Refugees affected guardsman
Veteran recalls Cubans coming to Fort McCoy
As Gov. Scott Walker traveled to Cuba this week to visit Wisconsin National Guard troops stationed at Guantanamo Bay, a former state guardsman vividly remembered when thousands of Cuban refugees came to Wisconsin.
Larry Kraut was a combat medic in the 2nd Battalion, 128th Infantry when his unit traveled to Fort McCoy for annual training in the summer of 1980. An Army unit from Texas had been working 12-hour days to help process the flood of people at the refugee center hastily set up at the sprawling military installation near Tomah.
One weekend Kraut volunteered to work in the base’s medical facility to give Texas soldiers a rest. As he treated a variety of injuries and illnesses, Kraut had a chance to talk to some of the Cubans. He vividly remembers a man in his 70s who had been a college professor before the Cuban revolution brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959.
“He had been schooled here in the United States and also down there, but because of his political leanings and intellect, he was considered an undesirable. For years this man had been working in the sugar cane fields, jailed and was persecuted,” recalled Kraut. “This was his chance to get to America. He was so thankful, he couldn’t say enough about coming to this country.”
Kraut still wonders what happened to the man. “It was fascinating to hear his side of it.”
Now 61 and retired from the City of Waukesha Fire Department, Kraut remembered seeing quite a few people with mental issues and drug addictions as well as people who had been released from Cuba’s jails.
The migration of an estimated 125,000 Cubans began in April 1980 when the Cuban government announced that anyone who wanted to leave the island country could do so. The stunning announcement was precipitated by thousands of people seeking asylum at the Peruvian embassy in Havana. While President Jimmy Carter was initially welcoming to the immigrants, the flood of refugees proved to be a problem when American officials realized Castro had cleared out Cuban jails and mental institutions.
As thousands of people fled to America from Cuba, leaving from the harbor in Mariel, officials in Florida struggled to process so many people. The federal government opened resettlement centers across the United States, and Fort McCoy, with plenty of old barracks left over from World War II, was among those chosen. The base is named after Robert Bruce McCoy, who fought in the Spanish-American War, which was partially fought in Cuba. During the six months that the Fort McCoy resettlement center was open, 14,000 Cubans passed through Wisconsin.
The first night Kraut volunteered to work at Fort McCoy’s medical facility, several men showed up suffering from acute poisoning after siphoning antifreeze from military vehicles and drinking the toxic liquid. Kraut said two people died and others were sent to a hospital in Madison after they were given IVs and administered activated charcoal, a common treatment for poisonings and overdoses.
“I saw some positives of getting these guys out of Cuba because of Castro and what he was doing to his people. My eyes were opened a little bit when I was at Fort McCoy and saw that some of the people who had come over — Castro was able to get them out of his country so he didn’t have to worry about them,” said Kraut. “I felt empathy for them. I hoped this country could help them.”
Kraut was surprised Castro managed to hang onto power for as long as he did before handing over control to his younger brother Raul several years ago. Fidel Castro died last month at the age of 90.
Though there are other places on Kraut’s bucket list he’d like to visit first, he hopes to travel to Cuba someday.
“I would like to walk around and see the sights and see what it looks like,” he said.