MINNESOTA'S GREATEST GENERATION ORAL HISTORY PROJECT:

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project. Oral history interviews of the Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: AV2008.26

Processing Information:

Processed by: J. Huebscher, 2009

Catalog ID number: 006899217

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Biographical Information: Dr. Nobuhiko J. Akimoto was born in the United States but grew up in Japan. After World War II he joined the United States Army and was stationed in Alaska. After his military service, Akimoto moved to Los Angeles and then Minneapolis where he was married and attended the University of Minnesota Dental School. After graduating, Akimoto joined the Navy Dental Corps before going into private practice. He also has two children.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in Japan: attending school, living arrangements, life in wartime Japan; reactions to Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombs; attending Osaka University; joining the United States Army; experiences in basic training; joining a meteorological station in Alaska; moving to Los Angeles; finding a job as an architectural draftsman; meeting his wife; moving to Minnesota and finding a job at Honeywell; getting married; attending dental school at the University of Minnesota; joining the Navy Dental Corps; private practice; raising a family; visiting Japan post World War II.

Interviewed by: James E. Fogerty.

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Biographical Information: Orval Amdahl was born outside Lanesboro, Minnesota. He was raised and attended school there. He later attended Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. In 1941 he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Pacific as a Marine Officer. He served in the Occupation of Japan. Returning home to his wife and family, he ran a lumberyard in Lanesboro. In the early 1950s he and his entire family were stricken with polio. After recovering, he was elected to the position of Fillmore County auditor.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in a small southern Minnesota Norwegian-American community; community life: school, friends, social activities, dating, Boy Scout activities; the depression; student life at a small Minnesota college; joining the Marines; getting married far from home during the war; going overseas; encounters with the Japanese; working with Sperry-Rand technicians to improve military equipment; serving with the movie star Tyrone Power; cross country travel during the war; entering Nagasaki shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped and serving on occupation duty in Japan; returning home: finding a job, raising a family; early 1950s polio epidemic; running for county political office.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Arthur E. Anderson was born in Virginia, Minnesota. At a young age his family moved to Duluth where he attended Central High School, junior college, and eventually transferred to law school at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. After graduating he began his own practice before being drafted. Anderson joined the Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) and saw action at Hürtgen, the Battle of the Bulge, and Bad Bodendorf (where he was injured). After the war he raised a family and continued his law practice.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in a Catholic house; participating in Boy Scouts; clothing, fashion, and style in the 1920s; the influenza epidemic of 1918-19; holiday celebrations; having Civil War veterans as guest speakers in his elementary school; graduating from law school and taking a job as a assistant country attorney; getting married; being drafted and going through basic training; joining the CIC; working with German-Jews and being in the IPW (Interrogation of Prisoners of War); establishing military governments in Germany; crossing the Rhine and securing the surrender of German towns; involvement in the occupation of Germany; returning home, raising a family, and continuing to practice law; involvement with the founding of Medtronic.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Laurice Q. Austin was born in Mabel, Minnesota. His family relocated a lot due to the Great Depression, finally settling in Lanesboro, Minnesota. After high school he attended Dunwoody Institute in Minneapolis but enlisted in the Army Air Force after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was sent to the China-India-Burma Theater. He flew on 169 combat missions before sailing back to New York after VJ Day. With support from the GI Bill, Austin enrolled at Winona State University for one year before transferring to the University of Minnesota to complete his degree. After graduating, he found a job at Honeywell where he worked for many years.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include the effects of the Great Depression; participating in the Boy Scouts and other neighborhood activities (tackle football, “capture the flag”, Whist); employment directly after high school; being deferred from the draft to finish education but deciding to enlist anyway; pilot training (basic, advanced, fighter, and gunnery training); life on an Air Force base in India; combat missions behind enemy lines including strafing, bombing, dive-bombing, and dogfights; interactions with Chinese and British troops; taking leave in Calcutta and Nepal; military life: conditions of runways, sleeping arrangements, and sending and receiving mail; assimilation back into the Lanesboro community; working for Honeywell on projects from the King Khalid Military Complex in Saudi Arabia to the Southdale Shopping Center; raising a family on the fringes of the suburbs.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Hanspeter Borgwarth was born in Cuxhaven, Germany. He grew up in an upper middle class family and experienced World War II first hand when the British bombed Cuxhaven. He was forced into the Jungvolk and Hitler Youth. After the war, Borgwarth got into the farming business and accepted a job in Wisconsin. He and his wife moved to the United States and began their family, eventually ending up in Minnesota.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up with a strict mother; topography of his hometown and the appearance of his house; involvement in horse breeding programs on the farm; the “invisible caste system” in Germany; taking in refugees from East and West Prussia; apprenticeship programs; German culture: wedding celebrations, division of sexes, emphasis on athletic superiority, traditional funerals, Christmas celebration; his hometown being carpet bombed by the British; participation in the Jungvolk and Hitler Youth; working on farms; hometown being taken over by British, Scottish, and eventually American troops; Germany post World War II; farm/agriculture training; developing a relationship with his future wife; moving to the United States; involvement in the poultry business and successful farming operations; becoming a part of the Jennie-O corporation in Minnesota; keeping family connections in Germany; involvement in the Rotary Club and awards.