The Vogels of Artesia, New Mexico 3

  

The last of the Vogel collection, but this one is a bit different, and the reason why I bought these three postcards.  While the other two cards were from 1942, the first full year of America's involvement in World War 2, this one is from 1945, and while the postmark is a bit smudged, so I'm not sure of the month, 'TACOMA WASH. 8 PM, 1945."  It was probably from after VJ-Day.  Too, it wasn't from Ray Vogel, but "Pvt. Robert N. Stark,38709913, Co. B, 161st MTG., Ft. Lewis Washington" It also wasn't mailed to Dorothy Vogel but to "Mr & Mrs J. M. Vogel, Artesia New Mexico" Even though there is no post box or street address, it must have been delivered.  It's the message that's interesting, "Hello Vogels: Hows everybody?  We are all well maybe I should have said all wet. It rains 8 days a week here. Ha. Gay went fishing the other day where the water is real deep caught four fish too.  Will probably be down to all you folks in N.M when I get back from Japan. Nelson"  

So, occupation duty by the sound of it, which is why I think this card was sent after the Japanese surrender. Anyway, there are a lot of photos and cards from World War 2 out there, and I always wonder if the people depicted survived the war.  Was Nelson a friend of the Vogel family or was he a friend of Roy who didn't make it?  

Click on The Vogel Collection in labels to see all three posts. 

Clara Cofy

Another from the throw in pile.  Labeled "Clara Cofy, 1945"  Good year, the war ended.

Me and a bunch of other people.

Written on the back, "Marvin, June, Gene, Me, Bud, 1945"

Graduating In Peace

I'm not quite sure what this picture represents.  Maybe a prom photo or homecoming.  It's a bit out of focus, but once I blew it up, it looks like the sign above the stage reads Classes with some dates.  I'm not 100% sure, but I'd say 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941.  Perhaps it means that those four classes raised money to pay for the auditorium.  In any case, there is a photographer's stamp on the back, "ARTHUR W. F. LOWENSTEIN, MORO, ILL. OCT 22 1945"  If I'm reading it correctly, the class of 1941, the last one listed on the sign would have been the last graduating class before World War 2, and the Class of 1946 would be the first to graduate after VJ-Day. 

I couldn't find anything about the photographer, but Moro is near St. Louis, Missouri. 

Cleo and Friends

Written on the back, "Cleo, Marion, Betty, Judy  Oct. 21,1945."  Yesterday's post dated from January 1942, just a month or so after America's entry into World War 2.  Today's post just a few months after the war's end.   Whenever I see pictures of civilians from the war era, I'm always reminded that they almost certainly knew someone who was killed or wounded.  It's not like that anymore.  We've been involved, militarily on some level, in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade, and I don't know a single person who has been killed or wounded in those conflicts, nor do I know any person who has family that has died.   We could have small numbers of troops, in combat, for another twenty years, and it would still be possible to never know any actual casualties or their families.  I guess that's why it's so easy to tolerate our involvement.