Ed / Laveryn McKeever

Company B Marines Oral History Project

Narrator:

Laveryn McKeever LM (b. 1929), wife of the late Ed McKeever, B Company Marine and reunion organizer

Interviewer:

Gina Temple-Rhodes GTR Cedar Story Services

Recorded March 27, 2013

In her home in Duluth, MN

{Interview starts as we are looking at photos, memorabilia}

GTR: When did the reunions start?

LM: Here it is… 1975, “Ex-Marines Arrive for B Company Reunion” (looking at newspaper article in scrapbook). You can tell, the first reunion we had… we always went to the VFW the night before. Then we had the big reunion down at the DECC. Oh, my God, look at all of those gowns! (looking at photos with wives). There’s Ed and I (on the right). The two on the left are Cameron and Emma Himebaugh; they’ve passed away. These two are still alive (in the middle). Bob and Donna Olson.

{A bit more discussion about photos}

This picture (not shown here) is Mrs. Caldwell. Her son Jerry was killed in Korea. They never found his body. It was the day before they were in Japan. Jerry Caldwell and Ed both were Duluth Cathedral students, Cathedral high. They went to confession together over in Japan. Then when they got to Korea, they were split up. They have never found his body. His sister Pat Brieland is quite active with us. She’s in Arizona now, on vacation. Mrs. Caldwell passed away thinking they found Jerry’s body and they buried him in Hawaii. (A story she’s heard.) They’ve got a big monument there. It looks like you could put a body in there, but it’s just the name. She went to Hawaii and said, “Jerry’s buried there.” Thank God. Boy, she was a super person.

GTR: So, Ed and the others found her to go to the Reunion? Obvious someone was still in touch with her?

LM: Oh, I was very much in touch with her, all the time.

GTR: Was she married when she left?

LM: No, no, this was his mother. Not his wife. His mother. Oh, Jerry was just 18, I think. Peanuts Caldwell. Jerry “Peanuts Caldwell”, because he was not very tall.

(a bit more discussion of materials… some scrapbooks of her son Michael’s materials, a Marine who was killed in Vietnam). Looking at a magazine cover, Crane World, which featured a front cover photo of the McKeevers as Ed was leaving for Korea. Discussion of photos, etc. )

8:18

LM: What we had at that time was a thing called the Semper Fidalis Club. We started it. We met, the women, all those women I just showed you (in a photo). We met in my upstairs apartment. The wives, girlfriends, etc all came. We got together, and we talked. That was when we decided to support…See, here’s what Ed started (referring to a new scrapbook). Here’s Peanuts Caldwell (photo). They never found his body. It’s over there someplace. Where, we don’t know.

We got together and we made… I wish I could find one, what we did. Maybe they showed you what we did. It was a big yellow…. Was it the shape of Minnesota…?

GTR: I just saw one. Clifford Boe had one. It was an arrowhead shape that was embroidered (a patch)?

LM: Yes! And did it say Northern Minnesota? We thought we were doing them good! So we sent them to every one of the guys over there. Well, where are they going to put them? Are we dumb! Are you going to put them on your backs, or your fronts? You’re sitting ducks, you know! The guys still laugh at that. They say, “Oh, what were you thinking?!” {laughs}

GTR: Well, you meant well {laughs}.

LM: Well, we had this Semper Fidalis club. Then it got very large. Jerry Peterson’s mother was the president. I was treasurer. We finally got so big that we met at the American Legion, which was in downtown Duluth. Not out in the West End, but downtown Duluth. You had to walk up a big flight of stairs. I don’t know if you can remember that. That’s where we met. It was just kind of like something to do, to get together with everyone else who was lonesome, you know. After the first batch of guys came home, we had Roy Pearl as president of the club.

11:17

GTR: So, it wasn’t just women?

