Stories of Honor 2020 by Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

Sunday, November 8, 2020 | wcfcourier.com | G1

SALUTING THOSE WHO SERVED

‌T PAT KINNEY

Director of Institutional Advancement, Grout Museum

he Courier and the Grout Museum District are collaborating again this year on a special Veterans Day recognition called “Stories of Honor.” The Courier is publishing stories of 10 military veterans from Iowa from all eras, of different backgrounds and branches of service, from World War II to the present. The stories were selected from archives at the Grout, which has more than 2,000 oral history interviews of veterans gathered over the past 20 years, mainly by longtime Grout historian Bob Neymeyer but also by current and former members of Grout staff. Excerpts from this interviews can be seen with online versions of these stories at wcfcourier.com. The full interviews are available at the Grout’s Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. As was the case when we first did this project last year, these interviews and stories are not intended to single out particularly veterans but to be a representative sampling of all Iowans who served. That’s been the goal of the Grout’s Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum since it opened in 2008 and that’s the spirit the Courier and the Grout entered into this project. We hope you appreciate this year’s version of “Stories of Honor” and take time to recognize the veterans in your life — who gave up some of their yesterdays for our todays and tomorrows, and those of future generations. However the oral histories are of veterans who survived the various conflicts in operation in which they may have served. Many of their comrades didn’t come back.In recognition of that, and in tribute to all who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of liberty, we would like to recognize one of those veterans — a soldier who was dedicated to both God country, Rev. Maj. William Joseph Barragy. See Page G2.

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| SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020

STORIES OF HONOR

MEL FINKELSTEIN Cedar Falls WWII soldier survived Bulge, liberated death camp “I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it I have no words...Back in ‘41 Mr. Churchill said to me, with tears in his eyes: ‘One day the world and history will recognize and acknowledge what it owes to your president.’ ...At Buchenwald they spoke of the president just before he died. If there be a better epitaph, history does not record it. “ –Edward R. Murrow, CBS News, on a visit to prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp, April 11, 1945, one day before the death of President Franklin Roosevelt PAT KINNEY

newsrooom@wcfcourier.com

EDAR FALLS — Melville “Mel” Finkelstein’s Army buddies in World War II told him if they ever were about to be captured by the Germans, he should throw away the dogtags he wore around his neck. They might have been an automatic death sentence. His dogtags, in addition to his name, rank, serial number and blood type, has a letter “H” stamped into them. That was “H” as in “Hebrew.” He was Jewish. Those dogtags, upon capture, might have earned him a trip to a Nazi concentration camp and almost-certain death instead of a prisoner of war camp. Finkelstein, raised in the borough of the Bronx in New York City and the first-generation son of a Russian Jewish immigrant, was spared such a fate. Instead, he was one of the first U.S. soldiers to enter and help liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp after the war. It was part of Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution” for extermination of the Jewish race and others deemed inferior or in opposition to the Nazi regime. Finkelstein, who obtained a doctorate at the University of Chicago after the war and later moved to Cedar Falls and worked as a Waterloo psychologist, died in 2010 — but not before he and his widow Judy chronicled his war experiences. The passage he wrote about Buchenwald is one of the most compelling stories among a host of them in his memoirs. “A buddy of mine and I were walking around out just looking around and we smelled the air and it smelled like burning flesh so right away we knew what it was,” Finkelstein wrote. “So we decided to go up and see that place, and when we got about halfway up the hill to it, here came a bunch of kids. “They were Jewish kids in their prison uniforms and they stopped to talk to us. My buddy could talk German as well as Jewish (Yiddish), and he asked them questions and they told him that they were prisoners in the concentration camp but now they were free and they could go out. “They asked us what we were, and we told them we were American soldiers and that we were Jewish. They were stunned that there were Jewish soldiers in the American army and that (we) had rifles and they danced around us chanting ‘Juden! Juden!’ It was a very moving experience to see this.” They were moved in a different way when they entered Buchenwald. “It was just a horrible thing to see,” Finkelstein wrote. “We saw the ovens where they burned people, we saw the places where they took them and gassed them to death with chemicals. We saw the conditions of those that remained and they were barely skeletons of people. They were down to 70 to 80 pounds per person. It was really horrible. It was all of the prisoners, not just Jews. They were doing it to Czechoslovakians and Polish, Rumanians and even some Germans.

PAT KINNEY/FOR THE COURIER

Judy Finkelstein of Cedar Falls holds a portrait of her late husband Mel during World War II, and a U.S Army Signal corps shield, carved by a family member. “It bothered me greatly to see it,” he continued. “I never talked about these experiences in the war for many years except with soldiers who had seen similar things, who had gone through similar battle experiences. They could understand. Other people just couldn’t imagine what we had seen. We talked about how the Gestapo tortured prisoners in Paris, how they whipped them and burned them in bathtubs, covering them in oil.” At age 19, Finkelstein had enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps rather than wait to be drafted, because he felt it was his duty to serve, he said in his memoirs and in an oral history interview for the Grout Museum District. He served in the 246th Signal Operations Company. The unit eared five battle stars for campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest, and the Rhineland and Central Europe. Finkelstein was part of one of the greatest deceptions of the war. He was part of a fictitious invasion army built up in England around Gen. George S. Patton, sending out fake radio signais that were picked up by the Germans. They assumed Patton was going to lead the 1944 invasion of Europe at the Pas-de-Calais in Belgium, the English Channel’s narrowest point. Instead the multinational invasion force struck at Normandy on June. 6, 1944. He landed at Omaha Beach several days later and participated in the Allied forces’ breakout from the Normandy hedgerow country into Northern France, including the liberation of Paris. He was in Belgium and his unit was attached to the U.S. First Army during the Battle of the Bulge. It was perhaps the time he and his comrades were in the greatest personal danger. “We were cut off by the Germans,” Finkelstein wrote. “We were told to stay until we got leave to withdraw,” and hold at all costs. “We were the only ones in the area who weren’t broken up in communications. All communications came to our small group. The Germans knew we were communications people and what we were doing. They dropped bombs on us. It was overcast and only the lighter planes could get through to try to destroy the German planes and they would do damage to us that way. “It took until about the end of December after Christmas when we finally had a couple of sunny days and then our air forces were in operation,” he wrote. “It was just beautiful to see those guys come over. It was a great lift from our shoulders and feeling we were going to be lost over there. It was just miraculous and we just cheered and cheered as squadrons after squadrons of planes came over and were

COURTESY PHOTOS

Mel Finkelstein in World War II bombing the Germans. They broke up their defensive army and then we could push through more.” British troops also aided in their relief. “I lost my personal equipment as did a lot of other Judy and Melville “Mel” guys,” Finkelstein added. “I Finkelstein had no change of clothes and I got trench foot out there which was from a lack of changing socks,” freezing his feet as perspiration dried, damaging tissue. “I was walking on my toes for about six weeks until my feet cleared up. We couldn’t go on sick call because they wouldn’t allow anyone who didn’t have a 103-degree fever to do that. So we had to sweat it out. That was a big experience. That was one of the major battles of the war,” he said. In his oral history interview with the Grout, his voice trembled with emotion as he talked about his experiences in the Bulge publicly for the first time. His unit bivouaced with infantry units who took a heavy toll during the Bulge. Officers’ life expectancy was one month. Some of the divisions’ personnel turned over twice due to casualties. He recalled one soldier he recreated with who gave him his shaving bowl. “He said, ‘I won’t need it any longer.’ And off he went and I never saw him again,” he said. Decades later, on a trip to Colorado, he found a military memorial to that soldier’s division, listing those who had been killed in battle. “He was on it,” he said, voice quivering. “I lost some mighty good people. “It just hurts too much,” he said. “I saw the picture, ‘(Saving) Private Ryan,’ and I cried throughout the whole thing because I went through that damn stuff just the same way those guys did. I was shivering when I came out” of the movie. “People asked, ‘Can I do something to help you?’ There was nothing they could do to help me. I asked Judy to take me home so I could get a glass of whiskey or a hot cup of tea or coffee, something that would help.” Whatever he had to warm himself that night, Mel Finkelstein more than earned it. He survived one kind of hell to help save many of his own faith, and all of mankind, from another.

