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A world from home
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| H&N photo by Lee Juillerat Jean and Walt Leehmann married after meeting at Omaha Beach following the 1944 Normandy invasion. |
June 10, 2007
He was a cowboy. She was a city girl. They met in the most unlikely place -- at a dance in a tent on Omaha Beach, not long after the Allied invasion of
Normandy during World War II in 1944.
Walter “Walt” Leehmann, a cowboy from Lakeview, was a captain with the U.S. Army who was among troops that landed on the second day of the invasion.
Virginia Jean Switzer, a nurse from a city near Cincinnati, was with the Army nursing corps.
“That’s where I met her, on the beach in Normandy,” laughs Walt, who’ll celebrate his 88th birthday on the Fourth of July.
“I met him on a blind date. I was with his best friend,” said Jean, 86.
Their days together in Normandy were brief. He was soon moving with his troops further into France. She spent 21 wet days in Normandy before being sent elsewhere and, eventually, receiving her discharge. He went home to Lakeview, she to Ohio.
“I came back and he started writing me,” Jean remembers.
Walt visited Jean in 1946. When he returned to Lakeview, it was with her as his bride.
“When I came out here I’d never seen a sheep,” she said. “When I came out here I thought I was coming to the real Wild West. I hadn’t ever been on a horse.”
Jean learned to ride, work livestock and cook.
“When I first came out I was cooking for 21 men, and I didn’t know to cook so Walter helped me.”
Walter, who was raised on family ranches, was wise to the ways of the ranching life. In the early years until the 1940s, the Leehmanns mostly ran sheep, up to 5,000.
“I was out on the desert, by golly, since the early 1900s,” Walter said. “I liked to go. Used to follow my dad ever since I was old enough to walk.”
After graduating from Lakeview High in 1937, Walter went to Oregon State College, where he earned a degree in animal husbandry in 1941. A year later he went into the Army as a soldier, but was sent to officer’s school, eventually becoming a cavalry officer at Fort Riley, Kan., before being sent overseas. At Normandy, he and his troops were on landing barges and drove armor-plated tractors onto shore, using the raised blades as screens from the gunfire.
“There was no place you could get on the beach without a lot of shells,” he recalls.
Taking over
He and Jean took over the 7B Ranch in 1949. Along with large holdings of private lands, they had lease lands. Each February, they move to Alkali Lake until early May, when they return to their Lakeview area ranch. After the spring branding, their 500 Angus cows and calves are moved to summer pasture.
“I always kind of liked the Angus. I just liked ‘em because they’re good mother cows. They stay with them.”
Walt assumed he’d be a rancher “from the time I started. I just like the way of life. I like to ride, to be outside.” In earlier eras they rode horseback while moving their cows to and from Alkali Lake.
“We used to trail them out. Took us 10 days. Went around the west side of Abert Lake. Any more, it’s easier to truck ‘em.”
Jean has fond memories of those drives, which included their sons and two daughters, Judy and Janet, who they adopted as babies.
“They all learned to ride,” she boasts. “We had more help when the kids were riding because their friends all wanted to go along.”
Ranching life
Both say the ranching life has been good. Walt, who rode saddle bronc as a young man, helped start Lakeview’s first rodeo club after years with 4-H programs. He’s been involved with a litany of ranching groups and, like his son, is a past president of the Lake County Round-Up.
These days Jean and Walt limit their ranch duties, and fret over the future.
“Ranching used to be fun and now it’s nothing but worry and work,” she frets.
“It’s getting tough,” he echoes.
“You rarely have a perfect day where everything goes right,” Jean says.
“Wouldn’t be normal if something didn’t go wrong,” Walt laughs.
- By Lee Juillerat
He was a cowboy. She was a city girl. They met in the most unlikely place -- at a dance in a tent on Omaha Beach, not long after the Allied invasion of
Normandy during World War II in 1944.
Walter “Walt” Leehmann, a cowboy from Lakeview, was a captain with the U.S. Army who was among troops that landed on the second day of the invasion.
Virginia Jean Switzer, a nurse from a city near Cincinnati, was with the Army nursing corps.
“That’s where I met her, on the beach in Normandy,” laughs Walt, who’ll celebrate his 88th birthday on the Fourth of July.
