A local hero, one of many

Introducing returned POW John McCain at a speaking engagement in 1974, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan asked, "Where do we find such men?"

He was speaking of many veterans, when he then answered, "We find them in our streets, in the office, the shops and the working places of our country and on the farms."

President Reagan was referring to ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things. In the modern military it isn't just the men!

Tomorrow is Veterans Day and I tip my hat to the hundreds of local citizen soldiers who have served. Although your author is a member of the group labeled "veterans," I was a career officer, since retired with all the rights and benefits of a careerist. I think the term was "lifer" during World War II and those who served "for the duration" always felt a distinction.

A similar difference exists today from those in the regular military and those on duty from the National Guard and Reserve Communities. Both then and now though, the two groups, like musicians in a fine orchestra, play well together when the nation's defense is an issue.

It is this group of citizens, those who were drafted or volunteered, served the required time and then returned home to contribute to their communities in a thousand ways that I have always held in high esteem. Those were the guys who won World War II and have preserved America's greatness in all the skirmishes that followed even until today. Those are the heroes, living and dead, that I wish to honor today.

At present I am engrossed in reading the World War II memoirs of Edison native (actually he grew up on a farm west of Edison) Ken Martin, one of a group of 11 volunteers who "signed up" from this area shortly after the United States formally made the declaration to take an active part in World War II.

Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on the 7th of December, 1941 and the U.S. declared war on Japan almost immediately. Then Germany, allied with Japan, declared against us shortly thereafter.

Three weeks later, on the 29th of December Ken presented himself to the recruiting office in McCook to "sign on for the duration."

The next day, Ken and 10 other Air Corps volunteers boarded the train at the McCook Depot and left for the adventure of their lives.

The group inprocessed at Fort Crook near Omaha, now a part of Offutt AFB. After suffering the indignity of a buck naked military physical -- and being introduced to the recurring theme of "you might not like it but you will get used to it" -- they were sworn into the Army Air Corps on New Year's Day. Ill-fitting army clothes were issued and the civilian clothing in which they had arrived was packaged and sent home. The only thing that they were allowed to keep was a wallet, and Ken notes that those were all pretty devoid of cash. No matter, from then on the government issued "three hots and a flop" so what need for money did a soldier have anyhow?

From Fort Crook, all our Southwest Nebraska men boarded a train bound for Wichita Falls, Texas, and technical training. After all, they had all signed on with the intention to be aircraft mechanics. The group evidently learned quickly or else they were needed so badly (we call it the exigencies of the service) that 10 days after arrival they again boarded a train bound for Fort Dix, N.J. There, the group of 151 new recruits met their cadre, the officers and NCOs who were to make them into the 403rd BB(H) a part of 5th Air Force. The next step was to board a transport ship, the SS Argentina, at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. They didn't learn that they were bound for Australia until a few days out of port. Remember that they had only been in the service since the 1st, and by the 23rd of January they were bound for a combat zone in the Pacific; basic and technical training complete!

Ken complained that the food on the voyage ranged from poor to really bad! Orv Fritch (both Ken and Orv live in McCook, the sole living members of our group of 11) opined that when they loaded provisions on the boat in New York, the stevedores had dragged raw sheep carcasses across the deck and the slippery tallow streak remained in place through out the five-week voyage.

Most likely, young men from Southwest Nebraska had never tasted mutton before and weren't about to learn to like it. About the only highlight of the voyage was the day or so it took to pass through the Panama Canal!

Ken's memoirs tell of being stationed for short periods in Australia, starting near Melbourne, which he liked.

While he was at Melbourne, the Navy scored its first great victory in the Pacific, the Battle of the Coral Sea. Other Australian locations included Torrens Creek, and Iron Range, some not so pleasant!

Then Ken's maintainers sailed across the water north to Milne Bay on the Island of New Guinea. His Squadron serviced B-17s flying missions out across the Pacific. That went well until the Japanese raided and bombed all their aircraft out of service. Then they returned to Mareeba, Australia, to be refitted with new aircraft before returning to New Guinea.

Along the way it was discovered that Ken had other talents so he was assigned to maintain vehicles in the motor pool. Then in the "get'er done" attitude of the day, he joined the first echelon to land on several unimproved airstrip in that theatre of operations to build important structures like mess halls and shower facilities. Evidently creature comfort was a way down the list of essentials, as all personnel lived in canvas tents in the tropics right on the equator. Air conditioning -- didn't exist!

From May of 1943 to July 1943, Ken was assigned to the New Guinea garden spots of Port Moresby, Dobodura, Nadzab and eventually passed through Finschafen. Finally on the July 28, 1944, Ken, again with the advance echelon, landed on the island of Owi, not far off the northwest coast of New Guinea.

There the engineers carved out a 3,000 foot runway along the backbone of the 1 1⁄2 -by-3-mile coral atoll. That base was essential for neutralizing the Japanese stronghold at Biak which was hindering Gen. Macarthur's return to the Philippines.

Still at Owi in mid-September 1944 Ken's name came up for rotation back to the states. Having been gone from the U.S. of A. for 33 months and eight days, the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge passing overhead his troop ship stirred his heart on Oct. 31, 1944.

For the rest of the war, Ken served stateside as a B-17 flight engineer in Training Command. After the explosion of two atomic weapons on the Japanese mainland, the war ended and Ken was mustered out of the service. Typically, Ken then entered the civilian work force and eventually retired from a career with United Airlines.

There are a thousand stories like Ken's and Orv's. Of the group that left McCook on the 1st of January 1942, nine returned alive. Dale Mitchell was killed when his B-24 -- he was a gunner -- collided with a wallaby on take off from Port Moresby and exploded.

They had little basic military training, almost no technical training but fulfilled all roles of enlisted bomber ground and flight crews.

"Where do we get men like that?" asked Reagan. Farm kids from Southwest Nebraska isn't a bad place to start!

That is the way I saw it.