We have been learning about Minneota’s Royal Hettling, who grew up with four siblings on the family farm north of Minneota. Royal attended Minneota Public Schools where his class grew significantly as they entered high school, augmented by students from St. Edward School in Minneota and the Taunton Public School.

Royal hung out in the library with guys in his ag classes during their free time after lunch. He recalled how the high schoolers sorted themselves by their background.

“At the time in most small schools there was this social structure — the farm kids versus the city kids. There was always this struggle between who is a little better than the other. The farm boys thought the city kids had a superior attitude because the city kids were better athletes, basketball-wise. But the farm kids were better wrestlers. So, we felt somewhat inferior in some sense.”

He remembered a high school teacher who left a good impression.

“Stan Miller. He was in biology and it seemed like he took interest. When you’d have him for study hall, if you had a question on a problem with any class, you could go up and ask him and he was always willing to help.”

Royal had limited mobility during high school.

“I didn’t get a car in high school because Dad said, ‘You’re not getting a license until two weeks before graduation because my insurance doubles the day you get it and I’m not paying it.'”

He may not have had wheels, but Royal found joy from another source.

“What I liked best was the music of the ’60s. Often when we’d be walking the bean fields spraying thistles and pulling cockleburs, I’d carry a little transistor radio. Back then it was all AM and AM would play a lot of the good music — Beatles, Rolling Stones, Peter, Paul, and Mary. That helped to pass the day as you were walking bean fields.”

Royal’s awareness of the world beyond Minneota grew in high school after his brother, Charlie, enlisted in the Marine Corps and deployed to Vietnam. Royal also saw how the Vietnam War was in the thoughts of his next older brother, Dan, and his friends.

“I remember Dan and Tom Bradley sitting under the elm tree on the farm, deciding what they should do. They were talking about whether they should enlist or wait until they got drafted. Well, they got drafted one month apart. Dan’s whole unit went to Germany. Tom went to ‘Nam, where he got killed.”

The farm work continued through Royal’s high school years. One summer day he stopped at Dahlager’s Market after hauling grain to the elevator. He encountered a town classmate who talked about his summer camping trips, fishing trips, and time hanging out at the pool. Royal headed home with that on his mind.

“I got back to the farm and dad asked, ‘What took you so long.’ I told him there was a line at the elevator. We started shelling corn again. I’m outside the crib with my corn fork in hand. Dad’s leaning on his corn fork. I said, ‘Dad, I ran into a friend at the elevator. Do you know what he’s been doing all summer?’ I gave him a rundown. When I finished he said, ‘Well, that’s the difference between a city kid and a country kid; they got nothing better to do with their time, where you do. Now get in there and start forking that corn down.’ (Royal chuckled) That’s the sympathy I got.”

Royal graduated high school in 1969 at 17 and registered for the draft later that year after his birthday.

“We went to the bank and talked with Wally Pesch. You’d register with him. A week later I got a phone call from the Air Force recruiter stating, ‘OK you are 18. Make up your mind — enlist or get drafted. Decide today.’ He was that blunt, ‘If you want to wait for the draft, they’re going to have you within a year-and-a-half.’ I was receptive to it, so when he said, ‘Make up your mind today,’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s fine.'”

He explained why he went Air Force.

“Well, one brother, the Marine, said, ‘Go Army.’ (Royal chuckled) The other brother in the Army said, ‘Go Air Force.'”

Within weeks Royal boarded a bus to Sioux Falls and a flight to Kansas City. Another flight delivered him and other enlistees to San Antonio, Texas.

“We landed in San Antonio in the middle of the night. A representative at the airport announced, ‘All Lackland trainees line up over here.’ He was talking real nice to us saying, ‘In single file, please go board the Air Force bus waiting outside.’ We got on the bus and they took us to Lackland. Another person at Lackland got on the bus and asked all the ladies to exit. Once the ladies had formed outside and gone through their roll call, they took them inside for in-processing. I was thinking, ‘Wow, this isn’t going to be so bad.” The same guy came out with a big smile on his face and got to the side of the bus. He wiped that smile off; slapped the side of the bus; and got on the bus, screaming, ‘Get off this bus!’ He was screaming at us to get off and we piled off. One guy tripped and almost got trampled.”

Thus began their basic training experience.

©2024 William D. Palmer Contact me at prairieviewpressllc@gmail.com with any comments about or story suggestions for “Prairie Lives.”