honoring our
heroes Telling The sTories of our local veTerans
Page 2 • HONORINg OUR HeROeS • INdePeNdeNt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019
Typing skills served Drown well in Navy By Sabrina Pankratz spankratz@marshallindependent.com
Bill Drown
MaRSHaLL — William (Bill) Drown’s typing skills gained during high school came of value when he was drafted into the Navy during the Korean War. “I quickly went from a Seaman, to a Seaman personnelman (PN),” Drown said. Drown worked for the harvest center pitching bundles when he was 17 years old. Drown said there was a lack of men because of World War II, and it was important for the farmers to have the help because of the war. “So, the principal because the farmer went in and talked to him, allowed me to come to school three weeks later, because I helped with the thrashing,” Drown said. “So now what happened was all the classes were taken up, and I had to take a class that was typing, office management and bookkeeping. So that was a girl’s thing at that time. Well that came in very handy for me as the years went along.” after graduation Drown was employed by a doctor and his ability to type came in handy. “He says this is just the guy I need. I need somebody who can go in the field and know
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what we are doing and then type up a report at the end of every week,” Drown said. “I worked there two years and then I was drafted into the Navy.” Drown was drafted during the Korean War. He was assigned to the USS Tarawa CV40 in New York after boot camp at the great Lakes. “There was a thousand of us on a Monday
morning checking in on board, all in line. Here I am standing there, 554th of a thousand and we heard my name being called up there,” Drown said. “I stood up and waved my hands and he came back to me. He says, ‘are you William Drown Page 3
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Drown From Page 2 Drown seamen?’ and I said, ‘yes I am.’ He said, ‘follow me.’ I jumped out of the line and followed him past everybody in line in to the hangar desk and down to an office. The sign said Personnel office. He rapped on the door. I went in and he said ‘I have Seaman Drown in tow,’ ” Drown said. “The Personnel officer says, ‘Drown, it says in here that you know how to type. and that you’ve had office management and bookkeeping.’ and I said ‘I did.’ He said, ‘morrison, here’s your man,’ ” Drown said. Drown said he had to complete a 3-minute test for the personnel officer. He chose a warm up from his high school class for the subject of the test, because the personnel officer didn’t care what he typed. “So I typed ‘the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Why did the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog. The lazy dog was lazy, that’s why the quick brown fox typed over the lazy dog.’ and I went on with that scenario until I got my 3 min-
utes.” Drown said he had no errors on the test and he became the captain’s secretary for handling captain’s mast. “So, the Captain said, ‘I want this man. We’re going to have some court-martials, and I want this man to do the typing.’ I said, ‘I don’t take shorthand.’ He says, ‘you don’t have to, my secretary takes shorthand, she’ll take care of it. I want you there to see what’s going on, what is happening with this court martial, and when it’s all done at the end of every day she will come to you. Transcribe her shorthand into something you can understand, you type it up for me so tomorrow morning at 9’clock, when we do the court-martial, so I can call you and you will have the reference for me,’ ” Drown said. “The fact that I knew how to type and do bookkeeping was treating me really well. I didn’t have to do any manual labor or swab the deck or anything like that, because I knew how to type and keep books. I got moved into
Army National Guard PFC 2003 - 2009 Operation Iraqi Freedom
David Girgen
US Army PFC WWII
Herbert F. Remiger
an office and that’s where I stayed until I was discharged,” Drown said. “my hearing aids are furnished by the Va, because of the duty I had,” Drown said. His hearing issues came from being a powder captain on a 5inch 38-caliber gun mount, on the port side while he was on the USS Tarawa CV40. “Your battle station is something else, when general quarters sounded I left my office and went to my gun mount.” Drown spent 19 months overseas during his time in the service. “When I come back from overseas I was sent to United Naval Separation Center at orange, Texas. That’s where I was discharged from. We drew straws to see where the heck we went,” Drown said. “The day the Korean War was signed off, 23 days later I was back home. They got rid of us as fast they took us in.” “I went back there years later after I was married and it (United Naval Separation Center) was closed, shut down, dissolved,”
US Army Private 1918-1919 WWI - France
William Malo
US Marine Corps CW04 Iraq - 2002 & 2009 Afganistan - 2013 Indonesia & Thailand Tsunami Emergency Response - 2004
Dean Arnold
Submitted photo
Bill Drown served on the USS Tarawa.
