Stewart Letter #24

                                                           
                                                                    1 Aug 45

Dear Dad,

I am now home for two weeks, and then I must report at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.1 From there I will be sent to an in- fantry basic training camp, probably in Texas or California.2 About a week before Christmas I ought to be home.3 Since I made approximately 150 on the ACCT test, I have been rec- ommended for Japanese language training after basic, in case that there is a quota at either U. of M., or the U. of Penn- sylvania.4 Seven other fellows were also recommended, and we are all going to basic. While I was at South Dakota State College, I contracted bronchial pneumonia, and spent eleven days in the Brookings Municipal Hospital just across the street from our barracks. Then I went back to the barracks, but stayed on quarters for one week before I went back to classes. Then there were three weeks left in the term and I had six weeks of work to make up. I made it up, although it

1 Fort Leavenworth was a major recruitment center for the army in 1945, and is located in the city of Leavenworth in the northeast part of the state. Today, it supports the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) by managing and maintaining the home of the US Army Combined Arms Center (CAC). CAC's mission involves leader development, collective training, and Army doctrine and battle command (current and future). Fort Leavenworth is also home to the Military Corrections Complex, consisting of the United States Disciplinary Barracks – the Department of Defense's only maximum security prison – and the Midwest Joint Regional Cor- rectional Facility. Historically, it was built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest permanent settlement in Kansas. Fort Leavenworth was also the base of African-American soldiers of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on 21 September 1866 at Fort Leavenworth. They became known as Buffalo Soldiers, nicknamed by the Native American tribes whom they fought. The term eventually was applied to all of the African-American regiments formed in 1866.

2 As it turned out, it was in Texas.

3 As this turned out, by Christmas, dad was back in the states at Camp Breckenridge, KY,

mother and I had joined him, and we were living in Morganfield, KY. Stewart visited us there on his way to his next assignment.

4 I guess the end of the war with Japan changed the need for Japanese language training in the army.

took me 'til 5pm on Saturday, July 28 to do it. I didn't have to do all that I missed, but I had to do enough to prepare myself for the GI tests. In physics, the top score was 55 and I got 54, out of 72 questions altogether. The following are my other scores, compared with the top score and total number of questions.5

Course         Total No.        Top             Mine        

Chem.              75                59                59

Geog.               80                65               57

Math.              50                 45               44

Eng.              115                 99               90

During the last week we took the college finals. We had our last class on Friday, July 27, and I came home on Saturday night.

I shall be at Leavenworth from a week to ten days. but I don't know where I shall be after that, so you might as well wait to write me until I reach my camp. I am in good health now, and hope to be caught up on my sleep by the time I leave home. Two weeks all at once seems like a miracle compared to the short passes I have had in the past. I will be lucky to get home very much in the future, however, especially if I be- come part of the occupation troops in Japan.6 I am still un- decided as to my lifework, but perhaps I will decide before I am out of the army. I am relieved to be done with studies for a while, at any rate. If I am allowed to go to school after basic, however, I will probably appreciate it.

5 It gives a picture of just how bright Stewart was that he was out much of the term and still did this well on these exams. But it sounds like he worked very hard to make it up.

6 Again, as it turned out, he was with the occupation in Germany, not Japan. One wonders

how his life might have been different if he had been sent to Japan. Would that have changed his vocational decision?

Maybe you can get home by Christmas, but if you can't, we'll make the best of it. I think your mail will start coming steady now, so long as you do not transfer again.

                                            Your loving son,

                                                    Stewart

This is the central administration building at Ft. Leavenworth

The entrance to the Reception Center

Barracks at the Reception Center: very likely Stewart stayed in a place like this

The Chapel at Fort Leavenworth

Supper with the Amidons

Yesterday evening, we had supper on the deck with Peter and Mary Alice Amidon.  Ellen made her classic platter of vegetables, and we really had a lovely time. We learned some things about Peter‘s earlier life, such as the fact that he went to college at Miami of Ohio. He also told us about his parents, and their life in Western Massachusetts in Great Barrington and Monterey. We also learned something about his siblings. One fact I picked up was that  Peter was very active in the Pilgrim  Fellowship, which I was also very active in, in Iowa. PF was the Congregational youth group nationwide. I dug out the old Pilgrim fellowship song book, which Peter immediately recognized, and we had a good time singing some old songs out of that.

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon and Ellen's Vegetable platter

Blueberries!

