Šmartno, Gonjače, St. Florian/Steverjan and Nova Gorica

After our hearty meal, we traveled around the Brda area, which is a wine growing region on the Italian border. The countryside is hilly, lush and green. No land is wasted - something productive occupies every plot. Dense stands of trees border the fields and terraced vineyards grow on hillsides. Flowers line the roads and spill out of window boxes. Why would anyone leave this paradise?

Petra's commentary answered those questions. Small roads, built by the Italians to move munitions during World War I, were everywhere - if you didn't know your way around, you could get lost. In each village were vacant spaces where a church, school or a home had been - shelled and never rebuilt. There were also plaques, signs, statues and memorials to those lost in both World Wars. Many of these communities have rebuilt after centuries of conflicts. Šmartno is one such town.

Šmartno is an the architectural jewel built on Roman foundations, and a former medieval military fortress on the Italian border. The walled village with five towers sits on a panoramic hill, perfect for observing any approaching armies. Today Šmartno is a renovated village and one of the most beautiful cultural monuments in Slovenia.

 Fortress in the city of Smartno

The town of Gonjače is at the top of another hill. Here is the bronze monument dedicated to the 315 citizens of Brda who gave their lives in WWII. The tower at Gonjače has 144 stairs which bring you to the breathtaking view of  the Julian and Carnian Alps, the Friulian plain to the West, the Trieste Gulf to the South, and the Vipava Valley to the east.

 

Lookout tower and World War II
memorial at Gonjače

The village of St. Florian is now in Italy (although only Slovenes live there) and is known as Števerjan. The church of St. Floriano was badly damaged by shells during World War I and painstakingly rebuilt. The region also suffered greatly during World War II. A monument adjacent to the church was dedicated in 1946 and honors those who died at home, in Italy, in concentration camps, or in partisan divisions.

 

Church of St. Floriano in Steverjan

Monument to the brave citizens of World War II in Steverjan
Both photos by Dejan Valentincic

The town of Nova Gorica is a microcosm of an area that has been shaped by conflict. Before World War II, farmers from the surrounding villages took their produce to sell in the "big" market in Gorica. The town of Gorica was given to Italy after the war and spelled Gorizia. In 1947, Communists constructed Nova "New" Gorica in Slovenia. The train station says it all: on one side of the station is Gorizia, Italy, and on the other side is Nova Gorica, Slovenia.

 

Train station in Nova Gorica and Gorizia

 

Finding Andrej Jakin

Everyone in Globeville called my grandpa “Andy Jackson.” He and my grandma lived in a small house on Sherman Street in the shadow of I-70, with its constant traffic, noise, vibration, and dirt. Nearby meatpacking plants provided both jobs and a stench that would keep residents indoors, even during the summer. 
But their tiny back yard was a bulwark against its gritty, industrial surroundings. There were cherry, pear and peach trees, and grape vines that wound along a fence. Raspberry bushes and strawberry plants were arranged in tidy sections, and beans, peas, cucumbers, and tomatoes climbed a hand-made trellis. There were phlox, dahlias, roses, daisies, pansies, violets, geraniums and the exotic oleander that grandpa carefully coaxed in Colorado’s arid climate. Chickens aggressively ate the feed grandma scattered from her apron and dutifully provided handsome brown eggs. Grandpa said it was just like his home in “the old country,” a magical place with vineyards, orchards and olive groves. I loved listening to his stories, but was too young to ask him more meaningful questions about his growing up or his family. When he died in 1961, it was the end of that world. My grandma died in 1967 and all the stories evaporated.
But there were photos in the piano bench, some labeled, some mislabeled and many with no identification. There were postcards from family in Goriza, Cerovo and St. Florian from 1902 to 1906 to Johan Korsic and Andrej Jakin, who shared the same address on Watervliet Street in Globeville. Copies of receipts show that money was sent to family back home, and there were a few surviving letters from relatives in Slovenia.

Andrej and Ida Jakin are best man and maid of honor
in the 1906 wedding of Leopold and Teresa Korsic.

 

1906 postcard to Johan Korsic and Andrejo Jakin in Globeville 

 Money sent to relatives in Cerovo, Slovenia 1902

My husband Russ and I attend Holy Rosary Church and that is where we met sisters Julie and Teresa, whose maiden name is Korsic. This led to many discussions about our families. Leopold Korsic and Andrej Jakin were close friends who arrived the same year (1902) from the same town (Gornje Cerovo) in what was then Austria Hungary. Both settled and worked in Globeville, raised their families in the neighborhood and attended Holy Rosary Church. Korsics were able to maintain contact with their family in “the old country,” whereas the Jakin family lost touch after the Germans burned their home during World War II. 
For several years we joked about going to Slovenia and finding out more about our background. The more we talked, the more real the idea seemed. Julie and Teresa renewed their contacts with the Korsics in Slovenia and plans were made to visit in July 2019. More to come...

