The Wintle Boys

 Before the turn of the last Century, when almost everything in this country was fueled by coal, miners from around the world flocked to the mines of Southeast Kansas. My grandfather, Walter Wintle, a seventeen-year-old English miner, came to America, landing at Castle Garden, NY, in June of 1882. He was accompanied by his father and a brother.

Walter married Jennie Stanley, who had arrived in Kansas, by covered wagon. They produced seven sons and one daughter. The "boys" as they were called, were a gregarious bunch, close in age, and understandably a handful to corral. None of them seemed particularly eager to leave their 2-bedroom family home on Rouse Street in Pittsburg, Kansas. And, the large family stayed together in that house, even after some of the older boys married. My mother was actually born, in that house.

As they became adults, the boys all worked shifts in the mines. Their sister, Hazel, played the piano at local silent movie houses, of which there were several. Then, along came World War I. Three of the "boys" were of draft age and in 1918, they all found themselves in uniform. Thomas, the eldest of the three, my grandpa, was drafted and trained, but never made it "Over There". Harry and another brother,Walter, both served in the terrible trench warfare in France and Belgium. All three were discharged at the end of the conflict.

The "boys" came home. They were definitely not "boys" anymore. They "had seen Paree", electrified cities, the ocean and probably learned a few words of French. Harry had received some serious wounds, and we were cautioned, during his entire long lifetime, not to make any loud sudden noises around Uncle Harry, because he had been "shell shocked".

World War I, "the war to end all wars", wasn't. It has become a mostly forgotten conflict and rarely even mentioned in today's public-school curriculum. But, 9 million combatant lives were lost, in the trenches, in the air and on the ocean. The conflict changed the identity of world powers. My three relatives returned to their pre-war lives, married, raised families and a couple of generations later, my cousins, my sister and I arrived.

Veterans Day is approaching. It was originally established to celebrate the combatants, dead and surviving, who fought in World War I. There is a small brick in front of the only National WWI Museum and Memorial, in this country, that honors the service of the "Wintle Boys" of Pittsburg, Kansas. Their family has not forgotten. 

Please, remember all those who have served their country.

                                                The Wintle "Boys" and baby Nancy (1947).