Zoomers, 11/17/22
Row 1, left to right: Lee Ayres, Fred Elder, Marilyn Tompkins Bellert. Row 2, left to right – Dan Tontz, Marti Dunlap Bogle, Diane Rusch Zinn. Row 3, left to right – Skip Granger, Glenna Stearman Park
Fred Elder convened this Zoom session by reminding us of the primary topic for today, Military Veterans, which included reflections on personal service or that of family members as well as visits to national cemeteries, war memorials, and war museums.
Lee Ayres: The things that came to my mind were the other things on the list, not my own service. My father fought in WWII 
against Japan. I’ve visited the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean Memorial and was impressed with the sculpture. Both are in Washington DC. We’ve been to Gettysburg, and of course, that was a bloodbath. We’ve been to Arlington where David Miller and John Kennedy are buried; to Manhattan island where George Washington fought at the Battery, the Holocaust Museum, and the World Trade Center. After we are through talking, I have a few editorial comments to make.
Lee wrote about his own service in “Lee Ayre, U.S. Army, 1967-69″ and about his dad’s Navy experience in “Lt. Bill Ayres, U.S. Navy. “
Dan Tontz: I was born into a military family. My dad was a naval
officer in WWII. He was on a ship in the South Pacific that was sunk by Japanese kamikaze pilots and his story is on the website. “My WW II Navy Story of Survival.” More than 200 sailors were burned and died. My dad was one of the fortunate survivors who swam all night in shark-infested waters and was finally picked up by a naval carrier. I heard this story as a kid in bits and pieces. They were the greatest generation. They came back, went to work, and earned an education on the GI Bill. Both my grandfathers were in Wichita. One sold houses to returning vets; one had Briggs Furniture in the 700 block on North Broadway. Military service has always been a big part of my family.
I went to WSU and my last two years I signed up for Army ROTC which was kind of nice because every month they delivered a nice little check. Of course, we also incurred a six-year commitment to military 
duty. I went on active duty in the summer at Ft. Sill OK, which was very hot. I took my basic training there in field artillery, then went to South Korea for thirteen months. When my orders came out, I didn’t understand that KOREA meant the country. I thought it was an Army acronym. I was glad it wasn’t North Korea. We were stationed near the 38th parallel, where the bulk of the intensive fighting had occurred. I was cold all the time, no matter how many socks or heavy boots I wore, so I was glad to get out of there.
My final station was at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio TX, a lovely place where Marilyn and I spent five years, and our daughter was born there. I remember almost tripping on the last stair as we toted a TV up to our apartment. Next to the fort was Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery. It was a small cemetery. While we were in San Antonio, the Vietnam war heated up. By the time we left, there were white grave markers all over. Quite memorable and sad, but that was my military career. That’s about it.
Marti Dunlap Bogle asked Dan how old his father was when he served in World War II. Dan said most of the officers were in their early twenties, and the sailors in their teens. His dad served from ’43-’45, so was probably 23; he was considered an old guy by the younger sailors.
Dan continues – Our class tries to have a reunion every five years, but the guys on my dad’s ship, the USS Bush, held reunions every year for a while. I went with him. It seemed like we had just unpacked our bags when we were leaving again for another reunion. Those were tragic, sad, and happy events. The captain of the ship never attended a reunion. My dad felt that the captain probably held himself responsible for the ship’s fate. The USS Bush has a huge website. You can follow the ship on every day of its cruising.
Skip Granger: I am not a veteran. I did my service differently than most.
After I got out of law school, I was doing research for the Kansas Supreme Court and living in Topeka. My girlfriend at the time was from New York. I had very interesting, unromantic encounters with the wives and girlfriends of men who were serving. One of those guys was Dick Price, from East, whom I assume you all know. He married Becky Hesser, Brett’s sister. My sister had given me a Playboy key back in the day when they used keys, and I would take the ladies to the Playboy Club in Kansas City. It was $1.50/person, quite a bit of money in those days. That was the cost of a drink; 25 cents for a pack of cigarettes; it was also the cost of a steak dinner and really good entertainment. We didn’t drink a lot, but we ate a lot. Becky roomed with the lady I was dating. I had another friend, Jim Mahoney, and he was Catholic, so he had to learn a lot of things for his wife Barbara. When they were married, they had their reception in my apartment in Topeka. So, I didn’t have any guns in my activities. I just tried to be helpful in the way that I could. As I say, non-romantic, very casual get-togethers. Later, I lived in Hawaii. Guys came there from Vietnam to see their ladies; they had often not seen each other for a year. That’s the way I served. So, that’s my story.
Skip’s most recent website story is “My Heart and Me and the Surgeon Makes 3.”
