By DEBORAH McQUAID
Morning News staff reporter
Mary Liebel thought everybody forgot what she did during World War II.
Then she got a call from a former serviceman who wanted to visit and tell her how much her efforts had meant.
Days later, Mary had two guests at
her Erie home - Joe Biggie and John Fendya. They reminisced and read letters they had written back and forth more than 50 years ago.
Those two former servicemen were part of the hundreds who corresponded with Mary.
She not only wrote them all personal letters, but produced a monthly newsletter - ""The Corn Blossom'' - that went all over the world to soldiers in their foxholes, camps or ships.
It was Mary's way of
contributing during World War II and even General Dwight Eisenhower appreciated her efforts.
Mary was 21 then. She was editor, publisher, typist, mimeographer, envelope stuffer and mailer of the newsletter she
produced for 3/4 years until shortly after World War II ended. She was also married and the mother of a 2-year-old.
Soldiers from every part of the world wrote to tell her how much they appreciated her hard work.
""You had the immediate satisfaction that you were doing something the best that you could do for the war effort. You knew it was working and there was great satisfaction in that,'' Mary, now 75, said.
""I guess the thing that got to people was that I was so young. Gosh, it was such a reward to do it,'' Mary said. ""When you put out your hand in kindness and you receive what you intended it to be,
it's unbelievable.''
But that was so long ago, and Mary hasn't heard anything for many years from any of the former soldiers.
""It was to the point that I almost didn't like to ask about anybody anymore. I
didn't think anybody remembered,'' Mary said wistfully.
When she opened the door to her visitors two months ago and they sat down to talk, it was like all the years faded away. Mary pulled out what remains of the
""Corn Blossom Collection,'' letters and memorabilia, and they spent a couple of hours looking back on the war days.
""We just went from one thing to another. It was fun and it was so interesting
talking to them. Within about three minutes, it was like we had known each other all that time,'' Mary said.
""They said they came to say "thank you' again. They wanted me to know how much they
appreciated it.''
Fendya said it was while he was planning an Air Force unit reunion for next year in Erie that Mary's name came up. Biggie brought some ""V-mail'' from the war with him to one such meeting.
One letter was from Mary.
When they arrived, Mary had a letter for each of them. ""Mine was a letter addressed to Mary from me and dated Oct. 31, 1945, that I wrote to her from Okinawa,'' Fendya said.
He was aboard a ship and his unit was serviced B-29 bombers.
He said he discovered Biggie, also from Erie, was a member of his 350-man outfit only after he read Mary's ""Corn Blossom.''
Mail of any kind was a thrill for the soldiers.
""Everyone waits for that moment - mail call. It was wonderful to receive a letter from a stranger,'' Fendya said.
""The "Corn Blossom' that
she published was a wonderful source of information covering sports events that were happening at home, fellows that I knew that were in the service and I had no way of knowing where they were. I ran across many names I
knew of. It was exciting to get this newsletter from her every month,'' Fendya said.
""She was so young, a girl just 21 years old, just married who takes on a project that huge,'' Fendya said.
""She did a remarkable job.''
Their recent visit was too short, he said.
After their visit, Mary decided to organize what remains of her collection.
Sadly, when her husband, Richard, died 12 years ago,
Mary started getting rid of a lot of things, and some valued letters and other items were mistakenly thrown away. When she decided to alphabetize her letters after Biggie and Fendya visited, she started re-reading them.
""When I read them the first time, it just didn't have the impact on me that it did now,'' Mary said. ""So many of them have died. I feel so bad when I see their obituaries in the newspaper.''
During the years she published and distributed ""The Corn Blossom,'' she received recognition from radio broadcasts and The ""New York Sunday Mirror.'' She was given the ""Golden Rule
Award'' from Mutual Broadcasting Company and was mentioned in newspapers throughout the country and the International News Service. On July 20, 1944, Gen. Eisenhower sent her a letter, which she has framed in her attic
workroom, commending her for contributing to the war effort and saying he admired her spirit.
