Women of Resistance: Helena Kuipers-Rietberg

A woman of great faith, Helena Theodora Kuipers-Rietberg, was born May 26, 1893 into a Dutch Reformed family. Her parents were successful grain merchants and millers who were somewhat progressive in their belief system in that they allowed Helena to attend secondary school (unusual for girls at the time). After graduation she went to work in the family business. In 1921, she married Pieter Heijo Kuipers whom she’d met in school. The two had plans to move to the Dutch East Indies where Pieter had secured a job, but Helena’s father convinced Pieter to buy into the grain company as a partner.

Life was good. The couple had five children, and Helena was active in several women’s organizations, many associated with the church. In 1932, she cofounded Gereformeerde Vrouwenbeweging, an organization of Dutch Reformed women, in 1937 she joined the board of the Bond van Gereformeerde Vrouwenvereenigingen in Nederland, an organization which united all Dutch Reformed women's organizations in the country.

Despite the Netherlands declaration of neutrality, Germany invaded on May 10, 1940. Almost immediately Helena began to speak out against the Nazis during meetings and social gatherings stating that Nazi philosophies threatened Christian standards and values. According to one source her first resistance activities was to prevent Dutch young men from enlisting in the NAD, a national socialist organization which provided six months training for the men ages 18-23 to work in Eastern Europe. To avoid enlistment the young men had to go into hiding, and Helena used her extensive contacts throughout the country to find places for them.

Helena and Pieter then got involved in helping downed Allied pilots and escaped POWs get out of the country. Additionally, they distributed illegal newspapers. By early 1942 persecution of Jewish individuals had escalated, and the Kuipers began helping them to go into hiding.

At some point in the autumn of 1942, Helena and Pieter met Pastor Frederick Slomp who also opposed

the Nazis and spoke against them in his sermons. In an interview well after the war, Slomp shared a conversation he had with Helena during which she said, “We should establish and organization so that we can provided hiding places. My idea now is that you should do this. You should cross the country in order to make people enthusiastic about it.” When Slomp spoke of the danger, Helena’s response was: “Would it be so bad if you were killed while thousands of boys were rescued?”

Helena again used her extensive network to co-found Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers (National Organization for Aid to People in Hiding – LO). She coordinated the implementation of local cells that held meetings that were supposedly Bible study groups. When laws changed in 1943 mandating that ration cards had to be picked up personally, the LO held raids on distribution offices to obtain the cards. The National Aid Fund was created, to which she personally contributed and ensured money was distributed fairly. She was also responsible for managing “de Beurs,” a central hub for exchanging intelligence on available hiding addresses, host families, urgent relocations, and matching onderduikers with safe havens.

In May 1944, Helena and Pieter received word they were under suspicion, and their house was to be raided. The couple took their children and escaped, then went into hiding. However, Helena was anxious to get back to her activities and arranged for a false identity card. The courier was arrested on the way to meet her, and under torture gave up their location. She and Pieter were arrested August 18, 1944. Thinking she would get off easier as a woman, they decided she would take all the blame, claiming he knew nothing of the activities. He was released, and Helena was sent to Camp Vught, then later transported to Ravensbruck where she passed away on December 27, 1944.

Known as the Mother of the LO, in 1946 Helena was posthumously awarded the Verzetskruis (Resistance Cross), and in 1954 a monument was erected in her hometown of Winterswijk.

___________________

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances

and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

Dutch Dawn

Will they survive the 500-mile journey to freedom?

Isak Westgard is only six missions short to be rotated stateside. Then the unthinkable happens, and he crashes in the occupied Netherlands where the chances of him making it back to England are slim to none. The beautiful and tough-as-nails resistance courier begs to differ and claims she hasn’t lost anyone yet. The problem is the longer they’re together, the less he wants to escape.

Annaliese Claase has escorted her fair share of refugees and downed Allied pilots to safety - too numerous to remember. Until now. There’s something different about the Norwegian-American lieutenant, and it’s more than his good looks. Can she get him out of the country before losing her heart?

