Thread: WWII vets still deserve our attention

Drew Brees: WWII vets still deserve our attention

By Drew Brees

As with many men in their 30s, the demands of building a career and family mean my gaze is focused on what's ahead, not what's behind. I do, however, enjoy reading about history — especially military history. But it took a trip to Okinawa, Japan, to make me realize the deep, if not always visible, connection between America's youngest generations and its "Greatest" one.

In April 1945, Okinawa became the site of one of World War II's bloodiest battles between invading U.S. forces and the defending Japanese. My grandfather, Ray Akins— then a 19-year-old Marine from Brady, Texas — was in the thick of it. As I walked around the island I realized I was walking in his footsteps. I stood at the spot where my grandfather stormed the beach with the 1st Marine Division. I imagined the noise and death surrounding the soldiers as they first set foot on the island.

Listen to the vets

Suddenly, a rush of emotion came over me, and I had to know what my grandfather was thinking at that moment. So I called him, from that very spot. I told him where I was, and with tears rolling down my face, I asked him to recall that day.

"I was 19 years old on April 1, 1945, and my birthday was in May. I was just trying to live to be 20," he told me. I will never forget that conversation, and neither will the future generations of my family. Had a Japanese bullet killed my grandfather, I would not be here. Nor would my sons.

When I returned home, my grandfather told me more stories about the war: the surge of patriotism after Pearl Harbor; his boot camp in San Diego; his adventures in China and his encounters in the Pacific. I met more veterans when I joined the board of the National World War II Museum , the New Orleans institution that Congress designated to honor and preserve the stories and deeds of the Greatest Generation for the future. Listening to the veterans' experiences moved me greatly. All Americans should hear them. Especially our kids. But they need to be heard soon.

Thank them, too

These veterans are leaving us. Now in their 80s and 90s, they are dying at the rate of 797 a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. I urge families to seek out these veterans. Thank them for their service. Ask them questions. Let your children listen.

They will learn about battles fought in Burmese jungles and on Italian hills. Hear of the heroism displayed on Normandy's beaches and in submarines beneath the Pacific. And it wasn't just the soldiers. Millions of American women streamed into the factories to build planes, tanks and ships so vital to our victory. These women symbolized the "we can do it" spirit of the home front.

For me, the most valuable lesson children will learn from WWII veterans is the value of teamwork and the idea that if we all pull together, we can accomplish great things. The Super Bowl victory last year by my team, the New Orleans Saints, pales in comparison with what ordinary men and women achieved 70 years ago. To them, it didn't seem remarkable. But it was remarkable.

America's freedom was endangered. They fought for it, and they saved it. And our children need to know it. Our vanishing WWII vets can teach them that a nation, united and working together, can secure any victory.

As we celebrate Veterans Day today, visit with a member of the Greatest Generation and invite him or her to share some memories. Sit. And listen. You'll find yourself walking in the footsteps of heroes.

Drew Brees is the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/fo ... _ST1_N.htm

Absolutely. Thank you WWII veterans. You will probably never know how much you did not only for our country but for the entire world.

Happy Veterans Day to all of you vets, Thank You for your service.

God Bless, and I hope you all enjoy your day.

ALL GAVE SOME

SOME GAVE ALL


Thank you Veterians

Navajo Code Talkers honored for WWII efforts

By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

Keith Little and Frank Chee Willetto know time is no longer on their side.
That's why the men, World War II veterans who used a code based on the Navajo language to stump the Japanese in battles, spend their days reminding the world of their contribution to ending the war.

As the numbers dwindle — fewer than 100 Code Talkers of the 400 trained by the U.S. military are believed to be alive — the Navajo veterans are being recognized. Today, Veterans Day, a group of them will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. New Mexico dedicated a 16-mile stretch of highway to them on Wednesday.

HONORED: N.M. exhibit honors Navajo Code Talkers
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Now, 65 years after serving mostly in the Pacific, the men are trying to establish their legacy on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Through a foundation, they are about to launch a $42 million fundraising campaign for a museum and veterans center.

"We are all old, and we want to see the result of our efforts," says Little, 86, a retired logger.

The museum has been more than 10 years in the making, says Willetto, 85. The group had the land but no money. Their efforts were boosted in 2008 with a grant of about $900,000 from the Navajo tribal government to help them form the foundation, design the project and conduct geological tests on the land.

