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WWI Poem, 1948

Just a thought

And just to think –

A slap of ink, embroiled the world

in War! A fleet of ships through “U” boats slink –

A Kaiser is no more.

I tried to find a source for this little, not-quite-rhyming poem, that was near the end of my great-grandfather’s WWI memoir,  but I came up empty.  Turns out that, besides surviving mustard gas and coming back to North Dakota to make a family, he also had a little bit of poet in him.    I had a short day at work, so I used my free time on Veteran’s Day to transcribe his entire memoir, which is linked just above.

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IDEA, 1940s

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When producing a movie, everything stems back to this box: IDEA. In the 1940s, these were the sources of ideas: “Play,” “Short Story or Novel,” “Newspaper Story or Current Event,” “Original Story,” “Magazine Article,” or “Historical Incident.” Way off on the left, however, there’s one additional source that’s not shown above: “Vice President in Charge of Production.” If you want something unoriginal done that isn’t in print or in the history books, go talk to the VP, he’ll get it done. On another note: this particular flowchart is one of the few places the words “Restaurants,” “Mimeograph,” “Arsenal,” “Publicity,” and “Bits & Extras” fit together so well. From the 20th Century Fox flowcharts collection.

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German POWs in Minnesota, 1940s

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As World War II progressed, captured German soldiers were increasing in numbers, and the U.S. needed to do something with them. Numerous POWs were scattered throughout the country and used as labor. Algona, Iowa was the main POW camp in the United States, and several Germans were sent to Algona Branch Camp Number 1 — located in Clay County, Minnesota, just across the river from Fargo. Farm labor was scarce due to the number of men recruited for the military, so POWs helped in the cultivation and harvesting of the crops. This was not a forced labor program; the German soldiers were paid for their work. The above photo was taken at on the Paul Horn farm; Horn was chosen to take POWs because of his position on Clay County’s Farm Labor Advisory Board, and the fact he spoke German fluently. From an article in the 8/78 Binford’s Guide.

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Indian Chiefs, 1949.

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Two men, who don’t look particularly Native American, and with very European names, dressed up as Indian Chiefs for the Minnesota Centennial in 1949. From this set.

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IH TD-6 Crawler, 1940s.

A man and his boy riding a diesel International Harvester TD-6 caterpillar tractor. Appears 1940s. From this set.

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Broken Children’s Glasses, 1945.


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These glasses were purchased at a flea market in July, 2008. The seller had no information about them, but the fact that they had been stored in situ for sixty years — and the note to prove that fact even moreso — intrigued me enough to purchase them.

These are a child’s-sized pair of glasses with very little wear. I imagine that, due to their width, the child was under 5 years old. The right lens has a dramatic impact point just to the outside edge of center, which would indicate (to my uneducated eye) that the child had fallen forwards, and turned their head to the left to diffuse the impact, but not fast enough. The glasses hit the ground first, pushing in the right nosepad and exploding the glass into an orb-weaver’s handicraft of cracks. As the head kept moving, the nosepad pressed in as far as it could, the lens flexed down the center line in the now-weakened glass and created a crescent-moon crack from top to bottom.

The proud parents of this future baby-boomer weren’t about to erase this momentous occasion from history: the glasses were marked with the date of the event, placed in their glasses-case, and kept for posterity. May 10th, 1945, will go down in infamy as the day Junior fell down and broke his new pair of glasses.

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Downtown Fire, 1948.

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Located in the Grand Forks area (based on other photos in the set), a brick building is consumed by fire, 1948.

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Couple By Firepit, 1940s.

Couple standing by a brick firepit. Appears 1940s.

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Jerry “Killer” Meeker, 1945.


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Professional wrestler Jerry (Killer) Meeker, from an advertisement for an appearance (with others) in Fargo, ND, 1945.

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Changing the Tire, 1940s.


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Changing a tire on a snowy mountain road. Appears 1940s.