WWII: 144th Armored Signal Company, 4th Armored Division, III U.S. Army (Normandy, Battle of the Bulge)
His wife, Madelyn, wrote:
Harold Johnney Siemsen was born in a sod house on his parent's homestead outside Van Tassell, Wyoming. Just a few weeks after his birth his family traveled by covered-wagon to Bloomfield, Nebraska. Harold's mother said he only cried when the wagon stopped. They didn't need a map, his father followed the maintenance road that paralleled the railroad tracks. His family later moved to Cass County, Minnesota, where he worked on his father's farm and hired out to work on the farms of neighbors. School was a luxury he only enjoyed after the chores were done, so his formal education ended sometime during the 8th grade.
[my insert: Once, while struggling with an algebra assignment, my father explained how to solve the problem. "How do you know that?" I asked. "Well, just because I stopped going to school, doesn't mean I stopped learning," was his reply. Another evening I was trying to get my head around a history assignment, and dad provided an in depth perspective. "How do you know THAT?" I asked. With his sly smile he responded, "Well, for me it wasn't 'history', it was 'current events'."]
During the Great Depression he followed the harvest from Kansas to North Dakota, sending most of his earnings home to his parents. Catching rides on freight trains ("riding the rods") ended when Harold purchased a well-used Harley Davidson with a "suicide clutch." His only vacation during those difficult years was a visit to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. A serious bout with pneumonia nearly killed him when part of his lung had to be removed. Harold, a hemophiliac, spent his entire life avoiding injuries that resulted in bleeding. The lung operation required months of recuperation in a hospital.
Hemophiliac or not, with the coming of World War II Harold was drafted into the U.S. Army March 22, 1942 "for the duration of the war, plus six months." He served as a manual morse operator with the 144th Armored Signal Company, 4th Armored Division, in the European Theater of Operations and was a veteran of Normandy, the "Breakthrough," Battle of the Bulge, liberation of KZ-Ohrdruf, and was in Plzen, Czech Republic, when the guns fell silent on May 8, 1945. His half-track radio car was named "Dotty."
During the war he entered into a "pen-pal" relationship with a childhood acquaintance, Madelyn Marie Schermerhorn. Madelyn spent the war years working as a "rosie" at an aircraft modification center at St. Paul, Minnesota. Just a few days after being discharged at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, on October 27, Harold married his "pen-pal" on November 6, 1945, and purchased a farm on the Crow Wing River in Orton Township adjacent to his bride's childhood home. Financial hardship forced the sale of his livestock and machinery in the Fall of 1958, but Harold was able to keep his farm. He moved his family to California, residing first at Lompoc (1958-1965) and then Los Angeles (1965-1974). Harold "retired" in August 1974 and returned to his beloved farm on the Crow Wing River where he bred registered Angus cattle until shortly before his death at age 86. Harold had just finished the last load of Winter firewood and was walking towards the house when he suffered his first and last heart attack. He was buried with full military honors in the West Lyons Township Cemetery at 1300 hours, Friday the 13th, November 1998, just one week after celebrating his 53rd wedding anniversary.
(Excerpted from: "Memories of an Earlier Time" by Madelyn Siemsen. Self published, 2003)
---
Children:
- John Sigvald Siemsen
- Stephen Harold Siemsen
- Michael Edward Siemsen
- Timothy Jerome Siemsen
----
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
I heard his cattle call.
With a sapling prod his meadows trod,
"One cow, two kine," he would chime.
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
Through the brush so tall,
With his prod a branch on a horseless ranch
He gathered 'kine' one footstep at a time.
(S. Siemsen, 2020)
His wife, Madelyn, wrote:
Harold Johnney Siemsen was born in a sod house on his parent's homestead outside Van Tassell, Wyoming. Just a few weeks after his birth his family traveled by covered-wagon to Bloomfield, Nebraska. Harold's mother said he only cried when the wagon stopped. They didn't need a map, his father followed the maintenance road that paralleled the railroad tracks. His family later moved to Cass County, Minnesota, where he worked on his father's farm and hired out to work on the farms of neighbors. School was a luxury he only enjoyed after the chores were done, so his formal education ended sometime during the 8th grade.
[my insert: Once, while struggling with an algebra assignment, my father explained how to solve the problem. "How do you know that?" I asked. "Well, just because I stopped going to school, doesn't mean I stopped learning," was his reply. Another evening I was trying to get my head around a history assignment, and dad provided an in depth perspective. "How do you know THAT?" I asked. With his sly smile he responded, "Well, for me it wasn't 'history', it was 'current events'."]
