The following appeared in the Rock County Herald in 1934:NOTE IN SOCK BRINGS ANSWERRecipient Of Pair Of Red Cross Socks Sends Letter Of Thanks To Luverne GirlFive years ago, when contributions of knitted garments of all kinds were being made to the American Red Cross, Miss Marie Wiegel, of this city, at that time eight years of age, knitted a pair of wool socks and contributed them in the usual way. In the toe of one of the socks, she inserted a little slip of paper bearing the following notation: "Made by Marie Wiegel (8 years old), Luverne, Rock County, Minnesota. Please let me hear who gets these."Last week she received through the mail a letter bearing the post mark of "Villach," and addressed to "Miss Marie Wiegel, Luverne, Rock county, Minnesota, U.S.A., Amerika." The contents of the letter follows: "St. Andrae, 11, 1, 24"Dear Miss Wiegel,"When I arrived on the 6th of April, 1922, at Vladivostok, Siberia, I was presented with your stockings. Thanks. I’ve worn them and they have become old and full of holes. They were darned; but, you know, this method could not help them to die. They have done truly their work, kept my feet warm for two years and a half. Now they are "invallde." I am sorry of it. "I spent about seven years in captivity. I had plenty of time to meditate. Praised be the Lord that I returned to our Heavenly Father. I was converted and began to study the Holy Bible. I didn’t know formerly. I resolved to stay in Russia and become a missionar. Need and hunger compelled me to return home with my wife and baby. For ten days we drove on a little Chinese car through Manchuria. Five days we spent in the railway and two months on a steamer until we reached Italy. "In the autumn of 1922, we entered the Bible School in St. Andrae, where I am preparing myself for service. "If the Lord will grant me I’ll go to Louvre for one year to have a little medical training before returning to Russia."The stockings are worn out, the letter finished and you have become two years older. "Are you attending a Sunday School? May the Lord return to you what you have done to a poor prisoner of war. "Our best compliments to your parents. We remain"Thankfully"Otto and Louise Bauxbaum"Mary"Address:"Otto Bauxbaum"in St. Andrae"near Villach"(Bible School)"Austria."It is apparent from the writer’s letter that he received the socks some 3 years after they were made, and it is hard to imagine how they fell into the hands of an Austrian prisoner of The Russian Government.The letter was written in English. Donations to the Rock County Historical Endowment Fund can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, P.O. Box 741, Luverne, MN 56156.Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.
