Incredible Journey: Story of an Incurable Adventurer

By Douglas Lee Miller

Doug Miller joined the U. S. Navy at the age of fifteen near the beginning of the Korean War. After boot camp and Electricians Mate school at Great Lakes, Illinois; he served aboard an escort carrier from which flew a group of Marine F 4U Corsair aircraft known as Checkerboard squadron. The gull winged, propeller driven aircraft operated close air support for United Nations troops fighting in The Forgotten War. Doug was honorably discharged after four years of service, after which he was accepted as an undergraduate student in what is now known as the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He taught school in western Nebraska for three years after graduation. Then he entered the Federal service as an Investigator with the U.S. Civil Service Commission (CSC).

After working eight years as an Investigator in the Midwest, he was transferred to Washington, D. C. where he continued working with the CSC, th e U. S. Information Agency, th e Federal Energy Administration, and the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). While working for DOE, he served as a detailee to the White House Security Office in the Carter Administration. He was later assigned to the protective security detail for three Secretaries of Energy while the protectees were in foreign travel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463422134

Douglas Lee Miller

Doug Miller joined the U. S. Navy at the age of fifteen near the beginning of the Korean War. After Boot Camp and Electricians' Mate School at Great Lakes, Illinois; he served aboard an escort carrier from which flew a group of Marine F4U Corsair aircraft known as the Checkerboard Squadron. The Gull winged, propeller driven aircraft operated close air support for the United Nations troops fighting in "The Forgotten War." Doug was Honorably discharged after four years of service, after which he was accepted as an undergraduate student in what is now known as The University of Nebraska at Kearney. He taught school in western Nebraska for three years after graduation. Then he entered the Federal service as an investigator with the U. S. Civil Service Commission (CSC). After working eight years as an investigator in the Midwest, he was transferred to Washington, D. C. where he continued working with the CSC, the U. S. Information Agency, the Federal Energy Administration, and the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). While working for DOE, he served as a detailee to the White House Security Office in the Carter administration. He was later assigned to the protective security detail for three Secretaries of Energy while the protectees were in foreign travel. "I finished reading 'Incredible Journey' this afternoon. It was hard to put down, and there were several places that were so amusing that I had tears running down my face. Doug is definitely an expert at describing humorous detail. The altercation between Ed and Ambassador Howell was fun to read about. I was laughing so hard I was crying trying to get through the story about the Jeddah restroom facilities." Irene Gomez "I laughed at times until tears were running down my cheeks, and other times I cried for you and the pains you had. To me it is superb from page 1 on through the last line." Dolores Johns

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Contents

FORWARD

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Epilogue

Appendix i

Appendix ii

Endnotes

FORWARD

What follows is an accounting of my life with an emphasis upon birth to September 1989. At that time my career took a change which moved me into professional duties which, although they involved increased responsibility, became less hazardous, therefore contributing less to the Journeys I wanted to describe. In the Epilogue I’ll cover, briefly, events subsequent to 1989 in less detail. What you’ll find here, aside from my humble childhood, is a series of events which were so impressive to me that they remained etched in my memories, to be recounted to you in the following pages.

From my early childhood, I discovered I had a high interest in learning and experiencing the unusual and seeking extraordinary adventure. What I often experienced when approaching these pursuits was a high, not unlike that found by those who consume mind enhancing narcotics. I first discovered these driving forces on my grand-parents farm where I made discoveries exploring antique machinery, amazing critters, and hundreds of acres of cropland.

This thrill seeking tendency was manifested in my efforts to run away from an urban home at the ages of fourteen and again at fifteen, both of which took me hundreds of miles away. On the first of these two adventures, I rode railroad boxcars, encountering hobos along the way and finally attempting a jailbreak. The second of these was far more successful, ultimately resulting in world-wide travels.

A college education enabled me to further pursue the excitement of living on the edge as I worked briefly at a NASA rocket production facility; traveled in the Ozarks where Revenuers were regarded as hostile visitors; and at the advent of The Voting Rights Act of 1965, was assigned to observe elections in the deep south where anti-government feelings were seething amongst many in authority there.

