lest we forget 2014
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ÂTRANSCRIPT
LEST WE FORGET
By David [email protected]
Randy Harrison is fascinated by history.
The well-read, 69-year-old Squak Mountain resident is especially inter-ested in Homer’s “The Iliad.”
“Everybody knows about Achilles, Ajax, Agamemnon and Paris. All the characters you hear about,” Harrison said. “Every now and then, if you read Homer, there’s one guy mentioned, one soldier who did something, not the big characters.
“I thought maybe if I kept a good record of this, maybe in 500 years someone will stumble across this, in a safe somewhere, and say, ‘Wow, here’s a daily firsthand thing, by this guy.’”
So, Harrison kept a journal during the Vietnam War. Never mind that was verboten for an intelligence offi-cer in the U.S. Army’s Special Opera-tions Group.
It wasn’t the first time the brash, young man that Harrison was skirted the Army’s regulations. The son of a career Air Force pilot, growing up in a military culture, Harrison had always wanted to follow his father’s path.
“He was my role model, my hero,” Harrison said.
Unfortunately, the Air Force Acad-emy required perfect vision for pilots. Harrison’s hovered around 2,400
uncorrected.The tip of the spear
After years adrift taking college courses, Harrison decided to steer his life right and enlist in the Army infantry.
“If I can’t be on the tip of the spear, I don’t want” anything else, he said. “The tip of the spear for the Army is the infantry.”
He didn’t tell his parents until after he enlisted and he didn’t tell the sec-
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Fortunate son
By DaviD Hayes
Randy Harrison hugs his dog Burfoot inside his Squak Mountain home. Over his shoul-der is a print commemorating one of Harrison’s missions that went wrong yet garnered a Congressional Medal of Honor for helicopter pilot James Fleming, who evacuated Harrison’s squad under heavy fire from North Vietnamese. See HARRISON, Page B8
ContriButeD
Randy Harris goes on patrol through the jungles of Vietnam.
Randy Harrison emerged from the Vietnam War unscathed, but with a new appreciation for life
By Peter Clark [email protected]
Col. William Geil has a great memory — though he says it’s hard to forget getting captured by Germans behind enemy lines.
The 89-year-old Squak Mountain resident has seen his fair share of service in a career spanning more than three decades. He served over-
seas in World War II and two tours in Vietnam. His time in the United States Air Force is only made more impres-sive by the three degrees he earned outside the military. Still, he plays it humble.
“I don’t like bragging,” Geil said about his time as a prisoner of war. Speaking plainly, he said he didn’t find it anything worth bragging about. “I had a cousin that finished 25 mis-
sions, while I finished my time in the war in a prison camp.”
Now comfortably retired, Geil and his wife Fran split their time between an Is-saquah residence and one in Phoenix, Ariz. Geil first
German POW earned freedom, three degrees“The whole damn town was coming out. When I saw their eyes, I knew I was in deep kimchi. I figured I’d had it.”— William GeilWorld War II and Vietnam veteran William Geil
By Neil [email protected]
In a small box that’s usu-ally tucked away in his home library, Issaquah attorney Jerry Pearson has several keepsakes from his three-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Among the items are a set of dog tags made to com-memorate three of his fellow Marines; a brass dragon head he found in a village; and the two Purple Hearts he was awarded for combat-related wounds in Vietnam.
The dragon head, in par-ticular, brings back a flood of memories for Pearson, who was born in Seattle before moving to Issaquah as a small child in 1951. He associates it with Ron Dexter and Lester Bell, two members of the Fifth Marine Division who were shipped to the jungles of Southeast Asia and never came home.
“In some ways, you feel really proud of having served, and in other ways you feel all of these losses and confu-sions,” Pearson said.
He graduated from Is-saquah High School in 1964, when the Vietnam War was gaining traction in America,
and his modest 2.6 grade-point average reflected his disinterest in school. He dropped out of the University of Washington after one quar-ter, and didn’t last long at The Boeing Co.
That’s when he found the Marines and a chance to con-nect with his family heritage, which has military connec-tions dating to the Civil War. Pearson’s father was in the Army Air Corps during World
War II.“The veteran thing, to
me, is almost like a connec-tive tissue kind of issue,” he explained.
Among his memorabilia is a 1965 article from the Hono-lulu Advertiser. Pearson’s unit arrived in Hawaii aboard the USS Iwo Jima, and he and several Marines were walk-
Marine Corps, Vietnam shaped Jerry Pearson’s servant nature
By Christina [email protected]
Dag Garrett knew he wanted to fly.
It’s why during the tail end of World War II, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps as a fresh-faced 18-year-old.
Over the course of a year, Garrett transformed into a well-versed navigator, more than eager to hit the skies in support of his country.
He would have to wait though, because just as he was about to deploy, the war
came to an end.“They gave up. They heard
we were coming,” he joked.Garrett was rather disap-
pointed he missed the bulk of the war, but the Timber Ridge at Talus resident would see his fair share of action during a 23-year military career.
The aftermathHe initially remained
grounded, serving as an in-structor in Louisiana, before
By neil Pierson
Issaquah native Jerry Pearson, surrounded by legal texts at his Pearson Law Firm office, is more than 40 years removed from his duties as a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
By CHristina Corrales-toy
Dag Garrett holds a poster of newspaper clippings and photo-graphs from his stranded-at-sea ordeal in 1947.
Issaquah veteran recalls the sacrifices
Flintoft’s Funeral Home and Crematory is proud to honor our community’s veterans.
See GEIL, Page B8
See PEARSON, Page B8 See GARRETT, Page B7
The Issaquah PressThe Issaquah PressThe Issaquah Press
B2 • Wednesday, May 21, 2014 The Issaquah Press
Robert Watson
Staff sergeant, U.S. Army Air Force, 375th Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy; reported MIA between January and April 1944; crew of plane was never found. Tablets of the missing are at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.
John Raymond SmartSecond lieuten-ant, U.S. Army Air Force,443rd Bomb Squadron, 320th Bomb GroupMIA Oct. 23, 1943, over the Tyrrhenian Sea near Giannuitri Island. The crew of the downed B-26 was seen in life rafts but Air-Sea Rescue boats could not locate them, and no one from the crew was ever seen again. Tablets of the missing are at Florence American Cemetery in Florence, Italy.
Robert Philp
Staff sergeant, U.S. Army Air Force, 589th Bomb Squadron, 387th Bomb GroupShot down near Mayan, Germany, where his crew was attacking a railroad viaduct, on Dec. 23, 1944.
Jack McQuade
Private, U.S. Army Air Force, 481st Service Squadron, 46th Air Service GroupBorn: Nov. 28, 1920 Killed April 18, 1945, in acciden-tal bomb explo-sion. Buried in Hillside Cemetery.
Emmett R. McDonald
Captain, U.S. Air ForceBorn: July 27, 1939,MIA May 31, 1966, Declared dead: Feb. 11, 1975Missing in air loss/crash in North Vietnam. (Remains never recovered.)
Laurence J. Lortie
Second lieutenantU.S. Army Air Force45th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter GroupMIA June 1, 1945, some-where between Iwo Jima and Osaka, Japan; weather may have been the reason for the loss.
George C. Larsen
Private first class, U.S. Army,infantry,Born: Feb. 17, 1926 Died: June 14, 1945184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. KIA by a grenade attacking Hill 181 in Ryuku, Okinawa, Japan. Buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Peter Erickson
Private, U.S. Army, 18th Engineer RegimentDied: Aug. 10, 1918Buried in Suresnes American Cemetery, in Suresnes, France. From the Sept. 27, 1918, Press: “A large congregation attended the memo-rial service Sunday afternoon at Issaquah in honor of Peter Erickson, the first of the boys from Issaquah to die in the service of his country. The oration delivered by the Rev. S. V. Warren touched a high note of patriotism.
Elizabeth Erickson
Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs)Died in a train-ing exercise over Sweetwater, Texas, in May 1944. Buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle.Because WASPs were considered civilians, she never received a military burial. She was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by President Obama.
James Patrick Brady
Corporal, U.S. Army, Scotch Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry DivisionBorn: March 7, 1949Died: June 18, 1969KIA in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam. Buried in Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton.
Robert BaskettSergeant, U.S. Army, 8th InfantryApril 7, 1925 – July 15, 1944Graduated from Issaquah High School in 1943.KIA in Normandy, France. Buried in Hillside Cemetery.
Paul Alfred Ambrose
Private, U.S. Army,701 T.D. BattalionJuly 9, 1924 – May 31, 1944Graduated from Issaquah High School in 1942. KIA in Anzio, Italy. Buried in Hillside Cemetery.
Robert Arndt
Corporal,U.S. Army,C Company, 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry DivisionDied at age 21.Born: May 6, 1946 Died: July 29, 1967 He was shot in early 1967, but recovered; was back in action only a few days when he was killed in Dinh Tuong Province, South Vietnam. Buried in Hillside Cemetery.
Freedom isn’t free. Since the birth of this country, men and women have been willing to fight and die for Americans to be free to live their lives as they choose.
And the number of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice is staggering. More than 1.3 mil-lion men and women have died in wars fought by or on behalf of this country since 1775.
Men and women have also been willing to sacrifice their personal time, by serving in times when war was not on or immi-nent. They have done all types of jobs that people in the civilian
sector do, but instead did them in service to this country while they stood ready to defend our lives, liberty and the pursuit of happi-ness.
We at The Issaquah Press
salute, honor and thank the men and women from our community who have paid all types of sac-rifices to keep themselves, their families and everyone else free. We hope you will do the same.
We honor the 19 who gave the ultimate sacrifice
Information is incomplete and/or conflicting for the 19 local veterans killed while serving in wartime. Photos also could not be located for three of them. If you have information or photos, email [email protected] or
call 392-6434, ext. 227.
Louis Petersen
Flight officer, U.S. Army Air Force, 422nd Bomb Squadron, 305th Bomb GroupKilled Aug. 6, 1944, when the B-17 he was co-piloting was hit by flak and crashed near Vollradisroda, Germany.Interred in Germany; later brought home to Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton.
Joseph Albert Tondreau
Fireman first class, U.S. Navy/Naval ReserveMIA or buried at sea Dec. 18, 1944.Tablets of the missing are at Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines.
Carl Albert Larson
Corporal, U.S. Army 361st Infantry Regiment, 91st DivisionDied Oct. 9, 1918Buried in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, in Romagne, France.(no photo available)
Robert Hoskins
Lance corporal (mortarman),U.S. Marine Corps, H&S Company 5, Mar 1 Mar DivBorn: Sept. 14, 1949 Died: Nov. 25, 1968KIA in Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Buried in Hillside Cemetery. (no photo available)
Harold Gleason
Private first class, U.S. Army, 301st Infantry Regiment, 94th DivisionBorn: Feb. 6, 1916 Killed March 2, 1945, while serving as a medic near Serrig, Germany. Buried in Hillside Cemetery. (no photo available)
Clifford BensonSecond lieuten-ant, U.S. Army Air Force, 737th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb GroupShot down in Croatia on April 21, 1944.
In loving memory of SSgt. Dale and Lt. Alice Lee
By Susan Erland
World War II veteran Hugh Preston was in the U.S. Navy well before he should have been.
“He went behind his father’s back and enlisted and came back and said, ‘I’m gone,’” his daughter Isabella Tobiason said. “He wanted to serve. He wanted to fight for his country.”
He was just 17.“He was extremely
proud of his service,” Tobiason said. “He loved nothing more than sitting around and talking about the war, talking about the ship, this happened this day, that happened that day. He had a photograph-ic memory.”
Preston, who died May 1, 2014, served in the Pacific Theatre on a “picket ship” off Okinawa near the end of the war with Japan. It was the USS Aaron Ward “the third,” a distinction he emphasized, because there were two prior ships named Aaron Ward.
The ship came under attack off Okinawa on May 3, 1945, and was hit six times by kamikaze planes that crashed into its decks, towers and engine rooms. Three of the planes car-ried bombs that detonated just seconds before the planes crashed, causing explosions and fireballs on impact.
At the time of the attack, Preston was on watch in the wheelhouse. Once the approximately 25 Japa-nese planes began their onslaught, the men operat-ing defense were able to destroy 10 of the oncoming planes, and all others not wounded — and many who were — did everything possible to keep the ship under power. They put out fires and tried to get the guns sighted on the next wave of suicide bombers. The entire attack lasted just over an hour.
