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

SENDING FLIES TO CHARLIE
Here is an image of Betty’s first letter to her younger brother Charlie Jondle. Notice the cartoon of the soldier in a tank and a little bird on the top of the stationary. It makes war look fun and happy. Of course we know that it really was not. Perhaps this stationary was designed to make the folks on the home-front feel a little better about the situation that their loved ones faced.

Following are the contents of Betty's second letter, written and sent just five days after the first; even so, there is an indication that Charlie had not yet received Betty’s first letter. In these days of email, texts and cell phones it can be hard for us to recall or imagine when it took days or even weeks to reach a loved one by letter. 

In this letter Betty writes more about life on the farm and makes a little joke about sending Charlie some flies. She refers to the kerosene lamp that lit the room, probably the kitchen where she wrote the letter. The Miklos did not have electricity until they moved to the farm north of Clare in 1948.

Lehigh, Iowa
July 25, 1945

Dear Charlie,

I just got done listening to the ten-fifteen news, and I’ll write you a few lines before going to bed. This is my only chance to write, after I have my work done up. We are being kept pretty busy. Steve started cutting oats today. He has a neighbor running the binder. 

It’s still awful hot out here, but then we need it. It rained last night. 

We haven’t eaten any chickens yet, but I think we’ll have our first on Sunday. Steve borrowed Verne Smith’s twelve gauge shot gun and shot a chicken hawk with it. He brought him home and, I think he looked sort of cute. That’s the first time I’ve seen one close. 

In your last letter you said you didn’t hear from me yet. I hope the letter had reached you after you wrote last. I’ll do my best to write to you as often as I can. 

I think it is going to rain again because the bugs are flying all around the lamp here and on this letter too. Maybe I’ll fold a few into it and send them to you. Ha! Ha! Well so long for now. 

Steve says to tell you he heard that Joe and Willie enlisted in the Merchant Marine. Well, I must close now. 

Your sister,
Betty

A photo of Charlie in his Navy uniform

THE END OF WORLD WAR II

World War II ended seventy years ago with the surrender of Japan on August 14, 1945. To mark this historic event I will post letters that document the Miklo and Jondle Family’s contribution to the war effort. Steve’s younger brother, Pete, served in the Navy. His younger brother, Joe, entered the Army near the end of the war.

Betty’s younger brother, Charlie, entered the Navy in July 1945 just after his 17th birthday. Although war had ended in Europe in May 1945, the fight against Japan continued in the Pacific. Charlie was still in training in the U.S. when the war finally ended, but he did go to sea in the Pacific and witnessed the early atom bomb tests. I would say he was a brave 17-year old. 

Charlie saved letters that were sent to him during his time in the Navy from 1945 to 1949. Most of the letters were from his father Ed Jondle. Ed often wrote short notes in broken English. They were mostly about what work they were doing on the farm and the weather depending on the time of year. Planting in the spring, harvesting in the fall. 

There were several letters from Betty and even one from nine-year-old Pauline, to her Uncle Charlie. Betty’s letters are also mostly about daily activity on the farm and what the four kids--Pauline, Helen, Johnny and Jimmy--were up to (mischief on some days). 

Thanks to Pam (Jondle) Ploeger. In the process of closing out Charlie and Ramona’s house, Pam found Charlie’s collection of letters. She also found a photo album, letters, recipes and other documents that belonged to Helen Jondle (Charlie and Betty’s mother). I hope to organize these documents and post the more interesting here. 

Here is the first letter addressed to Charles Jondle A/S, Company 963, U. S. N.T. C., Great Lakes, Illinois, postmarked 4PM July 20, 1945, Lehigh, Iowa

Lehigh, IA
July 19, 1945

Dear Charlie,
I got your letter this morning. Steve is out milking and I just got done putting the kids to bed. I’m pretty sleepy myself but I have to wait for Steve and feed the calf. We have a new heifer. Steve sure gave her a dumb name. He calls her “Betty.”

It’s awful hot here today. I don’t know how I am going to sleep. But I guess I should be glad because we need some warm weather for the corn. To make things worse I’ve been canning beans today so, I had to keep a big fire going. I plan on canning peas tomorrow. 

Steve fixed the kids’ tricycle today and they really had a good time with it. 

