A Veteran's Tale: D-Day and Beyond

 

Allow me to tell this story of one of The Greatest Generation who didn't fall in battle ... because many, many of his buddies did. And we must not recall the war dead without remembering the survivors.

I had the honor of knowing Charlie Grech, a gentleman who served as an ambulance driver in WWII. He was in the D-Day landing on Normandy Beach. He immigrated to the U.S. as a boy, from Malta. It was during the early days of the Great Depression, so he went right to work, earning a few cents per day. He couldn't speak English then, he said, and wound up eating pea soup at a diner every day for nearly a month because he didn't know how to order a sandwich.

When he finally learned to say "ham sandwich", the waiter asked him "white bread or wheat?" He answered, "Pea soup." But he learned, and kept working whenever he could, into the early 1940s. Then the draft notice arrived.

After basic training, his company was sent to the Mojave Desert to train for North Africa. That campaign was over before they got called up. But Operation Overlord was coming up.

"I've never been so scared in my whole life," he told me. "I thought I was gonna wet my pants. Some guys did, but we all got wet when we got out of the landing craft, so it didn't matter. The bullets sounded like mosquitos, except worse than you could imagine. Guys were getting chopped to pieces. Sometimes you couldn't even recognize 'em after they got hit."

Later, he participated in the Battle of the Bulge. 

"Every couple of hours, there'd be another rumor coming down the line that the Nazis had broken through, or that they'd infiltrated this unit or that one, or that we were cut off from the rest of the guys. I just kept picking up the wounded guys, and driving 'em back to where they needed to go. If a Kraut wanted to shoot me, he was welcome to try. Whenever I was scared, I'd just drive a little faster. So I drove fast a lot."

Charlie was an inspiration to me: just a normal guy whose family came to the States in search of opportunity. He never finished high school, and when he got called by Uncle Sam, he went. He had a job to do, and he did it. No crying, no fuss; he got the job done, and came back home.

"I was lucky," he said. "A lot of guys didn't make it back." But Charlie did.

He came back and married his best girl, Marcella, right after the war. Charlie worked in a factory until he retired. Marcella was a cook at an elementary school. For all that they had little education, they provided for a son who literally became a rocket scientist, working at White Sands when I met him.

When they retired, they lived in a small but tidy mobile home, in an equally-small subdivision out in the country. Charlie spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch, waving at the cars as people drove past. He always had a kind word for anyone who'd stop to talk. 

We lived across the street from Charlie and Marcella for nearly 12 years. Every day after work, I'd head over and have a long talk with him. Marcella would join us, most days. He always had a funny story to tell. The few times that he mentioned the war, he'd start to shake, even after all those years.

We moved away nearly thirty years ago. My in-laws mentioned them, from time to time, as they had mutual friends. I always wanted to go back and see him, but there never seemed to be time to travel all that way. Then we moved to Alaska, and that was the end of that.

Charlie passed away about 20 years ago. Marcella moved to a senior community and passed away 10 years later.

Rest in peace, Charlie. I'm richer for having known you, and we owed you far more than we could ever repay.

Final Survivor of USS Arizona Dies at 102

Fair winds and a following sea, shipmate. We have the watch.

Navajo Code Talkers

 

511 Days: Survival in a Cave

 

A Veteran's Tale: D-Day

Allow me to tell this story of one of The Greatest Generation who didn't fall in battle ... because many, many of his buddies did. And we must not recall the war dead without remembering the survivors.

I had the honor of knowing Charlie Grech, a gentleman who served as an ambulance driver in WWII. He was in the D-Day landing on Normandy Beach. He immigrated to the U.S. as a boy, from Malta. It was during the early days of the Great Depression, so he went right to work, earning a few cents per day. He couldn't speak English then, he said, and wound up eating pea soup at a diner every day for nearly a month because he didn't know how to order a sandwich.

When he finally learned to say "ham sandwich", the waiter asked him "white bread or wheat?" He answered, "Pea soup." But he learned, and kept working whenever he could, into the early 1940s. Then the draft notice arrived.

