Friday, November 9, 2007 11:54 PM CST
A real Band of Brothers
Charleston's six Lanman siblings served country in WWII era
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — They grew up together on a family farm, and many of them returned home later to help with a family business.
But over the years, the Lanman brothers shared something else as well. All six of them served their country during World War II or shortly after.
And so did the husbands of their five sisters.
Bob, Jim and Paul Lanman still live in Charleston, returning years ago to their hometown after their time in the military. Bob and Jim shared the experience of serving during World War II with their brothers Andy, who now lives in California, and Charles and Harold, now deceased.
“We were all the right age at the right time,” Jim said. “Some of us didn’t have much choice.”
Their time in the service ranged from Bob’s already being in the Army when World War II started and serving until it ended, to Paul’s decision to “make a career” out of the Navy, joining in 1952 and staying 26 years. Somewhere in between Jim was drafted in 1944 and discharged two years later.
The three brothers’ experiences varied as much as their time spent in the service. A few days before Veterans Day, they met to talk about it at the Charleston Veterans of Foreign Wars post, of which all three are members.
Bob calmly described his as “just down in the jungle, trying to survive,” but his time in the Pacific theater of World War II included the battle of Guadalcanal and the invasion of the Philippines.
“You just go down through the jungle and run them out,” was his simple description. He enlisted before the United States entered the war thinking, “I’d go in and get out,” and was home on furlough when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan ending the war.
Jim said he was able to avoid most of the conflict but flirted with history, as his unit was training for the planned invasion of Japan, and would have been the first troops there had the atomic bombs not ended it.
“We were within weeks of getting ready to invade Japan,” he said. “We weren’t looking forward to invading.”
Paul was in the Navy during both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts but said he was “lucky he wasn’t in the heart” of any fighting. His duty as a store keeper on a ship that replenished supplies for carriers and cruisers took him to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines and several other destinations.
“I wanted to join the Navy and see the world, and I did,” he said. “It was a good job.”
Since their times in the service, all three have had a hand in operating Lanman Oil Co. which started as a Charleston service station that Bob and Harold opened in 1946. Paul worked there when it moved to the current distributor company location on Loxa Road, and Jim’s there now, his second stint with the family business.
Jim and Paul both spent time in college, and Jim also once owned a hardware store on the Charleston courthouse square, while Paul also returned to the Navy to work for 10 years.
Jim said the brothers “get together fairly often” but don’t spend much time talking about their military experiences.
Paul said he wishes his two brothers would talk more about World War II, because there aren’t many veterans of the war still alive.
“I know they have some good stories to tell,” he said, but neither brother took the prompt.
Bob just said men like him had a duty to perform.
“You have people say they weren’t ever scared,” he said. “I think if they weren’t scared, they weren’t really in the fight. You might be scared but you still did what you were supposed to do.”
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733.
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