The Military Wife (beginning of my book)
In 1945 under the presidency of Harry S. Truman, the world was emerging from the shadows of war, and a fragile peace was settling across nations. On the windswept plains of Charter Oak, Iowa, a small farmhouse stood as a symbol of life amid the tumult of history.
On June 6, 1945, with a whisper of anticipation, carrying a promise of a new beginning, a little girl was born in that small farmhouse in Charter Oak, Iowa. Mildred Braasch, a woman of quiet strength, labored with a determination born of generations of resilience. There were no white-coated doctors or sterile hospital room, just the warm embrace of her mother and the rustic familiarity of her home. This was to be the last child of five.
The Braasch family knew hardship intimately, etched in the furrows of Henry’s weathered brow and the calluses of Mildred’s hands. Henry, a youth thrust into the crucible of life at thirteen when his father shipped him out of Germany to come to America for a better life and to escape the horrors of war. That was the last time Henry ever saw his family. He landed in Iowa simply for the fact that he had one second cousin, familiarity he would have in a land that was foreign to him. He would have to fend for himself, abandon the innocence of childhood and take on the burden of responsibility.
Mildred was born Mildred Margareta Quandt in 1909 to Max August Quandt from Germany and Johanna Dorothea Quandt of Crawford County, Iowa. She was 1 of 5 siblings, one brother and three sisters. She worked for a farming family as a house cleaner when she was a teenager. It was at that residence that the courtship unfolded with Henry in the dance of the shadows cast by setting suns and whispered promises beneath the canopy of stars and bales of hay! Henry chased Mildred around the barn in the hay, until she finally toppled into that hay with him! They fell in love in that barn and the rest is history!
Tragedy had befallen this family as would other families in this era of disease and lack of healthcare. Henry and Mildred had their first child, Gilbert N Braasch in 1931. Gilbert lived to the age of three and died of a medicine overdose. The next child, Joanne, also died at the age of three from Strep Throat. Even amid the tears of losing two children, Mildred and Henry had hope with each sunrise, a testament of the resilience of the human spirit, hoping for more children. Betty was born in 1936, followed by Kenneth in 1941 and both healthy and happy babies.
June 6, 1945, marked the dawn of a new chapter for the Braasch family, as Mildred welcomed her fifth and final child into the world. But as the cries of the new life echoed through the farmhouse, a shadow of uncertainty lingered. For within the fragile form of their newborn daughter, Connie, lay a secret that would shape their lives in ways they could not yet comprehend.
As Mildred gazed upon her daughter for the first time, a kaleidoscope of emotions swept through her soul. Live, fierce, and unwavering, mingled with fear and uncertainty, casting shadows across the canvas of her heart. Connie was alive and breathing, but something was amiss. She had something remarkably different from all the other babies Mildred had given birth. She was a beautiful baby girl, all her ten little toes were present, delicate, and perfect, yet the foot they should have adorned was nowhere to be seen. Instead, her toes were connected to her tiny ankles, as in suspended in midair. In the days to come, the family would come to understand this anomaly as “club feet,” where the feet twist and contort, their natural shape distorted. It was a condition where the tissues connecting the bones were shorter than usual, leading to this unusual appearance.
Despite the initial shock, their love for baby Connie remained steadfast, as they embarked on a journey of understanding and care for the precious little one. This little baby girl, Connie Marie Braasch, would become my wonderful mother 23 years later.
Stay tuned as more excerpts of the book are released!
