Celebrating homecomings and moving on in the aftermath of WWII, 1945-1950
The first few years after WWII were no ordinary time for Laramie and Wyoming. Weddings proliferated and so did a baby boom, though both had begun earlier as the pre-war buildup ended the Great Depression. Cynics said that men who became fathers during the war were hoping to avoid the draft—a ploy that did not work for most. As the war dragged on, married men with children were drafted or called up too.
Victory in Europe was celebrated by the Allies on May 8, 1945. But the Japanese did not surrender until the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Japan on August 9; the end of the War in the Pacific became official with the signing of a document aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
A “Point System”
Servicemen started coming home as soon as the number of European fronts diminished. But they weren’t released all at once. A “point” system was set up by the War Department with the philosophy that those who had fought the longest and hardest should be discharged first. But different branches of service had different point requirements, depending on how urgent the need was for personnel with their skills.
Enlisted personnel got one point for each month of service, and another point for each month served overseas. Five points were given for each combat medal awarded. Those with dependent children under 18 got 12 points per child. Generally, enlisted men needed 85 points to be considered for discharge, but priority was given to fathers.
Scams were reported in Wyoming newspapers claiming to aid families in securing an early release for their soldiers. The Jackson Hole Guide even reported that a congressman (unnamed) had written to servicemen’s families offering to help move a G.I. up higher on the list of those to be sent home through his influence, a practice the paper deplored.
Housing shortages
In the early months after war’s end, advertising for consumer goods, especially clothing, was on nearly every newspaper page. None for automobiles, however—nor were there any classified ads for housing available to buy or rent.
Instead, the Laramie classified sections had “want ads” from young couples desperate for housing. It was during this time that many Laramie homeowners developed basement rental apartments. The federal government stepped in by “freezing” rents to what they had been on January 1, 1945. Price controls went into effect in Laramie in January of 1946, though they were not applied in all Wyoming towns. Nearby Fort Collins had them as well.
Homecomings
The short paragraphs in the social news columns were mainly listings of which local servicemen would be coming home. The news was provided by family members who had been notified, perhaps with a jubilant phone call when the returning G.I. landed in New York or San Francisco. It is unlikely that returnees sent telegrams, lest they give their family members temporary heart failure. The dreaded telegrams from the government usually began with “we regret to inform you that. . . .”
The War Department intentionally dispersed recruits so that rarely did someone from Laramie run into a classmate. The “pals battalions” of the American Civil War and of the British in WWI allowed men from a particular place to serve together. That built camaraderie but it also devastated communities when there were large numbers of casualties.
Veterans return
In January of 1946, the Casper Star reported that there were almost 6,000 members of the 53 Wyoming American Legion posts, the highest number they had ever had. The same increase in membership probably happened with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which in Laramie advertised their frequent dances to take veterans minds off the war. Then, as now, these clubs provided veterans a chance to talk about the war with those who knew what they had been through, even though they didn’t serve together.
In March, Governor Hunt declared that the state had a surplus of $4.5 million in the state’s general fund. Wartime needs for the state’s mineral resources had been profitable. A new economic depression was feared, though the Casper Star of December 12, 1946, said that “only 20.8 per cent of Wyoming veterans have been on the compensation [unemployment] rolls at any time.” That was hardly good news, since a much lower number of 4 to 5 per cent unemployment is considered “full employment.”
Heart Mountain opens gates
In northwest Wyoming, the Heart Mountain relocation camp opened its gates and encouraged internees to leave. Of the 10,000 there, 1,566 had “departed on indefinite leaves” by January of 1944, reported historian T.A. Larson in “Wyoming’s War Years;1941-1945.” Freedom was assured on January 2, 1945, when the west coast and the rest of the country was opened for Japanese and Japanese-American re-settlement, even though the War in the Pacific was still raging.
Many were understandably worried about what to do—their belongings had disappeared with the suddenness of their evacuation, housing was scarce back home, and local hostilities were feared. However, all left the camp by November of 1945 with very few remaining in Wyoming.
