Salute to Salute the veterans history project a collection of stories from local vets
november 2016
Honoring
all who serve and who have served both home and away for our freedom
Transporting Future Veterans
Alan C. Kerrick Managing Partner
Douglas K. Reinke
Managing Partner Emeritus
ValdenG.Christensen Funeral Director
Lisa C. Kerrick
Administrative Assistant
It is our honor to help!
We are proud to support the ongoing efforts by providing you the opportunity to register those you wish to honor at the National World War II Memorial, right here at Dakan Funeral Chapel. Let us celebrate and honor the veterans who bravely fought to defend freedom, and those on the home front who contributed to the war effort.
Parma Caldwell 5th & Bates 504 South Kimball Ave. Parma, ID 83660 Caldwell, ID 83605
459-3629
www.dakanfuneralchapel.com 1538403
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H honoring H
VeTerans daY Proudly serving your transportation needs - always putting safety first
(208) 466-4181 or (208) 455-2532 www.BrownBusCompany.com 2
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Thank You for our freedom 2510 Nampa/Caldwell Blvd., Nampa
(208) 468-0775 www.CanyonHondaIdaho.com
November 11, 2016
Salute veterans history project
A special section produced by the Idaho Press-Tribune, 1618 N. Midland Blvd. Nampa, ID. ©2016 COORDINATED BY Editor Scott McIntosh and Assistant Editor Christina Lords DESIGNED BY Katy Jacobs PHOTOGRAPHED BY Chris Bronsen and Doug Lindley/Idaho State Journal
IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE
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208.467-9251
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Inside contents: warhawk museum............................................ Page 4 Warhawk Room DOnation................................. Page 6 Oliver................................................................ Page 8 Mccarthy........................................................ Page 10 Sorensen........................................................ Page 12 The Cardonas................................................. Page 14 Corn................................................................ Page 16 Lambson.......................................................... Page 18 Hansen............................................................ Page 20 Bartosz........................................................... Page 22 Saveskie....................................................... Page 24 Murphy......................................................... Page 26
NEWROOM@IDAHOPRESS.COM
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1618 N. MIDLAND BLVD., NAMPA, IDAHO
WHO CAN PARTICiPATE in the project The project collects first-hand accounts of U.S. veterans from the following wars:
World War II, 1914-1918 World War II, 1939-1945 Cold War Korean War, 1950-1953 Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Grenada, American Invasion, 1983 Panama, American Invasion, 1989 Operation Restore Hope, 1992-1993 Persian Gulf War, 1991
United Nations Operation in Somalia Haiti, American intervention, 1994-1995 Operation Allied Force, 1999 Peacekeeping forces, Bosnia and Herzegovina Operation Joint Guardian, 1999War on Terrorism, 2001-2009 Afghan War, 2001Iraq War, 2003-2011
In addition, U.S. citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts (such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, etc.) are also invited to share their stories through the project.
Learn MOre To learn more about the Veterans History Project and how to participate, go to: The Veterans History Project website www.loc.gov/vets The Warhawk Air Museum www.warhawkairmuseum.org 465-6446
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Warhawk aims to collect veterans’ stories
More than 900 people have been interviewed for Veterans History Project at museum
CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
AbouT the warhawk air museum
By CHRISTINA LORDS clords@idahopress.com
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or Sue Paul, Nampa’s Warhawk Air Museum isn’t a collection of items, it’s a collection of the county’s stories of sacrifice. Those stories deserve to be heard for future generations to come, said Paul, who serves as the museum’s executive director. The U.S. Congress created the Veterans History Project in 2000. The authorizing legislation received unanimous support and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 2000. AARP is the founding corporate sponsor of the Veterans History Project, which provided major funding for the project. “We are simply the keeper of the stories,” Paul said. “That’s what this museum is.” Anyone can participate in the history project, which encourages veterans and civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts to share their stories. The Warhawk schedules the interviews, which are recorded via video in a sound-proof studio at the museum. Paul said the interviews are informal so veterans can speak freely about their time in the service. In general, veterans are asked to share about three things: their childhood and how they grew up, their time as a veteran and what they’re doing now. “There is one thing that unites people that do this, one thing that always shows through in the interviews,” Paul said. “Military is military. They’re veterans, and they’re there for each other. I’ve never heard anyone complain. They were soldiers, and they know the value of doing their job.”
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The Warhawk is a nonprofit organization funded entirely by individual donations and private foundations. The mission of the museum is to preserve and teach the history of American veterans and their contributions to the freedoms we value today, and to show the relationship of our country and its citizens to those wars which so strongly impacted our nation and the world at large. The Warhawk was started after Sue and John Paul moved to Idaho in 1986 and they decided to start the museum with their small collection of WWII artifacts and P-40 airplanes.
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The museum has now conducted more than 900 interviews of veterans, and each person to participate receives a copy of their interview to share with their families. A copy is also given to the Library of Congress so future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. “They don’t need to bring anything,” Paul said. “We help them create the story of their life. ...This is often the first time they’ve even told their story because they think they didn’t do enough that was special.” Patty Petrik, who is donating a restored T-28 warbird from World War II to the museum, encouraged her father, James O’Toole, to be interviewed at the Warhawk. O’Toole worked as a draftsman for Boeing during the war. “What I like about it is it’s so personal,” Petrik said. “It’s not just about military service. It’s also a testament to what life was like throughout the years, the things going on in the world, the music, the culture.” Paul agrees that every person has a unique story to share, including veterans who have served in recent wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan. “Younger people don’t feel like they’re a part of history yet,” Paul said. “We need their stories now so future generations know the truth about them, who they are and their service.” Christina Lords is the assistant editor of the Idaho Press-Tribune. Contact her at 465-8123 or clords@idahopress.com. Follow @IPTLords.