“I met him on a blind date. I was with his best friend,” said Jean, 86.
Their days together in Normandy were brief. He was soon moving with his troops further into France. She spent 21 wet days in Normandy before being sent elsewhere and, eventually, receiving her discharge. He went home to Lakeview, she to Ohio.
“I came back and he started writing me,” Jean remembers.
Walt visited Jean in 1946. When he returned to Lakeview, it was with her as his bride.
“When I came out here I’d never seen a sheep,” she said. “When I came out here I thought I was coming to the real Wild West. I hadn’t ever been on a horse.”
Jean learned to ride, work livestock and cook.
“When I first came out I was cooking for 21 men, and I didn’t know to cook so Walter helped me.”
Walter, who was raised on family ranches, was wise to the ways of the ranching life. In the early years until the 1940s, the Leehmanns mostly ran sheep, up to 5,000.
“I was out on the desert, by golly, since the early 1900s,” Walter said. “I liked to go. Used to follow my dad ever since I was old enough to walk.”
After graduating from Lakeview High in 1937, Walter went to Oregon State College, where he earned a degree in animal husbandry in 1941. A year later he went into the Army as a soldier, but was sent to officer’s school, eventually becoming a cavalry officer at Fort Riley, Kan., before being sent overseas. At Normandy, he and his troops were on landing barges and drove armor-plated tractors onto shore, using the raised blades as screens from the gunfire.
“There was no place you could get on the beach without a lot of shells,” he recalls.
Taking over
He and Jean took over the 7B Ranch in 1949. Along with large holdings of private lands, they had lease lands. Each February, they move to Alkali Lake until early May, when they return to their Lakeview area ranch. After the spring branding, their 500 Angus cows and calves are moved to summer pasture.
“I always kind of liked the Angus. I just liked ‘em because they’re good mother cows. They stay with them.”
Walt assumed he’d be a rancher “from the time I started. I just like the way of life. I like to ride, to be outside.” In earlier eras they rode horseback while moving their cows to and from Alkali Lake.
“We used to trail them out. Took us 10 days. Went around the west side of Abert Lake. Any more, it’s easier to truck ‘em.”
Jean has fond memories of those drives, which included their sons and two daughters, Judy and Janet, who they adopted as babies.
“They all learned to ride,” she boasts. “We had more help when the kids were riding because their friends all wanted to go along.”
Ranching life
Both say the ranching life has been good. Walt, who rode saddle bronc as a young man, helped start Lakeview’s first rodeo club after years with 4-H programs. He’s been involved with a litany of ranching groups and, like his son, is a past president of the Lake County Round-Up.
These days Jean and Walt limit their ranch duties, and fret over the future.
“Ranching used to be fun and now it’s nothing but worry and work,” she frets.
“It’s getting tough,” he echoes.
“You rarely have a perfect day where everything goes right,” Jean says.
“Wouldn’t be normal if something didn’t go wrong,” Walt laughs.
- By Lee Juillerat
 |
||
| Thirty-six graduate from Lost River High School |
Reader Comments
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leesa wrote on Jan 23, 2009 12:37 PM:
" these things should never happened in this world. the world should be safe. "
samantha r. wrote on Sep 23, 2008 12:12 PM:
" this article is So true when your a teen girl and your pregnant It seems to feel like your life is over and there is no way you can fix it but that's not true if your young and your going to have a child then stay focused in school your child wants you to succeed in life so he/she can succeed in life my name is Samantha R. I'm 14 years old i live in Klamath falls and i might be pregnant :] If so I'm determined to make sure my child has a better life then i did :] "
Babe wrote on Jan 23, 2008 6:54 PM:
" I think that chiloquin people do need help and not just the teens but i have also seen places that are alot worse i moved from L.A to chiloquin and ive been back there since and trust me chiloquin is nothing. I also think that crime and drugs etc. are noticed more because it is so small compared to other places and there is no form of disaplin at all "
Tony P. wrote on Jan 19, 2008 7:55 PM:
" I remember the night the plane went down.. My mother crying and my dad in tears.. his dad searched for him for years...
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Jane D. wrote on Apr 10, 2009 12:00 AM:
I Love You Bobby
May your soul Rest In Peace
-Deems "