Stories from the Heroes Flight
“I saw a projectile go right between our stacks. Our sister ship got it amidships… the shell cut it in half. It folded up and sank right there… We picked up 250 survivors. They lost about 30 sailors.” – Gordon Barker.
By DAVE BERRY
Gordon Barker of Hideaway has a unique perspective on World War II. His Navy destroyer, the USS Fitch, played an important role – serving as bookends, in a way – at both ends of the conflict.
Before first light on June 6, 1944, Barker, a machinist’s mate, was manning his station on the bridge of the Fitch, waiting for 6 a.m. and morning light when the giant Allied fleet would unleash its fury on the beaches at Normandy. Soon, troops from every nation allied against Germany would storm ashore in the great D-Day Invasion that would begin the bloody business of taking back Europe.
Almost 15 months later, on Sept. 2, 1945, the Fitch – now converted to a minesweeper – was anchored in Tokyo Bay. Barker found himself piloting the ship’s whaleboat, escorting the Fitch’s highest-ranking officer to a special ceremony aboard the Battleship Missouri. “We took the officer over and were preparing to cast off when the bosun asks, ‘Do you guys want to see this thing?’” Barker and two crewmen, warned to “stay out of sight,” from a hiding place “behind an air vent” witnessed the signing of the Japanese surrender, the final spasm of the war in the Pacific.
Barker, who can truly say he saw the beginning of America’s land war in Europe and the end of the war with Japan, was one of 30 East Texas veterans of World War II who returned Saturday from three days in Washington, D.C., guests of the sixth Brookshire’s/Super 1 Foods Heroes Flight.
The East Texans, who didn’t know each other at the beginning of the trip, after three days had forged new friendships and a camaraderie that knew no rank or branch of service. The trip, a whirlwind of activities, saw stops at memorials for the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force; the Vietnam Wall, Korea Memorial, Women in War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and tributes to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. The group witnessed the “Changing of the Guard” at Arlington National Cemetery, toured the National Air and Space Museum, and were entertained royally Friday night with dinner, drinks, entertainment and even swing dancing at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Arlington, Va.
Cong. Louie Gohmert led the group on a three-hour history lesson and tour of the Capitol Building Friday night, which impressed everyone. But the highlight for most was the stated mission of the Heroes Flight, a leisurely visit to the World War II Memorial. Dedicated in 2004, few if any of the veterans had seen it in person.
The sprawling WWII Memorial, with its fountains, pavilions and pillars representing each state impressed the group, but each was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and gratitude expressed by a much younger group of visitors. One class of eighth-grade girls from Cincinnati, Ohio, pressed forward as the photo opportunity ended to shake hands, line up for hugs and chat with the veterans. When Gordon Barker, a Navy veteran from Hideway, let it slip that he would be 88 on June 2, the girls broke into song. “Happy Birthday,” they sang to a beaming Barker, and at the line, “Happy Birthday, dear ____,” they filled in the blank with “Grandpa.”
As winds whipped the memorial’s fountains and cool spray fell over the group, veterans and guardians from Texas and teachers from Ohio fought tears. Some of the veterans would say it was the highlight of the trip.
At each stop, veterans volunteered small pieces of the stories many had never told their families or shared with anyone except other veterans.
Doug Tanner, of Athens, who served with the 740th Tank Battalion, said his unit “lost a lot of men in Belgium,” saw a lot of fighting in Cologne as his battalion fought its way into Germany, then saw more action in the Ardennes and Battle of the Bulge. He tried to express why veterans have trouble talking about the war. “Nobody can tell you how it really was. It was just… you had to be there. When you’re stepping over dead bodies…” At that point, he had to stop.
Tanner became the voice of the group, when on the bus back to Tyler, he stood swaying in the aisle of the bus to address the group. “We will remember the Heroes Flight,” he said. thanking Brookshire’s and the 23 volunteer guardians. “We’ve all had a barrel of fun. There are things I will remember for the rest of my life, whether that be short or long. There is not a single complaint. Never have we been treated with such graciousness. Absolutely beautiful.”
Barker, aboard the destroyer Fitch on D-Day, also saw men die. “We were a half mile offshore in the dark… and orders were not to fire until 6 o’clock. Every ship was supposed to open up… but at about 5:40 or 5:45, they (the Germans) saw us and starting firing at us. I saw a projectile go right between our stacks. Our sister ship got it amidships… the shell cut it in half. It folded up and sank right there… We picked up 250 survivors. They lost about 30 sailors.”
“I laid awake last night thinking about what our representative (Cong. Louie Gohmert) said in his tour,” Barker said, adding that the Capitol tour was a highlight for him. Gohmert, speaking to the group in the House Chamber, saluted them for “following in (Gen. George) Washington’s footsteps. You stepped up, you answered the call, you won your war. Then, you did what Washington did. You turned in your tanks and your weapons, and you said, ‘I did what you asked. Now I’m going home.”
For some veterans, the trip stirred up old memories. To all, it created new ones.
Jim Callanan, a submariner from Tyler, touring the Navy Museum recalled the submarines he served in – the Sailfish and the Batfish. On the Batfish, using newly acquired radar countermeasures training, he helped sink three Japanese submarines. Describing the first, he said, “We fired three fish. They fired three fish.” But because the Batfish had a better idea of where the enemy was, “ours hit; theirs didn’t.”
Frank Bostwick, Monroe, La., a tail gunner in a B-24, remembered three German ME-262 jet fighters slicing through our formation “really, really fast.” They kept on going, he said, which was fine by him. No bombers were hit.
Bill Eaton, Hideaway, piloted a B-29 in World War II and flew 24 missions against Japan. He stayed in the Air Force after the war, flying a P-51 fighter in Korea and “flew a desk” in Saigon during the Vietnam War.
Joe Hogue, of Overton, a rear tail gunner in PB4Y (Navy B-24), remembered the two crews from his squadron that were shot out of the sky and still regrets the death of his best friend, a bow gunner in another plane.
Two Navy veterans, Bill Shelton of Granbury and Edgar Terrell of Lancaster, tried to set a fast pace up the sidewalk from the Korea Memorial to the Vietnam Wall. Terrell, a 91-year-old veteran who saw the invasion of Anzio and Southern France, walks three miles a day to stay in shape, found his walk slowed by the many children and adults who wanted to shake his hand.
Jack Hetzel, a Tyler resident who served with the Army in five campaigns in Europe, enjoyed the attention of the young people and said he encourages kids to be good leaders whenever he can. Lingering on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as other veterans hustled back to the waiting bus, Hetzel engaged a shy youngster from Canada, and while the child’s father beamed, convinced the youngster he could someday be prime minister.
Carolyn Langston and Terri Nolley, who with Anderson have served as guardians on each of the six Brookshire’s Heroes Flight, love serving the veterans and watching the camaraderie that grows among them. Langston enjoys the pride that grows inside each veteran. She believes that when the veterans go home, they are “standing taller” than when they left.
Nolley’s favorite moment is the arrival at Reagan International when the airport erupts with applause and cheers. “They can’t understand why people are cheering, and I say, ‘It’s because you are heroes.’”
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(Dave Berry is the retired editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Tyler, TX. He accompanied World War II and Korean War veterans on six different Heroes Flights to Washington, D.C. This story was written for Memorial Day following one of those flights in 2013. The top photo is of Gordon Barker enjoying the welcome of a group of schoolgirls from Cincinnatti.)