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Love of the WWII
Generation Moves
Area Author to Publish Books
by Rachel Swick
Press and Journal Staff
Middletown, PA 17057
"I just fell in love with
that generation," said Susan Wert Vogt of Hummelstown, PA of the
people she interviewed for her three books on rural Pennsylvania
history (1860s--1960s).
Vogt, a former contributing editor for a Juniata County newspaper in
the 1970s, became intrigued by anecdotes told by World War II
survivors (and their parents before them). She ended up running a
column in the paper telling these stories. It became such an
inspiration to both Vogt and her readers that she used these stories
as the skeletal background for her Vol. 1 & Vol. 2: Stories (and
More Stories) of Rural People--1860--1960s.
From there she continued her research and wrote Vol. 3: The World War
II Years (of Pennsylvania's Heartlands).
"I wanted to preserve the community and family values that bound
people together," Vogt told a small group of Lionesses at
Londonderry Elementary School on Wednesday, March 4. "It was this
binding together that really makes for a great America."
After publishing her third book, Vogt was continuing her research
and planning for three more, but in 2003 she was struck with cancer
and had to use much of her book money to pay for experimental
treatments not covered by her insurance. She has another three books
in her computer, but is still working to raise the money needed to
publish them.
She found much of her strength in the Lord and from the stories of
veterans and farmers who worked during World War II.
("Prior to our involvement in the war) for so many years, we had
buried our heads in the sand and pretended we didn't know what was
going on in other parts of the world," said Vogt. "But then Pearl
Harbor happened and we were thrust into it."
"We can learn from history if we've studied it," said Vogt. Both
Vogt and members of the audience expressed dismay that Pennsylvania
History is no longer taught in the state's schools.
"Then we wonder why our adult children are leaving PA in droves,"
she said. "Maybe it's because they never really knew PA and its rich
history."
During WWII, Pennsylvania's open-hearth furnaces provided the
majority of the steel for the war. Today, most steel comes from
overseas, said Vogt.
In the arena of the old Farm Show building, women used to repair
airplanes and work on parachutes during the war. "The women went
there to work," said Vogt. "Those were our 'Rosie the Riveters',"
she explained.
"Uncle Sam asked farmers to clear an extra ten acres and farm those
acres during the war . . . the women, sons and daughters worked in
the fields because many of the men were overseas."
Rural lives in Pennsylvania were forever changed because of World
War II, she said. Prior to the war, most farm work was done by hand
. . . it was hard work. After the war, machinery was mass
manufactured and made life easier for everyone.
Glenn Bowers of Dillsburg (whose story is in Vol. 3) was in the
Black Sheep Squadron--a flying unit. Later on a television series
was based on this and was probably one of the best-known groups in
the South Pacific.
Bowers and his buddies were attending Penn State and were trying to
get into the war effort prior to 1941 but weren't accepted into
service "until the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor," Bowers
noted. He and his buddies had learned how to fly prior to that in
the cow pastures of Penn State, said Vogt.
*To view larger versions of the
photos on this page,
simply click on the photo.
.
. . The author also talked about a nurse, the late Katharine Stitt
(Sausser), who grew up on a Juniata County farm before she was
called to serve her country half way round the world. "She worked on
hospital trains. The trains circled Paris continuously, stopping to
receive wounded soldiers who were brought to train stations by Army
ambulances from the battlefields."
. . . "The veterans returning home after the war continued to
contribute to their country all their lives . . . they didn't sit
back and rest on their laurels and expect any rewards," she noted.
"They were very community- and church-minded individuals who
contributed greatly to the strength of our nation during the mid- to
late-1900s."
World War II also improved medicine. During World War I many of the
servicemen had problems with trench foot and infections that
wouldn't heal (before penicillin).
Prior to our entering WWII, the American Red Cross worked to find
ways to preserve and transport blood. "Without that knowledge, there
would have been many more deaths."
"Penicillin was really where modern-day medical research began, and
as a result we learned how to preserve blood and ship it overseas,"
said Vogt.
For more information about Vogt, or to schedule a presentation,
please contact her by email at
paheartlands@aol.com, visit
www.paheartlandsbooks.com, or phone 717/433-6344.
--by Rachel Swick, Press & Journal, 717/944-4628, 3/29/09
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