Pictured: Ed Lubben served in the United States Army for 19 months in Okinawa during the Korean Conflict.

By Jill Fennema –

Edwin Lubben was drafted into the US Army in 1953. Ed was one of five children – the only son – of Tom and Alice Lubben. He received his draft notice about six weeks prior to being inducted on Jan. 22, 1953. He was 21 years old.

He had just met Evy Post. She was a high school girl – eight of the ten children of Jim and Jennie Post from Chandler. One time at a square skip he had danced with her, but she was with another boy that night. He took her out to the Edgerton Dutch Festival on their first date. They spent a lot of time together before he was sent to basic training.

“She was everything to me,” Ed said. “She wrote to me almost every single day.” Ten years ago, the couple burned the love letters together. Now Ed really regrets that, because Evy passed away a year ago this November.

Ed Lubben and Evelyn Post, seated on the couch at Ed’s parents house. Ed was preparing to be drafted into the United States Army and he and Evy had just started dating.

Edwin Lubben learned to work on trucks when he was stationed in Okinawa.

After his induction at Ft. Sheridan, Illinois, Ed was transferred to California, where he did 16 weeks of training at Camp Roberts. “I was lonesome and homesick,” Ed recalls. His parents came to visit him once. But he really missed Evy.

He had some interesting work to keep him busy. Out of 4,000 troops, Ed was one of 40 men who were chosen to learn to write code letters. They had to go to Alameda Naval Station in San Francisco for that training. They learned to memorize a long verse each month. Using the code they learned from the long verse, they would write a code letter to someone. It would take an entire letter to convey the message “I need food.”

He spent five weeks doing that work. They finished the class five days early and the 40 soldiers decided to sneak home for a few days! Ed spent two days in the airport waiting to fly home and then was able to spend 3 days with Evy and his family.

They didn’t get in much trouble for sneaking home – the army knew they were going to Korea, so they were not disciplined.

While in California, Ed became friends with Clarence Steffl. The two would serve together after they got to Okinawa. After his three wonderful days at home, they had a couple more weeks in California before they shipped out for Okinawa, an island that the United States had won in World War II.

It took 30 days to get across the ocean and everyone was sick. Ed always managed to be in a top bunk and never drew “KP” duty to clean up any vomit. He was thankful for that. The conflict in Korea essentially ended the day before he arrived in Okinawa, but the troops still had to be there in case trouble would start up again.

Ed Lubben in Okinawa

Ed recalls that the mosquitos were terrible. They would sleep under nets that hung over their beds. He became ill with malaria and had to spend time in the hospital. The food was sustenance, but he didn’t really care about food. He really just thought about home a lot.

Ed spent a total of 19 months in Okinawa. “They seemed longer than the 66 years that Evy and I were married,” he said.

“But the Lord was with me every day,” he said. He kept himself busy with work and wrote letters home to Evy to tell her about his life there as often as he could. He would also call her when he could. He made $120 a month while he was stationed in Okinawa and a five-minute phone call to Evy would cost him $20. So he couldn’t call as often as he would have liked.

Ed finished his tour of duty in late 1954. He returned to California via ship and wanted to be home by Christmas.

Ed was discharged at Camp Carson, Colo. This happened to be where Stan Vander Maaten was stationed. It was Christmas Eve and all the planes, trains, and buses were full. Ed and some other army buddies from this area found Stan and he helped them get a car to take them home to Sioux Falls.

Just over two months after he arrived home, Ed married Evy Post. They were married March 1, 1955, at the Christian Reformed Church in Chandler with the Rev. Brink officiating. They farmed by Lismore and then southwest of Leota for a few years.

They eventually made their home southwest of Leota on the farm that Ed’s dad had purchased in 1945. They had dairy cows and pigs and grew corn, beans, and alfalfa. Ed’s grandson, Chad, and his wife Morgan are now raising their family on this farm.

They also raised four sons on the farm – Randy, Keith, Cal, and Vince. Evy stayed home with the boys and helped on the farm. “She always did everything,” Ed recalls. She was a busy, hard-working woman. She kept the boys out of trouble and cooked wonderful meals to feed her family. They were all especially fond of her homemade bread.

Ed recalls that he and Evy spent a lot of time together. They didn’t take trips without one another. In their later years, they would go to Texas for one month in the winter. They did that for 14 years. But they never stayed longer than a month because Evy liked to be home and they wanted to be around their grandchildren.

Evy had several health issues in her later years and Ed always wished he could take some of her pain and suffering. She went to her heavenly home on November 27, 2020. Memories of Evy keep him going, but he can’t wait to “Stroll over Heaven” with the love of his life.

And while Ed still grieves his loss of her, he keeps busy helping on the farm by running errands for sons Cal and Randy and his grandsons Chad and Cody. He enjoys being involved in agriculture. He can be seen riding out in the countryside checking the crops. He keeps up on the latest projects that Chad and Cody are working on. He even helped with harvest this fall. One of his favorite things to do is watching his great grandchildren for a couple of hours or so while Morgan does chores. He also stops in for a while whenever Char has all four of the little ones.