LM: No, men joined as well. It was called the Semper Fidalis club, Semper Fi. We did have camaraderie, all of us. Even if we needed a phone call, we could call and talk, sometimes when the children were in bed. If we did want to go out for an evening, and have some dinner, we could do that.

GTR: How often did you have your regular meetings?

LM: I think that was once a month. That started in my home. I can see people sitting all over the front room floor {laughs}. We were getting these…. What would you call them, that you would expect them to sew them on their jackets? Oh, God. {laughs}

GTR: Those little patches?

LM: Funny!

GTR: They kept track of them, those patches. Clifford Boe still has his.

LM: Ed, too. I’ve got his somewhere around here. But I thought that was so funny. How did we know? What was I, 21 years old? {laughs}

GTR: So, it was the wives first, but when the men came back, they joined some of it? Did Ed join it?

LM: I don’t think so. I think it had disbanded by the time Ed got home. I don’t think we had a club then after that. It was just during the time that our B Company men went. So, this is how we kept our sanity.

GTR: That’s great. I would like to hear more about that. We got the Historical Society interested in talking to the B Company partly because of the long reunions that they’ve had. And how you and Ed were a part of that. That doesn’t happen all that often. It sounds like not many groups are all that interested.

LM: I know Mrs. Booker, certainly (another veteran’s wife discussed earlier, who had a hard time during her husband’s deployment but wasn’t part of the group). I think we were even written up in the paper. Maybe she couldn’t afford a paper back then, who knows. And why she didn’t join? This is how we kept our sanity!

GTR: I can’t imagine, having little kids. So many of the men, when they went, they weren’t married yet, they were so young. But you….

LM: Exactly. Clifford Boe was not married…{filling teapot}.

GTR: Yes, a totally different experience for you and for Ed.

LM: We used to go to Jerry Grassinger’s home as well, and meet there. Pat now lives in Sacramento. {fixing tea things}.

Patricia (LM’s daughter) was born, she was two weeks old. I remember my husband… she was supposed to be born, and she didn’t come, she didn’t come. Of course, he had his orders to go. He said, “I’m going to take you on the bumpiest road!” {laughs} And he did, and she was born the next day. No kidding! I don’t know if the bumpy road had anything to do with it or not {laughs}. It was very sad, because she was little (when he left), but then when he came home, my mother was holding her. He said “Come to Daddy!” and she said, “No!” She turned her head and wouldn’t go to him. I think he felt bad.

GTR: How old was she when he came back?

LM: Let’s see. She was born August 7th of 1950, and he came back December 1951. So, she must have been a year and four months, at least. A year and five months because it was the end of December when he came back. I do remember when I had all kinds of plans in my mind, how I was going to meet him when he came home… He and I. I had all this Hollywood. You think you’re going to run into each other. I was so disappointed with his mom and dad,{laughs}, you know, all kinds of friends. It just wasn’t the homecoming that I envisioned as a young girl.

GTR: But you had your picture in the paper, it looks like (referring to a photo of the two of them looking at each other).

LM: Oh yes. It was happy, don’t get me wrong. I know being a mother, I certainly would have appreciated, if Mike was married, you know (greeting the son). But when you’re young, you just think you’ve got the world by the tail and this is a movie star planning. Yeah, he’s going to jump in my arms…”

GTR: Were there a bunch of Marines that came back at the same time?

LM: No, it was just Ed, himself. {doing tea things}

GTR: Was he injured at all, or did he just do his tour?

LM: No, he was never injured. At the time, they didn’t know too much about traumatic stress. I know he had that. I just knew at the time. I know he went down to ask for some kind of help, and they didn’t give it to him. So…. I don’t know.

GTR: Did he find anyone that helped? Did he talk to you or to anyone else?

LM: No… He never bothered me with his problems, either. I knew, not then. I did not know then. But when I grew up and grew to get a few more brains in my head, I just knew that it was the traumatic stress that guys are going through now, and I really feel for them.

18:20

GTR: Did you grow up in Duluth?