Globeville Did Its Part

In the decade before World War II, Globeville’s population had struggled to find jobs, but the demands of war now created a labor shortage. Women filled vacancies at factories and foundries when men left for the service. June Jackson Egan rode the streetcar to 10th and Inca to make fuses for PT boats at Slack-Horner Foundry; Carol Christenson worked on aircraft, (including Eleanor Roosevelt’s plane), at McClellan Field near Sacramento.

 Mary Reed, left and Carol Christenson
® Mary Lou Egan

The Globeville community offered support in the way it always had: through its churches and lodges. Members of the First German Congregational Church formed the Blue Star Letter Writing Committee to keep the congregation’s 175 members in the service informed about church activities, and a newsletter called “The Minister’s Mailbag” kept the men in contact with each other as well.

The children at Garden Place School collected scrap and contributed to bond drives, while the young women of Holy Rosary Young Ladies’ Sodality volunteered at the Catholic USO at 16th and Logan. The Polish Harmony Club, a young-people’s social group affiliated with Polish National Alliance, entertained servicemen who were recovering at Fitzsimons Army Hospital and sponsored weekly dances at the Polish hall for military personnel of Polish descent. Paul Goreski recalls, “During the war my folks used to go out to Lowry and invite a Polish serviceman over for dinner. He had to be Polish.” 

Mary Canjar joined the Red Cross and attended classes to become an Air Raid warden.
She was issued a uniform with a shirt, pants, helmet and armband, and made sure that windows were covered and lights turned off during blackout periods. Canjar also won an award for persuading every family on Logan Street to purchase War Bonds. Residents were rewarded with a bus tour of Lowry field, a lunch and serenade by a marching band. 

                   Mary Canjar, photo used with permission from Father John Canjar

Victory Gardens became the name for the substantial gardens Globeville’s citizens had always planted. The community’s traditional frugality and resourcefulness made the
war rationing of gas, sugar, meat, and cooking oil, easier.

 Fathers Robert and Joseph Meznar's 1940 Ford
with its "A" gas sticker (highlighted in red).
Photo ® Mary Lou Egan

On both V-E Day and V-J Day, church bells rang, factory whistles and car horns blared. Twelve young men from Globeville lost their lives in the conflict; the nation and the neighborhood were forever changed by the experience.

John Robert Gracey, Edward Milton, Harold A. Schafer

The last three names listed in the Globeville Veteran's memorial book were John Robert Gracey, Edward Jay Milton, Jr. and Harold A. Schafer with the notation "no photo or information available." Although these veterans' names were engraved on the memorial itself, the circumstances of their deaths were not available at the time the monument was dedicated in 1948. But they have not been forgotten. Each of these servicemen from Globeville is honored for their sacrifice on the Colorado Freedom Memorial, Springhill Community Park, 756 Telluride Street, Aurora, Colorado, 80011.
Colorado Freedom Memorial

John Robert Gracey was a Fireman 1st Class, a member of the Naval Reserve and killed in action. He memorialized on Panel 12, Column 1, Row 26.
Colorado Freedom Memorial

Edward Jay Milton, Jr. was a Gunner's Mate 3rd Class in the Navy who was killed in action. He is honored on Panel 3, Column 4, Row 34.
Colorado Freedom Memorial

Harold A. Schafer was 28 years old when he was killed in action December 10, 1944. A Sargeant with the Army Air Corps, Harold is buried at Fort Logan and listed on Panel 8, Column 2, Row 32 of the
Colorado Freedom Memorial

Photo ® Bruce Quakenbush for the Colorado Freedom Memorial

Samuel Graff, Charles Arthur McClellan, Albert R. Metzger

Samuel Graff was 24 years old when he enlisted in the Army and traveled to Camp Roberts, California for basic training in November, 1943. Assigned to the 41st Division, 163rd Infantry, Company I, Graff participated in operations in New Guinea, Netherlands, East India and the Philippines. Graff was killed in action during an invasion of Mindinoa, Sambo Ango on March 19, 1945 and received the Purple Heart, Asiatic Pacific, American Theater and World War II Victory Medals. His family were members of the First German Congregational Church in Globeville and he was survived by his sisters Natalie Befus, Ruth Mitchell, Irene and Rosalie Graff, and brothers Carl and Alex Graff.

Charles Arthur McClellan was 25 years old and married when he enlisted in the Navy March 6, 1942. He did his basic training in San Diego, California and was assigned to LST-455, a repair ship, as an electrician's second mate. McClellan was reported "missing in action" September 12, 1943 as a result of a direct hit by enemy bombers during a bombing attack in the South Pacific. McClellan received Purple Heart, Asiatic Pacific, American Theater and World War II Victory Medals. He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Helen Kornafel McClellan, and his mother, Mrs. H. W. McClellan.