Drown said. Drown planned to go back in to the Navy and take the roTC program at Brookings, South Dakota. “I thought court-martials were the most interesting thing in the world, because people were always getting in trouble,” Drown said. “I went in and said ‘I want to come back in the fall and I want to take the roTC program. I want to graduate in two years as a master chief warrant officer.’ “Well, I got home on a Wednesday and I told my mother that I’m going to go back into the Navy. That was a Wednesday afternoon. Friday night there was a dance at the Blue moon. Well,
US Marines Master Sergeant 1941-1945 WWII - Philippines
Everett Garrow
US Army Corporal Korea
Gerald O. Wagner
that I night I met the girl that 13 months later I married, and I forgot all about the service.” Drown and Sharlene were married in 1955, and had seven children. Drown said he and Sharlene went to 49 of the 50 states, before Sharlene died in 2013. “We just did a lot of traveling, we were up to alaska. We travelled really well together. my wife always told our kids, your father is a good pilot and I’m a good navigator,” Drown said. Drown said he and Sharlene stayed in minneota after he retired and Drown moved to marshall in 2013 to be closer to family.
US Air Force Staff Sergeant 1950-1954 Korea
Ralph D. Olson
US Marine Corps Sergeant Currently Serving
Mazric Shambarger
paGE 4 • HONORING OUR HEROES • INdEpENdENt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019
Labat served overseas as airplane mechanic during WWII By Sabrina Pankratz spankratz@marshallindependent.com
Photo by Sabrina Pankratz
Pete Labat shows off his Army Airforce uniform.
US Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant 20 Years Served
Patricia Ebner (Wagner)
US Navy IC-2 (E-5) 1965-1969 Vietnam
Larry Murphy
marSHaLL — Pete Labat believes he was one of the “lucky ones.” Cpl. Pete Labat served during World War II as an airplane mechanic. Labat served from September 1942 to February 1946. “I think I was probably one of the lucky ones, because I only served (overseas) for six months,” said Labat. Labat said he was in school for six months in Texas. “We didn’t do much basic training, went to school right away,” Labat said. after school, Labat was sent to Philadelphia for about two months to work in the glenn L. martin 325 factory. Labat said he was then sent out to Tampa, Florida, to wait until he was assigned to a group and was assigned to Lake Charles, Louisiana. “We went to Lake Charles, I don’t know what day, but we were there just about two years,” Labat said. Labat served in the 87th airdrome Squadron 56 and after two years in Florida was sent over-
US Army PFC 1944-1946 WWII - Atlantic & Pacific Theater
Phillip Breyfogle
US Navy AG-1(SW) E-6 1998 - 2008 Op. Enduring Freedom Op. Iraqi Freedom
Melissa L.Showers (Murphy)
seas to guam for six months. “We went overseas to guam, on our way over, Japan had not surrendered. What happened was our refrigeration on our ship, something went wrong and they had to pull in to Hawaii to get us fixed,” Labat said. “So we were there for two weeks, but in the meantime Japan had surrendered. everybody figured they won’t need us to go any further, so we figured we could come home,” Labat said. “But we didn’t get that lucky. We went on to guam for six months, and then we got a small aircraft carrier and they did send us home,” Labat said. Labat fixed B-26s during his time in the service. “(We fixed) just about everything, from tires to lights to mechanics,” Labat said. “Sometimes I got a hard time hearing, whether it’s service connected or not, we were around those engines all day long.” Labat was sent to Fort mcCoy in Wisconsin where he received his discharge papers in FebruLabat Page 5
Army National Guard Sergeant Currently Serving Operation Iraqi Freedom
Adam Illies
Army National Guard Sergeant 12 Years Operation Enduring Freedom
Camerin Nath-Huls
US Army SPC4 1968-1971 Vietnam
Jerry Gregg
US Navy 2nd Class Boatswain 1941-1945 WWII
Milo Kern
HONORING OUR HEROES • INdEpENdENt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019 • paGE 5
Labat From Page 4 ary of 1946. after being discharged Labat went back to work. “I worked for the neighbors for a year, and then I started my own farm near Wood Lake,” Labat said. Labat met his wife, Irene, before leaving for World War II. “When we left she was there to say goodbye. I knew her. I hadn’t dated her or nothing yet,” Labat said. The couple had three children — two girls and a boy. Labat earned awards from his service in the army air Force, but after his records were lost he never received them. Labat’s family reconstructed his service records with the Lyon County Veterans’ Service officer and Labat finally received his medals in october of 2017 on his 97th birthday. Labat earned the american Theater Service medal, the asiatic-Pacific Theater Service medal, the army good Conduct medal, the meritorious Unit award, and the WWII Service Lapel Pin during his service. oct. 2 was also proclaimed Peter B. Labat Day in 2017, a proclamation from marshall mayor Bob Byrnes.