Eventually I was led to work in the environs of Washington, D. C. for more than 26 years. Late in this period I sought to re-live my childhood rural experiences by buying a small farm in northern Virginia from which I could commute to my real job in D. C. Meanwhile, I volunteered for an ad-hoc assignment to the protective detail for the Secretary of Energy, taking me on trips to Europe, the Middle-East, the Far-East, North Africa, and the Land Down Under. These travels found me snorkeling in the Red Sea, potentially losing my protectee in the Persian Gulf, sunbathing on the Straits of Melaka, or viewing the Sea of Galilee from the Golan Heights.

At one point I had an encounter owning a Cessna airplane, which led me to the brink of a white knuckled thrill that could have permanently ended my journey. Although all the characters I have written about were real, many of their names are fictionalized to protect their privacy.

This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Nora Nelson Miller, without whose love, support, and encouragement, many of my adventures would have only been daydreams.

Douglas Miller

Chapter One

Rural Mischief and the Mile High City

The Teflon Don

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Figure 1: Donald Miller

Considering his agricultural roots, Don Miller’s career calling became curiously aligned with auto mechanics. Perhaps it was an extension of his childhood experiences on his parents’ farm near Elm Creek, Nebraska. As with most farm raised boys, he had become intensely familiar with many different kinds of farm machinery, as crude and basic as they were in his youth. He would later confide in his only son that he came to hate farming through the drudgery of doing day to day chores and operating farm machinery from dawn to dusk in the growing seasons.

His father, Bert, Don grumbled, started him working so young that his feet could not reach the operating pedals of the mule drawn corn cultivator. To compensate, Bert attached wooden blocks to the pedals, extending them to accommodate the length of Don’s legs. The result of these hardships was that Don, the only son, abandoned the farm as soon as he was able to support himself in his newly chosen career, much to the chagrin of his parents.

At first, Don worked for a local auto repair garage in Elm Creek. Automobiles were becoming affordable to nearly every American, and the auto maintenance industry was expanding rapidly. Upon discovering that he could actually make a living at this skill, he moved to nearby Gothenburg, where commerce was livelier, and he was further removed from the suffocating influence of his father. Once settled in Gothenburg, Don began to enjoy the social advantages of living in a small city. He met a lovely young woman named Lillian Moffet. However, everyone she knew called her by her middle name, Mae.

Mae lived in Gothenburg with her mother. She was slight of build, brunette, with attractive features. Her manner was reticent, and somewhat insecure. Don and Mae eventually fell in love They were joined in marriage at Gothenburg on June 28th, 1928. They were both 19 years of age. At first, their union was a reasonably happy one. Their first child, Dorothy, was born in 1932. Mae was content, as were most mothers of her day, to be a homemaker, and was pleased to have the freedom to care for her home and her new baby. In April, 1935 she bore Don a second child, a son named Douglas. As Douglas began to grow toward school age, the Miller family began to show signs of marital strain.

Figure 2: Lillian Mae Moffet

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Mae, being the youngest of her siblings, really wanted to go out and have fun. Her mother, Anna, refused to baby-sit for her and Don both to go out. Also, Don would come home tired and dirty from mechanic work, and usually did not want to go anywhere. Nonetheless, Mae would claim that Don was womanizing, and she became no more than an object of child care. Ultimately, Don would say that Mae’s mother, whom Doug would come to know as Grandma Campbell, was the root of their marital strife due to unspecified influences upon her daughter.

Whatever the blame, the union experienced a crises to the extent that Don made a decision to escape, and abandon things which he held in contempt in the cornhusker state. On a warm night in the fall of 1938, Mae waited in vain for him to come home from work. She would neither see, nor hear of him for many, many years thereafter.

She applied for, and was granted a divorce from Don on September 16, 1938, on grounds of abandonment. Although she was awarded $50 per month child support, she would never collect. Mae approached officials of the social services department in Gothenburg for help. They explained that in the absence of any knowledge of Don’s whereabouts, there was no hope of obtaining payments from him, and she was approved for state sponsored child care.

