on the water. He then would taxi alongside a downed airman, pull him aboard and fly him out of harm’s way. We participated in this operation on Midway, Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam, Ulithi and Palau. It was always gratifying to save a man’s life. Several times on these missions we hit large ocean swells that caused rivets to pop out of the aircraft’s hull. We carried a supply of regular yellow pencils which were a perfect fit to plug the holes. The Navy ordered us to stop landing in the open sea in the last quarter of 1944 because there had been too many serious accidents. From then on we were instructed to radio in the coordinates of the sighting of a downed airman so a ship could make the rescue. The PBY was more than a rescue aircraft though. With a 104-foot wingspan, it could carry one 1,000 lb. torpedo or a special torpedo called “fido” under the port wing, which could home in on noise made by submarines. Under the starboard wing, the PBY could carry four bombs, each weighing 500 pounds

18 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

In 1944, when we were stationed on Eniwetok, a World War II pin-up girl, Carole Landis, performed in a USO Show for us. It’s something I’ll never forget. We sat on “sea bags,” burlap sacks filled with sand, to watch the performance. I must have been impressed with Carol because I have no idea who else was with her!

I was born and raised in Houston. After I got out of the service, I went to the University of Houston on the GI Bill and earned a degree in Engineering. My business career was largely in managing large office buildings. I’ve lived in Fayetteville since 1999.

Dan Armstrong (left) and I had been best friends since we started school together at Broadway Elementary in Houston. When we met up in the South Pacific in 1944, it was great to see his familiar face again.

or other combinations of that weight, including a 650-lb. depth charge. Each PBY was equipped with two 30-caliber machine guns in the nose, two 50-caliber in the side blisters, plus one 30-caliber in the tail, as well as four single bunks, a stove, food, first aid kit, drinking water, cabinets and a head (bathroom). If a PBY was not loaded, she could stay in the air for 26 hours. Using the PBY’s radar at night, our crew hunted Japanese submarines that had surfaced to charge their batteries. We also watched for Japanese subs coming in under the curtain of darkness to supply islands still controlled by the enemy, which our Navy had bypassed. We also gathered intelligence, such as the condition of runways and buildings on those bypassed islands. If we detected repairs, the pilot would radio

base and bombers were sent out to destroy the work that had been done. If necessary, we would drop bombs on small islands like Sorol. We also escorted carriers or landbased fighter aircraft on bombing and strafing raids against islands still under Japanese control. When the U.S. was assembling ships and support vessels in the Eniwetok Atoll for the invasion of Saipan, I wrote in my logbook that it looked like the whole fleet was there. I never knew there were so many ships in the world! While I was stationed on the island of Eniwetok, I wrote my mother that I was on a hot, dry island in the South Pacific. The Navy censors didn’t black out that description because I wasn’t being specific. My mother shared that news with the mother of my best friend, Dan Armstrong, whom I’d known all my life.

Veterans’ Voices

He was in the Army Air Corps and I was in the Navy Air Corps. Dan’s mother passed along that information when he was sitting in a harbor on a ship with a B-29 squadron that was forming for the invasion of Saipan and the bombing of Japan. Dan looked over at the island of Eniwetok and said to himself, “If there’s a hotter or drier island in the South Pacific, I don’t know where it would be.” He got hold of the Red Cross, was able to confirm that I was on Eniwetok and received permission from his captain to come over and spend three days with me. Later, when we went to Saipan, I stayed with Dan for two days. That was where we got our first Japanese bombing. It was a small world even in the South Pacific. Saipan was quite a sight. When it was occupied by the Japanese, they had only narrow, muddy roads. Our Seabees worked round the clock to build runways and large two-lane highways out of crushed coral through the mountains to accommodate hundreds of trucks, etc. At Tarawa, I saw the aftermath of the battle in which 978 Americans were killed and another 2,188 wounded. It seemed hard to understand that so many men were killed or wounded to take such a small island. Of all my experiences in the Pacific, memories of little gooney birds – albatrosses – on the Midway Islands still make me smile. The young birds had only a few feathers, but an abundance of grey hair. They were so ugly they were cute. The adult birds were white with a wingspan of five to six feet. Mom and dad gooney birds would show their offspring how to flap their wings. After that, the youngsters seemed to have only one ambition in life and that was to fly. When we would start up our plane’s engines, the little gooneys, along with mom and dad, would come running to get behind us using the strong wind the propellers produced. They would flap their wings and pound the earth with their little feet straining and jumping up and down. We would rev the engines to check things out before we took off on a mission, which got the little ones so excited. Their little feet would be going so fast that many times both would come off the ground at the same time. Then they would tumble back and fall flat on their backs. In a few seconds, though, they would be at it again. Every time we went to our plane, here the gooney birds would come, waddling up to meet us. I guess they eventually mastered the art of flying.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I am pictured standing at left with the members of our crew in front of our B-17 bomber. Although we flew the day before and the day after D-Day, we were not part of the actual invasion.

All the guys at school were talking about joining the Army Air Corps except me in December 1942. My buddy talked me into going with him to Roanoke where he planned to enlist. Almost before I knew it, I went through all the screenings. Then I was told to raise my right hand and I was duly sworn into the Army Air Corps. What’s ironic is my buddy, who was so gung ho, was turned down because he was

20 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

colorblind. After intense training at a number of U.S. air bases, I was transferred to England where I flew 35 bombing missions on a B-17 Flying Fortress from Knettishall, a village near Cambridge. Excerpts from letters I wrote to my parents provide some insight into my service. August 9, 1944 – I have not shot down any Nazi planes. In fact, I have never fired

a shot at one. There seems to be a great scarcity of Nazi planes as they very seldom make an appearance in the sky. Whenever they do appear, our fighter plane escort shoots them down before they can get close to the bombers. Anywhere from 12 to 25 planes fly in a group. When we go on a big raid such as Berlin, Munich or Leipzig, we usually fly in a wing formation, consisting of three or more groups. The whole time

Veterans’ Voices

we are flying to the target, I can see all the planes in the three groups. We see many groups either going to or coming from various targets. In other words, the deeper you go into Germany, the more planes you see. I would say that I see on an average of 300 to 400 planes on every raid. I don’t know how many combat hours I have so far, but I think it is about 100. See Hild, next page

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Continued from previous page August 20, 1944 – A practice mission is run exactly like a regular mission, only on a smaller scale and at a lower altitude, usually 8,000 to 10,000 feet. A certain target – usually a city – is designated. We form in a regular group formation and fly to the target, but instead of dropping bombs, they take a picture of the place the bombs would have hit had they been dropped. Most of our bombing is done around 25,000 feet. As soon as the bombs hit the ground, a camera takes a picture. That is how we know what we hit. If clouds completely cover the ground, the bombing remains unobserved until a fighter plane flies over and takes pictures. We made a few missions over to France to try to help the Infantry out a little. August 29, 1944 – We finally got around to flying missions again and they really picked a long one for us. We were in the air for more than eight hours. What do you think about the fall of Paris? August 30, 1944 – Certainly sorry to hear that Grandpa died. My commission finally came through. I was a Second Lt. last Monday. September 1, 1944 – Our crew is now stationed at a secret field doing secret work. We will only be here a couple of weeks, so if I don’t mention in my letters that I am flying missions, you will know that I’m not just loafing around. September 5, 1944 – We haven’t been doing anything that I can tell you about, so there is very little for me to write. Am enclosing a snapshot of me on my bicycle. October 3, 1944 – I didn’t fly today because the pilot is having a little trouble with his sinuses. Our crew will be grounded until his sinuses are OK again. I hope this won’t take too long because I am anxious to get my missions completed. October 9, 1944 – I received the package containing the hat, washcloths, soap, shaving lotion and powder. Everything was in fine shape and the hat was just what I wanted. October 16, 1944 – I went on a mission yesterday morning, the first in a few weeks. The weather was bad over Germany, so we flew a practice mission. A mission is scheduled for tomorrow. We have to supply our own sheets and pillowcases, but so far, I have been sleeping between blankets. I decided that in case I am here at Christmas, I would like to sleep between sheets that night. Do you think I’m nuts? October 27, 1944 - Flew another mission yesterday and was all set to fly another one this morning, but it was called off just

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In 1969, I was hired to design and engineer the Fritsch Auf subdivision and built a weekend home there because we liked the people and the area so much. We eventually retired near La Grange in 1988.

I was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1923, grew up in Newport News, Virginia, and graduated from high school in Norfolk. When I entered the service, I had one year of college at Virginia Tech. After I got out, I went back to college on the GI Bill to earn a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Civil Engineering.

In August 1944, Major Glenn Miller (center) and his orchestra came to entertain us at our field. Afterward, he christened our plane Moonlight Serenade after a song he had written. Then we took turns having our pictures taken with him.

before take-off time because of the weather. I must close now and get some sleep because we will probably fly in the morning. October 30, 1944 - We didn’t have any celebration in honor of Columbus Day, unless you would call dropping a few more bombs on Germany a celebration. I think I mentioned in a previous letter that I heard a direct broadcast of the World Series. November 3, 1944 – The cold weather doesn’t bother me when flying. We have heated suits that really keep us warm, even when the temperature is 40 or 50 below! We are never bothered with ice on the plane. The wings and tail surfaces have deicers. Went on another mission yesterday and was all set to go on one this morning, but the weather suddenly turned bad and the mis-

sion was called off. November 10, 1944 – Flew most of yesterday although it wasn’t a mission, but today I got in another mission to Germany. Am slowly approaching my 35th mission, so it won’t be too long before I am home. Have received five letters from you since last Saturday, but I hope you will excuse me if I don’t answer them tonight. It is pretty late and I must wash before going to bed. We will probably fly in the morning, so I have to get in as much sleep as I possibly can. Three o’clock comes around in a very big hurry. November 11, 1944 – We have our own chapel on the field, our own chaplain and two Masses every day: one at 9 in the morning, the other at 5:15 in the afternoon. We are permitted to go to Communion at either

Veterans’ Voices

of these Masses, and Father is in the briefing room so the Catholics can receive Communion before every mission. November 12, 1944 - I expected to go on a mission this morning and they did wake me up, but immediately after the briefing, the mission was called off because of the weather. We had a good supper today – chicken, mashed potatoes, green peas, gravy and chocolate cake for dessert. November 18, 1944 – Sorry I haven’t written the past few days, but I have been away from this base. We went on a mission last Thursday and when we returned, the weather was so bad that they wouldn’t let us land here. Instead, they sent us to … (censors removed the next page). December 8, 1944 – Received a promotion today. I am now a First Lt. We may fly in the morning, so I will close now and get some sleep. December 12, 1944 – Two years ago yesterday I enlisted in the Air Corps. I didn’t think I would be in the Army this long, but I can’t complain. I don’t mind it at all. Western Union Telegram, January 5, 1945 - Completed tour. Be home soon. Love, Joe A January 1946 Newport News newspaper clipping provides more details about my service: “For ‘extraordinary achievement’ during bombing attacks on Nazi war plants and military targets in support of Allied Ground Forces, First Lt. Joseph C. Hild, 21, of Newport News, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFS). Lt. Hild is navigator on an 8th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress. In addition to his DFS, he holds the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters for his part in the battles with Nazi flak and fighters in the war’s toughest air theater. He is a member of the 388th bomb group, a unit of the 3rd Air Division. Lt. Hild took part in two attacks on military installations in Berlin. He flew seven times in attacks on oil refineries at Merseburg and took part in blows at other oil refiners at Magdeburg, Zeitz, Politz, Brux and Ludwigshafen, an ordnance plant at Stuttgart, an aircraft plant at Hanover and at Munich, railroad yards at Kiesel, Cologne and Frankfurt, and Nazi flying bomb sites in the Pas de Calais area of France.” After I completed my 35 missions, I returned home from overseas. I was stationed at Ellington Field when I met my future wife, Doris Copeland, who lived in the Heights. We met at a Sunday afternoon tea dance in downtown Houston and were married in 1945, a wartime marriage that wasn’t supposed to last. FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I was drafted the day I turned 18. I was prepared for that because Hitler was trying to take over the world and had to be stopped. Several of my relatives were already in the service, including my brother, T.J., who was a year and a half older than I. He was drafted a year and a half before me and joined the Army Air Corps. I was drafted into the Army, but then they gave me a choice and I decided on the Army Air Corps, too. I had helped build an Army Air Corps base in San Antonio. I didn’t want to fight in the Infantry. I wanted to see Hitler finished off. He had to be stopped. I was sent to Miami Beach, Florida, for my basic training. The military had taken over the hotels because other training facilities in the state were overcrowded, so we were living there among big shade trees in a very comfortable climate. It was a pretty nice place! I was eventually assigned to the 394th Bomb Group, 586th Squadron where I served throughout the war. At the time, our whole group - the 586th - was being formed. Since I had driven vehicles and equipment on the farm, they gave me two choices: drive a jeep or tractor in the motor pool. There was some question about whether I might do street work in the service since I had worked in construction before I was drafted. I chose driving a jeep. That’s what I did through all my time in the service. We left Miami Beach at a crucial point in the war when things were moving very fast. We were sent to an airfield in the northern U.S., but they didn’t have any place to put us, so they sent us to Ardmore, Oklahoma. Finally, we went to Battle Creek, Michigan for more basic training. We didn’t stay there too long. By that time, I had been in the service a little less than a year. I was terribly seasick on the trip over to England. In fact, I was so weak I could hardly get off the ship, but I was very ready to get my feet on dry land. At first, we were stationed in southcentral England at a nice new airbase. In fact, everywhere we went in England the bases were new. In the bomb group, transportation was a small unit. Most of the men in my outfit were servicing aircraft and we helped by providing them with transportation. Starting in France, we pushed Hitler’s army back. That’s when we started moving into old bases previously occupied by the Germans. Most of these facilities were really messed up. We had to go in and rebuild the

22 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I felt fortunate to be sent to basic training in Miami Beach, Florida, where we were housed in ocean front hotels because the Air Corp’s bases were full. A typical beach scene was lots of airmen in uniform and a few girls enjoying the sun, sand and palm trees.

runways and landing strips with big tractors and equipment. The men in our squadron sometimes lived in tents in apple orchards, but I never did. Since I was in transportation, I towed an 8-foot long trailer that had sides and a canvas roof behind my jeep. That’s where I slept. You never knew how long you would be in one place. For several weeks, we stayed in underground compartments that the Germans had built. Up until that time, we hated the Germans and everything about them, but then we grudgingly admitted we had respect for those comfortable underground bunkers that were dry and secure. We even had battery lights at night; we were lucky. By that time, Hitler was occupying almost all of Europe. He had gotten so strong, but when he began fighting Russia in the northern winter, they stopped him. There was a tremendous sense of urgency, but we didn’t know at the time that Russia was going to make such a strong stand. We were back behind Hitler’s forces in Europe making progress. As long as we were moving, there was a positive feeling among the men because we knew we were advancing. My oldest brother, Elmer, was drafted and stationed in Europe with the Army, while I was serving in the Air Force. I got a chance to meet up with him there. Elmer served in the Occupation Force post-war. It wasn’t long before we were able to come home after the war ended,. The bad part was the trip entailed getting on another

I was born on a farm near Devine, Texas, in 1923. There were 12 children in my family. I was working in construction and living at home when I was drafted. When I returned from the service, my family had moved to Bishop, Texas. My dad was in the construction business full time by then.

After serving almost three years, I was discharged before I was 21 years of age. I stayed in contact with my buddies and regularly attended reunions in Corpus Christi, Texas. About 10 years ago, we took a trip as a group to Normandy, France, and visited some of our old stomping grounds.

ship and being deathly seasick for the duration of the trip. The ocean was rougher coming home than it had been going over. One storm was so rough that garbage cans were being tossed around. We landed at Camp Miles Standish in Massachusetts. From there, we went by train and I was discharged at San Antonio. We all

were grateful to come back to the States. Although I enjoyed my time in the service, it was great to come home; it really was. I had dropped out of school before I went in the service, so when I came home, I went back to school. I earned both Bachelors and Masters degrees in Education. I spent about 40 years teaching and I loved it.

Veterans’ Voices

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

Our high school at Winchester had three grades in one classroom. One of our teachers, Mr. McLaughlin, told all seven or eight of us boys sitting in that room that before World War II was over, we would be called to serve in some branch of the service. He was right; each of us served our country. I was drafted into the Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio on July 17, 1945, when I was 18 years and three months old. From there, we were shipped to Fort Bliss at El Paso, Texas, for a 17week infantry and 90 mm anti-aircraft training as squadron replacements for the war in the South Pacific. Our group was made up of boys just graduating from high school and men, some of them my dad’s age, who did not have a job that was deemed “contributing to the war effort.” The older men found the physical training difficult. Our cadre (trainers) was made up of soldiers with battle experience in the South Pacific. We were midway through basic training when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. When it was announced that peace had been declared one evening at chow time, we were one jubilant group of men, although we felt badly for the people of Japan. It’s hard to explain the feeling I think everyone felt in his heart and mind. My prayers changed from hoping the war would end to giving thanks that the war was over. However, our training program continued and, upon completion, we received a 10-day delay en route leave, so I was able to come home. We were all shipped to different Army bases in the U.S. One of my buddies and I were assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas. When we arrived at the train station in Kansas City, the area was covered with snow, more snow than I had ever seen in my life. As we got on a bus to go out to the post, my buddy from Beaumont arrived. We stayed there for two weeks before being shipped to Camp Picket, Va., arriving on Christmas Eve. In January 1946, when a number of men in our group, including me, enlisted in the regular Army, we were offered a promotion and a 30-day furlough. Af-

24 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I was born in 1927 on a farm near the community of Sand in Bastrop County, Texas. In 1932, our family moved to a farm in the Winchester community of Fayette County. I was 14 years old and attending confirmation class at Winchester Lutheran Church at the time Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

Because of my age, the war ended before I ever saw combat. I thank God that I and the other youth in the same age bracket were spared. I also thank God for the many brave men and women who were not spared and especially those who made the supreme sacrifice.

During a furlough between Fort Bliss, at El Paso, Texas, and Fort Riley, Kansas, I had a chance to come home to see my family at Winchester. It was an honor to serve in the military to defend our country. I grew up quickly in the Army because I’d never been away from home before.

terward, we reported back to Fort Sam Houston where we again were shipped to Camp Pickett. In fact, Camp Pickett is where I spent my 19th birthday. In the

meantime, our medical records were lost and we had to have all our shots again. There were a lot of them. In April 1946, we were sent to Jackson

Veterans’ Voices

Barracks in New Orleans before boarding a troop ship bound for the Panama Canal Zone. I was miserably seasick for most of the four-day trip. When we disembarked on Easter Sunday, the Red Cross served us coffee and donuts. Then we boarded a train and were sent to Fort Sherman. Before we could be assigned to another unit, we had to spend two weeks in quarantine. The word was out that the best assignment was the Mine Plant Weaver, a small ship that had placed mines in the Pacific and Atlantic on either side of the Panama Canal to protect it during the war. Since the war was over, the same ship was being used to retrieve the mines. The last thing I really wanted to do was get back on another ship, but I decided to stay with my close friends, so I signed up. On my first trip out on the mine planter, I got a little seasick, but after that, I was fine - no more seasickness. We would go out about once a week to pick up 12 to 14 mines that were each filled with roughly 3,000 pounds of TNT. After we retrieved the mines, the infantry cleaned and repainted them. Then they were stored in case they should ever be needed again. By this time, the Army was operating in peacetime mode. Career soldiers could bring their families to live on the base or nearby in a city. On weekends, the crew of the Mine Plant Weaver would take the families of servicemen on sightseeing tours along the coast of Central America and the nearby islands. My tour of duty was to end on February 23, 1947, but in the middle of December 1946, I received my discharge orders. I was ready to go home by that time. First, we were shipped to New Orleans and then were sent by train to Fort Sheridan, Illinois. That’s where I received my honorable discharge and a furlough on Christmas Eve. What a nice Christmas gift! I boarded a train on Christmas Eve at 11 o’clock, which arrived in Houston on the morning of December 26. I took a bus to La Grange and then hitched a ride home to Winchester.

