(About the Author: Stephen King is a Kearney State College student from Altoona, Iowa. A history class assignment in the fall of 1981 involving newspaper research and personal interviews resulted in the following article.)My purpose in writing this paper is to describe events that took place in Elm Creek during 1942, the first full year of American involvement in World War II. Despite having fewer than 700 residents, Elm Creek will demonstrate a high degree of patriotism and community togetherness.
After the shock of Pearl Harbor dissipated, Americans realized their lives would be deeply affected by the war. As a small village in the center of the nation, Elm Creek could not respond as did the large cities with war industries. As patriots, however, the people of Elm Creek could do, and did contribute, their share.
Every community from the size of Elm Creek to the size of New York endured the rationing of goods. Sugar was one of the more prominent goods rationed. The June lst issue of The Beacon ran a front page article concerning the rules for sugar consumption. In Buffalo County, the ration stamps could be obtained at the neighborhood schools. Since the county did not have a rationing representative to coordinate the activities, teachers volunteered their services. Mrs. Clara Marshall, a country school teacher at the time, remembers arranging and helping set up the operation. The process ran smoothly, she said, as there was a strong sense of cooperation among the people and almost everyone accepted the need for rationing.
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Mrs. Marshall also recalls when she and many of Elm Creek's women journeyed to North Platte to participate in a service project. With troop trains filled with hungry servicemen stopping at North Platte, nothing tasted better than homemade pies and cookies the volunteers provided. The sugar ration of many families went into the preparation of the pastries. This meant a family had to survive on honey and molasses as sugar substitutes until the next month's ration books were allotted. Honey and molasses did not measure up to sugar but people managed to get by. Another joint enterprise of the citizens of Elm Creek during the war was the collection of junk.
The people piled their hopes and prayers for victory into mammoth stacks of scrap iron and old pieces of rubber. The lack of sufficient rubber and iron for the war effort was described as "perilous from a military standpoint." In the summer the Omaha World-Herald announced through The Beacon a contest for the best collection of scrap iron and rubber. The Union Pacific Railroad offered the services of its employees to promote the contest. On the 25th of July Conductors W. R. Brooks and James Harr arrived in Elm Creek to organize the effort there. Prizes were to be awarded for the largest piles of scrap.
The following week a junk rally was held at the high school. Booths were available for the sale of war bonds and stamps, the school band presented a concert, and an assistant to the president of the Union Pacific spoke. The purpose of the rally was to donate or sell junk iron and rubber to the town, which, in turn, would re-sell the junk to raise money for the Red Cross or other worthy causes.
By August, the scrap drive and contest had produced enormous mounds of iron and rubber. Barb Saum, the current librarian at the Elm Creek Library, remembers as a child collecting scrap iron and piling it just east of the present library. The pile, she recalls, was nearly as high as the present community building. Jay Atkinson, the coordinator for the junk drives, used his farm implement store lot as a place to accumulate the scrap. Other piles could be found lining the railroad depot's loading dock. Many people brought in large quantities of iron and rubber, including flat tires, rusty nuts and bolts, and thousands of pieces of farm machinery. Ben Siebenaler brought in a wrecked combine and two other pieces of farm equipment. Lee Carter donated 3,800 pounds of iron, including a heavy covered wagon wheel found east of his farm, perhaps a relic of trail days. The campaign to collect scrap continued into the fall.
Otis Melton, Kearney's junk organizer, sent a letter urging the citizens of Elm Creek to: "Keep talking, keep selling, keep promoting for two tons of scrap for every boy in the armed forces from Buffalo County. Praise the Lord and pass the scrap." In December, an advertisement covering nearly a third of a page declared:
Mr. Atkinson believed that two tons of junk for the sixty or so servicemen from Elm Creek was not unreasonable. We do not know if the goal was met.
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Civilian defense measures were being taken by many cities and towns across the country, and Elm Creek was no exception. A call for a civil defense meeting appeared in The Beacon in May. There were those that believed the United States might be attacked. Dr. Rich was certain an air raid was a possibility. In the event of an air raid the town's lights were to be "blacked out" so that bombers could not locate their targets easily. On November 27th, The Beacon explained the procedures to be followed during a trial blackout on the 1st of December. The town's siren would blow at 10:00 p.m. Lights in the town would blink three times and then go out. Then, designated air raid wardens would comb the streets, checking for lights. Afterward, the people would be allowed to turn on their lights. Another form of civil defense practiced was the holding of first aid classes. By late November some thirty persons had taken the class and others were urged to do so. The city purchased new first aid equipment to support the program. Dr. Laughlin was one of the instructors.