REV. MAJ. WILLIAM BARRAGY First military chaplain killed in combat in Vietnam War PAT KINNEY

newsroom@wcfcourier.com

ATERLOO – Roman Catholic Father William Joseph Barragy of Waterloo was not a rookie chaplain when he flew into battle on May 4, 1966 — the last day of his life. He’d served 13 years in the Army and had attained the rank of major. He’d served overseas in Germany. By May 1966, he was in South Vietnam, a chaplain attached to the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, known as “the Screaming Eagles” for their divisional patch. The storied unit had served from D-Day to Holland to Bastogne to Bertchesgaden in World War II. He arrived in Vietnam with them in 1965, after Congress adopted a resolution authorizing President Lyndon Johnson to escalate U.S. military involvement there following an August 1964 incident involving U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. He’d done humanitarian work and served troops as well as Vietnamese civilians, many of whom were Roman Catholic. On May 4, 1966, he was flying into bat-

LORAS COLLEGE PHOTO

Rev. Maj. William J. Barragy is shown giving communion to Catholic soldiers of Co. B, 327th Battalion of the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, April 30, 1966, northwest of Tuy Hoa, Vietnam. tle with about 20 fresh soldiers who’d just arrived “in country.” They didn’t make it. According to eyewitness and investigators, the helicopter caught fire from an overheated combining transmission, lost power and crashed, 110 miles northwest of the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. Father Barragy and everyone aboard was killed. He was the first U.S. military chaplain killed in a combat action in Vietnam.

It was the second time a priest from the Archdiocese of Dubuque would be the first U.S. military chaplain to die in one of our nation’s wars. A generation earlier, a Navy chaplain, Father Aloysius Schmitt of St. Lucas in Fayette County died aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma in the Dec. 7. 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the United States in to World War II. According to files of the Courier, the Witness newspaper of the Archdiocese of

Dubuque and the archives of Loras College, Barragy, was a native of Kansas City, Mo. but also lived in Mason City, Rockwell and then Waterloo, where he attended St. Mary’s High School, one of three Waterloo Catholic high schools which later consolidated to form Columbus High School. He attended Loras College in Dubuque, St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained May 22, 1948 at Loras. His parents, the late Dr. J.C. and Alice Meany Barragy, lived on Prospect Boulevard on the city’s west side. He served parish assignments at St. Raphael’s Cathedral in Dubuque from 1948 to 1950 and at St. Edward Catholic Church in Waterloo from 1950 to 1953, after which he joined the Army. He also was one of the first Black Hawk County residents to die in Vietnam. The first, U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Robert Hibbs of Cedar Falls, had been killed in combat two months earlier, on March 5, 1966, in an action for which he would receive the Medal of Honor. A requiem funeral Mass was held for Father Barragy at St. Edward in Waterloo. Archbishop James J. Byrne presided. Father Barragy was laid to rest at Waterloo’s Calvary Cemetery. He was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit, one of the nation’s highest military honors, for his service during his nearly year and a half in Vietnam. His name is on the Black Hawk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Paramount Park outside the Courier building as well as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. and at Chaplain’s Hill at Ar- 00 1 lington National Cemetery.

STORIES OF HONOR

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020 |

ANTHONY TISDALE

Korean War veteran Viola Rieck of Elk Run Heights is shown here with an original letter, more than 60 years old, written by her commanding officer’s wife to her parents. BRANDON POLLOCK, COURIER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

W COURIER STAFF

ATERLOO | When Anthony Tisdale was offered a chance to go officer track when he was at basic training in Fort Bliss, Texas, he turned to his father for advice on whether to take the option. “My dad said, ‘any time you can cut off the number of people telling you what to do, take it,’” Tisdale recalled. Tisdale had been drafted after failing to carry enough hours as a student at the Iowa State Teachers College — now the University of Northern Iowa — in 1968. After Army Officer Candidate School, Tisdale volunteered for special forces training. “What possessed me to do that was probably the John Wayne movie,” he said. “But I come to find out the movie wasn’t anything close to what we had to go through as far as training is concerned.” Tisdale served three tours in Vietnam. However, his first one was broken up into two stints after he was wounded early in the tour. Tisdale, a 1965 graduate of Waterloo East High School, was an avid learner in school (he took three years of French in high school) and in military training. In addition to the Airborne School, he also attended jumpmaster school. He came out of Army Officer Candidate School as a 2nd Lieutenant. His first commission was with the Army 199th Infantry Brigade. It took him to a controversial front in the war. “I figured it out real quick, because I’m good with map reading and stuff, that we were in Cambodia,” Tisdale said. His duties took him to patrol the jungles. “It was so humid, you could take a bayonet and cut the air and have water on it,” he said. While on patrol with his platoon and another, the point man from the other platoon made contact with enemy forces. The enemy, likely aiming at that point man, fired. Tisdale got hit. “I’m the only one out of 30 people that got hit,” Tisdale said. “And I was sixth back in line.” The round hit Tisdale in the stomach. He said doctors later described his injury as a “million dollar wound.” The round didn’t seriously damage vital organs and missed his spine as it exited his back. At the time, Tisdale said he wasn’t so sure. “What really disturbed me is that I couldn’t stand up,” he said. Nonetheless, Tisdale maintained impressive composure for a wounded officer. An officer from the other platoon called for naval artillery cover fire. Tisdale suggested they fire a marking round first to see if the coordinates were correct. “That round landed right between us,” he said, adding he then communicated correct coordinates. The bombardment secured the zone for medevac. “Those Navy guys are good with those big guns,” he said. Tisdale said his family’s reaction to his injury, which he broke to them by letter,

Maintained composure wounded under fire in Vietnam

VIOLA RIECK Korean War veteran recalls joys, heartache of military service NANCY NEWHOFF

newsroom@wcfcourier.com

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iola Rieck was a female soldier in a man’s war. Her story is one of brain, brawn, and pride for her country and the job she was asked to do. The Iowa native who has lived in Elk Run Heights for years proudly knows from where she came and what a stint in the military did for her life. It was a stint that took her from a squalor beginning in life to growth in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) and eventually to Japan and Korea during wartime. It didn’t come without heartache for the Korean War soldiers whose injuries and deaths can’t leave her mind. It came with euphoria as she was on Korean soil during Armistice Day in 1953 when the war ended. “I am so glad I did the things I did and when I did,” she said. She is married to an Army veteran and had a son and grandson in the Air Force. Viola entered the military at age 17, believing it was a way out of her poor background. She was born in a tiny town near Algona, one of five children, in 1933. But the family was so poor, she was sent to live in Cedar Rapids with her grandparents. After her grandfather’s death she was sent back to her family in Algona and began working in a café cleaning at age 10 to help the family financially. She wanted to join the Army as a way out and got all of her paperwork ready, when her father stopped her by not signing the enlistment papers which would allow her to enter the service at age 17. Devastated, her sisters agreed to forge her parents’ signature, which got her enlisted. The Army learned of it after she shipped to Fort Lee, Va., and sent her back home. She remembers her female captain telling her as she packed to go home, ‘We’ve got to let you go, but I tell ya, Viola, if we had a thousand women like you, we wouldn’t need the men to help us.’” Back home, she was eventually able to persuade her parents to sign and she was sent back to Fort Lee. “I gave my parents a very bad time and they were glad to be rid of me and they signed for me,” she recalled. She loved every step of the process – the great food the service provided, the friendships she made and the following of orders. She tested into the rank of finance clerk and was sent to finance school in Indianapolis. Within six weeks, she was the only woman remaining in the program, along with 50 men. “My mother said that this is your body, Viola, and what you do with it is your responsibility. I used to tell the guys, the service can have my brain and brawn, but don’t touch this body,” she laughed. After completing finance school, she was sent to St. Louis to the Army finance center there, keeping track of overseas soldiers and straightening out pay issues. When her job took her back and forth for six weeks at a time between St. Louis and Indianapolis, she decided to apply for overseas duty, and was sent to Japan, a long 14-day boat trip in which she said she was sick to her stomach the whole time. There, she could afford a Japanese maid to take care of her laundry and straightening up her area of the Quanset hut.