When the attack ended, the ship was without pow-er, listing to one side, and only several feet above the water. The deck of the ship
was in ruins, fires were still raging and strewn everywhere were masses of red-hot twisted steel. There was a frantic effort by the crew and officers to douse the areas still burn-ing from spilled jet fuel or bombs. They were also dodging exploding am-munition above and below deck. Any place relatively undamaged was used to care for the wounded.
Several Navy ships had arrived on the scene to assist with transfer of the wounded and provide cover in case of a renewed attack. One of those, the USS Shannon, was even-tually able to secure a towline to the Aaron Ward and begin a 45-mile trip to Kerama Retto, to assess damage and attempt to regroup. Upon arrival, the officers and crew refused to leave their ship and in-sisted on staying on board to care for her.
Preston said the ship was made seaworthy enough to make the 7,000-mile trip to the Navy Yard in New York, where it was decom-missioned Sept. 29, 1945. Commanding Officer Wil-liam Sanders received the Navy Cross and said “he told them that he wouldn’t accept it just for himself, but said all of us deserved it, too,” Preston said.
“He loved that ship, and I think it was because of the journey back home,
and how it was destroyed,” his daughter said. “He always talked about the Aaron Ward.
“He remembered so many details,” she said of his military service. “He would talk to anybody who would listen about it.
“He talked to a lot of people about it. He would tell us about his friends. He would give us a lot of detail about things.”
In the book “Brave Ship, Brave Men,” writer Arnold S. Lott shares the rest of the story. Sanders took the home addresses of every
member of the crew and wrote a letter to each, quoting the citation for the Navy Cross as signed by the Secretary of the Navy, John L. Sullivan. He then added these words: “Al-though the above citation was presented to the C.O. of the Aaron Ward, he feels that by their heroic con-duct … all the personnel of that vessel merit the honor … and takes pleasure in commending you for your magnificent performance during that period and stating that you and your shipmates share equally in
the award bestowed in the name of the President of the United States.”
The ship and crew also received the Presidential Unit Citation award, stat-ing, “By her superb fight-ing spirit and the courage and determination of her entire company, the Aaron Ward upheld the finest tra-ditions of the United States Naval Service.”
After the war, Preston attended Arizona State University and then the University of Mexico City. He got married and had three children. After seven years, they divorced.
He was a great single dad, Tobiason said.
“I would look at him and I was amazed that he went through all the things he went through and he survived,” she added. “I always thought he was a hero, not just because he was in the military, but be-cause of the kind of father he was.”
Preston never married again. But he took his children all over the world, teaching them about other cultures and how to speak three languages.
The day before Preston died, Tobiason, knowing the end was near, talked with him about how she felt about him.
“I thanked him for rais-
ing us, and I told him he was the best father ever.”
Susan Erland is a volunteer at Providence Marianwood who does one-on-one nurturing visits with residents. Press Managing Editor Kathleen R. Merrill contributed to this story.
Brave ship remembered by brave man
PHotos ContriButeD
The Aaron Ward III is shown in photos before it was bombed (above) and after (right).
THANK YOUTo the people who made individual con-tributions to make this section happen, we thank you.
Karen AbelBob BrockFred ButlerCarson WoodworksArlene CarterCory ChristensenJim HarrisKen KonigsmarkChad MagendanzTola MartsHamilton and Maureen McCullohIn honor of Keith MerrillDona Mokin Mark MulletCrash and Kristen NashJim RockstadRobin SpicerBryan WeinsteinIn memory of the Swanson boys — George, John and Milt
ContriButeD
This photo of Hugh Preston and his mother was taken in 1941, when he was 17 years old. He enlisted without his parents’ permission.
The Issaquah Press Wednesday, May 21, 2014 • B3
Archie AdairBorn: May 5, 1911
Died: Feb. 18, 1985Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served:
Germany in World War II
Details of service: While with the 83rd Infantry Division in
Germany, was award-ed the combat
infantryman’s badge for displaying
exemplary conduct in action
Allen Sherman Anderson Highest rank achieved: E-3
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Dates of service: Dec. 2, 1972 to
April 7, 1977Details of service:
Hull tech, was on the USS Samuel Gompers, USS John Paul Jones,
USS Kitty Hawk; was off the coast of Vietnam from late
1973 until mid-1975; finished enlistment in dry dock at Bremerton shipyard overhauling
the Kitty Hawk
Buford R. (Bud) AmbroseDeceased
Highest rank achieved: SK2 (store keeper second class)
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: South Pacific — USS
Saginaw BayDates of service: Feb. 15, 1943 to
Feb. 5, 1946
Gilbert R. AndressHighest rank
achieved: Carpenters mate
third class Branch of service:
U.S. Navy, SeaBees Naval
Construction Wounded in action:
Gun explosion caused tinnitus Where served: Pacific Ocean, Hawaii, Guam,
OkinawaDates of service: July 7, 1943 to March 6, 1946
William Ernest ArndtHighest rank
achieved: Baker second class Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served:
Pacific Dates of service: March 1943 to
December 1945
Daniel T. AndersonBranch of service:
U.S. NavyHighest rank achieved: ET2Where served:
Atlantic Theater two years aboard USS
Pocono, flagship of the Atlantic FleetDetails of service:
Served as electronic technician
(UHF specialist); President Truman
was often aboard the ship, using my radio
shack and equip-ment.
Years of service: 1946-1948
Albert AndersonBorn: Feb. 28, 1892
Died: Oct. 1969Highest rank
achieved: Fireman Second Class
Branch of service: NavyWhere served: U.S.S.
New YorkDates of service: May, 17, 1917 to
May 7, 1918
Rodney Albert AndersonBorn: Apr. 16, 1925Died: Nov. 16, 2000
Branch of service: Army
Where served: EuropeDetails of service:
served in World War II in the 97th Infantry
Division and drove a jeep
Vern G. AndersonBorn: Nov. 23, 1927Died: May 16, 2008
Highest rank achieved: CorporalBranch of service:
Navy and ArmyWhere served: Fort Lewis, Fort Lawton,
Whittier (Alaska), Port of Embarkation in
SeattleDates of service: 1946 (Navy) then discharged after
eight months, drafted again in 1951
Details of service: in Seattle, was a military
police officer at the main gate, in Alaska
unloaded ships
Vigo E. AndersonBorn: Sept. 1, 1944
Highest rank achieved:
1st Lieutenant Branch of service:
Marine CorpsWhere served:
motor transportation, First Marine Division
Dates of service: March 1967 to
June 1970Details of service:
spent 25 months in Vietnam
Edward E. AuthierHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant colonel
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Germany, Korea, Vietnam and U.S.Dates of service:
1960 - 1980Details of service: Was a senior Army
aviator
John ArnoldHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant
Commander Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served:
U.S., Cuba, three tours in Vietnam Dates of service: August 1955 to January 1982
John Michael BarryHighest rank
achieved: CorporalBranch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: Vietnam
Details of service: 1st Marine Air Wing, 3rd Marine Division; served in combat at Khe Sahn Combat
Base during Tet and the Siege of Khe Sahn
in February 1968; I Corps below the DMZ; in combat in Vietnam from December 1967
to August 1969Dates of service: February 1966 to
February 1972
Harry G. BehrensHighest rank
achieved: LTJGBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Served in Korea for one year
Dates of service: 1953-1955
Details of service: Was landing craft
control officer on the USS Logan
David Hardman Black Sr.Born: Nov. 5, 1945Died: Feb. 24, 2008
Highest rank achieved: SP5 E-5 (T) Feb 1969
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Thailand (1966-68)
Korea (1970)Dates of service:
1965 to 1977Details of service: Served in Vietnam in 1972 and was exposed to Agent
Orange; received the National Defense
Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary
Medal, Vietnam Service Medal,
Vietnam Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal (second award), two overseas bars and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with palm;
buried at Camp Nelson National Cemetery in
Nicholasville, Ky.
William BentzHighest rank
achieved: Staff sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: South Pacific, New Guinea Philippines; Fort Lawton, Wash. Dates of service:
1943-1946, 1948-1949
Paul Eugene BartholomewHighest rank
achieved: Corporal; airman
second class Branch of service:
Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve/U.S.
Naval Reserve Where served: United States
Dates of service: Jan. 23, 1946 U.S.N.R to June 4, 1946; June 1948 A.N.G. to June 1952; May 1, 1951
U.S. Air Force to Dec. 20, 1951
Angelo BoniBorn: Dec. 26, 1926Died: July 24, 2006
in IssaquahHighest rank
achieved: PrivateBranch of service:
ArmyDates of service: June 22, 1945 to
Nov. 11, 1946
Dan BoniBorn: Aug. 25, 1924Branch of service:
NavyWhere served: Motor
machinist’s mate second class unitDates of service: Sept. 17, 1943 to March 31, 1946
Details of service: served in combat in the South Pacific for
two years; Ship PGM8 received two letters
of commendation for services in Northern Solomons and the
Philippines
Greg BemanBorn: Aug. 17, 1948
Highest rank achieved: E4
Branch of service: Marine Corps
Where served: Dong Ha, Vietnam; six miles
south of the DMZDates of service:
1966-1970Details of service: combat engineer,
3rd Marine Division, served in combat, gunshot wound,
received Purple Heart
Florence BlankenshipBorn: 1922
Highest rank achieved:
Storekeeper First Class
Branch of service: Navy
Where served: Washington, D.C., Bureau of Ships Dates of service:
1944-46
Roger Lee BrownHighest rank
achieved: Army PFC and
Navy MR3Branch of service:
Army and NavyWhere served:
41st Infantry Division 146 Field Artillery
(Army); USS Ticonderoga;
USS Coral SeaDetails of service:
Multiple cruises with Pacific Fleet to the
Far EastDates of service: Army 1955-58; Navy 1958-62
Christopher Brown Sr.Highest rank
achieved: ABH 3rd class
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: CVN 68 USS Nimitz
Details of service: Served in Atlantic Fleet with multiple
cruises to the Mediterranean area
Dates of service: March 1979 to March
1983
Christopher Brown Jr.Highest rank
achieved: SergeantBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: 2nd
Infantry Division, 3rd Stryker Brigade
Details of service: Fought in every
major battle in Iraqi Freedom, including Fallujah, Mosul and Baghdad; received two Purple Hearts,
Commendation for Stryker Vehicle Commander under
hostile engage-ments; Personal Commendation
Medal for Operation Iraqi Freedom
Dates of service: November 2004 to
present
David Wayne BrackenBorn: 1917
Died: 1979 (in Issaquah)
Highest rank achieved: PFC
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Aleutian Islands
Details of service: Signal Corps
Dates of service: 1942 to 1945
Carl B. Bridges Deceased (at age 70)
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Stationed on the
USS BraineDates of service:
1952-1956
Paul Thomas BooneBorn:
Sept. 26, 1924Died:
Oct. 7, 2009Highest rank
achieved: Flight officer
Branch of service: U.S. Air ForceWhere served:
P-51 pilot in combat in the Philippines,
New Guinea and other places in the South
PacificDetails of service: He was in Japan after the bomb was dropped, and ferried numer-
ous planes from the islands to
storage areas.Dates of service:
1943-1946
Walter Lee BrazeltonHighest rank
achieved: First sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: 508th MP BN,
Military Police; Fort Lawton, Wash.; 61st
MP Co., France; 62d MP (RAFP) Co.; USAREC,
Bloomington, Ill.; Special Forces
Thailand-Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam; 1st
Infantry Division Fwd., Germany; and
Fort LewisDates of service: October 1956 to December 1977
Michael BlochBorn: Oct. 25, 1939
Highest rank achieved:
Airman First Class Branch of service:
Air ForceWhere served: Hahn
Airbase, GermanyDates of service:
1960-64Details of service: assisted in base
chapel and forecast-ed weather for pilots
John BrookeBorn: 1933
Highest rank achieved: Specialist
SP3Branch of service:
Army infantryWhere served: Hawaii
Dates of service: 1955-56
Details of service: worked as a guard for prison duty and
combat training
Fred Butler
Wayne E. BusbyBorn: 1920Died: 1995
Highest rank achieved: Aviation Machinist’s Mate
Second Class; ratings held — S1c, AMM3c,
AMM2cBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served: NRAB Seattle, NRAB Pasco, Hed Ron 14-2, FAW-14, Hed Ron Fleet Airwing Six-FAW-4Dates of service:
April 1942 to October 1945
Jean-Michel ChristopherHighest rank
achieved: EM2 (electricians
mate second class)Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
USS City of Corpus Christi
Dates of service: August 1992 to
August 1998
Joseph Elmer ChevalierBorn: Aug. 3, 1925
Highest rank achieved: Coxswain on the USS PGM19Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Okinawa and RyukyusDates of service: August 1942 to January 1946
Theodore Vernon Colbert Sr.Born: Jan. 22, 1922Died: Jan. 6, 2012
Highest rank achieved:
PFC/ Special Weapons Group
Branch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: World War II, in the Pacific Region and
fought in the Russell and Solomon islands,
on Rendova Island, and in Guam and the Guadalcanal Islands, and stormed many
beachesDates of service: Nov. 12, 1942 to
May 5, 1945Details of service:
awarded the Asiatic Pacific Ribbon 1
star for New Georgia Group Operations
Robert R. CowardBorn: June 6, 1939
Highest rank achieved: Adjutant 3
Branch of service: Navy, Aviation
Machinist MateWhere served: air-
craft carriers, U.S.S. Kearsarge CVA 33 — U.S.S. Oriskany
CVA 34Dates of service: Sept. 10, 1957 to
Sept. 10, 1961
Highest rank achieved: Colonel
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Vietnam, Germany
and U.S.Dates of service: Jan. 8, 1963 to Jan. 31, 1990
Bud ButterfieldBorn: Oct. 17, 1934
Highest rank achieved:
Chief Petty OfficerBranch of service:
NavyDates of service:
1951 to 1971Details of service: first served aboard the USS Saint Paul Heavy Cruiser, sta-
tioned in many loca-tions from San Diego
to Alaska, retired upon returning from service in Vietnam
Thomas Strander CarlisleBorn: March 28,
1923Deceased: 2007
Branch of service: Marine Corps
Dates of service: 1943-1946
Highest rank achieved: 1st
LieutenantDetails of service: In 1942, enlisted as aviation cadet;
in 1943, completed flight training, receiv-ing his aviator wings and commission as
2nd Lieutenant
Donald (Bud) Wayne Cochran
Born: Dec. 1, 1921Highest rank
achieved: Staff Sergeant
Branch of service: Army
Where served: 634th Ordinance
Ammunition; Oro Bay, New Guinea; Manila and Lati, Philippines;
Hirasaki, JapanDates of service:
May 1942 to January 1946
Details of service: served in combat; Bud’s transport to
the WWII Pacific war zone began in San
Francisco, where he boarded the David C. Shanks with nearly 5,000 other G.I.s. While serving in
New Guinea, he was burned with mustard
gas. He landed in Japan with the first American invasion forces where he
remained until the end of the war.
