Walter H. Ochsner - Sutton's 3rd WWII Fatality

 Walter H. Ochsner, son of Frieda Ochsner, was killed on September 27, 1943. He was a gunner on a bomber operating in New Guinea. His last letter home is below his photo.

Sgt. Walter H. Ochsner's last letter home to his mother Frieda.

The Sutton News of November 4, 1943 Carried this news report.

Portrait of Sutton boy - labeled Gerard Soderberg

Anyone poking around old Sutton photos has run across the work of the Soderberg Studio in Sutton. This photo is labeled "Gerard Soderberg" but that does not seem to be the name of any Pont Soderberg kid.

Any help?

Early Sutton Portrait of Sutton Youth in the Park

We have the identity of three of these early Sutton youth. Josephine Silver is standing on the right. Verne Burnett is in the middle front and Bess Burnett is seated to the right of him.

More research needed - any help?

Regardless, pretty good look bunch, dontcha think?

Early Sutton Portraits - Mayme Wieden - Agnes Roberts - Grace Gray

 From our collection of portraits of the early Sutton residents.

Miss Mayme Wieden was active in numerous civic organizations in the early days of Sutton. Mayme's father was an early downtown merchant. She graduated from Sutton High in 1894 as served as an assistant postmistress for a time. She married Albert (Bertie) Clark, son on Sutton pioneer I. N. Clark and was the first mistress of the distinguished house west of Clark's Pond.

Agnes Roberts and Grace Gray are going to take some more research...  Anyone able to contribute information?

Account of the 1918 Clay County Fair

Our Clay County predecessors in 1918 were proud of their county fair claiming it to be one of the largest county fairs in the state. Perhaps it was...

World War I Satire

This satirical piece appeared in the Harvard Courier newspaper in September 1918. It reads somewhat awkwardly today but illustrates the state of mind of the public during World War I.

Photo of Early Sutton Music Students or Performers

From out collection of early photos, another on with mostly unidentified early Sutton people. We'll guess this comes from the Silver family as the only one identified in Josephine Silver, standing behind the four seated girls.

Josephine Silver was in the Sutton High Class of 1897. She later was often mentioned as a music teacher, likely as a private teacher rather than associated with the school.

Cost of Outfitting a Soldier in WWI

The War Department disclosed the cost of outfitting a doughboy in France in World War I. This item appeared in October 1918 near the end of the war.

1943 Sutton War Bond Parade

More to come...

1943 List of Clay County Soldiers & Sailors

Both World Wars were partially financed with War Bonds. Each bond drive came with an intense advertising campaign. The third WWII bond drive was on during September 1943 when this ad ran in the Harvard Courier issue of September 30th. 

The newspaper made their point with a list of the Clay County soldiers and sailors on active duty somewhere in the world doing their part - shouldn't the back-home citizens pitch in too?

The list of soldiers is below the full page image. This list misses those entering active duty after September 1943 and a few who had fallen by 1943. Let's identify the county's casualties at the end of this post.

Our Sutton Museum blog is necessarily skewed toward Sutton. We have this list of men from Sutton who died in WWII. Help us complete this list.

At least two Sutton men on this list did not make it home: Paul Hofmann and Leonard Hansen. Our working list of Sutton WWII casualties is:

Hall Gray Carney

Leonard Hansen   x

Paul Hofmann      x

Quinton Hofmann

Henry Lohmeier

Samuel J Marsh

Walter Ochsner

Henry C Serr

Merritt Walton

Ralph Wenz

Others:

Irvin Venell Jr.             Ong

Frederick Allison

Willard Bohlken

Beauford Boswell

Dale Brant

John  Buhr

Vergil Feuersten

Howard Frank             Harvard (POW)

Donald Frisch

Donald Hamilton

Dean Hovevet

Irvin Mills

Lloyd Selby Jr.
Marvin Skinner
Allan J. Yost

September 1943 Yost Car Sales

Did anyone you know buy a car from Snort Yost and Clarence Hurst around September 1943?

My Dad's cousin Melvin Hansen made the list with a '34 Chevy. Guy Fried and Ronald Anderson from Saronville. Eulalia Leininger was teaching at District 38, the Rock School about that time.

1936 8th Grade Promotion Exercise's Program

Country school kids were aiming toward the Eighth Grade examinations and promotion to high school. This is the program from the 1936 Promotion Exercises for Clay County's 8th graders.

Anonymous Sutton Soldier's Letter Quoted in Ad for War Bonds

The Schmidt Bros. store quoted a letter from a Sutton soldier in this ad during World War II. The ad appeared in The Sutton News on September 16, 1943.

The writer says he'd been overseas for eighteen months putting his arrival in theater at about March of 1942, pretty early in the war. We have to guess from the context that he was in Europe or North Africa, or perhaps in some staging area - England? The Normandy invasion was still nine months away.

The ad was soliciting for the Third War Bond that businesses and individuals were helping the government sell to help equip and support the troops in both war fronts. 

The reference to the No. 18 Shoe Stamp tells us that at least some ration stamps had expiration dates probably to discourage or even prevent hoarding, black marketing and other forms of deceit or fraud.

The Soldier's letter tells us something about the hardships of simple living conditions for the troops in WWII. The worst housing hardship I can claim from my military days was two years in a mobile home in Wichita, Kansas which we outgrew one afternoon in the Fall of 1969 when our twins were born.

1968 Sutton Football Team Roster

For your perusing enjoyment:

The team roster appeared in The Clay County News before the first game of the season vs. Geneva on September 12, 1968.

These Sutton businesses sponsored the ad for the Geneva football game and team roster in 1968:

Sutton's 1968 Cheerleaders

Sutton Cheerleaders just a short 50 years ago.

From The Clay County News September 12, 1968.