by Marty Luebke, Post 23 Member
Our American Legion Post 23 will have a 100 year celebration on July 6th 2019. It was just 50 years ago when Frank Koens collected photos of past Post Commanders (and kept adding to every year). He has made various unsuccessful attempts to locate the one missing photo of Commander Albert Thomas 1953-4. Thanks again to all those who helped in this search. Interestingly there were at least 3 vets with the name Albert Thomas living in our area during that time.
Up until last week I thought we would have to ‘create’ a story by putting together sketchy bits and pieces of what a very few folks remembered about Al. It seemed he was a rather quiet individual and most did not recall much about him. We thought he perhaps arrived in Garretson because of his friendship with Dave Galliher. Memories of long ago lessen with time and no one recalled a wife or family. Some recalled the new dry cleaning store that Dave built on Main St. and Al operated his shoe shop in the front (now the Exercise Place).
After many hours of searching, Frank struck pay dirt in Sanders Printing archives of bound Garretson Weekly newspapers. I can see why ‘cold case’ detective work could be addictive. Thanks to Bob’s records and Frank’s persistence we now have some real facts. Albert Thomas (he preferred being called Al) served 42 months during WWII (likely with Dave Galliher). He lived in Hutchinson MN and was married with 2 daughters. After his honorable discharge he took vocational training in Minneapolis and did a 2 year internship as an “Orthopedic Mechanic”. He specialized in custom building shoes for people with foot problems, including deformities. In one ad he refers to his store as “A One Stop Hospital for all foot troubles”. We suspect that he did not have a lot of ‘orthotics shoe income’ as he also did all other types of leather and canvas work. To make ends meet during hard times Al also worked for the street department, the WPA and started a housing insulation business. It appears he tried to set regular shoe shop hours for customers, and when gone posted a sign that said “Save your soles for tomorrow when I will be back.”
Newspaper records show Al opening his business on February 28, 1948. He immediately became active in the community, serving as Sec/Treasurer of the Commercial Club. He was also active in the American Legion and served as Adjutant before becoming Commander. He was a member of the Color Guard which was very active, marching in many community parades in SD and MN. Dean Lerdal is the only surviving member who recalls serving with him.
“We had no standard uniforms but all wore our military class A’s. We looked very sharp and were one of the best posts around.”
It appears Al left Garretson in the fall of 1953, but we found no evidence of where he moved to.
In closing I’ d like to thank Frank and agree with his statement, “it really feels good to know we finally found the right guy,"
Frank’s discovery of newspaper ads and photos along with written information reinforces what Historian Owen Wiese has always said, “It is important to have written records on paper.”
I would agree, and those of us who trust our ‘hard drives’ may someday come up short. I would also add that it is important to protect those records in a climate controlled environment—a hint for perhaps a future project for our Historical Society.