The Issaquah Sportsmen’s Club salutes our local veterans.
Phillip James ConwayBorn: Feb. 22, 1926
Highest rank achieved: Coxswain on the USS
RenshawBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served: World
War II — Solomon Islands, Marianas, Marshall Islands,
Saipan, Tinian, GuamDetails of service: He
was the coxen charged with ferrying the “big shots” to shore and transporting work
crews around the ship or to shore in a “gig.”
Dates of service: 1943 to 1946
Milton BronsdonHighest rank
achieved: Interior
Communications Second Class
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: served on U.S.S. Grand Canyon AD28, traveled
to Mediterranean countries, England,
Norway, CubaDates of service:
1955-1958
Louis BoniBorn: Nov. 24, 1918
Died: 2003 in Issaquah
Branch of service: Navy, water tender
Dates of service: April 3, 1942 to Nov. 29,
1945, and the Korean War
Details of service: served in combat in
the Pacific during World War II and the
Korean War
Jim BriodyHighest rank
achieved: Specialist 5 (E-5)
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: U.S. Military Liaison Mission, West Berlin and Potsdam, East
GermanyDates of service:
1961-1964
Gaius Sunday BuxtonHighest rank
achieved: Signalman third class
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Signalman on staff
of Commander Transport Division 60
in the Pacific area on the USS Grimes; Okinawa Campaign, initial occupation of Tokyo Bay Area and
Nagasaki, JapanDates of service:
1944-1946
William Michael CooperBorn: April 25,1940
Highest rank achieved:
Master sergeantBranch of service: Air Force, Marine Corps
Where served: served in combat, Vietnam Conflict, first Marine
platoon to land, stayed until 1967Dates of service: USMC September
1958 to June 1967Details of service: also
in the Air Force and then the Reserves from
1980 to April 2000, retired after 29 years;
from the Air Force: Meritorious Service
Award, Commendation Medal, Outstanding
Unit Award, Nave Unit Commendation, Air
Force Training Ribbon; from Marines: Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Air Reserve Forces Meritorious
Service, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship,
National Defense Service Medal,
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
George W. Croft Jr. (Bud)Highest rank
achieved: E9 (master chief
petty officer)Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served:
Pacific Theatre, WWIIWounded in action:
In Pearl Harbor hospital recovering from appendectomy when the Japanese
began bombing Pearl Harbor. Ran out to veranda to see the entire Harbor as it
was being bombed. Read his story in the
military section on AncientFaces.com.Dates of service:
1941-1971
James R. DarstBorn: Jan. 1, 1927Died: Oct. 27, 2011Branch of service:
U.S. NavyDates of service:
1945-1947Details of service:
served aboard a land-ing-craft carrier in the Pacific Theater during
World War II
James Gerard DayBorn: July 24, 1953
Highest rank achieved: CorporalBranch of service:
Marine CorpsWhere served: Marine Corps Aircraft Wing
Dates of service: 1972-74
Details of service: ranked as a pistol and
rifle sharpshooter, received the National
Defense Service Medal
Dallas CrossHighest rank
achieved: PFC, U.S. Army Infantry (twice
achieved)Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served:Fort McNair,
Washington, D.C., and Fort Meyer —
Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
Dates of service: Active service, Sept.
11, 1957 to Sept. 10, 1959; Army Reserve,
1959-1962Details of service: Drill platoon in The
Old Guard Regiment, 1957; worked with the Secret Service
as bayonet-guarded cordon lines to
limit access to the President and visiting
heads of state
B4 • Wednesday, May 21, 2014 The Issaquah Press
Lee CookBorn: Mar. 14, 1941
Highest rank achieved: Master Chief Petty OfficerBranch of service:
NavyWhere served: all
over the world, Europe
and the Far EastDates of service:
1961-88
W.J. (Joe) DodgeDied: June 3, 1982
Highest rank achieved: Private (infantry)
Branch of service: U.S. Army (Samuel
Company)Where served:
Georgia, not deployedDates of service:
Discharged May 3, 1919
Alice L. DavisHighest rank
achieved: Petty officer first class
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: San Diego; Great
Lakes, Ill.; Pearl Harbor; Camp Lejeune, N.C.Dates of service: Aug. 11, 1994 to
present
Gerald Patrick DarstBorn: March 17, 1932
Highest rank achieved: CorporalBranch of service:
ArmyDates of service:
1951-1952Details of service:
served in combat in Korea
William DixonHighest rank
achieved: Bos’n mate second
classBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Mediterranean and Pacific TheatresDates of service: October 1942 to
January 1946
W.J. (Joe) Dodge Jr.Highest rank
achieved: AO3 (aviation ord-nance man third
class)Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
USS Hancock CVA-19, Southeast Asia
Dates of service: October 1961 to November 1963
Raymond C. DavisBorn: July 8, 1941
Highest rank achieved: Radarman
third classBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Far East, Pacific, Guantanamo Bay,
CubaDetails of service: Served on the USS Washburn and USS
CabildoDates of service:
1959 to 1963
Jack DompierBorn: Dec. 1, 1946
Highest rank achieved: RM3
Branch of service: Navy
Dates of service: 1966-1970
Details of service: served in combat;
the first tour to Vietnam was aboard the Destroyer USS Chevalier off the Vietnam coast in 1967-68. The last 2 1/2 years was
spent on PBRs (River Patrol Boat) at PBR
Mobile Base 1, north of Danang. One river
that was patrolled was the HUE river.
Thomas D. DoneganHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant colonelBranch of service:
U.S. Army Where served:
Panama, England, Europe, Korea
Wounded in action: Suffered machine
gun leg wounds while leading a rifle pla-
toon into Germany in February 1945
Dates of service: January 1940 – July 1946, July 1952 to
January 1965
Charles DorianBorn: Sept. 27, 1921
Highest rank achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
Coast GuardWhere served: North Atlantic, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Great Lakes; World War II Greenland,
New YorkDates of service: June 1942 to March 1972
Details of service: served on seven
ships in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, Great Lakes, North Pacific and South
Pacific Oceans; was Chief Coast Guard
Communications from 1964-67 and Deputy
Director, Office of Telecommunications,
in the U.S. Department of
Transportation from 1967-72; is one of the “fathers” of the
current satellite com-munication system
for ships
Bob DoyleBorn: Jul. 29, 1931
Highest rank achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
Army Special ForcesWhere served:
KentuckyDates of service: August 1952 to
March 1955Details of service:
never left the states
Norma Ernsting-EmmonsHighest rank
achieved: Storekeeper Second
Class Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Milledgeville, Ga.; and Bremerton, Wash.Dates of service: March 2, 1943 to
July 12, 1945
Duane W. EnglundHighest rank
achieved: Sergeant
Branch of service: Army EngineersWhere served:
Europe, Philippine IslandsDates of service:
July 1943 to January 1947
Tauno L. EricksonHighest rank
achieved: Technical sergeantBranch of service:
U.S. Army Signal Corps
Where served: Southwest and Central Pacific
theatersMedal awarded:
Bronze Star Dates of service:
May 1942 to October 1945
Ralph Carl EikenberryHighest rank
achieved: Staff sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
infantryWhere served: Served
in a combat zone in Korea for six months in 1950 in the 7th
Marines; was wound-ed at Chosin Reservoir and was air evacuated
to JapanDates of service:
1946-48; 1950-51
Joel EsteyHighest rank achieved: E-5
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Served in combat in I Corps South Vietnam, Da Nang Chulai; mostly
in the field throughout tour of duty; American
196th Light Infantry
Details of service: Wounded by booby
trap; earned a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars
Dates of service: 1967-1969
William Falkenstein Born: Dec. 22, 1913Died: Dec. 18, 2001
Highest rank achieved:
Master sergeantBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served:
WWII — New Guinea; Korean War — Seoul, Korea
Dates of service: 1940-1960
David T. EvansBorn: Oct. 2, 1943
Died: 2002Highest rank achieved: 1st
LieutenantBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: Tour of duty was from 1967-1969 in Heidelberg,
GermanyDates of service:
1967-1969Details of service: Military Police and
Criminal Investigation Division
Pete FaviniBorn: 1894Died: 1977
Branch of service: Navy
Dates of service: World War I
Details of service: served in WWI aboard
the USS Theodore, where he made seven
trips to France, and then crashed on the
reefs of France
Stanley Pete FaviniBorn: March 7, 1923Died: Aug. 25, 1987Branch of service:
NavyWhere served: USS Monterey aircraft carrier
Dates of service: World War II
Details of service: served on USS
Monterey aircraft car-rier, ship was on the
Japanese coast ready to attack when the
Japanese surrendered
Delbert E. FlemingHighest rank
achieved: Chief petty officerBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Vietnam on various ships and
commandsDates of service:
1957-1977
Barry A. FederHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant colonelBranch of service: U.S. Army, retired
Where served: Fort Polk, La.,
active duty; reserve units in Oregon and Washington; active duty for six months during Desert Storm
(first Gulf War) Dates of service: Commissioned in 1969; active duty
1973-1975; reserves 1975-1995
Luther E. FranklinHighest rank
achieved: LieutenantBranch of service:
NavyWhere served:
continental USA and GTMO
Details of service: naval aviator
Years of service: active duty, 1953-57; active reserve: 1957-58; inactive reserve
1958-73
Ray GiaudroneHighest rank
achieved: MM 1st Class
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Navy Post OfficeDates of service:
1941-1945
Louis Charles GiraldinHighest rank
achieved: Radioman
second classBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
North Pacific Ocean Dates of service: April 12, 1944 to
Feb. 21, 1946
Wayne GeigerHighest rank achieved: E4
Branch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: 1st Marine Division; served in combat in Danang, Vietnam, from May 1969 –
May 1970Dates of service: November 1968
to May 1970
William Daniel GilleyHighest rank
achieved: Sergeant Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: Panama; Fort
Columbia, Wash.; and Fort Stevens,
Ore. (the forts guard-ing the mouth of the
Columbia River)Details of service:
Hurt very seriously in an accident as they
fired one of the 10-inch disappear-
ing guns at Fort Columbia early in
1942. Was unable to serve afterward and
was discharged.Dates of service:
1936-1942
Doris GrossHighest rank
achieved: Link instructor,
involved in American Legion, first woman
vice commander Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Corpus Christi, Texas Dates of service:
1941-1945
Brandon Christopher Galvan
Born: Jan. 8, 1990Highest rank
achieved: Private First Class
Branch of service: Army
Where served: 1-1 Attack
Reconnaissance Battalion, First
Infantry Division, Combat Aviation
BrigadeDates of service: May
2013 to presentDetails of service: just
returned home May 5, 2014, from combat service in Kandahar, Afghanistan; received
Gold Coin of Honor
Durward M. GarrettHighest rank
achieved: Lt. Col.Branch of service: Air Force (retired)
Where served: ser-vice included WWII, occupation forces in Japan, troop carrier duties from Guam covering the entire South Pacific, the Berlin airlift, the
Korean Conflict, and The Cold War era including Vietnam
while serving in the Strategic Air Command (SAC)Dates of service:
enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an avia-
tion cadet in June 1943 and retired in
June 1966Details of service:
served on B-17, B-29, F-2,C-54,
KB-29, KC-97 and KC 135 aircraft and was instructor navigator/
master navigator
William Clinton GeilBorn: Jan. 16, 1925
Highest rank achieved: Colonel Branch of service:
ArmyDates of service:
World War II, 1943 to 1974
Details of service: plane crashed in
Germany and he was a POW for 44 days,
received $44 in com-pensation and bought
his wife a watch
David GermaniBorn: July 26, 1947
Highest rank achieved: Staff
Sergeant Branch of service:
Marine CorpsWhere served: Marine
Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego; Okinawa; Vietnam; Camp Pendleton in
CaliforniaDates of service:
1965-71 and 1975-77
Details of service: served in Vietnam in 1967, at An Hoa and Hill 55 in the 155mm
Artillery Battery, Third Battalion 11th
Marines, First Marine Division, I Corps;
received the Combat Action Ribbon and meritoriously pro-
moted to Sergeant in Vietnam
Sabatino GermaniBorn: Dec. 19, 1922
Died: 1998Branch of service:
NavyWhere served: Repair Facility Guam, Shore Patrol, USS Hector,
USS Yellowstone and Fleet Reserve
Dates of service: 1939-63
Details of service: electronic technician in World War II, Korea
and Vietnam
Mark W. GilliamBorn: Feb. 3, 1959
Highest rank achieved: Engineman
Second ClassBranch of service:
NavyWhere served: served on the USS Ketchikan
and at the Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport, Wash.