Last Sunday night we went to the Bohemian Hall. We had quite a good time. Verne Smith stayed with the kids here. 

Well, we did get a new tire so I went to town last Saturday. I think it’s a good thing that you were driving when it blew out because, Steve would have drove a lot faster than you did. And can you imagine what Johnny did that night after we got home? He let the air out of it. We didn’t have another tire nor a pump so, we had to call up a neighbor to bring his pump over. 

Last night Helen got in the car and turned the key on and left it on all night. Steve had to pull the car with the tractor this morning to get it going. After he got home Jimmy got in there and turned it on so, this afternoon Steve had to pull the car again. That really made him mad.

He’ll be coming in so I better close before I go to sleep on the table here. 

With love, your sister,
Betty

A note about the letter: Betty refers to canning green beans and peas and how it heated up the kitchen, Steve and Betty's farm in Lehigh did not have gas or electric service. She cooked with a wood burning stove. So that made the house even hotter. She makes a reference to the Bohemian Hall, a large ballroom south of Fort Dodge built by the Czech community.  Steve and Betty often went there to dance polka and waltzes.  

FALLING OUT

We know that Ed and Helen Jondle had had a falling out with Ed’s father Michael Jondle.  Hard feelings and holding grudges may have been a family trait.  Tensions developed between Steve and his in-laws, Helen and Ed. There were a few skirmishes that went on to a full-fledged family feud. As a result Betty rarely saw or spoke to her parents for a period of over twenty years beginning in the early 1950s and lasting until Ed died in 1973.  And even after that Betty’s relationship with her mother remained severely strained. Betty had not practiced speaking Czech during those twenty some years and as a result had a difficult time speaking with her mother.  She told me that she could understand what her mother was saying to her, but that she (Betty) could only say a few simple things in response.

My brother Jim told me about one of the skirmishes.  He recalled that when they were living on the farm north of Clare, Steve was milking cows when Grandpa Jondle arrived and began yelling at Steve. Grandpa’s tractor would not run correctly because there was water in the engine.   He accused Steve of having put water into the tractor to ruin it. It was Jim’s theory that rain may have come in through the exhaust pipe.

Jim said that Grandpa was calling Steve names. Steve in turn got mad and went to the house to get the shotgun. Betty tried to stop him and they were fighting over the gun.  Steve said he was not going to shoot Grandpa but wanted to show him that he meant business.   In the meantime Grandpa ran to his car and drove off.  They were not on speaking terms after that. Anyone who knew Steve knows that he was not aggressive or quick to anger.  Grandpa must have said some pretty mean things to solicit such a reaction.  

I asked Betty why she was not on good terms with her parents.  She told me that her mother wanted Steve and Betty to teach their children Czech and that Ed and Helen thought that the Miklos had too many children. You may recall that when Helen Jondle consented to Betty marrying Steve, Helen had thought if her daughter married someone who spoke Czech or Slovak her grandchildren would learn to speak Czech (see post on May 20).  

Pauline recalled when Rose Mary was born, Grandma Jondle had told Betty that she was a nice baby but that she was born too soon after Johnny had died.  She also remembered that Grandma Jondle would come to the farmhouse north of Clare - while Grandpa stayed in the car in the driveway -  she would bring birthday presents for the Miklo children, but they were not able to speak to her because she did not speak English and they did not speak Czech.

Helen Jondle had very strong feelings about this and wrote a letter to Betty and Steve. I found the letter, which is written in Czech, and had it translated. Although there is no date on the letter I estimate that it was written in about 1951 or 52 after Steve and Betty’s sixth child, Barb, was born. In the letter Helen writes that Steve should go back to Czechoslovakia where, “Mr. Gottwald will be happy to take you!!” Gottwald was the Communist President of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953. So the reference to him in the letter indicates that it was written in the early years of the 1950s.

This timeframe is consistent with Rose Mary’s memory of Betty visiting Helen Jondle when Rose Mary was about 5 years old.  After that visit the Miklo kids did not see their grandparents on the Jondle side. Rose Mary wrote, “The last time I remember going to Grandma’s, Mom went in and had me play in the yard.  I don’t remember her being in the house very long and when she came out she was crying.  I do remember some talk about Mom having too many kids and that Barb should have been a boy.”