 
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/bMjoxV

 

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Sources:
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/helena-theodora-kuipers-rietberg-resistance-name-aunt-riek/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles/2694/Helena-Kuipers-Rietberg.htm
https://www.annefrank.org/en/timeline/80/foundation-of-the-national-organisation-to-help-those-in-hiding/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Kuipers-Rietberg
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/131995/Information-Panel-Resistance-Fighter-Helena-Theodora-Kuipers-Rietberg.htm
https://grokipedia.com/page/helena_kuipers_rietberg

Photo Credits:
Helena Kuipers-Rietberg: By Unknown photographer - NIOD, Public Domain. De Bovenweg 37 in Bennekom, where Helena was arrested: By Evert100 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Frederick Slomp: Beeldbank WO2

Ravensbruck: US Holocaust Museum

Women of Resistance: Sonja Wigert

 

Would you do anything to save your family? Norwegian actress Sonja Wigert agreed to become an Allied spy (code name Bill) to secure the release of her father from a Nazi prison. Born in the lakeside town of Notodden, Norway to a military family, Sonja began acting as a child on stage. She transitioned to film at the age of twenty-one, then relocated to Sweden in 1939 to further her career. She would eventually star in nearly three dozen movies until her retirement.

Sonja was sent back to Norway where her assignment was to uncover information about the German officers stationed there. She was specifically instructed to get close to Joseph Terboven, the Reichskommissar of occupied Norway. His fascination with actresses made him an easy target, and he was quickly enamored with her beauty and intelligence. She convinced him that she could use her contacts to spy on Sweden, and he took her up on the offer, thereby solidifying her role as a double-agent feeding him controlled disinformation.

Her father was eventually released from Grini concentration camp, along with several other political

prisoners. Her work for the military continued, and she managed to identify the Gestapo’s highest-ranking operative and the networks of German agents stationed there. Additional reports from her included the exposure of leaks in Swedish security that enabled the German infiltration. She collaborated with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the CIA) in their attempts to expel Nazi agents from Sweden.

By 1944, the Nazis had determined that Sonja was only providing information approved by the resistance. In retribution, they spread the word that she was a collaborator. Despite repeated efforts to clear her name, the public could not be convinced. After the war was over, she returned to the movie industry, but her reputation was besmirched, and she was never as successful as her pre-war career. She would later say in an interview, “All of it was horrible. It was torment to go on the stage and to make films whilst this farce was ongoing. However, the worst thing was the icy coldness I felt from my friends.” Sonja completed her last film in 1960 and withdrew from the industry. She moved to Spain in 1969, passing away in 1980.

Sadly, she would not receive vindication until 2005, twenty-five years after her death, when the Swedish Intelligence agency released its war archives to the public, and her activities and loyalties revealed. Based on historian Iselin Theien’s biography Sonja Wigert: A Double Life, Swedish director Jens Jonsson’s dramatized biopic, The Spy, was released in 2019.

_______________________

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and

women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

 
Norwegian Nights

Can their marriage endure a debilitating injury, a devastating loss, and a world war?

The second anniversary of Germany’s occupation of Norway has passed with no end in sight, so Gustav Westgard and his wife are still exiled on Shetland. He’s convinced Oda’s miscarriage would have been prevented back in Norway and decides he must return to his homeland to do whatever possible to rid the country of its invaders. Will he live to see liberation?

Grieving the loss of her baby, Oda turns toward her heavenly Father as Gustav retreats inside himself. Rather than try to stop him after she discovers he plans to join the Norwegian resistance, she stows away onboard the ship taking him home. Can she convince him that they are better united in a cause than apart?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/bwl5qv


Sources:
https://skbl.se/en/article/SonjaWigert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonja_Wigert
https://www.filmreviewdaily.com/all-reviews/the-spy
https://grokipedia.com/page/Sonja_Wigert

Photo Credits:
Sonja Wigert: By Nostalgia - Swedish publicity/press still, photographer unknown, Public Domain.
Sonja Wigert still from the 1941 movie Love and Friendship.
Movie Poster: imdb

Women of Espionage: Libertas Schultze-Boysen

 

“In the face of authoritarian rule, what is a citizen to do? Some will join the oppressors, while others, such as the diarist of the Nazi era Victor Klemperer, will keep their heads down, hoping the horrors will pass (they usually do not). Some, generally a tiny minority, choose the path of civil courage and resistance, of activity that aims to sabotage the regime. Such acts may take many forms, one being to work secretly from within the new establishment of which you are a part.” (1)

Libertas Schultze-Boysen was one of the latter. Born into a German aristocratic family on November 20, 1913, she was raised on her grandfather’s estate outside of Berlin. Her parents were bi-lingual, so she also learned English and French. At some point after her high school graduation, she moved to England, but by 1933, she was back in Berlin working as a press officer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio.