During the Great Depression he followed the harvest from Kansas to North Dakota, sending most of his earnings home to his parents. Catching rides on freight trains ("riding the rods") ended when Harold purchased a well-used Harley Davidson with a "suicide clutch." His only vacation during those difficult years was a visit to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. A serious bout with pneumonia nearly killed him when part of his lung had to be removed. Harold, a hemophiliac, spent his entire life avoiding injuries that resulted in bleeding. The lung operation required months of recuperation in a hospital.
Hemophiliac or not, with the coming of World War II Harold was drafted into the U.S. Army March 22, 1942 "for the duration of the war, plus six months." He served as a manual morse operator with the 144th Armored Signal Company, 4th Armored Division, in the European Theater of Operations and was a veteran of Normandy, the "Breakthrough," Battle of the Bulge, liberation of KZ-Ohrdruf, and was in Plzen, Czech Republic, when the guns fell silent on May 8, 1945. His half-track radio car was named "Dotty."
During the war he entered into a "pen-pal" relationship with a childhood acquaintance, Madelyn Marie Schermerhorn. Madelyn spent the war years working as a "rosie" at an aircraft modification center at St. Paul, Minnesota. Just a few days after being discharged at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, on October 27, Harold married his "pen-pal" on November 6, 1945, and purchased a farm on the Crow Wing River in Orton Township adjacent to his bride's childhood home. Financial hardship forced the sale of his livestock and machinery in the Fall of 1958, but Harold was able to keep his farm. He moved his family to California, residing first at Lompoc (1958-1965) and then Los Angeles (1965-1974). Harold "retired" in August 1974 and returned to his beloved farm on the Crow Wing River where he bred registered Angus cattle until shortly before his death at age 86. Harold had just finished the last load of Winter firewood and was walking towards the house when he suffered his first and last heart attack. He was buried with full military honors in the West Lyons Township Cemetery at 1300 hours, Friday the 13th, November 1998, just one week after celebrating his 53rd wedding anniversary.
(Excerpted from: "Memories of an Earlier Time" by Madelyn Siemsen. Self published, 2003)
---
Children:
- John Sigvald Siemsen
- Stephen Harold Siemsen
- Michael Edward Siemsen
- Timothy Jerome Siemsen
----
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
I heard his cattle call.
With a sapling prod his meadows trod,
"One cow, two kine," he would chime.
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
Through the brush so tall,
With his prod a branch on a horseless ranch
He gathered 'kine' one footstep at a time.
(S. Siemsen, 2020)
WWII: 144th Armored Signal Company, 4th Armored Division, III U.S. Army (Normandy, Battle of the Bulge)
His wife, Madelyn, wrote:
Harold Johnney Siemsen was born in a sod house on his parent's homestead outside Van Tassell, Wyoming. Just a few weeks after his birth his family traveled by covered-wagon to Bloomfield, Nebraska. Harold's mother said he only cried when the wagon stopped. They didn't need a map, his father followed the maintenance road that paralleled the railroad tracks. His family later moved to Cass County, Minnesota, where he worked on his father's farm and hired out to work on the farms of neighbors. School was a luxury he only enjoyed after the chores were done, so his formal education ended sometime during the 8th grade.
[my insert: Once, while struggling with an algebra assignment, my father explained how to solve the problem. "How do you know that?" I asked. "Well, just because I stopped going to school, doesn't mean I stopped learning," was his reply. Another evening I was trying to get my head around a history assignment, and dad provided an in depth perspective. "How do you know THAT?" I asked. With his sly smile he responded, "Well, for me it wasn't 'history', it was 'current events'."]
During the Great Depression he followed the harvest from Kansas to North Dakota, sending most of his earnings home to his parents. Catching rides on freight trains ("riding the rods") ended when Harold purchased a well-used Harley Davidson with a "suicide clutch." His only vacation during those difficult years was a visit to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. A serious bout with pneumonia nearly killed him when part of his lung had to be removed. Harold, a hemophiliac, spent his entire life avoiding injuries that resulted in bleeding. The lung operation required months of recuperation in a hospital.
Hemophiliac or not, with the coming of World War II Harold was drafted into the U.S. Army March 22, 1942 "for the duration of the war, plus six months." He served as a manual morse operator with the 144th Armored Signal Company, 4th Armored Division, in the European Theater of Operations and was a veteran of Normandy, the "Breakthrough," Battle of the Bulge, liberation of KZ-Ohrdruf, and was in Plzen, Czech Republic, when the guns fell silent on May 8, 1945. His half-track radio car was named "Dotty."