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Mae’s in-laws in Elm Creek were sympathetic and helpful. They loved Don’s offspring, and knew Don had handed them a raw deal. Doug and Dorothy spent many happy days with Don’s parents, and playing with their cousins in Elm Creek and nearby Sumner.

Figure 3: Dorothy & Douglas

Don’s sister, Avis Moles, encouraged Mae to start attendance at a beauty operators’ school. She and her husband, Harold, provided financial assistance to this endeavor, and Mae gladly worked to get her beautician’s license.

Unbeknownst to any of Don’s family, he had traveled to Portland, Oregon and changed his name to Roy Wells, in order to avoid answering to his financial and familial responsibilities in Nebraska. He would eventually advance his career to become a manager of the mechanical staff of Arrow Transportation, a firm which operated fuel tankers up and down the west coast.

The Prodigal Son

Minatare, Nebraska, circa 1940. Having just completed beauty operator’s school, Lillian Mae Miller (NEE: Moffet), arrived in Minatare to set up her first beauty shop on a corner at the main street in town. She and her two children, Douglas age 5 and Dorothy, aged 8 would live in a small apartment attached to the shop. Shortly after getting her new business established, Mae was befriended by a local man, recently widowed, Earl Garman. Earl was 27 years older than Mae, and had two older children living in nearby towns. On June 26, 1940, after a brief courtship, Mae and Earl were married. Mae and her two children moved in with Earl in a fairly large frame home a few blocks from the downtown area where she had begun her new career.

Figure 4: Dorothy, Irene, Doug & friend

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Earl had a two-story frame home, and each of Mae’s children were fortunate to have their own second story bedroom. That fall, Douglas was enrolled in the Minatare public school kindergarten class, and Dorothy was also enrolled in the public elementary school. Douglas Garman came to school with a big Indian head dress on the other day made from pheasant feathers. He gave us an Indian dance¹

From all appearances, it was an idyllic union, favoring Mae and both her offspring. Doug was selected to play in the Kindergarten rhythm band. He also got to sing a duet with a girl classmate in the children’s music program. Doug took the first part, singing: " 63719.jpg 63717.jpg What are little girls made of, sugar and spice, and everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of." His female counterpart then sang: " 63721.jpg What are little boys made of, snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, that’s what little boys are made of." Doug was too young and innocent to be insulted.

Dorothy was also selected to sing. She, however, got a solo part in her class operetta. She practiced at the family home every night and every weekend. " 63727.jpg I am the bright moon shining, high in the sky above, millions of stars my children, and all of them I love. When all the world is sleeping, softly we shine by night. Touching all things with silver, to all the world’s delight 63729.jpg ." Doug could not help but memorize the moving refrains.

Much later Mae would tell her children of neighborhood rumors of her new spouse, that he was suspected of evil, unspecified deeds.

Earl owned a 1934 Oldsmobile, kept in the detached garage behind their modest home. It always needed coaxing in order to get the family to any expected destination such as Scottsbluff, where his close relatives lived, and where shopping of any serious nature had to be done.

Figure 5: Minatare Machine Shop

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Mae was able to set up her beauty shop in the home, and Earl was a justice of the peace, empowered to conduct civil marriage services in the house. As a hobby, he also managed a local baseball team. All bedrooms in the house were located on the second floor. At night young Doug sometimes heard loud roaring noises emanating from distant parts of the house. Surely, a great bear was prowling the halls and staircases, seeking to devour the small child. He often cowered under covers fearing an attack from the great beast. When he was able to share his fears with his mother, she assured him it was only his new step-father snoring.

Nonetheless, Doug was often fearful of those dreadful sounds. One night, he decided the safest thing would be to climb into bed with his sister. The bed would be warm, and she would surely ensure his safety. The only problem, Dorothy was uncooperative. She complained to her mother whenever Doug tried to sneak into her bedroom.

