Trip of honor: Veterans’ memories come flooding back
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| Jack McMillin of Sterling wipes at his eye as he looks over a wall of stars at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., the stars represent the 400,000 troops who lost their lives during the war. Each star represents 100 soldiers. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@svnmail.com) |
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WASHINGTON – Between the fountains and the bronze etchings of iconic images of war, Vernal Beckstrom, 89, of Erie, stood at the World War II memorial Tuesday and shared his stories.
Beckstrom, an Army corporal, served from August 1943 to November 1945. He spent time in North Africa and in Italy, using anti-aircraft artillery to protect engineers who were building roads and bridges.
Buzzing by six at a time, the German planes would drop a their bombs and fly away.
“It was pretty rough,” Beckstrom said. “I would never want to do it again.”
While soldiers were fighting to defeat the Axis powers, Beckstrom remembers how his people at home had to ration gas, bread, sugar and flour to help with the war effort.
“They had a rough time of it, too,” he said. “They should give them credit, as well as the veterans.”
“I realize we had a job to do and we finished it,” Beckstrom said. “It wasn’t going to get done until we got it done, and I realize now seeing the people here that really appreciate what the rest of us did.”
Beckstrom was one of 37 Whiteside County World War II veterans who flew to Washington, D.C., Tuesday on the Honor Flight. They visited a host of military memorials, including the one devoted to their service, which was dedicated in 2004, nearly 60 years after the war ended.
“I didn’t realize what it was going to be like,” Beckstrom said. “Everyone told us we were going to enjoy it. It was more than what I expected.”
For Elwin Haak, 86, Army veteran and former prisoner of war, the memorial stirred thoughts of his fellow GIs.
“It brings back memories of the members of my outfit, and the ones that didn’t make it,” Haak said. “That’s what I feel bad about. They’re the heroes that are still over there.”
Navy veteran Loretta Crow, 86, of Morrison, joined the WAVES in 1943. “I felt that was what I should do,” Crow said.
She was a storekeeper second class, handling payroll and supplies while stationed in New Orleans and Pearl Harbor. Her bases loaded ships with supplies, and she kept track of what came and went.
The group made a stop at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, where Crow and Harriet Burch, 89, of Rock Falls, also a member of the WAVES, looked up their service records on computerized kiosks. To their surprise, photos of them in their 20s popped up.
The surprise turned into their favorite part of the day. “Ooh ... I didn’t know they had that,” Crow said.
For $25, she was able to print a copy of her old Navy ID, which she had to surrender when she left the service in January 1946.
The guardians
Fifty-eight guardians, from Whiteside County, Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the Quad Cities also made the trip, to assist veterans, pushing their wheelchairs, helping them through security, taking pictures.
Gary Farral, of Erie, is vice chairman of the Whiteside County Honor Flight. He was a guardian, and kept meticulous notes on the day’s.
Farral is a Vietnam vet; he was a Navy operations specialist who operated radar on the USS Long Beach during his service, from January 1966 to January 1970.
The World War II memorial came a few years too late for his dad to see it, he said.
George Farral, a Navy gunner’s mate 3rd class, served aboard the USS Webber; his term was 1942 to 1945. He died in 2002.
“It’s bittersweet,” Farral said. “It’s sweet because I get to see these veterans finally getting to see their memorial; it’s bitter because dad isn’t here.”
The Marines’ special day
The United States Marine Corps celebrated its 234th birthday Tuesday, making the visit to the famous Iwo Jima Memorial, which depicts five Marines and a naval corpsman raising the flag on the strategically important island, all that more special.
Oliver Taylor, 90, and Paul Van Oosten, 86, both of Sterling, were on Iwo Jima as the United States fought for control of the island south of Japan.
“We were the best fighters in the world,” Van Oosten said.
They talked about the raising of the flag, which led to a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph that was the inspiration for the memorial. Van Oosten was about 200 yards away when the flag went up.
That was just one of the roughly 30 days the Marine Corps spent taking the island. Van Oosten helped carry ammunition and blow up pill boxes where Japanese soldiers hid.
“I think of Iwo Jima every day,” Van Oosten said.
Taylor turned 26 on the island, where bullets narrowly missed him five times: Instead, they hit a canteen, broke his shovel and went through his uniform.
“They hit everything but me,” he said. “I had nothing but a Band-Aid wound.”
The conditions were rough on the island, he said.
“You couldn’t walk in the sand. You take one step forward and two backward. You couldn’t dig a foxhole, because it would all cave in.”
Taylor’s brother, Ivan, was an Army major killed in action during the battle of Luzon in the Philippines. The family was more worried about Oliver than Ivan, because of the difference in rank, he said.
After the war
Pvt. 1st Class James Partridge, now 82, of Rock Falls, spent a year in the Army driving trucks around Germany after the war ended.
He was part of the American occupation, stationed in Hanau, outside of Frankfurt. He drove around civilian engineers who were remodeling homes for the top American echelon.
“You didn’t want to go to Frankfurt in the summertime,” Partridge said. “You couldn’t stand the stench” from German bodies left behind after Allied bombing runs. “The stench never bothered me until I came back here and started talking about it.”
After Germany, Partridge spent some time in the Army Reserves and in the National Guard; all told, he had 29 years, 9 months and 26 days in the military.
A birthday present
Art Schroeder of Morrison turned 91 the day after the trip, on Veterans Day.
Schroeder served in the Army from March 1941 to August 1945, operating the sight on a Howizter in New Caledonia, about 1,000 miles northeast of Australia.
He, too, spent time at the WWII memorial thinking about the guys he served with. “I’m thankful for a lot. We were pretty fortunate.”
His unit never saw the enemy. He would see the gunfire at night, but as the morning came, it was all quiet.
“I’ve often wondered how many thousands of guys died on that island.”
The bombing of London
Leonard Norman, 90, of Rock Falls, was a sergeant in the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, 22nd Infantry Regiment, from September 1940 until November 1945. He volunteered to serve, and drove supply trucks in Western Europe.
“I was an old farm boy,” Norman said. “There wasn’t much work, I made up my mind and something different to go out and see the world.”
Norman never saw front line combat, but he saw his share of horror.
He was stationed in London when the Germans were bombing the British capital. One landed 10 blocks away, killing 11 Americans. He saw seven people dead on a sidewalk.
For him, the Honor Flight trip “couldn’t be any better. It’s great thing to be able to come here.”