COURTESY PHOTO

Viola Rieck in her Army uniform during the Korean War. She decided to learn Japanese to be able to better communicate in the country, and went to night school for a year. Still, more than 60 years later, she recalls some of her Japanese. She was sent to Korea after discovering errors in the pay of some soldiers and went there to help clear it up, getting $1,800 to one soldier. She told a Courier reporter in 2011 that she delivered payroll from her office in Inchon, South Korean, to company headquarters near the front armed with an M-1 rifle in the event of a sniper attack. And she knew how to use it. “I knew that M-1 as well as any man,” she said. During this time, she spent time with wounded soldiers in battlefield hospitals, writing their loved ones when they couldn’t write themselves. “When I got through with my job, I would go over and write letters,” she told the Courier. “I’d go to the PX and get them cigarettes.” She saw severe injuries and death and it broke her heart. She pitched in to tend to the wounded and dying. She relieved medical staff. Recalling those days still brings the 87-year-old to tears. She remembers the day in 1953 when news of the Korean armistice came over the radio and the elation that came with it – hugs, kisses, and jumping on desks. “Everybody started yelling, and we were kissing and hugging. The guys were going home to their families, and it meant so much to me,” she recalled to a Courier reporter. She is the recipient of three medals, the Korean War medal from the U.S. Army, a National Defense service medal and a United Nations service medal for being part of the multinational U.N. force that served during the conflict. Her worldview belief is that all kinds of people come from all walks of life. “Every one of us is different. If I know a guy who was a prisoner of war I understand what was going on and have the deepest compassion for him. “Nobody owes me nothing, but I owe them.” Of her service, Reick said in a 2015 Courier interview, “I didn’t do it for fame and fortune. I did it because I was needed.”

Rank: Capt. Branch: U.S. Army Service: May. 21, 1968-April 14, 1973 Military occupation: Commissioned officer on multiple tours with: Army 199th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division, and headquarters commander with 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Additional info: Wounded in Cambodia in 1969. Purple Heart recipient, Bronze star with clusters recipient. wasn’t quite as calm. “My dad said (my mom) went off the cliff,” he said. “She was calling the Pentagon, the senator.” After recovering, Tisdale put in a request to return to duty feeling he hadn’t served his full tour. “I wanted to go back, through my Iowa pride, and finish the job,” he said. Tisdale then joined The 23rd Infantry Division, known as the Americal Division. His tour with the Americal was less eventful, he said. “My closest call was seeing a typhoon come through there and blow all the tinroof huts away,” he said. “Those sheets of tin were devastating.” His third tour was with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. He narrowly missed a chance to participate in the only combat jump in the war, he said. “I got there four months too late,” he said. By then, the war had taken a different tone. Lack of civilian support back home led to new rules of engagement and the enemy no longer wore uniforms. “It was a war behind the scenes,” he said. Tisdale was the headquarters commander. “I had a sergeant major working for me instead of a first sergeant,” he said. “And that was spooky because I knew the guy knew more than I did.” Tisdale said he had a chance to use some of his high school French with Vietnamese officers during the assignment. The tour also was quiet compared to his first. “The only experience I had was driving through Saigon in my Jeep and somebody slapped my wrist and I looked down and my watch was gone,” he said. Tisdale said he was grateful for his experience with the Army. “I felt I was fortunate for the experience,” he said, adding it made him more disciplined. Unfortunately, Tisdale also dealt with unidentified and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder and ended up homeless in Michigan for a time before returning to Waterloo. “I didn’t really get a handle on my PTSD until I came back home in ’94,” he said.

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BOB MIECZNIKOWSKI Survived being shot down over Ho Chi Minh trail JEFF REINITZ

jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com

ATERLOO | There is a saying pilots have about keeping their log books straight. “They always say, you try to equal your takeoffs to your landings. I’m one short. One landing short,” said Robert “Bob” Miecznikowski. The missing landing came in 1969 when Miecznikowski was shot down while running a reconnaissance mission over the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War. The trail system was a route through Laos and Cambodia that communist North Vietnam used to move supplies and soldiers to the south. “You could tell it was well used, and it was well bombed,” said Miecznikowski, a Waterloo resident who served two tours in Vietnam as a Marine pilot. “What we would do during the daytime was we would fly right on the deck, full throttle, just looking for targets.” When they found trucks or camps, they would call in the location to coordinators who arranged to have other aircraft mount a strike. On the day of the missed landing, Miecznikowski and his partner were flying a two-seat TA-4 Skyhawk jet and were heading back to their airfield after being relieved by an Air Force plane. They were close to the ground, passing through an area known for hostile fire when Miecznikowski, in the back seat, noticed buildings hidden in the jungle. “I could see all these buildings. They built camouflage over the top of it, and the light must have been just right that I could see it,” he said. They decided to turn around and mark it with smoke rockets so another plane could come in and attack. After Miecznikowski’s partner launched the rockets, the enemy laid down a barrage of fire in their path, and the TA-4 was hit. The jet climbed, trailing smoke, and the pilots decided to attempt to reach home at

MATTHEW PUTNEY / COURIER PHOTO EDITOR

Robert Miecznikowski speaks at the Remembering Those Lost in Vietnam: Iowa’s Missing in Action event marking the national MIA/POW Day at the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, in Waterloo, Iowa. Da Nang. “It was a bad area. If we ejected there, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. Miecznikowski surmised the fuel tank had been struck, but after awhile the fuel gauges returned to normal and the fire warning light went out. He concluded a self-sealing feature on the tank had worked. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is OK, we’re going to make it home.’ It wasn’t two minutes after that that my oil quantity light came on, and the oil pressure went to zero and the engine quit,” Miecznikowski said. The plane held together long enough for the pilots to find a good place to bail out. They were about 100 miles from Da Nang in the mountains between Vietnam and Laos, an area of remote, thick jungle where they hadn’t been attacked in the past. They ejected and parachuted onto the

side of a mountain. The copilot landed in a field. Miecznikowski’s chute was tangled in trees, and he rappelled to the ground. American aircraft circled the area for five hours while Thailand-based CH-53 helicopters flew over with a rescue tool called the jungle penetrator. “It’s kind of like a torpedo-type thing, and they drop it down through the trees, and then when it got down to where we were, you extended out the little seats that fold,” he said. He took a seat, put on his helmet and a collar brace, and the helicopter pulled him up. It wasn’t until he returned to base that he discovered he had a grazing wound to his hindquarters from the shooting. “When I was in the hospital, they brought in a helicopter that had a lot of guys that were shot-up Marines. It really

affected me because they were working on this one Marine, and all of the sudden they just put the curtains around him and left,” he said. Hospital staff told him there was nothing they could do to save him. “I was just thinking about this 18-, 19-year-old kid who was in there, dying with no family or anything around,” he said. Miecznikowski returned to the air and continued to fly for the remainder of his tour. The tour had started with missions that involved spotting for 16-inch naval guns on the battleship USS New Jersey. “They would tell you when they would shoot, and you could look and you could see the shell coming through the air. … A 16inch shell is like a Volkswagen, so it wasn’t hard to see,” Miecznikowski said. His first tour ran May 1965 to April 1966 at a landing strip set up at Chu Lai. The first pilot the squadron lost was his tent mate, who crashed on the runway after getting shot up running a mission about 15 miles away. Another night, a group of enemy sappers broke into the base and ran down the flight light, lobbing explosive satchels at the aircraft until Marine guards caught up with them and killed them. A Chicago native, Miecznikowski grew up on the city’s south side near the stockyards. He went to high school at a military academy in Aurora, Ill. He joined the Navy ROTC program while attending college at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis. He said he chose the Marine option because family members had owned a bar and the Marines were always the ones in the taverns who had the best stories. Also, he wanted to fly but didn’t want to always have to take off and land on aircraft carriers. He enlisted in the Marines in July 1961. After his retirement from the service in December 1969, Miecznikowski moved to Waterloo to work for General Electric. He also worked for Van Meter Company in Waterloo before starting his own electrical supply business in 1990.

