Salute: The Greatest Generation by APG-West (Idaho Press)

THE GREATEST GENERATION SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013 $4.95

A collection of special stories told by local World War II veterans for the past 20 years.

“A Message from a World War II Fighter Pilot and P.O.W. about COURAGE and FEAR”

Hello, my name is Ken Dahlberg. In World War II, I served in the Army Air Corps as a fighter pilot. On August 16, 1944 I and just seven other P-51 Mustang pilots fought 80 German planes near Dreaux, France. I shot down four Messerschmitts before I was shot down. A French family hid me and I made an escape on a bicycle right past enemy forces to rejoin my squadron. I was shot down a second time on December 26, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. And on February 15, 1945, I was shot down for a 3rd and last time. I was wounded on landing, couldn’t escape, and ended up a P.O.W. in Luft Stalag #7 until the end of the war. In total, I flew 103 missions and I’m a Triple Ace, having shot down 15 enemy aircraft. I received the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and other awards. I’m proud of all this and, of course, very patriotic. But I consider what we did after the war of much greater importance - and it may be important to you, right now, too. In 1955, a very committed team of scientists and I invented the first Miracle-Ear® hearing aid. Since then, we’ve made thousands of different technological advances, and today’s choices of Miracle-Ear® hearing aids are all digital, and so far superior to what most people think of when I say “hearing aid’ that I wish we could call them something entirely different. Why am I writing bout this - and asking you to pay attention? Over age 55, one in six adults have significant hearing loss that could be helped

by Miracle-Ear®* Over age 70, it’s about one in three. But a lot of people FEAR being embarrassed by wearing hearing aids or FEAR being taken advantage of by sales-people that they go through years of their lives UNNECESSARILY SUFFERING the even greater, secret embarrassments of feeling left out, worrying they may be “losing it” mentally ( or having others think so), stopping going to movies or bingo or church or Friday night out games because it’s too hard to hear, not enjoying family life, and so on. Hearing loss itself is frightening and causes isolation and, often, depression. Your family or friends may be praying you’ll do something about your hearing loss, even if they’re afraid to talk to you about it! I’m 91 years old myself, and I know full well, getting old’s no picnic. My worst day at 91 beats my best day in that P.O.W. camp, but it’s still not for the weak or wimpy. You and I - Brokaw called us “The Greatest Generation.’ I don’t know about that, but I do know we’re a lot tougher than today’s young folks. MY MISSION NOW is to make sure that we- that you- have the best quality of life we possibly can right up to our last day on this earth. If you are like more than 31 million people struggling to hear more clearly, wishing people would stop mumbling, being embarrassed by having to rely on your ‘human hearing aid’ (your spouse), maybe even withdrawing from some activities you enjoy because of trouble hearing - PLEASE HAVE THE COURAGE TO DO SOMETHING POSITIVE ABOUT IT. Receive information confidentially, from a Hearing Professional, about how hundreds of thousands of Americans take the step to improve their hearing every year. You’ll discover little-known information, “secrets” really, about how men and women with slight to serious hearing loss are recapturing the ability to hear better in every setting, even noisy restaurants...why ignoring hearing problems is actually

dangerous to your health and safety, can lead to depression, and damage family relationships. THE EVALUATION AND INFORMATION IS SENT COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE or obligation, your name and ad-dress is kept confidential Take Heart, Others Have Succeeded “I love my new hearing aids because now I hear my kids and they don’t have to repeat so much. ” — Ida Gigger - Pocatello, ID “This is heavenly. For the first time in a longtime I actually heard what is going on in church. Once I got used to having hearing aids, I love them.” — Dorothy Norton - Pocatello, ID “I can hear what people around me are saying, so I stay engaged when around people. I just feel like getting out and being around folks. It has been a few years since this has happened to me. My family does not have to say “turn the TV down.” — Philip Craig - Lava Hot Springs, ID It took COURAGE to face up to some-thing like hearing loss for these people. I suppose it seems easier to ignore it or deny it, or maybe it seems the right thing to do to try to tough it out and just live with it. But I honestly believe you deserve better. Why should you strain to hear your favorite ball game or movie on TV - and still miss many of the words? Why should you struggle to hear your family’s or friends’ conversation in your favorite restaurant? Why should you be literally left out of much of life just because of a hearing problem that can be easily taken care of? Why wait another day? Get this information now. Get back in the game of life, too! Sincerely,

Kenneth Dahlberg

PS: I said I wanted to encourage you to get the gift of hearing - before it’s too late. As I said, I’m 91 years old. I’m happy to say I’m in pretty good health, but I’m realistic and I know I’ll be seeing God in the not too distant future. I’ll be gone from here and no longer able to personally tell my story and take this message to folks my age, who I think may listen to me but not necessarily trust younger folks. Of course, the Miracle-Ear® company, organization and our superior products will live on long after I’ve gone to my reward, just as I planned. But while I still can, I want to personally do everything I can to help my fellow ‘Greatest Generation’ folks. Every day I get letters from people thanking me for pushing them past their fears, and pushing them to get Miracle-Ear® before it’s too late for them... before they miss out on more and more of life. At our age, every day is a precious gift from God, and there’s no assurance we’ll get years more of them. Please take care of yourself. Enjoy your life. Today, not tomorrow. Before it’s too late.

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(208) 639-9573 (208) 936-4334 (208) 514-2249 *Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evaluation, proper fit and ability to adapt to amplification. **Hearing test and video otoscopic inspection are always free. Hearing test is an audiometric test to determine proper amplification needs only. These are not medical exams or diagnoses, nor are they intended to replace a physician’s care. If you suspect a medical problem, please seek treatment from your doctor. Video Otoscope not available at all locations.

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Salute

THE GREATEST GENERATION INSIDE

Richard Rosenberry: WWII bombardier recalls close call.................................... 4 Bill Norman: Navy man looks back on life of service............................................ 6 Fred Schafer: ‘Killed’ on Wake Island, held prisoner............................................. 10 J.O. Young: Former WWII POW recalls events after Pearl Harbor........................... 12 Ernest Mangrum: Pearl Harbor vets share survival memories............................. 13 Sam Pollard: Sergeant from Parma takes 134 prisoners...................................... 14 John Hug: Three-decade, multi-war flying career................................................ 19 Ida Chatter did her part honoring those who served........................................... 22 Earl MacLeod: Radio operator battles from beach to Bulge................................. 23 Everett Dale: Caldwell man pays the price for freedom....................................... 26 Gordon McDermott: WWII vet finally gets long-overdue honors........................ 28

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Paul Anderson: Bombardier flew 32 missions against Nazis............................... 29 George Swim: Soldier who fought in Pacific gets medals.................................... 31 Bert Chandler: Vet recalls day he stormed Normandy Coast................................ 32 Norm Adams: Nampan recounts days as bombardier.......................................... 33 Warhawk Air Museum: Great look at history...................................................... 36 Boise vet honored............................................................................................... 37 Bill Rankin: Even war couldn’t stop romance........................................................ 38 Women step out of traditional role........................................................................ 40 Kay Gott: Nampa woman served as WASP............................................................ 42 Those who gave up their lives or were injured during World War II.................. 44 USS Idaho remembered for role in WWII............................................................... 46

“They answered the call to save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front … As they now reach the twilight of their adventurous and productive lives, they remain, for the most part, exceptionally modest … In a deep sense they didn’t think that what they were doing was that special, because everyone else was doing it too.”

— TOM BROKAW, THE GREATEST GENERATION he Greatest Generation is a phrase coined by television newsman Tom Brokaw to describe the men and women who fought World War II at home and on the front. The U.S. military casualties exceeded 400,000, and while the nation mourned those deaths, they celebrated the fact that 16 million members of the armed forces were still alive. Today, on this 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, only

a million of those veterans are alive, but one dies every two minutes. That’s 600 a day. The Dec. 7, 1941, attack on America was devastating, but it was also the day that everyone united to fight Japan, Germany and other “axis” countries. They didn’t fight for fame and recognition, but because it was the “right thing to do.” Idaho lost 1,419 in the war. We have a breakdown of the casualties on page 44. Unless you were there in their shoes, you have no idea what it was like to see and hear the horror of the Second World War, nor can you truly appreciate the

triumphs soldiers experienced day by day and battle by battle. For the past 20 years, the Idaho Press-Tribune has shared many stories from survivors of that war. We’ve collected some of the best in this special Salute to the Greatest Generation. We’ve tried to give updates on the men and women featured in this section, but we weren’t able to track down information on everyone. If you know the status of someone, please send an email to newsroom@ idahopress.com. — Managing Editor Vickie Holbrook

Cover price: $4.95 Price if mailed: $7

Coordinated by Managing Editor Vickie Holbrook. Designed by News and Design Editor Randy Lavorante. Cover design by Creative Services Manager Tony Chappell. Multimedia Editor Greg Kreller collected, shot and scanned many photos featured in republished stories. Other photos by Adam Eschbach, Charlie Litchfield, Mike Vogt and Dick Selby. Special assistance provided by reporters Nick Groff, Kelcie Moseley, Tabitha Simenc and Justin Dalme and Local Editor Charlotte Wiemerslage, Community Editor Jordan Gray and Opinion Editor Phil Bridges. Special thanks to Warhawk Air Museum Founder Sue Paul for providing access and information for this tribute to World War II veterans. Additional wartime black and white photos provided by The Associated Press and National Archives, archives.gov. A portion of the proceeds from this magazine will be donated to the Wyakin Warrior Foundation. Also involved were Idaho Press-Tribune President and Publisher Matt Davison, Advertising Director Ron Tincher and Circulation/Production Director Roger Stowell.

Idaho Press-Tribune | 208-467-9251 | newsroom@idahopress.com | idahopress.com | 1618 N. Midland Blvd., Nampa, Idaho Saturday, December 7, 2013

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Caldwell’s Rosenberry reflects on service By IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE STAFF

newsroom@idahopress.com

t’s no wonder TV journalist Tom Brokaw called them “The Greatest Generation.” They grew up during the Great Depression and put their lives on the line to fight in World War II. In Brokaw’s book, “The Greatest Gen-

eration,” he describes the people of the generation, now in their 90s, the “greatest generation any society has ever produced.” But it’s likely those who were a part of it wouldn’t describe themselves that way. Richard Rosenberry, 92, Caldwell, was at Pearl Harbor Dec. 7 and received a Purple Heart after his service in WWII, but he doesn’t call himself a part of “The

Richard Rosenberry

Greatest Generation.” “I was just there,” he said. “I was caught up in it and I had to do it. That was just part and parcel of living.” He said his generation, whether at Pearl Harbor, in the European trenches of WWII or at home, were focused on surviving, not the fame of one day being referred to as “The Greatest Generation.”

WWII BOMBARDIER RECALLS CLOSE CALLS Originally published Feb. 28, 2001, in the Cavalcade: Honoring Our Military Heroes.

By SEAN DETER Idaho Press-Tribune

or Ohio native and Caldwell resident Richard Rosenberry, close calls during his military service became a routine part of his job. But somehow, after being nearly blown apart by the Japanese in Pearl Harbor and shot down in Germany, the ex-POW lived to tell of the times he nearly died in the name of freedom. Rosenberry’s military career began on Nov. 28, 1939 — on the heels of receiving his high school diploma — when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Upon his enlistment, he embarked on St. Mihiel transport, arrived in Panama on Dec. 25, then served a week of shore duty on Angel Island. His next assignment was at Hickam Field in Honolulu, Hawaii, the duty station Rosenberry selected when he enlisted. “Which for an Ohian was indeed magnificent,” he said. But being a new base, Rosenberry recalled, Hickam was far from “magnificent.” “Hickam Field was in the process of construction,” he said. “We lived in tents and I was issued clothing and received some close order drill without a rifle. I did various menial jobs: KP, PA — a wooden stick with a nail in the end — screening top soil, planting flowers, etc. And I attended clerical school at Wheeler Field.” More than a year later, Rosenberry was installed in the personnel section of Hq & Hq Sqn, 18th Bomb Wing. After the Sergeant quit the military in August 1941, Rosenberry became head of the department as a private. “I basically took care of the roster of personnel, including officers and enlisted personnel,” he said. “And I had an Ordnance Co. and Signal Co. attached for administration records and allotments.” A few months later, Rosenberry met the 4

Japanese. “On Dec. 7, I was living in new barracks on the second floor.” he said. “I heard a loud explosion, ran outside and noticed black smoke in the area of the Navy’s part of Pearl Harbor. Torpedo bombers came over with Japanese markings. ” ‘The rear gunner actually waved.” Rosenberry said he then ran to the supply office — which had armaments — and received a Lee Enfield rifle with a part of a belt of .30 machine gun ammo. He proceeded across the street and commenced firing at low level bombers.

