Month: December 2025

Goodbye to the High Pointers

Clubmobilers bid farewell to soldiers going home

My Mother and Audie Murphy Ch. 80

When Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, the U.S. Army in Europe suddenly had to shift from fighting to occupying a defeated nation. More than two million soldiers now had to be sorted into three paths: those who would stay in Germany as an occupation force, those who would be sent to the Pacific for the expected invasion of Japan, and those who would finally go home. Because the Army had more men than it needed for occupation and redeployment, it also had to begin discharging veterans fairly and quickly.

General George C. Marshall had foreseen this challenge. Drawing on hard lessons from the chaotic demobilization after World War I, he ordered the Special Planning Division in 1943 to craft a method that would release soldiers on an individual basis rather than by entire units. With divisions in Europe filled with late-war replacements, unit-based demobilization was impossible—and delay risked unrest among idle troops.

After gathering input from commanders worldwide, the army created the Adjusted Service Rating Score, universally known to GIs as the point system. It offered an objective way to determine who went home first. Points were awarded for time in service, time overseas, combat campaigns, decorations, wounds, and dependent children:

  • 1 point per month in the Army
  • +1 point per month overseas
  • 5 points per campaign
  • 5 points per decoration for merit or valor
  • 5 points per Purple Heart
  • 12 points per dependent child (up to three)

This system became the backbone of America’s demobilization in Europe.

Janet and Flo hand out the last donuts to soldiers as they board the train for home
Salzburg train station. Photos from Flo’s album

Flo stayed on in Europe until March, 1946, and I had assumed she signed up to serve in the Red Cross during the occupation. But I think she was just as anxious to return home as all the other American soldiers and staff–she just couldn’t get out any sooner. It’s not clear whether Red Cross workers received points, or whether they even fell under the rating score system.

My Queer Family Holidays: Learning from Hopi Tradition

On Soyal Native Americans marked the shortest day of the year

Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Photo by Judson McCranie. (CC BY-SA 3.0) It is believed that ancestors to the Hopi built and lived in Cliff Palace from about 1200 to 1300 C.E.

My Regular Pagan Holiday Post: Winter Solstice

My queer family chooses to forgo holidays shaped by a christian tradition steeped in homophobia and misogyny—a church that has long covered up sexual abuse against children and parishioners while scapegoating queer people. Recent comments by Pope Francis only underline this contradiction, reaffirming the catholic church’s ban on ordaining gay men and punishing and defrocking priests who question that policy or support what it calls “gay culture.”

So we create our own rituals instead—queer, chosen-family–centered traditions. We look to other cultures for inspiration, especially pagan and pre-christian practices that honor the natural world and community rather than dogma.

We can learn much from Native Americans that might help us through what is shaping up to be a particularly dark period in our history and present. 

Soyal: Winter Solstice and Renewal

On the winter solstice, Hopi and Zuni peoples perform a ceremony with the intention of achieving unity and strengthening community. Soyal is held on the shortest day of the year. It marks the symbolic return of the sun, the turning of the seasonal wheel, and the beginning of a new spiritual cycle. Soyal is a time of purification, prayer, and renewal, when the community prepares itself—spiritually and socially—for the year ahead.

In the days before Soyal, families create pahos, prayer sticks made with feathers and plant fibers, which are used to bless homes, animals, fields, and the wider world. Sacred underground chambers, called kivas, are ritually opened to mark the beginning of the kachina season. The kachinas are understood as spiritual messengers who carry prayers for rain, health, balance, and right living. Songs, dances, offerings, and storytelling strengthen community bonds and pass ethical teachings from elders to children.

Soyal also dramatizes the struggle between darkness and light. Through symbolic dances and ritual objects, such as shields representing the sun and effigies symbolizing destructive forces, the community enacts the tension between chaos and order, drought and rain, winter and warmth. The message is not that darkness must be destroyed, but that it must be faced, respected, and brought back into balance.

The solstice itself becomes a sacred pause: a moment when time feels suspended and people are invited to examine their lives. It is a season for letting go of harmful habits, reconciling conflicts, offering forgiveness, and setting intentions rooted in responsibility rather than personal gain. Gifts are exchanged not as possessions, but as blessings and goodwill.