LORRAINE GRIFFIE

Military service, segregation experiences gave her motivation to get involved

ATERLOO – Lorraine Griffie joined the Women’s Army Corps in 1952. She’d graduated from East High School and enrolled at Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, majoring in education. Still, it wasn’t enough. Griffie yearned to see the country beyond Iowa’s borders. But she was underage and needed her parents’ permission. The recruiting officer promised her parents that Lorraine would be safe, have a place to sleep and three squares a day. “My dad was reluctant to sign, but he said, ‘If that’s what you want to do … .’ My parents thought it would be a good experience for me,” said Griffie, now 87. Soon Griffie was aboard a southbound train from Fort Des Moines to WAC training. As the train crossed the Mason-Dixon line, she learned firsthand about segregation. She’d had experience with racial discrimination, but this was different. “The train stopped, and all the people of color had to get off the cars and go sit in cars designated for people of color. The accommodations were not the same as for the other passengers – seats were hard and narrow, not cushioned, and it was a rather jolting experience for me.Getting off the train, we had separate waiting rooms, drinking fountains and restrooms,” she recalled. Military bases were integrated, but the South was not. On base, “I was on familiar ground, but I was very naïve. I grew up in a very sheltered home. Fortunately, I lucked out. I fell in with a group of young women – both black and white – who recognized my naivete. I was new and not aware of what was going on around me. My friends set me down and told me things I needed to know. They kept me from walking into situations that could have gotten me in trouble.” When the WACs were off base for liberty, Griffie was confronted by the South’s harsh Jim Crow laws. She couldn’t shop in the same stores, eat in the same restaurants or ride seated next to her friends on a bus. “It was eye-opening, but all those experiences changed me and gave me insight I never dreamed or thought I’d ever have,” Griffie said. She met her husband while both were serving in the Army. They settled in Chicago after being discharged, and began a family – three sons and daughters. Her sons served in the military, as well – the U.S.

Hawkeye Community College. She retired in 2000 as program manager for the Iowa Department of Public Health’s Culture-Specific AIDS Center. Griffie is also co-founder of the Cedar Valley Coalition of Black Veterans and Sister Soldier Network, a multi-state organization devoted to enhancing the visibility of advocates for service for African-American military women. “To be honest, I don’t know that we have made that much progress from where we

“I hope I have set an example for them to want to take part and be part of their community. I’m happy to have lived long enough to see my children and grandchildren grow up and become responsible citizens. As a parent, you want to raise decent people who care about each other and other people. It’s good to be able to see that they have done and are doing just that.”

Air Force, Navy and Marines. She got involved in her children’s schools, including protesting the use of unusable, outdated textbooks. When their family moved to the Cedar Falls, Griffie continued her community involvement. “My mother was always active in the community, so I got a lot of that from her. If you want to make things better, you have to take part in things, what’s going on. You can’t just sit on the sidelines and com-

plain. I wanted to be part of the solution, so that pushed me.” She served on the Family & Children’s Council advisory board, volunteered with the Gates Neighborhood Association, African Americans Taking Action Against AIDS Council and many others. She has worked for Job Services of Iowa, the U.S. Census, the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, Bakari Behavioral Health Inc., and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center of

were as people of color back when I was in the service. I hate to say it, and I wish it weren’t true. But we are faced with the fact that, in some instances, not that much difference has been made. That makes me sad,” Griffie said. Still, Griffie is proud of her accomplishments, and even prouder of her children. Three adult children live in the Cedar Valley, and her youngest son lives in Indianapolis. She lost her second son before Christmas last year. She has 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. “I hope I have set an example for them want to take part and be part of their community. I’m happy to have lived long enough to see my children and grandchildren grow up and become responsible citizens. As a parent, you want to raise decent people who care about each other and other people,” Griffie explained. “It’s good to be able to see that they have done and are do- 00 1 ing just that.”

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020 |

BILL RECTOR

Korean War Navy vet’s 8mm rescue footage subject of documentary

ENVER — At 90, Bill Rector can recall with vivid detail when the USS Los Angeles rescued two downed U.S. pilots during the Korean War. From his perch commanding a 3-inch 50 caliber gun turret — called “tom toms,” he had a bird’s eye view of an American plane being shot down by enemy fire and crashing into the sea, while the pilots parachuted out and landed on the beach at Wonsan Harbor, North Korea. The enemy chased and fired on the pilots as they sprinted down the beach. Gun batteries on the Los Angeles laid down withering fire at the enemy to give the fleeing Americans cover. At the same time, the ship launched a helicopter off its fantail and in two separate swoops rescued both airmen in a sling. Rector watched and filmed the rescue on 8mm film. “We fired above the enemy’s heads – every seventh round would explode above them and the shrapnel killed them. We just wiped them out. One of the pilots was hit in the arm by the North Koreans. The helicopter landed on the ship, the two guys got off and kissed the deck. They were so happy to be alive. That was something to watch. That stays with me,” said Rector, who tears up retelling the pilots’ reaction to their rescue. The former gunner’s mate admitted he might have been in trouble if his commanding officers had known he filmed the rescue. The footage Rector shot will be featured in a documentary now in the works at Public TV WSIU in Carbondale, Ill. Before COVID-19, Rector had been interviewed and filmed at the Grout Museum of History and Science in Waterloo, and at his rural century farm near Denver. Rector served in the U.S. Navy from April 1952 to December 1955 – “three years, eight months and 11 days,” he recalled. During those years aboard the USS Los Angeles, the ship had three deployments to North Korea. Born on Nov. 21, 1930, Rector grew up on a farm near Denver. He graduated from Denver High School in 1949, and had a college scholarship. Instead he enlisted in the U.S. Navy before he got drafted into the U.S. Army. His father had served in World War II and his grandfather in World War I, both fighting in Germany with the U.S. Army. After graduating from boot camp at Na-

BRANDON POLLOCK PHOTOS, COURIER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Korean War veteran Bill Rector poses with some of his memorabilia. Photographed Friday, Oct. 16, 2020, in Denver, IA. Korean War veteran Bill Rector’s memorabilia. Photographed Friday, Oct. 16, 2020, in Denver, IA.

val Station Great Lakes near Chicago, Rector was sent to San Francisco, where he boarded the USS Los Angeles, docked near the Golden Gate Bridge. It wasn’t long before the heavy cruiser was deployed to the Korean theater as part of a larger taskforce that included the attack carrier USS Wasp. Rector went through boot camp and served aboard the Los Angeles with Richard Reynolds of Sumner. Reynolds was transferred after a few years, but the men have remained lifelong friends.