US Army Sargeant 1941-1945 WWII-North Africa South Italy
Lars Jappe
US Army MSGT 23 Years Operation Iraqi Freedom
Dallas Williams
Submitted photos
In 2017, Pete Labat, on his 97th birthday, was presented with military medals he never received after his discharge from the Army.
US Army 1st Div., 1st Air Cav. Sargeant 1968-1970 Vietnam
Joseph H. Louwagie
Army National Guard CSM 38 Years Kosovo
Steve Simmons
US Air Force SSGT 20 Years Vietnam
Warren Roberts
Army National Guard SGT 12 Years Iraq
Bon Hill-Simmons
US Navy MMFN 4 Years Lebanon
Donald Williams
US Navy Seebees Carpenter Mate 2nd Class 1943-1946 WWII
Vincent V. Buysse
paGE 6 • HONORING OUR HEROES • INdEpENdENt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019
Leek served in U.S. Army Counterintelligence By Sabrina Pankratz spankratz@marshallindependent.com
Photo by Sabrina Pankratz
Darwin Leek holds his Army uniform when serving during the Vietnam War.
US Army Sergeant 1952-1954 Korean War
Gene (ER) Thooft
US Army Corporal 9 Years Operation Enduring Freedom Iraq’s Freedom
Karl Madetzke
marSHaLL — retired army Staff Sgt. Darwin Leek enlisted in 1966 during Vietnam War. “I enlisted and was able to get into U.S. army Counterintelligence, which is not James Bond,” Leek said. “my specialty was in locks and locking devices. The fella that I worked with his specialty was in radio communications.” “The Counterintelligence portion of it is setting up security procedures so that they (the military) couldn’t be penetrated,” Leek said. “It was the counter aspect of espionage. We did not actually do any espionage.” Leek graduated from the U.S. army Counterintelligence School at Fort Holabird in Baltimore, maryland in July 1966. “once I graduated from Counter Intelligence school, even though I carried a rank, I never ever wore a uniform. I was given civilian credentials and wore civilian clothing,” Leek said. after graduating, Leek was sent to atlanta, georgia, for his first assignment.
US Navy 4 Years WWII
Clifford & Harold Radke
Armored Infantry Staff SGT 3 Years WWII
Norm Schoephoerster
“There was an army headquarters there and Lockheed marietta was just outside of atlanta. There were a lot of military people there, because they were building military aircraft,” Leek said. “So, there were a lot of military people that needed security clearances in that area.” So, we were working with them (the military) to investigate people that they were trying to get in there to work,” Leek said. “We would go to local police departments in the rural areas of georgia, checking with the sheriff to see what type of person they were. We would check local records of the courts. Back in those days it was not uncommon for the military to get young fellas in that had gotten in trouble in their local home towns. The judge would say you can either go to jail or you can join the military,” Leek said. Leek was sent to Brussels, Belgium in January of 1967 to work at the Supreme Headquarters allied Powers europe (SHaPe), the military arm of the North atlantic Treaty organization (NaTo). Two months after arriving his wife joined him in Leek Page 7
US Army Corporal 4 1/2 Years WWII
Nels Leroy Bengtson
US Army Corporal 1948-1952 Korean War
Lawrence A. Filter, Sr.
US Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class 6 Years Desert Storm
Tom Werner
US Army, Army Reserves Master SGT 1954-1960 1973-1990
Karl-Heinz W. Evers
HONORING OUR HEROES • INdEpENdENt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019 • paGE 7
Leek From Page 6 Brussels. “I was fortunate enough in 26 months over there, I had my wife there for the last 24 months,” Leek said. “Just a short time then after she was there, she graduated from Iowa state, and had a teaching certificate. The NaTo headquarters had school for children of the NaTo ambassadors and higher ranking officers, and she taught math over there actually for a year to international students.” Leek was in Brussels for 26 months, doing security checks and ensuring everyone was following the security guidelines. “on occasion, we would go to an office after hours, and go through the office and make sure all the documents had been put away properly, the desks were all locked, and all that sort of thing,” Leek said. “We worked with a lot of generals and colonels from other countries, and I was a staff sergeant at the time. If I would go in to a colonel’s office and ask him a question there was a good chance he would not tell me what I needed to know. But, as a civilian he thought I probably was military, but didn’t know what my rank was,” Leek said. “I did an interview with a captain one
US Army Reserve SPC E3-USAR 12 Years Iraq
Daniel Isaackson
US Army, National Guard E-4 22 Years Cold War
Dennis Lozinski
time, and it was conducting an investigation for security clearance on a lieutenant and he was given as a coworker. So, I went in and was talking to him and asking him questions about this lieutenant,” Leek said. “The captain asked me what my rank was and I said well my rank is classified and I’m civilian status. He said you might be an enlisted man, which I was, but he said I’m not going to tell an enlisted man anything about a fellow officer and I said oK.” “So, I went back and told my commanding officer, who was full colonel at the time and he got on the phone and called that captain. The captain came over to my boss’ office and stood at attention while I conducted my interview in front of my colonel,” Leek said. NaTo held conferences outside of Brussells and a team including Leek would be sent ahead of time. “Three or four of us from our group would have to go there two or three days ahead of time, and we would check the locking security, set up our radio equipSubmitted photo
Leek receives a commemoration medal.
