My earliest recollection of the Military was during WW II. I was 6 or 7 years old at the time, but parts of that big war were etched in my mind, so that even some 60 or so years later, it is a reminder of that very traumatic time in our country's history.
A cousin of mine first comes to mind. His name was Milton Goede and at first he was in the Navy, but later joined the Air Force. During his tour of duty, he was a bombardier on either B-17's or B-29's. His duty was to spot the targets to be bombed and then release the bomb load from the bomb-bay area and signal to the pilot when his mission was accomplished. He made over 20 bombing runs over VERY IMPORTANT areas of Germany. I don't have his Air Squadren's name or number, but they were very instrumental in destroying many important Nazi target areas during the war.
After the war was over, my cousin continued his flying days and was stationed out of Omaha as part of the Statregic(sp?) Air Command. He later married a German girl and lived most of his life in California and owned and operated a landscaping business.
Another cousin of mine, Art Goede spent his military duty in the Army as a Company Clerk. I recall a letter that I received from him that he wrote from a Foxhole on Christmas Day somewhere in Italy. He mentioned that the children in their area would come around their headquarters in hopes of getting food rations that some soldier's were about to throw into the garbage can.
He went on to say how sad that made him feel and that he was glad my family had a good house and good food to eat and not in the middle of a war.
A neighbor of ours was Milton Johnson. He was in the Air Force as a airplane mechanic. His duty was to have the plane ready to fly for a specified pilot at all times. Milton was a very good and reliable mechanic. The Sunday morning the air raid started he was totally confused as to who and what was going on. It didn't take him long to figure out that the dive planes were Japanese. He immediately ran towards the hanger where hs plane was to be ready for the pilot. When he entered the hanger, it occurred to him that would be one of their prime targets, so he kept on runnng and then the hanger was hit and the wall in front of him was blown out, so he ran out of the hanger uninjured. After a massive cleanup of the mlitary base, Milton continued his tour of duty at Pearl Harbor. After his discharge from the service, he returned to his farm home and farmed with his Father and later married and raised a family and continued farming until hs death from a heart attack.
The old adage that "War is Hell" is certainly a true statement, but the men and women who served their country are to be commended for their courage and dedication for the cause of our "freedom." "God Bless Their Memory!"
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