John Aimonetti San Jose, California
Private First Class, U.S. Army, World War II

I spent five years in the Army. I was a damn good soldier.

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Joseph Anunciacion Chicago, Illinois
Sergeant, U.S. Army, 1952-1954

I was in the artillery then the observation battalion, where our job was to look for things to destroy in North Korea. I usually travelled in groups—we never went alone. The camaraderie was my favorite part of being in the Army.

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Dino Barela Dallas, Texas
Chief Warrant Officer 3, U.S. Navy, 1958–1979

The Navy gave me the opportunity to grow but it was up to me to take the initiative. I held every rank from E1 to E9 and then promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 3. Throughout my military career, I served as a cryptologist, worked for the NSA, kept the Naval archives and was a language instructor. The Navy took me all over the world and I got to circumnavigate Africa twice. Our ship crossed the equator, making me a ‘Shellback.’

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James Brown Chicago, Illinois
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, World War II

My most profound regret during this time was the loss of my brother Jack to a Japanese flame-thrower on Guadalcanal. My most enduring memories can only be the bloodshed, the fear, and the resolve of myself and fellow soldiers to do what had to be done.

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H. Frederick Brown Chicago, Illinois
Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, World War II

Studs Terkel said that the second World War was the Good War. My friends who saw combat did not see it that way.

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Dominic Calabrese Houston, Texas
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, World War II

The good Lord was watching over me. We were in the second wave in France — we relieved the paratroopers and moved inward. They had hedgerows there. You would be on one side, and on the other side was the enemy.

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Michel Cartier Los Angeles, California
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, World War II

Before I immigrated to the United States, I was a chef at the French Culinary Institute and then served in the French Navy. I enlisted because I was proud to be an American.

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Eslie Sanders Cashie Los Angeles, California
Captain, U.S. Air Force, 1958-1965

I started as an airman and immediately applied for direct commission as an officer after basic training. I was chairman of the non-appropriated or nongovernment funds and was in charge of the private school, bowling alley, NCO club and officers club on Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. I was the only African American female who was not a nurse and I was treated very well, from the General to the enlisted men. It was the greatest time of my life.

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Lennie Casper Chicago, Illinois
Corporal G5, U.S. Army, 1946-1948

I was a jazz drummer in the Army Band, and it was great. I was stationed in Berlin for two years. We had a lot of good times. We played all over, at all the different Army bases. It made them happy and took them out of what they were doing.

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Dr. Gerald Clay Chicago, Illinois
Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Army, Vietnam War

I was drafted into the Army and served stateside during the Vietnam War. After, I went to Howard University Medical school on the GI bill, and then on to Harvard School of Public Health. I was commissioned in the US Navy as a Lieutenant Commander serving civilian families at the Great Lakes Hospital. It was a family practice type of medicine, and it went on to be the highlight of my career.

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Cecil Cohen Los Angeles, California
Private First Class, U.S. Army, World War II

I was shot while crossing an orchard in Italy. The medic who treated me was shot while doing so. He died right on top of me. This shrapnel injury left me with a withered arm. Before dying, the medic said, ‘You’re going to be alright now.’

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Ernie Cortez Sunnyvale, California
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, World War II

I was born and raised in the Philippines. When the war broke out, I was just out of high school, and my brothers and I worked in my father’s bakery. In the mornings I went into the mountains to pick fruit from the trees so my mother could sell guavas and bananas from a little basket. That’s how we maintained our livelihood. There wasn’t much news about the war. All I knew was that the Japanese started bombing Hawaii, and since we were an American outpost, they started to bomb Manila, too. We heard the Japanese would be coming from the north of the Philippines, so a strategy was devised to send defenses to Bataan.

