Thursday, November 12, 2009 10:03 PM CST
Communities gather to honor veterans
Veterans share stories of service time
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Holly Easter is 91 years old, but he did not show his age Wednesday as he stood ramrod straight during the Veterans Day ceremony on the courthouse square.
The World War II veteran, wearing a red Marine Corps jacket, reminisced before and after the ceremony with fellow veterans in the crowd. Easter, of Charleston, recalled being wounded while serving with the First Tank Battalion, First Marine Division on June 11, 1945, on Okinawa, just days before the battle with Japanese forces ended.
“I almost made it. I think I zigged when I should have zagged,” Easter said, of an explosive shell blowing the side open on his tank. Easter said he suffered burns while inside the tank and his right arm was hit by a shell fragment as he ran from the tank.
Easter chatted with Charleston resident Bob Black, who served 1966-68 in the 101st Airborne Division. Black said Veterans Day feels closer to his heart as he gets older, particularly now that his son, 1st Sgt. Mike Black, is serving with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan.
“He wanted to follow in dad’s footsteps. He wanted to be airborne,” Black said with pride in his voice.
Black said he sent a letter to his son and asked him to share it with his fellow airborne rangers on Veterans Day. Black said he told them to never think their work is in vain. He told them their work is more important than anything else to the United States and follows a proud tradition that stretches back to Gen. George Washington.
“You will feel part of that because it’s an experience most people in the country will never get to feel. We (veterans) are privileged to get to serve this country and feel that,” Black told them.
The crowd at the ceremony also included Kansas resident Suz Stevens, who wore a Navy jacket in honor of her son, Zachary Kern, serving as a Navy rescue swimmer, and Charleston resident Bob Tomshack, whose son, Paul Tomshack, serves as a Navy mechanic on a nuclear submarine.
Tomshack, who served 1966-70 in the Air Force before serving 1973-75 as a Navy nurse, said he was glad to see the crowd of people at the ceremony, especially a large group of children from Carl Sandburg Elementary School. The students, under the direction of music teacher Lisa O’Dell, sang patriotic songs.
Charleston resident Jim Coleman, who served 1967-68 in Vietnam with an Army intelligence unit assigned to a special forces unit, said he appreciates programs like the Veterans Day ceremony.
Coleman said when he and other soldiers returned from Vietnam it was almost like they had to sneak back to avoid people taking their anger at the war out on them.
Years passed before these people began to separate their anger over the politics behind the war from their feelings for veterans, Coleman said. A movement to welcome home Vietnam veterans began in the 1980s and this welcoming spirit has continued for the nation’s new generation of veterans, he said.
“I appreciate how frequently that people just take the time now to pay their respect,” Coleman said.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 238-6861.
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