According to several sources, she met her future husband Harro while sailing on the Wannsee during the summer of 1934. By then, Harro had already been subjected to Nazi atrocities when the Gestapo closed down the “left-leaning” publication he was producing, Der Gegner (The Opponent) and beat him badly enough he lost most of one ear and suffered damage to his kidneys. He was released because of his mother’s influence.

The couple married in 1936 with Herman Göring walking Libertas down the aisle. Over the next

several years, they used their positions (her with MGM and him in the Ministry of Aviation) to gather information about Nazi violence and crimes in Germany as well as their involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Additionally, Libertas and Harro held informal meetings with like-minded, anti-Nazi friends. In 1939, they met Mildred and Arvid Harnack with whom they would initiate a collection of resistance cells called the Red Orchestra at the end of the following year.

A great risk to herself, Libertas continued to collect photographs, help persecuted people escape and wrote and distributed Nazi leaflets and pamphlets “that contained dissident content.” She and other members of Red Orchestra also wrote letters to prominent individuals.

In July 1942, illegal radio transmissions by a Soviet agent were tracked down by the Gestapo, and the man, Johann Wenzel, was arrested. He was unable to withstand the torture and cooperated by releasing the radio codes which enabled the Germans to decipher the messages. One transmittal included the location of Libertas’s apartment.

Libertas was arrested in September 1942 eight days after Harro while on a train headed to see friends. Taken to Reich Security Main Headquarters in Berlin, the building that formerly housed the arts and crafts school where her father was rector. In December, she and Harro were “brought before the “Reich Court Martial” where they were tried for “preparation to commit high treason, helping the enemy, and espionage.” Found guilty, the couple was sentenced to death and were executed three days later on December 22, 1942.

Honored for her work, the chapel at Liebenberg Castle was named for her, and there are two “stumbling stones” at the front steps to the Castle for the couple. A memorial plaque hangs at Haus Altenburger Allee 19.

___________________

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and

women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

Shetland Sunset

Bonded by a cause but an ocean apart, will their love survive a world war?

After months in Norway helping his cousins with their fishing business, American Askel Westgard seems trapped when the Germans invade until he has a chance to get back at the Occupiers as part of the Shetlandsgjengen, or Shetland gang, a group of fisherman who transport weapons and equipment from Shetland to Norway under cover of darkness. Unfortunately, the beautiful Norwegian woman he’s just met refuses to join him in safety. Will he ever see her again?

Distraught when the Germans overrun her beloved Norway, Tonje Bondevik refuses to take the occupation sitting down. She joins the fledgling resistance movement, deriving great satisfaction distributing the underground newspaper and performing acts of sabotage…until the day the Nazis come looking for her, and she must flee for her life. Perhaps she should have listened to the handsome Norwegian-American when he offered to take her to Shetland.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/4AWqJk

1 “The Heroic Couple Who Defied Hitler,” Phillipe Sands, The Spectator, August 6, 2020.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertas_Schulze-Boysen
https://lastwordonnothing.com/2013/02/18/the-sad-fate-of-libertas-schultze-boysen/
https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/complete-index/biographie-detail/view-bio/libertas-schulze-boysen https://tinyurl.com/38wsreh4
https://spectator.com/article/the-heroic-couple-who-defied-hitler/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/9355/Memorial-Libertas-and-Harro-Schulze-Boysen.htm
https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/topics/14-the-red-orchestra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Orchestra_(espionage)

Photo Credits:
Libertas: By Unknown author - https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/menschen/libertas-schulze-boysen-ein-weihnachtsengel-vor-der-hinrichtung-12000641/ich-bleibe-jung-in-eurem-12000645.html, Public Domain.
Libertas and Harro Schultze-Boysen: The German Resistance Memorial Center, Berlin
Memorial: Courtesy Traces of War

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Author Photo

“We would rather play ball than eat,” claimed catcher Lavonne “Pepper” Paire, one of the more than six hundred women who were part of the All-American Girls Professional Ball League (AAGPBL)“We put our hearts and souls into the leaguer. We thought it was our job to do our best, because we were the All-American girls. We felt like we were keeping up our country’s morale.”