PEARL HARBOR BOMBING “I could see bombs falling towards me so I laid down facing the bombers,” he said. “When the bombs exploded the concussion carried me up and I could see over the palm trees. When I hit the ground my feet were in a bomb crater and I was bleeding from a wound in the left foot and on the bridge of my nose where I had collided with my rifle as a result of the bomb explosion.” Rosenberry then saw a damaged weapons carrier in the street and proceeded to get in and drive around in the immediate area and pick up wounded soldiers. He drove them to the base hospital, where he was advised to take the wounded to the Army Hospital, Tripler General, in Honolulu. He said upon arrival and discharging the wounded, he decided that he should join them. Rosenberry was operated on sometime around Dec. 20 and returned to duty shortly after Jan. 1. He then made a number of applications for Officer Candidate School and took the examination for aviation cadet. He passed, was relieved after three or four months and was then shipped back to the states. After basic training in Santa Ana, Calif., he attended bombardier school in Victorville, Calif. After he was commissioned in August 1943, he was assigned to a crew, which remained together until shot down in May 1944.

Please see Rosenberry, page 5 Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

In Honor of Those We Serve

ROSENBERRY Continued from page 4

GERMANS TOOK PRISONERS During an operation out of North Pickingham May 11, 1944, the crew was on its third mission to Germany when its plane was shot down north of Brunswick. Four crew members escaped. “The tail gunner had a wounded leg, waist gunners put a tourniquet and parachute on him and threw him out five or 10 minutes before we abandoned ship,” Rosenberry said. “The navigator, myself and a waist gunner also survived. The rest apparently went down with the plane. I bailed out at 20,000 feet, free fell for 18,000 feet and pulled my rip cord. I was struck by debris, which broke my right leg immediately upon leaving the plane.” Upon reaching ground he was picked up by farmers and shortly thereafter taken to the highway, where he said two officers immediately in an open Volkswagen two-door automobile. “The passenger got out, checked me for weapons and had me get in the back seat,” Rosenberry said. “After a conversation with the driver, I was requested to get out and go down the road. After about 100 feet they pulled up and again the passenger got out, pulled the seat forward and put me in the rear seat and took me to the local jail.” Rosenberry said he was ultimately sent to a POW hospital, after initial treatment by Germans for the injuries he sustained when his plane was shot down. He was then sent to Stalag Luft #3 in Sagan, Germany and was in the camp’s north compound until Jan. 28, 1945, when approaching Russian troops forced prisoners and Germans to march south and west. “We had a train ride from around Chemnitz to Frankfurt on the Main, then walked to Mooseburg, where the U.S. Third Army took over our confinement,” Rosenberry said. “We spent approximately 80 days on the road to Mooseburg. We were then air transported to LeHarve and by ship to New York City via Trinidad.”

ONE CLOSE CALL Not all of Rosenberry’s close calls

happened during combat, however. He recalled one particularly harrowing experience he had during a night practice mission out of Mountain Home. “A practice bomb hung up in the right rear bomb bay,” he said “We discovered it when the bomb bay doors were closed and the bomb fell in the bomb bay. We were at 10,000 feet. Being the armament officer, I was the designated answer to this problem On viewing the situation, the only solution was to lay down on the eight-inch catwalk — without my parachute — and reach over and pick up the bomb. “It was a 100-pound practice bomb —— sand with five pounds of black powder detonated by a shotgun shell,” he continued. “It was rolling around in the bomb bay fully armed. So I proceeded to put the plan into effect. I reached over and secured the bomb, raised it to the catwalk and had the engineer open the bomb bay doors. Needless to say the sight was awesome. We dropped the bomb through the open bay south of Marsing and we returned to base.” Rosenberry went through further flight training in Casper, Wyo., and Alomogordo, N.M. He got a new airplane and flew a southern route to West Palm Beach, the port of Spain, Belem, Fortaleza, Dakar, Marrakech and England. His entire group made the trip without major incident, Rosenberry said.

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Bill Norman

NAVY MAN LOOKS BACK ON A LIFE OF SERVICE By GINNY KIER EGGLESTON

For the Idaho Press-Tribune

illiam “Bill” Norman was born June 21, 1922, on his family’s homestead in Wilder. His mother, Gladys Garlic, was born in Blackfoot in 1902 during her family’s trek from Rapid City, S.D. to Wilder.

“

I never felt like crying so much in my life. Those ships (at Pearl Harbor) were all tipped over; some of them had their whole keel up. There were six or so battleships that were just devastated.” BILL NORMAN, Purple Heart recipient

and he put two horses on each end of that thing and walked those horses back and forth across the ground to tear up the sagebrush and the saw grasses so he could plant it.” It was during these lean years farming a new fam“My mother was born there in that covered ily homestead of 160 acres that Norman was born to wagon.” his mother, who had been abandoned by Norman’s Norman said the ground was primitive during the father, Walter Norman, after she became pregnant. Wilder homestead days of the early 1900s. “He left just before I was born; I didn’t meet him until I was 12 years old. It was hard for mother.” “My granddad had a length of railroad track, 6

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

When Norman was just 2½ years old, his mother met Garnet Allison, the man who would raise Norman. “Tall, skinny and as good-natured as they come,” he said. Allison moved Norman and his mother to Caldwell where the Allisons had a family home. “His folks had a house in town where we stayed. He worked at the (livestock) sales yard until he got a job at the creamery, and that’s when everything kind of fell into place.” During the school year Norman stayed in Caldwell, but on the last day of school he was back to working the family homestead. “My grandfather Norman started me on a program,” Norman said. Every year from the time Norman was 6 years old until he was 15, his grandfather brought him out to work the homestead during the summers. His grandfather would visit with Norman’s mother “and if I get within earshot he’d turn around and say ‘hurry up Bill, we got to get home and do chores.”

Please see Norman, page 8 Saturday, December 7, 2013

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Saturday, December 7, 2013

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

NORMAN Continued from page 6

WORLD WAR II By the time Norman entered his freshman year at the College of Idaho, World War II was getting worse and the draft was picking up momentum. Norman and his friend, Bob Hansen, spoke about the draft, and together decided they would volunteer for the Navy as a means to pay for college. “Back in those days nobody had money to go to college unless you worked your tail off.” Both Norman and Hansen told their families their plan to join the Navy, but their families were not pleased. “Both of us got a scorching.” However, Norman said, after more explanation, both their families came around and supported their plan. Norman’s friend spent a year studying at sea, then was given the opportunity to finish his schooling at a college of his choice. He chose Idaho State’s pre-med program and went on to become a doctor. Norman said he was enjoying the Navy life and decided to continue as an enlisted sailor.

ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR Norman was working on the bridge of the USS Enterprise as a quartermaster a few days before the attack on Pearl Harbor when he took down a message he believes was a warning of the pending attack. “A message came in from Cincpac (Commander in Chief Pacific Command). I read the thing and it said ‘go to condition red, attack by enemy forces imminent’.” Norman delivered the message to his admiral and never heard anything more about it. When Japanese forces hit Pearl, Norman remembered that message sent on Nov. 26. “If they knew that was going to happen, why in heaven are they messing around? So I learned that the officers in Pearl were dumber than doorknobs.” Norman’s carrier and the surrounding task force was due back in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 6 in the afternoon, but the task force was running 18 hours late. Norman said by the time his task force got to Pearl the harbor was closed, as they closed at sunset every day. “We maneuvered back and forth, waiting for the morning. We were due in and we didn’t have our fuel, all the ships we had were pretty low.” Before they could get the task force in to Pearl for repairs and refueling the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was hit. Because they were low on fuel, Norman and his shipmates had no choice but watch the destruction as it occurred. “All those squadrons of aircraft coming in over Diamond Head, dropping bombs and torpedoes. It was agonizing.” After the attack ended, the task force was able to get in to Pearl Harbor. “I never felt like crying so much in my life. Those ships were all tipped over; some of them had their whole keel up. There were six or so battleships that were just devastated.” Norman’s task force was sent out the next day to find the Japanese support for the Pearl Harbor attack but never found them. 8

“

There are generations behind us a lot greater than ours. Look what they built. We didn’t build anything — we destroyed. I’m not too proud of it.” BILL NORMAN, Purple Heart recipient

A PURPLE HEART Norman charted all his travels during his time at sea as a sailor. “I traveled over a million miles.” After the attack on Pearl Harbor Norman was part of several large landings of troops, including the landing at Okinawa. “Day and night they were firing 14-inch guns. They’d rattle every bolt on that ship. You couldn’t sleep — it was just nerve-wracking.” It was during this landing that Norman earned his Purple Heart. “The kamikaze planes were flying by the hundreds out there. We had 200 ships hit by them, and one of them came in on us. Just about the time it was going to hit us it lost its starboard wing. He went in the water.” The Japanese pilot survived the crash and Norman’s shipmates pulled him in with a life preserver. Norman said he got shrapnel in his hand and forearm. “Wasn’t worth much but they did give me a Purple Heart for it. If you fell down sometime you’d get worse.” After the war ended Norman was still in the service, serving six years from the time he took his oath of enlistment in February 1941 to the time he got out in the spring of 1947. Norman traveled with the Navy to Sasebo, Nagasaki, after the bomb. “I looked through a telescope over Nagasaki and there wasn’t a thing standing. I was sick.” Norman traveled to Tokyo and saw the aftermath of the phosphorous bombs. “There was 150,000 people that were killed. It turned my stomach when I thought about that. I was ashamed of us.” Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

THE GREATEST GENERATION Although Norman served honorably and volunteered himself to the service of his country during a time of war along with many of thousands of other Americans at the time, he said he doesn’t think of himself as the Greatest Generation that Tom Brokaw wrote about. “I think back of the people in this nation that have gone through other things. I like to read stories of the Old West and the people that came out here in wagon trains all the way, so I can’t accept that. There are generations behind us a lot greater than ours. Look what they built. We didn’t build anything — we destroyed. I’m not too proud of it.”

Please see Norman, page 9 Saturday, December 7, 2013

NORMAN Continued from page 6

LIFE AFTER THE WAR In December 1946, Norman’s ship traveled from the South Seas up the West Coast to Portland, Ore., for repairs. When they docked, Norman said he had no plans to leave the ship as it was very cold — especially for the sailors who had spent most of the war in the South Seas. “You can imagine how thin our blood was,” Norman said. It was in the sleeping quarters where Norman was trying to stay warm in bed that his friend asked a favor. “He said ‘I have a date and she won’t go with me unless I bring somebody to go with her friend’.” Norman said he finally gave in and went on the double date. That was the night he met his future wife, a nursing student named Winona. “That night, on our first date, we decided to get married.” A few months later, after Norman was discharged from the Navy, he went back to Portland and they married. Norman and Wyn went on to have three children together after Wyn finished her nursing degree. Norman learned how to repair watches and they opened a jewelry and watch repair business in Caldwell in 1949. Norman Jewelers is now managed by Norman’s middle son, Daniel. In 1987, Norman and Wyn went on a year-and-half long mission to the Philippines for the LDS church. During the mission they helped 19 Filipino children get cleft pallet surgery. They also spent 24 hours imprisoned in their home while Filipino rebels stole food, appliances and their car. “They cut all the straps off our luggage to use as rifle slings — it was kind of strange.” Despite the robbery, Norman enjoyed the time they spent on their mission and having an opportunity to help the people that were once caught in the crossfire of a global war. “We just enjoyed it.” Norman lost his wife in 2005 but takes comfort in the joys of being a father and grandfather of 17 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren. “I think back on those times I’ve lived, I was blessed.”

A Salute to the Greatest Generation and to all who serve, past, present and future.

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459-0816 Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

1008752

Fred Schafer

‘KILLED’ ON WAKE ISLAND, HELD PRISONER Originally published Feb. 28, 1995, in Cavalcade: The Homefront.

By ALLISON WESTFALL Idaho Press-Tribune

or a good part of World War II, the folks on the home front believed Fred Schafer was dead. Schafer worked for Morrison-Knudsen building a military base on Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean. The island was the halfway point for air traffic flying from Hawaii to the Far East.

