The Seagoing Cowboys Story Comes Alive

It was a great privilege to have Peggy Reiff Miller as our special guest on Sunday, August 24. She spoke to us about the Seagoing Cowboys, the 7,000 men and boys who took shiploads of animals to war-torn countries between 1945 and 1947.

This is more than an interesting story for some in this area and in our church. Twenty-nine of those 7,000 men came from Washington State, and fourteen of those came from Okanogan County. So for many folks around here, it's a part of their family history.

That's the case for Ben Hylton, on the left. Here he is with Peggy Reiff Miller and his uncle, Bill Dugan, who was a Seagoing Cowboy in 1947. It was an honor to have Bill Dugan with us as Peggy told his story and gave tribute to the lasting impact of what he and all the Cowboys had done.

On Monday, August 25, Peggy was at the Senior Center in Tonasket to share the story of the Seagoing Cowboys with the wider community. There was a large and enthusiastic turnout.

Peggy helped this chapter of Okanogan County history come alive.

And so did the four surviving Cowboys from Okanogan County who were all able to attend and receive the appreciation of their families, friends, and neighbors. They are, from left to right, Dave Henneman, Bill Pyper, Jick Fancher, and Bill Dugan.

The Seagoing Cowboys

The Seagoing Cowboys

On August 24, during our morning worship beginning at 9:30 AM, we will have the opportunity to learn more about the Seagoing Cowboys. Peggy Reiff Miller, who has researched their voyages since 2002, and is writing a book about them, will be our Guest Speaker.

Peggy Reiff Miller

Peggy will also speak at the Ellisforde church at 11 AM that day, and on Monday, August 25, at the Tonasket Senior Center at 7 PM. 

Peggy describes the Seagoing Cowboys this way:

"They were students and farmers, bankers and preachers,
laborers and teachers.

They were Brethren, Mennonite, Catholic;
Protestant, Amish, unchurched.

Some sought adventure,
some sought to serve people
whose lives had been torn apart by war,
some wanted to see firsthand
what they had only read about or seen on film.

They were the seagoing cowboys:Men and boys who volunteered to tend the livestock
shipped to war-devastated countries after World War II
by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
and the Heifer Project."

The Heifer Project website explains the beginning of the "Cowboys."

By sea, land and air, “Cowboys” played an integral role in the early successes of a burgeoning organization that was then known as Heifer Project. Spurred by founder Dan West’s idea to “send a cow, not a cup,” Heifer Project (currently Heifer International), which at the time was a program of the Church of the Brethren Service Committee (BSC), began accepting donations of heifers from all across the Mid-West as World War II came to an end. When the war ended, Heifer found itself in the precarious position of having a surplus of cattle ready to send to war-torn regions of Europe, but no ships to transport the life-sustaining cargo.

The BSC forged a fortuitous partnership with the recently formed United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which had ships yet lacked manpower for transporting livestock. The BSC agreed to provide the cattle attendants for UNRRA's shipments, and UNRRA agreed to provide free shipping space for the Heifer Project cattle. From 1945 to 1947, thousands of Seagoing Cowboys traveled to countries that had been utterly devastated by the war.  The Cowboys delivered heifers as well as horses, bulls, chickens, rabbits, sheep and goats to countries such as Poland, Italy, Greece and many more. Their efforts helped return the livelihood and dignity to people scarred by the violence and poverty of war.

Of the 7,000 men and boys who volunteered as Seagoing Cowboys, 29 were from Washington State, and 14 of those were from Okanogan County. These are the fourteen:

Mark Bontrager, Ivan Hawkins Jr., Victor Lewis Hawkins, Kenneth A. Lorz, Charles A. Miller, Bruce Picken, Bill Pyper, and John Fancher, all of Tonasket.

William Wix Dugan and John Woodward, both of Loomis.

Earnest Finley and Clayton E, Henneman, both of Oroville.

Gerald L. Vandiver, of Tonasket or Oroville.

Emmet Williams, of Omak.

Both the Whitestone Church of the Brethren and the Ellisforde Church of the Brethren are represented in these names.

For more information go to these links:

The Seagoing Cowboys Blog

The Seagoing Cowboys Website

Heifer Foundation