Remembering those who serve

Some members of my family saw the new movie, Fury,* recently, but I refused to go. DH came home and said, "It was great! You would have hated it." And he was complementary about the  portrayal of one of his old units.

I choose not to see war movies.

I do choose to remember and so...

I have been blessed to know men and women who served in the armed forces in wartime and in peacetime...some who landed on the beaches of Normandy, who flew reconnaissance missions during WWII who were captured and imprisoned in POW camps, or who served in the WAVES. Some were the friends of my parents, the parents of my friends. They were my role models when I was growing up - they taught me lessons about living right and doing your duty even before I learned that they were heroes. For much of my life I did not know of their military service. They never talked about it; they came back home to live and work, to raise their families and volunteer. I am sure there are many others I grew up around who served I never knew had served. For some generations, that was standard, because that was what you did.

I remember some conversations with the man who flew on the reconnaissance missions. He was so humble and somewhat reluctant. I asked him what he thought when they received the news that the war was over. "I didn't believe it," he said. "The attrition rates in our job were so high, I just assumed I would not survive the war." And he told me a story about how he carried around a paperback copy of Hamlet that he read in his free time. And he told me about how someone gave him an apple once. He was very excited to get that apple and was eating it slowly when he got into his plane and put the apple down. The plane banked and the apple fell out of an opening. That year we gave him a Christmas present. It was a plain paper bag with an apple and a paperback copy of Hamlet. We wanted him to know that we would remember.

Because we have lived near a military post, most people are associated with the military in some way. Every local school is "adopted" by a unit - and those soldiers show up to volunteer. Retirees now fill the ranks of our charitable organizations. The National Guard regularly responds to domestic emergencies (ours are frequently weather related - hurricanes or tornadoes - but recently explosions and fires).

There are veterans in every generation of my family going back as far as I can track...great grandfathers, great uncles, grandfathers, uncles, my father, my father-in-law, cousins, my husband and my boy - and uncountable (and incomparable friends). This is their day.

We honor them all.

Over the weekend we took a couple of walks in part of the older section of our local memorial park. We wandered past some of our neighbors whose graves noted their service. I have looked in vain for a list of veterans resting here, but have only found very disparate counts.  These men (and women) represent most of the conflicts since the civil war, and all returned home for at least a little while (except Henry Waskow** more on him later):

This is a pretty place. We come here for the quiet (and the history)

The almost-full moon was slowly setting in the west.

Civil War. So far I have only seen stones noting service for the Confederacy. Some are more elaborate, some extremely plain.

How John T. Wilson got here from Alabama is a mystery.

Many young men from our county volunteered, including John W. Shanklin.

Many families moved from Tennessee to this part of Texas. It looks like W.G. Durham was one. [My family moved from Tennessee to the county just south of here after the war.]

John Shea lived a good long time after the war. He served under Colonel Santos Benevidas.***  This is a part of Texas/Civil War history that is new to me.

Porter Ellis' stone is simple and to the point - Confederate Soldier.

This stone and the ones that follow raise many questions for me. They are marked C.S.A. on the top of the stone. The name is on the side. The stones are very small, perhaps just over a square foot. They include no dates. I have, so far, found no further information regarding any of these soldiers. D. L. Russell, CSA

Dr. J. M. More (Moore?), CSA

D. A. Chamberlin, CSA

 
Spanish American War. So far I have only seen one stone indicating service in this short conflict.

John H. Connell, Q. M. Sgt. Co. A, 4th Texas Infantry, Spanish American War

World War I.

A photo of the first quota from Bell County was saved by Mary Pearl Powers Foreman in one of her scrapbooks.(see final note on Nanny's Scrapbooks).
 

They were: Top row, Left to right, James Dee IRWIN, Maxdale; Lee COLLIER, Moody; Jack McFALLS, Holland; George PACE, Bartlett; Albert Willie FREIDRICH, Bartlett; Ernest Paul PIRTLE, Salado; James Henry KNIGHT, Salado. Second row, Left to right, Charles W. PYLE, Belton; Guy Chester BURTON, Killeen,; Jesse Wilson SUTTON, Killeen; Charlie Dunn BRIDGES, Killeen; James R. WALDRIP, Belton; Coy F. UPSHAW, Holland; Joseph Adolphus DUSEK, Bartlett. Out of a large number of volunteers these were accepted by the board as the first quota from district No.1 for Bell County.

Paul Haynes Thrower was a private in the 1st Development Battalion (neither I nor DH know what that means).

John A. Wilson was a 2LT in the Field Artillery. Yes, I did notice that there are two John Wilsons in this post (see John T. in the Civil War section). No, I could not find additional information showing whether they were related.

World War II.

CPT Henry T. Waskow** was beloved in life and is well remembered. He does not rest here. He is buried in Italy, but a stone (and the flagpole in the photo at the start of this post) were erected on the family plot. More of his story is told below.

