February 19, 1945 (Monday)

HANK GOES BEFORE DRAFT BOARD

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Snappy cold. Sunshine

most of day.

Washed, had quite

a large one.

Hank and Ed Moore

drew manure to-day.

Henry went to Alto

this afternoon.

Very tired to-night

going to be early.

Henry, Hank & Ed

went to Grand Rapids

to-night, as Hank

went before the draft

board for a hearing

to consider his status

on the farm vs. induction

to the army,

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Edna isn't writing much in her journal these days about the War. I imagine she is just tired of it and wants it to end. She has no way of knowing that in less than six months, the Japanese will surrender and War will be over.

Edna's youngest son Hank is managing the farm. Henry Sr. is in his 60s and busy with his work as a county commissioner. Edna's son James Lawerence (Bob) lives nearby the farm but is employed full-time and the only parent to two boys. Her son Morse no longer lives in the area. So it is that the farming is left to Hank. Something Hank will do until his death in 2007.

Hank was just 17 when the War began. Now, not yet 22, he is old enough to go off to fight. Edna has likely been worried or many reasons when she notes that Hank was headed to Grand Rapids to go before the draft board,

In 1942, Congress passed the Tydings Amendment to the Selective Service Act, requiring local boards to defer registrants “necessary to and regularly engaged in an agricultural occupation or endeavor essential to the war effort.”

Edna doesn't write the words in her journal, but certainly she is hoping that Hank will be considered "necessary and regularly engaged in an agricultural occupation."

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On this same day in WWII History:

The Fourth and Fifth Marines, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith, USMC, land on Iwo Jima.

January 6, 1945 (Saturday)

STILL PLENTY COLD

Just a wee bit warmer

but still plenty cold.

Cleaned all over house.

Rec'd a card from

Alice saying they

reached Detroit O.K.

at 3 o'clock Tuesday.

Kate and Bill out tonight.

Played 15 games of

euchre. Kate and I won 7.

Men 8 games.

Paul and Dick here for

dinner. Bob plowing

out roads.

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Every entry in my great grandmother's journals lead me on path of exploration about her, and about the world in which she lived. Something I enjoy the most is discovering stories about ordinary people, many of whom have experienced extraordinary things.

Quite often, I begin my research on each journal entry by looking at the archives for the local newspapers in search of something that substantiates what Edna has detailed. For this particular entry, other than news of the weather, there weren't any commonalities between the two. But there was a news item that caught my attention.

Throughout WWII, the Lowell Ledger featured a column entitled NEWS OF OUR BOYS on the front page.

Each small tidbit in the column shared news about local servicemen. Letters received. Medals awarded. Injuries sustained. Local boys running into one another overseas.

It is the sixth item in the column for this week that captured my attention.

---

Pvt. Robert E. Kiste, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Kiste, formerly of near Moseley, was killed in Germany Dec. 16, Pvt. Kiste was one of four sons of the Kistes in service, all of whom have been wounded, and was a nephew of Mrs. Earl Kropf of Lowell.

---

My own son, Alden, like Robert Kiste, is 18. Alden is just off to college. Robert was just off to war when he was killed in action at the age of 18. I have spent the last several months worrying about how my 18-year old child is adjusting to college only to discover that Mrs. Kiste's worry about her 18-year old son was losing him to war. It hit me hard.

Robert Eldon Kiste was born on February 18, 1926 to Ralph and Ruth Kiste. He had several siblings, including three brothers who also served during WWII.

Robert enlisted in mid April of 1944 and trained for 18 weeks before shipping overseas. His service took him to France, Belgium and eventually to Germany, where he was killed in action on December 16, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.

The Battle of the Bulge began when German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces on December 16, 1945 It lasted until January 16, 1945. Robert was killed on the first day of the battle.

A little more than two months after the death of Robert, his brother Paul was killed in action.

Paul Ardin Kiste was born on March 25, 1922.

Paul entered the service in 1942 and was sent overseas in February of 1943. He was wounded at Guam in July of 1942 and spent two months in a naval hospital.

He was killed in action at Iwo Jima on February 25, 1945, just one month shy of his 23rd birthday.

U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, Nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. The island was finally declared secured on March 26, 1945 (one day after what would have been Paul's birthday). It was one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history.

The brothers were laid to rest in a double ceremony at Alton cemetery in Lowell, Michigan.

Robert was initially laid to rest in Belgium, the closest national cemetery to where he fell but was eventually brought home and laid to rest next to his brother. I am not certain of the date of the burial in Michigan. I found the news article FINAL RITES FOR BROTHER HEROES SET FOR SUNDAY attached to their burial information on the Find a Grave Sight webpage. There were no dates attached to the article.

I was able to find a copy of the application Robert's father made to the US government for a headstone for his son. That application was in October of 1948, nearly four years after Robert was killed in action. I am not certain if that application coincided with the ceremony referenced in the article above.

Paul and Robert's brothers, Lloyd and Ralph, both saw action and were wounded in WWII but returned home.

