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 These are the Memoirs of Westminster Garden resident Henry Landry
Henry Landry submitted his memoirs from his time in the Southwest Pacific. This is a true story as lived by the author, Henry "Bud" Landry.
Click here to read the memoirs of Henry Landry.
Handwritten Essay By Navy Veteran Cushman Bryant
Click here to continue read a handwritten essay by Advent Christian Village resident Cushman Bryant. Bryant recounts his time in the Navy
 VIDEO: Roy B. Carthen – From the Navy to NASA
During his service Mr. Carthen rose to the rank of Master Chief, the highest enlisted rank possible in the United States Navy. Mr. Carthen served during the Second World War through 1963. Mr. Carthen was stationed all over the world – from Norfolk, Virginia to Iceland, from Mexico to Panama to doing electronic work for Apollo missions and NASA.
Click here to watch the interview of Village on the Green resident Roy Carthen.
The Best Book In The Entire World
Click here to read a hand-written essay by Moosehaven resident Mr. Donald Scheer
Robert Geller... In his own words
I was born on July 19, 1922, 94 years ago, on the lower East Side of Manhattan, a very poor neighborhood.
Shortly after World War II broke out on December 7, 1941, due to manpower shortages, I moved to Washington, D.C. for a brief period of time and worked for a federal agency. I then moved back to New York and workd at New York Port of Embarkation at the Broklyn Naval Yard. I was assigned to the U.S. Army Ordanance Division which was responsible for the shipment to Europe of all kinds of armaments - tanks, vehicles, munitions, etc.
I was drafted into the U.S. Army on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1942. I served in the military for more than three years... and retired with the rank as Tech Sargent (T4).
To read more about Robert Geller, please click here.
 War Demand All Sorts of Servicemen
Ed Rand, aircraft maintenance and B-29 pilot who served in Guam and flew over Iwo Jima.
Click here to read more about Shell Point resident, Ed Rand.
 VIDEO: Night Raiders
James Lewis Long served during World War II. Mr. Long was a Fireman First Class in the United States Navy. During his service, Mr. Long survived a Japanese tornado attack and left the service in December 1944.
Click here for the interview of Village on the Green resident James Lewis Long.
Larry Mings Lived Through 30 Combat Missions
Larry Mings, one of Sunnyside’s veterans, was born in Illinois. Every summer he worked on a farm, however, he moved back to the city in the winter.
Larry was eighteen years old when he enlisted into the air force. He picked this branch of the military because, “I wanted to fly.” He served in the armed services for 21 years.
Click here to continue reading about Larry Mings.
 VIDEO: Dr. Iver Brook Recounts Being a Strapping Young Man Willing to Fight For His Country
Iver Brook, a ham radio operator whose vivid tales of flight bring history alive; also, he notes that he never shot a gun during his many years in service.
Click here to watch the entire interview with Dr. Iver Brook
Facing the Realities of Fighting in the Pacific
Don Remington, who survived the bloody fighting at Iwo Jima and received the Navy cross, two Purple Hearts, and a Bronze Star. Click here to continue the article on Don Remington.
VIDEO: Shell Point Resident Don Remington had a Front Row Seat for Iwo Jima
In 1945, the U.S. Armed Forces landed and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army. This five week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the war in the Pacific.
Dick Morrison
Sunnyside Veteran
Submitted by: Marion Hunt
Dick Morrison enlisted into the air Force on June, 1942. Dick was partially influenced by his brother, who was a pilot. Dick wanted to fly. Unfortunately he was never able to fly an aircraft; instead he was transferred to an Army Specialized Training Program in New York City. After the program was over he was stationed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He had to jam a mechanical engineering course that usually required two years into a one year program. With this highly specialized program, he never left the country. In fact, he laughed and said,” I never went west of the Mississippi.” He remembers being very nervous during his early days of enlisting. He joined the service on his own because he wanted to be in control and did not want to wait for the draft. Click here to continue reading about Dick Morrison.
 VIDEO: Defending Freedom: Patriot Receives the Highest Medal of Military Distinction from French Government
Jack Hubbard, a Shell Point Retirement Community resident, was inducted into the French Legion of Honor (the highest medal of French military distinction) in 2012 for his many Air Force combat missions)
Click here to watch the Jack Hubbard video.