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Nampa couple’s donation keep veterans’ stories alive
oberst family
Michael Hutchinson prepares to share his story during his time in the U.S. Military at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa with Judy Menger on October 26. CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
By TORRIE COPE tcope@idahopress.com
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hanks to the generosity of a Nampa couple, the stories and contributions of local veterans will be preserved on video for generations to come. Joe and Betty Oberst both served during World War II. Joe Oberst served in China during the war, and Betty Oberst was also stationed in the country working with the Red Cross. Their uniforms and memorabilia from their time in service sit side-by-side in a glass case at Nampa’s Warhawk Air Museum. Their case is situated in front of a special room designed for veterans to have a peaceful place to share their stories on video. It’s a private, sound-proof room with chairs, a camera and tripod, lighting and editing equipment. Maps of the countries where these veterans traveled during wartime provide another visual representation of their journey. They also film parts of their stories standing next to aircraft or vehicles from the era on display at the museum. Some of the veterans stand in front their own collection of memorabilia that they’ve allowed the Warhawk museum to display. Joe Oberst was one of the first people to donate to the Warhawk Air Museum at its inception in 1989, said Sue Paul, the museum’s co-creator and executive director. “From that moment forward, Joe was a friend to the museum,” Paul said. “He served as a mentor to me, because it’s not easy to create and grow a museum.” Oberst came to Paul 11 years ago to tell her about the Veterans History Project through the Library of Congress. The project aims to collect audio and video recordings of veterans to preserve their stories. Paul wanted to get involved in the project after learning about it from Oberst, but she insisted the recordings be on video rather than audio.
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Oberst family donated money to provide sound-proof room for history project
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ABOVE: An official military portrait of Joe Oberst. CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
“I want faces to be shown. I want the human experience of watching someone tell their story,” Paul said. Oberst raised money to buy a camera, tripod and umbrellas. But the first people to share their stories did so at the old Nampa Library, because there wasn’t a dedicated space at the Warhawk museum. Again, thanks to Oberst, that changed about seven years ago. When a new wing for the Cold War era was added onto the museum, a room to record the veterans’ videos was also added. Oberst donated $100,000 to make it happen, Paul said. The donation was also made to honor Joe Oberst’s wife, Betty Oberst, who had died before the room was put in. A large sign hanging above the Cold War-era wing has her name on it. Since the Warhawk became involved with the project, Paul said nearly 1,000 veterans have shared their stories. The veteran and his or her family receive a copy of the video. The museum also keeps one, and and one is sent to the Library of Congress. “In many, many cases, these men and women have never talked about their military experiences before, because when they’re done, they’ve moved on,” Paul said. “The greatest gift, we feel that we’re giving, is the copy to the veteran, because it’s the first time in so many cases that their family has seen their loved one tell their story.”
Torrie Cope is the Press-Tribune’s Community editor of the Idaho Press-Tribune. Call her at 465-8169.
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Local veteran performed heroic air-sea WWII rescue
Almon Oliver
Almon Oliver was the second youngest naval aviator serving during WWlI. Oliver received the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing two pilots behind enemy lines. By KELCIE MOSELEY For the Press-Tribune
CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
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eing the second youngest naval aviator after former President George H.W. Bush is just one of Cmdr. Almon “Al” Oliver’s accolades from his time serving in World War II — receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross for the dramatic air rescue of two pilots behind enemy lines is another. Oliver joined the U.S. Navy in July 1942 two weeks after he turned 18, joining three of his brothers in military service at that time. One of his brothers, Lynn, piloted B-17 bombers and was shot down and killed in Holland in 1943. Born to a family of eight in Texas and raised in California, Oliver trained in Alturas, California, while waiting to enter pre-flight school. Upon entering flight school, he selected advanced training in observation float planes — mostly because, in his memory, it was different from his friends, who were choosing to be fighter pilots. Oliver is 92 now, and has difficulty hearing, but has written down his memories of those days. “My introduction to floatplanes was in (Naval Aircraft Factory N3N planes) with floats to get indoctrinated in maneuvering on water, take-offs and landings,” Oliver wrote. From there, Oliver piloted the Vought OS2U Kingfisher, which was used as a scouting and observation plane and for air-sea rescues. “All the pilots were briefed that if they were shot down, they should get in the water, because that’s where they’d be rescued,” Oliver said. Oliver was eventually transferred to Pearl Harbor in 1944 aboard the Battleship North Carolina, and he fought at Iwo Jima during that time. But Aug. 10, 1945, was the day of the rescue, near Hokkaido, the second largest island in Japan. According to a press release from the time of the rescue, Lt. Vernon Combre was shot down in the mid-morning of Aug. 9 while bombing a Japanese airfield. Rescue planes weren’t able to come for him until the next day, so he spent the night hiding in a sparse clump of trees while enemy combatants searched for him. Oliver and another pilot, Lt. R.J. Jacobs, were sent to the area to attempt to rescue the pilots who had been shot down, including Combre. It was a stormy day at sea, Oliver described, with a strong wind blowing on the beach and
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Almon Oliver was The second youngest naval aviator in 1943
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ABOVE: The Naval Aircraft Factory N3N plane was the one Almon Oliver flew during his time of service. creating high surf. The plane approached in the middle of aerial assault from Japanese combatants, and the two spotted Combre on the beach “waving madly.” “From my vantage point, it appeared that the (downed) pilot was having difficulty getting through the surf and the (Japanese) were firing what appeared to be 5 inches all around the plane on the water,” Oliver wrote. Jacobs landed in the water and tried to throw a rescue line to the pilot while keeping one foot in the cockpit of his plane and one on the wing. In the process, he lost his balance with an incoming wave and fell into the water, hitting the plane’s throttle on the way down and causing it to taxi away. Oliver saw the plane racing away from overhead and thought the rescue was successful, but spotted the empty cockpit and knew something had gone wrong. “I turned back to the area and found both pilots now wildly waving from the beach,” he said. “I landed, taxied to the beach, blipped the engine with full flaps and backed through the surf onto the beach.” Oliver collected the downed pilot and told Jacobs he would send help back for him because the plane had size and weight limits, but the two were already crammed into the back seat. He managed to get the plane back to the ship, despite having no extra fuel aboard. Oliver was the only pilot to rescue a downed pilot from the Japanese mainland. It was called one of the most hazardous sea-air rescues of the war. The war ended a few days after that rescue, but Oliver continued on in the Navy. He also met his wife, Frances, and the two married in 1945. He subsequently served three tours of duty in the Korean War with fighter and attack squadrons, then became an instructor teaching cadets how to land on ships. He served as the commander of the U.S.S. Oriskany on the east coast until retiring in 1967. Al and Frances had two children, Michael and Betsy, and moved from California to Coeur d’Alene in 2001, which is close to Frances’ family. Last year, they moved to Meridian to be close to two of Al’s nieces, who live in Boise. Frances, 89, said she has mostly been a housewife and community volunteer since Al retired, but he also worked in various roles for the Department of Defense. Frances said she has enjoyed the journey, which has taken them coastto-coast living in different states, including Rhode Island, Virginia and Florida. “He enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it,” Frances said. “… It was an exciting life.” An official military portrait of a Almon Oliver before his retirement of military service. Kelcie Moseley is a freelance writer for the Press-Tribune.