“We did everything together – ate together, went to movies aboard ship, went on leave – we became real good friends, and it made it easier to have someone there who was from the place I was,” he

explained. Winter was brutal, even aboard ship, Rector said. “During that first deployment, men stood watch when it was 30 below zero. We had to stand by the stacks where heat came up from the pipes to get warm. We had leather coveralls with sheepskin lining and used binoculars to watch for enemy planes and submarines. You could only stand it out there for 10 or 15 minutes, it was so cold. We were on for four hours but the watch changed every 15 minutes so we could go indoors and warm up. Some guys lost toes from frostbite.” The ship came under attack twice in 1953 by enemy shore batteries. On one occasion, Rector said, “We watched their shells falling into the ocean and didn’t think they’d hit us, but the shells got closer and closer until one hit under the 3-inch 50mm. It blew up where empty shell casings dropped under the gun. The next one hit under the stack and the (shell) loaders got hit with shrapnel in the face, arms and neck, but nobody got killed. “The captain gave the order for all hands below deck, and some of the guys were so scared that they jumped from halfway down the 15-foot ladder to the deck and broke ankles, hurt their knees. We got ‘em to sickbay and then the captain sent everyone back up topside saying ‘we’re going to get those so-and-so’s,” Rector said. The USS Los Angeles was the first Navy vessel to take enemy fire in Korea and fired about 25,000 rounds of ammunition at enemy shores during two tours of duty. She established a record for the longest-sustained bombardment ever logged by an American warship, according to official USS LA CA-135 history. When Rector shipped out of the Navy in 1955, he returned home to Denver and began farming. He met Deena and they were married in 1956 and reared four children. Later he started Denver Spraying Services and began raising exotic livestock, including llamas. Still active after nine decades, Rector continues to farm, sell N.K Seeds and raise exotics. He’s proud of his Korean War service. “I think we had to be there. I feel we did our job. We had to do it, and we tried to do a good job. But I couldn’t wait to get home,” he added.

STEPHEN THORPE

Has made a stellar career of military service NANCY NEWHOFF

newsroom@wcfcourier.com

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tephen A. Thorpe remembers as a kid being interested in the military. It never waned. From deployments to combat areas, to being involved in a fierce battle in Iraq that left him injured, to climbing to the rank of highly decorated lieutenant colonel, Thorpe, 45, has made a stellar career of military service. It all started in Waterloo where the Waterloo West graduate began his military career by joining the 1st Battalion 133rd Infantry “Ironman Battalion” of the Iowa Army National Guard in 1997 and then the ROTC program at the University of Northern Iowa. The Guard, he recalls, was a great initiation into the military. “What’s great about the Guard is they are local people,” and a little more willing to help you along. “Their advantage is most of the people know each other.” After being commissioned a second lieutenant from the UNI ROTC program in 2000 he began active duty in the Army infantry. He received ranger, airborne and air assault training and spent a year as a platoon leader before being sent to Kuwait and Iraq. On April 5, 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was leading a mechanized infantry unit of 40 men and four Bradley fighting vehicles into the city of Karbala in Iraq, attached to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Widow Maker Battalion, clearing a path for the battalion to come through. The crew was in direct contact with intense small arms and rocket-propelled

grenades from all sides. The platoon began to move further into town as the Iraqis put up a fight against Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division. At one point during the assault, Thorpe’s Bradley turned a corner and two rocket-propelled grenades were fired nearly simultaneously on them, entering the vulnerable areas of his vehicle, one hitting right behind the driver’s hatch and one entering between the turret and hull. Thorpe received shrapnel in his legs, the gunner was also injured, the Bradley caught fire and lost power and soldiers in the back of the Bradley were trapped with the vehicle’s munitions nearby. “The turret had traversed at an angle we couldn’t open. My driver was in shock and receiving rounds. He jumps out of the vehicle and runs back and opens the hatch and lets those guys out, saving their lives. I got on the radio, saying “We’re hit, we’re hit,” he said. Thorpe and his gunner, both injured, were able to get out of the Bradley through the top hatch, completely exposed if an enemy were waiting outside. They bailed off the top of the Bradley. Thorpe didn’t have his rifle because it was in the disabled Bradley. “I have never felt so naked in my life. I ran over to my platoon sergeant and he threw me down his rifle and we got up against a wall,” he said. “We had to make it back to (a) strongpoint that the company commander said he was establishing right before we got it. And we started moving back through

town. The Bradleys set up a perimeter on three sides and we stayed against that wall on the other side as we moved back through.” With the driver and gunner injured and/or in shock, a bleeding Thorpe took some squad members out of another vehicle to put those two inside to ride back to safety. “My gunner thought I was going to get in the vehicle, but I got back off, and I turn around and he’s jumping back off again and he’s like, ‘What are you doing? If you are not going in there, I’m not going in there.’” He then maneuvered his soldiers while still under hostile enemy fire for about 800 meters until they reached the strongpoint, sustaining no further injuries to this men. The firefight lasted nine hours in 110-degree heat. They lost the one soldier in Thorpe’s platoon. His crew engaged and destroyed four enemy RPG pits, one gun truck, one anti-aircraft gun and 25 enemy soldiers. His actions allowed Bravo Company 2-502nd to gain a foothold, the Army wrote in giving him the Silver Star for gallantry. Thorpe was air-lifted to a medical facility in the middle of the desert where they found 15 pieces of shrapnel in his legs. He then asked to return to his platoon but realized he had nothing left of his gear. His clothes had been cut off him at the hospital and there was no clothing available for him. He ended up piecemealing an outfit from people who gave him extra clothes, boots and a toothbrush they had. He was able to get word back to

COURTESY PHOTO

Stephen Thorpe his parents, Steve and Liz Thorpe of Denver, by borrowing a phone from a news correspondent from Minnesota. Thorpe went on to have deployments in Afghanistan, again in Iraq and then in Uganda. He moved into the logistics side of the service taking assignments in Columbus, Ohio, and Italy. His awards and decorations include the Silver Star, a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Joint Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters,

the Prestigious Blue Cord, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger tab, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge and Centurion in The Order of Saint Maurice. Thorpe is now Indo-Pacific director of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command station in Kailua, Hawaii, where in layman’s terms he’s the director of all scientific research pertaining to all branches of the military. He and his wife, Rebecca, are the parents of five children, Christian, Logan, Lucy, June and Madoc.

| SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020

LEW BOECK

Janesville soldier feted with German feast at end of WWII PAT KINNEY

newsroom@wcfourier.com

ANESVILLE — Otto Lewis “Lew” Boeck was “the man who came to dinner” at the end of World War II. To be more correct, he was the G.I. who came to dinner. And it was a long hard road before his table was ready. It included a courageous stand on a snowy forest ridge in Belgium that helped break the last major German offensive of the war. Boeck’s U.S. Army unit had just crossed the Rhine River near Remagen, Germany, about a month earlier. A German family treated his platoon to a sit-down dinner, despite warnings from the Nazis that the Americans would pillage the countryside. Their daughters had been abused by retreating Nazi SS troops. Boeck, born in rural Bremer County, later living many years in Janesville and now in Shell Rock, will never forget the hospitality of the German family that treated him and his platoon to a hot sitdown dinner at their guest house in the village of Pauluszell in May 1945. “Everybody had different experiences, but I don’t know of anybody else that celebrated the end for the war with a victory dinner prepared by a German family,” Boeck said in a 2015 Courier interview, on the 70th anniversary of the feast. But he never knew their names. They would not provide them for fear of reprisals from Nazis or Nazi-sympathizing neighbors, even after war’s end. The mother “didn’t want their pictures taken. She didn’t want their names seen,” he said. The family had already experienced Nazi brutality firsthand. The mother said their young daughters, who helped serve dinner to Boeck’s platoon, had already been “abused” by retreating Nazi Waffen SS soldiers — their own countrymen — while the mother and disabled father stood by, helpless. The family was initially leery of the advancing Americans. “They were absolutely terrified,” Boeck said. “To ease the tension somewhat, we thought we’d show them our dog tags. The mother could speak some English. She looked at my dog tags — ‘Otto Lewis Boeck’ — and she said, ‘Well, you’re German! And you’re serving in the American army? How did this happen?’ “I explained to her that my father, both of his parents immigrated from Germany. And we became instant friends,” Boeck said. “We sat down every afternoon for four or five days and talked about Germany and America and how Hitler came to power, and so forth.” In a few days, the war was over. “She said, ‘Could we celebrate together? It’s been terrible.’ And I said, ‘Did you have anything in mind?’ She said, ‘You said you hadn’t sat down to a hot meal in five months.’” She offered to fix “a nice, old-fashioned German meal” as a treat to Boeck’s platoon. “But she said, ‘Our own soldiers took our food. We don’t have much food’” except for a calf. Boeck, with his farm background, offered to butcher the calf and procured additional food from the platoon mess sergeant. Boeck has photos of him and his comrades seated at a long dining table in the guest house, formally decorated with a white tablecloth and vases of flowers picked from the family garden. The father gave Boeck a memento: a Belgian pistol taken from a captured German officer. The father redid the grip stock of the pistol in his shop, encasing a photo of the German couple in a piece of Plexiglas from the canopy of a downed German fighter plane. On the other side, he encased wallet photos of two girls Boeck had gone to high school with in Janesville. Boeck served in the Communications Platoon, Headquarters

