Research – Foxhole Radio

Mystery soldier

September 6, 2018July 24, 2019 bcarusella

This is Photograph 111-SC-282168 U. S. Fifth Army Mobile Unit Programs Can Be Heard over Razor Blade Sets. 1945. Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Record Group 111. National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland. It is by far the best known photograph of a soldier with a foxhole radio at Anzio. It was taken for YANK magazine but never ran.

The other photos in series with this one include the names of the subjects. But not this one. The note with the negative only gives the title. So far this soldier remains anonymous. I would prefer to include his name in the book, naturally, so if anyone recognizes him please let me know!

Chenoa, Illinois

July 25, 2016July 24, 2019 bcarusella

Last week I was fortunate enough to pass through the City of Chenoa, Illinois (on the way to Chicago) on a Tuesday, one of the two days (the other is Saturday) that the Chenoa Historical Museum is open. Chenoa was home to George B. Ferree, who built a “pre-foxhole” foxhole radio from spare parts during the First World War. I had worked with the Museum before – see my previous post about the late Evy Reis – but wanted to see if they had found anything else.

We arrived a while before they opened and walked around the square a while. It is a classic small American town.

There wasn’t much activity other than a guy on his riding lawnmower down the street.

The museum opened at 10:00. It was packed with documents, photos, newspapers, and all sorts of local artifacts. They have done an excellent job collecting objects significant to the area. They had a file folder on Ferree, a shadow box with some of his metals and WWI documents, and his WWI campaign hat.

They also had an interesting little stone turtle Ferree presumably carved during the Second World War, which he also served in. It was found in a garage sale in Arizona and mailed to the historical society. How it ended up in Arizona is unknown.

I didn’t find much new information about Ferree but it was nice seeing the town and artifacts. The museum will be contacting me if anything else turns up so stay tuned…

Evy Reis

June 30, 2013July 24, 2019 bcarusella

This is Evelyn Irene “Evy” Reis, who died just over a year ago on June 7, 2012, age 93. Evy was a great encouragement to me.

She was born and lived all of her life in Chenoa, Illinois. She was an active writer and very history minded, and it was her I was put in touch with when I was tracking down information about George Ferree, the WWI veteran who built a makeshift radio found at Fort Monmouth.

Ferree it turns out was one of her high school teachers. Evy found clippings for me at the Chenoa Historical Society, and put me in touch with Eddie Ferree, George’s son, who had his father’s journal.

She stayed in touch after that, sending words of encouragement, some of her own writing, and a Christmas card every year. She was a delight and, even though I never met her in person, I miss her a great deal. Thank you, Evy.

From her obituary:

Evelyn was born September 17, 1918 in Chenoa the daughter of Harry James and Mary Henrietta (Oldenburg) Miller. She married Hugo Robert Reis on November 17, 1940 in St. Louis, MO. He passed away on May 20, 1996.

Mrs. Reis was a 1936 graduate of Chenoa High School and attended ISNU, Normal. She was an executive secretary for State Farm Insurance Companies and Chenoa Community Schools from 1951-1974. She spent the next ten years working at Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community, as Volunteer Director and Round Robin Editor. She retired in 1984 and enjoyed winters with her husband in Sarasota, FL.

She served on numerous boards in her community and was an active member of the Chenoa Women’s Club, Arts and Travel Club, and Historical Society.

Evy loved to write and many of her poems and articles are published in national magazines. She wrote and directed pageants over the years for the Chenoa’s Alumni Association, Women’s Club and United Methodist Church. She wrote and directed the pageant “Through the Years II” for Chenoa’s Sesquicentennial celebration in 2004. She authored several articles published for the Chenoa Historical Society to include “Til I Come Marching Home”, “Memories of Chenoa”, “History of Chenoa Schools”, “Chenoa School Memories” and “Thoughts, Memories and Poetry”. In July of 2005 she was named “Chenoan of the Year”

Technology

October 21, 2012July 22, 2019 bcarusella

Call me old fashioned, but this is what I record interviews on. Sure, I could invest in some new fancy schmancy digital recorder, but I already had the (free!) Radio Shack Cassette recorder, and it worked for telephone interviews too!

And I like the tapes. Sure, I converted them all to digital for backup, which wouldn’t have been necessary with a digital recorder, but there is something nice and substantial about old cassette tapes. The interview has become an object with weight and not just a digital file. They are shiny and click together in their box and when someone asks me what I’ve been up to I can point to a big pile of tapes and say “see? I have been interviewing! There is substance! I am working!”

Still, looking back at that digital recorder, I can’t help but think how much easier this all could have been. Sigh.