Oral History Interview with Jerry Bahrke

[Interview Begins]

RIEWESTAHL: Today's July 29th. And this interview is taking place at the Washburn County Fairgrounds. My name is Emily Riewestahl, and I'm here interviewing Jerry about his military service.

BAHRKE: My name is Jerry Bahrke, and I'm a U.S. Army veteran.

RIEWESTAHL: So let's start with what is your connection to Washburn County?

BAHRKE: My wife and I retired to this area probably 25 years ago. We had friends that have cabins and houses up here. It's a beautiful area. We visit frequently and thought this would be a wonderful place to retire to. So here we are.

RIEWESTAHL: And what led you to serve in the military?

BAHRKE: I wanted to serve God and country, but also I didn't know what I wanted to do. And at the time they had the draft, so I volunteered for the draft. I 00:01:00didn't want four years in the service, but I didn't want six months. So I volunteered for the draft and probably the best thing I did.

RIEWESTAHL: Um, you said it was the best thing that you did. Can you tell me a bit more about why you feel that way?

BAHRKE: Well, I was 18 years old and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And by going into the military, I matured a lot. I developed some responsibility. And it was a it was a great, great adventure for me for two years.

RIEWESTAHL: And why did you choose the Army?

BAHRKE: No real reason. Just I could volunteer for the draft and they offered the draft at that time was just the army. So I took the army.

RIEWESTAHL: And what was your specialty when you were in the service?

BAHRKE: Well, they trained me to be a wheeled vehicle mechanic, but that didn't work out good. But that's what I did for 18 months after I got official 00:02:00training. And and I still don't like to work on vehicles.

RIEWESTAHL: So what did you end up doing after that? Was there any other specialties that you learned?

BAHRKE: No, just wheeled vehicle mechanic. And I spent two years active duty and then two years active reserves at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. And then I got my after six years, I got my discharge.

RIEWESTAHL: And when did you serve?

BAHRKE: From 1962 to 1968.

RIEWESTAHL: And did you have any expectations about what life would be like in the military when you joined?

BAHRKE: I had no real expectations. I didn't know anybody that had served in the military at that time. So I just kind of went in there blind and we'll see what happens.

RIEWESTAHL: And what was your training experiences like?

BAHRKE: I was at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and it was a good experience again. I met a whole bunch of people from different walks of life, different 00:03:00races that I had not been exposed to, and it was a good experience for me. Fort Leonard Wood is out in the middle of nowhere, and I thought I was used to cold, but in November and December down there, it's cold, but it's very humid too. So it was brutally cold winters. But again, I wouldn't I wouldn't do anything different.

RIEWESTAHL: Were you-um, did you find training to be difficult?

BAHRKE: Most aspects were just regular. I was in pretty decent shape from high school athletics, so that wasn't a problem. It just the difficulty was the difficulty was getting up at five in the morning. That's tough.

RIEWESTAHL: And what got you through it?

BAHRKE: Just a desire to. I set out to complete a mission, and my goal is to complete that mission. And I did that. And that's what kept me going.

RIEWESTAHL: And where were you stationed at during your service?

BAHRKE: I was stationed at Fort Leonard of Missouri for, well from September of 00:04:0062 to February of 63, and then from February of 63 to September of 64, I was stationed in a town called Kassel, K-A-S-S-E-L, Germany, which is about 120 miles northeast of Frankfurt.

RIEWESTAHL: And what was it like, you know, coming from the U.S. and going to Germany?

BAHRKE: Well, you know, as far as geography goes, it was very similar. A lot of rolling farmlands, pine trees, streams, lakes, rivers. There was a little bit of a language barrier. But you somehow figure that out. And it was just it was a great experience.

RIEWESTAHL: Did you get to travel around and see the sights?

BAHRKE: Yes. In June of. No. In May of 63, several US went to Luxembourg, France, Belgium on a road trip, and then in from June of 64 to July of 64, I was 00:05:00sent on a temporary duty assignment to Ankara, Turkey. And we I spent two months in Turkey.

RIEWESTAHL: Are there any particular memorable experiences that you had on those road trips that you'd like to share?

BAHRKE: Nothing really, other than the fact that the Eiffel Tower is really big and tall and beautiful. You could leave Germany, you go into Holland, and the streets were so clean you could almost eat off the streets and that we were there during the tulip festivals and as far as you could see, were tulips.

RIEWESTAHL: Sounds really beautiful.

BAHRKE: It was.

RIEWESTAHL: And what did you do while you were over there?

BAHRKE: I was a wheeled vehicle mechanic. And pretty much Monday through Friday, I was in the Army Security Agency. And it was Monday through Friday and Saturday, Sundays and holidays we had off. So we go into town. A friend of mine was a farmer from Saint Cloud, Minnesota area, and he spoke fluent German. So he went out on his first weekend off and found a farmer that needed a hired hand. 00:06:00So in for it he got food and lodging in exchange for the work he did on the farm for Saturday. So and we went over to the farm a couple of times.