 Codebreaking in Hut 6 with Margaret Reeves
The converted stables at Wavendon House in Milton Keynes northwest of London weren’t the most comfortable but “it was okay,” recalls Cypress Cove at HealthPark Florida (a 48-acre continuing care retirement community in south Fort Myers) resident Margaret Reeves. However, the stables served their purpose of double bunking hundreds of employees secretively working as codebreakers during World War II at the now famous Bletchley Park.
Click here to continue reading about Margaret Reeves.
For Former Marine, Being Female in the Military Isn’t What It Used to Be
Beth Welles, a resident of The Waterford, was a female Marine well before it was common to be a female Marine. She didn’t see combat, of course. When she served her country during World War II, that still wasn’t allowed. It also wasn’t easy to serve stateside, and Welles was one of the roughly 33% of female enlistees who made it through basic training and on to a life in service to their country.
Click here to read more of the Beth Welles story.
 A story of love despite conflict
By Abert Eisenkraft as told to Abby Weingarten
Posted Oct 9, 2009 in the Herald Tribune
His is as much a war story as it is a love story, Albert Eisenkraft often says. When ruminating on his term as a draftee in World War II and as a prisoner of war, he recounts the trauma of that era, yet fondly recalls his concurrent love affair. It was during that time that Eisenkraft met his wife of 63 years, Elsie, and experienced the elusive "love at first sight."
Click here to continue reading "A story of love despite conflict."
 A Portrait of U.S. Navy WAVES Experience
Now a resident at Plymouth Harbor on Sarasota Bay, Sallie VanArsdale grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago, on Lake Michigan, which meant living with family, attending Winnetka schools and private high school. “My friends were in the same schools. Their parents were friends of my parents,” said Ms. VanArsdale. “I went to summer camps in Wisconsin and Maine, took family trips west to ranches and national parks. One trip was to Europe in 1939. I went to Vassar College, graduated, and joined the U.S. Navy WAVES in 1944, during WWII.”
Click here to read more of Sallie's story.
 VIDEO: Missions in China, Burma, and India
Interview with James Krajicek. During his service, Mr. Krajicek obtained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force during World War II and the Vietnam War.
Click here for the video interview with James Krajicek.
 67 Missions on a B-26 Bomber
Shell Point resident Tom Wilcox was a radio operator and gunner who flew 67 missions on a B-26 bomber before the plane fell out of the sky!
VIDEO: Part 1
VIDEO: Part 2
Follow Orders, Do Your Best, And Do it all with a SMILE!
Loren Rademacher of Riverwoods served in the United States Navy for three years and two months during World War II.
Some memorable moments for Rademacher include "watching the takeoff and landing of carrier aircraft from our carrier, which included fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers."
Other entertainment included Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and toerh professional entertainers.
Now a member of the VFW and American Legion, Mr. Rademacher says of his time in the Navy, he "followed orders and used good sense."
Please click here to view a copy of Mr. Rademacher's Notice of Seperation from U.S. Naval Service.
 VIDEO: Gerhard Stein – Conversation, Drinks, and Dancing in Salisbury led to Marrying his wife, Joan
Gerry Stein rose to the rank of First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Mr. Stein began his work of service during World War II and continued to serve during the Korean War and Vietnam, retiring in 1967.
Click here to watch the video interview of Gerhard Stein.
 The Frontline Dispatch: Tech. Sgt. Earl W. Haun
Top Turret Gunnter/First Engineer
325th Squadron, 95th Bomb Group
By Ken Skel
Click here to read an article about Earl Haun.
 VIDEO: On the ground of the Manhattan Project
In-depth interview with Village on the Green resident John Aaron Bisline, Jr. who was stationed at Los Alamos, New Mexico on the atom bomb project.
Click here to view the interivew with Mr. Bisline.
 Battle of the Bulge Survivor Finally Finds Peace
Alan Leith enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He started out as a mechanic, but performed many other duties, including firing mortars with the 91st Chemical Mortar Battalion.
