Dear readers, this is continuing the articles printed in The Quill last month about my brother, Elmer Probst Jr., and the Shield Bible that he carried with him to India during World War II. Provided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Department of Defense, the copper-plated cover on the pocket-sized New Testament was designed to deflect a bullet, and service members were encouraged to take instruction and comfort from its contents.
Elmer Jr. did return home safely after serving a year in the dangerous Himalayan region, known as "The Hump," flying rescue missions into China to transport the wounded for medical treatment in the Philippines. He was in that region when atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, leading to the end of the war. His B-24 crew then helped transport officials to areas of conflict in China for settling the terms of agreement. Back home, he completed his college degree and pursued a successful teaching career. His only daughter, Marilyn, similarly pursued a career in education as a junior high counselor.
Fast forward to 1993, when Marilyn’s daughter, Aime Jo Beeks, completed her college degree and decided to join the Army. Her degree was in social sciences, but the Army decided to give her training in psychiatry, which served as her Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) throughout her terms of service. Her grandfather passed along the Shield Bible, and Aime kept it with her when she was deployed to duty stations in Bosnia and Kosovo; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Frankfurt, Germany; a Combat Support Hospital (CASH) unit in Hungary; and again in Frankfurt.
Through it all, Aime was kept safe, and in July 1999, as Sgt. Aime Jo Beeks, she finished her six years of service at Fort Leonard Wood. She had served as a mental health specialist and NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge) of the Community Army Health Center. Upon discharge, she retained reserve status and, as a civilian, she held a position of responsibility at an industry warehouse.
Popular with her coworkers, Aime enjoyed her work, but in March 2003, with the advent of the second Iraq War, the U.S. Army again came calling. Aime was to serve a year at the base hospital at Fort Lewis, Washington, as NCOIC and therapist, reporting to the supervising psychiatrist, M.D.
A cousin of Aime’s, Doug Adair, with the Utah National Guard, just happened to have also been activated and received orders to Iraq. He and the unit under his command were shipping out from Fort Lewis, and there was a pre-deployment period of some weeks when both Doug and Aime were at the fort. Aime thoughtfully presented Doug with the little Bible she had carried throughout her rigorous years in the military, and Doug accepted it with a promise to keep it close to his heart.
It was my pleasure, along with my niece Cathy Schubert, to visit them at Fort Lewis. On a day they were both free, my son took us all on a sightseeing tour in a rental Cadillac, complete with a stop where Lewis and Clark had camped at the mouth of the Columbia River and a ritzy dinner overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Next week, we will explore Doug’s military career.
Maggie Adair is a native of Handy near the Oregon-Ripley County line, about eight miles east of Wilderness. Eighth in the family of Elmer and Catherine Probst, she left at 17 for college in Kansas City where she married, raised a family and pursued a varied career. Always maintaining her roots in Handy, she is now retired and manages to reside in both places.
