The Issaquah Press
Section
LEST WE FORGET
B s IN THE LINE
Issaquah man established fuel stations in the South Pacific during WWII
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter In the distance, not far from beaches along Sainte-Maxime, a city along the Mediterranean Sea, a battle raged to liberate France from Nazi occupation. Offshore, a ship painted a radiant white girded for the inevitable casualties — incoming soldiers suffering from gunshot and shrapnel wounds. The crew aboard spent the months beforehand preparing for service in a combat zone. The complement of nurses aboard the ship, U.S. Army Hospital Ship Marigold, included 21-year-old Lucille Lennart, a compassionate young woman from tiny Everson, near the border between Washington and British Columbia. Nowadays, Lucille Lennart is Lucille Lundstrom, a retired nurse and resident at Providence Point in Issaquah. Like other World War II veterans — a group dubbed “The Greatest Generation” by journalist Tom Brokaw — Lundstrom is humble about the years she served aboard the Marigold. “I thought I should,” she said in a recent interview. “There was a war on.” Lundstrom served as a nurse aboard the Marigold — a cruise liner converted for wartime use — as the ship sailed around the globe and joined more than 350,000 American women in military service amid World War II. In the years after the war, she returned to the United States, married George Lundstrom and started a family. Lundstrom’s daughter is Dr. Rosemary Warren, a dentist in Issaquah.
BY CHRISTINA LORDS
At right, William Bentz, a 92-year-old World War II veteran, holds a collection of materials he obtained while visiting the rededication of the National WWII Memorial in May 2004 in Washington, D.C. He served in humid areas, such as New Guinea and the Philippines (above), in his three years of service.
When William Bentz enlisted in the United States Army in July 1943 to serve in history’s most widespread world war, modern technological communication did not yet exist. That meant no cellphones, no Skype, no email.
What he and his wife Onadee did have, however, was V-Mail. Short for Victory Mail, the hybrid mail system used by Americans in World War II to securely correspond with soldiers stationed abroad. “I wrote what they call V letters,” he said. “During the war times, instead of having your 8.5 by 10 legal paper, they reduced
s
World War II nurse treated wounded soldiers at decisive battles
OF FIRE
By Christina Lords Issaquah Press reporter
WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2012
them down … those days you couldn’t run to the computer to get it across and I was certainly too far away to yell.” William Bentz reported for active duty at Fort Lewis before taking on firefighting training at a WWII U.S. Army camp called Camp Claiborne in Louisiana. Bentz opted to be what was called service personnel instead of
in the infantry because he had a wife and infant at home. It took 25 days via naval ship to get to his first long-term destination during the war — New Guinea. “A lot of people don’t think about it, but there were 2,500 to See FIRE, Page B6
LUCILLE LUNDSTROM The tasks at Sainte-Maxime included tending to wounded Ghoums, or soldiers from France’s colonial territories in Africa. Some soldiers carried a small pouch holding ears sliced from German soldiers, but before the ship transferred the patients to a hospital onshore, Lundstrom and another nurse needed to confiscate the pouches for disposal. “It was harrowing work, not knowing the dialect, to try calming fighters reluctant to give up their spoils,” author Michael Skalley chronicled in “A Medal for Marigold” — a 1982 account about the ship. “The girls said that, unconsciously, whenever they were near the beds of the Ghoums, both hands went up to their ears.” The odyssey begins Lundstrom started training as See NURSE, Page B6
Remembering the 19 who gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom Freedom isn’t free. Since the birth of this country, men and women have been willing to fight and die for Americans to be free to live their lives as they choose. And the number of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice is staggering. More than 1.3 million men and women have died in wars fought by or on behalf of this country since 1775. Men and women have also been willing to sacrifice their personal time, by serving in times when war was not on or imminent. They have done all types of jobs that people in the civilian sector do, but instead did them in service to this country while they stood ready to defend our lives, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We at The Issaquah Press salute, honor and thank the men and women from our community who have paid all types of sacrifices to keep themselves, their families and everyone else free. We hope you will do the same.
Paul Alfred Ambrose
Robert Arndt Corporal, U.S. Army, C Company, 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry,
Private, U.S. Army, 701 T.D. Battalion July 9, 1924 – May 31, 1944 Graduated from Issaquah High School in 1942. KIA in Anzio, Italy. Buried in Hillside Cemetery. 9th Infantry Division Died at age 21. Born: May 6, 1946 Died: July 29, 1967 He was shot in early 1967, but recovered; was back in action only a few days when he was killed in Dinh Tuong Province, South Vietnam. Buried in Hillside Cemetery.