RIEWESTAHL: And so as a mechanic, what was your day to day life like?

BAHRKE: Up at seven in the morning breakfast, go to work at the motor pool, have your lunch, go back to work. Then you're done at 430 or so. Back to the barracks, have a supper, change clothes. Maybe you went into town. Maybe you went to the bowling alley on the base or you went to the the base theater. An interesting part about where I was stationed, it was actually Rothwesten military airbase. It was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot training camp that Adolf Hitler was not supposed to have after the First World War. So when I got there, all the buildings were in the woods and they had very steep roofs. The concrete 00:07:00that supported those buildings was probably 18 inches to two feet thick, and all the buildings were connected with tunnels. It was in the wood. It was all camouflaged. The hangar that we worked out up had grass on the roof. The hangar had an elevator in it. So the Luftwaffe fighter pilot. The planes were in the hangar. They'd bring them out of the hangar onto a grass runway. The runway had tank mesh on it. They also had a farmer with his sheep on that tank mesh runway. They moved the sheep off the runway. The planes would take off. The sheep would come back and trampled down the tire tear marks. And then when they bring the planes back to land, the sheepherder would move his sheep off the runway. The planes would land. They'd go into the hangar and they had elevators in the hangar so they could take the the plane down to the lower level to work on it. And all those buildings were camouflaging, connected by tunnels.

RIEWESTAHL: Wow. Yeah. Any other like memories of your service that you'd like to 00:08:00share, anything that sticks out your memory?

BAHRKE: You know, I just. I met a bunch of good guys, good patriotic soldiers. Some were there because they were drafted. Some were there because they volunteered to go into the service for two, three years or four years. But it was a good group of guys and I still get together with a couple of them once in a while.

RIEWESTAHL: That's wonderful. Did you stay connected all throughout these years?

BAHRKE: Not for the most part, But as you get older, you start thinking, you know, I wonder what so-and-so is doing. I wonder where he's at. So we did make contact with a fellow service person, was in Germany or he lived in Willmar, Minnesota, and he has since passed away. And then a friend of mine lived up in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, and I haven't seen him for a while yet either, but just the memories are there.

RIEWESTAHL: It's great that you get to keep in touch. Do you recall the day at your service ended?

BAHRKE: My active duty ended September 26, 1964. And I got my discharge papers September 26th of I think it was 1968, September.

RIEWESTAHL: And what was that day like for you?

BAHRKE: Well, I was done with my service. I had the paper that said I completed my service and thankfully, thank the good Lord, I was in the service and out of the service and did not have to go to Vietnam. Vietnam was getting hot and heavy right then and my military obligations had been fulfilled, so I didn't have to go back in.

RIEWESTAHL: And what did you do after?

BAHRKE: I worked in the post office for about a year and a half. And then in. November of 1967. On November 10th, I married my wife, Pat. And then on the 13th 00:10:00of November, I started the St. Paul Police Academy and I was in law enforcement at St. Paul Police Department for 29 years until I retired and in December of 19, 1995.

RIEWESTAHL: And do you feel like your service helped in that role?

BAHRKE: Absolutely. You learned discipline. You learned responsibility, follow orders. And when you're in the military, you wear dress uniforms, uniform looks good. And so you want your your law enforcement uniform to look good, too, because sometimes the first thing people see is the first impression they get of you. And you want to make it a good impression.

RIEWESTAHL: Reflecting back on your service, what does it mean to you now?

BAHRKE: It means a lot to me. What? Granted, I was there during peace time and I'm so thankful for the men and women who have gone into the military before me 00:11:00and after who fought wars for our freedoms. Some gave all. Some gave some. But a lot of gave all. And I'm so thankful for them. And God bless them and their families. And God bless our current military men and women and their families also.

RIEWESTAHL: And what advice would you give to anyone that's thinking about joining the service?

BAHRKE: Um. Well.

RIEWESTAHL: Yeah, that's fine. You don't have to answer it. We can skip that.

BAHRKE: Well, I the way the military is now, it's politics are getting into and it's getting too political. And they're dividing the military. And in the military you've got their back and they've got your back. We're not black, we're not white, we're not brown. We're all one. We're one military. And they're they're dividing us now with this critical race theory and stuff that's been 00:12:00brought out. And it doesn't help the military at all. It's not good. It's not good for morale. And if that wasn't there, I'd say, by all means, go join the military, serve your country, and then at the same time, you're getting benefits toward your college education. And when you get out, then you can go to go to college on the GI Bill.

RIEWESTAHL: And is there anything else that you'd like to add to this interview that we haven't covered yet?

BAHRKE: I don't believe so. It was a good experience for me. I love all our men and women in military and their families. Their families give up a lot for their husbands, wives, sons and daughters who are serving. And so we support everybody involved in the military.

RIEWESTAHL: Thank you, Jerry, for sharing your story. And thanks for your service, too.

BAHRKE: Thank you. It's my pleasure.

[Interview Ends]