We were not really prepared for the Japanese when they bombed us early in the morning. The airplanes kept coming and strafing our troops until around dawn, when we were told to withdraw. Then we heard the news that there was an order to surrender. The Japanese told us to come down the hills to the road to start marching. It was a very hot day in April, and whenever we came across a stream, soldiers would try to get a drink of water. The water was oily because there were dead soldiers up in the hill. People got sick with malaria, dysentery, and all kinds of diseases.⁽¹⁾

During the march I found two of my classmates from high school, and we started to plan an escape. When darkness came the three of us got out of the line and went toward the beach. We found some civilian clothes. We contracted with a fisherman to take us across Manila Bay. A man approached us soon after we arrived. He knew about all the Japanese roadblocks and the way the soldiers searched. He asked, “Do you know how they can recognize that you are soldiers? Look at your feet.” Our feet were kind of white, while the rest of our bodies were dark. That’s how the Japanese could pick out the escaped soldiers.

When I got to my hometown of Tanay, I was trembling from malaria. It took a while to recover. My mom was very scared, because she had three sons, all in hiding. During the occupation, everyone was under suspicion. I immigrated to the United States in 1948. I took an entrance examination, which admitted me into University of California Berkeley. A friend told me about a Filipino girl who went to his wife’s laundry shop. It turned out she was a guerilla nurse in a neighboring province during World War II, but I met her at a Chinese laundry in Oakland!

<sub>1. On April 9th, 1942, American and Filipino soldiers charged with the defense of the islands of Luzon, Corregidor, and the Philippines were ordered to surrender to Japanese forces. Over seventy thousand troops in the province of Bataan were forcibly marched sixty miles over the course of a week to prisoner camps in the province of Tarlac. Undernourished and ill, vulnerable to extreme heat and thirst, and subjected to physical abuse, torture, and execution, thousands died along the way.

Edited from The Last Good War, published by Welcome Books, text by VERONICA KAVASS, used with permission, photo 2009.</sub>

James Eckman Louisville, Kentucky
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War II

I was proud to be part of it and proud to give my share like others. During World War II, I was a ball turret gunner aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress. My first mission was on June 6, 1944 — D-Day. I was shot down on my 26th mission over Stuttgart, Germany, close to Switzerland. Two engines shut down and we couldn’t get back across Allied lines. We threw everything out of the plane and crash landed in an old airfield. We were interned in Switzerland for about 9 or 10 months, before we escaped into South France.

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Clarence Edwards Chicago, Illinois
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 1969-1982

My sergeant saw how I communicated with the soldiers, especially the young ones, and he sent me to be a drug and alcohol counselor in Italy. I tried to help them alleviate their problems, and I was pretty successful with it. They’d come back years later and they would thank you for helping them and keeping them out of trouble.

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Ron Emde Chicago, Illinois
Quartermaster Third Class, U.S. Navy, World War II, Korean War

I joined the Navy in 1945 when I was still in high school. I went across the Pacific as the war ended and was in occupied Japan for two years. I also departed from San Francisco to go to Korea and back. Later, I was discharged, then decided to come back.

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Mildred Evans Burbank, California
Spec G WAVE, U.S. Navy, World War II

It changed my life because I learned how to be a legal secretary. I was also proud to have been a Gunnery Specialist at the Operational Training Center at Treasure Island in San Francisco, where I taught men how to shoot 20 mm and 40 mm guns.

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Howard Fox Atlanta, Georgia
Mailman 3rd Class, U.S. Navy, World War II

It was an exciting time that I will never forget. I was assigned to the USS Kennebago, a fleet tanker and filling station to the fleet. We were the essential part to the first line fighting ships, as we carried their fuel. Our ship supplied the last of the fuel for the battleships that destroyed the Japanese fleet in the battle of the Philippine Sea.

The background image shows Howard’s father, C. Maynard Fox, U.S. Navy, WW I.

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Dick Frankel Burbank, California
Seaman, U.S. Navy, World War II

Osamu “Sam” Fujikawa Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Sergeant, U.S. Army, World War II

I served with the 100th 442nd Infantry in the European Theater. All the enlisted men were comprised of Japanese Americans. I was trained as a combat infantryman, assistant squad leader and Sergeant. I received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2011 from President Obama at the White House. I received the Asian Pacific Islander Heritage for the WWII Veterans Award at the Los Angeles City Council. I was one of the founders of the Japanese-American National Museum in Los Angeles and the Go for Broke Monument.