As with all industries during World War II, professional baseball lost men to the war effort. Many were drafted, and others, like New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, enlisted. Major league executives eyed their checkbooks with growing concern. A lot of their talent was gone, and thanks to gasoline rationing team travel was limited. How could they keep the public’s interest? Would they be forced to cease operations until the end of the war?

Enter chewing gum magnate and Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley who devised the concept of a women’s baseball league. In an interview, he stated, “The need for additional recreation in towns busy with war defense work prompted the idea.” Women’s work in the factories was supposed to be temporary. Why not women in baseball as a temporary solution?

Together with former ballplayer-turned-executive Branch Rickey, attorney and University of Chicago

Courtesy: This Day in Baseball

trustee Paul V. Harper, and others, Wrigley founded the league as a nonprofit and sent out scouts to recruit from various women’s amateur softball leagues from around the U.S. Tryouts were held at Wrigley Field on a sunny day in the spring of 1943. More than two hundred women showed up and about sixty were selected to play for four teams. Unfortunately, like the male league, the women’s league was segregated, and African-American women were not recruited or hired.

Skills were important, but so was the appearance of being wholesome and feminine. In fact, part of the contract required the women to attend classes at Helena Rubinstein’s charm school where they were taught “proper” etiquette, personal hygiene, mannerism, and dress code. In an effort to enhance the women’s appearance, they were given a beauty kit and instructions on how to use it. The league issued “Rules of Conduct” that required the women to wear lipstick at all times and prohibited them from smoking or drinking in public places, wearing pants, and having short hair. The following year, Josephine “JoJo” D’Angelo would be fired for cutting her hair short. In addition to the rules, the league assigned a chaperone to each team.

Reminiscent of women’s figure skating, field hockey and tennis costumes of the day, the women’s baseball uniforms featured a short-sleeved tunic dress with a flared skirt, belted at the waist. The skirt could be no more than six inches above the knee. The outfit was completed with a one-size-fits-all baseball cap that featured elastic bands in the back to hold them in place. Without pants to protect them, the women developed welts, bruises, and lacerations, often referred to as “strawberries” from sliding into base.

Public Domain

The teams were comprised of fifteen players, a manager/coach, business manager, and female chaperone. Salaries ranged from $45 to $85 per week (the equivalent of $761-$1437 in 2022 dollars), and were higher than that of many women in the workforce, including those in the defense industry. In later years, the salary rose to about $125 per week. After the first year’s success, additional teams were created and financed by civic groups and other big-league players such as Jimmie Foxx, Johnny Rawlings, Leo Murphy, Bill Wambsganss, and Dave Bancroft served as league managers.

Pitcher Jean Faut, who died in 2023 at the age of ninety-eight, summed up in a 1988 interview what many players had stated over the years, “Those years in the league were the greatest years of my life.”

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War’s Unexpected Gift

Love and war don’t mix. Or do they?

Eager to do even more for the war effort, nurse Gwen Milford puts in for a transfer from a convalescent hospital outside of London to an evac hospital headed across Europe. Leap-frogging from one location to the next, nothing goes as expected from stolen supplies to overwhelming numbers of casualties. Then, there’s the handsome doctor who seems to be assigned to her every shift. As another Christmas approaches without the war’s end, can she find room in her heart for love?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jG2wl

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves.

Whether you choose her books set in the Old West or across the globe during WWII, you will be immersed in the past through rich detail. Follow the journeys of relatable characters whose faith is sorely tested, yet in the end, emerge triumphant. Be encouraged in your own faith-walk through stories of history and hope. Visit her at http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com

Food Fights for Freedom

Creamer
Author Photo

By 1942, in addition to feeding its citizens at home and its troops overseas, the United States was supplying food to the allies in Europe and the Pacific under the Lend-Lease program. Rationing only went so far, and the need to grow more food was apparent. However, the estimated two million male workers who had left the farms created a severe labor shortage.

In an effort to solve the problem, the American government turned to its southern neighbor, Mexico, and in August 1942, the two countries signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement creating the Bracero Program (Spanish for manual labor) that offered employment to five million Mexican men, “braceros,” in twenty-four states. The program also allowed for laborers to be brought from Guam.