Dates of service: 1976-82
Details of service: four-year Good Conduct award
Joseph L. GroveBorn: March 16,
1942Highest rank
achieved: Sgt. First Class
Branch of service: four years active duty
Air Force, six years Navy Reserve, 10
years Army National Guard
Where served: served four years at the
Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; six
years with the Navy Reserve in Alaska and Arkansas, and 10 years with the
Arkansas Army National Guard
Dates of service: 1960-1964; 1985-
2002Details of service:
active duty Air Force 5040th Supply
Squadron, US Navy Reserve and Army
National Guard 875 Combat Engineers
Kenneth Lee HamptonBorn: Nov. 12, 1931
Highest rank achieved:
Staff sergeantBranch of service: U.S. Army Security
AgencyWhere served: Korea
Details of service: Served until the truce
was signedDates of service:
1952 to 1955
Gordon HansonBorn: 1926
Highest rank achieved: PrivateBranch of service:
Canadian Army Where served:
Chilliwak, British Columbia
Dates of service: March 1945 to
September 1945Details of service:
engineering division
Judson Burns HarperBorn: Dec. 8, 1936
Highest rank achieved: Gunnery
sergeantBranch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: Korea and VietnamDetails of service: Awarded Combat Action Medal, two
air medals, six good conduct medals, Navy commendation, served as aerial gunman on
CH-46 helicoptersDates of service: Dec. 10, 1953
to June 30, 1973
Robert C. HarperHighest rank
achieved: Corporal
Branch of service: U.S. Army Signal Corps MOS 1187
Where served: U.S. and GermanyDates of service:
December 1952 to November 1954
Randolph (Randy) Carter Harrison
Born: June 21, 1944Highest rank
achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
Army Special ForcesWhere served: U.S. and South East Asia (Vietnam/Cambodia)
Dates of service: Regular Army active duty: January 1966 to June 1971; Army
Special Forces Reserve: March 1989
to March 1993Details of service: enlisted infantry, attended Infantry
Officer’s Candidate School, commis-
sioned as second lieutenant, completed basic airborne train-ing, Special Forces
Qualification, Special Forces Officer’s
Intelligence Course, Defence Language Institute Course/
Vietnamese, two tours of duty in Republic of South Vietnam
totaling 27 months in country
David HayesHighest rank
achieved: Journalist first classBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere Served:
USS Simon Lake; Diego Garcia;
USS Kittyhawk; Naval Station Sandpoint,
Naval Station EverettDates of service:
1987-1998
Roger L. HericDied: 1994
Highest rank achieved: SergeantBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served:
Germany, 749th Tank Battalion
Details of service: The 749th fought with the
76th Division, April 7-30, 1944; was
wounded in action
Brown Bear Car Wash and Pearson Law Firm honor our veterans.
James Thurston HogansonHighest rank
achieved: Sergeant Branch of service: U.S. Army, infantry
Where served: 40th and 24th Infantry Divisions in KoreaDetails of service:
Served in combat in Korea as a
medical techDates of service: May
1953 to March 1955
Ron HowatsonHighest rank
achieved: CD3
Branch of service: U.S. Navy — Seabees
Where served: Korea 1952-1954
Colin Corbett Born: Jan. 14, 1931
Highest rank achieved: Sergeant Branch of service:
ArmyWhere served:
northeastern France and California
Dates of service: six years in the 1950sDetails of service:
supply depot, toured Europe,
Nike missile base in San Francisco,
Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Chemical Corps, small corps
gas masks and chemical training for
chemical warfare
John E. FloodHighest rank
achieved: LieutenantBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served: Supply Corps
Dates of service: Three years
Tyler Lenwood Fraker Born: June 11, 1970
Highest rank achieved:
E-4, fuels specialistBranch of service:
U.S. Air ForceWhere served:
Spain during Desert Shield and Dahran, Saudi Arabia, during
Desert StormDetails of service:
406th TFTWDates of service: October 1990 to
October 1994
The Issaquah Press Wednesday, May 21, 2014 • B5
Roy InuiHighest rank achieved: T5
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Was an allied translator, interpreter section; served in combat in
the Philippines for two months
Details of service: Received Presidential
Unit Citation, Congressional Gold
Medal (2011), Philippine Liberation
Medal, othersDates of service:
1944-1946
Shirley Beining HilgemannHighest rank
achieved: E5/SP5Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: 9th
Adjutant General Fort Lewis; HQ U.S. Army Element, Brunssum,
The NetherlandsMedals awarded:
Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Joint Services Commendation Medal
Details of service: We married one year
before joining the U.S. Army. Would do it all over — the marriage
and serving. Dates of service:
1975-1980
Ewert HilgemannHighest rank
achieved: E5/SP5Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: 9th
Adjutant General Fort Lewis; HQ U.S. Army Element, Brunssum,
The NetherlandsMedals awarded:
Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Joint Services
Commendation Medal, Expert (M16)
Details of service: Married my high school
sweetheart one year before joining the
Army. She convinced me that serving
together would be fun. It was.
Dates of service: 1975-1980
Reed W. JarvisDied: April 1, 2012
Highest rank achieved: Colonel
Branch of service: U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, U.S. Army,
Washington National Guard, Washington
State GuardWhere served: Korea,
Persian GulfDetails of service: Active and reserveDates of service: March 1951 to
June 2001
Erik Johnson Highest rank
achieved: Second class petty officer
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Iraq
Dates of service: 1994-2006
Daryl E. JohnsonBorn:
December 1927Died: October 2009
Highest rank achieved: Seaman
first classBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Washington, D.C.Dates of service:
1945-1946
Donnas D. JohnsonHighest rank
achieved: YN1Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served: Mare
Island Naval Shipyard; Alameda Naval
AirbaseDates of service:
1950-1954
Bonnie Eugene Johnson Jr.Born: July 5, 1925Died: March 29,
2012Highest rank
achieved: ETM 3CBranch of service:
U.S. NavyDates of service:
Jan. 1, 1944 to May 31, 1946
Details of service: Great Lakes Naval Air Station in Radio
Training School, radio operator, World War II
veteran
Steve Johnson Highest rank
achieved: Sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Vietnam
Dates of service: August 1967 to
August 1969
Gene KlineburgerHighest rank
achieved: Corporal
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Utah, California,
ArizonaDates of service:
1942-1945
Rolland R. Kiefel Highest rank
achieved: Storekeeper
second class (SK2) Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served:
Atlantic, Mediterranean, Gulf
of Mexico aboard USS Exultant, USS
Rigel, USS Des Moines,
USS ConwayDates of service: June 6, 1958 to
June 6, 1964
Larry R. Kulin Deceased
Highest rank achieved:
Yeoman Third Class Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served: Japan, Hawaii,
PhilippinesDates of service:
1959-1963
Ken Konigsmark Born: 1956
Highest rank achieved:
Lieutenant colonelBranch of service: Army and Air Force
ReserveWhere served: West
Point, Korea, Fort Lewis, Guam, Hawaii
Dates of service: 1974-2000
Details of service: Military Intelligence
officer; six years active Army and 17 years in Air Force
Reserve
Arthur E. Landdeck Born: April 25, 1921 Died: March 9, 2003
Highest rank achieved: Sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Army, 1393rd
Engineer Construction Battalion; entry
and training – Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and Camp Joseph T.
Robinson, Ark. Where served:
During WWII, in the Pacific Theater – In
the Philippines was in the Battle at LuzonDates of service: June 15, 1942 to
Dec. 23, 1945
Howard E. LanddeckHighest rank
achieved: AX3 (aviation
antisubmarine warfare technician,
third class)Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served:
Ream Field, Imperial Beach, Calif.; USS
BenningtonDates of service: Nov. 17, 1961 to Aug. 31, 1965
Margaret (Slate) LarsenBorn: April 12, 1930
Highest rank achieved: Staff sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Air Force
Where served: KoreaDetails of service: As one of very few female radio repair
technicians, she worked to prepare
Presidents Truman’s and Eisenhower’s
planes for flights in the Pacific.
Dates of service: 1951-1954
Edward Prior LeahyBorn: April 1, 1923
Highest rank achieved: Lieutenant JG
Branch of service: U.S. Navy/ Marine
CorpsWhere served: 4th Marine Division — Iwo Jima, Marshall
Islands, Tinian, SaipanDetails of service:
Injured and taken to the hospital on the third day of attacks
on Iwo JimaDates of service:
1942 to 1945
Bruce LeavittBorn: Nov. 20, 1925
Highest rank achieved: Signalman
Second ClassBranch of service:
NavyWhere served:
European Theatre, Asian Theatre
Dates of service: December 1941 to
December 1946Details of service:
visited North Africa, Italy, Scotland, Wales,
England, Okinawa and the Pacific
Islands
Ivan A. LeeHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant commander
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Patrol Squadron 46 (VP-46); Vietnam 1972-1974
Dates of service: July 1969 to
September 1974
Steven W. Lewis Highest rank
achieved: CorporalBranch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: Vietnam
Dates of service: 1966-1972
D.C. ‘Duke’ LivingstoneHighest rank
achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
MarinesWhere served:
continental U.S.Dates of service:
1956-64
Scott Wayne JohnsonHighest rank
achieved: E4 AMH/AMS
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: VAQ – 129 VikingDates of service:
1978-1988
Richard C. LarsonBorn: Aug. 3, 1919
Died: Nov. 26, 2010Highest rank
achieved: Tech Sergeant 5th GradeBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: 2nd Armored Division
Headquarters Company 66th
Armored Regiment Details of service:
Fought in World War II — North Africa, Sicily,
Holland, France, Belgium
and Germany Dates of service: February 1941 to
July 1945
Issaquah Valley Grange #581 and Bellewood Retirement Living thank our veterans.
