Oldest Veteran .

Well, I missed out on lecture a couple years back from a Rome, NY native Tuskegee airman giving a meet and greet speaking engagement in Rome. Rome is 15 minutes from my house. I still regret I had missed it.

I was in church the other day and started the dwell on all the members who were in WW2 who are no longer with us.  Gone are the stories being told during Sunday pot lucks that had us kids on the edge of our seats listening to them yarn about.  I wished I had recorded them.

We had a interesting sort.

One member flew gliders on DDay.

Another was tail gunner on a B26 and was shot down over France.  He spoke fluent French and was able to get his surving crew smuggled out and back to England.

Another was in several naval campaigns in the Pacific.

Then the guy who was a gunner on a tank in Africa.

Then there were two guys that were the best of friends but argued constantly on who had the better airforce because one guy, Adolph, worked as a mechanic for the Luftwaffe and the other was a B24 crew chief. Man did they tell some tales.  

Don't know him, but in an eatery awhile back saw an older couple across the aisle.  He was wearing a USS Hornet cap.  I told my server to bring me their bill, it was going to be on me.  He came over and thanked me after, and I said I saw the cap, you are more than welcome.  He said it was not Dolittle's Hornet.  I said yes I know, it was the Essex class replacement named for the first one to confuse the Japanese into thinking she was not sunk after all.  His wife was in tears that someone would do something like that for them.

 

If you are able to do something like that for a WWII or Korea vet (especially those guys, since there are fewer every day), do so.

 

Grew up going out daily with a vet of WWII who was on the USS Maryland at Pearl on 7 Dec.  He was in his 70's then (late '60's) and his wife didn't want him out fishing by himself because of health issues.  Never could get him to talk about his time in the Navy.  They just didn't do that then.  So many stories and history lost that way, but they just did their job and "carried on", just like todays vets.

 

We have a customer here at the shop who has a plate on her car, one of 20 or 21 in the state, "THE CHOSIN FEW KOREA 1950"  Sadly he is gone, but I do what I can at no charge for her (minor stuff) and a pic of the plate is on my phone to remind me everytime I dig into the gallery.

One old boy used to drive around the west side proudly displaying his USMC decal. Later he sported a personal license plate of B4WW2 or some such. I asked the guy and he said he was a China Marine. Wow.

I met another who was the navigator on the B26 "Missouri Mule". The fellow was up visiting from KC. Told me the whole crew on that bird was from Missouri.

Then there was Dad. US Army NG in 1938, to North Africa in 1943. Got sent to India and stayed there until 1945. Flew over Nagasaki on his way to Tokyo. Finally returned home in late 1946 early1947.  

Loved talking to these gents. 

I beleive the oldest veteran i know of is Duane Zemper, I think he is 97. See his photos as a photo liason Officer with the 457th bomb group here: http://www.457thbombgroup.org/zemper/intro.html 

One of Zemper's photos, a B-17 known as "Arf and Arf" (half and half) which I intend to build one of these days!

One of my dear friends is Sgt. Donald Burgett, A. Co. 1st B'n 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne, WWII. He parachuted into Normandy at 1:14AM on June 6, 1944 as a machine gunner/rifleman. He was 19 years old. He turned 91 2 weeks ago. He fought there for several days before being wounded. After leaving the hospital, he was dropped into Belgium as part of "Operation Market-Garden" British General Bernard Montgomery's adacious (and failed) plan to end the war by Christmas, 1944. Don and his brothers fought there for 72 days. (was only supposed to be a few days) He then was sent to Bastogne, where he fought in the "battle of the bulge" and was again wounded. He later fought across the rhine in "operation nordwind", through the ruhr valley, and participated in the capture of "The Eagles Nest", Hitler's Mountain Retreat. He was one of only ELEVEN MEN in his company (200 Men) to survive from D-day to the end of the War. Don is a dear friend of mine. I finally met him last summer, and spent 6 hours with him at his home. He showed me all sorts of things, including a belt buckle he took off a German Paratrooper he killed. He showed me the difference between a regular german soldier's belt buckle, and a Paratrooper's buckle. He showed me WOODEN BULLETS the Germans used in CQB (close Quarters Battle), and spoke of a friend who was hit in the cheek bone with one On D-day, whom later died, having never regained consciousness. Can you imagine being hit with one of those, and having it splinter into a zillion pieces? I had NO IDEA the Germans used wooden bullets! I am honored to Call don My friend, we speak regularly. I only wish I had kniwn him earleir in his life. I too, am saddened to think all of these great me will soon be gone. They earned the moniker "greatest generation", in my mind. The accomplished 1,000 times more, with 1,000,000 times less. Such humble heroes.

