Thanks to everyone who keeps our peace and freedom

KITCHEN, from pg. 8 want to say goodbye to his girl, so we were late in getting back. AWOL is the correct term, but somehow we weren’t missed.”

From boot camp he was a passenger on the army train from Illinois to Washington State. The servicemen were served two meals a day. One was guaranteed to be hot dogs and sauerkraut.

Although he and another boot camp graduate, Everett Wallace, were approved for electronic school, there were no openings; so both men were ordered to be sailors on a mine sweeping boat which had just been refurbished at the Bellingham boatworks. The mine sweepers were 155 feet long with a magnetic tail. The magnetic field would neutralize the detonator. Magnetic mines were not the only danger. There were also anchored mines. Small wooden-hulled boats were used to sweep anchored mines by cutting their mooring chains or ropes.

As Frank was about to board, Captain Stillman called him aside. Frank thought to himself, what have I done wrong?

“There are two jobs available on this ship,” said Captain Stillman. “One is working in the kitchen which is one of the worst jobs, the other is in the ship pantry. You and Wallace will be working on a three week rotation at these jobs. Because you are an Iowa boy like myself, I am letting you choose which one you want to do first.”

Frank chose kitchen duty as he wanted to get that worst job out of the way first. There were three men in the kitchen, a cook, a steward and the mess cook, which was Frank’s position. This person washed the dishes, peeled potatoes and helped the cook.

Frank never fully decided if his choice was a mistake or not, but he never left the kitchen. It was a very small kitchen with an electric range. The heavy pan used to deep fry foods had only wire ring handles. While carrying it, the cook dropped the pan spilling hot oil over his legs and feet. Obviously, he needed to be hospitalized. On the spot, Frank became the cook. Besides cooking, he planned the meals for 30 days in advance and purchased all the supplies he would need.

Their ship would often go out ahead of the battleships, looking for mines.

Frank often wondered why they were never fired upon. The ship’s captain explained that the enemy didn’t want to expose their hidden artillery along the coast. It wasn’t worth losing a strategic placement of guns for their small ship.

Frank is still very thankful to God that one of his orders was changed. He had planned to go to the atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll Islands in 1946. At the last minute he was told they had miscalculated the number of people who could witness this testing.

While in the service Frank never drank alcohol. Many times when men went on leave, they often left their billfolds or extra money with him so that would not lose it in one or another.

“I attribute that to my training at home,” said Frank. “It kept me grounded.” He wasn’t able to attend a church service on a regular basis, so he often found a quiet place to read his Bible, pray and meditate.

Because of the war, Frank’s high school years were not normal by any means. He attended Western High School in Hull, just four days a week. He was needed to work in the family paint factory. As the labor shortage continued, his father made a deal with him.

“I will send you on a vacation anywhere in the United States where you want to go,” said Andrew Vogel. “If you will quit school and work with me afterwards.”

Frank estimates that he was 15 years old when he set off for Everett, Wash. to visit his uncle and aunt. He didn’t send any letter — as that would take time, a phone call or telegram would cost money, so the first his uncle and aunt knew of his visit was when he stood on their doorstep and they opened the door when he knocked.

He stayed about 10 days before hitchhiking to Bellflower to visit his older brother George, then on to El Paso, Texas where he visited John and Wilma Foreman where John was stationed.

Once the war was over, the 19-yearold young man made his way home. He stopped at the paint factory to see his dad.

“Oh, you are back,” said Andrew Vogel. “I want you to go over these plans for a building you are going to build.” He showed me a small model of the building.

Frank tried going back to high school, but the principal told him that you have learned more than we could get teach you. So whenever asked for a diploma in life he would answer that he didn’t have one but could get one and got by.

He did receive a diploma in 1994 from Hull Western Christian 50 years after he should have walked across the stage to receive it. He has an honorary degree from Northwestern College in Orange City.

In 1948, Frank married a neighbor girl, Lois Boonstra. They had a mutual attraction for each other before he even left for the navy and she wrote him a letter every day. Somewhere along the way, those letters were destroyed. The history in those letters would be fascinating to people like me.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with these two gentlemen — and I mean very courteous gentlemen. Thank you to everyone who strives to keep peace and freedom. As always, our country, the world needs Jesus. Pray!

P.S. If the Vogel name sounds familiar it’s because Diamond Vogel paint is the business their father began in1926 and is still a family-owned business known nationwide.

Renae B. Vander Schaaf is an independent writer, author and speaker. Contact her at (605) 530-0017 or agripen@live.com.