Eighth-graders take a look at the lives of veteran family, friends

Last modified: Tuesday, November 6, 2007 10:05 AM CST

Eighth-graders take a look at the lives of veteran family, friends

For the Herald - Each student in Alice Butler’s eighth-grade English classes at Notre Dame Middle School interviewed a veteran and wrote an essay about him or her. In honor of Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, The Herald is reprinting several essay excerpts.

See editions of The Chippewa Herald this week for more.

Veteran Brent Agnew

Excerpt from a paper written by Jennifer See

Brent was one of the many people who got drafted into the military and chose the Navy... He fought in the Vietnam War... Brent’s job was to assemble missiles and work on computers... He traveled to many places like Scotland, England, Spain, Hawaii, Guam and more. Brent liked the discipline and having many responsibilities.

Veteran Mike Korger

Excerpt from a paper written by Chris Suilmann

Mike Korger joined the United States Marine Corps under the two year guaranteed Vietnam option... After completing boot camp in November of 1968, they stationed him at An Hoa combat base southeast of Da Nang on June 3, 1969. While there, he stayed in bunkers protected by sand bags and sand-filled ammunition boxes...

His job in the First Marine Division was the classified materials clerk and courier for his battalion. This meant he was responsible for all information stored in safes, he had to receive radio codes and deliver them every 10 days to other units, and he had to take regimental information to the First Marine Division headquarters in Da Nang every five days. His other specialty was as a sharpshooter.

“I was lucky I never had to kill anyone,” Mike said.

Mike Korger left Vietnam in April of 1970 as an E4 or Corporal. His total tour in Vietnam was 10 months. He got out early because the offered him an option to be discharged to all classified as infantry. The only award Mike earned were the Vietnam Campaign Service Medals just by being on active duty there. He says that these awards were satisfying enough for him.

Veteran Art McMahon

Excerpt from a paper written by Hannah Milkert

Art McMahon is a very brave man. This World War II veteran lives in Eau Claire... During World War II, Art was a tail gunner on a B-17 Bomber. He had two 50-caliber machine guns and would switch off between them. He was stationed in Enbland. He and his crew would fly over Germany and drop bombs on places where they were manufacturing things to fight the war.

Art trained in New Mexico with 10 men who he became very close to. They flew to England. Art caught a cold before they were going to go on a mission. He was told that it was very bad to fly with a cold and wasn’t allowed to go on the mission. The rest of the crew went, only to never return.

Art and his crew flew over the English Channel one night. They ran out of gas and had to get in a dinghy. One man didn’t want to get out of the plane, and the crew got upset at him.

Throughout the night, five men would sleep and five would bail water out of the dinghy. They would take turns doing each. In the morning, they got rescued by English ships. It turned out the man they got upset at for not getting out of the plane had contacted the ships and saved them.

Art was in the war from 1942 to 1945. He got out before the war was over in Europe by getting a CDD, or a Certificate of Disability Discharge. In other words, he had gotten hit by German shrapnel and was injured. He still has a piece of shrapnel in his side today. The doctors didn’t remove it because they had more important injuries to take care of. Art claims he goes off in metal detectors.

He earned a few medals. He got a purple heart for being wounded. He also got a WWII medal...

I think the greatest lesson learned is, in Art’s own words, “War is Hell.”

Veteran Tom Hebert

Excerpt from a paper written by Cole Tenold

Sgt. Tom Hebert enlisted at age 23, served for 23 years and specialized in radar during WWII. Although he was never in combat, he helped out planes to locate the enemy and destroy targets.

When only getting four hours of sleep a night, Tom slept during class but absorbed what the teacher was saying. Tom specialized in radar for the B-29 planes. Tom worked on what was then the biggest air field.

Sgt. Hebert was the only person in his bomb squad that knew how to change the frequency on the planes so the officer gave him a raise ($77 a month). He then taught the rest of the squad how to change the radar frequency.

When Tom enlisted, he wasn’t much of a marksman so he had a buddy help him get better. During a field day he scored 180 our of 200 points... He was then awarded a carbine medal with a Springfield .30 caliber sniper rifle.

One man from his squad challenged him to a shooting contest on the field day. He wanted to bet $200 but Tom thought that was too high. He lowered it a little until Tom said, “Loser buys the winner a beer.” They agreed so they shot and scored the same! They later bought each other a beer and had a good time.

Veteran Bill Borneman

Excerpt from a paper written by Kyle Cody

Bill Borneman was a boy who went to Notre Dame Middle School... His total span in the Navy was from 1943 to 1949... Bill was an aviation mechanic, which meant he worked on planes. He enjoyed being in the war but sometimes he just didn’t want to be there. He thought it was very educational. There were always things to do...

