June 8, 1944: Luverne's D-Day

When we sleepily stumbled down the hall to answer the clamorously ringing telephone we made a mental note that it was shortly before 3 a.m. We picked up the receiver, thinking it was Sheriff Roberts calling to say that there had been an accident. Instead it was Mrs. Lloyd Long, playing the feminine counterpart role of Paul Revere, saying "Get up, Al, and listen to the radio, the invasion has started."

Al McIntosh Altho we had written in this column several weeks ago that the news would break between midnight and 5 a.m. we still couldn't believe that the long awaited "D" Day had arrived. We sat by the radio for over an hour listening to the breathtaking announcements of eyewitness observers of the assault.

And then we went back to bed — to lie there for a long time, wide eyed in the darkness — thinking, "What Rock County boys are landing on French soil tonight?"

Please Lord, may this not be another Dieppe.

And so the invasion news came to Luverne, quietly. There were no whistles, no sirens. People got up and automatically turned on their radios to get the biggest news in all the world's military history. There were no demonstrations — not much was said. The coffee shops were filled almost to standing room as the 10 o'clock news approached, Argus Leader "extras" were grabbed up like hotcakes and eagerly scanned. There were sober faces on the men as they listened to the news but there was a smile of exultation when they heard that the Allied forces had penetrated ten miles inland. One mother dropped in the coffee shop. She shook her head and pushed the cup of coffee, which had been placed in front of her, aside.

"I just want to listen to the radio," she said. Her boy, by all the odds, was "there." One didn't have to be psychic to know what was in her mind – or her heart. The prayer that she was uttering right then as she listened to the announcer was multiplied a thousand times and more in Rock County countless times during the day.

This is no time for any premature rejoicing or cockiness because the coming weeks are going to bring grim news. This struggle is far from over — it has only started — and if anyone thinks that a gain of ten miles means that the next three hundred are going to go as fast or easy he is only an ostrich.

"I don't feel like calling a county meeting of the workers," he said, "that's asking an awful lot right now when most everybody is busy with their farm work, asking them to take off four hours to come to a meeting."

Here is the way Ned looks at it — the workers have been thru four previous campaigns — they know their job and what has to be done. There is nothing new he can tell them that they don't already know. Why should he impose further on these volunteer bond salesmen by taking their time for an organization meeting when they will have to give so much time during the drive?

With a man having so much faith in the people of Rock County we can't afford to let them down. Just remember this — some of those boys who are battling ahead in France will never "get back" but you'll get every dollar you invest
"back" and with interest too. It's "better to buy bonds than to wear them."

And another thing — the Red Cross has received a terrific quota for surgical dressings. These are needed — and will be needed. Let not any woman in Rock County think that she isn't needed in this effort. Your help may save a
boy's life. Need we say more.