Mae’s exasperation got the best of her and she implored Earl to intervene. He was not pleased to be awakened and routed out for this assignment. He took Doug by the hand, ordered him to remove his pajamas and led him into the garage. Earl took an old large industrial belt and gave Doug a sound threshing with it. It worked. Doug remained in his own bed from that time forward.

One day, Doug befriended a classmate who lived at a nearby farm. He told stories of farm life that reminded Doug of his grandparents’ farm in central Nebraska. His friend invited Doug to spend the night on his farm. Doug happily agreed. That afternoon the school bus driver stopped in front of Doug’s house to ensure he got permission from his parents to take the trip.

Doug excitedly ran in the house. He was startled to discover neither his mother nor his step-father were home. He could not begin a search for them. The bus was running, and it would leave without him. He decided he would tell them when he returned the next day. Running back to the bus, he said he had permission, and the kids were on their way to a farm adventure.

The farm boy’s father had a couple of hired hands, and they were placing rings in the noses of a couple dozen hogs to keep them from rooting in the barn yard. The boys watched excitedly. Then they went into the farm house to eat dinner. Finally, the boy’s mother put them both to bed for the night. Shortly after the lights were out, the family heard the emergency siren from the town of Minatare. The farmer and his wife were advised by telephone that Douglas was feared to be the victim of a kidnapper. They hurriedly got him out of bed and trundled him into the family car, driving him to his home in town.

Now Doug was beginning to get concerned that he could get into some trouble, since he had not told his mother where he was going. As he entered the house, Mae was talking worriedly to a neighbor. Doug ran up to her, and she was momentarily relieved to see him safe at home. She asked where he had been. He decided he should put her on the defensive, and blurted out that he had decided to run away. Mae was not moved to sympathy by the ploy. She took him away from the neighbor to the dining room and gave Doug a severe thrashing. Wailing from the indignity, Doug told her the truth, that he could not find her and was moved to take matters into his own hands to visit his farm friend.

Turning the Dime

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Figure 6: Minatare grain elevator

Douglas spent his leisure time, weekends mostly, playing with his neighborhood best friend, Bobby Van Noy, or wandering around the small town of Minatare, observing local professionals and window shopping. During hunting season, Doug and Bobby amused themselves by getting the tail feathers of pheasants, which were harvested by local hunters, and sticking them into the end of corn cobs. The cobs would be broken in two, exposing a soft core. The feathers then would be trailing from the cobs, creating missiles which would sail artfully through the air when thrown aloft by the boys.

Parked next to Earl’s house was an antique truck. The boys spent hours in the cab, turning the huge black steering wheel vigorously back and forth, pretending to drive their cargo from place to place.

There was a machine shop perhaps a half block from Doug’s home, and he loved to hang out watching the men welding or sawing iron bars. At the opposite end of town was a grain/feed processing plant. This was another one of his favorite past-times, watching the men emptying truckloads of field grain, and grinding or mixing it into feed for sale or shipment. He especially enjoyed seeing the man who was assigned to fill and stitch feed sacks.

One day Douglas was window shopping in the one block commercial strip of the main street. Out of curiosity he entered the local pharmacy and began examining items of interest. Before long he spied a doll of Charlie McCarthy, about 18 inches tall. (Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were big-time entertainers in the motion picture industry at this time. Charlie was a puppet sitting on Edgar’s lap while Edgar exercised his talent in ventriloquism to make Charlie say clever things.) Doug noted that this doll was complete with arms, legs, and a moving mouth controlled by a string.

Not one to normally be attracted by dolls, Douglas was instantly determined to have it. He asked the pharmacist the price of the doll. The man explained that one had to be a bit of a gambler to get it. Not to be discouraged, Doug came back asking How much money would I need to have to get it? Still trying to emphasize a game of chance, the man declared Doug needed a dime for the punch board. Doug was amazed he only needed a dime to get Charley McCarthy!