New jobs, old jobs
In August 1946, the Casper Star-Tribune reported that “navy dive bomber pilot” Robert E. Foster of Laramie had returned from service and had begun a job with the Top of the World Fur Farm near Laramie, owned by Albert McConnell. Foster was taking advantage of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, run by the Veterans Administration, to apply his skill of raising rabbits, a high school hobby, to raising more profitable mink and fox.
An officer from Laramie, Major Sylvester J. Siren (1895-1980) had his old job at the Laramie Post Office waiting for him when he returned from service in 1947 at age 52. A reserve officer from service in WWI, Major Siren had been called to active service in 1942, and served mainly as a convoy officer, escorting troops by ship to Europe, Africa, and the Pacific, making 17 trips across both oceans altogether. His widow provided this information to Mary Kay Mason, editor of the book “Laramie, Gem City of the Plains” published in 1986. Their daughter Anne Siren Levig has homes in both Laramie and Sun City West, and their son Vince is a frequent visitor to Laramie from his home in the Tulsa area of Oklahoma
One lucky Laramie woman and UW graduate, Emma “Eleanor” Atwell Hays, had been able to join her serviceman husband in occupied Japan. She returned with him aboard a military passenger ship that was built in 1943 by a private company and was purchased by the U.S. Army Transport Service. It was built to carry 165 military personnel and their dependents in service much like passenger cruise ships. However, in one Pacific run in 1946, it was refitted to carry over 1,000 military personnel and their dependents, eager to get home after the war.
War Memorial
In Laramie, an opportunity to honor returning servicemen developed as plans for new athletic facilities at UW were considered. War Memorial Stadium was dedicated on Saturday, September 23, 1950, in halftime ceremonies held during the “biggest football game the University of Wyoming Cowboys have ever played,” reported the Casper Star. The home team put a cap on the special day by beating the Baylor University Bears of Waco, Texas, 7-0.
A year later, War Memorial Fieldhouse next door opened to 9,000 fans who saw it dedicated on Friday, December 14, 1951 “a living memorial dedicated by all the people of Wyoming” according to Dr. George Duke Humphrey, UW President. However, the Casper Star sadly reported that the Cowboys dropped the opening basketball game, 57-55, to the Indiana Hoosiers.
The stadium and fieldhouse had been a dream of UW athletic director Genn J. Jacoby. As early as May 30, 1946, he had been urging for a new fieldhouse to replace Half Acre Gym, and a new stadium to replace the playing field with meager benches that was where a parking lot is now, behind newly renovated and enlarged Half Acre Gym. They are an “absolute necessity” Jacoby told the Cheyenne Rotary Club in 1946, as reported by the Casper Star.
Soon a memorial in the fieldhouse would be placed naming the 18,000+ Wyomingites who served in WWII, with a star to highlight those who died. One could imagine that by naming the stadium and fieldhouse “War Memorial” that UW hoped WWII would be the last war. But a scan of the Laramie Republican/Boomerang for the early months after the war ended shows much concern for arms control, particularly fears of atomic bomb proliferation. It was becoming clear that aggressive behavior of some nations did not end with the defeat of Germany and Japan
By Judy Knight
Source: Judy Knight courtesy photo
Caption: One section of the many engraved names on the Honor Wall inside UW’s War Memorial Fieldhouse. The gold stars honor a person who died in WWII service. Lee Wadda was from Fremont County, Jack Waddell Jr. from Sheridan County, and Roy E. Waddell, Park County. Preparations are underway to move the memorial display to the east entrance of War Memorial Stadium, where the over 20-foot-long wall will be more visible.
Source: Laramie Plains Museum
Caption: A happy couple returning from service in the Pacific is Col. Frank E. Hays (1904-1958) and his wife, Emma Eleanor Atwell Bunnell Hayes (1909 – 1993). “Eleanor” was one of three daughters and one son of Laramie residents Marshall and Emma Atwell. They are shown aboard the USAT Fred C. Ainsworth sometime between 1946 and 1947 returning to Seattle from Yokohama. He served in the Pacific and stayed on as part of the occupation forces. Eleanor had been widowed when her first husband, Charles Bunnell died. She married Hays in 1940. Widowed again, in 1962 Eleanor married Roy Glenn Noble (1905 – 1974), he was a native of Lander, Wyoming where they lived.