Local Veterans Of World War II Recall VE Day
[images]:
CARL A. HELDT
WILLIAM M. COLLINS
HERBERT F. ANDREWS
LAWRENCE WREN
JOHN D. HANNAH
GERALD J. BUSCAINO
GEORGE W. HARMS
WILLIAM B. CLARK
Local Veterans Of World War II Recall VE Day
By Pat Roessle
There probably won’t be a sell-out of noisemakers tomorrow.
Even in 1945, Victory in Europe was observed here, not with wild rejoicing but with a spirit of solemn thanksgiving. Stores were closed and most of the churches held services.
But many hundreds of area soldiers weren’t here to observe V-E Day. They were overseas, making it happen. The News asked a few of them to share their recollections.
John D. Hannah of 640 Duane was shaking the hand of a Russian in Stendel, Germany that day. He, with the Army 102nd Infantry Division, had awaited the German arrival through three weeks of cease fire. “The dates have a personal significance,” he says, “because it was my birthday, April 8, when we were told to fire our final round of ammunition. May 8, 1945, was the day before my wedding anniversary.” His trip back to America was aboard the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain, the vessel which picked up the first U.S. astronaut, Alan B. Shepard.
For veterans William B. Clark, Carl A. Heldt and Herbert F. Andrews, V-E Day marked only the winning of a battle, not the war. They were fighting in the Pacific.
“I was in a Navy air group, flying interception between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland meeting ships and supplies coming in,” recalls Clark, of 1810 Palomar. “We were in a group formation when we received communication from the carrier of the surrender of the German forces. There was jubilation all right, you could hear it all over the communication system.
“On the other hand, we were still in the war zone,” he adds. “It wasn’t a very comfortable feeling to know you were just what the Japanese suicide squads were after.”
Heldt, who lives at 635 Center and is director of the County Veterans’ Affairs office, recalls more of a feeling of shock. “I was in Okinawa also, on the island with the medical corps of the Marines when we found out over the radio We were still in the middle of the worst part, we thought.”
Andrews, of 544 S. Main, was aboard ship in the South Pacific, cleaning a gun turret when word came over the intercom. Without qualification he calls it “the happiest day of my life. I had no more worries; I knew I’d be going home. The feeling among the rest of the crew, he said, was pretty unanimous.
An event which had more impact, according to Andrews and Heldt, was the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt a month earlier. “That was more memorable than anything ” Andrews recalls solemnly. “I felt as though I had lost my own father.”
William M. Collins of 1907 Frieze was stationed at Ft. Sheridan, Ill., on V-E day, having recently returned from three years in New Guinea with the 32nd Michigan-Wisconsin Division.
“We had little contact with the war in Europe all along,” he said “We couldn’t get information at all during the early years in New Guinea. They don’t print newspapers on the backs of coconut leaves, you know. We were sure we didn’t have air superiority, and morale wasn’t too high. The news of victory in Japan meant more to me.”
Gerald J. Buscaino of South Lyon was in a rest area near Toulon, France, when the news came. Under the Army point system, he accumulated credit for time spent overseas, and after 32 months, had more than enough points to go home. Were there celebrations in the camp that night? “Very much so,” says Buscaino with a chuckle, “but I don’t remember too much of it. The next morning I couldn’t even scratch my head.”
Commanders at Ft. Lewis, Wash., foresaw such behavior and restricted the whole post-Lawrence Wren of 1711 South Blvd. relates.
“If you want to go home, go now, the commander told me that afternoon. There were 106,000 troops at Ft. Lewis, and he was afraid the whole lot of them would bust loose on the streets of town,” he explained. “My wife and I went downtown that night, however, and from wild carryings-on in the streets, he must not have restricted the whole camp.”
Drafted for “limited service” because of his eyesight, Wren served as supply sergeant for the post engineer. The base, though detached from the combat zones, still practiced a blackout every night during the war. At least 75 per cent of the men at Ft. Lewis on V-E day had not yet been in battle, he said.
George W. Harms of 2864 Burlington was a member of the Fourth Marine Corps on Okinawa The morning of May 8 he had taken a patrol of 20 men on a reconnaissance mission, and they were eight hours out when a radioman passed the word along that the war in Europe was over.
“There was a saying among the men, ‘the Golden Gate in
’48.’ Now we knew American troops would be deployed from Europe to the Pacific . . .
“My battalion was the only Marine group that went into Japan two weeks before the war (formally) ended in the Pacific,” Harms added, “and saw Gen. Douglas MacArthur land. One of my men, Cpl. Robert Hull who now lives in Plymouth, made a flag of a white bedsheet and lettered it, ‘Welcome to Japan, Dug-out Doug,’ and flew it from over the hotel.”
For "grossly insulting” the general, Harms said, the battalion was duly reprimanded. Then, in an aside, the person responsible was instructed to report to officers’ quarters— where a bottle of scotch was awaiting him.
Section Two
THE ANN ARBOR NEWS
Pages 15 to 32
Ann Arbor, Michigan, Tuesday, May 7, 1968