29-year-old Albert R. Metzger enlisted in the US Army Air Force January 6, 1941, before the United States entered the conflict and received his basic training with the 120th Observation Squadron of the National Guard.  Metzger was later assigned to 153rd Observation Squadron and departed the US in August 1942. As a Liaison Pilot in Bath, England, Metzger received orders to server as an observation pilot for the 190th Field Artillery and was killed in a crash near Market Livingston, England, June 27, 1943. Metzger was awarded the Purple Heart, American and European Theater Medals and was survived by his parents, Mr and Mrs. John Metzger, and sisters Gertrude Metzger and Mrs. Alma Hartfiel.

Anticipating Christmas

There was a time before door-buster sales, Black Friday, Gray Thursday, Christmas in July, 24-hour advertising, piped-in carols, gift catalogs and decorations that appear in the fall. Despite the lack of constant reminders, the days leading up to Christmas in Globeville (and in America before World War II) were filled with hope and anticipation.
For months, women would set aside a little in their food budget to afford the walnuts, honey, raisins, and poppyseed to make potica, kolache, kuchen, blini or the other ethnic treats that reminded immigrants of home. Obtaining oplatek, a wafer impressed with religious scenes and eaten before Wigilia, (the Christmas dinner) required a conversation with the pastor of St. Joseph's Polish Church or a request (well ahead of time) from a relative in Poland. Baking family favorites was a day-long event that involved helpful children and the telling of family stories in the process.
And there were choir practices, play rehearsals and special scripture readings during Advent.  Traditions from Eastern Europe, such as setting an extra table setting for an unexpected visitor or to remember someone who died, were preserved. Hymns, legends and symbols from the Old Country were maintained in church services and lodge events.
Children from large immigrant families didn't expect a lot of toys, and were likely to receive practical things like socks, sweaters, or shoes. Ed Wargin longed for a bike, but got a donkey because the animal could transport building supplies for Ed's father, and June Jackson remembers the delight of receiving the doll her older sister Helen had outgrown. Many old timers fondly recall the sack of hard candy distributed at church, probably donated by grocers Carl Gerhardt or John Yelenick. And a Christmas tree was a genuine treat, maybe purchased at Bomareto's, fresh, fragrant and decorated with strings of popcorn, lights, glass ornaments and tinsel.
Our current preparations for Christmas seem to involve the non-stop activities of shopping, wrapping, eating, attending multiple gatherings, texting and posting. Yet there are many of us who miss the richness and flavor of those earlier times.
Here's wishing you some memories of a simpler time as we await the birth of Jesus.

Potica or Povitica

Kolache

Oplatek

Blini

Frederick F. Dometrovich, Theodore Dorak, Lawrence Goreski

There is a stained glass window above the altar in Holy Rosary Church that was donated in 1920 by the Dometrovich family, immigrants from Croatia. How proud they were to have son Frederick complete school at North High, then graduate from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. At age 34, married, and the father of two children, Dometrovich would have been exempt from the draft, but enlisted in the Army Medical Corps in August, 1942. Dometrovich served as a physician in the South Pacific, including Oro Bay, New Guinea and Gilbert Islands and died as the result of typhus contracted in the line of duty. Survived by his wife, children Margo and Fred, Jr., mother Mrs. Anna Dometrovich, brothers Frank and John, and sister Mrs. Mary Hamilton, Dometrovich received the American Theater Medal, and the Asiatic Pacific Medal and Citation.

Theodore Kenneth Dorak was one of many young men who enlisted in the Navy December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After training at San Diego, California, Dorak was assigned to the Naval Air Force aboard the USS Yorktown. A later assignment took Dorak to the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, where he participated in air raids over Marcus, Wake, Kwajalein, Truk, Saipan, Palau, Hollandia, and the Japanese mainland. Killed in action March, 1945, during a battle off the Japanese coast, Dorak was remembered with a plaque on the east side of St. Michael's Chapel at Riverside Cemetery. Dorak was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Dorak, brothers Edward J. Jr. and Daniel Dorak, and sister Mary Ellen Dorak. Dorak was awarded the Purple Heart, Asiatic Pacific Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and the American Theater, Good Conduct and World War II Victory Medals.

Lawrence Goreski was 27 years old, married to Margaret and had a young daughter, Laura Jean when he enlisted in the Army Air Force January 11, 1942, a month after Pearl Harbor. Goreski entered flight training at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, and received his commission as 2nd Lieutenant at Victorville, California. Assigned to combat flight duties in England October 28, 1942, Goreski was reported Missing in Action December 30, 1942, while participating in a bombing mission of a submarine base in Lorient, France. Besides his wife and children, Goreski was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pete Goreski, and a brother, Paul Goreski. Goreski received the Purple Heart, European Theater, American Theater and World War II Victory Medals.