That same year, Eleanor Roosevelt had been to England and toured the farms where women worked the fields as part of the Women’s Land Army. At the time, the first lady was the assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense, and upon her return, she touted the benefits of using women for the same purpose in the United States. Farmers and government officials were not convinced women had the requisite skills or strength to be effective and rejected the idea. Instead, prisoners of war, mostly Italian and German, were daily transported to farms to provide the labor. Conscientious Objectors were also used.

Mrs. Roosevelt was not the only one to acknowledge the benefit of using women on farms. An article in the Farm Journal posited, “women and children already on the farms of American must be ready to train small town and city women for summer, seasonal, and vacation jobs in the poultry, truck and fruit farms of the country.” Articles in other periodicals soon followed. The public agreed, and letters to the editors of both small and large newspapers began to appear with regularity.

Eventually the government got on board, and a press release was issued on April 10, 1942 announced

the establishment of the Women’s Land Army (WLA) and Florence Hall, Senior Home Economist was appointed as director two days later. To qualify for consideration women had to be eighteen years old and physically fit with “dexterity, speed, accuracy, patience, interest, curiosity, rivalry, and patriotism.”

The national WLA handled promotions, conferences, and propaganda encouraging women to become farmerettes (the term coined during WWI), and the state and local organizations placed the women. Initially, farmers had no interest in using urban women, but as the labor shortage worsened, a variety of methods were used to recruit women from all walks of life.

Public Domain

Training for the women was handled through colleges and universities such as Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science that offered a 25-day intensive course on milking, egg grading, food packing, maintaining horses, and operating machinery. Workers were paid and “unskilled worker’s wage” ranging from $0.25 to $0.50 per hour. From that wage they paid for their denim overall uniforms, meals, and lodging.

An accurate count of the women who worked American farms through the Women’s Land Army is difficult to ascertain, but an estimated two million seemed to have answered the call to “rescue the crops” as one newspaper article proclaimed.

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War’s Unexpected Gift

Love and war don’t mix. Or do they?

Eager to do even more for the war effort, nurse Gwen Milford puts in for a transfer from a convalescent hospital outside of London to an evac hospital headed across Europe. Leap-frogging from one location to the next, nothing goes as expected from stolen supplies to overwhelming numbers of casualties. Then, there’s the handsome doctor who seems to be assigned to her every shift. As another Christmas approaches without the war’s end, can she find room in her heart for love?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jG2wl

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves.

Whether you choose her books set in the Old West or across the globe during WWII, you will be immersed in the past through rich detail. Follow the journeys of relatable characters whose faith is sorely tested, yet in the end, emerge triumphant. Be encouraged in your own faith-walk through stories of history and hope. Visit her at http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com

Annie G. Fox: Woman of Valor

WikiImage

Tomorrow marks the eighty-second anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor, a “day that would live in infamy,” and the impetus for the United States to join the war that was taking over the globe. Located on Oahu, the third largest of the Hawaiian islands and home to Honolulu, the base at Pearl Harbor was the main base for the American Naval Fleet in the Pacific Ocean. Schofield Barracks, headquarters of the 25th Infantry Division, and several Army airfields were also part of the base. More than 35,000 soldiers lived and worked at Pearl, and in fact, more soldiers than sailors were present on the day of the attack.

There were a mere eighty-two nurses stationed in Hawaii at three Army medical facilities that day. First Lieutenant Annie G. Fox, Chief Nurse in the Army Nurse Corps at Hickam Field was on duty at the time of the attack. The forty-seven-year-old nurse was a twenty-three-year veteran having enlisted in 1918, a few months prior to the end of World War I. Annie was born in Pubnico, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, to Doctor Charles Fox and Deidamia Fox. I couldn’t unearth how she came to the U.S.

After WWI, she served in New York, Texas (Fort Sam Houston), California (Fort Mason), and two locations in the Philippines. After some time back in the continental U.S., she was assigned to Honolulu in May 1940 and received her promotion to Chief Nurse in August 1941, after which she was moved to Hickam in November of that year at the same time the 30-bed hospital opened.

