Irma Deeds recounts her experiences in rural Kansas during WWII, highlighting community resilience, rationing hardships, and personal stories of wartime sacrifice.
Announcer
00:01 – 00:15
American war heroes from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. They selflessly served and these are their stories. America’s Veteran Stories with your host Kim Monson.
Kim Monson
00:16 – 00:47
Welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. This show precipitated from a trip that I took in 2016 with a group with the Denver Police Activities League that accompanied four D-Day veterans back to Normandy for the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings. And I returned back to the States realizing that each story, each soldier’s story is different and they’re important and they need to be told. So I’ve had the great honor of interviewing over 130 World War II veterans.
Kim Monson
00:47 – 01:05
But we have an exceptionally special show for you today. And that is I am talking with my Aunt Irma, who she was married to my dad’s oldest brother, and he served in France during World War II. Aunt Irma, welcome to the show. Thank you.
Kim Monson
01:06 – 01:29
You know, as a kid, I was talking to my cousin Jeannie. I didn’t really realize that my Uncle Wayne, my Uncle Bob, and my Uncle Harold all had served in World War II. I just looked at you guys as people that I just love to be around. And so it’s not until really that I started getting these stories that it’s like, oh my gosh, what those guys have done is pretty amazing.
Kim Monson
01:30 – 01:40
But a lot of times we don’t get to talk to the people that were back stateside. So, Aunt Irma, tell us a little bit about you. Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like?
Irma Deeds
01:42 – 02:07
Well, I grew up in Eastenburg City. I grew up during the Depression and the Dust Bowl years. But you know, that being said, We didn’t know that we didn’t have a lot of food and things because everybody was in the same boat. We always had plenty to eat.
Irma Deeds
02:07 – 02:13
But that’s when I grew up around Bird City.
Kim Monson
02:14 – 02:17
Well, and how did you meet my Uncle Wayne?
Irma Deeds
02:19 – 02:37
Oh, that’s a funny story. And believe me, Tawny takes it to the hills. When I was a freshman and Wayne was a junior, I walked out of my sister’s front door to go Christmas caroling. And as I walked by, Wayne was walking by.
Irma Deeds
02:37 – 03:03
And so I walked with him to the schoolhouse and we got into a truck and went Christmas caroling. There was quite a bunch. We just drove around Bird City and Christmas Carol from the truck. Well, there was this teacher, Miss Frisbee, and Wayne had a nice looking tan coat on and a pretty scarf around his neck.
Irma Deeds
03:04 – 03:30
and you can imagine not too many people had scars around their neck during the dirty 30s and he had this scarf and the teacher and I when I was trying to get it off his neck take it and oh he would fight with us and everything to keep that around his neck I didn’t know him at the time but at a later time he told me the reason he fought so much because it was the bottom of his pajamas and they were paid gay.
Kim Monson
03:30 – 03:35
So that’s when I met Wayne, when I
Irma Deeds
03:35 – 03:48
was a freshman. No, no. It wasn’t until after I was out of high school that we started dating. Uh-huh.
Irma Deeds
03:48 – 03:58
He had had one year of college and I had, and he was going back for the second year and then he got his draft notice. Yeah.
Kim Monson
03:58 – 04:00
What year was that, Aunt Irma? 1942, the fall
Irma Deeds
04:01 – 04:01
of 1942. Okay.
Kim Monson
04:07 – 04:18
Okay. Now, so it would have been in 41 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Do you remember where you were when you heard that that had occurred?
Irma Deeds
04:20 – 04:38
Oh yes, I remember everything about it. It was on a Sunday. We had just gotten back from church and we got a telephone call from my sister in California. My brother had already been in the service a year and he had come to see her.
Irma Deeds
04:39 – 05:07
and she worked in a cafe and he had gone for a short time for a walk and he was going to come back and have a lunch with her but he never came back. She called and said he never came back and then she was the one that told us that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. and of course then we put on our radios and listened, which was about noon, our time in Bird City. Remember
Kim Monson
05:07 – 05:12
Barry? Yes. So what happened to your brother? He never came back?
Kim Monson
05:12 – 05:14
What happened? Oh
Irma Deeds
05:15 – 05:23
no, he came back. He was just in the long time. He was in the service a long time. He was one of the first ones that was drafted.
Irma Deeds
05:23 – 05:35
He and Martin Busby. He was in New Guinea all the time during the war. He was a mechanic. He was there all the time.
Irma Deeds
05:37 – 05:38
He thought he had it pretty easy.
Kim Monson
05:41 – 05:57
Well, I heard that New Guinea wasn’t actually the easiest, that there were a lot of mosquitoes there and there was a lot of disease there. I mean, our guys did amazing, amazing things. Yes. When did Uncle Wayne join the Army?
Irma Deeds
06:00 – 06:20
He went to his second year of college at Fort Hayes, and he had gone down there to enroll, and then he got a call from his dad and said, your draft papers came in. He says, I think you better come home and enlist. So he did. Come home and enlist.