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Marion Bill Hall Sunnyvale, California
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force, World War II

World War II was our duty. We didn’t start it, but we helped finish it for the world.

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William Herwig Sunnyvale, California
Seaman First Class, U.S. Navy, World War II

I didn’t want to be drafted into the Army, so when the person signing me up offered a chance to go into the Navy, I signed up on the spot. My time was good except for being wounded by an American ship off the coast of Borneo. I was a gunner on board a cargo ship and an American plane came in skip bombing and that’s when I was hit. It was on the same day that FDR passed away.

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Harold “Bud” Heym San Diego, California
Seaman First Class, U.S. Navy, World War II

I enlisted when I was 17 years old in Richmond, Virginia and went to boot camp in Sampson, New York. I was part of 1,000-man group that was sent to Camp Pendleton, transferred to San Francisco to be shipped directly to Saipan in the Marietas Islands, Philippines. Nine-hundred-eighty of the men went to sea and I was picked in a group of twenty men who ran the Navy Piers in Saipan. I served in the administration office for the pier.

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Charles Hill Louisville, Kentucky
Corporal, U.S. Army, World War II

I enlisted in 1940 at the ripe old age of 15. I didn’t think it was too young. I felt ten feet tall. I went to the European Theater in February of 1944 and stayed in England until D-Day. My outfit, the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion, entered France two weeks later. The vehicle that we drove was a tank destroyer called the Hellcat 1. We didn’t do city fighting, we fought out in the open. Our tank was made to hit and run, and when German tanks came into view, we’d shoot them and then we’d hide again. We had a 76mm gun that would knock out almost any German tank.

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Phil Horwitz Chicago, Illinois
National Guard, 1948-1951

I liked my time in the service because I liked discipline and working in artillery. Later, we practiced various operations once a week. There were times when we went for weeks without seeing any girls — my gosh!

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Joe “Buck” Hubbard Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War II

I was assigned to the Tenth Air Force as a radar operator and technician for the fighter planes P-40 and P-47. We served in Southeast Asia and Burma. The most memorable moment was when we were invited to a party with Naga Tribesmen — who chose not to shrink our heads because they were impressed with our ability to fly planes.

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John Jackson Los Angeles, California
Corporal, U.S. Army, World War II

I left my hometown of Beaumont, Texas, and didn’t return for forty years. My strongest ambition since childhood was to learn languages and see the world. The man my father worked for owned Spindletop, the first oil gusher in Texas. He used his power to promote education and a solid local justice system. Under that influence, I went to college in Chicago and moved from there to Seattle because I heard that it was the best place for blacks to work. My first job was shining shoes, but within months I became a timekeeper for the Army Quartermaster Corps.⁽¹⁾ I kept climbing the ladder until I was drafted.

I was assigned to the 780th Military Police Battalion, which was all black except for the officers. We landed in Casablanca, but I spent most of my time in Algiers doing military police duties. One of my stations was the Office of Strategic Services—which is now called the CIA.⁽²⁾ It was my duty to observe everything that took place at the entrance gate to the OSS headquarters. After that post, I was transferred to Marseilles, France, where I was in charge of traffic control and guarding prisoners, who were mainly incarcerated Germans.

When the war ended, all the American soldiers were impatient to get back to the States. Not me. I remained in France to learn French and got accepted into the London School of Economics, where I studied law and languages. I met my wife at a dance in London. She was a German and Japanese beauty who wanted to find an American husband. After we married she went by herself to take a medical examination—the final step in getting her visa. She returned very disturbed because they had rejected her due to her Japanese heritage. Having training in law, I was able to do what was proper and necessary to get her into the country, but I had to go through quite a lot of channels. I wrote letters to people of power, starting with President Truman and Dean Acheson, the Secretary of State. I was able to cite the law that proved she had a right to a visa. I sent letters to senators, the NAACP, and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who was a United Nations delegate. In fighting for her, I was fighting against the blanket of racial prejudice, and it proved to be effective. Mrs. Roosevelt and several other politicians wrote back, stating that they were considering the matter. My wife was admitted into the country shortly thereafter, and I went on to study law at New York University.