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Charlotte Brisley was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduating from Edison Senior High School she attended the University of Minnesota for a short time. Her husband was a member of the Minnesota National Guard and during wartime she traveled with him from base to base. When her husband went overseas she got a job at General Mills. After the war, Brisley raised a family with her husband outside of Minneapolis.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life during the Great Depression; attending Edison High School and getting involved with business at the University of Minnesota; visiting her husband (boyfriend at the time) during his National Guard training in Louisiana; being married during wartime; following her husband from military base to military base; working for General Mills; greeting her husband upon his return from war; the real estate market post World War II; building their own house and moving out of the city; the changing social climate of the United States post World War II.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: William N. Brisley was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He joined the National Guard before graduating from Excelsior High School. After high school he attended Dunwoody Institute before being mobilized to Northern Ireland. He went back home for officers training and went on artillery spotting missions in the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. After the war, he finished college at the University of Minnesota and raised a family with his wife, Charlotte Brisley.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include being involved with the Boy Scouts; playing the trumpet; National Guard training in Louisiana; mobilization prior to Pearl Harbor; being one of the first men from the United States in the European Theater; returning home for officers training; being selected for flight training; being ordered to New Guinea; life in New Guinea: training missions, camp facilities; relocation to the Dutch East Indies; running artillery spotting missions in the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines; rescuing a Japanese prisoner from Filipino guerillas; experiencing the Japanese surrender firsthand; using the GI Bill to pay for college; life after the war: starting a family, graduating from college; finding a job; building a home.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Reidar Dittman was born in Tønsberg, Norway. After the German occupation of Norway, Dittman was arrested three times and was eventually sent to Germany where he was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was then moved to Alsace, France, where he worked in a hard labor camp for several months. He was then sent back to Buchenwald and was liberated there by the Swedish Army in April 1945. He moved to the United States upon receiving a scholarship from Saint Olaf College. He married, raised a family, and has been teaching at Saint Olaf for many years.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include Norwegian childhood activities; celebrating Norwegian holidays; the school systems in Norway; learning several languages and pursuing his interest in the arts; interactions with Edvard Munch; German occupation of Norway; being arrested for singing in public; being arrested while working at a shipyard; being arrested while attending university; being sent to Buchenwald; hard labor in Alsace; being liberated by the Swedish; joining the Norwegian Army Intelligence Corps; traveling to the United States on a scholarship from Saint Olaf; experiences at Saint Olaf; meeting his wife and beginning his teaching career; traveling and teaching in Ethiopia; having children; leading study abroad trips; becoming Director of International Studies; becoming Professor of Art History.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Conway Epperson was born in Iowa and raised in Minneapolis. He attended Vocational High School and in 1941 he joined the Army, first serving in the coastal artillery. He later went to officers training and was assigned as a lieutenant. While in England, he volunteered for the 2nd Ranger Battalion. As a Ranger officer he was in one of the first assault waves landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He served in the Rangers until the end of the war. Returning home briefly, he reentered the Army and served in the Occupation in Italy and Germany. Upon his discharge, he married and returned to Minnesota. He eventually became the head of airport maintenance for the Twin Cities Airport Police.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life and opportunities for a child growing up in South Central Minneapolis during the Great Depression; work opportunities in the late 1930s; riding the rails; migrant farm work; joining the army at Fort Snelling; pre-war service in the Coast Artillery; attending officers training; service in the 3rd Armored Division; service and combat with the 2nd Ranger Battalion including the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach; service in the post-war Army of Occupation in Europe; work opportunities at home; working for the airport police and later the airport maintenance department; work considerations as the head of airport maintenance; reflections on being a veteran; suburban growth.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Robert Erikson was born in Loma, North Dakota and moved to Minneapolis at a very young age. He joined the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and later the National Guard where he drove a searchlight truck. Erikson joined the paratroopers and jumped into Southern France, where he was shot. After the war, he used Public Law 16 for disabled veterans to attend Saint Cloud State College. After graduating, he worked for Goodyear and then sold cabinets until he retired.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include supporting his mother and siblings after his father died; being on welfare during the Great Depression; hitchhiking from California to Minnesota and back on a furlough; joining the paratroopers and jump training/physical fitness training; joining forces with British troops and the FFE (French resistance troops); having his legs run over by a tank and spending time at a hospital in Liege; interactions with German citizens; being shot in the chest right before the war ended; attending St. Cloud State College; working for Goodyear and his numerous promotions; quitting Goodyear and selling cabinets; making contacts and becoming one of the top cabinet suppliers in the Midwest; becoming involved in politics and the Minnesota Multi-Housing Association; retiring and the benefits of military service.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Bartley M. Foster was born in Iowa and was raised in Saint Paul and Mahtomedi, Minnesota. Working to finance his education at Saint Thomas University and Macalester College, his studies were interrupted by service as a navigator on a bomber crew in World War II. Married during the war, he returned home to his wife to build a civilian life and to complete his education at the University of Minnesota. Before graduation, he started a lengthy career at Northwestern National Life Insurance Company where he was head of the Mortgage, Loan, and Real Estate Department.