Irma Deeds
06:20 – 06:41
But they found out there was a school in Kansas City. It was a radio school. So he went to Kansas City and went to a radio school. And then he was chosen to go to Minneapolis, Minnesota to a high-tech Yes, uh huh, we were.
Kim Monson
06:57 – 07:13
What was your conversation like with yourself when you realized that his draft papers had come through and that he was going to enlist? What went through your mind, Aunt Irma? and
Irma Deeds
07:31 – 07:43
to Denver or someplace and get a job and then I would stop that job and I would get offered another job. So I never got, all during the war, I never got out of the area.
Kim Monson
07:45 – 07:50
Was there much rationing back in rural Kansas during that time?
Irma Deeds
07:51 – 08:19
Oh, yes. I was on the rationing, I worked at the rationing board when I was in St. Francis. We rationed sugar, coffee, shoes, tires, and gasoline, fuel oil for to heat with, and that’s what I can think of.
Irma Deeds
08:20 – 08:20
right now
Kim Monson
08:41 – 09:01
What was going on at that time here stateside? You know, we live in such a land of plenty now and the fact that people really, you know, tighten their belts and and did what they could to support our soldiers both in the Pacific theater and in the European theater. So how much sugar coffee did people get?
Irma Deeds
09:03 – 09:27
Oh, I don’t remember for sure, for sure. Coffee, I think, was a pound, and sugar was probably the hardest thing to get by on without less with sugar. And coffee, well, you know, there wasn’t a lot of people that drank a lot of coffee then, but coffee was rationed. Sugar was probably the hardest thing.
Kim Monson
09:30 – 09:46
And so you’re back in rural Kansas during this time. Hold on, I had my questions that I was going to ask you. Oh, I know. When Uncle Wayne left to go overseas, what was the goodbye like?
Irma Deeds
09:47 – 10:12
Oh, Mother Deeds and I went to Joplin, Missouri. That’s where Wayne was stationed at Camp Crowder. And we went to and we stayed in. Wayne had a real good friend, an older couple that had kind of adopted him and we stayed at her place, her and her husband’s place.
Irma Deeds
10:12 – 10:29
She was a nurse. and he ran a big theater and that we stayed there all the time that we were down there and that we didn’t get to the base. Rain would come in and then I just left. I mean he left and that was it.
Kim Monson
10:31 – 10:51
Well, Jeannie, my cousin, said that actually you kept many of the letters that you and Uncle Wayne sent back and forth when he was over in Europe. And it wasn’t until just recently that your kids realized that these letters existed. So tell us about these letters, Aunt Irma.
Irma Deeds
10:54 – 11:04
I have all of them. Wow. I have a suitcase full. And they were all, the first ones, mine are there too.
Irma Deeds
11:04 – 11:18
The ones I wrote to Wayne and Kansas City. So it was, our courtship is on, in letters. And so that’s, and I have all those letters. And all of them, one, he was overseas.
Irma Deeds
11:18 – 11:30
And there’s a suitcase full of them. Yeah. And believe me, my grandson-in-laws love to read them. And my kids.
Irma Deeds
11:30 – 11:41
My kids have all read them. And my granddaughters. Now the grandsons-in-laws are reading them. Every once in a while, there’s something poking up.
Irma Deeds
11:42 – 11:54
And one grandson-in-law had gotten that far. Someone says, why do you let them read that? I said, Wayne was the perfect gentleman. I’m not ashamed of anything that’s in there.
Irma Deeds
11:54 – 12:20
So yeah, they’re reading them. And really, it would be… quite the thing, because he told what he was doing. He went in southern Italy, down there in the Mediterranean Sea, and then worked his way all the way up to the Rhine River and Paris.
Irma Deeds
12:21 – 13:28
So his company went all that way. He was in a signal corps. and I I’m And they would move when the front line would move more to get the Germans back. And he got as far as the Rhine River, and then about that time the Germans gave up in that theater.
Kim Monson
13:30 – 13:40
Do you know how far back he was from the front lines? I think many times we think that it was a pretty long distance, but it wasn’t, was it? I mean, it was relatively close.
Irma Deeds
13:42 – 13:54
We talked about that and he said yes, he could hear the fire. The bombs go off several times, but that’s as close as he got.
Kim Monson
13:55 – 14:09
Now another question, I know at least early in the war that they actually had to run the wire for the communications, the signal core. Did they have to do that or do you know?
Irma Deeds
14:10 – 14:27
Yes, they still had to do that. They had nothing like they have now. They had radios. You could get a radio wave and maybe be a little bit easier, but they still had to have different things and use the radio.
Irma Deeds
14:27 – 14:35
But most of the time, last time it was wire because the generals, the front line wanted to talk to the generals.
Kim Monson
14:37 – 14:54
I’m sure that they did. Let’s go to break. This is Kim Monson and I’m talking with my Aunt Irma. She is the wife of my dad’s oldest brother who served in World War II and we thought it would be great to get the perspective of people that were here at home.
