Josephine Bogdanich: 102 years young and proud to serve

By Frank Hauenschild, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interviews Volunteer

Born in October, 1916, to Frank and Johanna Kimmey, Josephine has resided in the Chicagoland area all of her life, except for her tour of duty with the U.S. Army during World War II. Josephine reflected that she has seen a lot of changes in the world during her 102 years. She fondly recalls the time she spent serving her country in the U.S. Army.

Her father, Frank, was a motorman for the Chicago Surface Lines and her mother, Johanna, was an Irish immigrant. Josephine was raised in the South Side of Chicago together with her siblings Francis (Frank), Joseph, Mary and her baby sister, Joan, who is currently 85-years-old.

Josephine graduated from Chicago Visitation High School and then went to work for the Illinois Bell Telephone Company as a switchboard operator. With the outbreak of World War II, Josephine’s brothers enlisted into the Army. Frank went to Camp Crowder, Missouri, in the infantry while Joseph was assigned as a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps. Following the enlistment of Frank and Joseph, Josephine’s sister, Mary, revealed her intentions to join the U.S. Navy. Not to be outdone, Josephine stated her intentions to enlist as well—however, she related to Mary, “I am going to be with Frank and Joseph in the Army.” Being a close family, Mary relented and entered the U.S. Army along with Josephine and her brothers.

Completing her Basic Training in the fall of 1944, Josephine did a short stint at Selfridge Air National Guard Base near Mt. Clemens, Michigan. She was then assigned to Sheppard Air Force Base near Wichita County, Texas, where she was trained on the teletype and assigned to communications. Following her assignment to Sheppard, she was reassigned to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. At the outbreak of WWII, Langley was tasked with developing detector equipment for anti-submarine warfare along with training troops in other tasks.

While at Langley, Josephine was assigned as a Mail Clerk. Her duties consisted of handling all mail and packages that came into Langley for the servicemen who were assigned at her base. Josephine related that each serviceman had their own box in which mail and packages were sorted and placed. At various times, each serviceman would come to her building to see if there was any mail for them. If there wasn’t a letter or package, Josephine would tell them that nothing was in their mailbox at that time, but that “Jim” or “Bob” has a letter in his box and requested that they go tell them to come pick it up. If there was mail or a package, it would be hand-delivered to the servicemen. Josephine stated that it was a personal touch that she and her co-workers would do as they realized that mail from home was important to each and every serviceman at Langley.

Josephine reflected that having that personal knowledge of “her” servicemen at Langley, she would be very astute in realizing when a serviceman was not getting any mail. Taking action, she along with her co-workers would write and seal letters to those who were not receiving any mail. She took delight when the serviceman would come in and be handed mail to their utter surprise. When asked, Josephine stated that everyone who was serving deserved a letter from home.

One of the special times Josephine recalls during her service was when she was united with her siblings at her parents’ home in Chicago while they were all on leave. At that time, her proud parents took a family picture of their “military children” who were all in uniform. The only child that was not allowed in the picture was her baby sister, Joan, who was approximately eight years old at that time. Not to be excluded from the picture with her patriotic siblings, Joan managed to sneak her own photo into the background (lower left side of the picture in the middle below). Josephine fondly remembers that time and still has that photo on her bulletin board in her room at the Manteno Veterans’ Home.

Following the end of the war, Josephine and Mary were sent to Santa Monica, California, to be discharged. With the connections from her tail gunner brother Joseph, they hooked up with one of his aircrew buddies’ parents. For three weeks, Josephine and Mary palled around in Santa Monica seeing the sights and enjoying the weather in Southern California.

From there, Josephine and Mary, being discharged together, headed back home to Chicago. It took three buses and a streetcar to get back to their parents’ home. Once home, life began to take on the normal course that she was accustomed to before enlisting. Josephine returned to work as a telephone operator with Illinois Bell for a few months and then took employment with the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad as an office worker. While working for the railroad near the old Stockyards on the south side of Chicago, she continued to live with her parents for many years.

In 1959, she married Andrew and raised a son, Nicholas. Josephine and her husband bought a home in the Mt. Greenwood area in Chicago where she continued her devoted family life until she entered the Veterans’ Home in Manteno. Today she spends her day with many activities and has become addicted to BINGO. Josephine took time out of her day to speak to me about her life and at the conclusion of our interview, I took her to her BINGO game which was in progress. After getting her caught up with the third game, she immediately called out “BINGO” after the next number was called. Confirmed as a winner, Josephine collected her prize and promptly turned over her card until the next game.

Josephine said most of her family are gone now, with the exception of her son, Nicholas, and her baby sister, Joan. Upon asking her if she could do her life over again, would she enlist in the U.S. Army? She did not hesitate in her answer – “Yes, it was my duty to my country, and I was proud to serve along with my siblings!”