Leek Page 8
US Air Force Staff SGT 1969-1977 Vietnam War
Jerry D. Filter
US Army 1st LT 1965-1969 Vietnam
John R. Cool
US Army Sergeant 4 Years Vietnam
George Seldat
US Army SGT E5 2001-2011 Iraq
Luke Miller
US Army S/SGT 1941-1945 WWII European Theatre
Leroy M. Greeley
US Navy RM3 1963-1967 Vietnam
Gary W. Johnson
paGE 8 • HONORING OUR HEROES • INdEpENdENt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019
DeJaeghere shares memories of Cold War in Europe By Jim Muchlinski Special to the Independent
mINNeoTa — after growing up on a Lyon County farm in the early 20th century, where hard work was a main part of daily life, Joe DeJaeghere was ready for the demands of service in the U.S. army. DeJaeghere branched out from his roots in Nordland Township, Lyon County, south of minneota in the mid 1950s when he volunteered for the army. He was assigned to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in the ozark mountains of southern missouri. He was then assigned to an 18-month tour of duty in western europe which began in 1954. He served as a wartime veteran since hostilities in Korea had not officially been declared over. They were halted in 1953 as part of a cease fire, which became a step toward the creation of a new, easier to fortify boundary between the comDeJaeghere Page 9
Photo by Jim Muchlinski
Joe and Lorraine DeJaeghere farmed for many years in Nordland and Island Lake townships south of Minneota before moving to Hill Street Place in Marshall. Joe completed an 18-month tour of duty in France during the mid 1950s in the early years of the Cold War, when European countries were almost completely divided between East and West by the political Iron Curtain.
Leek From Page 7
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ment, check for bugging devices. and then while the conference (was going) we would continuously monitor with our radio equipment in the event that a bugging device had been brought in,” said Leek. “We found one bugging device in a coffee table that had been given to a general as a gift and the coffee table was in his office," Leek said. “We were trying to stop any espionage on the NaTo properties.” Leek was active duty until april of 1969, and then was three years of inactive duty until being discharged. “I got out of the military, and we both came from farming communities and didn’t necessarily want to go back there. my wife is a big Twins fan so we decided to go to the minneapolis and Saint Paul area. after the military, Leek went to the cities after being hired at State Farm Insurance and eventually moved to marshall in 1973. “We started in the cities. We were there for four years," Leek said. "She taught school, and I worked for State Farm. and then, when she was expecting our first daughter, an opportunity to move out to marshall came up. We decided since we were starting a family we
Staff Sgt. Darwin Leek
might like to be in a smaller community.” Leek and his wife raised their three children in marshall, and have remained in marshall as Leek retired from State Farm after 34 years.
HONORING OUR HEROES • INdEpENdENt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019 • paGE 9
DeJaeghere From Page 8 munist North Korea and the republic of South Korea. as the situation on the Korean Peninsula stabilized, DeJaeghere carried out a daily role in France as an army soldier serving in a support capacity for the U.S. air Force. He transported a construction crew from their base to work sites. “There were 12 U.S. air bases in France in those days,” DeJaeghere said. “They were in place for a possible air war with the russians, like what happened with germany in World War II.” He said his army days had similarities to growing up on the family farm. For much of the year, the only times he spent in the house during the day were for breakfast, his noon meal and supper. even so he found that basic training at Fort Leonard Wood involved challenges, the kind of military training tradition that aims to make recruits ready for whatever demands they might face while on active duty. “Basic training was tough,” DeJaeghere said. “I was used to hard work and following orders, but they were still long hard days. We crawled over rough terrain at Fort Leonard Wood, and went back every time to do it again the next day.” after succeeding with the main part of basic training, he was assigned to an eightweek cooking school where he learned how to prepare large quantities of food for mess halls in a way that would help to keep troops healthy and physically fit. He’d learned how to cook on the farm after his mother died. He said that type of starting point made it very likely that a soldier would be chosen for daily cooking duties. He traveled across the atlantic ocean for nine days, mostly with storm conditions, on a voyage that was only supposed to take less than a week. His assignment after arriving at his destination was also slightly different than expected. Instead of spending his days in the kitchen, he was needed as a driver. “They had enough cooks, so I was asked if I knew how to drive a car,” DeJaeghere said. “When I said I did, the officer told me that means I could drive a truck. That’s how I became a truck driver.” He spent each day following planned routes between three different military bases and a rock quarry site where crew members crushed rocks into paving material. The process included advice from an experienced non-commissioned officer who told him to arrive early at the kitchen, before the announced start times for food service, because he’d be likely to get a more generous supply of food for himself and the crew.