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Guadalcanal veteran reflects on WWII service
John Mccarthy
John McCarthy joined the Marine Corps at 17 years old during WWII and fought all over the Pacific front including Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester and Peleliu. By BRAD CARLSON For the Press-Tribune
CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
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oon after then-17-year-old John McCarthy jumped from high school to the U.S. Marines Corps as our country entered World War II, he fought in multiple battles. He survived the enemy’s constant attacks at Guadalcanal, slogged through bogs at Cape Gloucester, stayed on-task amid a burst of activity at Peleliu and saw action in other Pacific areas. His service from December 1941 to December 1945 shaped his outlook, life and career. He learned to always prepare for the worst, but to appreciate the good things in life — like his wife Joyce, herself a Marine he met near the end of his military service, and the three children they raised. He went on to work for the government briefly, and then for electric utilities. “There is nothing in comparison to being in a combat area,” said McCarthy, 92, recently of Meridian. He holds two Purple Hearts, a Presidential Citation, two Navy unit commendations and other military awards. He grew up in New York City. When he was 11, his family moved to Florida, where he would attend high school and years later connect with a Battle of Guadalcanal colleague who would help him land a job at a major utility. “Nothing can compare to Guadalcanal … That was four months of sheer Hell,” McCarthy said. He never forgot the battle and its seemingly endless enemy fire from land and sea. “It’s like a serious wound that will never heal.” The other battles did not bother him as much, though by then he knew what could happen. “Push,” McCarthy said, when asked how he got through. “You have to survive in order to survive.” He thought of home, but his day-to-day mindset was to not consider much except the current situation. An in-the-moment focus was a necessity on Guadalcanal. “There wasn’t a day gone by that we weren’t strafed and shelled from Japanese planes and battleships out at sea … They went after us 24 hours a day,” he said. The enemy also cut off supplies. Thanks to the constant moving and fighting, near starvation and illness, McCarthy left Guadalcanal at 87 pounds, half what he weighed upon arrival with 1st Marine Division. But he also has a couple of positive memories of Guadalcanal. Once, when he and his fellow soldiers were getting shelled by battleships and didn’t expect to live, the firing stopped suddenly after a colleague offered a prayer.
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John McCarthy’s service shaped his outlook, life and career
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McCarthy, a former sergeant, proudly displays a photo of a young man nicknamed Jacob, one of the Guadalcanal natives who scouted for the Marines. Jacob at one point was captured but would not give information. Seriously injured, he made it to safety and then ended up in a field hospital — next to a recently shot McCarthy. The two young men conversed enthusiastically despite their condition. Cape Gloucester’s extreme rainfall challenged both sides. Vehicles would sink nearly to driver level, McCarthy said, troops went out of sight into bomb craters, and crocodiles and poisonous snakes warranted a guard lookout. “I found Japanese dugout areas and realized they didn’t like Gloucester, either,” he said. He had a short but important stint at Peleliu. He was injured when his amphibious transport hit a mine a few days after he arrived, but not before he delivered maps of enemy machine gun placements. Near the end of his military service, McCarthy married Joyce, who was stationed at Quantico, Virginia, where the Marine Corps is headquartered. He was under hospital care at the time. Joyce would go on to work for a large bank. They were married 50 years, until she passed away. McCarthy less than two years ago moved from California to Idaho, where his son Kent, who served in the U.S. Navy, works in management for Idaho Power. Kent said his father intentionally avoided a disciplinarian parenting style. John McCarthy’s civilian employers included the U.S. government, for which he worked with an air bomber’s sighting system; Florida Power & Light; and the city of Los Angeles. He left high school a year early to join the military, not uncommon at the time. “All the guys in World War II wanted to serve. It was patriotism,” he said. “What I lost that last year of high school I more than made up for in what I learned in the service overseas.” McCarthy enjoys participating in church activities and Bible study, getting out on a motorized scooter, visiting a local restaurant and attending Warhawk Air Museum’s monthly meeting of military veterans.
LEFT: John McCarthy’s Purple Heart awarded during his service in WWII. BELOW: A few of John McCarthy’s photographs, uniform and awards received during his service in the Marines during WWII.
Brad Carlson is a freelance writer for the Press-Tribune.
at end of life
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Secrets in the Laotian jungle
Leland Sorensen Leland Sorensen of Aberdeen, Idaho, was in the U.S. Air Force para-rescue unit 1967-71 during Viet Nam. He went back to Laos in 2014 to find a pilot who bailed out from his plane and died, but not recovered. He’s pictured in front of a F-101 Voo Doo at the Pocatello Airport. DOUG LINDLEY/IDAHO STATE JOURNAL
By AMY BUSEK For the Press-Tribune
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t’s 1969 and you’re a downed American pilot stuck in the steep hills of Southern Laos during the so-called “Secret War” — so named because the U.S. isn’t supposed to be involved. The enemies — communists on one side of the Laotian Civil War — are encroaching and you’re wondering if this is the end. Suddenly, you hear the loud whirring of a descending HH-53 helicopter. There aren’t any national insignias on the bird, in fitting with the secretive Laos mission, but you recognize a fellow American apparatus. When the helicopter is just 75 feet above you, a para-jumper appears and begins lowering down on a hoist. He touches down and quickly begins assessing your injuries. You can tell by his urgency that he’ll get you out of there as fast as possible. After all, it’ll also spell death for him and the pilot if the enemy gets there first. This was not an unfamiliar scene to decorated para-jumper Leland Sorensen of Aberdeen, Idaho. Sorensen picked up a Silver Star, four Distinguished Flying Crosses and six Air Medals during his 12-month stint in Thailand from 1968-69. Thailand was a geographic neighbor to Laos and where the Americans were stationed during the conflict. He spent the following three years and seven months at Clark Air Base in the Philippines and came home to Idaho in 1971 at the rank of staff sergeant. A native of eastern Idaho, Sorensen used the GI Bill of Rights after the war to get a degree in microbiology from Brigham Young University. He married Laura Hayes in August 1971, and they moved to Aberdeen once he finished school. She finished a few years before him. Sorensen worked as a University of Idaho Research and Extension Center scientific aid until retirement in 2010. He is also an EMT/firefighter with the Aberdeen Volunteer Fire Department, and has been since 1975. The Sorensens have four daughters and 22 grandchildren. While the Laotian Civil War occurred close to and at the same time as the Vietnam War and Sorensen is technically a Vietnam veteran, he only spent one month out of 12 in the country. “We would go in and provide air rescue coverage for the airstrikes that were going in, in support of (the friendlies) in the Laotian Civil War,” Sorensen said. “Sometimes we would be involved with air rescue down Ho Chi Minh Trail, also, which is the Vietnam War.”
