PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens fully vaccinated for Covid 19 (July 2021): 50% (www.usafacts.com)
Clearfield Creek, near Kylertown, PA.
In 1928, Hugo August Carl, an immigrant from Tettnang, Germany, went to the Pennsylvania mountains to die.
His young wife Liesl had just succumbed to tuberculosis in Pittsburg. He had it too, and he figured his time was short.
Left: Hugo Carl, age 21
Below: The first ship Hugo sailed out on, at age 14. He said the ship’s motto was “More beatings than bread,” and jumped ship within a year, landing on a slightly better ship.
Hugo was 30 years old and had already lived several lives. At 14 he sailed out of Tettnang on a merchant ship. He soon jumped ship and traveled around the world, ending up in Brazil, where he joined a zoological expedition headed by his uncle, a duke. Hugo was one of two survivors of the expedition.
Six years later, he landed back in Germany, just as Europe was gearing up for WWI. He was advised to sign onto a neutral (but opportunistic) Portuguese raiding ship rather than waiting around to be enlisted. So began he brief stint in piracy.
Soon, however, the Germans reeled him back in, and he was assigned to the crew of U-boat U-21 under Kapitaleutnant Otto Hersing. the U-21 became famous for sinking more than 40 Allied ships, including becoming the first submarine to sink a battleship with a torpedo. U-21 was then sent to the Meditteranean and was a major player in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915,* for which the crew was awarded both the Iron Cross 1st Class (German) and the Gallipoli Star (Ottoman Empire) *
After the war, Hugo returned to Tettnang, and in 1922 married Liesl Sprenger in Tettnang; soon after, they sailed for America.
To return to the Pennsylvania mountains: A year after he arrived, Hugo looked around and, as he hadn’t died yet, figured he’d better find something to do with his life. His formal education was of course minimal, but he read constantly. He was accepted into a small Catholic school (likely St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.), earned a BS in chemistry. Hugo claimed to have then earned a PhD in chemical engineering at Penn State, though my father disputed this due to timeline inconsistencies.
Hugo was an entrancing teller of stories — many true, some tall tales (or, as my grandmother called them, lies). We continue to do research to fill in the gaps, but many of those records are out of circulation. The most valuable records are the stunning photos he took of his travels, and of the war and its aftermath in Germany.
At any rate, he left Pennsylvania within seven years and ended up in California in the early 1930s, where he was known as Doc Carl.
Irmgard Maria Matilde Martin, a young nurse from Frieburg, met Hugo at a German expat club in California, where he was delivering a lecture on physics. Although Irmgard eschewed such clubs (“If I wanted to talk to Germans, I’d’ve stayed in Germany!”), she was considering a graduate degree in atomic physics. So while Hugo was in the wrong field, he was handsome, smart, and charming; three weeks later, she was on a ship back to Germany to put together her trousseau.
Whew. And that’s just the slightly Pennsylvania-related piece of the story of my grandparents, Hugo and Irmgard Carl. More to come!
* This was the HMS Pathfinder, on Sept. 5, 1914.
** “U-21 arrived in her operational area off Gallipoli on 25 May [1915]; that day, she encountered the British pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Triumph. Hersing brought his U-boat to within 300 yards (270 m) of his target and fired a single torpedo, which hit Triumph. U-21 then dived under the sinking battleship to escape the destroyers hunting her.[18] Hersing took his boat to the sea floor to wait for the Allied forces to abandon the chase. After twenty-eight hours on the bottom, U-21 surfaced to recharge her batteries and bring in fresh air. On 27 May, Hersing attacked and sank his second battleship, HMS Majestic. This time, the British had attempted to protect her with torpedo nets and several small ships, but Hersing was able to aim a torpedo through the defences. Majestic sank in four minutes.[19] These two successes brought significant dividends: all Allied capital ships were withdrawn to protected anchorages and were thus unable to bombard Ottoman positions on the peninsula.[20] For these two successes, the crew of U-21 was awarded the Iron Cross by Kaiser Wilhelm II, while Hersing himself received the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest award for valour.[21] [Wikipedia]
Farm stand, central Pennsylvania: Pies, fudge, flowers … you get the picture
Kylertown
Population (2018): 272 Poverty rate: 24% White inhabitants, including Hispanic: 100% www.pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com
BREAKFAST REVELATIONS
INT. breakfast room, Mountainview Farms B&B, Kylerstown, PA — DAY
Host enters quickly, wearing surgical mask.
ME
(startled)
Oh! Should I … I have my mask …
SHE
Oh no
ME
I’m fully vaccinated so …
SHE
I’m not.
ME
Oh. Is it hard out here to get the shots?
SHE
On no — I’ve got an autoimmune disease. They say the vaccine revs up your autoimmune system and I don’t need mine revved up any more than it already is.
Welcome to the girliest room of ever all, 19th-century style
Feel free to wear the clothes as well
ROADHOUSE CHAT
INT., The Roadhouse, a truckstop in Kylerstown, PA — NIGHT.
I am one of two customers. The waitress is a tall young woman dressed in black. She looks like her shift should have ended hours ago.
A sign on the door reads, “No Mask, No Service.” I am the only one wearing a mask.
Me:
So y’all aren’t worried about wearing masks?
She:
No. We don’t care. The more rural — is that the word? — or the more country people are, the less they’re gonna wear a mask. We’re just over it.
Me:
Oh. Well I’m fully vaccinated so I’m fine not wearing a mask.
She:
How was it?
Me:
Oh, fine — I didn’t have any bad effects.
(Beat.)
So is it hard to get the vaccine here?
She:
What do you mean?
Me:
Do they have enough available around here?
She:
Oh yeah, it’s all over the place.
(Beat.)
It’s like a friend of mine said: They can’t find a cure for cancer, but they’ve got a vaccine — that fast?
Me:
Well it’s not really like cancer — this is more like a flu shot.
(Beat)
So are you going to get vaccinated, or …
She:
NO! I don’t even get flu shots.
Me:
Well — Each to her own!
She:
Yep. Have a nice night.
Me:
You too.
This signage was common in Kylerstown.
Plainfield
When white people first arrived (the Dutch, in the 1740s), they noted that the area had very few trees. Thus the name. Surely they can come up with a better origin story than that?
Not the best shot, but his or her expression just kills me.
Plainfield Creek (I think)
Across the road, there are abandonment issues.