Sean S. Lewis Highest rank
achieved: Private first classBranch of service: U.S. Marine CorpsDates of service: 2011 – currently
serving
William Kenneth LokenBorn: Oct. 1, 1930
Highest rank achieved: JO3
Branch of service: Navy
Where served: Whidbey Island
Naval Air Station & Commander
Submarine Force Pacific Fleet
Dates of service: Jan. 17, 1951 to Dec. 3,
1954Details of service:
Journalist
Jack LoppnowBorn: 1921
Highest rank achieved: Staff
Sergeant Branch of service:
Air CorpsWhere served:
Iwo Jima and the United States
Dates of service: 1942-46
Details of service: all over the United
States and Iwo Jima
Robert C. LyonHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant commander
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Served in combat in Korea for 18 months
Details of service: On senior ship in
Inchon Harbor at the time of the truce in 1953; command-ing officer of USS
Lenawee APA 195; navigating officer of USS Lenawee APA
195Dates of service: May 17, 1943 to
July 1, 1966
Lucille E. LundstromBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyHighest rank
achieved: First lieutenant
Where served: General nursing care on the
hospital ship Marigold, Zone of Interior and in the European and
Southwest Pacific Theaters of operation
Details of service: Was the youngest
nurse on the Marigold at age 22; Bronze
Star (4) Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Medal; Bronze Star (2) European-African
Middle Eastern Campaign Medal;
Bronze Star (2) Philippine Liberation
Medal Years of service: Dec. 31, 1943 to
Feb. 1, 1946
Edith Rose MacDougallDeceased (at age 58)
Highest rank achieved:
Mechanics mateBranch of service:
Navy — WAVES Where served:
Cedar Falls, Iowa; Norman, Okla.
Dates of service: 1943-1944
mother of former Mayor Ava Frisinger
Jeremiah Fraser Pitts MacDougall
Deceased (at age 76)Highest rank
achieved: Lt. junior grade
Branch of service: Navy
Where served: South Pacific; Atlantic
Dates of service: 1943-1945 active
duty; reserve to 1954;father of former
Mayor Ava Frisinger
Gladys MacKenzieBorn: May 17, 1918Died: Jun. 14, 2012
Dates of service: 1944-1946
Details of service: stationed at
Harrisburg, Penn., as the store-keep
where she met and fell in love with
Kenneth MacKenzie; discharged in 1946
Kenneth MacKenzieBorn: Nov. 9, 1920
Died: Aug. 25, 2003Branch of service:
NavyWhere served:
USS Memphis and later Harrisburg,
Penn.Dates of service:
1943-1946Details of service: served on the USS
Memphis, patrolling waters between Brazil and Africa; later stationed at a supply depot in Harrisburg, Penn.
Chad MagendanzBorn: May 24, 1967
Highest rank achieved: Lieutenant
Branch of service: Navy
Dates of service: 1985-1997
Where served: SSBN 730 & 729Details of service:
Submariner specialty, Navy Achievement
Medal
Ledo J. MalmassariDied: Oct. 25, 1998
Highest rank achieved: Sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Korea – Third Infantry
DivisionDates of service:
1950-1952
John A. MarshDeceased
Highest rank achieved: PrivateBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served:
75th Infantry DivisionDetails of service: Served in combat for one year in the European Theatre;
received Purple Heart for being wounded during the Battle of
the Bulge
Urban V. MassetHighest rank achieved: E-7
Branch of service: U.S. Coast Guard
Where served: Marine Patrol; Marine
Inspection; served in combat in Korean
waters marking chan-nels for troop ships
for six monthsDetails of service:
Served from Korean Waters — Bering Sea Patrol — ice breaking for dew line; teaching
firefighting school at T.I. Coast Guard Academy; and up
and down the East Coast all in different groups. Wrote book for Marine Corps on
the new Marine Corps in 1985.
Dates of service: 1952 until retirement
Bob McCoyHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: USS Forrestal CVA-
59, Sixth Fleet (Mediterranean)Dates of service:
1966-1973
Ed McKeeHighest rank
achieved: SergeantBranch of service:
U.S. Air Force, turret gunner
Where served: Served in combat in 12th Air Force in Corsica, fall and winter of 1944-
45; 23 bombing missions over
European TheaterDates of service: Sept. 16, 1940 to
Sept. 14, 1945
Norman W. McLeanDeceased
Highest rank achieved:
Seaman first classBranch of service: U.S. Coast Guard
Where served: Alaska
Dates of service: April 21, 1943 to March 18, 1946
Don A. McWhirterBorn: March 1, 1931
Highest rank achieved: S/SGT
Branch of service: U.S. Air Force
Dates of service: May 23, 1949 to
Nov. 7, 1952Details of service:
HRRCWhere served:
Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX, through basic training, perma-
nent party at HRRC until discharged
Thomas M. MechlerBorn: Feb. 26, 1932
Highest rank achieved: Staff
SergeantBranch of service:
Air ForceDates of service:
September 1950 to September 1954Details of service:
Airborne radar mechanic, 434th and 464th Troop
Carrier Wings
Kathleen R. MerrillHighest rank
achieved: Specialist 4
Branch of service: U.S. Army/Reserve
Where served: Various states includ-
ing Indiana, South Carolina and Colorado
Dates of service: March 1983 to
December 1989
David V. MerrittHighest rank
achieved: SFC (sergeant
first class)Branch of service:
U.S. Army Where served:
Okinawa, Vietnam, India, Bolivia, Greece
and Afghanistan Dates of service:
July 1954 to July 1957;
September 1959 to November 1976
Leonard MilesBorn: Dec. 16, 1920
Died: 2005, (in Issaquah)Highest rank
achieved: PFC, washman
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Where served: Sitka, Alaska
Details of service: Received the Victory
MedalDates of service:
1945 to 1946
John MeekBorn: Sept. 30, 1961
Highest rank achieved: Sgt.
Branch of service: Army
Where served: served in combat, Persian Gulf War (Aug. 22, 1990 to
April 1, 1991), one of first 10 Washington Army National Guard reservists deployed to Saudi Arabia in
support of Operation Desert Shield
Dates of service: Nov. 1, 1984 to May 16, 1992
Details of service: Combat Engineer, 317th Engr BN &
116th RAOC
Melvin MillerBorn: Nov. 5, 1922
Died: April 25, 2010Branch of service:
NavyWhere served:
Philippine TheatreDates of service:
1942-1945
Neal Harley HowardBorn: Oct. 6, 1945
Highest rank achieved: Specialist
4th ClassBranch of service:
ArmyWhere served: 5th of
46th Light Infantry Brigade attached to 198th Light Infantry Brigade, located in
Chulai below DanangDates of service: January 1967 to
January 1969Details of service:
served in combat in Vietnam, mortar man (killing radius is 50
meters; mortar would go up 5 miles)
S. William Hollingsworth Born: 1925Died: 2010Highest rank
achieved: PFC (private first class)
Branch of service: U.S. Army 100th
InfantryWounded in action: Wounded in combat in France, Nov. 1944
Dates of service: World War II January
1944 to August 1945
Archie HowatsonBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: Hawaii
for 26 months; Served during
combat in Okinawa, Japan, with the
892nd Ordnance Heavy Automotive
Maintenance Co. in the 10th Army; he
was a mechanic who kept the vehicles
movingDates of service: Jan.
5, 1942 to 1945
B6 • Wednesday, May 21, 2014 The Issaquah Press
David John MitmanBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served: USS
Coral SeaYears of service:
1951-1953Details of service:
Served as flight engi-neer for top secret Martin Mercator
intelligence-gathering aircraft, flying spy
missions into Soviet airspace from Port Lyautey, Morocco.
During one mission, his plane was fired at
by a Soviet surface to air missile. (It
missed.)
John MizenkoBorn: 1934
Highest rank achieved:
radar specialistBranch of service:
ArmyWhere served: Rhode Island
Dates of service: 1955-57
Details of service: worked with Nike
missile surface-to-air battery control when
fired
Duncan MulhollandHighest rank
achieved: Staff sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Air Force
Where served: 3595th GIDIST Supply Squadrons; Nellis Air Force Base 1951-52; NCOIC Base Supply
Nagoya, Japan, 1952-54
Details of service: Received good con-
duct medal, National Defense Medal,
Korean Service Medal and United Nations
MedalDates of service:
November 1950 to November 1954
Kevin J. MurphyBorn: March 17, 1957
Highest rank achieved: Lt. Colonel
Branch of service: Army and Air Force
Where served: U.S. and overseasDates of service:
June 1979 to June 2000
Details of service: Army Infantry and
Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence
Richard MurphyBorn: March 10,
1923Highest rank
achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
Army Air CorpsWhere served:
Shemya Air Station, Alaska
Dates of service: July 1943 to
October 1949Details of service:
On his first mission, he flew one of six planes out of 18
that returned from bombing Japan; on his 23rd and last
mission, he was shot down
Dec. 7, 1944, over Sakhalin Island. Was
a POW in Russia.
Norman B. ‘Crash’ Nash Highest rank
achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Service included two combat tours in A-6 Intruders in Vietnam
Dates of service: 1957-1988
Details of service: naval aviator; served in attack squadrons and weapons test facilities, was an
aircraft carrier opera-tions officer, squad-
ron commanding
John Norman Naegle Born: May 1, 1942Died: Jan. 4, 1999
Highest rank achieved: Commander
Branch of service: U.S. Coast GuardDetails of service:
Coast Guard Academy graduate with honors in 1964; Master of
Science in engineer-ing, University of Michigan – Naval
Architecture 1969; Engineering Mechanics
1970; Ph.D. Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering 1980;
Détente Delegation to USSR 1974-75; served on several “wind” class
ice breakersDates of service:
1964-1985
Donald NelsonBorn: Jan. 11, 1928
Died: 1969Highest rank
achieved: SpecialistBranch of service:
ArmyWhere served: served
in combat in the Korean Conflict for a
little more than a yearDates of service:
1950-1953Details of service:
Headquarters Company
Gerald A. NelsonBorn: July 26, 1944
Highest rank achieved: Specialist 5
Branch of service: Army National
Guard and Military Policeman
Where served: California
Dates of service: January 1964 to
January 1970Details of service:
Outstanding military policeman of our company in 1967
Gary C. NewbillHighest rank
achieved: Major
Branch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
ReserveWhere served:
Virginia; California; Okinawa, Japan;
The Philippines and Vietnam
Dates of service: January 1965 to
March 1968 (active duty)
Ernest R. NybergHighest rank
achieved: Sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Army Air Force
Where served: South Pacific –
Tinian IslandWounded in action:
B-29 crashed off Iwo Jima, three men survived out of crew of 10, Ernie made 17 missions, some over
capital of JapanDates of service:
1943-1945
Ruben NietoBorn: May 4, 1946
Highest rank achieved: Spl. 4
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Dates of service: June 1966 to March 1968
Details of service: Radio Operator (RTO), 1st Cavalry Div/1/7th
Cavalry Regiment, served in combat,
Vietnam, December 1966 to December
1967
Michael O’ConnorBranch of service:
Air ForceDates of service:
1962-1966Details: Michael
joined the Air Force right out of high
school because his older brother did and found out it was the
easiest. In those days you either joined a
branch of your choice or else they drafted you into the army.