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life and growing up in a supportive family during the hard economic times of the Great Depression; his family's work with a barnstorming flying circus; youth activities when money was scarce; working to finance his education; entering the service; training to be a pilot and navigator; service in Europe and preparations to deploy to the Pacific; returning home to his new family; working; establishing a home in the postwar years; completing his education and building a career in a large insurance company; rising to a senior position in the insurance firm; real estate development projects in the Twin Cities and around the nation; family life and suburban expansion in the 1940s through the 1970s.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Donald S. Frederick was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota. He joined the National Guard in 1939 before graduating from Central High School. He was shipped to Northern Ireland where he volunteered for Ranger training leading to his involvement in the battle on the Bay of Arzew and the assault on Sened Station. He was captured by the Germans in Italy and spent the remainder of the war in various internment camps. After World War II he was pulled out of Inactive Reserve and ordered to Korea. Upon returning home he opened his own hardware store and raised a family.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life during the Great Depression; joining the National Guard, being mobilized; training in Louisiana, helping construct the military camp; being shipped to Northern Ireland, volunteering for the Rangers and Ranger training; preparing for combat in North Africa; battling the Vichy French on the Bay of Arzew; the assault on Sened Station; being promoted after becoming sick and failing to travel with his unit to Sicily; preparing for the invasion of Italy; contracting yellow jaundice in Italy; firefight with Germans which led to his capture; being interrogated and moved to Oflag 64 in Poland; life in an American officers internment camp; marching through Poland in the winter to Hammelburg; being liberated, recaptured, and transported to Moosburg; being liberated and returning home; getting called out of Inactive Reserve to spend time in Korea; owning his own business, raising a family, and being involved with Veteran's Associations.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Jane C. Shields Freeman was born and raised in North Carolina and in northern Virginia. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, and married Orville L. Freeman. Orville Freeman served as Governor of Minnesota from 1954-1960, and later as U. S. Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Jane Freeman worked for the federal government during World War II, and was politically active throughout her husband's long career in politics and business. Among her many activities, she served a term as President of the Women's National Democratic Club and was also for seven years the President of the Girl Scouts of America.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in North Carolina: attending school, living arrangements; moving to Minnesota; marriage to Orville Freeman; life in wartime Washington, D.C.; her many political, civic, and social activities as wife of a Minnesota Governor who later became Secretary of Agriculture in the cabinets of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson; the evolution of politics and social issues; raising a family; working for the Girl Scouts in the U.S. and internationally.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: John J. Hinchliff was born in Park Rapids, Minnesota. He enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard in 1942 and decided to join an airborne division. He eventually ended up with the prestigious 82nd Airborne Division and participated in D-Day, fighting in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. Upon returning home he received a certificate equivalent to a high school education and worked jobs at Ford and Delano Dairy, supporting his wife and five children.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include being raised by his poor grandparents during the Great Depression: shooting deer for food, making homemade wine, being bullied at school; being taught to box by local boxers; electricity being installed into his home and dirt roads being paved; joining the National Guard as a quest for excitement; deciding to join an airborne division; airborne training: preliminary, jump school, night jumping, desert jumping; the horrendous conditions on a military ship from New York to Liverpool; running low on ammunition and out of food in France; being dropped behind enemy lines; abandoning friendships during the war; impact of war on civilians; reorientation into civilian life: finding work, supporting a family, going to movie theaters.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Vernon Hopson was born in Lee County, Texas to an African-American family. Despite segregation, he completed high school. Enlisting in the army, he applied for flight training and was selected for training in Tuskegee, Alabama. Trained as a fighter pilot, he graduated too late to participate in the war in Europe. After leaving the army briefly, he reenlisted in the Air Force and worked in air traffic control around the world until 1962. After his military retirement he worked as a civilian air traffic controller first in Chicago and then in Minneapolis when he moved to Minnesota in 1969.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life and growing up in rural segregated Texas during the 1920s and 1930s; working hard with a strong supportive family to overcome prejudice and discrimination to do well in school and become a fighter pilot; training and service as a pilot and air traffic controller; building a successful post World War II career in and out of the military despite racial discrimination.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Hella Mears Hueg was born in Velbert, Germany. During World War II she moved to Poland, and then came back to Germany just prior to the end of the war. She attended school in Cambridge, England and Heidelberg University in Germany. Hueg got a job in the German Theatre and acted until coming to the United States. She married and continued to travel, visiting her family in Germany many times.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in a German family; political activity of her parents; exposure to anti-Semitism; exposure to the war with England; moving to Poland and back to Germany; suffering in postwar Germany; going to school in England; going to school in Heidelberg; life as an actress; being sponsored to live in the United States; attending the University of Minnesota; marriage to businessman Norman Mears; traveling the world; visiting her family in Germany; Germany's postwar rebuilding process.