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Leland Sorensen received A Silver Star, four Distinguished Flying Crosses and six Air Medals during service
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Sorensen had 127 combat sorties during his 12 months in southeast Asia — only two occurring in North Vietnam. During the Vietnam War era, para-jumpers completed a year of schooling and fieldwork before going overseas. During this year, the students trained for parachuting, scuba diving, mountain climbing; it was a challenging course. It was after he graduated top of his class that Sorensen found out he’d be stationed in Thailand. “The biggest thing I got out of it was self esteem,” he said. “It showed me what my limits were, and it showed me that my limits were further than I probably thought they were.” In the late 1960s, only two Air Force units wore berets, Sorensen said: the Green Berets (also known as the U.S. Army Special Forces) and the para-jumpers. Berets typically connote elite forces — servicemen who underwent extensive training to perform their duties. Para-jumpers were rescue and survival specialists who spent most of their careers in the back of a helicopter. They are medics who can touch down in any conceivable terrain, retrieve a victim and get them to the helicopter in the hopes of getting the entire rescue operation out of there without getting blown up by the enemies. The assignment came with a lot of risk. A roommate was killed shortly after Sorensen arrived in Thailand, on a Christmas Day mission, and his remains were never found. A few years later, his bunkmate in training school perished on a mission that turned out to be a trap. “I realized we were not invincible,” he said. Sorensen was honored with a Silver Star for rescuing pilot James Fegan. The severely injured Fegan had deployed his parachute when his plane was shot down, and had spent an entire day in the jungle waiting to be rescued, listening to enemy chatter. Fegan was close to enemy camps, and in a “chokepoint” as Sorensen called it — on the Laotian side of a narrow mountain range where the enemy North Vietnamese forces made their camps. American forces had to drop bombs on these camps for the helicopter Sorensen was on managed to enter from the west. Sorensen touched down on a grassy knoll and found Fegan, with bones broken in 11 places. He brought him back up on the hoist, and they made it to safety without incident. Other times, they didn’t make the rescue. One failed rescue attempt in 1969 of deceased pilot David Dinan stayed with Sorensen. The pilot was dead and wrapped tightly in his parachute gear when Sorensen found him after a three-hour helicopter search wedged between a hill and a tree. It would’ve taken time they didn’t have to procure Dinan’s body and bring him up on the hoist. When he radioed up to the pilot, he was told to get out — so he made the choice to leave Dinan’s body behind. “I always regretted not taking the time to get him,” Sorensen said. “But I didn’t feel right about spending more time. I didn’t know at the time that there was a battalion just a mile and a half away and that they were shooting at the aircraft that was flying over their village. I knew we had been there way too long.” In a twist of fate, Sorensen would get his chance to go back for Dinan — 45 years later. He was asked to accompany a group of historians in a 2014 trip to the Laotian jungle to continue the search for Dinan’s body. It had never been retrieved, after all those years. The search party set a three-day limit on their expedition, and a Laotian official had to be with them at all times. On the third day, the team came upon a familiar sight when they were headed down a stream bed, on their way out of the jungle. “There’s this small nylon pad that probably was a seat pad that he sat on,” Sorensen said. “It had roots growing through it ... He’d been there a while, the jungle had claimed it.” The team searched the area in the waning jungle light and found correlating items: bits of parachute, a lighter, a gold tooth and, the dead ringer, Dinan’s dog tag. “At the end, I really didn’t have anything to do with it, but there were a whole lot of prayers on my behalf,” Sorensen said. “If I had anything to do with it, we were calling on the power of Heaven to help us out here.” With Dinan’s dog tag in hand (and eventually delivered in person to Dinan’s brother in New Jersey), Sorensen returned home to Idaho — with the mission completed. Amy Busek is a freelance writer for the Press-Tribune.
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Eagle residents spent combined 45 years as nurses for Air Force
the cardonas
Eagle residents Sharon and John Cardona met while serving as longtime nurses in the U.S. Air Force while they were stationed in Texas. Even after their retirement, they’re still actively involved in the nursing community and have a Harley Davidson “museum” at their home. CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
By CHRISTINA LORDS clords@idahopress.com
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he U.S. Air Force has taken Sharon and Joseph Cardona on many paths in life. Sharon, who retired as a lieutenant colonel, spent 21 years in the service, while Joseph, who retired as a colonel, served for 24. It was an honor for Joseph to conduct the retirement ceremony for Sharon on Aug. 1, 2002, directly before he himself retired from service that very
day. Combined, the couple that now resides in Eagle lived in eight different U.S. states and two countries: Germany and Japan. And although their service as nurses at different hospitals on Air Force bases across the globe has shown them the world, perhaps the best path their service has taken them on has been to each other. The two met while serving as nurse managers on the fifth floor at the Wilford Hall Medical Center on the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. At the time, the 1,000-bed medical center was one of the largest of its kind in the world. “The Air Force treated us so well I wish I was still in it,” Joseph said. “I wish we were still in it. It’s all
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The Cardonas’ greatest gifts are knowing new generations of nurses are doing work to save lives
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An oxygen mask used by Joseph Cardona during air jumps while in his time in service. CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
about camaraderie. It’s about family and making friends wherever you go, where ever you end up, as opposed to having a few acquaintances.” For Joseph, joining the military soon became the obvious life path after working three years at a VA hospital in Buffalo, New York, as a young man fresh out of nursing school. “I knew I wanted to go into the service so I could have my own stories,” he said. “The thing about the military I learned from day one is they’re always teaching leadership and putting the challenge out there for you to be your very best. The opportunities are there, but you have to go after it.” Sharon knew the military way of life from birth, as her father was a longtime member of the Air Force who served as a pilot in Vietnam. She even still has her kindergarten graduation certificate from the Mountain Home Air Force base from when she was a child. She studied nursing administration at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. Her father supported her decision to follow his footsteps. “I asked him about it, and he said I could follow my heart and do what I wanted,” she said, “but he said he would be very, very proud of me if I ultimately ended up with the Air Force.” Constantly training in new medical techniques, including Joseph’s certification in the Air Force’s pararescue program, the Cardonas agree some of their proudest moments came when they were able to pass on their knowledge to new nurses in the field. While they may not have seen combat, Joseph and Sharon said they have spent their life’s work ensuring other nurses are prepared to be ready for the call at a moment’s notice. “Why does a pilot, a real fast mover in a jet, take it to the very edge?” Joseph said. “It’s because he knows he’s safe. He knows someone is going to be there to take care of him when he gets home.” Sharon agreed.