Kim Monson
14:55 – 15:17
But before we do that, one of my great partners is Hooters Restaurants is one of my great business partners. There’s five locations, one in Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster, and Colorado Springs. They have all kinds of specials, whether or not it’s football specials, game day specials, to-go, lunch specials, kids eat free. There’s all kinds of fun stuff going on over at Hooters Restaurants.
Kim Monson
15:17 – 15:28
It’s great to get together with friends and just watch some sports, take your mind off of things that are going on there. For more information, go to HootersColorado.com. That’s HootersColorado.com. We’ll be right back.
Speaker 7
15:29 – 15:58
Remax Realtor Karen Levine helps bring to life the individual stories of our servicemen and women. With her sponsorship of America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson, Karen honors the sacrifices of our military and is grateful for our freedom. As a member of the National Association of Realtors Board of Directors, Karen works to protect private property rights for all of us. Karen has a heart for our active duty military and veterans and is honored to help you buy or sell your home.
Speaker 7
15:58 – 16:02
Call Karen Levine at 303-877-7516 to help you navigate buying or selling your home. That’s 303-877-7516.
Speaker 13
16:12 – 16:31
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Speaker 13
16:32 – 16:35
If you’d like to explore what a reverse mortgage can do for you, call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881. That’s 303-880-8881. Call now.
Speaker 2
16:42 – 17:01
All of Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of the Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
Announcer
17:03 – 17:08
It’s time for more of America’s Veteran Stories with your host, Kim Monson.
Kim Monson
17:08 – 17:18
And on the line with me is Karen Levine. She is an award-winning realtor with Remax Alliance. We’ve been friends for many years. She’s a great negotiator.
Kim Monson
17:18 – 17:32
She’s a person to have on your side of the table whether or not you’re buying or selling your home or if you’re buying a new build. Karen Levine, it’s so great to have you as a partner of the America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson show.
Speaker 10
17:33 – 18:00
Kim, I just find it a privilege to get to be a sponsor of what I think is a very important program. We so appreciate the service of our veterans and to hear their stories and have an understanding of what they have done for us and for our nation. And I just appreciate that you are getting those stories out to people and that they’re hearing the sacrifices men and women have made on behalf of America.
Kim Monson
18:01 – 18:11
Well, and they really are a treasured portion of our population. And I know that when you are helping people buy and sell their homes, you really like to work with veterans.
Speaker 10
18:12 – 18:48
I love working with veterans. I just think it’s a privilege that I have as a real estate professional and as a realtor to help them achieve home ownership when they have sacrificed for us. and the VA loan that is available to veterans is such an awesome financing vehicle that allows veterans to get into homeownership with no down payment. and I love navigating that transaction for them, getting them to achieve homeownership and have an opportunity to build wealth by being homeowners.
Kim Monson
18:48 – 19:08
Well, and people can reach you, Karen Levine at 303-877-7516. That’s 303-877-7516. And with mortgage rates so low right now, this is a great opportunity for veterans And I so appreciate your sponsorship of America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Thank you so much, Karen Levine.
Kim Monson
19:08 – 19:15
Thank you, Kim. Welcome back to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out my website. That is AmericasVeteranStories.com.
Kim Monson
19:16 – 19:47
And I am just thrilled to have on the line with me my Aunt Irma. She was married to my dad’s oldest brother, who was deployed in Europe during World War two and we thought it would be great to hear the stories of what’s happening stateside and So I’ve learned a lot in this first segment things that after all these years. I never knew to ask these questions So aunt Irma, this is absolutely fascinating You mentioned during break that there was another thing that you wanted to make sure that our listeners heard about
Irma Deeds
19:50 – 20:25
Kim your dad was 10 years younger than Wayne and and he went to a country school clear out in the country and you have to realize that they didn’t have electricity. And if they had a radio, it was ran on a battery. So they didn’t use the radio a whole lot. Your dad will tell you that he, although he had two brothers in, in the Army, or yes, in the Army and Air Force, under, with danger, and he doesn’t remember, he didn’t know about the war.
Irma Deeds
20:27 – 20:40
He didn’t realize what war was. We didn’t have magazines, papers, or anything at that time. So he said he really didn’t know what the war was like.
Kim Monson
20:41 – 21:29
You know, the only thing that I remember, Aunt Irma, is my dad telling me that on that Sunday, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, that he remembered coming into the house. And as you mentioned, Uncle Wayne, Uncle Harold, Uncle Don, is And I thought that was really interesting because I don’t think he hardly ever saw that his father cried and just grandpa realized what was going to happen that these guys were going to have to go. And I thought that was that stuck with me my whole life.
Irma Deeds
21:32 – 21:42
Yes, that’s it. And Ed will tell you that he says, I didn’t realize it or something that war was like it was. I went to school. We were much younger.
Irma Deeds
21:42 – 21:56
We didn’t have a lot of newspapers. And he says, I didn’t know about it until later. So
Kim Monson
22:01 – 22:19
let’s continue to talk about these letters between you and Uncle Wayne. You said that the family has read them. And what do you think that your children and your grandchildren are possibly learning from these letters that were sent between you and Uncle Wayne during World War II?