Interviewed by: James E. Fogerty.

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Biographical Information: Richard K. Ingle was born in Iron River, Wisconsin. He attended Iron River High School and a NYA (National Youth Association) school. Ingle also spent some time at Superior State Teachers College before enlisting in the Air Force after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was denied admittance into the Air Force and joined the infantry where he spent time in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies, and the American conquest of the Philippines. After the war he eventually joined the Corps of Engineers and moved to Minneapolis.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include the shortage of food during the Great Depression; childhood activities: Boy Scouts, hunting deer, organizing a biking club; infantry training in Tennessee; training exercise accidents; becoming a radio operator; sailing to the South Pacific on a military ship; being exposed to diseases and physical problems during training in the South Pacific; living conditions on New Guinea and interactions with natives; the treatment of infantry by commanding officers; securing beaches and battling the Japanese on the Philippines; working as a lifeguard on the Philippines after the fighting had ended; participating in the occupation of Japan; filing for unemployment; working as an engineer and electrician.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Lyman C. Irrgang was born Brighton Township, Nicollet County, Minnesota in 1923. He went to school in Brighton Township and later in Nicollet. During the Great Depression he lived with his family on a farm, and later served in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He continued in the Navy following the war, and served in Connecticut, California, and Hawaii. Following retirement from the Navy he returned to Nicollet where he served as Postmaster until 1972.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life and growing up in rural on a farm during the Great Depression in rural southern Minnesota; early schooling; the Armistice Day blizzard of 1940; enlistment in the U.S. Navy and service in the Pacific Theatre; his eyewitness account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; service in Australia and following the World War II.

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Biographical Information: Carl A. Kuhrmeyer was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He attended Sibley Grade School, Harding High School, and the University of Minnesota where he was an engineering major. After graduating he took a job at 3M as a developmental engineer and was eventually promoted to Vice President of Administration. He was fundamental in 3M’s expansion into the copying industry. Kuhrmeyer married and raised a family. After retiring he was involved in the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and the Saint Paul Winter Carnival.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include attending high school during World War II; rationing and food stamps; the atmosphere of the University of Minnesota during the 1940s; finding work at 3M in developmental engineering; involvement with international marketing; the rise of the 3M corporation and the development of a copy machine department; role as Vice President of the Duplicating Products Division; creating manufacturing plants in Europe; participation in the Operations Committee; interactions with company leader Bill McKnight; becoming Vice President of Administration; treatment of employees and internal promoting; serving on the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce; marriage and raising a family; involvement with the Winter Carnival.

Interviewed by: James E. Fogerty.

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Biographical Information: John W. Legg was born in Randolet, Oklahoma. He grew up on a farm in Walnut Grove, Arkansas. He joined the Tom Mix Circus, and later joined the army and served in Hawaii prior to being transferred to Fort Snelling, where he was rapidly promoted and served almost the entire war as the Sergeant Major of Fort Snelling. After World War II he served in the occupation of Japan and in the Korean War. In the 1950's he was the Sergeant Major of the 14th Army Corps in the Buzza Building on West Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up on a farm in rural Arkansas; community life: school, church, social life; work and economic life in the Great Depression; working for the circus; joining and serving in the pre-World War II army in Hawaii; being transferred to Fort Snelling; the Armistice Day Blizzard; rapid promotion; work and life in the army at Fort Snelling as the senior sergeant; married life and housing at Fort Snelling and in the Twin Cities during the war; service in the occupation of Japan and in the Korean War; returning to Minneapolis to work as Sergeant Major in the Buzza Building on West Lake Street.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Lewis W. Lehr was born in Elgin, Nebraska, and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in chemical engineering. During World War II he served as an army officer in Europe, and was transferred to the military government in Austria. He joined the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) in 1947, headed the Health Care Products and Services Division, was elected to the Board of Directors in 1974, became President of U.S. operations, and later Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life and growing up during the Great Depression; education and service in the U.S. Army in Europe; creation and evolution of 3M's health care products group; international growth and development of 3M's global business; civic and community involvement.

Interviewed by: James E. Fogerty.