LM: I grew up in Duluth. I was born in St. Mary’s hospital, June 5th, 1929!

GTR: I’m curious how he ended up in the Reserves. He probably didn’t serve in WWII, did he?

LM: No. He was too young for WWII.

GTR: When was he born?

LM: He was born September 1st, 1928. So, he was too young for WWII, but he joined the Marine Reservists. They met every Tuesday night.

GTR: When did you marry and how did that fit into the Reserve?

LM: We were married in ’47.

GTR: When did he join the reserves?

LM: That’s a good question. Was it ’48, ’49, somewhere in there. They used to meet down across the bridge. They had the place where the Marines met. Park Point. That is why when they left, they left from down there. Went over the bridge, and then up Superior Street and then down they went, as you could see in the picture. Then I said goodbye… do you want to hear about his “Combat Ready”?

GTR: Sure.

LM: Some of the fellows had been in WWII. They were combat ready. Others had gone to camps, summer camps. My husband had neither, so he stayed at Camp Pendleton in California. They trained him and I think he went over in October or November. The day I said goodbye to my husband… “Goodbye!” (cheerfully) He got on a train. No one knew! I thought he was just going… Nobody knew where they were going. I think when they were on the train and they were so far, they read the letter or opened up the orders that said they were going to Korea. Which, when Ed got to California, called me and told me that… of course, my heart dropped. When he left, I told you about Jerry and Ed. Gerald Peanuts Caldwell. The two were in Japan together, because they knew each other from Cathedral High School.

GTR: They had been in camp together?

LM: I imagine Jerry stayed, and went over when Ed did… I don’t know. I don’t think he was combat ready. He was only 18 years old!

GTR: So young. By then Ed was 21, 22? Do you remember what his thinking was when he joined the Reserves? Did you think he would be deployed?

LM: No, I really have no idea. Unless he wanted a night out from me! Kidding! I have no idea, but I know a lot of the fellows that he knew, and I’m sure that’s what they did. They all joined. He was very patriotic.

GTR: So, he would do that training. Was it a big surprise when those orders came?

LM: Mmm-mmm (nods).

GTR: I can imagine!

LM: If I remember those orders came… If I don’t have the exact date. I think they came June 25th. Or was it August. When did they leave again?

GTR: It was in August, just a couple weeks after your daughter was born.

LM: It was June something when we got the orders, I can tell you that.

GTR: You were expecting already…

LM: Yes. He came home for Christmas. That was a nice Christmas present!

GTR: That’s nice. So, he was gone for a little over a year. It’s just that his tour of duty was done; he wasn’t injured or anything.

LM: Well, he had to still be a reservist for so long, and then he was nothing else. (looking at photos). Here’s the original photos of them going down the street. This one (referring to the one of Ed in 1950 with his young son and Laveryn as he was leaving) is in the display. I don’t know if they took it out now. See these two girls? (in the upstairs of a building in the photo of the march down the street) I’ve been wanting to get a copy of that. They were supposed to be maids. But they thought they were prostitutes. Look at those old cars!

GTR: Were you waiting at the Depot?

LM: I was watching from down here, someplace. This was a drugstore. This was KDAL. This was…(more discussion of pictures of Ed in Korea).

GTR: What was mail like? Can you tell me about that?

LM: I got the mail. You’ll see this sign? (big painted Marine sign from reunion photos). This was painted by a friend. She said, “Anything ever happens to me, it does not go to B Company, it’s yours. I want you to have it.” There’s Donna. Have you met her? Emma… she’s passed on. Mrs. Grassinger. There’s Donna. There’s Helen Pearl. Her husband Roy took over Semper Fidalis. Wayne Picket. Remember? He was the prisoner of war. Here’s Roy.

27:52

(looking at photos)

GTR: Are these pictures of your meetings?

LM: This is the president… these are all meeting. Here we are, meeting in my house, upstairs. (showing small photos of women in a living room).