Casualties that included a high percentage of burn victims poured into the facility within minutes of

the first bombing run. As bombs fell and fighter jets filled the sky, Annie pulled together the nurses and organized the hospital’s response. Officers’ wives and NCOs reported to the facility, and Annie trained them how to make hospital dressings by the hundreds and assist with patient care. She participated in surgery, administered anesthesia, and tended the wounded. By all reports, Annie maintained a cool demeanor during the entire event.

A year later, Annie was awarded the Purple Heart, her citation reading in part, “During the attack, Lieutenant Fox in an exemplary manner, performed her duties as head nurse of the Station Hospital…{she} worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency and her fine example of calmness, courage, and leadership was of great benefit to the morale of all with whom she came in contact.”

In 1942, the criteria to receive a Purple Heart changed to be limited to wounds received as a result of enemy action, and Annie's award was rescinded. She was then given the Bronze Star Medal in replacement. Four other nurses were also recognized for their performance during the attack: Captain Helena Clearwater, First Lt. Elizabeth A. Pesut, Second Lt. Elma L. Asson, and Second Lt. Rosalie L. Swenson, each receiving the Legion of Merit “for extraordinary fidelity and essential service.”

Annie was promoted to Captain and in May 1943 transferred to Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco, California, later moving to Camp Phillips, Kansas where she was promoted to Major. After retiring in December 1945, she moved to San Diego, California to live near two of her sisters. She never married and passed away on January 20, 1987 at the age of 93.

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Francine’s Foibles:

She's given up hope. He never had any. Will they find it together?

World War II is finally over, and America is extra grateful as the country approaches this year’s Thanksgiving. But for Francine life hasn’t changed. Despite working at Fort Meade processing the paperwork for the thousands of men who have returned home, she’s still lonely and very single. Is she destined for spinsterhood?

Grateful that his parents anglicized the family surname after emigrating to the United States after the Great War, first-generation German-American Ray Fisher has done all he can to hide his heritage. He managed to make it through this second “war to end all wars,” but what American woman would want to marry into a German family. Must he leave the country to find wedded bliss?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/3Z4cz0y

Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII.

Eleanor Roosevelt: Woman of Valor

WikiImages

Born October 11, 1884 into wealth and privilege, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt lost both her alcoholic parents and a brother before she was ten years old. Before her father died, he extracted a promise from her that she’d take care of her younger brother Hall which she did until his death in 1941.

In addition to being part of the prominent Roosevelts, Eleanor was also a Livingston, a well-to-do Scottish family that emigrated to the Dutch Republic and then New York during the 1700s. Descendants include Presidents George H.W. Bush and George Bush, suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, much of the Astor family, actor Montgomery Clift, and actress Jane Wyatt. Through her father, she was Theodore Roosevelt’s niece.

In 1902, Eleanor encountered her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, while on a train trip in New York. The two took up a correspondence, and romance blossomed. They became engaged on November 22, 1903. Franklin’s mother, Sara Delano, was against the relationship and insisted the couple delay the marriage. She took her son on a cruise hoping the separation would cool their feelings. Her plan failed, and the wedding took place on St. Patrick’s Day, 1905 with Theodore Roosevelt giving Eleanor away. Franklin’s mother would prove to be an overbearing and difficult mother-in-law.

By 1921, after Franklin’s paralytic illness (which most scholars agree was polio), Eleanor became his stand-in at many events. She worked with the Women’s Trade Union and helped raise funds in support of their goals to abolish child labor, create a minimum wage, and shorten to the workweek to forty-eight hours. In an effort to help local farming families in New York, Eleanor partnered with several women to create Val-Kill Industries which financed the construction of a small factory that produced furniture, pewter, and homespun cloth.

Eleanor became the first First Lady to hold her own press conferences which she allowed only female

WikiImages

reporters to attend. She traveled extensively visiting relief projects, surveying working and living conditions, and reporting her observations to Franklin. She also became an advocate for the poor, minorities, and disadvantaged providing opportunities for success and developing programs to assist. 

During WWII, she wanted serve overseas with the Red Cross but was told it would be too much of a security risk. Instead, she became the Assistant Director of Civil Defense. She supported increased roles for women and African-Americans in the war effort, and advocated for women to be given factory jobs a year before it became a widespread practice. After Franklin’s death in April 1945, she continued her public work. She was appointed to the United Nations General Assembly and served as chair of the Human Rights Commission, drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948.