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I was inducted into the U.S. Naval Reserve in Houston and left Columbus on February 12, 1943, for boot camp in San Diego, California. I celebrated my 19th birthday on the train. After boot camp, I was transferred to the Fleet School of Music in San Diego. On May 3, 1943, I was assigned to the crew of the new Essex Class Aircraft Carrier named the USS Intrepid CV-11 in Newport News, Virginia, as part of the new ship’s damage control crew and a band member. My main duties were to help keep our ship afloat by containing damage inflicted by the enemy. The ship’s band played for noon concerts, church services, burials, etc., when the Intrepid was out of harm’s way. Entries from the last of three diaries I kept while on the Intrepid describe certain events during the final months of the war. Dec. 20, 1944 – The (Golden) Gate Bridge came into view through the cold fog at midday or a little after. What a wonderful sight after a little cruise in the West Pacific. Most of the guys had their gear packed a couple of days prior to getting in. Yep, we’re out for a couple of months, but the main thing is that we are going home for a while. In a short time, I’ll be with the ones who care for me most. Feb. 20, 1945 – Well, today farewell to the States again. Sure was good being back. As Bill says, “We lived the whole year in those two months.” March 20, 1945 – The Japanese know the (USS) Franklin is in serious condition and are determined to sink her. Last night, the group was under attack again with the Enterprise getting a suicide plane. The Franklin, being towed at 6 knots, is making very little time getting out of their tough spot. We are withdrawing slowly, at the same time protecting them from further assault. March 22, 1945 – Today, we’re taking on ammunition and bombs from an ammunition ship and later will refuel from a tanker. Much to everybody’s disappointment, there was no mail. Tomorrow, we hit Nansei-Shoto – Okinawa. These are softening operations for the invasion, which is to take place April 1 – Easter Sunday and April Fool’s Day! Last Easter, I was home on leave. March 26, 1945 – Again the Japanese

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After I was discharged from the U.S. Navy, I entered the University of Texas and played in the Longhorn Band from 1946 to 1948. I earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering and spent my career in that industry. For many, many years, I also had the pleasure of participating in a number of German and Czech brass bands, most extensively in Kovanda’s Czech Band.

on Okinawa are getting it: bombs, rockets, bullets – even 16-inch shells thrown by battlewagons only 9 miles offshore. With all the bombs and rockets that are being dumped, it is hard to see where much could be left to oppose landing operations. Defense sounded off and on during the day, but GQ (an announcement signaling the crew to prepare for battle or imminent damage) ‘waited’ until 8:30 and again at 10 to ruin my 4 hours of sleep before my 12-toreveille watch down in the hole. April 1, 1945 – Here it is Easter and a great day all the way around. It is 8:30 and the troops are beginning to pour ashore on the west side of Okinawa: first, three waves of assault troops and then equipment, tanks and other vehicles. This is supposed to be a bigger operation than the Normandy beachhead. At 10 a.m., special Easter services were held in the wardroom. I enjoyed it greatly, remaining for communion at the end of the service. The most notable addition to the service was a pair of vases with roses – artificial, of course - on each side of the altar.

Look closely at the band of the USS Intrepid CV-11. I am the sailor in the back row holding a trumpet in the back row with an identification arrow pointed at my head.

April 13, 1945 – Just learned of President Roosevelt’s death last night. What an inappropriate time for such a tragic event. April 16, 1945 – This finds us off Kyushu again. About 1:30 p.m., the bosun’s whistle blared (GQ) - a noise weird enough to disturb the dead. I jumped up and before I got 10 feet, all the guns on my side (starboard) were roaring like mad. I knew a (enemy) plane was coming in close; I just can’t explain how scared I was fighting my way aft. Before I was out of the compartment, there was a sharp bang behind me, which may have been a shell from the strafing (gunfire from low flying enemy aircraft). The suspense was terrible until our guns silenced with a dull thud of near miss. What a relief! Got all squared away at Rep. III and all was more or less quiet for an hour or better. Then bogeys (unidentified aircraft, presumed hostile) began to move in again. What time it was I can’t remember. I was so tired and scared all I had on my mind was my duty and carrying it out. Shortly after, the guns opened up again and I think that See Miller, Page 27

Veterans’ Voices

While I was growing up on a farm in the Buescher community just north of Columbus, Texas, music was a special part of my life. I was a member of the Columbus High School band in 1940 and 1941. In 1942, I played regularly with the Ellinger Chamber of Commerce Band and the Arnold Ilse Orchestra at area dances.

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

For some reason, I had always wanted to be in the Navy. I tried to join when I was underage, but my mother wouldn’t sign the papers. I was working in Houston for Brown Shipbuilding Company when my folks called to say I’d been drafted after I turned 18. My two buddies and I got a notice saying we had been transferred to the Army, but I said, “No, I’m going in the Navy.” My buddies ended up in the Air Force, but they never did go overseas. I weighed 129 pounds when I had my physical. The doctor told me to go away and come back after I had eaten some bananas. I don’t know how many I ate, but I weighed in at 130 pounds when I went back, the minimum weight requirement. I was inducted at the old post office building in downtown Houston in November 1942. The next day, the Navy shipped us to San Diego. The train was a coal burner and we rode with the windows open for much of the trip. When we got there, we were dirty and we smelled from the soot and the smoke. We went into training for six weeks in San Diego. They sent me to welding school on Treasure Island. The Navy had taken over Treasure Island and had a lot of different schools there. When we got finished, we got another rating and got leave to come home. Then we picked up a ship at another base and were supposed to go to Baltimore, but I ended up being transferred to a riot squad in Philadelphia because our ship wasn’t ready yet. There’s a U.S. mint in Philadelphia and one night there was a train wreck. That train carried a lot of money, so we were called out to guard that train. After that, our ship was ready in Baltimore. The USS Mindanao was a brand new auxiliary repair ship. It was commissioned on November 6, 1943, by a lady officer, who broke a bottle of champagne – probably cheap champagne – to christen it. We sailed for the South Pacific. The crew on the Mindanao made engine and other repairs to damaged vessels. On November 7, 1944, our ship was anchored in Seeadler Harbor at Manus, 350 yards from a brand new ammunition ship, called the USS Mount Hood that was making its

26 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

When the USS Mount Hood exploded on November 10, 1944, at Manus in the Admiralty Islands of the South Pacific, every sailor onboard was killed. On our ship, anchored next to the Hood, 189 men were killed or injured. It was a terrifying experience. I served in the South Pacific on a repair ship, the Mindanao, during World War II. It was decommissioned in 1947 and in 1980, it was scuttled to form an artificial reef in 85 feet of water off Daytona Beach, Florida.

first voyage. This was a staging area for the Philippines campaign in the Admiralty Islands. I went onboard the Hood one day to do some welding. Three days later, November 10, 1944, we had finished our 8 o’clock muster and reported to our workstations when the Mount Hood exploded at 8:50 a.m. I was below deck. I remember striking a welding arc and we started rolling one way and then the other from the force of the blast. I wondered what the heck had happened. The Mount Hood had three separate ammunition compartments. First one blew, then the second, then the third. Boom, boom, boom. Only 18 sailors out of a crew of 350 survived the explosion of the ship. They had gone ashore earlier that morning to pick up orders, mail and stuff like that. The Mount Hood blew up while they were on the beach. The Navy never really said what caused it.

The Mindanao listed 39 degrees and might have turned over if we had not had six wooden minesweepers anchored on our port side. The two inboard ones were crushed. A few days later, they stripped and beached them. They were finished. We were very lucky. Those minesweepers kept our ship from capsizing. Of the 407 men in our crew on the Mindanao, 23 were killed and 166 injured. What happened is that after the first blast, some sailors on our ship rushed out on deck. They were hit by flying ammunition. Of course, there was so much damage on our ship that others were hurt that way. After the explosion, the lieutenant who was in charge of all the repair crews handed me a tray of morphine shots and told me to administer them to the most badly wounded sailors. I remember coming upon the guy in charge of our repair crew. He had two arms and a leg shot off. I gave him three shots. Then I was handed a carton of one-ounce liquor bottles to hand out to those in shock. I didn’t even save one for myself. For three or four days afterward, we were picking up bodies and pieces of bodies from the harbor, which was covered in oil. I tell you, when that ship blew, those

Veterans’ Voices

people were flying all over the place. It was terrible. The Mount Hood was sunk, of course. They sent divers down in the harbor to check the wreckage. The force of the explosion had driven the ship down 50 feet. The only thing intact was a part of the keel, the bottom of the ship. It took our crew a whole week to clean up the Mindanao. You could drive a pick-up truck through the holes caused by the explosion. A 10-inch shell went through the wall just above my bunk. If I had been in it, I wouldn’t be here now. They brought in a sea-going tug, listed the Mindanao over and the Seabees welded the holes in the bottom. We were under repair for about three months. When we got going again, we went to a rest and recreation island for a week or two. Then we went to Ulithi, where they were assembling ships for the Philippines campaign. We always followed 1,000 to 1,500 miles behind the main fleet for safety. When minesweepers or landing craft got hit, they would bring them back and tie them up next to us. Our whole crew would go onboard and find out what we needed to do. See Hlavinka, next page

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Continued from Page 25

You could drive a pick-up truck through the holes on our ship, the USS Mindanao, after the ammunition ship, the USS Mount Hood, blew up. I was lucky to be below deck when the explosion took place.

Continued from previous page Our ship was anchored in the harbor protected by steel gates in the water so a sub couldn’t get in, but it could get close by. One of our crews had gone out to repair the USS Franklin, which was anchored outside the harbor. The very next day after they announced it would leave the next day for the States, a small Japanese plane dropped a bomb on it. The repair crew had to start all over. Two days later, when the ship was repaired for the second time, it was bombed again. We suspected a Japanese sub had been monitoring the Franklin’s communication and reporting news about the ship. We were in Okinawa when the war ended. We were all so excited. You should have heard the whooping and hollering. All work stopped and we had a party. The galley put out a special souvenir menu I still have entitled, “Victory Day – Celebrating Victory Over Japan.” The commanding officer’s message on the inside front cover read, “It is indeed with a deep sense of gratitude that we celebrate the cessation of hostilities. In that same spirit, I extend to each member of my crew my thanks for your part in the Victory and hope that we may all soon again be reunited with our loved ones at home.” The menu was chicken noodle soup, southern fried chicken, giblet gravy, butter whipped potatoes, creamed peas and carrots, buttered corn, carrot-raisin-apple salad, pickles, olives, hot rolls, butter, ice cream, apple pie, iced orange juice, candy, cigars and cigarettes. We had good food on the Mindanao. In fact, the soldiers and

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I was born in Scappoose, Oregon, in July 1923, but three years later, the lumber mill where my dad worked closed down. We moved back to East Bernard, Texas, where my mother grew up, and I grew up, too.

marines used to come to our ship to eat. Finally, they had to limit it to your friend, your cousin, your brother-in-law, etc. A good friend of mine, Jerome Viaclovsky from Wallis/East Bernard, who was in the Marines, sent me a message asking if he could come over. He ended up being my brother-in-law after the war. I left the USS Mindanao in Shanghai, China. After the war, I served in the Reserves, and when the Korean War started, I was called back up. I was finally discharged from the Navy in 1947, the same year I married Hattie Masek of Praha. God willing, we will celebrate our 68th wedding anniversary later this year.

was the most intense firing this ship has put out. As firing reached its utmost intensity, there was a heavy explosion and I knew we were hit. Things began to move fast as we were required to take over repairs. The suicide plane and its 1,000-lb. bomb hit a little aft of the two last time. There was a 12x12-foot hole in the flight deck with manifold shrapnel holes scattered near it. The bomb exploded on the hangar deck or rather it went through the 3-inch armor in exploding – the steel armor was ground and crushed like wood. The fire resulting was bad until the sprinkler system was turned on. Everything is black from the fire and shrapnel riddles the hangar decks like paper. Only eight planes burned up, but more were damaged by the shrapnel flying freely all down the hangar deck. Number III elevator is completely wrecked and the pit is full of water and other trash. I noticed a large piece of shrapnel had torn a 3x8-inch hole in the elevator shaft, which is about 10 inches in diameter and the thickness of the sides is about 2½-inches. The elevator beams are all bent and warped – a real mess. A crew began repairing the hole in the flight deck, as we had to land a returning strike (our planes). Before this got finished, another bogey was closing at about 18 miles. By this time, my nerves were pretty well on edge and, I might add, I wasn’t by myself in the least. All at once, the guns opened up again and this time, I was really scared. I could just feel the plane coming in and the suspense was unbearable. Simultaneously, there was another explosion, not quite as sharp as the last one. This plane came in from aft and port. Reaching Number II elevator or rather just off same, it exploded – another near miss that sprayed more shrapnel on the ship. Casualties were being brought down aft so we headed to our compartment, which was dark as the power was off. All hangar hatches were down because of water, so we went forward, mustering at the office. The hangar deck was quite a mess, but the damage this time was more centralized than before. Casualties were 7 to 9 dead and 40 or so wounded, some seriously. It was just beginning to get dark when the bogeys were moving in again. The Intrepid shot down three of the five planes. We received a couple of compliments from the Admiral to the effect that we can take it, as well as dish it out. One run was made on us; the torpedo whizzing by just 15 feet off the fantail and the plane coming so close the gun crew was ready to hop over. April 17, 1945 – Today, everything is calm again and it is a great relief. This task group is refueling and now we’re on our way to Ulithi, escorted by some destroyers. At 3:30, the band played for burial services. The burial started with the band playing Lead Kindly Light, followed by scripture readings and prayers by the chaplains. After the committal, a volley and tapes, the service concluded with the beautiful hymn God Be With You Till We Meet Again. There were about 10 burials, I think. May 1, 1945 – It is quite evident that we’ll wind up in Frisco as our orders carry us to Pearl Harbor and the Number III elevator can’t be fixed there. The Ajax (repair ship) is to finish the work it has started first. May 8, 1945 – Today in itself warrants an entry even in our ship’s log: The war in Germany is over!!! The news reached the ship and was logged at 2:41. Now, the only thing left is the Japanese and I’m wondering what their reaction will be and how long it will take us to beat them? *** I was aboard the Intrepid for two years, the ship’s entire World War II service with the exception of one carrier strike just before the war ended. After leaving the Intrepid, I was transferred to the U.S. Navy School of Music in Washington, D.C. From there, I was sent to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi where I received an honorable discharge in January 1946, after three years in the service.

Veterans’ Voices

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

In the summer of 1941, the United States had not yet entered World War II. I had finished two years of college, but I was restless. I knew I wanted to fly, so my dad took me to Dallas to enlist. Since the Army was wishy-washy, in October 1941, I joined the Navy as a Seaman 2nd Class. While I was in basic training in Dallas, the U.S. entered the war. I remember watching the great migration of all our planes to the West Coast as they landed to refuel. Up until that time, the only planes we had seen were those being delivered to Britain under the “lend-lease plan.” I was transferred to Corpus Christi, Texas, as an Aviation Cadet, wearing the same uniform as Midshipmen. There, I took different levels of training at three different fields: Cabaniss, Cuddihy and nearby Kingsville Naval Air Station. I hadn’t failed any of my flight school tags and a guy who went up with me asked if I’d like to join the Marine Corps. I said something nonchalant like, “That sounds good to me.” I didn’t realize I was making a commitment, but it turned out I had. When I graduated on July 31, 1942, I was 20 years old and a 2nd Lieutenant. I was sent to Santa Barbara, California, where I joined squadron VMF 222, called “The Flying Deuces,” and flew the new American fighter called the Corsair. Through the rest of the war, the Corsair proved itself by escorting bombers on their missions in the Pacific War. Corsairs flew in groups of four on every mission. Each pilot had a wingman and when we were in enemy air space, we weaved back and forth to protect each other from the Japanese. We were flying what amounted to figure eights. While it burned a lot of fuel, it was the only protection fighters had at the time. We flew so close together that we were able to use hand signals to communicate. We couldn’t trust the AM radios because the Japanese could monitor the frequency. Had we broken radio silence, we would have been hung and quartered when we returned to our base. My first combat experience is still very vivid. We sailed to the South Pacific and landed on Espiritu Santo Island, the rear base for America at the time. We picked up some new airplanes there and flew on to

28 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

We were on Okinawa when the war ended. Guys got so excited they began shooting every weapon they could get their hands on. For at least an hour, the sky was alight with more bullets than I had seen fired all through the war. That was a stupid and dangerous stunt.

Guadalcanal, about 200 miles south. From there, we flew to Russell Island in the Solomon Islands where we had a few flights, but no combat. Next, we went to Munda, in the Solomon Islands, the closest U.S. airfield to the Japanese. Our troops had taken Munda a few months before and rebuilt the runway. Although it was still a small airstrip, it was usable. Later on in the war, it became a huge field. We were all excited to get to Munda because that’s where we were to start flying our combat missions. We were living in tents off the runway. If you wandered just a little bit away from the flight line there were many foxholes and bunkers, you would see the bones and skulls of Japanese soldiers. Munda was a smelly, horrible place. We had trouble keeping healthy. Most of us had dysentery from the food, which was pretty bad. Our squadron, the 222, was assigned its first mission. Our skipper let it be known that all the experienced pilots in the squadron would go on the first flight and the rest of us would have to wait for another day.

I was born in Oklahoma City in 1921. When I enrolled at the University of Oklahoma after high school, I joined the ROTC and took a flight class. That course was a turning point in my life. I’ve never grown tired of seeing the world from the vantage point of the cockpit of an airplane.

Their mission turned out to be a disaster. While weaving was a fighter plane’s only protection, it burned a lot of gas. Two of the four pilots ran out of gas flying back to Munda and crash-landed their Corsairs in the ocean. Two or three days later, I had my first flight covering B-24s on a bombing mission to Kahili on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, which was a strong Japanese airfield. Our intelligence photographs showed there were about 100 planes there, mostly Zeros. I hadn’t established myself on any of the flights yet and the executive officer of our squadron, who was a recent graduate of Annapolis, had just finished flight school himself. He had no combat experience, but, because of his rank, he was given the flight and I was assigned as his wingman. We stayed in our proper, assigned positions, but the other pilots in our flight

Veterans’ Voices

had engine trouble or something and went back, so it was just the major and me. We were scissoring, our method of protecting each other. At that time, we were in the neighborhood of 30 or 40 miles south of Kahili traveling with the bombers. Zeros were all over the sky. We could see about 60 or 70 of them just over our flight, but they weren’t aggressive. They wouldn’t attack until you made a mistake. Then it was easy for them to pick you off. I could see three Zeros right behind the major and another three zeros right behind me, but they were keeping their distance. They were not within gun range. This wasn’t anything urgent until, all of a sudden, the major decided to leave. He did what we called a “straight S.” He dove straight down and left me. I made a head-on run with a Zero and had him dead to rights, but my four guns See McLean, Page 31

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

After I graduated from Eagle Lake High School in 1939, I went to work as a carpenter’s helper. At the time, a friend of mine was driving a truck for a Houston wholesale grocer that supplied the little towns and country stores in this area. When they had an opening for a driver, I got the job. The company decided to close its Eagle I spent two years on small Lake warehouse and ex- I was born on October 13, jungle-covered South Papand its La Grange loca- 1920, on a farm near Eagle cific islands. There was tion, so I was transferred Lake in Colorado County. When my dad won a conno entertainment, so we here in February 1941. tract to build a school bus, made our own and we I met my future wife, he constructed the body made ourselves happy Lila Schultz, in March from wood and used a by deciding to be happy. 1941. We planned to get 1927 Model T chassis and I was never in a fight, nor married the weekend after motor. When the Model A did I ever see other men fight. We had an allotment my 21st birthday, but the came out, he upgraded of two bottles of beer a boss said a load of weevil- because it had an autoweek. One time, we had filled flour needed to be matic starter. That’s how two guys from Tennessee returned to the mill right my sister, brother, other local kids and I got to who could make their own away, so I couldn’t get off school in Eagle Lake. whisky. work that weekend. I had to get my mother’s permission to get married the weekend before, October a shotgun when I was six years old. After he 11, 1941, because I hadn’t turned 21. My told me to grip his hand he said, “You can wife was 18. Eleven months later, we had a pull a hell of a lot of triggers,” so that was that. He sent me through the Navy door. baby, Billy, in September 1942. A bunch of us boys were put on a pasAfter Pearl Harbor was bombed, everybody was ready to go into the service. Of senger train and sent straight to San Pedro, course, I had a wife and baby, so they didn’t California, for six weeks of boot camp. In draft me right away. I knew that I would be high school, I had my own band and played called and on July 27, 1943, I was drafted. I a guitar and sang all over Texas, so when was working for United Gas Pipeline at the I took a sound test, I could tell the differtime. After I took my oath under the Muster ence between tones. Since I made one of Oak in downtown La Grange, I was induct- the higher grades, I was sent to a submarine detection school. Then I got on a ship goed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. When we were examined to see if we ing to New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. were physically fit, all of us boys who had There, I waited two weeks before I was sent come in that day stood buck naked in long to Guadalcanal, which had been secured by lines. Another La Grange boy was ahead the time I arrived. Then I went to Munda, the main base of me. When he got up to Captain Jolly, who decided whether you got in or weren’t on the island of Ondanka in the Solomon physically able to serve, the boy said he Islands, to provide protection for a big rewas a conscientious objector. Captain Jolly pair ship anchored there. It was capable raised cain, but the boy had to be sent home of repairing any kind of marine vessel. A because that was the rule. When I got up hospital ship with lots of nurses onboard to Captain Jolly’s desk, he looked up at arrived and stayed almost a month to treat me and said, “What the hell is wrong with American servicemen. At Munda, 20 of us had responsibility you?” I showed him I had only three fingers on my left hand. I had lost one playing with for operating three listening posts called