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“By the time both of us retired, we retired as mentors to a generation of nurses to come,” she said. “When you leave and know they’re doing their very best, you know you’re never indispensable.” But even after a combined 45 years of experience in the service, the Cardonas knew they couldn’t just sit still in retirement. Within a month, Sharon was working at Saltzer Medical Group here in Idaho. She’s now a director of nursing there. Joseph also found work outside the service as a nurse manager for the Idaho Department of Corrections. Along with spending time with their four grown children and Keeshond dog, they’re also avid Harley-Davidson motorcycle enthusiasts and have added to what they like to call their motorcycle museum for the last 13 years. The room,which was specially designated and designed when they built the home, is an homage to their family’s memories with their bikes, including a collage of signs, photos, several Harley-Davidsons, a Christmas tree full of Harley ornaments and many, many other trinkets and collectables. The two have also taken the time to have their stories of service recorded at the Warhawk Air Museum as part of the Veteran’s History Project. They encourage anyone associated with the military to share their experience for future generations so that their own families can know more details of how they served. “Everybody has a story,” Joseph said. “Even if you don’t feel like what you did was special or even if you weren’t in combat. It’s so important for the generations yet to be born to know what your contributions to the country have been.”
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Christina Lords is the assistant editor of the Idaho Press-Tribune. Contact her at 465-8123 or clords@idahopress.com. Follow @IPTLords.
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Betty Corn is the first woman in Idaho’s Air National Guard
betty corn
Betty Corn became the first woman to join the Idaho Air National Guard in 1959. By RUTH BROWN rbrown@idahopress.com
CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
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hen Betty Corn enlisted in the Idaho Air National Guard, she didn’t think much about making history. To her, she was just doing her job. Corn, now 84, recognizes the significance of being the first female member of the Idaho Air National Guard, joining in 1959 as a first lieutenant and nurse. After graduating from what was then a three-year nursing school at Boise’s St. Luke’s Hospital, she served as a nurse at the Boise VA Medical Center. During her time at the hospital, one of the doctors told her the National Guard needed registered nurses. It didn’t occur to her immediately that if she signed up she’d be the only woman. During those years, the only other women at Gowen Field were secretaries. When she joined, women did not attend the same basic training required of male soldiers, whose regimen focused more on physical training and the use of weapons. But Corn said she learned to march and salute. She attended basic orientation for medical services in 1959 at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1960, she earned her flight nurse wings at a training course in San Antonio. The training taught her specific emergency nursing skills. She helped train some of the young male military members in medical aid and gave the soldiers medical treatments such as eye exams and vaccinations. While in the military, she met her husband, Sam Corn, who was a pilot in the Idaho Air National Guard and later advanced to the rank of general. Their relationship enabled her to fly in an F120 military plane with her husband at a time women weren’t supposed to fly in planes. She spent six years in the Idaho Air National Guard, leaving as a captain in 1962. Corn left the guard when she got married. “I enjoyed it, but I didn’t think it was anything special,” Corn said. Still, Corn isn’t afraid to characterize herself as a “rule-breaker.” As a student at Boise High School, Corn was the first female page to work for the Idaho Legislature. At the time, there were no female lawmakers in the Statehouse, she said. “One time a legislator was gone, and I voted for him,” she said with a laugh.
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Star woman made history in 1959 for female military members
November 11, 2016
New challenges for female soldiers continue to evolve in all branches of the military. It wasn’t until December that U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that the military would open all positions to women. The announcement meant those roles previously off limits to females, such as infantry and armor, are now open to women and men who can meet the standard testing. On June 25, Sgt. 1st Class Erin Smith, of the Idaho Army National Guard, became the nation’s first female enlisted soldier to graduate from the U.S. Army’s M1 Armor Crewman School. Ruth Brown is the public safety and digital first reporter of the Idaho Press-Tribune. Contact her at 465-8105 or rbrown@idahopress.com. Follow @RuthBrownNews.
ABOVE LEFT: Betty Corn takes a nurses oath of service during her time with the Idaho National Guard. ABOVE RIGHT: Betty Corn in the cockpit of an aircraft her husband flew her on. RIGHT: Betty Corn pictured in front of an aircraft during her time of service with the Idaho National Guard.
Honoring Veterans Past, Present and Future
Thank you for your selfless service and sacrifice.
HappyVeteransDay November 11, 2016
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Former prisoner of war goes on to write books on WWII experience
DELBERT LAMBSON
Delbert Lambson served in the Army Air Corps during WWII as a ball turret gunner. CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
By OLIVIA WEITZ oweitz@idahopress.com
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elbert Lambson regularly performed one of the most dangerous jobs a soldier could do in World War II. As a ball turret gunner, he operated artillery from one of the lowest flying parts of a B-52 airplane while flying on bombing missions to Germany. On Lambson’s 19th mission, the plane he was aboard — named “Betty Boop” — was nearing the German border when it began having engine problems. ‘Betty Boop’ the pistol packing mama, was an old craft,” Lambson said. “This was her second tour of duty.” The plane began to lag, and Lambson said after the plane left the fleet of B-52 planes it was flying with, it only took five minutes before German fighter planes attacked from every direction. After parachuting from 30,000 feet, Lambson woke up in a farm field in France, again surrounded by Germans. This time it was a squad of 12 soldiers. Lambson thought that at this moment, his life was going end. That’s when a female nurse “plowed through the commotion.”
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Delbert Lambson regularly speaks at Warhawk Air Museum
November 11, 2016
ABOVE: Delbert Lambson with his squadron during WWII.