Irma Deeds
22:22 – 22:38
Well, I don’t know. He would tell everything that he could without having it being censored. I would think that it is a part of history that a lot of our young people don’t know, like when I was talking to my cousin,
Kim Monson
22:38 – 23:26
your daughter Jeannie yesterday, about this and I’m like, we were in the presence of heroes as a kid and I didn’t even realize it. These World War II veterans came back, they got married, they had their families, they didn’t talk about it and my gosh, I wish I would have sat down with each of my uncles and asked them about their experiences there. And so I’ve got to think that your kids and your grandkids are getting a snippet of history that they really weren’t aware of and it’s so personal. It’s got to be a really great thing, the fact that you saved all those letters, Anirma.
Irma Deeds
23:30 – 23:50
Well, the grandson in school, every time a grandson would get in a certain place in school, they would come down and interview Wayne for a project or a paper that they had to write. So, I don’t know if they still have those papers or not. I’ll have to ask them. Oh, that
Kim Monson
23:50 – 23:50
would be great.
Irma Deeds
23:52 – 23:52
Yes, that would
Kim Monson
23:52 – 24:02
be great, uh-huh. How long were you apart? So he left in 42, is that right? Yes.
Kim Monson
24:02 – 24:03
Okay, and… And
Irma Deeds
24:04 – 24:07
we married in the fall of 1945.
Kim Monson
24:08 – 24:16
So he was gone for… And we were in Dayton. He was gone for over two years, is that right? Almost three, uh-huh.
Kim Monson
24:17 – 24:25
You know, I don’t think… 43, 44, 45, three years. You didn’t see each other for three years? Well, yeah.
Kim Monson
24:25 – 24:30
We saw… I went down to Camp Crowder. Oh, okay. Twice.
Kim Monson
24:30 – 24:34
Three times. Three times. Okay. But then when he went to Europe, how long was he in Europe?
Irma Deeds
24:36 – 24:45
He was there from June until August of next year. So over a year. June of 44? And then of course…
Irma Deeds
24:46 – 24:57
for watching. No, June of 44. No, he wasn’t. He was in Southern France then.
Irma Deeds
24:57 – 25:00
He was in Southern France, but they took up
Kim Monson
25:00 – 25:01
right across from England.
Irma Deeds
25:18 – 25:26
Yes, he knew a lot, which he couldn’t talk about.
Kim Monson
25:28 – 25:52
So, as you’re mentioning Southern France, now I can’t remember what the battle was, but I’ve talked to some veterans that there was also an invasion, actually my friend always corrects me, we didn’t invade, we liberated Europe. I need to make sure that I use that word. But that there was another kind of a D-Day in southern France. So as I’m thinking about this, so that must have been where he was.
Kim Monson
25:52 – 26:04
And as you mentioned, they weren’t that far back from the front lines. The front lines, they had to run lines to, you said it was the detachment group, and then that went back to the generals. Okay.
Irma Deeds
26:05 – 26:09
You have to realize that they started the war over in Africa.
Kim Monson
26:10 – 26:44
right now. Well, and Africa was so early. I actually have only interviewed one or two guys that were in Northern Africa. One of them was a P-51 pilot.
Kim Monson
26:45 – 26:53
And yeah, I think a lot of people don’t realize what happened early on in the war. But Uncle Wayne would have come in, but he was not in Northern Africa, was he?
Irma Deeds
26:54 – 27:00
No, no, he wasn’t. They were already pushed up into France a ways.
Kim Monson
27:08 – 27:22
So what was happening just during this time with you back in Kansas? You were working with the rationing board, you were writing letters. What else was happening with you and Irma back here in Kansas?
Irma Deeds
27:26 – 27:56
I worked for the Rationing Board over a year, and then we, my girlfriend, Anna Marie Indor, thought we weren’t doing enough. All our friends was in the cities building ships or airplanes or something, so we thought we weren’t doing enough, so we thought we’d better get on the ball. So we resigned from that job, and I shouldn’t have because it was a very good, it was a civil service job. and went home.
Irma Deeds
27:57 – 28:14
But we had applied to St. Mary’s Hospital in Manhattan because they had a nurse cadet program that was run by the government, I think. Anyway, we applied there. And when we got the letters back, there was only one opening.
Irma Deeds
28:15 – 28:46
And Anna Marie’s sister had just graduated from high school, so she took it. And then Dr. Morehouse had heard that we, I had applied for there, so he called, he come out, we just lived a mile from downtown, and he come out and wanted to know if I’d come over to the hospital in Benkeman to work. That Bernice, his sister Bernice, Bernice could give me a lot of training. And I went over there and worked.
Irma Deeds
28:46 – 29:03
And I did receive a lot of training over there. We only had two registered nurses and we had a hospital. We had to have a round-the-clock service and everything. And I learned a lot there.
