Veteran remembers Great Depression, Dust Bowl and WWII

Published by Forum Communications Echo Press on May 30, 2022

Doug Dahlheimer of Alexandria was born on May 9, 1922. In his 100 years, he went through the Great Depression, worked on his family farm during the Dust Bowl, served in the Navy during World War II and educated children as a sixth-grade teacher.

“I was born at a time when there was a lot of change,” said Dahlheimer.

Doug Dahlhemier grew up on a small Minnesota farm near Diamond Lake between Rodgers and Dayton and remembers milking cows in the wee hours of the morning before school and trekking through swampy woods to make the school bus as it wouldn’t go down his road.

After school, he was back on the farm, “busy, busy, busy,” milking cows and sweating over daily chores.

“It was different back then for the farm kids. Town kids could go to the parks. Farm kids had to work,” he said.

According to Dahlheimer, things were going well for farmers around the time he was born. But the crash of the stock market in 1929 rocked the working class, creating tough times for Dahlheimer’s family.

“You could buy a pound of butter for a quarter, but no one had a quarter,” he said.

He said his family had to forfeit their farm for a short while until Roosevelt’s Agricultural Adjustment Act allowed them to purchase it back. Then a multi-state-wide drought resulting in the infamous ‘Dust Bowl’ created more problems for the farmers.

“The dust came in. It covered everything. In those days, you didn’t have modern insulation. Our doorknob would even turn white with frost during the winter,” said Dahlheimer.

In 1942, Dahlheimer joined the military as the United States was on the verge of World War II. It was just a year after he graduated from high school.

To avoid being drafted and ending up in a “fox hole” with lizards, he joined the Navy. His cousin joined the Navy, too, and served on the USS Arizona, where he remains today, trapped at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

After bootcamp, Dahlheimer trained as a fire controlman. Commonly mistaken as the ship's firefighter, a fire controlman operates and maintains the ship's weaponry. He served on the USS Blue Ridge.

“All the Blue Ridge was, was a liberty ship souped-up with guns and armor,” said Dahlheimer. “We used it to haul cargo.”

He recalls when he repaired a defective gun and earned a night off from guard duty.

“That was my blossom day,” said Dahlheimer.

The ship provided communications support to the commander and staff of the United States Seventh Fleet. Dahlheimer described previously built liberty ships as “ducks on the pond'' as they didn’t have enough weaponry to protect themselves. So, when the Blue Ridge was constructed, they made it well-armed and fortified.

Dahlhhemier remembers a time when the ship crept between Australia and the island of New Caledonia, hugging the coast of the land down under, doing their best to remain undetected from the Japanese who had control over a majority of the East Asian islands.

“The ship was filled with generals and over 100 officers, and the East Asian islands were under the control of enemy Japanese soldiers,” said Dahlheimer. “Everyone was after it.”

As a fire controlman, Dahlhemier’s job was to protect the ship from enemy ships and planes.

“We had almost the same amount of guns as a destroyer (ship) does,” he said. “When you have them all working together, it is like a cloud of explosions. It is a miracle to get through it.”

After the war, in 1946, Dahlheimer attended the University of Kansas for officer training. Then moved to Minnesota to sell insurance until going back to his roots and began farming in Maple Grove.

Eventually, he went back to school and earned a teaching degree from the University of Minnesota through the G.I. bill and taught at Robbinsdale as a sixth-grade teacher until his retirement. He then moved to Alexandria in 1986.

While Dahlhemier considers war uncivilized, he is thankful for the opportunities his time in the military has given him – education and a profession.

Today, Dahlheimer tells his tales among friends at the Friday Coffee and Doughnuts gathering at the Alexandria VFW.

On Friday, April 29, 2022, he was honored by a State Senate Resolution – presented by Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen – recognizing his service to the United States and congratulating him on his 100th birthday, which was on May 9, 2022.