“I don’t know where she came from or how she had the courage to defy those German guards,” he said. “I don’t know, but she did, and what she did saved my life.” Lambson was taken to a hospital in Reims, France. It was February 1944. Most of France, including the hospital in Reims where Lambson ended up, was occupied by the Germans. After recovering in the hospital for six months, Lambson was sent to a German prisoner work camp called Stalag Luft IV, located north of the Baltic Sea in what is now Poland. “The worst part of prison life was the long, lonely nights behind barred doors and shuttered windows thinking of family, food and freedom,” Lambson said. After spending a year at the prison camp, a time in which he only got to shower once, the worst was not yet over. As Soviet forces approached the camp, the German prison guards and civilians decided to pick up and walk as far as they could to the western border near the Elbe River in central Germany. Lambson describes what is now known as the “The Black March,” as one of the most tragic, undertold stories of WWII. Thousands of civilians, along with German soldiers and the American prisoners of war, marched 600 miles over 80 days, often sleeping on the bare ground. The American prisoners of war ate a “starvation diet,” which Lambson said often consisted of one boiled potato. Finally, the group reached the Elbe River, where British soldiers arrived to liberate the camp. “We saw the Americans on the line,” Lambson said. “We came to the Elbe River. We came across, and we were liberated.” After serving in the war for three years, Lambson returned home to be with his bride, Maxine, who had given birth to a son while he was away. Lambson took over the ranch owned by his wife’s family in St. John’s, Arizona, where he worked for nearly 30 years. After his wife of 67 years passed away, he moved to Nampa to be near his son. Lambson regularly speaks at the Warhawk Air Museum. Earlier this month he shared his story with 150 students. He’s also written and published books on his WWII experience including “What is the Price of Freedom” and “When I Returned in Spring.”
Olivia Weitz is the Canyon County and city of Caldwell reporter for the Idaho Press-Tribune. She can be reached at 465-8107 or oweitz@idahopress.com. Follow @oliviaweitz1.
November 11, 2016
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A Purple Heart earned by Delbert Lambson during WWII.
The Air Medal earned by Delbert Lambson during his service in WWII.
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None more satisfaction than service
orval Hansen
Orval Hansen enlisted in the Navy at 17 to serve during World War II on the USS Saratoga in the Pacific front. By BEN FLETCHER For the Press-Tribune
CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
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board an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific during World War II, Seaman 1st Class Orval H. Hansen awaited orders. They were to invade Japan. Then the United States military dropped two atomic bombs, and the war ended. Hansen and his Navy brethren aboard the USS Saratoga were headed home. They never had to engage the enemy. “In kind of a strange way I was maybe a little disappointed,” Hansen said. “I was prepared and trained for combat, and I always wondered how I would behave under combat conditions. Would I be equal to the challenge?” Hansen thinks he might have been. He was certainly up to the challenge of life after military service. After returning home to the family farm in Firth, Idaho, to work for a few months, Hansen headed off to the University of Idaho, where he majored in speech, and then on to George Washington University in the nations capital to obtain a law degree. Following further education, the ambitious lawyer set off on a course that eventually resulted in being selected to multiple terms in the Idaho Legislature in both the House (where he served as House majority leader) and Senate.
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Orval H. Hansen was prepared to invade Japan, served 30 years in the Air Force Reserve
November 11, 2016
Hansen served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969 to 1975. Still, after 90 years, Hansen finds his deepest fulfillment in the time he served his country as a member of the military. “There is none that has given me more satisfaction to serve as when I was in uniform,” he said. Hansen served as a naval officer in World War II from 1944 to 1946. He followed active duty with more than 30 years in the Air Force Reserve, where he worked in intelligence and finished his career as a Lieutenent Colonel. On the USS Saratoga, Hansen worked in aviation ordinance, handling and preparing weapons and ammunition for use in combat. His duties included loading the warplanes that would have attacked Japan had the war not ended. Hansen volunteered to join the Navy at age 17. “Basically, our country was under attack, and our future depended on our willingness and ability to defend it,” Hansen said. “I think that was a lot of the appeal.” Hansen lived in Arlington, Virginia, for several years, even after leaving the political arena. He started the Columbia Institute for Political Research, an organization he used to engage in and study public policy. Hansen moved back to Idaho two years ago, and currently lives in Boise. He and his wife, June, have seven children and now enjoy 12 grandkids and a single great grandchild. Many of them live in the Treasure Valley. Born in the small farm town of Firth, Hansen said the military broadened his world and allowed him to work with and among people of varying race and ilk. “To live with them, to learn with them gave me a better understanding and appreciation of the greatness of this country and its diversity,” he said. As the years have passed, Hansen has made a habit of visiting U.S. military graveyards in different areas of the world, including Normandy, where on June 6, 1944 roughly 160,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches in what became known as D-Day. “It’s a very sobering experience to walk along the white crosses and read the names of the people who often died as young men,” he said. Hansen added: “I found a few from Idaho, too, which was a really sobering experience.” Age has caught up with the 90-year-old. Hansen can only look back with fondness on the physical abilities he once possessed that allowed him to climb mountain peaks in Nepal, Mexico and Ecuador as well as complete several marathons. But old age hasn’t robbed his ability to read. History is his favorite subject, but he also just finished a book about trees. It turns out, Hansen can also write. He recently finished a book entitled, “Climb the Mountain,” a phrase he calls a “kind of metaphor for my life.” “It’s got more than you want to know, probably,” Hansen joked of the content. The former statesman completed the book at the urging of family members. But he understands the importance of sharing his story, like he’s done with the Veterans History Project, an effort to preserve history by interviewing as many veterans as possible. “Most of my comrades in arms have passed away,” Hansen said. “It’s a part of our history we need to remember, and I guess I have an obligation to keep that alive.”
Ben Fletcher is a freelance writer for the Press-Tribune. TOP RIGHT: Orval Hansen served on the USS Saratoga during his service in the Navy during WWII in the Pacific front. BOTTOM RIGHT: Orval Hansen, middle, with two fellow Navy men during his service in WWII.