Glenna Stearman Park: I have an interesting bit of trivia about the Japanese Zero. Chance Vought Aircraft Corporation in
Connecticut designed and offered the original plane to the US military, which refused to buy it. Then, Congress passed a law prohibiting the sale of aircraft and other armaments to any other country. I think things were heating up with Japan, but this was before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. My father worked for Chance at the time and what happened was that Mexico sent people in to buy the plane for Mexico. They ordered some modifications and my father worked on some of those. Mexico turned around and sold its planes to Japan. Someone realized what had happened when a Japanese plane crashed in Alaska. One of the Chance engineers who happened to be working in Alaska at the time was asked to check the plane. He said, “I know this plane,” having recognized it as the one the U.S. had turned down. My dad never talked about it because it was a weird situation.
My dad built airplane parts and had a place in Oklahoma where he also built bicycles. Then, the military took over and dictated what things he was to build. He continued to design and build planes, eventually his personal airplanes. I always thought it was fascinating about the Japanese Zero history, and I haven’t found it published, but that’s what happened. I’ll try to research it.
Note: Glenna found more information about the original Chance Vought/Jap Zero. That story will be published here next month.
Glenna’s latest story is “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”
Marti Dunlap Bogle: My dad didn’t serve. He was probably older 
than your parents, and he had bad feet, so there was no way he would be drafted or allowed to join. One of his brothers served; I think he was in the Air Force. He had another brother who served indirectly, painting ships in a shipyard on the West Coast when the military was building ships. It was an odd way to serve but everyone has a job to do at that point. So really, I have no military background to speak of.
Glenna added a comment. My husband Joel is still working; says he will work until he’s in his 90’s. He has tested a lot of naval equipment. When he was first in the U.S. Navy, he was testing submarines in the world’s largest water tunnel, which is along the Mississippi River near Memphis, TN. The Navy had purchased the site from a corporation that built it there. I think the tunnel is four stories above ground and four stories below ground. It runs 1.5 million gallons of water, which Joel told me is a 10′ x 20′ container. He worked there for five years, then the Navy transferred him to DC where a very interesting project was happening. They are building big ships now that look like chunks of cement floating in the water. The ships have different stories with different angles. It looks like it was designed by the architect for the Disney theater in LA. Anyway, it was built with irregular surfaces, which looked like a wreck to me, because the shapes interfere with radar systems, and there may be other reasons. Joel is now working as an editor for papers on the testing being done at this facility, which has a giant swimming pool that is 18′ deep and larger than a football field. Beautifully made models are put into the water and the wave machine makes different strengths of waves to test how the model will function in the ocean. The models are also tested in Chesapeake Bay. Joel is into whatever floats your boat! Bethesda invites engineering students from all over the country who are designing and building submarines for submarine races.
Fred Elder has seen the DC tunnel, the David Taylor Model Basin. It’s a very impressive facility, but frightening when you are inside because of the darkness.
Lee commented that the Disney theater was designed by Frank Gehry, and he’s now coming out with obscene proposals for concrete structures throughout LA on which to build city parks. Glenna responded that Gehry has unusual techniques that are part of his design work. For example, he will wad a piece of paper, toss it on the floor, and look at it from different angles for design ideas. He’s also taken corrugated cardboard, cross-grained it, glued it together, and made furniture. It’s incredibly strong, and he did that early on.
Diane Rusch Zinn. My dad was an Army captain in the Aleutian Islands. Dick’s dad was a Naval officer in Guam. One of Dick’s great memories is when his
dad came home on leave and surprised them. There was absolute joy and glee to see his dad, who had been away so long. During the war my mother and I stayed with my grandmother at 238 S. Grove, where my mother was born, just across the street from East High where she graduated. On my 3rd birthday, my dad sent a vase of flowers. I still have the vase, a nice memory of my dad.
Dick and I have visited many of those same museums that Lee mentioned, including the World Trade Center and Gettysburg. I want to recommend the World War I Museum in Kansas City and the World War II Museum in New Orleans. Both are absolutely outstanding. We spent two days at the WWII museum and understand that additions to the museum are continuing. The World War I museum in Kansas City has a temporary exhibit relating to WWI prisoners of war. The number of captives was enormous, almost as great as number of casualties.
Diane’s military service stories include “Capt. Leonard E. Rusch,” and “Zinn Brothers in the Pacific.“
In connection with the W II Museum, Dan Tontz mentioned that a facility in Baton Rouge had models of Navy ships that one could visit. One was an exact replica of the ship that his dad went down on – a thrill for his dad to see. He was a communications officer, and he was able to show the family where he worked and where Morse code was used. It was like visiting the real thing years later.
Marilyn Tompkins Bellert: I have been very interested in military history and fiction ever since I could read. This was partly due to my dad’s stories of his Army experience, but also due to reading Reader’s Digest stories written by spies, concentration camp survivors and others – gory, grisly stuff, hair-raising stories. 
I have visited military museums and memorials in the U.S. and in Europe. A few years ago, I spent a day at the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, and took photographs of the Stearman planes, which I sent to Glenna. The Stearmans were used for WWII military training. I really would like to see the WWII museum in New Orleans soon. I agree with Diane that the WWI Museum in Kansas City is really outstanding.
