I became a Mothers Day present for Uncle Sam when the ship docked in the port of New Orleans,Louisiana,on May 9,1952 and got off the boat the next day,May 10,1952.Us kids explored the dock area and wandered around.I knew some English phrases from my classes in Germany.The owner of the ice cream stand in the dock area felt I could improve his sales to the Germans coming off the boat if I yelled out in German about the virtue of vanilla ice-cream.So my first work experience in the USA was as a barker for an ice cream stand.I did not imagine at that time that I would become a professional salesman years later.We were ushered off the boat and put on a train bound for McAllen,Texas.I was disappointed that I didn't see any wild Indians and shooting cowboys thru the windows...only flat and rolling land. I did see them later in a movie called Red River with John Wayne as the shooting cowboy...the Indians should have been the Comanches(read Comanche Moon).
The train stopped at the San Juan station in Texas for it was the closest place to our assigned sponsor.The place is before the McAllen station in 1952.Quite a number of families had the same destination.We got off the train,picked up our belongings.Everything we had loaded on the boat and on the train was there. Nothing was lost.Now we looked for our sponsor.Something went wrong ...no sponsor around.Evidently our sponsor had changed his mind for some reason or other but that notice did not get out to the right people.I never found out what the reasons were.Here was the family at the station and no destination.We had luck at our side.The other four families had the same sponsor,Krehmueller Farms.Mrs.Krehmueller indicated that one more family was no problem and we found a new home and Dad and my older brother had jobs.
The sponsor had build block homes for 10 families and called the place Millacres.The homes were on highway 1 and only one mile from the Rio Grande and 15 miles from McAllen.The Krehmuellers were Austrians who had come to Texas before the wars.They spoke an Austrian dialect and were generous people.They owned 3000 acres in the Rio Valley.Their farm produced vegetables and cotton .Qur original sponsor had orange groves and grapefruit trees and a bad season . Neither farms raised the Texas longhorn beef and had singing cowboys.The Lutheran church,StPaul Lutheran, took us under their protection too.The pastor O.C.Diers spoke German The principal,H.C.Lohrmann and a teacher A.E. Square,at the St.Paul Lutheran School spoke German also. We were welcomed into the congregation in McAllen with open arms and love.It could not have be better. I had German speaking friends but learned the English language from my American-Texan friends quickly The school even mailed me the 8th grade diploma. I can claim a Texas education even though I left a month earlier for Belvidere,Illinois.So now when people ask me were I came from I answer with a straight face ...Texas. ..How-you-all...So long partner.
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