The island was attacked at the same time the Japanese assaulted Pearl Harbor — Dec. 7, 1941. Many were killed — including Schafer — according to a casualty list that was shipped out to the States on a ship. The State Department sent a letter to his next of kin in Nampa. Schafer’s death notice was published. A memorial service held. His family and friends grieved. Meanwhile, Schafer was held as a prisoner of war. With other Wake Island survivors, he was shipped to a camp in China and then relocated several times. Later, he was taken to Japan where he worked in shipyards and at other jobs. During their captivity, prisoners tried to get messages to their families to let them know they were alive. Schafer wasn’t successful until Japan surrendered. When the war ended, Schafer and other survivors participated in a recording. That recording was heard by a friend, who told the family that Schafer was indeed alive. His family was cautiously optimistic. The report was confirmed in a newspaper story and when news of a ship with Wake survivors was coming to San Francisco, his mother went to California to find him. The ship never docked to release its passengers at the port city. Instead, it was diverted to Washington. In Seattle, Schafer was put in immigrant holding because he had no identification papers. His mother, however, was able to track him down and convinced a judge to release him without proper papers. They returned home. For the ex-prisoner his hometown seemed unchanged on the surface — same streets, businesses and farms. But Nampa had changed. “All the people weren’t here anymore. They’d all gone to war. Some of them hadn’t come home yet. A few that you knew were still here,” he said. “You had to make new friends.” City residents also enjoyed a new found wealth. “The most amazing thing that really struck me, when I got home was the kids in the ice cream shop all had 20 dollar bills.” “It was amazing to know that things did step up when I was gone,” he said. Schafer also had changed. “I didn’t even talk to people when I got back,” he said. “It was something I just didn’t want to talk about.” He did eventually talk about his experiences. “I can tell you the night it all happened ... I was at my (future) father-in-laws place... We were playing cards. I’ll never forget that night. “He finally pecked away and pecked away. We were standing there ’til right around 12 o’clock and I told him quite a bit about what happened.” 10

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Our thoughts are with the brave men & women serving our country and the ones who served before them.

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Driving the Past and Future Veterans

J.O. Young

FORMER WWII POW RECALLS EVENTS AFTER PEARL HARBOR This personal story, written by J.O. Young was originally published Dec. 9, 2008, in the Idaho Press-Tribune.

t is mind-boggling trying to contemplate where the 67 years have gone since the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec., 7, 1941. I was not in Pearl when the Japanese bombed it. I was 2,400 miles west of Honolulu on the Island of Wake where Morrison-Knudsen Co. was building a military base.

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We were across the international dateline, so it was Monday morning, Dec. 8, 1941, when the Japanese, with a flight of 37 bombers, bombed Wake Island. In that first bombing raid they struck the cook shack. Fortunately, it was about 20 minutes until noon or the day crew of construction workers would have suffered many casualties. We were under attack for 16 days, being bombed 14 of those 16 days, with naval attacks on the other two. On the island were about 1,150 civilian employees and approximately 375 Marines, with a smattering of Army and Navy men. A number of we civilians fought with the Marines the 16 days we held out. On the Dec. 23, 1941, the Japanese overran and captured the island. Looking across the lagoon on the morning of capture, the American flag still flew, but shortly thereafter, it was lowered and the white flag of surrender was hoisted. Then, not long after that, it was lowered and the Japanese Rising Sun Flag was raised. We learned suddenly that when Old Glory did not fly, there was no freedom and we were subjected to the whims and brutality of our Japanese captors. We were POWs of World War II for almost four years. Thirty-six years after the war, the Congress of the United States recognized the civilians that fought with the Marines as guerilla fighters and awarded them the rank of E4 Navy. I fly the Stars and Stripes almost daily as the sign of freedom that we always enjoy. May it always wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave! n

J.O. Young, Nampa

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Ernest Mangrum

PEARL HARBOR VETS SHARE SURVIVAL MEMORIES Originally published Dec. 8, 2010, in the Idaho Press-Tribune By MIKE BUTTS

all around me,” Mangrum said. A third-class aviation machinist at the time of the attack, Mangrum now lives in Garden City. Mangrum’s ship, the battleship USS West Virginia, was sunk. It was tied to the USS Tennessee, and Mangrum had to cross the Tennessee to get to a spot where he could jump into the water and swim to the island in the middle of the harbor. Mangrum, 89, joined four other The West Virginia lost dozPearl Harbor survivors Tuesday on the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack ens of men in the attack. Several that drew the United States into World Japanese torpedoes hit the ship, War II. He told a Warhawk Air Museum tearing a massive hole in the hull. “It opened up that port side like gathering of close to 100 war veterans a tin can,” Mangrum said. from all eras that he abandoned his sinking ship, as ordered, jumped into Mangrum said only one man Pearl Harbor and swam to Ford Island from his division was lost in the in the middle of the infamous attack. attack. He first knew the battle had “I was swimming when the Arizona begun when he heard an explosion. blew, and there was stuff raining down “I knew something blew,” he said.

Idaho Press-Tribune

rnest Mangrum had to swim through Pearl Harbor to survive it.

erry, of Caldwell, um, of Garden City, Dick Rosenb at the Warhawk ngr Ma est Ern , left from rs, vivo Ontario, gather Pearl Harbor sur wn, of Boise, and Walter Allen, of Air Museum Dec. 7, 2010. Robert Blurton, of Boise, Tom Bro

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Sam Pollard

SERGEANT FROM PARMA TAKES 134 PRISONERS Originally published Feb. 28, 2001, in Cavalcade: Honoring Our Military Heroes. This story was submitted by reader Jack Atkeson of Parma. Sam Pollard’s story has been recorded at War Hawk Museum. Pollard died Feb. 16, 2009. Pollard enlisted in the Army in 1942 and served three years overseas. Pollard was raised and educated at Roswell, and returned to the Roswell area after his release. He retired as a rural carrier in Parma on Dec. 26, 1980. He began his postal career at the Parma Post Office in 1950 as a part-time clerk and held the position of assistant to the postmaster.

By JACK ATKESON For the Idaho Press-Tribune

have known Sam Pollard, Parma, for seven years, but it wasn’t until I was elected president of the Old Fort Boise Historical Society in 1998 that I discovered we had a war hero in our tiny town of Parma.

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Aware that an enemy force was delivering heavy fire from the last house on the street, Sgt. Pollard nevertheless charged toward it across approximately 20 yards of open space, shooting his gun as he ran.”

Sam is on the board and a strong volunteer with the society. He is the type of person that you don’t have to ask to do a certain task, just mention it and it will be done. He never told me much about his military background, however, through reading about his service record I was personally amazed. In May 1944, during the invasion at Anzio Beachhead in Italy, Sgt. Pollard led his nine-man patrol up the beachhead to clear out sniper nests in Cisterna di Lit-

toria, Italy. Instructing his men to cover him, he proceeded to search every house on the street. With the aid of his Thompson machine gun, he captured four enemy soldiers. This was just the beginning. Before the day ended, Sgt. Pollard captured 134 enemy soldiers.

Please see Pollard, page 16

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

POLLARD Continued from page 14 For his bravery and leadership, Sgt. Pollard was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Bronze Star. Sam Pollard is Parma’s military hero. Pollard, an acting mortar section leader, on his own initiative organized a nine-man patrol to clean out sniper nests in Cisterna di Littoria. Instructing his men to cover him, he assaulted the first house with a Thompson sub-machine gun and took four prisoners. Pollard then proceeded to search every house on the street, braving intense point-blank machine gun, machine pistol, and rifle fire each time he revealed himself. Aware that an enemy force was delivering heavy fire from the last house on the street, Pollard nevertheless charged toward it across approximately 20 yards of open space, shooting his gun as he ran. With streams of bullets barely missing him, he entered through a large hole in the house and wounded three enemy soldiers downstairs. Putting a new magazine in his weapon, he fired through an open doorway, mounted a flight of stairs and captured 20 more of the enemy. After turning these prisoners over to guards, Pollard led four men on another check of the street. As he came to the last house again, he observed three enemy soldiers descend a ditch and disappear into a large tunnel dug into the far bank. Going forward to the mouth of the tunnel alone, Pollard fired into it and called on its occupants to surrender. All 107 enemy soldiers filed out and surrendered, bringing Pollard’s grand total of prisoners to 134. 16

“

Going forward to the mouth of the tunnel alone, Pollard fired into it and called on its occupants to surrender. All 107 enemy soldiers filed out and surrendered, bringing Sgt. Pollard’s grand total of prisoners to 134.”

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Saturday, December 7, 2013

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

John Hug keeps a miniature version of a PT-17 biplane in his living room.

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John Hug

Lt. Col. John Hug (USAF retired) at the controls of “Fifi” B-29 Superfortress in September 1992, during the plane’s visit to Boise. He has over 8,000 hours flying B-29s.

THREE-DECADE, MULTIWAR FLYING CAREER

By BRAD CARLSON For the Idaho Press-Tribune

he military memorabilia and scale-model bombers that dominate a room in John Hug’s west Meridian home do double duty as office décor and historical timeline. Hug flew everything from biplanes to big jets in a 30-year U.S. Air Force flying career bookended by World War II and the Vietnam War. Hug, who followed his Air I’ve had a good life. I’ve had Force career with 20 years of commercial flying in Idaho, a few close calls, but the links past and present in a way that goes beyond memories Lord has been with me.” of a single war or era. He flew

“

JOHN HUG, WWII and Vietnam War vet combat bombing missions and trained crews for them. He hauled people and supplies over hostile territory. He flew straight into the eyes of hurricanes — on purpose. “I’ve had a good life,” the 93-year-old said. “I’ve had a few close calls, but the Lord has been with me.” Hug has been an educational resource in southwest Idaho, teaching schoolchildren and adults how military aviation has changed over the decades, said Sue Paul, director of the nonprofit Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa. Hug is a popular participant in a monthly gathering the museum hosts for veterans of all eras, she said. “He has been involved in that, bridging the generations,” Paul said. A Warhawk-produced video interview details Hug’s experiences and the technical characteristics of the planes he flew. He logged many hours flying some of the country’s biggest warplanes.

Please see Hug, page 19 Saturday, December 7, 2013

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HUG Continued from page 19 “It was a fun time,” he said. “I never dreamed I would fly airplanes to begin with. I had never been up in an airplane till I joined the service.” Hug’s home office in Meridian contains more than just models, photos and documents. There are decals and currency bills from the 50-odd countries he has visited, tags describing bombs and their destinations, a painting of the B-29 bomber named after his baby daughter and other items. In his living room, he showed off a miniature version of a PT-17 biplane, the primary Army and Navy trainer during the World War II years. “The first one I flew,” he said. “Most (pilots) went through three planes before they would get their wings.” Hug advanced from the PT-17 to the Basic Trainer-13 and Advanced Trainer-17 — low-wing planes with one and two engines, respectively. As his military aviation career advanced, he flew fourengine bombers — some for carrying and dropping bombs in war and others converted for weather reconnaissance. He flew 17 combat missions during World War II in Asia, plus the multi-force show of strength over Tokyo Bay on Victory over Japan Day in 1945. Much of Hug’s World War II flying was over large expanses of ocean. One memorable mission was in Singapore, from the left seat of a four-engine B-29 bomber in April 1945. “Eighteen hours and 20 minutes long — nineand-a-half hours on three engines without a place to land,” he recalled. Other dicey situations came Hug’s way, from almost running out of runway or fuel to getting a big plane out of a near-dive as crews struggled with touchy technology. In hurricane flying, for example, a weather-trained crew member making quick calculations and adjustments proved more reliable than instruments when the aircraft encountered the requisite plunge in barometric pressure. “It’s scary being up there,” Hug said. “You are praying you are going to get back each time. It’s not a piece of cake.” Hug grew up in Ames, Iowa, where his dad taught at Iowa State University. He attended the university, but after less than a year headed to Burbank, Calif., to work a swing shift for airplane maker Lockheed. That was summer 1941. “I was bucking rivets, building P-38s and Lockheed Hudson Bombers for England,” he said. “There were hundreds of workers. It was going 24 hours a day.” He returned to Iowa and took a U.S. Army Air Corps officer exam. “There were so many people trying to get into the service at that time. I had to wait two months,” Hug said. He signed on, and then spent much of 1942 and part of ’43 in basic and flight-specific training. When he first arrived for basic training in Santa Ana, Calif., after traveling three days by rail, “there were 50,000 cadets there, in tents. It was something to see,” he said. “They were building barracks as fast as they could for the guys.” Almost no one complained about the temporary accommodations, Hug recalled. “Everybody liked it. Everybody was gung-ho in those days to serve the country,” he said. He earned his “wings,” signifying full-pilot status, in February 1943 after nine months of flight training. He went to Roswell, N.M., serving as the pilot who flew bomber crews in training. He stayed about 18 months, flying the twin-engine AT-11. In World War II, he flew four-engine B-29s on combat missions out of India and Tinian, an island in the Marianas chain. He ended up on Iwo Jima once. 20

