Hard Work and Opportunity
By Katie Frohling
John Robert Mason
April 30, 1920-June 20, 1963
John Robert Mason was born on April 30, 1920 in Augusta, Kansas.[1] Shortly after his birth, the family moved to La Junta Colorado, a rural farm community three hours south of Denver. John’s father was a Methodist minister and his mother was a homemaker, in charge of John and his two older siblings. John and his brother and sister attended the local public schools until John was 16 years old. In 1936, the Masons were hit hard by the Dust Bowl. John had only completed one year of high school before dropping out to go work and help the family financially. John never really discussed this part of his life, other than saying he had to leave the house wearing a handkerchief over his mouth and that the dust storms made it dark during the day. The Mason family’s economic situation only worsened during the Great Depression. It was during this time, from 1936 to 1938, that John worked for his grandfather as a farmhand in McClave, Colorado. On this 320-acre farm, John drove a tractor, fixed farm equipment, and cared for livestock.[2]
Since his family was still dealing with tremendous financial stress, John joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on March 30, 1938, just shy of his 18th birthday. The CCC was a work relief program that operated from 1933-1942 and was designed for unemployed, unmarried men. As it was a major component of FDR’s New Deal, the CCC focused on public works projects, specifically the development and conservation of rural government land.[3] Due to this, the program is largely responsible for the national and local parks we have today.[4] During his time in the CCC, John served with Company 861 at Camp NP-5-C in Mesa Verde, Colorado.[5] At Mesa Verde National Park, John and his team were responsible for the installation of utilities in the plaza portion of the park, preparing for new cabins and a hotel to eventually be built on the land. Once again, any money that John made with the CCC or on the farm went right back to his family.
Then, on November 1, 1939, John enlisted with the U.S. Army at Fort Logan, Colorado. After enlisting, John was sent to Camp Bullis in Bexar, Texas for his training. Here he was a member of the Company A 2nd Eng. Battalion 41 to 80 where he was preparing to be stationed abroad. John, someone who spent his life working hard in rural Colorado, was now able to see the world through his military service. An eventual Sergeant, John served with several different platoons. However, one of the most famous is the 814th Engineer Aviation Battalion (EAB).[6] This unit served in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. Here, the 814th EAB was responsible for building airfields near, and often behind, enemy lines so Allied powers could seamlessly run aviation operations, regardless of obstacles or pushback.[7]
In Algeria, John and his platoon saw a lot of action. When a German airfield was captured, John and his team were responsible for rushing in and repairing the plane landing strips quickly, so the Allied forces could continue to gain ground. German and Italian forces would use tanks and airplanes to try to fight John’s platoon off. John and his crew saw a lot of combat, resulting in several casualties and many injuries for John, including being shot in the backside and left calf, having his right index finger completely shot off, and getting gangrene in his leg. When he was not facing combat, John worked with heavy equipment. For example, when he was the labor foreman for the Co B, 86 2nd Engineering Battalion, he was responsible for overseeing and operating heavy machinery, such as bulldozers, ditch diggers, and road graders. These tasks greatly aided in the construction and maintenance of those crucial Army airfields.[8]
Later, when John was in Italy, he wrote his brother and sister-in-law a letter, telling them how much he missed his family, especially around the Christmas holiday. He mentioned he was getting lonely. At his next location, John would find someone to help cure his loneliness.