Helen Worthington Cruise
ready for parade.
The drafting of Elm Creek's young men was a more intimate effect of the war. Mothers watched with tears in their eyes as their sons boarded trains to carry them to bases in California, Missouri or Texas. Each mother, despite the tears, was proud that her son would be defending the United States against her enemies. Clara Marshall recalled that any man who did not register was considered an outcast. She remembered that students in her classes near the draft age were the most interested in the course of the war. They were more alert, more willing to learn, and their attention spans were greater. Of the young men that entered the armed services from Elm Creek, four did not return alive. Cogan Osborn, Donovan Francis DeVoe, Joel Dever Price, and George Henry Gowdrey paid the ultimate price for patriotism.
Other war-related activities were conducted by the high school, which sponsored a stamp and bond drive, and several of the Women's clubs. The Friendly Few, the Hillcrest, and the Harmony Club were among the latter. Each group met and discussed ways to enhance or serve the community. The Beacon reported in its "Farm Bureau Notes" on the 4th of December that the ladies of the Harmony Club had fixed Christmas boxes for the servicemen. The women's clubs also sent the servicemen The Beacon, a task complicated by frequent changes of address.
Not all of the activities in Elm Creek centered on the war effort. Elm Creek's basketball team had a successful season, winning twelve and losing two games, and going on to tournament play. For the third year, Elm Creek was the champion of the Tri-County conference. The drama and theatre departments of the high school put on musicals, plays, and concerts during the year. Wilma Simmerman observed "there would be more entertainments than ever before, despite the gas and rubber shortages."
A town softball team, coached by "Pop" Atkinson, played 30 games that summer, winding up with an out-of-town tournament. The Fourth of July, however, was quiet and peaceful. The Beacon reported:Elm Creek people celebrated the Fourth in various places mostly at home with friends. Some went to Harmon Field in Kearney. Farmers in general worked in their fields. Owing to Mrs. Reeve's health, the usual gathering on her lawn was not held this year.In August, the Christian Church organized a one day gospel crusade with ministers from Elm Creek and elsewhere participating. There was also a dinner, wiener roast and softball. The people of Elm Creek were invited to "knock off for the day and spend it with us." There were also dances in town and out, which, as Clara Marshall recalls, were notable for the absence of young men.
Will Rogers once said: "It's great to be great, but it's greater to be human." During
the year 1942, the people of Elm Creek were challenged with the task of helping the war effort through various projects. Each person realized and feared the consequences of an allied loss, but pride in their country and in themselves helped them to meet the challenge. It was their pride which made 1942 a memorable year.
Editor's note 6/19/2007 -Sudah Jane Widener Stuehm has provided names for most of the children on that scrap pile in Elm Creek. She says most of them are in the front part of the photo. Sudah Jane is the one with the stripped socks. The names she remembers are:
Leon Schwartz Jeanette Siebenaler
Chadean Veal Donna McGinnis
Ellen Kinslow Mary Beavers
Shirley Moles Josephine Hasbrouch
Mildred Buettner Sudah Jane Widener (Steuhm)
Virgil Mays Darlene Montgomery
Lillian Schmidt Eileen Beuttner
Mary Ann Wright Naomi Schwartz
Melvin Beuttner Jimmie Widener
Gayle Waterbury Lee Waterbury
Pauline Purcell
SOURCES
Bassett, Samuel Clay, History of Buffalo County, Vol. 1: "A Record of Settlement Organization, Process, and Achievement." S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., pp. 270-276, 1916. The Elm Creek Beacon, January through December 1942, published each Friday. Elm Creek Echoes, compiled by concerned citizens of Elm Creek, Elm Creek Public Library, Elm Creek, NE. nd. Interview with Clara Marshall, Elm Creek, NE 24 October 1981. Service Record of WI & WWII, sponsored by American Legion Post No. 316, assisted by Elm Creek, NE businessmen, Elm Creek, NE nd. Interview with Barb Saum, Librarian of Elm Creek Public Library. Elm Creek, NE 24 October and 7 November 1981.
Proofread 6-19-2007
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