Leroy OlsonBorn: Oct. 28, 1921
Highest rank achieved: Lieutenant
Junior Grade Branch of service: Navy Reserves Air
Group IVWhere served:
Pacific Theatre during World War II
Dates of service: August 1942 to December 1942
Details of service: fighter pilot in Air
Group IV flying F6F-3 Air Grumman Hellcats; saw action
under Admiral Halsey and flew off of the
USS Essex, including the first carrier-based raid on Tokyo involv-
ing more than 1,200 targets; decorated
with Air Medal Citation for meritori-ous achievement, skills and courage
Charles D. ParkerDied: Nov. 7, 2010
Highest rank achieved: Captain
Branch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: U.S.; Okinawa, Japan;
VietnamDates of service: Sept. 9, 1954 to Sept. 30, 1974
Russell D. PeeryHighest rank
achieved: Specialist 4th class
Branch of service: U.S. Army/ Washington
National Guard Where served:
Camp Murray, Wash., 181st Support
Battalion, Company DDates of service: August 1977 to
May 1983
Norman PeeryHighest rank
achieved: Seaman first class Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
Aleutians Islands Alaska; Japan; USS
Jarvis DD-799Dates of service: Dec. 16 1943 to
May 19 1946
Vernon M. Parrett, M.D.Highest rank
achieved: CaptainBranch of service: U.S. Army, medical
Where served: Served two years in
the Valley Forge Army Hospital in officers’ ward, tuberculosis
unitDates of service:
1944-46 and 1952-54
Gerald Francis PetersenBorn: Sept. 15, 1925
Highest rank achieved: Air cadetBranch of service: U.S. Army/Air Force
Where served: Various bases in the U.S.Dates of service:
1943 to 1945
Elmer John Petett Highest rank
achieved: Pharmacists mate
second class Branch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served:
USS Alshain in the Asiatic Pacific and
PhilippinesDates of service:
July 1943 to March 1946
Philip PitruzzelloHighest rank
achieved: Aviation Radioman
Second Class Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served: Atlantic Fleet, Pacific Fleet
Dates of service: June 1942 to
September 1945
Meindert PillieDied: March 10, 2010, at age 95
Highest rank achieved: Sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Army Air Corps
Where served: Instructor at 349th
Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, Tyndall Field, Fla.Dates of service: Oct. 21, 1941 to Sept. 17, 1943
Sarah PommerBorn: Dec. 12, 1943
Highest rank achieved: Lieutenant
Branch of service: Navy
Dates of service: 1966-1969
Details of service: USN Nurse Corps,
hospital nurse, amputee specialist
Wayne PommerBorn: Jan. 1, 1943
Highest rank achieved: SGT
Branch of service: Air Force
Dates of service: 1966-1970
Details of service: administrative spe-cialist; 941stMAG,
97stMAS, 62nd SPS
Hugh Asher Preston Jr.Born: April 29, 1924Died: May 1, 2014
Highest rank achieved: Seaman
First ClassBranch of service:
NavyDates of service:
Feb. 11, 1942 to Feb. 19, 1946
Details of service: At 17, Hugh fudged his age and was accept-ed into the Navy. He
served four years during World War II on the USS Aaron
Ward III in the Pacific Theatre. He was on watch at the wheel-
house when the ship was attached
off Okinawa on May 3, 1945. Twenty-five planes attacked and six kamikaze planes
crashed into its decks, towers and engine rooms. The attack lasted just
under an hour and left the ship in dire condition with many wounded. Hugh was one of many heroes on board the ship
that day.
Gilbert PurschwitzBorn: April 16, 1939
Highest rank achieved: Pfc
Branch of service: Army
Dates of service: July 16, 1957 to
July 15, 1959Details of service: communications, 1st Army Division
(Big Red One)
Jay Robert RodneHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant colonelBranch of service: U.S. Marine Corps/still serving in the
U.S. Marine ReserveWhere Served:
Persian Gulf War (1991); Somalia
(1992-93); Operation Iraqi Freedom, Kuwait
& Iraq (2003)Dates of service:
1990-present
Reuben Allen RichardHighest rank
achieved: SP4Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served:
Co. E 122nd Mnt. Bn. USAREUR
Dates of service: January 1968 to December 1969
Don RiggsBorn: Seattle, 1936Highest rank: PFCBranch of service:
ArmyWhere served:
OkinawaDates of service: October 1959 to
January 1962Details of service: producer for The
Voice of the United Nations Command, broadcasting propa-
ganda radio programs to North Korea and China; returned in time to work at the 1962 World’s Fair
Robert Howard Rockwell (Rocky)Highest rank
achieved: PFC (private first class)
Branch of service: U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Recon,
RTO (radio telephone operator) call sign
Papa Kilo, nickname Crash
Where served: Vietnam 1969-1970
(The Blackscarfed Gunslingers)
Dates of service: 1968-1970
Hugh Gordon RossNo photo available
Highest rank achieved:
Petty officer 2Branch of service:
U.S. Navy, cryptograph tech
Where served: Strategic nuclear deter-rence in South China Sea during Vietnam
War; Combat Zone vet, 1972-1973; nuclear
submarine forceDates of service: January 1971 to
January 1977
Born: Sept. 17, 1917Highest rank
achieved: Lieutenant Branch of service:
NavyWhere served: USS Wedderburn DD684
Dates of service: 1942-1945
Details of service: served in combat in the Pacific for three
years and three months, survived
three tornadoes while at sea and one
kamikaze attack
Helen SabinBorn: April 10, 1923
Highest rank achieved: Radioman
Third ClassBranch of service:
Coast GuardWhere served:
New York, New Jersey, Seattle
Dates of service: 1943-45
Details of service: attended boot camp in Florida, worked in
communications, one sister was an Army
nurse and the other a nurse cadet
Elmo Jerome SagedahlHighest rank
achieved: Corporal
Branch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: Pacific area
Dates of service: May 26, 1944 to
Aug. 31, 1946
Dave SaoHighest rank
achieved: Staff sergeant
Branch of service: U.S. Air Force
Where served: Strategic Air Command
Dates of service: March 1966 to
March 1970Details of service:
Munitions specialist, sent to Anderson AFB in Guam and Utapao
AFB in Thailand, team chief of a team that was responsible for loading hundreds of bombs each day on
B52 bombers in sup-port of the Vietnam
War, and loading and caring for nuclear
weapons stateside.
Edward SchaeferBorn: June 10, 1911
Died: 1986 in Spokane
Highest rank achieved: Technician
fifth grade (Tec 5)Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyWhere served: Served
in combat in the European Theater, February 1944 to November 1945;
3429th Ord Mam Co.Details of service: “A man who loved his
country”Dates of service:
1943-1945
Frank Valentine SchroederBorn: Feb. 10, 1894Died: Sept. 6, 1977Branch of service:
U.S. ArmyDetails of service: Fought in France
during World War I
John SchroederBorn: Feb. 23, 1888Died: Jan. 10, 1973
Highest rank achieved: privateBranch of service:
U.S. ArmyDates of service:
Muster out telegram Nov. 16, 1918,
according to dis-charge papers. Start
date unknown.Details of service:
Last assigned school for cooks and bakers. Was a cook at Camp Lewis, now known as
Fort Lewis. Gale Robert SchroederBorn: March 1935
Deceased: June 2005Highest rank
achieved: Master Sergeant
Branch of service: Army
Where served: last unit 409th Engineer Company, ReserveDates of service: 1954-1963 and
1976-1994Details of service: airplane mechanic
Market Well, Imelda Dulcich PR & Social Media, Eastside Family Dentistry and NAPA Auto Parts of Issaquah honor our veterans.
Daniel S. SegonHighest rank
achieved: Private Branch of service:
U.S. Army Where served:
GermanyDates of service:
1966-1967
William Edward SeilDeceased(at age 66)
Highest rank achieved: Colonel
Branch of service: U.S. Air Force
Where served: World War II, Korea
and VietnamDates of service:
1944-1975
Michael M. RisteDeceased
Highest rank achieved: SP5/E-5Branch of service:
U.S. Army, transportationWhere served:
1st Cavalry DivisionDetails of service:
Served three tours of duty in VietnamYears of service: Oct. 25, 1966 to Nov. 15, 1983
Robert PlossHighest rank
achieved: CaptainBranch of service: U.S. Air Force (B-17 pilot, physician U.A. Air Force medical)Where served: 11 combat missions
over Germany; POW Mission Austria to France; two food
drops to the Dutch; flew Atlantic twiceDates of service:
1943-1952
John A. ‘Tony’ McIntoshBorn: Jun. 8, 1942
Highest rank achieved: Sergeant Branch of service:
ArmyWhere served:
Second Battalion, Second Infantry,
Fifth Division; Headquarters
Company, Third Brigade, 50th
Armored Division Dates of service:
1964-66Details of service:
served in combat for 10 months in 1966
Alan Ray MilesBorn: July 18, 1947
Highest rank achieved: CorporalBranch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: Vietnam
Details of service: Received the Purple Heart for shrapnel in the leg, Presidential Unit Citation, 2nd Battalion and 9th Marine Division
Dates of service: 1967 to 1968
Michael Dean Miles Born: Oct. 10, 1951
Highest rank achieved:
Lance corporalBranch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: Okinawa
Details of service: Meritorious Unit
Citation and National Defense Service
Medal, 5th Marine Division, Fleet Marine
Force PacificDates of service:
1970 to 1972
Louis OrtizHighest rank
achieved: Petty officer second class
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: In the Pacific, aboard
the carrier USS Lexington, as radio
gunmanWounded in action:
Received Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and
Purple HeartDates of service:
1942-1945
Jeston J. PhillipsBorn: Feb. 9, 1923
Highest rank achieved: WT3/CBranch of service:
NavyWhere served:
USS Ludlow during World War II
Dates of service: 1944-1946
Details of service: served in combat in World War II,
American Area, Victory medal, Asiatic Pacific
Charles Edwin Runacres Jr.
The photos in this section are mostly in alphabetical order.
However, photos that came in late are at
the end of the section. We accept photos and
information about veterans all year.
Email them to [email protected].
The Issaquah Press Wednesday, May 21, 2014 • B7
Cody D. SortebergBorn: Feb. 25, 1992
Highest rank achieved:
E4 (corporal)Branch of service:
Marine CorpsWhere served:
Afghanistan 2012, Japan/Korea 2013/2014
Dates of service: January 2011
to presentDetails of service: weapons company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, served in
combat
Jack Richard SteidlHighest rank
achieved: PFC (private first
class)Branch of service: U.S. Army Air Corps
Where served: Jackson, Tenn.
Dates of service: 1941-1944
William Britton StrikerBorn: Dec. 12, 1907 Died: Oct. 1, 2003
Highest rank achieved:
T-4, sergeantBranch of service:
U.S. Army, Big Red 1Where served: Omaha Beach
Normandy, Sicily, Tunisia, European – African Campaign,
Middle Eastern front – Ardennes
Wounded in action: Leg wounds, shrapnel,
received Silver Star and Bronze StarDates of service: July. 6, 1942 to Sept. 2, 1945
Ernest Milton SwansonHighest rank
achieved: Aviation machinist
first classBranch of service:
Coast GuardDates of service:
Oct. 21, 1941 to Dec. 23, 1946
George H. SwansonDied: 1992
Branch of service: U.S. Army Air Corps
Where served: United States
Dates of service: 1943-1945
John SwansonDied: 2001
Highest rank achieved:
Staff sergeant Branch of service: U.S. Army Air Corps
Where served: Missouri and Alberta, Ferry Command Post
planes to Russia Dates of service:
1942-1945
Alonzo Lee SweetBorn: Nov. 18, 1938
Died: 2003Highest rank
achieved: CorporalBranch of service:
U.S. NavyDates of service: April 27, 1956 to
Oct. 16, 1959
Henry D. (Hank) ThomasBorn: April 21, 1944
Highest rank achieved: lieutenant commander, unre-
stricted lineBranch of service:
NavyWhere served: nuclear power submarines and
surface combatantsDates of service: February 1963 to
March 1983Details of service: nuclear qualified,
qualified in subma-rines, surface warfare
qualification, Navy Commendation Medal
recipient
Frank R. TroutmanDeceased
Highest rank achieved: Colonel
Branch of service: U.S. Army/Air Force
Where served: Pacific, Italy
Dates of service: May 1940 to January 1984
Details of service: APTO-US-MTO
George Van LeeuwenBorn: May 18, 1921
Died: 2012Highest rank
achieved: LieutenantBranch of service:
Army/Air ForceWhere served: served
in combat in the South Pacific
Dates of service: 1943-1945
Details of service: pilot, flew C46
Jay Anthony VanniHighest rank
achieved: Petty officer third class
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: two six-month tours to
Persian Gulf on the aircraft carrier USS
Carl Vinson as catapult officerDetails of ser-vice: Letter of
Commendation; grad-uated from Central
Washington University with degrees in sci-ence and business;
(lived in Issaquah for 36 years)
Dates of Service: 1993-1997
Dallas L. WaggonerDeceased(at age 76)
Highest rank achieved:
Tech sergeant Branch of service:
U.S. Army Where served: Europe, Italy, North Africa
Wounded in action: Purple Heart awarded
Dates of service: 1941-1945
David S. WaggonerHighest rank
achieved: Lieutenant colonel Branch of service:
U.S. Army Where served:
Vietnam, Central America, U.S.