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Biographical Information: Bernard Lieder was born and raised in a small farming community west of Minneapolis during the Great Depression. He entered the military in the early 1940s first serving in the Coastal Artillery. He later participated in the Army Specialized Training Program before being sent to the 102nd Infantry Division. After the war he served in the Army of Occupation working with German prisoners of war, German civilians, and displaced persons from around Europe. Returning home, he found employment with the highway department and eventually became the county engineer in Crookston, Minnesota. In 1984 he was elected to the state legislature where he continues to serve. He married and has children and grandchildren.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in a small rural German-American community during the Great Depression; the hardships of 1930s small business ownership; encounters with bootleggers and gangsters; school and social activities in a 1930s small town; service in the army; heavy combat in the infantry in Germany; dealings with German civilians, prisoners of war and displaced persons; options for a returning soldier; finding work and a career; marriage and creating a family; county politics and working as a county highway engineer; ongoing changes in county life; entering the state legislature and changes in state politics during his tenure.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Stuart A. Lindman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended Roosevelt High School and later the University of Minnesota. He enlisted in the Enlisted Reserve Corps and was activated in 1943. He participated in the assault of Leyte Island in the Philippines as a medic and was injured during the invasion of Okinawa. After the war, Lindman began his career as a radio announcer for WMIN and eventually transitioned to television for Channel 11. His involvement with the Disabled American Veterans organization and his stature as a local celebrity helped him become appointed as the civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army, a post he held for 12 years.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include living through the Great Depression; listening to the radio and wanting to become a radio announcer; enrolling at the University of Minnesota pre-med; getting involved in the University of Minnesota radio station (WLB); feeling naïve to the events leading up to World War II; enlisting and being activated just prior to graduating from college; going through basic medical training; fighting in a jungle environment in the Philippines; being wounded in Okinawa; the role of the Red Cross; recovering from his injuries in several hospitals; getting a job at WMIN in Saint Paul; receiving his B.A. from the University of Minnesota; transitioning to television at Channel 11 (eventually KARE 11); being a television pioneer in the 1950s; interviewing celebrities (Hubert Humphrey, Jerry Lewis); being involved in the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and experiences as the civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Norman M. Lorentzsen was born in North Dakota, the youngest son of Norwegian immigrants. The family moved to Dilworth, Minnesota in the 1930s, where he and his father worked for the Northern Pacific Railway Company. He graduated from Concordia College, enlisted in the U.S. Naval Air Corps, and served as a patrol bomber pilot in the Pacific Theatre through 1945. Following the war he returned to work for Northern Pacific, and rose through the ranks to executive positions with Northern Pacific and its successor, Burlington Northern Inc. He served as president, CEO and a director of Burlington Northern through 1981. He was also involved in many civic activities.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life and growing up during the Great Depression; education and work for Northern Pacific; service in the U.S. Naval Air Corps during World War II; involvement in the growth of Northern Pacific, its merger with other railroads to form Burlington Northern Inc., evolution of the railroad and related transportation industries; and his civic and other corporate work.