_{1. The Quartermaster Corps is a service branch of the U.S. Army, and it includes support functions such as supply and material management.}

<sub>2. President Roosevelt established the Office of Strategic Services in 1942 to perform tactical research and analysis of military intelligence, as well as carry out clandestine espionage operations.

Edited from The Last Good War, published by Welcome Books, text by VERONICA KAVASS, used with permission, photo 2009</sub>

I. Wayne Jordan Austin, Texas
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, Korean War, Vietnam War

I served in Korea, North Vietnam, Japan and the Arctic Ocean as a chief engineer on the USS Harris County, LST 822. My service was the most significant development period in my life. I learned more about people, problem solving and service in the three years at sea than five years in college.

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Frank Kik Chicago Illinois
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1947-1949

I spent three years in Korea and it was an exciting time in my life. With the Japanese occupying Korea, there were no maps, other than what the Japanese had. We used their maps to find key points and then build the U.S. maps. It was a profession; you weren’t just a GI in the infantry. One thing I learned in the service that affected me all through the years was discipline.

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William “Bill” Lancaster Scottsdale, Arizona
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War II

I flew fifty missions before I was 20 years old. We weren’t given instructions but had to memorize the cockpit instruments by blindfold. They put us in a plane, ran through the basics and then told us to learn to fly without bashing it up or killing ourselves. I’d like to see more explanations to the young people of today about how people really died for their country.

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R. C. Levis Los Angeles, California
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, World War II, Korean War

As part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, two war experiences brought me to Europe. I was actively involved with German prisoners and in the reconstruction of France. My exposure to European culture as a Native American was one of the most influential in my life. It influenced my studies in philosophy and religion and my subsequent career in teaching and education. It was through being stationed in Paris that I met the woman I eventually married.

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Louis Lezon Chicago, Illinois
Aviation Machinist Mate First Class, U.S. Navy, World War II

In late December 1942, I was assigned to a Carrier Aircraft Service Unit in Fort Island, Hawaii. On the way to my outfit, our ship passed the remains of the Japanese attack: planes and ships underwater, the water filled with oil. We were called to stand at attention and hand-salute because the divers were bringing up a black bag from the oily waters. We didn’t know what it was, but we stood and saluted. I was just a young lad; it was touching.

At Kaneohe Bay, I serviced planes that were coming in from the mainland. Once my crew and I were assigned to replace a gas tank, and it wasn’t aligning properly. An impatient officer among the others asked, “Can I get my foot in there yet?” I looked up to find a gentleman in a flight suit that said Commander O’Hare. He was a big lanky guy. He stuck his long leg in there and took a couple of pokes and said, “I’m satisfied. Get it all together, let me know what the outcome is. I’m missing out on my flights.” After it was assembled, to my dismay, I was told. that it was no good. One of the chiefs said, “Well, Commander O’Hare is going to get a new plane.” Shortly after, he and his plane disappeared when he was leading a fight against two Japanese bombers. They named the Chicago airport O’Hare in memory of him.⁽¹⁾

My brothers and I were in the service at the same time. One went up in the Army and did severe fighting with General Patton. Another was on a destroyer in the Pacific Theater. There was the Marine who got injured in Iwo Jima. When the war ended, my mother’s prayers were answered: we all made it home. On my last day, my lieutenant told me that the war was over and that I was eligible to go home on the point system. He said, “But I’ll make a deal with you. You’re a first-class mechanic. I’ll give you a chief ’s rating.” I said no. I told him: “I promised a young girl I would come home and we would get married.” And I came home. And here it is sixty-four years later, and we’re still together.

<sub>1. Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry O’Hare was a decorated fighter pilot from Chicago, the first naval aviator recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II.