Wounded in action: Purple Heart awarded
Dates of service: 1968-1993
Dwight Eldon WaggonerBorn: August 23,
1922Died: Oct. 9, 2009
Highest rank achieved:
Seaman third classBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served: South Pacific
Details of service: American Area
Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal,
WWII Victory MedalDates of service:
April 1943 to November 1945
Joe WallisBorn: Oct. 2 1931
Highest rank achieved:
CommanderBranch of service:
Navy ReserveWhere served:
Korean WarDates of service: January 1954-57Details of service:
spent 22 years in the reserve on the USS
Thomas 833 destroy-er in Iwo Jima, Japan
and Hong Kong
Geoff WarrenHighest rank
achieved: CDRBranch of service: U.S. Coast GuardDates of service: 1992 to current
Details of service: continues to serve in the Coast Guard
Reserve; is the senior reserve officer for
Sector Puget Sound in Seattle; has mobi-
lized for national disasters such as the Deepwater Oil Spill,
the Haiti Earthquake and Hurricane
Katrina; flew C-130s while stationed at
Kodiak, Alaska, and Elizabeth City, N.C.
Austin Vickery WigginsBranch of service: U.S. Marine Corps
Where served: Saipan in the
Mariana IslandsDates of service:
1942-1946
James H. Van WinkleDied: Feb. 9, 2008
Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944, one month before high school graduation.Deployed to Japan and in transit, the
Japanese surrendered before he arrived.
James went from front line duty to a clerk typ-ist in the office due to termination of the war. Stayed in Japan in civil service and returned
stateside from Kanagawa, Japan, on
Nov. 5, 1946
Neil (Sol) WinikoffBorn: March 31,
1920Died: Oct. 11, 2013Branch of service:
ArmyWhere served: North
Africa and EuropeDates of service: February 1942 to November 1945
Details of service: served in North
Africa and Europe as a cryptographic technician, served in ETO with signal
outfit encoding and decoding classified
messages by means of army codes and
devices; familiar with Army means of main-taining signal security
and proper storage of secret documents; languages: English,
Yiddish, Italian, French, German and
some Russian
George WestlakeBorn: Feb. 21, 1919
Highest rank achieved: ColonelBranch of service:
ArmyWhere served:
1941-1945 France and D-Day
Dates of service: Retired 1972
Details of service: Colorado, Fort Lawton
William James Weatherford
Born: March 8, 1925Highest rank achieved:
MAM 2CBranch of service:
NavyWhere served: NTS
Farragut, Idaho, Acorn 21 NAB Navy 825 NAS,
Seattle, PSCU 5NB, Bremerton, served in
combat in Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands for
15 monthsDates of service: July 1943 to March 1946
Details of service: Awarded Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal
— 1 star and World War II Victory Medal
Matt WinzenBorn: Jan. 22, 1925
Highest rank achieved: MM1C
Branch of service: Navy
Where served: Panama Canal, South
Pacific Fleet Dates of service:
1943-45Details of service:
enlisted at 18, assigned to nucleus crew for USS Dennis
in Panama Canal; participated in many invasions, most nota-bly the battle of Leyte Gulf; ship picked up 445 survivors from
the aircraft carrier St. Louis; served on the destroyer escort the President flew in and
protected carriers
Robert Edward WolahanBorn:
Nov. 23, 1932Deceased:
Dec. 10, 2010Highest rank
achieved: PNC (chief)
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Korea and Vietnam
Dates of service: 1950-1970
James WoodBorn: May 8, 1950
Highest rank achieved: RM3
Branch of service: U.S. Navy
Where served: Vietnam, three toursDetails of service:
Radio Teletype Task Group operator, Yankee Station
Dates of service: 1968 to 1972
Winston Matthew Yourglich
Highest rank achieved:
PhM3c (photogra-pher’s mate third
class) Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served: South Pacific
Wounded in action: After his ship, the USS Houston, was torpedoed, Winston
swam in shark-infested waters in the China Seas for four hours before being picked
up.Dates of service: Oct. 11, 1943 to April 13, 1946
David Les YeisleyBorn: Dec. 23, 1932
Highest rank achieved: SergeantBranch of service: U.S. Army, Infantry
Where served: 3rd Infantry Division,
Korea and 28th Infantry Division,
GermanyDetails of service:
Received Bronze Star with V-Device Combat
Infantry Badge, Korean Service Medal with
Bronze Service Stars and United Service
Medal, National Defense and Army
Occupation (Germany) Medals
Dates of service: Jan. 22, 1951 to
Jan. 8, 1954
Jack YusenBranch of service:
U.S. NavyWhere served: Pacific Theater: Home Front,
Atlantic sub scare, Leyte Gulf
Details of service: Served aboard the
USS Samuel B. Roberts amid World
War II, until Japanese forces sunk the
destroyer escort in the Battle of Leyte Gulf — the largest naval bat-
tle during World War II; some sailors survived the attack only to bob in the shark-infested Philippine Sea until
rescuers arrived days later
he was transferred to a special photo reconnais-sance unit in Japan.
Garrett was charged with providing aerial cov-erage of Japan and Korea for use in updating maps since the war’s ending.
“We would fly every day and take pictures. At the time, Hiroshima and Naga-saki had been bombed just a year before,” he said. “Hiro-shima was really destroyed. I don’t see how anything lived there. Seeing what a bomb could do was scary.”
In 1947, he was sent to Guam, where he was on the crew of a C-54 aircraft as-signed to transport troops and supplies to active mili-tary bases throughout the South Pacific.
One such trip, a trek from Australia to Guam, had a very special pas-senger, but Garrett didn’t know it at the time.
“My first wife, Nicky, was on one of those flights from Brisbane,” he said. “I flew her before I even knew
who she was.”Nicky was one of the
Australian civil workers the United States hired to work various jobs to sup-port military requirements, Garrett said.
The two started as friends, socializing among others while she played the piano and he and his fel-low servicemen sang at the local officer’s club.
She was hospitalized for a minor illness September 1947, and Garrett, being the smitten airman he was, offered to drive her home when she was better, assum-ing that his assignment that day didn’t have any hiccups.
“I told her, ‘Hey, I’ll pick you up, if our plane doesn’t go down,’ and I sort of laughed it off,” he said.
It was no laughing matter that same day when his C-54, carrying supplies to Manus Island off the northeastern tip of Papua New Guinea, did crash into the ocean.
Stranded at seaAn engine fire forced the
six-man crew to make a water landing.
When they saw the flames, the men burst into action, making use of their extensive emergency train-
ing, Garrett said.While two men tried to
extinguish the fire, another climbed into the co-pilot’s seat, where he initiated emergency procedures. The radio operator declared mayday, and Garrett trans-mitted the group’s position to someone that could help.
It was such a flurry of ac-tivity, Garrett said he never had time to fear for his life.
“To tell you the truth, when you’re 22, you think you’re infallible,” he said. “You’re so busy preparing for impact, you don’t even think about it.”
In an impressive feat of skill, the pilot safely landed in the “Pacific Ocean, 500 miles from nowhere,” and only the crew’s engineer sus-tained anything more than minor bumps and bruises.
The group boarded the deployed life rafts and watched from afar as the aircraft disappeared into the water.
“It somehow gave me a terrible feeling of loneli-ness as the tail sank out of sight,” Garrett said.
The rafts contained only an emergency transmitter and floppy hats to shield from the sun. Garrett still has his hat, guarding it
as a keepsake from his memorable mission.
It was Garrett’s re-sponsibility to identify the group’s position, while the radio operator continually transmitted it in hopes that someone would find them.
Seasickness began to overcome four of the six crew members, as day turned to night with no sign of help. Garrett was fortunately spared from the illness, but as the group remained stranded, he feared he had transmit-ted the wrong location.
“If nobody finds us, is there going to be room in the raft for me, because I didn’t send them the right position?” he thought.
Garrett needn’t have worried. Later that night, a C-54 from the same squadron found them. The plane was joined by a B-17 aircraft that lowered a boat for the stranded crew’s use.
But the group couldn’t find it as they attempted to navi-gate the waters in the pitch-black darkness. They waited for daylight, and the boat was still nowhere to be seen.
So began an altogether new waiting game, while dehydration started to set in among the crew mem-
bers, Garrett said.Another boat was
dropped later that after-noon, and this time, the group managed to find and board it, but the setbacks weren’t over. The hungry men found only spoiled food on board, and try as they might, they couldn’t figure out how to start the engine.
“Spoiled water, maggots in the rations, that kills your appetite right there,” Garrett said.
The crew pitched a sail and continued along through the night before a submarine came to the rescue. Once aboard, they feasted on a meal of steak and eggs.
The six men received a hero’s welcome when they returned to Guam, includ-ing a celebration later that night. Garrett’s date was Nicky, now feeling better and out of the hospital.
“That was our first date,” Garrett said. “Four months later, we were married.”
Remembering sacrificesAnnie, Garrett’s second
wife, remembers reading about the ordeal in the Ho-nolulu papers, where she was living with her pilot husband, George Head.
Little did she know, less
than 20 years later, she and Garrett would marry, after the deaths of both of their spouses.
Head, a military hero in his own right, died in a 1962 plane crash while transport-ing California Congressman Clem Miller. Around that time, Nicky lost her battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Annie and Dag Garrett met at a California officer’s club in 1964. Friends prod-ded them to talk to each other, but the two were reluctant. Dag asked her to dance and immediately told her, “I’m not ever go-ing to get married again.”
“That’s a heck of a thing to say when you just meet someone,” Annie recalled, even though she didn’t want to get remarried either.
The Garretts will cel-ebrate their 50th wedding anniversary June 19. Be-fore that, they’ll pause May 26 to remember the men and women who lost their lives on the battlefield.
“It’s so easy to forget all that they’ve done,” Dag said. “I’m lucky, I’m still here. There are so many that aren’t. They go through hell and high wa-ter so that we can be here and experience freedom.”
Garrettfrom Page B1
ContriButeD
Dag Garrett is the co-pilot on a photo reconnaissance unit over Japan and Korea in 1946.
Kiwanis Club of Sammamish, Bellevue Honda, Al and Jean Erickson, and Las Margaritas Restaurant thank our veterans for their service.
Gordie BlumeBorn: Aug. 25, 1948
Highest rank achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
Air ForceWhere served: Southeast Asia, Alaska, Europe, Mediterranean,
Pacific, U.S.Dates of service: January 1973 to
June 1979
Lee F. Scheeler
Born: April 10, 1926Highest rank achieved: PFC
Branch of service: U.S. Army/Air Force
Where served: Germany
Details of service: 4th Infantry Division
Rifleman, 22nd Infantry, chaplin of the Post 79th Snoqualmie
Dates of service: 1944 to 1946
Mary Ellen Holmes Sheridan
Born: Sept. 7, 1927Highest rank
achieved: LieutenantBranch of service:
NavyWhere served:
Pentagon; White House; Kodiak,
Alaska; Long Beach, Calif.; Kansas City,
Mo. (recruiting); Newport, R.I.
Dates of service: 1953-1960
Details of service: received a letter of
commendation from the chairman, Joint
Chief of Staff
Pete SimsBorn: Oct. 28, 1919
Highest rank achieved: CaptainBranch of service:
Army, infantryWhere served:
Germany, France, Austria
Dates of service: 1941-46
Details of service: served in World
War II combat and occupation, received
a Bronze Star and Bronze Star Clusters,
Company Commander, kept in contact with
17 out of 178
Norm Smith
Highest rank achieved: ClassifiedBranch of service:
Army – counter intelligence
Where served: Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind.
Dates of service: 1956-59
Details of service: Worked in back-
ground investigation and wanted to go to Germany, but was
never sent overseas
William A. SomsakHighest rank
achieved: Boatswain’s mate
third class Branch of service:
U.S. Navy Where served:
Marshall Islands, USS Midway
Details of service: Received two med-
als; operated landing craft
Dates of service: 1942-1944
ond recruitment center he wore contacts.
During a final physical for officer candidate school, however, an astute physi-cian, a captain who hap-pened to be an eye doctor, took one look at his record and asked the obvious, “Do you wear contacts?”
Harrison knew he was busted.
“I take them out, and I couldn’t see the wall, much less an eye chart,” he said.
The only duty the doctor could approve for Harri-son was quartermaster or judge advocate, any paper shuffling assignment. Just not combat.
Undeterred, Harrison tossed his record into the trash bin at the rear of the medical facility.
When his first sergeant asked a few days later if he knew where his file was, he answered truthfully, “I don’t know.”
The sergeant pulled out a new file, filled in a few blanks, scribbled an illegible signature and put it away.
“Bingo. Done,” said Har-rison, happy he was headed for Airborne training.
Don’t volunteer for SOGAt a competitive time for
officer candidates trying to get into Special Forces Intelligence, he signed up for a one-year course in Vietnamese language that guaranteed a slot in Spe-cial Forces in the Vietnam 5th Group.