After basic training, his company was sent to the Mojave Desert to train for North Africa. That campaign was over before they got called up. But Operation Overlord was coming up.

"I've never been so scared in my whole life," he told me. "I thought I was gonna wet my pants. Some guys did, but we all got wet when we got out of the landing craft, so it didn't matter. The bullets sounded like mosquitos, except worse than you could imagine. Guys were getting chopped to pieces. Sometimes you couldn't even recognize 'em after they got hit."

Later, he participated in the Battle of the Bulge. 

"Every couple of hours, there'd be another rumor coming down the line that the Nazis had broken through, or that they'd infiltrated this unit or that one, or that we were cut off from the rest of the guys. I just kept picking up the wounded guys, and driving 'em back to where they needed to go. If a Kraut wanted to shoot me, he was welcome to try. Whenever I was scared, I'd just drive a little faster. So I drove fast a lot."

Charlie was an inspiration to me: just a normal guy whose family came to the States in search of opportunity. He never finished high school, and when he got called by Uncle Sam, he went. He had a job to do, and he did it. No crying, no fuss; he got the job done, and came back home.

"I was lucky," he said. "A lot of guys didn't make it back." But Charlie did.

He came back and married his best girl, Marcella, right after the war. Charlie worked in a factory until he retired. Marcella was a cook at an elementary school. For all that they had little education, they provided for a son who literally became a rocket scientist, working at White Sands when I met him.

When they retired, they lived in a small but tidy mobile home, in an equally-small subdivision out in the country. Charlie spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch, waving at the cars as people drove past. He always had a kind word for anyone who'd stop to talk. 

We lived across the street from Charlie and Marcella for nearly 12 years. Every day after work, I'd head over and have a long talk with him. Marcella would join us, most days. He always had a funny story to tell. The few times that he mentioned the war, he'd start to shake, even after all those years.

We moved away nearly thirty years ago. My in-laws mentioned them, from time to time, as they had mutual friends. I always wanted to go back and see him, but there never seemed to be time to travel all that way. Then we moved to Alaska, and that was the end of that.

Charlie passed away about 20 years ago. Marcella moved to a senior community and passed away 10 years later.

Rest in peace, Charlie. I'm richer for having known you, and we owed you far more than we could ever repay.

Pearl Harbor Day: December 7, 1941

Every year, we hear less and less about Pearl Harbor. About the sneak attack which killed so many American fighting men and women. Civilians, too, although even less is heard about them.

We dare not forget. Tell your friends, tell your children and grandchildren. Remind anyone who will listen.




We dare not forget what happened when Japan bombed our sailors at Pearl Harbor - nor how close they came to beating us on that day, if only our carriers had been present. Thank God (literally) they were elsewhere at the time.

On our recent trip to Honolulu, we shared a shuttle with a young mother (and her two kids) from Canada.

The shuttle had a video of local attractions playing, and she asked "What's that?" when the Arizona Memorial was displayed. I told her of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and what happened to the Arizona. She'd heard of Pearl Harbor, but not much else.

The driver told us, as we disembarked, "I'd have answered her, but you were doing such a good job that I didn't want to interrupt you. You must have been here before." It made me sad to think that people have to go see it, to learn about it. It used to be taught in schools.

But I admit I was proud to tell him, "I was in the Navy. And I've been to Pearl, too."

One of the moments which I'll never forget was our first visit to Pearl Harbor. We met survivors ... and they wanted to shake my hand. I've never met more humble men.

96-year-old WWII Pilot Flies Again

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

Firing the Lahti 20mm Anti-Tank Gun

Aimo Lahti’s 109-pound semi-automatic rifle on skis made to assassinate tanks.

Using the Swiss 20×138mmB Solothurn Long cartridge, the L39 was readily capable of piercing 20mm of armor at 100-meters and 16mm out to 500m with enough pop to put most of the Soviet tanks of the pre-WWII era on the menu. With an 1800-grain armor piercing high explosive bullet moving at 3000fps, it generated 35,543ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle.  When you keep in mind that the .50 caliber BMG round popular in the Barrett rifle and M2 “Ma Deuce” brings 13,910 ft. /lbs of energy with a 660-grain bullet, you can see just how brutal this round was.