November 11, 2016
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Air Force career kept Bartosz learning, growing
charles bartosz
Charles Bartosz served as a mechanic and instructor in the U.S. Air Force from 1953-73. By BRAD CARLSON For the Press-Tribune
CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
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eeping bombers, fighters and transports flying wasn’t all mechanic and instructor Charles “Chuck” Bartosz learned about during his 1953-73 U.S. Air Force career. He discovered plenty about missions, organizations and people while keeping a perspective and positive outlook that equipped him well for future challenges. After he retired from the military and launched an equally long civilian technical career, he drew on military experience but adapted to new approaches. “You never stop learning,” Bartosz said. In the Air Force, he worked with people from many backgrounds. “I learned how to convince them, in their own way, that (task) is what they have to do,” he said. “People are not the same. You learn how to adjust your instructions or interactions according to the group that you have.” After growing up and graduating from high school in 1951 in Chicago, Bartosz joined his father, a press operator, at a company that produced national magazines and other big print jobs. With the Korean conflict continuing and his draft number likely to come up in a few months, he joined the Air Force in April 1953 after plans to become a Navy frogman — someone trained in scuba diving and tactical diving work — did not materialize. “I would sooner fly than walk,” he said. He wasn’t thrilled. “But I got to see more of the world, and see how everything functions militarily and politically,” he said. Following enlistment and an aptitude test, Bartosz entered the bomber mechanics program. He took basic training at Parks Air Force Base in California, and then reported to Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas to work on the B-29 and B-50 piston engines on which he was schooled. “It was very educational. I had to tear engines apart, put them together and run them,” he said. Inspection and testing were part of the routine. Staying in Texas, Bartosz soon transferred to Amarillo Air Force Base as one of the first jet engine mechanics. He worked on one engine for the T-33 trainer and another for the F-84 fighter bomber. “Both of these were technologically pioneering,” he said. The T-33 engine featured centrifugal flow of air in a circular motion through a diffuser, similar to a car’s water pump. The F-84 had an axial-flow engine, with air compressed through by blades in stages from larger to smaller. Bartosz reported to what was then Grandview Air Force Base in Missouri as a jet engine mechanic on the all-weather F-86D fighter interceptor equipped with radar and rockets. It was a secret project on a little-known base.
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‘Chuck’ Bartosz spent 20 years serving country through bomber mechanics program
November 11, 2016
He shipped to Yakota Air Base in Japan on a project aimed at preventing Soviet bombers from photographing U.S. military installations. He added technology, including electronics, to aircraft on standby to intercept unidentified aircraft. In his career, that’s the only place where a plane he worked on was lost. It was an F-86D. “He flew into the clouds and disappeared,” he said. Bartosz spent 1955-59 in Japan with the 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, also training people. From 1959 to ‘63 he was at Loring Air Force Base in Maine, working on B-52 bombers and F-106 interceptors. This period included constant standby readiness during the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962). In the second half of his Air Force career, he worked at a handful of bases: March in California, Scott in Illinois, Ching Chuan Kang in Taiwan, Mountain Home in Idaho and Wright-Patterson in Ohio. As the Cold War and the Vietnam War intensified, he served as technician or instructor on B-52s, TF-33 jet trainers, C-130 transports and F-4 fighters. From Wright-Patterson, he retired as a master sergeant who in his final handful of years of duty served as a first sergeant counseling enlisted personnel. Bartosz in 1973 moved to the southwest Boise home where he still lives. Finding local opportunities lacking in airline maintenance, he went to work for an appliance repair business. Though his new work lacked the magnitude of maintaining military aircraft, he found some similarities. He went to schools, helping some appliance-repair colleagues understand mechanical and electrical fundamentals. He connected with people. “Again, it’s human nature, just talking to customers … and since everybody’s got appliances, I knew I would always have a job,” Bartosz said. He also found some differences between civilian and military workplaces, such as emphasis on an individual’s unique ability and approach versus the military’s by-the-book standard procedures, and an apparent emphasis on personal networks rather than groups of task-certified specialists. Bartosz married his wife, Fujiko, in 1957 while stationed in Japan. They had three boys and three girls. Their middle son, Stephen, had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, prompting the transfer to Ohio for specialized treatment. Stephen died in the mid-1980s at age 22. In the past five years, Fujiko and two other children died. Military service and growing up with a grandfather who was a mortician helped Bartosz deal with death to the extent possible. “You have to accept it. It still hurts,” he said. “It affects me when it strikes home again.” Brad Carlson is a freelance writer for the Press-Tribune.
Medallions of Charles Bartosz squadron when he service in the U.S. Air Force from 1953-73.
Charles Bartosz and his crew working on fighter engines during his time in service.
A Salute to the Greatest Generation and to all who serve, past, present and future.
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in full view of the enemy gregor saveskie Gregor Saveskie served in tower as an air traffic controller during Vietnam
By BEN FLETCHER For the Press-Tribune
D
uring the Vietnam War, Gregor Saveskie was stuck in a hard place. The young soldier, who at age 69 now lives in Middleton, worked as an air traffic controller for the U.S. Army, spending his war career in a makeshift tower perched 30 feet above various military air strips throughout the Southeast Asian country. The tower had to be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so Saveskie and his fellow controllers were in full view of the enemy, just above the horizon, at all times. “I liked my time in the service,” said Saveskie, who was born May 31, 1947, in Staten Island, New York. “I didn’t like being shot at.” Being seen also meant Saveskie, a sergeant E5 rank, had a full view. During the day, controllers routinely observed North Vietnamese forces lining up mortars aimed in their direction. On those nights, in full dark, they watched as the enemy launched the mortars, not knowing where they might land. The answer usually came within seven to nine seconds. “You could see flashes, and then you just count,” said Saveskie, who described the various explosions and enemy fire surrounding the tower as fireworks. Unlike most U.S. soldiers sent to fight, the Middleton resident had actually lived in Vietnam prior to his military service. Saveskie spent time in six different countries growing up, even living in
Gregor Saveskie is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the U.S. Army as an air traffic controller. CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
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November 11, 2016
