By Brenda Rodgers
For the Star

Since 1976 the boots have been hanging upside down and unused on the peg board in the garage of our Eagle River home. We Alaskans all know that spring means time to begin the annual spousal war over what stays and what goes from the garage.

I eyed those boots and tried to remember when was the last time they adorned my feet. All I could recall was treading river banks of the past in Korea, New Jersey, Missouri, North Carolina, Georgia, Canada and Nebraska, where they were purchased used at an old Army Navy store in 1970.

However, they reminded me of my childhood in the 1940s when I did something uncommon for a girl of that decade. I fished with my dad. My feet were enclosed in ankle high canvas tennies while my dad wore WWII jungle boots coming up to almost his knees.

I never could keep up with his walking pace as rocks and gravel from the riverbank spilled over into my shoes. With strained patience he would wait as I ridded my footwear of its collection. Determined, I kept trooping along behind stopping at the fishing holes he suggested. Eventually I, as a girl, caught my first bass and was hooked on fishing for life thanks to a dad that taught me how to fish.

I’m not sure where Dad got his boots. He was not really in World War II. I seem to recall he was 4-F for “flat feet.” That means he was found not acceptable for military service with the U.S. Armed Forces. Nonetheless, that did not stop my dad from volunteering to serve in the reserves as an on call dentist.

I suspect he got his boots, as I did, from a used military store. Now my dilemma loomed. What was I to do with my boots? They had already gone fishing with Dad on many occasions and he was no longer alive to host his girl on another fishing trip. If the boots were to be evicted from the garage, they had to have a proper final destination.

The words “Alaska Veterans Museum” loomed into my mind. A quick e-mail to their president, Suellyn Novak, and not only were the boots welcomed sight unseen, but with no hesitation at all. I scrubbed them up inside and out from toe to heel making them ready for transplant to a home of honor.

Still I wondered if the boots were authentic or just my childhood recollection of fact. With a little help from Google I learned that such a boot did exist. Their authenticity was verified when I found stamped into each boot “Contract No. W-155 QM 13697 Aug 8, 1942 US Rubber Company.”

I don’t know if the boots ever saw a jungle in WWII, but do know they are a reminder of other boots that trooped or troop across the ocean to keep us free and of my dad who taught me that no matter my gender, I was equal.

For more information on the Alaska Veterans Museum, contact Colonel Suellyn Novak at 696-4909.

Brenda Rodgers has lived in Eagle River since 1977. She arrived in Alaska in 1976 as the spouse of military serviceman stationed at Fort Richardson. She has served in various municipal, state and federal positions, including the Peace Corps in Brazil, the U.S. Agency for Development in Vietnam, the U.S. Army in Korea and the United Nations. Over the years she has periodically written pieces for the Alaska Star.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, May 7, 2009.