Top: U.S. Army Air Corps 1st Lt. John Hug, lower left, shown in 1945 with crew of a B-29 bomber based on Tinian. The plane, Miss Donna Lee, was named for Hug’s baby daughter, whom he had yet to meet. Middle: Hug prepares for guard duty at his World War II India combat station with a native station assistant nicknamed Charlie. Bottom: Mount Fuji, Japan, as seen from a B-29 on a bombing mission. (U.S. Air Force photo) “It saved my life, that island, because we didn’t have enough fuel to get home,” he said. Later, Hug trained bomber crews who had served in World War II and were recalled to serve in the Korean War. He then spent 16 years in weather reconnaissance. He flew places ranging from the North Pole to the Philippines and around Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Some of the work involved atomic air sampling. Weather recon had Hug flying converted B-29, B-50 and B-47 (six-engine jet) bombers. The planes received a “W” at the front of their names after modifications like taking out refueling equipment not needed on the shorter, faster missions. “We used to penetrate into the (hurricane) eye 500 feet above the water,” he said. “That’s unheard of now.” Hug finished his military aviation career in C-130s. He piloted the big cargo prop planes in the Vietnam War in 1968 and 1969. “We flew everything imaginable, from KIAs (personnel killed in action) to ice cream,” he said. He retired as a lieutenant colonel at a base near Abilene, Texas, in 1971. Hug, who settled in Meridian a year later, enjoys the veterans’ meetings at Warhawk. “People make friends over there,” he said. “Everybody has stories.” He participated in an Honor Flight of World War II vets to Washington, D.C., in 2012. He has stayed in contact with his own crews, and other veterans he has met, over the years. “I never miss reading a story of a World War II veteran, or any veteran,” Hug said. Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

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These 24 World War II veterans were chosen to take the first-ever Idaho Honor Flight to the nation’s capital last September.

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ormer Idaho Press-Tribune writer Marlene Terry died unexpectedly Nov. 16, 2013, but as Ida Chatter, she dedicated many of her columns to the men and women who served our country, especially those who fought in World War II.

That’s probably because Marlene, more than anyone on the Idaho Press-Tribune staff, understood the sacrifices that the “Greatest Generation” endured in the ‘40s. She was 70 years old when she died. Her column ended in May, but many readers remember her kind words of encouragement, her tributes to veterans and her reminders to honor those who served. “Hope your flags are flying high, and your thoughts and feelings are directed towards our veterans today, and what they have done and are still doing for us and our beautiful country.” In March of this year, she wrote the following along with this photo. It isn’t often you get to see a few dozen American heroes all at once. But I’m telling you that’s exactly what you’re looking at with the 24 World War II vets pictured in a photo today. Those folks were all part of the first ever Idaho “Honor Flight,” a program designed to help veterans of that war travel and see the World War II Memorial built in their honor in Washington, D.C. Thanks to Fred J. Breneman, one of those so honored, for sharing the photo with us and letting us know about the program. “I served in two wars to do my part in trying to preserve the freedoms we have in this great country,” Fred wrote in a recent letter. “I now serve as a volunteer at the Warhawk Air Museum to get the word out to children in our area, as well as the general public, and preserve the memory of those in the military who made the ultimate sacrifice. Fortunately, I survived. So I feel it a privilege to do what I can. “I’m enclosing a photo of WWII veterans who were chosen to take the inaugural Idaho Honor Flight last September.” It really was an honor to honor them.”

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Earl MacLeod

RADIO OPERATOR BATTLES FROM BEACH TO BULGE Originally published Feb. 28, 2001, in Cavalcade: Honoring Our Military Heroes.

By DUSTY PARNELL Idaho Press-Tribune

s a radio operator in World War II, 84-yearold Earl MacLeod of Caldwell was in the thick of things at the end of the war in the European theater. A staff sergeant with the 951st Field Artillery Battalion, he was there at Utah Beach a few days after the D-Day operation began and marched

with his battalion across Normandy and Belgium to where the last great battle with the Germans would take place in the icy cold of winter — the Battle of the Bulge. MacLeod was born during World War I to a Scotsman who moved to the U.S. in 1903. His birthplace was on Sheaville Ranch near Succor Creek where his father raised mostly sheep. Although he had suffered an injury on the ranch during his childhood — one of his legs was shorter than the other — he was determined to join the battery with his two other brothers. “I told them I wanted to go with my brothers, so they overlooked it,” he said.

Please see MacLeod, page 24

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Saturday, December 7, 2013

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

MACLEOD Continued from page 23 After the National Guard, the 116th Cavalry and the 183rd Artillery Division, his eventual home in the Army would be the 951st Battalion. He was given desert warfare training at Fort Lewis and later winter training in Yakima, where he and many other men suffered some frostbite problems. “It still bothers me,” he admitted. But finally, it was off to England, where they waited for two weeks before D-Day, knowing their time was soon to come. “They couldn’t do enough for you,” MacLeod said. “All night long you could have steak or anything you wanted to eat. It felt like I was eating my last meal.” Six days after the beginning of D-Day, their lander was at Utah Beach to join the fray. It took awhile to land because their boat was hung up on a sandbar. Meanwhile shells were bursting, another lander struck a mine, and casualties from Omaha Beach were loaded onto their lander. “It was bedlam,” he said. One injured soldier wanted to return to his friends in his company back at the battle. “He was shot up a little bit,” MacLeod said. “(But) he jumped out of the ambulance and hid with us.” Once the battalion had disembarked, they started on their trek across occupied France. “We were hopped up. We were ready,” MacLeod said. “We knew the sooner we got that over with, the sooner we’d go home to our lives.” But it would be many months and many miles filled with the horrors of war before the survivors would make that return trip. “We didn’t get much sleep,” he said. “We slept in foxholes.” MacLeod operated his radio from the back seat of the command car and had a foxhole right outside his car door. “I about took the paint off of that command car diving into foxholes,” he said. “The shells made a fearsome noise when they went over.” Some of the shells would make a crater big enough to park a truck in. 24

BATTLE OF THE BULGE

MacLeod credits his commander, Lt. Col. Carl Isenberg, with his diligence toward the safety of his men, that so many of his battalion survived the war. MacLeod, a former elder at Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church, also credits his faith in God for his survival. One night, while they were parked in a forest, he had a sudden feeling. “Something told me to move the vehicle,” he said, so he got out and moved it to another location a short distance away. “A tree fell right where it was parked. It would have killed me.” The trees were often a danger. Repeated shellings had torn much of the forests to shreds, and many trees were barely standing.

LOOTING OCCURRED “A good wind would come up, and you could hear the

trees falling down all over the place,” he said. Sometimes the men would stay in houses along the way, and although some men were known to loot the homes, MacLeod would never allow it around him. “That man is honest to the core of his being,” his wife, Jeannette, said. “He never would do any looting.” “As far as I’m concerned, we were guests in those homes,” MacLeod said. Summer became winter, and with it came Hitler’s last desperate push for a huge victorious battle — the Battle of the Bulge. “It was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life,” MacLeod said. About 1.1 million men fought in that battle, and tens of thousands lost their lives. By the end of the battle, Germany realized they had also lost the war. MacLeod will never forget

“the terrible echo” of the bursting shells from that winter clash. But the war was winding down. “It seemed an awful long time,” he said. “We felt like it would never end.” “It seemed like it lasted forever,” said Gene Callesen, also of Caldwell, and also a radio operator in the 951st Battalion with MacLeod. Many of their group was from Idaho and the nearby area. Both men suffer hearing problems from the long days and nights of training and war. Seventeen months after landing at Utah Beach, MacLeod returned to the U.S. “I got home Oct. 12 and got married Nov. 4,” he said; married to the young woman he saw from across the room at a dance one time during training and proclaimed he would someday marry. They have been married

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

for 55 years, and have three kids, 12 grandchildren, and, at present count, three greatgrandchildren. MacLeod worked for the Union Pacific Railroad for 31 years before retiring in 1977. He still attends Army reunions, although he does not watch too many shows or documentaries on television about those days. He often has to get up and walk away from the television. Did the war change him much? No, but he does admit that he has a greater appreciation for everyday life now. One memory of those faraway battlefields still rings through his spirit though. “On Sunday you could hear the guns going away, but you could also hear the French church bells,” MacLeod said. “And I thought, ‘The Lord’s still in command. I know that we’ll be all right.”’ Saturday, December 7, 2013

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Everett Dale

CALDWELL MAN PAYS THE PRICE FOR FREEDOM Originally published Feb. 28, 2001, in Cavalcade: Honoring Our Military Heroes. Everett Dale died March 9, 2007.

By KEN DEY Idaho Press Tribune

t’s been more than 50 years since Everett Dale, 79, of Caldwell was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, but Dale will never forget the 102 days he spent as a prisoner of war. Like many young men of his generation, Dale answered the call to arms. He joined the Army a day before

his 21st birthday. Dale spent his first year in the military in the Galapagos Islands manning the coast artillery. He then served in Panama for a while before being sent back to the states and retrained as an infantryman and sent to Europe in the summer of 1944. In the winter of 1944, Dale was one of the thousands of Allied troops battling the Germans in the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge. “It was the coldest winter in history,” Dale recalled from his Caldwell home on a day when Canyon County was hit with an unexpected snowstorm. Like so many U.S. troops, Dale said his platoon got caught up in the confusion of the battle and ended up surrounded by Germans.

Please see Dale, page 27

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DALE Continued from page 26 Just days before his capture, Dale’s platoon was moving to take up a defensive position on the Rhine River, when things went awry. The platoon stopped for a night in a village and soon found themselves surrounded by German troops. “I woke up one morning with shouting going on,” Dale said. “They had slipped right up on us.” Dale’s platoon didn’t surrender right away and was able to hold the Germans off for two days before surrendering. During the two days of fighting, Dale, who was a sharpshooter, was set up in a church steeple with one other soldier. During the fighting Dale was hit with some shrapnel in the face. He said it bled a lot, but wasn’t serious. After the soldiers surrendered, the danger didn’t end. As they came down from the steeple, Dale said the other soldier with him went first and was shot by a German soldier as he came down the stairs. Dale’s life was spared, but he didn’t expect to live for long after being captured. “They ran us up in front of a machine gun and I thought this was the last,” Dale said. But instead of opening fire, the Germans instead took everything from the American troops, including wallets, cigarettes and anything they were carrying. “They shut us up in a barn the first night,” Dale said. “The next day they marched us for three days and three nights with nothing to eat or drink.” Dale said they later found out the reason the Germans caught them by surprise.

“We got ahead of the front lines and they surrounded us,” Dale said. In retrospect, Dale put much of the blame on the inexperience of his lieutenant. “He was a ‘90-day wonder’ and didn’t know what he was doing,” Dale said. After being captured, Dale said they were moved frequently to new camps as Allied artillery kept getting closer. Eventually they ended up at a larger camp, somewhere in Germany. Life in the prison camps soon became the ultimate test of survival for the soldiers. Lack of food and no protection from the elements became just as dangerous as enemy bullets. “We got two little taters and some rutabaga soup a day and that was it,” Dale said. Because of the small amount of food provided by their captors, Dale and the other prisoners lost weight rapidly. He was 170 pounds when he was captured and dropped to 110 pounds during the four months in captivity. Living conditions for the American prisoners were nearly unbearable, according to Dale. They were housed in barracks with no heat and holes in the walls and each soldier only got one thin blanket and the bunks had no mattresses, just boards.

