The Time Capsule | Roy Marshall
Adam Sackowitz was a second grader at Bowling Green Elementary in Westbury, N.Y., when Senator John Glenn became the oldest man to fly in space and the only one to fly in both the Mercury and the Space Shuttle Program.
Sackowitz is now a graduate student studying history at St. John’s University in New York. He credits Glenn with sparking his interest in the American experience and is writing his graduate thesis on the patriot’s life and legacy. This drew his attention to Iowa, where Glenn received pre-flight training after the Pearl Harbor attack.
The following article was written by Sackowitz for The Express:
“Before the Second World War, like much of the American Midwest, Iowa was a bastion of isolationism. In 1940, Iowa cast its 11 electoral votes for Republican Wendell Wilkie over Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. With a large German and Scandinavian population, it was estimated that nearly 80 percent of Iowans opposed the United States entry into the European War in the fall of 1941. In September 1941, famed aviator and later “America First” spokesman Charles Lindbergh addressed a crowd in Des Moines in a speech later to be known as the “War Agitators Speech.” Lindbergh received a warm reception in Des Moines, and a crowd of nearly 10,000 people opposing the war.
Author and Iowa historian Lisa Ossian writes after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Iowans quickly moved from skepticism to overwhelming enthusiasm for the war and answered the call on four fronts: farms, factories, communities, and kitchens. Iowa’s farmers faced labor and machinery shortages, yet produced record amounts of crops and livestock, even at the expense of valuable topsoil. Ordinance plants turned out bombs and machine gun bullets. Meanwhile, communities supported war bond and scrap drives, while housewives coped with rationing, raised Victory gardens, and turned to home canning.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, nearly 263,000 Iowa men and women would answer the call to serve their nation in war time, including Cleveland Indians ace pitcher Bob Feller of Van Meter, who interrupted his 16-year Hall-of-Fame baseball career by volunteering to serve in the United Sates Navy.
Iowa would also train many of America’s aviators during the war, including 21-year-old John Glenn, who received his flight training in Iowa City, preparing him for action in the Pacific and for later service during the Korean War. Glenn would return to Iowa in 1984 as a Democratic Presidential candidate.
In a Dec. 27, 2016, article for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, World War II Navy pre-flight historian Anne Keene writes that “Glenn spent three months in Iowa City.”
Red Oak’s contribution
Early World War II battles claimed the lives of a disproportionate number of soldiers from the small Montgomery County town of Red Oak in western Iowa. During the battle of Kasserine Pass in North Africa, nearly 50 soldiers from Red Oak were killed or captured.
Perhaps the Sullivan family of Waterloo made America’s greatest sacrifice during the war. The Sullivan family lost all five of their boys, George, Frank, Joe, Matt, and Al, who were stationed together on the USS Juneau, as the cruiser was sunk by Japanese torpedoes on Nov. 13, 1942, claiming the lives of 687 men.
With the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 2016, and with the passing of John Glenn on the following day, Dec. 8, 2016, Iowans and Americans remembered and celebrated the remarkable life and legacy of astronaut and Sen. John Glenn, who began his military flying career in Iowa, and the dozens of Iowans who gave their lives in defense of their nation at Pearl Harbor. Americans from throughout the nation are thankful to John Glenn and Iowans’ contributions to our nation during the second world war.”
In a telephone interview, Sackowitz, who has received national attention for his efforts to preserve the John Glenn birthplace in Cambridge, Ohio, said he hopes to do more.
“I want to be instrumental in achieving appropriate recognition for Iowa in general and the Red Oak veterans of Kasserine Pass in particular.”
His plan is to do this by first raising public awareness and enlisting the support of elected officials.
Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.