Shortly after I was born, World War I broke out in Europe. There were lots of Germans living in and around Kalispell. Old Man Brinkman had built Grandma and Grandpa Munker’s house in 1905. He was very radical and visited my folks too much. He would go on and on about socialism, anti-war and say that the U.S. was no good. He’d also say that in WW I U.S. soldiers were killing German relatives. He told them that Dad would be drafted and have to go and leave his wife and two little babies and go kill his cousins in Germany. This drove Mom to the point where she had a nervous breakdown and was sent to the state mental hospital in Warm Springs, Montana in early 1918. Of course World War I didn’t end until November 11, 1918. This broke up Dad terribly. He left Kalispell and ended up working in Whitefish, Montana and the Great Northern Railroad division point repair yards cleaning steam train engine boilers. Later he got a job at the Montana Soldier’s Home near Columbia Falls. There he took care of the dairy cows, the poultry and the hogs. And he was there for many years. At that time the Soldier’s Home raised most of its own food including a huge garden every year.
Chapter 1.2 - My Parents (T1.03)
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