Edited from The Last Good War, published by Welcome Books, text by VERONICA KAVASS, used with permission, photo 2009</sub>

Thomas Jackson Lisenby Houston, Texas
First Lieutenant, U.S. Air Force, 1951 - 1956

Many men in my family served in the military. My father and father-in-law served in WWII, and my uncles also served. I always knew that I would serve if the need came. I was 20 years old when I went into pilot training and was assigned to a T-33. Some of my training missions included working on tactical formation which was a unique experience. After training, I was ready and waiting to be called for overseas duty but the war had ended so I stayed stateside.

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Robert Lofton Chicago, Illinois
Airman Second Class, U.S. Air Force, Korean War-1985

I joined the Air Force at the age of 19, during the Korean War. I was a telephone repairman and in the Air Force I became an Early Aircraft Warning Technician. Stationed in Tripoli, Libya, my job was to warn fighter pilots of incoming unknown aircraft so they could intercept. My time in the Air Force made me a better man. I learned to give orders, but more importantly, to follow them.

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Ted Lumpkin Los Angeles, California
First Lieutenant, U.S. Air Force, World War II

The draft board sent all Los Angeles draftees to Fort MacArthur to be inducted into the service. After some very difficult basic training, I took an exam and got accepted and went down to Miami Beach, Florida. The Air Force had taken over all these resorts and used them to house all of the personnel. Our class in itself included five thousand people. Seventeen out of five thousand men in officers training for the U.S. Air Force were black. The experience was good there. The classes were integrated. When we finished the course, all seventeen of us were then assigned to Tuskegee, and to the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group.⁽¹⁾

We were sent overseas to Italy, where I had an intelligence officer assignment. Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, our commander, really insisted on the planes escorting the bombers and not getting distracted by the enemy fighters. We had an excellent record in comparison to other fighter groups. The 332nd was good at protecting bombers, but the oss of our own pilots was a very emotional thing. It is difficult to accept the “here today and gone tomorrow” element of war.

But bad times were balanced out with good. One major mission was a long-distance one to Berlin. The fighters had to carry extra gasoline tanks in order to escort the bombers to the target and back. It was one of the few times that the Eighth Air Force and the Fifteenth Air Force coordinated to help knock the Germans out of the war. It was a hazardous mission, because the Germans were defending their capital as strongly as they could. But we succeeded, and it felt really good to be part of such a major moment in the war.

One of the reasons that the Tuskegee Airman organization was started was to let the world know that there were black pilots fighting in World War II. When we got back, nobody believed it had actually happened. It wasn’t really until around 1972 that the Tuskegee organization formed to promote the legacy and formally asked people to do what they could to spread the word. We received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007, and President Bush saluted the Tuskegee Airmen for the many salutes that they had not received during their active duty. Often, a white enlisted person did not salute a black officer. The big salute from the president symbolized all the missed ones.

<sub>1. America’s first black military aviators were trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama, which provided the origin of their popular title: the Tuskegee Airmen.

Edited from The Last Good War, published by Welcome Books, text by VERONICA KAVASS, used with permission, photo 2009. Mr. Lumpkin is not a Belmont Village resident.</sub>

Allen Charles Lyon Cardiff by the Sea, California
Corporal, U.S. Army Signal Corps, Korean War

I served after the Korean War, assigned to a Class A photo lab at Armed Forces Far East (AFFE) headquarters, Camp Zama, Japan. It was an incredible experience. As a photojournalist, I photographed 32 Generals — from three-star to Major Generals. I spent 2,000 hours in a helicopter surveying Army functions over Tokyo. I climbed a 350-ft microwave tower to photograph the parabolic attachments and I took pictures of events such as medal of honor recipients, promotions and hometown releases.

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Manuel “Mac” Martinez San Jose, California
Corporal Tech 5, U.S. Army, World War II

I was a 776 radio operator with field artillery and transportation corps — American and European theaters. My wire was rolled in a Jeep and as the Lieutenant looked through his binoculars, he telephoned to relay codes: ‘5-zero-above’ and ‘Fire’. They didn’t always hit, so we made corrections. I got on and off the radio quickly as enemy rangefinders could locate us. When cannons and howitzers hit enemy targets, the order ‘Now fire for effect’ meant shoot to blow up.