Brutal? Watch the video:



That looks like fun. :)

Back in the Air After 23 Years

Site of Little-Known Japanese Internment Camp Found Near Anchorage on Military Base

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON — Alice Tanaka Hikido clearly remembers the bewilderment and sense of violation she felt 74 years ago when FBI agents rifled through her family's Juneau home, then arrested her father before he was sent to Japanese internment camps, including a little-known camp in pre-statehood Alaska.

The 83-year-old Campbell, California, woman recently attended a ceremony where participants unveiled a study of the short-lived internment camp at what is now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

Archaeologists working on the research used old records to pinpoint the camp location in an area now partially covered by a parking lot. The Army study is expected to be finalized later this year.

Just another chapter added to something that shouldn't have happened. But it did, and I for one am tired of modern Americans trying to whitewash our history.

We should learn from our history, instead of trying to erase it.

Last Survivor of Pearl Harbor/USS Oklahoma Passes Away

Pacific Historic Parks - USS Arizona Memorial

We are saddened to share the news that USS Oklahoma survivor Ed Vezey has passed away. Former Lt. Cmdr. Edward E. Vezey, Jr., went to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, every year for the USS Oklahoma memorial ceremony. The trip renewed his sacred bond with his brothers. It also gave him strength to tell their story and legacy.

Frank Flaherty was Vezey's roommate on the USS Oklahoma. He gave his life to save his crew. 

"They all gave him credit for getting them out of the turret," said Vez...ey in a recent interview. Flaherty was awarded the Medal of Honor. His portrait sits prominently in Vezey's living room. Vezey talked to Frank's painting every day while working out on his treadmill.

On Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor, the USS Oklahoma capsized and 429 crew members were killed when the ship was struck by enemy torpedoes. Paul Goodyear, head of the national USS Oklahoma Family Inc., said. "It won't be long before there's none of us left,". "I worry that some of the history of all of Pearl Harbor will be lost."

Vezey grew up in College Station, Texas, and joined the Navy in 1940. After the war, Vezey worked as an engineer for General Electric and then retired to a ranch in Center, Colo. After the death of his wife, Vezey moved to Moore, Oklahoma.

Vezey said he fell in love with Oklahoma when he worked on the committee that oversaw the building of the USS Oklahoma Memorial in Hawaii, which was dedicated on Dec. 7, 2007.

Vezey was an anti-aircraft gunner on the USS Oklahoma. Vezey and his roommate, Frank Flaherty, were in their quarters when they heard the call to man the battle stations. Vezey headed to his anti-aircraft turret. Flaherty went to the ship's turret. Flaherty, who died that day, was awarded the Medal of Honor for staying in his turret and holding a flashlight to let others escape. On the living room wall in Vezey's home is a painting of the USS Oklahoma Memorial. On the hallway and above his bed are illustrations of the USS Oklahoma.

Rest in peace, Mr. Vezey.

December 7, 1941

Every year, we hear less and less about Pearl Harbor. About the sneak attack which killed so many American fighting men and women. Civilians, too, although even less is heard about them.

We dare not forget. Tell your friends, tell your children and grandchildren. Remind anyone who will listen.

D-Day, 71 Years Ago

Allow me to tell this story of one of The Greatest Generation who didn't fall in battle ... because many, many of his buddies did. And we cannot recall the war dead without considering their comrades-in-arms.

I had the honor of knowing Charlie Gretsch, a gentleman who served as an ambulance driver in WWII. He was in the D-Day landing on Normandy Beach.

.

"I've never been so scared in my whole life," he told me. "I thought I was gonna wet my pants. Some guys did, but we all got wet when we got out of the landing craft, so it didn't matter. The bullets sounded like mosquitos, except worse than you could imagine. Guys were getting chopped to pieces. Sometimes you couldn't even recognize 'em after they got hit."