During the war he entered into a "pen-pal" relationship with a childhood acquaintance, Madelyn Marie Schermerhorn. Madelyn spent the war years working as a "rosie" at an aircraft modification center at St. Paul, Minnesota. Just a few days after being discharged at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, on October 27, Harold married his "pen-pal" on November 6, 1945, and purchased a farm on the Crow Wing River in Orton Township adjacent to his bride's childhood home. Financial hardship forced the sale of his livestock and machinery in the Fall of 1958, but Harold was able to keep his farm. He moved his family to California, residing first at Lompoc (1958-1965) and then Los Angeles (1965-1974). Harold "retired" in August 1974 and returned to his beloved farm on the Crow Wing River where he bred registered Angus cattle until shortly before his death at age 86. Harold had just finished the last load of Winter firewood and was walking towards the house when he suffered his first and last heart attack. He was buried with full military honors in the West Lyons Township Cemetery at 1300 hours, Friday the 13th, November 1998, just one week after celebrating his 53rd wedding anniversary.
(Excerpted from: "Memories of an Earlier Time" by Madelyn Siemsen. Self published, 2003)
---
Children:
- John Sigvald Siemsen
- Stephen Harold Siemsen
- Michael Edward Siemsen
- Timothy Jerome Siemsen
----
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
I heard his cattle call.
With a sapling prod his meadows trod,
"One cow, two kine," he would chime.
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
Through the brush so tall,
With his prod a branch on a horseless ranch
He gathered 'kine' one footstep at a time.
(S. Siemsen, 2020)
His wife, Madelyn, wrote:
Harold Johnney Siemsen was born in a sod house on his parent's homestead outside Van Tassell, Wyoming. Just a few weeks after his birth his family traveled by covered-wagon to Bloomfield, Nebraska. Harold's mother said he only cried when the wagon stopped. They didn't need a map, his father followed the maintenance road that paralleled the railroad tracks. His family later moved to Cass County, Minnesota, where he worked on his father's farm and hired out to work on the farms of neighbors. School was a luxury he only enjoyed after the chores were done, so his formal education ended sometime during the 8th grade.
[my insert: Once, while struggling with an algebra assignment, my father explained how to solve the problem. "How do you know that?" I asked. "Well, just because I stopped going to school, doesn't mean I stopped learning," was his reply. Another evening I was trying to get my head around a history assignment, and dad provided an in depth perspective. "How do you know THAT?" I asked. With his sly smile he responded, "Well, for me it wasn't 'history', it was 'current events'."]
During the Great Depression he followed the harvest from Kansas to North Dakota, sending most of his earnings home to his parents. Catching rides on freight trains ("riding the rods") ended when Harold purchased a well-used Harley Davidson with a "suicide clutch." His only vacation during those difficult years was a visit to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. A serious bout with pneumonia nearly killed him when part of his lung had to be removed. Harold, a hemophiliac, spent his entire life avoiding injuries that resulted in bleeding. The lung operation required months of recuperation in a hospital.
Hemophiliac or not, with the coming of World War II Harold was drafted into the U.S. Army March 22, 1942 "for the duration of the war, plus six months." He served as a manual morse operator with the 144th Armored Signal Company, 4th Armored Division, in the European Theater of Operations and was a veteran of Normandy, the "Breakthrough," Battle of the Bulge, liberation of KZ-Ohrdruf, and was in Plzen, Czech Republic, when the guns fell silent on May 8, 1945. His half-track radio car was named "Dotty."
During the war he entered into a "pen-pal" relationship with a childhood acquaintance, Madelyn Marie Schermerhorn. Madelyn spent the war years working as a "rosie" at an aircraft modification center at St. Paul, Minnesota. Just a few days after being discharged at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, on October 27, Harold married his "pen-pal" on November 6, 1945, and purchased a farm on the Crow Wing River in Orton Township adjacent to his bride's childhood home. Financial hardship forced the sale of his livestock and machinery in the Fall of 1958, but Harold was able to keep his farm. He moved his family to California, residing first at Lompoc (1958-1965) and then Los Angeles (1965-1974). Harold "retired" in August 1974 and returned to his beloved farm on the Crow Wing River where he bred registered Angus cattle until shortly before his death at age 86. Harold had just finished the last load of Winter firewood and was walking towards the house when he suffered his first and last heart attack. He was buried with full military honors in the West Lyons Township Cemetery at 1300 hours, Friday the 13th, November 1998, just one week after celebrating his 53rd wedding anniversary.
(Excerpted from: "Memories of an Earlier Time" by Madelyn Siemsen. Self published, 2003)
---
Children:
- John Sigvald Siemsen
- Stephen Harold Siemsen
- Michael Edward Siemsen
- Timothy Jerome Siemsen
----
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
I heard his cattle call.
With a sapling prod his meadows trod,
"One cow, two kine," he would chime.
"Here bos, come bos! Here bos, come bos!"
Through the brush so tall,
With his prod a branch on a horseless ranch
He gathered 'kine' one footstep at a time.
(S. Siemsen, 2020)
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