that something was happening as expected. His family background was more of a factor during several standard authorized military leaves, which he spent in neighboring Belgium with relatives. The first time he went to Belgium by train, he arrived before a letter he sent to say he’d visit. The relative opened the front door for him, however, because of his army uniform. “They (Belgian relatives) were very interested in hearing about america,” DeJaeghere said. “They enjoyed learning the details about my branch of the family. I was fortunate to be able to meet them, travel, see more of the world, and serve my country in the military all at the same time.” His tour of duty in France occurred less than five years after the formation of the North atlantic Treaty organization among western and southern european countries and the Warsaw Pact comprised of eastern european nations that had transitioned to communist post-war governments aligned with the Soviet Union. although that backdrop of Cold War tension never led to armed conflict in eu-
rope, DeJaeghere said military personnel in the mid 1950s were fully prepared in the event of another major war. after returning to the United States, DeJaeghere went back to farming in the minneota area. one of his sons, mark, is carrying on the farming tradition with his wife, Stephanie, and their children. Joe and his wife, Lorraine, have a total of six children and 16 grandchildren. They all live in minnesota. The couple now live at Hill Street Place in marshall, but still enjoy visiting the family farm. “I like to go out to the farm and check on it,” Joe said. “We have cattle and 300 acres of pasture, so there are always things to check.” Lorraine said her husband’s army experiences are an important of their family’s sense of patriotism and their desire to recognize contributions all veterans have made to preserving individual freedoms. “His time in the army became an important part of his life,” Lorraine said. “We enjoy hearing about it. It was an opportunity for him to give something back to our country.”
Joe DeJaeghere
Several days later, he learned that he should not (under any circumstances) take left over food back to the kitchen. He was told how it almost guaranteed that at least for a day or two he wouldn’t be given as much. He added that high standards were part of every daily routine from start to finish, beginning with a roll call each morning followed a short time later by the work call. Having grown up in a Belgian american family, DeJaeghere has been bilingual since childhood with the ability to speak fluently in Flemish Belgian. He didn’t have the same sort of opportunity to learn French during his tour of duty because of the distinctions from his family’s language. “French is a hard language to learn,” he said. “It takes practice. We just learned what we needed to say when we were out in public.” The phrases that were most familiar to american soldiers were “merci beaucoup” to express thanks and “oui, oui” to confirm
Advocating and Guiding Veterans and their family members through Veterans Assistance Programs Health Care Education Benefits Burial Benefits
Transportation Service Compensation and Pension Financial Assistance
State Benefits Diseases Associated with Agent Orange
The Veteran’s Transportation Service is now going to the following locations: St. Cloud VAMC - 1st & 3rd Monday Sioux Falls VAMC - Every Tuesday & Wednesday Montevideo VA Clinic - 2nd & 4th Monday Please contact the Lyon County Veteran Service Office at (507) 537-6729 Heidi Fier, CVSO Lyon County Veteran Services Government Center 607 West Main Street, Marshall, MN 56258 veterans@co.lyon.mn.us Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
paGE 10 • HONORING OUR HEROES • INdEpENdENt-MaRSHall, MINN. • JUly 3, 2019
McCully recalls Vietnam medical evacuation flights By Jim Muchlinski Special to the Independent
rUSSeLL — Sharon mcCully’s war experiences focused on doing as much as possible to help critically wounded soldiers. mcCully, who grew up in Coon Creek Township, Lyon County and graduated from russell High School, flew on a daily basis over the coast and countryside of Southeast asia at the height of the Vietnam War. Her missions were almost always to evacuate injured service personnel for treatment at medical centers. many of those she transported were destined for longer flights after they were stabilized. They then underwent rehabilitation treatment which often continued for several months or more. “almost everyone who was evacuated on one of my flights was severely wounded,” mcCully said. “They had to be brought to a flyable location, and from there we could evacuate them for medical treatment.” Destinations for wounded soldiers were mainly located in cities along the Vietnam coast bordering the South China Sea. They stretched from central Vietnam cities near the DmZ (De-militarized Zone) southward to the mekong Delta area near Saigon, the South Vietnamese capitol. Saigon was later renamed Ho Chi minh City after it fell in the spring of 1975, about two years after the withdrawal of american troops. mcCully arrived in Vietnam in may, 1970, with an extensive background in nursing. She graduated from nursing school in 1962. She chose to enlist in the U.S. air Force in 1968, and then trained at otis air Force Base on Cape Cod in massachusetts. Her flight school training for service on fixed wing aircraft took place at Kelly air Force Base in San antonio, Texas. “I wanted to use my skills to serve my
Photo by Jim Muchlinski
Sharon McCully’s home at Hill Street Place in Marshall includes a framed photograph of a winter landscape taken by her husband. Her nursing career included a tour of duty in the Vietnam War, where she was an evacuation flight nurse who cared for wounded soldiers while they were in transit to cities in South Vietnam or the Philippines.