Ralph entered the service in 1942 at the age of 24. He served in France, Belgium and Germany. He was wounded in action and Germany and awarded a Purple Heart. Lloyd entered the service in 1943 at the age of 29. He served in New Guinea, Netherlands, East Indies, Saipan, Australia, and the Philippines.

I hope that Edna somehow knew the legacy she was building when she picked up her pencil each day and wrote a few words in her journal. We are meeting Paul and Robert and Lloyd and Ralph Kiste because of her.

January 5, 1945 (Friday)

WE WERE STUCK IN A SNOWBANK

Still continued COLD.

Below zero and

and many roads still

impassable.

Hank took me to

see Thurzie Thompson

about meat points for

W.S.C.S. dinner next wk.

We were stuck in a

snow bank south of

Bentons, finally got out.

Road hadn't been plowed

out yet.

Whole county crew

working hard to get

roads opened up. Have

night and day crew.

Bob is working days.

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The W.S.C.S. (Women's Society of Christian Service) is a women-led ministry of the Methodist Church. The book, The Mission of a People Within the Valley of the Little Thornapple (1836-1956) by Henry A. Johnson (Edna's husband) notes the service of the W.S.C.S. stating they are a "director of thousands of events" for the Methodist Church in Bowne Center and were directly responsible for funding the Ladies Aid Hall (which still stands today at Bowne Center). At the time Henry published the book (1957), the W.S.C.S. had served Bowne Center for a period of eighty-eight years.

During WWII, the Office of Price Administration (OPA) had the "authority to set price limits and ration food and other commodities in order to discourage hoarding and ensure the equitable distribution of scarce resources. By the spring (1942), Americans were unable to purchase sugar without government-issued food coupons. Vouchers for coffee were introduced in November, and by March of 1943, meat, cheese, fats, canned fish, canned milk and other processed foods were added to the list of rationed provisions." [https://www.history.com/news/food-rationing-in-wartime-america]

Edna is off to see Thurzie Thompson about getting meat ration points for the W.S.C.S. dinner. That dinner would have been among one of the thousands of events put on by the W.S.C.S. that Henry referenced in his book. Edna must have secured the points she wanted as she didn't remark otherwise but she did get stuck in a snowbank along the way. Perhaps that news was bigger than outcome of the ration points she was seeking.

My dad, Richard Johnson (Edna's grandson) now 93, recalls that Thurzie may have served on the local ration board. During WWII, the work of issuing rations was often handled by local volunteer boards.

I love getting acquainted with people Edna writes about in her journal. So, I went about trying to learn what I could about Thurzie Thompson.

Thurzie Seese was born to Hiram and Ellen Seese on September 18, 1893.

Thurzie married Asahel Thompson on March 21, 1918 in Bowne Center. Pastor Vincent C. Webb presided. Alden Porritt and Bertha Lacey were witnesses. Both Thurzie and Ashael were twenty-four when they were married. (View their marriage record)

The record notes that Ashael is a farmer and Thurzie a domestic. Thurzie did teach school at some point. Both she and Bertha Lacey (one of her wedding witnesses) are listed on the Bowne Township Historical Society's website as teachers at the Lowe school. Lowe was one of several one-room schoolhouses in Bowne Township. It was located at 100th Street and Alden Nash.

I found a few small items in the Lowell Ledger that helped to illustrate the type of person Thurzie likely was.

When her mother took ill, Thurzie helped to care for her (Lowell Ledger 1931).

And, according to the June 12, 1952 edition of the Lowell Ledger, Thurzie once recited an original poem, The Preacher's Wife, after which she presented a personal gift to Mrs. Bolith (who I am assuming was a preacher's wife).

Thurzie and Asahel had one child, Ardith Ellen. Ardith made her way into the world on April 2, 1922, four years after her parents were wed.

Ardith passed away on November 13, 1941 at the age of 19 years, less than one month before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

According to Ardith’s death certificate, she died after having been under a doctor’s care for a two-week period. On her death certificate the cause of death is listed as chronic encephalitis and cerebral degeneration following epilepsy. Dehydration and inanition (malnutrition) are also noted on the death certificate.

Ardith’s obituary indicates that she had been ill for a long period of time and makes note of her fine nature.

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Ardith Ellen Thompson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ashel Thompson, was born in Bowne Township April 2, 1922 and entered her eternal rest Thursday morning, November 13, 1941, aged 19 years, 7 months and 11 days.

She attended Lowe school until nearly ten years of age, also the Bowne Center Methodist Sunday school until sickness prevented her.

She was blessed with a sunny disposition and made happy when she could share her toys or give gifts to others.

She was a patient sufferer during her long illness and most appreciative of the numerous kindnesses shown her by her schoolmates and friends.

She leaves to mourn her loss, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ashel Thompson, her grandmother, Mrs. Ellen Seese and other relatives and friends.

The funeral was held from the Methodist church in Bowne township and was conducted by Rev. F.E. Chamberlain and interment was in Bowne cemetery.

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Ashael passed away thirty one years after Ardith. Thurzie lived another eleven years, passing away on March 27, 1986 at the age of 82.

Thurzie, Ashael and Ardith are all buried at the cemetery in Bowne Center.