Creating Our Own Rituals

Soyal reminds us that human life is meant to move in natural cycles, not endless acceleration. Rest is not weakness; it is a form of wisdom. Renewal begins with humility, gratitude, and shared responsibility. Personal healing is inseparable from the health of the community and the land.

The enduring spiritual mission expressed through Soyal is the same across Hopi villages: to promote and achieve the unity of everything in the universe.

While that vast unity may be beyond our vision, we, too, seek to strengthen our community and mark the return of light. At winter solstice, we gather ourselves and our loved ones, shaping rituals that keep us connected to one another and to the slow turning of the year. We invite friends to help us trim our solstice tree, contribute to the local food bank, have neighbors over for hot chocolate, read poetry and stories aloud, bake cannabis edibles, host impromptu living room dance parties, cook savory soups, plant flower bulbs. With neighbors, we make signs and join street protests to raise our voices against fascism. We look for the sacred in everyday life.

Happy solstice to all, however you celebrate!

Canada Union Responds to Murder

The Canadian labor movement is ahead of the US in recognition of the issue of workplace violence, because of the Dec 6, 1989 Montreal Massacre of 14 women who were murdered that day at Ecole Polytechnique by a man who didn’t think women should be engineering students. There was a struggle then to get the Canadian Labour Council to recognize the issue, but the victory has carried forward. 

IBEW Canada Statement Mourning the Loss of Amber Czech and Condemning Violence in the Workplace

Toronto, ON – November 17, 2025

Today, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Canada International Vice President Russ Shewchuk issued the following statement:

“IBEW Canada mourns the loss of 20-year-old welder Amber Czech, who was brutally attacked and killed at her workplace in Minnesota. We extend our deepest condolences to Amber’s family, friends, fellow workers and her community.

“Although Amber was not a member of the IBEW or affiliated Building Trades Unions (NABTU/CBTU), what happened to her should never happen to anyone—anywhere. And while this tragedy occurred in the U.S., the loss is deeply felt across our union community in Canada. It’s a stark reminder of the work we must keep doing to ensure such senseless acts never happen again.

“Violence has no place on our job sites, in our offices, or in our union. We owe it to Amber, and to every worker who has been harmed or threatened, to build safe, respectful, and inclusive working environments, free of violence and cruelty.

“IBEW Canada stands with all who advocate for ending gender-based violence, and all violence in the workplace. We commit to ongoing training, conversation and action that promote equity and dignity for all workers.”

###

Media Contact: Shaina Hardie, shaina_hardie@ibew.org

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represents approximately 70,000 members in Canada and 873,000 members and retirees in North America who work in a wide variety of fields, including construction, utilities, manufacturing, telecommunications, broadcasting, railroads and government. For more information, visit IBEWcanada.ca or IBEW.org

It’s time for our US labor unions to condemn workplace violence and do something about it.

Invitations to Parties

Red Cross women were expected to attend

My Mother and Audie Murphy Ch. 79

Invitations posted in Flo’s album

After her death, in Flo’s jewelry box I found a bracelet made from a Combat Infantryman Badge. The badge is a U.S. Army decoration awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers, colonel rank and below, who fought in active ground combat after December, 1941. The same badge appears here on the dance invitation. I imagine it had been awarded to Flo’s fiancé, Gene Gustafson, and that she had it fashioned into a bracelet she could wear.

Photo: Wikipedia commons

3rd Division Salzburg Rodeo

Janet Competes in Equestrian Jumping

My Mother and Audie Murphy Ch. 78

For almost ten weeks—from May 4 to July 13, 1945—the 3rd Division enjoyed a rare stretch of life without combat in and around Salzburg. To help soldiers shift from warfighting to occupation duty, the army quickly organized a full slate of sports and recreation. The Salzburg rodeo that Flo photographed was likely one of those morale-boosting events.

Clubmobiler Janet Potts, already an experienced equestrian with competition miles behind her, took part in the show. Even so, jumping with an unfamiliar horse must have been a challenge. And the horses themselves raise questions: where did they come from? Were they seized from a high-ranking Nazi officer? Whatever their origin, they were striking animals—well trained, elegant, and responsive. One photo even seems to show an American soldier riding a dressage horse, completing the unlikely tableau of a rodeo in postwar Salzburg.