LIBERATED BY BRITISH IN APRIL 1945 Each day the soldiers’ German captors would march them into the woods outside the camp to gather brush. That brush was then used to camouﬂage German guns. Except for the lack of food and poor living conditions,‘ Dale said his German captors didn’t abuse the soldiers. Much of the reason was that the guards were mostly old men pressed into service because all the young soldiers were sent to fight. Dale said there were also opportunities to escape when they were outside the camp gathering brush,

but they had no idea where they were. After Dale was captured, it took a few months for his family back in Iowa to be notified. That period of not knowing was something Dale’s wife Della will never forget. Della and Dale were married in 1944 just before Dale was shipped to Europe. “I spent a long, long time worrying about him,” Della said. “But I didn’t feel like he was dead.” After Dale was captured, the Germans had him sign his name to a card that would be sent to his family telling them he was alive, but the only problem was that the card was in French. The card eventually reached Della in Iowa, but no one in her town could translate French, so she had no idea what it meant. Eventually she found a pastor in a neighboring town that could read French and the card said Dale was safe. Della finally received a letter from Dale, who was asking her to send food and tobacco. “I tried to find ways to send food, but there wasn’t anything I could do,” Della said. “I started worrying about him starving to death.” In April of 1945, Dale’s prison camp was finally liberated by British troops without a fight. “As soon as the British came over the hill with tanks they (Germans) threw up their hands and gave up,” Dale said. After his release, Dale and rest of the soldiers were sent back to England and had to stay in hospitals until they regained the weight they lost. Despite the difficulties, all of Dale’s comrades survived the ordeal. Dale was sent back to the states after he recovered, and completed his tour by training troops. On Oct. 15, 1945, his 24th birthday, Dale was released from the Army.

Please see Dale, page 28

Honoring All Who Served. We Salute American Veterans.

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Gordon McDermott

WWII VET FINALLY GETS LONG-OVERDUE HONORS Originally published Aug. 20, 2010, in the Idaho Press-Tribune. Gordon McDermott died Dec. 18, 2010. By SHARON STRAUSS

Idaho Press-Tribune

orld War II is like a dream now to 87-year-old Gordon P. McDermott, who was 20 when he entered the U.S. Army as a private in 1943. Sixty-seven years and an ocean separate McDermott now from that time in his life when he shot down airplanes, lay wounded in fields of battle and captured enemy soldiers in Europe. “You wonder if you were actually there,” the Caldwell resident said Thursday. “And I’m just glad to be home.” The war hero finally received longoverdue recognition. At a ceremony inside Nampa’s Warhawk Air Museum, Congressman Walt Minnick presented McDermott with a reminder that all of it was real: six medals and a silver service star. When the young private was honorably discharged on Nov. 7, 1945, he was more interested in getting home than collecting any medals he was entitled to receive. He already was bringing back shrapnel remains in his body and gunshot wounds to his right temple and chest, as well as some other mementos — foreign currency, a German soldier’s belt buckle, photos and a pocket-size Christmas card from Gen. Patton with a prayer. “I didn’t think much about these medals,” McDermott said. But then, McDermott didn’t think

Gordon McDermott, Caldwell, holds up the mug that his granddaughters Emily Scott, and Mallory McDermott, right, and Mackenzie McDermott, not pictured, made for their grandfather at a morning presentation of WWII medals to McDermott at the Warhawk Air Museum Aug. 19, 2010, in Nampa. he would make it out of the war alive. “The biggest award is coming home,” he said. “I thought I was going to be left there.” It wasn’t until he sat down with his granddaughter Mackenzie, who interviewed him for a school project, that the medals he never collected crossed his mind. And then he started thinking about leaving something behind for his grandchildren. McDermott’s son Dave contacted Minnick’s office for help getting the past-due medals. “The reality is this is more for his

DALE Continued from page 27 “It was the best birthday present I’ve ever had,” Dale said. Dale and his wife then moved to Idaho after hearing how great it was from an aunt and uncle. The couple settled in Notus, where they raised three sons. 28

grandkids than for anybody,” Dave said at the special ceremony. “He started realizing the World War II veterans were dying at a rapid rate.” McDermott’s war buddy passed away two years ago, and “that’s what got him thinking about his longevity,” Dave said. While serving overseas, McDermott said his unit manager did not keep records well. And his official military files were lost in a 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center. He believes he is entitled to a Purple Heart for his combat injuries, but it was impossible

For many years Dale operated a mill that steam rolled grain for cattle feeders. He also owned his own hay trucking business at one time. After retiring, he and Della moved into Caldwell. About 10 years ago, Dale’s son urged him to put his memories into a handwritten journal. Della said the experience was tough for her husband because of the memories it brought back. But now the journal is an important historical record for the family’s future generations. Despite what he went through, Dale said Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

for Minnick’s office to obtain the documentation. McDermott accepted the medals from Minnick with the characteristic humility of a member of the Greatest Generation. “Oh, I’m not that much of a hero,” said McDermott, who fought in seven major battles including the North Atlantic, Battle of England, Normandy (Utah Beach), Battle of the Bulge, Battle of the Rhine, Bastogne and more in Germany. “Other kids had a worse time than I did.”

the experience is one that younger generations should appreciate. “A little dose of that and they would know what it takes to keep the country free,” he said. Dale does his best to convey his experiences, but he’s the first to admit that it’s often hard to tell people the truth about war. “You can’t tell people what its really like, if you did they wouldn’t believe you anyway,” Dale said. “You’d be surprised what people do to other people just because a commander or president says so.” Saturday, December 7, 2013

Paul Anderson

BOMBARDIER FLEW 32 MISSIONS AGAINST NAZIS This story, submitted by Paul Anderson, was originally published Feb. 28, 2001, in Cavalcade: Honoring Our Military Heroes.

eb. 17, 1941, is a date I will long remember. I was drafted and sworn in to the U.S. Army at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa. I was then sent to Ft. Snelling, Minn., where it was 20 degrees below zero. I was shipped to Warren, Wyo., and assigned to Company G, 20th infantry regiment of the 6th division. From Warren, we moved to Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., and finally to our permanent base, Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. We dug lots of holes in

the ground, slept on the ground, ate out of mess kits and walked many, many miles with full field packs on our backs and M-1 rifles slung over our shoulders. We made the famous Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941. Our equipment was pitiful. Signs were painted on trucks designating them as tanks. Anti-aircraft guns were made of wood. With things like that we could never have defeated an enemy. In 1942, I managed a transfer to the Army Air Force Aviation Cadet program. The transfer came through while we were on maneuvers in Tenn. No more sleeping on the ground or making 25-mile hikes or eating out of mess kits. I was trained as a bombardier and was crewed up on a B-24 Bomber at the new Mountain Home

Air Base in Idaho. I flew 32 missions out of England with the 389th bomb group of the 8th Air Force, bombing Nazi-held targets in France and Germany. Our tour completed, we returned to the U.S. While in B-29 training in Pueblo, Colo., the Japanese War ended, so I returned to Gowen Field for discharge. I was hired out on the Union Pacific Railroad as a brakeman. In 1951, I was recalled to the U. S. Air Force to train in B-29s for the war in Korea. After my crew was combat-ready, it was discovered that I only had five more months to serve. All crew members had to have at least six months in order to be sent overseas. Our crew disbanded and I returned to the railroad.

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George Swim

Ret. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. George Swim and his wife, Wanda Swim, hold the display box of medals, including a bronze star from George’s service in World War II.

SOLDIER WHO FOUGHT IN PACIFIC GETS MEDALS Originally published Oct. 9, 2010, in the Idaho Press-Tribune.

By JESSE NANCE Idaho Press-Tribune

ore than 60 years after the fact, a 95-year-old Caldwell veteran received official recognition for his service in World War II.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. George Swim was greeted by dozens of local Boy Scouts, fellow veterans, family and friends at a medal ceremony Friday at the Port Stewart Senior Community in Caldwell. Swim, who served admirably in the Pacific Theater during Saturday, December 7, 2013

World War II, had forgotten about the medals after the war until one of his daughters encouraged him recently to apply for them. After opening remarks by Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas and a presentation of medals by Congressman Walt Minnick, the 95-year-old Caldwell man rose to make some brief remarks himself. “These medals are a little late,” he joked. “But better late than never.” Swim also showed off a ring he made from a coin on the date one of his daughters was born in 1944. The ring now belongs to her. Among other honors, Swim received a Bronze Star — awarded retroactively to service members who earned combat infantryman badges in the Battle of Luzon and other areas where fighting was fierce. Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

At the age of 28, Swim was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944, leaving behind his wife, Wanda, and three small children for 11 months. He served as a rifleman in the bloody Pacific Theater in the pivotal last years of World War II. As one of a dwindling number of surviving members of his unit, he received a battlefield promotion as leader of his unit. Swim, who greeted a number of local Boy Scouts at Friday’s ceremony, credits the skills he learned in that group during his youth as a key part of his survival in the military. “My basic training was shortened, and I felt my years of experience in the Boy Scouts of America was invaluable to my safety and well-being,” Swim said. “It may have prepared me even more than the military training.” 31

Bert Chandler

VET RECALLS DAY HE STORMED NORMANDY COAST Originally published Nov. 11, 2008, in the Idaho Press-Tribune.

By BRYAN DOOLEY Idaho Press-Tribune

he June 6, 1944, D-Day landing at Omaha Beach, vividly memorialized in movies like “Saving Private Ryan,” is one of World War II’s most famous and notorious battles. Thousands of troops poured onto the Normandy coast and into immediate confrontation with heavy Axis fortification in a crucial attempt by the Allies to establish a foothold in France. Many were killed, wounded or captured before the end of the day. Bert Chandler, 86, of Nampa , served in the 16th Regiment of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, also 32

known as the “Big Red One.” He was one of the first to step onto the beach, and one of only three from his landing craft to reach the top of the hill. He looks back on that day with both pride and sorrow for those lost. “I lost a lot of friends,” he said. “As a squad leader after D-Day, I just never got close to anybody in the squad because I knew what would happen. It was just too tough.” He attributes his survival to “a lot of luck.” “I guess I was in pretty good shape,” he added, chuckling. “I was moving pretty fast.” Chandler served three months before a shot to the knee sent him home to his wife, Esther, and eventually a long career as an optician. He was awarded a number of medals, including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service. One of them bears a small metal pin with three stars and an arrow, denoting participation in the initial D-Day push. “I think I’d rather have that than that whole bunch of iron there,” he said. Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Norm Adams

NAMPAN RECOUNTS DAYS AS A BOMBARDIER Originally published Feb. 28, 1995, in Cavalcade: The Homefront.

By GREG KILMER Idaho Press Tribune

orm Adams had plenty of time to dream — 16 months, in fact. It was one of his most unpleasant dreams, though, that eventually came true with pleasant results. Maj. Norman C. Adams, retired, of Nampa was a bombardier for the United States Air Force during World War II. He was involved in the North Africa campaign as a member of the Jersey Bounce, a new Consolidated Liberator (or B-24) that flew the first top-secret missions over Romania. The “Hidden Mission” was a plan to cripple the Nazis’ oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania. “Romanian oil was supplying over 50 percent of

the high-octane fuel to the Germans,” said Adams, who now lives with his wife, Wilma, in Nampa. “We just couldn’t figure out how to hit it until the low-level strategy was introduced.” In James Dugan’s and Carrol Stewart’s book “Ploesti, The Great Ground-Air Battle of August 1943,” Henri Berenger emphasized the importance of oil in the new modern world. “He who owns the oil will own the world, for he will rule the seas by means of the heavy oils, the air by means of the ultra-reﬁned oils, and the land by means of petrol and the illuminated oils. And, in addition to these, he will rule his fellow men in an economic sense, by reason of the fantastic wealth he will derive from oil.” Adams’ life took a turn toward Romania while a senior at Laverne College in California. The day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he, like thousands nationwide, quit school and joined the Army.

Please see Adams, page 34

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ADAMS Continued from page 33 “I passed the initial exam and was sworn in and then waited three months to be called to active duty because they were overloaded with people who wanted to fly,” Adams said. He graduated from training nearly one year after he enlisted and was sent to England with the 93rd Bomb Group, the first B-24 group in England. “We flew five missions over France and Germany and then put on standby to practice low-level missions,” he said. “Then we were sent to North Africa to participate in a top-secret mission, that is all we were told.” Adams and his Jersey Bounce crew participated in seven missions over Italy from their base in Benghazi, Libya, including the first bombing of Rome. “On one return trip, we witnessed the invasion of Sicily. In fact, the (U.S.) Navy shot at us.” After the seven missions were completed, the Jersey Bounce found out why they were sent to North Africa. It was revealed they were to fly over Romania and bomb the oil fields of Ploesti. “We were one of the first, the first raid had failed, then we went,” he said. “Our raid was somewhat successful, but the losses were unbelievable. Of our group, 36 planes went, only three got back.” According to Dugan’s and Stewart’s book, hundreds of U.S. airmen volunteered for the mission, despite warnings that half of them may not return. Flying lower than the refineries’ smokestacks, they would face the heaviest Axis antiaircraft concentration in Europe. Just how low did they have to fly?