It’s been said that war changes people. Those that go away are changed. Those that stay home are changed. And sometimes, the greatest changes happen after the warrior returns home. On this 70th anniversary of World War II, we take a look at one such soldier. Alan went away a boy and, like many others, he came home a troubled man.
Alan was born in Wisconsin and graduated from high school in Wausau, Wisconsin. When he was 18, the draft was imposed, so he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. July 6, 1942, Alan entered the US Military and was shipped to St. Louis, Missouri, for basic training. After basic training, he was sent to an aeronautical university in Chicago to study mechanics.
After graduation, the Army Air Corps moved Alan around a bit, taking him to Bainbridge, Georgia, and then to California for a whole 12 days before he was brought back to New York and put on a ship, the USS Argentina, bound for Europe. Because of the threat of German U-Boats, the trip took 18 days before Alan and his shipmates finally landed in Liverpool, England. He was assigned to an airbase at Warrington, England, out of which flew B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers. While Alan’s training qualified him to work on the B-17, unfortunately, because of extreme casualties, there were more mechanics than planes. So, Alan, along with others, was assigned to different units while in England. For a while, he was part of the military police.
Click here to read the rest of Alan’s story...
In Service of God and Country
Cushman Bryant was a scrappy 18-year-old when he joined the Navy in 1944. Cushman served until April 1946.
Seventy years ago, World War II was almost a year old. The United States had yet to enter the war directly, though they were sending supplies to their allies in Europe. Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia were marching (literally and figuratively) through Europe and Asia, defeating and laying claim to those countries they desired. It was a frightening time at home and abroad. And things had only just begun.
As the world remembers the 75th anniversary of its second world war, we would like to take the opportunity to spotlight a few Advent Christian Village members who served our United States as servicemen and women during those years of war. Without the personal sacrifices of brave individuals from all over, the outcome of the last world war would not have been as favorable. One such individual is Cushman Bryant.
Cushman grew up in Vermont. After the war had been going on for a few years, he received a draft notice during the summer of 1943. Not having yet graduated from high school, Cushman’s mother and principal worked it out that Cushman could receive a deferment in order to complete his senior year in half the time and report for military service during the winter of 1944. Cushman says he believes his teachers took pity on him, helping him to pass all his senior classes in half a year, and sending him off to Navy boot camp in January 1944.
Click here to read the rest of Cushman’s story...
 No Service is Unimportant: A World War II Spotlight
Earl Van Amburg stands on Japanese soil just after the end of World War II in 1945 or 1946 while serving as a Boiler Technician in the US Navy.
In the fall of 1944, Earl turned 18 and joined the United Stated Armed Forces. The battle began in 1939, and the Army was still drafting, but Earl dreamed of sailing into battle on a large ship, so he visited a Navy recruiter before his draft letter could arrive. He had been studying to be an auto mechanic in school, so the Navy put him on the path to becoming an engineer.
After boot camp, Earl went to basic engineering school and to two advanced engineering schools. He still dreamed of sailing on a battleship or an aircraft carrier — something grand and imposing. Unfortunately, he didn’t get his wish. Even before his class had finished their program at the second advanced engineering school he was attending, Earl and his classmates were taken out of school and sent to Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, California.
Earl’s job at Hunter’s Point was to assist in the recommissioning of ships that had been “in mothballs” — mostly submarines that had not been used for some time, had been sitting dormant, but were now needed to aid in the war effort.
Click here to read the rest of Earl’s story...
 War is About People
Ed Siergiej entered the US Army at 18. He experienced many hard times during his time overseas, but he never lost sight of the fact that he wanted to help people.
Although the 70th anniversary of the great Second World War has come and gone, we’d like to spotlight one more WWII veteran who calls Advent Christian Village home. Our interview is with a soldier who never lost sight of what this war was all about: people.
Pictured Ed and his wife, Mary, spent many years traveling all over the US and overseas with Ed’s fellow former 17th Airborne glider infantrymen. They now live in Dowling Park, Florida.