Flo captioned these pictures “Janet Jumps”

Jumping
Bull riding
Dressage

Waiting to go into the ring

Janet delivering donuts via Cub

Tradeswoman Killer Indicted

Indictment means possible life term for man accused of killing co-worker in Wright County workshop

One major labor organization noted that “violence like this rarely comes out of nowhere. It often follows a buildup that women in the trades know by heart.” 

By Paul Walsh

The Minnesota Star Tribune

DECEMBER 8, 2025 AT 10:41AM

Amber Czech

The man accused of killing a co-worker last month with a hammer in a Wright County workshop now faces a charge of first-degree murder and a potential life prison sentence in a slaying that drew outcry by advocacy groups for women in the trades.

A grand jury heard the case last week against David Bruce DeLong, 40, of Watkins, Minn., and indicted him on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder in connection with the attack in Cokato that killed 20-year-old Amber Mary Czech of Hutchinson, Minn.

The bludgeoning occurred on Nov. 11 at Advanced Process Technologies, which makes equipment used in food processing.

County Attorney Brian Lutes said the first-degree count carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. DeLong also faces a second-degree murder charge.

DeLong remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail ahead of a court appearance Monday. The Minnesota Star Tribune has reached out to his attorney for a response to the allegations.

An online fundraising campaign started to cover funeral expenses noted that “Amber was a hardworking welder who took great pride in her craft and dreamed of building a bright future through her work. Her witty personality, positive attitude, and beautiful smile touched everyone who knew her.”

Numerous labor organizations decried the workplace killing of Czech, including the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), with 230,000 members in North America.

“While not a SMART member … this tragedy is reverberating across the trades community and far beyond,” read a statement from the organization. “So many tradeswomen and gender-diverse workers are carrying the weight of this news.”

SMART went on to point out that “violence like this rarely comes out of nowhere. It often follows a buildup that women in the trades know by heart: harassment shrugged off, bullying tolerated, intimidation minimized, warning signs dismissed, fear of backlash, comments ignored, jokes explained away, the stares of resentment, and behaviors everyone chooses not to see until they can no longer look away.”

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), which counts 500,000 workers across many industries among its ranks, said in a statement, “When a young tradeswoman’s future is so violently crushed, we must look to the criminal justice system to do its job — but as brothers and sisters in the construction trades we must also do much, much more. … We must not only condemn the violence that took Czech’s life but also the attitudes and behavior that normalize an atmosphere of fear for too many construction craftswomen.”

According to the complaint:

David Bruce DeLong (Wright County jail)

Around 6 a.m., a caller to 911 said Czech was bleeding heavily from a blow to the head, and there was a bloody sledgehammer on the floor nearby. Emergency medical responders arrived and declared her dead at the scene.

A sheriff’s deputy identified DeLong as the suspected attacker. DeLong said to a man at the business “something to the effect of, ‘I hit her with your hammer. She is by your toolbox. She is gone,’” the complaint read.

Sheriff’s deputies reviewed surveillance video inside the business and saw DeLong walk from his workstation to Czech’s, grab a sledgehammer and swing it. The victim was out of view of the camera.

DeLong’s swings indicated that he targeted her once while she was standing and four more times after she fell to the floor.

After his arrest, DeLong confessed to killing Czech. He said he didn’t like her and had been “planning to kill [her] for some time,” the complaint continued.

At the Summit of Brenner Pass

Flo stood at the border and looked across the Alps into Austria

My Mother and Audie Murphy Ch. 77

In May, 1945, just after the end of the war, Flo must have been excited to summit the Brenner Pass and see into Austria. Brenner Pass has long been a strategic gateway through the Alps, and its role intensified during World War II. After Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, the pass suddenly lay deep inside Hitler’s expanding Reich. Two years later, on 18 March 1940, Hitler and Mussolini met there to reaffirm their Pact of Steel.

When Italy signed an armistice with the Allies in 1943, Germany moved quickly to seize the pass and push the border with Mussolini’s new puppet regime far to the south. By 1945, American troops occupied the area, and the pass was returned to Italy once the war ended. In the chaotic aftermath, Brenner Pass also became one of the escape routes, part of the “ratlines” used by fleeing Nazi leaders. After the war, the pass once again marked the border between Italy and the newly independent Republic of Austria.

The sign shows the hard road from Salerno to Austria
Seen from the other side
Great views from up there!