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Figure 7: Dorothy & Doug in Minatare front yard

Again trying to impress Doug with the risk, the man explained it was kind of a game, he might not win it. Douglas was not deterred. He knew he had to have Charley McCarthy. His success in talking his mom out of money was usually limited to a penny. Even then, he needed to have a good excuse, or need, for her to part with a penny. Many times he would come away penniless in what he felt were good circumstances. He ran home to seek the prize. Mae was busy giving a customer a permanent. Once in the house, he sized up the situation. How to make the most effective approach?

He decided the only way was to go directly and honestly. He walked to her workstation, and asked her directly if he could have a dime for a Charley McCarthy doll. He waited breathlessly for her answer. She responded predictably, that he could not possibly buy it so cheaply. She could not dampen his enthusiasm. He urgently repeated the request, begging earnestly for a dime.

Mae felt pressured. She didn’t want her customer to get the impression she was cheap, but still, money was short in those days, and she needed all of it she could manage to save. She resisted his insistence only briefly, indicating there was no way he could buy such an expensive item for only ten cents. In the end, Douglas was so persistent that she could no longer hold out. She finally handed him a dime, but not without admonishing him he was sure to be disappointed.

Doug grabbed the coin gleefully and ran back to the pharmacy as fast as his legs could carry him. Approaching the counter breathlessly, he exclaimed that he had his dime. Handing it to the man, he asked for his treasure. The man could not help but smile. He said he could take Doug’s dime, but to remember, he would have to take his chance with the punch board. That response was gibberish to Doug.

He handed his dime to the man, waiting patiently for his prize. Reluctantly, but compliantly, the pharmacist took the coin, stashing it in the register. He reached under the counter, lifting out a thick board about twelve inches square. Handing it to the boy, together with a small punch tool, he instructed Doug to go ahead and try his luck.

The procedure was incomprehensible to the boy. What was this thing? Where was his doll? Perceiving the boy’s confusion, the pharmacist held the board for him and placed the punch in his hand, carefully showing him how to put a punch in one of the dimples, pressing out a number. Well, Douglas saw this as simply a useless move preceding his receiving the coveted treasure. He pushed the punch into the board, as instructed. The pharmacist was relieved that the boy finally understood the process.

Pulling the punched message from the board, he unraveled it to see if by a long chance the boy got lucky. He announced the number and checked under the counter for the winning number. Then he exclaimed Doug’s number was not on the winning list. He smiled and suggested Doug try again another time. Still wondering what this drivel was all about, Douglas begged for the doll. He wanted to go home and show it to his mom. The man was beside himself. The poor kid still misunderstood the process. Still he had paid his dime. Business was business. Perhaps something good would come of it in educating the boy about the gambling process. The pharmacist expressed regret, trying again to explain the number he punched out of the board did not win. The man would have to wait till someone else punched the lucky number.

Figure 8: Doug’s First Navy Uniform (1941)

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The situation suddenly struck him. His mom was right. You could not possibly buy such a treasure so cheaply. What was mom going to say when he announced the disappointing news? Sadly, he turned and walked slowly out of the shop. It was still incomprehensible that he gave the proprietor so much money and come away with nothing. It was his first lesson in gambling, and he did not like it one bit. At home he tried to avoid his mother’s eyes. When she saw him and asked him about it, she did not gloat, only emphasized the loss with the hope that the incident would teach him a valuable lesson. It was a lesson he would never forget.

The Punch Board was not the only brush Douglas had with gambling in Minatare. A popular play-yard past time at the Minatare Elementary School was groups of boys playing marbles games. At first, Doug only showed a mild interest. As he watched the boys’ excitement at winning each other’s marbles, he began to want to give the game a try. Somehow he managed to get Mae to buy him a set of marbles, complete with the smaller migs and a few larger boulders.

The game started with the boys, four or five of them, drawing a circle in the dirt, about two feet wide. They all then placed a set number of migs inside the circle. The order of playing was determined, and then each player, in turn, starting outside the circle’s line, placed a boulder between the thumb knuckle and the forefinger, placing thumb pressure on the large marble till it squirted out toward the smaller marbles placed inside the circle.