 

  Rudy

Don's medals and Ribbons I took this pic at his home:

List of awards:

Don recently:

 

Don and I on June 6, 2015, at an event in Frankenmuth, Michigan, at the "michigans own" Military museum, which I HIGHLY recommend you visit. It appears to be a smallish place from the outside, but it is really quite big inside. Has the largest collection of  Medal(s) of Honor in the country, and features all michigan veterans going back from the civil war- present in the GWOT. There are also quite a few models, especially ships, some quite large, many scratch-built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very good friend of mine, who is always invited to our club meetings and picked up by any member going past his place, was a P-47 pilot in WWII and based on Moratai. He's 93 and sharp as a tack but has a problem with vertigo after a fall. The license plate on his car is P-47.  He said it's so he always knows that there is a P-47 on his 6. I dug little pices of info about his plane from him every time I saw him and recently presented him with a model of it.  It now sits on his desk in his living room with a pic of him in his uniform standing beside it.

Jim  

Awesome story Jim! I have recently learned in the last few years, that I get the most enjoyment out of building models for others, as representations of cars they own or owned, or of planes their loved ones flew or they flew in WWII, or any of the other wars. My next project is an M1A2 Abrams for a friend who was a tanker in Iraq. Rudy

One of the members of our club built a model of Joes (the P-47 pilot) sons F-111 that he flew out of England and presented it to him when he was visiting his father. He is now the commanding officer of an air base near Pittsburgh Pa. and the plane is on his desk at the base.  This member has also built models for others that he knows who were in the service.  He just recently built a model pick-up truck for a friend of his who owns a construction company.  He scratchbuilt a lot of the parts to make it look like the 1/1 truck.  He even made the decals to match the company logo and gave it to him as a birthday present. He's the one that gave me the incentive  to build the P-47. One of my other builds on the bench is for an old hunting buddy who served in Nam.  He was an Egress Specialist on F-4s and showed me pics of a few of the planes he worked on.  So, I'm building one of them for him.  He used to build models back when we were neighbors in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Saw him in October after not seeing him in person for about 35 years.  Got him to start building models again because he was good at it.

Jim

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.  Us old farts like to talk.

Had the pleasure of meeting this gentleman, Col. Bill Halbert 3 weeks ago. Although he's not the oldest veteran around (91-92), he is the oldest veteran "pilot" I know of.

 

http://www.kltv.com/story/21967887/freedom-fighters

 

He flew with the 443rd Squadron in B-26s during WWII, then switched over to fighter ops in Korea and Vietnam, flying F-86s and F-100s.  I had the honor of shaking his hand.

Gary

You are lucky to l know and to have him as a friend. God bless him! He is one special warrior.

That's pretty cool Rudy! I have copies of Mr. Burgett's books and was amazed to see he lived just down I-96 from where I was living at the time I read them. His is an amazing story. And I'll second you on the military museum in Frankenmuth. I've known a few WWII and Korean War vets, but they have passed on. When I was student teaching one of the history teachers in my department put on a Vietnam veteran's round table at the high school and had a couple dozen vets come in and share their stories with the kids, one of which had a traveling museum. Being a vet myself, I participated in the flag raising ceremony and was invited to the VFW hall for drinks at the end of the day. While we were there they did a coin check. Luckily I was carrying a coin given to me by a brigadier general so I didn't have to buy. The gentleman at the head of the table didn't get his coin out but didn't have to buy the round as when I asked he showed me his coin showing he was a Medal of Honor recipient. I also worked with a Vietnam Vet that earned the DSC and fought at Hamburger Hill.