WikiImages

In her later life, she volunteered her services to the American Association for the U.N and was an American representative to the World Federation of the U.N. Associations, later becoming chair of the Associations’ Board of Directors. President Kennedy appointed her to the United States Delegation to the U.N. as well as the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps and chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

A recognized leader in promoting humanitarian efforts, Eleanor Roosevelt passed away on November 7, 1962.

__________________________

Francine’s Foibles:

She's given up hope. He never had any. Will they find it together?

World War II is finally over, and America is extra grateful as the country approaches this year’s Thanksgiving. But for Francine life hasn’t changed. Despite working at Fort Meade processing the paperwork for the thousands of men who have returned home, she’s still lonely and very single. Is she destined for spinsterhood?

Grateful that his parents anglicized the family surname after emigrating to the United States after the Great War, first-generation German-American Ray Fisher has done all he can to hide his heritage. He managed to make it through this second “war to end all wars,” but what American woman would want to marry into a German family. Must he leave the country to find wedded bliss?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/3Z4cz0y

Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. Visit her website at http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com.

Susan Ahn Cuddy: Woman of Valor

Photo: Courtesy
Defense.gov

Why would an Asian-American college graduate who’d been subjected to prejudice choose to join the military to fight for the country who’d suppressed her? According to that young woman, Susan Ahn Cuddy, it was an act to honor her late father.

In 1902, Susan’s parents, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho and Helen Ahn, were the first Koreans to legally immigrate to the United States. A protestant activist, Chang Ho made several trips back to Korea, as well as China, where he led Korean independence movements. He and his wife opened their home as headquarters for the Young Korean Academy that taught leadership skills to Korean immigrants.

Reports differ as to the last time the family saw Chang Ho, but his arrest in 1932 sealed his fate. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Almost as soon as being released, he was again arrested, but by then he was suffering from some sort of illness. He was transferred to Keijo Imperial University where he would pass away on March 10, 1938.

During his time in America, Susan’s father stressed to all five of his children to never forget their

Photo Credit: Philip Ahn

Korean heritage but to embrace being the best possible American citizens. He also encouraged the freethinking that gave Susan and her siblings the idea that they could break from tradition and be whatever they wanted to be. While growing up, they often worked in their father’s independence movement organizations. During an interview late in her life, Susan remarked, “We were always told how lucky we were to be born in a free country.”

As a result, three years after her father’s death and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Susan knew she had to do something to fight the Japanese that had imprisoned him. By June 1942, the Navy had created the WAVES program that allowed women to join their ranks. Unsurprisingly, Susan’s application was rejected because of her race. Undeterred, she reapplied and was accepted in December 1942.

Author Photo

She was sent to a five-week training course in Cedar Falls, Iowa. From there, she went to George where she was taught how to work early flight simulators called Link Trainers, then became an instructor. She was temporarily reassigned to be an aerial gunnery instructor, but a short time later an officer who worked with her recommended her for officer training. She was accepted in late summer 1943, and that fall commissioned as a WAVES officer. In November, she found herself in gunnery school in Pensacola, Florida. Upon graduation, she became the first female Navy gunnery officer. She must have felt like she was living out of a suitcase because two months later, she was sent to Atlantic City Naval Air Station to train naval aviators on the .50 caliber machine gun.

Because of her ability to speak Korean, she was transferred to the U.S. Naval Intelligence Office where she worked with codebreakers. However, prejudice raised its ugly head again when one supervisor refused to allow her near classified documents because of her race. She quietly proved herself and was chosen to be the organization's liaison with the Library of Congress.

In the waning days of the war, Susan met fellow code-breaker Francis “Frank” X. Cuddy, an Irish-

Courtesy of Philip Ahn

American chief petty officer who spoke fluent Japanese. They fell in love, but because of the laws in Virginia that banned interracial marriages, the couple wed at the Navy chapel in Washington, DC. Neither family approved of the union, but as Susan said later, “The best way to get your relatives to accept your mixed-race marriage is to have kids.”

Frank and Susan continued to work in intelligence at the National Security Agency until their retirement. Frank passed away in 1978 and Susan in 2015 at the age of 100.