In Munich, Germany John met his future wife Maria. Maria was a local preschool teacher at the time and her sister was dating a fellow American soldier who was in John’s platoon. One day, to try to “cool off” in the summer heat, the four went to a lake. Maria and John hit it off and ended up dating for two more years. Then, on July 27, 1948 in Munich, Maria and John got married. The pair were happy newlyweds with a plan to stay with their jobs and remain in Munich. These plans were upended when John was hit by an Army truck, resulting in his upper arm shattering in multiple places. Medics tried to fix his arm in Munich but they sent the pair stateside to receive better medical treatment. John’s brother, Lawrence, was living in Denver at the time so he suggested the couple look into Fitzsimmons General Hospital. They chose this military hospital so that Maria could stay with John during his recovery. After a year in the hospital, on April 21, 1949, John received his Medical Honorable Discharge paperwork, which was a devastating blow to the couple. They wanted to return to John’s military career and their life in Munich. John had also received a World War II Victory Medal and an Army of Occupation Medal with a German Clasp, all before he was 29 years old. It was clear that John could not continue his military career, so he and Maria had to make a new life for themselves in Colorado.[9]
After separating from the Army, John was a bit lost, as military life was all he had ever known. Now, almost 30 years old, he had to create a new life for himself and his wife. Although there is no official record, Maria remembers John being accepted to the University of Denver to study insurance, but eventually having to leave campus because he couldn’t afford it anymore. When he and Maria were finally settled, they started on their family, eventually having five children. This was all while John was employed with Peter Kiewit, who is best known for developing and running the heavy equipment operating company, Kiewit. Working for this company, John assisted on numerous Colorado-centric public works projects, such as working on Buckley Air Force Base and Interstate 25.[10]
Although John did not share many specifics about his military experience, as it was surely traumatic, his family believes that it was this experience that helped inform his life decisions and guide him as a father. His children learned from a young age what hard work looked like, by watching their dad support their family. His children also learned how to enjoy their surroundings and find pleasure in everyday things. If John wasn’t stopping along the road to fish in a random stream or lake, he was at home, with his family, cooking and watching baseball. His children recall a typical weekend at home: one game on the television, one on the radio, while John cooked for the family in the kitchen. He was a good cook, trained by the former chef of the Waldorf Astoria restaurant in New York City. John’s daughter, Charline, remembers distinctly she and her father making pies and then using the leftover dough to make cookies dipped in sugar. One of his other daughters, Linda, recalls coming home to the house one day to find twenty pies! For someone who was potentially starving and had limited access to food growing up, John surely did not want his kids to experience that same hunger. John also loved to hunt, which he passed down to his sons, who have a passion for it still today because of their father.[11]
When he was a very young child, John suffered through scarlet fever and several bouts of Rheumatic Fever,[12] which undoubtedly affected his overall health later on. This additional stress on his body, combined with the strain of everyday life, led John to die of a congestive heart failure, at age 43, in St. Luke’s Hospital on June 20, 1963.[13] He lived a very short - yet substantial - life. Though many of his children were young when he died, Maria, 90 years old today, and her kids and grandkids still celebrate and honor John and his contributions to the country and their family. John helped prepare both Maria and his children for the rest of their lives and his legacy lives on both in their home and at Fort Logan, for the rest of Colorado to cherish.
Footnotes ↓
[1] 94 "John Robert Mason (1920-1963)” Findagrave.com, Accessed August 03, 2018. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3359331.
[2] Charline Mason, Correspondence by Katie Frohling, July 25, 2018.
[3] Mitchell, Daniel JB. "Youth Jobs Program During Great Depression." YouTube. July 30, 2007. Accessed August 03, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qolPqXNGW3I.
[4] "The Civilian Conservations Corps: Overview of the CCC Resources in the Intermountain Region." National Park Service: Intermountain Region CCC Resources. 2007. Accessed August 03, 2018. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/imro/imro_ccc.pdf.
[5] "Cover Sheet & Site Plan - Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NP-5-C, Barracks No. 5, CCC Camp Historic District at Chapin Mesa, Cortez, Montezuma County, CO." Apple Computers: This Month in Business History (Business Reference Services, Library of Congress). Accessed August 03, 2018. https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.co0778.sheet/?sp=1.
[6] Little, David. "IX Engineer Command." 814th EAB: The Outlaw Scout. Accessed August 03, 2018. http://www.ixengineercommand.com/units/814th/history/814th-history-001-foreword.php.
[7] Frechette. "The Mediterranean Theatre of Operations." CHAPTER 23: World War II: The War Against Japan. Accessed August 03, 2018. https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/11-9/mto.htm
[8] Charline Mason, Correspondence by Katie Frohling, July 25, 2018.
[9] Charline Mason, Correspondence by Katie Frohling, July 25, 2018
[10] Charline Mason, Correspondence by Katie Frohling, July 25, 2018.
[11] Rickey Lee Mason, Correspondence by Katie Frohling, August 2, 2018.
[12] Charline Mason, Correspondence by Katie Frohling, July 25, 2018.
[13] Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current (entry for John Robert Mason, accessed July 15, 2018) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
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