Veterans Day
My name is David Lewis. I am a 20 year Air Force retiree. I have been a resident of Federal Way for the past 16 years. I began my career as all Air Force enlistees do at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, TX. My occupation was that of a fuel specialist. Some of my assignments were Japan, Hawaii, Philippines, Korea, Everett, WA and Portland, OR. I spent eleven years as an Air Force Recruiter. My initial recruiting assignment was at the 65th and Roosevelt Recruiting office near the U District in Seattle. During the peak of the Vietnam anti-war demonstrations and the military draft, my recruiting vehicle was overturned on I-5 near downtown Seattle. That particular anti-war march closed the entire freeway. Following a three-year assignment in Seattle, I transferred to Tacoma and spent eight years recruiting at the Tacoma Mall office. My areas of responsibility were North Tacoma and Federal Way. During the years of 1974 – 1980, I enlisted numerous recruits from Federal Way and Thomas Jefferson and Decatur high schools.
By Frank Vetere
The United States of America declared war on Japan and Germany after the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941. All domestic activities turned to manufacturing military equipment and supplies. I had to register for the military draft long before my high school graduation in June 1942.
I left for military duty Feb. 23, 1943, and became a bridge building combat engineer. I entered combat after D-Day, June 6, 1944, at Utah Beach and fought through Normandy all the way to South Belgium and Holland. Cold sub-freezing weather slowed American advances in late November and early December.
Meanwhile, German armies were assembling many Panzer tank divisions with thousands of foot soldiers greatly outnumbering the American forces. On Dec. 16, 1944, with predicted overcast skies, the German forces began to attack through the Ardennes Forest between Luxemburg and Southern Belgium. Their aim was to regain Antwerp’s fuel and munitions supply port in Northern Belgium. Undermanned American troops held the German forces to no more than a 40-mile penetration until U.S. forces on the northern and southern flanks, in bitter cold, came to assist. This was to become known as the Battle of the Bulge. German forces were held. On Dec. 23, 1944, the skies cleared and hundreds of American bombers and fighter planes ended the attack. By Jan. 25, 1945, the German armies had retreated. In those 40 days, Allied troops had 81,000 casualties, of which 19,000 American soldiers died. Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, said “This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war, and will, I believe, be regarded as an ever famous American victory.”
Americans kept the Germans in retreat. Our group arrived at the Elba River at Magdeburg, 60 miles west of Berlin. Russian troops captured Berlin and the war quickly came to an end. Over 1,200 German soldiers surrendered to our group. Our battalion then received orders to move to Marseilles, France, on the Mediterranean Sea for redeployment to the Pacific theatre, via the Panama Canal, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan’s city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. I disembarked in Massachusetts, was discharged from military duty from Camp Grant, IL, on Nov. 9, 1945. Among other medals I received, I was awarded a European Theatre Medal with four battle stars. On July 11, 2004, in a ceremony in downtown Seattle, celebrating the 60th anniversary of World War II, I received a special United States congressional recognition for participating in the Battle of Normandy and the liberation of France and Europe. I am now 86 years of age and reside in Federal Way. KEEP AMERICA SAFE.
Veterans Day is an annual American holiday honoring military veterans. Both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states, it is usually observed on Nov. 11.
It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on Nov. 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice. Congress amended this act on Nov. 8, 1954, replacing “Armistice” with Veterans. It has been known as Veterans Day since.
A day to honor our veterans is like none other. Many of these folks gave their life, limb and sometimes sanity to maintain a free democratic existence in this country and many others. Without them a number of rights we have as U.S. citizens would simply not exist.
Following are some of their stories. We encourage you as members of the Federal Way community to support your veterans and all that they have given so that we may continue to lead our lives as a free country.