Irma Deeds
29:04 – 29:04
Now,
Kim Monson
29:05 – 29:12
were any soldiers coming back stateside or was this just people, you know, in the community that you were serving?
Irma Deeds
29:12 – 29:17
It was Bigelow, Nebraska. It was just the community. The
Kim Monson
29:17 – 29:17
community. Okay.
Irma Deeds
29:18 – 29:18
Okay.
Kim Monson
29:19 – 29:33
Okay, let’s, I find this fascinating. I didn’t know any of this about you, Aunt Irma. So I’m glad that I’m learning that. Let’s talk a bit about the other two uncles that actually served in World War Two as well.
Kim Monson
29:33 – 29:43
And that was Uncle Wayne’s younger brother, Harold. So tell us what you remember about Harold and Aunt Jo. Because I think people would be really interested in that.
Irma Deeds
29:45 – 30:33
Well, Al Harrell was a bombardier on, I can’t tell you the number of the airplane anymore, but he was the one that dropped the bombs. And I can’t remember how many missions he went on. He went on a lot. a lot Of course Wayne was in, Wayne could see where the, they had, did the bombing and Wayne teased his brother, he says, did you have to pile up the country so much?
Irma Deeds
30:33 – 30:34
With those
Speaker 12
30:34 – 30:35
bombs?
Irma Deeds
30:35 – 30:42
Yeah. A lot of missions that he flew.
Kim Monson
30:43 – 31:07
Yeah, I can’t remember how many either, but it was a lot of missions. And those flights, I don’t know if a lot of people realized, initially on, a lot of those bombing raids did not have fighter air cover. Now, as we got further into the war, there were, but it was very dangerous. In fact, when I went to Normandy, one of the guys that we went with was in the Army Air Corps.
Kim Monson
31:08 – 31:12
And we lost 88,000 guys just
Speaker 1
31:12 – 31:12
from
Kim Monson
31:12 – 31:29
the Army Air Corps during World War II. I mean, that’s a staggering number to think about the sacrifice that was given there. Amazingly, Uncle Wayne, Uncle Harold, and Uncle Bob all came home safely, which that certainly was a blessing. Not all families were that lucky.
Kim Monson
31:30 – 31:48
And the other thing that I think I remember my father telling me is that Uncle Harold was back farming by the age of like 22 and 23 and I think that he had gone to a high rank, I want to say like lieutenant or something as well. Do you recall? Oh
Irma Deeds
31:48 – 31:59
yeah. After he graduated from bombardier school, he was a first lieutenant I think. Yes. Now,
Kim Monson
31:59 – 32:03
was he dating Aunt Jo at that time when he went to war?
Irma Deeds
32:03 – 32:19
No. It was a year or so after he came back that he dated Aunt Jo. In fact, we were surprised. He told us we were at a wedding in Hays at Carol and he comes down and he says, I’m engaged.
Irma Deeds
32:20 – 32:44
And we had to ask, who to? and she always sold the popcorn. And so I knew who Joanne was, yes.
Kim Monson
32:45 – 32:58
So it surprised you when he came back and said that he was engaged. That is pretty funny. So Aunt Irma, we’re going to go to break. This is Kim Monson with America’s Veteran Stories.
Kim Monson
32:58 – 33:10
Be sure and check out our website. It is americasveteranstories.com. I have the great honor of talking with my Aunt Irma. And Aunt Irma, are we at a point where we can tell your age or do you still like to keep that a secret?
Kim Monson
33:12 – 33:13
Oh sure, tell
Irma Deeds
33:13 – 33:15
it, I’d love to.
Kim Monson
33:16 – 33:32
So what really made me think about this is that my cousin said Aunt Irma was turning 96 here within the last couple of weeks. And like 96, that means that she has a World War II story. So that’s how we got this whole interview scheduled. So we’re going to go to break.
Kim Monson
33:32 – 33:40
This is Kim Monson. Stay tuned. On the line with me is one of my valued sponsors, and that is Lauren Levy. He’s a mortgage specialist with Polygon Financial Group.
Kim Monson
33:41 – 33:50
He works with a number of different lenders, which is great for you, the client. And Lauren Levy, welcome. Tell us, why are you a partner of America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson?
Speaker 8
33:51 – 34:13
Hey Tim, great to be back on with you. You know, when I had an opportunity to become a partner of yours on this project, I thought it was just the perfect fit. Anytime you can do things that try to help the people that have served our country, whether in action or not, you know, they have made sacrifices and helped defend our country and I just thought it was a great chance to try to give back a little bit and see if I couldn’t help those folks out.
Kim Monson
34:14 – 34:25
And there is great opportunity for veterans and military personnel right now in the mortgage arena. You and I were chatting before we did the call that there’s something very special, I think, for veterans.