30 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

On the island of Ondanka, I found a bicycle frame the Japanese had left in a trash pile. After I made tires from two-inch rope, I rode it all the time I was there. In the background is one of the huts where we lived.

hydrophones each powered by a 550-lb. battery, plus a spare that sent us radio signals. The hydrophones were installed half a mile out beyond the entrance to the harbor. Eight of us were sonar men. The others were signalmen. We could hear every ship within a 15mile radius and tell what kind it was and which direction it was going. Ships could still be over the horizon, but we could hear them. Every ship had a different sound. We knew when a ship was coming our way because the sound kept getting louder and louder. When we would see its conning tower, our signalman would flash a light by using levers asking them to identify themselves. If they didn’t do so, we assumed it was an enemy vessel. When we detected submarines, we couldn’t tell whether they were ours or not. After we reported activity to the officerof-the-day, information went up the chain of command. If the decision was made to check on a ship, a destroyer escort in the harbor was on the ready day and night. A little fighting devil, it was a smaller ship with 3-inch guns, 30 and 50-caliber machine-

Veterans’ Voices

guns, plus torpedoes and depth charges. Even though from time to time we saw the destroyer go out, we operators didn’t know what transpired. We did all our own repair work. Sometimes big birds would land on a hydrophone’s wire antennae and bend it over or short it out, so we’d have to go out and straighten it. We had a 38-foot buoy boat equipped with a winch with a separate motor. The Seabees built us tents for shelter and a tower over 40 feet tall in two days, so we could see the ocean above the trees. Seabees had their own big float with tractors. There were big trees on the island and the Seabees made their own lumber from it. They knew how to work. They were great! We had Japanese camps with just six or eight men as close as half a mile from us. They never bothered us. They were there as eyes, reporting what came in and what went out to their chain of command. The natives on Munda would approach us in long wooden canoes that held about 15 to 20 men. If they had something to See Glaiser, next page

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Continued from previous page trade, sometimes the women would come along. I traded a pack of cigarettes, a $5 bill and something else as inconsequential for a rifle. What I had to offer amounted to practically nothing to me, but the woman was happy with the pack of cigarettes; even though she didn’t smoke and couldn’t spend a $5 bill, she had something American. I was stationed on Munda from March to October 1944. Up the line, as the U.S. continued to capture islands, some of us were sent to install sonar equipment in new harbors. On December 4, 1944, I left Munda and went back to Guadalcanal to catch transportation to Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands. For five months, I was an operator on Ndrilo, a 13-acre island at the entrance to Manus Harbor, where we operated four hydrophones. However, I missed one whole month because of an ear fungus. Every day, I took a 10-mile trip across the harbor to the main base to see the doctor, who told me not to put on earphones because that would only make the problem worse. Finally, the doctor admitted he didn’t have the medicine to cure the infection, but knew of a home remedy. “Let me have it,” I said. “Get yourself an extension cord where you can screw a lightbulb into one end. Plug it in and hold it up so the light can penetrate the ear canal. Do that for 15 minutes three times a day for three days.” Do you know that home remedy cured my infection? I tried it 10 years later after I was home and it worked again.

Even though I had enough points, I knew I wasn’t coming home until the war was over because sonarmen still were needed in the Pacific. I was put on a Swedish ship that listed, operated by an Indian crew. The ship only had one screw that worked, but it floated, and it got me to the Samar in the Philippine Islands. We slept on the deck. When we woke up one morning, about 200 yards away was the Battleship Texas. That was the greatest feeling. Seeing the Battleship Texas brought tears to my eyes. Thinking back, it still does. The Battleship Texas went on and a little boat came to get those of us getting off that old ship. As soon as I stepped on Samar Island, a familiar voice yelled, “Hi Glaiser!” Grinning at me was a guy from Eagle Lake named Morris whose father was the barber. From there, we went on to Kavuete at Manila to load supplies on a barge. Our Marines and soldiers had taken back Corregidor, an island the Japanese had taken from us, displacing General Douglas MacArthur. When we arrived, dead Japanese soldiers were lying everywhere and we couldn’t get in to unload. The next day, a barge brought Japanese prisoners-of-war who piled a lot of bodies on a truck and took them away. Finally, the war was over and I came home. When I left, my son, Billy, was nine months old. When I returned, he was three years and three months of age. I was so happy to be reunited with my wonderful wife and child. After the war, we had two more fine boys: Bob and Dan. Mr. Glaiser died July 9, 2015.

President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, while I was stationed on Ndrilo. We assembled to pay our respects to our late commander-in-chief.

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I’m third from right on the second row in this photo of our squadron in the Pacific. The Corsair fighters we flew were not designed to land on carriers, so we were stationed on different islands in the Pacific.

Continued from Page 28 wouldn’t fire. Normally, the flight leader gives the signal to turn on your guns, but he was gone. Since I, too, was inexperienced, I hadn’t thought to turn on my guns. I wasn’t ready to go into combat. As soon as I passed the Zero, I turned on my guns, but by then it was way too late. Getting out of there was a problem. I had six Zeros right behind me and no other Corsair for protection. Meanwhile, the bombers had completed their mission and were turning around to go back home. I turned 180 degrees and headed for home going full throttle, giving it everything I had. I started at about 30,000 feet and all the time I was reversing direction, I was building up as much speed as I could. The Corsair had a two-stage blower, which was a super charger system to fly at high altitudes. When the pre-detonation red light came on, you had to shift your blower to a different setting or cut back on the throttle. When my red light came on, I cut back a little on the throttle. Then I started to see Japanese tracers coming by me. I dove down to pick up speed and went back to full throttle, leaving the red light on. I was trying to head for a cloud layer at about 10,000 feet where the Zeros wouldn’t be able to see me as easily. But every time I slowed down enough to get the red light

Veterans’ Voices

off, they would catch up and start firing at me. The Zero was a slower, but much more maneuverable aircraft than the Corsair. The Japanese shot cannons and we shot regular solid bullets. My Corsair had been hit six or eight times, but the Japanese hadn’t gotten a good, solid hit to make the cannons explode. They all glanced off. I then got close enough to our bombers that the Zeros would have to fight them, too, but that was problematic in itself. The bomber crews could be so trigger-happy that they might shoot at you instead of the Japanese. When I got back on the ground, my first question to the major was, “Why in the world did you leave?” He said he thought a Zero was making a run at him. You can’t blame anyone for taking action in his own defense, but we were both lucky to make it back to Munda that day. I went on to fly lots of missions and had my fair shares of kills – destroying Japanese planes - and lots of experiences that you could call adventures. I always considered myself fortunate to fly a Corsair in World War II. After the war ended, I returned to San Diego where I was released from active duty. When I married Mary Ann Taylor a month after we met in 1946, I decided to return to the Marines. I eventually retired in 1964 with 22 years of service. FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

The details of the D-Day invasion still were secret when we boarded a ship called the Susan B. Anthony on June 5, 1944. We were in Wales on the west side of Great Britain. Our second day on the ship, DDay-plus 1, they called us for breakfast at 0400 hours. We were instructed to put on our uniforms, strap on our 125 pound-packs and be ready to board the landing crafts at 0800 hours. Just before 8 o’clock, there was a huge explosion. The ship quivered, shook and all the lights went out below deck. I thought, “This is it. I’m not going to make it to the beach at Normandy. It’s all over for me now.” When we ran up on deck, the superstructure was in flames and the stern was under water. A German submerged mine had blown up our ship. We peeled off our heavy packs by undoing one hook and over we went, abandoning ship. There was no loss of life because part of our regular gear was a floating waist belt that kept us bobbing up and down. The boat that picked us out of the sea was an American destroyer loaned to Great Britain to sink submarines. While sitting on the ship’s deck for hours off Normandy, we saw an overwhelming number and variety of ships of all sizes and shapes. Six American and British battleships fired salvo after salvo at targets that seemed to be well beyond the arena. One of those ships was the Texas, the World War I battleship now retired near Galveston. The ship held the men of the Fourth Infantry Division and the 294th Engineer Combat Battalion to which I belonged. (The anchor of the Susan B. Anthony is now honored in the Normandy Museum while the ship and our equipment rest very nearby in 350 feet of water.) Once we got onshore at Normandy, our chant became, “You saw us first on Normandy shores; you will see us last at Hitler’s doors.” This was a prophecy that applied to our unit and all other units, as well. It is estimated that in the 30 days or so of conflict starting with D-Day in Normandy that one million people: Americans, British, Canadian, German and French were killed, injured or missing in action. The first bridge we built at Beuzevillela-Bastille did its job by allowing reinforcements to land at the Cherbourg Peninsula to aid the Fourth Infantry in moving up to

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Although we spent most of our time in Europe in combat, we also built many bridges such as this one called the Last Bay across the Rhine River.

I was born in South Orange near Newark, New Jersey. My father was a high school science teacher. After high school, I enrolled at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and took as many courses as I could before I was drafted. The Army caught up with me on my 20th birthday, October 19, 1942.

capture Cherbourg. With this done, it was time for the break out from Normandy. As the sweep started, the 294th Combat troops created another bridge across the Varenne River at Ambrieres. Next, we moved swiftly to Melun, which was on the Seine River, 30 miles above Paris. Melon had good roads and an island in the river. On September 2, 1944, this allowed us to build four bridges, two going each direction. Two were built very strong to support tanks and loaded trucks and two were lighter for trucks returning empty. We were in Belgium and the Black For-

Some years ago, my wife Jean and I went back to France and Germany. In the Allied graveyards, each cross (marker) listed a person’s name, his unit and the date he died. It was eerie because I remember where most of the divisions had been when these young men were killed.

est in Germany by September 13, 1944. We stayed in the Black Forest for three months. During that time there was much change in activity, but little or no progress by the Germans or the Americans. Each appeared to be keeping tabs on the other. Every evening, a German fighter plane flew over at treetop level. After seeing it often enough, we gave it the nickname of “Bed Check Charlie.”

Veterans’ Voices

With the Americans in the Black Forest of Germany and Belgium, as well, Hitler apparently felt he must take an aggressive position. In mid-September, he launched an unexpected and very strongly reinforced attack against three unfortunate American divisions. Two of these were relatively inexperienced and one was on a much deserved rest. An “all hands” counterattack by the Americans was badly needed. The Battle of the Bulge was on! The Germans had clearly surprised us and had taken every opportunity to use this advantage. The word “bulge” was properly descriptive as our lines had been deeply penetrated. It took time for the Allies to organize and respond. This effort took even more time because of turbulent weather that kept our planes out of the air. But things changed. Our planes were able to get in the air. Our soldiers overcame the most serious and difficult situations, as well as the most physically demanding conditions one can think of. To our advantage, the Germans began to have their own problems. The Battle of the Bulge was over on January 25, 1945. Hitler had gambled and lost! After the Bulge ended, there was much to be done. A major job was getting the Ruhr River crossed on February 2, 1945, so that the Allies had full access to the Cologne Plain and the Rhine River. After that, the Germans closed their seven Rhine River bridges, one of which had a problem. We Combat Engineers built a bridge across the Rhine on March 18-19 and other groups were crossing, as well. There was still work to be done, but for all purposes, the war was over! I have mentioned a few bridges built by the Engineer Combat Battalion, but that was only the beginning of our work. We built 38 bridges for vehicular use that measured a total of 5,380 feet. We also swept 6,000 miles of roads for mines and drove another 6,000 miles correcting maintenance problems. When we were mine sweeping, we’d put up a sign saying, “Travel this road and have no fear. The mines have been swept by an Engineer.” This was not our business, but we also took 890 prisoners of war. None of this work could have been done without the full and very much needed strong support on the home front. Bless you all and many, many thanks.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I was ready to get married before I went into the service, but when I asked my girlfriend, Georgia Barta of Ammannsville, she said, “No.” She came from a Czech family and I came from a German family. She was afraid that if I got killed over there in Europe, she wouldn’t fit into my family. Not many Germans married Czechs back then. It wasn’t like it is now. I had to agree with her on that, so we waited. I was inducted into the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio on February 16, 1943, and arrived at Fort Lewis, Washington, for basic training on my 20th birthday. I was assigned to the 739th Medium Tank Battalion, 3rd Platoon of C Company. The training was brutal in order to prepare us for what we could expect to face when we eventually landed in France. After I came home from the war, I couldn’t We underwent intensive tank instruction, in help but think of all the boys who would addition to other maneuvers. I remember never see their homes again. They wanted crawling through a live minefield at night to come back as much as I did. They gave with real 30-caliber machine gun fire rak- their lives so we could live in freedom. ing the area only 30 inches where we were sent, above the ground. Next, my it was raining and the platoon was sent to the demud was almost kneesert heat of Oregon for madeep. When our battalneuvers. Each of us soldiers ion was under heavy was issued one canteen of German artillery fire, water that had to last us 24 big limbs would fall hours. While stationed there, and trees would be cut six of my buddies were run in half as if they were over by another tank battaltoothpicks. We spent ion-in-training in a horrific 27 consecutive days accident. fighting in our tank, After tank firing traineating C-rations withing in Yakama, Washington, out a bath or change some of the tank units went to France and participated I was born on my grandparents’ of clothes. The tank I was in the D-Day invasion of farm at Freyburg, the youngest Normandy, on June 6, 1944. of six children. My family lived assigned to and two However, my battalion was on a tenant farm behind Frey- others went on a missent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, burg Methodist Church. We sion to push over 40 where we were equipped had very little money, but a lot or more of the Gerand trained on the use of top- of hard work. I attended Frey- man concrete pillbox burg School. fortifications. Due to secret night fighting equipthe heavy snow that ment. It was very hush-hush. Three more months of intensive training had fallen by that time, we whitewashed was followed by another three months in our tanks and traveled under the cover of the desert near Phoenix. Then my battalion darkness, but still came under fire. I wonboarded a troop ship bound for England. Fi- dered if I would ever see Fayette County nally, on November 12, 1944, we landed at again, but we made it. As the Allies approached the Rhine River in Germany, we La Havre, France. The following weeks were the longest found knocked out vehicles and other deof my life because we were constantly in bris had been strewn around to slow down danger. There were still active land mines our approach. The mission of our tank was

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We participated in so many terrible battles that I sometimes wondered if I would ever see Fayette County again, but God protected me and I came home.

to clear the road leading to the river. This worked fine until we came to a disabled German Tiger Royal tank that our American-made tank couldn’t budge. When we got out to hook a cable on it to drag it away, shrapnel from German airbursts was hitting the ground all around us. When we finally pushed the German tank aside, we used our dozer blade to slope the riverbank so the Allies’ amphibious vehicles could cross. Our tank couldn’t cross, of course, because there was no bridge. At Neuenhagen, Germany, I made the mistake of speaking German when my loader and I were halted by a Dutch guard one night. He stuck his rifle in my stomach and, even though I hastily reassured him I was an American soldier, he wouldn’t take my word for it. He marched us to his command post, then to ours. We were not released until our commanding officer assured him we were Americans. The special night fighting equipment on our tanks never really worked out like they hoped it would. In the later days of the conflict, I suffered such a high fever that I was taken to a hospital in Holland for treatment because I had hurt my fingers badly earlier during the war. When V-E Day – Victory in Europe – was announced on Tuesday, May 8, 1945, we had been pulled back from the front, so I really don’t know if the fighting stopped all at once. I recall we were allowed to take the day off and we were very happy the war was over. After surviving that hellish war from the beaches of France through Belgium, Holland and Germany, they told us a big, fat lie. We were close to Wuerzburg, Germany, where we had nice living quarters. Our company commander told us that

Veterans’ Voices

anybody from a buck sergeant on up could transfer to the 70th Tank Battalion at Bamberg because the 70th was getting ready to turn in their tanks and go home to the States. Of course, we should have known better. I think every sergeant in the company, including me, transferred to the 70th. When we got to Bamberg, they put us in pup tents and it rained day and night. On top of that, about two weeks later, our original outfit went home. They were halfway across the Atlantic when Japan surrendered. Those guys got 30-day furloughs, plus 15 days delay en route, and then they got their discharge in November and December. I was caught in Germany until December 16 of 1945. It wasn’t until January 5, 1946, that I sailed by the Statue of Liberty at New York and was finally back home in the States. I had been in the Army 37½ months when I was discharged on March 30, 1946. Georgia and I were married on June 4, 1946, and at first settled on a farm behind the KJT Hall at Ammannsville where we started to raise our family of four children. I took advantage of the agricultural program available under the GI Bill that paid me $90 a month. In those days, $90 meant a whole lot. Later, I worked at various jobs, including many years with the U.S. Post Office. We eventually settled in the High Hill area. Georgia died from cancer seven years ago. I miss her immensely because we were always very close. I have always been very proud of my country and proud that I could serve it. I thank God for sparing my life during the war and I feel fortunate that He has blessed me with such a long, rich life. Mr. Gabler died on March 12, 2015.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

As a five-year-old kid, I loved to watch barnstormers, old World War I flyers, who came through town selling rides on veteran training airplanes called the Jenny. I saw birds flying and I grasped the concept, but what caused airplanes to fly? That fascinated me so much that I wanted to be a pilot. After I graduated from Ventura High School in May 1939, I thought there was a chance I could receive pilot training through the Army. I contacted the recruiting office in Des Moines, but at that time the basic requirement for aviating cadets was at least two years of college, which I didn’t have. The letter I received from the Fourth Recruiting District advised me that since I had a high school diploma, there were vacancies for the Air Corps and Signal Corps, as well as the Quartermaster and Medical Department. I would have to pay my own way to the applicable station. Keep in mind that the pay for an Army recruit then was $21 per month. I decided not to enlist at that time. I worked for my dad during the winter and as a lifeguard at Lake Okoboji in the summer. I still remember where I was when I heard Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. We were practicing a Christmas program at St. John Lutheran Church near Ventura. My immediate reaction was, “What they have done to Pearl Harbor is horrible. How could they?” By about 10 a.m. the next day, December 8, I was 17th in line at the recruiting office in Mason City, Iowa, eager to enlist. The longer I stood there, the longer the line behind me grew. Obviously, a lot of guys felt the same way I did. I took my oath in the U.S. Army on December 31, 1941. I didn’t know it at the time, but a friend of mine, Erwin Jante, died when the USS Arizona was sunk during the Pearl Harbor attack. I also had no way of knowing that my decision to join the service would change the course of my whole life. In 1942, after I had been in the Army nine months, I read the Air Corps had started to accept pilot training recruits with one year of college if they were able to pass a test. I had a year of college and I still really wanted to fly, so I applied and passed the test. First, I was sent to Santa Ana Army Air Base in California as a cadet for two months of preflight training and then on

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I was born in Ricketts, Iowa, in June 1921. My dad worked for a bank and my mother worked in the telephone exchange across the street. We later moved to Ventura, Iowa, where my dad was in the grocery business.

I’m fourth from the left in the suit in this newspaper picture showing the swearingin ceremony at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, on December 31, 1941. Some of the men enlisted to beat the draft. Others, like me, who were not old enough to register for the draft, joined for other reasons.

to Mira Loma Flight Academy at Oxnard Air Corps Base, which was also in California, for primary flight training in the PT-13 aircraft. From there, I had two months of training on the BT-13 aircraft at Lemoore Army Airfield at San Joaquin Valley, California, before transferring to Luke Field near Phoenix, Arizona, for advanced flight training in the AT-6 aircraft. On July 28, 1943, I got my wings and commission as a second lieutenant. Getting a commission was wonderful, but what I was after was my wings, so I was very happy. Although I’d been trained as a fighter pilot and that’s what I wanted to be, I was transferred to the Pecos Army Air Field at

For my 90th birthday, my family arranged for me to fly a T-6, one of the planes the Army Air Corps used for advanced pilot training, at Ellington Field near Houston. I said I wasn’t going up if I couldn’t do a roll and a loop. Fortunately, the pilot who took me up obliged.

