Dan Jr Rasmussen

Come Along and See: What Some Young Men Did in '48, '49, '50, '51, '52 Dan Jr Rasmussen

I was born in Grand Island, Nebreska on the 16th of December, 1929, to parents of Danish descent. Both of my Danish grandparents, had emigrated to the United States around 1885.

I was the 5th born of six kids. Four girl first and then my brother and I. I was born the year the stock market crashed and the 10 year depression set in. So, it was a tough 10 years as my dad was a house painter, no work in the winter time.

On graduation from H. S., in 1946, I went to work as a helper, putting up big green bill boards, at 35 cents an hour. Three of my sisters had migrated to California. The Husband of Maxine, worked on the trucks of the biggest outdoor advertizing company in Souther California, Foster and Kleiser. They needed a bill poster, so he threw my name out to their management. "Bring him out", was the call. In 4 days, I went from 35 cents an hour to $1.25 an hour. A union job.

The next 3 1/2 years were pretty dam exciting. The ocean, Hollywood, and everything in between was way beyond Central Nebraska.

Then it happened. They drafted me and sent me to korea. I was 21 years old.

Thank God, for the GI Bill. I went to the Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for two years and was hired by the General Electric to work at their Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland, Washington. This is the plant that made Platonium for our Nuclear Bombs. A 37 year career at the plant was rewarding and I am still here in Richland. My wife died 2 years ago. We had 2 kids.

I wrote a book in 2001 that was "divided" between the years above, and the Korean War. It is still being re-sold on Amazon, 12 years later. A lot of people liked it. It was titled, "Come Along and See".