country and to hopefully save lives,” mcCully said. “also I liked the idea of traveling. I didn’t mind that serving in the military would require me to move around.” She said career military personnel, those with families as well as those who
are young and single, know exactly how to move when it comes time to relocate since it’s an expected part of their careers. Unlike civilian life, which sometimes involves moving up to higher-level positions in the same place, military service generally leads to a higher rank with each move.
Besides her training bases and locations in Vietnam, she became familiar with the city of manila in the Philippine Islands. It was a weekly stop on her schedule, one that involved flying on Sundays to Clark McCully Page 12
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Brewers spent a lot of time up in planes By Sabrina Pankratz spankratz@marshallindependent.com
marSHaLL — robert Brewers grew up north of ghent and enlisted at 17 into the Navy during World War II. “I joined up in of November of ’44 and I got drafted in December of ’44,” Brewers said. He was sent to boot camp at the great Lakes and after the war ended was sent to alameda, California not knowing he was supposed to be discharged once the war ended. Brewers said he stayed around minnesota and the great Lakes for three to four months before being transferred to alameda. “When the war ended in germany they headed me out to California and the west coast. I ended up being in the Naval-air there for some reason I don’t know,” Brewers said. He also went up in planes often. “I couldn’t tell one plane from the next.” Brewers said he had shore leave while at alameda with his cousin, Joe rogge, and two friends, ed Boerboom and Larry DeSutter. “We hung one on that day, but I couldn’t get a drink. So they bought a bottle of whiskey and we went to the orpheum theater, by the third drink I was out,” Brewers said. “We all had phones in our offices, and we said we’ll see what happens, we’ll call each other. So we all left. ed Boerboom left, and about 10 days later he called me at my base in alameda. I said, ‘where in the hell are you at?’ He said, ‘I am in the hospital in San Diego, California.’ I said, ‘what the hell happened?’ He got on board, got about 600 miles out and got blasted,” Brewers said. “He spent three days on a raft before he got picked up. That man is full of oil inside his guts, and it ate his guts out. He had to
Submitted photo
Robert Brewers is on the far left in this photo with other sailors.
put new linings in, he was sick for 25 years, he finally got better and my god he lived to be 93 years old,” said Brewers. Brewers was in alameda for five-six months before being transferred to a Naval-air station in Honolulu, Hawaii. Brewers said that he went to eight grades of school and that once he got to Honolulu they needed someone who could type. “They asked if anybody can type, I said, ‘oh, hell yea, I can type.’ They asked how
many words a minute, and I said, ‘about 12-15.’ and they said, ‘oh that’s enough,’ ” Brewers said. Brewers explained that at the time it was not common for men to know how to type, much less be able to write their name. “They were painters and metalsmiths but couldn’t write their name,” Brewers said. Not long after being transferred to Hon-
olulu, Brewers found himself being discharged. Brewers reports that he only enlisted for Duration of War (DoW), but thought he enlisted for a couple years, so when Brewers was discharged it was a surprise to him. “ ‘You’re done,’ they said. and I asked, ‘how the in the hell can that be possible?’ Brewers Page 12
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Brewers From Page 11
Quiet warrior: How 95-year-old female veteran made history mILWaUKee (aP) — anna mae robertson once spent her time evading Nazi U-boats in war-torn europe. Now, perched on her living room recliner with photos of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren covering the walls, some may find it difficult to believe. robertson, 95 and a longtime milwaukee resident, was a member of the only Women’s army Corps all-african american battalion that served overseas in World War II. The Women’s army Corps 6888th Central Directory Postal Battalion, or the “Six Triple eight” as it’s otherwise known, was sent to europe in 1945 to sort a backlog of mail more than 2 years old. “I remember all the jobs we did” and “the work we had to do to earn the jobs,”robertson said. The women’s efforts were celebrated and discussed in the documentary “The
They said, ‘well you didn’t enlist for one year or two years or three years or four years. You enlisted for DoW.’ and I said, ‘what in the hell does DoW stand for? They said, ‘duration of war,’ ” Brewers said. Brewers was then sent home and went into farming north of ghent. Brewers said he was married in 1950 after his service to Barbara Brewers. They were married for 69 years and they had six children. Brewers’ oldest is 66 years old, and Brewers said he has grandchildren and great grandchildren. one of his greatgrandchildren just graduated from high school this year.