Pecos, Texas, as a flight instructor for nine months. During that time, I taught about 20 American cadets how to fly. Next, I was transferred to Reno Army Airfield near Reno, Nevada, to train in the C-46 Transport, the biggest two-engine aircraft of its kind at the time. That was quite a thrill. I put that training into practice when I was sent to India for one year. I flew 93 missions transporting military supplies for the Chinese and American war effort on a route that was nicknamed The Hump because we flew over the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains. We carried everything from clothing and food to jeeps, spare parts, engines, gasoline, tents, garbage cans, even bombs - many bombs. We had no weather radar, so we could not fly over the thunderstorms. Instead, we flew through them where the most turbulence, including up and down drafts, occurred. This could make a regular mission very risky. In a single day, we lost 19 aircraft due to bad weather conditions. Some airmen whose planes went down walked out, but that was difficult because they not only had to face the Himalayas, but also the jungle before they reached civilization. Before I got there, CBS News correspondent Eric Sevareid was with a crew that was forced to parachute over The Hump in 1943. Those men all made it to safety. Our route to China was often referred

Veterans’ Voices

to as the Aluminum Trail because of the great number of aluminum aircraft that had crashed on it. We flew at a high altitude, so we could not see the crashed aircrafts but we knew they were there. Because we were young, fear didn’t mean much, but we were concerned, not reckless. When we went through a thunderstorm, we would experience strong up and down drafts, so we didn’t have complete control of that aircraft. When we got an updraft, we were trained to cut back the engines to idle, put down the flaps and lower the landing gear to create as much drag as we could to keep the aircraft from being pulled higher, but we gained altitude anyway. Then when we hit a downdraft, it was the other way around – full power, flaps up, landing gear up. We tried to climb as fast as we could, but we would still lose altitude. The C-46s were not pressurized aircraft, so we wore oxygen masks. There was a lot that could have gone wrong, so I guess I was very fortunate. For something to do between flights, I planted a bunch of pineapple plants outside the tent where I lived and they grew. I had a pet monkey at the time named Rastos. When I returned from one flight, that monkey had eaten a ripe pineapple that I had been admiring for days. So that was it. I put Rastos on my arm and took him back in the jungle, way back in the jungle, and let him go. Guess who was waiting for me when I got back to my tent? You guessed it - Rastos, my pet monkey. After President Roosevelt died and President Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan, the war was finally over. I was sent to Camp Grant in Illinois, where I was placed on inactive status. They didn’t need all of us pilots any more. However, I was recalled during the Korean conflict and later served in Vietnam. I retired in 1968 with more than 26 years of service with the Army Air Corps and Air Force, 20 years on active duty. After the end of World War II, we Hump pilots formed an organization called CBI, which stands for China, Burma and India. The logo for our organization was an illustration of The Hump. For many years, we enjoyed seeing one another at our Hump pilot reunions. To this day, I am fascinated with flying.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

In addition to B-24 bombers, we worked on Stinson L-5 Sentinels, small, light planes that were used by different branches of the service because they could land on short, unimproved airstrips. I’m pictured beside one at Gowen Field where I was stationed.

I remember when we heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. It was Sunday, December 7, 1941, an overcast day. I was working on the farm for my dad and living at home. I was drafted in February 1943 but never left the States. I had worked on my dad’s equipment, so I was familiar with mechanics. After basic training in New Jersey and New York, they sent me to Boise, Idaho, to train as an airplane mechanic. I changed many an engine on B-24 bombers – the big boys. The schedule called for us to rotate the engines every 600 hours. We lived in barracks and they would put up tents for us to work on the B-24s. I enjoyed the work. When we worked at night, they sometimes would put out flare pots, which put

off a lot of light and heat. Would you believe I got sunburned working at night? Yes, I did. We wore sunglasses or our eyes would also have gotten sunburned. That’s how bright the light from the flare pots was. I liked Boise. The Lutheran Church there invited us to come to services and we participated in church activities. At Christmas, we helped the church elders fill bags with apples, oranges and candy for the children. Some of the families took the soldiers home after church every week for dinner. The meals were good and we got to know the people. I went to visit the same family every week. They’d take me back to the base later in the afternoon. They were farm people who had once had a cherry orchard but

I was just about always the tallest, so in all my old photos with my buddies at Gowen Field near Boise, Idaho, I’m always in the back.

38 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I was born on a farm near Winchester in October 1922. I attended St. Michael’s Lutheran School and Church at Winchester. At the time I was drafted, I was farming.

lived in town by the time I met them. I liked them and they liked me. When the war ended, one of my buddies was going to Hawaii and he wanted me to go with him. I thought about it. I also thought about staying in Boise. My Master Sergeant was going to reenlist and he wanted me to sign up for another hitch, too. My aunt, Bertha Tschatschula, wrote me a stern letter telling me to come home. She didn’t want me to marry a girl from up there and stay. I enjoyed Boise, but it wasn’t home. Texas was home. I came back to Winchester and started raising cotton and corn, as well as some peanuts. One year, we ginned 45

Veterans’ Voices

I am proud to have served my country by helping to keep some of the B-24 bombers in the air, as well as some of the smaller planes used by different branches of the service.

bales from one field, a very good crop. I married Harriet Hielscher in 1950. We weren’t going together when I was in the service. I’ve never been back to Idaho, but, over the years, I’ve thought about the time I spent there.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I didn’t think about the fact that I could speak German when I went in the service till I got to the barracks in Arkansas and told them I was German. The other soldiers called me a “Damn Nazi.” That taught me right quick that from then on I was going to say I was Polish all the time I was in the service. After that, they called me Tex. After we docked in England on November 26, 1944, I was transferred to the 83rd Infantry Division, part of the First Army, as a replacement to go to France during the massive German air attacks they called the Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg means “as if struck by lightning.” That’s what it was like, too. A couple of other soldiers in my platoon said to me, “Tex, you know how to pray. Will you teach us?” I taught them the words to the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father who art in heaven…” I told them, “That’s all I know. Just ask Him to help us.” We were all scared. There was nobody that tough. There were a few of them that were kind of smart-alecky, but when it came down to it, they weren’t all that tough. During the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest of the battles that the U.S. experienced in World War II, about 19,000 Americans were killed. I thought to myself, “Maybe I will get out of this mess or maybe I won’t.” I became a scout, along with a soldier named Iacco. He and I probably captured about 100 to 150 Germans total. I would strip the Germans of weapons as Iacco stood guard. Most of the Krauts that I captured were Polish. They gave up. They were about 45 years old, average. I found out they were family men just like us. They told me in German that they didn’t want the war any more than I did. They were so glad they got captured. The young ones were Nazis, though. They were out there to kill, one way or another. We took the Germans we captured back to the rest of the GIs in our unit. At times, we heard shooting afterward. I know they just shot them. They told me, “What can we do with them? We have no place to go.” We had about eight or nine men left in our group when we got cut off from other American troops in the Ardennes Forest. We were completely surrounded by Ger-

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My twin sister, Evelyn, and I were born on October 7, 1925, at our parents’ farm in the Middle Creek section north of Schulenburg. We went to school at Middle Creek. I was drafted when I turned 18.

mans. There was deep snow and it was very cold. They couldn’t get any supplies to us and there was no way out. We were on our own. It was bad. During this time, we never got a hot meal. All we had were K-rations. These were 3,000-calorie meals carried in our pack that were to be consumed only under emergency conditions. Those were emergency conditions, let me tell you. When we ran out of K-rations, we turned our pockets inside out and ate the crumbs. Then we ate snow. Can you believe it? It’s true. We ate crumbs and then we ate snow. There was nothing, nothing at all to eat for days on end. Our guns froze one night when we went to shoot some Germans at a roadblock and they captured us. I told them in German that we were Germans and had taken the uniforms off dead American soldiers. The Germans didn’t know whether to believe me or not because my German was pretty good. The

know which, and taken to a makeshift tent where they bound me up and sent me on to a hospital in France. When they cut off my combat boots, my feet were black and cracked so they started treating me for frozen feet. After three days or so, I got really sick. I asked the male nurse, “Why are you not changing my bandages?” “You are here for frozen feet,” he said, “No,” I said, “I got hurt by a hand grenade.” I had developed a terrible infection. The nurses started giving me penicillin every two to three hours for three days and nights. Then they sent me back to England and later to Scotland for two or three months to recuperate. Looking back, I find it hard to believe that while I was on the front lines, I never saw a medic. If you got hurt, you got hurt. From the time we started out in France at the end of I was stationed in Belgium from Novem- November or early December 1944 until I ber/December 1944 to January 1945. To got wounded on January 16, 1945, I never this day, when I get cold at night, I still took my clothes or my boots off. When I dream I am lying in the snow there. I can got to the hospital, I did not remember what never forget that nightmare. month or day of the month it was. I missed Christmas 1944. My family told me later that when the other guys with me kept their mouths shut. Finally, the Germans threw two hand gre- man from Schulenburg who delivered telenades at us and left us for dead in the snow. grams came driving up our road at the farm, Mama crawled under the house where we I heard someone calling me, “Tex?” stored the potatoes and onions. “Yes,” I said. She knew he had bad news. He could “I am Iacco. Are you hurt?” be bringing the family a telegram that said, “No,” I said. “Your son is injured,” “I have only got one “Your son is missing in foot left,” he said. action,” or “Your son is I got up, dazed. dead.” Mama didn’t want “Where is Fortini?” to hear that kind of news (He was the other friend about me, but it wasn’t who was with us.) that bad. “Here,” Iacco said. The telegram read, “He is dead.” “Regret to inform you I walked off in the your son Private Alvin J. snow. I don’t know what Langhamer was slightly direction. I didn’t know wounded in action sixthat my rifle was gone. teenth January in BelI didn’t know where I gium. Mail address folwas going, but I ran into lows direct from hospital four or five GIs. I told with details.” them that one GI was When I finally came back there with one foot home, I was still too young blown off. to buy a beer at the Swiss They asked me if I Alp Dance Hall, but not was hurt. I told them no, too young to almost die for but when they shone a On the Lone Star Honor Flight flashlight on me, blood to our nation’s capital in June my country. For a long, long time, I was running down my 2010, my picture was taken in was mad at the world, but front of the World War II Memoleg, but I couldn’t feel rial. They treated us like heroes after the Lone Star Honor any pain. in Washington, D.C., but I don’t After a few hours, feel like a hero. I was just for- Flight to Washington a few years ago, I’m not I was put on a jeep or tunate to get back home alive. mad any more. weapons carrier, I don’t

Veterans’ Voices

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

My unit arrived at the port of Cherbourg, France, awhile after D-Day in 1944. I served in the Third Army under General Patton. We didn’t like him, but the Germans didn’t like him either. He was mean, mean, mean. I heard him over a loudspeaker once giving the troops a pep talk before one of the offenses. He told us not to die for our country, but to make the enemy (those SOBs, his words, not mine) die for theirs. Once we got our tanks and half-tracks, the Third Army moved forward quickly. We met our first opposition in Metz, France, a heavily fortified city. That was baptism by fire, the real thing. It was very creepy there in the woods in dugouts with the artillery shelling us. That winter was the coldest weather they had ever had. You could spit and your spit would turn to ice. We met our first serious trouble in the Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg, France. The Germans were shooting machine guns and we were shooting rifles all at the same time. It’s unimaginable how loud it was. We had a lot of casualties among our 100 men. When it quieted down, we were laying behind logs and fallen trees. I was platoon sergeant. We heard a noise and saw four German soldiers coming down a path talking loudly. They must have drunk too much potato whiskey. They got ripped apart at about 20 yards. When we went through their pockets to get IDs, we found pictures of their wives and children. It made you feel pretty bad, but we moved forward. We were getting ready to take a hill that looked just like Monument Hill State Park in La Grange. The hillside was so steep and rocky that we climbed it by grabbing onto grapevines, weeds and small trees. We caught the Germans on the top of the hill asleep, but when they awoke and began firing on us, they killed a colonel, one of the 60 to 75 men in our detachment. Then they fled. We found they had dug a hole in the ground that was a perfect room with a chimney in the middle for a fire and a flat roof. We didn’t stay there long. We were moving across a flat, open area, which was very unusual in Germany because there were so many farms and towns. When we came around a bend, we saw what appeared to be an abandoned shack made of unpainted, rough wood with no glass in the windows or a door. Suddenly, four Germans started firing on us from

42 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I am not a hero. A lot of combat soldiers had it worse than me. But a question has always stuck with me: Was I just lucky or did a guardian angel or the Lord take care of me?

We were transported from battle to battle in half-tracks: vehicles with wheels on the front and tank tracks on the back, armored walls and no tops. Time after time, we moved forward, got out and went into combat.

there killing four or five of our soldiers. Then they came out without their guns, holding their arms in the air and saying in German, “We surrender.” They wanted to give themselves up. The boys who had been killed had been part of a close-knit bunch from Pennsylvania. Cussing the Germans out, the boys’ sergeant completely blew his cool. He told the Germans, two of them regular army and two SS (Nazis), to go behind the house. He shot them. If they hadn’t killed those boys, the sergeant would have taken them prisoner, but he was too angry to let them live. We moved on and we never saw that sergeant again. When we engaged a few Germans in the woods one day, I was laying behind a tree, my legs spread out behind me for better balance with my gun. The Germans would fire mortar shells at us that would burst and spread shrapnel. I felt something like a powerful puff of wind. When I glanced behind me, I saw a hole in the ground between my legs eight inches wide and four or five inches deep. If my legs had been together, I would have lost one or both of them. I decided I should look on

the other side of the tree and when I moved, a bullet whizzed by my right ear. If I hadn’t moved, it would have hit my head. The Germans doing the firing were wearing Red Cross helmets, but they weren’t medics at all or they wouldn’t have had rifles. I have two bronze stars and a Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters signifying I had three battlefield injuries. The first time, a bullet tore the skin off my upper right arm. Two or three days later, at sunset on Christmas Eve, 1944, we moved forward to take a hill. The Germans fired “screaming meemies,” mortars so loud they almost broke our eardrums. One of them landed about 10 feet away and blew up, spraying shrapnel that hit my leg. I give credit to the medics. They were there pretty fast to load me in an army ambulance and haul me to a field hospital in a tent. When I was fixed up, they sent me back to a hospital behind the lines. I wrote home to say my injury wasn’t bad and in a joking way told my family it was the nicest Christmas gift I’d ever had - getting hit and spending 30 days in a warm place. We had been living outside with no shelter

Veterans’ Voices

even when we slept. Then I went back and joined my unit again. The second time I got hit, I was treated by the same doctor and the same nurse who had worked on me the first time. The nurse said, “I think we’ve seen you before.” Weeks later, we got to the woods on the outskirts of a railroad complex near Trier, Germany, that we were supposed to take. A mortar shell exploded close by and, that time, the shrapnel hit me in the butt. After they got through with me at the field hospital, they loaded a bunch of us who had been wounded on a cargo plane that rattled and shook so bad I didn’t think we would make it over the tops of the trees, but we did. It wasn’t bad being in an upscale hospital in Paris for another 30 days. Then I went back to my unit until the war in Europe ended. By that time, the German civilians were hungry and the country devastated. It was bad. When we were stationed in Mittenwald, Bavaria, near the Austrian border, I saw an old man digging through a garbage can, looking for food. My grandfather in Schulenburg was from Austria and this old See Hollas, Page 45

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I came home from Europe onboard the Queen Mary, a former luxury liner that had been refitted as a troopship. It was so crowded that we would sleep on deck one night and the next night sleep below deck. There were so many soldiers that we only got two meals a day. The cooks couldn’t feed that many men three times a day.

I was inducted on January 9, 1942, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, and trained at Fort D.A. Russell in Cheyenne, Wyo., Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Wash., and A.P. Hill in Virginia. I was assigned to the 339th Ordnance Depot Company. I had worked for Vavra’s Garage in Fayetteville as a mechanic for a while before the war so I knew about carburetors, engines, parts supply, things like that. Most of the boys in my company were from the northern states so they called me Tex. We departed Camp Kilmer, N.J., on No-

44 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

vember 2, 1942, aboard the SS Monterey as part of a big convoy of vessels. We were packed on the ship like sardines. The convoy zigzagged across the Atlantic Ocean to avoid German submarines, so it took us two weeks to reach Casablanca, French Morocco, North Africa, on November 18, 1942. I saw my first German air raid on the night of December 31, 1942, when Casablanca was bombed. It is something I will never forget. I was on guard duty at the warehouses, so I stayed at my post where replacement parts such as tires were stored.

I didn’t go to an air raid shelter because I had to stand my post. Soldiers were running everywhere. Our men were shooting guns that couldn’t reach as high as an airplane, but the big anti-aircraft guns did. They made a thump, thump, thump noise when they fired. I saw fire and smoke coming from the tail of a German plane that went down in the Atlantic. There was so much gunfire you could see your shadow. although it was night. That wasn’t my only experience with See Stastny, next page

Veterans’ Voices

You followed orders. They told you where to go and what to do. Each of us did our part.

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Continued from previous page air raids. In Bizerte, North Africa, German planes we called Midnight Charlie flew over at night looking for targets. We went by ship to Malta and then to Sicily. We could see the live mines bobbing up and down in the water at Malta. It was dangerous. We were divided into two groups. One went by ship and the other by land to Palermo. I was on the ship. After the invasion of Sicily was over, we saw the Germans try to bomb the destroyer that President Roosevelt’s son, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., served on. That was in the Palermo harbor. The bombs missed the ship, falling in the harbor close to where our company was stationed on land, so we got peppered with dirt. That ship pulled out for open waters right quick. From Sicily, we went to southern Italy loaded on the back of trucks. When we were in Italy, I got a pass and went to Rome, but I didn’t get to see the Pope. We got on an LST (boat) and went to Southern France, arriving on August 15, 1944. There were burned out tanks and trucks on the side of the roads and big holes from strafing on the roads. From there we traveled to Worms, Germany, and departed for Wurzburg, Germany, on April 12, 1945. We had a hard time keeping up with the front lines because they were moving so fast. Our supplies were on a whole bunch of semi-trailer trucks. We had repairs for trucks and jeeps and even tank tracks - rubber ones for the highways and metal ones for the country. We were in the Seventh Army under General Patton, but not for long. I remember seeing General Patton when I stood honor guard at sunset as we were lowering the flag for retreat. Our company was not on the front line so we didn’t have the best guns. We were issued 1903 bolt action rifles used in World War I. Some of them were badly pitted from wear on the inside and didn’t fire properly. Others were in pretty good condition. I never had to fire my weapon, although I pulled a lot of guard duty. I served in five different campaigns: Sicily, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rhineland and Central Europe. My younger brother, Edwin, got called up before I did. He served as a cook for the Armored Division in Germany. The Red Cross set it up so I could visit him in France. My youngest brother, Johnnie,

The Fayette County Record

I was born at Rek Hill in 1917 and attended school at St. John’s Catholic Church in Fayetteville. Before I was drafted, I raised and sold special laying chickens and eggs to Dixie Poultry Farm & Hatchery in Brenham.

enlisted and served with the medics in the Pacific. That left my folks by themselves. I was discharged in 1945 from Company B 254th Infantry after three years, eight months and 28 days. I spent a total of 35 months of that time overseas. I was awarded a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with five Bronze Stars, World War II Victory Medal and Good Conduct Medal. My mother, Annie, prayed every day to the Blessed Virgin Mary to watch over us. All three of us boys came home, although Edwin married a girl he had met in Kentucky and settled there. After I was back home, I received a citation that says: “Award of the Meritorious Service Unit Plaque: The 339th Ordnance Depot Company for superior performance of duty in the accomplishment of exceptionally difficult missions from 15 February to 30 April 1945, in France and Germany. Despite the fact that this company was organized for the servicing of 30,000 troops, the actual work encompassed five times that number. “The ability of its personnel to perform varied tasks in a superior manner and to handle vastly greater quantity of supplies than ever contemplated, reflected great credit upon the unit and its members.”

Continued from page 42 man looked just like him. I still wonder, could they have been related? After about two months in Mittenwald, we got on a slow moving train that was transporting us to a ship that would take us to the war in the Pacific. About halfway to the port, the train stopped and an officer came by. He told us, “The war is over; Japan has surrendered.” We were very happy and relieved. We were sent back to Mittenwald on the same train to wait until we could go home. On the way, we passed alongside two elderly ladies wearing bonnets working in a small patch of garden next to the track. One of them shouted in German, “Are any of you from Texas?” “Yeah,” I shouted back. Then she yelled in German, “Do you know Winklers? “Yeah,” I yelled back before the train chugged past them and out of earshot. There were Winklers in Schulenburg. Although it is unlikely it was the same family, just the same, I still wonder. We sailed back to the U.S. on a terribly crowded old ship. Coming home, we ran into a storm. The waves were higher than the ship at times. There’s not a prettier sight than the red roofs of Norfolk, Virginia, in the distance. How good it was to see America again! When we got off the ship we could clean up and get clean clothes. There must have been 100 telephones for us to use to call home. My parents didn’t have a telephone at Ammannsville, but I knew the telephone number of my girlfriend, Dorothy Vacek - 1618F53 - five long rings and three short rings on a country party line. Mr. and Mrs. Vacek relayed the message to my parents. My family knew what bus I was supposed to be on from San Antonio. The closer we got to Schulenburg, the more excited I got. When the bus turned onto Main Street where the bus station was then, I could see my dad standing on the sidewalk wearing a big hat. I pointed out my parents and my girlfriend to the lady sitting next to me. I made a point of being the last person off the bus. It was so good to be home!

