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Fenske's journey of service and citizenship
Al Fenske remembers World War II because, as a child of 11-years-old, he was living in the middle of it.
"In West Prussia during the war, a British prisoner of war walked by our farm to work at another farm and I watched him come and go. There was no guard. There was a camp not too far away and as kids will do, we wandered around. We found their dump. The cans were written in a language (English) we couldn't understand, but we did make out plum pudding," Al related.
Things got worse and Al and his parents and seven brothers and sisters, fled from West Prussia, but they got caught up in central Germany and were stuck in Russian Occupation until November of 1945. They lived on a landed gentry's estate. It was like a small village. There were people to do the milking, farming, take care of the sheep, and others took care of the pigs. There were also craftsmen who did woodwork and the blacksmith. All the people there lived and worked on the estate which was about 2,000 acres. "They had Russian prisoners that lived in a little building with bars on the window and had one guard. These prisoners also worked on the farm. The prisoners would walk by the communal pot which was the size of a good-sized table with a fire under it and get their food,." Al lived there one summer and fall. They learned later that the farm had been divided and became a collective farm, but didn't know how it was going to work because the machinery was big and their plots of land were little. Life was a little better when they finally made it to a British Zone and lived there until 1952.
In 1948, Al's father decided they would immigrate to America. He had lived through two wars and wanted to make sure his family was safe and there were more opportunities for his children. He signed up to leave the country and then more or less forgot about it. There was new money and the Marshall Plan was in effect and Germany was getting back on its feet. His grandparents and extended family tried to get them to stay in Germany. But in 1950, Al's dad received a call asking if he were still interested. The answer was yes, so they were told to get a family picture and the Lutheran World Federation tried to find them a sponsor. "Who would want to sponsor a family of 10?" the Fenskes wondered.
Finally, a wonderful Swede farmer in Rutland, Ill. decided to take a chance on the Fenske family. The farmer had a heart condition and needed help on the farm. What few items the family had were placed in crates and each one had a suitcase. At Bremerhafen, they boarded a military transport ship which took refugees to the United States and disembarked in New Orleans. A train took them to Chicago and on to Rutland, Ill.
The farmer and his wife and the people in the community had a big farm house completely furnished down to the bedding and even clothes for the entire family in the closets. Al and his family had not been used to that comfortable of a home.
They arrived March 16, 1952. Al was 17 years old. On April 13, 1952, he turned 18 and shortly afterwards received a notice from the draft board that he should register for the Army.
Al wondered if he should wait to be drafted or volunteer for the branch of his choice. When he talked to his dad, he was told, "We are going to be Americans and must do everything that is expected of us. When I was 18, I went to the Army."
Working for a farmer that summer and fall, Al picked up some of the language. He had only been in the country 18 months and had learned enough English to converse, but was not good in reading and writing. Nevertheless, he went to the recruiting office in Ottawa, Ill. The recruiter asked which branch he wanted to join and Al told him the Army. Asked if he wanted to be in the Regular Army or U.S. Army, he said it didn't matter. It wasn't until he had been in two weeks of basic training that he learned the difference. The difference is that the Regular Army iare those who volunteer and U.S. Army are those drafted. The volunteers were given extra duty, "because you asked for it," and he was in for three years instead of the two that he would have served if he had been drafted.
"I've never been sorry about it," Al said. "I got a lot of good things out of the Army. I took night classes and finished my GED for high school, took American government classes and became a citizen in 1955 while in the Army. As a Korean Conflict person, I got the GI Bill which helped me get through college and a master's degree in Fine Arts."
Al spent all three years stateside. "Because of my lack of knowledge of the English language, I did so badly on my test that they must have thought I was the most ignorant person ever -- so they made me a cook. I became a good cook, but I volunteered for every transfer on the bulletin board. I wanted to go to Korea, even Germany. I didn't get any of them."
He was sent to Ft. Jackson in South Carolina for the first six weeks and finally assigned to Ft. Campbell, Ky., in the 127th Combat Engineer Battalion and was promoted to a Private First Class. Six months before he was to be discharged, his unit had to take another eight weeks of combat training. They had to build bridges and blow them up, run jackhammers and other heavy duty equipment. He was promoted to Specialist 3rd Class. "They were trying to get me to re-enlist. I didn't."
By this time, his parents had moved to Chicago so he went there, found a job and entered the Goodman School of Drama at the Chicago Art Institute.
In 1970, Al was working in a factory that made shock absorbers and car parts when a registrar from his college called. He told him that the American Theatrics Confer-ence was at the Palmer House Hotel and were looking for someone to teach speech and drama in a small town in Missouri. A call to Cottey College soon had him on a bus to Nevada, Mo. He was met by Harry Chew, the Fine Arts director at Cottey and George Kleeburg, superintendent of the physical plant. They gave him a tour of Cottey and took him to the president who asked if he was interested in the position.
He was interested, and soon he had a signed contract. He went back to Chicago where he was on the verge of getting married. He loaded up his stuff and a lot of his fiancée's belongings and came back to Nevada. Two weeks later, he went back to Chicago and got married.
He brought his wife and her two sons by a previous marriage, Milton and Harry, back to Nevada where he served as Director of Speech and Drama at Cottey College for 30 years. During this time, he and his wife added two more children, Karl and Catherine, to their family.
Al has been back to Germany on numerous occasions. He still has relatives living there as his was the only one of his parents families that emigrated.
When they left Germany, he lost growing up with extended family and knowing his grandparents. "All because of Hitler" Al said. "Keiser was bad enough, but Hitler was a hundred times worse."
Al's parents are deceased, but of the eight brothers and sisters, four brother and two sisters are still living. They are all citizens of the United States. Besides Al, one brother served in the Army and two in the Navy.
As a retired Cottey College professor, Al Fenske has become a long-time Community Council on the Performing Arts pro and director. A life-long interest in photography, Al has collected many types of photography and a great variety of cameras and objects related to photography.
He has shared his collection and expertise with the Vernon County Historical Society. At the present time, he is assisting in making a display for the Society to be in a store window on the west side of the Square in Nevada, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby." It will highlight the changes in lifestyle and equipment that women have experienced. If a display were made to honor Al Fenske, it would show a lot of changes in lifestyle, also. Germany lost and America gained in more ways than one.