I was born on 28 October l926 in Milbank, South Dakota. I was the tenth of twelve children born to Mark Ernest Porter and Neva May (Dodge) Porter. I had a normal small town boyhood.
I can relate a couple of small accidents I had when very young. The first was when I was about five and was riding in our old Dodge touring car with my brother Omie driving. He was pulling a trailer and behind the trailer, the barrel cart. I was standing on the floor looking out the wind shield. He turned into the driveway when something distracted him and he hit the large elm tree adjacent to the driveway. Needless to say, my head went through the windshield resulting in quite a gash to the right side of my eye. Old Dr. Flett was called and my wound was stitched while lying on the dining room table. (No ER’s in those days) Shortly there after, my brother, Mylie was chopping wood in the basement one evening. I was nearby watching all the action and walked behind him just as he swung the axe. On the upward arc of the axe swing, the axe caught the right side of my nostril and again made quite a gash. Another visit from Dr. Flett and I was as good as new.
We spent most of the summer days at the Dam – mostly the boys all went skinny dipping at the railroad bridge. On many days we would steal vegetables out of the neighbor’s gardens and take them to the Hobo Camp near the railroad bridge and they would cook up a good old tin can stew for everyone. This was during the depression so there were many young men riding the freight trains in search of nothing more than a meal.
I remember very distinctly my Mother’s weekly schedule.
Monday was washday and she washed clothes in a washer that had to be turned by a long lever. Sometime thereafter she acquired a washer with a motor. What a godsend. Tuesdays she spent all day ironing the Monday wash. Wednesdays was the day she did her weekly baking... No store bought bread in those days so the bread was fresh out of the oven. When we got home from school the aroma was out of this world. She would make “doughgods” out of the left over dough and sprinkle them with a little sugar. Also, on this day she baked a big batch of doughnuts (raised and plain) and we got all of the doughnut holes and they were goooood.
She did her many household chores while cooking three meals a day for ten to twelve people.
Both my Grandfathers lived with us at different times. Grandpa Porter used to bring bon-bon’s home from the store when he returned from his walk. Grandpa Dodge fell down the cellar steps one day after he had been to the saloon for a couple of hours. He later died at the supper table one evening. He told Mom that he would only have a small bowl of soup. He finished his soup, dropped his spoon in the bowl and slumped over the table and evidently died immediately. Another visit from Dr. Flett confirmed this fact.
My father died in 1936 when I was about 10 years old.
I’m sure you all know how uneventful it could be in Milbank but sometime in the early 40’s we did lose our sheriff. It seems a recently released convict made his way to Milbank from the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls and in the course of the day he had purchased a rifle at the Gamble store. This was witnessed by several young boys and they followed along taunting the man. The sheriff (Melb Lewis) was informed of the events and went looking for the man, who by this time had taken refuge in an old house north of the railroad tracks. The sheriff asked him to come out and was immediately shot and killed. The man was captured a short time later and, if I remember correctly was nearly lynched at the rear of the Auditorium. I don’t remember all of the details and I’m sure I have omitted a few. One of the lads who was following the convict was also hit by a bullet but I believe it was a ricochet and did very minor damage – I believe it was Lyle Tilleman.
In my junior year in high school, the High School burned to the ground and we finished that year and our senior year attending classes in the auditorium and court house. I did not graduate from high school because I was in a hurry to get into the service.
I was drafted in December 1944 and a bunch of us were sent to Fort Snelling for processing. I was enlisted in the Navy as a Selective Volunteer. Spent Boot Camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. While there I contacted scarlet fever and spent three weeks in the hospital. Seems there was an epidemic raging at the time and about half the recruits ended up with scarlet fever. We were given a new drug at the time (penicillin) and it worked wonders.
I did have the opportunity to witness the first two Atomic bomb blasts at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. I was attached to the Flag allowance, Joint Task Force ONE onboard the USS Wharton (AP-7). We spent about six months at Bikini Atoll compiling reports on the damage incurred by the target ships.
