By Myra Lee Adams Goff

It’s the end of December and this pesky little song has entered my head again and won’t leave. “Let’s remember Pearl Harbor as we did the Alamo”. I’m back in Julia Odiorne’s fourth grade class at Lamar School. Earlier, on December 7^th in 1941 a surprise attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor had suddenly plummeted our country into World War II. We sang this song with gusto because as Texans we would never forget the Alamo and now we would be called on to “Remember Pearl Harbor” forever.

Miss Odiorne tacked a map of the world on the wall that she had gotten from the Weekly Reader, a newspaper for children. Every time Germany won a battle, she would place a little swastika on the map and for Japan it was a little white flag with a red “rising sun” in the middle. Naturally when the US won, there were stars and stripes. For all that first year, there were almost nothing but swastikas and red suns, and that was scary.

We kept on singing and doing our part as children. The Junior Texas Rangers, as the children were called, collected scrap metal, even gum wrappers. NB was cleaned out of scrap metal. Newsman Roger Nuhn wrote that school children collected over a half million pounds of scrap, including the cannons on Main Plaza. My girl scout troop collected string and I never knew why. We folded bandages, and I did know why. The

Red Cross was very active in that endeavor.

A Civil Defense League was formed under the leadership of Mayor Walter Sippel. Citizens were assigned to air raid shelters in basements of schools, churches, and public buildings. Now get this: Lamar’s basement is about 10×10 and there were about 350 people living in the area. We would be mighty cozy. Mock air raids, announced by the fire siren, were conducted on a regular basis. We were, after all, close to the many military bases in San Antonio.

The PTA at Lamar installed black-out curtains in our auditorium so that if there was a bomb dropped on NB the children would be hidden. I never really understood that either because we never were at school at night, but at least once a week we were able to see our geography movies without the interference of the sun.

Rationing had become a way of life. Sugar, gasoline, and tires were all rationed. A family was issued ration stamps according to the size of the family. Cookies were not as plentiful, Hershey bars were not to be found, and no frivolous driving could be done. If a tire went bad, just park the car in the garage for the duration of the war. My friends and I walked everywhere.

Every family was encouraged to plant a Victory garden and the water rates were lowered for that project.

Right down on Main Plaza there was a Center for Service Men in the old Landa Building (present Commissioner’s Court parking lot). Open to all servicemen and women, they would arrive on buses from San Antonio on weekends. The downstairs had radio, nickelodeon, piano, pool tables, card tables and lots of food provided by local clubs. Upstairs there were 100 beds. Dances were planned at the Center as well as at Landa Park. Thousands of servicemen and women would come to NB on weekends. In the end, 73,000 servicemen and women registered at the Center.

Making money for the war effort was a big thing. The selling of war bonds was a huge activity and each county was expected to sell an allotted amount.

We sat in front of the radio as we now do TV. The news was always bad and as young teenagers, we listened to the terrible problems of Stella Dallas and One Man’s Family, two popular radio soap operas. “If you think you’ve got it bad, think about their problems”. Father Barber solved his family’s problems with a calming, “Yes, yes”. That was it.

When the war was over in 1945 the newsreels of the concentration camps that were in the movie theatres were shockingly real and we knew then the importance of sacrifice. Almost 1,500 men and women served their country from NB and sadly 38 gave up their lives.

A captured Japanese submarine as it toured Texas to sell war bonds.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Have you seen our beautiful lighted Comal County Courthouse? The Grand Dame of Main Plaza buildings is 108 years old (1898). In December of that year the courthouse was inspected and given the seal of approval by the Commissioners Court. A translation of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung done by Robert Govier, Ph. D. for the Sophienburg states:

“On Christmas Eve a splendid picture was made by our new Courthouse whose many rooms were lit by electric lights in such a manner that the warm glow emanated from its many windows, reaching far into the night from the three story building.”

From that same translation you can get a fair picture of what downtown NB was like at Christmas time. Druggist Bruno Voelcker, on the corner of San Antonio and Castell, had the latest gift – a KODAK. He states, “You can get pictures with it.” Then hop over to the Phoenix Saloon (now Color Express) and buy fresh pigsfeet. Round up your day by watching the Fire Dept. Band marching “snappily” down the street and listen to their concert on the plaza.

Much later, in the 1940s, Bill (Willie) Vollmar, propriator of Vollmar’s 5¢ to $1 Store, located where the Art League is now, is given credit for bringing Santa Claus to town. After an appearance on the plaza, the jolly old guy would make his headquarters at Vollmar’s store.

Vollmar was born and raised in Seguin and he and his wife Alice moved to NB in the early ‘30s. First he was a shoe salesman at Jacob Schmidt and Son and then was manager of the Values Store. In 1932 he had saved enough money to buy the store from his employers and he opened Vollmar’s 5¢ to $1 Store.

The Vollmars had no children of their own, but they loved them. The Christmas season was special to “Uncle Willie”. My friend, Pat Langston (was Patsy Harmon), who lived downtown in her early years, summoned up a picture of her first visit to the live Santa at Vollmar’s at the age of five. Having seen only pictures of the fat, jolly elf in magazines, she was shocked by a six-foot very thin version. Oh well, he brought presents.

Langston has later mementos in her mind about Vollmar’s Store. How many of you remember perfumery like the “over the hill” Tigress, Woodhue, and Tabu? Then there was that remarkable Tangee lipstick that came in pink only, but turned different colors on different people. She can picture the candy cases as you entered the store with its array of tempting candy. During the summer, she was allowed to buy a new tin bucket with a shovel for her family’s annual vacation to the coast.

Some people just make you laugh and Willie Vollmar was one of them. He could tell comical stories for hours and was president of just about every club in town. He sold his variety store and started working for Krueger Motor Co. At Christmas, he would dress up in a Santa costume and deliver new cars and then visit children and grandchildren that he knew from the past.

The Sophienburg’s Weihnachtsmarkt was a huge success. That gorgeous tree in the foyer of the Civic Center reminds me of a tradition that has evolved from the first tree mentioned by the pioneers of NB on the coast of Pt. Lavaca to the present day variety. Records say that Prince Carl provided a Tannenbaum (Christmas Tree) using a live oak tree decorated with candles and gifts for the children. When the settlers came from the coast to NB, juniper trees lit with candles were used, which were a little closer in shape to the fir trees of the old country. Artificial trees with electric lights eventually replaced the dangerous candles. Of course, the first lights were not like the lights of today. If one light burned out, all went out and hours were spent looking for the culprit light. Then came the beautiful trees brought from more northern states and the artificial trees that look real and lit with tiny lights. You can hardly tell if one lights goes out because the rest stay on.

Why not come to Sophie’s Shop for a German Christmas ornament or a historic NB Bandstand ornament?