Six Triple eight: No mail, Low morale,” shown earlier this month in the milwaukee County War memorial Center. robertson enlisted in the army in march 1943, shortly after her mother died. She was 19 years old. after completing training at Fort Des moines, Iowa, and Fort oglethorpe, georgia, robertson was ready for duty. In February 1945, the “Six Triple eight” set sail for europe and were chased by german submarines along the way. The women were first sent to Birmingham, england. They worked around the clock to ensure approximately 65,000 letters per eight-hour shift were sent to their final destinations. The assignment was expected to take the group six months, but the women were able to complete it in half the time. The battalion’s motto was “no mail, low
morale.” The women endured more than their fair share of racism, sexism and challenging work environments, but that didn’t slow them down. after leaving england, the Six Triple eight moved on to rouen, France, then finally to Paris, France. robertson’s daughter Sheree calls her mother “a quiet warrior.” “She’s a reflection of a woman who’s resilient, who has a lot of courage, a lot of determination and a woman who walks by her faith,” she said. Sheree said her mother didn’t often talk about her military service. Instead she led her children by example, taking them with her to the open housing demonstrations held in milwaukee in the 1960s. Sheree recalls marching with the Father James groppi across the 16th Street viaduct with her mother and her siblings.
McCully From Page 10 air Force Base. “We’d fly soldiers out for extended treatment, usually either Filipinos or Koreans,” she said. “Usually we’d go in the late afternoon, stay over in manila and return the next day to Vietnam.” Her evacuation flights included four different fixed wing planes. The one that flew to manila, the C-130, could also be used as a general military transport plane. When medical evacuees flew on a C130, she said portable cot-like stanchions could be put in place along the edges of the transport cabin, If necessary, stanchions could be stacked five levels high. one of the main obstacles for an evacuation flight nurse was overcoming language barriers to help soldiers who spoke little or no english. Crews learned how to effectively use a basic drawing of the human body, as well as charts that had pictures alluding to standard requests such as a glass of water. Besides acting as a resource for non-english
speakers, they were available for situations when someone’s injury made it difficult to put thoughts into words. “The charts almost always helped,” mcCully said. “We couldn’t always just ask them questions. When that wasn’t going to work, we’d just get out the book and point.” During her one-year tour of duty in Vietnam, which continued until may, 1971, she flew one mission that was altogether different from medical evacuations. She and her crew were called up for a special assignment to help in the evacuation of an entire South Vietnamese village. Due to heavy fighting in the Da Nang area of central Vietnam, the residents had to be rescued from their homes and flown to Saigon. one of mcCully’s sharpest memories of Vietnam involves seeing those villagers emerge from the underbrush and then run toward the aircraft landing point. “They came out of the woods with the
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one possession they could choose to bring with them,” she said. “Sometimes it was a live chicken or a loaf of bread. We couldn’t take everyone who was waiting. Some had to stay behind for several more hours until we could come back.” Her crew made three flights as part of the relocation mission. The landing area was more primitive than what the crew used ordinarily, which meant a sharper descent followed by a faster takeoff. Her final memory of the Vietnam War happened at the Seattle, Wash. airport upon arriving back in the United States. airport personnel concerned about antiwar protest activity advised her and other personnel not to wear combat fatigues in public. “We had to retrieve luggage and change into dress uniforms,” she said. “I hadn’t planned on that, so I’d packed away the smaller parts of it. I was out of uniform by air Force standards and felt self-conscious about that.”
Her next military tour assignment would have been anchorage, alaska, but she opted for a discharge and life as a civilian. That decision charted the course for a nursing career that spanned more than 30 additional years. She worked in a variety of capacities (obstetrics, home health, elderly care, and also inspection services for the states of South Dakota and Wyoming. Her husband died in 1995. She returned to minnesota after retiring in 2006 on the encouragement of her sister Pam (Johnson) Bush and brother in law, retired Lyon County District Court Judge Lee Bush. after living in a house on athens avenue in marshall, she now resides at Hill Street Place. “It was a privilege to serve my country in Vietnam,” mcCully said. “I have no regrets. The challenges veterans have faced during and after military service are part of what makes us proud to be veterans. We’re a special breed of cat.”