Interviewed by: James E. Fogerty.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Martin Menk was born in Saint Peter, Minnesota. He grew up in the public school system until attending Gustavus Adolphus College. In 1941 he volunteered for the Navy and was eventually sent to the Pacific on a tender. Menk spent time at Pearl Harbor and ended up on a submarine that went to waters of the coasts of both Japan and China. After the war he finished his college education and began his own engineering firm. He also married and raised a family.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include living in a predominantly German community; housing situation: outside toilet, heating, washing clothes; life during the Great Depression; popular events: weddings, funerals, birthdays, Christmas, 4th of July; growing up in the public school system; volunteering for the Navy; attending Gustavus Adolphus College; going into fire control training after boot camp; repairing submarines on a tender; life on a submarine; encountering and attacking Japanese ships; going back to college on the GI Bill; attending Gustavus Adolphus College, the University of Arizona, and Washington State University; starting an engineering company with a friend; humble beginnings to a successful engineering firm; family life in the 1950s.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Norman Midthun was born in Minneapolis. His family suffered economically during the Great Depression. He developed a strong work ethic while attending Roosevelt High School, working part time as a butcher. Early in World War II he was too young to join the American military so he enlisted in the Norwegian Air Force where he served as a PBY pilot. After the war he flew the Norwegian Crown Prince around Norway to inspect war damage and boost morale of the population. Returning to Minnesota he found work with Northwest Airlines and attended Saint Olaf College. He eventually became one of Northwest's leading pilots.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include spending several years with his grandparents after his mother's death; his family difficulties during the Great Depression and his father's struggle to provide for his family; neighborhood and school activities; working in several butcher shops as a teenager; joining the Norwegian Air Force; pilot's training; personalities encountered; flying agents and supplies into occupied Norway; experiences with the Norwegian Crown Prince; attending Saint Olaf College; rising in position in Northwest airlines from mail delivery to one of the airline's top pilots; developments in the airline industry from 1945 through the mid 1980s.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Margery Murphy was born in Minneapolis. She attended Incarnation Parish up to eighth grade, Bryant Junior High for ninth grade, and Central High School. She then moved to California where she got a job at the California Chamber of Commerce. She returned to Minneapolis after World War II and married a then captain in the military. Her husband was given orders to fight in Korea in 1951 and Murphy relocated to Japan and eventually Germany to follow her husband and raise their family.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include being the oldest of seven siblings and having to take care of her brothers and sisters; childhood activities: ice skating, jacks, and jumping rope; grocery shopping and the abundance of specialty stores prior to World War II; guesthouse and boardinghouse living in California; being able to receive a vehicle license without driving experience; segregation of the armed forces and the overall climate of the segregated South; the responsibilities of a military wife; relocating (living in twenty-eight different places in fifteen years); life in Japan in the 1950s; the relationship between the Japanese and the Americans; life in Germany: interactions with Germans, military housing, schooling, and the salt mines.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Biographical Information: Donald W. Nyrop was born in Elgin, Nebraska. He attended Doane College and eventually law school at George Washington University. He found a job at the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) as a lawyer and was eventually drafted into Air Force training school. After the war he became the head of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and later president of Northwest Airlines. During his time at Northwest he became one of the leaders of the global commercial airline industry.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life during the Great Depression; working as a teacher and basketball coach; moving to Washington D.C. to attend college; life in Washington D.C.; being drafted into the Air Force; being involved with the airplane allocation process after World War II; participation in the Brass Hat Squadron; traveling the world to decommission planes; accomplishments as head of CAB; becoming president of Northwest Airlines (NWA); dealings while at NWA: fleet composition, passenger traffic, implementation of new technology, revolutionizing passenger flights, standardization of parts, evolution of advertising, non-airline investments, airline safety, meteorology and weather forecasting; the closing of CAB and the struggling airline industry that followed.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke and James E. Fogerty.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Carl N. Platou was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the University of Minnesota for a short time before enlisting in the Army. He joined a paratroop unit and ended up fighting the Japanese on New Guinea. He participated in the American occupation of Japan at Yokohama before returning to the United States to finish his education. Platou went to graduate school for hospital administration and became a national leader in health care delivery as head of the Fairview Hospital system. He married, raised a family, and now serves as Senior Advisor to the Dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include childhood activities: kick the can, track meets, varsity wrestling, acting as president of his class; social climate of the 1930s; life during the Depression; holiday celebrations: birthday, Christmas, 4th of July; American political consciousness of pre-World War II Europe; coping with mother's day and father being overseas in the Navy; moving to Minnesota; attending the University of Minnesota; paratroop training experiences; attending demolition school; encounters with the Japanese; conditions on a military transport ship; Banzai attacks; fighting in New Guinea, Leyte, and Okinawa; occupying Yokohama; returning home, getting married, and starting a family; finishing his education at the University of Minnesota; establishing Fairview as a multi-unit hospital; the revolutionary idea of a multi-unit hospital; interviewing to be the head of Johns Hopkins Medical School and declining the position; teaming with the Dayton Corporation at Southdale; establishing various affiliates; creating global hospital systems in Saudi Arabia and Cairo; role of health insurance and HMOs; development of a "Com-university" at the University of Minnesota Medical Center; meeting the King of Norway; serving as Senior Advisor to the Dean of the Medical School.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke and James E. Fogerty.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Joachim F. Pusch was born in Liegnitz, Germany. He was raised in the farming community of Royn in Silesia. He entered the German Army in October 1940 and served in the artillery in Russia. He was medically evacuated in June 1944. After recovering he fought in the west, first against the British and later against the Americans. In the early spring of 1945 he surrendered to the Americans. Seeing little opportunity in Germany, Pusch found sponsorship and in 1951 immigrated to the United States. He attended the University of Minnesota and became an Assistant County Extension Agent in Fillmore County. He later earned a master's degree and taught in the community college system until his retirement. He married an American woman and raised a family.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s; watching the rise of the Nazis from a small farming community; entering the army along with his father and brother; serving thirty-six months in heavy combat on the Russian Front; being wounded, serving on the Western Front; becoming a prisoner of war [POW]; becoming a refugee after losing everything in Eastern Germany; immigrating to the United States and building a new life in Minnesota through education and hard work.