Perhaps Betty went to see her mother to confront her about the contents of the letter.  In the letter Helen Jondle wrote that if Betty’s children did not speak Czech she should not ever come to visit. She wrote that Betty only knew how to raise children and wipe babies' butts.  She goes on to call Steve some nasty names, like ugly Bolshevik, and writes that he did not marry Betty for love but for her parent’s money. She wrote that Steve was not a hard worker and just wanted to take from others. Again, anyone who knew Steve would not recognize him as the person written about in the letter.

The letter is so negative that I decided not to post the translation of it here. But it is an important part of our family story and sheds some light on the family psyche.   Here are images of the first two pages of the letter. It goes on for eight pages.

FIREWORKS

During the 1960s Clare hosted a grand celebration for the 4th of July. The festivities started in the morning with a church breakfast and bake sale. There might have even been a contest for the best pie.

At some point in the day there would be the kiddie parade down Front Street (we always called it Main Street).  Kids of all ages would decorate their bikes with red, white and blue crepe paper strung through the spokes, and ride down the street.  Then there would be the big parade with the fire truck and the 4H queen riding on the back of a convertible. There would be several tractors pulling decorated hay wagons representing various businesses and organizations.  The people riding on the floats would throw candy (like Tootsie Rolls) to the kids lining the parade route.

I recall one year there was a greased pig contest. A small pig was slathered in grease and let loose.  The young boys chased it and the one who was able to catch and hold on long enough to turn it in would win a $5 bill.  There was also a greased pole (a short telephone pole) with a $10 bill tacked to the top.  I can’t remember if anyone was ever successful in getting to the top to claim the prize.

In the afternoon there would be a demolition derby where old junk cars would crash into each other until there was only one car running. There was an ambulance on standby to haul the contestants into Mercy Hospital if necessary. I remember one year my older brother Jim had entered the competition and there was some worry that he might crash and burn.  

Some years there was a tractor-pull contest to see which farmer had the most macho farm machine.  And some years there was a street dance in front of Donahue’s Store.

Finally, there was a fireworks display that was so large it attracted car-loads of people out from Fort Dodge to witness the spectacle.  Betty would make grocery bags full of popcorn and fill up a cooler with root beer, orange and strawberry-flavored pop. She and Steve and all of the kids would load into the Oldsmobile. We would drive the short distance to the edge of town where cars would line up in a freshly harvested hay field. There we would lie on the hood of the car and on blankets on the ground and ooh and aah at the fireworks display.  

Here is a picture of Don Miklo, Steve and Betty’s 8th child on the bicycle that he must have ridden in one of those kiddie parades.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

For some reason Steve and Betty’s adopted hometown, the little town of Clare, had the biggest 4th of July celebration in all of Webster County. This tradition must have gone way back. A few years ago I was at an antique show in Iowa City where there was a postcard vendor who had old cards from all over Iowa.  The cards were sorted alphabetically by town. There were lots of cards from Fort Dodge. That is where I bought the illustration of Betty’s birthplace on Central Avenue shown below and also in the May 11 post.

The postcard vendor had just a couple cards from Clare. They were not actual scenes from the town, but generic pictures of flowers with “Greetings from Clare,” written across the front.  But there was something even better than a post card. There was a ribbon from the Grand Celebration at Clare, IA. dated July 3, 1897. At the time I debated about spending the $10 or $20 that the vendor was asking for the ribbon. But today I am glad I did.  Here is a photo of the ribbon along with a ribbon commemorating the Clare Band Reunion August 1 and 2, 1895 (Notice all the Irish names).  More on Clare’s 4th of July celebration in the next post.

FAMILY SECRET

In the video that I recently found where Betty discussed her and her brother's school days (see the July 1 post), she also tells us more about her mother, Helen Jondle.  Betty tells the story about Tobin’s that I posted from memory on May 16.  Betty also goes on to talk about her mother's old boyfriend back in Czechoslovakia and her parent’s relationship.

Bob:  When your parents visited their friends did they speak English there?

Betty: The parents talked Bohemian.  I remember her [Helen Jondle] telling Louie [Kriblehoby] “You can get farther if you knew two languages.”  Well, she knew only one but she said that.  And Louie just laughed at her and said, “Well, I know two languages and I get as far as Tobin Packing and back.” He was an electrician down there. [Tobin’s was a pork packing plant that later become Hormel’s.]