Later, he participated in the Battle of the Bulge. "Every couple of hours, there'd be another rumor coming down the line that the Nazis had broken through, or that they'd infiltrated this unit or that one, or that we were cut off from the rest of the guys. I just kept picking up wounded guys, and driving 'em back to where they needed to go. If a Kraut wanted to shoot me, he was welcome to try. Whenever I was scared, I'd just drive a little faster."

.

Charlie was an inspiration to me: just a normal guy who emigrated to the States as a boy, from Malta. He never finished high school, but when he got called by Uncle Sam, he went. He had a job to do, and he did it. No crying, no fuss; he just got the job done, and came back home.

.

"I was lucky," he said. "A lot of guys didn't make it back." But Charlie did.

.

He came back and married his best girl, Marcella, right after the war. Charlie worked in a factory until he retired. Marcella was a cook at an elementary school. For all that they had little education, they provided for a son who literally became a rocket scientist, working at White Sands when I met him.

.

When they retired, they lived in a small but tidy double-wide, in an equally-small subdivision out in the country. Charlie spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch, waving at the cars as people drove past. He always had a kind word for anyone who'd stop to talk.

.

We lived across the street from Charlie and Marcella for nearly 12 years. Every day after work, I'd head over and have a long talk with him. Marcella would join us eight times out of ten. He always had a funny story to tell. The few times that he mentioned the war, he'd start to shake, even after all those years.

.

We moved away, nearly twenty years ago. My in-laws would mention him, from time to time, as they had mutual friends. I always wanted to go back and see him, but there never seemed to be time to travel all that way. Then we moved to Alaska, and that was the end of that.

.

Charlie passed away, a few years ago. Marcella lives in a senior community now.

.

Rest in peace, Charlie. I'm richer for having known you.

Fancy a Fighter?

This restored Mk.1 Spitfire warplane was flown by a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot during World War II. (© 2011 John Dibbs)

A British warplane that was shot down in 1940 during World War II and was later meticulously restored to flying condition is slated to hit the auction block this summer.

The fighter plane — one of only two original Mk. 1 Spitfire models still able to fly — will be sold to commemorate the 75th anniversary of two pivotal WWII skirmishes: the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. The historic aircraft could fetch up to $3.8 million, according to Christie's London, the auction house handling the sale.

Any takers? (I'm lookin' at you, ML.)

Pearl Harbor Thoughts, and a Reminder

I was just reviewing some old posts, and found this bit which I wrote in 2010 after my first trip to Pearl Harbor:

One of the things mentioned by tour guides at the center was that the remaining survivors (there are only 94 now, I believe) have made a pact: as they die, they are cremated and their ashes placed in canisters which Navy divers take down to the Arizona and place inside. That way, these brave men can be buried with their shipmates ... and it's all they've ever wanted.

 You may remember that, over the weekend, the oldest Arizona survivor passed away. The talking heads mentioned as part of that story that only eight survivors remain.

That's 86 more passed, in 3 1/2 years.

If you know any WWII vets, quickly tell them how much you appreciate the sacrifices they made for us. There's not much time left.

On a Deserted Island, the Scars of WWII Remain (updated)

On a deserted Aleutian island, the scars of World War II remain

WWII Pacific gun expert Professor Dirk Spennemann documents one of the Kiska coastal defense guns as part of the joint National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service condition assessment project in 2007. NPS photo by Bruce Greenwood

Seven decades later, few Americans are aware that World War II engulfed the westernmost region of Alaska. It’s a curious oversight, considering that the community of Dutch Harbor was bombed and two Aleutian Islands -- Attu and Kiska -- were occupied by Japan for more than a year. Even the fight to reclaim Attu, one of the bloodiest battles of the war and a pivotal victory in the Allied drive to end Japan’s designs on the Pacific, gets scant mention. Kiska, which Japanese troops evacuated on the eve of the Allied invasion, rarely warrants a footnote.