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Francine’s Foibles

She's given up hope. He never had any. Will they find it together?

World War II is finally over, and America is extra grateful as the country approaches this year’s Thanksgiving. But for Francine life hasn’t changed. Despite working at Fort Meade processing the paperwork for the thousands of men who have returned home, she’s still lonely and very single. Is she destined for spinsterhood?

Grateful that his parents anglicized the family surname after emigrating to the United States after the Great War, first-generation German-American Ray Fisher has done all he can to hide his heritage. He managed to make it through this second “war to end all wars,” but what American woman would want to marry into a German family. Must he leave the country to find wedded bliss?

Pre-order Link: https://amzn.to/3qw2U67

Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors. http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com

Stagecoach Mary: America's First African-American Postal Carrier

Public Domain

I can barely parallel park my car, so I am always impressed when I find out about other women who drive tractor-trailers, bulldozers, and other large vehicles. Then I stumbled on the story of Mary Fields who became a postal carrier at the age of sixty in the wilds of Montana and was even more amazed. Can you imagine controlling four horses to pull a two-thousand-pound swaying vehicle with little suspension over rocky and often barely perceptible roads?

Yeah, I would have found another job.

Not Mary Fields. She was born into slavery sometime during 1832, perhaps 1833. Not much is known about her growing-up years, although most scholars seem to agree that she was owned by the Warren family in West Virginia prior to Civil War. After being freed in 1865, Mary worked her way up the Mississippi River working on steamboats. She ultimately ended up in Toledo, Ohio where she was employed at Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart. Again, records are sketchy so it is unknown why she left the convent, but she headed west.

Mary once again found work at a religious order when she landed at St. Peter’s Mission near Cascade,

Courtesy Ursuline Nuns
of Youngstown

Montana. Accounts differ as to how she ended up there, but the mission was also run by Ursuline nuns, and the Mother Superior, Mary Amadeus was related by marriage to the family that had enslaved Mary Fields, so perhaps there was a connection from earlier in her life. She cultivated the garden, hunted game, and coordinated the delivery of supplies, but refused wages which allowed her to come and go as she pleased.

She “cussed a blue streak” as my grandfather would say, wore pants, and frequented the saloons which were interestingly overlooked by the nuns. However, things came to a head when she got into an argument with one of the male janitors at the mission, and the two pulled their guns. Neither fired, but the incident was the last straw for the area bishop who insisted that Mary’s employment be terminated.

Trying (and failing) at a number of things, including running a restaurant, Mary secured a contract to be a Star Route Carrier for the US Post Office Department (precursor to the US Postal Service). Some sources indicated she was awarded the contract through the assistance of the nuns; another claims she got the position because she hitched a “6-up team” faster than anyone else.

Courtesy Ursuline Sisters Archives, Great Falls

Mary’s thirty-four-mile round trip route ran between St. Peter’s Mission and Cascade. She carried multiple weapons including a .38 Smith & Wesson and a rifle to keep herself safe from bandits and wildlife. She also endured harsh winter weather, sometimes snowshoeing rather than leading the horses.

Unsurprisingly, she built a reputation for being fearless during her eight years of working the route. After retiring, she ran a laundry business and babysat for families in Cascade. Well-known and respected, she was granted an exemption by the mayor allowing her in saloons after a law passed prohibiting women from entering such places of business. Schools were also closed each year on her birthday, and she became the mascot for the town’s baseball team.

Here's a short video about the life and times of this intrepid woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMxSTtRBa-o

_________________

Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.

Beryl’s Bounty Hunter – Coming soon!

Can a thief and a lawman find happiness?

Orphaned as a child, Beryl Atherton has lived on the streets of London as long as she can remember. Reduced to stealing for survival, she is arrested. During her incarceration one of her cellmates shows her a newspaper ad for an American mail-order bride agency. But all is not as it seems, and moments after landing in Boston, she must run for her life. Will things be no different for her in the New World?

Working as a bounty hunter since The War Between the States, Lucas Wolf just needs a few more cases before he can hang up his gun, purchase a ranch out West, and apply for a mail-order bride from the Westward Home & Hearts Mail-Order Bride Agency. While staking out the docks in Boston, he sees a woman fleeing from the man he’s been tailing. Saving her risks his job. Not saving her risks his heart.