I did witness the sinking of the Japanese Cruiser Sakawa and the US air craft carrier Saratoga, plus numerous smaller ships. Several ships were later scuttled due to the vast damage they had received during the tests. All in all it was an experience I shall never forget. I was discharged in April 1947 and returned to Milbank.
Ken McKernan, recently discharged from the Army, and I went to Minneapolis to seek employment. Worked at the Minneapolis-Moline tractor plant on Lake Street and attended one year in railroad telegraphy school on the GI Bill.
I returned to Milbank where I met Thelma while employed by the Red Owl Food Store. We were married on December 4, 1949 at the United Brethren Church. We later moved to Minneapolis and on November 5, 1951 I reenlisted in the Navy and was stationed with the Naval Reserve Training Center, Naval Air Station, Minneapolis. I was transferred to San Diego, California to attend Yeoman (B) School then to a tour of duty with the SeaBees in Port Hueneme CA, Adak Alaska, and Kodiak Alaska.
I received orders to the U. S. Naval Support Activity, Sasebo, Japan. We had two children by this time. Randee, born August 28, 1950 and Kevin, born 17 May 1952. The whole family boarded the USNS Gaffey and sailed for Japan. The Gaffey was a liner contracted to the U. S. Government to transport Military families to foreign duty stations. Needless to say it was a most enjoyable 13 days of doing nothing but eat, sleep, play and relax. We had a very enjoyable tour in Japan. Kevin’s blonde hair was all the rage among the Japanese.
We left there in July 1959, but not before Kevin swallowed a 25 yen coin which became lodged in his throat. He and I made a flying trip to Ashiya Air Force Base in an ambulance to have it removed. The doctors couldn’t get it out so they pushed it down into his stomach. We watched for it for a week but never did see it again. This all happened on the day they were moving us out of Sasebo for our trip to Naval Station, Treasure Island, San Francisco. We spent four years there and then went to San Diego where I went on board the USS Ingersoll (DD-652) for a tour of duty. I spent two years on board the Ingersoll with one western Pacific cruise to Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines etc.
I went from the Ingersoll to Staff, Commander Cruiser/Destroyer force, in San Diego on board all the destroyer tenders (Gompers, Prairie, Dixie) and a couple more that I don’t remember.
Then I received orders to the Naval Support Activity, Danang, Vietnam to do another tour with the SeaBees and of course renew old acquaintances from years past. A twelve- month tour from 1968 to 1969 was the end of the road and I retired in December 1969.
I bought a bottled water franchise in April 1970 and operated that for the next fourteen years. I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1980 and sold the franchise in 1984. I went through several biopsies to remove tumors from my bladder. Things seemed kind of grim there for awhile but after two years of chemotherapy (thio Tepa) which was instilled into the bladder at regular intervals for two years and then the same maneuver with a chemical called meta myacin (sp) for two years. During this time (April 1984) a biopsy of my prostate indicated that the cancer had spread to that organ. This resulted in 26 treatments of radiation and it seemed to do the job. The Urologist, Dr. Kurt Evans discovered that I had a heart that was not beating in the regular fashion and further examination revealed that my aorta was not performing correctly.
They also found that two of the veins in the heart were partially blocked. This all resulted in an operation where they replaced the aorta with a porcine valve (valve from a pig) and replacement of the two affected veins. All this came about in 1986.
I then worked for the Naval Supply Center in San Diego for six years and then retired for good.
I spent most of my time either in my wood shop or on the golf course I am currently building a crib for the new baby. I finished the crib and it turned out just fine, Also made a king size bed for Randee and Mike. It was my first attempt at something like that and I came up with many errors that had to be corrected before final completion.
The time is now about three years later and I am still active in my wood shop and attempting to grow orchids. Missy has had another baby (Max) he is a fine little boy and smiles almost continuously. We also have a new great-grandchild, Hallee, born to Matt and Jenee, who joins two brothers, Mikey and Chase, and a sister, Amanda.
**Mom (Thelma) to pick up here...