While Kiska was restored to U.S. control without resistance, it still bears the scars of war.

(snip) While some effort was made by U.S. and Canadian troops at cleaning up the mess after the island was retaken, much of what the Japanese left behind in their hasty evacuation remains strewn about, there to be found by occasional visitors. 

(snip) Japanese forces arrived in Alaska on June 3, 1942, with a two-day aerial assault on Dutch Harbor, leaving 34 Americans dead. On June 6, they invaded Attu, taking its tiny population of Native Aleuts and two Caucasians prisoner. Next they moved on to Kiska, where only a 10-man Navy weather crew stood in their way. Bases were quickly established, but the American response was swift. U.S. bombing campaigns were soon underway, especially over Kiska. Owing to its lack of a civilian population, Kiska could be attacked mercilessly. Signs of the bombing remain, with many of the craters left by the explosions having become ponds where aquatic life now resides.  

Read the whole article at the link. Note: the article serves as an ad for a book on the topic, but the article itself is still fascinating.

Update: since so many were unaware of this, I should point out that the Japanese invaded the Aleutians (part of the Territory of Alaska, years before statehood) as a feint to draw the Navy's attention away from the impending attack on Midway Island. And now you know the rest of the story.

Dutch Harbor Officials Want WWII Building Torn Down

City officials and local residents say they want the WWII torpedo building near Unalaska’s airport torn down.

The fenced-off torpedo building overlooking the airport long-term parking lot in May 2013.
Courtesy: Peggy McLaughlin

That’s after pieces of lumber and debris flew off the building into cars in the airport long-term parking lot during last weekend’s windstorm.

City Manager Chris Hladick said at last night’s city council meeting that Troy Larue, from the Alaska Department of Transportation, is in town assessing the building’s condition.

Hladick said the city has tried to tear the building down in the past and failed because of its historic status. But he hopes this time will be different.

I understand the historical significance of the old building, but sometimes one must let common sense dictate actions - if they can't afford to fix it up and keep it safe, then it's going to have to go.

It's a shame, but neglect eventually catches up where buildings are concerned.

Procurers of Pilfered Parts Must Pay

A Georgia airplane restoration company has reached a settlement with federal prosecutors in Alaska over old and abandoned aircraft parts its salvagers took without permission from a crash site on federal land near Fairbanks.

The restorers -- Douglas, Georgia-based B-25 Group LLC -- paid the U.S. Bureau of Land Management $55,000 to settle a five-year investigation into their unauthorized use of public land, according to a written statement Thursday from the Alaska U.S. Attorney's Office. The parts they took were left on the Tanana Flats south of Fairbanks from the crash of an F-82 Twin Mustang nearly six decades earlier, the federal prosecutors said.

F-82E Twin Mustang at Adak Island, Alaska, 1948 (USAF)

"B-25 Group initially asserted the parts had been lawfully acquired from a salvage yard in Fairbanks," the statement says.

Read the rest here.

Tlingit Code Talkers Among Hundreds Honored by Congress

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -Nearly three dozen tribes across the U.S., including two in Southeast Alaska, have received the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow for their service as code talkers in World Wars I and II.

Picture from the linked article at ktuu.com

According to a statement from Alaska’s congressional delegation, 33 tribal groups -- including the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska -- were honored with Congressional Gold Medals in a Wednesday ceremony in Washington, D.C. Three Alaskan representatives of the group, Commander William “Ozzie” Sheakley, William Thomas Jr., and code talker descendant Jeff David Jr., were present. 

In addition to the gold medals awarded to the tribes, more than 200 Congressional Silver Medals were presented to code talkers and their families.“The critical role these men played in sparing the lives of fellow servicemen is remarkable,” [Alaska Representative Don] Young said. “By communicating in spoken code at places like Iwo Jima and Normandy, these fine men forever changed history. Because of them, we were able to relay real-time information on enemy positions, provide directions to troops on the ground, and gather intelligence that helped us end a dark time in the world’s history.”

Follow the link to see the whole article.