Keep the Greatest Generation Alive!

Build your bridge to the veteran experience here. Preserve their legacy and receive a connection to living history.
Please feel free to share those exeriences of WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam era veterans here.

At this time, please send an email using this link.
YOU MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN THE EMAIL:
1) Your name
2) Veteran's name
3) Branch of Service
4) Time period of event
5) Experience

In the near future, I will be modifying this site to have a form that can be filled out, but in order to expedite the availablity of this site, email will be used and I will post the information on this site.

Submitted by: River Ridge Middle School students in Elizabeth, Illinois, after interviewing some veterans:

**
Gavin
Gary Walters--infantry--Desert Storm
My story is about an old boat that carried thousands of ships over the
ocean. It took them forever to get to their destination. Then they had to
come all the way back! They had to use an old ship to get all the equipment
over to Desert Storm. I didn't know old ships could still work.

**
Nathan interviewed Bill Longmore who was in the army.
Bill Longmore has shared a story with me and now I'm going to
share with you.

In Iraq, garbage lying on the side of the road could be landmines.
Man can you believe that!
If they didn't use special zip ties as handcuffs, the captured Iraqes
would try to kill our U.S. men and that would be bad. One more guy might
die. That mean's one more step closer to losing the war!

**
My name is Carter. The name of my veteran is Bill Longmore. His branch of
service is army. Veterans of the Iraq war had to shoot dogs. They had to
kill dogs because the dogs were used to gaurd the important
information.During the war Iraqies used dogs to gaurd their important
weapons. They were also taught to attack whoever the owner did not want
there.
**
Alyssia
Bill Longmore was in the army.
The story I am doing is on a young but retired veteran. He was an officer
of the army in Iraq. His name was Bill Longmore. He had badges after
badges and awsome ones too. They were so cool that I had to know what they were for. Most of them were for completing missions he was sent on. What I liked about what he shared with us was those snap on hand cuffs.
**
Chloe
Bill Longmore in the army
Bill Longmore was in the Iraq war. Bill killed dogs so they could survive.
Bill survived in the army. He went to the war to get money for college.
He was in the war about 6-7 years ago which was in 2003. He went to war
because his people were calling him. They named his kid after his best
friend that died in the war. He quit going to war when his friend died.
**
Richard was in the Vietnam war in 1974. One of his stories were about his
dog. One night he let his dog out to go do his business and when he went to
go get him the dog wasn't there. He belives that one of the villagers took
him and ate him. Thanks for listening.