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Martha Kufner Schmaltz was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She attended Saint Agnes Catholic School, Wilson Junior High School, and Mechanic Arts High School. She joined the Marine Corps and was trained in Motor Transport. After the war she married and held several jobs before retiring.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include living conditions in the basement of a duplex; the Catholic school experience; recreational activities: going to silent films, playing softball on competitive teams; holiday celebrations; 4th of July, birthdays, Christmas; life during the Great Depression and going on welfare; bottling homemade beer during Prohibition; working for Montgomery Wards, Northwest Airlines, and Northwest Aeronautics; life in the Marine Corps: training, playing on post sports teams; life as a part of a young, married couple; getting involved with bowling and the accomplishments that followed; employment situations and the real estate market during the 1950s and 1960s; starting a family business.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Otto E. Schmaltz was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He joined the workforce with Cudahy Packing Company before being drafted in 1943. He went through advanced medical training in order to be an infantry unit medic in the U.S. Army. Schmaltz was involved in the D-Day invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. After World War II he re-enlisted and was sent to Korea. Upon returning from Korea, Schmaltz was married and worked various jobs until his retirement.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include city life in St. Paul: grocery shopping, housing conditions, clothing, radio broadcasts; holiday celebrations: birthdays, Christmas, 4th of July; childhood activities: working at a bowling alley, baseball, football, sledding; the Great Depression and the Works Progress Administration; being drafted and advanced medical training exercises; volunteering for kitchen duty; army life in England, waiting to be deployed; being apart of the D-Day invasion: duck missions, Falaise, parading in Paris; returning home on furloughs; re-enlisting in the Army Reserves and being sent to Korea; the battle of Chipyong-Ni and The May Massacre; married life in the 1950s; running a liquor store; going back to Normandy for the 50th anniversary of D-Day; retiring and volunteering to help children from low income families obtain an education.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Edmond Sworsky grew up in Northeast Minneapolis during the Great Depression. He graduated from high school and turned down a university swimming scholarship to join the Civilian Conservation Corps to earn money to help support his mother. He enlisted in the army in 1942 and served in the 3rd Armored Division in the U.S. and in England, where he joined the 2nd Ranger Battalion. With the Rangers he was in one of the first D-Day assault waves on Omaha Beach. With the Rangers he fought across France until he was medically evacuated to England in 1944. Sworsky returned home to housing shortages but found work with the gas company where he quickly became a district supervisor.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up poor in Northeast Minneapolis; inter-ethnic neighborhood rivalries; school opportunities; the Civilian Conservation Corps, entering the army; serving in the 3rd Armored Division and the 2nd Ranger Battalion; the D-Day landings and combat in Northern Europe; courting and bringing home an English war bride; social and economic changes relating to postwar economic developments; the 1965 Fridley tornadoes.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Eugene Sylvestre was born in Chicago. He was raised in California and in Minneapolis. He worked in the defense industry for a year after graduating from Washburn High School. Drafted in 1943, he received basic pilot training in the Army Specialized Training Program. When the program was ended, he was sent to the 65th Infantry Division and served in France, Germany, and Austria from January 1945 to the spring of 1946. He participated in the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Returning to Minneapolis, Sylvestre attended the University of Minnesota, married, and started a career, first in sales and then in advertising. He started a non-profit business designed to foster social communication through town meetings.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in California and Minneapolis; social life; jobs and school prior to and early in World War II; how war changed friendship patterns and communities; army training and service in the infantry; the lifelong effects of participating in a concentration camp liberation; homecoming; student life; working in sales and in advertising; seeing television for the first time and then learning to use it first in advertising and later in his non-profit work; using his wartime experiences to develop a non-profit company to foster communication and resolve conflict.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Robert Nobuo Teragawa was born in Portland, Oregon. At a young age he went to Japan to live with his grandparents. He eventually returned to the United States and attended school in California. After Pearl Harbor he was evacuated to an internment camp before being trained as a cryptanalyst. He was ordered to the Pacific and spent time in Tokyo. After his service he returned to Minnesota and raised a family in Minneapolis.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include traveling to Japan at a young age; working in the rice paddies; living in Japanese society: the sense of community, abundance of food, hygiene; childhood activities: field days, swimming competitions, Ensoku, excursions; returning to the United States; cleaning/cooking at a Caucasian home for money and board; running his uncle's grocery store; being searched by the FBI; being forced to evacuate; life at an internment camp; being drafted into the army; relocating to Minneapolis for cryptanalyst training; visiting his family in Tokyo on a furlough; translating important documents for MacArthur's headquarters in Tokyo; returning home; finding a job and house; returning to Japan and the difference of postwar Japan.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Born and raised in Faith, South Dakota, Donald Williams attended Faith High School. He worked in a shipyard in Seattle prior to entering the Army in 1943. He served in France in a Graves Registration unit. After the war he re-enlisted and served in Italy and Germany in Quartermaster units until he was discharged. He attended teacher's college and taught in the Minneapolis public schools. Using the GI Bill, he completed two masters’ degrees from the University of Minnesota. Williams also served in the Army Reserve and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. He lived in the Twin Cities for many years before returning to Faith, South Dakota.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include growing up in a small town during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl; quality of rural education and the employment opportunities open to young men and women prior to World War II; working in the defense industry; service in World War II in a Graves Registration unit; options at home when discharged after the war; re-enlisting in the army and service in the Army of Occupation; college in the 1950s; finding employment; changes in public schools from the 1950s to the 1980s; service in the Army Reserves and changes during the Vietnam War; changes in Minneapolis and suburban development.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Stanley Davis was born outside of Saint Peter, Minnesota. At a young age his parents were divorced and he moved in with his grandparents. After graduating high school, Davis married and began working at a local creamery. He joined the National Guard but his duty ended prior to World War II and he was able to avoid being drafted due to his work making butter. He was a successful businessman and eventually founded his own company that is still family run.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include parents divorcing, moving in with his grandparents; hunting and fishing on park reserves; food culture during the 1920s; fashion culture during the 1920s; personal hygiene; holiday celebrations: birthdays, Christmas, 4th of July; local entertainment: radio, movies, the circus; involvement in Boy Scouts; life during the Great Depression; joining the National Guard and training exercises; beginning work at creamery; the Armistice Day blizzard of 1940; eloping to Iowa with his wife; avoiding the draft due to his work; working at a creamery in Texas; purchasing his own creamery in Minnesota; producing milk instead of cream; expansion and transferring the creamery to South Dakota; keeping the business within the family.