Veterans’ Voices

When I had my picture taken while training in Georgia, I had no way of knowing how terrible the war would be: the fighting, the noise, the destruction and the stench of dead bodies, dead horses, dead cows, all lying there decomposing. It was unimaginable. One thing I learned is how much abuse a human body can take when it has to.

I was born on my Grandma Adamek’s farm two miles north of Schulenburg in 1922 and raised on the main street of Ammannsville where I attended both the parochial and public schools. I graduated from high school in Schulenburg.

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I had just bought my books for my sophomore year at Texas A&M College when I got my draft orders. I hitchhiked as far as Industry and walked the last eight miles home, arriving in the middle of the night. So as not to worry my parents and two younger brothers, Rueben and Percy, I slept on the front porch until morning. When my dad got up and found me, he wanted to know why I had left College Station, so I told him. I took my physical exam in Houston. I was inducted at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio before going to Biloxi, Miss., for basic training and Airplane Mechanic School. I had Gunnery School at Harlingen, Texas, and then I was accepted for flight training, I went to Amarillo, Texas, for pilot training. This was a short stay, probably because of the heavy losses of bombers in Europe. I was transferred to Muroc Army Field (now Edwards Force Base) in California before being stationed in Norwich, England, a few days after D-Day, June 6, 1944. I was part of a 10-man flight crew on B-24 heavy bombers. I received a slip of paper each morning telling me what time to get the crew up, which was not an easy job, the time we would be briefed and when we were to take off. We flew 52 practice missions. Part of my job was starting the engines for every mission and making sure there were no mechanical problems. We didn’t get the same aircraft every day. Before every mission, we would gather together and recite the Lord’s Prayer. I wrote in my personal logbook on August 6, 1944, “This is the big day. My first bombing mission over Germany.” We got up at 4 a.m., ate breakfast, were briefed and took off at 7:45 with 6,000 pounds of demolition-type bombs. Hundreds of planes roared over the North Sea and finally Denmark to hit oil refineries and an oil installation at Hamburg. We had a fighter escort of P-47s, P-38s and P-51s, but no enemy fighters rose to meet us. We came into the target from the northeast and when we got over the target, we met intense flak. Shells were bursting all around us. That was plenty scary. When we dropped our bombs, they hit the oil installations right on the nose. Smoke rose up in the air

46 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

One of the boys in our crew, who was an American Indian from the Dakotas, wore a silver cross around his neck. When I asked him about it, he said his grandmother told him as long as he wore it, he would return home safely. When he asked me if I would like one, I told him I wouldn’t mind and she sent one for me. It is framed with my medals: the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign with five bronze stars, Air Medal with four oak clusters; American Campaign Medal, Victory Medal and Good Conduct Medal. In this crew photo, I am on the front row at left in front of a B24 bomber.

about 10,000 feet. We lost one aircraft in our squadron. One of our 500-pound bombs got hung up on a torn up shackle in the bomb bay so its nose was hanging out of the ship. It was ready to go off at any second. The bombardier and I rushed through the open bomb doors to fix the problem. We had to stand on a six-inch wide catwalk, 22,000 feet above the ground. We couldn’t wear a parachute because of a lack of room on the

catwalk, although we had to wear our oxygen bottles, which made it even worse. The weather was plenty cold too, 20 degrees below zero. The radio operator said ice was forming on my eyebrows and chin, but I was still sweating to beat heck. After dropping my screwdriver somewhere over Germany, I finally took a gun barrel off a 50-caliber machine gun and started pounding the heck out of the bomb shackle. Finally, the bomb came loose and

Veterans’ Voices

dropped into the Channel only a few miles off the coast of England. Had we not been able to get rid of the bomb, we could not have landed and would have had to bail out and ditch the aircraft. We watched the bomb fall and saw it explode when it hit the water. After we landed, they gave us a shot of whisky and we each were debriefed about what we’d seen. That shot sure was good and so were the sandwiches and See Rudloff, page 49

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I was an Electrician’s Mate Second Class when the LSM 40 pulled into San Diego on New Year’s Eve in 1945. I’m pictured at far right welcoming 1946 with my buddies. In the Navy, I learned to smoke and drink, but I don’t do either of those things any more.

When the U.S. declared war after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, I was living in Dallas, Texas. I was too young to enlist, so I went back to Flint, Michigan, to plead with my parents to let me join the Navy. They weren’t about to do that, so I had to wait until December 1942 before I could enlist. I was accepted in August 1943. The adventure appealed to me. I wanted to get in on the action and do what I could for the war effort. In boot camp, I was an apprentice seaman. From there, recruits like me were either trained as seamen working as deck hands, signalmen, radiomen, storekeepers, etc., or as electricians and firemen working below deck. We were called the Black Gang because we were below deck. The Navy sent me to the Electrical Training School in St. Louis to study to be an electrician’s mate. While I was there, I taught mathematics for three months. Then

48 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I was transferred to Little Creek, Virginia, outside of Norfolk, for amphibious training and then to Houston. Brown Shipyard on the Houston Ship Channel was manufacturing ships like the LSM 40, which stood for Landing Ship Medium. I spent several years on that ship, which was fitted out at Todd Shipyard near Galveston. I was in charge of the port section of the Black Gang in the engine room. The LSM 40 was about 200 feet long with a flat bottom. It only drew about two or three feet of water in the bow and about six or seven in the stern. Called “sand scrapers,” ships like this were used to take Army troops into the beaches, as well as deliver supplies and support equipment. After it left the assembly plant line at the shipbuilders, we sailed the LSM 40 through the Gulf of Mexico. Near Cuba, we went through what they called a “shakedown” to See Fitzpatrick, next page

I was born in East Jordan, Michigan, in November 1925. My family moved to Flint, Michigan, when I was 10 years old. I quit school and ran away from home when I was 16.

Veterans’ Voices

After I was discharged in May 1946, I returned to Flint Northern High School in Michigan and applied for a high school diploma. They took into account all the Navy Service Schools I had attended so I graduated with the class of 1946 and got on with my life.

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Continued from previous page see if the ship had any mechanical problems. A crew from the shipyard was onboard to train us and see how the ship performed. Then they left. The LSM 40 carried a crew of four officers and 48 seamen. On the ship’s well deck, we could carry two or three tanks, as well as “ducks” and “alligators,” mechanized equipment that could be driven off the ship’s decks onto the beaches. At the time, we were traveling in a convoy of ships. When we got near the Panama Canal, we discovered diesel fuel had begun leaking into the fresh water supply. We stayed in Colón while our ship underwent repairs. Then we sailed alone from the Panama Canal to Bora Bora in the Society Islands. There, we picked up some quonset hut materials that we took to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. Next, we went to the Admiralty Islands transporting supplies. From there, we sailed to Hollandia, New Guinea. For our first two invasions, we took the Army into the islands of Morotai and Halmahera. The next invasion was Tacloban in the Philippines. At Ormac on the island of Leyte, we’d take the Army into the beach in the morning to clean it off and then we’d pick them up late in the day. During the night, the Japanese would move back in and the Army would repeat the process. We made six or sev-

Continued from Page 46 coffee served by the Red Cross girls. On another mission, I bent down at exactly the right time because a piece of shrapnel from a German gun slammed into the window beside me. Had I been sitting up, it would have hit me and probably killed me. My family complained that the censors cut up my letters because we were not allowed to say exactly where we were stationed or what we were doing. I devised a system to tell them how many missions I’d flown. My dad didn’t have sheep, so when I asked how my 18 sheep were doing, they knew I had flown 18 missions. By April 1945, we had flown 30 missions and I had 230 hours of operational combat flying time. The Air Force asked me to rejoin, but I told them no. I wanted to come home. I was discharged at Fort Sam

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en milk runs, first taking in the Army and later transporting supplies and support equipment after areas were secured. I think we participated in 10 invasions, but I didn’t see much because I was below deck. In addition to the ones I mentioned, we went to Mindoro, Mindanao, Bataan, Subic Bay and Zamboanga in the Sulu Archipelago. We also took the Australians into Borneo, but I think that was after the war had ended. Most of those islands in the South Pacific were surrounded by coral reefs that were just below the waterline. They made reaching the beaches very difficult. Sometimes we tried to jump over those coral reefs or break them up as we went in, but coral is so hard it can damage a ship. Other times, we would go in to make a landing and, before we got to the beach, we’d drop the stern anchor. That way, when we unloaded, we could put the engines in reverse and use our own anchor to pull the ship back off the beach. Occasionally, we’d run so far up on the beach that we couldn’t get off. Once we were forced to stay in one place for two days. If we couldn’t get out with a high tide, sometimes another ship would pull us off. Had there been anyone shooting at us, we would have been sitting ducks. Fortunately, when that happened, there was no action. There were times when we’d let the ramp down and the troops would have to get out in six or eight feet of

Houston, the same post where I had been inducted. I got as far as Schulenburg that night where I was standing on a street corner when up drove Fayette County Deputy Sheriff Charlie Prilop. After he rounded up a couple of drunks, he dropped me at a dance at the fairgrounds in La Grange. The only person I knew there from Fayetteville was Red Schidel, who ran a café. He took me the rest of the way home. Once again, I arrived in the middle of the night, so I slept on the porch using my pack as a pillow. That’s where my dad found me the next morning. It was July 4 and I wanted to go to the Round Top feast that day, but I didn’t want to wear my uniform. When I put on my civilian clothes, my pants were three inches too short and my jacket was too tight across the shoulders. I had grown up while I was stationed in England.

water. When we were on our way to Japan for the first time, we were part of a convoy of 10 or 12 ships that got caught in a big typhoon in the China Sea. With 50 to 60-foot waves, our ship was like a cork in a bathtub because it didn’t draw much water. The bow would go completely under water and the fantail would come completely out of the water. When the propellers had no water, they’d make such a racket – RRRR, RRRR, RRRR. Then the big waves would hit us again. We finally had to turn and go into the waves. Otherwise, the ship would have tipped over. I was in the engine room with one motor mechanic and in contact on a sound-powered telephone with the sailors in the conning tower and those in the wheelhouse. We were mighty glad to get out of that storm. After our second trip to Japan from the Philippines, we stayed a few days in Tokyo before we got orders to come home. A lot of our crew had already been sent home on points, but not me. We spent Thanksgiving 1945 in the Guam-Saipan area. At Christmas, we were in Honolulu. When the LSM 40 developed some generator problems, we headed to San Diego, California, arriving on NewYear’s Eve. After the repairs were made over several weeks, we took the LSM 40 down through the Panama Canal again, this time to Charleston, South Carolina. We had a 30-day leave to go home and it was on that trip that I met my fu-

ture wife, Joan Ruth Elliott, on a blind date. Then I went back to Charleston where our flatbottomed sand scraper was decommissioned. I got orders to report to Great Lakes, Illinois, for discharge on May 9, 1946, thus completing the circle. I really enjoyed my Navy career. I must have done pretty good because I made six different pay grades before I was honorably discharged: Apprentice Seaman, Fireman 3rd Class, Fireman 2nd Class, Fireman 1st Class; Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class and Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class. We did some crazy things aboard ship such as cleaning the gyrocompass with carbon tetrachloride that is often used in fire extinguishers instead of medical alcohol, which we were supposed to use. Instead, we mixed the medical alcohol with grapefruit juice and drank it. We also set up a still in the steering compartment one time. An interesting anecdote about the diving I did for our flotilla. I would go over the side and check out the propellers, hulls, etc., for damage after we hit a coral reef. Years later, when I was visiting Washington, D.C., I went to the Naval Archives and pulled up the records for the LSM 40. They showed our day-to-day activities right down to the dates and times I dived. That’s how detailed the Navy’s record keeping was even before computers.

I was born at my grandmother’s house near Shelby in 1924 and attended school at Skull Creek, Shelby, Rock House and Industry, before graduating from Fayetteville High School in 1942.

Those of us who served in the Air Corps knew we had a 50/50 chance of coming home. If a member of a World War II flight crew tells you he was never scared, I don’t think he’s telling the truth.

Veterans’ Voices

FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

I was drafted into the Army in June 1943, two months after I turned 18. The first day I was at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, they told us to look on the bulletin board for our assignments. I was a country boy. I didn’t know what a bulletin board was until the next day when the lights came on at 4 a.m. and a captain came looking for Sternadel who hadn’t reported for KP duty. At first, I didn’t know he meant me because he was pronouncing my name wrong. From Fort Sam Houston, we were sent to Fort Sill, Okla., then to California and West Virginia, for maneuvers. It took us 21 days to go overseas in a convoy. We spent a couple of days in London before we crossed the English Channel. There were about 11,000 in our division, so landing crafts were lined up one behind the other for about a mile. It was quite a sight. They dropped us at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on August 13, 1944, with General Patton’s Third Army. We landed waist-deep in water and waded ashore. It was a mess chaotic. Nobody knew where anybody else was. There were no Germans there, just some bunkers. The Allies had pushed the Germans back toward Paris. They sorted it out and set up a headquarters and from there, we went on. Metz, France, was a big deal, pretty fierce fighting. The Germans were so well prepared with bunkers. We cut off Metz, but never captured it. When we got into Germany, I became a jeep driver for the officers. Later, they made me a messenger carrier. There were nothing like cell phones then. The Germans were smart. They tapped into the Allies’ telephone lines, so that didn’t work. My job was to deliver information to the frontline in a jeep. It was always at night, sometimes three nights in a row, all night long. I had no lights. When I first started, I asked, “How do I find the front?” The captain said, “Follow the American bullets.” That’s all I had to go by. The Germans didn’t have many bullets by that time in the war. One night, I was running on a road through the woods when a voice shouted, “Stop,” in German. “Ya vol!” I replied. I was close enough to see the German soldier hadn’t pulled his gun, so I put the pedal to the metal and got out of there. He shot at

50 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

If I had to go in the U.S. Army again, I would want a last name that started with “A” or “B” because everything was done alphabetically. You spent a lot of time waiting when your name started with “S.”

I was born on a farm near St. John in Lavaca County, Texas, and went to school at St. John. We spoke German at home. A nickel was a lot of money in those days because no one had any money. As children, we didn’t get around easily like you do now. That’s one reason the service was quite an experience for me.

me, but it was dark and he missed. Speaking German probably saved my life that night. I carried the messages in envelopes strapped to my chest. If you got captured, you were supposed to pull a little string that hung down so the ink would be erased. Sometimes, I’d bring messages back. That’s the only way they could keep things secret. You didn’t have time to get scared. I packed sandbags on the floorboards and in the back of my jeep in case I hit a landmine. I thought maybe that would help, but I was very lucky; I never got into a mine. The Germans knew we had no windshields on our jeeps, so whenever they could they strung a fine wire tightly between trees on either sides of the road. Fortunately, my jeep had a funny-looking contraption on the front that acted as a wire cutter. When you hit one of those wires, you’d hear a “ping” as the wire cutter broke the wire before it sliced off your head. I still remember that sound and what it meant. When we were pulled back from the front for 10 days rest, I found out I had a cousin, Clarence Sternadel, about 50 miles away. He said, “Come to see me.” I was good friends with the captain, who was from Yoakum, so I asked him and he said I could go. When I got to my cousin’s

camp, he was in town drinking beer, so I went to find the place. He was with the Ninth Armored Division and they had all these winch trunks. Since there weren’t any other parking places, I had to squeeze in next to one of them. It hit me that they might try to steal my jeep when I went inside. I opened the hood and took the rotary cap off so they couldn’t start it, but by time we came out, the jeep was gone. They must have winched it up and hauled it away. My cousin arranged to take me back. The next day I met with the captain and since I was good friends with the sergeant over the motor pool, he said, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get you a jeep.” They went out the next night and I think they stole about three of them, so they gave me another jeep, but I had to pay $490 for the one I lost. They told me, “Don’t worry about your money. When the war is over that serial number is going to come up.” I thought to myself, those people aren’t that dumb. They’ll remove that serial number and that jeep will never be found. I’m still waiting for my refund. At Christmas in 1944, they pulled me out of my outfit and sent me up to the headquarters as an interpreter. Even though I spoke German, their language is somewhat different from ours, so it wasn’t easy. During the Battle of the Bulge, I was with General Patton, “Old Blood and Guts.” I stood beside him just like I’m standing beside you. He was a pretty goodsize man, just a common man, but everybody respected him for one reason or another. Once he asked me if I’d like to put on his pearl-handled guns and have my picture taken. I wish I’d taken him up on that offer. When the Allies pushed back after the Battle of the Bulge, a lot of the guys com-

Veterans’ Voices

plained they didn’t have shovels to dig foxholes. Patton told them they didn’t need any shovels because they weren’t going to have time to dig any foxholes. He was right, too. They moved day and night. It was cold. As we moved from one town to the other in Germany, I would often talk to the mayor - the bürgermeister - about housing for our troops and other local matters in German. One of the first things we would do is confiscate all the beer and wine for our troops. The guys would tell me, “Don’t forget to bring back a barrel of wine.” The 86th and the 95th Divisions were the first ones to come home. I left Germany on June 29, 1945, and it took us nine days to get to Boston instead of 21 going over. From there, I took a train to San Antonio and got back to St. John on July 4 on a 10day leave. My future wife, Mildred Michalke, had waited two and a half years for me. When I went into the service, I weighed 118 pounds and when I came home, I weighed 198 pounds. Even though I looked different, she was very glad to see me come back in one piece. We got married six days later on July 10, 1945. I was then sent to Mississippi for training to go to the war in the Pacific. The 86th Division was ahead, already on the way to the Pacific, but I heard they tore up their ship and had to turn around and come back to California. By that time, the bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima and the war had ended. Then they moved us from Mississippi to Camp Hood at Killeen, Texas. That’s where I got my discharge. My wife and I lived in Hallettsville for more than 60 years and I retired from the Texas highway department with 30 years of service. A year ago, we moved to Round Top to be close to our daughter, Betty Sacks, and her family. We also have a son, Elroy, who served in Vietnam, and his family.

After I returned from Europe, I came home to St. John on July 4, 1945, for a 10-day leave. My girlfriend, Mildred Michalke, and I got married on July 10, 1945, before I had to report back. When the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, we were being trained to fight in the war in the Pacific. Thankfully, Japan surrendered before I was shipped over there or I might not be here today.

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I had a teacher by the name of Lyndon B. Johnson for my speech class at the old Sam Houston High School in downtown Houston. One day, when he passed a group of us boys in the hall, he said, “Hello, Men.” No one had ever called us men before. We had no idea our teacher would someday be president of the United States. When I graduated from high school during the Depression, there were no jobs, so I joined President Roosevelt’s “Tree Army.” This was one of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) “make work” programs. We did maintenance and tree trimming to earn a little income. I was still living at home at the time. In 1934, I got on with Hughes Tool as a machinist, working for Howard Hughes’s uncle. I learned to operate all the different machines. Most of them only did one thing, but then they brought in a new model that could do seven different things. I had no trouble mastering it. When the boss announced that Howard Hughes was coming from California for a visit, we spent a week cleaning up the shop. Howard Hughes got

My oldest daughter, Lonnita, was born in 1941, when we lived in Davenport, Iowa. I got a taste of many different military installations in the U.S. through my work with the Civil Service. After I finally enlisted in the U.S. Army, I would run into men I played cards with years before. They had received quite a few service promotions and didn’t necessarily want to acknowledge this lowly private.

