Ansel's Abandoned Grain Truck At The Mississippi River Ron AI

   Nona Wetzel woke on a cold morning March 15, 1962, to find Ansel not in bed with her. It wasn’t normally unusual, for sometimes he would go out at night to the local bars or on a trucking job and not come back until morning—smelling of another woman’s perfume. But this time, it was different.

   Their trucking business hadn’t been doing well and they needed to make money this time of year by buying corn in Minnesota, then selling it to the local farmers who needed it for their animals when their stored winter supplies had run out.

   Ansel had made money running his new fertilizer truck 24/7. Using it to spread lime or fertilizer to improve the pH or fertilize the fields of the local farmers.

       But, after three years of providing this business, most of the local farms no longer required his expensive services, forcing him to travel further from his home in their little town to find farmers still in need.      

       His truck eventually sat unused in the yard, while the monthly payments put a heavy strain on the business.       Three days before, Nona had withdrawn their last $1000 for the trip they hoped would help them recover that investment, but an additional $2000 to live on in addition to her salary as a grade schoolteacher—their only stable income.

   When Ansel returned from these trips, he usually came back tired. And if he arrived late at night, his first stop was their bed. She began to worry, hoping he’d return later in the morning like he often did when he was on a run and couldn’t make it all the way home. Sometimes, sleeping in the truck. Or, stopping at a bar. Something she suspected from the alcohol still on his breath, was not the case. 

   Ansel was probably shacking up. She knew he did it, but didn’t want their three children to know, so she didn’t argue with him about it. That was the way she first met Ansel while he was married to Celia.

   Nona waited. Days passed. In the meantime, Ansel’s father, Walter Wetzal, had another stroke and lay on his deathbed. That day when she visited him, Walter asked, “Where’s Ansel? I want to talk to him.” His bloodshot, pleading eyes searched her face for an answer.

   “He’s on a trip to Minnesota to get corn. He’ll be back soon.” She lied, knowing something else was afoot.

   After three or four days, Nona reported Ansel missing to the sheriff, who notified the state police. Based on her description of his truck and where he was headed, the state police checked his route and found his truck parked just before crossing the Mississippi bridge into Minnesota.

 The cab and trailer were empty. Only one set of old tracks in the snow led from the cab of the truck where it was parked off the main roadway, to the cleared highway, where the tracks disappeared.

   The state police reported to Nona it didn’t appear Ansel was robbed for the $1000 he was carrying, because they saw no evidence of any other tracks around the truck and the single track suggested he voluntarily left the truck to meet another vehicle, and the truck wasn’t disabled, so Ansel had no reason to abandon it.

The next day, Nona drove to the location with one of their part time drivers to bring the truck back. 

   Since he hadn’t returned, the investigator said, “Ansel may be a victim anyway, why he hasn’t returned. I suggest you file a missing person report with the FBI.”

   In the meantime, Walter Wetzal kept asking for his only son to come to his death bed and all his wife and Nona would tell him, was, “He’s on a truck run to Minnesota and will be back home soon.”

   That message was wearing a bit thin and becoming a lie as Walter Wetzal died. Never seeing his son one more time. His only son who he had spent so much time with as he grew up on the farm, hunting and fishing as well as a trip to Alaska seeking work after World War II. The last big adventure of Walter’s life.

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   Walter was born on the homestead of his father, Val Wetzel. Where, as Val’s youngest son, Walter was an integral part of helping his father develop the homestead into a farm and ended up inheriting it after his parents died. Ansel, Walter’s firstborn and only son, grew up on that farm and helped his father with all the chores.

   Ansel was 17 and had already established himself as a softball player, crack shot hunter, and an accomplished fisherman when the Great Depression hit.

When the prices of their milk and oats didn’t pay for the cost of producing them, Ansel sought other work as a farmhand, truck driver and whatever else he could find, which was little.

   A hobo jungle formed near the farm at the railroad trestle over the Rock River, and Ansel befriended some of the hobos there. Even rode the rails one summer and found it adventurous but with little work.

   Like most of those young men, Ansel returned home and began to find odd jobs here and there as a farmhand and truck driver. He met a young woman, Celia Frank, a cute young farm girl from a farm he worked on, and they married in 1939. Soon, they had three children. But the second died in his crib after only a few weeks.

