Veteran Stories

by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Of the many memories I carry from my time in the military, perhaps the uncomfortable ones are the biggest help to me now.  Whenever I get grumpy in civilian life, I can always remember a worse time in the military and it cheers me up. Kind of a reverse psychology.

Long line at the DMV? At least I’m not getting shots in both arms at the end of it. Power goes out for a few hours at home? I’m not living without power for days on end, in a tent, in the pouring rain and have to fill the generator every few hours. Can’t find my favorite fresh apples at the grocery store? I don’t have to look at my MREs and really wish I hadn’t gotten beans. Again.

When we get upset at slow Internet speeds, traffic jams and political hijinks on the national scale, we need to step back and breathe. We need to remember we could be someplace else in a much worse situation. Many people in the world are, including right here in the USA.

This past weekend we had record-breaking fabulous spring weather here in the Pacific Northwest. Back East they are getting dumped on by a snow storm. Times like these I am thankful for my freedom, my country and the women and men who are serving in our military right now around the world.

When we look at the Seabees in the Navy photo above, heading into a dust storm in Afghanistan after work or think about The Old Guard who honor the Tomb of the Unknowns in the snow, sleet and wind 24 hours a day, the rest of us are in a pretty good place. Sometimes we just need to stop and be grateful for the way things are right now.

So the next time we are upset about what an agent says about our manuscript, we run out of ink in our printer without a backup cartridge, or the critique group doesn’t like our story; remember, we could be in a tent, in a snowstorm, with someone shooting at us. Checking perspective is a very good thing for writers.

by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Last Friday I spoke at the Veterans Coffee Club at The Wings of Freedom Showcase about the importance of saving veteran’s stories.  Since this group is also restoring the B-17 bomber, it all fit together quite well. The Bomber is a longtime landmark on McLoughlin Blvd. A dedicated group of volunteers and The Bomber Restaurant family are making sure this B-17G beauty gets a fabulous facelift. Her nose is restored to a gleaming shine and sits protected in the Wings of Freedom Showcase just beyond the bomber.

While we writers think nothing of jotting down a story, not everyone wants to do that, but we all have stories. That’s why using today’s technology is so important to help keep the stories alive.

One of my favorite tools is The Flip video camera. A small easy to operate device with a red stop and go button, it couldn’t be simpler. It plugs right into your computer and downloads not only the video, but the software to make movies too. Its small tripod is also very effective for filming. Check it out at www.theflip.com (I saw Anderson Cooper on CNN using it in the  Middle East, so you know it works.) Available at Target and Amazon.com

Or use a digital voice recorder; my small one is from Sony. Bought at Radio Shack, it lets me record everything from frog sounds in my backyard to interviews, then plug it into the computer to download the sound files. Not everyone can write, but everyone can push a button or two. This would be a great project for grandkids and retired boomers alike. Capture these important stories, historians need all of them. 

A special thank you to Terry and The Bomber Veterans Coffee Club for hosting me. Check out their wonderful work on the B-17 at www.thebomber.com or call 503.342.3597 and press 2 # to learn more about the Bomber’s history. It’s a great story! They have big plans to better preserve the B-17G, so keep your eye on them.

by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It’s been a banner month for military movies at the box office. First War Horse, then Red Tails and Act of Valor will release next month. Congratulations to Red Tails for rocking the box office in second place this past weekend. The Tuskegee Airmen and George Lucas finally got their story on the big screen. Lucas hopes to film the prequel and sequel to Red Tails if the box office numbers hold up, so go see the movie.

Last month at the 70th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Pearl Harbor Survivor veterans decided to disband. With that act, it falls on the rest of us to remember their stories and deeds and carry them forward, as Lucas has done with the Tuskegee Airmen.

by Kimberly A. Cook                                    (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It all started out as a school project. My family was headed on our first vacation to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1974. For a social studies report, I decided to interview my brother-in-law’s Great Uncle John Watson who was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.  Little did I realize his story would be my first official “war story” to start my military writing career.

I still have the report. Got an A for the resource, documentation and pictures which I took on vacation. But what embedded in my mind after interviewing Uncle Johnny was how grateful he was that I listened to his story. Seemed odd. Why wouldn’t everyone want to hear his story? Here is part of what he told me about being stationed at Pearl Harbor from 1941 to 1948 as a civilian construction electrician working for the Navy. 

“I was there to make magnetic minesweepers out of birdboats,” Watson said. “That was supposed to be my first day off in 13 weeks. I was laying in bed.”

Lonnie says, “Hey, there’s a lot of firing going on, sounds like the big guns.”

“We turned on the radio and the first thing we heard ‘All workmen return to Pearl Harbor immediately, Japs are firing on us.’ Half an hour later I was in Pearl Harbor and went through the main gate when the second wave of Japs were comin through Pearl over from the air field. I don’t think they ever caught up with me though.”