Writing about my dad’s military service for the website turned out to be therapeutic. In my mind, my dad was a real slacker in the service. He got guys to peel potatoes for him, so he could go to the library. Going AWOL to visit home or go skiing were just part of the game for him. When he came home, his gear (and gifts for us) were packed in a foot locker with “Sgt. Wayne Tompkins” stamped on it. I said I didn’t know he was a sergeant, and he told me he paid a guy to do it for him. That was typical. He worked as manager at Beech Aircraft until he was drafted, which was not until 1945. He was a Kansas farm boy who had been to Wichita but not much farther. The history, scenery, and culture in Italy and Switzerland were revelations and inspirations for him. He was also in communications. He censored letters; the deleted content would not have compromised the post-war efforts, but he was not unhappy with the job. I gained perspective on his attitude toward his service experience from letters that my mother kept.
If you visit Gettysburg and observe the land, one must think about the classic question of why Pickett’s men charged. That was not nearly as horrifying as standing on Omaha Beach, looking up at the gun emplacements and wondering how the American troops ever got up there. I’m hoping to return to France next year and visit the World War II museum at Cann.
Having read and thought about warfare, I can’t help being deeply concerned about Ukraine. How can this horrific action be happening after all the experience we have had with war?
Marilyn’s story about her dad and the Army is “A Family in Wartime.”
Skip: My first recollection, I think of my life, was when Mom took me and my siblings into Joplin to pay the electric bill. Car horns started honking and would not stop. We were in the back seat and it scared us to death. This was the end of the war.
Dan and Diane commented that they too have their dad’s military trunks. Diane keeps precious children’s toys in hers; Dan’s, now with his sister, has his parents’ love letters. Being a communications officer, Dan’s dad worked out a code for these letters, so that his mom would always know where his dad was, highly confidential information.
Dan commented that when he was in the Army in South Korea, there were no birds or wildlife, so the surroundings were depressing and cold. Glenna, who was there in ’96-’98, said there were still no birds or small animals. Basically, starvation was so serious that the people ate everything. A huge celebration was held when a family of raccoons was found living under one of the palaces in Korea. It made the evening news. Fred had a similar experience in China; he presumed birds and squirrels had gone into the pot for meals.
Fred Elder: I was not in the military, but family members were. I’m going to share photos of one of the two U.S. veterans’ cemeteries in
Belgium. Above is the Henri Chapelle Cemetery. This was one of the places my friend Ardith and I went when we were looking for information about my Uncle John around Memorial Day, 2014. He was killed on Christmas Eve in 1944 near a small, bucolic town in Belgium. We found his burial records. He had been buried in a temporary cemetery, but his remains were moved to Eureka KS after the conclusion of the war. Buissonville, Belgium had only 250 people and it’s hard to imagine a war going on there. The troops that had followed his tanks had dropped back, so he was out of his tank providing cover at the time he was killed. Ardith and I went to Belgium twice, first on the 60th anniversary of my uncle’s death, December 24, 2004. It was a hard trip, especially to see how calm this little town was.
Fred’s story about his uncle John Jackson and photos are in “Uncle John Jackson, KIA, Christmas Eve 1944.”
Fred’s shared his photos from Belgium pictures. Almost 8,000 American veterans, none of whom had homes in the US, are buried in the Henri Chappelle cemetery. We have two WWII cemeteries in Belgium and we went to both. The U.S. General Service Administration maintains all foreign US cemeteries. Ardith and I hopped a train to Fosse, looking for more information about John Jackson. The tourist agency personnel were nice, but informed us that we were at the wrong Fosse. A local man drove us to see various monuments to US soldiers. We were amazed at all the monuments around town for servicemen, almost all to Americans, not Belgians. You must remember that this was right after the war and money was scarce, yet they found a way to build all those monuments in gratitude to what we had done for them. It’s such a small town, too.
Lee Ayres – I can recommend Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, an expert on the Civil War from Florida State. This book tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg in considerable detail. As I reflected on the assignment for the day, I felt very strongly that the war history of the United States needs to be taught to our children. What I’ve learned over the years is that some people are reluctant to talk about war because they think talk glorifies it. But in my experience, people who know about war and understand its tragedy are all the more determined to avoid doing what causes it. That takes discipline and hard work and you have to step away from the rhetoric and work out practical solutions. That would also apply to how we conduct our foreign affairs. We need to be better informed about our war history and how to conduct ourselves in ways that are alternatives to war.
Connecting military experiences to the coming holiday, Glenna told us that in Korea, Spam is an important gift. Joel was given a beautiful package with a variety of Spam. It’s considered a very special gift. She said, “I tried it once; it’s not on my menu.” Skip and several others have seen a Spam can carved like a turkey.
Good-byes from all. Happy Holidays and enjoy Thanksgiving.
