Retired rural editor ruminates about what Memorial Day meant for the Greatest Generation

Mychal Wilmes

An essay from retired Agri News managing editor Mychal Wilmes takes a look at Memorial Day and what it meant for Americans in a rural Midwestern town during World War II. 

The newly created federal War Production Board held a well-attended meeting at the high school urging local farmers to increase food production for the war effort, and local Extension Service experts and mechanics showed farmers how to better repair their implements, Wilmes writes for Ag Week.

"The war, which would claim the lives of 6,300 Minnesota and 1,929 North Dakota service members, remained front and center in hearts and minds. Farmers and their families were indeed part of what is called the 'Greatest Generation,'" Wilmes writes. "They reached adulthood in pre-World War I, cheered the Doughboys who boarded trains that eventually took them to European battlefields, and believed the conflict would lead to the end of all war."