Strength of our nation
AREA VETERANS SHARE STORIES IF SACRIFICEBy NIN PRIVITERA
America's economic problems have put the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the back burner of media attention. Our difficult economy appears to be forcing many Americans into a season of sacrifice which may become all too common. On this Veterans Day weekend though, it is timely to remember the noble sacrifices that three men in our community made over six decades ago; the Misters, Paul Holser, Doug Manly, and Frank Pennica.
Paul Holser grew up in Buffalo. where he was born in 1920. It was in January of 1942 that Paul joined the Air Force and was sent to Maxwell Field in Alabama where he was ground-schooled as a navigator, bombardier, and gunner. Being selected for training as a pilot, he went on to Shaw Field, S.C. where he was fortunately introduced to the Secretary to the Commandant of Cadets. That secretary is Janet, his wife of 66 years. She married Paul one half hour after he graduated from flying school in December of '42 at Moody Field in Valdosta, Georgia.
The first special mission that he flew was to transport the chief officer in charge of England's air manufacturing from Maine to London. On this flight, they lost their heat and radio communications which prevented them from identifying themselves as a friendly aircraft to the Brits. Fortunately, they landed safely under suspicious eyes and guns on a sod landing strip in England.
Following months of carrying top military brass around the U.S., Paul got transferred to Chadwar, India where he began 14 months of flying The Hump. These flights took him up to 15,000 feet over the Himalaya Mountains to Kungming, China, loaded with food, fuel, and ammunition to supply Chinese and American troops. One of the special rewards of flying a Hump mission was Fighter Juice which consisted of two shots of whiskey and a good night of sleep.
One of the strangest events that occurred while Paul was flying these missions to China occurred at the Kungming Airbase. A Japanese pilot, in his Japanese fighter plane, actually landed at the busy base, walked into the operation center, filled out a new flight plan, returned to his plane, and took off to return to who knows where, probably winning a bet.
The most dangerous missions that Paul flew were several high-risk voluntary flights into Chicklang, China. This was a small base with a short runway inside of two twists in a river surrounded by 10,000 ft. mountains. The dangerous mechanics of the flights were complicated by Japanese troops entrenched near the end of the runway shooting at planes on landings and takeoffs.
Near the end of his combat tour ,Paul was flying wounded men out of China for medical treatment in India. After 95 combat missions, he left the service of his country with the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross.
Paul and Janet returned to Buffalo and started a family of three boys and one girl; the middle son, David, went on to a career as the lead vocalist for Desperate Measures. Paul had a career as a salesman dealing in White Trucks and school supplies for Brunswick Bulke School Equipment. Today, he and his wife Janet live in the quiet comfort of Leverett Street, Fredonia. Despite his 88 years, this former pilot can still send a golf ball flying 200 yards.
Doug Manly has a smiling face that is familiar to many in the area though few know of his military experiences in the World War II.
Doug was a precocious young man who was living on his own at the age of 14 in Brockport N.Y. His parents were managing a restaurant in Rochester, and with their consent, he supported himself by working in a food processing plant while living in a boarding house. As a 17 year-old, anxious to join in the fight to protect America, he got his parent's permission to volunteer for the Navy in July 1944.
Doug was assigned to Sampson Naval Base at Lake Seneca for 8 weeks of boot camp. From there it was on to San Diego where he was trained in the gun fire control school. He became a "pointer" who had the responsibility to direct the gun's cross hairs in the vertical orientation before it's crude computer fired a 5 x 38 inch projectile up to a distance of 5 miles.
In mid-January of 1945, he and a contingent of 2200 sailors headed to the Ulithi Atoll near Hawaii. Doug was assigned to the destroyer Ault DD698 which had already seen naval combat for nearly a year. This 220' x 40' cramped-quarters-fighting vessel would become his home for the remainder of the war. They sailed to the Scime Sea where they took up picket duty about 50 miles from Okinawa. It was their assignment to shoot down enemy kamikaze planes before they could reach the battleships and carriers.
This duty proceeded for 80 consecutive days which was the longest time the fleet had been at sea. During that stint, his destroyer knocked down 3 kamikazes, one of which nearly succeeded in striking the ship. An African-American mess cook received a decoration for his valiant success in shooting down a plane that came within yards of hitting their ship where parts of the plane and the pilot landed on the deck.
On a night mission in July of 1945, his destroyer went in to Tokyo Bay to participate in the first naval bombardment of Japan. A few weeks later, from a vantage point on board his destroyer, Doug got the unique opportunity to witness the signing of the peace treaty with Japan on the deck of the nearby battleship USS Missouri.
Weeks later, he was in a group of sailors on walking tours of the war-torn cities of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Yokohama, and the most severely devastated of all, Tokyo.
