At Ease - Wisconsin National Guard Department of Military Affairs

efore their families and neighbors at the Modjeska Theater.
Individually and in groups they sang, danced and recited poetry,
remembering a homeland that no one in the theater had heard
from since the German invasion a year earlier.
At the Eagles Club across town, 10,000 young
Milwaukeeans attended a farewell dance for local units of the
121st Field Artillery. Governor Julius P. Heil led the grand march
with the 14-year-old daughter of a Guard officer. Young women
in party dresses got teary-eyed and young soldiers’ chests
swelled as Milwaukee’s mayor, Carl Zeidler, led them in singing
“God Bless America.”
At the North Shore Country Club officers of the 121st and
their wives held a dinner-dance of their own. Signs of patriotism
were more muted here and career opportunities more openly
discussed. Many had spent years preparing for command. Soon
they would have a chance to show their stuff and take whatever
rewards came their way.
And so it went throughout the country for those few days
in mid-October before the trains and convoys started south. A
few old-timers failed their physicals and reluctantly joined the
observers on the sidelines, while some young men rushed to the
recruiters before the deadline.
No kiss for the Dairy Queen
High spirits: More volunteers
than strictly necessary
load gear from a
32nd Division truck into
a baggage car of the Chicago
and Northwestern
Railway.
In Marshfield at 7 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21, 1st Sgt. Steger
marched the men of C Company to the Miller Building for
breakfast, then dismissed them for the morning. Most went home
32 at ease