Here we are, coming out of the American Legion, trying to look so sexy.

GTR: Wow! Those are great. I haven’t seen any of those before. Would the kids be sleeping?

LM: They would be sleeping, of course. Or at my mother’s. One or the other. These are so funny. There’s Mrs. Peterson, our president. It’s too bad they’re so small (the photos).

GTR: Who are those guys?

LM: Bob Burke was one. He was a bystander. Bob Burke. The other one I can’t remember. They were not in the war. They were just fellows that came, you know.

(discussion about magnifying glass, scanning photos).

I can’t tell you who else they are. Here we are with Mr. Oreck, all the B company wives, Mr. Oreck when he owned the Flame restaurant. We must have gone out for dinner.

GTR: Is that the one that’s down on the Harbor?

LM: Yes. The Aquarium.

GTR: (Recognizing the building) I used to work there, in the old building before they built the new Aquarium.

LM: Here we are at my house again… I’ve got the names on the back. (starting in front row) Helen Pearl, Betty Hanson, (Laveryn), Joyce Linseth, her first husband was killed in Korea, Patty Grassinger, Elaine Forsberg, Lois Hughs, Lois Skomswald, and Phyllis Beally. May, 1951. So, that’s how we kept our sanity, is by being with the girls, you know.

GTR: That’s great.

LM: And supporting each other. I don’t ever want to go through that again.

GTR: It’s wonderful that you had a group, but exactly. Terrible times, but great to be able to have camaraderie like that.

LM: Like I said, this was Semper Fi (looking at article clipping). Let’s see what this says, here. “Korean War Veteran Leroy Pearl last night was elected president of the Semper Fidelis club. Other officers are Mrs. T Pratches, Vice president, Mrs. Patricia Caldwell, secretary. Patty Caldwell was the sister of the one who lost his life. Mrs. Edward McKeever, treasurer. Mrs! Did you realize how they used the Mrs. word back then?

GTR: Like you didn’t even have your own first name? {laughs} Why was he the president, though? It sounds like it was a women’s group?

LM: When we came home from Korea. He was a WWII vet. He came home first. I guess I told you Mrs. Peterson was the president? Then, we elected new officers, and he was a new officer.

GTR: Okay. So, he would come as well.

LM: Is his wife here? No, she wasn’t at the house that day. No. But she did live in Duluth.

GTR: So, what happened, sadly, if one of the men was killed? Did you all support her? Did she stay involved?

LM: Oh, yes. Joyce Lindseth, Muby Lindseth’s wife. Then, she moved to Minneapolis. She passed away, I understand, in Minneapolis. Pratchos, she was divorced. I keep in touch with Patty Grassinger. Lois Skomwald, I don’t know. I think they were divorced. Some of these other girls, I don’t know what ever happened to them.

GTR: Well, it was a long time ago! That’s great that you know as much as you do.

LM: At the time? We were so close. You could see we were goofing off, even then, knowing our husbands were over there. But we still…

GTR: Had to have some fun, right? {laughs} This must have been someone’s camera?

LM: A little Brownie, I still remember that old Brownie camera I had.

GTR: Those are fun. It would be fun to maybe enlarge some of those to see them a little better. That’s a piece that I don’t know if people have talked about as much. About the women and what they were doing here. It wasn’t the same home front as WWII. Did you feel like other people that you knew in town, were they aware that the war was going on, or was it kind of forgotten even at that time?

LM: What did they call it? It wasn’t even a war. It was a conflict, was it?

GTR: Right.

LM: Here’s the same three guys in Korea (looking at clipping) and the same three guys... I think all three have passed.

GTR: Is that Ed?

LM: No, this is Ed. 6 foot 2, married a 4 foot, 11… (woman). {laughs}. It’s so funny how many of them were Cathedralites (Duluth Cathedral High).

GTR: I’ve heard a couple of others. Did he play football?

LM: Ed played football. He was a boxer.