Speaker 8
34:26 – 34:49
Yeah and you know the VA loan which is available for all veterans or active duty folks has always been a good program and it’s always had good rates and allowed for no mortgage insurance for people that borrow or don’t have a big down payment. It also allows veterans to pay cash out of their home up to higher levels than regular loans and on top of that it’s always had great rates. Well now in US English
Kim Monson
35:03 – 35:11
Well that’s something that would be a great idea. People can reach you, Lauren Levy, at 303-880-8881. 303-880-8881. You and I always say, when opportunity knocks at the door, you should open it.
Kim Monson
35:11 – 35:14
And this is a great opportunity for veterans right now, Lauren Levy.
Speaker 8
35:21 – 35:36
I agree 100%. If you have a rate anywhere over 2.875 or above, I think it’s a good time to be looking at doing even with the VH Streamline. They’re easy to do, they don’t take very long, and it can really save these veterans some important money right now.
Kim Monson
35:37 – 35:40
And again, call Lorne Levy at 303-880-8881. Lorne Levy, thank you so much for your partnership. Thank you, Kim.
Speaker 6
35:48 – 36:11
In these tumultuous times, it is necessary that we each have a freedom library to know and understand our history. Bury Him! A Memoir of the Vietnam War by Captain Doug Chamberlain is a must for your personal library. In this honest and gripping memoir, Captain Chamberlain recounts the chilling events that took place during his command of a company of young marines at the height of the Vietnam War.
Speaker 6
36:12 – 36:32
Chamberlain painfully recalls the unspeakable order he and his Marines were forced to obey, and the cover-up which followed. Purchase the book at MarineDougChamberlain.com. That’s MarineDoug, C-H-A-M-B-E-R-L-A-I-N dot com, so that you gain perspective on this time in our history.
Speaker 3
36:32 – 36:48
You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of the Kim Monson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website KimMonson.com. That’s Kim M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
Announcer
36:51 – 36:56
It’s time for more of America’s Veteran Stories with your host, Kim Monson.
Kim Monson
36:56 – 37:10
And on the line with me is a valued partner of America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson, Hal Van Hercke with Castlegate Knife and Tool. It’s a family owned business located right here in Sedalia, Colorado. Hal Van Hercke, you are a treasured partner.
Speaker 9
37:10 – 37:16
Thank you, Kim. We appreciate being on and we are very proud to be a partner with everything you’ve got going on here.
Kim Monson
37:17 – 37:36
And one of the things, you have a wide array of knives at Castlegate Knife and Tool, but one of the things that you have is knives for military personnel. And I know that that tool, that is so critical for our military personnel to have something that they trust, that feels good in their hand, and you can help people out with that.
Speaker 9
37:37 – 38:31
Yeah, the knives, we sell a whole variety of knives from basic pocket knives to knives that are designed specifically as combat knives to take on deployment. We have a brand, for example, in the latter category called Spartan Blades, which is owned by two retired special forces. I’m early on in their life, committed their and committed their sacrifice to their country. And we really look at that community as being our favorite community.
Speaker 9
38:31 – 38:36
We offer veterans a 10% discount on everything on the store, you know, every day of the year. So
Kim Monson
38:37 – 38:38
well, I’m
Speaker 9
38:38 – 38:38
Michelle,
Kim Monson
38:39 – 38:45
I really appreciate that. I appreciate your service. And Alvin Herkey, we are getting near the holidays. It’s hard to believe.
Kim Monson
38:45 – 38:50
And Castlegate knife and tool is a great place for people to do their holiday Christmas shopping.
Speaker 9
38:50 – 39:13
website www.castlegate.com
Kim Monson
39:31 – 39:43
Welcome back to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out my website, that is americasveteranstories.com. I’m thrilled and honored to have on the line with me my Aunt Irma. She just recently turned 96 years old.
Kim Monson
39:43 – 39:55
She was married to my father’s oldest brother. and my Uncle Wayne served in the European Theater in communications. And my friends, just think about this. This is not the kind of communications that we have now.
Kim Monson
39:56 – 40:55
They actually had to run the telephone wire many times while they were being shot at so that they could communicate the front lines back to the relay station, back to the generals, so that decisions could be made about the battles. And so it very important job there. And then we were just talking about my uncle Harold, who was a bombardier and many, many missions over Germany and many of the things that that we needed to do, we were going after Hitler’s fuel depots, the rail depots, so that hopefully we could kind of starve them from energy on this this big, in a lot of different sacrifices to support what was going on.
Kim Monson
40:55 – 41:08
So it’s just a real thrill to talk with my Aunt Irma. So Aunt Irma, there is a story. Well, let’s talk a little bit about Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob ended up marrying Uncle Wayne’s younger sister, Carol.
Kim Monson
41:08 – 41:14
So was Bob and Carol dating when Bob was deployed over to Europe?
Irma Deeds
41:15 – 41:38
No, they weren’t. Of course, Wayne had a detachment of the five men and they were allowed a jeep so that he could get around. So Wayne had communication so he got a hold of Bob and they met on a weekend. Wayne went and got him in a jeep and they went to Paris.
Irma Deeds
41:40 – 42:02
So they had quite a time in Paris, and I always tease about it, and Bob tells me nothing happened. So anyway, they had a weekend in Paris. But I have to tell you that, because Wayne got home, and we were married within four or five days after he got home.
