In and Around the Museum
As we continue to observe the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I, we are also sharing with you a few stories about Texas Wends who were called to serve in the “Great War.” Previously, you read about Herman Hobratsch (Hermann Hobratschk) and his war experience. Following are brief stories about two brothers, sons of Georg Wukasch and his second wife, Johanna Marie (nee Pilack). Both brothers served in the U.S. Army during World War I but their experiences were vastly different. Gratitude is extended to Kenneth Wukasch, who compiled the information on Joe Wukasch.
Joe Wukasch in 1918
Joseph Alfred Oscar (Joe) Wukasch was born at Serbin on March 7, 1892, the 6th child of Georg and Marie Wukasch. Two more children were added to the family by the end of 1899, but the following year, on November 23, 1900, Georg died of pneumonia. He left behind his widow Marie and seven children still at home, the youngest being only one year of age. Joe grew up at Serbin, where the family were members of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and where Joe was confirmed on April 8, 1906. For the next four years he remained at home helping his mother tend the farm where they lived. In 1910, Joe, with encouragement from his older step-brother Charlie, moved to Austin and found work delivering groceries for a local business. He saved his earnings and in 1912 he leased space from his brother Charlie and opened the University Grocery Store on Guadalupe Street, where he continued to operate his grocery business until he was called into the service.
Joe was inducted into the U.S. Army as a Private on April 25, 1918 and reported to Camp Travis the next month, assigned to Company I, 360th Infantry, 90th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. Following several weeks of basic training, Joe arrived in France with his unit on June 23, where the soldiers immediately began 6 weeks of intensive trench warfare training at Aignay-le-Duc. On August 24, Joe and his company aided the French army in an attack to reduce the St. Mihiel Salient from the Germans. In October, Joe’s division joined with the 5th Division in a supporting role in the last great battle of the war, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Although the original mission was only supportive, the 90th found itself involved in fierce combat against the Germans in late October, serving as replacements for the large numbers of American soldiers wounded or killed. Fortunately for Joe, his top sergeant asked him if he knew how to cook after one of the regular cooks was killed, to which Joe replied “Yah, I know something about food!” Joe was immediately assigned to be the company cook for the duration of the war.
Following Armistice Day, the 90th Division remained in Germany to serve in the army of occupation, with Joe being stationed in Zeltingen, Germany. Joe returned to the U.S. on June 7, 1919 and finally returned home to Austin on June 15. He resumed his grocery business and picked up where he’d left off with courting his fiancée, Alma Kissmann. Joe and Alma were married on December 28, 1919. They raised two sons, Eugene and Earl, and operated a successful neighborhood grocery business. Joe died suddenly of a heart attack, at the age of 60, on June 12, 1952. His wife, Alma, lived another 22 years, passing away on April 23, 1974.
Johann Hermann August (August Herman) Wukasch was born at Serbin on December 31, 1894, the 7th child born to Georg and Marie Wukasch. August, who was not quite 6 years old at the time of his father’s death, grew up at Serbin and attended St. Peter’s Lutheran School until, at the age of 12, his mother sent him to live with his uncle August Pilak at Paige, about 10 miles northwest of Serbin. There he attended confirmation instruction at Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Manheim for 2 years, where he was confirmed on April 4, 1909. Following his confirmation, he moved to Austin with his mother and youngest brother Otto to join the rest of the family that had already settled in Austin. August soon found employment as a servant and delivery boy for the George Siglhofer Bakery, then on Congress Avenue. Over the next few years, August worked as a driver delivering goods for his cousin Henry Wukasch’s grocery business and for J.F. Raatz Meat Market, and as a clerk for William A. Achilles & Company, one of Austin’s oldest grocery and dry goods businesses.
August Wukasch at Camp Eagle Pass, Texas
By 1918, August, along with younger brother Otto, had saved sufficient earnings to enable them to open Wukasch Brothers Café, sharing space with older brother Joe’s grocery business. August was not yet 24 years old when he was called to serve in the U.S. Army. Leaving the café business in the care of his brother Otto, August was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private on May 28, 1918. He served with Headquarters Company, 3rd Infantry, which was posted at Camp Eagle Pass in Texas. During his time in the Army, his regiment was assigned to patrolling the Mexican Border to guard against hostile insurgents and to deter a possible invasion by Mexico, but did not see action. August was honorably discharged on January 10, 1919. His final pay, including travel pay from Eagle Pass to Austin, was $18.57.
Upon returning to Austin, August resumed his position as partner in Wukasch Brothers Café, and also resumed his courtship of his sweetheart, Esther Teinert. In February 1919, he contracted with the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Land Company to purchase three lots in a new Austin residential development called Hyde Park. On these lots, a 2-bedroom and 1-bath home was built, and is where August and Esther set up housekeeping following their marriage on February 8, 1920. They raised three daughters – Frances, Irene and Doris – and operated a successful café that was a fixture in the University of Texas area, feeding thousands of Austinites and UT students over the years. Following Otto’s sudden death in 1956, August continued to operate the café for several more years, finally closing the café around 1960. August died on October 9, 1972. Esther lived another 11 years, passing away on March 24, 1984.
In later years, when asked about his time in the service, August would express the opinion that in contrast to his brother Joe’s experience and compared to the dangers that so many other soldiers faced and the number of lives that were lost during the war, he “didn’t do very much to help in the war effort. All we did was patrol the border.”