EP266: Ilene Hall Joined the Army to Search for Her Husband During WWII and Special Neat Treats: A Dad's Gift to His Children with Down Syndrome
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2022
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Ilene Hall tells us the story of when her husband, to whom she was married in March 1943, finished his training in the Army and was about to be shipped overseas and she decided not to put an ocean between them. Joel Wegener and his wife are blessed with 10 children, 2 of which were diagnosed with Down Syndrome. In his quest to find a fun way to teach them life skills, Joel happened upon the idea of running an ice cream truck, and it grew beyond what he ever could have thought.
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Time Codes:
00:00 - Ilene Hall Joined the Army to Search for Her Husband During WWII
23:00 - Special Neat Treats: A Dad's Gift to His Children with Down Syndrome
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports and from business to history and everything in between, including your |
| 0:21.1 | stories. |
| 0:22.1 | There are some of our favorites. |
| 0:24.0 | Our next story, well, it's one about service, love, and sacrifice. |
| 0:29.2 | Let's follow Eileen Hall's incredible journey across Europe as she searches for her husband |
| 0:35.6 | in the middle of World War II. |
| 0:42.3 | Eileen was a member in the Women's Army Corps, or WAC. We got together with Eileen and her daughter, Sherry, who both live in Canton, Ohio. |
| 0:48.3 | Here's Eileen. |
| 0:50.3 | I'm from Canton, Ohio. |
| 0:53.3 | I was born in 10, 11, 23, and my mother and dad had a restaurant in downtown Canton, |
| 1:03.0 | and we had a hotel up above the restaurant, and that's where I was raised. We lived right across the street from McKinley High School, so all I had |
| 1:12.5 | to do was walk to, for high school was walk across the street and go to school. After my |
| 1:19.1 | mother made it to my high school graduation, and shortly after that she passed on. And my |
| 1:26.8 | dad remarried, and I felt very uncomfortable at home with a different mother really. |
| 1:33.3 | And you were working at Kempkin Rollerbearing Company. |
| 1:38.3 | So it's a long time, that's 75 years ago, you know, so I'm trying to remember. A lot of it I'll never forget, but, |
| 1:47.0 | and there I met a girl and we became friends and we worked in the stationary supply office. |
| 1:54.0 | And she had a boyfriend from Gallion, Ohio, and every time he came up to see her, he brought his brother. |
| 2:01.6 | So she said, do you think you'd mind dating his brother if he brings him up? |
| 2:06.6 | And I said, oh, no. |
| 2:08.6 | Well, that was it, because we just melded together, and it's just worked out. |
| 2:14.6 | But he was being drafted, like all the, that he was going to be sent to Oklahoma. |
... |
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