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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Friday, September 7, 2007 12:27 AM CDT
Letter: Heroic World War II veterans are fading

RICHARD L. THOMAS, Phoenix, Ariz. formerly of Humboldt and Mattoon

The minimum age of most of our World War II veterans is 80 years and older, and their numbers are decreasing every day. Not all were heroes, but many were, fighting in battle after battle in the Pacific and Europe. Too often we forget the sacrifices they made.

I think of Donald Williams, who grew up in Humboldt, and who died in Champaign at the age of 84 on Aug. 20. His obituary merely said he was a Navy veteran of World War II.

Yes, Don was a Navy veteran and a hero as well. He was aboard a destroyer at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked, and he was a witness to Japan’s formal surrender in Tokyo Bay 45 months later. In the interim, he took part in many Pacific battles, including Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

As a boatswain mate 1st class, he was the noncommissioned officer in charge of a beach battalion of 43 enlisted men who landed on Iwo Jima 17 minutes after the Marines. They remained on the beach 10 days. Their position was just below Mount Suribachi, the scene of the famous American flag raising.

At Okinawa, the last big battle of the Pacific campaign, Don and his men repeated their Iwo Jima experience, also spending 10 days on the beach. During the Okinawa fighting he re-enlisted for two more years.

Soon after the formal surrender of Japan, which he witnessed from the deck of his ship anchored next to the U.S.S Missouri, Don spent 11 months on a geographical survey ship that took 30 scientists to Bikini Atoll to test two atomic bombs.

Don and thousands of others came home as heroes and resumed life as civilians. Sadly, with each succeeding generation, their exploits in preserving our democracy become dim memories, if that.

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Gail wrote on Sep 7, 2007 8:45 AM:

" It is sad, as members of this generation pass on. Thank you for reminding us. :-) "

Dohbaugh wrote on Sep 7, 2007 5:51 PM:

" The freedoms that we have today are, in no small part, due to the sacrifices made by the WW II vets. I believe it was Tom Brokaw who said it best: America's Greatest Generation. This country and the rest of the free world will forever be in debt to you for all that you have done for us. As this generation fades away, let us never forget them and all that those brave men and women did to insure freedom and democracy for those of us who followed. Thank you for this reminder, Richard. "

ItsJustDave wrote on Sep 7, 2007 7:17 PM:

" I, too, mourn the passing of the 'greatest generation' of American servicemen and women. Too bad that today's heroes don't get the same respect or reverence. There are many parallels: Pearl Harbor (not U.S. territory at the time - Hawaii became a state in 1959, I believe) was attacked, and the U.S. reacted swiftly and decisively, with hundreds of thousands of American lives lost in the war. Mainland U.S New York and Washington, D.C. were attacked (D.C. almost twice) and the U.S. also reacted swiftly and decisively, but with many, many fewer casualties. WWII had Japanese Americans interred within the U.S. borders for no reason other than fear. Today, we have 'enemy combatants' confined outside of our borders with a much better reason. WWII casualties, on both sides, were exponentially greater than the current war's are, and the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq were remarkably restrained compared to the bombing of Japan and the invasions in Europe. SIX years after the response to 9/11, many want us out of Iraq. SIXTY some years after WWII, we still have a presence in Japan and Europe. "

Dohbaugh wrote on Sep 8, 2007 12:55 PM:

" Hey Dave, why don't we debate the current war on another site, and leave this one for those who wish to pay respect to our WW II vets? I don't think this is the proper site to either support the Iraq war or to condemn it. Those are my thoughts, anyway. "

Billie Brant wrote on Sep 8, 2007 10:50 PM:

" Dohbaugh, I too have warm and heartfelt feelings of gratitude toward these WWII Vets. Both my uncles, one my dad's brother, the other my mom's, served overseas in WWII. All of us owe them big-time! Veteran's Day is just around the corner folks. Make it a point to thank them for their service,ALL veterans. "

Mattooner at Heart wrote on Sep 10, 2007 11:15 AM:

" When I was growing up in Mattoon, there were hundreds – if not thousands – of WWII veterans running around Coles County then. It was the 60s and I even remember my dad talking about some of his friends being at Pearl on December 7th and friends who landed in Europe on D-Day. Unfortunately, I really didn’t have a good grasp on what Pearl Harbor and D-Day actually meant. Maybe that’s because our history teachers taught us the names of dead presidents, dates of the signing of the Magna Carta and places like Guadalupe Hidalgo instead of putting a face on history or maybe it was that the attitude at that time (1960s) was that those who served were just doing their duty so it's no big deal . . . or maybe a little of both. ----------As a baby boomer, I’d like to think that I am part of the “Greatest Generation” but upon 10 seconds of thought, I realize I’m not. ---------- The “Greatest Generation” was truly the generation that went through WWII and what made them great is that we were united in the war effort regardless of politics, people served willingly because of duty and service to their country, and everyone pulled together and sacrificed because that’s just what you did. Today, alas, those days are gone and there’s so much “me-ism”, political posturing and NIMBY principle going on that it’s hard to get two people to agree to just about anything because their interest is in themselves first and foremost. ---------- I have tears when I read of another WWII veteran having “Taps” played for them even though I may not know who they are or what they did. What I do know is that they were a member of the greatest generation and what they did was be willing to sacrifice their life by unselfishly putting themselves in harm’s way then downplay the whole thing as “just doin’ my job”. That’s a hero. ---------- If you know any WWII veterans still living – honor them and learn all you can from them. It won’t be long before there are none left and this country will never again know what a great generation they really were. "