Speaker 1
42:02 – 42:03
So we went to
Irma Deeds
42:03 – 42:18
Denver to get her coat. Well, Wayne called. Wayne’s ship was loaded. He was supposed to go through the Panama Canal and over to the Pacific area to fight the Pacific War.
Irma Deeds
42:19 – 42:50
And then the war was over, so they were already loaded, so he got to come back to the United States pretty fast. So he got back to New York and he called me and he called me at the hospital where I worked and he said, we’re going to get married tonight. He says, I said, oh. And then within 10 days, he had to ride a bus from New York City, clear home.
Irma Deeds
42:50 – 43:19
So it took him four or five days to get home. And so then we and then we picked him up, I think, I don’t remember, I can’t think, whether we picked him up or Bird City, I don’t remember, but then we were married. We decided to go to Denver on a Sunday morning and took Bob, which is Wayne’s friend, and then Carol. I had run around with Carol, Wayne’s sister, quite a bit during the war.
Irma Deeds
43:19 – 43:37
So we took them with us. And we got suitcases in the rings, and I got a suit and everything. Then we come back to Goodman, and I was going to get married. course, I mean, called my pastor at Bird City, Deke Marionette, while he was at a convention, so he couldn’t.
Irma Deeds
43:38 – 43:58
So we went to the Methodist, Bob, thank God for Bob, he went to the Methodist church here and got it all arranged so that we could get married here in Goodland. But we just got to the city building right before it closed. So, yeah.
Kim Monson
43:59 – 44:05
That was in, you said, what year was that, Ann Erma? Nineteen forty-five. Nineteen forty-five.
Irma Deeds
44:07 – 44:14
Right after bombs landed on Japan, the war was over.
Kim Monson
44:15 – 44:53
Okay, let’s talk a little bit about that because I know that there were many soldiers that had finished the work in the European theater and many of them were told that they were going to be going to the Pacific theater and The battle for Japan, as they looked at it, that many, many, many lives would be lost. In fact, I’ve talked to Pacific War veterans that have said that if the atom bomb was not dropped, that thousands and thousands of both Americans and Japanese would have died. So tell me about that.
Kim Monson
44:53 – 45:04
You know the war is over. The VE Day is done in Europe. But now the prospect of Wayne going to the Pacific. What went through your mind at that time, Ann Erma?
Kim Monson
45:05 – 45:05
I
Irma Deeds
45:06 – 45:20
didn’t know it. I didn’t know that he was, I didn’t know that his ship was loaded and that or anything like that. That was all afterwards that that happened. But let’s see, what was I going to say?
Irma Deeds
45:20 – 45:39
The war with the Pacific. Yeah, it was That would have been a long way around. President Truman decided to drop the bomb and it shortened the war for sure.
Kim Monson
45:40 – 45:49
What went through your mind when you heard that the atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan or was it just incomprehensible what had happened?
Irma Deeds
45:50 – 46:13
Well, you know, we didn’t know anything about it. The only place you knew about it if you went to the picture show and they had the newsreel. We only got the Bird City Times. We didn’t have a newspaper and occasionally we would get a hold of Life or Look magazine and we could look at it.
Irma Deeds
46:13 – 46:19
Other than that, we had no idea what the bomb did. You know, in a
Kim Monson
46:19 – 46:34
way, I was just going to say, in a way, we are so inundated these days with all kinds of information. It’s almost like we can’t make sense of it. I kind of like the idea of a little simpler life, Aunt Irma.
Irma Deeds
46:35 – 46:40
I’ll agree. I’ll agree. Too much
Kim Monson
46:40 – 46:48
information. That’s right. Too much information. So Uncle Bob, where was he deployed in the European theater?
Irma Deeds
46:51 – 46:55
I’m not sure. I know it’s in France, but I don’t know much about it. I don’t think
Kim Monson
46:55 – 46:58
so. When they went with us to Denver, they
Irma Deeds
46:58 – 47:25
weren’t dating. But a year later, a little over a year later, they were married. Yeah. Yeah.
Irma Deeds
47:26 – 47:26
Wow.
Kim Monson
47:27 – 47:39
Okay. Now, talk about when these guys all came back from the service. So, you know, so many guys had gone and served. They come back and get married and start families.
Kim Monson
47:40 – 47:44
Tell us a little bit more about that. It must have been great to have all these guys coming home.
Irma Deeds
47:46 – 47:54
Yes, it was great. Of course, we lived down on the creek place. So you know what that was like. It was like a big picnic ground with all those trees.
Irma Deeds
47:54 – 48:26
And when we got back shortly, and we had on a Sunday, we had a big gathering. at They got married later. We got together a lot after the war.
Kim Monson
48:27 – 48:41
I want to go back to something that you said at the beginning, and that was growing up, that you grew up during the Depression and the Dirty 30s. Tell our listeners what the Dirty 30s was like in western Kansas.
