Posts tagged meet the veterans
Hero Flight 2011
Remembering World War II through the eyes of Buffalo County veterans
Navy enlistee Brodine never saw action, but he’d rather have been afloat than hospitalized a year
KEARNEY — Paul Brodine of Kearney served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. But he never saw the inside of a ship, sailed the ocean or fought in battle. In fact, he didn’t see much more than the view from his hospital bed.
Age: 83
Residence: Oxford
Service: Enlisted in the Naval Air Cadet program and called in for a physical in June 1945 following high school graduation. The program was canceled. Enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served February 1946 through December 1947.
Family: Wife, Jean; children, Tom Birt, Grady Birt, Kelli Urbanek and Gaye McCallum; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren
Occupation: Retired crop adjuster
Escort: Daughter, Kelli Urbanek of Kearney
After war, Woodruff did cleanup duty in a Duck
KEARNEY — Growing up, Gayle Woodruff of Kearney wanted to be a dentist.
While in high school, he wanted to be a pilot.
He ended up a soldier.
Woodruff, 84, grew up on a farm and spent all of his life, except for his time in the Army, in Furnas and Harlan counties.
Scamehorn follows brothers into service
KEARNEY — When Mary Scamehorn entered Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service in Jan. 12, 1945, there weren’t as many military opportunities for women as there are now.
Yet, if she entered the service now, she would want to serve again in the same general area, hospital pharmacy.
Scamehorn, 88, grew up in Saunemin, Ill., a small town southwest of Chicago. She attended Illinois State Normal, then switched to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She took night classes to finish her degree in the 1950s.
After college, she worked for a few months in education and then joined Navy WAVES.
“Women were getting into it and I wanted to be there,” she said. “My brothers were all in the service. I had to, too.”
Age: 92
Residence: Palmer
Service: U.S. Army, Nov. 15, 1941, to Dec. 23, 1945. Served in communications with the 101st Anti-aircraft Artillery Battery C. Served in Belgium and Germany.
Family: Wife, Carol; children, Doug McIntosh, Terry McIntosh, Bert McIntosh, Jody Nelson, Rick McIntosh and Dixie McIntosh; 23 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren
Occupation: Retired from farming and from the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Grand Island where he was an orderly
Escort: Wife, Carol
Phillips witnessed Pearl Harbor
KEARNEY — Sunday was normally a day of rest for 19-year-old Willard Phillips and the other seamen aboard the USS Litchfield.
But Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, turned out to be anything but normal.That morning, the seamen were called to their battle stations.
“We could see the planes, then the explosions,” said Phillips, one of the veterans going on the Buffalo County Hero Flight next week. “We didn’t know what in the world was going on.”
It was the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
Age: 85
Residence: Mason City
Service: U.S. Navy, 1944 to 1946
Family: Wife, the late Judith Sintek; children, David and James; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren.
Occupation: Retired from banking and ranching
Escort: Son, James
Nyquist saw not one, but two ships go out of service
KEARNEY — An engineering friend could be credited with Roland Nyquist’s U.S. Navy career.
Nyquist, a Hero Flight participant from Kearney, was born in Kearney County on a farm northeast of Axtell. He attended a one-room schoolhouse then graduated from Axtell High School in 1938.
Schroeder ready, but never called to duty; discharged not once, but twice
KEARNEY — When World War II ended in 1945, jubilation filled the streets.
“Every place you went, they were whooping it up,” said Robert “Bob” Schroeder of Kearney. He will participate in the fourth Buffalo County Hero Flight June 9-11.
The war was over by Jan. 11, 1946, but the draft came for Schroeder. His older brother, Raymond, was in the U.S. Army, so when Bob got the notice that he was going to be drafted, “I didn’t have any objections.”
Name: Gerald Minnick
Age: 85
Residence: Inavale
Service: U.S. Army, November 1944 to August 1946
Family: Wife, Winifred; children, Robert Minnick, Gayla Disney, Joy Chrisman, Sheila Minnick, Lisa Soflin, Ricky Minnick, Ila Chrisman, Randy Minnick and Ryan Minnick; 22 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren
Occupation: Farmer
Escort: Son, Robert Minnick of Red Cloud