   That death and Ansel’s wandering eye as he visited local bars to drink, smoke and catch up on the latest gossip with Celia staying at home taking care of the babies, led to their divorce. 

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       One night in 1941, a schoolteacher from Wither he was acquainted with returned his glance. Ansel smiled, bought her a beer, and they sat at a table in the corner to talk.

       Ansel said, “Nona, I think I’m going to start a trucking company since we are on the main state highway between Green Bay and Minneapolis. I’ve got a little money I’ve hid from Celia, but not enough for a down payment on a truck I need. Can you give me a loan?”

       Nona Hoggstadt was rather homely, overweight, and wore glasses. She was picked on in school and called, No-no Hoggy by bullies, but she was smart, and with the money earned helping her dad on their pig farm and nannying for the richest man in town’s children during the summer, she saved enough to attend the local teacher’s college. She earned her diploma after two years and began teaching.

       Nona had a crush on Ansel, the popular ballplayer, in high school, but she was too shy and didn’t stand a chance against the girls he dated, like the cheerleaders. Although she tried to get his attention, Ansel didn’t even notice her.

       Now that Nona was a teacher, with so many men off to war, the single ones left were old stinking bachelors or farmers who wouldn’t think of dating.

       Nona joined bowling teams, card clubs and went to bingo. Hung out with the other teachers, most of them married or spinsters. No prospects in church, either.

       She led a lonely life, which is why she dropped into the bar that night. At least there, some of the men would talk to her. But most of the time, she drank a couple of beers alone, and then went back to her apartment above the store, a short walk to the six-grade elementary school. 

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Nona was surprised when Ansel caught her glance, came over and asked to talk to her privately. She was even more surprised his intentions were not amorous, only to ask her for money.

“Ansel, why do you think I have any money, and why I would lend it to you?”

“Well, you have a steady job and retirement savings, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I’ll only go into business with you if I’m your partner. I’ll have a lawyer write up the agreement. Okay?”

Ansel was a bit shaken by Nona’s aggressive response but pleased to have her so willingly join him as a way to get ahead taking advantage of the coming war. Of course, he didn’t reveal his arrangement with Nona to Celia. She soon found out anyway and was furious.

The business was shaky in the beginning. Even with their savings, they could afford only a down payment on a used flatbed truck. The business began to thrive only during the harvest months when Ansel had contracts to haul harvested crops to the canneries day and night until he was exhausted.

Ansel, working closely with Nona, was the last straw for Celia. She asked for a divorce. By that time, he didn’t care, and found himself in bed with Nona, pregnant with their first child. They were married in 1942.

But as the war escalated and more guys from the local community signed up, Ansel had to live up to his bragging rights in the bars. Fearing being drafted into the infantry, in 1944, he joined the Army Air Corps, leaving a year-old son with one on the way. He felt sure his participation would help bring the war to a speedy end. 

Ansel trained as a paratrooper and joined the 101st Airborne during D-Day where he landed behind enemy lines, easily the most horrific time of his life. They landed in a forest at night and some of his chalk(paratrooper group chalked on the blackboard with their plane assignment and orders) were left hanging high in the trees.

He had to climb the trees to cut down two of them. In the day or two that followed, Ansel witnessed his buddies either ripped apart by machine gun fire and die before his eyes or captured by the Germans and executed. They were using dogs to track them down.

Only Ansel’s hunting skills, excellent hearing and sharp eyes helped him survive and become a hero among his comrades. Especially during the Battle of the Bulge where his experience with Wisconsin winters helped his chalk survive the snow and cold.

Ansel and his chalk were dropped behind enemy lines two more times. Finally, after they chased the Germans to Berlin and beyond, he was assigned to help guard Hitler’s Eagles Nest at Berchtesgaden to keep the Russians from taking it.

   Ansel returned home a medaled war hero in Wither. As a prominent member of the local VFW, he started a local hunting and fishing club and led them on group deer season hunting as well as fishing trips throughout the state of Wisconsin. 

To be continued…

Copyright 2024 © Ronald W. Hull

7/17/24