This year the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. We are participating by remembering the contributions of persons from our region, most of whom are no longer with us.

I interviewed rural Minneota’s Frank Josephson in July 2006. Frank was born in Minneota in 1921 and grew up on a farm in Westerheim Township. He described his early education in Lyon County’s rural public school system.

“Through the 7th grade it was a Westerheim school . . . not too far from here. This was a funny school district. It had two school houses and they had — the first half of the year to Christmas time — in one and then they moved everything over to the other schoolhouse — otherwise some people would say they’ve got too far to walk,” he concluded with a chuckle.

Frank described how they often walked across fields to their county school.

“(It was) a half a mile (to one) or a full mile cross country (to the other). We did that all the time when the weather was good. If the weather was bad, then they usually came and got us,” he explained, laughing.

But country school would not get a student through high school.

“I was there for 7 years and then I had an aunt and uncle that lived in Minneota. So, my folks sent me to Minneota. I started at the 8th grade in Minneota and went right on through.”

Frank graduated with the Minneota High School class of 1938; continued working on the family farm; and also continued working with Lyon County’s 4-H program. His work with the 4-H program led to his military service in WWII.

The US entered the war against Imperial Japan on Dec. 8, 1941, following the Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy then declared war against the US on December 11th, under their Tripartite Axis Pact with Japan. The US Congress responded with dual declarations of war that same day, making the US a full participant in the war that had been raging in Europe since August 1939.

Frank was following the news and expected the war would eventually come to him in Westerheim Township.

“Well, at that time they were drafting everybody they could get a hold of. They needed all of us. With a younger brother coming up, graduating from high school, I was in 1A. I had another brother next to me in age who was also in 1A. He was in college. We were prime targets for Uncle Sam. (This with a chuckle) I decided, well, I could volunteer. You are going to be in service anyway, so this was a choice.”

Enter Frank’s involvement with the county 4-H program in the fall of 1942.

“I happened to be at the State Fair as a counselor in the 4-H Building. A friend and I decided to go to downtown Minneapolis. I was going to go to the Federal Building on Washington Avenue and start the process for volunteering for the Air Force, which I did. Then I was scheduled on certain dates to be at the Federal Building and at Fort Snelling for tests, both written and physical, and I passed them. They said, ‘Okay, you just go home now and you’re on 24-hour call.'”

Frank waited a long while for that call.

“Well, it was 6 months later . . . it was from September to March. I (went to) the Federal Building because that was right next to the railroad. We went on the railroad — a whole bunch of us from the 7th Corps area – went down to San Antonio, TX.”

Frank had enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet program.

“We went to the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center for more tests, initial training — military training, and then we picked what we thought we wanted to do. I picked pilot. Then we went across to the Cade Center, the real Cadet Center, where we received our first military training, which was comparable to Annapolis or the Army training for officers.”

Frank explained how aviation cadet training was a dramatic life change.

“Your entire life — was scheduled and you had to act in certain ways. As underclassmen, it was a lot of discipline. We couldn’t even walk down the street visiting with somebody. We had to be looking straight ahead in a military manner in step. And there were watchful eyes all over the base, watching us that we did it. You just wondered, ‘What did I get into?'” he concluded with a laugh.

He described their typical training day.

“We were up at 5 or 5:30 and then — however we were dressed — we went outside for roll call. Then we had some time for cleaning up and getting dressed. You had to have your bunk made and your clothes all taken care of. Your washing could be in a bag and your shoes had to be polished. When you went to classes, you marched to classes. But the minute you stepped out the door as an underclassman, you had to be running. That training was to get you to think — to make your judgement calls fast. You didn’t know it at the time, but it did.”

Frank also described their training.

“Ground school – military ground school like the rules of war and all that stuff. Also, we were getting into identification of airplanes and telling us what we could expect when we went off to the different training levels — flying training levels.”

Frank had entered the initial phase of pilot training.