52 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

as far as the doorway near the machine where I was standing when he became distracted. He turned around and left. He didn’t even walk through the shop. I got a break when the Civil Service hired me as an airplane mechanic in San Antonio to help revamp 50 old aircraft to be used as aerial targets for troop training. When that job was done in 1939, I went to California to work for Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica. That’s where I was when I got a call from an armament machinist at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. We were revamping Civil War field artillery. That’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Next, I was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Brookline, New York, as an armament inspector. Still with the Civil Service, I went on to develop armaments for the Air Force in Brookline, New York. Then it was back to Texas to work as a machinist on building Naval vessels at Orange. Next stop was Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where I taught armament inspectors the use of field artillery. I was assigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, as an armament inspector. While there, I experienced hearing damage in an accident. Then I was called to Fort Lewis, Washington, where I worked on World War II rangefinders, a tool that measured the distance between the user and a point in a visual field. I drove all over the country to all these different places where I was sent. At night on the Pacific coast, we could not turn on our headlights because of the blackout rules. We drove in total darkness. A lot of my buddies came through the post where I was assigned who had either volunteered or been drafted. I wanted to enlist, but the Civil Service said they needed my machinist skills and didn’t want to let me go. I enlisted anyway and went to work for Reed Roller Bit Company, building gauge checks for Sherman tanks until I was called up on April 26, 1944. I was inducted at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and suffered a leg injury in a forced march during boot camp. From there, I went to Rossford Ordnance School in Ohio. Then I was sent back to Aberdeen Proving Ground to make coastal defense guns by rebuilding old World War I railway guns that France had given the U.S. as part of its financial settlement. These guns were sent to Corregidor in the Philippines, but

As a machinist, I’ve always been interested in what it takes to make things work. I’ve even filed patents for some of my inventions. When I was 90, I received an award from a prominent national insulation company because I was its oldest commercial business operator.

the Japanese sank the ship that was transporting them, so they never made it. I was relieved of duty and discharged with a 60 percent disability due to my leg injury on November 13, 1948. When I refused surgery, the disability was cut to 10 percent, but recently was increased to 30 percent. I was born in Garwood, Texas, in 1916, but spent most of my childhood at 4920 Polk Avenue in Houston. My dad was a machinist with the railway and later worked for an ice plant. I don’t have a picture of myself in uniform, but this is how I looked in 1941 about the time World War II was declared.

Veterans’ Voices

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

radios and transmitters. I was driving pilings Our unit was assigned for a new bridge at Freeto the Marines, Army, port, Texas, when I got a Cavalry; it depended on letter that read, “Greetings which branch needed us from the President of the most. U.S.A. You have been inI was awarded one ducted into the U.S. Army.” bronze star for each of I was 20 years old. Afthe six major battles ter I entered the service or campaigns, as they on January 4, 1943, I had were called: Hollandia six months basic trainand Lae, New Guinea; ing at Camp Davis, North Cape Gloucester, New Carolina. I attended a radio communications school I was born in Shiner, Texas, in Britain; and Leyte/ and became a radio opera- 1922 and raised on my parents’ Tacloban, Luzon and farm near Moulton. I attended Lingayan in the Philtor. We were loaded on a grade school in Moulton and ippines. Two bronze high school in Shiner. After the Liberty ship, which had war, I went to the University of arrowheads displayed with my bronze stars been hastily built to haul Texas. signify that twice I was cargo. It still reeked of dieamong the first Amerisel and with such rough cans on the beach when seas, it wasn’t long till it we went in to take those also reeked of vomit. It islands with firepower, took us 32 days to get to one by one. Brisbane, Australia, as part At our first invaof a convoy dodging ension, Port Moresby, we emy submarines. were met by strafing Many times in the dark fighter planes and guns. of night, all the engines At Cape Gloucester, the would stop. Japanese shelled us day There were no lights and night, causing the and no talking because sandbags we were usJapanese submarines were ing for protection to catching up with us. We leak. stood by the rails, ready There was nowhere to jump into the water if I was on the battlefront in the Pacific for two-and-a-half a torpedo hit us. After the years. After awhile, none of to run. The bay was submarines passed by, we us expected to come home. I behind us and the enwould make a 45 degree never touch an American flag emy was in front of us. turn and go on. We zig- that I don’t remember the boys I prayed God would zagged our way across the who died under it. No one really help us. I don’t know whether I passed out or deepest waters of the Pa- wins a war. went to sleep, but when cific Ocean. Before we came into port, rations were I awoke, the Marines were marching Japaso short the cooks were feeding us a cup nese prisoners past our dugout. I thanked of navy beans at 9 a.m. and another cup at God for the reprieve. At Leyte/Tacloban, the Japanese had 4 p.m. When we got to Brisbane, we anchored 80-millimeter cannons hidden behind conear a boat loaded with cabbage. We conut logs on the beach waiting for us. We begged the shore men for some of those thought the beach was clear, but before the cabbage heads. They threw some to us and bridge on the front of our landing craft went down, they started shelling us. that cabbage tasted so good. Six shells hit us. It was like lightWhen I was promoted to sergeant, I had responsibility for all of our unit’s com- ning striking each time. The explosions munication, which included short wave knocked the bridge off the landing craft

54 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

After I was discharged on December 30, 1945, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, I rode a bus to Shiner. There was a big dance that night at Bluecher Park, so I thought that maybe somebody there could give me a ride home. It came as a shock to come back from hell and walk into a place where people were dancing and having a good time. It was a far cry from the primitive conditions like those on islands such as New Guinea where I’m pictured on the left.

and the hull was just above the waterline. It’s a wonder it didn’t sink. We were sitting on gasoline drums. We retreated and hit the beach again two miles further down. There were Japanese guns buried on the beach, but we finally got over there and cleaned the Japanese out, chasing some back into the fields. Conditions were no better at Luzon. At Leyte, we had orders to hit the beach at 0500 hours. We got word there were 50,000 Japanese soldiers waiting there. One of my buddies said, “I wonder what MacArthur is smoking?” referring to the general’s famous words, “I shall return.” He might return all right, but a lot of American boys were going to die first. One of our guys would start crying uncontrollably before every battle. After what we’d been through, he always said his luck had run out and he was going to die that day. He made it through the battles safely,

Veterans’ Voices

but died in an explosion later when he was washing a weapons carrier. After a few battles, our hearing was shot because we never had any ear protection. The noise from the big guns was beyond deafening. It made the blood pour out of our ears and noses. The medic told us to stuff cotton in our ears, but it didn’t help much. My hearing has been impaired ever since. I also had a bout with malaria. I still don’t know how long radio waves could travel that far, but I managed to pick up KVOO, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and WOAI, San Antonio on our unit radio. That’s how I heard the news that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Years later, I met General Tibbets, the pilot of that aircraft, I shook his hand and thanked him for saving my life. I am convinced I could not have hung on much longer because we were getting ready to go to another horrible battleground. There were so many terrible sights: dead and maimed soldiers from both sides, as well as women, children, even babies. When we arrived in California on our way home, we didn’t see anybody serving coffee and donuts like they did when we were leaving to go to war. Three buddies of mine from Shiner, who also had served in the Pacific, died soon after they returned home. The noise of the big guns wouldn’t leave me alone. The left side of my body was so numb I couldn’t press the clutch in on my old Buick. It felt like ants were crawling on me. I was in pretty bad shape. They sent me to a VA hospital in McKinney, Texas. The staff asked me how I got there and I told them I had ridden the bus. They were surprised that I could function well enough to do that. I underwent a series of sub-insulin treatments. They helped me and, at the end of six months, I felt like a new man. The doctors turned me loose to see how I’d react to the crowd noise at a Southern Methodist University bowl game in Dallas. I was fine and able to get on with my life. I worked construction, including a high school in Colorado Springs, and painted at the air force academy. Construction work even took me to Tullahoma, Tenn., where I built the foundation for a wind tunnel to test airplane engines. I married Doris Quick from Tullahoma in 1952 and we raised a family. I worked for the Atomic Energy Commission in Denver, but retired early because my war injuries were worse and came back to Texas. We live in Fayette County on the farm of my grandparents, Joseph and Mary (Novastad) Ripple.

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I put in a request for a deferment from the local draft board three times in 1942 because I was running the farm for my widowed adopted mother who was an invalid. Three times, I was turned down. They really wanted soldiers in my age bracket. At the time, it seemed like they weren’t drafting many men much older than 25. The afternoon I got my letter from Uncle Sam, I got on my horse and rode 13 miles cross country to tell my girlfriend, Hazel Lee Doerrich. She lived on a farm in the Svetlo community on the far south side of Fayette County near Middle Creek. Hazel said maybe we ought to get married, which was fine with me. Our wedding was at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Schulenburg on November 9, 1942. I was 21 and Hazel had just turned 18. On November 14, three busloads of us boys left La Grange for the induction center in Houston. The draft board’s office was upstairs in the building where Dr. Hatfield’s dental clinic is now located. Who should I meet at the induction center in Houston, but my full brother, Emil Kazmir? I was very surprised to see him and very glad. Neither of us knew the other had been drafted. While we were in Houston, the Army told us to go home and settle our affairs, get things straight before reporting back to La Grange in 11 days. I had to get rid of my mules, cows, chickens and hogs – everything – because there would be no one to look after them when I left. Some of the local boys from the Tofel, Muras and Hajovsky families had already gone into the service and the others knew it was just a matter of time until they were called up. Our neighbor, Laddie Osina, was the only one who didn’t come home. He was killed in action in Belgium in 1945. I couldn’t get anyone to stay with Grandma Kobersky, who wasn’t well enough to be here alone for long, so she ended up living with Grandma Hollas in Ammannsville. Jerome Kossa from Ammannsville said he’d work the cropland on our 75-acre farm while I was gone. I was inducted into the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston at San Antonio before I was sent to Camp Howze near Gainesville, Texas. It was a lot colder there than it was at Holman during the winter. I was assigned to the 84th Infantry, an artillery division. From Camp

56 FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

This was the last picture taken of my oldest brother, Emil Kazmir, (right) and me. Emil was serving in the 335th Infantry 84th Division when he was killed on the frontline in Holland in 1945. He was awarded a Purple Heart posthumously. I was born in Lovelady, Texas, in May 1921, and adopted by Edward and Anna Kobersky of Holman when I was 10 years old. Except for the three years I served in the Army, I’ve been here ever since. When I got here, I didn’t speak a word of Czech and they didn’t speak a word of English, but we got along. I went to Pecan School at Holman. When my adopted father got sick and died, I had to quit school and run the farm.

While I was in the service, the Army sent my sweet little wife $50 and Grandma Kobersky got $25 a month, which left me with $6. Hazel saved all that money and when I got home, we had enough to buy a brand new 1946 Ford tractor. It’s still down in our barn and I guess it would run if we tuned it up and aired the tires. I took real good care of it.

Howze, I was sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana, where we did war maneuvers in the swamps and brush. It was really rough terrain and the temperatures were cold. When I got to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, they worked us even harder. After we got our orders in September, we went by train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, and loaded up on a ship called the Thomas S. Barry. We were part of an 11-ship convoy that took 11 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean to our destination, Southampton, England. We stayed there about 30 days. The first week of November, we went by truck to the harbor, crossed the English Channel in ships and transferred to landing crafts to land on Omaha Beach. There was a big, old hill about 50 feet tall where the Germans had dug in, but we finally made our way up that hill. Then we moved by truck into Holland. The first night we were in Holland, we were standing up eating our chow upstairs in a building. A guy named Joe Weselhoff had his back to the window when a German bul-

let blew his helmet off with his head in it. I’d never seen a man die before, but I had already seen a lot lying there that were already dead. From my basic training here in the States to the Weser River in Germany, I was assigned to a howitzer gun. Its shells were about five-inches in diameter and several inches long. Whenever the forward observer (a soldier) identified a target, he would call that number to our battery commander, who would give it to us. The howitzer had panoramic sights with numbers on the aiming stick, so we could line up the gun to fire in the direction of that number. It was very accurate. Was the howitzer loud? Tell me about it! I often sat underneath that barrel wiping it down with an oiled cloth. We had to keep those guns clean: the axles, the wheels, everything. There were eight men to a howitzer, each howitzer weighed 4,000 pounds and there were four howitzers to a battery. The Germans had thousands of “pillboxes,” small, fortified structures, made of eight feet concrete and steel up and down the Siegfried Line. We had to help knock them out and take prisoners, so we could break through. We were in the “rat race,” fighting in one town and moving on quickly to the next in Holland. Then we fought from the Ruhr River all the way to Vienna, Austria. We slept in outdoor foxholes most of the time. It often rained like the dickens and it was so cold. For two weeks, we never got a change of socks or boots. Some of the boys got trench foot and had to go to the hospital, but not me. I wasn’t afraid except when a shell exploded close to me. Then I would get a little jittery. One night when we pulled into our bivouac when we were getting ready to cross

Veterans’ Voices

the Weser River in Germany, close to Hitler’s headquarters, the Germans attacked. They hit one of the four trucks in our battery, knocking it out. That truck driver just went berserk. I was upstairs getting ready to go to bed when he came running up with his carbine rifle yelling, “I’m going to kill everybody here.” We had to subdue him. When the war was over, the howitzers were sold for scrap. I was transferred from one place to the other until I ended up in Berlin. I was assigned to process other GIs who were getting ready to come home. I made my corporal stripes at that point. I had been a private first class for a long time. I had 63 points and my name was finally put on the list to sail home. We were scheduled to go to fight in the South Pacific, but thankfully, we didn’t have to do that. I was discharged on New Year’s Day 1946 in San Antonio. I have never had any interest in returning to Europe.

Hazel Doerrich and I were married five days before I was to report for service in World War II. She lived with her parents while I was away three years, one month and six days.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

When war was declared in December 1941, my friend and I both were too young to go, but we wanted to. We talked about lying about our ages and volunteering, but I got the mumps, so I couldn’t. After I turned 18 in 1943, I was drafted. My friend went into the service, too, but he didn’t come back. I never heard what happened to him. I served as a gunner for three years on three different merchant tanker ships: the SS Meacham, SS Quebec and SS Byron Nelson. We picked up high-test gasoline in the Caribbean Sea and took it to the Pacific Ocean for use by Admiral Halsey’s 3rd Fleet. We went through the Panama Canal 25 different times. We also carried fighter plane replacements on some of the trips. Other ships sailed with us for protection because German submarines and Japanese aircrafts were looking for targets like us. For more protection, we zigzagged when we were at sea instead of traveling in a straight line. Some of the trips were longer than others depending where in the Pacific we were sent. On all three ships, I was assigned to a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun. Noisy? Yes, the gun was very loud. We didn’t wear earplugs because we didn’t have any. If you didn’t have all the buttons done up on your shirt, the concussion from firing a shell would take your shirt off. The empty casings came out so hot they would burn your hands if you didn’t have on gloves. We practiced regularly, so we were always ready if a threat was spotted. We were always on alert. I don’t remember being scared, but we were aware that if a torpedo, a bomb or a shell hit our ship when it was loaded with that high-test gas, it probably would all be over before we knew it. We almost sank one of our own ships once. The captain was told there was a German sub on our port side. He ordered one of the big guns to turn toward it. Before the gun could fire, the unidentified ship started blinking lights frantically at us to identify itself as an American vessel and the captain changed his order. We came very, very close to sinking that ship. About the same time the Allies invaded France, our ship was ordered to go from the Pacific Ocean to Newport News, Virginia, in the Atlantic Ocean, for repairs. When we got there, a big band was playing at the dry docks for us. Our captain said, “What’s going on?”

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I served at the same station with a 20-mm gun on all three of the tanker ships.

I’ve always been patriotic. To this day, the American flag means a lot to me.

He was congratulated on sinking a German submarine. That’s what all the fuss was about. “No, we didn’t do that,” he told them. Here’s what happened. Earlier on in the voyage, we thought we had seen the periscope of a German submarine following us. Our big guns were fired, but there was no submarine periscope out there. It was actually a wave and lighting conditions. When we were at sea, we would crowd into the kitchen to listen to Tokyo Rose on the radio at night. She broadcast antiAmerican propaganda in English to troops and sailors like us serving in the South Pacific. To us single men, she was entertaining, but the married guys got real upset with her. They couldn’t stand her. She would say things like, “You guys that are married, you know that while you’re out here, your wife has got a boyfriend back home.” From our tanker, we watched several

meant, but my mother could look at the list I’d left her. She knew about where I was. I wrote to my parents and my mother wrote to me regularly, but sometimes it took a long time for the letters to reach me because we were out at sea so much. When the war was over, our captain wanted me to sign up for another four years. I told him, “No, I’m going home.” He said, “I’ll get you out of here.” The captain signed my discharge papers at Pelican Island at Galveston, Texas. I hitchhiked from Houston to Columbus. A lot of people would pick up servicemen then, but you wouldn’t do that now. Then I got another ride from Columbus to Ellinger. When I walked into the café in Ellinger, sitting there were my uncle, Joe Zapalac, and my friend, Johnny Becka, who had been discharged from the service earlier. My parents had a big German Shepherd. When I got home, that dog came running to meet me. He knew me. I still remember that. One of the things I missed most about being in the service was going hunting for dove and deer. I was happy to get back home. I went back to working for my dad doing fence work on the ranch. When he got sick later on, I took over the ranch. Mr. Kramr died on February 17, 2015.

I was born south of Fayetteville in 1924. I attended Osveta School, which had only about 10 students, and then St. John’s Catholic School in Fayetteville. This photo of me was taken at Krchnak Studio in Fayetteville when I was in boot camp.

U.S. invasions in the Marshall Island of the South Pacific War – the battles of Eniwetok and Kwajalein. I remember seeing a solid mass of palm trees in the distance on those islands. We were standing by to refuel the battleships and fighters. I also remember seeing one of the big battleships that had guns everywhere. The names of the ships names were not painted on the sides, so it wasn’t easy to identify them. During the three years I was in the Navy, I came home once on a 23-day leave. I wrote out on a piece of paper all the different islands in the South Pacific and numbered them. When my leave was over and I went back, I would write home and put a number on the letter. The censors didn’t cut it out because they didn’t know what it

Veterans’ Voices

I still have my Navy uniform in our cedar chest. It is 72 years old and in as good of condition as it was when this picture of me was taken in 1943 in California. We plan to donate my uniform to the museum in Fayetteville.

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today. We had never heard I was drafted in Auof earplugs. gust 1942 and inducted at We landed at Taipei in Fort Sam Houston in San April 1943. The fighting Antonio. I celebrated my was beyond description. 21st birthday at Camp Either you killed them or Wolters at Mineral Wells, they killed you. To secure Texas, during 13 weeks a Japanese airstrip, the inof basic infantry training. fantry moved in behind When we got to Michithe fighter planes to cut gan, we never saw the trails through the jungles sun, but big snowflakes before even a jeep could fell every day. I’d never seen anything like it be- I was born in Ammannsville, get through. One day fore. The barracks were Texas, on October 21, 1921. when they told us to take a heated with coal and eve- My parents, Charles and Mary break, everybody dropped Mazoch were farmwhat they had on that trail. rything you touched was (Hajovsky) ers. I attended St. John the black with soot. We boys Baptist Catholic Church Pa- Then low and behold, the from Texas gave those rochial School and later the word came from the back, guys from the northern public school in Ammannsville. “Clear the trail! Clear the states hell about that I had nine brothers and sis- trail!” I thought maybe because they had com- ters. When I finished school, I ambulances needed to get through, but that wasn’t the plained about the Texas worked for my dad. reason. Along came Genheat. I had a month of eral Douglas MacArthur military police training riding in a jeep. He told us before being shipped to we were doing a great job. Fort Meade, Maryland, He saluted us; we weren’t for a couple of months of saluting him. The engiranger training. neers did a remarkable job From there, we were there. They filled the bomb put on a train in a Pullman craters and repaired the aircoach (exceptionally nice strip and then our fighters accommodation) to San started coming in. Francisco. After a few Then we went to Holweeks, they loaded us landia, New Guinea, for a on a freighter converted few weeks doing stevedore to a troop transport ship. Nobody knew where we I went into the service in 1942 work. There wasn’t a sinand was in continuous combat were going, but after 21 in the South Pacific from April gle building and no roads. days in January/February 1943 to August 1945. I was 24 The jungle was so thick 1943, we reached Syd- by the time I got back to Fay- that to travel around the ney, Australia. Then they ette County. My baby sister, island, you had to go down sent us to Brisbane to join Irene, who is 14 years younger the beach. We sometimes an outfit, the 32nd Divi- than I am, didn’t really remem- stayed in tents, but most of sion, “Les Terribles.” We ber me. In fact, she was a little the time we slept outdoors. For two months, we were replacement troops afraid of me. stayed on Leyte, an island for battle casualties in the about 20 miles wide and 50 miles long. JaNew Guinea Buna Campaign. They asked me whether I wanted to be pan sent its soldiers from Formosa, who were a machine gunner or a mortar man. I didn’t supposed to be the toughest they had, to fight like machine guns, so I said mortar. We were us on Leyte. I never took my shoes off, never always situated behind a bank or a hole in the took a bath, never changed clothes. It rained ground for protection when we fired. A mor- every day – monsoon season. No vehicle tar had a barrel, base and two levels that had could travel because of the mud. I prayed my to be set. It fired an 85-mm shell. Noisy? Oh rosary every night and we were in combat lord, yes. No wonder my hearing is impaired every day.

