‘I wore my uniform PROUDLY’
Three generations of veterans share their experiences on Veterans Day
It’s always interesting to hear our military veterans share stories about their service. They’ve sacrificed a lot, in ways many of us may not consider as we mark Veterans Day.
How did they maintain relationships with their girlfriends back home? Were they able to eat well during their missions? Did they get along with civilians where they served?
Every soldier, sailor and flyer has different experiences. Those experiences vary greatly over generations, so it was particularly interesting when three generations of veterans got together Friday to swap stories.
World War II veteran Richard Schimmel of Allentown, Vietnam War veteran Richard Bealer of Bath and Persian Gulf War veteran Steve Ondrusek of Lebanon participated in a question-and-answer session moderated by retired Marine Col. Frank Gunter at ArtsQuest in Bethlehem.
About 20 people attended the
session and others watched online.
Schimmel, 100, said he enlisted in the Army because he wanted to travel, especially to Hawaii. He was in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, drawing the U.S. into World War II.
A member of the radar team, he was the fifth person to know enemy planes were coming. He didn’t share much about that experience on Friday, but offered plenty of details in a lengthy interview with The Morning Call last year.
Schimmel recalled writing letters home and making occasional phone calls, which were expensive. He said his letters were censored, but the officers were “pretty liberal with us.”
Bealer, 73, repaired and maintained heavy equipment that was used to build roads and bridges for Army operations. He left a girlfriend behind and kept in touch by letter.
“She stuck with me,” he said. “She waited until I got out and we got married.”
Bealer said the only times his camp took fire from the enemy was when a chopper and a tank unexpectedly came in for repairs. The enemy knew they were there and attacked.
Just identifying the enemy was a challenge for Ondrusek, an Army Ranger. He described his time in the Middle East as “urban warfare” where everyone dressed the same, making it difficult to know whom to trust.
Communicating with folks back home was easier for him than it was for Bealer and Schimmel. He had access to email and a cellphone. He bought calling cards at the base and dialed his wife through them.
“Forty-seven numbers till you got home, but you could call,” said Ondrusek, who came from a military family and signed up because of “pride of country.”
Getting along with the locals could be challenging, the men each said.
Schimmel, who also was stationed on Canton Island, north of American Samoa, where he endured three bombings by the Japanese, said he was friendly with a few families who would invite him to dinner. But he learned others were wary when he dated a few local girls and didn’t always feel welcome.
He had to be cautious, too. “We had to always be on our guard about who we were talking to because you never can tell who’s going to be a spy,” he said. “That was one of the things they taught us.”
Ondrusek said he always was skeptical of locals who worked on bases where he served during operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Desert Sabre.
“Don’t tell them anything you don’t want them to know,” he said.
He had good reason to be skeptical.
“If they didn’t show up that day, you knew you were getting some artillery barrages at you,” he said.
They had no complaints about the chow they were served. Bealer said he always ate at a mess hall and the food was “half decent.” Ondrusek ate Meals Readyto-Eat — known as MREs — in the field at times. His favorite? Spaghetti.
Schimmel worked as an orderly on his base and was responsible for serving a table of 10 men.
“The biggest problem we had was when we had the bread and when we would slice it, we’d have to pick out the little ‘things’ — which we didn’t realize were pineapple bugs,” he recalled.
Each man said they learned things in the military that set them up for success when they returned home.
“Be yourself. Do what they tell you to do,” said Schimmel, who held several roles at Sears for more than 40 decades and now lives in a personal care home on the Allentown campus of Phoebe Ministries, one of the sponsors of Friday’s event.
Bealer, who worked for Keystone Cement for 30 years, and Ondrusek, currently a maintenance manager at Phoebe in Allentown, said they learned how to respect everyone and work with all types of people.
“You never burn a bridge when you’re crossing over to do something else, moving on from unit to unit or from job to job,” Ondrusek said. “Always respect everybody you work with because you never know when you’re going to cross that bridge again.”
Those looking to enlist today should learn everything they can during their service time, Ondrusek said: “Take advantage of everything they teach you.”
Each offered their thoughts on why fewer young adults are enlisting in the armed forces today.
“A lot of it is the kids don’t want to be told what to do, somebody hollering at them. They don’t like that part,” Bealer said.
Ondrusek said it’s easier for kids to get into college today. And he questions their patriotism.
“Maybe a little disrespect for the country nowadays,” he said. “It’s tough to say that. I think there are just some young people out there who do not care ... do not want to wear a uniform to serve their country. You’re giving the country a blank check that you’re going to lay down your life.”
Bealer was warned when he returned home from Vietnam he might not be treated well because of the public backlash against the war. When he landed in Seattle, he was told to change into civilian clothes so he wouldn’t be a target.
“We came from ’Nam. We didn’t have no civilian clothes,” he said. “They said be careful because you are going to get cursed at, spit at, even maybe hit.”
“I was lucky. I came home with no problem. I went from Seattle to Detroit, Detroit to Philly, Philly to Allentown. I had no trouble with anybody. I wore my uniform proudly.”