“Transplants that flourished” (July) was a terrific article [marking the 150th anniversary of the Russian Mennonite immigration to North America]. On a trip to Lincoln, Neb., we stopped at the headquarters of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, which includes a vast number of people other than Mennonites — Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed. I discussed with our guide the point of military service being one reason for Mennonites leaving. That would not apply to Catholics, Lutherans and others, right? But she said other groups didn’t want to be in the military, either: “These were ethnic Germans. Do you think they wanted to be in the Russian military? Of course not.” 

Brian Stucky, Goessel, Kan.

There is a slight correction in the excellent article, “Transplants that flourished.”  The “Fields of Hope” sculpture was initiated by the Moundridge Arts Council. The Swiss Mennonite Cultural and Historical Association contributed to the cost of the concrete base. So the sentence that says the historical association dedicated the sculpture should also give credit to the Moundridge Arts Council.

Wayne Goering, Moundridge, Kan.

Additional corrections to “Transplants that flourished”: 1) Ancestors of American Mennonites who assisted Russian Mennonite immigrants settled in colonial America as early as 1683. The article cited 1707, when a large migration began, but some arrived earlier. 2) Bethesda Hospital at Goessel, Kan., was the first Mennonite hospital in the United States, not just the first west of the Mississippi River. — Editor