“

After I came to, I thought I better get the hell out of there. The main part of the plane was burning and I knew it was going to explode.” NORMAN ADAMS, retired bombardier for the United States Air Force

“Well, we were running into telephone poles. It was very spooky. They were firing everything at us, sling shots, rocks, you name it.” All 11 crew members were issued flak jackets, but Adams altered the vest’s purpose by standing on it. “I was lucky I did. I got hit from underneath and it felt like I got hit by a baseball bat,” he said. As bombardier, he sat directly in the nose of the B-24. “They got the navigator good (directly in back of the bombardier) and all I got was little bits of flak.” Though an 88-millimeter gun ripped a gaping hole in the wing of the Jersey, it wasn’t the big guns that changed the war for Adams. The low-level attack method called for the plane to dive from 5,000 feet, leaving the crew to rely on only the plane’s mechanics to pull them out of the dive at the right second. But light fire from ground forces found their mark, and Adams’ plane hit the ground. On impact, Adams, who was deaf for three days following, was knocked unconscious. He awoke to a surprise. “Normally, even in planned crashes, nobody ever ends up in the nose, but I did. I guess I was lucky,” he said. “After I came to, I thought I better get the hell out of there. The main part of the plane was burning and I knew it was going to explode.” Then he remembered his crew mates. “I thought maybe someone could be all right,” he said, not knowing then that only four of the 11-man crew had survived. “I got our sergeant, our engineer, away but he was

burnt terribly. I tried getting his flight suit off him, but before I could do that a German had his bayonet up my backside.” Adams’ plane had landed some 100 yards from a German bunker. Captured, he was taken to the bunker. The Germans continued fighting off the U.S. assault, and a member of the Nazi squad nearly had his arm ripped off by incoming fire. The Germans never blinked from their post, something that impressed Adams. “One thing I found about the Germans, they were a very well-disciplined bunch,” he said. Understandably, Adams was frightened. “It was kind of like the end of the world. My first concern was for my family. They’d never know if I was dead or captured. I’d be listed as missing, but they would never know,” he said. The prisoner of war camp, Adams found, was actually a stalag for German deserters and prisoners. “It was for their bad boys,” he said. “I was put into a solitary cell with just a little hole to slide my food in, but I couldn’t eat it.” He and the other prisoners from the raid were soon transferred to Bucharest and then to the high ground of Romania, near the mountain town of Timisul. This was his home for 16 months. “To me it was just too long.” “I was fortunate the Romanians held us,” he said. “If the Germans had us and taken us to Germany, I’d have been a prisoner for a whole more year.” Boredom was the daily norm.

Please see Adams, page 35

Thank you to all Veterans and active military for serving our country and protecting our freedom Steve Rule

Canyon County Commissioner 208-841-3212 srule@canyonco.org 1008810

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

ADAMS Continued from page 34 “Wake up, drink coffee and make toast out of their black bread, which tasted a lot like shoe leather,” he said. “Then the rest of the day you walked the perimeter of the camp. It wasn’t too bad, but you did get hungry, but the Romanian guards were eating the same thing as us.” When boredom got to be too much, it was back to the bunk. “I was lucky that I could sleep if I wanted. A lot of guys couldn’t do it, but I could go up to two days. That was nice to kill time,” he said. That also gave him plenty of time to dream. “You thought about everything, but the one I remember thinking about Idaho is kind of unpleasant. My dad, after he divorced my mom, moved to Idaho, to Pocatello,” he said. “He had told me I should move there but I wasn’t interested. I wasn’t fond of him.” Adams awoke from one night’s slumber to quite a surprise one morning — no guards. Saturday, December 7, 2013

“It was kind of scary. We went to the commandant, a Romanian, and he said the Germans had pulled out. The Russians were invading Romania and Romania had just declared war on Germany.” Adams and the more than 100 fellow POWs were free to go. The group realized the Allies’ airlift of the prisoners would head to the Romanian capital, so that’s where they headed. The road to Bucharest was a busy one — POWs headed south, while Germans flooded north to their homeland. The Timisul group was right. An airlift did take place in Bucharest. They got there just in time to be among the 3,000 POWs transported out of Romania. Adams was not quite through in Europe, though. The Air Force major was called to testify in the trial of “Officer Z,” an American POW, who was charged with being too friendly with the enemy while captive. The book on the Ploesti raids quoted an old fable used by Adams after a speech by “Officer Z” on how good life was in the camps was published in a Bucharest newspaper. “A little sparrow sat on a telephone line, cold and hungry. A horse passed below and the little sparrow flew down and consumed a great amount of fresh warm droppings. He flew back up and opened his Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

mouth wide in song. A hawk swooped down and devoured the sparrow. The moral — If you are full of the stuff, keep your mouth shut.” After Adams’ speech, “Officer Z” left the mess hall and never had meals with his fellow POWs again. Adams came back to the States the Christmas of 1943 and returned to school before being reassigned. He was stationed at numerous bases around the United States and spent his last years in the service stationed in North Carolina, where he was a member of the Air Force golf team. The team traveled the world playing against armed forces squads with Adams, who plays to this day, playing at a scratch handicap. While stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Wash., Adams visited Nampa and fell in love with the area’s hunting and fishing after visiting his relatives in Nampa. In spite of his feelings toward his father, Nampa became his home upon retirement. “Yes, as you look back, it was all worth it. This is what we were fighting for,” Adams said looking out of his home’s window. “We fought for our families and our country — our home. I love this area, I always have. I would do it over again to protect what we have here.” 35

WWII veteran Bull Durham smiles after his flight in a P40 E fighter plane flown by John-Curtiss Paul Dec. 7, 2012, during a Pearl Harbor remembrance at the Warhawk Air Museum. Durham, a volunteer at the museum, served on the USS Enterprise in the South Pacific for 21 months between 1943 and 1945. Durham described the flight on the P40 E as “awesome.”

WARHAWK AIR MUSEUM: GREAT LOOK AT HISTORY The Idaho Press-Tribune has written countless stories about the Warhawk Air Museum in the past 25 years. The following is a compilation of several of those stories with reporters Mike Butts, Dusty Parnell and Justin Dalme contributing to this. Many thanks to the Warhawk Air Museum, volunteers and founders John and Sue Paul for their help over the years to document stories about veterans and help tell memorable stories about remarkable men and women. — Vickie Holbrook

ue Paul remembers when she first met her husband John. “He was just nuts about P-51 Mustangs,” she said. That love of airplanes led John and Sue to open the Warhawk Air Museum in March 1989.

What started out as a small airplane hangar in Caldwell nearly 25 years ago, has grown into the 40,000-square-foot building in Nampa today. Just this past year, the museum saw visitors from all over the world including Zimbabwe, Damascus, and Singapore. Interested in World War II planes since childhood — John was born in 1942 — he began collecting parts and pieces in 1966. 36

“

The best way to describe the museum now is that it’s an American experience of the 40s and 50s.... Everything is personalized, everything has a story.” SUE PAUL, Warhawk Air Museum director

“Pretty soon I had enough parts for five of them,” he said. He finished his first plane in 1970. A walk through the Pauls’ crowded museum gives a person a sense of what life was like during those years, both at home and on the front. “It’s important to remember what happened at that time — the sacrifice the people in this country went through,” Paul said. “It’s the last time that this country was 100 percent united.” “World War II was the most life-changing event that’s ever occurred in this country,” said Sue, who gives tours to local school groups. Sue estimates that about 3,000 students visit the museum every year. With the addition of the newest wing, the museum now offers a look into the Cold War era as well. “The best way to describe the museum now is Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

that it’s an American experience of the 40s and 50s,” Sue said. Perhaps the biggest attractions are the 11 planes on display, including two P-40s that visitors may recognize from the movies “Pearl Harbor” and “Valkyrie.” The collection also boasts a P-51C Mustang and Cold War era fighter jets. Some of the more prestigious guests to visit the museum were three members of the Doolittle Raiders who attacked Japan after the bombing on Pearl Harbor. The museum also is involved in the Veterans History Project, which is aimed at filming war veterans in order to preserve history from a firstperson point of view.

Please see Warhawk, page 37 Saturday, December 7, 2013

Above: Director Sue Paul works to keep veterans’ memories alive at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa. Below: WWII veteran Bull Durham, right, waves while taking off in a P40 E fighter plane flown by John-Curtiss Paul Friday during a Pearl Harbor remembrance Dec. 7, 2012, at the Warhawk Air Museum.

WARHAWK

BOISE VET HONORED

Continued from page 36

home during World War II to make sure the country had ample food, as well as two former internees from The museum focuses on veterans from WWII, Kothe Minidoka Japanese internment camp. rea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War, and has sent more than “It doesn’t matter to us if they didn’t go overseas or 900 films to the Library of Congress. In the 90-minute video interviews conducted by Sue were involved in some big conflict,” Sue said. Keeping that personal touch is an important comand volunteers at the museum, details of childhoods, ponent for the Pauls. The museum prides itself as being friendships, romances, work and family life that could have been lost forever remain as living documents. The a history of the people, not by a historian. “Everything is personalized, everything has a story,” interviews contain information about the veterans’ Sue said. lives before and after they were in the service. Sue even tries to incorporate that level of personThe videos often reveal experiences that even the alization in tours for students, asking them if they spouses of the men and women in the videos had not had relatives that served in a war. She says that asking known. children about their families’ military history makes “We get an essence of the man that their family has the museum mean that much more to them. After all, never seen,” Sue said. that’s what the museum is all about, preserving history But the philosophy of the Veterans History Project for generations to come. is that all veterans’ stories have value. Veterans His“I think it is probably the most important thing in tory Project-trained volunteers with the Warhawk Air my lifetime that I can do,” Sue said. Museum have interviewed farmers who had to stay

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

On Veterans Day, the United States Postal Service released stamps depicting the Medal of Honor and including photos of the living recipients on the stamp sheet. Included in the photo is Boise native Arthur J. Jackson, one of 464 recipients whose names are included in the Medal of Honor World War II Forever stamp prestige folio. More than 16 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War II. Unfortunately, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye and Vernon McGarity died before the stamps could be issued, as well as Nicholas Oresko, who died after the stamps were printed. Their photos are still included. Pictured (clockwise from upper left) are Charles H. Coolidge of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Francis S. Currey of Selkirk, N.Y.; Walter D. Ehlers of Buena Park, Calif.; John D. Hawk of Bremerton, Wash.; Daniel K. Inouye of Honolulu, Hawaii; Arthur J. Jackson of Boise; Robert D. Maxwell of Bend, Ore.; Vernon McGarity of Memphis, Tenn.; Nicholas Oresko of Cresskill, N.J.; Wilburn K. Ross of Dupont, Wash.; retired postal employee George T. Sakato of Denver, Colo. and Hershel W. Williams of Ona, W.V. 37

Bill Rankin

EVEN WAR COULDN’T STOP ROMANCE Originally published Feb. 28, 1995, in Cavalcade: The Homefront. Bill Rankin died Sept. 29, 2012. By MARIE GALYEAN

Idaho Press-Tribune

ar years on the homefront. You think of shortages, rationing, the draft, blackouts. But what about romance? While battles raged in Europe and the Pacific, life went on and people still met, fell in love and married. Soldiers from the Treasure Valley were shipped around the country — and the world. Military men came to the valley — some for training at Gowen Field. They

met and courted local girls; many ended up staying here and raising their families. Some were young — too young it seemed for marriage and family responsibilities. But wartime accelerated their lives. The boys, many not even finished with high school, grew up fast with death on foreign shores a very possible factor in their near future. Hitler’s forces marched through Europe as the world nervously watched. Bill Rankin of Caldwell was in the National Guard Band with the 183rd Field Artillery. His unit had been called up and sent to Cheyenne, Wyo., in April 1941. “I was reading the funny papers on Dec. 7, when the news of Pearl Harbor came over the radio,” Rankin said.

Bill Rankin, who met his wife wh Here the band is pictured playin ile playing in the National Guard Band, later was sent abroad. g for the 883rd Field Artillery in Please see Rankin, page 39 March 1945.

In appreciation of our WWII veterans and the support they have been to The Salvation Army we want to honor them with a special evening of thanks.

Friday, February 28, 2014 - 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 403 12th Ave. South, Nampa Join us as we commemorate our veterans.

The Salvation Army, Nampa, is sponsoring an evening of celebration as we honor those who have served and defended our freedoms. Enjoy a guest speaker, dinner, music and door prizes as tribute is given to those who have given so much.

