This month marks 71 years since Ann (Museta) Reff joined the United States Air Force, and even though it’s been more than seven decades, memories of the time are still clear in her mind.
Settled comfortably in her room at Paper Makers Place just off Highway 71, Reff traced her finger along and hand-drawn route of places the air force took her and flipped through pictures while recalling her beloved past.
“Look how young I was?” Reff, now 92, said while holding a photo of herself at 24 years old. “Can you believe this was me? Look at my hair.”
Reff’s pride of her involvement in the service is clear and she laughs about the friendships she made and the lovers who got away.
“I went with a fellow from Winona and I had my eye on him,” Reff said. “He didn’t want to get married, but after the war, I took an overnight train to see him. I stayed overnight at the train station and in the morning, he never showed up to pick me up. Why the dirty rat. But, we still correspond.”
Pride begins
The decision to enlist with the air force was an easy one, Reff said.
“I was one of 14 children, and I figured one of us better be in the service,” Reff said. “So I pointed to me.”
She was working as a welder in a Portland ship yard at the time and traveled to Iowa to officially enlist.
“They gave me a pint-sized jar to fill with urine and I filled the whole thing,” she said with a laugh. “Now I wouldn’t be able to give them a couple drops.”
For six weeks, Reff remained in Iowa for training before relocating to Mobile, Ala.
“I was there for six months,” she said. “Coming from the north, I couldn’t take the heat. I ended up in the hospital crying. Crying of all things. Just because I couldn’t stand the heat.”
The stint in the hospital ended Reff’s misery with the heat, and the night she was released, Reff headed toward Cincinnati, Ohio, to join an outfit called, “Shot from the Sky.”
“My next two years were spent with Shot from the Sky,” she said. “What a great two years.”
‘Best days’
Shot from the Sky was a convoy of about 100 people who traveled the U.S. selling war bonds and recruiting war workers.
“Basically, we did whatever we could do concerning getting the country back in order,” Reff said. “And to show people what the war was like.”
The unit had a stage that traveled with them to showcase what the war was like and provided visuals of German and Japanese plans to educate people about the war.
“People saw things on their TVs, but never what it was really like” Reff said. “So we taught them. We were like a family.”
Traveling all over the country, Reff said she spent a lot time on the bus, but it was worth it.
“Those two years were the best of my life,” she said. “Absolutely loved it.”
Lifetime of memories
Reff never left the United States during her time in the Air Force, although she did sign up to travel to New Guinea at one point.
“I didn’t have ties with anyone so I thought, ‘why not’,” Reff said.
But then, she admitted she was glad it didn’t work out.
“I heard there were Japanese on that island,” she said. “Then I didn’t want to go there. I didn’t want to get captured by the Japanese.”
She spent several months on the West Coast before heading home to International Falls and returning to normalcy.
Shortly after returning home, Reff was working at Ace Hardware on Third Street, and developed a sweet spot for her supervisor, Bill.
“I was 25 years old,” Reff said. “I figured I better get married. So I married Bill. Best decision I made. We were married for 47 years before he passed away from cancer.”
Sharing her memories
When a local fifth-grade classroom was in need of a veteran to visit their classroom in November, Reff jumped at the chance. She said she loves the opportunity to share her past and the love of her country with anyone, especially the youth of the community.
“I told students some of them will be in the service and where they wear their uniforms, be proud,” she said. “All the kids gathered around my table. That made me proud. I was happy to show them my life hasn’t been dull.”