 

Our box

Pickers

We are at a blueberry farm in Heath, Massachusetts. It’s called Benson Place. We had an 8 o’clock appointment and we’ve been joined by Eliza and Katie, Ellen’s sister. They have a minimum of four in a party, so I came along to make the fourth, and I have been raking some blueberries but it’s a little bit slower going for me. So these are low-bush berries. You use a rake to pick the berries. You put them into a box and each box holds 20 pounds. We’ve been here about an hour, and we’ve filled one box. It’s an absolutely beautiful day, it’s not too warm and it’s low humidity, and a little breeze. So picking blueberries is not  too onerous.

Dummerston Sunday Morning

We are in the Dummerston Church this morning - four of us at this point: Shawn Bracebridge, Eliza Berg, Ellen and myself. Shawn is leading the service and the four of us are a choir. We are about twenty feet apart, but with microphones. Scott Couper and Jeremy Kirk will assist with camera work. The service will be live-streamed on Facebook at 10a.m., EDST. Tune in, if you can.

The back of the Dummerston Church - Ellen and Eliza in the  distance

We are singing #551 in the New Century Hymnal, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior; #247: My Shepherd is the Living God; and #570, We Shall Overcome.

A little trip

Hamilton Falls (Photo by John Burt)

Yesterday, we took a little trip to a very scenic spot called Hamilton Falls. It is about a 45 minute drive up into Jamaica, Vt. We visited the upper falls. It is a very famous spot for swimming, you might even say infamous. That’s because there have been a lot of people injured there, and many have even died (over the decades). There are signs warning of the danger, but that does not prevent people from using it. And in fact, there were quite a few young people using it when we visited yesterday. The trail down to the area where you jump into a swimming hole was pretty steep, so I stayed up above that area. But many years ago, I would guess 35 to 40 years, I actually jumped into that swimming hole. I remembered the distance from the rock where you jump off down into the water as being further than it actually was. I would say today it was about 12 to 15 feet. There is a metal ladder chained to the rock, which allows you to climb up out of the swimming hole back onto the rock. Before the ladder was there, decades ago, people had to climb up the rocks to get back, and that’s how a lot of people got hurt. The ones who died actually fell over the lip of the swimming hole and down the falls, which is over a hundred feet. 

To get to Upper Hamilton Falls, you have to travel some pretty back roads, certainly ones Ellen had never been on and I have not been on for many, many years. The road goes by Burbee Pond, which looks as though it has been seriously eutrophied,  and now supports a very large crop of water lilies. 

On our way back, we went to Grandma Miller’s bakery for more morning-glory muffins, and then in West Townshend, we stopped at a farmers market, where they were selling wood-fired pizza for a very reasonable price, and that’s where we had supper. Everyone was wearing a mask and observing social distance. I think that’s why Vermont has such low numbers in the COVID-19 statistics.We got home just in time for the Dummerston church zoom session. And then after that it was the Friday evening news on PBS. A nice day.

Looking down on the swimming hole

Burbee Pond

Warning sign at the falls

 

Yesterday, we also had a little drama at our house.  An immature woodpecker hit one of our windows and was stunned. At first we thought it was dead, but then it just sat there for a long time, maybe an hour or more, very still. We wondered if it would ever really recover. Finally, it flew away - but not before I got a photo:

Thinking about Betsey

I've been thinking a lot about Betsey these past few days because yesterday, July 22nd, was the fourth anniversary of her death. The day she died, we were driving from Boise, ID to Alpine,WY at the time. Here is what I posted back then:

The long journey ended

My beloved daughter, Betsey, ended her 19-month long, courageous, and often inspiring journey with brain cancer (glioblastoma) on Friday evening, July 22nd, at a few minutes before 6p.m. in the evening. Her husband, Rob, and her daughter, Katie, were at her side. She had been in Hospice care since the beginning of July, and essentially unresponsive for a couple of days. Her final days were pain-free and her death was gentle and peaceful. Ellen and I were driving from Boise to Alpine at that time and our cell phone was out of range. We got the news about an hour after the fact when we came back into range, and just minutes before arriving at Paul and Jenny's, which was hard, but we managed to negotiate it.

However, we had spent over three weeks helping to take care of Betsey, with Ellen especially on the front line, experiencing many sleepless nights. We finally had to face our physical limits and withdrew to Alpine, and then Boise and Salem. 

