Herald and News 3/13/22

Eighty-five veterans of the last war, some still wearing a jacket, shirt or a pair of trousers issued to them while in the service, stepped to the platform in the Bureau of Reclamation hall this morning, laid a finger on a big map and as winners in the big Tulelake homestead drawing, became land owners.

All 86 of the winners were present in the jam-packed room but one, Leland L. Cheyne, who waived his right to a homestead in order that he might be eligible in the next government land lottery. He was No. 85.

As the men—and the one woman, Eleanor J. Bolesta—stepped from the crowd and selected their future home, there was applause and in some cases groans and rippling murmurs. To a layman, who looking only on the map and was unaware of the possibilities that lay in each individual unit, it was slightly confusing. Did the crowd response mean the winner had “picked a dud” or had he chose a mighty fine piece of land that at least 25 other veterans had their hearts set on.

Probably the greatest applause was accorded to Mrs. Bolesta, an ex-Wave, who was No. 51 on the list. She did not get the piece she would have selected first, but she got her sixth choice which is in the same neighborhood.

“We’re happy,” she said. Her young husband, a marine who saw service in Bougainville and Guam, was at her side. He used a cane for a leg wound received on Guam.

First up was Robert L. Smith, 34-year-old U.S. Army Air Corps mechanic who comes from Banks, Oregon. He has spent most of his life on a farm.

The No. 1 homesteader, who saw service in the India-Burma China Defense and Central Burma campaigns isn’t the only bachelor homesteader and has been besieged by letters from the Lonely Hearts Club and a couple of other matrimonial agencies.

The Herald and News, March 13, 1947