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Claeys served in post-war Philippine Islands By Jim Muchlinski Special to the Independent
gHeNT — almost all of Joe Claeys’ life has involved a daily connection to the land, more specifically to work and family life centered around his family farm in central Lyon County. His military tour of duty from august, 1945 until march, 1946 was entirely different. For a few short months, he spent entire days traveling among harbors in the South Pacific. as part of a 21-member U.S. Navy YP621 cargo ship crew, he helped to deliver perishable food supplies to military bases in the Philippines. He was one of many veterans who contributed to the transition from all-out war in the Pacific with the empire of Japan to the post-war occupation period. “I didn’t do much,” Claeys said. “The closest I came to being in danger was the Japanese submarines that were still in the Pacific when I was on my way to the Philippines. We had to have lights-out on the transport boat.” He had no way of knowing that events in the Pacific Theater of World War II would come to a more sudden, less predictable end than the War in europe. only three months after russian soldiers closed in on the last few square blocks within Berlin, which included Hitler’s bunker and the german reichstag parliament center, atomic bombs exploded first over the Japanese city of Hiroshima and then three days later over the city of Nagasaki. The blasts were followed almost immediately by the Japanese surrender aboard the U.S.S. missouri. as those events unfolded, Claeys was in the midst of a transport delay at one of World War II’s most famous battle sites, the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. His transport ship had a mechanical failure, which meant that it needed to be towed back to Hawaii and repaired in dry dock. He and about 1,500 other military troops
bound for combat zones learned that the war they were about to join was officially over. “We heard about the bombs and the surrender almost immediately, not very long after they happened,” Claeys said. “We were very happy about it. We felt thankful that we’d have peace again, and that the world would still remain free.” His military experience began under far more uncertain circumstances. When he was sent to Navy basic training in the great Lakes in December 1944, after being drafted; the war in the Pacific was punctuated by battles at island locations heavily fortified by Japan. “We thought the war might keep going a lot longer,” Claeys said. “When we left to go overseas, nobody knew if we’d be coming back.” after the 11-week basic training, Claeys was sent to gulfport, mississipi, for specialized training in Naval navigation and signal systems. The fourthmonth program culminated in deployment to the West Coast for his assignment in the South Pacific. “I learned how to use the charts, the Joe Claeys flags, and all the other details about navigation,” Claeys said. “It was what we needed to know to be one of the crew members on the bridge. I used the training every day when my ship in the Philippines went from harbor to harbor.” The trip back across the ocean to return home in 1946 involved even more of a delay than the mechanical failure near Hawaii that took place the previous summer. His ship for the trip back home was an older wood vessel that was originally part of the Italian Navy. It had to pull out of a convoy made up of about 40 ships after it was slowed down by leaks. “It took us 60 days to get across the Pacific,” Claeys said. “The ship wasn’t in very good shape, but we made it. It was decommissioned after it reached San Diego.” Claeys Page 14
Photo by Jim Muchlinski
Ghent area farmer and Boulder Estates resident Joe Claeys served in the U.S. Navy during the final days of World War II. He was then was part of the post-war Occupied Japan era as a supply ship crew member in the Philippines.
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Claeys From Page 13 once he returned to the United States, Claeys went immediately back to Lyon County by train. His goal to farm continued after he married his wife Betty (opdahl). He rented land from his father-in-law for 13 years prior to having his own farm, which was located about a mile down the road from where he grew up. Joe and Betty lived near ghent until march 2017, when they moved to Boulder estates in marshall. Joe and his son, Bernie Claeys, said the family talks much more about Joe’s farming experiences than his time in the Navy
since farming has been a continuous part of his life. He continued to see other parts of the world, however, as he and Betty traveled for vacations in places such as Hawaii, alaska, europe, China and South america. although his military service lasted less than a year, he said it led to an added appreciation of the freedoms he and his family enjoy in the United States. “I’m proud to have served in the military, and even more proud of the soldiers who made bigger sacrifices,” Joe said. “The Navy was a way to serve my country and my first chance to go overseas.”
Joe Claeys sending morse code messages from a ship.
Submitted photos
Joe Claeys taking readings from a sextant instrument on a ship.
Joe Claeys poses for photo with his Navy buddies.
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Celebrate Our Freedom We want to acknowledge and Thank all Veterans, past and present, for protecting our American way of life. May God Bless & Protect your families as you have ours.
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