| I have decided to rewrite this report. I was contacted by a post member to ask about who Lieutenant Bill Paulsen was. Billy was a young man who was born and raised in Spreckels. He was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Paulsen. He joined the army Air Force during World War II while serving in the army he was shot down in the Pacific and killed this happened approximately about 1942. He left his wife Lorraine behind but no children his wife lived with his mother and dad and speckles sprinkles being a small town as it was everybody knew everybody so during that time all the ladies would gather at the post office including my mother and wait for the mail. They would all be so happy for each other if they got a letter from their husband or their other boyfriend. All of a sudden Lorraine stopped getting letters she didn’t get letters for about three weeks in a row so the ladies would just take their letter put it in their pocket and quietly walk out of the post office . Then the dreaded thing happened a cab pulled up in front of Paulsens Home and it was told to all of them that Billy was killed in action in 1943 a group of veterans an Spreckels just and their wives decided to start a VFW and an auxiliary. They found it only fitting that they named after Billy the tenant Billy Paulson Junior. For many years they work together very hard they used to have a float that they built every year and they put it into mini parades throughout California. Every weekend they would gather at a small barn in town and then work on the float and then on Saturday and Sunday. The ladies would make dinner and they would have dinner afterwards they would have macaroni and potato salad barbecue sausages and sometimes just hotdogs it was always a fun time and that was when the fun begin when everyone began to mingle. The auxiliary in the post always worked closely together. It was a family affair. I was a child and I knew when my mom and dad went to the VFW building we went along with them. Or auxiliary for the last 20 years has gone to Billy’s grave on Memorial Day and put a wreath and blue flowers on his mothers grave she was a Goldstar mother and still is. We always did this without the help of our posts. This is why they don’t know who Bill is. I was happy to share the information and now it’s not just a picture of a man on the wall. It’s a picture of a man who lived in Spreckels all of his life and was part of our community. |