Flo didn’t ID these soldiers

Ch. 78: https://mollymartin.blog/2025/12/12/3rd-division-salzburg-rodeo/

Birthday Party June 25, 1945

Flo Celebrates with Chris Chaney, Janet and Jens

My Mother and Audie Murphy Ch. 76

On June 25, 1945, Flo turned thirty-two, and her friends gathered to give her a proper birthday celebration. She spent the day with her clubmobile partner, Janet Potts, along with Janet’s boyfriend, Capt. Lloyd (Jens) Jenson, and Flo’s own boyfriend, Lt. Col. Chris Chaney. All four arrived in uniform as they wandered through the fortress castle that served as headquarters for the 15th Infantry above Salzburg. The women wore their Red Cross-issued dresses; the men their Army greens. They teased one another, snapped photographs in the grand corridors, and convinced Flo to pose in the old stocks for a laugh.

Later, they changed into civilian clothes and headed out for a picnic. Indoors, there was a birthday cake, and they captured more pictures—two couples who looked close, relaxed, and hopeful in the early summer after the war’s end.

These became the last images, and the last mention, of Flo’s relationship with Chris Chaney. The photographs made them seem comfortably paired, and although Janet and Jens eventually married, Flo and Chris did not stay together. She kept no letters from him after the war.

What became of him remained unclear. The two had talked about traveling to Paris and England, plans that never materialized. Most likely, he received an early chance to go home and took it. As a highly decorated officer with a Silver Star, he would have been near the front of the line for repatriation. Flo’s life moved forward, and whatever they had envisioned together faded with the summer.

Flo, Chris and Jens
Janet and Jens
Railroad tracks leading down from the fortress
Flo posing in the ancient stocks
Flo on her 32nd birthday
Janet and Jens at the picnic
What did Chris do to deserve this?
Or this?
Celebrating war’s end
Third Infantry Division buddies
Happy Birthday Flo
There was even a birthday cake

Occupied Salzburg–Summer 1945

Denazification and Cultural Revival

My Mother and Audie Murphy Ch. 75

More than 33,000 people in the province of Salzburg, including almost 13,000 in the provincial capital, had to register as former members of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) or one of its organizations after the fall of the Nazi regime. Through the process known as denazification, the Austrian state sought to hold these people accountable and punish them, sometimes severely. However, the vast majority of those registered were considered denazified by the end of 1947 and escaped punishment. The US occupation authorities interned high-ranking functionaries of the Nazi system in Camp Marcus W. Orr, commonly known as Lager Glasenbach.

Flo and her cohort got to hear the Salzburg Festival Orchestra in concert

The denazification of Salzburg‘s cultural and art scene was one of the main concerns of US occupation policy. This also included the removal of over 2,000 books with National Socialist content from the holdings of the municipal library in Schloss Mirabell, which was able to resume its post-war service at the beginning of June 1945. Civilians were once again able to watch films in the cinema from July 1945. In the same month, the first public concert after the end of the war took place in the Great Hall of the Mozarteum and in September 1945 a performance was shown for the first time in the Salzburg State Theatre, which had been requisitioned by US forces.

Bavarian dancers at the Salzburg Theater. Photos: Flo Wick
Flo got to know Margot Hielscher, a famous German actress. Here she is performing at the Salzburg Theater.

Margot Hielscher (1919-2017) was a German singer and film actress. She appeared in over fifty films between 1939 and 1994. She was chosen to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957 and 1958.

Salzburg Festival

The US occupation authorities saw the Salzburg Festival as a central element in the reconstruction of Austrian identity. They lobbied hard to ensure that the Festival could take place again just a few months after the end of the war, although a large number of artists with Nazi backgrounds were not allowed to perform. Works by Austrian authors and composers dominated the program of the Festival, which began on August 12, 1945 with an opening evening featuring pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, and Franz Lehár. Concerts were performed until September 1, including six ‘Österreichische Abende’ (‘Austrian evenings’) and two concerts of religious music. (From STADT-SALZBURG.AT The City of Salzburg in 1945.)

In and Around Salzburg

Clubmobilers serving the 15th Infantry in the Bavarian Alps
15th Infantry anti-tank company
Major Noser and Lt. Col Chaney at kraut radar station above Salzburg, Lt. Col. Chaney

Ch. 76: https://mollymartin.blog/2025/12/04/birthday-party-june-25-1945/