GTR: I’ve heard that the football coach was a “manmaker” so maybe he encouraged joining the Reserves?

LM: That was coach Vucinevich. John Vucinavich. It’s funny, I’m recalling these names. {more discussion of food, tea}.

35:40

GTR: So, I’m curious, before they left for Korea, had you heard much about Korea, or did you know anything that was going on over there?

LM: Oh, yes. You couldn’t help it but read the paper and see a casualty and think, “Oh!” You know how it is. But the funny part is, how many years later, Mike… (her son that was killed in Vietnam).

GTR: That’s hard.

LM: Ed told Mike, “Join the Navy! Join the Navy!” He was home on leave from boot camp. Mike says, “No…” Ed said, “Why didn’t you join the Navy!” Mike says, “Because I can’t swim!” That shut his dad up! {laughs}

GTR: Oh, no. Was he in the Marines?

LM: Mike was a Marine as well, you know. Never married, because he was 20 when he was killed. He had a girlfriend.

GTR: Was that especially hard to see him off? For both of you, because you knew of Korea?

LM: It was terribly hard. I think it was worse on my husband. I shouldn’t even say this, but then he started to drink. I think that was the problem. Until two years later, when my son Steven took that bad dive (that broke his neck), I said I can’t handle both of you, I just can’t. So, I said, “You’ve got to go!” He quit cold turkey and that was the end of it. Became Commander of the Post. I guess that’s how some of the guys control their emotions, let’s put it that way. Knowing what he had been through, and knowing what his son… Mike was in the Siege of Khe Sanh. He was in his bunker. He was on the recoilless rifle. A shell came from… I’d have to refresh my memory, either Laos or Cambodia. It came right in the bunker, the open bunker. Did not detonate. So, four of them ran out the door of the trench, I guess. The next one was a direct hit. One survived, but very badly wounded. I don’t know if he… I called one day. I called the hospital to talk to him to ask. It took forever for them to get him to the phone. I thought, “Uh-oh.” He never called me back. He talked to me, didn’t seem like he wanted to talk. I thanked him for his time, and that’s the end of it. Never heard from him again.

GTR: You were just hoping for some information?

LM: I was hoping for something… did Mike die instantly? He was full of shrapnel, I know that. I could not see his body, which was sad. It was at Dougherty’s (Funeral Home in Duluth). Tom told me, Tom Dougherty at the time, talked to Ed. Because my Ed, it used to be one of his duties was burial detail. Ed said no, you don’t want to. But that’s the worst thing I ever did. Of course, he had to lay from when he was killed into March sometime, in that heat, because they couldn’t get the wounded out, let alone the dead. So, they waited. Tom told me, you know how people say your hair grows (after death) and you grow, he said it isn’t that, it’s that you shrink. He said, “But you don’t want to. You don’t want to (see his body). At the time, I thought, “He’s right”. But…. I’ve always remembered that and wished I had, regardless what. I’m strong enough, I’m sure, to have managed. But I didn’t, so… regrets. One of the regrets in life.

GTR: I can’t imagine having to make that decision.

LM: Well, don’t let anyone make decisions for you. I found that out. Make your own decisions. I could have demanded, I did not. I took my husband’s word and the mortician’s word. Later on life, I’ve gotten very mouthy, loud {laughs}. I don’t let people make decisions for me. I make my own!

GTR: You deserve to have that.

LM: I try to tell all women to do that. Don’t kowtow, you know. Something that happens… I don’t mean be mean, I would never be mean, but if you don’t want to do something, no! And you don’t need an explanation. {more discussion of donuts, bakeries}

42:00

GTR: You have had a lot of experience with the Marines!