Now I will return to Boulder this coming Saturday for a celebration of Betsey's life, with a gathering of Boulder-based friends and co-workers. That will give me the opportunity to hear testimonies and remembrances of Betsey from her co-workers, which will be very moving. Just what will come after that for us is still to be determined. However, we know that Rob and Katie plan to take a two-week trip, starting with a few days with Rob's brother Neal and his wife, Sue, in Eugene, OR. A very well-deserved vacation, because they have been on the front line of care for Betsey, pretty much 24/7, for months and months and months. 

Thanking back to that day, in some ways it seems like yesterday and in others it feels like another life, the world is so different. Betsey would have many thoughts about what is happening today, and  I would love to hear them.

I looked through the sympathy cards that I received four years ago, and that led to the inspired thought to send a card and note to the folks that reached out to me at that time. So that is what I have been doing these past few days.  Here is the card I sent:

Meanwhile, Katie will leave this Saturday to drive a U-Haul truck back to Brooklyn to clean out her apartment and bring what she wants to keep back to Boulder. That will not be an easy trip, so our thoughts and prayers will be with her! There is so much uncertainty in her life right now, but of course, she is not alone in  that!  Her hope is to eventually find work in the Denver area, find her own apartment, and eventually become a free-lance photographer. She keeps trying to build her own life, only to have it be interrupted! But she is a plucky gal!

Rob and Katie in 2016

Rob I think plans to step down as Dean of the College of Music this fall and take advantage of a clause in his contract which allows him to remain as tenured faculty. That will be interesting to follow. And our grandson, Max Feinland, goes to Boulder in August as a freshman in the College of Engineering at U of Colorado. Betsey worked in development in that College, so Ellen and I are very familiar with the building Max will be studying in. I can see it clearly in my mind's eye.

The College of Engineering at U of Colorado

U of Colorado from hill overlooking Boulder

Betsey in her office at the College of Engineering

We miss you Betsey! The story goes on and you are still very much alive in our hearts!

Heat wave

We are experiencing a little heatwave here. It got up to about 96 yesterday. Today is a little cooler but it will be in the low 90s. But right now I’m on the deck eating my breakfast, and there’s a little breeze and it’s pretty comfortable. I hear Ellen doing a little vacuuming inside. Taking advantage of the somewhat cooler temps I guess.

My view

Not too shabby!

Big changes

Our lives are remarkably stable at the moment, but our neighbors are making big changes in their newly-purchased house at the bottom of our driveway (which is a bit under a half-mile from our house. I generally round it off in my head  to a 1-mile round trip  walk, which I try to do daily).

Remember those puzzles that were popular in my childhood, where you had two drawings and you had to list, e.g.,  seven things that were different in one drawing compared to the other? I remember kids' magazines like Children's Activities  or Jack and Jill that had things like that. Well, below are two photos - how many differences can you see?

May 1, 2020

July 15, 2020

There are many more landscaping changes not visible in the photo. They are really transforming the place. It's going to look very nice!

We learned yesterday that Mary Westbrook, our Dummerston Church organist and my fellow choir-director, is going through a tough time with difficulty walking because of back pain. Ellen  realized right away that standing and cooking would be no fun also, so she's cooked up some meals that we'll be taking to her later today.

Wednesday, the Reflections that Chicago Theological Seminary holds every week on Zoom were led by Leah Roberts-Mosser, who, with her husband, David, is minister of Community United Church of Christ, Champagne-Urbana, IL and whom I knew well 20 years ago when I was at CTS. She was great!  She also reminds me a bit of my granddaughter, Katie. The Reflections have become a regular part of my life.

Rev. Leah Roberts-Mosser

Our deck garden

Ellen has been putting in a lot of work on some little gardens. One of them is on our deck.

Our deck garden

Flower box

A black cherry tomato plant

Our lives have been pretty routine. John and Cynthia did come over Sunday afternoon and we had a nice visit on the deck. It was very pleasant listening to the birds and the wind in the trees. John attached a recorder to one of our trees in the woods and we will get a recording of the dusk and dawn bird chorus here at our place.

Ellen has been working on her gardens and I have been working on tapes and doing some reading. I’ve started reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin. I think Lise Sparrow mentioned him in her sermon on Sunday and that’s what got me started on it. It’s a book by Edmund Morgan that we’ve had around the house for some time, but I have never actually read it. Morgan was a friend of Ellen’s
 father, and he’s a really good writer. And Franklin is a fascinating person.