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Canned lima beans and cheese – that’s what we had to eat. We got so tired of lima beans and cheese that we couldn’t face it. One day, I found a pail with a bail over the top. I scrubbed it out, filled it with lima beans and cheese and put it over a fire to warm up. I got called away to set my mortar to fire before the cheese had melted and when I got back, it was all gone. My buddies had eaten it. We tried feeding our rations to a skinny stray dog. It smelled our food and walked off. It wasn’t that hungry. Eventually, C-24s flew over us treetop high to drop boxes of food in a fairly open place. They had to kick it out because there was nowhere for the planes to land. Four of our guys on a machine gun were hit by the heavy boxes and killed. Now that was sad. Finally, we got two weeks rest and then they said, “We are going to Luzon.” Every day, the Japanese shot at us and we shot back. It took 119 consecutive days of uphill fighting to do that job. In mid-August 1945, they said they were going to give us a rest. That’s where we were when they told us the war was over. They warned us not to fire any guns in celebration because the Japanese might think we were attacking and start fighting again. We were at an abandoned Philippine sawmill building where there was lumber still lying around. I slept on some 1x12-inch boards. It was a hard bed, but a lot better than sleeping on that wet ground like we’d been doing for so long. While we were at that location, a Roman Catholic chaplain came to hold Mass. He told us, “Boys, all I have with me are the sacraments, no altar.” We thought of making an altar out of some lumber, but instead came up with the idea of using big sawblades. It was nice altar. Then the chaplain asked us, “How many of you guys would like to go to confession?” We all raised our hands because we hadn’t been to confession for months; for some of the boys, it might have been years. “I don’t have time to hear you individually,” he said, “so I’ll just give you all general absolution.” The natives, who were dark skinned people, were friendly. The men helped us, but the captain told the boys, “Don’t mess with those women or your head will end up in a pot over a fire.” He got his point across. The Army put out a press release saying that up to July 27, 1945, our division had seen 607 days of combat, the highest total time amassed by any American division in any U.S. war. By July 20, 1945, we had 14,494 hours of Pacific combat on MacArthur’s “road back” from Australia to the Philippines. Under the headline “Our Boys” in the La Grange Journal on November 1, 1945, a news item read, “Charlie L. Mazoch is returning home under the Army redeployment plan. A former squad leader in Company M of the crack 127th Infantry Regi-

Veterans Voices

ment, Sgt. Mazoch served overseas with the veteran 52nd, Red Arrow Infantry Division. In the service since 1942, he fought the New Guinea, Leyte and Luzon campaigns and holds the combat infantryman badge, Good Conduct medal, Asiatic-Pacific ribbon and the Philippine Liberation medal. His brother, Sgt. Ladis J. Mazoch, is serving overseas in the Field Artillery.” I was discharged on November 7, 1945, at Fort Sam Houston. The Greyhound buses were on strike at the time, so when a soldier came in and said, “Anybody going to Houston can ride with me,” I paid him to take me all the way, but when we got to Schulenburg, I told him to stop and let me out. Ironically, that morning my dad had backed over an oil pail with his tractor and punched a hole in one of the tires. He was at the Helmcamp Station at Hwy. 77 and Hwy. 90 having it fixed when I got to Schulenburg. He didn’t know I was coming home that day, so I surprised him. Before we went home, I asked him to take me to Kasper’s Store so I could buy a new pair of shoes because I was still wearing my combat boots. As soon as I got home, my sisters said there was a CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) dance at the Ammannsville Hall and they wanted me to go. Low and behold, I was surprised. All the neighborhood kids had grown up. I had to keep saying, “Who are you? Who are you?” Then I thought to myself, “This is a crazy world. I have come out of those jungles where I have been fighting for my life and these people have been living more or less normally.” On April 25, 2015, I had the opportunity to go on the first Honor Flight from Houston to Washington, D.C. with my son, Chuck. It was a whirlwind two-day trip. I got to see so much including the National World War II Memorial. It was too much to comprehend! Everybody thanked us for our service everywhere we went. I was so surprised when two ladies who stopped to talk to me said they were from Brisbane, Australia. That was about 35 miles from where I had been stationed at Camp Cable. They were surprised, too.

I brought home a bracelet made of clamshells called cat’s eyes. These shells were found off the coast of an island in the Pacific where I was stationed. One of the other GIs made them into bracelets.

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

After I got out of school, I took any kind of a job I could get. Work was hard to come by. I worked at a couple of sawmills and a cotton gin earning 60¢ a day. I lived at home and worked for my dad and for the neighbors in the cotton and cornfields. After I turned 18, I was drafted on July 3, 1943. We mustered under the old oak on the Courthouse Square in La Grange. Growing up, I was always a good shot with a rifle and a shotgun, so that was a help when the Army sent me for 17 weeks of basic training at Camp Wallace at Hitchcock on the Texas coast near Galveston. It was summer and so hot and humid, much worse than La Grange. I’d never been away from home before. As a part of our training, we ran obstacle courses on the sand with a full pack on our backs. Everything was filled with sand – our fatigues, our guns, our food, everything. From there we were sent to Fort George E. Meade, Maryland, for 90-mm anti-aircraft gun training. At Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts, we trained on 40-mm guns and hiked in deep snow over frozen ground. I was sent overseas on a ship with thousands of other boys that took 21 days to reach Liverpool, England. Then we trained for three more months in Wales. By that time, the Army had made men out of us. On a Sunday afternoon, they took us to the coast, but we didn’t know where we were exactly. There, they fed us a real good steak with homemade bread before loading us up to sail across the English Channel. The next day we transferred to landing crafts, which took us into Omaha Beach where Allied forces had invaded Normandy on D-Day in 1944, a few weeks before. We were replacements troops that were attached to different outfits to knock out German airplanes and we knew we would be targets. The beaches were a terrible sight. The first night after we landed in France, we took cover under some apple trees. We soon learned the Germans would drop flares and once they’d identified our location, they would come back and drop bombs. The Germans could shoot over top of us with long barrel 88-mm guns that were accurate for as far as eight miles. If you heard a whistling noise that sounded like “swish,” a shell had just missed you, but, when the shell exploded, “BAM!” You

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I didn’t know how long it would take, but I always thought we would win. You can live through a whole lot when you have to. God was with me all the time I was in the service. I can’t thank Him enough.

I was born on a farm at Rabb’s Prairie in January 1925. I went to the seventh grade at a one-room school called Indian Creek. No transportation was available to go to bigger schools to attend higher grades.

I came home on a seven-day delay before we were shipped overseas in 1944. I am pictured with my sister, Evelyn (Roensch) Gersch and our parents, Ewald and Anita (Schellberg) Roensch. My brother, Dean Ray, had not yet been born. When the war started, my dad would have gone willingly, but at 38, he was too old. He always said I took his place.

might still get hit by the shrapnel. They say the soldiers who took hits didn’t hear anything. One of the best assignments I had was protecting Radio Luxembourg, an Englishspeaking radio station. When Allied forces had taken over Luxembourg in September 1944, the radio station was transferred to U.S. Army control. They broadcast on that powerful station for the remainder of the war. While we were on that detail, we slept in a big barn on hay. That was a lot better than sleeping outdoors. One of my buddies got hold of some Schnapps – white lightening. It was clear as water and very potent. After drinking a cup, he tried to shoot a chicken with a Thompson sub-machine gun and couldn’t hit it.

One time, we were advised to come to our artillery truck for a good hot meal, which was a real treat, but just then, the Germans started a barrage. One shell hit about 10 feet from where I stood. It must have been a dud or an armor-piercing shell because it didn’t explode. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be telling you about it. We ran and got under our halftrack, a vehicle that was half tank and half jeep with guns mounted on the turrets. Shrapnel pinged against the sides of our halftrack for five or six hours from two German tanks until our artillery knocked them out. Conditions were tough. Other soldiers would say to me, “Will you pray for me?” And I would pray for them. I think those who say they weren’t scared weren’t there.

Veterans’ Voices

One time, at 3 in the morning, I was on guard duty when I saw two figures silhouetted in the moonlight not far from my foxhole. It was a German officer and a German non-com sneaking up on us. I yelled out to them in German and when they responded in German, my buddy and I took them prisoner. We turned them over the next morning We would see the English and American bombers fly overhead. On cold days, they would leave a vapor trail of 50 to 100 miles long. We could hear their engines and when they dropped their bombs in the distance, we could hear them whistle before they exploded. When we got to the Hürtgen Forest near the Belgium-German border, the snow was knee deep and we had no tents. We were still sleeping in foxholes. We always had something to eat, although sometimes it wasn’t too good. K-rations were better than C-rations. We could fire 120 rounds of ammunition a minute with our 37-mm guns. We had 50-caliber machine guns that shot 500 rounds a minute, as well as anti-aircraft guns and automatic rifles. When we got to Aachen, Germany, the first town in Germany we captured, our battalion was guarding an American fuel gasoline dump. The German planes fired at a truck on the site and the dump exploded. There was nothing we could do. Two of us jumped out of our half-track, rolled over a high hedgerow and ran for cover in an old house that had been pretty much demolished. A shell hit the ground and rolled under the halftrack, damaging it beyond repair. Even the driveshaft was full of holes. The next day, we were sent back behind the lines for a replacement halftrack. It was nice to be going backwards out of the war zone instead of going forward into it. We ended up in Chemnitz, Czechoslovakia, when the war ended. I received five bronze stars representing five major battles in which I participated. I was glad to get home after I was discharged on December 6, 1945. I’ll never forget my parents meeting me on the front porch the night I got back to Fayette County. They didn’t know I was coming, so I really surprised them. I met my future wife, Lorine Walther, at the Warda Store after church about three weeks later. We dated for 14 months. Lorine and I were blessed with three sons: Harvey, Donald and Gary and were married for 66 years before she passed away in 2013.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I was 18 years old when I got on a bus at Plum that took me to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio for my physical in November 1943. When I was called up on April 27, 1944, I went back to Fort Sam before being sent to Camp Robinson near North Little Rock, Arkansas. After training, I got on an Italian ship that took 14 days to reach Southampton, England. I had a porthole above the waterline beside my bunk, so it wasn’t too bad. On the trip, I was glad to see some familiar faces from Fayette County: Adolph Chovanec, Henry Bertsch, Erwin Freudenberg, Ludwig Sulak, James Janak, Warren Havemann and Vaclav Stryk, although they were in different companies. After we docked, we were transferred to a smaller, much dirtier ship that had hammocks instead of bunks for the trip across the English Channel to France. We arrived right in time for the rainy season. We boys from Fayette County were split up with the exception of James Janak, whom I camped with for one week as we marched through the mud. We were told that two companies would go in to attack the Germans while one other company would stay in the rear for support. The day I first saw combat, I remember digging seven foxholes because every time we stopped marching, we didn’t know how long we’d be in that one place so we’d dig in. A day or two later, I went with another soldier to scout about 100 yards ahead of the company. The Germans opened fire and pinned our company down. The artillery came in and fought until the Germans surrendered. After more marching and a few skirmishes, we came to part of the Maginot Line. This was a series of fortified pillboxes built by the French for protection from German invasion. They had been built facing east to counter invasions from that direction. Early in World War II, the Germans took control of France, including the pillboxes. We would sneak up and knock the Germans out of these two-room pillboxes by pulling the pins out of hand grenades and dropping them through the ventilators. The Germans would rush out with concussions from the explosions and surrender. It

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only took one hand grenade to blow up one pillbox. We got in on the Battle of the Bulge when General Patton moved our division and two others 150 miles toward Luxembourg. I was on patrol with seven or eight other men one night when it was very cold and snowing so hard it looked like a white sheet was draped in front of us. At a railroad dump, the Germans started firing on us, so we lay down in a ditch full of snow and began to crawl back to our outfit, except our outfit had moved out. We caught up to it the next day. On December 24, 1944, we were in our foxhole when what looked like some American soldiers dressed all in white came walking down the road from the forest. When the leader motioned to his men to attack, we realized they weren’t Americans, but we stopped these Germans with our rifles. Later, we had to take a village at the base of a cliff. From a distance, we could see the Germans enjoying themselves as they butchered a big cow. We went to work quickly and slid quietly down the hill, catching the Germans by surprise. We captured three Germans and decided to hold these prisoners of war in the nearby church. The Germans resisted going into the church something terrible. No wonder. We discovered they had booby-trapped it. After clearing out that village, our company moved on to take another small town. During the fighting, shrapnel from a German 88-mm gun hit me in the head and knocked me out cold. I woke up in a field hospital and had no idea how I got there. I was transported to France where they operated on me. During the six weeks I spent in recuperation at the hospital, General Patton came to visit the wounded. He was dressed in clean, pressed khakis and wore a shiny pistol on each hip and a shiny helmet. When he walked by my bed, I tried to sit up, but he motioned for me not to bother. I was able to shake Patton’s hand. He was a very impressive man. From there, I was sent to a convalescent home in France for two weeks where I met Jerome Stryk from Flatonia. I dreaded going back to my outfit because I knew what

Between Christmas 1944 and New Year’s Day 1945, our platoon dug in on a hilltop near Heidersheid where we stayed for 19 days. At night, the Germans constantly crossed the nearby Sure River dressed in snowsuits. We held them back by firing our M-1 rifles, while American tanks fired their 30 and 50-caliber machine guns and 90-mm guns. After 19 days, we turned around and marched back to Heidersheid. I’m third from the left on the front row of the picture of our Company C platoon.

I was born in Ellinger, Texas, in August 1925. My parents, Theodore and Mary (Kovar) Muzny, moved to the Morgan farm near Plum in 1932, so that’s where I grew up. I attended Plum Public School and Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church School. I didn’t have transportation, so my schooling was over after the eighth grade.

After World War II ended, I didn’t have enough points to come home with the 80th Division. Instead, I was reassigned to the 103rd Infantry Division and spent a year in Czechoslovakia keeping an eye on the Russians. Although I would rather have been home, it wasn’t bad because it was peacetime and I spoke Czech.

to expect. I’d already seen a lot of war. Not long after I returned to the front, we had to cross the Siegfried Line, which was fortified with solid iron posts and plenty of barbed wire. We fought hard and finally broke through. Next, we crossed the Rhine River on a damaged bridge. There were swastikas everywhere. We helped take Frankfurt and then went into Kassel where the fighting was tough, hand-to-hand and house-to-house. When our squad leader stepped through a

doorway, he was killed. The assistant squad leader was killed as well as a private right behind him. They were picked off by a German shooting from a window in a building across the street. This German later came out of his hiding place with his rifle in the air to surrender. We were angry and shot around him until he dropped his rifle. He was lucky we didn’t shoot him. From there we turned east toward Czechoslovakia. That’s where we were when the war ended.

Veterans’ Voices

The Fayette County Record

Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

People today don’t know what hard times are like. In the 1930s during the Depression, a cow and calf would bring $7.25. Eggs were 4¢ a dozen and cotton sold for $25 a bale. But we always had a garden and our own chickens, hogs and turkeys, so there was something to eat, although it wasn’t fancy. I was about 14 or so when I went to work for my brother who ran the store at the Winchester turnoff. I also did a little blacksmith and mechanic work and sold gasoline. I was drafted on May 12, 1942. I knew I had it coming because of my age. They loaded us up and took us to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Then I went to Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas, for six weeks of basic training, before going to Camp Cleburne in Louisiana for extended training. The mosquitoes there were so big they could almost haul you off. Our rations didn’t get there when we did. I was supposed to become a glider pilot. I was having some trouble with my ankle, so an officer sent me to a specialist and that ended my glider training. I was reclassified at Fort Hood, Texas, and assigned to the Military Police, working out of the same office as the civilian police in Temple. Soldiers couldn’t bring liquor back on post. We’d pour it all in a washtub. It smelled like a distillery. The soldiers were supposed to have proof of insurance on their cars before they went off the post. One night a second lieutenant was checking off post and didn’t have it. He said he was going to go anyway. I told him, ‘Give me your name, rank and serial number.’ He got mad; ‘Just wait,’ he said, ‘I’m going to meet you downtown one of these nights.’ I had a partner from Arkansas who spoke real slow. He would say to an unruly guy, ‘You think you’re going to hurt me, but I’m going to hurt your arm.’ Because the Army needed replacement infantry troops in Europe, I was reassigned again, this time to artillery and communications. After we were sent to Camp Wolters near Mineral Wells, Texas, for four weeks of field tank training, they shipped us out to Naples, Italy, in October 1942, ready to go into combat. I was almost seasick for the 12-day trip across the Atlantic because the ocean was plenty rough. Huge waves would hit the ship and the prop would come out of the water making a loud noise. When we were getting ready to go into

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combat for the first time, I sent my parents a message, “Season open, no limit.” Being hunters, my family knew what I meant. My mother would send cookies and it might take six months for them to reach me. It didn’t matter because it was something from home. I missed home living a lot. We did have Sunday church services even in the field, when it was safe to do so. I was trying to dig a foxhole in France with two of the guys I was shipped over with. One took a direct hit that laid out his whole insides. The other, who was in front of me, was hit in the back. He was killed, too. Their bodies were still there five days later when we moved out. At Bonne, France, I got hit in the stomach with some shrapnel. The impact knocked the breath out of me, but the shrapnel didn’t penetrate all the layers of clothing I wore. Then I felt something trickling down my leg. It was blood. I’d been hit in the leg, too. I still carry a piece of shrapnel in my leg as a souvenir. Even now, when there’s a weather change, it bites. I was taken to a field hospital for treatment and then shipped to England for convalescence. When I started to get better, I got to see some different sights in England and Scotland. I still remember the English accent. I’d ask for directions and every Englishman would end his directions the same way, ‘You KONT miss it.’ When I went to a movie in England, the cigarette smoke was so thick you could hardly see the screen. I was on my way back to the front about the same time the Battle of the Bulge took place. I was still in Communications, but not in the same unit. Sometimes, we’d crawl back to see where a line had been cut. We didn’t know if the enemy had cut it, so we couldn’t be sure what we might be crawling into. Other times, we had to work at night without any light trying to tie two little black wires together. It was nerve wracking, but you had to do it. I was injured a second time taking down some 2x10 boards over a window. I was standing on the windowsill and broke my fall with my hand. When I was supposed to come home, an Army doctor tried to hold me over because he said I didn’t have the strength to carry my own luggage. I told him I’d find somebody to help me out and I did. There were so many soldiers coming home at once that the Army pushed some big pieces of equipment off the ship in the

I was born in Lee County in January 1919, but my parents, Edward and Selma Weishuhn, moved to a 220-acre farm near Nechanitz when I was about a year old. That’s where I grew up and attended the one-room school through seventh grade.

All the beautiful cathedrals we saw in France had been badly bombed. I’ve always thought that was a shame. I would have liked to see Europe before it was devastated in World War II.

harbor to make room for all of us. We were 12 days on the water coming back. We had turkey dinner at the base at Palestine, Texas, before I was finally discharged on December 29, 1945, at Fort Sam Houston. For the last leg of the trip from San Antonio, I caught a ride with Egon Tietgen and his wife from Swiss Alp. It was good to see someone from home. Two of my brothers, Lawrence and Vermont, who had also served in World War II, got home ahead of me. When I went in the service, I took my Model A car to Brasher Motor Co. in La Grange and asked them to store it for me. They agreed and I put it up on blocks. When I got back, it was there waiting for me. It sat in their lot for almost four years and Brasher didn’t charge me. I was awarded a Purple Heart, although I had been wounded not once, but twice, Combat Infantry Badge, European Theater

Ribbon, Presidential Citation and French Citation, Good Conduct Medal, Victory and American Defense Ribbons, as well as two battle stars indicating that I fought in two major battles in northern France. I earned $475 in overseas pay on top of my regular pay during the war that I used to buy the Conoco Service Station in Flatonia. A few years later, I moved to La Grange to take over the Texaco Service Station. I brought Phillips 66 to La Grange and operated the bulk distributorship, too. In 1946, I married Agnes Baca from Rabbs Prairie and we had three children: Charles, James and Beatrice. I was glad to serve my country, but, when I got home, I wanted to put the war behind me. I have always thought there were “cents” and “sense.” If you use them together, you might do something with your life. Mr. Weishuhn died on April 4, 2015.