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Robert Meiborg Chicago, Illinois
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Force 1938–1945, World War II

It was long periods of boredom followed by moments of sheer terror.

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Richard Miller Encino, California
Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, World War II

I was in the 469th Bombardment Group. We used to fly from India to China, over the Himalayas, over what they called ‘the Hump.’ We were supplying the Chinese and bombing the Japanese who were stationed there. The Himalayas were so high, it wasn’t very effective. From there we went to Australia, and eventually to Tinian, where we had better access. The A-bomb was sent to Japan from that base on Tinian. They put it in the plane and away it went. So many people were killed. But that was war. That’s what we call war.

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Fred Mitnick Chicago, Illinois
Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, World War II

They drafted me two days before Pearl Harbor, but I was sent home because my heart was wrong. My this was wrong, my that was wrong; everything was wrong. That was on a Friday. On Sunday, Pearl Harbor happened. Monday morning, the Army calls me back again. “We have to reexamine you.” And what do you know? I turned into the healthiest guy in the world. They put me in a cab with a couple of other boys and took me to the O’Hare airfield in Chicago. Eight hours later, I was in Hawaii.

They told me I was in the Seventh Air Force. I met with the captain and he asked, “So you’re a pretty good mechanic?” “Yeah, yeah,” I told him. I lied. The next day I met with my newly assigned captain. “Captain,” I said, “everything you see on that record is a lot of BS. I only worked as a mechanic for about three weeks.” He looked at me for a while—the way teachers have looked at me certain times in my life. “Okay, at least you’re honest,” he said. “I want you to meet the boy who is the head of the maintenance department. He’ll stay with you about a month, teach you as much as he can get into your head, and then he’ll be discharged.” I was ecstatic. He wagged his finger at me, “Don’t BS these guys.”

We hopped from island to island, following the Marines as they knocked them out to get to the Japanese. We were sent down to a little island called Kanton in the South Pacific. It was as big as a postage stamp. No dirt. No trees. Just plain white sand. My officer would tell me, “Fred, you’re going to get all kinds of garbage. God willing, I want to have the maximum of forty airplanes ready to fly. Beg. Borrow. Steal. Except one thing: if I ask you what happened, I want the truth so I know how to cover for you.”

Some days were calm and we had fun. And there were some days when we were under attack. We would get into a foxhole until it was over. We’d push our way out of the sand. There was always damage. People always got hit. So we had to have regular burials. They used to take the boys—all the pieces of the parts of their bodies—out to the far end of the island, whichever island we happened to be on, and dig a deep hole, and dump everyone in it, close it up and that was it.

_{Edited from The Last Good War, published by Welcome Books, text by VERONICA KAVASS, used with permission, photo 2009}

George Mueller Chicago, Illinois
Corporal, U.S. Army, 1953-1955

During WWII as a teenager, I was in a concentration camp in Germany. I was liberated by the Russian army who then sent me to the Americans. Ten years later, I was proud and thankful to serve in the American Army. I was sent to leadership school, and my official job was in the artillery.

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Joe Nicassio Burbank, California
Seaman First Class, U.S. Coast Guard, World War II

A lot of good guys never came home. My mom walked to the neighborhood church to pray for me every day. I was one of the lucky ones.

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Lillian Offen Atlanta, Georgia
Commander, U.S. Navy, World War II, Korean War

I served as a nurse during WWII and the Korean War on a navy medical ship. In Korea, I was on the USS Haven and cared for injured soldiers and Korean civilians who did not have access to medical care. I was sad to see so many young men hurt like that. The doctors and nurses were substantial, hardworking people. I was proud to be associated with them.

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Harold Palmer Chicago, Illinois
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, World War II

I was glad when the war was over. We were in New Guinea and the Philippines. We were hit pretty hard. I was in the 32nd artillery division. We had the most hours of combat of all the divisions.