COURTESY PHOTOS

In this May 1945 photo, Otto Lewis “Lew” Boeck of Janesville, second from left with mustache, and members of his U.S. Army platoon are treated to a rare sit-down hot dinner by a German family at the end of World War II in Europe.

In this May 1945 photo, Otto Lewis “Lew” Boeck of Janesville, second from right with mustache in photo at left, and his U.S. Army platoon enjoyed a sit-down dinner courtesy of a German family, celebrating the end of World War II in Europe.

BRANDON POLLOCK / COURIER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

WWII veteran Otto Lewis “Lew” Boeck. Lew’s outfit was treated to a dinner by a German family at the end of the war. Company, First Battalion, 394th Regiment, 99th Division of the U.S. First Army. His job was to lay communications wire between command posts and rifle companies on the front lines — which frequently left him exposed to enemy fire. The 99th lost two-thirds of its soldiers in the Battle of the Bulge, either killed or wounded in what became known as the Battle of Elsenborn Ridge, a key battle within “the Bulge” campaign in the Ardennes Forest — a last-gasp all-out German offensive against American, British and other Allies forces. According to military history accounts, it was the only sector of the American front line where the Germans failed to advance. Boeck and his comrades were up against armored units which were hand picked by Adolf Hitler himself to conduct the offensive. The battle began Dec. 16, 1944 and lasted until Dec. 28. Boeck noted that World War II and Civil War historian Stephen A. Ambrose, in his book “Citizen Soldiers,” said the battle of Elsenborn Ridge was the most important engagement of the Ardennes offensive, comparing it to Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg in

the Civil War. “We threw 340,000 rounds of artillery” at the Germans, Boeck said, including 33,000 rounds in about 90 minutes the last day of the battle. “The ground was almost rumbling with artillery.” His job was to maintain and repair communications lines for the rifle companies so the commanders could direct fire. The rifle companies waited until the Germans got within 50 yard before opening fire – within range of American rifles, but outside the range of German grenades. He recalled the last day of the battle, the beaten Germans came out of the woods to gather their dead and wounded in captured American ambulances. He lived in a foxhole throughout those 12 days in one of the worst winters in the history of northern Europe. “You lived in that hole. It was terrible,” he said. Hot food was limited. Soldiers were taking off the line only once during that period, for one hot shower. Fires for warmth were not permitted because they would draw enemy fire. Trenchfoot from frozen feet was prevalent. To push the Germans back, the U.S. Army called in indirect fire on their own positions. About 5,000

BRANDON POLLOCK / COURIER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Otto Lewis “Lew” Boeck’s Belgian pistol was taken from a captured German officer during Boeck’s service in World War II. Near the pistol are photos of Boeck at a dinner celebrating the end of the war in Europe. Americans were killed at Elsenborn Ridge, part of 19,000 total who died during the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest American engagement of the war. As heavy as the combined Allied losses were, the Germans’ losses in men and materiel could not be replaced. The stand by Boeck and his comrades at Elsenborn Ridge, and the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division’s ability to hold the encircled city of Bastogne until relieved by Gen. George S. Patton’s U.S. Third Army, broke the enemy offensive and signaled the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany. The unit served in an engagement in the Ruhr Pocket before

heading southwest into Germany, between Munich and the Bavarian Alps, and the village of Pauluszell. Boeck had buried much of his recollections of the war until a few years ago when he received a letter from a comrade he thought had been killed in battle. He still has the Belgian pistol, the stock of which holds the photos and happy memories of hospitality by a German family, after years of war and two weeks of hell in December 1944. Boeck just marked another important anniversary besides the end of the war. He and his wife Beverly celebrated their 73rd wed- 00 ding anniversary this past June. 1

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020 |

YOLANDO & CHIQUITA LOVELESS Navy veterans use experience to help Waterloo residents SYDNEY CZYZON

sydney.czyzon@wcfcourier.com

ATERLOO — At least 16 deployments between them, U.S. Navy veterans and Yolando and Chiquita Loveless rose in the ranks, serving as examples for fellow military personnel. Yolando is the director of Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs, and Chiquita is director of the University of Northern Iowa Veterans Association. The couple met while stationed at the USS Ranger in San Diego, eventually getting married in the Philippines and having their daughter in Hawaii. They moved to Waterloo in recent years, reconnecting with Yolando’s family in his hometown. Their marriage is approaching 33 years. Detasseling corn was a normal part of Yolando’s summers growing up, with occasional trips to Missouri to visit his grandparents. They were sharecroppers who picked cotton and lived in a tin-roof structure that housed pigs. Yolando attended Grant Elementary School and Logan Middle School, graduating from Waterloo East High School. When Yolando introduced Chiquita to his family, his grandmother told Chiquita to go pick an onion. Her facial expression showed her uneasiness. “I’m from Chicago,” Chiquita said. “You go to the grocery store and you buy a bag of onions.” Chiquita grew up with four siblings in the projects on Chicago’s south side, 20 blocks from former First Lady Michelle Obama. She went to a vocational high school and majored in welding. Apprenticeships weren’t accepting

women, and she was told to get on welfare. “I was like, ‘I don’t want that for me. I want so much better for me,’” Chiquita said. She walked out of the welfare office. Across the street, she saw a sign in a window that read, “Ask why the Navy pays more.” She went across the street and signed up. A career in the Navy spanned 24 years for Chiquita, who retired to spend time with their daughter, and 30 years for Yolando. Joining the Navy brought the Loveless family across the country and globe, with deployments mainly in the Middle East in countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. “When I went down to talk to the Navy recruiter, they had a world map on the wall,” Yolando said. “I’ve almost been to every spot in the world in a sense, and seen a lot of great things.” Though they spent periods of time away from one another, Yolando and Chiquita worked in communications posts for the Navy, able to use phones on ships to contact one another. They eventually got videoconferencing on ships. “Technology really helped us out in that standpoint,” Yolando said. As they watched other Navy couples separate, they drew on their faith to strengthen their relationship. “When I’m deployed, he’s praying and I’m praying,” Chiquita said. “And when he’s deployed, I’m praying and he’s praying.” Both Yolando and Chiquita earned the ranks of senior

Yolando Loveless

Chiquita Loveless

chief petty officers, the second-to-highest enlisted rank in the Navy. A competitive pair, the two would earn the same awards within a month of one another. Chiquita attended recruit training in Orlando, Fla., then was deployed to San Diego in California, Washington, the Philippines, Virginia and a variety of places with the special warfare group. She attended prisoner-of-war school. When Chiquita joined the Navy, she said men did not want women on ships. They thought women couldn’t do the job. By the time she ended her service, she had become the first Black woman chief of the ship USS Boxer, leading 34 sailors out at sea. “I took pride in that,” Chiquita said. “I walked through the ship and I knew everyone was watching, and I wanted the young people to see that looked like me — ‘Look

what you can be if you just stay focused.’” Like Chiquita, Yolando had recruit training in Orlando. His deployments took him to other Florida cities, along with the Mediterranean Sea during the Libya crisis, San Diego in California, the Philippines, Hawaii, Iraq and other areas of the Middle East. Yolando was part of a vessel boarding-and-search team that investigated drug and gun smuggling from Iran. He recalls times he went into the red zone in Iraq on other missions, watching other convoys get hit by explosive devices. “They talk about maybe you may have some survivor’s remorse. I do, sometimes,” Yolando said. “Because we could be a convoy going out that didn’t get hit. The convoy following behind us would. It was a cat-and-mouse game.”