LM: We still have the Marine reunions. One thing Company B Marines have done is always asked Patty Caldwell… Caldwell Brieland is her name. I just heard from her on the computer this morning, and myself, to lay the wreath down on the Monument (on the Lakewalk). And last year the Vietnam men asked my daughter and Judith and myself to lay the wreath. It’s quite an honor to be able to do that. They usually give me the flowers, or Pat, to lay them on the grave. Pat has no grave to lay them on, but she said she’d lay them on her mother’s grave. She never knew where her son…. Now she knows, maybe, if we believe in a hereafter. Mrs. Caldwell’s probably saying, “I found you, son!”

GTR: So that’s his sister, now, that’s involved.

LM: Yes. He’s got two sisters, but one was awfully young. She cares deeply, but Pat was old enough to know about her little brother. It has just torn her to pieces. As a matter of fact, they just gave us a flag, I’ll show you before you go. An honor and remembrance flag; last November. The Depot was packed with people… it was just a small article in the Duluth paper, and the place was packed with people I haven’t seen for years! People galore down there. What is so nice, is that they still remember. I’m sure Ed would have been so pleased. It was for Mike. An honor and remembrance for Mike. Did they tell you that we still meet with B Company, in Proctor? At the Blackwoods? The women are allowed to go once every other month. They go by themselves one month, and the women can come. I don’t go too much… living alone and driving way up there in this winter we’ve had! But I’ll go back again.

GTR: I went once to meet some of the guys before I started doing this project. I will go in April to do a group interview. It will be kind of interesting! (discussion of the date, etc).

LM: Look what I just got in the mail! You think people forget these things, they say it’s the Forgotten War, and someone that went out to (Washington; looking a wall rubbing). Mike McKeever, on the wall, in Washington. They remembered. The Styards! For heaven’s sake! They moved to Colorado. So, it’s nice to know that people still remember. I got a letter from a friend saying that the Memorial… they’re going to do that on Memorial Day. I keep telling them to get someone else to lay the flag. It shouldn’t just be Pat and I. I think others can do it as well. But it is an awfully nice gesture that they do.

GTR: Ed was so much about getting the group together. What role do you think the meetings played for them? Was it social, or did it help them heal?

LM: They just started meeting at Blackwoods (recently). I think the healing was in the reunions. They came from all over. You could see how much fun we were having. I think this has helped heal. I remember when Ed came home from the Korean War. They wanted him to join the VFW. He told me he was not going to join the church, because they might send him on the Crusades! That was kind of a joke. Here, look at the guys, all getting together (showing photo from the 1970’s reunions). Look how many came!

GTR: So, that was 1975. They came from all over. That had been 25 years, since they’d left.

LM: Whether they went to Korea or not… when they got to San Diego, some of them got shipped over, there were some to train, and there were those who never left the States!

GTR: Fred Peterson? I’ve been talking to him (he was a tank mechanic in the US during the War).

LM: He never went over, did he? He’s running the reunions, now. He and his wife are doing an excellent job!

GTR: Do you travel to the Chosin Reservoir reunions?

LM: No, Ed did not make the Chosin. He was at the Chosin but he didn’t go through it. He was there for the last half of it. He never went through that awful, awful experience at the Reservoir. This is my uncle; he was a chef. And my other uncle. They did all the cooking for us at the VFW the night before, the hors d’oeuvres and that. Of course, he was a chef. Okay, August 24, 1975.

GTR: So, it was almost exactly 25 years?

LM: Yes. We try to keep it at the same (time). We had really a lot of fun. Now they do it at the Blackwoods. I wish they would change it a little bit, to someplace (closer). We’ve had it at the DECC. Here is a meeting planning for another reunion (looking at photos). Here’s another. It’s so dumb when we did that (referring to the stitching the bright gold Northern MN patches for the guys). Up in my house, where you saw the pictures. “Oh, wouldn’t this be nice. Then you know they’re from Northern Minnesota.” Oh, sure! Put it on the back. I guess the guys thought it was funny. A sitting target, you know.

GTR: What did Ed do for work when he came back?

