Morning Register Des Moines, Iowa
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How; Living in Iowa a Year Has Changed German Boy
Eddie Reindel.
He'd like to see his mother.
By Florence Swihart..
Eddie Reindel's mother and sister in Germany might have some difficulty in recognizing the lad, now 12, who left home a year ago for America.
In the ensuing months, Eddie has grown at least an inch and has gained 10 to 15 pounds, a clear skin, a sparkle in his brown eyes—and an irrepressible giggle. He has learned a good deal of
English, forgotten a good deal
of German, and has acquired a
taste for French fried potatoes,
ham, hot dogs, ice cream,
candy and bubble srum.
He still wrinkles his nose in distaste at the very thought of sauerkraut or cheese of any kind. Adopted.
Eddie arrived in Des Moines shortly before Christmas last year from Oedmiesbach, ^avaria, ac-J 2ompanied by his uncle, Joe A. Reindel, Route 1, West Des Moines.
Joe, a cream dealer, had returned to his native Germany two months earlier to adopt Eddie, son Df Joe's younger brother, Mitchel, 5. German flier killed by the Russians in the battle of Stalingrad in 1943.
It was a shabby and undernourished Eddie who flew from Frankfurt to New York with Joe, and it was a wide-eyed lad who had his first glimpse of American toys—and Santa— in Chicago and Des Moines.
The patched clothing was discarded for a snappy, new outfit and "Mom" Reindel's good cooking at Eddie's new home, on Ash-worth road four miles west of West Des Moines, began to restore color to cheeks mottled by malnutrition.
Red Bicycles.
Then Christmas morning came, 'and with it a shiny red bicycle for Eddie. I
"He didn't know how to ej
pre^Jiis feelings in^
Mrs. Reindel recalled, "but his eyes just glowed."
Eddie enrolled in the first grade at St. Augustin's school last January to learn English. Now he is in the fourth grade.
He blushingly admits that he has not one, but "two girl friends." Spelling Trouble.
In his concentration on English, he has forgotten much of his native tongue and ha*d trouble spelling the words in his Christmas greeting to his mother and sister, Gretl, 10, in Germany.
The greeting card carried a pic- j ture of Eddie, a handsome lad with intent brown eyes.
He speaks with little accent and reads everything from his regular fourth grade reader to newspapers and comic books. Likes Movies.
He likes fishing and movie's,! especially "westerns," and last summer became a Des Moines Bruins baseball fan.
A thrifty lad, Eddie is saving part of his weekly 15-cent allowance to buy a savings bond. He also has part of the $10.80 he earned last fall digging gladioli bulbs for a neighbor.
Some of that sum—his first I earnings in America—he spent on a birthday gift, a cowboy statue for "Mom," his adopted! mother.
Eddie would like an electric I train and roller skates for Christ-! mas—but more than that he'd! like to return to Germany just j long enough to "see my mother" | arifchi^ring Gretl back here."_
