News: Loyal (American Legion Honors Leon Mondloch – 2018)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Mondloch

Source: Tribune/Record/Gleaner (Abbotsford, WI) 28 Feb 2018

Leon was born in 1933 and grew up in the Milwaukee area. When he was 13 he and his family bought a farm and moved to the Greenwood area where he attended St. Mary’s Catholic School. In 1949, they moved to another farm in the Spencer area. Leon worked at the cannery in Loyal for awhile and when he was 20 years old, he signed up for the draft. He was sent to the Army base at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri for basic training for eight to 12 weeks. After that, he was sent to Fort Belvoir Virginia for eight weeks to be trained as a heavy equipment operator. When finished with the training, he left from Kilmer New Jersey for Germany. Leon traveled to Germany on a ship for 13 days and remembers that they were a very long 13 days. There were approximately 500 soldiers on the ship and the water was very rough. Many were vomiting over the side of the ship. Once in Germany, Leon operated heavy equipment fixing roads and building housing units. The first day, when Leon was operating the bulldozer, he was busy working and he noticed a bunch of the guys were yelling at him and waving their arms in the air trying to get his attention. He finally stopped. He had not realized he had just dug up a bomb which had been buried from World War II. It was taken out of the area. Leon stayed in Germany for 1 to 1 1/2 years and then came back on that ship.

In 1955, Leon was honorably discharged and returned to Spencer. In 1956, he married his wife, Shirley. They have five children, seven grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Leon has worked many jobs over the years and retired from Fiskars in Spencer in 1998. He has been an active member in the Loyal Legion for five years. His wife, Shirley, has been an active member in the Legion Auxiliary for five years also.

The Loyal American Legion and Auxiliary are always looking for new members to help our local veterans and our Loyal community. To be eligible to join the Legion you must have served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard at these times:

April 6, 1917-Nov. 11, 1918; Dec. 7, 1941-Dec. 31, 1946; June 25, 1950-Jan. 31, 1955; Dec. 22, 1961-May 7, 1975; Aug. 24, 1982-July 31, 1984; Dec. 20, 1989-Jan. 31, 1990; Aug. 2, 1990-Cessation of hostilities as determined by the U.S. Government.

To be an Auxiliary member your husband, father, grandfather, son, or brother that has or is still serving the above dates would qualify you as a member.