Arnold Air Society/Silver Wings Joint National Project; The Spirit of ’45

Irene Ladner: Wife of WWII Vet, John Ladner.

Irene, now 92, lives alone in a small home in Granite Falls, Minnesota. The same city where she met John, the man that she would spend 73 happy years with. 

They met at a dance and then “went steady for a while” until he was called for the draft in 1942. He was stationed first at the Presidio in San Francisco, and were engaged before he left. She followed him to San Francisco, where they bought a small apartment just off-base. They were married 3 days after her arrival to San Francisco, on 18 September, 1943.

They faced tough times in San Francisco, and their apartment was very small. Even baking was quite the task, Irene had to use a propped-up broom to keep the oven door from falling open. The apartment had no refrigeration, the only refrigeration she had was “the little window that opened by the stove that had a little edge on it, and I [she] put butter and things out there. If I [she] could get butter.” But regardless of all of this, John thought that she was a marvelous cook anyway. Food was rationed during the war, and Irene had to make do with what she could get her hands on at the Post Exchange, which the Food Ration Stamps provided. John didn’t receive any rations, since he was in the service and ate most of his meals on-base.

While in San Francisco, Irene got a job at the Presidio working in the post-locator’s office, working alongside a dozen or so others. She spent her time answering phones and attempting to give concerned family members and friends as much information as she could about their loved ones in the services’ whereabouts.  They attempted to find phone numbers or addresses, some way to get ahold of them. It was a “pretty interesting job” as she describes it, and an important one at that.

John’s job in the Army was as a clerk in an office for a Captain where he worked for 3 ½ years. He worked up the ranks from a Private 1^st class, to a Corporal, to a Sergeant. In his free time with Irene, they liked to go to the zoo nearby.

She described what her time with John was like during the war. He was allowed to stay off base with her most of the time, unless they were on alert. In their apartment they could have no lights on that could be seen from outside. This meant either no lights at all, or all of the curtains had to be drawn early in the evening, and cars weren’t allowed on the streets since their headlights would be too bright. Patrols walked the blocks to ensure that no lights were visible. There was no gas for the cars, nylons or pantyhose, no shoes (or at least leather soles for shoes); all of it went to the war effort. The cars running on Kerosene sounded like “old trucks”, even the new top-of-the-line models. They received news on the war through their radios (playing quietly) or newspapers. She remembers pictures of the Japanese being taken from their homes and forced into Internment camps.

She told a story of how a friend of hers was a Merchant Marine. She invited him over for dinner and he brought her 5-6 pounds of butter. He brought it to her from the ship with one request; for her to not make Mashed Potatoes for dinner. He had been out at sea for 3 months and that was all that he had been given to eat.

 Irene also had 4 Brothers, all of which were in the service. Peculiarly enough, they each chose a different branch. Bill served in the Army as a tanker and was sent into the conflict in Africa. Twice, his tank was blown up with him inside, but he managed to survive both times when many did not. He was awarded the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for his actions during the war. Irene said that Bill “definitely got the worst of it” in comparison to the other brothers. Her brother Ben joined the Marines and was sent to Japan. She remembers him sending her a beautiful Japanese Kimono as a gift, and his job was to clear though the caves where it was believed that the Japanese were hiding. Joe was a member of the Army Air Corps and was sent to the Philippines. Irene describes him as a “very friendly man” and told us of how he made friends with the locals. He got Jungle Rot (Trench Foot) in his feet, a fungal infection caused by being constantly in damp conditions, and felt the effects of that for the rest of his life. Her fourth brother, Clarence, was a ship Gunner in the Navy. She says that he had the best time. He went completely around the world; he left from California and docked in New York.