Another treat

Today was hot! It was pleasant downstairs in my study, and even upstairs wasn’t bad. But out in the sun it was hot. A good day for a little ride in an air-conditioned car. But not before we plugged into the noon Washington Revels song fest on Zoom, a daily event. Each day a different person teaches a song. Today the teacher was our friend Dr. Kathy Bullock from Berea College. She led the Village Harmony camp where Ellen and I met in 2003. She has come to Vermont many times since at River Singers or the Guilford Church. She is special to us. So we were thrilled to see her today. We actually hung around and got to talk with her at the end. So that was a real treat! Then we drove to Grandma Miller’s for another kind of treat. A nice day!

Dr. Kathy Bullock 

Our favorite bakery

Our other treat

Several things

We have done a number of special things over the past few days. Sunday afternoon we finally got to a poetry group session after more than a year of absence. They are. held at Kathy and Tom's house and this one was held out under the big trees, with appropriate distance between chairs. Couples could sit together. There were ten of us in all, and the theme was Lost and Found, which proved to be a rich theme for bringing out  good poems. We take turns reading a poem out loud and sharing our reactions to it. A poem often kicks off an intense discussion.

Our hosts, Tom and Kathy

Mary Alice and Peter Amidon, and Will Danforth

Admiring Kathy's beautiful garden

Monday morning I  arranged for four of us - Shawn Bracebridge (our Dummerston Church pastor), Eliza Bergh, Ellen and myself - to sing hymns for a couple of members of the Dummerston church who are residents of a long-term care facility in Brattleboro, Thompson House.  Althea is a sprightly 93 years old. Not sure of Fran's age, but they both very much appreciated our coming. There were fairly strict protocols to observe (Thompson House has had no COVID-19 cases thus far and they want to keep it that way).  The four of us were outside the fence surrounding a patio where Fran and Althea (and a few others) were gathered in wheel chairs. We were a good twenty feet away from them, and we observed social distance from each other. We did not wear masks while we sang - that seemed unnecessary.  We were competing with an air conditioning unit somewhere behind us, so we had to sing fairly loud to be heard, and unison singing seemed more effective than 4-part harmony. It was a lovely day, and I think we brought some light and spirit into their lives - being locked down in a nursing home for weeks with virtually no visitors is no fun!

Fran and Althea at Thompson House

Shirley's nephew, Jim Harris, her brother Ladd's son who is now retired and living in New Jersey, sent me an old video that had been taken at Lake Winnepesaukee, NH about 60+ years ago. It features Shirley and me, Betsey as  a babe in arms, Shirley's dad, and Jim's family -- his siblings and his dad.  I was able to access the video through Google Drive. It brought back a lot of memories.

Betsey with Grandpa Harris

Me with Betsey and Jim

Shirley with Betsey

Then Monday evening, John and Cynthia came over for an early supper on the deck. We are really enjoying our deck this summer! Ellen made a beautiful platter of cold vegetables (which, sadly, I forgot to take a picture of!). Topped off with ice cream and strawberry/rhubarb sauce. A perfect summer evening meal.

Ellen showing Cynthia and John her little squash garden she has started.

Tuesday evening we had our final River Singers rehearsal via Zoom. No more until fall - so that was a little sad, but we enjoyed singing and now on Tuesday evenings we can rejoin the Dummerston Church Zoom sessions. Today, Wednesday, we came down to Shutesbury to spend time keeping Brendon company while Savanna is having back surgery and Katie is at the hospital. Savanna was having problems with numbness in her hands and arms, and the surgery is to free up some vertebrae. We just got a report that the operation lasted longer than expected but the doctor was pleased. Savanna will spend the night there to make sure she can do everything she needs to be able to do before she comes home.

Stewart Letter #23

 

                              Letter #23

Ch (Capt.) Barney C. Crockett            Pvt. Stewart C. Crockett_____

220 General Hospital APO 513          ASN 17183138 Co.B. ASTRP

c/o P.M.  New York N.Y._______       Box 217_________________

                                                            Brookings, South Dakota ____

                                                            July 4, 1945

Dear Dad,

           

            My eighteenth birthday came and went while I was in the Brookings Municipal Hospital with bronchial pneumonia. I have been out of the hospital since 30 June, but I am still in quarters because lying on my back for 11 days with a moderately high temperature most of the time weakened me so little.[1] On 28 July I have a  two-week furlough coming up, at the end of which I will report to an induction center, probably Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, for further assignment to some IRTC.[2]

            This campus is very nice, although there is not much entertainment offered to the young men seeking relaxation after a week of work. We really have to work here, too, because the professors are conscientious and the officers mean business. I thought at first that taking the second term over would be monotonous, but it has proved to be very interesting and educational. Even the subject-matter is different in chemistry, and different things are stressed more strongly in geography and physics. In addition, we have more outside work here. I can understand the analytic geometry much better as a result.

