1960: Hartley Explosion Injures Two

An explosion injured a woman and her child in Hartley, Iowa, in 1960.

Next post at 6 p.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/12/2010 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1960, 1960s, accidents, explosion, hartley, iowa, news, records

1945: Salvage Need Is Real

Salvage of tin cans was still necessary in 1945, according to this 1945 Daily Globe editorial.

Next post at 11 a.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/12/2010 at 5:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1940s, 1945, editorials, opinion, patriotica, recycling, salvage, tin, tin cans, war, world war ii

1980: Bizarre Turkey Related Item Sought for Scavenger Hunt

In 1980, an Alaskan was looking for a wing bone yelper, as well as an affidavit from someone who had successfully used one.

Although the usage of a wing bone yelper is alluded to in this letter, I had to look it up, too, just in case.

I gotta ask: Do they work?

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/11/2010 at 6:00 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Tags: 1980, 1980s, letters, opinion, turkey, turkey call, turkey capital, turkey day, turkeys, weirdness, wing bone yelper

1960: Windom Hears Famous Contralto

Famous contralto Marian Anderson performed in Windom in 1960.

Notably absent from at least the first half of the article is any mention of how controversial Anderson had been in earlier decades. For example, in 1939 she was not permitted to sing in front of an integrated audience at Constitution Hall, though they changed their minds in 1943.

Next post at 6 p.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/11/2010 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1960, 1960s, civil rights, concerts, contralto, entertainment, events, famous people, marian anderson, minnesota, music, news, race, windom

1945: Red Cross Box Appreciated

In 1945, a Worthington woman received a gracious thanks for a Red Cross box she had prepared for a soldier's family.

Next post at 11 a.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/11/2010 at 5:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1940s, 1945, aid, margaret williams, navy, patriotica, red cross, soldiers, war, world war ii

1980: Telephone Service Is Lousy, Group Complains

A lot of people were unhappy about their phone service in 1980.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/10/2010 at 6:00 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1980, 1980s, allied mills, business, centel, chamber, chamber of commerce, don rickers, fleet, kwoa, larry rogers, news, rickers photos, technology, telephones, worthington

1960: Hearings End for Watershed

Hearings about the Okabena-Ocheda watershed district ended in early March 1960.

Next post at 6 p.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/10/2010 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1960, 1960s, conservation, ecology, lakes, news, ocheda, okabena, okabena ocheda watershed district, water, water quality, watershed

1945: Darwin Gidel Returns from Nazi POW Camp

Tech Sgt. Darwin Gidel, who on March 24, 1944, was engineer on a B-17 bomber overtaken and shot down by Focke-Wulf 190 fighters on its return from a mission over Schweinfurt, Germany, is home on a 30-day leave from the General hospital in Battle Creek, Mich., to which he was assigned when he recently returned on the repatriation liner Gripsholm after nearly a year in German prison camps.

The ill-fated Fortress was already over Belgium on its return trip, when sent crashing to earth by teh rocket-firing German attack, and soon after he had bailed out of the downward spinning wreck, Sgt. Gidel was in a Brussels military hospital. There he spent three months recuperating from an injury which resulted in the loss of his right leg.

From Brussels, Gidel went first to a Frankfurt camp, then another not far from the first, and finally up to the "Friegesgefangenenlager" near Stargard, where he was when not long ago a combined Swiss-German board surveyed the camp for suitable prospects for repatriation. Because of his disability, Gidel was among those chosen.

Because of their previous good fortune to escape with whole bodies other Worthington and southwestern Minnesota boys who had been companions of Gidel in confinement in the Baltic prison pens had to remain behind. These included Lenny Johnson, Daniel Grunstead, Dale Smith and John Heidebrink that Gidel knew of when he left. Since returning he finds that Bob Bray was in the same camp. The two boys, however, were unaware of it.

Because of his confinement in the Stargard camp, Sgt. Gidel Monday manifested a keen interest in the day's news of the Russian capture of that fortress, 19 miles from Stettin, whihc was 50 miles from the prison camp.

Stargard was the place where anyone in the prison requiring medical aid was taken, Gidel explained. He doubts that any of the Worthington area boys are left there now, presuming them to have been moved as the Soviets came closer.

German treatment of prisoners, as he found it, the sergeant describes as "not so bad." Their situation as prisoners depended to a certain extent upon their own comforts, for they had to "police" their own huts, hence could keep them as fit as they cared to.

Food and clothing came largely through the Red Cross, else there wasn't much. Gidel pointed out that it was probably the best the Germans could do, as they had not too much for their own men, let alone enemy prisoners. Foods were mainly confined to those which could be eaten cold, if necessary, and Sgt. Gidel admits that there are certain well-known U.S. brands he will never care very much for again.

After being tagged by the investigating board for repatriation viat he exchange ship, the sergeant eventually was sent to Switzerland, thence to Marseille, where the Gripsholm waited. The departure for America was delayed while the state department combed the passenger list for nazi agents.

Before the job was done, about half of the alleged American repatriates had been taken to a concentration camp in North Africa. Fourteen days later, the Gripsholm docked at New York.

The repatriated German prisoner accompanied to Worthington Staff Sgt. and Mrs. Harold Gidel, who drove up to Battle Creek from the base in Indiana where they are stationed pending Sgt. Gidel's departure overseas. They will have to return with the coming week end to Indiana. Harold Gidel, who had gone from the former Gidel home town of Rockwell City, Iowa, an Illinois position, has never lived in Worthington.

Sgt. Darwin Gidel returns with teh air medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Purple heart and three combat missions in the European theater of operations. He will have been three years in the army next June.

Sgt. Harold Gidel will close his fourth year in the armed forces in April.

Next post at 11 a.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/10/2010 at 5:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1940s, 1945, european theater, germany, history, nation and world, nazis, news, our boys, patriotica, pow, prisoner of war, purple heart

1945: Local Man Hurt in Sidewalk Fall

Ole Wicklund fractured his hip in 1945 and refused medical help, but was eventually persuaded to go to the hospital. The recovery seemed to be going well when this article was written.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/09/2010 at 6:00 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1940s, 1945, accidents, health, injuries, news

1894, 1980: Building the Nobles County Courthouse

This photo of the old Nobles County Courthouse had never been seen by anyone living (they thought) in 1980. Gorgeous building.

Next post at 6 p.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/09/2010 at 11:00 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Tags: 1894, 1980, history, news, nobles county, nobles county courthouse, old courthouse, photography, photos

1945: Lakefield Soldier Wins Bronze Star

Kenneth Eder of Lakefield won a bronze star in 1945 for heroic achievement in action, because "his coolness and calm leadership resulted in his platoon's driving a determined enemy from their positions, it was stated."

Next post at 11 a.m.

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/09/2010 at 5:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1940s, 1945, awards, bronze star, lakefield, news, our boys, patriotica, war, world war ii

1980: Scoff No More, Zucchini Belittlers

Beth Rickers, lifestyle editor of the Daily Globe, once mentioned on her blog, Lagniappe, that her mother Dorthy absolutely adored zucchini, and sure enough, zucchini recipes keep popping up in Dorthy's columns. This one's from March 1980.

If you like recipes, be sure to check out Beth's blog!

Posted by: Kari Lucin, Daily Globe on 3/08/2010 at 6:00 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 1980, 1980s, columns, dorthy rickers, opinion, zucchini