Student: Abby M
Vets Name: Richard
Service: Air Force
Time Period: 1974
**
My name is Britnea T. I am telling a story about my greatgrandfather
John Hawley. He was an aerial bomber in the Air Force in WWII. He was in
the service from 1942-1945. He was 21 when he joined the Air Force. He
decided that flying a plane would be easier then walking all day everyday.
He was in the Dambusters in the Hights Air Force. He was in a Martin B26
Marader. When he got out of the Air Force he recieved an airmedal with
bronze and silver oakleaf clusters, a good conduct medal, and a victory
medal.
One day when John and his division were flying back from a mission over
the English Channel his best freind was in the plane in front of him and to
the right... they heard gun shots and his best friend's plane was shot down
by the enemy.
My greatgrandpa never used to talk about the war. He died in 1995 to
ALS, but my great grandma Vera is still around today to tell the stories
that he had told her. Even though I never got to meet my greatgrandpa I am
honored that I know the very few stories that he ever told about his time
in the service and I am honored that he served in the Air Force for 3 years
during WWII.
**
STUDENT: Anna
During WWII Mr.Mair's Dad served on the Navy ship named the
U.S.S. Mississinewa. There was a ship used to refuel other ships. He told
about the monkeyfist which was used to transsport barrels of oil from one
ship to another. The sailers would throw the heavy rope through the water.
It was a very dangerous job.
**
STUDENTS NAME: Garrison
VETERANS NAME: Richard Geisorki
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Airforce
TIME PERIOD: At the end of the war
Richard G was in the Vietnam War and his squad had a little puppy named
Dog. When they all went to the war they had a lot of food. In the Vietnam
War, the Vietnamese people ate dogs that we brought over and one day their
dog was stolen and they thought the Vietnamese stole and ate the dog.
Richard really liked that dog and he wished that the dog would have never
been stolen in the first place.Thank you for your service we are really
grateful for it.
Thank you,
Garrison
**
Student: Alex
Dick Eberhardt is a veteran who fought in WWII at Japan. He served 1945 to 1950. He wanted to go to the army because he wanted to serve his country. Also that was popular to do back then. He was born 7:30 am at ST. Marys hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. After high school, he went to the army and went to war using the Browning gun.
**
My name is Marcelo. The name of the veteran Gary Walters. He served in
Desert Storm.
He was also smuggled into Saudi Arabia. He and his friend stayed in a
hospital. While he was there, he got to shoot from a helicopter. While at
the hospital, they only took showers a few times a month. Later on he was
taken back home. Thank you for your service.
**
Jessica
How they survived
Bill longmore was a veteran from the Iraq War. He's married. They
survived by hunting wild dogs, trapping, and stealing other dogs from
people.That's what happend to Bill's dog. He said that someone stole it and
ate it. Sometimes, someone would come out and give them food. That's how
they survived. He came in the war about 6 years ago.
**
My name is Troy. The veteran I am writing about a man whose name is Bill
Longmore. He was in the army as a military police man. As a military
police man, Bill Longmore broke down doors to get men who were doing bad things. For example, they had guns and then he would cuff them. He was
serving in the Iraq War and I am not sure how long he served but I know he
served for at least a year or two. Bill also said that he was mostly in a
car called a hum-vee. It had one person on top. His job was to protect the
vehicle. One person driving and a man with a radio were also in the car.
The man with the radio is the highest ranking one in the vehicle. The man
on top was the second in rank and the driver was the lowest in rank. That
is all I have to say about Bill Longmore and when he was in the Iraq War.
**
Bill Longmore is an Iraq War vet .When he was in Iraq, he often was in a
truck patroling the place. During the holidays, someone would bring
special meals. Their families would give them some food and they would have
a pot luck on the Holidays. When they would search houses and
neighborhoods, they often had to put rabid dogs to sleep. Also for honor
and service, they recieved medal pins. The troops would go to a store and
sometimes trade their money.
**
My name is J.J. My story is about Bill Longmore. Bill served in the Army as
military police. He served in Iraq. The Iraq war is present day. The Iraq
war has the Army protecting people in Iraq. There are still bad people
there. That's why we are there. The Army has jobs in other countries. Bill
lost a friend when he was there. He has really bad relationship with
weapons, because of his friend. Bill doesn't even want his kids to have
guns. Thanks for Your service in the Army.
**
student name: Austin
Vet name: Dan Gunning
Branch of war: army.

Mr. Gunning was the Korean War veteran. He fought as a ground troop in
Korea. Korea is in South East Asia, but American troops fought in South
Korea. Mr. Gunning wanted to fight for his country. He felt sad about
fighting in Korea. He fought in the army.
**
Student name: Ryan, Veteran: Dan Gunning, Branch: Army
Mr. Gunning was in the Korean War. He was there to fight for our country.
The story was how they had a outhouse with one sandbag on top. If a bomb
hit on top it would protect you but if the bomb hit on the side you're
toast. He was in the ARMY.
**
Student name: Shawn
Vet's name: Bill
Branch of service: Army
War: Iraq

I liked it when Bill told us that the gas masks they used had to be
trusted. Because they were put in a gas chamber and the vets had to take a
deep breath and say his name address zip code and they will vomit if they
breath in the gases.
**
Student name:Caleb
Bill Longmore fought in the Iraq war. Bill Longmore went in a humvee to
an Iraq village. Bill was in the Irag war late at that time. Bill was there
because he wanted to fight for our country and help the Iraq people. He
protected them from bombs, highjackers, and enemies.
**
My name is Morgan and I interviewed a veteran named Bill Longmore. Bill was in the Army in the Iraq. He had a very close friend named Landice who very unfortunately got killed in Iraq. He went through some rough times but when he had kids he named his oldest one Landice after his friend.
Thank you to both of them for serving our country!
**
I'm Jessica who has a story about a veteran named Richard Geisorski who was in the airforce in the Vietnam War.
A Vietnam veteran named Richard told me about the Vietnam war. He said
that he had to go to military camp to learn how to be a soldier. The Vietnam War was in the 1950's- early 1970's. Richard was twenty years old when he went to war. He was in military camp for eight months before he want to the Vietnam country. He and other campers had to get their hair cut short so they can be apart of the army. Many times Richard had been hungry in Vietnam because of lack of food. Whenever he did get food he received a meal in a tin box. Most of the time the food was not good tasting. But, Richard survived the battle and came home safely. Today, he feels proud to be serving for the U.S. military services.
**
Students name: Matthew
Mr.Dan Gunning was in the Korean war and was in the army. His story of a
big rain when he was in a trench was interesting. There was a mud slide and
it ran down to the bottom of a hill where his bunker was and they had to
shovel it out. He was in Korea from April of 1970 to May of 71. Thank you
for your service we appreciate it.
**
1. Mollie
2. Mr. Dick Eberhardt
3. Army
4. World War 2
5. Written below:

Mr. Eberhardt was in World War 2. During that time period, he was with none of his friends and didn't enjoy being shot at. While he was there, he was
honored to fight for his country, knowing that the consequences could be
fatal. The food they ate during the war was edible but he would not eat it
by choice. He was thankful for getting food at all. On holidays, like Christmas, they shipped out lobster and steak. What a treat that was! One
of Mr. Eberhardt's favorite things about the war, was coming home to his
family, with love showing, and knowing that everything was going to be
alright. Thanks for keeping the greatest generation alive.
**
Vanessa
Richard Gesiorski
Airforce
Vietnam War
It was Wed Oct 24th. I heard a story that was very intresting. I'm
writing this so that this Vietnam vet will be remembered. His name is
Richard. He told us that when he was in the war, they had a puppy. The
Vietnam people ate the puppy! I almost cried when I heard that.
**
1. Louisa
2. Richard Gesiorski
3. Airforce
4. Vietnam War

On Wednesday, November 25th, 2010, Richard Gesiorski told me a story.
He was a Vietnam vet. And the story goes...Richard was in a restaurant in
his army get-up. Then, some little boy came up to him and saluted him. He
said that little boy touched his heart because not everyone liked the Vietnam vets, because Vietnam was not a popular war. I am writing to make sure this valuable story gets remembered.
**
Katherine
Mr. Gunning
Army
Korean War

The Korean was was interesting to me. Mr. Gunning taught me much. The food was odd; it's called C-Rations. It came in a box, there were different foods in each box for each meal. Sometimes it came in jars though. They had three meals a day. He said he was in war for about a year. The "forgotten" war was was my favorite to learn about at CATS (Communities Actively Teaching Students) workshop.

Submitted by: Mike Mair- Author- “Oil, Fire & Fate”
Veteran: John “Jack” Mair (F2c, USS Mississinewa (AO-59)
Branch of Service: US Navy
Time Period: WW-II (20 Nov. 1944)

Experience: Several engineering sailors were asleep on the Mississinewa port well deck between the bridge and stern deckhouse. The well deck was a comfortable place to sleep on hot Pacific nights at Halsey’s forward staging anchorage, Ulithi. The kaiten explosion slammed my Dad, Fireman Second Class John Mair to the deck, eliciting a groan. Dressed only in skivvies, my nineteen-year-old Dad leapt to his feet, heart pounding, sensing the ship shudder from stem to stern. Flame engulfed the entire bow area. Droplets of hot oil rained down, causing him to duck under the raised cargo deck momentarily for shelter. “Some fool’s been smoking over the AV gas tanks again,” he thought. Seeking refuge from the encroaching heat and flames, my Dad barely had time to slip into his dungaree trousers and shoes after a short scramble to his footlocker in the aft crew’s quarters.

”I have to get my life jacket,” Dad told himself. The life jacket was kept only a few paces away, stashed inside the engine room hatch. Wasting no time, he reached inside, groping for his life jacket he left on top of a ventilator after his last engine room watch. It was gone. Someone escaping the engine room must have taken it. “Abandon ship. Abandon ship,” as panic-stricken sailors pushed and shoved each other at the rear compartment ladder, seeking safety. Men gathered on the poop deck above to await their turn jumping off next to the five-inch thirty-eight mount. Dad nervously anticipated the plunge to the water below. “Can I swim well enough without my life jacket? This can’t be happening.”