He carried weapons, but ne never had to fire one. He patrolled the island with small rifles. Some of his worst experiences were when he transferred from Milne Bay to board a Dutch freighter and head to Admiral Bay. The conditions on board were very poor and many soldiers became seasick... Bill ended up with rheumatic fever and spent quite a few days in the hospital. He was lucky, as back then, many people who have this disease do not survive...

On his way back home he stopped in California and met up with a friend of his who headed back home with him. They were headed home by bus and stopped in Des Moines, Iowa, where they heard some very exciting news. The town was ecstatic! An officer boarded the bus an exclaimed, “The war is over!”

The bus stayed all night and everyone was partying. It was the best news Bill could have received, especially because he was on his way home. Bill reached Chicago the next day and boarded a train to Bloomer. Home sweet home!

Veteran Donald Glebke

Excerpt from a paper written by Elizabeth Rowe

This is the WWII story of Donald Glebke. He wasn’t the one who fought on the front line, but he was one of the people who made it all happen... In 1942 he and others were shipped off to different places, but he spent most of his time in France. He was in the group that built the pontoon bridges. He was a communication sergeant/engineer. AS soon as they could build and put up pontoon bridges the Germans would shoot them down. They always shot down the bridges, never the people by them...

Every day the got up early, had breakfast in the mess hall, and then set out to go build some more pontoon bridges... He didn’t like any part of the war whatsoever. It was very hard for him to leave his family, especially since he had a newborn child.

“The friendships were OK,” he said. He had a lot of Mexican friends, because over half of them were Mexican. He is not in favor of the war today. He feels sorry for them and believes it is a useless cause...

Donald Glebke is one of the many heroes around us and now he’s carrying on life like a regular person, pretending it never happened.

Veteran Ellsworth “Doc” Blanchard

Excerpt from a paper written by Paul Buchmann

Ellsworth “Doc” Blanchard is a veteran of the Korean War. He was drafted into the Army when he was 20 years old. He ignored the draft notice and enlisted into the Air Force. He spent 20 years in the military. He was sent to Korea in July 1953 through April 1954. He was then sent to the Philippines in 1958. He spent some time in Michigan, Korea, then back to the United States.

His job in the war was telecommunications... He had to relay messages from sender to recipient... He was not in combat, so his worst experience was packing up and moving away from his family, which happened a lot...

The war didn’t really affect him. He thought it was unpleasant and unnecessary. While he was in the war, he didn’t really think about it, it was just his job. He had a lot of close friends.

Veteran Wesley McCombs

Excerpt from a paper written by Austin Hiess

Wesley was 17 and ended school early his senior year to enlist in WWII, and wouldn’t graduate until he returned... He joined the war on Jan. 16, 1944 as a WTTC or Water Tender Third Class. He was on one of the ships heading for France. He had to work the engine room in shifts. McCombs also had to transport troops. They were carried in a troop transporter that held up to 5,800 men.

“We brought them right up to the shores and down went the doors and the men ran like heck!” he said. Wesley remembered the invasion of Okinawa. He said they lost a lot of good men there.

Wesley came back in April of 1946 and graduated high school that June.

What I learned most from my grandpa was that sometimes we should try things even if they are scary and unfamiliar to us. I also learned that doing great things means having great memories to tell about... I am glad I got the opportunity to do this project and to spend time with my grandpa.

Veteran James Dillinger

Excerpt from a paper written by Kendra Miller

Jim Dillinger joined the Navy at the age of 19, right after he graduated high school. He went to boot camp in 1986 and was sent to his first ship, the U.S.S. Fidelity, based in Panama City, Fla...

After four years of active duty, he joined the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center in February of 1990, where he continued to serve his country as a reserve member for another 16 years... Dillinger retired from the Reserves in January of 2006 after serving his country for 20 years as a U.S. Navy engineman.

Dillinger said one of the best parts of being a sailor was seeing how other people lived when he got the chance to go to Panama and to Australia. The worst part was having to deal with fires on the ship. That was very scary because there is nowhere to escape the fire when you are on a large ship in the middle of the ocean.

Veteran Michelle Griggs

Excerpt from a paper written by Adam Deetz

Michelle Griggs was stationed in Albus, Texas at Fort Bliss. She was 18 years old when she joined in 1997. Fort Bliss’ purpose was to shoot down incoming missiles... Her job was to make and repair the communication antennas used for the anti-air missiles.

Every day at 4:30 a.m. she had physical training and ran every day to make her endurance better. A couple of her favorite experiences were in basic training when she got to shoot handheld bazookas and grenade launchers.

Some of the worst things were the food, training in the desert, and going out in the desert for one week to two weeks at a time. For entertainment they played games like I Spy and Twenty Questions to card games.

When she came home she noticed things about her that weren’t there before she joined the Army. She found she was a lot more disciplined, took her new job a lot more seriously, and had a much greater respect for other generations and their veterans.