But except for a yearly Christmas card from one former soldier and his family from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who visited about 10
years after the war, the correspondence stopped after her last issue in 1945.
There were just a few letters and a few visits.
""When you look at the few who came, compared to all those soldiers (who read
the newsletter), it wasn't like you thought it might be,'' Mary said.
For about five years, a group of soldiers got together and sent her a Christmas card.
""It was always a beautiful card. All I knew was
somewhere someone was remembering. It gave such a nice, comfortable feeling that somebody remembers.''
Fendya feels guilty about never contacting Mary.
""It's a shame. After the war, we all came back,
excited to meet with our families. We all got married and raised our families.
""But, (forgetting about Mary) should never have happened,'' Fendya said.
Although she doesn't recall the exact date of the
last issue, it was shortly after the war ended. ""Right after the victory, it seemed like the job was over. The boys were coming back.''
It started in 1942 after friends had left for the service and she
wrote them letters.
At Ft. Hood, Texas, a friend put her letter on the bulletin board. Her friend said other soldiers enjoyed it and the idea was born. Mary knew she had to expand it from just a letter and managed to
get a mimeograph machine from an Erie office supply store.
The publication went from one sheet to 10 pages at times and she typed it on her father's old Underwood.
She would include poems, jokes, reprinted articles
from other publications, a sports column from Dispatch-Herald Sports Editor Ray Peebles and Mary's ""Notes and Quotes,'' which she derived from letters from soldiers.
When one would write to her, asking for
the newsletter to be sent, she would require that they write at least once a month, keeping her abreast of what they were doing. It worked and Mary never ran out of material.
""They would be able to locate
where their friends were,'' through the ""Notes and Quotes'' column. Mary gave locations of countries, but no more specific information. She was never challenged or regulated by the U.S. government.
Her
column was chatty, filled with anecdotes from the soldiers themselves. It was upbeat, intended to lift their spirits.
Mary got entirely caught up in it.
""I got to know some of these young men very well.
Those letters meant more to me than I could ever have imagined.
""I just lived for what I could do and how I could do it better,'' Mary said, recalling that she was so patriotic that she raised the flag in
front of her home every morning.
She can't even guess how many letters would come each day from servicemen. ""It was a constant flow of mail,'' Mary said. Her husband, who was doing war work at General
Electric Co., read each one.
""He helped all he could. He'd staple and stamp,'' and cart everything to the post office.
For a while, she and her husband paid all the costs for the newsletter's production
and distribution. Later, contributions paid the costs.
At her peak, she sent issues to 300 readers. ""That is a drop in the bucket when you consider that thing went through the whole camp,'' she said.
Oftentimes, soldiers would send back copies signed by everyone. She has copies with more than 150 names. Her ""victory issue'' in September 1945, was returned, signed by men from the Second Marine Division
from Nagasaki, Japan.
Mary got a unique perspective of the war through all her letters. Soldiers would write page after page about their feelings, fears and loneliness. Sometimes, they'd share their battle triumphs.
Like the one who told her of falling into a trap set for them in Tunisia, and sending her a souvenir from ""Hill 609.'' It was a shield from a pith helmet worn by a dead German soldier from Rommel's
Afrika Korps.
She was impressed with the way they expressed themselves.
""They would always write enough that I could put something from it into my little "Corn Blossom' and it certainly made a great
impression on me.''
Despite the satisfaction she got from her work, it was a burden.
""I would no more than get one finished and mailed and I would be starting on the next one. It was a constant thing. I
was flying to the mailbox and keeping up all the time. It was hard on our lives,'' Mary remembers.
""They were so grateful for what you did. If only more people would have taken the time to write (in later
years).''
Recently, Fendya and Biggie told U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford about Mary. He sent her a congratulatory letter.
""During war time, people can serve their country in many ways, and there can be no
doubt that you served your country faithfully and honorably. On behalf of those many men for whom you made such a difference, I salute you and offer a sincere thank you,'' Wofford wrote.
""It was one of the most marvelous experiences of my life,'' Mary said.