Hot oil droplets and debris continued to pelt my Dad’s naked back. He wheeled about to face forward for a few seconds to peer through a gap in the smoke and flames, only to see the entire forward section of the ship ablaze. Looking over the starboard rail, he was repelled by the sight of flaming water already closing in on the stern. He was somewhat relieved to see that the water was ablaze only to amidships on the port side, but for how long? Sailors who had managed to escape the stricken tanker moments before manned two work party boats that had been tied to the fantail. Finally, he jumped the twenty-foot distance to the water below, swimming to the nearest boat. Once aboard, Dad and others hauled exhausted and frightened shipmates out of the water as quickly as they could. Fireman First Class Harold “Bootie” Boutiette was struggling to stay afloat after slipping below the surface of the water several times. Mair mustered the strength to manhandle the Massachusetts man over the gunwale and the pair collapsed into a heap in the bottom of the boat.

An officer ordered my Dad, only a few days before, to move his footlocker and gear from the stern to the crew’s berthing quarters under the bridge. Always the procrastinator, my Dad asked the officer if he could wait until Mississinewa returned to sea for the next fueling operation? The officer reluctantly agreed. I would not be writing this today if my Dad had immediately complied with the order. Most of the sailors in forward berthing died when the kaiten exploded against the starboard side.

Submitted by: Ron Fulleman
Veteran: Ray Fulleman (WT2c, USS Mississinewa (AO-59)
Branch of Service: US Navy
Time Period: WWII (20Nov1944)

Experience: While serving aboard the USS Mississinewa AO-59 in WWII, my father was a Water Tender, Second Class. He had served aboard the combat vessel USS Mobile CL-63 for a year. Because of that experience, he always slept with his clothes on (in case of flash fires from explosions). When the Mississinewa was hit by a suicide submarine on 20Nov1944, my father was just getting to his assigned bunk, after having slept out on the cargo deck to avoid the heat of the aft berthing quarters. When the Kaiten hit, he could see a red sky through the forward hatchway. Thinking it was an accidental explosion up forward, he immediately went to his battle station in the fireroom, just a few feet away from his bunk. The ship had a steam smothering system that needed all the boilers on line in order to operate.

Once in the fireroom, he tried to help the other men there start up the boilers that were not yet lit. "Red" Foster and Howard Bochow were on watch. Shortly after my father arrived, Chief Water Tender Edmund "Smitty" Smith arrived in the boiler room. My dad got back onto the level where the water feed control valve was and manned that while the others were working on the boilers.

While on the water valve, Fred Schafus, a machinist mate who was just told my Captain Beck to abandon ship, stopped at the hatch and told my father that everyone was abandoning the ship and they should get off.

My father yelled down to the others that everyone was abandoning the ship and they worked at shutting down all the boilers, while leaving one on line as an auxiliary boiler, in case it was needed. Approximately 15 minutes had passed since the initial explosion. Then, all the men tried leaving the boiler room through the starboard hatch, but there was too much thick, black smoke that poured in. They shut the hatch and went up a level, port side. This let them out on the Chief's level. As they exited the fireroom and started down the smoke filled corridor, aft, Smitty asked if anyone had seen Bochow. Smitty ordered my dad to check the boiler room to make sure Bochow wasn't still left inside. Smitty and Foster proceeded aft.

My father went to the fireroom hatch and called in, but only thick black smoke came out of the hatchway, so he figured no one could still be alive in that smoke and turned to leave. During all this my father heard someone yell out, "You can't go aft. The ammunition is going off."

As my father turned, in the smoke filled corridor, the thought came to him, "Oh, Jesus! My mom's going to get a telegram (that her son is dead)." As he thought this, he caught the glimpse of someone running through the smoke at the forward end of the corridor. He thought to himself, "if that guy can make it, maybe I can too." So he went that way, and was able to get down to the Well Deck (the lowest outside deck on the ship, only about four feet from the water).

Since the flames on the water had not yet closed in that area of the ship, he was able to swim out through the Bunker "C" oil, about 6"-8" thick, and beyond to a waiting boat, who picked him up out of the water.

It turned out that Foster and Bochow were in the boat (somewhere in the confusion, Bochow had been sent out of the fireroom), but Smitty was never found. Only in the early 2000's was it found out that Smitty, while in the water, had been hit by an oil drum blown into the air and landing on him in the water, killing him instantly.