If a player’s boulder knocked a mig outside the circle, the player won the mig and earned another play, and so on. Being new and inexperienced at the game, it took very little time for Douglas to loose most of his playing stock. Having worked hard to convince his mom of the importance of these gaming marbles, Doug’s disappointment was unavoidable. He decided the new recreation was no fun at all, and gave it up.

Better Watch Out

Doug’s baby sister, Irene Mae, was born inside the family home on April 19, 1942. Earl’s youngest grown daughter helped the doctor deliver the baby. The holidays of 1942 were major events for the 7 year old boy. He had reached the age when his playmates were challenging the existence of Santa Clause. But with excitement of many other children, as well as that of all adults he knew, Douglas still held out hope for the existence of the generously happy Old Saint Nick. On Christmas Eve he announced to Mae and Earl that he was planning to stay awake until Santa appeared in person, so as to reassure himself of the reality of this important icon of the holiday. To his surprise, neither adult had any objection to his proposal of waiting for Santa.

Figure 9: House on Williams St.

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As in many households, wintertime in those days was so cold that the family gathered within the dining room, closing off the living room and isolating other parts of the house from the warming comfort of coal fired stoves, thus heating only a space large enough for the family to enjoy an evening together.

Doug waited with his sisters and parents expectantly. He knew the truth that Santa was real, still, there was a gnawing doubt because of the taunting expletives, about his rosy cheeked hero, he had heard from boys in the restroom and around the playground.

Doug could scarcely contain his impatience. Time was against him. His usual bedtime of 9:00 came and went till the clock neared the magic hour of mid-night. He could barely stay awake, sitting beside the kitchen door, where he expected the Jolly St. Nick to appear. Just as he was thinking Santa had passed over the Garman residence, there was a clamoring racket coming from the front of the house. The noisy ruckus lasted only seconds, and a loud door slam occurred! Doug didn’t know whether to be terribly angry, or happily relieved. He rushed out to the closed, and darkened, living room, finding a large pile of brightly decorated packages, obviously left when Santa came through the unguarded front door. It would be at least another year before Douglas discovered the myth of Santa Clause, and that the next-door neighbors had acted as Santa proxies that yuletide night.

The Mile High City

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In the early spring of ‘43 Mae’s second marriage was not going well. In later years she told Irene she did not love Earl, but he had provided her a home and care for her kids. Mae collected her two older children and moved to Denver, Colorado. She reasoned that if she took their baby, Irene, with her; Earl would never relent in his efforts to recover his last child. Doug had never been outside Nebraska, let alone in such a large city.

Figure 10: City Park Fountain

Their first night was spent in a small hotel facing Colfax Avenue, a busy Denver thoroughfare. Doug was awestruck at the activity on the street after dark. They had a second story room overlooking Colfax. Neon signs blinked off and on colorfully. Streetcars clickety-clacked back and forth in front of the hotel constantly. Their bells clang-clanged loudly.

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The next day, Mae found a basement apartment at the corner of Williams Street and Colfax. It became their home for some months to come. Doug could not resist exploring the amazing metropolis. At his first day on Williams Street, Douglas set out walking the sidewalks and inspecting the businesses along the way. After walking for 20 or 30 minutes, he realized he was lost and could not decide which way to go home. He remembered his 1st grade teacher’s lessons about trusting a policeman and stopped the first foot patrolman he could find.

Figure 11: City Park mortar

The kind officer asked Doug if he remembered the name of the street he lived on. Doug answered respectfully and without hesitation that he lived on Colfax and Williams Street. The officer advised him his street was only a few blocks away, and Colfax was the next street to the right.

Doug’s most amazing discovery in Denver was the City Park and its zoo. It was probably 8 to 10 blocks from his apartment, but was well worth the walk to him. He found old mortars mounted on cement footings, and a large decorative water fountain at the park entrance off Colfax. The most rewarding find was the many exotic animals in the Denver zoo. Monkeys, polar bears, peacocks, lions and many other creatures which Doug had only seen pictures of or read about in his school books. He walked to the park nearly every chance he got.