Doug remained on duty following the end of hostilities involved in the process of transporting prisoners of war and wounded to hospital ships in the Pacific. On one of these passages, he and his crew, and many wounded soldiers, survived the harrowing 86 foot waves of a Pacific typhoon.
Doug was discharged in July of 1946 as Petty Officer 3rd Class Gun Fire Control at 19 years of age. That fall, he entered Cornell Ag School under the GI Bill to study food technology. He graduated in 3 1/2 years and began his life-long career in the food processing business with Comstock Canning Co. It was as a factory manager for Southern Frozen Foods when he met Ed Steele who was in the process of moving a preserve company from Philadelphia to Fredonia.
In 1957, Doug took the position of sales manager for Fredonia Red Wing which was then focused on making jellies, jams, and preserves. In 1965, he was instrumental in bringing Red Wing into the peanut butter business. Doug became President of Red Wing in 1977 and later the President of RHM grocery products in 1986 where he retired in 1989.
He lives in Fredonia with his wife Ann. Doug enjoys doing stand-up comedy for local organizations and he focuses his culinary skills into his role as the chief cook and bottle washer for the Water Street Ping Pong Association.
Frank Pennica was 18 years old when he and his neighborhood buddy from Link. St., Fredonia did what 1000's of other men did in 1943, they joined the Marines. Frank became one of 194 men and one woman from St. Anthony's Parish in Fredonia who served in World War II.
On a fall day, he boarded a train that took him from Buffalo to Parris Island, South Carolina. Following 3 months of boot camp, he transferred to Camp LeJeune in North Carolina for further combat training.
Then, it was on to Los Angeles where he boarded a troopship that carried him to the southern Pacific island of Pavuvu. Other than the incredible heat, humidity, endless supplies of mud, and maggots in the oatmeal, it was a tropical paradise. One of his first assignments was to carry pieces of coral in his helmet to help build pathways that would be relatively free of a mud. It was on Pavuvu and Guadalcanal where he trained for an upcoming invasion sleeping under mosquito nets and taking malaria pills to stay healthy.
All the training was put into practice as Frank participated in the first wave of Marines to invade the island of Peleiliu. The Japanese resistance was so horrific that he was one of 13 men out of his company of 72 Marines who survived the landing. A battle of several days ensued before they successfully secured the airstrip on the island. Frank became a runner for his Ist Lieutenant carrying messages to the front lines from command posts.
He returned to Pavuvu where new recruits and veterans trained for the invasion of Okinawa. Finally, on April 1, 1945, he became a part of the invasion of Okinawa which was a surprisingly easy invasion, but what followed was weeks of deadly combat. Much of his combat was directed at eradicating enemy soldiers from occupied caves.
Keeping supplies of drinking water available was a constant problem. Used drums that once held gasoline were filled with distilled water from ships which became gas-flavored drinking water. Halizone tablets dropped into canteens converted foxhole water potable despite the mud.
After killing two Japanese soldiers in a fire fight, it was on May 17th that Frank's days of combat ended. A Japanese mortar shell exploded near him which sent a one inch square piece of shrapnel flying into his face striking him just below the right eye. Bleeding from the eyes, ears, and nose, he was taken to a field hospital for immediate surgery. Bandaged, but alive, he was sent to a hospital in Guam for further treatment. Then it was on to Hawaii, to San Francisco, and Montana, where his bandages were removed in July revealing a functioning right eye. He left the service of his country with the Asiatic -Pacific Medal with Two Bronze Stars and, in typical bureaucratic efficiency, Frank did not receive his Purple Heart until 1962.
Following a brief stay recuperating in Sun Valley, Idaho, he arrived home on September 2, 1945. Two days later, Frank was working as a machinist at Van Raalte in Dunkirk. In 1950 he went into the carpentry business with his late brother Carl who was also an Army veteran of the invasion of the Phillipines, The two Pennica brothers gained a wide reputation for high quality work. They built many of the fine homes on Fredonia's University Park and Westerly Drive. In 1974 he began work for the Village of Fredonia where he retired in 1987 when he lost his wife Mamie.
Frank leads a quiet life at his home on Berry Road where he still does excellent wood working. And he bakes an excellent cinnamon coffee cake.
We thank these men for their mighty sacrifice over a half-century ago in a time when America's very existence was in question. They stepped up to the plate when they were called upon and delivered. Generations of Americans are eternally grateful to them.
We dedicate to them, all the other veterans of America's wars, and our troops in battle today, the familiar Benediction of Aaron; "May the Lord bless you and keep you, The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace."
Comments on this article may be sent to editorial@observertoday.com
|
aaaaaa
|
|
|---|---|
|
11-03-09 10:57 AM
|
"Area Veterans Share Stories If Sacrifice"... do you mean of sacrifice? Great article, almost makes me want to serve for a few years to defend a country I love so much.
|