            We have six hours of military training a week now, instead of 2, as at Lincoln.  We have disassembled the M-1[3] and the BAR,[4] and while I was in the hospital, the class took up extended order drills.[5]  The physical training is out-of-doors when the weather is dry, so we get plenty of sun. We had a three-mile, cross-country run a few weeks ago, and we went through the very realistic obstacle course in military training the day before I went into the hospital.[6]

(continued)

            In English we have to write 8 themes this term; at Lincoln, we wrote one or two. Besides the extra work, we have less study halls during the day because we have military training during the week instead of on Saturday afternoon. Now we have Saturday afternoon free. This allows the men to go home earlier on weekend passes. I went home at the end of the third week of this term, hitchhiked, and made 230 miles in 9 hours, three of which were spent in traversing 30 miles. At Lincoln, it was impossible for me to get home for any time at all.

            Incidentally, it was not an army doctor who diagnosed my case, but merely the doctor at student health at U. of N(ebraska). The army medics took it for granted at first, but cultures soon proved them wrong.[7] I believe it was largely my bitterness at this incident that made me want to quit the program, but Capt. Olson and Sgt. Treacy, of this station, persuaded me to stay. I am not sorry now, for I would have lost the right to further AST training, and I would not have had a very good chance at advancement at first.

            Perhaps I will not get a chance to see you again until we are both discharged,[8] but we will have to hope for the best. Write me when you find out whether or not you go to the Pacific.

                                                                                    Your loving son,

                                                                                                Stewart

---

[1] I wonder if there is a typo here. It doesn't make much sense as written. I wonder if he meant "weakened me so much."

[2] Infantry Replacement Training Center. More informally - "Basic Training," or "bootcamp."

[3] The M1 carbine (formally the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1) is a lightweight, easy to use, .30 carbine (7.62x33 mm) semi-automatic carbine that was a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and well into the Vietnam War.

[4] The Browning Automatic Rifle. The BAR was designed to be carried by infantrymen during an assault advance while supported by the sling over the shoulder, or to be fired from the hip. This is a concept called "walking fire"—thought to be necessary for the individual soldier during trench warfare. The BAR never entirely lived up to the original hopes of the war department as either a rifle or a machine gun.

[5] Extended order drills are also called combat drills. Combat drill trains a small unit in the looser, extended formations and movements of battle.

[6] I can't help but wonder if this was partly what put him in the hospital.

[7] Stewart is referring to the misdiagnosis of gonorrhea he told mother about in Letter #21 which unnecessarily kept him in the hospital for a week or more at Lincoln.

[8] As it turned out, the war ended in August, dad was sent back to the States from France and by the time Stewart finished basic training in December he was able to see dad (and mother and me) in Morganfield, KY on his way to Germany.

Coughlin Campaline Tower, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD

Hospital in Brookings - maybe the one where Stewart was

Lucky us

Here we are at the lake. We’re visiting Katie and Savanna, but they’re not at home. They are at a cottage on the lake in Belchertown that belongs to their friends Dusty and Dorothy, who are away for a couple of days. So we’re enjoying sitting on the porch and looking out at the lake and feeling the breeze. Actually right at the moment Ellen has gone into the lake in her clothes, then she’s going to dry out when she gets out of the water and let the wind do the job.

That’s Katie and Ellen out in the water

And now in the kayak!

I went wading. The water was great!

A trip to Maine

I’ve gotten a little behind in my blog posts. Last Friday, we made a trip to Maine. It was just a day trip. It was primarily a visit to Jim and Mary. But we did stop on the way to get lunch at Bob’s clam hut which is open and observing strict social-distancing and mask-wearing. So that seems safe. Similarly, we stopped at When Pigs Fly, our favorite bread. That store was empty and also observing strict rules so it was easy to get bread safely. Hey Jim and Mary we stayed outside on the little porch they have. We also got a wonderful tour of the garden. Here are some photos.

This Espalier tree has six different fruits grafted into it.

A beautiful garden!

Since we went to Maine, life has been fairly typical. We recorded music for The Guilford church service, we participated in several zoom sessions, I continue to digitize Guilford  church service tapes, etc. Today were going to visit Katie and Savanna.