Doug found a small toy store just a few blocks from Williams Street. One day he happened to be carefully examining a toy mechanical boat on his birthday. The storekeeper asked him about himself. Finding out that this was his birthday, the kind man told Doug to take the boat home as a birthday gift. Doug was thrilled, as Mae had no discretionary cash to squander on nice toys.

Having discovered the new world of City Park extending east from his basement abode, Doug decided to walk west on Colfax to see if he could find any new adventures. It took considerable walking, but ultimately he discovered a complex of buildings he later knew to be called Civic Center. These were days when a young child could wander throughout public buildings without causing particular alarm or concern from bystanders. After considerable exploration, he found a museum in one Civic Center building.

He found many exciting things, including numerous Indian (Native American) artifacts such as arrowheads and elaborate headdresses. He also discovered artifacts which were gruesome but curiously attractive. There was a series of shrunken heads (likely not of Native American origin). They were grotesquely misshapen, black, and had stitches woven through the lips of the hapless persons who once had owned the severed heads. Doug found then strangely appealing.

When school started that fall, Mae, Dorothy, and Doug moved to a suburban Denver apartment so the kids would be closer to their schools. They remained there for the balance of the school year.

The Good Life

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Figure 12: Bert Miller Farm #

In the summer of 1943 Doug got to spend his summer vacation at his grandparent’s farm near a town named Elm Creek, Nebraska. There was no place on earth he loved more than this farm. His grandfather, Bert, had two mules which were used to work the farm and harvest the grain. A deep creek, appropriately named Elm Creek, bisected the large farm, forming an L which bordered the two story frame house and six to eight out-buildings. Normally the water in the creek was only six inches deep. However, after a heavy rain in the hills north, the creek often filled and occasionally overflowed.

Immediately north of the house was a wash house, built over a basement. The basement was once filled with smoked meat and a dozen or so glass wet cell batteries originally intended to provide lighting for the house.

Inexplicably, the battery system was never used; and, even though the house was completely wired with lights and switches, the occupants of the house were obliged to use oil lamps for lighting.

The main room of the wash house was used to store barrels of dry corn cobs. These were used to fuel the furnace which was located in the farm house basement.

North of the wash house was a large chicken house. west of this stood a brooder house where Grandma nursed and fed her baby chicks every spring, as replacement laying hens and fryer roosters to provide tender, fresh fried chicken for the dinner table throughout the summer. North of these two buildings stood an additional two chicken houses to complement roosting and laying facilities for some 300 or 400 laying hens, the eggs from which provided living expenses for the family throughout most of the year.

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Figure 13: East Wash-house #

Directly west of these two hen houses was an ice house, a frame roof built over a six or eight foot deep depression. Although not in use when Doug was there, this building would be filled in the winter with ice sawed from a nearby river. The ice was then interspersed with layers of barley or wheat straw. The result was a cooling building for meat and other perishables throughout the summer months.

Still further west, along the creek banks, was a granary used to store grain from the fall harvests. Along the bank of the creek, between the ice house and the granary stood a parade of rusty antique vehicles. Two were old Ford Model T roadsters, and one an old iron wheeled steam tractor. Behind (north) of the granary was a makeshift foot-bridge, which spanned the wide creek bed, leading from the farm building side to a crop side of the farm. Twin wooden pillars on each bank had strong crosspieces, constructed like a large H. Two by twelve boards, approximately fourteen feet in length would span from the level bank to each H structure; a similar board would then overlap the first and reach across the remaining width of the creek. A heavy gauge wire was then attached to nearby trees on each side, spanning the creek as an unsteady handhold.

Douglas loved to get his cousins in the middle of this bridge, whereupon he would jump up and down, creating a high bouncing motion. The girls, finding themselves in a very unsteady, constantly moving environment, would scream for relief, much to Doug’s delight.

Next, in the westward parade along the creek bank was a cluster of two buildings. The first was a workshop housing horse collars and harnesses, as well as some of