“Still they had Marines at the gate,” he said. “We went through the gate a runnin with these Marines yellin, ‘Hurry up, Hurry Up, the planes are comin.’ There they was standin out there tellin us! We had the heavy cruiser San Francisco in the repair basin over there with just enough power aboard for lights. You couldn’t even fire her guns when it started.”

“I was gettin juice on board one of the battle wagons and Ben Cecil got juice on board her. When I got down there maybe an hour later she was firing her guns. She didn’t have any anti-aircraft yet but her one point pom poms were on the dock ready to go on and the rigger swung them on board and they welded them to the deck and were firing within 20 minutes.”

“Manual firing them. I’ll admit there were no stops on them and she practically cut one stack off following them planes around. We were firing right towards Honolulu. I had a lot up in the valley I was ready to build a new house on a 16-inch shell took that lot off the hillside, we found fragments of it. Like I told ya, we fired 16-inch guns at airplanes.”

The San Francisco wasn’t touched and Uncle Johnny proceeded to get power on board the Pennsylvania so she could fire. He saw the Helena take a torpedo in the engine room after it didn’t hit the Ogalala, but turned it upside down and she was full of mines. “Not a one of them went off,” he said. “We had a lot of that kind of thing going on.”

“I had a rating of non-active base so anytime an air raid siren blew my station was the sight tower, I could see everything that happened in the harbor. You could look across the bay and look at them 11 battleships lined up along Ford Island and fire go’in down all over. The old California was over there firing 5-inch 50 broadsides at the planes and she fired them broadsides right up to the time that the water was coming into the casings, she was sinking all the time. She was the one that put the hole right through the stack of the powerhouse.” (See National Archive Collection photo)

Uncle Johnny stayed on station for 39 hours after the bombing before getting released to go rest. They drove blackout and followed the curb until they hit another car head on doing the same thing. The Marines told him to move on since his car could still run. Then the next soldier told them to park it. They walked two miles home. When he got to his place he found Naval housing families in his apartment, evacuated from base housing.

“Boy that was a wild night, nobody knew what to do or who was giving orders, it was the man with the gun you listened to.”

That is just part of the story. To learn more about the new Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and stories from Pearl Harbor, visit http://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm and http://www.youtube.com/user/WWIIValorNPS

Real history is best learned from those who were there; Uncle Johnny taught me that lesson.

by Kimberly A. Cook                                         (Twitter @WarriorTales)

When I started the Writing War Stories class in 1997, it was to help my fellow veterans write their military stories. I have respect for historians, but if you weren’t in the military, you don’t get the real deal of what it’s like to serve. That quadruples for special operations and special forces.

Today former Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer’s book, SEAL Target Geronimo, is released. My copies are on hold for pick up. Pfarrer’s new book is being shopped around to be made into a movie.

Another movie out next February uses active duty Navy SEALs as the actors. It’s titled Act of Valor. With the increase in operational tempo for all special forces, this movie feels like a tribute and education for the 99 percent in this country who do not serve in the military from the 1 percent who do. A reverse of that other 1 and 99 percent we keep hearing about in the news.

My Nov. 4 post about retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Tom Rancich highlighted his sense of humor. Now he continues to serve his country by helping fellow combat veterans. He is a founding partner of VRHabilis, LLC, with Navy veteran Elliott Adler. The men partnered the company with “the end goal of maximizing the known attributes of combat veterans and to provide adaptive technology and innovative working situations as a function of productivity to increase employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for disabled vets.”  Check them out at www.vrhabilis.com How are those for several great veteran stories? Just in time for the week leading up to Veterans Day.

by Kimberly A. Cook                                  (Twitter @WarriorTales)

The best chicken teriyaki I’ve ever tasted turned into a veteran story. I have pretty good Vet-Dar, (Veteran Radar), but even this one surprised me.

The Red Hibiscus Restaurant in Ashland became a fast favorite after eating there last Fall. I almost licked the plate since I loved the teriyaki sauce so much. The family owned Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant was a fabulous surprise tucked away in Ashland. 

Before I knew what happened, owner Ron Yamaoka gave me his recipe. Turns out he was born and raised in Hawaii, trained in culinary arts in California and worked at the prestigious St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, one of my favorite spots.

“When I went in the Army and got picked by General Seitz to be his chef, I asked him why?” Yamaoka said. “He told me, ‘I know you island boys work hard and you worked at the St. Francis.’”

Ron told us about the stars and dignitaries he met in the Army and showed us pictures on the wall from June Allyson to personal snapshots which included Bob Hope and Princess Caroline. Amazing. Ron wanted to make French food for Princess Caroline and she wanted a hamburger!

I tried to convince Ron he could write a great cook book. People would love to read his stories and get his recipes. He wasn’t so sure, but I’m hopeful. Ron is in San Francisco now with his wife, Carrie, and I hope his fingers are flying on a computer keyboard.

Veterans and their stories are everywhere.  Every veteran has an important story to tell. So until Ron gets his cookbook out, I have to try and figure out his teriyaki recipe on my own.  I’m on the hunt to secure me some chili paste! Got military recipes? Write them down!