Preparing to leave, a ser-geant friend with three tours in Vietnam under his belt told Harrison the only thing he had to remember was don’t volunteer for SOG.
“‘You don’t have to know what it is. Just don’t volun-teer for it,’ he told me.”
A year and a half later, finally in Vietnam in Au-
gust 1968, standing in the adjutant general’s office, waiting for assignment, he was asked, “You speak five languages? Including Viet-namese? You ever think about SOG?”
“I have trained all this time, I don’t know what it is, only that I was told if you join SOG you die,” Harrison said. “I’m not going start my time here by chickening out. So, I said, ‘OK.’”
SOG’s cover name was “studies and observation group.” Harrison said it was actually a special operations group that performed deep, recon missions in Cambo-dia, observing the enemy’s activities across the recog-nized border.
“Technically, they were illegal missions,” he said.
When Harrison agreed to take command of the recon company, he said he had the audacity to tell his superiors he would only take the job if he could take missions, too.
“The motto of infantry school, which is the best leadership motto for cor-porate, family or soldiers, is two words — follow me,” Harrison said. “I can’t send anyone into that inferno
unless I go myself, to un-derstand conditions, see how individual teams oper-ate and know what addi-tional training they needed or what was not working. They basically said, ‘OK.’”
The six-man squad’s as-signments were either five-day insertions where they observed an area, or 10-day insertions where they ob-served a river or road.
“There were times we were so close to the enemy, I could hear them and write down what there were saying,” he said.
Extremely fortunateDespite his best prepa-
rations, Harrison said his unit had the highest sustained casualty rate (unavailability for combat due to injury or death) in American history — more than 100 percent.
Harrison said in all his time in Vietnam, he was extremely fortunate to avoid the casualty list.
Once, he was allowed to return to the states to take care of a “Dear John” letter situation. Another time, he missed a mission to give the senior officers a briefing. Both times, his
replacement “took a bullet meant for me.”
He recently gave a eulo-gy in Spokane and reunited with three fellow soldiers, who’d received grievous wounds in Vietnam.
“Sitting there looking at these guys with permanent wounds, I realized I put in 27 months Vietnam and never got a scratch,” Har-rison said.
To this day, he wears a bracelet bearing the name Harold W. Kroske. Another friend who was killed in the line of duty, Harrison uses it to remind himself of how things could have turned out differently.
“Unfortunately, I tend to be impatient, a char-acteristic I guess I have,” he said. “So, I wear this to remind myself, every day, several times a day, how incredibly, indescribably fortunate I am.”
On the A-teamHarrison rode the wave of
his good fortune to prosper-ous careers, including as a foreign correspondent for the Orlando Sentinel and a 20-year stint in public rela-tions for The Boeing Co.
When Harrison came out
west to take that position, he didn’t know anybody. To find other like-minded souls, and since his kids from his first marriage were out of the house, he decided to give public service back to the coun-try he so believes in. He visited the recruiter’s office on Gilman Boulevard and at age 44, he enlisted in the Army Reserve, signing on with the Special Forces Group. This time, he had to go in a sergeant, on an A-team.
“I was a year older than the A-team leader’s father,” Harrison said. “Hey, but one weekend a month, I got to jump out of airplanes, blow stuff up, fire automatic weapons and drink beer.”
During his tenure with the unit, the first Gulf War ignited. While individual members of his Reserve unit volunteered to par-ticipate in operations, the unit itself was never re-called to active duty. Har-rison said a number of his guys subsequently went on to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan operations as part of civilian security contractors.
I’m too old for thisIn about 1994, when
it was time to re-up, he changed his mind.
During a routine night training mission, after jumping out of a plane over Fort Lewis, he looked down.
“You’re not supposed to
look down, but everybody does,” he said.
It looked like he was head-ing straight for a big tree.
“Not a good thing,” he added.
He wiggled his para-chute straps to maneuver around the tree, but only managed to inadvertently turn into the wind, a much worse situation that accel-erated him uncontrollably to Earth.
“I hit the ground so hard, I knocked myself out. I knocked the webbing out of my helmet,” he said. “I was out cold.”
When he finally came to minutes later, the airplane had circled around and was making preparations to drop a second lift of parachutists.
He got up, looking for the tree that caused his woes, only to discover he had landed in an empty field. In the low light, he had mistaken something flat and circular on the ground for a tree.
“I pranged the hell out of myself and thought that this was a sign,” Harrison said. “I’m too old for this.”
That was his last jump. He decided then and there that the United States Army no longer needed his services.
He has since remarried, retired and written a nov-el, “West From Yesterday,” just to prove he could. These days, among vora-cious reading, he remains active as a master docent for the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery and is a chair-man on the city’s Develop-ment Commission.
Harrison said his jour-nals have been used by other authors, both with permission and without, to good affect and bad. Al-though just one of his sons has asked to read them, he keeps them locked up in a safe, ready to be discov-ered in 500 years, ready to recount the tales of just one little guy who played his part in a big war.
The Issaquah Press Wednesday, May 21, 2014 • B8
Harrisonfrom Page B1
By DaviD Hayes
Randy Harrison looks at his old green beret he wore during the Vietnam War, that he now keeps in his ‘hooray for me’ room in his Squak Mountain home, wondering how it avoided moths.
volunteered for the draft in 1943, only a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“I wanted to be a hotshot fighter pilot,” Geil said about signing up for the military.
He went through about a year of college before he took a test to enlist, ultimately finding himself a plane navigator.
The waning days of the war took him to England, where a fateful mission to Berlin and back would change his life. A compres-sion problem caused one of the plane’s four engines to seize up and Geil said the pi-lot did not react accordingly.
“A more experienced pilot would have turned back, but he was being
stupid,” he said. “I’m busy as hell as a navigator and then the next thing I know we are in a tailspin.”
The pilot righted the plane, but more engines were lost and the oil pres-sure dropped dangerously. The crew quickly deter-mined they could not get the plane back to friendly borders and decided to bail out while in the air.
Bailing out into more troubleGeil told the story with
acute recollection of squeezing himself out of the plane’s hatch with his parachute on his back. He said the opening was small and it took off one of his boots on the way out. He described falling through the air, looking behind him and seeing his boot flying off into the distance.
He landed safely on the ground, gathered his parachute and ran to hide
in nearby trees. Unfortu-nately, locals noticed the evacuating crew.
“The whole damn town was coming out,” Geil said. “When I saw their eyes, I knew I was in deep kimchi. I figured I’d had it.”
That sinking feeling only grew when German soldiers escorted him to a holding cell, removed his sidearm and held rifles to either side of his head while he showed them how to remove the weapon’s magazine.
Afterward, they searched him, finding all the things he had secreted about in his cell in case of escape, and gave him food.
“They gave me a boiled potato sort of thing, which was not very tasty,” he said. “But I ate as much as I could. I was starting to learn how to be a prisoner of war.”
Geil spent 44 days in prison camps around Ger-
many, mostly in Moosburg. He spoke of his time there, telling fellow American troops what songs were popular at the time and sleeping on cold floors. He said a clandestine radio existed in the camp some-where, where the prison-ers could hear about the continued Allied success in the war. He suspected it was only a matter of time before the camp was liber-ated. Still, he doubted he would survive.
“It was a panicky time,” he said. “Being a POW is a life-changing event. I figured I wouldn’t make it.”
But make it, he did. Gen-eral George Patton’s army came through and liber-ated the town. Geil remem-bers seeing a tank use its gun to lift up the gate and break it down.
“Man, we were all there cheering, about six or eight deep,” he said.
Pulling him back inHe recuperated and
returned home to marry his high school sweetheart and finish college. His life returned more or less to normal and it didn’t take long before he considered re-entering the military for further credentials. How-ever, he said a month after he re-enlisted, the Korean War started.
“I thought, ‘Jesus, I’m working this system wrong,’” Geil said, smiling. “When I went out, damned if they didn’t pull me right back in.”
Though he didn’t have to go overseas for his service in the Korean War, he ended up traveling abroad for the Vietnam War. There, he flew planes with a variety of functions, from transportation to combat.
“I finally got to be a fighter pilot when I was 42 years old,” he said.
Geil retired in 1974,
hardly believing he spent so long in service.
“I left the military with 31 years, one month and 15 days, retiring as a full colonel,” he said.
Retirement did not slow him down. He went on to earn a Masters in Business Administration and another business degree in construc-tion, graduating the third time alongside his son.
He and his wife raised three kids during his long career, and he said he thought his military service helped him and his wife raise a tightknit family.
“I think our family was closer because we got to travel,” he said.
He said his time in the military helped him build a life he valued greatly.
“A lot of times, I think back, and I think a lot of these decisions probably saved my life,” Geil said. “The military was good to me when I look back on it.”
ing along the beach from Pearl Harbor to Waikiki when a reporter stopped them to ask questions.
In the article, the other Marines ex-pressed some fear and hesitation about their upcoming deployment, but not Pearson: “We’re all very anxious to get there,” he’s quoted as saying. “…There’s a real purpose to going over there, and I’m all for it.”
Nearly 50 years later, Pearson is a bit apologetic, but mainly steadfast toward his feelings at the time.
“That’s what it was in the moment — gung ho,” he said. “Absolute clarity.”
Forming connections with men from dif-ferent states, races and religions is some-thing Pearson continues to cherish about his Marine Corps days. One of the deepest connections was with Lester Bell, a young African-American from Miami.
Racial strife was consuming the U.S. in the 1960s, but Pearson felt he avoided much of that growing up in Issaquah. Bell and other black Marines had a singing group modeled on The Temptations, and Pearson was invited to join.
“He taught me how to dance, and I taught my grandkids how to dance the way Bell taught me to dance,” Pearson said, strutting around the room.
One night, Bell and Pearson were on guard duty in a bunker outside of Da Nang. To pass the time, they pulled a tarp over the bunker so they could turn
on a light and play cards.“Every once in a while,” Pearson said,
“we’d throw a hand grenade out the window, and it would roll down the hill and blow up. And we’d get a call from (a superior) going, ‘What the hell is going on out there?’
‘Well, sir, we thought we heard some-thing out there.’
‘Oh, OK, good men.’“We’d pull the tarp back down and play
cards.”Bad times often overshadowed good
ones, of course.On the way to Vietnam, the troops
stopped in the Philippines to get acclima-tized to the tropical heat and humidity. Pearson saw men throwing coins into a river. It took him a few days to realize it was a river of sewage.
“They would throw coins in there, and some of the young Filipino kids would dive in to get the coins,” he said. “… It’s almost like, if you were from a different culture or a different race, you weren’t one of them. Then, when we got into Vietnam, it got worse.”
When Ron Dexter — Pearson’s friend from South Dakota — was killed in com-bat, it spurred an angry outburst from another Marine.
“The next day, he went through a vil-lage and opened fire on people he should not have opened fire on,” Pearson said. “The discipline … between when to pull the trigger and when not to, it’s largely based on your training, but it’s also influ-enced by your emotional life.”
The war devolved into a cat-and-mouse game, he explained. The Americans would capture a hill, for example, then re-
treat and allow the enemy to retake it. That pattern repeated itself, with a few Marines killed every time.
“After a while, and I don’t know how long it took, it became not about American foreign policy, not about the war, it became about sur-vival,” Pearson said.
It took Pearson nearly 20 years to begin dealing with the psychological effects of Vietnam. His sense of humor evaporated; he wasn’t comfortable being in a room with a lot of strang-ers. His intensity sparked a “volcanic reaction” in others, he said, which contributed to his first marriage end-ing in divorce after 17 years.
Working with a Veterans Ad-ministration psychologist, Pearson recounted the gory details that led to post-traumatic stress disorder. It was difficult, he said, because veter-ans don’t want to cry, don’t want to betray the military’s ultra-masculine culture. But he began to understand the consequences of walking around with unchecked aggression.
Today, Pearson specializes in personal injury claims, and works alongside second wife Michele at Pearson Law Firm in Issaquah. They have been married 25 years. His Marine Corps background likely pushed him into law, he said, be-cause of the similarities.
“There’s something about being able to do something that remedies a problem or prevents a harm,” he explained, “and then using the information to show people how to do things in a more safe way.”
ON THE WEBOne of Randy Harrison’s more harrowing recon missions into Cambodia is recounted by the helicopter pilot, James Fleming, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts to Harrison’s squad, at http://yhoo.it/1gkzNb6.
Pearsonfrom Page B1
Geilfrom Page B1
Fischer Meats, Heroic Knight Games, artbyfire and Earth Pet salute our veterans.