Back in 1998 I was doing customer service work for a satellite TV company that specialized in foreign language television. I loved working Sundays because we didn't get five calls all day and I got to catch up on my reading.

One Sunday I got a call from a man asking about German-Language TV. In those days they didn't have channels from all over the world, so some things were hard to find. I asked about his accent and he said his name was Fred Schmidt, he was 72 at the time, and he had been a German tanker on the Russian front during the war. Two of the stories he told me that I still remember:

1. He joined the army at 16 because his older brother was killed in a train wreck on his way to basic training.

2. He became a tank commander at 17 when their first commander was killed by a random artillery shell while outside relieving himself. The surviving crew elected him to take charge as they all agreed that he seemed far the brightest of them.

He told me other stories, and I wrote them all down, but it's buried in piles of papers I have scattered everywhere. Were any of them true? I don't know, but they were good stories and I had and have no reason to doubt them.

When i had a paper route in high school in 1976.I had a customer who was a gunnery officer at turret #2 on board the USS PENNSYLVANIA at Pearl harbor.He invited my in his house and showed me his uniforms and pictures of that day and other stuff,it was real awesome.

This story happened during one of my jazz tours across Northern Europe.  We came to a town called Eindhoven.  I did a couple of sets and we took a break.  There were two bridges side by side.  One looked like Spider-Man had built it.  It was painted red and looked beautiful.  The other bridge was gray and beat up.

On this old and beat up bridge stood a man who looked like the bridge.  Old and beat up.  I walked up to him and asked why he stood there crying in Dutch,  He told me that several of his comrades had died holding that bridge against the Germans.  We stood there speechless sharing the quiet serene time together.  I thank him for everything and he just disappeared as quickly he appeared.  Later, did I realize I did a concert for the 50th anniversary of "Operation Market Garden".  A bridge too far!

Toshi

After talking with my wife about this I realized I do know a WWII vet; her aunt's father fought in the Army in the Philippines in 1944 and 1945, and he's in his mid-90s.

I recall back in the early 1980s talking to a vet who was an Army Artillery Lt. He had some really cool stories about the Tiger tanks. I'm pretty sure he is not around any more. We keep loosing that generation each day.

I know 2 old vets.  First, my uncle, who was in the invasion fleet heading for Japan when the war ended, and spent some time in the occupation, and my dad, who ended up being an 81mm mortor crew chief during the Korean War.  I've never really talked to Uncle Jim about his experience, and dad won't share much more than a few stories.  A few years back, I had an interesting experience at my birthday party.  I had a Korean War, Vietnam War and Iraqi War veteren at the party.  2 Army and one Marine.  I also have had the privilige of meeting 2 of the Tuskeegee Airmen, one P-51 pilot who served time as a POW, and another B-25 mechanic. 

John

I'v e seen many guys around with patches and things on thier jackets denoting w2 service. I look upon them with awe, but I always thought they wouldn't want to be bothered

Ken-  Next time you run into one of those gentlemen, offer him your hand.  They will deeply appreciate the fact that people have not forgotten them.  Those are some of the most rewarding hand shakes I have had, ever.

My dad was a not-quite veteran. He was the second-youngest of seven brothers, and was just too young for the war. Germany declared war on the U.S. four days after Pearl Harbor, the same day as my dad's 13th birthday. He joined the navy in 1947. He once told me that his ship, the cruiser USS Columbus, was the last American warship to leave Shanghai when the communist government took over.

Three of his older brothers did serve in the war, but like so many when I was young I just didn't care. I never got to ask them about their experiences. Of course living three states away didn't help either.