Interviewed by: Douglas Bekke.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Biographical Information: Robert Polich, Sr. was born in 1921 in Crosby, Minnesota. He joined the U. S. Army in 1942 and was first assigned to the Coast Artillery at Camp Callan, California. Shortly thereafter he became a Cadet and was trained as a pilot at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. He served in the 8th Air Force, 365th Squadron, 305th Bomb Group. He was shot down over Merseberg, Germany and became a Prisoner of War. After repatriation he returned to the United States where he owned a supper club until his retirement.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include life and growing up during the Great Depression on Minnesota's Iron Range; early schooling; service in the Air Force and experiences as a pilot in numerous missions over Europe; experiences as a Prisoner of War; postwar career.

Interviewed by: Kevin Rofidal.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Children -- Minnesota -- Social conditions -- 20th century.

Depressions -- 1929 -- Minnesota.

Families -- Minnesota -- Social conditions -- 20th century.

Housing -- Minnesota -- History -- 1945-1953.

Korean War, 1950-1953.

Military training camps -- United States.

Minorities -- Minnesota.

Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941.

Veterans -- United States -- Education.

Women -- Employment -- Minnesota.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Economic aspects.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Japanese American.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Japan.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Minnesota -- Social aspects.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans -- Minnesota.

World War, 1939-1945 -- War work -- Minnesota.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Akimoto, Nobuhiko J., interviewee.

Amdahl, Orval H., interviewee.

Anderson, Arthur E., interviewee.

Bekke, Douglas, interviewer.

Borgwarth, Gisela, interviewee.

Borgwarth, Hanspeter, interviewee.

Brisley, Charlotte, interviewee.

Brisley, William N., interviewee.

Davis, Stanley M., interviewee.

Dittman, Reidar, interviewee.

Epperson, Conway, interviewee.

Erickson, Robert, interviewee.

Fogerty, James E., 1945-, interviewer.

Foster, Bartley, M., interviewee.

Frederick, Donald S., interviewee.

Freeman, Jane, interviewee.

Hinchliff, John J., interviewee.

Hopson, Vernon, interviewee.

Hueg, Hella Mears, interviewee.

Ingle, Richard K., interviewee.

Irrgang, Lyman C., interviewee.

Kuhrmeyer, Carl A., (Carl Albert), 1928- , interviewee.

Legg, John W., interviewee.

Lehr, Lewis W., interviewee.

Lieder, Bernard, interviewee.

Lindman, Stuart A., interviewee.

Lorentzsen, Norman Martin, 1916- , interviewee.

Menk, Martin C., Jr., interviewee.

Midthun, Norman, interviewee.

Murphy, Margery, interviewee.

Nyrop, Donald William, 1912- , interviewee.

Platou, Carl N. (Carl Nicolai), 1923-2012, interviewee.

Polich, Rivert M. Sr., interviewee.

Pusch, Joachim Friedrich, interviewee.

Rofidal, Kevin, interviewer.

Schmaltz, Martha Kufner, interviewee.

Schmaltz, Otto E., interviewee.

Sworsky, Edmond, interviewee.

Sylvestre, Gene (E. Eugene), interviewee.

Teragawa, Robert Nobuo, interviewee.

Williams, Donald C., interviewee.

Organizations:

Boy Scouts of America.

United States. Army -- Military life.

United States. Navy -- Military life.

Places:

Germany -- Economic conditions -- 1945-1955.

Japan -- History -- Allied occupation, 1945-1952.

United States -- Economic conditions -- 1945-1955.

Document Types:

Interviews.

Oral histories

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