Saigon for a time, while his parents worked in the radio business. But within a month of returning to the United States, the 19-year-old received orders. Within 30 days he was given a physical, and within 30 more, a rifle. Saveskie entered war with excitement. He had just earned his pilot’s license, so the idea of engaging pilots as an air traffic controller intrigued him. Less exciting, however, was finding himself on the receiving end of enemy fire. The Tet Offensive, a mass attack on U.S. forces that reached his tower at Bien Hoa Air Base on Jan. 31, 1968, provided multiple days of “fireworks,” Saveskie said. His actions during another attack while stationed at Camp Holloway, Pleiku, earned him a Bronze Star, awarded for heroic behavior. “I call it being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Saveskie quipped about the events. On that evening, Saveskie was on shift at the tower when “all hell broke loose,” and continued through the night. At dawn, when quiet settled back in, the soldiers left the tower and polished off a bottle of bourbon as the sun rose. “There were three of us up there, and we just did our job,” he said. “It was just fireworks.” During Vietnam, an air traffic control tower was staffed by a three-person crew. One controller would direct the planes, one would handle ground traffic and a third would do the paperwork. During downtime, two men slept while the remaining soldier kept watch. The tower proved luxurious during these moments, as the space was air-conditioned to keep the machines and equipment working properly. But, in a combat zone, the action could heat up quickly. So Saveskie learned to prioritize. It was commonplace for controllers to manage normal air traffic while fielding multiple calls from distressed pilots, some flying planes out of fuel or even on fire. “That’s where the pressure mounts,” Saveskie said. “Who are you going to help first? You’ve only got one runway.” After Vietnam, Saveskie joined civilian life with a pilot’s license in hand. But, instead of flying
a big jet airliner or working as a civilian air traffic controller, he took work as a salesman, selling airplanes and parts. He made little money at the time, he said, but had a good time flying around California, Oregon and Nevada. “Pilots were a dime a dozen back in those days,” Saveskie said. Saveskie eventually moved into computer sales and IT during a time business was booming. Somewhere along the line he ran into a woman he’d known while attending school in Turkey. “I walked up to her and gave her a big smooch and said ‘marry me,’” Saveskie said. Married 24 years, the couple recently returned from visiting one of Saveskie’s two stepdaughters in Austria, where she works as an aerospace subcontractor. Saveskie’s career in computers ended in retirement two years ago. These days, he likes to play folk guitar and describes himself as a “gadget guy” who has a man cave he can disappear into now and then. Saveskie also volunteers at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, where he speaks with enthusiasm about his experiences and those of other veterans he meets every week. “The hardest part of my military duty was coming home. The rejection level was so high,” Saveskie said. “For years I didn’t tell anybody. The uniform was stuffed away.” It’s different now, he acknowledged. Looking back, Saveskie said the enemy was never really aiming at him at all, even as bombs and mortars rained down around him as close as 25 feet away. “They didn’t want to take out the tower because it was their aiming point,” he said. Saveskie routinely meets veterans at the Warhawk museum who have stories far more harrowing than his own. “I was lucky,” he said. “I was very, very lucky.”
Ben Fletcher is a freelance writer for the Press-Tribune.
Let’s Put Our Hands Together FOR OUR VETERANS For their service and their sacrifice, we salute America’s brave veterans.
Thank you for your dedication to this great country and our values as a nation. Your courage and conviction make us proud to be Americans.
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some aspects of war worth remembering
joseph murphy
Photo by CHRIS BRONSON/IPT
By ALX GEORGE For the Press-Tribune
J
oseph Murphy was working for Bonneville Power at the time. He mentioned to a co-worker that he was a veteran. “Vietnam?” His co-worker asked. “No, Korea,” Murphy responded. “The Korean War … that wasn’t really much of a big deal now, was it?” the co-worker responded. In three years, the North Koreans killed about 38,000 American soldiers. That was the known number at the time. Now, that number is estimated to be about 54,000. About 58,000 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War, which spanned 20 years. “Now, you just figure that out, which is the nastiest,” Murphy said. “It kind of rubbed me wrong when he made that comment.” He chuckled.
Joseph Murphy served in the Navy during the Korean War
Korea
Murphy had recently graduated high school. He was 18. On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began. Murphy and three or four of his buddies were at the drugstore having Cokes in eastern Montana where they lived. “Well, we know we’re going,” they said. “And we sure as hell did,” Murphy said. He enlisted in the Navy just before Christmas, 1950. Murphy came home one night to find his parents playing cards with another couple, Mr. and Mrs. Drumson. Mr. Drumson was the head of the draft board. Murphy asked Mr. Drumson where he was on the draft list.
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November 11, 2016
“He said, ‘Well, Joe, if you don’t want to go into the infantry, I would suggest you enlist now,’” Murphy recalled. “I said, ‘Sounds good to me.’” In June 1951, he was stationed on a USS carrier near Wan San Harbor, aiding South Koreans for about nine months. The carrier was the flagship of Task Force 77. It had the admiral on board. Most of the duty was to support the ground troops. “We were way better off than those guys in those foxholes because we were supporting them,” Murphy said. But his eyes were skyward. Murphy’s battle station was on the flight deck. Fighter jets would fly over the ridges and into the valleys and “bomb the heck out of them.” The USS Carrier that Murphy was on helped launch and recover aircraft and pilots. “I always respected the pilots because they took the brunt of it,” Murphy said. Murphy recalled an incident where a pilot crashed into the harbor water. A helicopter was sent to recover him. He was wounded and outside the aircraft. “They dropped the lynch line down to him. The observer had to jump in and help him get hooked up because he was wounded,” Murphy said. Then they started to pick him up. Murphy was standing on the flight deck of the ship. At about 30-40 feet up, the wounded pilot fell out of the sling, into the water. “He never even came back up,” Murphy said. “That was scary.” He said events like that were not uncommon.
The Army soldiers, who were on shore, in the foxholes, were often cold because the weather was cold. Murphy said he doesn’t want to remember all of it, what happened during the war, but some parts are worth remembering. “Those South Koreans were good people,” he said. They were getting the hell kicked out them by the North Koreans.” In line with the attitude of Murphy’s co-worker, Korean War veterans didn’t get much recognition for their service until well after the war. Murphy’s son Michael is a teacher and took his kids and his students on field trips to the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa. Michael heard about the Veterans History Project, and he suggested to Murphy that he do it. The project encourages service members of all kinds to submit their stories so fellow Americans can access their experience via the Library of Congress. So Murphy told his story.
ALL ASHORE
Murphy served 18 months in combat. He was about 21 when he changed to shore duty. To finish his enlistment, he was stationed ashore at Moffett Field, south of San Francisco. He made about $70 a month. “It was pretty nice duty, compared to shipboard duty,” Murphy said. “It beat the hell out of sea duty with combat.” Murphy added that in some ways, serving in the Navy was better than serving in the Army because he and his shipmates had a warm bed, a place to sleep and food that was edible.
November 11, 2016
Alx George is the IPT education reporter of the Idaho Press-Tribune. Contact her at 465-8178 or ageorge@idahopress.com. Follow @missalxgeorge.
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