As World War 2 took hold in Europe, Guila and her mother settled in Nazi-controlled Paris. The young star continued to perform throughout Axis territories during the war. She claimed later in life to have performed a concert at which Adolf Hitler himself was present.

Newton, located in the southern half of Manitowoc County, was named after Sergeant John Newton, a revolutionary war hero who rescued ten American prisoners who were to be hanged by the British. In May 1780, Newton was taken prisoner after the surrender of Charleston and died soon afterwards of smallpox on board a British prison ship.  The story was popularized by Mason Locke Weems, better known as Parson Weems (an American book agent and author who wrote the first biography of George Washington immediately after his death) in his school books in the early 19th century.