LM: Ed worked for Crane Plumbing and Heating. He was in the office when he left. When he came home, Mr. Hollenback, I don’t think they can do that to you now, said, “Ed, you better start down in the basement in the truck again, because you’ve been gone for so long.” But, see, his nephew had taken Ed’s place. At the time Ed left, his nephew wasn’t old enough. So… he was offered a job, as he calls it, bedbug hauling. Moving furniture for North American Van Lines. He did that the rest of his life. The kids that he hired used to tell me stories that I still am laughing. Ed was a neatnik. Of course, being in the Marines, you know. I’ll never forget the time… I was so tired, I took and hid all the dirty dishes in the oven. In those days, you opened the oven to turn it on and get some heat. Ed went into the bathroom and shaved and all of a sudden, here’s all of the dishes burning. That was number one. Number two, I hid them in the closet one time. He went in to get something, and there was the dishes that hit. I finally got balls and told him, “You don’t like those dishes around, you do the dishes!” He never said anything after that. {laughs}

GTR: He didn’t do the dishes, though. {laughs}

LM: No. But I think the Marine Corps training made them so neat… I don’t know if the other guys are like that or not. He never had any whiskers. His hair was just perfect. Never this long… you can see why they hated when the Beatles came in, and their hair is short in comparison, or was. Everything had to be just (so).

GTR: A lot of the men have talked about discipline. Dan (Hartman) has said that this group went far, professionally, or they were involved in civic things. They seemed to be a very active group. They had their families….

LM: The kids (he worked with) were also saying Ed’s truck was immaculate. Nothing… everything was just so. Everything had to be in its proper place. Then they told one time, he had to have like a uniform. One time, he didn’t care. He had his shirt off. He dropped his pants and just had his shorts and was putting his things one. Here’s the housewife, standing there. The guys said, “Oh!” They told story after story about how they liked working with him.

GTR: That’s good. How did he pass away? Too young.

LM: We had been in Tucson. We came home. His friend that he went to see, he had cancer and he was dying. When he came home, he was just all shook up. So, we went through that summer. That had to have been May. Then he was going to get a new hip, hip surgery. I brought him to the doctor, because his stomach was just… you know (nerves). The doctor back then said he was a nervous wreck because of the new hip. This was not so! I brought him to Dr. Crook, and he took a biopsy. He had what was called Amyloidosis which is…. Well, I can still hear Ed saying, “Thank you, it’s not cancer!” And he (the doctor) saying, “It’s not cancer, Ed” oh, Thank you, thank you! “But Ed, but Ed…” Anyway, he took me aside and said Amyloidosis is not considered cancer because it’s such a rare orphan disease, but it acts like cancer. They told me 13 months. 13 months to the day, Ed was gone. It either affects your heart or your kidneys. Every once in a while you’ll see in the paper, “died of Amyloidosis” but how many more do the doctors not discover?

GTR: I’ve not even heard of that!

LM: He was 58 years old. I was 57. So, maybe when I think back… the training of me being alone prepared me for the death of my husband that I didn’t know was going to go so early. Maybe that… how can I say it? Maybe it helped me to survive?

GTR: So, you had to be independent.

LM: Then it was my mother after that, and my dad….

GTR: So, you were very busy with your family. Did you work outside the home?

LM: I did. Going back to Ed, he said, “No wife of mine is ever going to work!” He didn’t mean to punish me by staying home, he just meant that he didn’t want me working. So, as a good lady, when he came home I was in a cute frilly apron, probably was a wreck during the day with the kids, but I had food on the table. Then, my daughter Judith was born. When she was nine(teen?) years old, I went to the DECC. It was supposed to be my daughter going to the DECC in the banquet department. She was scheduled to work. I said, “I’ll take her place.” I loved it! So, I applied, the boss left, I got the job. Ended up being the head of one of the groups that we had. When they built the Normandy Inn, I applied and got the job there. I was at the Radisson. I worked with Patty Duke at the Congdon mansion. You name it, I worked all over the City of Duluth. My main place was the Normandy and then Holiday. Northland Country Club. I always said, “Have uniform, will travel!” I loved it! Every single bit of it. Patty Duke… another gal and myself were invited to all of their after show parties. I had a ball, I really did. Another way of camaraderie, with the gals. When I went to the Holiday, you worked a breakfast and lunch. I loved it, every bit of it. It got my mind off of everything. Then I did a lot of volunteer work, PTA’s. Even now, with the volunteers. I just worked the Marshall rummage sale for five days.

