Grandpa's National Honor

Starting in about 1918, a national campaign to eradicate barberry bushes began and went on for many years. This is one of only a couple of Nebraska newspaper articles that I found about it. The article says that school children gladly cooperated with experts in the campaign. My Grandpa Kenneth Menke and four of his siblings were the only ones mentioned in this article from 1933 to receive certificates. At the time Grandpa was 16 years old, the oldest of his siblings listed here and Clarence was the youngest at 7. 

If I understand correctly, all they had to do was locate the bushes and let the state do the eradicating. I had never heard about this or even about "Rust Busters" before finding this article. I wish I knew what happened to Grandpa's certificate. 

Beatrice Daily Sun, June 23, 1933

FIVE CHILDREN IN FAMILY WIN NATIONAL 'RUST BUSTER' HONORS 

Irene, Kenneth, Robert, Larna and Clarence Menke, children of Mr and Mrs Albert Menke of the DeWitt vicinity, have been made life members of the National Rust Busters club. 

Membership in the organization is limited to those school children who have located common barberry bushes in the campaign for the eradication of the pest. The common barberry bush - not the Japanese variety - plays an important part in the life cycle of the spore that causes black stem wheat rust. The cycle cannot be completed without the barberry bush, so the state and federal departments of agriculture have concentrated their attack on the eradication of the plant, which allows the rust spores to spread and cause thousands of dollars loss to wheat growers throughout the country. 

County Superintendent J W Miller reports that the school teachers and children gladly cooperated with state and federal experts in the campaign, as did his own office. 

The Menke children received a handsome certificate for meritorious service in the eradication work, signed by Governor Charles W Bryan.