“My dearly beloved Wife, Bettie,”…this is how Robert (Bob) Koob started all his countless letters to his wife while he was serving in the U.S. Army during WWII. He served in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes (Belgium), Rhineland (Western Germany), and Central Europe over the course of his years. He was also there for The Battle of the Bulge.
“I was scared all the time, but he came out okay,” Bettie said gratefully.
The letters in Bettie’s scrapbooks show just how deep their love was, and it was the love for her husband and those letters that inspired Bettie to also enlist in the Army in 1943.
It seems as though Bettie was destined to be a patriot having been born on the Fourth of July, 1924 and having no second thoughts or doubts about doing her patriotic duty.
At the tender age of 19, Bettie married the love of her life, Bob, on November 10, 1943 when he was home on leave. They were married in Fort Dodge by the Justice of the Peace. On February 20, 1945, she enlisted in the U.S. Army too.
“I enlisted because Bob was stationed over in Germany,” she recalled.
Since Bettie had some experience working at Rotary Ann (now known as Rotary Senior Living), she decided to serve in the medical aspect. She was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, a United States Army post in Georgia that had been established in 1902.
Bettie noted that there was talk of President Roosevelt being taking care of in the hospital next to them in Georgia – although she never actually got to see him for herself.
She spent six weeks in a medical and surgical technician course and was then sent to Schick Hospital in Clinton, Iowa, where its story begins in 1942 after the U.S. had been involved in WWII for just over two months. It is said that the Medical Corps foresaw the need for a hospital located in the upper Midwest. It was built in 1942. Schick’s General Hospital was one of 59 established around the country to aid patients requiring special facilities or long-term hospitalization – and five months, Bettie was one of them helping to provide that care to wounded soldiers. She points out, however, that it wasn’t just for American soldiers. They also had German and Italian wounded soldiers there as well for care as they also tended to prisoners of War.
“I remember when the German soldiers came in, the American boys wouldn’t talk to them,” said Bettie. “But we treated them like anyone else,” she added about the medical staff.
During its course, the hospital served thousands of soldiers brought there from battlefields all over the world.
Bettie saw many terrible injuries and very sick soldiers, but still never had any regrets about her decision to serve.
“What we saw just came off the battlefield,” she remembered. “Some had big holes in their legs.”
Bettie spent most of her hours helping in surgery, but one of the people she helped who sticks out the most to her after all these years, however, isn’t even a patient, but one of the nurses in the hospital. She had reportedly fallen asleep while smoking a cigarette. She caught herself on fire. Bettie put the fire out and got rid of the burnt mattress.
To the best of her recollection, Bettie said they were paid around $200 a month for their service…but you have to keep in mind $50 was even a lot of money back then. She had the opportunity to make more money when she was offered a promotion to Sergeant, but she declined because she wanted to come back home to Eagle Grove because her husband was ready to be discharged as well.
Bettie was Honorably Discharged on December 24, 1945. They gave her $4.50 for traveling costs as she took the train back to Iowa.
Now, at the age of 96, Bettie is proud to say that she and Bob built a beautiful life (Bob was EG Chief of Police for 25 years) and a beautiful family together (eight children). All four boys, as well as two grandsons, have also served in the military. Bob passed in 1984.
“It’s a different world today, but I’m glad I live in a small town,” said Bettie. “But our nation needs to start taking care of one another and stop saying ‘You owe me this.’”
Bettie said that when she joined the Army, and still today, she never really thought about being part of the war effort.
“You just have to give what you can,” she said proudly.
Bettie was awarded a WWII Victory Medal and the Meritorious Unit Award. She was also humbled to be able to be part of a past Brushy Creek Honor Flight.
According to unofficial local historian Ron Mohr, at one time, there were some 70 million WWII Veterans. Today, there remains less than half a million with two to three passing away each day. To all of our WWII Veterans, and ALL veterans, whether you served in time of war or peace, or are currently serving, we thank you for your service and your sacrifices not only on Veterans Day, but every day.
If you know a Veteran who would like to share their story, please call me at 448-4745.
