In November 1941, the Wilson sisters, Doris and Darlene, were anxious to see their brother Donald, who was home from the Navy. AWOL.
Knowing war was imminent, Don and a friend had jumped ship on the East Coast and headed for the Minburn, Iowa, farm. Don’s four brothers lived there with their folks, Clabe and Leora Wilson. Tenant farmers.
It looked like all seven Wilson siblings would be home at the same time. Their mother Leora hoped to get a family picture taken.
Doris rode the M and St L train from Perry, where she was a waitress, to Minburn. One of her brothers met her at the depot in their “old smoking Buick.” Darlene and her husband Sam arrived from their farm near Earlham. For the family photo, everyone piled into the two cars and headed north six miles to Perry, to Edmondson’s Studio.
While still in Perry, Donald suggested trading off their old Buick on a newer car, which they did. The Wilson brothers and their dad pooled their money and bought a brand new grey, 1942 Plymouth four-door, 95-horsepower, Special Deluxe sedan, with concealed running boards.
A few days later the expected letter arrived from the Navy: Your son is AWOL. Do you know where he is?
Soon, after snapshots in the farm driveway, handshakes, and pats on backs, Donald and Frank turned themselves in November 17, 1941, at the Navy office in Des Moines. They were sent to the brig at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois. While they were there, Pearl Harbor (where their ship had been based a year earlier) was attacked by the Japanese. The young navymen were hustled back aboard their aircraft carrier on the East Coast. Both lost rank and pay, but were soon in the thick of the war in the Pacific.
Meanwhile, at home in Iowa, the Wilsons didn’t know it would be the last photo taken of the family, and that they’d just purchased one of the last new automobiles available until after the war.
Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II
