The written connection

When Rose Allen of Newcastle shared three veteran letters and some memories of her teenage life with the News Letter Journal, she credited her mother, Ella Hansen, for saving the letters and preserving them for 73 years.
Rose’s pre-teen and teenage days stretched the span of World War II, and her memories include rationing, and collecting items for the war effort. Her job at First State Bank included handing out the rationing coupons. People got so many to last through the month, and these coupons had to be presented to be able to buy a rationed item. Sugar, fat and grease were very scarce. Young girls used a spray-on or liquid stocking, as hosiery was also scarce.
Like many residents of Newcastle, a number of Rose Allen’s family members were serving their country during WWII, including a brother and three uncles. 
“There was hardly any of us who didn’t have members of family in the military because it took everybody. All available people were drafted,” recalled Rose.     
In addition to Rose’s uncles, her brother Carl W. Hansen, who had just completed high school graduation,  was drafted and served in the European Theater in a motor pool in France. She recalled he was still stationed there when the war was over.  
Back then, letter writing was the only means of communication, and Allen recalled that mail day was very important to servicemen and women, but equally important to those at home. She said that people were very faithful about writing to those serving their country.      
“People just waited for the mail. In those days, there was no other way to communicate,” she added. 
The Toth family would have three of their 11 children serving the war effort during the same time. Many letters would be written to and from the home of Rose Allen’s grandparents, John and Rose Toth, by sons Emory,  Joseph, and Louis (Jiggs) while in the service. Daughter Elizabeth (Toth) Cummings handled the letter writing duty to her brothers, as her mother was from Hungary and couldn’t write English.
Cummings’ kept busy with her letter writing as her husband, Bill, was also serving in the Navy in the Pacific.
“I wrote to him everyday,” Cummings shared, saying her husband was on the shore of Japan when the bomb went off.     
Emory, Joseph, and Jiggs served in different branches and areas during the war. 
“Emory Toth, was the closest in age to my mother. He was a year younger than her.  He served in the Seabees and was in the Asian Theater. He spent time in the Philippines in a construction battalion,” shared Allen, adding that Emory wrote of really bad conditions in the tropics, and shared the experience of being in foxholes. 
Cummings recalled her brother Emory helped build the landing docks in the Islands, and that he ended up having something wrong with his legs from standing in water all the time,  but that eventually went away.
Joseph Toth served in the army in the European Theater and spent time in Germany and France.
Younger brother Louis Charles Toth, known to everyone as “Jiggs,” went into the Navy, enlisting when he was not quite 17. 
“He was three years older than I,” recalled Allen. 
“My brother Jiggs would try to write and tell us where he was, but they would cut that all out. He was on the USS New Mexico, and his ship was hit one time and 1,000 of them were killed, but he wasn’t injured,”  recalled Cummings .
Jiggs made a career of service to his country.
“He was head of the National Guard when it was here, and then transferred to Wheatland and retired there,” said Allen.  
Allen was not married to her husband, Ervin Allen, during his wartime service, but she shared a letter written by him to his parents and sister and his duty assignment.
Ervin was drafted, and served in the army as an MP in Tokyo right after the bomb was dropped. He was stationed outside the Imperial Palace directing traffic.
“He enjoyed the time he was in the service. He was glad he could go, and he made the best of his time there,” added Rose, saying they have many photos and souvenirs. 
While news from home was important, Ervin noted that he was also glad to receive the News Letter Journal in his letter. Rose Allen recalled after her family read the paper, they would roll it up and wrap brown paper or an envelope around it and mail it to family members.
“They really liked the hometown news. That was a high point if they got the newspapers,” said Rose. The News Lette Journal currently offers free subscriptions to active service members.