Bob: So why did she never learn to speak English?

Betty: She did not need it. She was stubborn. Yet, when she heard somebody else talking a language that she did not know she laughed at them.  Kriblehobys lived up on the hill as you come into town, up on the hill.  The house is white now but it used to be a bright red brick. The Kriblehobys lived on the first floor, the landlady lived upstairs.  But she was there just occasionally.  She was German and she was talking to somebody on the phone.  She did not have a phone.  She came downstairs to use the tenants’ phone.  She was German and she was talking to somebody on the phone in German.  My mother just sat there and laughed.  She thought it was funny.  She was a diehard Czech and there was nobody that was as good as the Czechs.

Bob: Did she ever talk about her parents?

Betty:  Her father was a drunk. She never said anything about her mother.  She was the only one.  She said there were other kids but they died. That is all I know.  She did not come exactly from Prague. She came from a village next to it. And she would talk about the Russian prisoners [prisoners of war during World War I].  She would see the Russian prisoners coming over the hill going to work.  Going to work in the fields.  She said they were always singing. She said they were beautiful singers.

But she said her father was a drunk.  So these people who had brought her over here, they were a Lutheran family.  She went to work as a maid for Dad’s cousin.  And that is how Dad got a hold of her. He used to go see his cousins all of the time and that was in Nebraska.  It was either Nebraska or Minnesota.  Because they lived in one of those states and then they moved to the other. It was between Minnesota and Nebraska. [Ellis Island records indicate that when she came to America in 1920 Helen was headed to Truman, Minnesota.]

And I remember every year after the oats were harvested--that was in the hot summertime--he (Ed Jondle) would make a trip to visit them.  I remember driving, him driving.  Once a year he would go visit old Charlie Jondle in Nebraska [Betty’s brother Charlie must have been named after Ed's cousin, Charles Jondle, the son of James Jondle, who was Michael Jondle’s brother].  He would make that trip to visit. I don’t remember the visit. I remember riding in the car, but I don’t remember the people.

Bob: Was that the Studebaker or the Model T?

Betty: The Model T. I don’t think the Studebaker would have made it.  Because he got the Model T when I was between 4 and 5 or something like that.

Bob: Did your mom have a formal education in the old country?

Betty:  I don’t know. I don’t know. In fact, I don’t think she did. If she wanted to figure something . . . . if she wanted to know how much was 10 + 5 she would put down 10 numbers and then she would but down 5 numbers and then she would count them.  So I don’t think she did [have a formal education].

Bob: But she could write? [This made Betty rethink her conclusion that her mother did not have a formal education.]  

Betty: Yea, in fact I think she used to write to an old boyfriend [back in Czechoslovakia]. I don’t know, but putting things together.  She called him Frankyshek.  There was a letter from Frankyshek and she used to sit there and read it.  And I know that she wrote to him. So that’s all I know.  Figure it out. I don’t know. And then she got a letter from him that he was getting married.  She wasn’t very happy. Well, that was her business, not mine.

Bob: So what did your dad feel about that?

Betty: I don’t think he knew anything. He could not read that stuff [Czech].

Bob: So he could speak Czech, but he could not read it.

Betty:  No.

Bob: Did they seem to get along with each other or did they ever fight?

Betty: Yeah, because she thought he was stupid. I don’t remember what it was about but I know they used to yell at each other. Sometimes I wonder if there isn’t a little German back in our family [At this point Betty must have remembered that like a lot of couples her parents fought about money]. She was tight.  She used to bawl him out if he bought anything.  And he would not buy anything unless he had that money in his hand. He would never buy anything and have them wait for the money.  He paid for everything he ever got. Nothing ever on payments or anything like that.  He paid for everything.

She tried to tell him how to farm too. That was after they moved up here by Clare. I think she stayed with me when one of the kids was born.  He brought her home and the farmers they were either plowing or they were picking corn. Well, he had not started picking corn yet.  He was plowing.  So She chewed him out,  “That comes first. You should get that corn in first.”

Yeah, they got along  - about as good as a lot of them get along. (End of quote.)

Above is a picture of Helen Jondle from about the time she first came to America.