Yvonne Murphy, secretary of the Navajo Code Talkers Association and daughter of a Code Talker, says they are pressed to get started because the average age of the men is 86.

Of the first group of 29 who devised the code for the Marine Corps in 1942, only two remain. Murphy chokes up noting that a Code Talker who served with her father was hospitalized recently and won't be able to make any Veterans Day appearances.

"For us, the descendants, the children of the Navajo Code Talkers, we want to see our fathers' dreams come true," she says. "We want to have a place to go to learn about these men and their historic feats."

The foundation has a list of 45 Code Talkers who are still alive, but she says there could be as many as 70.

"It's hard to get a handle on how many are living," Murphy says. "Most don't want to talk about it. People still don't know what they did. We get calls from people saying they didn't know their father was a code talker. They found his uniform after he died."

It didn't help that the men were told by the military not to talk about their service and their work remained classified until 1968, says Zonnie Gorman, the daughter of a Code Talker who has recorded an oral history of their work. Her father, Carl Gorman, was one of the original 29 who devised the code.

"Twenty years ago, if you said 'Navajo Code Talkers,' the majority of people would say, 'Who?' " Gorman says. "At least today the majority of people have at least heard of them."

The idea for the Code Talkers is credited to Philip Johnston, the son of a Protestant missionary who grew up on the reservation and spoke the language. He convinced the Marines they could enlist the Navajo as messengers, using their language to allow platoons to communicate quickly and securely.

The Code Talkers devised a complex system assigning Navajo words for each letter of the English alphabet and for names of military weapons, equipment and other phrases. Some phrases resembled the things they described. The Navajo word for tortoise, chay-da-gahi, meant tank, and ne-he-mah, which means our mother, meant America. Other words were spelled out using Navajo words to represent letters of the alphabet.

"The military had to coordinate tactical operations on the fly, so they hit on an ingenious solution, to use a language that no one understands, that there are no books for," says Geoffrey Wawro, who teaches military history at the University of North Texas.

He says the code was used mostly in the Pacific Theater, where platoons made hard landings on beaches and lacked the elaborate equipment that could protect secret communication. The Japanese never broke the code.

"It was one of the many ingredients for success," he says. "It helped reduce Marine casualties."

Little enlisted in the Marines at 17 and served as a radioman in the battle of Iwo Jima.

"Iwo Jima was tough during the landing. We had to run to the beach," he says. "You were being shelled by aircraft and ships."

He says he spent about a month sending messages about troop positions, equipment needs and enemy movements to military ships and other platoons on the island.

After the war, he says, it was years before he knew the importance of the service he and other Navajo provided.

The irony that their language helped win the war is not lost on some of the men who attended government-run boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak Navajo.

"I had to chew yellow soap every time I got caught talking my own language," says Willetto, who trained as a Code Talker but never used it in battle. "And then they used our language to come up with a code."

He says he isn't angry, though. He wants Americans to know the Navajo did their part and says a museum will show that.

"We want to leave something behind," Willetto says. "The young people need to know what happened."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... titialskip

Nov 11, 2010

25 military veterans elected to Congress

12:50 PM

In honor of Veterans Day, we place a spotlight on military veterans in Congress.

Our friend David Hawkings at Congressional Quarterly reports that the freshman class of the 112th Congress includes 25 military veterans, with three in the Senate and the rest in the House. All of the incoming House military vets are Republicans.

There are 120 military veterans in the current Congress, according to the Congressional Research Service. Their ranks include 25 senators and 95 House members (including one delegate).

Some examples:

Rep.-elect Sandy Adams of Florida served in the Air Force. She's also a state legislator and ex-deputy sheriff in Orange County, Fla.

Another lawmaker with wings: Adam Kinzinger, a Tea Party favorite who was tapped to served on the House transition committee. Capt. Kinzinger, who will represent an Illinois district, served in Air Force Special Ops among other assignments.

Rep.-elect Allen West, also from Florida, has been in the news this week as he seeks to join the Congressional Black Caucus. The retired Army lieutenant colonel served in Iraq.

New Mexico's Steve Pearce is returning to Congress after his election last week. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross while in the Air Force.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... en-west-/1