Vernon Wilkins survived the war, but just. He is pictured in his uniform.

Many of these graves are marked by two stones, including the one provided by the VA.

This is not the standard VA provided stone and there are a few of these in this cemetery. Also, note the TEC rank was the predecessor to the Specialist rank we have today.

Herman Richmond Standley's second stone. I have tried to figure out what this notation on his stone means - Did he write a book called "Gyroscope"? Did he do research on/with the gyroscope. I still don't know, but will keep looking.

J. D. Magill

 Korea.

In his 50 years, Bernard C. Kifer served in Korea and Vietnam. Kifer's second stone says, "Soldier, Husband, Father, Friend." I like that sentiment.

Vietnam.

Gilbert Ricklin was a Spec. 5 (as opposed to the Tec. 5 above)

Someone still comes to decorate Samuel Edward Wittemann III's grave.

The next time I walk this way, I will bring some cloths to clear the mud/dirt from stones. Many in the area where we found William Robert Reynolds had been splashed with mud during recent rains.

I will end this post with the words of one of my neighbors. Henry T. Waskow** was a much admired local farm boy turned scholar and member of the Texas Army National Guard. He delayed accepting a job teaching because he believed he would be called-up to serve in WWII. Once the guard was activated, CPT Waskow led Company B, in the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division. He died leading his men in an assault up Monte Sammucro, above San Pietro (and his passing was immortalized by Ernie Pyle who was present when Waskow's body was brought down from the mountain, so in death Waskow was known to the whole country).

These words, Waskow's last to his family, must express the feeling of so many we remember today:
"I made my choice, dear ones. I volunteered in the Armed Forces because I thought that I might be able to help this great country of ours in its hours of darkness and need--the country that means more to me than life itself--if I have done that, then I can rest in peace, for I will have done my share to make the world a better place in which to live. Maybe when the lights go on again all over the world, free people can be happy and gay again."****

We can never thank them enough. At least today, let's remember.

NOTES:

*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2713180/
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_T._Waskow
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santos_Benavides
**** http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?125432-RIP-Captain-Henry-T-Waskow-KIA-14-December-1943


FINAL NOTE: In researching this post, I found a reference to the first quota from Bell County for service in WWI in an online resource called Nannie's Scrapbook. It is a wealth of information about area history and is well worth more than a glance. As it is, I will save the citation here for future reference (bless the family for sharing this. They had to scan photos and type the text. The scrapbooks include many letters home shared in the local paper. This had to be a labor of love). Nannie's Scrapbook - http://www.txbell.net/nannie.htm

Here is one of those letters from France:  Received by Mrs. J.D. LAW, from her son Barton. Somewhere in France, Nov. 27, 1917-My Dear Mother and Sister: I am writing this and sending it to Cleveland in hopes that it will find you all there. I just received a sewing kit envelops, pencil tablet, tooth paste, brush, powder, shaving soap and a lot of little things from a girl friend of mine in California. Her fiancee is a very good friend of mine and we enlisted together, and he received one of the kits and consequently I did also. "We are working every day and Sunday too," regardless of the weather which certainly is far from being agreeable. We get up before daylight and come into camp after dark. Of course we are all grumbling sometime or other but even tho I don't think I ever saw such a healthy bunch of men and after a hard day's work we always sing or whistle on march. The most disagreeable part of this life is finding time and facilities for washing and bathing. Three of us walked about eight miles, Sunday to take a shower. We must keep clean you know. We have even gone so far as to strip during a rain and getting right in it and soaping off. Nature provides lots of things if we only knew it. We think we are being used terribly but if we just stop and think, we are fortunate. When the day is over we come home to comparatively comfortable quarters and rest easy in perfect safety, and fight the war around the stove. The spirit is high but I think when the order comes to proceed up behind the lines, I think I will run still higher for I don't think there is a man in this regiment that is not willing to go anywhere to do his bit. We often think that we are doing our bit and someone else's too by the amount and kind of work we are doing. This is Tuesday night and day after tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I think we will get a day off. Anyway we are going to have a big Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, cranberry sauce, mince meat and everything that is possible to get. You can't blame these soldiers over here for looking with wonder on the American soldiers. It is the people at home but of course they don't know it. The censor has given us permission to send some of our pictures home will, send a few at a time. Mother, dear I am away behind in my correspondence and want to catch up tonight if I can. This letter will reach you about Christmas time and what a good time you three children will have I know. If you are enjoying yourself you know I will be just that much more happy. Don't worry about me one minute and make up your mind that we will be together the next one. Pete, I'll write you a personal letter and confide all. She is wonderful, when you come to California you will have the chance of visiting us. Sissie, you are the dearest little sister a soldier ever had and I am just as proud of you as you are your soldier. Now, all three of you jump in and spend a cheerful and happy Xmas. Here is my love and best wishes for you three. With love and kisses, Your son and brother-Barton.