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Myron Petrakis Chicago, Illinois
Motor Machinist, U.S. Navy, World War II

I spent time aboard the USS Murrelet. I am dedicated to the memory of my boyhood friends and shipments who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country in WWII. I lost six friends and 31 shipmates that I trained with when our sister ship the USS Minivet hit a mine on December 28, 1946, during sweeping operations in the Korean Straits. The war did not end for the minesweepers on VJ day.

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John C. Pope Nashville, Tennessee
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War II

I spent a year in England as a Navigator of B-17’s and B-24’s for a recon group. We gathered meteorological data and spent more than 400 hours in the air with some flights lasting as long as 14 hours each. The English people were great. They took a hell of a beating.

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Johnny Reid Chicago, Illinois
Sergeant, U.S. Army, World War II

I led a section of 16 men in combat; gave all orders pertaining to the safety of the men, such as holding or withdrawing from positions. I was responsible for the men as well as seeing that the prescribed mission was accomplished.

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Gertrude Reid Chicago, Illinois
First Lieutenant, U.S. Air Force, 1952-1954

I never really thought of myself as a ‘war hero’ — just as a nurse taking care of the heroes coming back from Korea while I was stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska. I was 4,400 miles from home, but I knew it was where I was needed. What they needed was to get well and get back to their families.

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William E. Riley Chicago, Illinois
U.S. Navy, World War II

On May 4, 1945, our ship was given an order to patrol the number one corner of the ring around the island of Okinawa. The purpose of the ring was to intercept Kamikaze planes and alert the large ship in the harbor to be prepared for the attack. Around noon, we noted 75 Kamikaze planes in the area. We came under attack and within 15 minutes, two of the Destroyers had sunk, along with two Rocket Ships (LCS and LSM). U.S. Corsairs arrived and shot the Japanese planes out of the sky. Of the five ships in the corner, ours was the only survivor. We picked up 135 men out of the water and proceeded to the hospital ship in Okinawa. Later in the day an Admiral came aboard to congratulate us and tell us that we had earned the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon for our valor.

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Bill Risko San Jose California
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, World War II

I joined the Marines in March 1945, and completed boot camp and combat training. We were headed for the invasion of Japan when the A Bomb was dropped. So they sent us to China for two years to help fight the communists and assist the Chinese in running the country.

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Elizabeth “Lib” Roller Nashville, Tennessee
Petty Officer Third Class, U.S. Navy WAVES, World War II

With my mother’s permission, I enlisted in the WAVES at the age of 20. I was sent to boot camp in New York and then stationed in Washington D.C. I was a personnel supervisor and gave city tours and lifeguarded, but my service was not so much about what I did, as what I saw. One of the most memorable moments was watching President Roosevelt’s funeral. It was a very impactful moment seeing the coffin, horse drawn carriage and everyone crying.

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Fulton “Rusty” Sandler Cardiff by the Sea, California
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Air Force, World War II

I was on a mission to bomb Berlin when our B-17 lost an engine. We turned back toward England, but were shot down over Belgium and captured on April 29, 1944. I was the navigator, and along with fellow officers, was separated from the crew and sent to prison camp. Being Jewish, I was put into solitary confinement and interrogated. We all survived but spent exactly one year in several camps. We were freed by General Patton on April 29, 1945.

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Russell Schoeller Chicago, Illinois
Machinist Mate Second Class, U.S. Navy & U.S. Coast Guard, World War II

It was a tough time – I was scared. The ocean was so big and we were so small.

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Martin Schwartz Chicago, Illinois
Radar Man Third Class, U.S. Navy, World War II

It is difficult to think about the war and being away from my wife and daughter. I was always thinking about how they were doing. The war is like watching a strange movie, but you’re there. At times it isn’t exciting and then the action part starts. Then it is more like a dream. Especially when you find out who is still alive. I was thankful to be in the Navy and not the Army.

Photo 2015

David Smith Encino, California
Lieutenant J.G., U.S. Naval Air Corps, World War II

I enlisted at 17 years old so that I could become a pilot. I thought that if I was to die, the cleanest way would be in an airplane crash. I was piloting one of the first planes to bomb Japan and we lost a lot of men in those flights. It was terrible. Our young lives ended right there, but it taught us responsibility. I was proud to have served.

