Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

In their own words, veterans tell of service and sacrifice for U.S.

By RITA FARLOW, Times Staff Writer
Published November 11, 2007

They were born in big cities and small farm towns, from California to New York and points in between. - Their "best gals" were back home tending victory gardens or serving as WAVES to support the war effort. - They looked forward to news from home, USO shows and "R and R" time in exotic locales. - Their memories span nearly forty years, through World War II, Korea and Vietnam. - Seventy-seven military veterans from Palm Hill Country Club mobile home park shared memories from their service years to create a book called How We Served Our Country. - Co-editors Shirley Reynolds and Jeannette Sommerville and their committee spent a year scanning old photos and transcribing the words of the veterans to create the book of remembrances. - Members of the mobile home park will hold a book release party today in honor of Veterans Day. - Each story is different, but common themes emerge: the joy of running into buddies from home, gratitude for their brothers in arms, humor in the face of tragedy. - There are stories of near misses and crippling injuries that brought them home to their sweethearts, and memories of the many friends who never made it back. - From their hometowns to basic training to the front lines of battle, these are their words:e_SFrBJames R. Collis was surprised to run into his older brother, Tom, on several occasions while he was stationed in Europe during World War II. Their last meeting occurred at the end of the war, when the two were on separate missions to liberate troops in France. Shortly thereafter, Collis was on his way home to America.

"The (USS) Enterprise came all the way from the South Pacific to pick up our division. We landed in New York Harbor on Christmas Eve 1945 with 17,500 men on that ship. Every man on the flight deck was crying when they saw the Statue of Liberty."

James R. Collis, 84

Dusty Cook enlisted in the Army in 1940, at age 17. He recounted his "zigzagging voyage" to Hawaii in March 1942 on a "rusted-out WWI (World War I) ship that had been in mothballs" before the war. Cook was shot in the leg while serving in the Pacific Theater.

"On June 22, 1942, moving along the beach with my buddies, we could see the Japanese up on the cliff. We pulled back through the sugar cane with machine gun fire all around us. I was the squad leader, hit the ground, but couldn't then get up or roll over. I had been shot. My body was headed in one direction and my left leg in another. ... In spite of my disabling injury, I was one of the lucky ones to make it home."

Dusty Cook, 84

Milton Hooper served in the Marine Corps from 1950 to 1954, during the Korean War. Hooper spent two months in the hospital after he broke his jaw when he "tripped a Bouncing Betty land mine" and later developed hepatitis and yellow jaundice. Included in his memoirs are an account of his unit's first battle:

"I will always remember the date in 1951 when we landed in Korea for it was my birthday, August 31. There were lots of hills in Korea and also a lot of snow. Conditions were anything but easy! The first bit of combat I saw was when we went up a hill in a very bad battle. We started with 1,300 men and only 300 came back down in good health. Many lost their lives, and many, many were wounded.

Milton Hooper, 76

James A. "Jim" Johnson, born in Chicago, served with the Army during World War II. He was on deck when he saw a plume of water and felt the blast of a torpedo attack.

"We all went below immediately and as almost everyone smoked in those days, we all reached for a cigarette. The problem was the guy with the lighter and the group of three around him were all shaking so bad, we couldn't get them to light!

James A. Johnson, 88

James "Jimmy" Johnson, 17, wanted to follow his father's footsteps into the military, so the elder Johnson signed the papers to give his permission. It was 1965 and the Vietnam War was in full swing. "Three days later I was on my way to Fort Knox, Ky. Best thing he ever did for me. Though only a veteran would know that," Johnson said. Here, Johnson, who was an Army Airborne paratrooper, relates an incident from a June 1966 day patrol in Vietnam.

"One hour later, while walking point on a trail, kicked a trip wire tied to a hand grenade which was tied to a tree about five feet from me. Pin was rusted on grenade, wire broke away from tree, no explosion except for the one in my pants as I watched my right foot make contact with the wire."

James "Jimmy" Johnson, 60

On the cover: Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower visits paratroopers, including Bill Hayes, at center behind Ike's right hand, in England on June 5, 1944, moments before the troops boarded transport planes bound for Normandy and the June 6 D-Day invasion. Hayes, of Fargo, N.D., recalls how he told Eisenhower he was "damned scared" before the mission. This photo continues to bring Hayes a measure of celebrity.

[Last modified November 10, 2007, 20:45:04]