As a man of color in the Navy, Yolando said he did not face job discrimination, as his predecessors did during the World Wars. He saw the service teach people how to think beyond their prejudices. “I’m here today on the backs of some people who really sacrificed to get us to where we are today,” Yolando said. Chiquita’s mother retired from her job to take care of the couple’s daughter in her young years. The year Chiquita retired from the Navy, their daughter entered high school. The couple built a “dream home” in Atlanta, Ga., where they lived until they returned to Iowa. “If I didn’t want anything for myself, I wouldn’t have anything,” Chiquita said. “You have to dream, and dream big. I had some really rough days, but I didn’t give up. I picked up my bootstraps and kept on going.”

OLIVIA MCBRIDE

Soldier served in Afghanistan on special female engagement team

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n high school in Fayette County, Olivia McBride considered herself one of the quiet kids, not in the most popular circles. When kids found out she was enlisting in the National Guard after graduation, she said many told her she couldn’t do it, that she wouldn’t make it. McBride ignored all of it, enlisted in the Iowa Army National Guard at age 17 and found herself deployed (July 2010-August 2011) to Afghanistan within eight months after completing basic training. She was one of nine women in her platoon stationed at a remote base in Afghanistan and joined a group of female soldiers who had to search Afghan women for weapons at traffic check points. She said the experience was incredible with the bonds she made with fellow soldiers, gave her a bigger understanding of various cultures of the world, and taught her a lot about herself. Now 29, she lives outside Des Moines where she is a staff sergeant (E-6) working full-time for the Iowa Army National Guard as a logistics instructor at the Sustainment Training Center on Camp Dodge in Johnston. She deployed a second time to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. McBride wanted to be a soldier since she was in elementary school and watched Veterans Day programs at school. “I wanted to wear a uniform. It wasn’t in my family history. I just wanted to do it. I wanted to serve our country, “she said. Her time to do that came rather quickly. When she enlisted, she was told her National Guard unit — 133rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion — based in Waterloo was scheduled to be deployed, but there was no timetable. She went out to basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and then on to advanced basic training in Virginia, where she was one of six females and 30 men. “I’ve always been treated like the little sister in the platoon because of my young age and my kind heart. They’ve just taken me under their wing and guided me along, picked on me and been there for me,” she recalls of her days working alongside men. Trained as an automated logistics specialist, her job was to track and order parts for mechanics on vehicles readying for combat. When she came back to her Iowa unit, she was told they would be deployed in eight months and to get her affairs in order. She was assigned to Echo Company on the maintenance platoon. Her battalion had a large sendoff from the UNI-Dome and they bused to Camp Shelby, Miss., and then flew to California for advanced training. They eventually flew to Bagram Air Force Base and

COURTESY PHOTO

Olivia McBride then to Jalalabad Air Field where her group was broken off and sent to Mahtar Lam in northern Afghanistan, a much smaller air field. For nine months, she helped the mechanics with vehicle parts, learned how to live in a remote location and

yearned for letters from home and Skype video calls with family. She learned that often Afghan civilian truck drivers bringing supplies to the base did not want to deal with a female soldier. She learned how to spend free time making friends with those around her. Attacks by air were a concern but something they learned to deal with. Then an opportunity came to join the female engagement team to help the infantry at traffic check points. Because Afghan insurgents knew that females could not be searched, there was a concern that men were dressing like women to get through check points. The Army decided to develop a system to search the women by using female soldiers. Women were brought in a makeshift dressing room where two female soldiers searched her clothing while a male interpreter stood outside the door. “(The female sergeant) and I had to work with each other with verbal cues and looks so if we were ever in a situation that we needed to flee the area,” she recalled. Sometimes it was frantic as frightened women not understanding what was going on tried to flee them. But she never found any weapons. She also was sent out on a mission where infantry was going to breach the home of supposed IED makers and she was needed to search the females inside. It was an intense night for the soldiers and she rode back in the vehicle with the male prisoners. It was also near the time of the very lowest point of the mission, when word was received of the death of Spc. Donny Nichols of Shell Rock, who was killed by a roadside IED on April 3, 2011. She attended a 21-round salute on the base for Nichols and the sad ceremony they held on his behalf. McBride initially went to the University of Northern Iowa after leaving the Guard. She took a job in Des Moines in 2014 working in her career field (therapeutic recreation). “That job was good, but I knew that something was missing from my life. I needed something more fulfilling. So I reached out to the full-time Guard Community for guidance and was given the opportunity to work full-time for such a great organization,” she said. She deployed with the 186th Military Police Company to Guantanamo Bay in 2018-19 where she did human resources for a unit of military police. “I made sure they got paid, promoted and awarded correctly,” she said. She now teaches soldiers from all over the U.S. on logistics and maintenance processes as well as the software that is used to inventory/create work orders/track maintenance/maintain military drivers’ licenses. She still cherishes the return home by buses from Fort McCoy and the escort from the Patriot Guard. “The tears just start flowing because you are home.”

| SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020

HISTORY OF VETERANS DAY VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs

orld War I — known at the time as “The Great War” —officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m. The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words: Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples. An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars. Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first “Veterans Day Proclamation” which stated: “In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chair-

SUSAN LAW CAIN / SHUTTERSTOCK

Yanks in Front Line Trench—Early 1900 postcard depicting Yanks in front line trench watching ‘No Man’s Land’ during WWI in France, circa 1914-1918.

EVERETT COLLECTION IMAGES/ SHUTTERSTOCK

American soldiers in front line trench during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, France, World War1. They are about 1200 yards from the German line on Oct. 3, 1918 as they occupy a camouflaged trench. A crowd at Times Square holding up headlines reading ‘Germany Surrenders,’ on November 7, 1918. Four days later, on Nov. 11. 1918, the headlines would be correct when an armistice ended WWI.

man may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible.” On that same day, President Eisenhower sent a letter to the Honorable Harvey V. Higley, Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs (VA), designating him as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee. In 1958, the White House advised VA’s General Counsel that the 1954 designation of the VA Administrator as Chairman of the Veterans Day National

Committee applied to all subsequent VA Administrators. Since March 1989 when VA was elevated to a cabinet level department, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has served as the committee’s chairman. The Uniform Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed on June 28, 1968, and was intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. It was thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater indus-

trial and commercial production. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates. The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971. It was quite apparent that the commemoration of this day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance to a great number of our citizens, and so on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people. Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. 00 1

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020 |

SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO

What those folds of the flag mean CRAIG WHITE

Vietnam Veteran

he first fold of the flag is a symbol of life. The second fold signifies our belief in eternal life. The third fold is made in honor and tribute of the departing Veteran leaving our ranks, who gave a portion of his or her life for the defense of our country to attain peace. The fourth fold exemplifies our weaker nature as citizens trusting in God; it is Him we turn to for His divine guidance. The fifth fold is an acknowledgement to our country, for in the words of Ste-

phen Decature, “Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right, but it is still our country right or wrong.” The sixth fold is for where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we, “Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The seventh fold is a tribute to our Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that we protect our country and our flag against all enemies. The eighth fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow

of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor our mother – for it flies on Mother’s Day. The ninth fold is an honor to womanhood, for it has been through their faith, love, loyalty, and devotion that the character of men and women who made this country great have been molded. The 10th fold is a tribute to father, for he too has given his sons and daughters for the defense of our country since he or she was first born. The 11th fold in the eyes of Hebrew citizens represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies in their eyes the God

of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The12th fold in the eyes of Christian citizens represents an emblem of eternity, and glorifies (in their eyes) God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The 13th fold, after the flag is completely folded, shows the stars are the uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, “In God We Trust.” The 13 Fold Procedure was common long before the more modern assigned meanings. The source and dates of the origin are unknown, but for a military person or veteran the 13 Folds and their meanings are an uplifting and healing experience.

