• Denise Frisino

    Armed Forces

    Decoration Day

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    There is a lively debate as to which city in our vast country actually held the first Decoration Day in honor of those souls lost in battle. This ancient custom of decorating the graves dates back to before the Civil War. However, on May 5, 1868 General John Logan, commander–in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) established Grand Order #11. This new ruling established May 30th as the day to be set aside annually and observed nationwide to commemorate our deceased soldiers.

    Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time…

    The 30th of May did not reflect any battle, but was chosen for the abundance of available springtime flowers. The Women’s Relief Corps, an auxiliary of the GAR, organized the events. At the first event at Arlington that year 5,000 participants spread flowers over 20,000 Union and Confederate graves.

    The South refused to participate and chose their own day to honor the fallen until after World War I, when the day embraced all Americans fallen in any battle, not just the Civil War. (Some southern states still observe a different day.) By the end of World War II the term Memorial Day became the common usage and replaced the original Decoration Day. And over time the date was changed to a national holiday creating a three day weekend. Yet, the ceremonies, speeches and decorating still live on.

    In 1915 Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a physician with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, wrote the poem, “In Flanders Fields”.

    The first stanza by McCrea swept Monica Michael, a YWCA worker, into action. At a 1918 conference for Overseas’ War Secretaries, Monica pinned a red poppy to her coat and brought dozens more to hand out. This simple red flower was quickly adopted and by 1920 the red poppy became the official symbol for the National American Legion.

    We should always honor the men, women, young and old, who gave their lives for our freedom. It is truly a sight to behold the many flags placed at the wind swept graves in honor on this special day. Yet we must remember to also drift petals on the seas for those whose watery graves will never hold markers, to salute the sky for those whose ashes remain in faraway countries or those who fell silently, their unknown whereabouts only a whisper.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
    http://www.usmemorialday.org/

    DON’T BE A SPARE – BE A SPAR

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    During World War II, when women stepped forward to serve, a new branch of the military was born, the SPAR.

    The motto for the U.S. Coast Guard, Semper Paratus, is the Latin term for always ready. The ingenious Dorothy C. Stratton, who took leave from the faculty at Purdue University to first serve as a Lieutenant in the Navy’s WAVES, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, was soon transferred to head the newly formed Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. Stratton, who would rise to become a Captain in the USCG, is credited for creating the acronym from Semper Paratus, Always Ready.

    In sailing terms the spar is the pole of the rigging, possible wooden, metal or some other sturdy substance, which is used to SUPPORT the sail. Therefore, the SPARs were there to bolster the men of the USCG, by allowing them to travel with the navy to distant beaches and battles around the globe.

    Training for the women officers took place in various locations such as Smith College, in Massachusetts, then the USCG Academy at New London, Connecticut. In March of 1942 the CG decided it needed its own center for enlisted recruits and selected the Palm Beach Biltmore Hotel.

    One 97 year old SPARs I interviewed recently, Mrs. Cohen, told me, “The girls were dropping like peanuts all over the ground it was so hot in Florida. We were always marching.”

    In the book I mention, Three Years Behind the Mast, the authors, Mary Lyne and Kay Arthur, with riveting hilarity, recount the marching and fire drills in the snow, in the rain, at all hours, at times with face cream still smeared on their skin, and the hazards of doing their calisthenics in the sticky sand.

    In the long run, the SPARs reinforcements broadened, creating an invaluable contribution to the United States war efforts. They performed numerous duties including parachute riggers, motion picture sound technicians, air-sea rescue, clerical, switchboard operators, yeoman, air control operators, radiomen, radio technicians, link trainer instructors, pharmacist mates, bakers, motor vehicle drivers and a select few staffed the only all-women monitoring station at Chattham, Massachusetts. This was the highly protected site for the operation and maintenance of the top-secret Long Range Aid to Navigation, the LORAN, a radio navigation system developed for aircraft and ships at sea.

    While it is reputed that, at that time, not all USCG men felt the SPARs were a necessity, the women, like their nautical namesake, withstood the storm and have sailed into history as an necessary support for our men and our country. This was due in part to the fact that the over 10,000 women who joined the SPARs during World War II were highly trained, they sought no favor or fanfare, and, of course, were Always Ready–face cream and all!

    On July 25, 1947 the branch of the Women’s Reserve of the USCG, the SPARs, came to an end. Yet, those fearless women who stepped forward in a time of great need, should never fade from our memory.

    Operation Detachment—The Battle of Iwo Jima

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    The U.S. Marines fought for five weeks to establish control over Iwo Jima. From February 19, 1945 to March 26th, the brave men assigned to Operation Detachment struggled across the rough volcanic ground to destroy the radar stations and capture three airfields from the Japanese Imperial Army. They had expected the battle to last one week, but what they found there was different from any other island they had attacked.

    Iwo Jima, a mountainous island situated directly off Japan, 2 miles wide by 4 miles long, was seen as the last stronghold before the Allies reached the mainland. The Japanese realized they could not win the battle on this island, but they could inflict great losses on their enemy and, hopefully, deter an invasion on Japan’s homeland. Beginning in March of 1944, under the command of Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, over 20,500 Japanese soldiers arrived on Iwo. They began excavating eleven miles of the Nanpo Bunker out of volcanic rock–creating underground tunnels supplied with ammunition, food, water, gasoline and, most importantly, the ability to quickly move troops to different locations. Tanks, pill boxes, land mines, mortars and kamikaze pilots all waited for the U.S. Marines to land. Yet, over 18,000 of the Land of the Rising Sun forces would perish either from battle or by seppuku, Japanese ritual suicide.

    The Japanese were a fierce opponent, loyal to their Emperor Michinomiya Hirohito, and fed propaganda which portrayed American soldiers as animals who would deliver a slow horrific death on all who surrendered.

    The U.S. threw everything they had into this battle, Navajo code talkers, Sherman tanks with flamethrowers, flying P-51 Mustangs for close air support, battleships and nearly 70 thousand U.S. Marines.
    “We should not have attacked all those small islands,” Captain Richard (Dick) McNees told me once, shaking his head with the memory. “We should have gone straight into Japan. All those men lost.”
    Dick and his brother were among the lucky ones to live through those weeks of hell. In fact, Dick was flying his bomber over the same beaches his brother was approaching with the Underwater Demolition Team.

    For the U.S., the tally of those not so lucky over those 36 days resulted in more than 26,000 American causalities, of which 6,800 souls were lost.
    Many sided with Dick’s interpretation, because the island was rendered useless for Army or Navy bases. However, the Seabee’s reconstructed the airfields as emergency landing for the Air Force B-29s.
    In a perfect world, Japan would not have attacked the United States on December 7, 1941, drawing us into a horrific battle. They finally capitulated, having been ‘shocked’ into surrendering by the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, announcing their intent to surrender on August 15, 1945, ending World War II. However, during those four years and eight months, millions of lives were lost around the globe, making this truly a world at war.

    When we hear about Chichi Jima, Iwo Jima, and the other islands where battles raged, we must continue to remember, and to thank, the courageous Americans who spilled their blood, and who remained dedicated against heavy odds, to provide us with freedom. Peace came at a great expense.

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