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Capt. Hugh Wallace Breakenridge

Another farmer from Iowa was Hugh “Wallace” Breakenridge. Born in a tiny town of about six houses called Dinsdale in July 1919, Wallace had three siblings: two older brothers and a “pest” of a little sister named Lois. He attended a consolidated school of all grades, where transportation to and from each day was riding in a horse drawn wagon, one that was swapped out for a sleigh when there was snow on the ground. The school was small, comprised of the children of the surrounding farming communities, and the same seven kids that made up the total of his kindergarten class were the same seven at his high school graduation roughly a decade later.

The natural leader of this bunch, he was remembered to have always had a crew of kids following at his side. One of the seven was a girl named Margaret Kepler, and by the fifth grade the two of them had become an item.

Girlfriend aside, the young Wally grew up like most boys in the Midwestern farms, busy helping on the farm each day before and after school, rain, snow or shine. When not working, he was particularly fond of hunting and shooting, starting out with a bb gun that he once put to use against his little sister when she complained to her parents about having to work the garden, pointing out that he had been overlooked for the tasking. She never reported how true his aim had been in that instance, but she did ensure history knew that his response had been to take a pot-shot at her the second their parents were out of sight.

Moving up into gunpowder arms, his love for firearms and target shooting only grew, and Wallace was soon known to always have a rifle or shotgun always in hand, wherever he went. The boys always were out hunting Lois remembered, often bringing home pheasants for the family to eat, although she also remembered having to frequently spit out the lead bird shot as they all sat around the table to share in the feast. Another favorite of his pastimes was to lay in wait near the corn crib on their farm, sniping at rats as they quickly scurried to and fro underneath its various hiding places.

Despite his barnyard and field upbringing, Wallace also was a very serious student, one that loved to read. He could readily recite portions of Kipling, Hemmingway or Shakespeare, although sometimes his educational depth could result in an answer to a question that proved much longer than necessary, or desired. Known outside his family as “Breck,” he graduated from Dinsdale High School in 1937, then attended Iowa State College, studying animal husbandry.

A fan of horses and an accomplished rider, he spent his summers while in college at the Bonner Heritage Ranch in Fairfield Texas, breaking “cow ponies” and learning some of the trade. He brought several back home to Iowa with him one summer, including a pony for his sister. They remembered those horses that were so good, “they could cut a steer right out of a herd and get it in the right place as easy as pie.”

After graduation in the summer of 1941, Breakenridge put his degree to immediate use, taking up a job as an Assistant Cattle Buyer for the Iowa Packing Company in Des Moines. While not quite horses and ranching, it was a stable and promising career in the industry, and one that allowed him to stay fairly close to home. This was exactly what he wanted, because all through high school and college he was still with his childhood sweetheart, now a five-foot-two brunette that was absolutely head over heels for him. The two had plans to get married as soon as he was able to get established, perhaps just after Christmas, 1941.