IOWA VETERANS MUSEUM

Preserving stories of military service, homefront

The $11.5 million Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum, an addition to the Grout Museum, commemorates the stories of Iowa veterans and their families since the Civil War. It features a variety of exhibits, interactive displays and scenes and symbols of those various conflicts. The addition, named for Waterloo’s five Sullivan brothers killed during World Wa II, is a veterans museum, not a war museum. It isn’t about weapons, tactics or specific battles.

It’s those people — not just the Sullivans, but all Iowans who fought and served in those wars overseas, and the people who supported them at home— that are what the museum’s all about.

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The museum opened in 2008, on the 66th anniversary of George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert Sullivan’s deaths while serving together aboard the USS Juneau during the Battle of Guadalcanal. The museum consists of over 35 interactive exhibits. Interviews collected via the “Voices of Iowa Oral History Project total over 1,500. There also are written accounts from those of the older conflicts. The museum, located at 503 South St., is handicapped accessible.

COURIER FILE PHOTO

The Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum.

The five Sullivan brothers — from left, Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison and George — before the USS Juneau left New York in 1942. COURTESY PHOTO

This floor mat removed from the USS Juneau before her sinking in 1942 has been donated to the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo. TIM JAMISON, COURIER STAFF WRITER

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Veterans SALUTES OUR VETERANS PAST AND PRESENT 319-277-0100

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PROUD TO SUPPORT

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Veterans

WE TRUST IN TOMORROW BECAUSE OF YOU We thank all of our veterans for protecting our futures with their service. This Veterans Day, join us in honoring them.

Trust in Tomorrow.®

First Maxfield Mutual Denver, IA 1-800-366-7014 | www.firstmaxfield.com

“Trust in Tomorrow.” and “A Grinnell Mutual Member” are registered trademarks of Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company. © Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, 2020.

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FROM ALL OF US AT

G12 | Sunday, November 8, 2020

Thank You Veterans

Character. Sacrifice. Gratitude. We’re thankful for the men and women who have served, and those yet to.

118 Blackhawk Lane, Cedar Falls, IA 50613 319-266-2681 blackhawkengineering.com

Proud to Support Those Who Have Served and are Serving,

Thank You! Fixed Route & Paratransit Service

Visit military.uni.edu to explore the resources available to military members, veterans and their families.

A big

THANK YOU to our service men And women!

www.mettransit.org

234-5714

(319) 266-6947 • www.procleaninginc.com

Proudly Made in America Since 1884

THANK YOU

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HONORING ALL WHO SERVED

Veterans Day REMEMBER ALL WHO SERVED Honoring Our Military this Veterans Day both past and present And our own Bill Sinnott...

www.sinnottagency.com 622 W 4th St, Waterloo, IA

(319) 233-6103

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Thank You Veterans

Today and always. We honor all those who have selflessly served our country.

Clarksville | Waterloo (319) 874-3000 www.peoples-clinic.com

Proudly providing care and support for veterans.

Simon Gingerich 319-464-7781

www.gingerichpostandframe.com

Blackhawk Automatic Sprinklers, Inc. over 46 Years of Service

AmericAn PAttern & cnc Works, inc.

Honoring our

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• Fire Sprinkler Contractor • In House Design & Fabrication • Installation • Maintenance • Inspections

(319) 266-7721

525 East 18th St. Cedar Falls, IA www.blackhawksprinklers.com

We Support

our Military

Providing Third Party Integrated Logistics, Public Warehousing, Order Fulfillment, Trucking, and Reclaim Service.

324 Duryea Street W Waterloo, Iowa 50701 Phone: 319-236-0467 P

Supplier of Choice 319-234-6122 84 West Mullan Avenue, Waterloo, IA

We support our Veterans

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bentonsg.com

Conagra Salutes OUR EMPLOYEE VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR MILITARY SERVICE.

Veterans

G14 | Sunday, November 8, 2020

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

To our VeTerans: Thank You!

Cedar Falls Construction Co. Providing Unmatched Service for over 50 years! Ph: 319-235-6746 Fax: 319-235-0960

Sharing the StorieS of

Iowa’s Veterans

PaSt & PreSent Free admission for all Veterans & active Duty november 11, 10am - 4pm GMDIstrIct.orG

Thank you for your service. Veridian proudly supports veterans and those on active duty. We remember and honor those who made the ultimate sacriﬁce for our freedom.

319.236.5600 | veridiancu.org

Thank you Veterans to the many who haVe serVed & are still serVing, we appreciate you. Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs Office 1407 Independence Avenue venue Waterloo, IA 50703 319-291-2512 veteransaffairs@ blackhawkcounty.iowa.gov

With respect, honor, and gratitude Thank you, veterans!

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Thank you, Hans Isakson, for your service during 1962-68 in the U.S. Navy on board the USS Essex and USS Rigel. They didn’t honor veterans then, so we honor you now. Love, Your Wife-Dorothy Isakson

Adrian J. Kinley

U.S. Army 1955-1958. Lives in McGregor, IA, formerly from Waterloo, IA. Happy Veterans Day, your’ve made us proud. Thank you for your Service. Love your family, Patsy, Kevin, Debbie, Carrie, Nate, Jackson, Natalie, Lucy, Matt, April, Adrianna, Andrew, Emerson, Ella, Kelly, Levi, Jayceon & Milani.

Derald Henry

United States Marine Corp. 1952-1955 Korean War

Herbert G. Kane

US Navy WWII Veteran 1942-1946 March 14, 1924-June 11, 2020 We love and miss you Dad. Jay & Candy (Kane) Nardini A father-neither an anchor holding us back nor a sail taking us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way. 00 1

William C. Steding

Marines - SSGT. “Home of the Free, because of the Brave” Thank you for your many years of service. We are so proud of you! Love, Your Family

Gene Raffensperger

U.S. Army, 1952-55. It’s been two years since you left. We miss you. Your family and friends

Joseph Lee Bergman

“We don’t know them all but we owe them all.” In loving memory of Joseph Lee Bergman. b. 04/11/50 d. 02/21/19 Served in the Navy 1969-1973, Vietnam War.

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Julie & Tony Ball

Staff Sergeant Sean Rippey

The Dubois family are proud of our Daughter & Son-In-Law SFC Anthony Ball, USAR, 17 1/2 years of service, 3 tours overseas. SSG Julie Ball, USANG/USAR, 16 1/2 years of service.

Thank you for your bravery and commitment. Love, Mom

Zach Itzen

Larry Kr Kress

Forever proud. Thanks for your service!

Army Served in Korea 1953-1954 Love, Your Family

Scott Buck

Navy 1985-1989 Reserves 2001-2004 Love, Your Family

Carl Lange

Air Force 1955-1959 Reserves 1959-1963 Navy 1963-1979 Love, Your Family 00 1