Robert Baskett
Sergeant, U.S. Army, 8th Infantry April 7, 1925 – July 15, 1944 Graduated from Issaquah High School in 1943. KIA in Normandy, France. Buried in Hillside Cemetery.
cise over Sweetwater, Texas, in May 1944. Buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle. Because WASPs were considered civilians, she never received military burial. Elizabeth Erickson aShe was recently awarded a Woman Airforce Congressional Service Pilots Gold Medal (WASPs) by President Died in a Obama. training exer-
Peter Erickson Private, U.S. Army, 18th Engineer Regiment Died: Aug. 10, 1918 Buried in Suresnes American
Cemetery, in Suresnes, France. From the Sept. 27, 1918, Press: “A large congregation attended the memorial service Sunday afternoon at Issaquah in honor of Peter Erickson, the first of the boys from Issaquah to die in the service of his country. The oration delivered by the Rev. S. V. Warren touched a high note of patriotism.
Clifford Benson
James Patrick Brady Corporal, U.S. Army, Scotch
George C. Larsen Private first class, U.S. Army,
Second lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Force, 737th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Group Shot down in Croatia on April 21, 1944.
Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division Born: March 7, 1949 Died: June 18, 1969 KIA in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam. Buried in Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton. infantry, Born: Feb. 17, 1926 Died: June 14, 1945 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. KIA by a grenade attacking Hill 181 in Ryuku, Okinawa, Japan. Buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Laurence J. Lortie Second
Emmett R. McDonald
Jack McQuade Private,
TELL US YOUR STORY If you served in the military during wartime, we want to hear from you. We would like to share your story in future papers. Email Managing Editor Kathleen R. Merrill at editor@isspress.com.
Louis Petersen Flight officer, U.S. Army Air Force, 422nd Bomb
lieutenant U.S. Army Air Force 45th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group MIA June 1, 1945, somewhere between Iwo Jima and Osaka, Japan; weather may have been the reason for the loss. Captain, U.S. Air Force Born: July 27, 1939, MIA May 31, 1966, Declared dead: Feb. 11, 1975 Missing in air loss/crash in North Vietnam. (Remains never recovered.) U.S. Army Air Force, 481st Service Squadron, 46th Air Service Group Born: Nov. 28, 1920 Killed April 18, 1945, in accidental bomb explosion. Buried in Hillside Cemetery. Squadron, 305th Bomb Group Killed Aug. 6, 1944, when the B-17 he was co-piloting was hit by flak and crashed near Vollradisroda, Germany. Interred in Germany; later brought home to Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton.
Robert Philp Staff sergeant,
U.S. Army Air Force, 589th Bomb Squadron, 387th Bomb Group Shot down near Mayan, Germany, where his crew was attacking a railroad viaduct, on Dec. 23, 1944.
Second lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Force, 443rd Bomb Squadron, 320th Bomb Group
MIA Oct. 23, 1943, over the Tyrrhenian Sea near Giannuitri Island. The crew of the downed B-26 was seen in life rafts but Air-Sea Rescue boats could not locate them, and no one from the crew was ever seen again. Tablets of the missing are at Florence American Cemetery in Florence, Italy.
Joseph Albert Tondreau
Fireman first class, U.S. Navy/Naval Reserve MIA or buried at sea Dec. 18, 1944. Tablets of the missing are at Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines.
John Raymond Smart
Robert Watson Staff sergeant, U.S. Army Air Force, 375th Bomber
Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy; reported MIA between January and April 1944; crew of plane was never found. Tablets of the missing are at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.
Information is incomplete and/or conflicting for the 19 local veterans killed while serving in wartime. Photos also could not be located for three of them. If you have information or photos, email editor@isspress.com or call 392-6434, ext. 227.
Harold Gleason Private first class, U.S. Army, 301st Infantry Regiment, 94th Division Born: Feb. 6, 1916 Killed March 2, 1945, while serving as a medic near Serrig, Germany. Buried in Hillside Cemetery. (no photo available)
Robert Hoskins Lance corporal (mortarman), U.S. Marine Corps, H&S Company 5, Mar 1 Mar Div Born: Sept. 14, 1949 Died: Nov. 25, 1968 KIA in Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Buried in Hillside Cemetery. (no photo available)
Carl Albert Larson Corporal, U.S. Army 361st Infantry Regiment, 91st Division Died Oct. 9, 1918 Buried in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, in Romagne, France. (no photo available)
In Loving Memory: SSgt. Dale & Lt. Alice Lee
To learn more about this section, read Managing Editor Kathleen R. Merrill’s column on Page A6.