GTR: I attended it, and thought of you. It is a big effort.

LM: What is so nice, when I walked in, even the janitor said, “Oh, we’re so glad!” I just felt so welcome. The head girl this year, she was so cool. Nothing seemed to bother her. Wonderful gal.

GTR: I’m trying to think if I have any other questions. You’ve told great details. I loved seeing the pictures.

LM: I have buckets of pictures. I don’t think I’ll ever get them in a book, but maybe Judy. My youngest daughter is very involved. Now, we’re going to the Vietnam dinner dance, April 1st. I’m a life member of the Vietnam Vets, a life member of the VFW, a life member of the Disable American Veterans. These are auxiliaries, but not the Vietnam Vets, is not an auxiliary. I’m on the computer with Bob Woods and a couple of the guys from Vietnam. I call them my sons. They’ve accepted me.

GTR: That’s good. What do you think about veterans returning today from conflicts and wars?

LM: Well, I just wish the wives knew what I didn’t know back then, and maybe a lot of them do now, because so much has been written about the Traumatic Syndrome. I know this is what Ed (had), and he tried to get help. He could not. This is why I think he started with his drinking, to forget. Nighttime…. This maybe shouldn’t be in anything, and he’d yell… his arm would snap me in the face, and I said, “That’s it! We’re getting twin beds!” I went out and bought twin beds because I could take the (yelling). He woke me up how many times with bad dreams. So, I’m sure that’s what happened. I wish today’s returning wives would know what these men have been through. It’s hell. It is hell.

GTR: You said he never talked about it?

LM: He never talked about it. He never told me, no. What I learned was at these reunions. I’d kind of be listening. He was a very great historian. If you talked to Ed, you would really… I would listen, and I would pick up on some of the things, like burial detail, and when he rode shotgun. I never knew he did any of that. He kept that all to himself.

GTR: Was it sort of odd at the reunions, that it was fun, but they were remembering those really hard times?

LM: Yes, they would talk amongst themselves. They’d all get together and sit and talk amongst themselves.

GTR: That’s an interesting combination. It’s good that they could have fun, then. That you could have fun at the reunions.

LM: Oh, yes, fun. What is amazing is that they all left together. 227, was it? They all left together. They were all buddies you might say. They knew! In fact, there is another one living. Larry Shenett. He was not B Company. Larry still calls me one in a while. He’ll still call. He’s not a well man. His wife lived there in Proctor. What is nice is that he still calls and remembers.

1:04

The story goes that he was on a truck, and Ed was wherever Ed was standing… I don’t know. This group was coming from the front, and they were disembarking from the truck. Ed spotted Larry, and at the time couldn’t remember his name, but he hollered, “Hey, Duluthian!” And the two got together. So, this is why I say, they were all Duluthians, or from Superior or the surrounding area. Two Harbors. So, they all knew each other. This is what B Company was all about. Have you seen the Memorial (Korean War memorial on the Lakewalk)?

GTR: Yes, it’s very nice.

LM: We worked hard to get that, I’ll tell you.

GTR: I suppose. Lots of fundraising, and all that?

LM: I’ll ask about the meetings, if women are allowed. I mark women allowed, no women allowed (discussion of upcoming luncheon, project, other’s wives, treats…)

GTR: Thank you so much for sharing all of this. I’m really honored when people share things. (discussion of GTR’s background, project, etc).

 

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