ALL VETERANS INVITED! For more information, call (208) 467-6586 ext. 208. 38

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

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Saturday, December 7, 2013

RANKIN Continued from page 38 The military moved fast after this attack, and Rankin’s unit was immediately sent to Fort Lewis, Wash. “We were putting up our tents in a muddy field when some guy from the 153rd Infantry back east came up and asked me to have my band play for a dance that night.” He said his unit was getting ready to ship out to the Pacific, and a nearby church had arranged for some girls to come to a dance in the recreation hall. “I said, ‘No.’ All our stuff was in trucks in mud up to your knees.” However, the sergeant was very persuasive. In spite of the less than favorable conditions, Rankin set up all the instruments off the truck and was playing for the dance on what proved to be a fateful night for him. Rankin was the band leader and played sax and clarinet. “I usually looked the crowd over and picked out the pretty girls, so I could meet them during intermission,” he said. That night a girl in a white dress caught his eye, and though he didn’t know it at the time, he was looking at his future wife. Circumstances seemed to push them together. Before he could even seek her out, he was introduced to the girl during the break, and because she was the president of the USO Club in Tacoma, Wash., she asked him to come and play for their dances.

“We had six or seven dates,” Rankin said, “usually movies, and I always had to leave in the middle in order to make the curfew at the camp.” One night he missed the curfew because of a disagreement with a money-hungry cab driver. Being late meant he didn’t pick up his pass slip in time and he would have his rank of staff sergeant reduced to private. He waited for the dreaded call, but heard nothing. About three days later in the Post Exchange, he ran into the persuasive sergeant who had convinced him to play for the dance. He said he had been on duty the night Rankin was late, and he threw the pass in the stove. “So he saved my rank and got me a wife,” Rankin said with a laugh. He and Barbara (Bobby) Bartley were married June 6, 1942. Their second anniversary coincided with D-Day, June 6, 1944, which was quite a way to commemorate their nuptials. This was certainly a wartime romance that lasted. They celebrated their 52nd anniversary last year and have five children and three grandchildren. Bobby is known throughout the Treasure Valley for her work with the Red Cross, and Bill, in addition to his musical fame with groups such as the Treasure Valley Concert Band and the Basketball Band for Albertson’s home games, was in the insurance business for 50 years, working for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. The Rankins have also worked with When news broke that Japan had surrendered, people threw anything and kiss anystudent exchange programs, hosting 27 stubody in Times Square, as captured on film here when Lt. Victor Jorgensen kissed a dents since 1966. nurse Aug. 14, 1945.

“What I have from Grandpa John O’Connor are a few pictures, some memories and a legacy of an unconquerable spirit shared by those of his generation. Grandpa fought in Europe in the 376th Infantry Regiment. After the war he was a sheet metal worker who helped build the lunar landing module. His generation stopped would-be dictators and put men on the moon. Greatness was found in their work ethic, optimism and love of liberty. Truly we stand on the shoulders of giants.” ~ Jim Rice

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Ruth Glover, of Nampa, tries her hand at riveting on the wing of a P-51 fighter plane at the Warhawk Air Museum in Caldwell. She bucked rivets on the first B-29 bomber plane ever produced during World War II.

WOMEN STEP OUT OF TRADITIONAL ROLE Originally published Feb. 28, 1995, in Cavalcade: The Homefront. By VICTORIA SCANLAN

Idaho Press-Tribune

either Eva Craig, Ruth Quintieri or Ruth Glover knew self-sufficiency before the start of World War II.

Like generations of women before them, they had depended on others for survival, untempted by their limited vocational options. Until then, working women had scarcely been entrusted with sales receipts and typewriters. But as the demand for workers of any kind grew increasingly desperate in 1941, they joined more than 6 million other women in the airﬁelds and shipyards that churned out Allied machines of war. 40

They tied their hair up in handkerchiefs, strapped on tool belts, deciphered blueprints and manned rivet guns. These women made the war go. Certainly, the air and sea-faring vessels they constructed carried young American troops into the fray of a faraway battle fought to ensure freedom and democracy for all. But their unprecedented entry into the wartime work force also marked the beginning of a new era of personal freedom for women. “I felt like I just wanted to do my part,” said Ruth Glover, whose husband fought in Europe and was later wounded at Normandy. She bucked rivets on the upper turret of the first B-29 airplane ever produced. The high-altitude, long-range bomber became a critical member of the Allied air fleet and would later carry the atomic bomb to Japan. “It was exciting, and it gave me something to worry about other than my husband.” Eva Craig was 39 years old when

“

I felt like I just wanted to do my part. It was exciting, and it gave me something to worry about other than my husband.” RUTH GLOVER

she became a scaler at Associated Ship Builders on Harbor Island in Seattle’s Puget Sound for a different reason. She joined her husband in the work force and asked the oldest of her six children to care for the youngest so she could gain personal freedom for the first time. “I had never worked outside the home or been able to earn my own money before,” said the 91 year-old as she relaxed in a plush recliner. “This was my chance.” After Ruth Quintieri graduated from Caldwell High School in 1940, she heeded the advice of an uncle and headed west to a Portland, Ore., shipyard. There, she made about $50 a week—a 75 percent raise from her Nampa dime store salary.

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

“He told me ‘You get the same wages as a man, and they treat you like a man,’” she said. Once they’d found work in wartime industries, new opportunities kept women there. In 1940, about half of the 11 million working women held poorly paid clerical, sales and service jobs. The one-ﬁfth engaged in manufacturing were concentrated at the low end, mostly in textile and clothing factories. But the tides changed. At the peak of women’s wartime employment four years later, more than 3 million women had moved into manufacturing positions, representing a 140 percent increase for the figure for 1940.

Please see Women, page 41 Saturday, December 7, 2013

WOMEN Continued from page 42 Even more astonishing was the 460 percent increase in the number of women employed in production in the “war industries” — metals, chemicals and rubber — that had employed few women before the war. And it was then that the image of Rosie the Riveter was born. The attractive, determined brunette gazed at America from posters and memorabilia and symbolized a national effort for victory. Quintieri and her sister-in-law were first hired as ship fitter’s helpers in Kaiser’s Swan Island shipyard. An entry-level position, she was neither challenged nor terribly fulfilled by her work. “They told us to carry a hammer and look pretty,” she said. “We ended up on the outfitting dock, putting the finishing touches on ships that were heated and really comfortable. So, some of the others called us ‘the glamour girls of berth one.’” But she, like Craig, decided she wanted more. They took advantage of educational opportunities and advanced through the ranks. Quintieri tried her hand at bucking rivets and riveting before settling down as a ship fitter — a carpenter of sorts that works with steel instead of wood. By learning to read blueprints, they each supervised crews to piece together ships that would carry American troops around the globe. Between 1940 and 1944, the number of employed women rose by half, reaching a high of 19 million. And for the first time in American history, married women outnumbered singles. This was not a matter of choice, but of need. When the supply of white males and single white females was exhausted, employers had no alternative but to hire married women and blacks. “Our foreman wasn’t happy about having women on his crew,” Quintieri explained. “He thought the men wouldn’t be able to control themselves, so he watched us like a hawk and we were well protected.” And while many enjoyed the experience of working for the war, they faced challenges new to women. The fever of war had infected the nation, and more than 6.5 million people joined the wartime labor force who wouldn’t have worked if they weren’t needed so badly. Boys and girls left school early to work in paying jobs, and old men came out of retirement to fill in for youths who’d been drafted. But married women accounted for the largest number of adult workers, despite the prejudice against them. In a 1936 Gallup poll, 82 percent of male and three quarters of female respondents said wives with employed husbands should not work. The government agreed, encouraging young mothers, in particular, to stay home. “No women responsible for the care of young children should be encouraged or compelled to seek employment which deprives their children of essential care until all other sources of supply are exhausted,” stated a directive issued by Paul Minuet, chairman of the War Manpower Commission. Those conventions didn’t stop Glover, though. She was 23 years old, and her two children were toddlers when she began working the swing shift 4 p.m. to midnight. Her cousin baby-sat while she crouched in the belly of an airplane for several months, pressing a bucking bar against the force of a compressed rivet gun, manned by a very nice man from Tennessee. When they heard a sharp whistle, they sat and ate their lunches. And when they heard another, they stood up and went back to work. Craig’s two oldest daughters ran her household and helped raise their younger siblings in their mother’s absence. They baby-sat, kept house, cooked and shopped for the family. Without their help, she surely would have been unable to work. Saturday, December 7, 2013

Women with children struggled to join and remain in the work force, because few businesses provided convenient hours to accommodate the schedules of working women. Child care, too, was nearly impossible to find and even less affordable. But for the three Canyon County women, the struggle was worth it. After the war, Quintieri attended the College of Idaho but she left disenchanted. She said all her female classmates could realistically become were (nursing, teaching or clerking.) “I didn’t want to be any of those,” she said with an air of pride. “The shipyards were my college — my growing up years.” Craig took pride in her workwomanship, having pieced together 140 battleships throughout the course of the war. “Each one had to be spotless,” she recalled, because Navy officials clothed in white, cotton gloves wiped every steel surface with freshly scrubbed scrutiny. As for Glover, “it was fun.” And it was important. Even though her supervisors didn’t train her to buck rivets, because they said “anybody can do it,” she took pride in her work. “We didn’t dare leave a rivet crooked, ‘cause those boys had to be able to shoot all the way around!” But Aug. 14, 1945, marked both and end a new beginning for women in the wartime industries. While “Rosie the Riveter” posters came down across the country, careers for women fueled by new-found strength and independence took off. Craig said when every whistle, bell and horn sounded one afternoon, she and her crew didn’t Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

have to be told what it meant. In Portland, Quintieri and her co-workers threw up their gloves and walked out of the shipyard that had employed them for years. And they never returned. Parties exploded in cities across the nation, and young and old alike celebrated Allied victory. “It was kind of mixed emotions for us, though, because we had been told the end of the war would be the end of our neat jobs,” Craig recalled. “But we were so glad it was over.” Most Americans expected the married women only working for the duration of the war would return home when it was over. But their self-reliant trend would set a pace and precedent for all women who followed. In 1940, 15 percent of married women held outside jobs. The number increased to one in four in 1950 and then to more than half in 1980. So, while the prominent role played by married women in wartime was seen as a temporary expedient, it marked a historic change from a relatively small female work force dominated by young singles to an immense force largely comprised of older married or formerly married women. But after raising their children, all three women and many who followed would find themselves not only in other jobs but in dreams of bright, limitless futures. “In years after the war, it was kind of fun to say I was a ‘Rosie the Riveter’ —and it still is,” Quintieri said, smiling. “Now I know I can do anything I want.” 41

Kay Gott

NAMPA WOMAN SERVED AS WASP Originally published Feb. 28, 1995, in Cavalcade: The Homefront.

By SHERRY SQUIRES Idaho Press-Tribune

t age 7, Kay Gott knew her future was up in the air. As she stared into the sky at the Reno airport, she knew she was destined to fly.

It was the Great Depression, and entertainment was scarce. Her mother took her to the airport to see Charles Lindbergh. The government paid the renowned pilot to fly into Reno to entertain. Kay and her mother waited for him all day, but he never showed. It didn’t dampen Kay’s yearning to fly, though. She grew up in Nampa during the Depression, and had strong roots in Canyon County. Her mother, Myra Gott, operated the telephone out of the Dewey Palace Hotel. Gott’s Point, near Lake Lowell, was named for her grandfather. But it was her aunt, Doris Waldamoth, who gave Gott her first boost toward the sky. “She was the only one in the family with money during the Depression,” Gott said. “She managed the $50 KAY GOTT tuition so I could go to the College of Idaho.” WASP pilot In her second year of college, Gott found out about a new government program to train aviation pilots. The College of Idaho was one of a handful of colleges that participated. “The Depression was still on. There were few jobs, and little cash for flying lessons,” Gott said in her book, “Women in Pursuit.” “One farmer’s daughter went to the College of Idaho on the load of celery her father delivered to the dormitory; the students ate celery all winter from her “tuition” payment. Times were tough!” One woman was allowed to enter the program for every 10 men. Gott was accepted. Little did she know that when war broke out, she would be called to fly for the United States government. The Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP program, began in 1942. Gott, along many pilots, earned the flying hours required for military service while in the aviators’ program. As the war escalated, so did Gott’s flying experience. She flew trainer planes, then bombers. When she got the chance, she trained to fly pursuit planes.

“

Women pilots were called to serve their country. We did serve, and we served our country well.”

