Bella Blankenship was awarded the Patriots Pen essay and Liam Hayden was named as the Voice of Democracy er for the Worth County Veterans Day program Monday.
Bella was close to her grandfather, and she wondered why he would be so outspoken when defending his country. When she got older, she understood and now wants to carry on his legacy. She wrote about what she could do to honor her grandfather’s legacy, including speaking out for what she believed in, voting, welcoming exchange students, and thanking a veteran. She said she wanted to make her grandfather proud, even though he was no longer here.
Liam Hayden wrote about how things have changed since our forefathers founded the country. We now have more rights, but we still have freedom. Since our country was founded, he noted we have expanded from 13 states to 37 states. “Their plans for making this country better have succeeded,” he concluded. “They knew what they were doing.”
VFW Post 3123 Commander Bob Hull recognized three teachers, April Healy, Karen Andrews, and Ashton Lewis for being named teachers of the year by the area VFW last school year. Worth County swept all three categories this year.
There were many patriotic displays for this year’s celebration, including profiles of many Worth County veterans, living displays, girls dressed up as nurses, Kambree Briner dressing up as a Rosie the Riveter, and the Missouri Vietnam Memorial, which lists over 1,400 people from Missouri who were killed in Vietnam during that conflict.
Three current servicemen, Kyle Dignan, Jeshua Blaine, and Keaton Nelson, presented the US Flag at the start of the program. The Worth County High School Band performed the Star Spangled Banner. The preschool and kindergarten classes led the Pledge of Allegiance. The lower elementary grades sang, “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” The upper elementary classes sang, “Proud to be an American.”
Principal Josh Smith recognized all the branches of the military and all the veterans and active servicepeople who were present, including Galen Cook, one of Worth County’s last living World War II veterans along with Ross Scott. The band performed a tribute to the four main branches of the Armed Forces. The Worth County Singers, Arianna Galanakis, Gracie Thurman, Krista Monticue, Emsley Spainhower, Unique Brown, and Evalyn Gilland, performed “We’ll Meet Again” and “Song for the Unsung Hero.”
Dr. Dan Weddle was the keynote speaker. He talked about his mother, Angelina Gritsenko, known as “Ella” in Worth County after she and his dad met. While he was not a veteran, he had many in his family who were. His uncle Hugh was in the Infantry and participated in the D-Day invasion, as did his dad. His mom was born in western Russia in 1922 and later lived in Mariupol, scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. She graduated in high school at 16 and went to university, where she studied foreign languages, including German and French. When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, she joined the Red Army as a sniper. Over 2,000 Russian women joined the Red Army as snipers during that time.
By fall 1942, the Russian Army was in retreat and was defending Stalingrad when Gritsenko was wounded; the battle moved on and she was left behind. She found a dead Russian soldier with the same first name as she was, who was a nurse and exchanged identities with her. She was captured and went on a death march for many days with other captured POW’s. They weren’t fed enough; the Germans let the prisoners dig through garbage cans to find what food they could. At one point, they encountered a dead horse; Weddle said his mom didn’t eat the flesh off the horse, but that some of the prisoners did and died over the next few days.
Finally, the party stopped to rest. During that time, two Germans with black uniforms came by and started looking at her; Gritsenko thought they had figured out who she really was and were planning to shoot her. Instead, they assigned her to treat a wounded officer. Knowing nothing about nursing, she dressed his wounds the best she could; they were apparently satisfied with her work and allowed the convoy to proceed.
Finally, they got back to where there were some rail lines and loaded onto cattle cars, where she was transported to Poland, where she was assigned to produce ammunition. There were poor conditions at this came, with unsanitary conditions, little or no food, and illness. A typical meal consisted of two bowls of soup per day, occasionally with cabbage or potatoes. Prisoners were rationed with bread filled with sawdust every week; many ate the entire ration by the time they made the 150 yard trek back to their barracks.
When the Russians closed in on Poland, Gritsenko and the rest of the prisoners were transferred to Dachau, where she spent the rest of the war. The Americans liberated the camp on April 29th, 1945 and around 40,000 prisoners were liberated. The late Earl Hardy was in one of the units that liberated Dachau.
Dr. Weddle’s mom and dad met at the end of the war, lived near Munich, and spoke to each other in French since Gritsenko didn’t know English at that time. They were married by an Army chaplain and later by a German judge after the war was over.
In the summer of 1946, Dr. Weddle’s dad received the order to ship back to the US. There was a fear of families getting separated and never seeing each other again. He got a jeep and took Angelina and their new son, Dr. Weddle’s older brother, 650 miles on substandard roads in both Germany and France to where she could get on a boat and go to the US. Angelina arrived in the US on June 5th, 1946.
In Worth County, people knew her as Ella. She often wondered what became of her family and spent ten years writing letters to them. Finally, in 1956, she received an answer from her grandmother; they had moved to what is now Moldavia. They corresponded until her death in 1974.
In 1991, Dr. Weddle received a letter from his cousin, still in Moldavia, which had, by now, broken away from the Soviet Union. It was addressed to his dad, who had passed away by then, but Loretta Rinehart, the postmaster at the Grant City Post Office, forwarded it to him. They corresponded; times were tough, and Sergei (the cousin) and his family wanted out. Dr. Weddle was able to sponsor them into the US in 1992, and they settled in Minnesota and became US citizens.
Dr. Weddle said his mother was always proud of her US citizenship, and was always prepared to give someone a finger shaking if they complained too much about how bad things were in the US. She would say, “You don’t have it so bad; nobody is shooting at you.”
State Representative Mazzie Christensen presented a posthumous World War II medallion from the state to Earl Hardy, who received a Bronze Star for valor in combat. Hardy assumed the role of sergeant while his unit under fire and fulfilled an objective. He had five great-grandchildren who are currently serving in the military. Accepting the award on his behalf were his son, David Hardy, and his great-grandson, Caleb Newman, who is currently serving in the military.
Christensen also presented an honorary diploma to Jack Cottrell, who never finished high school, but enlisted in the military and fought in the Korean War. Joining her in the presentation were the administration and school board of Worth County. He was also presented with an American flag that had flown over the Capitol.
Joe Marshall, on behalf of VFW Post 3123, the Worth County Legion, and other members of the community, presented Cottrell with a patriotic quilt for his service in the Korean War. He revealed that Cottrell had received three Bronze Stars for bravery while fighting in that conflict.