Ed entered the US Army at 18. He was drafted while attending Danbury State Teachers College after only a year and a half of schooling and sent to basic training in Georgia. Following basic, Ed was sent to the Army Specialized Training Program at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. He was to be trained in engineering, but after only a few months, the ASTP was cancelled and Ed and his fellow students were sent to Tennessee and assigned to the 17th Airborne Division. They were to be shipped overseas as part of a glider infantry.
Ed has many harrowing tales concerning his time in Europe during World War II. And his first brush with death came even before being sent into battle. A routine glider training flight — a flight he was pulled from at the last minute because he was skilled in typing — crashed and everyone on board was killed.
Ed and his company were flown to southern France to enter the fray. Despite their training in gliding in behind enemy lines, they were trucked to the area of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge: six hours of standing shoulder to shoulder in the back of a truck.
Click here to read the rest of Ed's story...
 Making History as a Female WWII Sailor
Mary Carter, then Mary Meter, was a member of the Navy WAVES during WWII. Her job was to assess film data for accuracy of gun and bomb sites.
Prior to World War I, women were rarely found working outside of the home. Common thinking was that women should support their families by staying home. During World War I, America quickly realized women were needed to fill the thousands of jobs left vacant when its men joined the war effort. Women were also allowed to enlist in the Navy and Marine Corps — a first for American armed forces. After the war ended, our soldiers returned to their jobs and most women returned to their homes. But when World War II broke out, women once again hung up their aprons and joined the workforce. And a greater number of women enlisted. Mary Carter, current Advent Christian Village member, was one such woman.
Mary grew up in Northville, NY. She was an avid skier, a good student, and always quick to laugh. She attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, class of 1945. While at Cornell, Mary met Dave Carter. Both were part of a Methodist student organization. The two fell in love. Despite the fact that the war had broken out, Dave had not been drafted; he was on deferment because he was studying engineering at Cornell. However, the men in his class were told if they didn’t graduate in ’44, they would be drafted despite not finishing their degrees. A Cornell professor worked out a deal with Dave and some others to work with them during their non-scheduled class times and the school awarded them enough credits to graduate early. Dave graduated and entered the Army Air Corps the summer of 1944.
Many couples Mary and Dave knew were getting married before the men left for boot camp. But they had also witnessed couples who had been changed by the war — becoming different people and wishing they hadn’t gotten married prior. So Mary and Dave decided to remain promised to each other, but did not even get engaged before Dave enlisted. After boot camp, Dave was shipped to Germany to aid in the occupation effort.
Click here to read the rest of Mary's story...
 A Life Improved by World War II
Seventy years ago, World War II was officially over, but its effects were still being felt. For some, the effects of their time during the war have yet to completely die away. For one such soldier, the things he learned and the experiences helped shape his entire outlook on life— a Marine by the name of Victor Grondzki. Vic grew up in Helmetta, NJ. After graduating from vocational-technical school, Vic joined the US military. His friends were joining the Army and Navy, but Vic wanted to be his own man — to be different — so he became a Marine. He was sent to Parris Island in South Carolina in early 1942, just after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Pictured Vic takes a moment to hug one of his daughters on the day he was honored as the Grand Marshal of the Veteran’s Day parade in Live Oak, Florida, in 2014. Vic was a Marine, a machinist, and an antique airplane restorer.
Vic had learned to be machinist in school; he was very mechanically minded. The Marine Corps trained him to be an infantry radio operator. He trained with three separate companies to be the backup to the regular radio operator in case they were injured or killed on the battlefield. His job was to keep communication lines open between the 300 infantrymen and the lieutenant or captain in charge.
He was attached to the 2nd Marine Division in 1944 and took part in the Battle of Saipan in the Mariana Islands campaign (June–July 1944), the Battle of Tinian (July–August 1944), and the Battle of Okinawa (April 1945). Vic spent a total of 22 months overseas and was trained to eventually end up in Japan.
Vic says he doesn’t think he’d have lived through the war if President Truman hadn’t dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August of 1945 and ended the war. Being an infantry radio operator was a dangerous occupation. During the Battle of Saipan, a mortar hit the command post, killing his captain. Vic was within 50 yards of the blast and still retains shrapnel as a result of the blast.
Click here to read the rest of Vic's story...
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