Irma Deeds
48:43 – 49:11
Well, we just lived a mile from town. We’d have dust storms, and the dust was so bad that you took a paintbrush and a dustpan and wiped it out of the windows and in front of the windows. That’s how bad the dirt blew in. And of course, during that time, And we didn’t have a lot of moisture.
Irma Deeds
49:11 – 49:25
It’s about like now. We didn’t have a lot of moisture. So my sister and brother and I herd cattle in the greater ditches so that they cattle, the milk cows would have enough to eat. So we did that for several summers.
Irma Deeds
49:25 – 49:28
That was our summer job was to herd the cattle.
Speaker 10
49:29 – 49:29
And
Irma Deeds
49:31 – 49:53
it was It was all right because we could herd the cattle a mile east and the neighbor’s kids heard them from the east down that far and we got to play with them. I had no regrets for the 30s because we just made the best of it. Everybody did. We didn’t know that we didn’t have a lot of stuff.
Irma Deeds
49:54 – 50:00
We just accepted it. We know more about it now than we did then.
Kim Monson
50:01 – 50:03
Because you just lived it at that time, right?
Irma Deeds
50:03 – 50:06
Yeah, just lived it. Uh-huh. Yeah.
Kim Monson
50:07 – 50:20
Okay. That’s right. Okay. Aunt Irma, what are some of the things that you would like to make sure that our listeners know about World War II, the service that my uncles gave during that time?
Kim Monson
50:20 – 50:23
What would be the message that you would give to our listeners?
Irma Deeds
50:25 – 50:41
It was something that just happened. Everybody got in and worked. I went to the factory, made airplanes, made ships. Everybody, and we had victory gardens.
Irma Deeds
50:42 – 50:58
My goodness, everybody had a big garden. And we just all pitched in and got through it. Yeah, we didn’t think, tell the truth, we didn’t think much of it. We just, we just went in it and did the best we could.
Irma Deeds
50:59 – 51:13
Yes, that’s like I thought. I did, I just thought I wasn’t doing enough, but uh, I would quit one job and then I had to be offered another one. So I guess I was supposed to stay in Northwest Kansas and I did.
Kim Monson
51:15 – 51:21
I think it was a good place to stay and yeah, Victory Gardens. Tell our listeners who are probably younger, what was a Victory Garden?
Irma Deeds
51:23 – 51:23
at home
Kim Monson
51:46 – 51:49
Well, you know I don’t remember much about the Korean War
Irma Deeds
52:03 – 52:29
because about that time we had, I don’t know how many children, we had three or four. We didn’t have electricity when we were first married. We went four years without electricity, without a refrigerator and electricity, running water, indoor bathroom, all of that. And that happened about that time and we had our family and didn’t pay much attention to it.
Kim Monson
52:30 – 52:34
Yeah, you were just a little busy just kind of taking care of the regular things in life,
Irma Deeds
52:34 – 52:47
right? Yes, and you know, and that’s what someone asked me what I thought about what to do with the atomic bomb after we were finished with it. That’s what I thought. I didn’t think anything.
Irma Deeds
52:47 – 52:57
I didn’t have time. Right. I can think back now, let them take care of it. had work cut out for
Kim Monson
52:59 – 53:09
me. Most definitely. Well, Aunt Irma, it’s an amazing generation. And as I mentioned to my cousin Jeannie that, you know, we would get together in the park.
Kim Monson
53:09 – 53:27
I remember it as a kid. And, you know, the aunts and uncles would sit around and talk and we would play. And I had no idea what Uncle Wayne and Uncle Bob and Uncle Harold had gone through. And I really wish that I would have sat down and really had a conversation with each of them.
Kim Monson
53:27 – 53:40
But my gosh, it has just been a great honor to get to talk with you about your experiences through the war, through the depression, through the Dirty 30s. I really appreciate it. So thank you so much, Anirma.
Irma Deeds
53:41 – 53:49
Yes, yes, and I wish, what I wish I would have talked a hair or more. But you know, people like that, lots of times they wouldn’t talk about it.
Kim Monson
53:50 – 53:54
I know. Black Herald. I know. They wouldn’t talk about it.
Kim Monson
53:55 – 54:14
I know. In fact, one of the World War II veterans that I talked to, it was not until 1977 that his kids even knew that he had been at D-Day. So yeah, a lot of them didn’t talk about that either. And Irma, I so appreciate this interview today and just thank you so much.
Irma Deeds
54:16 – 54:27
I enjoyed it. Someone asked me if I was nervous. I said no, because I lived it. Why did I have to be nervous about it?
Irma Deeds
54:27 – 54:29
It’s been a pleasure.
Kim Monson
54:29 – 54:36
It’s been a pleasure for sure. So this is Kim Monson with America’s Veteran Stories signing off. God bless you and God bless America.
Announcer
54:37 – 54:45
Join us next time for America’s Veteran Stories with your host Kim Monson. Until then, keep saluting our vets.
Speaker 1
54:46 – 55:00
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ Management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and Country station.
