Honored WWII Navy veteran turns 100
FORDYCE — Harold Dee “Dusty” Lansdale is a lifelong fixture in this area.
Retired from the heating/air conditioning and electrical trade, Lansdale operated his own contracting company for several decades. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Lansdale served aboard the battleship USS Maryland in the South Pacific through some of the worst fighting of World War II. He and wife, Cybil, reside today on a 200-acre farm south of Fordyce.
Thursday marked his 100th birthday. The special occasion was recognized and celebrated with a large gathering of more than 100 friends, family and well-wishers in the First Baptist Church Family Life Center.
As the oldest surviving Fordyce Redbug football player, he wore No. 10 when he graduated high school in 1942. In honor of his longevity, Fordyce High School head football coach
Tim Rodgers presented the centenarian with a commemorative Redbug jersey bearing his name and number.
In addition, the Chicot Trace Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution honored Lansdale with an American Patriot quilt hand sewn by DAR member Donna Massey.
Of his time in the service, Lansdale said, “I was drafted into the Navy at age 18 on February 19, 1943. I didn’t pick them; they picked me.” Asked how he dealt with the rigors of basic training, he said, “One day at a time.”
Following graduation from Boot Camp in San Diego, he received a brief furlough to Fordyce, arriving home on Mother’s Day.
“When I got back to San Diego in late May, we sailed on a troopship bound for New Caledonia in the South Pacific. It was a long, hot trip, and I was seasick a lot of the time. From there we went to Espiritu Santos where we boarded the USS Maryland.”
Launched on March 20, 1920, she was the first battleship to carry 16-inch guns and able to launch a reconnaissance aircraft from her deck. She was berthed in Pearl Harbor during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese aerial assault on the Pacific Fleet. Despite severe battle damage resulting in shipboard fires that took Herculean effort to bring under control, she was salvaged, refurbished and put back into action.
Affectionately known by her crew as “Old Mary” or “Fighting Mary,” the Maryland fought her way across the vast Pacific toward Japan through the Battles of Midway, Tarawa, Apamama, Roi Island, Kwajalein, Saipan, Peleliu, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. Lansdale was aboard manning one of her 16 inch guns for all those engagements except Midway on June 4, 1942. He is the recipient of eight U.S. Navy Battle Stars.
“My duty was powder handler on one of the eight 16-inch guns,” Lansdale said. As a loader, he helped lob shells at the enemy, each weighing from 1,900 to 2,600 pounds.
Lansdale won’t allow a can of Spam in his house to this day. “We had 2,000 sailors aboard a ship designed to bunk 1,100 in peacetime. We needed the extra men to handle all the munitions we were firing. We’d be gone from port up to eight weeks with each engagement. There was enough fresh meat for about 10 days because that’s all the freezers could hold. After that it was Spam or wienies for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
During his service he experienced many harrowing events. According to his daughter Connie Ellis, he shared how while berthed off Okinawa, they went ashore during a typhoon and
sought shelter overnight in an island cave. The stench was unbearable and with the morning light, he and his fellow sailors discovered they had hunkered down in a Japanese mortuary.
“In Okinawa we took another kamikaze hit to the gun turret next to the one where I loaded,” he further shared. Fifteen of his fellow loaders were killed.
“In all, our unit suffered 121 casualties. I was lucky I didn’t get a scratch, but there were times I was plenty scared,” he added. “After the war I used the G.I. Bill to train for my career as an electrician. My time in the Navy gave me a deeper love of country, respect for discipline and a special bond with other veterans.”
Lansdale shared his appreciation to the crowd for turning out, adding he didn’t expect so many to attend the celebration.
“I just want to say how thankful and blessed we are to have Daddy with us and how much we have all looked forward to this day,” Ellis said.