Please see Gott, page 43 42

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

Saturday, December 7, 2013

GOTT Continued from page 42 Her mission was to move pursuit aircraft within the United States to where they were needed. Sometimes it meant taking a plane off the assembly line, a quick ground check, and off. She flew planes from Newark, N.J., and from Swan Island near Portland. “There was a war on, and someone needed that airplane if we were to win that war,” Gott said in her book. “Women pilots were called to serve their country. We did serve, and we served our country well.” Only 1,102 women flew military aircraft for the U.S. from 1942 to 1944, Kay said. She was one of only 134 who flew for the Air Transport command, and was able to fly nearly every U.S. plane manufactured for the war. But she never flew in combat. “My job was to move airplanes,” she said. “Women in America were prohibited by Congress from leaving the United States.” Gott’s duties took her around the States, though. She doesn’t remember what city she was in, but she can readily Kay Gott with Idaho astronaut Bar recall the day the war ended. bara Morgan. “I remember the streets where I was were flooded, and all this paper started floating down the street,” she said. “It was the paper announcing that the war had ended. We were dancing in the streets.” The end of the war did not end Gott’s flying. She renewed her license in 1963 and flew until 1968. She has been an instructor at Humboldt State University, 300 miles north of San Francisco, for 31 years. The end of the war also didn’t end women’s battles to be recognized for their contributions during World War II. They were not allowed to fly military aircraft again in the United States until 1970, according to Gott. And the WASP have only a one line reference in the World Book Encyclopedia. Saturday, December 7, 2013

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

THOSE WHO GAVE UP THEIR LIVES OR WERE INJURED DURING WORLD WAR II TABULATION BY COUNTIES AND TYPES OF CASUALTIES

FROM CANYON COUNTY

County ............ KIA............DOW...........DO............. DNB...........FOD............M...............TOTAL Ada.......................64................ 5.....................0....................43................ 5...................2...................119 Adams..................8.................. 1.....................0....................0.................. 3...................0...................12 Bannock................58................ 6.....................0....................18................ 5...................2...................89 Bear Lake..............13................ 2.....................0....................6.................. 0...................0...................21 Benewah..............11................ 2.....................0....................7.................. 0...................0...................20 Bingham...............34................ 0.....................0....................14................ 1...................0...................49 Blaine...................6.................. 0.....................0....................2.................. 0...................0...................8 Boise.....................3.................. 0.....................0....................5.................. 1...................0...................9 Bonner..................24................ 2.....................0....................16................ 2...................0...................44 Bonneville............44................ 6.....................1....................16................ 1...................1...................69 Boundary..............14................ 1.....................0....................1.................. 1...................0...................17 Butte.....................4.................. 0.....................0....................0.................. 0...................0...................4 Camas...................4.................. 0.....................0....................2.................. 0...................0...................6 Canyon..................52................ 12...................0....................37................ 8...................1...................110 Caribou.................5.................. 0.....................0....................3.................. 1...................0...................9 Cassia....................18................ 1.....................0....................13................ 4...................0...................36 Clark.....................3.................. 0.....................0....................2.................. 0...................0...................5 Clearwater............18................ 4.....................0....................5.................. 0...................0...................27 Custer...................3.................. 2.....................0....................5.................. 0...................0...................10 Elmore..................9.................. 1.....................0....................5.................. 0...................0...................15 Franklin................8.................. 2.....................0....................5.................. 2...................0...................17 Fremont................12................ 4.....................0....................7.................. 0...................0...................23 Gem......................16................ 2.....................0....................5.................. 3...................0...................26 Gooding................14................ 4.....................0....................6.................. 0...................0...................24 Idaho....................11................ 3.....................0....................10................ 0...................0...................24 Jefferson...............12................ 2.....................0....................4.................. 2...................0...................20 Jerome..................30................ 2.....................0....................13................ 1...................0...................46 Kootenai...............31................ 8.....................0....................23................ 4...................0...................66 Latah....................30................ 5.....................0....................15................ 4...................0...................54 Lemhi...................9.................. 2.....................0....................7.................. 2...................0...................20 Lewis....................15................ 0.....................0....................1.................. 2...................0...................18 Lincoln..................5.................. 0.....................0....................7.................. 0...................0...................12 Madison................13................ 1.....................0....................9.................. 1...................0...................24 Minidoka..............14................ 2.....................0....................7.................. 3...................0...................26 Nez Perce..............36................ 5.....................1....................13................ 8...................0...................63 Oneida..................8.................. 1.....................0....................5.................. 0...................0...................14 Owyhee................8.................. 0.....................0....................2.................. 0...................0...................10 Payette.................12................ 1.....................1....................6.................. 3...................0...................23 Power...................8.................. 3.....................0....................2.................. 2...................0...................15 Shoshone..............28................ 7.....................0....................14................ 0...................1...................50 Teton.....................7.................. 2.....................0....................2.................. 0...................0...................11 Twin Falls..............44................ 6.....................0....................23................ 12.................1...................86 Valley....................8.................. 0.....................0....................3.................. 3...................0...................14 Washington..........15................ 4.....................0....................6.................. 1...................0...................26 Yellowstone..........1.................. 0.....................0....................0.................. 0...................0...................1 State.....................10................ 0.....................0....................14................ 3...................0...................27

Leon C. Addy, Maj. Glen S. Admyers, Lt. Herman A. Anders, SSG Charles S. Atteberry, Lt. Lloyd E. Atteberry, 1 Lt. Ross C. Bales, Capt. Glenn L. Barnhart, Pvt. Melvin P. Becktold, Pvt Stanley E. Bohac, PFC Loyal P. Bradley,TEC4 Robert E. Brasﬁeld, Lt. Vernan D. Breitling, TEC4 Milvern Brekke, Cpl. Donald S. Brown, Lt. Earl L. Brown, Pvt. John E. Burt, Cpl. Charlie H. Caddy, SSG Harry L. Caldwell, Sgt. Adrian R. Cameron, PFC Leo A. Campbell, Pvt. Ernest T. Carlow, Sgt. Manuel Chavez, PFC Leon R. Christensen, Lt. Russell S. Clore, Lt.C Jack J. Colson, Pvt. Loe R. Cook, TEC4 Roger G. Crain, Pvt. James D. Cummins, SSG Joe M. Divin, Sgt. Lou J. Divin, Sgt. K Leighton J. Downing, PFC Carl P. Dunaway, Capt. Earl D. Eggers, 1 Lt. Arthur R. Elliott, Pvt. Jesse Endicott, PFC Lyle D. Feeny, Pvt. David B. Finch, Lt. Donald W. Froman, Sgt. Wayne P. Frost, FL O Warren C. Fry, PFC Lyle A. Geisler, Cpl. Clifford M. Glaze, 1 Lt Charles H. Goettling, SSG Donald A. Gooder, Sgt. John C. Gray, MSG Leroy E. Griffiths, Pvt. Richard L. Harbison, TEC4 Donald E. Hermo, Lt. Emest W. Hickox, Capt. James H. R. Hobbs, Cpl. James K. Horner, PFC Donald L. Humpherys, PFC Jim A. Hunter, PFC Orville Hunter, Lt. Robert L. Jackson, 1 Lt.

Totals............... 800............111.............3............... 409............88..............8................1,419 KIA — Killed in Action DNB —Died Non-Battle 44

DOW — Died of Wounds FOD — Finding of Death

DOI —Died of Injuries M— Missing Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

DOW DNB KIA KIA FOD FOD KIA DOW KIA KIA DNB KIA DNB DNB KIA FOD DNB DNB KIA DNB DNB KIA DNB DNB DNB KIA FOD KIA DOW KIA DOW DNB KIA KIA KNB KIA KIA KIA DNB DNB DOW DNB KIA DNB KIA DOW DNB DNB DNB DNB KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA

Glenn R. Jones, TECS Karl L. Jones, Sgt. John R. Kerfoot, Lt. George W. Kerr, PFC Willis L. Lamm, PFC Howard E. Lewis, 2 Lt. Edward F. Link, Pvt. Herbert D. Link, Sgt. Robert S. McAlevy, Pvt. Wayne P. McCallen, Lt. Golbert E. McCorkle, Pvt. James M. McCurry, Pvt. Jack R. McGoldrick, Pvt. Hugh J. McLaughlin, Capt. Richard C. Miles, Lt. Van N. Moad, Jr., 1 Lt Dowayne W. Minister, PFC Charles W. Murphy Jr., Capt. Norman O. Needham, TEC3 Donald B. Newman, Capt. Robert K. Nielsen, PFC John M. Norquist, SSG John B. Olson, Cpl. Russel L. Overlin, PFC Wayne W. Painter, PFC Leighton D. Patterson, FL O Harry M. Paxton, Pvt. Gerald E. Pennington, PFC Robert D. Pinkerton, 2 Lt. Everett T. Poole, Pvt. John W. Rice, TEC5 Merrill W. Riner, PFC Robert L. Robertson, Lt. Edmund L. Russell, Cpl. Charles F. Salek, PFC Gerald L. Schmidt, Pvt. Donald L. Schnacker, PFC Merl L. Schroeder, l Lt. Harry A. Sealey, l Lt. Kenneth L. Sinclair, TSG Gerald C. Slonecker, PFC Howard M. Spry, Sgt Raymond L. St. Jeor, TSG Matthew I. Stephens, TEC4 Roy L. Terry, Pvt. Lyle Tiffany, PFC William M. Towery, Sgt. Joseph D. Udovick, PFC Loren E. Van Slyke, Pvt. Hugh C. West, Pvt. Walter H. White, Sgt. Lloyd B. Whitten, PFC Reynold F. Wilson, Lt. Elless C. Wright, Cpl. Antonio Yhaguen, PFC

KIA DOW DNB KIA DOW FOD KIA KIA DNB DOW KIA DNB KIA DNB DNB FOD DOW DOW DNB KIA PFC KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA DOW DNB DNB DNB DNB KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA FOD KIA DNB KIA DNB FOD KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA DNB M DNB DNB DNB KIA

FROM OWYHEE COUNTY Albert H. Arendt, Cpl. Vendil D. Eoff, PFC Marion E. Gentry, Pvt. Glen Johnson, TEC5 Leo Reich, Pvt.

KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA

Cloyd B. Sersain, Cpl. Robert Sweep, Sgt. Jim M. Thornsbery, Sgt. Charles B. Walker, SSG

DNB KIA DNB KIA

Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Idaho Press-Tribune is proud to honor and support those who have served and are serving in the armed forces.

Thank you!

A portion of the proceeds from our Salute special section will be donated to the Wyakin Warrior Foundation.

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Saturday, December 7, 2013

Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

USS IDAHO REMEMBERED FOR ROLE IN WWII Originally published Dec. 7, 2010, in the Idaho Press-Tribune.

By TABITHA SIMENC

The model of the USS Idaho on display at the Idaho Military Museum was built by Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Dean McCurdy.

Idaho Press-Tribune

n this day in 1941, the crew of the Gem State’s namesake battleship, the USS Idaho, heard of attacks on other U.S. ships from its location in Iceland. Two days later, the ship left for the U.S. and would begin four years of service in World War II.

Ken Swanson, director of the Idaho Military History Museum, said at the time of the Pearl Harbor attacks in Hawaii, the USS Idaho was fighting with the North Atlantic fleet, despite the fact the United States had not yet entered the war. The ship then made the journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the U.S., where it spent time traveling from San Francisco to Seattle, protecting West Coast ports and cities. For the majority of the war, the ship supported forces in the South Pacific until the sur-

render of Japan. “It helped in the bombing of various islands, then it was extremely important in a lot of shore bombardments in the South Pacific,” Swanson said. “It was part of the stepping-stone approach, going back to the home islands of Japan, softening up beaches for various invasions.” Swanson said the ship also led the USS Missouri into Tokyo Bay for the official Japanese surrender, before heading back to the U.S. where it was decommissioned and eventually scrapped.

“By then she was a pretty old ship, her hull was 30 years old,” Swanson said. “For a battleship, constantly on the sea, for an older ship, it would have taken its toll.” Although named after Idaho, soldiers aboard the vessel were from all over the nation. “At that time, battleships were named after states; cruisers were named after cities,” Swanson said. “Some people from Idaho did end up there but that was by needs of the Navy rather than by plan.”

CCOA APPRECIATES & THANKS ALL VETERANS & THEIR FAMILIES FOR THEIR SERVICE!

CCOA 46

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

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Honoring

all who serve and who have served both home and away for our freedom NATIONAL

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Salute: A Tribute to our Greatest Generation

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