THE WAR IS OVER!
Seventy years ago today World War II ended with the surrender of Japan. My sister Helen, who was six years old, recalled that she and Pauline, who was eight, had heard on the radio that the war was over. The radio broadcast reported that office workers in New York City were tossing papers and ticker tapes out of the windows of skyscrapers to celebrate. To join in the joyous occasion Pauline and Helen took copies of the FORT DODGE MESSENGER to the second floor of the farmhouse, flung open the windows and threw newspapers into the air. 

This letter from Betty to her younger brother Charlie was written one week after the war ended. Betty writes more about life on the farm. She refers to a threshing run, which is the process of harvesting grain, in this case probably oats. Neighboring farmers would work cooperatively going from farm to farm with a threshing machine helping each other with the harvest. The “Gus” that she refers to was one of their horses that was part of team that pulled farm equipment. Towards the end of the letter-- almost as a footnote--she comments on the end of the war. I choked up when I read the part where she wrote “…you and a lot of other boys won’t have to be fighting out there.”

Betty wrote that things were closed down for a couple of days so they did not receive any mail. To celebrate the end of the war President Truman declared Thursday and Friday, August 15 and 16 as federal holidays. Government offices and many businesses were closed. The City of Chicago ordered bars and taverns be closed, apparently to prevent overzealous celebrations. Here are the contents of Betty’s letter: 

Lehigh, Iowa
August 21, 1945

Dear Charlie,
It’s been quite a while since I wrote you but, I ran out of stationary and, I always forgot to get it when I went to the store. I got some today. 

They are getting the threshing done sort of slow around here. It rains pretty often and, the dew is so heavy that they have to do most of it just in the afternoon. We were the first on the run so, were all done quiet a while ago. I was planning to make some cookies this afternoon but one of the horses stepped on a nail and is so lame Steve can’t use him. He was going to take one of the colts but, he won’t work with Duke. In fact Duke was worse than the colt. So, the only thing he could do was take the tractor. Just think I had to run the tractor while he loaded bundles. I didn’t mind it. I think its kind of fun but, I felt sort of out of place among a bunch of men. The girls (Betty is referring to Pauline and Helen) went to dancing class and I put the boys (Johnny and Jimmy) in the car and took the car out into the field. That’s the first time I ran a tractor but, I guess we can do a lot of things when we really want to. I’d a lot rather do that than have Steve take the colt and get hurt. So because of that I didn’t get any cookies baked. I’ll make some as soon as I get a chance though. 

It’s raining a little now. If it doesn’t rain too much they’ll thresh tomorrow afternoon. I hope they won’t be able to until that horse gets well though because, I’ll hate to go out on that tractor again, I’ve got enough of my own work to do. I want to wash clothes in the morning. 

Tomorrow night I’m going to sell some of my young roosters. The produce man from Lehigh is coming after them. The brooder houses are getting pretty crowded so I’ll pick out the biggest ones and get rid of them. We’ve eaten quite a few already. Of course the chicken hawks and foxes and heaven knows what else has too. The other morning I let them out through the small holes and counted them and there were about seventy missing. That’s what we get for living next to a timber. 

Speaking of that horse we had a ten dollar veterinary fee last week. He was sick. The veterinarian said it was weed poisoning. He was out here four times and gave him some medicine. He was sick the day we threshed. Steve borrowed Verne Smith’s team that day. He’s going over there to shell corn in the morning. He has to fix himself a stub tongue for the hayrack too. He’s got a long new one on there that he just put on Saturday and he doesn’t want to break it. He broke the other one Saturday. It’s always something going wrong. 

I’m sure glad the war is over. No more gas rationing and a lot of other things, but most of all because you and a lot of other boys won’t have to be fighting out there. The last we heard Pete [Betty is referring to Steve’s younger brother] was on sea duty. I got your pictures last week. Everything around here was closed for two days and we didn’t get any mail. 

Well, I guess I’ll have to close because Steve is sitting here watching me and laughing at me for writing such a long letter, but I guess I should make up for not writing for such along time. So long for now. 

With love,
Betty