Your service is, was and will be needed
Veterans were honored across the nation and right here at home at programs at Perkins County Schools on Friday and Golden Ours Convalescent Home on Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11.
After serving breakfast to the veterans, Perkins County Elementary students presented a program that included songs and poems. They ended by distributing handmade cards to the veterans.
Both the elementary and high school programs consisted of a tribute video put together by students honoring veterans and current military members.
Deanne Bishop spoke at the high school program, telling veterans, current military members and their families that they deserve to be noticed and thanked, not just on Veterans Day, but every day.
“Your service is, was and will be needed. What you did and continue to do matters, and we are ever so grateful,” she said.
James Deaver spoke at the Golden Ours program on Sunday, which honored the GOCH resident veterans. Attendees joined in patriotic songs led by pianist Ruth Ochsner and witnessed the raising of the new VFW flag by Al Patterson and Richard Hazzard.
Rachelle Gaston read a brief description of each veteran’s time in the service, which is included as follows:
World War II era veterans
• Thelma Moser enlisted with Waves, a program for women in the Navy, in 1943. She completed basic training in New York City and was stationed in Cleveland, Ohio. Her duty was to print war bonds and she was a model for recruitment flyers and newspaper ads. She was discharged in 1946.
Thelma passed away on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.
•Doug Patterson enlisted in the Army on Sept. 29, 1943 at 22 years old. He completed basic training at Mississippi Ordinance Plant and was stationed in Biak, New Guinea. His duties included ordinance (cleaning and maintaining gunnery) and reconnaissance on the peninsula near his base.
Patterson tells the story of how he was taking cover in a fox hole due to shelling when he was notified his wife gave birth to a baby girl.
He received the Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, the WWII Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. He was discharged in 1946.
• Dan Gengenbach was a private first class in the Army from 1945 to 1946. He completed basic training at Camp Fanning in Tyler, Texas. The day he graduated basic training, the war was declared over.
Gengenbach stayed in the Army and served one year in the Occupation Forces in Japan. He was a telephone operator at Sugammo Prison.
KOREAN/VIETNAM ERA VETERANS
• Delbert Hunt served seven years combined service in the Navy and Navy Reserve. He was aboard the Ship Saratoga in the Korean Theatre. The Saratoga was a sister ship to the larger ships and aided in protection of the battleships and carried cargo.
The sailors on sister ships were called Tin Can Sailors. Hunt was in communications during his time at sea. During the Reserves, he taught electronics in Lincoln while going to school himself. He graduated with an electrical engineer degree. While in the Navy, Hunt was also a champion wrestler.
• Robert Brodbeck was a career serviceman with the Air Force. He enlisted in September of 1950 and completed basic training at Shepherd Air Force Base.
During the Korean War, Brodbeck was in charge of inflight refueling and weather observation. He was stationed in Guam during the Vietnam War and conducted inflight refueling there as well. He had 30-plus years of service with the Air Force before retiring.
• Ronald Johnson enlisted in the Army Reserve on Nov. 19, 1952. He was trained as a field wireman in Fort Riley, Kansas and sent to active military service during the Korean War. He had obtained the rank of sergeant prior to his active military release on May 18, 1954.
Johnson received the Korean Service Medal with one bronze service star, The United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.
• James Anderson enlisted in the Army in August of 1957. He completed basic training in Fort Carson, Colorado, training in Fort Gorden, Georgia and was part of the signal corp.
During the Lebanon Crisis he was sent and stationed in Germany at the French Zone and then on to the British Zone. He was discharged in September 1959.
• Keith Nelson was called by Uncle Sam after high school and left with John Moul, George McGhan and Neal Bailey. He took basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and was there 19 weeks. After a two-week furlough, he was shipped to Korea. He was on the ship 16 days there and 16 days back. Many were seasick on the ship but Nelson was not.
He was in Korea for one-and-a-half years, two Thanksgivings and two Christmases. They signed a truce with Korea shortly after he got there.
South Korea dug the fox holes for them. The North Koreans and the South Koreans were fighting. They all looked alike so it was difficult to tell who was a friend and who was an enemy.
Nelson was stationed near Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It took about three weeks to get a letter from home. The radio they listened to was either in Korean or Japanese, so the American boys couldn’t understand what was said.
Nelson said the mess hall was like eating from a trough because everyone stood to eat. For entertainment, they watched a movie outside on a white sheet.
After discharge, he was in the reserve for eight years.
• Kenneth “Red” Heidemann was an engine man, third class in the Navy for three years. He served at the U.S. Naval Training Center in San Diego, Calif., and on the USS LST 819 and the USS Tortuga.