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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Norma J. Dippel: A glimpse at life during wartime

Norma J. Dippel

(Editor’s note: Norma J. Dippel of Spokane researched and wrote this account of her mother, Vesta L. Stringer, a Gold Star mother, and her brother, 2nd Lt. Robert L. Stringer, who was killed in Italy during World War II. It first appeared in “Rural Reflections,” a compilation of stories from rural women published in 1995. It is reprinted this weekend as a Memorial Day remembrance.)

Bob, as everyone called him, had graduated from Palouse High School in 1942. He enrolled in Washington State College for the fall semester, and joined the Army Reserves in November. He was ordered to report as a U.S. Air Corp pre-aviation cadet, assigned to the Army Air Force Technical Training Center, Lincoln, Nebraska, in March of 1943.

While he was stationed in Bozeman, Montana, at the 312 College Training Department (Air Crew), Montana State College, he would celebrate his nineteenth birthday. This was the first time he was away from home, so mother baked him an angel food cake (the family birthday cake) and carried it on her lap, traveling by herself on a crowded troop train all the way to Bozeman, Montana. She also carried as many cookies as sugar rationing would allow. This was quite a feat for my mother, as she never traveled very much, especially by herself.

Mother and the family tried to write Bob every week, but we were not quite as faithful as he, for every week or sometimes twice a week the family received letters from him until he was sent overseas, then they came less frequent. Mother received his last letter ten days after receiving the telegram of his death. This was a little hard.

Several of Bob’s wing men wrote mother letters of condolence, and three of them came to see the family in Palouse, hitchhiking from the West Coast. This was a nice gesture on their part, and I still hear from one today.

Bob trained all over the United States, but his main military training was: primary training, King City, California; basic training, Garner Field, California; and graduating from Luke Field, Arizona.

At the graduating ceremonies, either the mother, wife or sweetheart pinned the silver wings on the new pilot’s uniform. Unfortunately, Bob had no family or loved one at his graduation. People could not afford to travel in those war times. Home on leave afterward he brought my sister and I a pair of his silver wings. We had them made into bracelets, and I still wear mine today.

My brother left for overseas duty in November of 1944. Home on his last leave, my mother and father took him to the train in Spokane, in dad’s pickup truck. I remember my mother all decked out in her Sunday best, long coat with a fur color, gloves, high heels and a little hat perched on her head. She was a compatible asset to Bob in his dress uniform, olive green jacket, tan pants and shirt (they were called “pinks” because of their pinkish tan color), and his campaign hat. Dad was in his Western finery, best cowboy hat, sweater, shirt, tie and his beloved white work boots.

March 4, 1943 to January 25, 1945, her son had spread his wings far and wide, but for this Gold Star mother, at his young age of 20 years, his flight ended too soon.