I’m fourth from the left seated on the front row of our infantry training battalion at Camp Wolters near Mineral Wells, Texas. I started out training to be a glider pilot, but due to a previous injury, I was reassigned to the Army’s military police. Later when I was trained in Communications, I was sent overseas and into combat with the Infantry.

Veterans’ Voices

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I was drafted into the Army when I turned 18 in 1945. Four buses left from in front of the Fayette County Courthouse in La Grange at 4 a.m. on April 10, 1945, for Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. I had never been out of the county before. I wasn’t sad, but a little afraid. By that time, they were drafting men with families and when we passed through Schulenburg, one of our fellow members broke down and cried because he was leaving his wife and two small children behind. That made everybody feel bad. I was inducted at Fort Sam Houston. About three days after we arrived, they needed some truck drivers. I figured being a truck driver would be a good job, so I volunteered and the truck was a wheelbarrow. We were then shipped to Fort Hood at Killeen, Texas, for basic training. When we got a weekend pass, I got a ride as far as La Grange with a guy from El Campo and his buddy, who were going home for the weekend. He drove a Model A Coupe with a rumble seat that folded out in the back where a trunk would be today. That’s where I rode because his friend from El Campo was in the passenger seat up front. My father was supposed to meet me in La Grange, but when I didn’t come in on time, he went home. On account of the war, no lights were supposed to be lit at night, so everyone wanted to be home by dark. There was no communication, so he had no way of knowing what had happened to me. The man dropped me off about where Kleiber Tractor is today and I started walking 12 miles down what is now FM 609. I walked all night on a gravel road. Actually, I ran half of the way. I didn’t meet a single car – not one. Mother was preparing breakfast when I finally got home. They were shocked to see me! The next day, my father took me back to La Grange to get my ride back to Fort Hood. I rode all the way back in that rumble seat, which was like sitting in the back of a truck. I was almost finished with my training at Fort Hood when the war in Japan ended. We all were happy for that. There was a lot of celebrating. The school bands came out and played. I came home on a two-week leave before I boarded a troop train in Schulenburg that had come out of Louisiana going to Fort Ord in California. Dad came to see me off. Mother wouldn’t because it was too sad for her. She didn’t even like to see pictures of

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Being in the Army was a good experience because you learned to take care of yourself, but more importantly, you learned how to get along with people. That has helped me all my life, especially in community service such as the school board, Round Up Club, KCs, VFW, Independent Cattleman’s Association and Fayette County Courthouse bailiff.

me wearing my uniform. At Fort Ord, we prepared for overseas duty. On October 1, 1945, we loaded on a troop ship called the Costa Rica in the San Francisco harbor at 4 o’clock in the afternoon to go somewhere; we didn’t know where. By the next morning, half of us were beginning to get seasick. It was a completely different life. For a whole week, I would say 75% of the soldiers got sick, including me. You would go to the doctor and they knew what was wrong, but they couldn’t give you anything for it. The sea was so rough that it made the ship rock so much that salt and pepper shakers would slide up and down the table when you went to eat. The bunks were so close together that you almost touched the guys above and below you. We were at sea for 21 days. When we finally saw land, the most intelligent guys said it was Japan because we could see Mount Fuji, but a lot of us didn’t know what Mount Fuji was. The ship could not dock because the docks had been totally destroyed, so they had to boat us in.

I was born in 1927 and grew up on our family’s farm north of Flatonia on FM 609 near Muldoon. I finished the fifth grade at Pin Oak School before going to work helping my father raise cotton, corn and cattle. I also worked part time for Ruhmann Manufacturing in Schulenburg, which was a blessing because jobs were hard to find.

At the Fourth Replacement Depot, they were sending some soldiers back home and bringing others in to replace them during the Occupation. They sent me to the First Cavalry Division at Camp Drake, about 20 miles west of Tokyo. On a weekend pass to Tokyo with some other soldiers, a man called my name. It was Cecil Castro from Moulton, a good friend and kin on my mother’s side. He was in the Air Force. It was a surprise because I never even saw anyone from Texas in Japan! I worked in the First Cavalry Division’s Officers Mess Club as a cook. I didn’t know anything about cooking, so I prepared steak and beets. The general asked me where I learned to eat steak with beets. I was just a country boy, but I learned to cook. I still do all my own cooking. After 18 months, I boarded another troop ship, the Alabama. The water wasn’t rough coming home, although it took us 16 days to reach San Francisco. From there, we went by train to Fort Sam Houston where I was honorably discharged. When I got off

Veterans’ Voices

the bus in Schulenburg, my father was waiting for me. After I got out of the service, I took advantage of the GI Bill program that offered education to farmers. Arthur Strobel of Schulenburg, who was my shop instructor, taught me woodworking. My father and I cut down huge cedars in the pasture at our farm and took the logs to a sawmill in Muldoon. Blaschke’s in Schulenburg planed the wood for me and with Mr. Strobel’s help, I built a whole bedroom suit of furniture. I learned many farming skills from Roy Bucek, who was our agriculture instructor. When I went into the service, my future wife, Andrea Delgado, was only a girl, but when I returned, she was a beautiful young woman. We were married on August 26, 1950, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Ammannsville and attended St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Weimar. We had five daughters and three sons and have a large extended family now. Sadly, Andrea died last year, days before our 64th wedding anniversary.

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Not too long before World War II ended in 1945, I was 17 years old. I had a tough time all through school. I lied about my age and joined the Merchant Marines, which was known as the Maritime Service. I was influenced by a good friend, Chester Cherry, from Muldoon. Under the U.S. Coast Guard, the Maritime Service workers worked cargo ships that transported all types of supplies. The ships are owned by big companies, not the U.S. Government. Some of the ships were made in the Houston area. I joined the Maritime service in Galveston, Texas. I was sent for Maritime Service training in Avalon, California, which was on Catalina Island. This was my first time out of the state of Texas. From Catalina Island, I was sent to San Francisco. There, I served on a Merchant Marine ship. We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge down the coast to Panama through the Panama Canal. We picked up 20 Navy men that were going back to the U.S. to be discharged. On our way to New Orleans, these sailors dumped live ammunition over the side of our ship into the Caribbean Sea for two

Even though the hostilities were over by the time I was drafted in 1946, there was still a lot of work involved in bringing many servicemen home and sending others back to Europe. I was proud to serve my country.

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days. In New Orleans, our ship was loaded with supplies going to the Army base near Catano, which is on the island of Puerto Rico across the bay from the city of San Juan. From there we sailed back to the U. S. We landed in New York harbor. From New York, I went home to West Point, Texas, for a visit. Then I signed onto a ship going to England. When we reached Liverpool, we sailed up the channel to Manchester. From there we sailed back to New York harbor. I went home to West Point, Texas. The war was over but I liked sailing, so I signed up again. By this time, the Maritime union was talking about striking. One of the union leaders approached me and started telling me what I would have to do if there was a union strike. I told him I was not in the Army and he could stick it up his (you know what) and I walked out the door. After this event, I retired my Maritime card and went back home. In 1949, I married Eleanora Blaha. We raised two wonderful children. We have six grandchildren, six great grandchildren and one on the way. Who could ask for a better life?

I was born in December 1927 near West Point. I attended Rocky Ridge School and later Flatonia High School. My dad worked for the Texaco Clay Plant at West Point and I worked there one summer, as well. My wife, Eleanora, and I live on the road named after my parents in the West Point area.

I was born near Flatonia and attended grade school in String Prairie, which was a little country school that had seven grades all in one room with one teacher. It was located due north of Flatonia about six or seven miles. I have one sister, Emma, who is younger than I am. I was the only boy from our community who wasn’t in the Infantry during World War II.

Veterans’ Voices

Whenever the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is mentioned, I think to myself, “I went over it and I went under it.” Whenever the Panama Canal is mentioned, I think to myself, “I went through that fascinating feat of engineering in a big ship.”

I was drafted when I turned 18 in February 1946 and joined the Air Corps “for the duration, plus six months.” First, I was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio and then to Lowry Field near Denver, Colo. From there, I was sent to what they called the Little Pentagon in Maryland. I liked Maryland, although I found the winters harsh compared to Central Texas. I worked in an office for the Fourth Airborne Division keeping records on Air Force personnel, who was coming home from Europe and who was going back. On weekends, I volunteered to answer phones in another government office in the same building just for something to do. After I had been in the service awhile, they offered me a 30-day leave if I would reenlist. I did and was able to come home. I was a short-term enlistee at that point. Another boy and I got a ride on an airplane to Austin. Then I bought a ticket on a bus going to Flatonia. We had on wool ODs (olive drab uniform) and it was about 100 degrees in Texas. We like to have cooked! After 30 days, we flew back to Maryland and I went back to the same desk at the Little Pentagon. My reenlistment was for 13 months. I served from February 1946 to September 1947 before I was honorably discharged from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. FRIDAY, August 14, 2015

My father had been drafted during World War I and served in the U.S. Army Air Force. When I turned 18, we knew that I would be drafted, too, because the Allies needed manpower due to the heavy losses. My father requested a deferment for me since I worked on the farm, but was not successful in getting it. I reported to La Grange along with two other local boys, Warren Wubbenhorst and Melvin Wolff. Sadly, Melvin was killed in action in Germany less than a year later, only a few days before the end of combat. I was inducted at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio on May 18, 1944, where I was told I had three choices: infantry, infantry, infantry. My mother saved the first note I sent home in a scrapbook. I told my family I had been issued a uniform and I looked pretty good in it. I reassured them the food was fine and I was feeling good. I signed it, “Bubba,” which was my nickname. I took my basic training in Tyler at Camp Fannin and we shipped out from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. Fortunately, I was never seasick. I was assigned to the 42nd Rainbow Division, which also had seen action in World War I. General Douglas MacArthur founded the division. The nickname of Rainbow Division stuck because it was made up of men from one end of America to the other. Our division’s patch is a multi-colored rainbow and we carried the flags of all 48 states. (That’s how many there were at the time.) We saw our first action in France at Alsace-Lorraine in about the same sector where World War I Rainbow Division soldiers met the enemy. During the war, I spent a lot of time in foxholes. One soldier would sleep while the other was awake. The trees were so thick in the Black Forest that you couldn’t stretch your arms out without touching them. We used guide wires at night so we didn’t get lost in the dense brush. We had a replacement lieutenant who decided to go out and check to make sure our guys were alert. He ended up being pinned down until daylight. Although I did not fight on the frontline during the Battle of the Bulge, about one third of the troops in our division were pulled away to do so. The Germans took advantage of our weakened strength to attack us. We suspected that civilians, whom we knew could not be trusted, had likely reported our

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My wife, Carolyn, and I, along with two other couples, retraced my footsteps during World War II on a trip in 1988. Having witnessed the devastation, I was amazed at how well France and West Germany had been rebuilt.

I was born on my parents’ farm at Carmine in October 1925. I attended a one-room school named La Bahia about a mile away from home. In junior high, I went to school in Carmine and graduated from La Grange High School.

position to the Germans. This was called Operation North Wind. We went into combat December 24, 1944, at Strasbourg, France, defending the west bank of the Rhine River. On January 3, 1945, we were moved to a defensive position at Duppigheim, France. Two days later, we moved to Birlenbach in heavy snow and bitter cold. We remained there in defense and conducted patrol duties until moving to Ingolsheim on January 19, 1945. We were forced to withdraw from there on foot and underwent an all-night forced march in bitter cold and deep snow. Company I then dug in at Dauendorf, a village near Neubourg. In 2001, 56 years after the battle, the U.S. Secretary of the Army issued a Presidential Unit Citation to members of the 222nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Division that reads: ‘The 222nd Infantry Regiment is cited for extraordinary and outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy on 24 and 25 January 1945, in the Bois D’Ohlungen, and the vicinity of Schweighausen and Neubourg, France. On the night of 24 January 1945, the 222nd Infantry Regiment, under strength by half a battalion of riflemen, yet necessarily extended over a 7,500-yard front, was attacked by five regiments supported by heavy artillery. Ordered to hold at all costs, the Regiment withstood the enemy’s desperate bid to break the 7th Army Moder River Line. From ice-filled foxholes, the outnumbered defend-

ers fought off wave after wave of enemy attacks all along the Regiment’s front and infiltrating into friendly positions, well behind the main line of resistance. On the night of the 25th, the frustrated enemy fell back to its original line, leaving the ground littered with enemy dead. Despite the loss of 237 officers and men, the 222nd Infantry Regiment held its position, enacting a heavy toll of men and equipment from the enemy. The courage and devotion to duty shown by the members of the 222nd Infantry Regiment in smashing one of the enemy’s principal strategic efforts to reconquer Alsace, are worthy of emulation and exemplify the highest traditions of the Army of the United States.’ In addition to the deaths and injuries reported in the citation, frostbite, as well as many cases of foot problems, affected members of our regiment during this combat. As we neared Wurzburg, Germany, in early April 1945, we had to wait for the allied engineers to rebuild a bridge across the Main River. We could see the words HEIL HITLER painted in huge letters on a wall of the local landmark, the Marienberg Fortress. Before the end of the next day, those words were painted over and a rainbow, the symbol of our division, replaced them. I recall one other incident from Wurzburg, which was a large medical center. I was on guard duty in a hospital, which had no lights, when I heard a strange sound, ‘Wee, wee, wee.’ I couldn’t place the noise, so I clicked the safety on my rifle, ready to fire if need be. It turned out that a German doctor, turning the crank on a small handheld flashlight to generate a small amount of light in the dark building, had been making that noise. Also at Wuerzburg, we freed a lot of local champagne stored there!

Veterans’ Voices

On April 29, 1945, the U.S. 7th Army’s 42th Infantry Division 222nd Infantry Regiment liberated Dachau, the first concentration camp established by Germany’s Nazi regime. We were close behind them. The furnaces were still smoking when we got there. All American company commanders were told to take their men through to witness the atrocities. Conditions at Dachau were unbelievable. You cannot understand the full extent of the brutality and evil of the concentration camp until you have seen and smelled it. After all this time, words still fail me. There were times during combat when I wondered if I’d ever see Fayette County again, but at 18 or 19 years of age, the war was kind of a game. Although I lost two of my best friends in combat, you had to will yourself to relax, so you could face combat and think. One guy, who was too tense for too long, lost it. Then he was no good to himself or the Army. Although there were non-fraternization rules, I acted as an interpreter to set up army housing in the homes of German civilians before the war in Europe ended. After the war ended, the Army changed my military occupation to interpreter. I was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service in Salzburg, Austria, where I interrogated German prisoners for our Company Commander, Battalion Commander and Regimental headquarters. We were intent on identifying Nazi SS and Gestapo (secret police), who may have been in charge of the concentration camps and where they, as well as other criminals, were hiding out. By the way, high-ranking SS officers had two little dots tattooed under their right arms, so if a German prisoner got antsy about removing his shirt, we knew he had something to hide. During the Occupation after the nonfraternization rule was lifted, I had some fun with the German civilians. They would often come up to me in the street seeking cigarettes and ask if I spoke German. I would reply in German, “No, not a word,” and walk away. When it dawned on them what I’d said, they’d run after me with big smiles and start chatting. One time, I overheard two German women loudly complaining that the GIs were spoiling their teenage daughters. As I walked by them, I said, “I’m happy you think that,” leaving them speechless. During the Occupation, I was very grateful to serve in Vienna and visit Paris and London when I was on leave. Leslie Rhode from Warrenton was in my unit and served close to me in combat, but we didn’t know that until we talked onboard ship coming home from Europe. Also onboard was Warren Wubbenhorst with whom I had been inducted into the Army. I was finally discharged and returned home in June 1946.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

I have heard it said that the captain We knew we were going to be drafted, so after one semester at Texas A&M, seven steers his ship, but he didn’t. Much of the of us boys went to Dallas and enlisted. We time, a seaman steered the ship with a big wanted to join the Navy, but since its quota manual wheel. A smaller pilot wheel could was full, we signed up for the Coast Guard. be set on automatic after it was calibrated using a compass, but manIt was 1945 and I was 17 ning the wheel was regular years old. They sent us to seamen’s duty. boot camp at Curtis Bay When I was assigned to at Baltimore, Maryland, watch duty, I didn’t care much for eight weeks. I looked for going up on crow’s-nest, pretty young and one day the highest point on the ship. a drill instructor, who was When I had forward watch, pretty tough, said to me, I’d be on the bow of the ship “Does your mama know using binoculars. There were you’re away from home?” other types of watches and I told him, “Hell, yes, the ship was equipped with I was born at Schulenburg in February Sir!” They kept on us and 1927, but spent much of my youth in La radar. tried to make us mad so Our main worry was hit- Grange. I attended Sacred Heart Cathowe’d try harder. lic School and graduated from La Grange Then I was sent to Ellis Serving in the Coast ting a mine, an explosive High School when I was 16 years old. Island in New York Harbor Guard during World War II device that would detonate if for two months of guard was a good experience for jarred. Mines didn’t show up from the ports of New York, Boston, Newduty at a hospital where me, something that I never on radar, so we had to look port News and Norfolk on the east coast forgot. I learned a lot and for them when we were on and San Francisco on the west coast. In orshell-shocked soldiers grew up fast. watch. I recall once that what der to reach the Pacific, we went through were being treated. When I was reassigned to the U.S. Navy, I attended looked like a piece of debris was, in fact, a the Panama Canal and then past Midway. firefighting and gunnery schools in Rhode mine. Our ship circled it at a safe distance We were at sea when Japan surrenIsland. In June 1945, I joined the crew of and one of the sharpshooters onboard shot dered. We had a special meal to celebrate a super troopship called the USS General at it until it exploded. the end of the war. We were glad because While serving on the Breckenridge, we we thought it meant we would be going J.C. Breckenridge. The Breckenridge was the equivalent of two football fields long made five trips to France: three to Marseille home soon. and one football field wide. It carried 5,000 and two to La Havre, taking troops over and Some of the things I saw while with the soldiers and a crew of about 500, plus Army bringing personnel back. We also went to Navy were not good. For example, when personnel and Marines. The ship was so Manila in the Philippines twice. We sailed we got to the Philippines after the war, crowded that it took a long time to get the servicemen onboard and, when we docked, a long time to get them off. In the galley, the troops ate their meals in shifts because there were so many of them. They slept in bunks stacked five high. Those sleeping on the top were exposed to the asbestos-covered pipes above them. The sailors would dust the particles off their pillows and sheets before they went to sleep, never knowing it was dangerous. The Breckenridge had no air conditioning, so it was hot when we were in the Pacific, but fairly comfortable when we were sailing the Atlantic. When we ran into storms, the sea was so rough that a lot of the troops got really sick. Guarding, painting, keeping the ship clean, running messages – those were all seamen’s duties. I started as an apprentice seaman, was a seaman 2nd class before we boarded the ship and then was promoted to A favorite pastime for seamen on liberty was to have their picture taken with their budseaman 1st class. dies. I’m at far right behind the fake bars.

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Veterans’ Voices

starving children would come to our ship and beg for food. We had orders not to give them anything, not because we didn’t care, but we only had enough food for the men onboard. We could not feed the whole city. Those people had a hard time. We were fortunate not to see that kind of starvation in the U.S. While we were at sea, an officer was crushed and killed by a gun. Another man was killed in an explosion and the sea was so rough that a plane couldn’t land so he was buried at sea. That was supposed to be his last trip. He expected to be going home. Before the accident occurred, the captain had told me to switch places with that seaman. Had I stayed where I was, I would have been killed. We picked up Japanese prisoners at Corregidor Island, located at the entrance of Manila Bay, a few months after the Allies took it over. The island was full of caves and had been torn up pretty badly. It still wasn’t cleaned up yet. There were helmets, equipment, you name it. We had liberty – shore leave – in San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Norfolk, but we were usually in port for only three days. Once in France, I got so sick on the wine that I ended up in sickbay. We had been warned the wine might not be any good and they were right. Also in France, several other Coast Guardsmen and I were onboard a landing craft returning to our ship after shore leave. Some Marines and Army personnel were also on the vessel. One of the Marines got into an argument and hit a sailor, which started a big fight. Even though we were trying to stay out of it, we got pushed around a little bit. We were wearing our whites (uniforms) and got pretty dirty because there was water in the bottom of the landing craft. When we got back onboard our ship, we were each assigned 10 hours of extra duty as punishment for misbehaving, although we weren’t all guilty. That meant we had additional cleanup duties on top of our regular work. We were at sea nine or 10 months. I was discharged in 1946 and received four service awards: American Theater of Operations Medal; European-AfricanMiddle Eastern Campaign Medal; AsiaticPacific Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. Mr. Brauner was interviewed by his son, Mark, before his death on October 25, 2014.

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Veterans Voices

Tuesday, August 14, 2015

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