Photo 2015

Elmer “Jack” Turner Memphis, Tennessee
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Korean War

I played ball at University of Arkansas for a year before enlisting. I always wanted to be a Marine, since I was 8. I was a marksman in Korea. Once we ran into enemies by the river and were outnumbered. We withdrew until we realized they were out of ammo. We came back and stayed until they withdrew. I wanted to get out and get home. I wasn’t a hero, I was someone who could shoot.

Photo 2009

Frank Van Neirop Scottsdale, Arizona
Private First Class, U.S. Army, World War II

As a squad leader responsible for control coordination for the mortar crew and tactical employment of mortars, I picked out enemy targets and directed my men to fire against them. I was wounded in both legs during the Normandy invasion on the shores of Omaha Beach and was awarded the Purple Heart.

Photo 2009

Eugene Washington Chicago, Illinois
Steward Second Class, U.S. Navy, World War II

I saw a lot. I learned a lot.

Photo 2009

Dorothy Weems Thousand Oaks, California
Tech 4 Sergeant, U.S. Women’s Army Corps, World War II

I chose to sign up as I was the oldest in my family and none of my cousins could go, so I felt as if I was the one to serve our country. I was only 19 years old and needed my father’s permission. He agreed so long as I promised not to go overseas, which never happened as I went through basic training and then to a specialist school as a dental technician. We cleaned the teeth of the new recruits before they shipped out…some had never been to a dentist.

Photo 2009

John Weems Thousand Oaks, California
Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War II

I was an aircraft electrician who was taught to work on the B24 bomber aircraft in Tucson for the first year. I then hitched a ride to the Air Force Base on Guam. It was there that I worked on 13 missions with the B29 aircraft. The planes left on bombing runs at 5 p.m. and returned the next morning at 9 a.m. I recall that it was at the war’s end when the Tail Gunners were instructed not to fire unless fired upon.

Photo 2009

Thomas Welsh III Chicago, Illinois
Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Korea

USMC: semper fidelis (always faithful). Always forward. Leave no one behind.

Photo 2015

Billy James Williams Dallas, Texas
Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War II

I’m one of the lucky ones who got to come back. I volunteered for service and went in at 21 and got out at 23. I flew on B29s from Saipan (Mariana Islands) to Japan on 28 missions. The first thing we bombed were their fuel tanks. I lost a prop coming back from one of the missions and landed in Iwo Jima. I stayed there for 10 days until they were able to bring me back to Saipan.

Photo 2022

Perry Wolff Los Angeles, California
Corporal, U.S. Army, World War II

For a long time, I tried to remember every place that I slept, from Omaha Beach to Elbe. Then I chose to forget. What I feel right now is that I just don’t want to remember the war.

Perry Wolff has written two books about World War II – Fortune Favored the Brave (non-fiction) and The Friend (fiction). He produced 26 films with Walter Cronkite about the rise of air power.

Photo 2015

Robert “Bob” Yanchus Thousand Oaks, California
Private First Class, U.S. Army, World War II

During my senior year in high school I joined the Army Specialist Training Program (ASTP) to avoid being assigned to the infantry. Unfortunately, the Army had too many casualties in the Italian Campaign so they disbanded the ASTP and I was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, for infantry training. Afterwards, I was stationed on the front line at the Battle of the Bulge where I was wounded. I was only a teenager when I joined the Army and 10 of my friends were killed in the Battle of the Bulge.

Photo 2009

Joe Zummo, PhD Chicago, Illinois
Private First Class, U.S. Army, Korea

I served in Korea as a cryptographer, and I had top secret clearance. I used to go to a convent every Sunday and help them write letters to the United States. I met the head Korean nun and she was one of the most inspiring women I’ve ever known. So selfless and skillful. The experience made me change my whole career. I had a degree in business administration and switched to social work and got my masters. I went on later to do psychotherapy.

Photo 2022